Philadelphia, Pennsylvania -- May 2003: Day 5

It was time to board the train again, so my father-in-law drove us back to Philly to catch the Amtrak to Pittsburgh.  The train ride took all day and we arrived at 4 p.m. and were warned of taking a real vs. gypsy cab by the tour book.  We refused a ride by some sketchy guy in his own car and called a service.  Well, a few minutes later, who's calling our name but said sketchy guy.  Looks like the legit and gypsy cabs were one in the same. Our driver did managed to get very lost, but luckily, in a neighborhood of B&B's so we were more annoyed than freaked out.  He finally found our inn, The Appletree Inn.  It was located in the Shadyside neighborhood of Pittsburgh, which consisted of beautiful brownstones and Victorian homes.  We reserved the tastefully decorated Cortland Suite.  It was and still is to this day, one of the best rooms I have ever stayed in.  It had the required amenities a whirlpool tub, gas fireplace, and giant four poster bed, but they also had wonderful breakfast, not to mention homemade cookies and iced tea waiting for us every afternoon.  I think this place was worth the trip to Pittsburgh alone.

After we had unpacked a bit and freshened up, we strolled down the street to the Soba Lounge.  Another plus for the neighborhood was the plethora of great restaurants within walking distance as we were presently without a car.  This was an Asian-fusion restaurant.  I had an unbelievable cold sake sampler (where I discovered the joy of nigori, a milky-white unfiltered cold sake with a pleasant melon-like flavor), a saketini with lots of pickled ginger, and a perfectly rare seared tuna steak.  Adam had a vegetable filled red curry.  We sat outisde on the upstairs patio and just reflected about our travels so far.  When it got dark, we strolled home to the awaiting comfort of our cozy room.

Philadelphia, Pennsylvania -- May 2003: Day 3 and 4

After a simple breakfast in the Latham Hotel's bar (which seemed kind of sad, like the morning after a wild party, still reeking of Key Lime martini's),  we caught the PhLASH bus to the Philadelphia Museum of Art.  I had some major audio tour issues, but I did enjoy the museum, which had everything from suits of armor to Japanese gardens, not to mention a huge Impressionists collection.  We enjoyed lunch there, and then climbed the "Rocky" steps.  After spending the whole day there, we took the PhLASH back to our hotel and waited for our ride (The Hubby's Dad).

The next morning, we drove a borrowed car out to Pennsylvania Dutch Country.  It wasn't a very long trip from Bucks County (where we were staying with the in-laws) to Lancaster County.  I was surprised though by the rolling green hills and all the cows.  I couldn't believe such a short trip out of the city would be so rural.

We headed to Kitchen Kettle Village, which I joked was like an Amish strip mall.  We grabbed some grub and then walked around the various stores: quilt shops, candy shops and the Kitchen Kettle store, where we bought all sorts of canned veggies, such as pickled beets and corn salsa.  Did you know the Amish make excellent wasabi peas?  We bought a big sack of those, and some pretzel mix, for the train ride home.  We then wandered over to The People's Place for a short movie about the people of the area, but it unfortunately left us with more questions than answers.

We then drove around for a bit and found a great pretzel store.  We bought pretzels, ate them in the car, and returned for more to bring home.  The cashier thought we were nuts!  Next door was a notions store, which was like an Amish supply store.  They had everything from bonnets to undies, but my favorite part was the Amish romance novels.  At 1:00, it was time for our buggy ride at Bird n' Hand.  We crammed into the back of a buggy with a dozen other tourists.  It was fun except we got a little bit of the third degree from the driver regarding our religious upbringing and then the ride stopped at his house where his family had tables set up with their wares.  I felt a little of the "hard-sell."  On the way back,  there was some traffic confusion between our driver and another "buggy-ist."  We stopped short, horses reared up.  We thought we were going to die in a tragic buggy accident, but all was well.

After another stop at Kitchen Kettle for delicious ice cream, we bought some tacky souvenirs (our Intercourse, PA porcelain bell was tacky but the little handmade boy doll we got was quite nice).  We drove around a little bit, and took some photos (especially of the ironically named Amish town, Intercourse, PA), then we returned to my in-laws' for dinner.

