Unforgettable

As we sat atop the double decker bus, pelted by rain from the remnants of tropical storm Elsa, wearing complimentary ponchos and unable to look ahead, because the water was coming too fast, I thought, this is a bus ride none of us on this bus will ever forget.  Let me back up and tell you what happened after we walked out of the hotel for dinner.  Actually, that was pretty uneventful.  We went to Chinatown, had amazing food, blah blah blah… We headed to the M&M store in Times Square, where Cas resumed his role as the biggest kid in the place.  It’s all pretty much what you’d expect, really, until the bus tour.  

We got tickets for a night tour, which would take place on a double-decker bus.  There was a 10-20% chance of rain, depending on which weather app you’re using.  The skies had been so sunny and clear that we’d stopped carrying two dollar-store ponchos around in my purse.  The weather was promising.  We had been watching the trajectory of the last little bits of a named storm from Florida called Elsa.  It was the source of plenty of our dampness over the past few days, but it was supposed to be pretty well gone after yesterday morning.  

The bus trip started off pretty great, too.  We were really enjoying the breeze, the sights and the view from the top that the height of the bus afforded us.  I felt a little drop of rain on my leg, but I thought it would be okay.  Then, there was a little more.  Then there was quite a bit, and the bus driver pulled over to distribute ponchos with the tour company brand on them.  We donned those and stayed right in our seats.  In fact, nobody was supposed to get off the bus.  At this point, a few less hearty folks went to the enclosed downstairs part of the bus, but most of us stayed upstairs.  With each passing moment, more people filled up the lower level, and by the time we were on the Manhattan Bridge, we could not open our eyes and look ahead.  The rain was too intense.  When the ponchos were distributed at about 9:15 or 9:30, I checked the radar on my weather app.  It looked like we’d be out of the woods at 10:30.  Turns out, though, around 10 was really awful.  Af a certain point, we did try to head downstairs, but that proved to be impossible, as it was totally full, no standing room, no dice.  

We moved to the very front of the upstairs and talked to the other folks there.  I asked if anyone was ever going to forget this trip.  They all agreed it was pretty unforgettable.  That was when I decided Cas and I had made a series of good decisions earlier in the day.  We had a bottle of wine back at the hotel that we’d picked up in the afternoon and a whole bunch of M&Ms that he just had to have.  Sounds like a perfect way to relax and dry off after a once-in-a-lifetime bus ride.  

I read the Dallas newspaper digitally every day.  It’s one of my morning rituals.  The story on page two was about how Elsa battered New York and New England on Friday.  Yep.  I saw it.  You know the weather you’re experiencing on vacation is pretty intense when it makes your hometown paper.  Still, it was actually kind of fun in its own way- not what either of us signed up for, but was it ever unique!  And the views were actually pretty before and after the utterly impossible parts.  

Nevertheless, that storm appears to be bothering Maine, at the moment.  Good riddance, I’d say.  We’re inside this morning, anyhow.  We’re being artsy today.  We’re going to the Met.  Time to be refined and appreciate beautiful things.  Honestly, after the ride last night, I will appreciate the roof especially.  

Here are plenty of photos: https://photos.app.goo.gl/2sYnZaQSheDb6sfJ6

I I’ll have what she’s having

Today, we started out with a visit to the 9/11 museum.  It sits between two large, square fountains that occupy the space from which the twin towers of the World Trade Center once stood.  The exhibits were downstairs from the main building entrance, and everything was dark and appropriately somber.  The 9/11 museum is sad, but it’s very well done.  It is both excellent and horrible, as you may expect.  We worked our way through the exhibits, spending more time in the one about he hunt for Bin Laden and less time in the utterly depressing one where they talked about the people who were lost.  To me, the one most striking exhibit to honor the dead was an art installation featuring square watercolor panels, all in unique shades of blue.  There was one square panel for each person lost that day, and the idea was to capture every individual’s perception of the color of the sky that morning.  It was a lot to take in, but a necessary stop on any New York City trip.  I was a first year teacher when that happened.  Cas was working in Detroit.  Anyone who was around then knows what he or she was doing that day, that’s for sure.  

Still, we worked our way through the exhibits and went outside to see the beautiful fountains.  After that, it was nearly lunchtime.  For that, we took a trip to the famed Katz’s Deli.  This is a New York legend, most famously (to my mind), where Meg Ryan and Billy Crystal shared a very funny scene in When Harry Met Sally.  

We ordered one sandwich to split- a classic- the famed pastrami on rye.  Here’s what half of it looks like.  

It was perfect.  And as a bonus, Cas let me have all of the pickles.  What a guy!  Also, he doesn’t care for pickles, but still, what a guy!  

