BIG Firsts and Bigger Moments

Sorry to miss a day of blog....Sunday was one of those "lazy" days...not that we spent our time laying around, but it was just a hodgepodge of things......LJ and I got up early and got dressed for our Sunday run....just a little excited to run in Central Park after our visit there the other day...we carefully mapped out our route before we left....and that was quickly changed as soon as we arrived to find 10,000 runners were in the park too, running a half marathon! It was a little crowded but the upside was that if we had to cross their path we just "jumped in" until we had to "jump out"....loads of fun!

We so loved the "Literary Way" when we visited the other day that we wanted to go back and visit with Natchie again (the artist we bought from).

How do we look? Like movie stars? Hard not to feel that way...this is one of the most photographed areas of NY and has appeared in many many movies! Running here was a ton of fun!

 

When we got back we went for a little walk...found The Cobert Report main entrance, Radio City..which by the way we can see from our apartment at night...Rockerfeller Center, again only blocks away...5th Avenue is...well very expensive...St. Patrick's Cathedral which is right in the middle of 5th is spectacular in its' architecture.

We finished up the evening with a great supper at another fabulous Italian Restaurant, just around the corner.....and of course some great wine...

Today was a lot more adventuresome.....we were headed for Ground Zero, the 911 Memorial Museum and a first subway trip for Yvette! She was excited to try this method of transportation!

We exited the subway station at the World Trade Center stop....end of the rail line....as we came up from the station the streets are way more crowded and construction is still very much under way...the new tower looms...One World Trade Center "Freedom Tower"...we have seen the documentaries before we arrived in NY, showing the construction of this tower..it is as amazing standing before it as one could imagine...the construction continues to complete the tower as well as the Transportation Center which also looks like it will be an amazing structure!

 

We ventured to the reflecting pools in Memorial Park, built on the footprints of the North Tower and the South Tower. Strangely even though I never knew any of those who perished on September 11, I felt as though I recognized some of the names that are memorialized on the ledge of the pools...even when we got to the museum, those same names showed up again and again....it may be that I had read their story of how they came to be there, or heard their family's story of surviving after 911.....it doesn't really matter why or how...this event did not just touch those who perished, those who survived or their families...it touched us all as we watched, as we listened and as the days, months and years unfolded..I remember that morning..where I was standing, I remember watching, and I remember saying.."this is no accident and this will not be something that will be over for a very very long time".. I don't think I understood the enormity of those words even as I spoke them....

 

 

 

 

 

As we moved through the exhibit, some of which you were allowed to photograph and another section that you weren't, something struck me.....very little was said about the perpetrators of this disaster..and rightly so for they are undeserving of any memorial. There is mention of them and how they came to be there, and their names...but just a very small corner....and as we passed this small plaque showing their names and which flights they had commandeered, the question could be heard more than once..."why would they even put that in here"....I asked they same question and then I realized...these were only a few men...a few villains and while the impact of their actions were hugely devastating on a nation and on the world, what really came to light here are the heros..those that showed up on that day, those who didn't leave, those who decided this plane is not going to be used as a weapon of destruction, those who helped with the recovery process, and those who continue the mission to keep their memories alive.....there are more heros in this world, than there are villains.

 

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Everything is BIG in.......

You know how they say everything is big in Texas.....well I can't imagine how anything could be bigger than this city...it is bigger than life, it is bold and it is beautiful.....

Yesterday we decided a stroll in Central Park would be a good way to relax, given our big day when we arrived....a stroll...yes a stroll....and while you might think a stroll through the park for the day might get that one checked off your list, we had a check of a different kind...a reality check....

We had a beautiful day, a very relaxing walk....we got to see a ton of things, experience sites you see in the movies, a dedication to John and the place he made his home. We rode the carousel, and we bought art...original art from a wonderful artist Nadia....she is actually a singer/songwriter who's music inspires her art....she attaches the lyrics of the song that inspires her art to the back along with a code for a free download.....you should check her out at http://www.natchieart.com and if you check her Instagram link on her web page, you will see what we bought!

In front of Trump Tower across Columbus Cirle gate to the Park

Here are a few more sites from our walk in the Park!

Tavern on the Green

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Tavern on the Green looked pretty swanky and doormen were pretty too lol!

