In the Big Apple: Cheap Thrills

OK, this taken before I landed in the New York...
... and it seems I have joined the Laviator's Club! You can too. Just take your camera into any airplane loo while it is in the air. Now... to NYC itself... and a good day two this time around.

Just a bit of classic NYC architecture, not far from where we are staying.

Neat quote, pic taken for my friend James.

Relaxing over dinner with new super-short do! Only $21 at Supercuts - who needs fancy styling with hair so short? Was able to walk in and get a cut 20 minutes later. And it so coooool!!! And it dries in about 3 minutes, if that. Sweet!

Evening ambiance along Columbus... a busy street but interesting and some great places to eat. Kelly and I had a great spot and a great meal (the fried artichoke hearts were amazing!)

I don't know what these guys were supposed to be doing, but the guy in the chair was having a doozy of a snooze.

Loved the signage at this store. Note the "your 24-hour pot dealer" line... and that's only the start. It's all very cool stuff for the home, lots at reasonable prices. Didn't buy anything, but it was fun to look. Jonathan Adler is worth a look if you are ever in the big apple. On Columbus, around 74th/75th.

I'd been looking forward to visting some thrift stores this trip, and I'd long had Housing Works on my list. So next went into the Columbus location. Great shop. Great cause. Oh, what I would have picked up if I lived here (which I sure would like to do one day!) Picked up a $2 big glass vase for our hotel room (the flowers are so lovely at the shops around here and we want some~

!), two $1 wine glasses to better enjoy our wine in the room, along with a couple of books and a groovy picture frame.

Stopped for a yummy frozen yogurt, at a place where you can choose your own toppings. It was great value at $5.95 - they had 2 smaller sizes and 1 larger one.

The frozen yogurt place is called Pinkberry. I'd go back again, but there are apparently lots of stores in this trend here. I saw one across the street called Lenny's that had delivery bikes out front. Imagine that, cooling off at home with an ice-cold frozen treat delivered to your door. I heart NYC!

So, now a little on how easy it is to eat cheap in NYC, if you really want to.

Saw this cute little Italian place with a nice patio I wanted to enjoy. Turns out my late lunch stop was a little too late, and they were already serving their dinner menu (ok, so it was 3pm), but decided to make it work in budget style. If I hadn't had coffee, my lunch would have cost under $10. I ordered the Caprese Salad, which was pretty large and fantastic (and made with real buffalo mozzerella!). I resisted the temptation to order wine and just had water. At a classy place like this you get a nice basket of bread, which I enjoyed with the traditional oil and vinegar. I was not meant to feel badly about buying so little, was nicely doted on, and had a glorious time.

This was the view from my table. You can see why I decided to stay for coffee. Just a regular coffee ($2?), but, surprise, it came with a nice little almond biscotti. Bonus.

The place was called Pappardella, and it was the corner of Columbus and 75th. On my receipt it told me that they have free appies at the bar from 4-7 Monday to Thursday, and again after 10:30pm. Went inside to check it out (and use the loo), and it was really nice. Icy cool AC, stone floors and old pics from Florence. Just might be back.

Also on the budget front, today's breakfast-to-the-door from the deli was only $7.50 for 2 coffees, 1 egg sandwich and a yogurt. We added bananas from our deli shop the night before. Yum.

An update on the HP battery issue from yesterday. I had a call from the front desk this morning, telling me that my package had arrived. That was 22 hours from when I hung up the phone that my new battery has arrived on my temporary doorstep. I continue to be impressed.

In the Big Apple

Cold beer on a hot day, still got the happy hour deal. Great pic of Kelly. only a so-so picture of me, but what the heck....

The view looking out from our table on Amsterdam and 81st, in the Upper West Side, not far from our digs.

Kelly had heard about Zabar's "deli", so we swung by. Wow, what a store! The selection of foods, all so fresh and easy to grab for a single healthy tasty meal was amazing! And very COLD air conditioning too. We split a knish as we left, my first, yum... I think it was potato/spinach. If you want to read the story, click the pics above and below for the enlarged versions.

OK, this was cool. From my seat on my Cathay Pacific flight, I could turn watch the camera mounted underneath, just below the landing gear. COOL.

I am in New York City, one of my favourite places on the planet. Arrived yesterday morning on a red-eye from Vancuver. Fortunately my friend Kelly had arrived the night before so we had our hotel already. I'd been falling asleep on the A-train from JFK so it was so nice to know there was a bed that was all mine when I reached my destination.

So I know sleeping on the New York subway isn't the best strategy, but I hadn't slept on the flight (unusual for me) so it finally hit me, despite 2 of those mini Red Bulls that you can get through airport security. I was done done done.... But no worries, not my first trip here, I knew my route, had no luggage (just a little carryon backpack) so I looked like any other weary commuter from Brooklyn making my way to work. Well, almost. But I fancied that I fit in.

