FAO Schwartz was amazing. The toys, the movie "Big" piano, the Lego section and the dolls. I was a little dismayed to see Toys R' Us logos on some items. Looked it up and sure enough they were acquired in 2009. Thankfully the FAO Schwartz brand ruled and it doesn't appear that they've changed the operation much. The nice "palace guard" still meets you out front and offers picture opportunities.
Richard went to see the iconic Apple Store right next door. A big glass cube up top, then the store is underground. But he was dismayed to discover that it is housed where his former favorite location is....the car museum under the GM building. That was a dilemma for him. He loves both, so that was a bittersweet moment indeed.
We circled around to view Central Park, then found a subway and headed for our temporary home. The nicest part of this was having a real home to go back to. We loved the airbnb opportunity to live/work/play in a real New York neighborhood. We're techie enough to classify wifi as a must have. Our newest bright idea, thanks to Richard, was to purchase a $99 apple TV for TRAVEL! This was the smartest thing we've done. We can plug into any TV and it's just like home now.
On the way home we hit a local market, picked up the makings for dinner and walked back to our new pad. You should know I love to cook. Really. So the kitchen of a young single girl was our first challenge. The good news was she had a small gas stove. The bad news was that it was old. It stunk. We left windows open when we were gone because the CO2 alarm went off the first day when we didn't. That, my friends, was a "real" New York experience, and we rolled with the punches:)
The next morning, I had bought coffee beans. Whole. Only to discover no grinder at her house. Rather than gift her a new grinder, we gifted her the coffee beans instead. Oh well. Again, the proximity, the neighborhood, the local cafes and delis were still so juicy and awesome that we lived with the minor inconviences. And honestly, no hotel would have been "better".
The scariest part was when I had used the door's faceplate button to "lock" the door, then let it shut again with us inside, having forgotten mittens or a hat or something. Unfortunately the lock was old enough there was no way to then GET OUT of the apartment! No knob, no button, no key slot. I was one sheet away from full FREAK when Richard calmly said "get a coat hanger". And out we went. Whew!
Our apartment had been "ikea'd out" as Richard said, but also there's a Crate & Barrel outlet she used a lot. There was ingenious storage all over and we were surprised at how much there was for such a small space. It's got us thinking alot of what's next for us and how much space we might need.
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