Until We Leave Again…

Yes, the date stamp on this post is correct; it is January 20th. I never did a last post and since I will be printing this blog out I wanted to tie up a few loose ends before it becomes immortalized on the printed page.

The post before this one leaves us before we go to the airport and I would love to have said that the trip was uneventful from that point on; but wow….it was not. See, when we got to the airport we found out that the plane we supposed to be on (which we thought was leaving at 3:45pm) had left at 6:30am in route to Salt Lake City, and then to Fresno. That being the case, we were forced to board a plane to Atlanta which left Boston at 4:00. This put us 2 and half hours south (In Atlanta) at about 7:30pm. Our next flight left Atlanta around 9:30pm and didn’t arrive into San Francisco until after midnight. All of this was extremely frustrating because we had wanted to avoid all this from the get go and just fly right into Fresno.

In the end, it all worked out pretty well. Devon’s mom and brother came and picked us up from SFO and drove us home. On top of that the flight from Atlanta to SFO was actually alot of fun because we met a guy named Ross who we had about a solid two hour conversation with and is truly one of the most interesting people I have ever met. So besides our flight being canceled, getting home at 5am Sunday morning instead of 8:45 Saturday night, and Amanda driving all the way from San Francisco to surprise me at the airport only to find out we were flying into San Francisco and not seeing me until I got home very early/late the next morning, everything went very smooth

This was honestly one of the best experiences of my life. Not only did Devon and I have a blast and see and do some truly amazing things, but I think it was a growing experience for both of us as well. We met some amazing people and took a trip that opened our eyes and gave us a much more broad perspective of the world.

I know everyone is done reading this, but I just want to say thank you to everyone who helped in both big and small ways to make this trip possible. We had so much fun and it will be something I will never forget! Until Next Time…

In the park homerun!

Our last morning in Boston! We packed, got ready and headed out on the town. Our extremely friendly Irish concierge checked our bags for us so that we could have a pain free exploration of the city. We walked around Boston common, took pictures of the freshly laid snow, played ball on the blanket covered softball field, and explored the public garden. Oh and my favorite thing, stomped on a Yankees beanie.

After our extremely healthy lunch we headed back to our hotel, where I started to feel a bit sick… Became very flesh and clammy and finally had a lovely upchuck experience awaiting the T on our way to the airport.

We have given birth to so many fond memories and experienced many exciting new adventures that I know I will soon be back to the east coast for a taste of more… So until next time, goodbye!

Cheers!

Today was our last full day of this crazy adventure. We woke up this morning and had a great (and very cheap) breakfast at Pour Man’s. After a delicious breakfast we headed out to Hahvahd (Harvard).

Unfortunately it is winter break for the students there and so consequently no one was on campus to give us a tour. But have no fear! We were able to buy a pamphlet with a self-guided tour that we did ourselves. Since Devon had done the tour before I dubbed her tour guide for the afternoon. She played the part perfectly, reading from the tour guide and also adding some other things from the tour she took last time. To get her more into the part I stared asking her questions like, “So what are you studying here?” to which she replied without hesitation, “I am a musical doctor for the lyrical soul.” I was sold! We had a blast walking the campus and decided to go have lunch in Chinatown.

See, I had been trying to find these really delicious things called steamed pork buns this whole trip. That being the case and this being our last chance to go to Chinatown; I HAD TO FIND THEM! (mikes phone became possesed so now I, Devon, am taking over this blog).

We left Chinatown headed to MIT to find and discover the Cy Young statue. A little college called MIT stands where the home of the red sox once was. Cy Young is now positioned where the old pitchers mound once stood. Since neither of us had ever attended MIT, we had absolutely no clue where to go. Well we finally made it to the heart of the campus (where I figured the legendary Cy would be) and asked a couple of students if they knew where we could find him. They had no clue what we were talking about so i dropped a bomb of knowledge on them and they were shocked… Well needless to say, we didn’t find the mystical statue and headed on our way to feniual hall.

Mike and I did some shopping, well mainly I bought a Boston bracklet and salivated over the hundreds and thousands of Boston sports teams apparel, and BSed with the owner of one of the stores about our upcoming red sox season, and just enjoyed ourselves. After a while we headed for frozen yogart… Yes, frozen yogart in freezing temps.

