Saturday, June 20th - Happiness Is ...

Being back ‘on the road again’ – really it’s true, I like the driving – a kind of freedom and power – I can just go …

Listening to the very last ounce of CBC reception after crossing into the US – I actually heard Gordon Campbell interviewed – he seems to be trying to take a national leadership role on EI reform … a worrying sign he may be considering national politics????  We know he can’t/really shouldn’t run for a fourth term in BC … and there could be a couple federal leadership roles open the next few years … my Machiavellian brain at work ....

Having my IPOD connected to my car speakers – Yeah! Yeah! Yeah!!!  Of all things through a fake tape device (that goes in the tape deck I hadn’t realized I had until a few weeks ago …) and many, many thanks to my next generation cousin who knows about these wonderful things :-)

Realizing just how content I am - and how little it takes to be content.  I've had this feeling a number of times on this trip when all is just right with the world.  and Realizing just how lucky I am too.

Being in 25 degree sunny weather walking along the Chicago lake shore – so nice to see the sun again (it’s been a little scarce these last few weeks ….)

Figuring out how to get myself out of a very frustrated bad mood brought on being stuck, gridlock stuck, for 2 hours in traffic (visit Chicago by public transit only is my conclusion) –done by eating a very good home made brownie, being conscious about it and finding some music to enjoy – and it worked.

Eating grilled salmon, broccoli and Florentine rice take out for dinner (from Boston Pizza no less) – sitting in a nice updated little hotel with free wireless and quite good television for a Saturday night (Eli Stone really shouldn’t have been cancelled …)

Catching up with a very good friend on skype, as well as my parents – I’ve figured out how to call land lines - so easy, I wish I'd done it earlier.  Speaking with people from home reminds me just how much I miss them and how very nice it will be to be home soon catching up with everyone in person.

Getting back to doing blog entries – a good thing I like it as I have a few to catch up on ….

Realizing a dream - and knowing it's possible.  Now to just keep dreaming and realizing.

Happiness is ... is one of my favourite expressions :-)

Thursday, June 4th - Goodbye NYC, I'll be Back Soon

My last day in New York City – I was going to miss both the city and the yoga studio and was determined to get one last class in before check-out.

I had a great class – it was with a teacher, who was also a former dancer. She was very aware of who was in the class – recognized that she'd never taught me before and introduced herself and checked in with me (almost a measure in my mind of a good teacher – and so many Iyengar teachers do this).

The class was excellent – again, very clearly a level 3 class. One of the things I've really liked about the studio is that they have single level classes versus the mixed level classes. A level 3 class is different from a level 2 class – there are different expectations and it pushes me in a different and good way. Both Monday and today's classes were more like some of the workshops I've done and it was nice to have the opportunity to revisit that style in a class. Her demonstrations were excellent and the class just had this very active energy to it. I left with a real spring in my step.

Then back to the hotel to finish packing and reclaim my car ... one of the downsides to driving to both NYC and DC is the extortionate cost of parking at hotels e.g. $50+ / day ... so in NYC I'd decided to go independent as there was a parking lot just a block and a half away – one of those cool places where they put your car in what looks like storage for toy cars ... I walked by many times and chuckled when I saw my car about 4 stories up! It was quite a relief to have the car safely away – driving in NY terrifies me – just far too busy with too many people, cars, crazy drivers and one way streets. Give me the metro any day!

I managed to get out of the city – thank you Jane – and had the same surreal experience going back through the Lincoln tunnel that I had coming in ... as I was leaving, I promised myself, I would be back much more often – every couple of years at least – I've concluded that it is the perfect 'girls weekend' city – lots of great theatre, food, shopping, yoga and cafes – what else do you need! And I think I have some takers for next spring – anyone else want to join?

Wednesday, June 3rd - The Ballet & King Geoffrey

Another culture day!