Philadelphia, Pennsylvania -- May 2003: Day 2

Early the next morning, we made our way from 17th to 3rd Street.  We were going to take the subway, but it was deserted, cavernous, and creepy.  We bumped into a woman, crying, who said, "You don't belong down here."  It was very ominous, so we high-tailed it out of there and walked the whole way.  We grabbed a bagel on the way and realized we were still a bit too early for the Visitor Center, so we waited outside the Liberty Bell at 5th and 6th.  When the center opened, we got some maps and went to Independence Hall.  I thought it was just an old building with some chairs and candle holders, but Adam was in awe of the history that went down there.  After a little speech by one of the park rangers, we looked at The Declaration of Independence (which may or may not have been the real thing), bought our tacky souvenirs (a Liberty Bell pencil sharpener) and then we went back to the real Liberty Bell.

I had been expecting crowds, which is why we were out and about so early, but it was really a ghost town in the Old City, including at the Liberty Bell.  This was before they built the new building around it, so it was a rather small structure housing the bell with most of the 'line" outside, so it was good that no one was there.  Because this was so soon after 9/11, security was extra tight still, but I was shocked at how small the bell really was.  We each posed for pictures, looked at the crack close up, and went on to our next stop.

Because the U.S. Mint was unexpectedly closed (due to 9/11, no doubt), we went directly to Elfreth's Alley, a small little alley with tiny little townhouses.   It's a perfectly preserved little street with dollhouse like proportions.  Many of the houses are still occupied, so it's mostly a photo op, but they also had a museum, which we skipped.  After peeking into Christ Church, we stopped to eat.  For lunch, we had cheese steaks nearby, in a little diner.  I got a chicken cheese steak, which was not very good.  But, I wanted to join the party without actually riding the Beef Express.

After lunch, we checked out the Benjamin Franklin Museum, which was strange.  You walk down this huge ramp into this basement.  There were tons of phones that you can listen testimonies about BF. Another room has inventions and family portraits. There was supposed to be a movie but one of the museum workers kept muttering about light bulbs being burnt out, so we missed it.  The strangest part was this little pit you look into that had little figures that danced around.  Before we left, we saw a printing press and walked around the grounds where his house once stood.

Still hungry for more, we went to the Atwater Kent Museum (now the Philadelphia History Museum).  It's namesake invented a gun, hat and a type of radio.  The first floor was a hodge podge of local history -- hats, radios and taxidermied animals.  My favorite part was the photo album of World's Fair from 1876.  It was fun to see all the different pavilions, like an old-fashioned Epcot Center.  The second floor was a Saturday Evening Post exhibit with tons of Norman Rockwell covers.  We were losing steam, so we enjoyed quietly looking at the covers, lost in our own thoughts.  We then wearily walked the ten blocks back to our hotel to rest for later.

For dinner, we went to South Street for dinner.  It was very hyped in our guidebook as "the place to be" but we were a little disappointed.  It seemed to be a lot of bars and not many good restaurants.  We ended up at a nicer place on the outskirts called Bridget Foy's.  It was good, but when we walked to 2nd Street and realized how many good places were nearby, we were kicking ourselves.

First, we had mojitos at Cuba Libre.  It was a cool Cuban restaurant with a buzzing bar.  The Hubby even got hit on by a cougar, which was funny.  Across the street was what is now my favorite places in all of Philadelphia -- The Continental Diner.  It's just an old fashioned diner, with low lighting and awesome cocktails.  The drink menu is extensive and as we sat at the bar/ counter and watched the food come out.  We drooled at the fries and realized next time we were in Philly, we needed to go there for dinner.  After a really good Key Lime martini at the Latham Hotel's bar, we called it a night.

Phildelphia, Pennsylvania -- May 2003: Day 1

Pennsylvania was an easy choice -- my in-laws had lived there for four years and we had never visited!  Our goal was to travel from one end of Pennsylvania to the other -- Philadelphia to Pittsburgh.  We would stay a couple days in each city, stopping along the way to visit the in-laws and take in Amish Country (I mean Pennsylvania Dutch Country). We took the train this time because though Boston to Philadelphia would only be around six hours by car, but Pittsburgh to Boston was going to be a major hassle and it would be better to relax, at least.  The train to Philly brought us in to 30th and Market.  We then took a cab to our hotel in Rittenhouse Square.  We were staying at The Latham Hotel, which was nicer than we were used to, but not as expensive as somewhere like New York.  When we arrived, it was too late to go anywhere, so I enjoyed a nice bath and got ready for dinner at Morimoto.

