Winging it in... New York

…some moldy Babylonian god is going to drop in on Central Park West, and start tearing up the city?

Actually, it turns out that it was just hundreds of millions of people who were all in town for Thanksgiving. I know why I was in NYC this weekend, and I had a great time catching up with my sister, but I cannot work out why so many other Brits were all there. It is not a holiday in Britain (as far as I know) this weekend, not a long weekend of any type, no freebies thrown in for weddings, and no school breaks for another few weeks… so how come all you could hear were English accents?

The tearing up of the city does seem to have been very tourist, not Babylonian god, related this weekend. It started on Thursday with the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day parade. The parade started along side Central Park at 9am in the morning, but I think people started lining it to see it well before 6am, and given the number of people on the streets I can see why you would have to get there early to get a good view. I unfortunately, am now old and miserable and having driven down from Boston after work on Wednesday evening was fairly keen to stay in my very warm and comfortable bed for as long as possible. Therefore I took the easy way out, and watched the start of the parade from my bed and then drifted in and out of CBS coverage, as I got ready for the day. Not that this meant I didn’t get to see it. The parade goes on for hours! By the time I was leaving the hotel and heading out for brunch the parade was flowing down 7^th and I was perfectly positioned on the corner to see Spiderman’s ass, among other things. Being in no particular hurry for brunch I stood and watched, people and floats for a while. The people watching was almost as entertaining as the balloons and bands. Started in 1927 the Macy’s parade ties with Detroit as being the second oldest Thanksgiving parade in the country, Philadelphia being four year older, but is certainly the biggest and most watched so it was good to be part of it this one time.

I finished Thanksgiving Day with a trip to the theater- "Avenue Q" now playing just off Broadway. It is a coming-of-age story, addressing and satirizing the issues and anxieties associated with entering adulthood. Yes, when I left college I could be anything, I could do anything, turns out life is harder than you think. I would say, “It sucks to be me”, but actually, apart from the age thing, my life is pretty awesome when I think about it. It does reflect that children are so often told that they are "special" and "can do anything"; but as adults, you discover that in the real world your options are not unlimited, and they are no more "special" than anyone else. Equally it does this by pointing out, in song, that… ahh, get the sound track, and if you aren’t rolling your eyes in disgust you’ll be rolling on the floor laughing. Turns out you can get away with saying a lot of inappropriate and politically incorrect things if you have a puppet on your arm.

Of course being the Thanksgiving Weekend means Friday was shopping day! Pre-Christmas sales have always seemed a good idea, and I really think everyone else should get on board with this tradition. Then again, I have always liked shopping. Maybe too much… I was initially very excited about the four block queue outside my hotel on Thursday evening, I was thinking great shoe sale must be coming, turns out it was just teenage girls wait and hoping to catch a glimpse of Justin Beiber at 2:00pm the following day. All I can say it that they have some very dedicated parents who are prepared to camp out on the street overnight in freezing temperatures for 16 hours in the hope of seeing some teenage singer- wow! Generally speaking (apart from sparkly jewelry, which doesn’t count) I eschewed the shopping in favor of some culture and headed to the MET.

Founded in 1870 the MET contains more than 2 million exhibits spanning 9,000 years of history, and prehistory. I’m sure people will tell me- but really prehistory makes no sense to me, how can something be prehistory… If it happened it is history and can be studied as such. Anyway, there was no way I was going to see everything in the few hours I had so, I “skim read” the important parts and did what all children will tell you is the best part of any field trip and headed to the gift shop. This truly was a joy, and I can’t believe I have never thought of this before- see I am “special” if you go to the gift shop they have replicas and postcards of all the most important and famous pieces in the museum. No more expensive entrance fees, in future I’ll stop in the gift shop first and see if I can spot anything worth paying to see then head on in. J

And so back to Boston… and as Christmas gets closer, and the weather gets colder, my calendar is looking fuller, I really am having second thoughts about buying new boots. With Black Friday over, and Small Business Saturday done, maybe I can justify buying them on cyber Monday… gotta love hallmark days.

Winging it in... Boston

Don't you worry. Everything is under control.

I have to say, I had such high hopes for this weekend! Everything really was supposed to be under control, Christmas shopping, report writing, catch up on a bit of reading, possibly even a trip out of the city,but the best laid plans and all that…

Anyway, this weekend started with out a set plan, Christmas shopping was on the agenda, as was meeting up with friends, both of which sound like relatively straightforward tasks. After a midweek trip to Rite Aid revealed imported Polish chocolate oranges on sale, variety packs of Toblerone and a whole host of other delicious Christmas goodies I was planning a rather focused military style type shopping trip (I know- it is hard to be as classy as me) for Saturday morning. I was thinking and possibly dreaming about all the things I needed… I have put so much effort into this that I even have a Christmas running plan established on my laptop that lets me equate calories burned with chocolate enjoyed- I can’t afford to replace my wardrobe and shop for Christmas goodies! So, imagine my disappointment when I arrived at Rite Aid and the sale was no longer on. A trip to the Cambridgeside Galleria was needed.

