The gorgeous girls have returned to DC. As I type they are standing on the train at Union Station, waiting to get off. Daddy is picking them up and N and I are home watching the Nats game. They will be home soon!!

Grandma Dina is going to write up a blog post about the girls' visit, which we are very excited for! In the meantime, here is a summary that M sent us via text yesterday, along with a bunch of photos from M. They had a great time in NY and did so many fun things! They also toured Columbia today. (And so it begins…).

From M:

List of things we did in NYC

DAY 1:

◦We got off the train and drove around the city

◦Ate at a French restaurant in Hell’s Kitchen, La Marseille, in celebration of Bastille Day and ate avocado toast/bagels with cream cheese and lox/egg white omelette

◦Drove to Midtown to watch Come From Away and meet a few members of the cast including the pet lady (emotional and poignant, also uplifting)

◦Drove to the Upper West Side to look at the classrooms by Lincoln Center that Alexa will be attending at AMDA

◦Ate at Korali, the Greek restaurant that we ate at last year – a meal of cheese saganaki, octopus, eggplant and zucchini chips with tzaziki, Greek salad, musaka fish, lavraki, and surprise desserts from the waiter, whom Grandma and Grandpa have known for years (chocolate Nutella  mousse hidden in a pot with mint to look like a plant and a flaky custard)

◦Back to the apartment

Day 2:

◦Started with a breakfast of Cinnamon Toast Crunch and fruit

◦Crossed the bridge to go to the Guggenheim museum – very interesting exhibits on black identity with regards to NY police brutality and collections of women’s art and abstract art of many kinds

◦Drove to the Lower East Side to eat lunch at Black Seed, a bagelry with tasty bagels (Grandpa ordered the “Larry David”🤪 (cream cheese and whitefish), Grandma for cream cheese and Sable, and the Alexa and I got bagels with cream cheese and lox)

◦We walked a block to Veneiro’s for dessert – really tasty – Alexa got a chocolate sponge cake called the Windmill, I got a double chocolate cannoli, and G&G split a slice of Sicilian cheesecake and a glass of horchata)

◦We went to the COLOR FACTORY WOOO with some very interesting and artistic interactive exhibits like drawing each other, a ball pit, skinny wheels, and complimentary desserts like Mochi, sweet cream ice cream, macaroons, raspberry soda, and gummies (complementary in color but  contrasting in taste) — very cool experience (so much for my no-sugar diet)

◦B&H, the tech store where Grandma and I became familiarized with the GoPro functions (huuuge store)

◦Drove up Madison Ave and down 5th Avenue where we went to find Alexas future dorm on W 70th street

◦Drove to the Chinese restaurant near Rockefeller Center, Wu Liang Ye, and ate 2 scallion pancakes, fried noodles with chicken, fried pork dumplings, egg rolls, and oranges

◦Lastly, drove through Times Square to the West Village to eat at the Big Gay Ice Cream store (not the best but more for the aesthetic)

◦Drove around NYU on the way back to the apartment

Pics: