One of the things we love about our apartment is the view of New York City and the Hudson river. Just sitting in our living room, we can see some pretty interesting things that happen on the mighty Hudson. In the past, we have seen flybys during Fleet Week, speedboat races and plenty of cruise ships. This month, we have already seen two interesting sights.

Earlier this month, the Intrepid returned to Pier 86 after a two year refurbishment project. It was pretty cool seeing the aircraft carrier being escorted back to its place of honor on the west side of Manhattan.

Then, earlier this week, we saw the Queen Elizabeth 2 being escorted out of New York, as she embarked on her last trans-Atlantic voyage to London before being decommissioned and becoming a floating hotel in Dubai.

Monday, we did the NYC Waterfalls cruise again, this time with my parents. Last time Tanu had to stay inside the boat with Arav, so this time I took the job of keeping Arav entertained. It was a nice evening, so later we drove across the Bridge once more to head to Brooklyn Bridge Park. We were a little bummed to find a huge line outside Grimaldi’s, and the ice cream place closed. We spent some time walking around a bit, and explored a newly opened part of Brooklyn Bridge Park. We had a great look at the waterfall under the bridge from there, even though the wind directed a bit of spray our way.

But the real find of the evening was Grimaldi’s. As we headed back to our car, we decided to check out the length of the line again. It was still long, which almost dissuaded us, but we decided to stick it out instead, and boy was it a good decision. Their pizza is some of the best I have ever tasted. Usually when you hear about something being “the best in New York”, it turns out to be all hype. But Grimaldi’s was everything it is advertised to be. It’s a great little pizzeria, that has a family-owned vibe to it. And the pizzas are great. I think the only place I have had better pizza is in Italy, but this wasn’t far behind.

If you are in New York, and you love pizza, you have to make a trip across the Brooklyn Bridge to try out a little slice of heaven. Just remember to bring cash, because they don’t take credit cards. You won’t be sorry.

This weekend we decided to visit some of the shiny new parks now available to us on either side of the Hudson river. The exploration started Friday evening, when we took a stroll just down the waterfront from our building to J. Owen Grundy Park, which reopened this past July. The park, set on the pier next to the Exchange Place PATH station, has been completely renovated, and looks really nice now. From the hardwood boards underfoot, to the metal benches and tables, to the well-lit canopies, everything has a lot of thought put into it. It is a really pleasant place to take an evening stroll, or catch lunch to the sounds of live music at the performance pavilion down by the end of the pier. I have to say, I am really impressed, not expecting much from the Jersey City government.

Saturday, we tried to check out the Jersey City Reservoir. But the gates were closed, so that plan had to be aborted. Looking in through the closed gate, it seemed more like a nature trail than a park, by which I mean that it seems it will be hard to take a stroller in. So I don’t know if we will be able to check it out.

On Sunday, we took Arav on his first PATH train ride to the city to check out the newly opened section of the Hudson Waterfront Park by Tribeca. With a nice boardwalk, lovely gardens and some interesting sculpture pieces scattered throughout, it has potential. But it still feels a little underwhelming. Shady spots are few and far between, and when compared to nearby Battery Park, there is little for people to do except sit on the grass or fly by on their bikes/rollerblades. There are a couple of tennis courts, but thats about it. Still, any park in the concrete jungle of Manhattan is to be treasured, and we could already see that there were plenty of folks out to enjoy their new park.

Lets see what else we can find in the weeks left this summer (can’t believe it’s going to be over soon).

There’s a new tourist attraction in New York City – four waterfalls that seem to have sprung out of nowhere to captivate the imagination of the city.

Okay, so maybe they didn’t exactly spring out of nowhere. Olafur Eliasson’s work cost a lot of money and took a lot of engineering to put together. But the result is quite captivating. “The New York City Waterfalls” may be one of the largest works of public art ever put together in the urban landscape, but it is quite New York in its feel. It combines the sheer engineering prowess that created Manhattan in its current form with the waters that define the island. The falls recall something of nature in a city where nature is not natural at all. The Brooklyn Bridge waterfall is simply beautiful, shimmering in the night, one more jewel on our city’s grand dame.

We took a Circle Line cruise last night that took us on a tour of all the waterfalls. It was our birthday present for Tanu’s dad. The cruise was pretty short, but being able to “visit” all the falls, and see them up close and from different angles was pretty cool. I put the photographs in the ‘Life As We Know It‘ section of my website. Check them out.

Today is the first day since spring officially started that the temperature is expected to cross the 70 degree mark. After weeks of rainy and cloudy days, it is expected to be bright and sunny. I just happen to be going to the office today, so I am hoping to be able to take a long lunch break and get outside into the sun.