This is actually when it all started to go wrong. Most people can make this six minute drive in, oh, I don’t know, about six minutes, give or take, depending on traffic. I however, have managed to make this route much more interesting but adding a good 35 minute detour to it! Now, Boston is a great place to live, loads of fantastic historical neighborhoods… I just think it right that you take a moment to enjoy them all…

This week saw a brief trip through Medford, Mystic Ave is probably one of the longest roads I have ever been on- especially when I think I want to turn around. However, it does have a great Mitsubishi, Chrysler and Jeep dealership. They will fix up your car, deal with the insurance company, store the car free of charge and generally be one of THE most helpful dealerships you will ever have the pleasure of dealing with. Other than that, a friendly branch of Dunkin Donuts and a stop on the Orange line I really have nothing else to add about this commuter town- it is a bit of a sprawl and very suburbanly empty (if a little concrete depressing).

Never mind because my special needs in not understanding simple instructions, such as left meant that I didn’t hang around too long and having found the Tobin Bridge- still not really sure where it goes, just that it is always backed up on traffic reports, I soon discovered myself in Sommerville. This is an up and coming area, and actually appears to have some cute coffee shops and a whole thing going on around Davis Sqaure. It also has the Alewife subway stop- I was getting quite excited at this point, which of course meant I was about to get hopelessly lost- again, miss the turn and discover that while I could see where I needed to be, I was about to sail straight past it on a completely unconnected piece of freeway that took me in another direction altogether. Luckily I learned that Prudential- does indeed make dreams come true, and JetBlue are here to stay while I am free to come and go as I please. Clearly this was a lie, as I couldn’t make it to the mall, so how they anticipate me navigating an airport is beyond me.

Next stop on the magical mystery tour was Charlestown, home of the USS Constitution, Bunker Hill, and the Navy Ship Yard. Apparently an unreliable water supply lead the Puritans to abandon this area in 1629, and anyone who did try and settle this area left when the British burned it down in 1775. I am told by those in the know that the Charlestown neighborhood of Boston was renowned for churning out a high number of armed robbers, generation after generation. These robbers never left their Charlestown life on their own volition, and after a bank robbery the police would simply sit on the bridge and wait for the suspects to come home. I just wanted to get back on the right side of the bridge…

I did eventually make it to the mall- which leads me onto Christmas shopping… this year I have decided to be ecologically and morally responsible. So, with the exception of my brother who was specifically requested we only do e-cards (he really doesn’t even know my address J) everyone will be getting Oxfam chicks delivered to a secret South American location. If this does not meet your required needs for this Christmas please let me know before 5:30pm EST on Sunday November 21 2010 and I will see what else I can arrange. (On the plus side it turns out I have been very good this year, and I appear to have treated myself to a new bracelet. However, Santa thinks he might be busy on Dec 25 so has delivered it early.) I also have to say, the chicks are REALLY cute! I think I would actually quite like one myself (if I hadn’t already gotten a bracelet of course- can’t be greedy and ask for too many things).

After all the stress of the weekend I never did get around to writing reports. I have headed up the page though, so that is one less job to do on Monday, and I have read the newest Sophie Kinsella book, so I can return that on Monday, that might free up a bit more report writing time J

Winging it in... Boston

We both have truths. Are mine the same as yours?

This weekend can well and truly be broken up into sections, although the pervading theme seems very much to have been pajamas and cheesecake. I have spent a great deal of time wearing one due to spending a great deal of time eating a huge slice of the other.

However, the main focus of Saturday was a trip to the Mary Baker Eddy library and the Church of Christian Science in order to see the Mapparium. As you enter the building you walk into the “Hall of Ideas” based on the concept that Plato was correct and “Ideas rule the world” the hall incorporates a light show in which more than 800 quotes appear. The letters bubble up as illuminated projections through the fountain in the middle of the room, spilling over the sides and running together on the floor to form words, phrases and quotes from philosophers across the ages.

The hall, along with the Mapparium was designed for the new publishing house of the Christian Science magazine, as started by Mary Baker Eddy, and was set in place for the opening of the building in 1935. The magazine is still published from the same building, and while the Hall of Ideas has been updated to reflect changes in technology the glass globe is frozen to represent the world as stood at the time.

The Mapparium is in a fact a giant glass globe that you walk into the center of, it has a diameter of 30’ and a bridge spanning the middle of the room, so you can in fact stand right in the center of a mirror world. The spherical shape allows the correct proportions and relationships of the earth’s landmasses to be shown accurately: in fact, at a scale of 1 inch to 22 miles. This shape also creates some great sound effects! Stand in the center of the bridge and you can hear everything you say reflected directly back at you- hear yourself talk in surround sound, awesome until some child starts screaming and then earsplittingly annoying, it is this same spherical structure that allows you to stand at one end of the bridge and whisper directly into the ear of the person at the other end- the whispering gallery effect.