We were really excited about dinner at Morimoto.  We loved Nobu, where Chef Morimoto used to work, and we were also HUGE Iron Chef fans.  So, we took a cab to a neighborhood that seemed to teem with jewelry stores; buried in between was this small, unassuming restaurant.  Inside, however, was paradise: flowing hardwood ceilings, pulsing neon video screens.  It was natural bamboo and day-glo colors all together.  If the food was anything like the decor, we knew we were in for something truly different.

After we were seated at a Lucite table, we decided to go with the Omakase (chef's choice) menu as it is really the only way to fly when your a) eating the food of a celebrity chef b) eating food you've never tried before.  If we learned anything from Nobu, it made things easier and yummier.   After a sake-tini, we enjoyed Toro Tartare -- fatty tuna, diced (like little rubies), with wasabi and caviar.  Always a classic.  Next was whitefish capaccio -- silvery slivers of fish in hot oil.  My favorite (and very similar to what we had a Nobu) was the rock shrimp tempura.  It was melt-in-your mouth delicious.  Miso soup and sashimi salad was next (slices of raw tuna on greens).  A palate cleansing wasabi sorbet with a wasabi beignet (doughnut) rocked my world, straight out of Iron Chef.  It was mild and refreshing, not nose-clearing spicy.  The main course was a piece of black cod with miso sauce, sweet and mild.  The next course I did not care for -- foie gras with pickled peppers (I do not melt over foie gras as The Hubby does -- too meaty for me). It was too rich and greasy in my opinion.  After that, we were back to basic yet classic sushi.  Last was dessert.  It was all so good.  And, though very similar to Nobu's menu, this dinner had a little more edge on it.

During the meal, Chef Morimoto himself came by to see how we were and graciously agreed to a picture.  For me, it was like meeting Elvis.  He was so nice, he definitely belongs in the Cold Sake Hall of Fame!

After dinner, we took a taxi to Tank Bar on 21st Street.  It seemed to be rather, um, heavy on the gentlemen, but the upstairs was quiet and romantic.  We had cocktails and then took a cab back to the hotel.

New York, New York -- December 2002: Day 1 & 2

It turns out we could not stay away from New York for very long.  After scoring a deal for a ridiculous $150 per night stay at the posh Soho Grand Hotel, we decided to also catch Baz Lurhmann's production of La
bohème on Broadway.  We drove this time (after the train sat in Connecticut for an hour last time, we realized driving and training would be faster and cheaper).  We got there right around check in time only to encounter the wait from hell. Never, in all my life, has it taken me TWO HOURS to check into a hotel.  I think they were overbooked or something.  They started to hand out champagne in the lobby and I started to worry we were going to be late for our pre-show dinner.  When we finally got our room, it was small, but very tasteful and nice.  This was also the first time I saw a mini-bar with $8 Gummi Bears.  Come to think of it, this may have been my first mini-bar!  I don't quite know what I was thinking, but we didn't have reservations to any restaurant and after making some calls, we settled on Limoncello (now closed but replaced by the well-received Insieme).  It was a fast italian meal in a generically nice setting.  It was pretty good, but more planning would be smarter for next time.

Luckily, we got to La bohème on time.  I had never seen an opera before and this was a good introduction.  The stage set was very similar to the set of the movie Moulin Rouge.  It was the story and music of La bohème, but set in 1930's Paris.  It was funny to see the similarities between the plot and characters of Rent and this show. The show was beautiful and moving and I would love to see another opera.

Upon leaving the theater, we ran into Richard Schiff (again).  This was starting to creep us out, but luckily he doesn't notice us (ha!) and think we're stalkers.  We returned to the hotel and found the lobby and coffee lounge turned into a nightclub with DJs and $8 martinis.  We hung out for a while and people-watched.  The guy next to us was drinking Cristal and draped with women, but he did not look familiar to me.  I felt like we were going to get sent back to our rooms for being so uncool (I was wearing a $30 cardigan sweater from Petite Sophisticate for crying out loud!) but we managed to get sufficiently tipsy before sneaking away.