On the way to Katz’s, we saw three things that were somehow on my mental must-see list.  As we headed for the subway, we saw a young guy vault over the entry turnstile with the grace of an Olympic gymnast.  After we were on the subway, there was a man on the subway car playing violin, and another man on the street effortlessly hailed a cab.  I think I could do it right if I tried, but folks from around here seem to proceed with the fluid motion of breathing in and out.  

Next on the agenda was the horse drawn carriage ride through Central Park.  We arrived at the spot where we were to meet up with the horse and driver, and we were introduced to Josh the tour guide and Lucky Sam the horse.  They were both great, though Josh was a bit more talkative.  He had a big personality, and he seemed pretty sharp.  (Josh, not the horse.)

The horse and carriage ride was very cool.  We are truly doing the tourist-ey-ist things we can conjure, but it’s all right.  The tourism industry in general seems happy to oblige.  We had to reschedule tonight’s dinner with Cas’ friend Scott, so we’re doing more tourist stuff tonight.  We start with dinner in Chinatown, then we’re really thinking hard about a double decker, open top tour bus.  I’m into it.  It sounds fun, and if it’s at all embarrassing to do stuff that corny, no worries, we don’t live here!  

Anyhow, that’s it for now, but enjoy these photos: https://photos.app.goo.gl/2sYnZaQSheDb6sfJ6

Steering into the skid

If you find yourself driving a vehicle that is slipping and skidding out of control, they always say you should steer into the skid.  I find that’s a good way to approach lots of things in life.  Is the circumstance you find yourself in very silly?  Steer into the skid and be silly along with it.  Well, we have steered right into our particular skid.  We’re being the tourist-y-est of tourists.  After the Statue of Liberty and Ellis Island, after a slice of pizza bigger than either of our heads and after innumerable subway rides, we went to the observation deck atop the Empire State Building.  We almost rescheduled, as the weather was looking pretty bad, but we managed to arrive and depart at just the right time for some pretty views and extremely light crowds.  I guess everyone else stayed away because of the weather.  We kind of lucked out, there.  The 80th floor was glassed in, and the views were spectacular, but we didn’t spend the majority of our time there.  The 86th floor was the one with the outdoor walkway circling the outside of the building.  That’s the one where you find yourself looking for Meg Ryan so she can see if Tom Hanks is still Sleepless in Seattle.  It was pretty great.  That building gets featured in a lot of movies and TV shows, in fact.  Good news, though, King Kong stayed home.  I suspect he likes to climb buildings in the sunshine.  

To further steer into the skid, we took the subway back to the hotel and ordered up a pair of Manhattans.  I thought it may be time for an Old Fashioned, but it occurred to me that we could actually have a Manhattan in Manhattan.  I asked the bartender if it was just a little too on the nose to do that, or if it was a good idea.  He seemed to think we should go for it.  He recommended doing all the tourist stuff, for example, he recommended a trip to the Empire State Building.  Hey- we were just there!  

Today, the adventure continues.  We go to the 9/11 memorial, grab a quick lunch and take a horse and carriage ride through Central Park.  The remnant pieces of Hurricane Elsa should have cleared the area by 10:30, or so our weather prediction apps say, and that makes all of this plausible.  

So, we’re off in a few, ready to take all of the selfies in front of notable landmarks.  If you ever find yourself in Manhattan, go ahead and order the drink they named here.  It’s okay- they’re used to it.  

Here are our photos: https://photos.app.goo.gl/2sYnZaQSheDb6sfJ6

Single green female seeks huddled masses yearning to breathe free

This morning began with a quick banana and pastry in the hotel room, followed by a subway trip that took us to the end of the red line and the beginning of the quick ferry ride to see the Statue of Liberty.  We were on the top deck of an open-air vessel, looking as we drew ever closer to the statue.  She is really something to behold, and I hadn’t thought of the timing of this gift from the French until today.  She was presented to the US by the French as a gift to honor our enduring freedom just after the Civil War.  Maybe we were really happy we made it through that… 

The statue was a thing to behold, though. 

She is so iconic, and certainly, we could have spent the whole morning in the museum, at the monument itself, or just learning new things, but we had a ferry ticket that also took us to Ellis Island, and we had to check that out. There we saw what immigrants saw as they exited overseas steamer ships and came to America for the first time, and we quizzed each other on randomly chosen questions from the US Citizenship test.  Good news- we both passed.  I think that means we can stay. That’s a relief.  

Honestly, we could have stayed there all day, too, but a banana and a pastry will only carry you so far, and for us, it was time to grab a slice of New York pizza.  

