chinatown tour

m and c and i took a tour of chinatown with beth of big onion walking tours (m says it's called big onion because none of it is true, it's all made up) and several other homeschoolers (thanks to michelle for putting the tour together!). it's always great to walk along streets in manhattan that i've never been on before. i also got very turned around and discombobulated as everything angles down there under and around the manhattan bridge! at one point i saw the brooklyn bridge where i felt for sure it should have been the manhattan.

our tour guide spoke about tenement buildings and how crowded the conditions were; she showed us the russian orthodox church on eldridge street and the fire department's dragon emblem on their truck; the statues of confucius and lin ze xu; and ended the tour on doyer street which twists sharply into a 90 degree angle and made me think of athens. the information was a bit chaotic and i wish we had done a little more research before going on the tour, but i can look at it the other way and use it as a beginning point. it would be good now to do more reading and look through m's walking tour cards she received for her birthday and pick out a chinatown one to do again this summer.
after so much chinatown m and c were craving a bit of italy so we just had to make our way to mulberry street and finally to ferrara's where we relaxed and treated ourselves to gelato and whipped cream, and admired the nougat. (it always looks so pretty but i'm never tempted to eat it!) we always have a fun time hanging out at ferrara's.

lillejulaften

for lillejulaften we visited little italy today. we had pastries and hot chocolate and a cafe mocha at ferrara's. little italy at christmastime is so fun and pretty. we popped into di paolo's but the line and the prices sent us off to east village cheese! but it was fun to poke our heads in anyway.
my brother-in-law is norwegian and ever since i was five his mom and dad would have my family over at christmastime for krumkake and tea and coffee. i miss those days . . his parents passed away a number of years ago . . the memories of sitting around their little dining room table and eating dessert are very strong. his mom played the piano beautifully and she would always play some carols for us. my sister always thought it was funny that both his mom and our mom were named doris and had a brick red rug lining the floor of their living room.
there's still some wrapping to be done tonight, and several items still to be baked. it remains to see if i can accomplish the tasks . . or fall asleep! i usually give my mom and g's mom a calendar with photographs as a christmas gift. but i haven't even begun to upload the photos i would like to use. i'm always too tired at night . . and that's really the only time i have to do the task. i also need to send my cousin in california a gift. we have hers for us under the tree. and i never sent out cards this year . . i love the thought of sending cards but finding time during the day is difficult to make happen . . ! happy lillejulaften!