At the end of this month, New York City is set to unveil a massive bike-sharing program. Many other cities around the world have such programs (Paris, Barcelona, Montreal, and Minneapolis, to name a few), and I’m so excited to see New York join the list.
David Byrne (the musician/artist who recently wrote The Bicycle Diaries) contributed an article to the Sunday Times about the new transportation program, Citi Bike, and has made me look forward to the development that much more. It really is thrilling to see New Yorkers once again reimagining the ways they navigate the city, be it on the water (with new ferry routes), underground (with a new subway line), or on land (with miles and miles of new bike lanes and now a whole new way to commute). This is intended to be for commuting: Monthly riders will incur overage charges if they use a single bike for longer than 45 minutes at a time. Daily and weekly riders can check out one bike for 30 minutes at most before paying additional fees.
The informational sessions have begun and I do hope that the introduction goes smoothly. Apparently they’ll be available for use July 31st–so I’m hoping Aron and I can just fit in a test-run before we leave.
Read David Byrne’s article about bike-sharing in New York, here. And a recent feature in NY Mag with a helpful Q-and-A here.
(Also, Jordan Ferney talks about Paris’ public bike-share program and its appeal to her on Oh Happy Day.)
It’s been a while since we shared a video of Hudson. This is one of those favorites that I keep watching, even though he’s with me for all of his waking hours and will happily do a repeat performance live (except on command for friends, of course).
And I feel like we completely skipped over the quintessential “he’s walking” video. Here’s an attempt to remedy that (taken while we were in St. Martin in May, maybe 2 weeks after his first steps).
Today is Aron’s LAST DAY OF RESIDENCY!!! Woo-hoo!! I remember talking to him about his deciding to go to medical school when we first met, back in 1999. It has been a crazy journey and I feel like there should be a parade or something in his honor this weekend. What should we do to celebrate?? Congratulations to my husband, the superstar.
I’ve been curious about the terrace atop the Gramercy Park Hotel for years! My friend Nora tried to take me there once for drinks, just after we moved here, but it was open to hotel guests only at the time. So I was excited to learn last month that, on May 18, they re-opened a newly renovated roof terrace for daily breakfast and lunch. Like Maialino–the wonderful Roman-style trattoria downstairs–Gramercy Terrace is run by Danny Meyer’s hospitality group; and honestly, that man can do no wrong. (Cf: Shake Shack, Gramercy Tavern, Eleven Madison Park, Untitled, The Modern, Union Square Cafe… etc.)
I hadn’t needed to, but I made reservations for (gulp) 7:15am on Father’s Day.
As you exit the elevator, you’re flanked by works of Andy Warhol–Bob Colacello, Sylvester Stalone, Douglas Cramer, and others–and faced with views of the city’s water towers and, occasionally, the campaniles that disguise them. It’s a gorgeous space, one that cries for a candle-lit party and which was filled with grey morning light when we arrived. Apparently the roof’s panes slide open (or will, after some repairs) on sunny days, which would be wonderful.
We were there during breakfast (though brunch is offered on the weekends), and we had the option of ordering a la carte or picking and choosing from the continental breakfast set up by the bar. The menu is (not-surprisingly for a fancy hotel spot) on the expensive side, so the continental breakfast (which offered things like peanut-butter milk, monkey bread, a cheese table, and fresh strawberries for your cereal–plus bottomless juice and Stumptown coffee) isn’t a bad deal at $19. We opted instead for their take on eggs benedict and a brioche French Toast. Both were delicious.
By the way, one of the hallmarks of a Danny Meyer restaurant is friendly, completely-accommodating service. Granted we had the place practically to ourselves, but everyone was so kind to Hudson–which goes a long way. In fact I noted there was a sitting room off the dining area playing cartoons for children. It was sort of a funny contrast: on one end you enter a room with a sofa backed by Damien Hirst’s Le Caprice (a large medicine cabinet filled with prescription drug packaging), on the other there was the opiate of the (wee) masses.
