Shabbat/Sunday – Day 37/38
August 29, 2012
This Shabbat at Yoni and Rivki’s with Sophie and Tziporah, my little cousins, was very peaceful. In the morning I settled down to read another John Grisham novel and following that a nice quiet lunch (except for the few tantrums thrown by the two little girls). The afternoon was a trip to the local park and a walk along the promenade bordering the Hudson River and the borough of Manhattan.
The park was divided up into cute little zones, each for a different type of recreation. The first one we visited was a children’s playground. It featured many different jungle gyms, water fountains with a bathing area in the centre and, park benches surrounding the zone so that parents could keep a close eye on their young. After playing with the girls for a few hours, the sky began to darken and it was time to make a quick visit to the rest of the park before heading back home.
The next zone we visited was the ‘small dog run’ a five by three meter, oval, tiled area on which ran a number of very small, very cute and terribly adorable dogs. My favorite of them being a darling little pug with a ball in his mouth that was larger than one would reasonably assume would fit. He carried it over to many individuals around the sides and would beg them to take it away and throw it so that he could attempt to catch it in midair.
Following that we went to the ‘big dog run’, a larger area on which bounded hounds and dachshunds, among others. After a while of watching those, we walked back, passed the basketball courts and along the river.
After the conclusion of Shabbat I decided to treat myself to something I’d been wanting to do for a while: Batman! Finding an IMAX screening that I could make, I excitedly picked myself up and headed over to AMC Lincoln Square: Loewe’s. After climbing four flights of stairs I arrived at the IMAX screen and candy bar. Deciding to make my American experience complete I purchased the smallest combo of popcorn and drink offered: a three hundred gram massive bag of popcorn with a 1.56L drink. Daniel Serebro had said to me that the movie was not a “batman” movie, and though I thoroughly enjoyed it, I tended to agree. The focus of the movie was more on the events unfolding in Gotham City rather than the exploits of batman himself. For his part, Bruce Wayne spent more time soul-searching than fighting crime with catwoman making only a brief appearance.
Sunday morning marked a trip to Governor’s Island with the girls. Located towards the battery park end of Manhattan, a ten minute ferry ride away, Governor’s Island was a fort, used at one time as a coast guard base and more recently as a military prison.
The view from the ferry
Today it is converted into a cultural site, with an African festival being held for the duration of our stay. The first order of business was to visit a graphic design museum on the Island, where I realized a long-term love for typography and brand design, oohing and ahhhing at the posters and vector graphics while the girls looked at the pretty pictures.
That was followed by a picnic lunch with Peanut Butter and Jelly sandwiches, another American tradition, I had not experienced in years.
Sophie
Tzipora
Afterwards, a walk to the otherside of the island to listen to the African drummers, to run around with the girls and, take a well-deserved nap on the grass.
Listening to the African Storyteller
We returned to the apartment early to prepare for the arrival of my great-aunt and uncle, Alfie and Zahava Slonim, at whose place I had stayed while I was preparing for and sitting my SATs. Also in tow were my second cousins once removed, Louisa and Adam Slonim. Dinner was a delicious platter of Deli foods, most notably some sizzling hot pastrami which with a bit of coleslaw went down most splendidly.
Rivki, Yoni, Tzipi and Sophie
After their departure, I finished my book and headed to sleep.
Friday – Day 29
August 19, 2012
Friday was our second, ‘last’ day with Nicole and thus we spent it in the best way possible. Walking around the city together and spending time as friends. Unfortunately for most of the day I had forgotten my memory card so some of the photos and videos aren’t mine.
First up was a visit to the photobooth to take a series of pictures in which we all scrambled to get into the frame, mostly unsuccessfully. These photobooths are scattered all around Berlin and apparently quite popular with Theresa having taken photos with every ISSI group to visit.
Following that we walked in the direction of the city, aiming for a park dedicated to the memory of the Berlin wall, with an intact section still along it. On our way we came by a fantastic market, in which there were fromageries with a gallery of european cheeses, a fish stand with fresh fish being tossed onto a grill and eaten nearby. Fruiterers, artisanal pastas and jams lined the sides and Theresa and I jumped to buy some fresh fruit for our lunch.
We walked the rest of the distance to the park carrying our load of fruit: blackberries, plums, apricots, grapes and two German squished looking peaches that were naturally fat.
When we arrived at the park we found swings lining the wall, and after a heated discussion about the benefits and costs of nuclear power we set a-swinging. After my turn on the swing I sat back to try and calculate the frequency of the swing when it was not being driven (given by sqrt(g/l) ) but the estimate was a bit far off and I left the swings dissatisfied. Maybe I should’ve taken a look at it as a non-linear oscillator.
From there we wakled to Potzdamer Platz, another big public square, and visted the Sony Center, a large construction with nice restaurants and shops inside, before settling down
on the grass nearby.
Potzdamer Platz
Much of the rest of the afternoon was taken up following round an akapella group around the U-Bahn and to tourists locations while they were promoting themselves. One of the singers was Theresa’s friend from her frisbee team and thus we were committed to staying the whole time.