Tag: Fun fact
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The Rockefeller Center Christmas Tree
I kept my best Christmas picture for last: the famous tree at Rockefeller Center. I managed to catch a short window in the run-up to Christmas and ran over during a work break to see it. Even on a weekday, at a very random time, it was already crowded with people. So yes — I…
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Christmas Trees
This year I’m spending Christmas in Manhattan, which means scaling things down — but of course not the level of cosiness. After choosing a cute, real fir tree, decorations followed: lights and a variety of ornaments. But have you ever wondered where this tradition actually comes from? It goes back much further than modern Christmas…
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Rubber Ducks
Today’s find: a duck library. A bright red metal box attached to a street sign, similar to the little free book libraries, except this one is filled with miniature rubber ducks in various shapes, forms, colors and “costumes”. I assume the idea is the same: take one, leave one. Just with toy ducks. I still…
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Meow Parlour
Have you heard about cat cafés? Probably at some point in a documentary about Japan. But guess what — New York has one too! Meow Parlour, the city’s first cat café, is tucked away in the Lower East Side. A small, cozy space filled with thoughtfully arranged climbing and chill areas, warm light, and —…
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Joint Effort
Only in New York: where a prison-style bootcamp gym called Conbody takes the top floor, and right underneath it sits a cannabis shop named Conbud. Just rewind a few years and cannabis is exactly the thing that could have landed you in prison in the first place. To me, it’s such a contradiction—work out while…
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Borough Market
One of my happiest places in London is Borough Market. It’s been around for over 1,000 years, making it one of the oldest food markets in the city. This Farmers Market is full of life and variety: towering piles of vegetables, fruits at their peak, baskets of whatever’s in season, fragrant herbs, cheeses stacked high,…
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Breaking free
In New York, supermarkets can sell beer—but not wine or spirits. Those are reserved for licensed liquor stores. Which is why, at first, I thought some might have a special license. But it turned out the bottles I’d spotted just looked like wine—same grape names, same wine regions—until closer inspection revealed one big difference: they’re…
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Smile
Every time I walk past this glowing grin on the High Line, it makes me think about the universal language of facial expressions—and how a smile can cross cultures and communicate without needing translation. As you know, I’m fascinated by cultural similarities and differences. A smile feels universal—something simple that can have a real effect,…
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Pigeon Deluxe
It’s been a while since my last post—time flies in this city! But here it is, my weekend update, making up for the silence with something… big. There’s a giant pigeon on the High Line. Supersized in true American fashion. It’s very silly. Very ugly. But also very New York. The kind of thing that…
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School busses
The yellow school bus looks the same almost everywhere in the U.S.—big, boxy, and unmistakably yellow, with bold black stripes and a swinging stop sign. It’s been this way since 1939, when a group of educators and engineers met to standardize school transportation. Before that, kids got to school however they could—by farm wagon, truck,…
Josephine in New York City 