Kayaking in Connecticut, and Waterfalls in New York City

This week I am in New York City, taking advantage of the fact that Doug is at a conference in Manhattan to wander around the city where we may end up before the end of the year. Although we both would rather be back on the West Coast, life, the universe, and everything, is conspiring to make us believe we will likely end up here in New York before long. Since his conference was immediately preceded by the Fourth of July long weekend, we decided to visit our long-lost friends who moved to South Norwalk, Connecticut in March. They have a lovely two bedroom little house with a back deck abutting a hillside (to read about our fun grilling on the deck check out my post here), and we spent a relaxing weekend drinking wine and chatting about life.

By Sunday we were all ready to get out and about, and had a great time renting sea kayaks in Rowayton, CT and paddling out to the Long Island Sound past the most ridiculously large houses you’ve ever seen. I don’t have any pictures of the kayaking adventure, because I didn’t bring my waterproof camera, but here’s a picture of Rowayton looking out towards the sound past all the adorable boats:

We got into New York City on Monday afternoon, had some great Indian food at Tiffin Wallah (how can you beat $6/person for a delicious, authentic, buffet?), then relaxed in our lovely hotel room with a view of downtown and the Brooklyn Bridge in the evening and caught up on our sleep.

Today I was on my own as Doug attended the conference. For the first time, I decided to do something really touristy (but not TOO touristy), and take a boat cruise to see the new installation art piece called Waterfalls. Funded by the Public Art Fund, it is a series of four artificial waterfalls created over the river, including one under the Brooklyn Bridge and one on Governor’s Island. I went early in the day to avoid the hordes, and it was well worth it, as I was one of only 10 people on a huge boat to see the falls. I am always intrigued by large-scale installation art, and found it to be really lovely, although I found the one under the Brooklyn Bridge to be the most organic and with the best sense of place. Here are a few photos from the morning:

This afternoon I wandered up to Chelsea Market, and was heartily disappointed by what I saw. I guess it’s a factor of the changing costs associated with the neighborhood, but what was supposed to be a great place to buy meat, fish, and vegetables directly from vendors, apparently has lost much of that character. On the bright side, it does appear they are trying to turn it into something resembling the Ferry Building in San Francisco (which I adore). This evening, Doug and I will be trying to get in to Tia Pol for dinner, about which I will blog over here tomorrow.