The no-luggage to NYC thing is something I figured out a few trips ago, and I love it -- despite having a 2 free bag allowance with Cathay Pacific this trip. Travelling this light lets me arrive at JFK and take the Airtrain, then subway, right into Manhattan without the hassle of a big, or even modest-sized bag. I've even come into Times Square or midtown at 1 or 2 am this way and felt perfectly safe. Or 98%. Just alert and it's no issue.

The beauty of NYC -- ok, it's just one thing -- is that there are cheap luggage places everywhere, especially midtown. What I do when I'm ready to go home, or switch hotels, I pick up a $15 big bag to load my shopping into. I then give it to charity when I get home.

This trip I'm spending 9 days here with my friend, then I switch hotels and stay another 9. Oooh la la, this makes me happy!

It's a bit of a miracle, I think, that I made it here in one piece, as last week I was on an Alaska Cruise with my mom and sister, and only had an overnight turnaround. That, in itself, seems easy to me as a now-somewhat-savvy-world-traveller, but the whole process of getting us home to Sidney (near Victoria, BC, Canada) was a little more complicated than when I travel solo (mom and her walker, sis and her cane, and all our luggage -- but relatlively breezy thanks to the wheels donated to our cause [heh] by family... not sure how we would have done it otherwise! Thx Hardy crew!). I'll write more on the cruise soon.....

... but I'm in New York baby!

I'm actually sitting on hold with HP support, arranging a new battery for my brand new HP Mini netbook, as it conked out. boo hoo. Thank goodness for diagonostics, warranties, and being in a central location for a number of days.

I was about to write that I would stop blogging as soon as my help call was complete, and that just happened. I'll have my new bat by Friday, no charge. Sweet. This is why I bought HP.

Now I am going to order breakfast to my door -- one of those other cool things about NYC that I love so much: the local delis that will bring you bacon and eggs, or a burger, or ice cream, or whatever, right to your door with a quick call. It arrives usually hot, tasty, relatively cheap, pretty fast and, in my experience, with a smile. Yesterday it was $19 for very big breakfasts for 2 people, plus a tip for the delivery guy. It's actually after noon now, so I might need to settle for a lunch-ish thing, but no worries.

More to come....

PS - just got off the phone, my breakfast after noon request was met with "of course, for you, we can do that"... a sweet bacon, egg and cheese sandwich roll with oj and coffee shall be at my door shortly ;-)

PPS - ok, that was ridiculously fast, and only $6.95

Cabin view

A couple of pics from my forward facing cabin on the Celebrity Millenium, before sailing...

Trip Reflections: Tour de France in Barcelona (a year ago)

A year ago today I was watching the Tour de France in person, in Barcelona. Yeah! It was very exciting! This is me on July 9th last year, waiting for the tour to arrive. I got there early so that I could get a spot right next to the barricade.
It was WET WET WAIT so I took refuge in a little bar and had tapas and beer while I waited.

This shot gives you a sense of the locale where I was, as well as just how wet it was....

This guy's idea of rain gear scares me a little... I hope he poked holes for breathing!

A local newswoman files her story about the TDF's impending arrival in Barcelona. Not sure if she was speaking Spanish or Catalan. Note the shoes.

This was my favourite pre-race moment. This Robert Plant look alike wandered into the crowd, still drunk from the night before, with a bottle of wine in his hand. He was really very harmless, was having a good time chatting up the waiting crowd, but they eventually moved him away, as he really was a hazard to himself; he kept walking into the road. BTW, it was only some time afterwards, when telling someone this story, that I realized he was probably on his way home from Pamplona and the Running of the Bulls, as it was running at the same time, and they all wear white.

These cyclists initially cause a stir of excitement, but I guess they are test riders of some sort, out to check the course.

One is kept plenty entertained for a good hour before the arrival of the first riders with all the floats..... including horses! It was one of those floats that I got my red polka dot hat from (does that make me a queen of the mountains?)

Beer. Or something along those lines.

Finally, the Tour Director's car. That means the riders are close behind.

Here come the sprinters!!! I was on the other side of town from where the finish line was, so this would have been the teams setting up their lead-out men....

The excitement of a rider up close! Look at the faces of the crowd.

This poor fellow had a bike problem right in front of us. He got great encouragement from the crowd when he was finally able to get going again.

It's quite something to see the riders and cars and motorcycles all up close, all so close to one another.

These were the last two riders of the day, still getting an enthusiastic cheer from the crowd. Note the rain gear on the riders.... you don't often see that.

After all the excitement, I wandered by the arch and they had all these stationary bikes set up. I think it was a Livestrong event, where people rode these, while the race was going on, to raise money. Strange, but true.

This is the little bar I slipped into on my way home.... ah, the pleasures of a beer and a loo! And there I sat, planning my return in the morning to see the riders off....

On July 10th last year, once off the Barcelona metro in the morning, I got my fav breakfast: a bikini!!!! And there wasn't even rain.

Fortunately, the rain held off, and didn't have to wait too long until the Race Director's car went by the other way....

And in a flash, the peleton went by!

Really, if you blinked, you might really miss it! As this was the start of the day's racing, all the riders were by in a matter of minutes that you coulld count on one hand. Don't know why that surprised me, but it did! As you can see, they are already picking up speed.

