Time Warp New York Details

I'm going to be out most of the day so no time for a totally new blog entry BUT I was just looking at the two photos below, taken two years apart.  Guess what, their prices for farmed osetra from France has not gone up in two years.  Amazing considering the skyrocketing fuel prices we are experiencing now.

Time Warp New York

We decided to trust our little guidebook and look for a resto a little off Central Park, a few blocks from my favorite Museum (Natural History). We get to the address only to find out that it had closed down already. By some Cosmic intervention however, we found ourselves near a deli we ate at during our last visit back in May 2006.

The place is called Barney Greengrass - King of Sturgeon and despite the many obvious toursits that go there it is still a genuine, honest to goodness, kosher deli. The sandwiches are plain, something you'd slap together at home but the ingredients are A1. That plus the people there are real characters.

That's where my time warp comes in, the guy behind the counter was still the same dude. Two years running he's been slapping sandwiches together, cutting fish, pickling gerkhins, etc. and he still does it with a smile. When I asked him if I could take his picture and told him I was there two years ago doing the same thing he laughed and said that couldn't have been him. You be the judge, he's doesn't exactly look like Tom, Dick or Harry.
Why does this girl keep jumping in frame as I click the camera?

The Big Apple Conversations

Spent a quick overnight stay with the wife and family in the Big Apple. I have to say, I'm a big city boy at heart and I love New York (what a cliche). The hustle and bustle, the grimy subways, the way people keep to themselves. I've been there several times already and it was starting to get a bit boring this time round but there was a definite change. Now people are more helpful, strike up conversation with you out of the blue and it really changes the landscape. For instance;

Scene 1. Walking on one of the cross roads between 7th and Ave of the Americas, lugging my camera and taking pics. Along comes a businessman that keeps pace with me.
B-man: You take pictures professionally or is this a hobby?
Joey: I do this professionally.
B-Man: Really, where do you publish your pictures
Joey: Oh, I'm from the Philippines so most of my clients are local magazines from there.
B-man: Nice, and your just taking pictures of the street?
Joey: Yes, lots of people from the Philippines haven't been to NY so I want to give them a feel of what this place is like.
B-man: You want to take a picture of a busy businessman walking on the street?
Joey: ah, eh,
B-man: just kidding.

Scene 2. Walking behind some Spanish speaking dudes on 7th. Can't make out what they are saying but all of a sudden they stop and look back as a beautiful mama cita walks by.
Dudes: Saying something in Spanish, most likely complementing the figure of the woman that just walked by.
Dude 1: (looks over to me and says) She's fine isn't she?
Joey: I'm married.

There were so many other instances where we were just standing in front of a subway map or wondering which station to get off on when strangers approached us to help out. It was a nice feeling.

Maybe New Yorkers were always nice and just got a bad rap but now I know for sure.

Boston Revisited

Had an earlier post on Boston but thought I'd share a few more pics. I like Boston, easy to walk around in. As a matter of fact, they have a painted red stripe that tourists can follow which will take you through most of the major points in the city.

Of course if you don't want to walk you can take your pick of one of the dozen "duck tours" conducted on old WWII amphibious vehicles which take you from road to river in a flash. The wife and me though decided to walk it, it was a nice day and with the roads closed off for the Celtics' Championship parade there was a nice community spirit. This guy even thanked the clean-up crew for their effort. There was so much community spirit I couldn't help but buy myself an overpriced Celtics T-shirt.

Ahoy there matey

Enough of my dog and back to the trip. Newport, as half its name suggest is also a major stop for those who are lucky enough to be able to own their own boat. Maybe boat sounds too demeaning, yacht I think is the correct word.

We saw everything from tall sail ships to more modern Miami vice type boats (like this one with a jetski attached to it). Makes you wonder what kind of work these people do (sorry, sour graping).

Along with the sea comes . . . seafood, and I have to say, these mussels are the best I ever had.

Happy Birthday

Sorry, the following is absolutely non-travel or photography related but if I don't greet her on her birthday she'll never forgive me.

Happy birthday Carmen!

Newport

A stone's throw away from our home base of Johnston, okay actually a one hour drive away, is the town of Newport - past vacationing spot of the then rich and famous who decided to put up their little "cottages" on its shores.

Like the Bill Gates of the present, the Vanderbilts of the past had to have special "toys" in their homes like a single piece marble bath tub imported from Italy complete with three faucet plumbing, hot, cold and seawater. There was an internal intercom system inside the house as it was so huge but no outside lines, it was deemed rude to converse with neighbours over the phone. Nope, instead they sent their servants over to deliver hand written notes. Hard to believe how far we've come since (or fallen, depends on your view) in our world of text messaging, YM-ing, Twittering, blogging, e-mailing. . . . . and the list goes on.

War, what is it good for?

Apparently, war memorials. The Vietnam War memorial is probably the best known one but walking in Providence we walked into a more modest one remembering the Rhode Island war veterans of the Korean War. Like the Wall in DC, this memorial has individual names of soldiers that gave their lives in that conflict.

How come we don't have any war memorials in the Philippines, we sure took part in plenty of them in the past.