This morning when I woke up, the view outside our window was pretty cool. The rain last night had created a foggy morning, but as the temperature was rising, the sun was slowly burning off the fog from the top down. The result was a really cool view where the buildings of Newport, and in the distance, New York City were starting to poke their heads out of the fog.

Now if I can only get outside and enjoy the weather.

Joining the continuing series of public art installations at Rockefeller Center is Electric Fountain by Tim Noble and Sue Webster. This hulking structure sits in the same spot occupied every winter by the Rockefeller Center Christmas Tree, overlooking the rink and the statue of Poseidon. I saw the thing being put together last week when I was walking home from work, and was interested in seeing how it would turn out. And it turned out pretty decent.

The structure is an attempt to evoke a fountain of light, as thousands of blue LEDs and neon tubing try to create the illusion of light flowing, splashing and pooling like water in a real fountain. The effect, on a wet and rainy night, was pretty cool, though not spectacular. I mean, with Times Square just a few blocks, this light show manages to look interesting but not that extraordinary. The good thing was that because of the rain, we managed to see it without too many crowds around it.

Electric Fountain is going to be illuminating the Rockefeller Center plaza through April 4th, so check it out if you are going to be around. If you aren’t, you can check out some of the photographs I took by checking out the album “Electric Fountain” on my Life As We Know It page.

Today was a day of celebration, a day to continue the great sense of fulfillment that we started to feel on Sunday. Leaving the house early in the morning, I headed over to downtown Manhattan to join thousands of fans in welcoming home our Superbowl Champion New York Giants.

Superbowl Champions. It still has a great ring to it. I joined thousands and thousands of Giants fans who feel the same way to share the love with the team. Even getting to Broadway as early as I did was no help, as I had to squeeze through crushing crowds to find a decent spot. We had to wait for hours, but the crowd passed time with some good natured New York fun – throwing toilet paper rolls across the street, bouncing a beach ball along the length of the crowds, even an inflated condom at one point (only in New York). People were climbing on top of lamp posts and phone booths. Chants of “Let’s Go, Giants“, “MVP” and “18-1” kept rising from the crowds.

Suddenly, the crowds roared as 8-9 buses rolled past us, obviously carrying the team members down to the starting point for the parade. The “Canyon of Heroes” was getting into the right mood to greet the returning victors. There was a giant screen set up by where I was standing, and a little after 11am, the crowds roared again as it showed Eli, Strahan, Coughlin and more emerge with the Vince Lombardi trophy and get on their float.

It was a lot of fun to be part of the crowd celebration, everyone doting on their beloved Giants, sharing this communal feeling of joy. When the defensive players went by on their floats, shouts of “D-Fense” went up. When a float or bus went by carrying people no one could recognize, chants of “Who Are You?” would fill the air. When Eli, Strahan and the Lombardi trophy came by, the place really went crazy, with everyone shouting “MVP” and “New York Giants“. When the float carrying the assistant coaches went by, chants of “Redskins suck” and other similar derogatory screams went up in an obvious appeal to Spagnuolo to not leave the Giants for a head coaching job there. Some players were obviously having more fun with the crowds than others – Pierce, Strahan, Bradshaw. A lot of players were taping the crowds, and were signing jerseys, caps, anything that the crowds threw at them.

After the last float went past, the crowds dispersed rapidly but pretty calmly. The surrounding streets and train stations were a sea of blue jerseys. Big Blue ruled the town this morning.

Photographs: I added photographs and video from Superbowl Sunday and the parade to my photo album on the ‘Life As We Know It‘ page. Just click on the album “Giants Win Superbowl” when you get there.

As our anniversary came around, I had to figure out a way to celebrate it that would not tax my better half (in her current condition). So the plan was broken up into manageable chunks.

Between work calls at the office, we managed to sneak out for a late lunch at Remi’s, a nice Italian restaurant a couple of blocks from our office. The place has a Venetian theme going in its food and ambience, and is supposedly designed by a famous architect (Adam Tihany). It was a nice, elegant setting that made me wonder if it would be more romantic as a dinner place than a lunch place. The lighting was nice and the music was pleasant and at just the right volume. The service was also very good and attentive without being obtrusive (though it may have had to do with the late hour, since lunchgoers had already left). But, most importantly, the food was great. Tanu had been craving Italian food for a couple of days, so the excellent dishes at Remi’s was just what the doctor (in this case, pregnant lady) ordered.

