[Travelandtourism] A friend of mine has allowed me to share theretravel experience here.

Wed Sep 14 21:50:46 UTC 2011

Hello Cheryl and everyone,

    It sounds interesting, especially since I have never been  been to New 
York City. I made plenty of reservations at Marriott hotel properties there 
when I worked for Marriott, though.

Mary Donahue

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "cheryl echevarria" <cherylandmaxx at hotmail.com>
To: "travelandtourism" <travelandtourism at nfbnet.org>
Sent: Wednesday, September 14, 2011 6:17 AM
Subject: [Travelandtourism] A friend of mine has allowed me to share 
theretravel experience here.

> Hello there everyone. Ed Meskys of New Hampshire has allowed me to post 
> his trip here to NY City, some ideas when you would like to come.
>
>
> ^^NEW YORK
>
> Sandy and I had been considering a trip to NY City for some time when she 
> found on Groupon round trip bus tickets Boston to NY for $20 each. There 
> were three buses a day from the Alewife Boston subway station with garage 
> and bus terminal. Thanks to the Garmin GPS Sandy is a bit more adventurous 
> about driving in strange places. When we got there we misunderstood the 
> signage and drove past the entrance, but the Garmin helped us get back. 
> The bus also stopped at the Riverside subway station/parking lot, and if 
> we do this again we will take it from there. Riverside is easier to reach, 
> and that takes a half hour off the bus ride.
>
>
>
> We had planned to go to an SF reading at the KGB Bar on East 4 St. after 
> Sandy went to a Weight Watchers meeting, but we cancelled that when we 
> heard that both readers were horror writers. And it is just as well that 
> we did. We hauled our luggage 2.5 long blocks to Broadway where we were 
> going to take the Broadway bus to Courtland and Broadway, the Weight 
> Watchers location. We found out that the bus no longer exists because 
> Broadway was made into a pedestrian mall. The nearest bus was 1.5 long 
> blocks away, we didn't know where it would leave us, and the day was hot. 
> We went downstairs and took the Broadway (R train) subway. The south-bound 
> Courtland St. station was still closed after the damage on "9/11," so we 
> had to go to the next station and walk back. After Sandy got done with 
> Weight Watchers we just found the nearest restaurant, a British pub called 
> something like "Pence and Pints," where we had an outstanding meal of 
> steamed spinach with goat cheese and toasted multigrain rounds. I also had 
> a pint of British ale, name forgotten.
>
>
>
> We were late reserving sleeping accommodations and the Hosteling 
> International (formerly American Youth Hostels) was booked solid. Best we 
> could find was Red Carpet Inn in Jersey City, near Journal Square. I 
> remembered we were near the PATH train station (formerly Hudson Tubes), 
> only two blocks away, so we took that. The hotel was a good deal and 
> included free Why Fie, microwave, and fridge, in the room, and free 
> continental breakfast. It had been a long day, so we made ourselves rum 
> and diet colas, and collapsed.
>
>
>
> Next day we took the Jersey Transit bus into Port Authority, and met Mark 
> Blackman for lunch at Keens Chop House at 72 W 36 St. We had wanted to eat 
> there ever since we heard that they had real mutton instead of fetal lamb. 
> Everything was a-la-carte, and we only got some endive with the chop. The 
> "small" chop from the bar menu was $26, and was impressively large. I hate 
> to think what their regular chop at around $60 was like. Sandy and I 
> ordered their homemade ginger beer, which reminded me of the Goya brand 
> found in supermarkets, but better.
>
>
>
> We walked up to Recording for the Blind & Dyslectic (now "Learning Ally") 
> on 45 St. just off 5th Ave. I had hoped to get some help adjusting my 
> Victor Stream portable player to take their recordings, but they had no 
> technicians. They suggested I get in touch with headquarters in Princeton, 
> NJ, or see their booth at the NFB convention. John, the man on duty, 
> remembered John Boardman when he had been a volunteer narrator, and was 
> sorry to hear of his move to Maryland. On our way to Port Authority we 
> stopped at a Starbucks for Chai lattes, and sat at an outdoor table with 
> two visitors to NY. They lived in Florida and California, were old 
> friends, and came to NY to do some Broadway shows. The day of the show you 
> can get leftover or returned tickets at reasonable cost. They had just 
> seen The Importance of Being Earnest for $30 instead of over $100. Our 
> trip back to NJ was uneventful.