The next morning, we set off at 9 to roam the streets of Soho in search of some good eats.  We realized that everyone must sleep late on the weekends in Soho and nothing was open.  We ended up with blah bagels at a corner shop and headed to the Whitney Museum of American Art via bus (3, to be exact).  Soho was empty, but the museum wasn 't.  We took the elevator to the top of the museum and worked our way down.  They had a solid modern art collection with some Andy Warhol's and Jasper John's.  The special exhibit featuring "The Quilts of Gee's Bend" really stood out to us, however.  It was a collection of quilts made in a poor, rural Alabama, but many of them had spectacular, modern compositions.  It made me look at quilts in a different way.

After the museum, we went back down to Soho to check-out and grab some lunch.  I had a wonderful veggie sandwhich at Anita's.  The restaurant was empty, which I was beining to think we par for the course in Soho.  We then did some shopping on Broadway at funky Yellow Rat Bastard, where I scored a cool Paul Frank t-shirt, and Pearl River, where they sold every Asian import item imaginable, from dishes to clothes, food, and art.  After we had sufficiently shopped, we jumped in the car to head back home!

New York, New York -- June 2002: Day 4

Matt Lauer and Katie Couric at last!  We got out lazy buns out of bed and made it to the Today show.  We surprisingly did not get out of bed that early and still got a pretty good perch on Rockefeller Plaza.  It was a bit crowded when we got there, but people tend to file in and out, so we just kept pushing our way forward until we were second row back from the barriers.  Al Roker, Katie and Matt all came out to work the crowd.  Katie was very little, with very nice legs.  No good guests were on that day, so we didn't get to see anyone else in person.  It was interesting to see how the show worked.  If the anchors are inside, you're basically just standing watching the show on TV, which we could have done from the hotel.  But we had some good bagels after though!

We needed our strength as we were about to embark on a bike tour through Central Park in 100 degree heat.  We met up with our bike guide in Columbus Circle (this was the last excursion included in our tour package).  Our guide was a college-age Brazilian woman with a lovely accent.  She had a helper with her and they were smart enough to hand out water to all of us dummies who did not bring some.  We set off with a pack of soccer moms to tour Central Park.  I had no idea before our ride that Central Park was so huge, and had so much cool stuff -- carousels, ice skating rinks, castles, and Strawberry Fields (a section of the park, memorialized for John Lennon).  Our guide would point out landmarks, including buildings around the park.  When she told John Lennon's story, she pointed out how he lived in "Da Da-Koda" (The Dakota) across from the park.  She also brought us to "Ba-desda Therez" or Bethesda Terrace, where many movies were filmed, such as Home Alone 2.  It was not a strenuous ride, but it was so damn hot and were were dripping with sweat.  I thought we might melt away to nothing.  After we returned the bikes, we needed to cool off, fast.

We still had some more time to kill, so we went to the Central Park Zoo.  This was not a large or very nice zoo.  Some of the animals had gimpy eyes and they were damn hot too, so the polar bears were looking pretty pissed off.  The rain forest section was not a fun place to be.  Finally, we discovered the penguin cave.  Ah, sweet penguins.  It was a small little room, dark and about 30 degrees F inside.  We sat on the floor and just collected our thoughts.  School kids kept wandering through giving us dirty looks -- two sweaty old people heaped on the floor.  The zoo keeper lady asked us if we had any questions about penguins.  Our only question was how long we could stay before we got arrested for loitering.

After creeping out humans and penguins alike, we grabbed lunch at a little market and ate it in the park (we couldn't get enough, I guess).  After that, we did some souvenir shopping in Time Square, changed our clothes back in the hotel and caught our train.  We had to say goodbye to New York for the moment, but we knew we'd be back . . .

New York, New York -- June 2002: Day 3

Because of the marathon pace of the day before and probably too many cocktails at night, we overslept and never made it to the Today show.  Instead, we went to Lindy's and had a horrible, overpriced breakfast where the waiters bark gruffly at you.  At least we were sitting outside.