In the evening, we strolled across town to the AOL Time Warner towers at Columbus Circle, to get to Jazz at Lincoln Center. There I had reserved a table at Dizzy’s Club Coca Cola for the 9:30 set. The place is on the 5th floor of the tower, with a great view overlooking Columbus Circle. We settled down for some really good Southern style food. Tanu actually liked my blackened salmon entree a lot and took my plate, but I didn’t mind because her lamb dish was excellent. If you are looking for a great place to spend the evening in the city, I highly recommend it. Food prices aren’t too expensive (by New York standards), and the cover for the jazz set was about $30 per person.

But the real reason we were there was to listen to the jazz set being performed by the Eliane Elias Trio. They were playing a tribute performance to jazz great Bill Evans, who I really like. In fact, one of the members of the trio, bassist Marc Johnson, was part of Bill Evans touring company. Eliane, who has recently released a tribute album to Bill Evans, told a story about one of the songs they played. Bill Evans had composed the song shortly before his passing, and had given the composition on a tape to Marc. Marc passed it on to Eliane (who it turns out he happens to be married to) to transcribe and record. They performed that song after explaining its history, and it was a really special moment.

It was an excellent performance – “one of the best live music performances we have seen”, as Tanu put it. To see three musicians playing with such soul, such obvious enjoyment of each other, and which such passion, was really moving. And the music selected was absolutely great, ranging from soulful melodies to lively foot-tapping creations. We just loved it.

The music was still in us as we left the center to head home, after a really wonderful evening filled with good food and great jazz. we will definitely be heading back at some point to the venue named for the great Dizzy Gillespie, because it is a great place to spend a pleasant evening.

Photographs: I added photographs from the evening to our website. You can check them out by going to the “Special Occasions” section of my website, clicking on “Birthdays & More”, and then going to “Our Anniversary 2008″.

Update: And a big shout out to Tanu for saving my a$$ that day. Because while I did figure out the plan for the whole day, it was her that came to the rescue when I got to the office and realized that I had forgotten my wallet at home – credit cards, ID, cash and all

Last night we got together with the gang for dinner at Buddakan. The fusion restaurant in the basement of the Chelsea Market building was as close as we could to being in our old digs.

Dinner was a blast. Outside, the temperature was hitting 23F, so we all stumbled in out of the cold hoping for some libations and warm food. We got everything and more. Conversation was great as always. It was fun meeting up with Louis after so long. Well, for everyone else at least; it was only a few days since I met with him for the Giants-Pats game. The Kapadia’s told us about their recent trip to the land of Oz. And Advait was, well, Advait.

The star was the food. The appetizers were amazing, and the family style dining emphasized at the restaurant meant that we got to sample every single delectable piece. Advait and I were in agreement that it seems like the appetizers are better than the main entrees at a lot of these establishments. So if you are ever at Buddakan, order a whole meal of apps and you will be really satisfied.

An evening of good conversation and good food ended with plans to meet again this weekend, to cheer on our Giants.

Well, in person anyway. I have never been to an NFL playoff game, but the Giants-Patriots game last night felt like one. My beloved Giants lost, but they played out of their f@&$ing minds. And because they were in the game until the failed onside kick in the last minute, the excitement never went away.

With the news all week about Giants fans selling tickets to Patriots fans, I was expecting the stadium to be overrun with New England fans. But I was surprised (and proud) to see that while that may have happened, Giants fans showed up in droves to support the G-Men. In fact, there was more Big Blue support at the stadium than I have ever seen (usually there are a lot of casual fans). And there was a playoff atmosphere right from the kickoff. And that first drive by Eli and the Giants, where they went downfield and scored, set the tone for the whole night.

Back and forth the game went, and the great thing was that throughout the whole game you felt that the Giants could do anything. They stood toe-to-toe with the best team in football, and they rose to the occasion. No starters rested, and they played their hearts out, and (for better or worse) they made us believe. They made us believe that they could beat the Pats. And they made us believe that they can do something good in the playoffs. Tampa had better watch out.

We watched one of the greatest QB’s of all time make history. That long pass to Randy Moss that set the two records (can’t believe they managed to orchestrate that), with him doing that while getting hit in the face, after just having missed the same play, showed just how great he is. And managed to knock the wind out of the crowd for a while. That was the turning point of the game.

It’s not the best game I have been to; that honor still rests with a Yankees-Red Sox playoff game I went to. But it was close. I felt proud of my Giants. And the atmosphere in the stadium was electric. Even my cousin getting into it with a jerk of a Pats fan 3 seats behind us, who was quiet all game but started jawing off in the 4th quarter when they got the lead, didn’t detract from the enjoyment of the game.

Oh, and many thanks Ranjeet. It’s a shame you couldn’t make it to the game, but thanks for giving Sid, Louis and me this experience. It was unbelievable.