New York City
It’s been many years, decades, since we were in NYC…pre 9/11…so changes were expected. Truly, it’s difficult to picture what we saw before, but the Big Apple is still awe-striking, and lives up to the superlative adjectives used to describe it: Largest city in the U.S. (8 million plus population, most densely populated at over 10,000 people/square mile), tallest skyscraper in the western hemisphere (One World Trade Center), most linguistically-diverse city in the world (800 languages spoken.)
We could barely scratch the surface in our four-day visit. Our main reason for going was to complete the last of the tennis “grand slams” on our bucket list: The U. S. Open, which we attended for three days with George and Jacinta.
Our Airbnb in Brooklyn, in the Bedford-Stuyvesant neighborhood, was about a 30-40-minute commute by car-hailing to Flushing Meadows, Queens, home of the U.S. Open. All we did was eat breakfast and sleep there, but the neighborhood appeared safe and quiet, and our hosts, Chyanne and Jermaine, were helpful. It’s close to the MTA on Fulton at Rockaway for trips to the city. https://www.airbnb.ca/rooms/20678724?locale=en&guests=1&adults=1&source_impression_id=p3_1570053329_b9xoJ0bOxJEhtcIR
Attending three day-sessions and two nights, we saw many top players (Roger Federer, Novak Djokovic, Serena Williams among others) as well as most of the Canadian players, including Bianca Andreescu, who won the women’s championship, playing in the first round.
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| Bianca Andreescu, playing first round |
Though we had reserved seats in the largest stadium, Arthur Ashe, we made our way to the outer courts to see the Canadians play. The covered stadium was useful on Day 3, when outdoor matches were canceled due to rain. We ate most of our meals at the venue, not cheap but convenient, though you can bring in food or water in plastic bottles. No backpacks though!
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| Unisphere, from 1964 World's Fair |
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| Arriving at the U S Open |
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| "Freedom of the Human Spirit" statue |
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| Arthur Ashe Statdium |
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| sunset, Grandstand Stadium |
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| Jim tries out a bigger racquet |
After our last day session, our group of five Uber’d to dinner at Oregano, an Italian bistro in Williamsburg, https://www.oreganowilliamsburg.com/ allowing us to sample some pretty delicious fare. Jim ordered black fettucine with lobster (squid ink fettuccine served with lobster, zucchini & sun dried tomatoes in vodka sauce); I had crab cakes; we shared a summer salad of arugula, goat cheese, strawberries and pecans. The owner, Rena, was there to make suggestions on food and wine and threw in an extra bottle on the house!
Our final day was a whirlwind sightseeing visit to Manhattan where we started in Times Square before taking three bus tours, Uptown and Harlem, Downtown and a Night Tour, plus a Liberty Island cruise with Top View NYC, www.topviewnyc.com
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| Times Square |
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| Columbus Circle, Time Warner Center |
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| The Met |
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| corner of Central Park South |
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| The Empire State Building |
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| Flatiron Building, 5th Ave and 21st St. |
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| new Manhattan skyline |
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| Lower Manhattan |
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| Statue of Liberty |
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| Lower Manhattan, Battery Park |
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| Times Square at Night |
Rhode Island
NYC – Providence, RI, via Connecticut by Peter Pan bus from the Port Authority in mid-town Manhattan on the Friday of the long weekend. A 3.75-hour trip became 5.25 hours when Hwy 95 became a virtual parking lot as everyone seemed to be escaping the city. Patiently, Jane was waiting for us, bless her! We stopped on the coast at East Greenwich for seafood at Finn’s Harborside, https://finnsharborside.com, where we all relaxed over raw oysters, lobster sauté, and seared scallops and some libations.
My New York-born cousin Jane has recently retired to North Kingstown, RI, where she lives in an idyllic rural setting in a townhouse backed on a large green expanse meeting a forest. What a great place to start the morning, sipping coffee on the deck with hummingbirds, squirrels and other small creatures chirping and skittering by!
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| Lotus, North Kingstown |
Nearby, historic Wickford, dating from 1709, located on Narragansett Bay, is one of the oldest preserved colonial villages in the country. https://histwick.org/
Another day Jane drove us to nearby Newport, to take in the Tennis Hall of Fame and drive by a few mansions before we visited Jane’s brother, John, and his wife Celia.
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| The Breakers, Newport |
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| Tennis Hall of Fame, Newport |
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| Tennis Hall of Fame |
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| John, Jane, Celia and Jim at Diego's |
The final day we watched surfers at Pt. Judith in Narragansett and lunched at Matunuck Oyster Bar, https://rhodyoysters.com for more fresh local seafood. Jim was happy to continue his lobster fest.
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| Matunuck Harbor |
Cape Cod
Labor Day over, we picked up our rental car for the drive to Hyannis, Cape Cod. The sun followed us along Highways 138, then 195 east to 6 on the Cape, where we stopped for a walk on the beach at Sandy Neck. There were still a few people camping on the beach in motor homes. As well as fewer people after Labor Day, access to the beaches and parking is free, instead of $20.
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| Sandy Neck Beach, Cape Cod |
Though we didn’t spend much time exploring Hyannis, it’s central location and our motel, Hyannis Travel Inn, https://www.hyannistravelinn.com/ were convenient for visiting the Cape.
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| Artists' shacks, Hyannis |
We took a day to drive to Provincetown, stopping at Highland Lighthouse on the outer coast (Atlantic), and two beaches on “the hook”: Race Point and Herring Cove. P’town, as it’s known to locals, was still fairly busy with tourists and parking was tight. You can see the Pilgrim Monument from everywhere in town and we walked over for a look, but there was no time to climb the 116 steps and 60 ramps for the view or visit the museum. It commemorates the place where they landed first in 1620 before heading for Plymouth. We had a quick look around and had, guess what?, for lunch at the Lobster Pot.
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| Highland Light |
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| Herring Cove Beach, planted beach grass |
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| We weren't about to swim at this beach! |
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| Colorful Provincetown |
Our final destination was a 35-minute ferry ride from Falmouth to Martha’s Vineyard, on the Island Queen. Landing in Oak Bluffs, we met up with cousin Vanessa, an actress who was performing in Carver at the head of the Cape. We rode bikes along the beach road path about six miles to Edgartown. There are 44 miles of bike trails, a safe, relaxing way to see the Island. Edgartown was settled by whaling captains, whose stately white Greek Revival houses have been carefully restored as private homes or commercial buildings.
We parked our bikes on the outskirts and strolled through town, dining at Atlantic Fish and Chop House, www.atlanticmv.com by the marina where we enjoyed lobster croissants.
We cut our stay on the Cape short by a day due to the arrival of Hurricane Dorian, expected to unleash its heaviest on the area early the next day. Ferries to Nantucket and Martha’s Vineyard were either cancelled or cut back. “Batten down the hatches,” advised a woman working at the Welcome Centre, so we took that as a sign it was time to leave. We followed the coast up through Plymouth, where we took a short break, arriving outside of Boston and close to the airport where our early morning flight left the next day. New England hospitality and attractions left us thinking we might be back some day…if only….too many places to see, too little time.
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| Plymouth Rock |
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| We look smug because we escaped Dorian. |
2 comments:
What a wonderful trip, wish we could have met up with you. Maybe we'll see you in BC again! Jackie & Matt
We'd love to see you in BC Jackie! Lynne
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