We proceeded as planned to the New York Public Library for a free tour.  It's little gems like this that I love.  Long before Carrie Bradshaw decided this would be a good place to get hitched, we explored this Fifth Avenue landmark.  The Beaux-Arts architecture is gorgeous, but we, of course, enjoyed the fun facts such as where Ghostbusters was filmed in the library.  There were so many nooks and crannies to check out, as well as exhibits and curiosities, it was worth the price of admission (ha!) and then some.

Because MoMA was being extensively renovated in 2002, they set up a highlights collection in Queens.  We decided our first NYC subway ride would be to check it out.  We someone boarded an express train (though we thought it had been marked as a local) and we whizzed right by our stop.  We were able to backtrack, fortunately, and get there in one piece.  The collection was like the museum's greatest hits.  Years after, we visited the remodeled Manhattan MoMA and it was ten times cooler, so I can't recommend that museum enough.

Monday seemed to turn into "Spot the Celebrity" day.  While near Central Park, we saw Richard Schiff (on West Wing at the time) carrying his daughter.  While on our way to dinner at Shun Lee Palace, we accidentally walked right through the set of a movie.  We were so busy gawking at the trucks and equipment, trying to figure out what was going on, that next thing we know, we're almost getting pelted by a rain machine.  We then realize we're standing next to Woody Allen, looking like a little flasher in his raincoat and hat.  He didn't seem to notice us, which was good, because I was afraid of getting yelled at.  The movie turned out to be the very obscure Anything Else, with Jason Biggs and Christina Ricci.  Oh well.  I don't think we made the final cut!

So, where was I? Oh yeah, Shun Lee Palace.  I had heard Howard Stern going on and on one day how this was his favorite Chinese restaurant in the city.  Luckily, it went along with the package deal we got through the NYC tourism site and we had $100 to spend.  The place was so different from Nobu.  Where Nobu was sleek and modern, Shun Lee was gilded and classic.  The waiters were the old school napkin-on-the-arm.  The restaurant was pretty empty at 7 p.m. on a Monday (we realized New Yorkers must eat after 8).  We knew spending $100 on Chinese food might be a challenge, so we opted for the splurge of Peking Duck and a sweet battered chicken.  The duck came out whole (they showed it to us, like a fine bottle of wine) and a team of waiters went to work carving it up.  They then made little roll-up from Chinese pancakes, scallions, and plum sauce.  It was so good and we ate a ton, but there was so much left.  We had a mini fridge in our room, so we figured why not wrap it up?  We spent maybe half of the gift certificate.  Next time, we should order way more for a picnic in Central Park the next day.

After dinner, we thought a night time glance off of the Empire State Building would be fun.  We were thinking it would be empty around 9, before all the shows got out.  Boy, were we wrong.  It was sweltering hot and crowded as heck.  It felt like we had to wait in three different lines just to get in line.  After two different elevators and a set of stairs, we were at the Observation Deck.  Finding a piece of wall to peer over was hard because of all the people, but we finally got some space and looked out at the city.  It was beautiful.  We then bought an I Love NY shot glass for our collection.  It was time to call it a night.

New York, New York -- June 2002: Day 2

The next morning, we decided to start our day with bagels.  Since we were trying to catch the bus downtown to the Circle Line to Ellis Island and Liberty Island (one of our two excursions in our package), we figured the Dunkin Donuts in Times Square would bring us close to the bus stop and get us fed.  Ugh, what a mistake.  They were probably the worst bagels in NYC.  You're better off stopping at any old corner shop instead.  The day was already sweltering, in the 90s, but Times Square was a ghost town, so different than the night before.  After a speedy bus ride and a short walk, we arrived at Battery Park.

Battery Park was absolutely beautiful, an oasis in the middle of the city.  The breeze from the river was cool and refreshing.  Being immediately post 9/11, security to get onto the ferry was super-tight, but the line through a large tent moved rather fast.  Onlookers must have wondered what was going on as all the men exited the tent buckling their belts up!  The boat seemed to take forever to get moving and the top deck was painfully hot yet windy.  Finally, we arrived at Liberty Island.  It was surreal to see the Statue of Liberty looming large in front of us.  Because of the tight security, we weren't allowed to go inside, but we did by some tacky souvenirs.  This was probably the birth of our Tacky Souvenir Collection.  In this case, we got a small Statue of Liberty magnet.