After our little snack we headed to the hotel and watched some tv and then back out on the town for pizza at Unos and then drinks at cheers.

Cheers has two locations; one in feniual hall (replica) and the other across the street from the public gardens (the original with a 2nd floor replica set). For our last night we decided to have a drink with Tom, the lawyer. I had a blue moon and mikey had a beer with a little root in it lol (rootbeer). We meet three pretty cool people from Chicago that decided on a whim to fly to Boston for the bruins/ blackhawks hockey game. We chatted with them for an hour or so, and took a walk down memory lane of the last two weeks. An absolutely perfect ending to a perfect trip! Cheers to the people we met, the places we went, and to upcoming adventures!

Laughs in the city

Ok, so we are taking things a little more low key here in Boston, but that is not to say that we are not having a blast, because believe me you, we have not laughed harder than we have here in Boston!

We woke up this morning and got an early start. We bought our old town trolley tickets, from our incredibly funny Irish concierge, where I used my own irish charm and got us a second day free, headed to breakfast, and then to the colonade to catch our trolley. As we ran to the stop, we got there just in time to have the smog hit our face and watch the tail of the trolley disappear as the black smoke settled. Dang! Now we had to wait another 20 min. As we all know, Bostonians are incredibly generous, so the concierge from the hotel invited us to rest in the wonderfully heated lobby.

The adventures continued as we took the trolley for a full tour of the city, ending at the New England aquarium. Our first tour guide was very lively, and showed great hatred for the Yankees (I loved it). Our time spent at the aquarium were full of turtles, panguins, sharks and fish. There was a 500lb turtle about 75 years old in the largest cylinder tank in America. The main characters from happy feet were dancing around in the water, and the sharks looked hungry, even though aparently they don’t eat the other fish too often.

Since our trolley service is a hop on hop off deal, we hopped back on and headed to FENWAY!!! Fenway in the winter time is a little, ok, alot different than in July. There was a hockey arena on the middle of the field and a tarp covering the rest. We sat in the oldest seats in baseball, sat ontop of the greenmonster and became apart of the press. All and all, it was awesome, while having emotional moments while walking down the hall of fame hallway.

After departing the best place in the world, with some disappointment from the proshop which was emptied of red sox apparel and full of the winter classic in frozen Fenway crap, we headed to lunner (lunch/dinner)… Ummm. Eating made us a little tired, so we headed back to the hotel and took a nap and watched some tv before heading back out to the famous Cheers bar. We had the famous burgers and sang the cheers theme song, well, whistled it, before heading back onto the frosty streets.

Now, although we still seem to get plentry of things done in the city, we haven’t been as action packed as New York, but don’t fear, we have had more laughs in this city than ever before. Our simple walks from point A to point B are usually full of me bent over in complete laughter and mike chuckling as he saunters ahead. For instance, we pondered taking a souviner brick from the sidewalk, talked about the rule of thirds in photography, had George Washington lay his hand of truth over us as we joked in the streets, and listened to mike do his New Yorkers impersonations of Franky, Ricky, and Bobby.

Boston is just as beautiful as I remembered it and it has the big city effect with a small town feel.

More Than a Feeling

A sense of sadness hung heavy in the air as Devon and I walked down the tilted stairs and out of our NYC hostel. Although we were sad to leave we wee both looking forward to getting to Boston.

The train ride to South Station Boston was once again amazing! Today was not all that exciting. We got to the hotel, dropped off our stuff and went to grab a bite to eat.

We ate a place called UNOs which is linked to the famous UNOs pizza in Chicago. After eating we made our way to Boston Common but it was getting late and was kind of dark so we went to the Boston Bruin ticket window instead. Sadly there weren’t any tickets for tomorrows game.

Before going back to the hotel we went to the Prudential Building to have a drink (and I had a not so tasty Caeser Salad). We sat by the window in the 52nd restaurant and stared out the window across the city lights.

We the headed back to the hotel where have been for a while not. Enjoying some tv and having a nice chill night.

Although today was mostly a travel day, we still managed to pack in plenty of laughs and good times!

Waiting for our train at NY Penn Station

Boston at night

Bitter sweet!

