Tag: new york

On the go (again)

On By SusanIn Baseball, Travel2 Comments

I know we’ve been a little lax with the blog, but no sooner did we get settled in Washington, D.C., than we were packing again for a short side jaunt to NY. Yay! We do love New York. What’s not to love?

Anyway, we haven’t done much in the way of exploring DC since our main goal was to see our beautiful, smart, adorable granddaughter. We are staying in Petworth, which is in northwest DC. A couple of short wanders have revealed many Latino restaurants we’ve yet to try, but are eager to. We are also close to the Metro, which makes the neighborhood more desirable to us since we can get around without driving. More on Petworth and DC when we have a chance to explore.

And then we were off to NY.

A sidebar on train travel

We took Amtrak from Union Station to Penn Station, which is great because train stations are in the middle of cities and airports are not. We were able to walk to our hotel; however, I would swear that the train made as much lateral movement as forward motion. Good thing Steven had taken the train not long ago and he warned me to wear my motion-sickness patch. The trains in Europe are a lot smoother — and faster.

We are staying in Murray Hill at the Kitano, which is a lovely hotel except that it is Japanese and the Japanese are still very Covid-nervous so all the restaurants and the jazz bar are closed. Oh well. It’s not like we were going to eat here, but jazz would have been nice.

Why wouldn’t we eat at the hotel? you ask. Because there was pizza to be had for lunch when we arrived and bagels to munch for breakfast.

Saturday we did what we usually do and took a death march from 38th up through Central Park and all the way to 94th Street. Then, we decided we wanted ice cream. I had seen vegan soft serve on 30th, so down we went. We hiked about 12 miles, but it was a beautiful day and we didn’t have any plans.

That evening, we met Steven’s aunt and uncle (Hi Uncle David) at a very delicious Italian restaurant uptown, Sistina. The food was amazing and we always enjoy their company. Because we hadn’t gotten enough exercise, we walked back (just another couple of miles).

Sunday was drizzly, so we decided to see “Nope.” Of course, we walked to the theater, enjoyed the movie (good, not great) and walked back. We hadn’t had any Chinese food, so we thought, “Why not walk to Chinatown?” Of course! On the way, we passed McSorley’s, which was teeming with police and firefighters commemorating 9/11. (New York wasn’t as somber as I expected. We saw a parade on Saturday, which we thought was probably a commemoration and was full of union workers, but we weren’t downtown, so I am sure there was more going on there).

We stopped at a bar around the corner from McSorley’s called Cooper’s in the East Village for a drink and to watch the New York Giants (who, despite their best efforts, managed to win). We ended up having a great chat with a couple of firefighters and a niece of one of them. Before we knew it, it was after 8. We thought, “What the heck, we’ll keep walking to Chinatown,” … but it was raining and we were hungry, so we hopped the subway and had Chinese at Chili. around the block from the hotel. All’s well that ends well.

Monday was a work day followed by the Mets game (We had 4th row seats right behind the Mets’ dugout!). Man do I hate the Cubs! 5-2 sounds closer than it was. Bases loaded twice and nothing to show for it. Sitting next to their fans at Citi Field was worse! Even worse, they weren’t even from Chicago, but Utah of all places. But, Citi Field is fabulous and I can’t wait to go back. Let’s go Mets!

Frida Kahlo is everywhere

On By SusanIn Guadalajara, Istanbul2 Comments

Our first major encounter with Frida Kahlo was, oddly, in Istanbul. What is the artist and feminist’s connection to Istanbul? We tried to find out, and guess what? She doesn’t have one! But posters, T-shirts (including one with her wearing a Daft Punk T-shirt of her own), phone cases, you name it, her image was on it. Everywhere were turned, there she was. She also is the subject of one of the many immersive artist experiences traveling around the world. Hers will be in Chicago, but alas, not while we are there.

Less strange was all the Frida merch in Mexico. A beautiful 150-foot mural by Irish street artist Fin DAC graces a building on Chapultepec in Guadalajara. Fin DAC painted the mural over 11 days in July (the month of Frida’s birth and death) 2019. The work is called “Madgalena,” after Frida’s full name: Magdalena Carmen Frida Kahlo y Calderón.