But first more yoga – a morning class which while good, neither the structure of the class or the teacher jived with me in the way the other classes had. However, she did help me with my shoulders which was much appreciated – as a matter of fact, all of the teachers have ... I think my shoulders must send out a beacon or something – help me, help me, help me …

Back to the hotel to change and then up to the Metropolitan Opera House – I was going to the ballet! It was the matinee performance and it was packed! I studied ballet for many years as a child/teenager and used to see many of the productions that came to Vancouver. But I've haven't been to the ballet in years and years – and I've missed it! This was the American Ballet Theatre's new season and it was a series of ballets all to Prokofiev's music. A good mix of different pieces all beautifully danced. I was sitting beside a woman who was an incredibly devoted fan of the ballet – when the season was on, she attended EVERY performance – seriously, she'd been there the previous night and was going to be back later for the evening performance and then again tomorrow etc. etc. The great thing for me, was that she knew everything about the company, the dancers and the ballets – we had great chats through both intermissions and I appreciated the performance much more thanks to her.

From there, I headed to Broadway. After dinner in a traditional busy NY deli (very, very hard to be vegetarian ...) I was off to see Exit the King at the Barrymore Theatre with Geoffrey Rush, Susan Sarandon, Lauren Ambrose and Andrea Martin. It was simply put, a fantastic production! The play is a political satire written in the late 60s and just as relevant now … It is about a king who has been in power just a touch too long, say 300+ years or so if I recall correctly. So long in fact that his kingdom has decayed to such an extent that it only exists as far as the back of the theatre and it is time, long, long overdue, for the King to die – which happens over the course of the 2 hours. Sound familiar anyone???

Geoffrey Rush was simply superb – he won the Tony for his performance and it was incredibly deserving. And the rest of the cast was brilliant – well Susan Sarandon may have been the weaker link, but the pop culture fan in me was still thrilled to see her perform live. I was sitting about 6 rows from the front (much prefer to be up close for a play) and I could see everything - the expressions on their face, the makeup starting to drip a little from the exertion of an incredibly physical performance and the occasional 'off camera' glances between the cast during the production. It was great.

My NYC culture days reminded me how much I really do enjoy it – and miss living in London – though I never saw as much as I should have there. I just need to get out there and enjoy the theatre and ballet that come to Vancouver ... and get to New York more often!

Tuesday, June 2nd - Culture Starts Today

I decided after all the wonderful 'hanging out' I'd done, that I needed my last 2 days in the city to be culture days – e.g. the theater, ballet and a couple of tourist attractions I hadn't seen in previous trips.

I was up and out bright and early – first stop, the UN Headquarters for one of their tours. I'm going to do a separate post on my UN experience – mostly because I was quite disillusioned and it really, really wound me up ... I'll put some kind of disclaimer on the post – Sue on her soapbox, read at own risk.

After the UN, I walked up through Midtown East towards Central Park. When I'd been in New York before with Citibank, I'd worked at the headquarter building on Park at 54th ... I wanted to walk by again and reminisce a little. The crazy thing was that I had actually brought good shoes with me so that when I walked in the fast paced work energy of that neighborhood, I would feel like I fit in … so I stepped into a little diner, bought a bottle of water and tried to subtly change my shoes. Then I'm out, walking along, all purpose and business like ... for all of about 10 blocks ... at which point my feet hurt and I thought, what the f*** am I doing, and proceeded to change my shoes ... there's an ego lesson here somewhere I'm sure!

Central Park is incredible – I'd only ever skirted around the edges before – this time I walked through about half of it ... it is huge!!! It was a hot day and the park was beautiful – definitely a welcome haven of cool green within the chaos of the city.

I made it to the Metropolitan Museum of Art – a museum I'd always wanted to see but never made it to until now. It was beautiful from the outside – a magnificent building. But inside, I've never been so overwhelmed ... it is huge and, I've been in a lot of museums so feel ok saying this, the most difficult to navigate museum I've ever been in ... There were two things I was able to find that I absolutely loved – the impressionists section which was really quite incredible. And then, my favorite, the roof garden – it was stunning with the most amazing views over Central Park and the buildings of New York along the edges. They also had a very cool exhibit there – very funky modern art sculpture – almost like wild tree branches strewn over the patio. When I was there, all I could think was what an amazing place for a cocktail party or reception – it just wowed me!