I know this is slightly geeky- but … the structure consists of 608 stained glass panels set in a bronze frame. This frame is set at 10” intervals and represents the lines the of latitude and longitude around the globe. Originally this was so the panels could be easily removed and updated as the countries changed and boundaries were redrawn. The first time this was necessary was two months before the Mapparium opened and Persia changed its name to Iran. The artists had to rush to make the required changes, costing considerable effort and money, and since then it has been decided that the Mapparium is a work of art and thus should remain as frozen in 1935. The cynic in me is thinking this is very much a money over art issue.

The library contains huge amounts of information about Mary Baker Eddy, her beliefs, her life, her writing, her founding of the Christian Science Monitor and personal articles and artefacts all linked to the religion. She was responsible for the writing of the main textbook on which the religion is based and expresses her beliefs about healing and nature through this book. I have to say that at this point I started to get a little confused and to tune out slightly. Mary Baker Eddy started to formulate her ideas and the basis for her religious texts while recovering from a severe knock to the head, again I may be cynical here but I’m thinking I might spot a link, knock to the head, you can heal like Jesus… your call…

Sunday was another trip to church, but this time a more conventional one, and a remembrance service for November 11. The sermon was really interesting, I would actually quite like to see the Re. Nobel Scheeper talk about his life again, because whilst he was keeping the spirt of hope and peace, his life sounded fascinating. I think I may have to become a google stalker later. I will keep this brief because I have mentioned the Old North Church before. It began its famous adventures in April 1775 when the redcoats marched on Concord and the two lanterns where hung in the steeple as the signal for Paul Revere- yes, my favorite (very tongue in cheek) revolutionary J

The church is officially known as Christ Church and is the oldest standing church in Boston, dating from 1723. In 1775 it had a predominantly loyal following to the King, who had even given a bible to the church, the Governor was a member of the congregation, as were several important officials. All of this making sexton Robert Newman’s actions, in the placing of the lanterns, somewhat obscure, again no judgments, but General George Washington needed all the help he could get.

I think I am fairly convinced, and it is dark outside, pyjamas may be calling again.

Winging it in... New York

New York, I love you!

No, I haven’t moved again! But I have gotten out of Boston this weekend and made it all the way to New York City… just in time for the marathon. No, I wasn’t running, but I have to say that hearing the noise and cheering as people went by did make me think I might want to run in Seattle in a few weeks time… then I thought again about the early morning start, the likelihood of rain, the guarantee of sore feet and aching legs the next day, the flight to and from Seattle… and I realized that actually I think I like the idea of not running it more.

I have however, had a good time in NYC. I have done the obligatory bus tour- well the downtown loop, I missed out on the Brooklyn tour, the night time tour and the uptown Central Park loop. I have a feeling though that they probably haven’t change that much since I was last here. I know NYC is a constantly moving city, but still there is only so much movement that can happen at anyone time. I also have another trip planned over Thanksgiving and I would hate to run out of entertainment for then.

Having visited NYC a few times in recent years I did make do with a cursory glance and a nod to certain NY institutions this time. There is the obligatory walk past of the Empire State building, and while I avoided the observation decks and the trip to the top, one cannot help but be impresses with the sheer scale and magnificence of the building. Then again I am a fan of art deco, and I do tend to have slight fascination with the whole of the 1920/30s style and time period- I am sure I was born in the wrong era. The Empire State Building still stands at 102 floors high and was, for 40 years, the tallest building in the world; since 2001 it has once again become the tallest building in New York.

At 203 feet shorter than the Empire State Building is my favorite building in New York… the Chrysler Building. It was built in 1930, again is fantastic art deco design and for a whole 11 months it was the tallest building in the world. Now it stands as the third tallest in New York with the 2007 opening of the Bank of America’s new spire and the New York Times building. Still 77 years after it was built architects are still building skyscrapers of the same height, or a few feet higher is testament to what was a great achievement in engineering.

Of course no trip to New York would be complete with a mention of Times Square, and the drenching neon and highlights of flashing billboards causing complete sensory overload! Originally called Longacre Square, the name was changed n April 1904 after the New York Times moved its offices there, Times Square has long been a hub of the city, home of the Naked Cowboy, New Year Eve celebrations, and multiple theaters, it really is a place to just stand and stare and marvel at a city that really doesn’t ever stop.

I am heading out to be dazzled by the last few hours of my time here, enjoy the sunny blue skies, even if the wind is a little cooler than pleasant, and stretch my legs before the drive home. I will after all be back in a few weeks time to explore Central Park, and continue my wanders.