Of course, she’s all over Mexico City and we could not pass up a chance to go to Casa Azul, or the Frida Kahlo Museum in Coyoacán. This is the home where she lived her entire life and in addition to her art, you can see her home’s furnishings and the beautiful courtyard. We accidentally had another Dead Person Bingo session, too, since we didn’t realize until we saw the urn that Frida’s ashes sit on the dresser in her bedroom. Sorry, I didn’t take a picture. If you happen to be in Mexico City and want to head to the museum, get tickets in advance. They are timed for every 15 minutes and they are booked. Plus they don’t sell them at her home, as several disappointed people found out. If you’re looking for Frida bling, there’s plenty of it to buy on the street, which I am sure you assumed.

You probably know that she married Diego Rivera, Mexico’s second most famous artist, twice. He also has some murals and paintings you might want to see if you’re in Mexico. Diego painted the world around him, while Frida’s most famous and most common subject was herself as she explored identity, the body, and death. Unsurprising themes considering her attachment to a womanizer and her body’s failings due to polio and a bus accident.

Just a few blocks from La Casa Azul is another home turned museum, that of Leon Trotsky. Frida, Diego, and Leon were well acquainted. Trotsky is buried at this home, where he was assassinated in 1940 after being exiled by Stalin. Luckily, I did take a picture of his gravestone. His second wife, Natalia Sedova, is buried there with him although she outlived him by 22 years (A two-fer in our Dead Person Bingo game!).

You would think that we were done with Frida sightings when we left Mexico and headed to New York, but you’d be wrong. Here she is interpreted by Lady JDay in New York on the front of the Ridge Hotel at 151 E. Houston.

One last Friday encounter: the movie was one of the options on the plane during our flight to Rome, where we are now.

Having seen this article, I realize I am late to the game, but better late than never.

Birthday in the Big Apple

On By StevenIn Baseball, Relationships, Travel, Uncategorized3 Comments

Before I get to the post, I want to remind everyone that when I write the post, Sue’s comments are shown in italics and vice versa when she writes. This is important today as I suspect that she may have just a few minor really unimportant comments on the post. 😉

Memorial Day weekend is my birthday, and it is kind of a big one (a VERY big one), so we decided that it was time to take a trip. Sue is fully vaccinated, I have had my first shot and will have my second in a week, so we think we should be safe. My birthday present is a weekend in New York, doing something we both love – seeing baseball games. It is our good luck that both the Yankees (YAY!!! GREATEST BASEBALL TEAM EVER! Um, most annoying overblown team ever) and the other team – you know – the ones from the amateur league – what is their name?….The Nots?, The Nudniks? The Queenies?….oh yeah…The Mets (BOOOOO!!!! Meet the Mets, meet the Mets, step right up and up and greet the Mets and please get a bullpen and give deGrom some support!) are both in town that weekend.

So here is the plan – such as it is. Friday night, we will be driving up after Sue gets home from school. It is allegedly a 3.5 hour trip, but on a holiday weekend, we figure more like 6. I suspect we will bring snacks and a picnic dinner in the car. We made reservations at a hotel in Chinatown, so we think we will be there by 10-10:30, settle in and maybe go out for a quick wander and perhaps dessert.

Saturday we have a free day. Our usual methodology is to pick a few places that we might like to visit and just start wandering vaguely in that direction, stopping and changing plans as often as the mood takes us. The other day, I noticed the Museum of Ice Cream on the map, so for me that is a must “see”. Sue is unfortunately lactose intolerant (sorry Sue, no ice cream for you don’t care, don’t like it) maybe they have some of that vegan not really ice cream. Too bad, so sad. You can assume we will be partaking in many of our culinary favorites while on the streets. Bagels, pizza, perhaps a street gyro, and of course, multiple Chinese and Italian bakeries. Saturday night we will find a nice place to eat to celebrate my birthday and if it is possible maybe go out for some jazz.