That evening, was the theatre – a little political intrigue which I thought appropriate given the theme of my trip ... I saw Mary Stuart, an English production and the story of the last few days before Elizabeth signs Mary’s death warrant. It was a powerhouse play for the two lead actresses – including a fictionalized scene between the two – with great performances from the original English cast – both Tony nominated.

I was exhausted by the end of the day – and energized all at the same time- I do love New York!

Sun, May 31st & Mon, Jun 1st - More Neighborhoods, More Yoga

Lovely days just hanging out, exploring different neighborhoods and taking great yoga classes!

Sunday was Little Italy in the morning – I was looking for brunch and stumbled across a place which looked cool – brick building with big open windows and lots of people inside. Once inside, I realized it was Public, a Micheline 1 star restaurant – had to stay, just to say I’ve eaten at a 1 star … and the food looked and smelled great … and it was … my first read of the NY Post while eating my first eggs benedict with spinach and smoked salmon – usually the sauce turns me off but this was really, really good :-)

I walked from there to the yoga studio in midtown – the third time I'd done the walk and the beauty was, each time was like the first with new streets to wonder and explore. The yoga studio has workshops each Sunday afternoon and luckily enough, this week was all about shoulders – this has been and continues to be a theme ... The class was great – very focused on understanding the anatomy and then doing some of the basic poses with a focus on where the shoulders should be. What stuck me most was how the shoulders do need to be held or kept, almost tucked, into position, not falling out or letting go. Depending on which direction your body is going, sideways, upside down, it requires a different focus on where your shoulders should be. At least I think that's right. What I appreciated most was almost the applied anatomy aspect of the session – I'd like to be able to do similar sessions with other parts of the body such as the back, the hips and over and over, the shoulders!

Monday, I continued to develop my expertise for brunch! (This has long been my favorite meal of the day – in large part as it's been something I could cook … one day, it may even turn into a business – who knows!!)

After a stroll through Wall Street and a quick pass of Ground Zero, (I always feel the need to visit my banker friends in this city for some reason), I walked over the Brooklyn Bridge - it was amazing! I’ve always loved bridges, especially those with great architectural structure and lights (Battersea in London is my favorite) – I think they are stunning, particularly at night - and this one is no exception. It also has all these pop culture references that made it quite surreal to walk across.

While exploring Brooklyn I found Teresa’s Café – a cross between a modern café and an old school greasy spoon. Definitely less upscale than Sunday – and I have to say, I’m enjoying my feta and spinach omlette with tomato on the side much more! It’s really, really good and something to be tried at home because the spinach and feta are in nice moderation and mixed right into the egg versus being clumped in the middle (I’ve had that before and it’s a mistake ...).

I enjoyed Brooklyn, with all the lovely brownstones and a little of the New York edge mixed in with a real residential feel. I will say, in all my wanderings of the city, I am realizing just how not trendy I am ... I’m not wearing one of skinny jeans, short shorts, flouncy dresses with leggings, gladiator shoes, metalic shoes or flip flops …. However, at least me and my flowing hippy style skirt aren’t coming across as a complete tourist either given the number of people who’ve asked me for directions. I guess that’s the great thing about this city – there is just so much here, there is room for everyone and their style!

The day finished with a really excellent yoga class – a senior teacher and a true level 3 class. He led us through what for me was an advanced practice with very little demonstration - he expected us to know what we were doing. It was meant to complement a good home practice – and it really would. The highlights for me were a chair shoulder stand with a different but very interesting setup as well as pranyama embedded into the class. I left feeling incredibly energized.

