Going About In Gotham . . . .
A snippet from my travels of the past week . . . .
"Tuesday, July 18, 2006:
I have felt the hot breath of the New York city subway on the back of my neck and on the back of my legs, which ran with sweat. The subway trains themselves are cool and air-conditioned, but expel their exhaust heat directly into the tunnels, so that comfort is a fleeting illusion underground. As I make my way back with my wallet and safety intact, I feel the thrill yet vague disappointment that the city dwellers are not the thugs we upstaters often expect, but just the decent people they by and large are. No doubt some of them would be equally downcast to see us country folk exhibit an I.Q. above 20 and fail to express an interest in seducing our cousins or our livestock . . . ."
Okay, enough with the prosaic stuff! The main thing is, I had a dandy visit down in the big ol' apple - although the heat on Tuesday was indeed brutal. A certain librarian friend of mine informs me that someone literally cooked an egg on the city sidewalk that day to prove a point, and I can well believe it! Fortunately, when Traveling Companion and I went to Dorney Park in Allentown, Pennsylvania the next day to collect more coaster blood (I've been on 79 now folks!!) it was at least a bit cooler. And I can tell you from firsthand experience that Dorney has some of the genuinely wettest water rides I've ever been on - and I've been on plenty!
Other highlights of the trip included a visit to Lombardi's on Spring Street in Little Italy - said to be the first pizzeria ever built in the United States, over 100 years ago. Very good pizza, indeed (and you have to be good to last in Manhattan that long)! And a real taste novelty - a trip across the street from Lombardi's to an - I'm not kidding - all rice pudding restaurant. Rice to Riches makes one type of dish only, and makes it very well. They have a website which you can look up if you don't believe me, a real NYC attitude and oh, yes - something like 30 varieties of rice pudding. If you are on a diet, this is NOT the place for you, but if you are on vacation . . . .
Kudos also to Lunella Ristorante on Mulberry Street, also in Little Italy, for their excellent cuisine. They may think they can keep me from finding out their recipe for Pasta Fagiole, but . . . .
I also visited the Metropolitan Museum of Art, where I goggled shamelessly at the collections of Japanese and Chinese art, and a special exhibit on the Mayan kings and their treasures. And at the American Museum of Natural History, companion and I took in special exhibits on Darwin and on Reptiles and Snakes. A visit to Mitsuwa Marketplace in Edgewater, NJ allowed me to procure some Japanese soap for my very fragrant collection (yay!) and mull over some oriental decorations I can't afford quite yet . . . . Alas, heat and severe thunderstorms on Friday dictated an early exit from Hoboken and kept us housebound. But with a little help from a super-character named Enigmatech, I learned a thing or to about playing City of Heroes. The battle against evil continues!
So now I'm back in Cow-Town-On-The-Hud-Castle applying for jobs and waiting to hear back on the two last-minute interviews I had last Monday (c'mon guys!). I've also been playing the human-vs.-housefly version of Doom, since the local population apparently decided to take advantage of my brief absence. Me: 25, Flies: 0 Back to the grind (sort of) . . . .
"Tuesday, July 18, 2006:
I have felt the hot breath of the New York city subway on the back of my neck and on the back of my legs, which ran with sweat. The subway trains themselves are cool and air-conditioned, but expel their exhaust heat directly into the tunnels, so that comfort is a fleeting illusion underground. As I make my way back with my wallet and safety intact, I feel the thrill yet vague disappointment that the city dwellers are not the thugs we upstaters often expect, but just the decent people they by and large are. No doubt some of them would be equally downcast to see us country folk exhibit an I.Q. above 20 and fail to express an interest in seducing our cousins or our livestock . . . ."
Okay, enough with the prosaic stuff! The main thing is, I had a dandy visit down in the big ol' apple - although the heat on Tuesday was indeed brutal. A certain librarian friend of mine informs me that someone literally cooked an egg on the city sidewalk that day to prove a point, and I can well believe it! Fortunately, when Traveling Companion and I went to Dorney Park in Allentown, Pennsylvania the next day to collect more coaster blood (I've been on 79 now folks!!) it was at least a bit cooler. And I can tell you from firsthand experience that Dorney has some of the genuinely wettest water rides I've ever been on - and I've been on plenty!
Other highlights of the trip included a visit to Lombardi's on Spring Street in Little Italy - said to be the first pizzeria ever built in the United States, over 100 years ago. Very good pizza, indeed (and you have to be good to last in Manhattan that long)! And a real taste novelty - a trip across the street from Lombardi's to an - I'm not kidding - all rice pudding restaurant. Rice to Riches makes one type of dish only, and makes it very well. They have a website which you can look up if you don't believe me, a real NYC attitude and oh, yes - something like 30 varieties of rice pudding. If you are on a diet, this is NOT the place for you, but if you are on vacation . . . .
Kudos also to Lunella Ristorante on Mulberry Street, also in Little Italy, for their excellent cuisine. They may think they can keep me from finding out their recipe for Pasta Fagiole, but . . . .
I also visited the Metropolitan Museum of Art, where I goggled shamelessly at the collections of Japanese and Chinese art, and a special exhibit on the Mayan kings and their treasures. And at the American Museum of Natural History, companion and I took in special exhibits on Darwin and on Reptiles and Snakes. A visit to Mitsuwa Marketplace in Edgewater, NJ allowed me to procure some Japanese soap for my very fragrant collection (yay!) and mull over some oriental decorations I can't afford quite yet . . . . Alas, heat and severe thunderstorms on Friday dictated an early exit from Hoboken and kept us housebound. But with a little help from a super-character named Enigmatech, I learned a thing or to about playing City of Heroes. The battle against evil continues!
So now I'm back in Cow-Town-On-The-Hud-Castle applying for jobs and waiting to hear back on the two last-minute interviews I had last Monday (c'mon guys!). I've also been playing the human-vs.-housefly version of Doom, since the local population apparently decided to take advantage of my brief absence. Me: 25, Flies: 0 Back to the grind (sort of) . . . .
posted by Marcia | 4:52 PM
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