The Nots, Nudniks, Queenies I mean, Mets, are playing the Braves on Sunday night, and given the antics from a week or so ago (deGrom struck out seven, gave up three hits and he had two hits and one RBI) – we hope to see their bullpen blow another brilliant performance by deGrom (love him!)(or any of their starting pitchers). It is an evening game, and so we will have another morning and at least early afternoon to wander some more. No idea what will be doing, but there are always fun places to visit when you are in New York. If you do not know this, Sue is as ardent of a Nots, Nudniks, Queenies…er Mets fan (this is their year!!!I believe!!!!!) as I am of the the Yankees (GREATEST BASEBALL TEAM EVER. Wrong, everyone knows Yankees suck) I suspect she will write some alternative narrative for this section…Oh well. Let’s see what damage she does. The game is scheduled for ESPN’s Sunday Night baseball, so look for us! We will be the couple engaged in hand-to-hand combat and loudly booing each other. Of course, I will be rooting for Atlanta (I think this is grounds for divorce).

Monday, the Yankees (GREATEST BASEBALL TEAM EVER BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO) will be playing the Tampa Bay Rays in the afternoon; our plan is to get up, grab breakfast, get in the car and drive up to the Bronx. With a little luck we will see the Yankees trounce the Rays (although at the moment, the Rays are taking the Yankees’ lunch money yet again. The Yankees look SOOOO BAD, it’s fabulous), in the sunshine in the beautiful house that Ruth built, well, not really because it is the new stadium, but let’s let that go for poetic license. Over the two games I will have my fill of all the perfect baseball food…hot dogs, popcorn, Cracker Jack and beer. Sue will have to make due with some attempts by the plant munchers to simulate these great flavors using plants, nuts and seeds. Following the game, we will hop back in the car, and head home.

Of course all of this is dependent on the stadiums staying open (or even should I dare hope open further), us getting tickets and the whole world not shutting down again.

PS. No spreadsheet needed for this one. 😉

New York—My Kind of Town

On By StevenIn Travel, Uncategorized1 Comment

It is Monday late afternoon—and if you are from the company I work for—it is after 5 p.m. I am sure. We arrived in New York on Saturday morning after another early morning flight. Every time we book a flight at 7 a.m., I think it will be fine. Just get up early one day and then we will have the whole day to spend in the city. But then the day of the flight comes and we have to get up at the crack ass of dawn and I curse Sue for letting me book an early morning flight. So what did we learn here? That is right—it is all Sue’s fault.

Anyway, we got to the Park South Hotel at about 10:30 a.m. and asked to drop our luggage. Much to our surprise, our room was ready so we checked right in. After a quick unpack and a deep breath, we set out on our way with no particular destination in mind. We wandered down 5th and around and about and stopped in for our first NYC food break—pizza! Afterward, we found our way to Madison Square Park and the National Museum of Mathematics. We were very disappointed to realize that it was a museum for kids. Bummer. We quickly checked the google and re-routed ourselves to the Whitney Museum. It was a bit of a hike, but 1.5 miles and a pretty chilly 45 minutes later we were in line. Steven forgot to mention my favorite thing: We got in free! A man with a corporate account had two extra tickets. Bonus for us.

The Whitney was great. In addition to their usual collection, they had an exhibition of Diego Rivera and others who were influenced by his murals. It was wonderful. We spent a couple of hours wandering through and then headed out. We walked north on the High Line all the way to 30th street and then straight across Manhattan.

We had dinner at an Indian place around the corner (don’t eat Indian food in NYC unless you like it bland. Every time I do it, I am disappointed. The food was good, but not at all spicy.) and ended the evening with a 9:30 show by George Coleman at the Jazz Standard club which is right behind the hotel. Mr. Coleman is a not-so-spry 84 years old. In fact, he needed to be walked onto stage by a helper and there were times that I thought he might fall off his chair. He has clearly lost some of his skills, but his band did their best to make up for his shortcomings. Decent show, but barely an hour and I was really hoping for more. Oh well.

Sunday was another chilly day, but us being us, we didn’t let it get in our way. Once again we laced up our boots and started our journey by grabbing a bagel and schmear at Bagel and Schmear which is next door to our hotel. Yum! Great bagels. We headed downtown to the Tenement Museum on Orchard Street. Very interesting. It is less of a museum and more of a guided tour of a tenement building that includes the history of the residents/businesses in the building. We enjoyed it, but it isn’t something I think I would do again.

20200301_141740We headed west on Delancy on one of our pie in the sky/it seems like good fun searches. I read on Atlas Obscura about a small piece of Manhattan called Hess’s Triangle that the city tried to buy and the owner fought tooth and nail for years not to give up. It is now a small triangle in the middle of the sidewalk on Christopher Street and is still privately owned. Bear in mind it was about 1.5 miles to get from the tenement museum to Christopher Street, solely to take a photo.