And a brief yoga fashion comment … I've been surprised throughout the US, and especially in New York by just how many women are wearing what I call 'funny yoga shorts' that previously I'd only seen worn by a couple of our visiting male yoga teachers. They are the shorts which have a tight band right at the top of the thigh with loose material above covering one's butt – kind of like very, very short circus pants … not the most flattering but I can see how they are practical in the heat ... we'll see how long it takes them to show up in Vancouver! (another trend I won't be following anytime soon ...)

Saturday, May 30th - Exploring in NYC (w/ the Prez)

Today is a day for just exploring a few neighborhoods in NYC - with no particular destination in mind – walking, browsing, sitting, eating, typing, walking, browsing, sitting, eating, typing and then again … throw in some great people watching, a beautiful blue sky and you get the idea ...

A banana from a sidewalk vendor, and I’m off for a walk through Chinatown.  Then briefly into the Federal area – another pop culture moment as I recognized the court house steps from the many Law & Order series …. Then to Hudson Street and a brunch place I’d heard of  - Bubby’s - had a very trendy vibe -  I succumbed to the sourdough pancakes and yes, they were good!

Back walking - all the way up Hudson, through great neighborhoods, then down Bleecker - increasingly busy as I go - great shopping and puttering on Bleecker in particular.  Then, break time - I found a great little French café (does seem to be a theme …) for afternoon tea and fruit salad.  I really wanted (and almost ordered) a café au lait … and I must admit, drinking my tea, I did wonder ‘why the hell not’ … I’ll just have to go back or find another French café to have a little coffee again - maybe Montreal.

I’m on my way again, through Greenwich Village, and all of a sudden, I see all these cops, cop cars and crowds – I wander up curious as ever and ask – who, what?  It is President Obama and Michelle on their 'date night' at a restaurant on a little street off of 6^th Avenue – he’s following me and I still can’t get a picture!  I love this pic of New York’s finest and just seeing how they set up for this kind of visit – he really can’t go anywhere quietly from what I can tell … It was cool to see how excited people were, and how positive – definitely still the honeymoon phase and here’s hoping it lasts!

Wandering again - saw a basketball game on the corner behind a fence, Washington Square with people just 'hanging out', through a street market – fresh bar bq’d corn, a real treat.  Dinner in a small spot - the best true veggie burger I’ve ever had on a spinach salad – I have a new challenge to recreate it.  Then an excellent French film, Summer Hours, at an independent film theatre - a huge selection of films in this city - I love it!

Final walk of the day was back to the hotel through Soho - such a lovely summer evening with everyone out enjoying themselves - I did miss having someone to hang out with on an outside patio - having a glass of wine and watching the world go by.  And still, a really wonderful day in New York City :-)

Friday, May 29th - Pop Culture in New York City

They say breakfast is the most important meal of the day – and also the one I’ve struggled with most on this trip … but today, best breakfast I’ve had so far – freshly scrambled eggs in a hoagie bun from a street vendor – basically I can say I had the Philly cheese steak hoagie sandwich, just without the steak or cheese – it was perfect! 

After a brief wander through downtown Philly, I headed off for New York City – and almost immediately, I was getting onto the New Jersey turnpike – it was a bit of a surreal moment – one of those roads you hear so much of in the movies or on TV.  I realized this was likely to be the pop culture part of my tour ….  That was reinforced as I went through the toll station, and then drove through the Lincoln tunnel (best analogy I can think of is that it was like driving through the insides of a very long snake – again, surreal …) and then as I arrive in Manhattan, on my immediate right is a NYPD station with the cars all parked out front on angle – can you say NYPD Blues … so cool, and yes, I acknowledge, I may be admitting just how much ‘pop culture’ / tv & movies I’ve enjoyed over the years …

I am in a great hotel – another awesome Hotwire deal – right in the middle of Chinatown, Little Italy, Soho and Tribeca.  The first time I’ve stayed below midtown – and the area of NYC I’ve explored the least.  I am just a little excited - this is something I’ve always wanted to do – spend a week just ‘hanging out’ in NYC.