This fellow was bringing up the rear...

Managed to get a few good pics of local watchers before the riders got there.... Click to enlarge this one... I guess no one was getting their prosthetics on time that morning!

Loved seeing these ladies out watching the excitement below...

The Tour de France really was one of my trip highlights... I can't believe how lucky I was that they went through Barcelona when I was there! I am a pretty big fan, and generally have a sleep deprived month watching coverage at 4 or 5 am at home - which I am doing this week. In Barcelona I didn't easily find English footage, so I was more distant from the specifics of the race last year.... but being up close and personal definitely made up for that.

I can't believe I never posted all this a year ago, but it says a lot for just how 'busy' I was and just how many experiences haven't made it to this blog yet!

It's nice to have these memories as I am watching the race this year ;-)

Emily Carr, close to home

Source: virtualmuseum.ca

This is my favourite Emily Carr painting, it is in the collection at the Vancouver Art Gallery.


First thing this morning I was listening to CBC Radio 1's morning show in Victoria and they interviewed the curator at the Victoria Art Gallery about the new On the Edge of Nowhere permanent Emily Carr exhibition that opened this week. This is exciting news. The gallery used to have a small number of their Carr's in a rotating exhibit at the back of the building, but they listened to feedback: 3/4 of everyone entering the gallery asked, "where are the Emily Carr's?" So... they created a new space, by the front door of the gallery, and dedicated it to Carr's work. The gallery's entire collection - 42 pieces - is on display, spanning from her very early works to those at the end of her life. There is also a space for works on loan from other galleries - they are pleased with what's on loan to them right now, as apparently there aren't a lot of Carr's totem pole works in the permanent collection.



The story of On the Edge of Nowhere phrase was shared. This phrase is known to be attributed to Emily Carr, but most people think it means that she was a loner, when in fact she was just the opposite. She was a great networker in the Canadian art world. The phrase came from when she was turned down a major gallery - perhaps Canada's National Gallery ? - and she said something about "they wouldn't exhibit works from a woman living on the edge of nowhere"... lol



Anyways, after the interview, they had a pair of tickets available. All you had to do was email in the 2 countries where Emily Carr had studies. The good news is that they covered this in the interview. I knew she had studied in the US (I remember reading about her earliest studies in San Francisco), but I had forgotten she had studied in Paris as well. The good news about the Victoria morning show, over the Vancouver morning show, is that you have less competition for prizes! Just to help me out, I said that if I won, I'd take my 88 year old mom, who is a huge Emily Carr fan.... and it worked! We won the passes.



I told mom this morning, and she was equally excited.



Just now, evening, we were chatting about Emily Carr, and she mentions, as an aside, that she knew Emily Carr's sisters. Whoa, stop the presses! I did not know this!!! I love when we have time to have long chats, and something like this just comes out, by accident.

Now it was my turn to be excited.

It turns out that she not only knew the sisters, but she had actually met Emily Carr. Sweet!! Mom says she didn't "know" Emily, but she had met her. There was somewhere in Vancouver where Emily would take an old truck and paint, and people could walk by and see what she was doing, and talk to her.



She knew the sisters. When we spoke, she said there were 2 or 3 sisters, and at least one of them was a teacher.



She also said she knew another artist (or knew of?) who ended up with an Emily Carr painting on the ceiling of her house. I'm not sure if this was in Vancouver or Victoria...



Anyways, how cool it was to just find this out. I'm interested to find out if my sister knew about this. Maybe I knew it once and I forgot.... but maybe it just never came out before. I'll be sure to give her lots of time to talk about Emily Carr and will see what else we can stir up in her memory...

Canada Day in Sidney

Mom decorated for Canada Day ;-)
Friendly mountie and friends down at Sidney harbour.

They have this really crazy event in Sidney on Canada Day: teams spend about 4 hours building boats using only plywood, duct tape, plastic and such. Then they float them. Or try. Lots don't float, but some do. This year's winner was from Denmark. Here are pics of some of the teams carrying their boats away afterwards:

And now for some other memorable - or not so memorable - moments from the day... These girls are sporting cute Canada Day gear:

This little guy was excited and fascinated to be able to look right into a police car. "Hey dad," he said, "this is where they put the bad guys!"

There were a few more pics but blogger ate them, and these were the best.

We actually had a pretty lazy day, got up at noon, and spent most of the day eyeing the grey sky warily.... then got out for a bit.

It was nice to be home in Canada for July 1st this year. Last year I was in Barcelona... it was weird to not see red and white all around me then.

On a related note, it occured to me that I could possibly mirror my Europe trip of last year for 7 months here, now, by spending the next 7 months writing about my trip and sorting my pictures and journals and things I picked up. Would give me a focus on how to tackle all that. I gave myself a taste today by opening up my stuff from Spain, which I haven't seen since getting home. The coolest were my journals. I wrote a lot during the first bit of my trip, so it's great to be able to see my reactions those first few weeks... Anyways, it's an idea. Potentially a good one.