This past Sunday was a brilliant after-snow day begging for an outdoor activity. In my case, it meant finding a picturesque locale to test out a new camera that I had recently acquired. The historic town of Cranbury – which I inexplicably have never visited before even though my house is located within just half-an-hour
The fall of 2017 has been generous on gorgeous weekends and a few weeks ago we spent one such afternoon in the pretty town of Red Bank, less than half an hour away from our home. This was not our first visit to town but it was the first where I decided that I wanted
It pains me to admit that until just a few years ago I was not even aware of the existence of Met Cloisters. Its comparatively remote location near the northern tip of Manhattan island played a role in my never being able to set aside time for a visit. Only this past Sunday, my lovely
I have looked at it from a distance for close to twenty-five years but somehow never found time to visit. My collection of UNESCO World Heritage sites should have listed Statue of Liberty somewhere in the first dozen chronologically, given that it is geographically the closest site to where I have lived most of my
My present job occasionally demands travel between Wall Street area in Manhattan and Exchange Place location in Jersey City. The most convenient way to make the trip is via NY Waterway service, which takes about 10 minutes to cross New York Harbor. On one of such trips I brought along my camera and snapped a
I’ve heard it many times in the past that performing at the Carnegie Hall in New York always features among the major highlights of a musician’s career. Well, one of my children have gotten it out of the way at a pretty early stage. Becky and her high school choir participated in a program at
A bit overdue, we went to see the 09/11 Memorial in downtown Manhattan on Saturday.
I don’t get these victory parades. You stand in the crowd for several hours. You block passage for people who actually have business walking down the streets that the mob you’re part of is blocking. You have to exercise a significant bladder control above and beyond your normal exertion. And then a bunch of double-decker
When we lived in London, we made several trips to its Science Museum (for instance, as recorded in this old entry). But in all years of living in New Jersey, we have never visited our own Liberty Science Center. Today, Kimmy and Natasha rectified the glaring oversight (yours truly stayed home with the baby). The
There is currently not one but two real Minis scaling the walls of the building on 42nd Street where Broadway and 7th Avenue diverge away from the Times Square. I thought at first that these were well-executed models, but close inspection of the brackets which hold the cars in place suggests that they are, in
In many European cities (not so much in London, though) bicycle riders are provided with enough dedicated riding space to make it appear to a fascinated visitor that practically everyone in the city rides a bike instead of a motorized vehicle. Amsterdam is an obvious and well-known example, but, say, Munich would also surprise you
On a nowadays rare workday spent in Manhattan, I had a chance to stroll through Bryant Park in New York Midtown. Around lunchtime, it held a City Library-sponsored book reading in one corner and a musical performance in another. Some people played ping-pong, while others idly lounged around. In yet another corner, there was an
I wonder how many Parisians visit Louvre more than once in their adult lives, if ever. Or Londoners National Gallery. Or Madrileños Prado. Outside of a small group of art students and fanatical art lovers, I doubt that the majority of local population ever finds time in their busy daily routines to come in and
I am starting to dislike Manhattan just a bit again. The main reason is this: The damn thing stands practically in front of the building where I work, and is surrounded by so many gawkers that it makes it a challenge to get through, especially at the end of day. And overall, during
One of the few fun things about working in NYC’s Rockefeller Center – there are many negative counterweights to it, trust me! – is the various fairs regularly held here. One day they display a fleet of historic fire engines and then torch an old car and demonstrate proper firefighting techniques on that as part