Ok, so we are on the train headed to Boston from New York. I had no idea when starting this adventure that I could or would fall in love with the city that houses my enemy (the Yankees), but I did.

The city roars, the angry people are actually extremely nice, and we met so many amazing people. I love that no matter the time, you can always find something to do in the city. Weather it’s grabbing a slice of pizza, going to a broadway play, catching an independent film, or sipping a cocktail at a poetry slam, you never tire of the immensity of the city!

It’s safe to say that now, more than ever, I definitely see myself spending a few years of my life on the eastcoast for medical school. The time spent in New York was the best experience I’ve had thus far in my life.

Thank you mike for joining me in this adventure, I know our trip is not over and we still have many more memories to creat, but what we have done and where we have been have already left foot prints on my heart! Here’s to another amazing 4 days, let’s go out with a bang!

Train trip through Conneticut

I’ll Be There For You

I am starting this entry with exactly 8 and a half hours left in the Empire State. We spent today almost exclusively in Greenwich Village, but before we headed over there we went to the New York Fire Museum (it was open today).

The museum was filled with the rich and long history of firefighting in New York City. Articfacts dating back to the early 1800s and as recent as 9/11 were scattered around the museum and ranged from horse drawn hose carts to tools used in the World Trade Center Collapse. After our time spent there both of us were glad we had plenty of time to spend there, because on Monday, (the day it was closed) we would have been a bit rushed.

After the Fire Museum we headed to Greenwich. Once there we headed over to Johns Pizzeria in Greenwich Village for some lunch. Johns, as we found out from Jared one of our Times Square friends, is famous for being the best pizza in New York. Now we didn’t try ALL the pizza in New York but we can both say that it was pretty delicious! After lunch we made our way over to the aprtment building made famous by one of our all time favorite shows; FRIENDS. After taking some pictures I had to use the gentlemen’s room fairly badly so we went into the little cafe at the bottom of the building. So what is actually in the bottom of the building? (no, it’s not Central Perk) it was a wine and cheese bar! From there we walked up the street so Devon could see the Magnolia Bakery from Sex in the City. Having concluded our self guided television tour of Greenwich Village we hit a couple little music shops to kill some time.

We ended up with about a 3 hour gap between where we were and when the Poetry Slam started at the Bowery. That was just enough time to not know what to do or where to go. So…we just started walking, and that was a very good decision. We ran into an IFC movie center and decided to watch a movie.

“A Film with Me in It” is a dark british comedy about a guy who has a very bad day, and then people die…and it gets worse. It was the perfect time filler as well, seeing as we were able to make our way over to The Bowery directly after.

The back story to going to The Bowery Poetry Club is that I am a huge poetry fan, specifically slam poetry (performing it on stage) and one of my favorite poets, Taylor Mali, was hosting. I urge you now, to go to YouTube, type in Taylor Mali – What Teachers Make; it is one of the most incredible poems ever! The poetry slam itself was amazing as well. It ended up, that the night we were there happened to be the slam-off to determine who would represent Urbana at the World Womens Poetry Slam (or something close to that) in Columbus, OH. What that meant for us was that we got see the best 8 female poets in the area. Apparently you can also YouTube Bowery Poetry or Urbana Poetry (not sure which) to see some of the local poets. In any case, it was absolutely amazing and a great way to close out our trip.

Taylor Mali @ The Bowery

FRIENDS Apartment Building

NYC FIRE MUSEUM

This is the Last Photo Bill Ever Took.

Laundry was the first order of business today. We both had a pillow case full of clothes that were starting to become an atmospherical danger, so we decided we had better wash them this morning. Spent about 5 bucks for a single load, which wasn’t too bad considering it’s the Upper West Side in NYC. It was also the first time either of us had used a laudromat so we felt pretty good once we finished and all our clothes actually smelled clean!

After we dropped off our clothes at the Hostel we hopped the train downtown to Ground Zero. This was the second time for me and the first for Devon. We took some great pictures of the construction going on and went inside the newly built museum. It is completely non-profit and run by familes members of victims from September 11th. The whole experience was quite moving and very emotional. One of the most moving things I saw was a photo taken of Ground Zero shortly after one of the towers collapsed, by a professional photographer. That in itself was emotional but the fact that he was killed moments after taking that shot is what really got to me. There was a caption under the photo saying the man’s camera was found in the wreckage and the photo in the exhibit was the last he ever took.

