Emily and Linda’s Travel Blog

One of the great pleasures in being right on the water is just to sit and watch the light change

Two of Linda's requirements for a good stateside vacation are a decent breakfast (the no. 2 special in most diners) and a high quality cinnamon bun. Check and check. Breakfast at Nick's Place - your basic formica tabletop establishment with excellent and friendly service (and a bonus - gluten free toast for me!). Then explored Meriano's Bakery which had all the Italian essentials and a lot more. 

On the way back we noted this establishment- to be explored in the future

Next we had a slow stroll through Madison's downtown, the highlight of which was an amazing bookstore, the likes of which you rarely see anymore. Great selection of books, sweet little cafe, and my favorite feature was that all the shelves have little notes detailing people's favorite recommendations. And the place was packed at 11:30 on a Tuesday morning!  There is hope!

Next in our action-packed day was a few hours on our balcony with our bookstore purchases followed by hot stone massages and dinner at the hotel restaurant

Finally one more round of lounging on our balcony, watching the sun set and the lights cone on over the Sound. Good day of not very much. 

Kind of a hectic time at work so we opted for a short break in a nearby location. Landed on Madison Beach Hotel in Connecticut. There are things to do around here, but we may spend our time just perfecting our signature lounging by the Sound. 

Beautiful day yesterday which we had the pleasure of spending with our friends Christine and Tina at the new Brooklyn Historical Society Dumbo at 55 Water St.  It's a small gallery showing some interesting potos of industrial Brooklyn and Coney Island. The building is worth the visit it has a deck up top (5th floor) with buikt in benches and spectacular views of the river. Cafes on the ground floor. And check out the offices in the building- imagine going to work with that view every day! 

Of course Linda was most taken with the glass elevator's reflections. 

Yesterday we met up with Maxine in Manhattan. We needed to find a new sofa for Linda's mom so that we can have a place for her new home aide to sleep. Of course first we had to have brunch at Linda and Ma ie's favorite spot, Bubby's.  While waiting, we hung out on the bench and showed off my Science March T-shirt.  We noticed a nearby store had put out a bowl of bisquits for passing pooches, but a different sort of New Yorker was sampling the wares. We also watched as teams of kids checked into a Pokemon stop on a scavenger hunt (next stop was the Ghostbusters firehouse 2 blocks away). 

Next stop was a search of our own. The new sofa had to be small enough to fit through a narrow NYC apt. door, comfortable and easy enough to sleep on every night, and deliverable within 2 weeks. Not an easy task, but our salesperson, Antwane at Room and Board was able to help us accomplish it (I was forced to lie down on the job and check out the various options

There are 8 million stories in this city.......

Benny is just back from the dog kennel. Pretty exhausted after a week of non-stop socializing 

Which is not really a district. More of a complex of buildings that were once an old distillery.  Now restored with shops, restaurants and art galleries. The most interesting to me was a shop for and run by deaf people. Most of the folks inside were signing so it was of course very quiet. I bought some delicious smelling tea to take home. One of the coolest things there was an almost life sized puppet/doll that was designed so that someone could put their hands through the sleeves and then sign for the puppet instead of speaking. We watched a little girl and her parents using it. She was loving it. It didn't feel right to take a picture so here's a close approximation I found on another web page, but imagine the puppet twice as big and instead of putting your hands into gloves as in this picture, there were only sleeves and you put your whole arms through so that your hands become the puppet's hands. Pretty smart design.  

We also watched some fellows starting the process of making sake

Here are some pictures from the Distillery complex.  The brains in the glass cases are kind of like the cows that other cities have done, where different people offer their unique take on how it should be designed. Why brains I'm not sure. 

We loved the Chihuly exhibit. It was mostly set in an all black space and floodlit. Not as organic as some of his garden works, but very dramatic. The room with the glass ceiling had mats on the floor so you could lie down and look up at the glass  

We took our first Toronto subway ride today - to the Royal Ontario Museum. Very different feeling from a NYC subway. For one thing, no doors between cars so it's like one long corrodor inside

Here's how you know you've arrived at the Museum Station

We wanted to see the Chihuly glass installation, but first we had to check out the building. Here are the old and new entrances. Anyone who knows Linda will see that I was well asvised to find myself a nice spot in the shade because she and her camera would be busy for a while

Happily I had some entertainment