I am off on my latest adventure alone, no Rob with me.  It feels a bit strange to be traveling without him.  But, here I am in New York, en route to London.

I spent the day with Jeff and Jo at their condo in Queens.  We started our day with lunch.  They live in a very ethnically diverse neighborhood, so Jeff wanted to introduce me to some of the different cuisines around, rather than just go with the NY standby of a slice of pizza.  He took me to Bamboo House for Nepalese mo mos (steamed dumplings).  He had beef mo mos in a spicy broth.  The waitress said it was medium spicy, but to our Scandinavian palates, it was really very spicy.  Wisely, I chose the chicken mo mos without the soup.  Much better and not spicy at all.  For dessert we stuck closer to the familiar: cupcake and a banana chocolate tart.

After lunch we returned to Jeff’s apartment/condo, where Jo was waiting to greet us and show me around their place.  They have been busy painting the rooms in fun colors.  Jeff has become quite the handyman, removing wallpaper, painting, and even making plant stands with his new woodworking skills.  Jo’s plants are beautiful!  I’ve included a montage of some of my favorites.  We chatted for the afternoon.  About 5:00 I hit the road to take the subway back to my hotel for the night.  I had taken an Uber to get to Jeff’s from the hotel near JFK airport, and felt like I didn’t really experience any of NYC.  So, on the way home I opted for the subway.  I wanted to grab something light for dinner along the way.  My plan was to find a sandwich somewhere, but as I walked along 37th Ave, I spotted a traditional NY pizza place and figured that since I was in NYC, I ought to have a slice of pizza.  It was huge, and more filling than I had intended, but I feel like it was the right thing to do.  While I ate at a table facing the street, I watched the people walking by.  True to Jeff’s word, his is a neighborhood of great diversity.  I saw blacks, whites, young, old, children, teens, girls in headscarves, men in long white tunics, Indians, Latinos, Asians.  It was pretty cool to be a part of that diversity.

Tomorrow I am off to London. Blog posts will likely not happen everyday, but I’ll try to find a few interesting things to share.