A couple of weeks ago I returned from my New Year’s vacation. After a hectic December, I flew to Manhattan on December 31 to celebrate New Year’s eve with Jesper and Mia and for a full two weeks off the grid.

It was also my very first time skiing. I had had a few moments of cross-country skiing before, but very little — and never downhill. But after New Year’s, we drove to Killington in Vermont for a prolonged weekend of downhill skiing. I believe in challenging the boundaries, which meant a lot of falling in the beginning, but nothing serious.

I think it went well, and on day three I was running the black slopes. Admittedly, they are not the same as the Austrian black slopes, but still. I’m as hooked on this, as I am on water skiing, and have already booked a trip to go to Davos with some friends later this year.

The rest of my vacation was spent on Manhattan, with a couple of detours to Long Island and New Jersey to test drive cars (and my first ever visit to Wal-Mart). As I’ve said before, writing page up and down about New York doesn’t make too much sense to me. Instead, here is a couple of the take-aways:

• Breakfast keeps getting better and better. Delicatessen on Prince st makes my favourite french toast, and the Moroccan on Mott st is great for low key, with a twist (can’t find it online, but it’s on Mott between Houston and Prince)
• Shopping went overboard. Odin is one of my top new fashion stores, but for some very strange reason I didn’t buy anything there. Big mistake. Marc Jacobs keeps ruling the Village and continues to open new stores (now an extra men’s store on W 4 st and Bank). And, Jack Spade now has an extra store on Bleecker. It’s bigger than their other store, well worth a visit.
• Freemans was one of the best dining experiences I have had in New York. It is a hidden treasure — and it really is hidden. You walk up a relatively narrow alley, pass a barber shop in order to get to it. They make great food — and also great Manhattans.

It was cold, but it was great to spend time with Jesper and Mia, who again seized the opportunity to play personal shopper for a day.

Back in Copenhagen, I’m now listening to the new A Camp (Nina Persson’s side kick next to the Cardigans) album, Colonia, which was released yesterday (in Scandinavia, other countries to follow). I loved their first album, and am also very keen on this one.

So far my favourite tracks are Bear on the Beach, Love Has Left the Room, Golden Teeth and Silver Medals, It’s Not Easy to be Human, The Weed Had Got There First. Go listen on MySpace.

And they play in Vega on March 31. Spring is looking great already.

More photos here.

Tonight is the last night we have on Manhattan. Yesterday late afternoon there were thunderstorms over the city, which cleared the sky and made it look bright and blue this morning, which made the city even more beautiful than it normally is. It also lowered the temperature a couple of degrees, which made it a lot easier to walk outside.

We’re just about to head out to dinner, but I just wanted to post a quick picture before that. The star photographer behind the camera is Christoffer.

The photo taken from inside the atrium of a shopping centre at Columbus Circle, which is at the Southwest corner of Central Park (map), overlooking the circle itself, a statue of Christopher Columbus, and Central Park South (the street in the picture).

Christoffer and I are now back in New York City after our small road trip to upstate New York, Bear Mountain, West Point, Hartford, Providence, Boston and the Hamptons. We drove a nice Ford Mustang convertible, which Christoffer makes look good in the photograph below.

It is so incredibly warm here, it is hard to believe, but I guess that’s what you get from visiting the city in July.

I have made a Google album with some of the photos from the trip, that we’ve shot so far; you can find it here. I have also bought a camcorder, so once I return to Denmark and upload the movies to my Mac you’ll get some of those also.

One of my best friends, Christoffer Husted Rasmussen, is on exchange at New York University this Fall. Being abroad is an excellent excuse to start a blog, and of course, Christoffer went right along and did so — welcome to the blogosphere Christoffer :-). So far, he has nice stories and photographs from New York City. Boy, do I miss it!

This photograph is from the Awards Banquet of the CBS Case Competition 2006 in March. Christoffer is the one on the right.

The first premise
One of the blogs that I subscribe to is Overheard in New York, which refers small conversations, tid-bits, and what have you that have been, well, overheard in the Big Apple. I think it is hilariously funny–and–having lived in New York City myself, it helps me drive down memory lane once in a while.

The second premise
Another one of my favourite sites on the web is Google Maps–and especially derivative sites such as the GMap Pedometer and FindVej (Danish). The site is lightning fast compared to other map services on the web.

Conclusion
Why shouldn’t you map the conversations that have been overheard in New York City on a map? Well, someone did it, and they used Google Maps–they call it Overplot.

From when I lived in NYC. Read more about the Statue of Liberty at Wikipedia.

Browsing my photographs, I found a picture I took August last year when I was studying at NYU. Sometimes, I dream myself back to the city, but–as alluring as dreaming maybe–one should always try to breathe in the moment. In fact, I find there is some healthy balance to be found between past, present, and future in which your mind should be. Where is it exactly? In any case, in these minutes I dream.

…how wonderful it is to do your evening/before bedtime sit-ups and arm-stretches when you can see the Empire State and Chrysler buildings from your room. I love it.

PS. Pictures from Central Park coming up one of these days

Just another picture from our trip.

The picture is taken from a small bathing/boat bridge. We are on are way to Lake Placid from Tupper Lake (this lake is in between).