Before we leave on any trip, we always ask folks who have been where we’re going what we can’t miss.  One of the what can’t we miss? questions was about which pizza we needed to try.  That led us to Bleecker Street Pizza in Greenwich Village.  Wow.  If you are in the neighborhood, head there and try a slice of Nonna Maria pizza.  It has mozzarella, basil and tomato, and a slice is bigger than your head.  

When we left there, I thought it would be nice to walk in the neighborhood for a moment and soak it in.  Cas is better at planning destinations on a map than I am, but I managed somehow to stumble into a beautiful park dedicated to the Stonewall Riots, right across from the Stonewall Inn.  These are kind of sacred places in the gay rights movement, and it was interesting to read the plaques, see the locations and understand a little of the struggle these folks went through.  

From Greenwich Village, we headed to another subway stop to get to a new park in Manhattan called Little Island.  I read about it in the Dallas newspaper when It was first opened at the end of May, and it’s really cool.  It is 2.4 acres of space, created atop platforms that rise up out of the water.  There are different sections to the park, but our exploration was cut short because they apparently evacuate that park when lightning strikes happen in the area.  We walked in, looked around for a few moments, then walked right back out and to a winery.  Seemed like the thing to do at the time.  

After that, it was nap time, and now, we’re off to dinner on the way to sunset at the Empire State Building.  This day is checking a lot of items off of our wish list.  More later. 

Here are our photos: https://photos.app.goo.gl/2sYnZaQSheDb6sfJ6

We can now make it anywhere

We’ve made it to New York, New York, and I’m told that, if we can make it there, we can make it anywhere.  But I should start at the beginning.  Cas was having one college flashback after another, which, I suppose, is why he slept in.  I didn’t want to interfere- I’m so nice, right?  So I slept in, too.  We got a late start, and we headed to Lou’s for a breakfast so good that I’m glad I don’t live in Hanover.  If I did, I would weigh more and become a diabetes risk.  It was good stuff.  I can both recommend the Cruller French Toast and tell you not to eat it for your general health and well being.  

From there, we headed to the green and sat on a park bench for a bit, when thirst prompted us to wander over to the main drag in town.  We settled on a frozen fruit smoothie while sitting at a patio table.  It was a perfect morning.  The weather was cooperative, and the scenery was beautiful.  When it was time to head out, Greg reappeared and drove us for a moment to his house to say hello to Jackie.  They’ve got a very old, very sick dog, and neither of them is comfortable leaving the poor old guy unattended.  Nevertheless, Greg, Jackie and Cas went to school together, so I had to get this photo:

The Cape Air flight from the Lebanon Municipal airport to White Plains Westchester County airport was the very most bumpy flight I had ever been on.  I was actually starting to feel a little unwell, and that’s so rare that I only remember that feeling on one other vessel before in my life.  I figured out the trick that day- it was to look at a spot outdoors, far away and breathe slowly.  Hey, you have to figure out what works for you, right?  There were two women on the row in front of me, and I could see both of them were having a tough time.  One was gripping the edges of her seat very hard while the other one was hanging on to the side of the window.  I suspect that I wasn’t the only one having a less-than-optimal flight.  Still, it was nobody’s fault.  We had lots of clouds to fly through, and that made the airplane into a roller coaster.  We landed five minutes ahead of schedule, and everyone was pretty happy to be back on the ground.  

Cape Air had a complimentary shuttle that took us from the far flung airport in White Plains to Penn Station in the city.  That was a bumpy ride, too, but really, our threshold for bumpy was a little skewed at that point.  From Penn Station, we picked up a pair of seven day MTA metro cards.  Unlimited subway and bus rides- seems like it would be totally worth $33.  We already took one ride from there to our hotel, so it’s a good start.  

Our hotel is in Manhattan, steps away from Times Square, and it’s incredibly small.  This city is full of places that make good use of space, I’m guessing.  The end of the room that faces the street is all window with a sheer roll down shade and an opaque one, both of which are controllable by the iPad that came with the room.  It’s really bizarre.  The thing that is most striking, though, is that the mattress is poked into that space.  You can only approach the bed from one side- the way they’ve got it set up, that would be the right side.  It’s a big king mattress, though, so Cas and I have decided to put the pillows on the left side (heads toward the window) so neither of us has to disrupt the other too much if we need to get out.  It’s kind of funny.  There’s a measurement app on the iPhone, and it told me the room width is eight feet.  The bathroom is strange, as well.  The shower and toilet are in sort of a capsule.  The sink is outside that capsule, where you walk by on the way from the door to the bed.  The whole thing is highly efficient, and kind of bizarre, coming from Texas.  I would need more space than this to put my living room furniture in here and make it usable.  