The next stop on our little cruise was Ellis Island.  There was much more to explore here as we could walk the same steps as the immigrants that were processed here a hundred years ago.  Parts were emotional as well as I realized how many people once stood in the same spot we were and I think I might have found a relative in their database.  The island turned out to be way more interesting than I would have thought.

Somehow, after the boat docked back in Battery Park, we quickly hopped on a bus and made our way uptown to the American Museum of Natural History.  It was so huge, we could have spent a whole day there.  We saw all the large "stuffed" animals, which were really cool in a classic museum kind-of-way.  The squid and the whale, an epic battle in fiberglass, kind of freaked me out, though.  We enjoyed the "Culture Hall."  It was a mini Epcot Center with little rooms featuring the cultures of different countries (clothing, food, art, etc.).  No surprise, we really like the Asian exhibits.  We tried to look at everything in the Gem Hall, but it took forever.  The Star of India was also a little disappointing because it was so small.  We had a quick snack and made our way back to the hotel so we could change for our big dinner.

On the menu for that evening was Nobu.  I'm still not sure how I was able to get reservations, but it was a Sunday and before 7 p.m., so I think that helped.  We unfortunately didn't realize how bad the traffic would be trying to go anywhere downtown, on account of the Gay Pride Parade that afternoon.  So, we were about an hour late and I fully expected them to tell us to take a hike, but they were very nice and held the reservation for us.  Inside the restaurant, it was a lot smaller than I figured it would be.  We were seated towards the front, which was nice because we could watch everyone walk in.  Seated across the doorway from us was a rather peculiar woman.  She had giant hair and was nervously inhaling edamame.  I kept staring, which probably made her more nervous.  I then realized it was Beyoncé .  Wow, our first celebrity sighting!

After we ordered cold sake cocktails (of course) and the Omakase menu, which is basically a prix fixe menu, chef's choice, which is the only way to go when you're at Nobu. We worked our way through around eight courses.  First, was the melt-in-your-mouth velvety tuna tartare.  It was the best quality tuna I had ever tasted.  It was finely minced with onions, garlic, topped with caviar, and topped with a tiny Asian peach.  Next was a sashimi salad.  It had thin slices of seared tuna over mixed greens.  It was very delicate and somehow different from the first course.  Third was New Style sashimi: paper thin slices of fluke drizzled in grapeseed oil.  It was dynamite.  My favorite dish came next -- rock shrimp.  It was amazing.  Lightly fried and breaded, like a fancy popcorn shrimp, but so much better.  Broiled sea bass with miso was fifth.  It was a big hunk of fish, in counterbalance from all the thin sashimi.  The miso was sweet and flavorful.  Sixth, it was time for miso soup.  This soup had salty hot clams.  Our seventh and main course was sushi.  We each got five simple and pure pieces of nigiri.  It was nothing fancy or overly seasoned; just incredible fresh.  Last was dessert -- a delicious almond cake with green sour cherries.  It burst with flavor and was one of the best desserts I've ever had.

To cap our typical crazy day, we went to Flute for champagne.  It was a very tiny bar, draped in red velvet.  I was so tired I fell asleep just a little bit, on our cozy velvet booth, but no one noticed as we were the only ones there.  After one more drink back at the hotel bar, we were sound asleep, dreaming of woolly mammoths and lots of sushi.

Tacky Souvenir Challenge

This was created in 2002 in New York City.  We now stick by it everywhere we go.  Basically, for every city or major destination, I make it a point to find a cheesy tchotke indicative of the location.  I have a few basic rules:

1.  Item must be around $5-$10
2.  Item should have the location printed right on it (otherwise, I'll never remember where the hell that lighthouse shot glass came from).  The year is a bonus.
3.  The items should vary from location to location.  Otherwise, it will just be a collection of snow globes.
4.  The item should be unique, yet classic (for instance, I small metal Empire State Building, a rock from Alcatraz).
5.  The item should look groovy in the metal curio cabinet it will eventually reside in (still looking for that).

