New York, New York

So, as the last long post was accidentally deleted I am going to try saving this one as I go - so if it looks a little short - please come back - it will have grown longer.
We left Chicago a couple of days ago and have been in New York since then. Chicago was not what I was expecting  . . . but then I'm not sure what I did expect . . . just not to like it as much as I did I suppose.I think I could live there and that is the biggest compliment I could give a city. We had great weather -  breezy, but sunny - the Art Institute was fantastic, the zoo was a hit with Celeste, everybody was really lovely and helpful and most importantly we had very,very good food. And it's so ridiculously reasonable for us here at the moment. I pity people with dollars who come to visit the UK at the moment . . . you'd have to get a loan out to eat in London for a week.
And, of course, there was Anish Kapoor's Cloud Gate, the giant, gleaming bean that sits in the Millennium Park. It has a very feminine roundness to it which is a bit of a relief amongst all those skyscrapers and although it's obviously dwarfed by all those towering buildings, its design cleverly reflects and multiplies them.Taking a photo of us mirrored in it was of course a cliche and so had to be done . . .

And so, to New York . . .
I haven't been here before and Simon has, so we're pretty much doing what I want to do. 3 days isn't long though and I would rather wander around and get a feel for a city then rush around like a headless chicken taking in 'sights'  - so that's what we've been doing, with the Guggenheim and MoMA thrown in for good measure - oh, and the Staten Island ferry because it was so HOT yesterday we needed to find a breeze.

We spent the biggest part of today at MoMA wandering the galleries in no particular order, eating lunch, playing with C in the children's area and sitting in the sculpture garden.

Really liked this digital wallpaper from the Design and the Elastic Mind exhibition. Computer generated plants who's growth and movement are linked to sensors that take their data from the 'real' world. It rains outside the gallery - they grow inside the gallery. Clever.

These pictures preceded an event that was, I believe, a first for our baby. . .

After crawling around for a good long while on Jim Lambie's tape and, it turns out, black dirt, floor we removed her to try and clean her hands and salvage what we could of her clothing. At which point she threw a tantrum a 2 yr old would have been proud of. I write this in a slightly tongue in cheek manner, but in fact it was quite upsetting - I don't know how I will get used to them. Maybe there won't be too many . . . !? Anyway, she got over it with some milk and a cheese biscuit and I had a strong dose of caffeine to steady my nerves. Oh, and a visit to Purl Soho definately helped too.

On a much more surreal note it just so happens that the Pope heard we were visiting and decided to make his trip coincide with ours. We only managed to bump into each other once - he's a busy man don't you know - but he gave Celeste a wave so clearly he recognised us. I think my Grandpa would have been pleased.