After a quick slice to get our emotions back in order we headed to “The Best Kept Secret in New York City”. For those really interested ask me about it .

Once we finished with the mayhem, we headed to Wall Street. Walked the streets, went into Tiffany & Co., then quickly out again after seeing a tiny coin purse that cost much more than it should have! We then took a few pictures by The Bull and decided to head to The Fire Museum.

THIS IS WHERE THE DAY WENT HORRIBLY WRONG.

We hopped on the train to Spring Street, only to realize that we were on the wrong. Once we realized this, we quikly got back on the train- the other way, back to our original stop. We THEN got on the correct train, got off at the right Spring Street stop only to realize the museum is closed on Mondays! With all of our time squandered we decided we had better head back so we could get to our play on time. Little did we know our little adventure was far from over. We ended up about 3 stops into Brooklyn when we finally realized it and had to back on the train to Manhattan and fianlly got to hostel!

Having only 20 minutes to get ready, change and run out of the hostel we hurried around the room in a frenzy and actually made it out and to the theatre with time to spare. Phantom of the Opera at the Majestic Theatre was, in one word; spectacular. Everything about it was amazing and we sat next to this lady from New Jersey. If you haven’t ever met anyone from NJ, trust me when I tell you, it’s quite an experience. We then went across the street so Devon could have a drink, talked a little and then got on the train home and made it there in one try!

The Last Photo Bill Ever Took

Our Pizza Lunch. Huge Slices!

CLOSED. LOL

Reflecting

We talked to a guy named Chris tonight. He is from Austria and is studying to be a mechanical engineer. Although his english is not as strong as he would like it to be, he managed (in the course of our hour long conversation) to remind me of a few things. Thought I would share. Do with them what you will.

1) Americans tend to be very ethnocentric and often see the world through one set of glasses.
2) It is impossible to understand the world until you have walked around it.
3) There are still great people in this world that genuiely care about others and their well-being.
4) Finally, the people we surround our selves with are what truely matter, not our possesions. Even though our culture would have us believe differently.

I think I’ll visit Europe some day, if Chis is any indication of the mindset across the pond, I am sure I will love it.

Weather Report; Freezing with a chance of death

I would like to say I am joking but in less words and more numbers that was basically the weather report for the last two days. With the wind chill factor it has dropped below zero several times and there have been winds gusting up to 20-50 miles an hours. Welcome to an east coast winter!

But have no fear, we still managed to have a great time today and took in a ton of sights. This morning we found another really great place to eat on the Upper West Side ( where we are) and had a delicious breakfast. After that we took the subway downtown to The Statue of Liberty. Before I talk about how majestic it is and what a great symbol of hope and freedom is it, let me first talk about how apparently they transplanted it to the middle of the Arctic!! It was windy, super cold and snowing a bit, the whole time we were there. But we had a blast, met a cool couple from Baltimore who told us how much colder Chicago is and that we should be happy we weren’t there.

Anyway, after that- which by the way took a while between missing trains and exchanging tickets, we made our way to Rockefeller center. I taught Devon a game I like to call Sniper. It can be played like this: Have at least two people playing (Devon and Myself in this case). Find a public arena where people fall easily ( skate parks, bike parks, places where people rollerblade, in our case it was the ice skating rink in Rockefeller Center). Then pick one person each (your victim) and if your person falls first you get a point. Tons of fun and free!! Try it when you get the chance!

Following a lively game of Sniper we walled around Rockefeller center, looked in some shops and decided that since it was within walkig distance we would make our way to the Empire State Building. The view from the top was spectacular. Keeping with the theme of the day, however; it was COLD AND WINDY! So windy in fact, that one whole side of the observation deck was closed. The upside was that we literally did not have to wait in line and could go inside and look out to get the fill 360 degree view.

After that we started to walk toward our subway train to get home and stumbled upon a great little Chinese food place had an amazing meal that was well priced and we have enough left over to eat tomorrow!

View from the Empire State Building

Sniper Game Location

Rockefeller Christmas Tree

Lady Liberty