Nevertheless, we’ve got a bed and the place looks clean.  Not a whole lot more we could have asked for.  We did go for a walk that took us to Times Square for the absolutely necessary tourist photos.  After that, we walked until we located a spot for dinner.  We went to a dim sum place and had the very best dumplings I can remember eating.  They were either superior to all other dumplings, or I was really hungry.  I’m willing to guess it was both.  

We headed back to the hotel by way of a decent neighborhood bar where the music was slightly too loud, made plans to meet up with Scotty, the last piece of Cas’ college-buddy-puzzle on this trip and made it back to the tiny room.  We have an early appointment with a tall, French lady tomorrow morning.  She’s been on Ellis Island since 1886.  It looks like we may get a little rain on our way to the Statue of Liberty, but honestly, after Boston, we’re pretty acclimated to that sort of thing.  Anyhow, it’s all good.  We made it here, like I said, so I suspect we can make it just about anywhere.  

Here are our photos: https://photos.app.goo.gl/2sYnZaQSheDb6sfJ6

College kids

This morning, we left Boston, took the train to the airport, and got on board the smallest airplane in which I have ever paid to travel.  We were in a Cessna that was the same model of airplane featured on the TV show “Wings.”  In fact, the whole experience felt a lot like that show.  Cape Air took us and two other passengers to the Lebanon Municipal Airport, where we were greeted by Cas’ college buddy Greg.  He took time out of his day, rescheduled a meeting and drove us the seven miles or so miles from the airport to our hotel.  

We ended up in a room at the top floor of the historic hotel, the Hanover Inn, with a window that overlooks “The Green,” which is a grassy space between here and the library. After we dropped our bags in the room, Cas walked with me around campus, taking several detours down memory lane.  He would wander a little, mumble a few things, turn a different direction and move by muscle memory or sense of smell or something.  It was kind of a sight to behold.  

We paused in the middle of the adventure to have lunch with Greg.  One meeting for him ended, and another one was later, so he had a little break time.  That also gave me the opportunity to snap this great photo.  These crazy college kids, right?  

Anyhow, when Greg had to head back for another meeting, Cas walked with me down to the Connecticut River, at which point, we decided to walk across the bridge to the other side of the river, because neither of us remember ever crossing a state border on foot before.  You’d think he may have done it, going to college here, but nope.  

Seriously, though today’s humidity was sp intense that we came back to the hotel, grabbed some mid-day showers and changed clothes.  We had to,  It was too gross and sweaty.  Following that, we went to a bookstore that somehow magically served beer, wine and cookies.  What a great idea.  Then, we hit up a grocery store and headed back to the hotel.  I needed a nap, and Cas needed to indulge in a little nostalgia, so he grabbed his book and went to “the green” to read for a moment.  

After that, Cas and I went to dinner and Greg arrived after we finished to have a beer with us.  We pretty much closed the place down, but it was great to see the two of them catch up.  They picked up wherever they had last left off, from all appearances.  It seemed like they had spent tons of time together, when in reality, the last time the two of them were in the same room was about five years ago.  Never mind, the college kids were having a great night at one of their favorite old haunts.  

Tomorrow, we see Greg again, and probably his wife Jackie, too, then we’re off to Lebanon Municipal Airport for a trip to New York.  It was great to see Cas’ college.  It’s really pretty, here.  It really puts UT Dallas to shame, and it was great to spend the day with these two college kids.  

Here are the photos: https://photos.app.goo.gl/2sYnZaQSheDb6sfJ6

Hashtag college days

A universally understood challenge of college life is how and when to obtain clean laundry.  Today, Cas and I made that happen.  We took all of our dirty clothes from the trip so far to a spot on Prince Street and used a fistful of quarters to make everything usable for a second time.  It’s really a brilliant way to travel- just pack a carry on, then do a little wash on the journey.  You end up meeting local folks, and you carry less of your stuff around the world.  

After that, we headed back to the hotel to put everything back in its place, and then we were off for a little walk. Following that, we went to a spot called Legal Seafood for a dink ahead of our reservation. We were slated to meet up with Matt (or Mattty), Cas’ college friend who lives near Boston.  I hadn’t met him in person, so it was a first meeting or me, but certainly, Matt and Cas shared lots of good and/or fuzzy memories.  

After dinner, Matt went back home, and Cas went with me to the Bell in Hand for a quick, last-night-in-Boston beer.  Mission accomplished.  College behaviors, college pals and college-style staying out for a beer- except that it is currently pretty early by college standards.  Hey, we’re not 27 anymore, are we?  Nevertheless, we’re being as wild and crazy as is reasonable in this circumstance, and certainly, we were all super reasonable in college.  And who doesn’t love clean laundry?  

Enjoy some photos:  https://photos.app.goo.gl/2sYnZaQSheDb6sfJ6