Right now, I have around a bookshelf's worth.  I'm hoping to proudly display them eventually in aforementioned cabinet.  Also, I'm still short on a souvenir from Newport, RI, so send me ideas if you think of any!

New York, New York -- June 2002: Day 1

In 2002, we thought the "American" thing to do would be to boost the economy in New York City.  Also, we'd had been there alone, but never together and it was time to get out of the New England bubble.  So, we caught a train from South Station to Penn Station.  It was a scenic and low-stress way to travel, but took a lot longer than driving.  Being country bumpkins, it felt a little scary to be dumped in the middle of the city.  I had never hailed a cab before and was barely aware there was a long queue of people waiting for their turn. All of a sudden, we were zooming through Midtown.  Our destination was Flatotel at 52nd Street and between 7th Avenue and Avenue of the Americas.  We picked it because its central location, aesthetics (we were able to get a newly renovated room), and mostly because it was so darn cheap (we got an awesome deal through the NYC tourism site that included parking, hotel, two excursions, and $100 for dinner at a select restaurant)  Anyway, 2002 was before Tyra decided to house America's Top Model contestants at Flatotel and I'm sure the price has since been driven up.  At the time, the were in the process of updating most rooms from pastel eek to modern chic.  We had a fairly large room, big modern bed, modeled after Frank Lloyd Wright's work, and a rather large bathroom.  There was barely any service at the hotel, which had it's good and bad points.  The lobby wasn't loaded with beautiful people to stare blankly at you when you ask a basic question (like most boutique hotels), but there wasn't really anyone to ask questions.  It almost seemed like a bare bones commuter hotel, as some of the rooms included kitchenettes.  The one person behind the desk was usually pretty nice however.  They just weren't concierge material.

We were famished when we arrived, so we hit the first deli we saw, which happened to be Fluffy's Cafe.  Despite the cutesy name, we had some solidly good NYC deli sandwiches without the annoying crowd you would see at Carnegie Deli.  And, they were only around $3 each, which was the best part.  As we only had a few hours, we hopped in cab to the Metropolitan Museum of Art.  The place was so huge, we could have used an entire week.  Instead, we just tried to hit the highlights, which, for us were the Temple of Dendur, Astor Court (with a Japanese Tea House), and the Frank Lloyd Wright room.  There was so much, we saw what we could and vowed to return another time.  We walked until our legs gave out and then it was time to return to he hotel for rest before dinner.

Looking for something quick and close to Broadway (where we would later be seeing Rent), we chose the Hourglass Tavern.  It was quick all right -- they kick you out after the hour-long hourglass on your table runs out!  I really enjoyed my meal, however.  We chose the prix fixe pre-theater menu, which starts with a huge loaf of sourdough bread and salads.  I had a vegetarian meal: polenta, ratatouille and dumplings in a hearty tomato sauce.  We were stuffed by the time we left and all for $20 per person.  I would highly reccomend the Hourglass Tavern if you want a casual meal, pre-theater.

We were so excited to see Rent on Broadway.  It was my favorite shows, but I had only seen the touring company in Boston.  We had fairly decent mezzanine seats, but with the size of the Nederlander Theatre, we felt like we were close to the action.  It was an amazing show.  And, an unknown Jai Rodriguez from Queer Eye for the Straight Guy played Angel.  The show let out and we were then swept away through Times Square with the crowd.  It was unreal -- it was eleven at night and it was a sea of people just moving forward.  We went with it soon landed back at hour hotel, exhausted from our first day.

Newport, Rhode Island -- June 2001: Day 3

In the morning, we smartened up and drove to Kingscote after breakfast (yeah!)  We loved this house with it's William Mores inspired dining room, stained glass windows and collection of Asian knick-knacks.  The was a little too overstuffed for our taste, though and the upstairs seemed too modern.


The next house, The Elms, was The Hubby's favorite.  It was a self-guided tour and the house itself was "technologically advanced" with a complex buzzer system for the servants.  It also had very calming fountains and a humongous dining room.  We were starting to get burnt out at this point, but we still enjoyed this particular house.


Chateau-Sur-Mer was our last house.  The most memorable feature was the staircase, painted with a vine, that wound up several flights.  The rooms had lots of carved wood and cool paintings.  It was a good way to end our tour.