The carousel was a lot of fun and really old...beautiful!

The Band

The Dakota, where John Lennon lived, loved and ultimately met his misfortune....

The Dakota is actually on West Central Park which overlooks Central Park and more specifically Strawberry Fields, a portion of the Park that is dedicated to John Lennon's memory and legacy.

Other high-lights include....

Bethesda Fountain and Terrace overlooking The Lake (and yes that is the name of the lake)!

The Friends Fountain.....it's real name is Cherry Hill!

There was a wedding happening here!

There was plenty more pics and memories here.......as well as the reality check.........we only explored less than a quarter of the entire park! The apple isn't the only thing BIG in this city!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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..the BIG Apple

I always said that this blog was intended for our motorcycle trips so that our friends and family could follow us (or for some, track us, if the truth be told). It also a great way to look back at all the little details or dates that you may forget or can't quite remember.

New York will be the exception...maybe not the only one as we all know you have to be open to change in your lifetime otherwise you are stuck doing the same things over and over....how I came to considering NY as being the exception is that it is simply too BIG an experience to limit it to small paragraphs or lines, or a photo here or there......I knew the trip would be epic, although I had no idea that even the first day would be so far beyond my expectations that I would even make documenting this trip, an exception.

Less than 24 hours in the city, arriving on 3 hours sleep we manage to survive in the "City that never sleeps" by doing almost exactly that.....

First lets talk about the cab ride to where we will be staying....it wasn't even rush hour but a rush it was....we see Manhatten as we start to approach the Hudson River....we can see the new "Tower" and the Statue of Liberty as close as I have ever seen her yet...we are miles away and she looks magnificent and tall and I can only imagine how tall and magnificent she is up close....through the Holland Tunnel, with it's fully tiled walls and ceilings, and not large tiles either...they must have cleaned out someone's stock to match them all....the tile is also used creatively to show the border between New Jersey and New York , nicely designed tiles spelled out like street signage....we come out of the tunnel and proceed to drive along the Hudson to our destination as we are only a few blocks from the Hudson and in fact can see the pier and river from where we are staying....we drive past the "Intrepid", one of the places we want to visit (will save most of this experience for another post)...it is MASSIVE sitting in the water and if you will indulge me a bit, was like looking up at a Giants ass from our little van. When we get down there I will take a pic...you will understand why I described it as so....

We arrive...we are greeted by Vaj, our host...a young man who, along with his wife and son, love this city and simply go out of their way to make your stay a warm and welcoming one as their guests...they are truly a wonderful representation of the people we have met in this city so far. We have only had to ask for one thing and it was in our condo when we returned from lunch, along with an extra juice bottle...we were greeted with chocolates and wonderful bottle of wine when we arrived as well as a complete orientation from the window of our 25th floor condo of what direction the grocery store, wine store, restaurants and French bakery were located, a book of reference to great restaurants near by, direction of Central Park, Madison Square Garden and Broadway is but a few blocks away...and it is only noon...and we have just arrived....and as Vaj said, and what we truly agree with, is that the view from where we are staying, never gets old..simply breathtaking.....

We set out to grab some lunch..we don't have to go far as there is a great little Italian place right on the corner of 10th and 52nd..in fact steps away from where we are staying....we decide on a few appetizers so we won't be too full so "we will take the special (pruciutto, tomato and mozzarella) a salad and a crab cake". OMG....I rolled out of there...the pruciutto was so thin and tender, the mozzarella, fresh and homemade, the salad simply thinly sliced pear, more pruciutto and arugula tossed with balsamic....and a little more wine...felt like nap time when I was done but we are off to the grocery and wine store...whenever you picture little NY grocery stores, yup that's exactly what it is..lol...fabulous!...and they have everything!

Back to the homestead, unpack the groceries, have a little vino and then we are off to find Madison Square Gardens for the Billy Joel concert....a little stroll through Times Square (again, nothing little about that).

Across from MSG is a little restaurant boasting the best cheesecake in the world. I am still stuffed from lunch and can't bring myself to order anything except an Italian coffee...steamed milk, sambucca and cinnamon make this coffee outstanding! We finish up here and head across the street to MSG to queue up for the concert...and they really do have the best and the BIGGEST cheesecake in the world!

