Started the day at the Faro Cafe (the best coffee in Harvard, according to my friend). The coffee was good, and the cafe definitely had a vibe.
Mini-Vacation In Boston Day 2: Art And Coffee
Category: travel
Mini-Vacation In Boston Day 1: Evening
We walked to yet another neighborhood, Charlestown, for a Thai dinner and more history. It had a very different vibe, strangely more like a “small American town,” and at the same with way more history in the air.
Mini-Vacation In Boston Day 1: Walking Around
The thing I liked the most in Boston, was walking around different neighborhoods and feeling different vibes, starting from Cambridge.
Boston: When You Can’t Choose
Mini-Vacation in Boston Day 1 – Afternoon
After the Isabella Gardner museum, we went to the Massachuset Fine Arts Museum:
I am trying not to post too many artworks because my amateur photos do not do them any justice, but since I can’t talk about these artworks without showing them, I tend to post too many:). The picture below struck me, and when I read the story, it struck me even more.
And then to a Korean place for more desserts:
Mini-Vacation In Boston, Day 1 Morning
The first day went just perfect! The building where my friend live has a great gym
We went for breakfast to Tatte:
And then to the Isabella Gardner Museum:
Mini-Vacation In Boston Day 0
My mini-vacation started with the horrific flight delay. I was so happy with how I planned Friday, avoiding the congestion at ORD by taking public transportation, only to depart five hours later than it was scheduled!
The good thing is that I was at the AA lounge, so I had food, drinks, and comfortable seating, and also I had instance access to customer service. Eventually, I was put on a flight that departed earlier than my original one. However, we were delayed a couple of times, even on that flight. The aircraft just started to gain ground speed and then stopped, and we were told we would need to wait for the storm to clear! So – one more adventure! At least I was able to get to my friend’s apartment in Boston five minutes after midnight, not in the middle of the night!
Guggenheim Museum
A surprising advantage of a large portion of the museum being closed for renovation was that I could focus on some interesting paintings and actually consider them.
I also saw several interesting installations by women artists and a large exhibit of art made by children participating in the museum workshops. But as I said, I focused on a small number of paintings (and I am still intrigued by Kandinsky’s work – still wondering what to make out of it).
New York
Yesterday was the day of my Russian Consulate passport appointment, and at this moment, I am hesitant to say whether it was a good day or a bad day.
It went perfectly almost to the end. I managed to go to bed earlier the day before, so getting up at 3-15 AM was not horrible. Uber pretty much flew through empty streets, and I was at the airport at 4-30 AM. In eight minutes, I was through security (and had to wait until 5 AM for a lounge to open, just so that I could have breakfast). One more time, the AA lounge at ORD is perfect, and serve a high-end breakfast.
The arrival was on time, I took Uber to the consulate – it was way earlier than my appointment, and I asked whether I can come earlier. They suggested I come at noon (my appointment was at 12-40). I went for a walk, and I realized that I was just five minutes away form the Gugenheim Museum, so I went there (I had to wait for ten minutes for it to open). A big portion of the museum is closed for renovation, which was not bad, because I didn’t rush and focused on individual paintings. Then I walked around the Jacqueline Kennedy Reservoir, and returned to the consulate by noon. No line, no Russian TV in the waiting room, they took my papers, took my picture, and my payment in cash. Twenty minutes later I was out. The security surprised me saying: see, it’s even before your appointment time! Now you can relax, sit down at the cafe and have a glass of wine! I replied that I better go to LaGuardia and have a glass of wine in the lounge, and called Uber. There was almost no traffic, and I actually had time to relax, to order an exquisite cocktail and to make several calls.
The flight was on time, and when I took my seat in the aircraft, I texted my neighbor that I will meet her at the Lyric Opera House at 7 PM. Everything was still fine, we were going to land ten minutes ahead of schedule, and a flight attendant already asked us to stove away our laptops and fasten our seat belts, and the plane was already descending, when, all of a sudden, we heard another announcement: we are going to land in Milwaukee!
What?!
It turned out, that a sever storm broke out of nowhere, and it was so bad that we could not land! it was also very swift, but since we already landed in Milwaukee, it took us another hour to get back in the air, including refueling and maps reloading :). It was for the first time in my life that something like that happened!
We landed at ORD at 7-15, and by the time I reached Lyric, it was 8-25, time for the intermission. And I was in such a rush, that I didn’t even stop tp grab a bite to eat at the airport, and when I was already at the Lyric, there were long lines to all concession stands (and there was no real food anyway!)
I still think that there was more of success than not on that day, but it was one of the longest and the most eventful days in my life!
In spite of my best efforts, I didn’t miss my train
My trip to an oil boom town in North Dakota started off on a pretty nerve-wrecking note.
I feel like, at this point, “in spite of my best efforts, I managed to make my Amtrak train” has become a running joke. For every time I made it onto the station with plenty of time to spare, there are two times when I caught it pretty close, either because I didn’t leave as early as I could, or there were transit issues, or some combinations of both. But even compared to all that, catching the Empire Builder today felt like miracle.
My plan was to do what I usually do when taking the Hiawatha train to visit my sister. Since I usually head down to Milwaukee on Friday, I take Red Line/Yellow Line/Pace Route 210 combination to the Glenview Amtrak station. It just feels silly to go down to Chicago Union Station only to go back up again on Amtrak when you live in Rogers Park. That’s not an option on the weekend, since none of the Pace bus routes serving Glenview run on weekends, so I just take the train down to Union Station and take Brown/Red line train combination up to Rogers Park.
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Hettie's Reflections 