Well, I say let Harvard have its football and academics. Yale will always be first in gentlemanly club life.
Ah what a vacation. It was one of the all time best vacations I’ve been on. It was relaxing, but we still did lots of things. We flew to Hartford from Chicago last Tuesday where we were met by my sister and brother-in-law picked us up and drove us to their home in New London. For the next two days we just relaxed, went to some parks, ate some good seafood, and played with my new nephew. After that we went to New Haven to my wife’s friends apartment. It brought back bad flashbacks of cramped college apartments with no central air conditioning.
On Friday we toured around Yale. It was really cool. The architecture is amazing. We went to the Yale art museum. It is the first and largest college art museum in the country. It had Picassos and Van Gogh’s and ancient roman sculptures. It also had a collection of John Trumbull paintings. You know the picture in your high school textbook of the signing of the declaration of independence? He painted that, along with several other American Revolution paintings like the one of George Washington standing for a portrait. Then we sat in the park in old campus and had several freshmen tours pass by us. Ivy league freshmen definitely look like you’d think they would. One kid was wearing a white polo shirt, seersucker shorts, and deck shoes. What a douche!
On Saturday we went to the beach and spent the day taking in the sun and swimming in the cool refreshing ocean (sound). On Sunday we went and had a really good brunch and then while my wife and her friend went shopping, her husband and I played 8-bit Nintendo for several hours, nothing like a bit of nostalgia.
Then on Monday we went to New York City. We took the commuter train from New Haven. It took about two hours. We sat near this college age girl who was talking non stop about art and photography and blah, blah, blah. She just wouldn’t shut up. The guy who was listening to her never said a word. I think he was just zoning out and staring at her chest. The train passes through Harlem and then underground to Grand Central Station. From Grand Central, we took the subway over and down to Battery Park.
Luckily we had reserved tickets for the Statue of Liberty otherwise we would have had to wait in line to get tickets. So we went through security to get onto the ferry to take us to Liberty Island. It was very much like airport security, metal detectors and X-rays for any bags you had. Luckily it was a nice day 80’s and cloudy with a light breeze so we went to the upper deck and got a nice view of Manhattan and the statue as we approached it.
When we got of the ferry we figured we had plenty of time before our tour at 12:45 of the inside of the statue so we got lunch and then meandered to the entrance of the statue where we were disappointed to find that we had to got through a second security checkpoint. This one moved slower than the first because they had these machines that puffed air all over you to smell if you had bomb residues on you. By the time we got into the statue we were so tired of standing in line and all the bullshit that we went straight up to the lookout in the upper base. It was worth it though to be able to see the insides of the statue and then the view from the upper base.
We decided to skip Ellis Island because we were both tired and were in no mood to view museum type things. It was 3:00 by the time we got back to Battery Park.
Then we took the subway up a couple stops and walked up to where the World Trade Center used to be. We saw the large hole, and the girder cross. It’s pretty amazing that there used to be two giant buildings there and now there’s just a hole. Crazy shit. I can’t image how it was when they collapsed. It must have been chaos.
We got back on the subway and headed up to Times Square. It was really busy, and it was only 4:30 on a Monday afternoon. It was cool to see though. We went into the Huge Toy’s R’us and used their bathroom and then moved on. We went up to Rockefeller Center and sat for a while because we were both tired of walking. After about a half hour we went up Fifth Avenue and went in Sachs. We looked around at all the overpriced clothes and ended up buying a baby music thingy to hand in the crib. It was cool because it didn’t just play twinkle-twinkle little star. I can’t remember now what song it plays, but it’s nice.
We continued up Fifth Avenue and went in to Tiffany’s and looked at all the expensive and amazing diamonds. I had never seen a “Good” diamond until I set foot in that store. The crap they have on display at your local jewelry store is garbage compared to the fire and clarity of the diamonds Tiffany’s has. It was incredible.
Then we went up to Central Park and walked lazily around and people watched until we got to Tavern on the Green. We had reservations at 7:45 and had a nice dinner. My steak was overcooked, but overall it was a good meal. The interior was really nice.
After dinner we took a cab back to Grand Central and caught the 9:07 back to New Haven. The next day we flew back to Chicago and then drove back to Hell. It’s too bad I’m not rich. I’d live in Manhattan if I was, and do much more vacationing than I get to now. Ah well.