So, if the day hasn't already been BIG enough, enter Madison Square Garden....epic, beautiful, huge, historic...even the ceiling entertains you! Our seats are more than comfortable, the facility is clean and feels brand new despite the fact it has been here for years. Billy Joel first played here in 1978, and as one of the vendors told me, has sold out every concert he has ever played at this venue..in fact he has a contract to play here once a month, every month this year...we of course are here for number 10...another sold out packed house....this is Billy Joel's town and anyone who doesn't know that, learns it very quickly...the anticipation for what we know is going to be a fabulous concert, mixed with being up for over 16 hours and only 3 hours of sleep the night before, having eaten so much food, having drunk a little wine, is starting to take its' toll on all of us...we all waiver between yawning and rubbing our watery eyes and excitedly talking about what we have done so far and what is yet to come...it is a mixed bag of tricks.....the opening act is good, a young piano player, who used to pretend he was Billy Joel in his room as a kid...his style more like a great mix of Jerry Lee Lewis and the Beatles.....then a quick change on the stage and out comes the guy we were all waiting for.....now this, this deserves it's own paragraph...so give me a moment here to reflect and switch gears....

Billy Joel concert

This was quite simply the best concert I have yet seen...and we are all in agreement on that one....and two people amongst us have seen some pretty epic concerts in some really great venues... What made this the best ever...well Billy did....as I said before...this is his town, these are his brothers and sisters, these are his fans....I will tell you what made this so great for me......

• He calls the Gardens home and introduces himself as the "house" band!
• His piano is on a rotating platform so he changes his view every second song!
• Twice, he gives the audience a choice between two songs to play...the crowd has no trouble making their choices and letting him know which will be played tonight
• Most times he starts out playing some obscure tune or cover and then all of a sudden it morphs into a Billy Joel classic
• The light show is spectacular and well balanced with the simplicity of the stage set up...you can see every member of the band and Billy sits out in the middle of all this, on his turntable
• People are singing along and it sounds incredible. The sound is so fabulous in this venue, you can hear him clearly and you can hear everyone else as well,,,it is not intrusive or annoying, it is exhilarating
• He plays New York State of Mind....(which by the way we also heard in the cab on the way from the airport)....I am there....
• And then comes Piano Man...don't ask me why, but this always brings tears to my eyes. It is a sad song, it is a beautiful song and it is the one that everyone sang the loudest, the strongest and sang every word...it was a moment!
• He stops to talk about how playing at MSG makes him feel..so important, like Mussalini..lol..and then he gets in his car for the drive home and he is just like any other smuck on the highway....
• And then he introduces us to someone from his road crew who is going to sing a little "inspirational song, reverent, and spiritual", I believe is how he described it....he asks that we indulge and be open to this man's appearance and that if we really don't like him we can boo this guys ass right off the stage....Billy leaves his piano and picks up his guitar.....all of a sudden, out comes this roadie in shorts, work boots and black t-shirt....yup looks like a roadie....and does the best cover of AC/DC's Highway to Hell! The Roadies' name is Chainsaw and that is exactly what his voice sounds like.....OMG it was unbelievable...He even uses a fire extinguisher to make fog when the guitar solo was happening....lol
• Encore with three unbelievable classics and so much more, like jokes about Madonna and Elton...

...and no, Howard Stern and Elton John didn't show up, but Billy Joel certainly did....after all, this is HIS town.

Good night New York!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Great endings are really just beginnings.....

Today was our final ride together....for this trip! We started with a great breakfast at Hometown Kitchen Restaurant where we had a great dinner the night before! Highly recommend it and the Oceanview Motel and Chalets if you want a place to stay on the Trail!

 

It was a beautiful morning for a day that was forecasted as rain...as I said to a lady who inquired about what it was like to ride in the rain, it is really not all that bad. However if you waited for the perfect day or perfect week, you would never go anywhere and there still is no guarantee it won't rain. Our philosophy has always been it is hard to rain on a moving target and so far we have had way more sunny days than rainy ones. This week was certainly the case.

