An Impromptu Visit to United Nations Headquarters...Because, Well, Why Not?!

April 20, 2015
New York, NY

It was Saturday, and we were eagerly anticipating our friend John's arrival from Detroit for the weekend.  After cleaning up the apartment, we had 2 -3 hours to kill before John's flight was due in at JFK.  It was a beautiful spring day (finally!) - really more like summer - and we decided on a walking route along the East River going uptown. (We had done the riverfront path in the downtown direction together when there was still still snow on the ground, back in March).  This route takes you away from the riverfront and onto 1st Avenue in the vicinity of the United Nations headquarters, for security reasons, I am guessing.  

As we were passing by the entrance to the main UN building, we saw some other tourist-looking people talking to a guard and then entering.  So we followed them.  I handed over my snazzy New York state driver's licence to the foreign-accented, uniformed personnel and got a badge with my ID photocopied onto it for all to see.  Scott received a purple wristband (no idea why we did not get the same thing) and we went through the airport-style metal detectors with a conveyor belt for purses, backpacks, keys, watches, and the like.  In no time at all, we were in!  When we entered we were informed that very little was open since it was a weekend, and we still really don't know what goes on at the UN but here's what we saw.

After you exit the security area, you end up in a large, spacious sculpture garden fronting the East River. Unfortunately there were a lot of barricades in place and construction going on.

Easter Weekend: Frank Lloyd Wright's Fallingwater and a Visit to the 'Burgh

April 8, 2015
Pittsburgh and Mill Run, PA

Frank Lloyd Wright's Fallingwater

Today, we have been official residents here in NYC for 8 weeks(!). Thus far, it has been incredibly fun, exciting and exhilarating exploring and learning all there is to see and do here in this amazingly vibrant city.  But between the hectic pace (of the city in general and Scott's new job in particular), cold weather and the obvious challenges and adjustments required when moving across the country, it has also been pretty intense and exhausting.  Especially with the feeling of spring in the air, we were ready for a break from it all.  When Good Friday, Scott's first holiday from work, arrived on the calendar, we decided to take advantage of it by...driving to the western edge of Pennsylvania!  

We really wanted to get away, but we were nervous about holiday crowds at any of the popular weekend destinations close to the city.  Add to this that we had been wanting to visit the Frank Lloyd Wright-designed Fallingwater, arguably his most famous work, for quite some time.  And now, as luck would have it, we were finally situated in a part of the country convenient enough to do so!