I was very happy to see that there was no more rain when I looked out the window this morning. I had planned to go to Brooklyn for the day, and not that the weather was good again, I could go though with my plan.
I headed to Williamsburgh by subway (as the Americans call their underground system), after finding the easiest way for me to get there. My first stop was the comic book shop Desert Island, which I have been wanting to visit since I stumbled upon their web page a couple of years ago. It was smaller than I expected it to be, but the owner was very friendly.
I then stumbled upon an art market called Crest Fest. There I ended up chatting with a nice artist who clearly was a big lover of books, and libraries. I got her card, and will have a closer look at her jewelry.
After a stop at a nice café for some coffee and cake, I wandered around Williamsburgh. Vintage shops and recycling seems to be a big thing there, and there was also a food market I stumbled upon. The whole town seemed so full of life, but not at all the stressed sort. People seemed in general friendlier and more laid back than in Manhattan. I’m so happy I decided on visiting Williamsburgh while I was here!
At the end of my stay in Williamsburgh, I passed by a door that drew my attention: A small, local museum. Unlikely to be found in a guidebook, I think. It was called The City Reliquary.
Today’s dinner was had in a Korean vegan restaurant here on Manhattan, and the food was really good. After dinner, it was time to go back to the hotel, and relax before going to bed.
When I looked out the window this morning, it was raining. My instant thought was: This is a perfect day to visit museums! Found out I wanted to visit the Museum of the City of New York.
I thought I had brought a rain jacket, but it turned out it wasn’t exactly working as one, so by the time I arrived at the museum, I was soaking wet. And cold. Not exactly a happy puppy.
I had a walk around the museum, but I have to admit that other than the new part with the current state of New York City and the housing situation and the part with activism in NYC, it wasn’t much. And the activism part was my favourite, with different types of activism. Very interesting! I just wish they had done something similar with e. g. immigration, which I was surprised to find almost nothing about!
After the museum the rain hadn’t stop, and I decided to go back to the hotel. When I was back in the room, it was nice to have a hot shower and put on something dry, as I was wet to the skin.
I decided to stay in my room for the rest of the day, only to go out to have dinner at the diner. The diner has a door to the hotel, so there was no need to go out. Looking out of the hotel room window made it clear: The rain had picked up, so staying in and watching telly would be a great idea! And watching the local TV is kind of getting to know the country’s culture, right?
The main event for today was to visit The Morgan Library & Museum, a place I’ve found in one of the guide books I borrowed at the library before I left home. This really is a “must see” for any book lover visiting New York!
Though there’s a gallery here as well, it was Pierpont Morgan’s library that was my main interest. It’s such a beautiful place, with lots of old books, and beautiful room!
After having had a look at the beautiful library, and the gallery, I decided it was time for coffee, and went to Stumptown, that had been recommended to me. Though the coffee was excellent, I really wish they had seating. So, I just had a quick espresso, before heading onwards to Chelsea.
In Chealsea I mostly strolled around and had a look around. I did stop by a cake shop called Empire, though, where I had a very yummy pistachio cupcake.
In the evening I felt like some vegan fine dining, and headed for a restaurant called Blossom. I had some really yummy food, and the ice cream, that’s made from coconut, was really beautiful!
Maybe not the most eventful of days, in other words, but that’s OK. It was nice to have a more quiet day.
I woke up to a very sunny day today, and figured that a great idea would be to walk down the famous 5th Avenue and head for Central Park. So, I grabbed some breakfast on my way to Fifth Avenue, and the adventure was on!
5th Avenue is a huge shopping street, with a lot of fancy shops. This is where you can find famous brands, but to be honest, I’m not all that interested in that. You can also find a lot of interesting architecture, and a huge Barnes & Nobles, which is an American book shop chain.
Except for the book shop, the only other shop I was interested in was Tiffany’s & Co., mostly because of the book Breakfast at Tiffany’s by Truman Capone and the film based on the novel. Coming into the shop felt very strange. The guards were very polite, and everybody were greeted with a good morning. I did have a look at the jewelry, but they weren’t really my cup of tea…
Tiffany’s is situated right by Central Park, and that was my next spot. I have to say, Central Park is probably my favourite spot on the whole of Manhattan. There’s plenty of things to see! It’s also a lot more quiet than the rest of the city. Sometimes you can hardly notice you’re actually in New York City, as you don’t hear much else than birds singing. This is where you can take a break from the busy city life and actually find some peace, even though you sometimes see the city peak over the trees…
There were a lot of musicians performing in the park. I was surprised by the quality of the music they performed. Wonderful! Not to mention the lake you keep seeing on films, where people can hire boats and go for a row. And did you know there’s a castle in the park? And a pond with real live turtles? This, and a lot more, is in the video below.
After the park, I went back to the hotel, and picked up some food on the way. Decided on taking the rest of the day in the room, relaxing. After all, I had spent many hours walking (Central Park is HUGE), and I was tired and had sore feet. After all, I need to be fit for a new day tomorrow, when new adventures awaits!
After first waking up at 4:30 this morning, and then heading back to bed for a few more hours, I went out for breakfast kind of early (at least for me). And what would be more natural than having it at an American diner? I got a stack of yummy pancakes with butter and maple syrup, and coffee.
I decided on doing a bit of sightseeing by foot. I strolled down to Broadway, and followed it all the way down to Time Square. It felt almost unreal to actually be there! I also headed to the Empire State building, which I can see from my hotel room, but decided on not going up.
