Archive for January, 2010

New York: Ice Skates in the Winter, Tennis and Pedal Boats in the Summer


31 Jan

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My first visit to New York was in the winter time.  I was living in the year round environmental bliss of the city of Los Angeles at the time, and cold weather and snow was something we hid away from inside of a warm apartment.  What I found when I got to New York though, was that even though it was cold, the people of the city just bundled up.  As soon as I stepped off of the plane my friend Robert took me to a couple vintage clothing shops in the East Village, and I got set up with a winter coat, a scarf, mittens and a hat, and some really great boots.  I had what I needed to ensure that my thin LA blood would stay warm.

I had booked a room at one of the 5 star New York hotels, so we found our way there, I checked in and dropped off my luggage, and we headed out again.  We were going ice skating.  I had ice skated before, in a basement rink, inside during the summer in Phoenix when I was eight years old.  I had not skated since, and I had never skated outside, on a real frozen over pond.  Robert took me to Brooklyn, to the Wollman Rink in Prospect Park.  He had skated there throughout his youth and he wanted me to experience what it was like.

I was nervous, but there was fun in the air as soon as I carefully stepped onto the ice.  A little kid, about 6 years old came flying by me on his skates, his brightly colored scarf trailing behind him like a flag whipping in the wind.  I held onto to Robert’s arm and as we slowly made our way around the rink, he told me stories of his winters at this rink.  About the first time he learned to skate backwards, and about the time his older brother told him to lick the metal lightpost, and he did.  The park rangers had to come to his rescue.

He also told me that New Yorkers do get out year round, much like the people of Los Angeles do, but in New York everyday isn’t a day at the beach, sometimes it’s ice skating, and sometimes when the weather warms up, the pond becomes filled with pedal boats and people on dry land play baseball and tennis.  It’s the variety they have in the city of New York, he said, that keeps life moving and interesting.  And I had to agree with him, even though at that particular moment, our lives were moving very slowly, and very careful around the rink.

Giant Heads of Presidents in Williamsburg


27 Jan

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What was the oldest and largest colony England had in America?  It was Williamsburg, which was the Virginia’s colonial capital, from 1699 to 1780.  Here is where George Washington met with Patrick Henry and Thomas Jefferson, and the like, creating the basic concepts that would form the United States.  When the American Revolution came (Virginia declared Independence on May 15, 1776), the capital moved to Richmond, which was considered to be a safer place in a better, more central location, and so turned Virginia into a college town, home of the second oldest university in the country, the College of William and Mary (the oldest is Harvard, 1636; William and Mary’s is 1693).  Over the years, there wasn’t a great deal of income for the town and so it wasn’t able to update its infrastructure, allowing old buildings to stand.  Luckily, that means today we have historic buildings that show us exactly what the world looked like during the 17th and 18th Centuries, thus creating the opportunity for Colonial Williamsburg, which all alone is worth a trip to Virginia.

However, what if you’ve made the trip to Virginia, checked into one of the hotels Williamsburg offers its tourists, and you feel like you’ve seen most of it already?  You’ve been to Colonial Williamburg, you’ve taken the ghost tour, you’ve explored Busch Gardens Europe, and seen the local plantation/museums — what else is there to do?  Well, if you’re a fan of presidents, artist David Adickes has prepared a roadside attraction not quite like any other.  Just outside Williamsburg, you’ll find one of a Presidents Park.

The Presidents Park consists of gigantic sculptures of all the heads of 43 U.S. Presidents.  A nearly identical park exists near Deadwood, South Dakota, where he used the same molds.  Adickes is planning to expand even farther, intending to take his next park to Florida.  For now, though, it’s possible to see these giant busts by driving out to 211 Water Country Parkway.  They’re open daily from nine to six (until eight in the summer).  The immense heads have signs posted which will tell you about each president, along with some interesting facts and quotes.  As you enter the park, you’ll find an Oval Office replica.  The last president currently in the park is George W. Bush; while Barack Obama is not there now, perhaps his head will join the others in the near future.

Off-Beat Sights in New York


21 Jan

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Every traveler to New York City knows of a few sights to see, such as the Statue of Liberty and Ellis Island, Central Park, the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the Empire State Building, the Chrysler Building or St. Patrick’s Cathedral.  But every city has sights only the locals really know, and only because they themselves have stumbled across them on their way to work or play.  When I travel to New York and stay in its hotels, I’m always on the look out for the quirkier side of the Big Apple, which it definitely has in abundance, making any visit an off-beat joy.  If it’s not an unusual statue, it’s an unusual restaurant that’s popped up and establishing itself in a bid for the odd side of one of the world’s great cities.
 
Most likely, younger people may not know the reason there’s a statue of comedian Jackie Gleason outside the Port Authority Bus Terminal, unless somehow they’ve caught reruns of his most famous sketches, The Honeymooner’s.  His Ralph Kramden character is immortalized in his bus uniform and lunch pail.  TV Land has put up this statue and others, designed to honor Bewitched and Andy Griffith, as well as one for I Dream of Jeannie (Is it weird to anyone else that the reruns of these 60s shows are getting permanent recognition?).  The plaque on the statue for Gleason reads, Jackie Gleason as Ralph Kramden.  Bus Driver – Raccoon Lodge Treasurer -Dreamer.
 
Elsewhere in the city, north of Times Square, you’ll find Mars 2112, a theme restaurant for the family that simulates being on Mars.  If you’re in the area, wandering Spaceport personnel and Martians will find you and give you a passport and escort you inside a full-sized flying saucer, where you’ll undergo a rocky five minute motion ride through a “Translunar Wormhole.”  Once inside, you’re at a Martian Colony, complete with rock passages and seating inside a Martian cavern, with food prepared by a Chef who is an expert in Asian and Indian cuisine, and the best view of Mars that can be found on Earth.
 