On Friday we toured around Yale. It was really cool. The architecture is amazing. We went to the Yale art museum. It is the first and largest college art museum in the country. It had Picassos and Van Gogh’s and ancient roman sculptures. It also had a collection of John Trumbull paintings. You know the picture in your high school textbook of the signing of the declaration of independence? He painted that, along with several other American Revolution paintings like the one of George Washington standing for a portrait. Then we sat in the park in old campus and had several freshmen tours pass by us. Ivy league freshmen definitely look like you’d think they would. One kid was wearing a white polo shirt, seersucker shorts, and deck shoes. What a douche!
On Saturday we went to the beach and spent the day taking in the sun and swimming in the cool refreshing ocean (sound). On Sunday we went and had a really good brunch and then while my wife and her friend went shopping, her husband and I played 8-bit Nintendo for several hours, nothing like a bit of nostalgia.
Then on Monday we went to New York City. We took the commuter train from New Haven. It took about two hours. We sat near this college age girl who was talking non stop about art and photography and blah, blah, blah. She just wouldn’t shut up. The guy who was listening to her never said a word. I think he was just zoning out and staring at her chest. The train passes through Harlem and then underground to Grand Central Station. From Grand Central, we took the subway over and down to Battery Park.
Luckily we had reserved tickets for the Statue of Liberty otherwise we would have had to wait in line to get tickets. So we went through security to get onto the ferry to take us to Liberty Island. It was very much like airport security, metal detectors and X-rays for any bags you had. Luckily it was a nice day 80’s and cloudy with a light breeze so we went to the upper deck and got a nice view of Manhattan and the statue as we approached it.
When we got of the ferry we figured we had plenty of time before our tour at 12:45 of the inside of the statue so we got lunch and then meandered to the entrance of the statue where we were disappointed to find that we had to got through a second security checkpoint. This one moved slower than the first because they had these machines that puffed air all over you to smell if you had bomb residues on you. By the time we got into the statue we were so tired of standing in line and all the bullshit that we went straight up to the lookout in the upper base. It was worth it though to be able to see the insides of the statue and then the view from the upper base.
We decided to skip Ellis Island because we were both tired and were in no mood to view museum type things. It was 3:00 by the time we got back to Battery Park.
Then we took the subway up a couple stops and walked up to where the World Trade Center used to be. We saw the large hole, and the girder cross. It’s pretty amazing that there used to be two giant buildings there and now there’s just a hole. Crazy shit. I can’t image how it was when they collapsed. It must have been chaos.
We got back on the subway and headed up to Times Square. It was really busy, and it was only 4:30 on a Monday afternoon. It was cool to see though. We went into the Huge Toy’s R’us and used their bathroom and then moved on. We went up to Rockefeller Center and sat for a while because we were both tired of walking. After about a half hour we went up Fifth Avenue and went in Sachs. We looked around at all the overpriced clothes and ended up buying a baby music thingy to hand in the crib. It was cool because it didn’t just play twinkle-twinkle little star. I can’t remember now what song it plays, but it’s nice.
We continued up Fifth Avenue and went in to Tiffany’s and looked at all the expensive and amazing diamonds. I had never seen a “Good” diamond until I set foot in that store. The crap they have on display at your local jewelry store is garbage compared to the fire and clarity of the diamonds Tiffany’s has. It was incredible.
Then we went up to Central Park and walked lazily around and people watched until we got to Tavern on the Green. We had reservations at 7:45 and had a nice dinner. My steak was overcooked, but overall it was a good meal. The interior was really nice.
After dinner we took a cab back to Grand Central and caught the 9:07 back to New Haven. The next day we flew back to Chicago and then drove back to Hell. It’s too bad I’m not rich. I’d live in Manhattan if I was, and do much more vacationing than I get to now. Ah well.
Labels: Vacation
posted by lawryde at
10:36 PM
2 Comments:
Yeah. New York is some crazy shit. Ellis Island is actually an interesting place. If you ever go there again and you're not tired, check it out.
By
Kevin W., at 11:40 AM, August 18, 2005
Sounds like a nice day in NYC. I don't get their often enough. I'd live in New York City again but you'd be hard pressed to find a Midwest girl (a.k.a. Mrs. Lawson) willing to wander too far from her roots. But then again, you never know.
By
Chris, at 4:59 PM, August 18, 2005
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