>
>
>
> Next day we were supposed to take a Metro-North train from Grand Central 
> into Westchester County to tour an outdoor living history museum near 
> Sleepy Hollow of "Headless Horseman" fame, but we had a tremendous 
> thunderstorm when we got up. We decided to stay in the hotel and read, and 
> do email. Outdoor museums are no fun in thunderstorms. Later that day we 
> had two more real thunderboomers and downpours. Things were clear at 
> lunchtime, so we walked to a Brick Tower hamburger joint. Aside from 
> numerous variations of burgers they only had steak, tuna, and grilled 
> cheese sandwiches. We had double cheeseburgers with bacon and diet colas, 
> which were good, but a bit greasy. The sign said they were the only 
> restaurant to have survived since the 1939 World's Fair.
>
>
>
> We did read all our email, but were unable to send out. Son Stanley said 
> that it is a problem with Roadrunner, and next visit he will change some 
> settings which should help. We will be in Orlando beginning of July for 
> the blind convention, and Stan will not visit until after we get back.
>
>
>
> Saturday we had lunch with Andy Porter and Mark Blackman at Teresa's 
> Polish restaurant on Montague St., Brooklyn Heights. I had the real potato 
> pancakes I had been faunching for. Unfortunately they were deep-fried and 
> a bit too crunchy and greasy, but still good. Sandy had an outstanding 
> Brie and mushroom omelet.
>
>
>
> Afterwards Andy gave us his architectural tour of the area, showing us the 
> magnificent metal doors on the Slovenian Catholic Cathedral. They had been 
> the dining room doors on the luxury liner, Normandie. The ship had burned 
> and sunk at dock in NY in 1944. He also showed us interesting decorative 
> stone carvings and fancy metalwork fences.
>
>
>
> We ended up on Atlantic Avenue, for Sahadi's Lebanese grocery and Trader 
> Joe's. Andy pointed out that there were excellent food stores and 
> restaurants on Montague and on Atlantic, but the former were more 
> expensive. The area is more yuppified. Sandy bought excellent rye-spelt 
> bread, and Andy bought for us a wonderful multi-grain loaf. Sandy had 
> never been to Trader Joe's before, and was impressed by the great quantity 
> of unusual items available. She enjoyed both Sahadi's and Joe's.
>
>
>
> Afterwards we took the subway to the end of the A train at 207 St., 
> Manhattan, for the FIStFA meeting in an apartment shared by Tom Byro, Thom 
> Anderson, and a third, a non-fan. Tom Byro makes a point of providing a 
> great feast every month. Main dishes were regular and German potato salad, 
> very rich and filling, and tapioca pudding with sliced, sugared 
> strawberries. There was something else in the tapioca, which gave it a 
> slightly smoky taste. Tom also provided some excellent cheeses, including 
> one only made in Cornwall, and others banana nectar, and excellent 
> cookies. There were about a dozen fen present, including the blind Bob 
> Rodriquez. Bob retreated to a room with TV where he watched DVDs of old 
> movie serials. I had excellent conversations with the two Toms, and with 
> Lisa Rogers. Conversation ranged from Eleanor of Aquitaine to food to TV 
> to fannish history. At midnight Tom was going to launch a toy Japanese hot 
> air balloon, powered by a candle, but we left around 11. We were very 
> lucky that Lisa's husband, Ward, offered us a ride to our hotel, on the 
> way to his home in Jersey.
>
>
>
> Since our bus home left from 8 Ave. and 31 St., we took the Hudson Tubes 
> again, to 33 St., and 6th Ave. We had an hour to spare, so we took a 
> leisurely walk to the spot, and noted in passing a Franciscan Church 
> between 6 and 7 Avenues, where the next mass was to be in the Korean 
> language. The bus ride and drive home was uneventful. Sandy slept for most 
> of the bus ride, so was ready for the 2.5 hour drive home.
>
>
>
> Leading the Way in Independent Travel!
>
> Cheryl Echevarria
> http://www.echevarriatravel.com
> 631-456-5394
> reservations at echevarriatravel.com
>
> Affiliated as an Independent Contractor with Superior Travel, located in 
> Baldwin, NY. www.superiortravel.com
>
> Affiliated as an Independent Contractor with Absolute Cruise & Travel, 
> Inc.
>
> _______________________________________________
> Travelandtourism mailing list
> Travelandtourism at nfbnet.org
> http://nfbnet.org/mailman/listinfo/travelandtourism_nfbnet.org
> To unsubscribe, change your list options or get your account info for 
> Travelandtourism:
> http://nfbnet.org/mailman/options/travelandtourism_nfbnet.org/braille%40satx.rr.com 