We headed back north towards the hotel and realized that we were a bit hungry and in need of a small sit down. We found a bakery just off Washington Square Park that had hamantashen. These were not your usual hamantashen, no poppy seeds and raspberry jelly to be found anywhere. We had six between us. Three halva, two apple and one chocolate. A perfect break. Once we finished, we headed back to the hotel and were back in time for Happy Hour.

For dinner, we headed to midtown to see my Uncle David & Aunt Marcella. We hopped the 6 train up to 59th and walked a couple of blocks to their apartment. We had dinner a very nice French restaurant called Match 65 a few blocks away. It was a great evening full of interesting conversation and great food.

Great start to our trip.  Tomorrow is a work day. ;-(

 

 

Midwinter Break All Set

On By SusanIn Travel2 Comments

If you are a loyal reader (and thank you if you are), you will know that we were struggling to decide where to go the first week in March. Well, we decided, but it’s nowhere warm. Maybe a little warmer than Chicago (but that’s not hard), but not a bask-in-the-sunshine trip. That’s OK. Costa Rica and Houston will both be significantly warmer than Chicago, where as I write this, it is 20 degrees. But at least I saw the sun.

For our fabulous mid-winter break (yes, I know it will be March, but that’s barely halfway through winter here), we will spend the first half of the week in New York. Can’t go wrong there. Then we are headed to Boston. Steven can work in both places and I can work, too, (I hope I have work), see friends, family, and feel like I’m home again.

Somehow, it doesn’t matter if it’s warm in New York. We don’t have any specific plans, aside from pizza. We don’t really need them. If Uncle David (also known as Unky) is around, we will have dinner with him. Otherwise, we will wander, shoot photos, eat, and maybe take in a play or some music. Who cares? It’s New York.Moakley_Courthouse_and_Boston_Harborwalk_02.JPG

In Boston, we will stay with Steven’s brother, Phil, and sister-in-law, Naomi. Family hospitality. They don’t have a choice! Plus, I hope to see some friends of mine from college.

In case you were wondering, yes, I do realize that I am effin’ lucky. I love to travel, and we have four trips planned before the end of summer. That doesn’t even include my niece’s graduation trip. She is as of yet undecided about where she wants to go, but is thinking somewhere in Western Europe. Stay tuned.

 

Road Trip!

On By StevenIn Baseball, Relationships, Travel3 Comments

The summer is soon upon us and we are thinking about getting in the car and driving. The Saab is still in good shape (for a 13 year old car) and so we are getting into planning mode. As Sue told you in her last post, I have started a new job where, horrors of horrors, they actually expect me to show up and work. Not sure what I was thinking when I agreed to this. But, I have now been there 2 weeks so it is time to explain to them that every summer I need to be on the road for (hopefully) 3 weeks.

This year, we have to be in Boston in late July for a wedding, so our thought is to drive there via Canada. The outline of the plan is to head for Montreal via Toronto, then to Quebec City to see three great Canadian cities. Then drop south into Maine and visit Acadia National Park. After we hang out with the blue bloods in Bar Harbor (pronounced Bah Hahbah) for a few days, will set our sites on Boston for the wedding.

Thank you SomeEcards for capturing my sentiments perfectly.

While in Boston, we will (hopefully) have time to go to Fenway (and lustily root AGAINST the Red Sox). From Beantown, we will head to the Big Apple (home of the Yankees–the greatest baseball team EVER (he is delusional) and Sue’s team–the Mets!!!!!!!), because we both love that city. From New York, it is pretty much a straight shot westward across Pennsylvania, Ohio & Indiana until we get back home to the Windy City. All in, about 2,500 miles and 42 hours of driving. Sue would to go to Nova Scotia from Quebec City, but that will add another 700 miles and 10 hours of driving, so we will see.

All in, I figure it is a 20-day trip, give or take. That assumes a minimum of 2 days in each city and no driving days of more than 6 hours. We haven’t really started to do the nuts and bolts planning (hotels, what we want to see, odd ball places to stop, etc.–ahem, who’s going to watch that giant beast of a dog?), but I think we will probably start that pretty shortly–once I ask for the time off…