One of the great thing by walking around, is that you get to see so much more. Things typical for the country or city you’re visiting. Like, for example, the yellow school buses they have here in the US, or the typical fire escape outside the houses in New York…
After having stuffed myself with a large lunch, I decided to head for Staten Island. To get there, you travel by the Staten Island Ferries. The ferry is actually free, and a great way to see the famous Statue of Liberty.
After all the walking, I found out I wanted to have dinner nearby. I stumbled upon a small place, and ordered my meal at the desk to eat in. I was surprised when I was told it was only $3.50 for the meal, including a bottle of Snapple! Another thing I noticed was that I was the only female eating there… The food was really good, though, but probably as far from fancy as you can get.
My feet are sore after such a long day on my feet, with a lot of walking. I’m still a bit jet lagged, so I will probably fall asleep quickly…
I’m sure we all have heard horror stories about American immigration, about how strict and unfriendly they are. Maybe I was just lucky, but the young man who had a look at my passport and looked me up in the system just asked a few simple questions, and when I told him I’m a librarian to his question “What do you do?” he told me he thought that was a very cool job, and there was also an “I adore you!”, while he scanned my finger prints.
I’m staying at the Newyorker Hotel, and my room is a small, cozy and nice room on the 25th floor. The view is wonderful:
I haven’t done much today. I’ve only done a bit of walking around, and am trying to fight the jet lag. It’s past bedtime in Norway, but not so here. I stumbled upon a comic book shop called Midtown Comics, that I enjoyed.
I bought some food stuff to eat in my room. I just thought was best today. I’ll see how long I can hold out before going to bed, and hopefully be fit for fight tomorrow.
I spent my Easter break in England, and had one day in London before I headed for EasterCon in Bradford. There will not be any post about that here, but I did make a video about my day in London.
London is always great, and I managed to meet up with a Norwegian girl I know from Twitter, walk around, have lovely meals, and had in general a lovely time.
In June I will be visiting the USA for the very first time in my life. I’m very excited, and will be staying there for three weeks. A three week stay in a country far away takes quite a bit of planning, and needless to say, I have spent a whole lot of time finding the right flights and hotels.
Friday 19 to Sunday 21 April 2013 I spent the week end attending the annual bookcrossing convention, which this year took place in Gothenburg. This was my very first bookcrossing convention, and I must admit that I felt quite clueless, as I had no idea what usually happened at bookcrossing conventions. It was no surprise that they are a bit different from the science fiction or gaming conventions I’ve been to before, but that is to be expected.
Friday
I arrived in Gothenburg, and after checking in at the hotel, I headed to the venue at Norges hus. I got my name tags at the registration, and greeted some familiar, and some unfamiliar, faces.
After hanging around for a while, there was an informal opening of the convention, and there was a bingo going on. I didn’t bother to run around crossing out questions, but was more than happy to give my name to the ones looking for a librarian, a Norwegian, or just someone who’d read Astrid Lindgren’s Pippi Longstocking.
There was also a quiz, that my team didn’t win, and in general a lot of fun and chatting.
We were also served some yummy food (with a vegetarian option), and we even got to learn some Swedish folk dance. Some of the dances were familiar, as we have the same ones in Norway (with different names). It was a lot of fun!
Friday was also the day where I learnt that it was usual to have a gift table on bookcrossing conventions. I had neither expected, nor brought, any gifts, simply because I had no idea there would be one. If I am to put my finger on something that might have been a minus to my experience, it is that I wish some of these things would have been explained on beforehand. I did actually look for information on the bookcrossing forum before the con… Needless to say, I was very surprised to see a couple of books for me on the gift table. Both of the books were from my wishlist on bookcrossing, and one of them was a book I recently got from another bookcrosser by mail (I just had forgotten to remove it from my list). This book did not come with me home, but I released it at the Gardermoen airport on my way home.
Saturday
To start the day with having breakfast with other bookcrossers was delightful! It was nice to chat and eat and have a soft start of the day, before heading back to the venue. I managed to catch the interesting talk about translating books in the morning, before I ran off to meet up with an old friend of mine, to have lunch with him and his wife and daughter.
Saturday was also the day for the release walk, where we wandered the streets of Gothenburg and left books all around. The people of the city would be able to find books in many funny places, I guess, like hanging from trees as well at on the statues and benches.
We also had a flash mob in Bältesspännarparken, starting with elis-fromSweden walking to a spot, picking up a book and read. Then most of the other bookcrossers went up to stand beside her, one by one, and formed a line, ending with beson. elis-fromSweden then went up to one of the strangers staning by, watching, and handed her a book, before walking away. The flash mob is included in the video below.
After the flash mob, people spread to all directions, mostly in groups, and went for a treasure hunt and lunch. We ended the day by going to different restaurants in town. I had signed up with the group to go to Masala, a really nice Indian place not far from the Poseidon. The food there was really yummy!
Sunday
At the last day of the convention, it was time to hear the bid for the convention in 2015. Only Oxford placed a bit, and we all cheered wen it went through. There was also a presentation of next year’s convention in Australia, by discoverylover and Skyring.
The convention ended with the raffle, which is a sort of lottery. I had put almost all my tickets into the Harry Potter prize, and didn’t win. Oh well, I wouldn’t have had room for it anyway. 😉
Then it was time to say good bye, and “see you in Oxford 2015!”