It's not to glorify war, but wouldn't it be great if I could take my imaginary kid to a place, point out a brick or an inscription on a wall to show her the name of Kapitan Jorge my Katipunero ancestor who unfortunately now only lives as a sidebar in the history of a military camp.

Mabuhay ang Pilipinas!

Providence, RI

Our next stop was Rhode Island and although there was a lot of unpacking to be done we did take some time out to go see Providence. Apparently the city was historically famous for it's part in the slave trade, it provided the rum used to trade for slaves, and some of its more prominent citizens were made it big in this business. Of course when they finally realized that slave trading and ownership was wrong (wonder what caused that), people like John Brown (as in Brown University) became ardent abolitionists.

Providence is a great walking city. Small enough to get around in on foot, especially in its historical center. Summertimes they also have an event called Firewater festival which has bonfires just above the water's surface light up the three rivers of the city.

The city has a good small town feel to it with lots of bikers going around doing their thing. Unfortunately we only spent half a day there and we inevitably ended up in a shopping mall watching "The Incredible Hulk". Oh well.

Check out their walking tour which in such a small city covers all the major points and make sure to drop in to the RISD, Rhode Island School of Design.

The Fastest Wedding in the West

We walk into a spartan room. There are two sets of chairs arranged behind two tables marked "Defense" & "Prosecution", funny considering two families that just walked in lived worlds apart. Instead of a court room drama, usually accompanied with witness statements, rulings and objections this was going to be the setting for Case's, my wife's sister, civil marriage. The only words that mattered here would be "I do".

Within less than ten minutes, after a very short ceremony, marked by giggling, laughter and long looks into each other eyes the judge pronounced them man and wife.

Congratulations Sam & Case.

1st Stop - Lebanon . . . . Pennsylvania

Ah, Pennsylvania. Home of the Philly cheese steak, the Amish, Civil War sites and Steel City Pittsburgh. Unfortunately we saw non of that (not even the cheese steak). With my wife's sister living there, Pennsylvania has always been more about chillin', shopping and eating . . . in other words, quality family time. This time around, sister in law was also going to get married and so a lot of the hustling and bustling with people flying in for the reception.

She was also moving to Rhode Island and so a lot of packing had to be done. The result, instead of your mundane sightseeing tours, a true American experience, here are the highlights. 1st, we rented a big hulking gas guzzling SUV (GMC Yukon) since all our stuff from the airport coming in wouldn't fit in one car. My environmental self was gringing at driving this monstrosity but my "you haven't experienced America unless you've driven a monster SUV" was saying go for it. Next picked up a U-Haul trailer and packed everything in for the move to RI. In between we had a civil wedding inside court house and an amazing garden reception. That deserves an entry of its own though.

I'm back Jack!

Here it is, after nearly a month away from home I'm finally back, with gigatons worth of pictures and lots of great memories. I've never really been a fan of traveling to the US, there isn't the excitement of getting lost, or trying to converse with people who do not understand an inkling of English but there was something different about this trip that excited me nonetheless.

Among the highlights of this trip were new destinations I had not been to before like Boston, Newport, Miami, Atlanta, Key West, Durham and the Outer Banks. Swimming in a new body of water, in this case the Gulf of Mexico, is always a milestone for me and then of course there were the beaches full of . . . fun and "frolicking" people.

Equally as important was catching up with relatives and friends who got out of their way to pamper and spoil me.

I want to say that I had planned this trip to the last detail but truth be told I was just a willing passenger on this trip. My only contribution was not to cloud my hosts with destination suggestions of my own which would undoubtedly would have ended up with us being in the most mundane tourists traps in the country. Nope, this time I told them it was purely up to them where they want to take me, I was game for anything and the result was a great exploratory trip of discovery for me and sometimes for my companions.

I plugged in the places I slept in Google Earth in chronological order (leaving out San Francisco so as not to blow the map out too much). What I didn't plug in were the places I went to during the day because that would just clutter everything up too much. I didn't realize I'd end up pretty much covering the east coast from as high up as Boston all the way down to Key West, 90 miles off the shore of Cuba. Click on the image to get a bigger picture.

Thanks to all the friends and family that I mooched off from (and who graciously allowed me to mooch).

Quiet time

Am over half way through my US trip and so far it has been a blast.  I've not been able to post anything (except for the Boston item) since I've just been bouncing around from state to state.  Finally though, I've found my refuge with my good friend here in Florida where time has slowed down enough to actually allow me to write something.

I was initially thinking of doing a blow by blow narration of my trip but we all know how that has turned out.  Between travelling from city to city and catching up with friends and family and staying out late in exotic and nice (emphasis on the exotic) spots I haven't had the time.

Please be patient and I'll have stuff on here soon.  As a preview here's a quick rundown of where I've been; Lebanon (PA) - Rhode Island - NY - back to Rhode Island - back to NY - Baltimore - Durham - Hatteras - Atlanta - back to Durham - Orlando.

Here's where I'm going next - Miami - Key West - back to Orlando  and finally San Francisco.  So far it's been epic, between the long train rides, the day long road trips I've actually gotten some quality time in with friend and family who have been kind enough to feed, shelter and show me around.  

Watch this space.