Lincoln and more

In NYC, so the saying goes, March comes 'in like a lion' and goes 'out like a lamb'... Sunday (March 1) was forecast to have horrendous snow - the biggest storm and snowfall to hit NYC this winter... We woke early to a light fall of snow, and so I dragged poor d halfway across NYC to the upper west side, to first and foremost, sample a bagel from H&H bagels - who are, apparently, in fierce competition with Ess-a-Bagel for the crown of 'best bagel in NYC'. Well, to be honest, we didn't rate them at all, either in texture, or flavour... and the cost. holy hell, $1.40 for a bagel with nothing! not even a schmear of cream-cheese, or even a slab of butter (and no, that's not a typo, do they lay it on thick, or what!?). I have to say my day-old half-price terrace bagels from the Park Slope Food Coop (29c each) are a much better deal - and nicer. Won't be going back there!

After a brief foray into the wonderful Zabar's Deli (mmm, free samples) we walked across to central park, in the light snow, and had a wonderful almost full circuit of the park. most of the squirrels were safely tucked away out of the snow, sadly... but the kids were out in full regalia playing ice-hockey, which we watched for a bit.

i was thinking perhaps to get some of their padded gear for soccer playing, it'd be just the thing to stop me hurting myself. on that note, i'll digress to moan about my cracked rib. bloody sore! but the good news is that I have managed to avoid sneezing for an entire week! not a one. several close calls but.

Anyway, the walk also took us past the Jackie O Reservoir, full of billions of gallons of water that supplies NYC - just looking at it makes you thirsty...

Mmmm, rubbish. But it does give spectacular views of manhattan, and a walk around it is definitely recommended for anyone visiting this fine town.

After a great walk it was back to Brooklyn to a cafe that seemed to get highly rated on the 'Brunch' front - the Brooklyn Beast. Now, this was ours first foray into 'brunch' in NY, and to be honest, they do it weirdly here... for a start, lots of places seem to have a set price menu for brunch - and then a range of menu options, which for the most part don't seem spectacularly interesting. But I thought to try this place out, as it had been reviewed well and was popular (we had to wait for a table. but to be honest, while it was nice enough, it was far from spectacular, and (weird in the US) actually quite small in size - Auckland does a lot better, and a lot more informatively. As you can see, i'm a true 'scientist' and basing such a generalisation on a sample of 1. brunch won't be a frequently recurring event...

Then we walked to DUMBO, the area of Brooklyn under the Brooklyn and Manhattan Bridge overpasses (hence the name - they love such 'names' in this town: NoHo [North of Houston], SoHo [South of Houston], TriBeCa [Triangle below Canal], BoCoCa [Boerum Hill, Cobble Hill, Carroll Gardens - in Brooklyn]), and went to the great Brooklyn Flea Market - indoors at this time of year. Lots of delicious free food samples. I read a story this week of a woman who lived for a week of free samples. genius. it would take time and concerted effort, though. and you'd possibly lack a balanced diet.

Anyway, the impending storm to be hadn't arrived, but they sure were hyping it, with constant reference to the weather, and warnings of flights cancelled and delayed, not to mention emails to me from locals saying 'it'll be a miracle if you get to Nebraska tomorrow'. by the time we went to bed, it had started lightly snowing... and I awoke to: a world transformed! Masses of snow, everywhere... the biggest snowstorm of the season. A 'lion' for sure! here is our 'stoop':
my morning flight to Lincoln, Nebraska (via Minneapolis/St Paul) was still scheduled to leave (miraculously), but I got in time for a quick wander up to Prospect Park before schlepping the luggage through the piles of snow to the airport. it was beautiful!

I love the serenity of snow... it masks the world. except for the incessant engine revving of cars that are stuck trying to get out of it... but in the park, none of that. few dogs, but boy were they happy dogs. there could perhaps have been far more than we saw, but is the micro 'dogs' would have been buried in snow drifts...

So, heading out to JFK not knowing if I'm going or staying, but the weather managed to delay both the subway and the air-train: the air-train because the doors at one station seemed to be iced-open, and had to be forced shut before we could leave. with icicles like this, on the outside of the train, you get the picture...

The flight did indeed leave: here's my plane at the gate:

Now, being somewhat of a 'nervous' flier, these conditions didn't exactly arm me with a new-found confidence - quite the opposite. but I had a new experience: plane de-icing... we rolled back from the gate, and they sprayed the entire plane with this slimy pink gunk, and then I think a green gunk. it really was like something from Aliens... but hey, it worked, and eventually I got to Lincoln, Nebraska.

here's the man himself:

A very strange place. My first foray into the mid-west, which I think it is... it's kinda central though, so maybe it's just mid... anyway, it's prairie land. it has a fab deco capital building (it's the state capital):

And some really great modernist and other architecture. I really liked this building (foreground):

But other than that, it's a strange place. It felt like the recession/depression was hitting home there a bit:

But I still couldn't work out what was strange about it. Then it struck me... two things that made it odd - to an outsider.

1. it is a town of banks. I have never seen so many banks! you could barely walk a short block within the centre of town without passing 1, 2, or even 3 banks. I think 1 intersection had 3 banks on it. My favourite bank name: the bankers bank of the west... creativity exemplified. But they don't only just have banks, they also have drive through banks...

gotta love the US and their love of their cars... 'park, and walk, to a bank? Are you kidding me!?'

2. I realised that there are no shops! well no apparent shops. Walking through the city centre, it's just banks... (perhaps they are the ultimate saving town - they save, instead of spending). But then I noticed all these big buildings are connected by 'sky' walkways so perhaps the shops are all inside, and you just don't see them. perhaps they're even drive-in shops! Anyway, it makes for a very odd feel to a town, when the key thing you associate with a town (shops and commerce) are just not there.

But the trip was good, and it was even better to be home - did I mention I'm loving NYC? :-) Walking in to work the next morning, central park was still stunning in the glorious sunshine and still-snowy frozen splendour:

In the interim, I've managed to eat bagels from another 'highly rated' place - Bagel Hole, just close to us... These were much nicer than H&H in my opinion - small and dense, not at all super-sized. and they gave the jaw a serious workout... Bagels seem to be taken very seriously here, and I'm just trying to do my bit and fit in with the rest of NYC... obsessed :-)

So that's an update... and just in case you were feeling somewhat deprived on squirrel action, here's one that got away... evil genius.