I'm back east, visiting family and friends and I've also incorporated in three days of work with my boss...so it hasn't eaten up my very valuable vacation time which needs to be saved for an end of summer trip to Italy (yes, Italy, finally...the plane tix are bought, I'm going).
I've squeezed quite a lot into the time out here. I arrived last Thursday (it was a fully day of travel to get to my uncle's place near Princeton), but dinner at Whole Foods was wonderful. Friday we had breakfast in Lambertville (sort of the standard first day of the trip fare) and then got on our bikes and rode around Princeton taking tote paths most of the way. Spring time is here with the beautiful blossoms and even though there aren't any leaves on the trees, it's still so green.
Saturday we rode bikes in Manhattan. We were on the 7 am Staten Island ferry and had Wall Street, Ground Zero and SoHo to ourselves, it was awesome. Unc took lots of photos, so I'll be sure to post them when I get a copy. Then we headed uptown to Cafe Lalo for breakfast. A good place to let our wet riding clothes dry out some...yes, between the surreal, warm riding just after we disembarked the ferry to 83rd, it started to rain a bit. By the time we got to Lalo, it was coming down.
I had a haircut appt 30 blocks south of Cafe Lalo at my favorite hair place ever, Ouidad. They specialize in curly hair and when they send you out with newly cut hair there isn't a frizzy hair in sight (and yes, your hair is styled curly which I have yet to see any other salon do successfully).
Terrible to have salon-beautiful hair on a rainy day, but I did get to enjoy it quite awhile because after the cut, getting back on the bikes wasn't an option with the rain and cold. We found a nice hang out area next to Nike Town and near the Apple store & spent a few hours reading and relaxing.
Finally, the rain did subside and we jumped back on the bikes and took the bike path that runs down the east side of the city back to the ferry. The moment the sun came out, it was warm and made for a beautiful evening. Dinner was at On the Border (I wasn't hungry) and it left just enough time for me to make the Easter Vigil mass at a church not far from home.
Easter Sunday was a magnificent morning! The sun was up, not a cloud in the sky (it was windy and cold, but that hardly detracted from the beauty of the day). I attended a 10 am Easter mass at the same church (I really enjoyed the community of people who I saw there, everyone seemed close). There was a visible lack of people between the ages of 25-40. Unc and I took a hike later in the day that was close to three hours, I love hiking in woods and it's close to where he lives.
Monday I woke up insanely early (4:30 am EST, ouch) to go to the gym for a spin class and then get to NYC where I caught a bus to Boston. $19 one way for a 4 hr 15 minute ride to Boston. What a deal! Everyone on the bus was my age or college age (a refreshing change) and the driver was cool. That bus had wi-fi on it so I played on the computer, did a little work, the time flew by fast.
I met up with Juliet (friend from college) at her place, very cool! The architecture of the homes and apartments out here can't be beat. Not a square room in sight (not that I mind my square home, but non-square ones w/o carpet are automatically cool). We went for lunch at a place just down the street...they served wraps with rice and different veggies/fillers and white flour wasn't an option, white rice wasn't either. Yummy!
We wandered on over to MIT and she toured me around the place. You should see the architecture! The coolest was seeing their hacks. Basically, the school is proud of the pranks the students put together. And these are the most creative, technically able group of students so watch out, they do some crazy stuff! Check this out: http://hacks.mit.edu/misc/best_of.html
Her finance joined us, then, we wandered through a huge cool park (I know it has a name, I just am not sure of it) and saw some great really old neighborhoods (around Beacon Hill) and ended up with really great Vietnamese food. This may be my first Vietnamese dinner and I'm already looing forward to the next one. Tasted good and was light, just how I like dinner to be.
Then they saw me off on the subway that took me out to near where Erica (friend from middle school) lives. She also lives in a cool place with no square rooms. It was late at that point so we didn't have tons of time to catch up, but I've stayed with her all week (and I've been working with my boss who lives near here) so the visiting time has been great.
Today she took the day off from work, we're going to see the sights, I'll report more later & post pics. The sun is shining here and it should be 70 degrees today.
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