The unusual side of New York hardly ends here, but these are just a couple of the samplings you can find.  If you go outside of New York City to the countryside, you’ll find even more strange sights, such as Secret Caverns in Cobleskill, New York, or the House of Frankenstein Wax Museum in Lake George, or the World’s Smallest Church (capable of holding a congregation of two and a pastor) in Oneida.

Wedding Proposal at Shout Restaurant Atlanta


19 Jan

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Jules wanted last Friday evening to be perfect. He had intended to surprise Rene with the special evening for three weeks and finally decided that spending the day at the Marietta/Cobb Museum and then taking her to an early dinner at Shout would be perfect. After dinner they could go dancing at their favorite club, but he decided to leave that up to whatever seemed like the best thing to do at the time. The reason for the hesitation with the later plans was due to Jule’s intention to propose to Rene at Shout Restaurant and he really wasn’t sure exactly what one did immediately after having become engaged. He thought about reserving a room at one of the luxury Atlanta hotels and making a weekend out of it, but that felt somehow too presumptuous to the typically understated Jules.

So he felt it was a good idea to have a plan, but to be extremely flexible with it. In fact, he thought he should have an immediate second alternative on hand in case they just wanted to go somewhere calm and talk and make plans. Obviously Jules was new to this, but had the best of intentions. So it was settled, the proposal would happen at the restaurant and they could go dancing, or get some dessert at the Publik Draft House. This would also leave the option of having a glass of wine if they wanted.

As he hoped it would, the day went extremely well. Rene was excited and looked great. She had no idea, or at least it seemed she didn’t, that Jule’s was going to propose, but it was their one year anniversary and Rene was in the mood to celebrate. She was touched and impressed that Jules took her to the Marietta/Cobb Museum as she had only mentioned once that she was extremely interested in seeing the National League of American Pen Women Juried Exhibition, but really had no idea when she was going to find the time. And while Jule’s friend Mike told him that he thought Shout was an odd place to propose, Rene knew exactly why they were dining there when they arrived. It was the place they first met and she can remember the exact moment she saw him sitting at one of the tables. When Jules bent on one knee and showed Rene the ring box, she was surprised yet it all seemed to fit. Of course she said yes, and while they had a great time the rest of the night, they didn’t pursue any of the options Jules had prepared for.

The Aleutian Islands in Alaska


18 Jan

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What part of America was occupied by a foreign country last?  By what country and when?  Give up?  If you answered the British in the War of 1812, you’d be wrong, although it has been a long time.  The answer is that the United States was occupied by Japan during World War II, in June of 1942, on the islands of Attu and Kiska.  Now, you’re next question might well be, what part of the United States contains these islands?  It’s Alaska, and these are part of the Aleutian Islands.

One day I’d like to see the Aleutian Islands, partly because I have a personal connection to the place.  My father was stationed in the islands during World War II, and he was to be a part of the campaign against northern Japan, which was cancelled later.  Some historians call this “The Forgotten War,” otherwise known as the Aleutian Campaign.  Japanese planes attacked Amaknak and Unalaska Islands, bombing them.  Thousand of troops were sent to the Aleutians, my father among them, to defend the U.S., as the Japanese occupied Atu and Kiska.  These islands weren’t reclaimed until the Battle of Attu in 1943; unfortunately, the natives who lived on these islands never did get to go back.

The Aleutian Islands are now a National Historic Area, part of the National Park System.  If you ever do travel to the North, you’ll find places of amazing beauty amid Alaska’s magnificent park sites as well as luxurious hotels.  The park system in Alaska includes such places as Noatak, the Gates of the Arctic, Kobuk Valley, and the Yukon, as well as Denali and Lake Clark, and the Kenai Fjords.  Each of these places, I’m sure, hold their own charms, but for me, I’d like to see the Aleutians, a place where my father described riding in the glass bottom of a bomber plane and meeting, of all people, the movie star Errol Flynn,  perhaps one of the stranger oddities that can happen during a war.

007 in Malibu


13 Jan

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We took a drive with our new car hire and headed out to Malibu for lunch at a restaurant that was recommended by all the foodies called Geoffrey’s. We arrived at a perfect time, right before the lunch crowd. We requested a table up front and with an ocean view. For starters, we orders oysters and champagne! What the heck; we were on vacation! The oysters were in season and very delicious, so much so, we had a second serving. We followed up with another starter, the tuna tar-tare and then for our main meal, a steak sandwich and a chicken sandwich. The restaurant filled up with all these beautiful people, but we didn’t see any celebrities.

On our way to see some famous Malibu hotels, we stopped for petrol and as we were just about to pull into the station, we noticed an Aston Martin coming in from the other direction, we gave way to the Aston Martin, because we wanted to gawk at it, it was a gorgeous car. We were wondering if it belonged to a celebrity, and it did! Pierce Brosnan stepped out of it and began pumping petrol! He was so handsome and imposing, but he wasn’t dressed up. We were too stunned and too Swiss to approach him for photo opportunity. We were total idiots! We didn’t even take photos of him from our car! Not one!

After our thrill of the moment, we took a tour of one of the hotels in Malibu near the Getty and  then we gained access to the Getty Villa; luckily, we were granted free entry to the villa. Then before it got dark, we headed off to Surfrider Beach in hopes to see some really good surfing, but there really weren’t that many surfers, I figured they must all be at their jobs. We hated leaving Malibu, but it was time for us to drive up the coast to San Francisco.

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