Monday, March 28, 2005

USA | New York | Skymermaid

It was Easter, and by what I am sure was just a coincidence also my birthday. I called the Skymermaid who I had met previously in Mongolia and we went out to celebrate in a Tibetan restaurant. Very nice place and very good momos, even if they were a bit small. Otherwise, just like Barkhor Square in Lhasa (but no Lhasa-brand beer).

View of the Empire State Building (left) from the enormous picture window of the Skymermaid's luxurious penthouse apartment on 14th Street, just off Union Square.

For a bibliophile this neighborhood around Union Station is paradisiacal. Within a five minute walk are a four-story Barnes and Noble Superstore, the Strand Used Book Store, which claims to be the largest used book store in the world, and the East-West Book Store, with a staggering assortment of books on Buddhism, Islam, and various esoteric subjects. The Skymermaid was kind enough to show me all of these places.