While researching at Hamilton over this summer could have been considered a quasi-vacation, especially with the large amount of free time after a days work, my real summer vacation officially began yesterday. On Friday, I rode the train down from Utica to Penn Station, tired and ready to just get away from the ‘hill. Of course, being Amtrak, the train was delayed not only before it arrived at Utica, but during the journey. Nonetheless, it was a relatively easy journey as there’s plenty of room, air conditioning (a change from hot, humid Babbitt), and power ports at every seat. Now, if only it could run on time!
I know I talk about this each time I arrive in New York but it’s worthy of repetition. The difference between laid back, quiet Clinton, N.Y. and the bustling, mayhem of 34th Street makes me cringe each time. I love the activity of New York but it truly is unnerving to arrive. When you’ve got a duffel bag, messenger bag, and a camera bag all over your shoulder, the last thing you want to do is be jostled around in midtown. It truly is a wake up call!
Anyway, the evening was spent with my dad and visiting my Aunt. We ate at the wonderful John’s pizzeria and spent the evening catching up. Today, I met up with Sean and Emily in their West Village studio after a Sushi lunch with my dad. While a bit small, it’s a wonderful studio with a revealed brick wall and perfect location - I can only aspire to find something like that. We walked around the West Village, East Village, hit up SoHo and perhaps even NoHo, and finally ended up at Union Square. After relaxing on the last patch of green grass available within miles, we visited the Barnes and Noble there.
I love bookstores. I don’t know why, but it’s perhaps one of the most relaxing places you can be. Anyway, after flipping through random books, I ended up picking up Plane Insanity by Elliott Hester. It seems like the perfect book for my plane ride tomorrow (that is, if I finish A Walk in the Woods by then - which is another wonderful book), as it’s written by a flight attendant and details many of the weird situations that passengers can only dream have happened.
To make the day even better, my dad and I had delicious Vietnamese food at a place right around the corner. And when I say delicious, it was perhaps one of the best meals I’ve easily had this year. The eggplant in yellow curry sauce was the best part. Definitely. Afterwards, to make ourselves feel a bit less full, we took a walk around the reservoir in the park, which I plan to run around a couple of times tomorrow. We shall see.
Anyway, speaking of plane rides, tomorrow evening I’m heading to Finland. My dad and I are flying Icelandair to Helsinki where I’ll spend close to three weeks. During this time, I hope to visit Tallinn at least for a day and Matti and I will be making an overnight trip to Vaasa. Of course, plenty of trips to Karjalan Maja will be had, plenty of biking will be done, and many, many Karjalan pirakaa’s will be eaten.
At the end of July, Matti and I will then be flying back to New York, via Iceland where we will spend three nights. I’ll write more about our trips later in the summer. So, fair warning - if you send an e-mail over the next few weeks, know that it might be a couple of days before I get back to you as I simply don’t have internet access at home in Finland.
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