I’m also, on purpose, close to the NYC Iyengar Yoga Institute – so I hopped the metro for 4 stations and was there … It is a great space – another office building / 11^th floor yoga studio but it doesn’t have an office feel – instead lots of brick, really good sized studios with high ceilings and open windows with a lovely breeze.  It was a good class and good teacher – helped me with my shoulders – one day I will get there …. I’ll be here often this week …

A quick falafel dinner and then I walked back to the hotel - along Broadway, through Union Square - very, very cool to be here.

Thursday, May 28th - The Amish & The Dress

The end of my time in DC – I explored Georgetown and the Washington National Cathedral on my way out of town.  Georgetown was fun – it really reminded me of an English high-street – except with the great French café on the corner which was perfect for brunch.  (Though the 'Junior League' building threw me a little - I guess, these organizations really do exist ...)  The Cathedral is magnificent in grandeur but at the same time, keeps true to just being a church - there was a midday service on when I was there which was nice to see.  For me, of all the capital buildings, it demonstrates most the commitment of the city's forefathers to building/creating history e.g. a Gothic style church to rival those in Europe built in the 20th Century.  I hadn't realized that DC was literally purpose built to house the new government after the revolution - the Cathedral was one of the last buildings built I believe - yet looks the oldest!

I was then off for New York via Philly via the Amish in Lancaster County, PA.  I’m not sure exactly why, but I’d always wanted to see the Amish - I think I was curious to see how much of their traditional life they'd been able to hold on to in the 21st century.  And despite other tourists like myself coming to gawk, they seem to have held on.  It was beautiful countryside, very peaceful with the horse and buggy's going down the road.  I stopped in a few shops to admire the quilts and then went into a grocery store in search of water - their life was alive and well and I was definitely the outsider here.

There was an advantage to the detour … the dress … I have two very good and patient friends who both spent considerable time with me going through my closet and providing exceedingly honest ‘give it, keep it, just throw it’ advice … and there were a few things in said closet that gave them both a great deal of amusement … one of these, was what they called the ‘Amish’ dress.  Both laughed out loud (I’m really not kidding) when they saw it – and even more so once they saw it on.  To give myself a little credit, while yes I did buy it a very long time ago …. I’ve never worn it – surely that has to count for something???  Anyway, I was out for brunch with both shortly before leaving and they decided that as I was going, the perfect one time wear of the dress should be when I was in Amish country – well, here’s to you girls, I did it – and hope you appreciate the picture :-)

Now I do want to put a disclaimer here – all potentially perceived mockery is entirely self-directed.  None is intended for the Amish themselves – for whom I have the highest respect and appreciation for how they choose to live their lives.  Really, no insult to them is at all intended and I hopefully none taken .... :-)

I arrived in Philly in time for dinner with an old friend from Crystal days – it was really nice to catch up with him – he knows his politics and so we had a great discussion on the recent election and some of my impressions on my travels to date – blue states, red states, Obama, Hillary, Bush etc. etc.  Even the impact on the US of the Declaration of Independence having been written in Philadelphia (historically a more open liberal society back then with Quaker roots as compared to Boston for example.)  It was great fun.  He also gave me a driving tour of Philly – a very cool city from what I could tell – lots of brick and different neighborhoods all within a fairly small space - it felt like a very livable city, especially with the BYOB restaurants!

Wednesday, May 27th - Ideal Day, Both Politics & Yoga

Today was back to politics with:

• a tour of the Capital Buildings - quite the organization, processing what must be thousands of tourists a day with a good visitors centre.  You don't get to see a lot of the complex, but at least I was able to see the House of Representatives - I was surprised as it was really quite small - it seems much bigger on TV
  
• breakfast in the canteen - congress not in session so pretty much just tourists and a lot of students ... read the DC free daily Politico - all the latest political scoop with a little inside DC gossip for entertainment - fun!
• then the Supreme Court - another wow – impressive and really interesting to hear how the history and how they operate today including how they manage their caseload and actual presentations of cases (their questions to the lawyers are often to highlight points to the other justices) - very topical given the announcement of the new nominee to the bench.
  