We had lunch at the waterfront and then ice cream at Ben & Jerry's (always a classic).  We tried shopping a bit, but we didn't find any good, tacky, souvenirs.  We then drove to Green Animals in Portsmouth, a topiary garden and museum included in the price of our admission package from the mansions.  The topiaries were shaped like all different kinds of animals (huge animals!).  It was definitely geared more towards children, but it was a nice stroll after all of those houses.  The toy and miniature museum was a bit run down, but, again, I bet kids would think it's great. 

Our weekend in Newport was packed and more strenuous than you would expect from touring historic homes, but we had a good time.  I hope to return someday to see the houses decorated for the holidays.

Newport, Rhode Island -- June 2001: Day 2

Today was the day to tour the mansions of Newport.  Fortified with Pina Colada French Toast from the Inn, we made the stupid mistake of thinking we could walk to from the inn to each mansion and back (I would drive next time as you do enough walking touring the "cottages" as they quaintly call them).  We stopped to see the Old Stone Mill in Touro Park first, kind of a local Stonehenge since no once knows exactly what it is or how it got there.  We continued down Bellvue Avenue to the Preservation Society of Newport County, to buy our admission to the neighborhood's historic homes for the next two days.  We purchased a package that would get us access to The Breakers, Chateau Sur Mer, The Elms, Marble House, and Rosecliff.  First,we went to Breakers.  It was by far the most spectacular of all the houses.  It really is the "grande dame" of Newport.  And, very gilded (it was built in the "Guilded Age" after all.  My favorite features were the open air balcony or loggia, and the giant library fireplace that came from a French chateau.  We kept wondering if Anderson Cooper was going to show up, you know, being a Vanderbilt and all.

Next, we walked to Rosecliff.  It was spacious, cream-toned, and there was a huge ballroom with a cloud and sky fresco on the ceiling.  The staff was setting up a wedding reception, it seemed, and we thought that would be a beautiful, if not expensive setting.

Astor's Beachwood Mansion was the next stop.  This was not included in our ticket but the guide book made it seem like a must-see, which it was not.  Actors, in the character of servants, were our tour guides, but it was a little too shticky for us.  The house was rather bland and basic compared to the other mansions in the neighborhood.  It seems like the house has been since sold and they are no longer offering tours, anyway.

A short-cut to Marble House seemed like a good idea at this point.  We'll take the Cliff Walk, we thought, a path that runs along the ocean cliff and links the back yards of many of the homes.  Well, I was not in very sturdy sandals and in 2001, it was not in the greatest condition.  It had been flooded out in parts and washed away, there was no railing, and it was single-foot in parts, not even single file.  We walked about 2 miles down to Marble House when it became impassible and we had to turn around and go back!  I would advise to check the conditions at the site above before you venture out, jut in case.  It has been repaired since, but a caveat to be aware of.

Marble House was luckily worth the wait.  We were able to pick up audio tours and roam the house at our own pace, which was a nice break from the guided cattle-calls of the other houses.  My favorite feature was the Chinese Tea House in the backyard.  It was empty, but made a nice photo op.!

The last house of the day for us was Belcourt Castle (what a marathon!), also not included in our ticket package.  It was an eclectic, spooky house, loaded with tons of crap, er antiques.  It was my favorite due to the complete wackiness of it.  I got that hair-standing-on-your-arms ghost feeling in the Armour Room, which was supposedly haunted.  Very creepy.  There was also some sort of weird dining room with a giant fireplace and puppet show.  Definitely worth the trip.

My feet were bleeding at this point with blisters and we waited for the bus back, but it never came.  So we huffed back to the inn (next time, drive!)  After a quick foot soak in tub, it was time for dinner at The White Horse Tavern (I guess we were trying to repeat the magic of last year's celebration at the White Barn).  The White Horse was a simpler beast than the White Barn -- a quaint little colonial building with simple flowers and candlelight.  H. had Beef Wellington and I had lobster.  We had a cheese platter with some great local cheeses and some wonderful muscat.  Back at the inn, we found treats in our room, but no comparison to Crosstrees -- just some melted chocolate covered strawberries and cranberry bark.  Ick.