Behind, Again

It’s been a while, I know. Sorry. We got busy. So, let me catch you up.
I think I left off on our last rainy day in Boston. The next day was a lot nicer and we made a trip into Newport, Rhode Island. We had lunch on the wharf and browsed around some of the shops. Then we drove over and toured the Breakers. It was Cornelius Vanderbilt II’s summer home and it’s over 138,000 square feet. Holy Moly! And talk about a display of wealth. This house had painted platinum panels covering the walls of one room and gold leaf pressed between the patterns of the wood of another. There were rooms entirely made of marble and even bathtubs made out of one big carved out slab of the stuff. I can’t imagine what life must have been like in that house. Cornelius himself only spent one summer there before he had a stroke and died. But his daughters and granddaughters and other family members spent a lot of time there. I guess they just lived in a different era…

The Breakers: Summer Home

We got back to the house around 6 and dinner was ready. I can’t begin to tell you how amazing it was staying with Mike and Linda. They treated us more like family than houseguests. Dinner was always ready when we got back from whatever adventure we were having, and our conversations felt like we’d all known each other for years. It was a really pleasant part of the trip. I’m almost sad that we had to leave, but we’re on to different things now.

Ok, getting back on track. The next day we took the train with Linda into New York City. She got off in Stamford, where she works and we took it the rest of the way into Grand Central. I’ve always wanted to do that. Take the train into Grand Central. I’ve never been in the direction that trains come from though. I’ve always come into Penn Station. It was exciting. Jim thought I was an idiot, though. But that train station is my favorite place in the whole world. I can’t really explain why except that it just feels…I guess peaceful. You walk into the main concourse and the way the building is designed, it all of a sudden gets so quiet even though there are hundreds of people milling about. And the whole place is made of marble with elegant chandeliers…and the mural on the top! It’s just amazing. And not a wonder Cornelius Vanderbilt II was the one who designed it!

At the USS Intrepid

We walked to the first Starbucks, which was still in the station and found a line that wrapped out the door, so we moved on. There’s a Starbucks practically ever half block, so we found another one before we even crossed a street. Then we walked W 46th till it hit the Hudson, where the USS Intrepid is docked. She’s an aircraft carrier that was used in WW11 and the Cold War before she was decommissioned in like 1979, I think. As part of the museum, they also have an old cold war submarine that had the tiniest doorways!

Jim had quite a bit of trouble getting through all the tiny doorways

I had an easier time...

Also at the end of W 46th is H&H Bagels, best bagels I’ve ever had! They’re delicious! Mike says it’s because of the New York water. If you drink a glass, he says, there’s about an inch of minerals and sludge at the top but it tastes great! I don’t know about all that, but they’re dang good bagels!

Next we walked uptown to Serendipity 3 for Frozen Hot Chocolate. Jim said it was an oxymoron (ok, he didn’t actually say “oxymoron,” he said it didn’t make sense), so I had to have him see for himself. He was starved, though, so he got a sandwich and I got a fruit plate (TRYING to be a LITTLE healthy…), and then we shared the Frozen Hot Chocolate and an order of sand tarts (basically, pecan sandies, only amazingly delicious). When we walked in, the host said the wait was only about five minutes, which is insane for that place. Usually it’s at least an hour. I guess Monday around 1 p.m. isn’t their busiest time, although the place was still packed. The owner was there because they were short staffed, so he was answering phones and….signing books. He wrote the cookbooks associated with the store, so I bought one for me and one for my mom and had them signed. We might actually already have the book, but oh well. This one is better.

Jim's first Frozen Hot Chocolate

From there we took the subway into Brooklyn. Yes, I said Brooklyn. I NEVER leave Manhattan! Ok, I have twice. Once to go to a Yankees game at the old stadium before they replaced it and once when I walked over the Brooklyn Bridge. But at the Yankees game, I knew the subway station was close by and after the bridge, I could see Manhattan anytime I looked in that direction. This was a new experience for me and it was a little scary! We got off the subway and up to the street and it felt like ours were the only white faces. But we walked a few blocks and turned off that particular street and all of a sudden, there were nothing but white faces. From what Mike said, we walked into a Jewish part of town. I started to feel a little better, but I’ve heard such varied things about the outer boroughs, and I know Manhattan pretty well, so I feel a certain amount of comfort with where I’m going there. Brooklyn, I knew nothing. But “Duvi” (The name we gave for Jim’s phone. It’s an LG Dare and it has Navigation enabled. If you recall “2vi” is the name of the GPS…she’s a Garmin Nuvi, but she’s our second, thus the 2. The phone is a Dare, starts with a D, therefore, “Duvi”) led the way to the Chip Shop, which was featured on Chowdown Countdown on the Travel Channel. They fry EVERYTHING there. It’s basically a British Restaurant, named because their main fare is fish and chips. But we ordered deep fried pizza, deep fried snickers bar and twice fried cherry pie. The pie was okay, the pizza and snickers were delicious! And neither of our stomachs agreed, but that’s okay. We enjoyed it at the time.

Our fried stuff. Pizza on the left, pie at the top and snickers bottom right

We got back to Grand Central too late for the train that would pick up Linda on her way home from work, so we took one that ended up being an hour later. She came back to the station to pick us up, though. It’s only about two miles from the house, she said. And of course, dinner was ready when we got there. Mike’s a great cook too. Everything was delicious.

In the morning we got up and packed the car and hit the road. We made a quick stop in Vermont to get a magnet and some syrup and another just across the state line in New York for a sandwich because we were starved. We got into Geneva, NY at about 7 and met up with Phil, a guy who used to work for Ebara and has stayed in contact with my brother and dad since he’s moved back to upstate New York. He took us to a bar that his friend owns and we had a few drinks and some more fried appetizers. Jim tried fried pickles for the first time and wants to go back for more. They also had these fried cheese sticks…I think they called them buffalo cheese sticks cause they dipped them in the buffalo sauce before frying them…they may have been jack cheese too, but they were yummy. And we had fried cauliflower and clam strips. Greasy, but yummy.
Phil’s house is right on the edge of Seneca Lake, the biggest of the Finger Lakes. It’s really pretty. The house is old and smells like an old house on the water. I called it rustic, Jim called it mold. I think he was right because we’re both sniffly this morning. The plan was to head to Niagara Falls today, but we may drive around the lake and do Niagara tomorrow. Phil said there’s a lot of wineries along the lake and a cool town at the bottom, so we may do that. I don’t know yet though. It’s shower time, and then decision time.