Then a little culture in the afternoon with a visit to the National Gallery of Art where I got a surprise - as I was walking through one of the halls on my way to the impressionists, I turn a corner and there in front of me was the painting I grew up with, A Young Girl Reading by Jean-Honore Fragonard  ... I still have the old framed print at home (never having known how rare the original was) - something I'd tried to give away recently in a spring cleaning binge but I just couldn't - so I bought another smaller print to frame and keep - a connection to my childhood.  It made me smile.  I enjoyed the rest of the museum - they have an excellent impressionist collection (my art focus) and the entire museum is housed in a really beautiful building, with two lovely indoor conservatories - with comfortable chairs and tea - just perfect!

Finally, that evening, I made it to a yoga class.  The main Iyengar studios in DC are Unity Woods founded by one of the well known US Iyengar teachers, John Schumacher.  I'd heard of him from the folks in Denver and I was very curious to try a class.  I didn't get to one of his classes but enjoyed the teacher I had (she helped with my lotus/padmasana attempt which I appreciated).  Unfortunately, it was my first disappointing experience with a studio - it was their Woodland Park location and was entirely underground with no windows ... light and fresh air make all the difference.  I'm also not entirely convinced on studios being built up around just one teacher, no matter how good they may be - it risks becoming too centered on that individual and their style as opposed to having a breadth of influencers all contributing to the community.  So far the best example I've seen of the latter is at the Denver studio which was co-founded by 3 or 4 teachers.

I also had a realization today - I’m getting better at ‘letting things go’ in the moment.  Generally, if something doesn't go as planned / as I've wanted, I've stewed, often berating myself or others for it not working out.  I think this more flexible, less 'planned' travel is paying off - I'm less attached to a plan and so able to detach more when things evolve differently than I might have imagined.  It's a good thing.

Tuesday, May 26th - I Was a Spy in Kandahar

A slower day today – and a lot less walking than yesterday!  I headed to the mall to see how much of the Smithsonian I could see – not a lot as it turned out … With so much choice, I decided to keep with my theme of American political history and so headed for the National Museum of American History and (based on the recommendations of the Director who I met in the lift) saw some excellent exhibits including dresses of First Ladies, pictures from the 2009 inauguration day, the life history of Abe Lincoln, an overview of the American Presidency and, I must admit, most impressive was the original star spangled banner.   I was surprised actually how many references to the war of 1812 there were here - though the war is not known as the one 'Canada won' (as we are taught in school .... or maybe it's just how I remember it ...) but rather the one where England beat them back - and at the same time more firmly established them as a new country with a national anthem.  

I then headed off for my scheduled appointment at the International Spy Museum ... I was really looking forward to this as they promised a real spy experience ...  and they delivered - it was an activity where you pretend you are a spy in Kandahar and you go through a series of exercises/tests with a group – just how observant are you, how well do you listen, can you use a remote camera system to follow a suspect, unscramble a voice recording and ultimately, solve the puzzle.  It was really well done and just a blast to do – and let’s just say, it’s a good thing I’m not a spy!  (though I did pick the right outcome in the end .... black ops all the way!)  The main part of the museum was more traditional with the history of espionage but they had very cool examples of early spy craft tools including the lipstick gun ...  They also had stories of actual spy’s – both the good guys (e.g. members of WW II resistors) and the bad – the infamous British and American double agents.  It was a really cool museum – and one I had no idea about before I arrived – a highlight!  It brought all those Len Deighton books I read so long ago back to life.

For the evening, I had hoped to try and find a couple of the ‘political’ bars to hang out in - and had thought it shouldn’t be a problem - I had the addresses and the DC streets are clearly laid out … unfortunately, it wasn't til later that I realized the SW versus SE does have a big impact on the addresses - ah well, next time.  I was definitely missing my political debating friends back home ....

But in my wandering I did at least explore the outside of the Capital Buildings and would have had a good view for the inauguration had the time been right!