We headed out on the Cabot Trail for the Cape Breton Highlands. If you haven't done this route or were a wee one when your parents took you through, it is nothing like you would imagine or remember. And if you rode it three years ago, it is still not what you remembered...probably because you are so focused on either the scenery or just keeping your rubber on the road lol!

 

The boys had a blast, as did I! They, however, had a little more thrills than I as we road through some of the hairpin turns. Funny how some guys get so excited when you wave them bye bye! As you can see by the pics the boys rode "the wall" a little more than I. The wall being to the side wall which is usually an indication of how much lean you use in a turn...oh my..as you can see I haven't "cleaned" my tire all the way to the "wall"!

Larry's tire

Jerry's tire

It was a great ride up and down the highlands full of stories, memories, lessons in riding and friendship, some spoken and some just accepted.

One thing for sure is that Jerry won't be taking the Trans Canada after getting off the ferry on his next visit...he wil be taking the "high" way!

 

 

 

 

A stop to wait at the Englishtown Ferry gave Larry enough time to check out one of HIS favorite pastimes on this trip...

After crossing we came to the end of our ride together. As we part ways we know that this has been a trip of firsts...it is by no means the last! It is the end of a really great week and an incredible and memorable ride, but is just the beginning of things to come!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Nova Scotia's Coastal Route

Today was a riding day...almost 530 km! After leaving Moncton we stopped in Amherst for breakfast....highly recommend Breakfast at Brittany's! Food was awesome and plentiful. If you have a sweet tooth you will find baked sweets large enough for a giant...no kidding..! Macaroons are made with ice cream scoops and I can't even begin to tell you about the Nanaimo bars!

Anyway, we followed the road along the Sunshine Trail, through the beautiful communities of Pugwash and Tatamagouche, stopping only for gas. We were able to follow this until just below New Glasgow where we had to hop on the Trans Canada for only two exits, then we moved off the highway to explore the Antigonish Route we rode on a previous trip.

As we moved closer to the coast where we would hit the "twisties" I waved Jerry past me knowing he and Larry would have a blast navigating at a little higher speed than I was up for. By the time I reached Ballantynes Cove, the two of them had grins from ear to ear and were trading their own version of their experience through there....boys!

We headed out to Antigonish to catch the highway and cross the causeway to Cape Breton which only took another 40 minutes. There we hit the Ceilidh (pronounced Kay-lee) Trail which is Route 19 going counter-clockwise around the trail (Mary Ann breathes sigh of relief).

It was a beautiful ride through the communities and the road was excellent. It looked like they were building some new funky hotel rooms in Inverness. We rode past the Red Shoe Pub in Mabou which of course is owned by the Rankin sisters. On past the Glenora Distillery we hoped to catch the sunset at our final destination...Cheticamp!

We arrived in plenty of time, and after a relaxing drink in front of the chalet, we headed over to supper!

Seafood was on the menu for all of us tonight...had my first real go at Snow Crab...with some minor coaching from the crab pro Jerry PRIOR to eating....there was no stopping to discuss the fine art of eating crab once it was put in front of this fellow!

.....and as for the sunset? Well I will let the pics speak for themselves!

 

Good night Cheticamp!

 

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Sunshine and the Saint John River Valley

Rain is gone and so are we....we are off after a quick breakfast. Taking the old road we headed out again avoiding the highways in favour of the byways.

We rode along the valley and the river, into Perth we were able to follow the river showing the areas that were flooded the year before last. After a quick stop for gas we headed out stopping in Bath for a quick lunch.

 

Next stop was Florenceville....home of the McCain French Fry.

 

Then it was on to the Longest Covered Bridge in the world! Gerry and Larry got to ride thru!

 

Jerry

Larry

It was a beautiful day for a ride...another grand day. We got to Fredericton (a little slow thru the North side lol) and then off agin for the final leg through the Saint John River Valley...we stopped at Casey's for some lunch (that would be pie and tea/coffee) and a little tour of all their bric a brac and antiques...

 

We head out again along Maugerville and leave the valley at Jemseg for the final ride through the countryside to Moncton...we arrive at Chez Johnson, a quick change, out to supper, back to the house and off to bed....it has been an awesome week...tomorrow we ride to Cape Breton along the Cabot Trail...but that is for tomorrow's tale.

 

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