Wading in the Red River

I had my first Californian visit last week! It was so much fun and really made me feel like I had things to share in this city, so I hope to get more visitors! Bryan got here 4th of July, unfortunately missing his flight and therefore missing the beautiful Macy's fireworks. However, me and the GS kids had the fortune of watching the fireworks at South Seaport from Jake's private 13th-floor balcony with not only a great view of the fireworks, but the Brooklyn Bridge and the waterfall underneath it as well. It was really nice to see the entire GS crowd together, have a few beers and enjoy the view.
Saturday July 5th: Headed to Chinatown and hopped on the infamous Fung Wah bus to Boston. Despite all the crazy things I've heard about it, it was an uneventful ride, arrived in 4 hours exactly.

My first impression of Boston was: how antique. For some reason it totally slipped my mind how important Boston was in the founding of this country. Even more amazing was how well this city has retained that early colonial feel. On top of the east coast tradition of red-brick buildings (aka brownstones) Boston is dotted with historical statues commemorating famous sites and numerous 'first American ___'.

Saw the beautiful Hancock Building, one of the two buildings that comprise the Boston skyline (wow, I can see the NYC pretension creeping up on me).

Had drinks at the Top of the Hub, the 51st floor of the Prudential building. On top of a delicious Purple Rain Martini, I got beautiful views of the entire Boston-Cambridge area, sunset on the Charles River, and Fenway Park.

After this, we ambled down Newbury Street, which is full of cute little shops, including my favorite, Sugar Heaven, with ten different flavors of fudge, mostly alcoholic. Came across this great bookstore/cafe, Trident, where I picked up a few artsy gifts and had delicious Pumpkin Ravioli (my pumpkin fetish continues off-season). Next door was JP Lick's, a famous ice-cream place, which I sadly didn't try because I was too full, but judging from the lines, it must have been delicious.

Sunday:

Walked the Freedom Trail, coming across numerous historical sites on the way.

Visited the New England Aquarium. I'm not a big proponent of trapping animals and displaying them for minimal didactic value, but the jellyfish exhibit was fascinatingly well-lit, and the penguins were very cute.

Walked through North End, the Italian district, and went to another hot-spot, Mike's Pastries, with lines out the door for canolis. Here I had my first real Boston experience: Someone left their dog in the car in the blistering heat with no open windows, and this cop comes around asking "Does anyone have New Yaaak plates with a daaag in the cahhh?" When they couldn't find the owner, all these burly t-shirt clad firemen come and split the door open and save the tiny little, to the applaud of thick-accented, shamrock-tattooed Bostoners. Awesome.

Continuing the walk around the (thankfully) small city, we went to both Cheers bar locations, and walked through Boston Commons, which is their equivalent of Central Park.

Monday:
I got semi-early, went to visit MIT and while trying to get breakfast, I accidentally happened upon Harvard campus and enjoyed my Finagle Bagle with Lox spread on the steps of some Harvard Building. I came across a great comic store in Harvard Square, had some quarter-machine tell me (and the whole store, in its booming voice) my fortune.

As many of you know, MIT was my first-love, the university that I had my heart set on and was twice crushed by. I had to go see the campus, imagine what it would be like walking from class to class there. Unfortunately the campus had no maps, so I couldn't do much but walk around aimlessly and see which building didn't require access to enter. The newer buildings exude innovation and technology, but even the older buildings one can imagine were modern at their time of making. All in all, MIT's architecture stood out like a beacon of contemporary design in a sea of colonial antiquity.

After the hot campus tour, I sat at the MIT sail pavilion, soaked my feet in the Charles River, and enjoyed the great view of Boston from across the water.

That night we scalped tickets to a Red Sox vs. Minnesota Twins game at Fenway Park. Fun game with great plays but no scoring until the 8th inning. I got to see the intensity of Red Sox fans: very few people without jerseys, and strangers high-fiving strangers every time the Sox scored.

We finally made it back to NY Tuesday afternoon, regrouped after 3 nights of sleeping on couches, and watched our first Broadway musical, Rent at Nederlander Theatre in Times Square that night. I must say, I wasn't prepared for how emotionally intense it was, and it left me a bit depressed at the end. However, if you go prepared for an emotional musical, you might appreciate it more. That is not to say the acting and singing weren't great, however.

Afterwards, we cruised through Rockefeller center, only to see this mini (well not so mini) Erector set model of the Rockefeller building right out in front of it. This model wasn't there about a month ago, which just goes to show how the city never stagnates, and its always worth revisiting the tourist hot-spots.

Wednesday July 8th: Visited the Met, and this time I got to see the amazing Egyptian exhibit. What constantly blows my mind is how artistic a culture they were, and I enjoyed seeing their ornate, hand-crafted jewelry and intricately carved tombs.

Afterwards, we had some real New York pizza at Lombardi's, which is apparently 'America's first Pizzeria'. The pizza was simple and delicious, and right across the street was amazing Rice to Riches, a snazzy, modern dessert place devoted entirely to flavors and flavors of rice pudding.

Later that night, after a failed attempt to find Hudson River Flicks, we went to the Fat Cat, an unpretentious gaming-bar-meets-jazz-club where Bryan kicked my ass in chess in 30 seconds flat.

Thursday July 9th:
Went to my first gallery opening in NY! A radio station called WNYC (the local NPR, apparently), had a competition of NY street photography, which is essentially capturing people in their daily (or not so daily) routine. The top 35 photos were displayed, out of approximately 10,000 submitted. I loved how the photos covered every aspect of NY: the subway station, models, Wall Street men, historic streets, the homeless, and even the snowy winters. My favorite photo is below, showing the painful breaking of a ceramic bowl of brightly-colored fruit on the sidewalk.

Afterwards was some bar-hopping in the West Village, ending with Bryan lighting fireworks in the middle of the street at 2am to the cheering of spectators, and visiting the craziest sex-fantasy shop I've seen so far.

Friday: Watched Brazilian Girls in concert at Prospect Park, which was eclectic dance music, fun and free.

Saturday:
Finally got to see Jones Beach, or any beach for that matter, since California. So much fun, the water is tons warmer than Pacific Ocean, and the waves much fiercer. We all definitely got thrown around multiple times, my favorite being knocked into the ground and then back-flipped all by the same wave.

On the way back, we went to Beer Garden at Bohemian Hall in Queens. Essentially an outdoor bar with good, cheap beer and a crazy German grill going, we ended up staying there for several hours with a constant flux of new people leaving or joining the group.

Sunday:
Upload photos, recover, regroup and get ready for work!