No, this is not a blog about cooking, recipes, or food; not today anyway! Today my focus is on those two metropoli (is that a word?), Boston and New York City. I visited both of them this past weekend with MacKenzie. This was her Christmas present - and mine for that matter. A young lady named Melissa who used to babysit the kids for me (I may have mentioned her before) lives in Boston now. She has been wanting Mac and I to visit for some time, and finally we got the chance! The visit goes somewhat like this:
Thursday 11/01 9:37am: board flight to Chicago. Get the worst pilot in history who lands on one wheel, and bounces 4 times down the runway until he finally slams on the brakes and shoves us all into the people sitting in the seats in the next row. This is Mac's first flight ever, so you know she is freaking out. She looks at me and asks apprehensively, "Mom...is it ALWAYS like that?" I assure her that it not the norm. She then compares the rest of our landings to that one, and is pleasantly surprised to find out for herself that rough landings are the exception rather than the rule (I got lucky with that one!).
We have a 2 hour layover in Chicago O'Hare...eat lunch, sit around, and people watch.
We board the next leg of our flight and sleep the rest of the way, landing in Boston 4 hours after our arrival in Chicago.
Please keep in mind that Melissa does not own a car. She either walks or rides the subway everywhere she needs to go. I'm up for an adventure - granted, I had no idea what I was in for!
That evening we walked a few blocks from her apartment to the most marvelous little neighborhood restaurant and had dinner. A good night's sleep followed as the next two days would be packed with activity.
Friday 11/02 - early morning. Board the Greyhound bus for New York City. It is nearly a 5 hour trip from Beantown to the Big Apple, with beautiful scenery along the way. The trees in Massachusetts are changing now, and the brilliant yellows and reds are everywhere. Connecticut too is blazing with color. Mac and I listen to our iPods, sleep and read the time away. Before we know it, we are entering the city. We enter from the east - in the Bronx. It isn't the nicest part of the city; full of apartment projects, run down businesses, and graffiti on every building. We head further in , cross a bridge, and the New York skyline that everyone is familiar with, comes into view. The Empire State Building, the Chrysler Building, and the startling absence of the World Trade Center. I don't know why I expected the towers to be there...I knew that they wouldn't be. It was a moving reality to see them missing from their place of honor at the table that is Manhattan.
Once we exit the bus, we hit the subway and head for Times Square. What a magical place! We ate lunch at Planet Hollywood where I was able to compare my hands with those of mega-stars like Michael J. Fox, Cher, and Sylvester Stallone. The food was good, and the service was wonderful. I would love to go back. There is a Starbucks on every corner, and that is not an exaggeration. We stood in line for about 40 minutes for theater tickets; better than paying full price! We ended up getting tickets for "Rent," the Broadway musical; we didn't rent theater tickets. Then the adventure truly begins...
We decide that we should find our hotel, rest up and get ready to go to the theater district to see the show. We board the subway, or what we think is the right train, and proceed to ride what seems like 2 hours until we decided that we are going in the wrong directions. We switch trains, to find that we are NOW going in the wrong direction. One last switch to the first train we were on, and we are good to go. We ride to Queens. The neighborhood we land in very cute, and very ethnic. More Latino and Asian than anything else. The people are friendly and accommodating. Especially when we walked 8 blocks out of our way just to find out that our hotel was at least 9 blocks in the opposite direction. Yikes! By this time, it is getting dark...really dark. I'm not showing my apprehension, I don't want Mac to get scared. When we finally find our hotel, we have enough time to drop off our bags, change clothes, and head back out. A train ride back and we are back in the theater district.
If I were to give a review of "Rent," I would go on and on forever. I would use words like, "Powerful, Intense, and Moving." I have to say that it was one of the most penetrating productions I have ever had the pleasure of seeing. I laughed, cried, and felt true emotion for the characters and what they were dealing with there in front of me. MacKenzie, once she understood what was going on, was very moved by the story. I would love to see it again.
It was late by the time we got back to our hotel, but I slept well nonetheless.
Saturday 11/03: Roaming around NYC; shopping, sightseeing, visiting Chinatown, Central Park, and of course, Times Square one more time before we have to leave. We saw people eating what looked like slimy eel in Chinatown, we resisted buying one of the "genuine Gucci" bags the vendors were selling there - I did pick up a cashmere scarf, and a bunch of 5 for $10 I Love NY shirts. We ate at a real Chinese restaurant - I will not repeat here what I saw on the menu; oh what the heck; Anyone ready for some Frog w/noodles, or fried pig intestines? No? That's too bad. Actually, I stuck with the sweet and sour chicken - at least I think it was chicken...
We spent some time at M&Ms World - yes a store devoted to the king of candy, the colorful crown gem of the chocolate industry, the M&M. What a blast!
Sunday 11/04: More of the same, but this time in Boston. We visited Boston Commons, Harvard University, the Public Gardens, the new state house and the old state house, and then...Quincy Market. What a fabulous place! It is like a huge outdoor mall with a food court that runs straight down the middle. Everything you could possibly crave is represented there.
We saw the boardwalk, and the harbor. As the light faded into the evening, the lights of the city came on, and it became a virtual fairyland of light. We ate dinner that night at the Cheesecake Factory - one of my all time faves. It was a great way to end our visit.
Monday 11/05: We flew home.
I will never be able to thank Melissa enough for sheltering us and being our "tour guide" while we were there. It was a wonderful experience and one that I would love to repeat someday.
I love ya, Mel!!
