XC 1X2

 The mission today was The Met. I’ve done very little tourism since Cumberland, frankly I spend a good bit of time in these places and they’re all generally familiar to me. However, I had a day to kill and I cannot remember having gone to this particular museum. Maybe I went ages ago and forgot, maybe it never happened. Also, this is one of my last opportunities for a while to look at American art. It sounds a little silly but realistically, there’s no reason for me to go looking at French paintings in the US when I’ll be in Paris in two weeks. Wrapping up my USA to do list. My day started with redeeming a free burrito I had at Taco Bell. Hey, free is free. This landed me at Hoboken terminal and I needed to get into the city. The sensible option would be to PATH in but I’ve spent a lot of time underground and I’m not in a rush. A perfect excuse to take the ferry. New York has an extensive ferry system and I’ve never had a reason to use it. Just my luck, the boat to Brookfield Place...

 I hate rain. Having spent most of my life in climates that rain very little, water falling from the sky seems like a needlessly obnoxious way of replenishing our watersheds. Surely there must be another way. This distaste for rain and lack of experience with rain means that I own precious little rain gear and my shoes are not prepared for it. Nevertheless there was business to conduct in Manhattan so I braved moisture from the sky and made my way into the city. First stop was a shave and haircut. I’m dressing at Luigi for Halloween and I’m a little furry to do him justice. My barber immigrated from Lviv to the US two years ago to cut hair and pursue his acting career. Both are a tough game out here. The rain by this point was still immense enough for me to justify the $3 Subway fare to go one stop. Anything to keep at least a little rainwater out of my shoes. My destination was a small tea house in Greenwich Village to drink oolong and book flights to Uzbekistan. Consider that a p...

 An easy morning trip to Reading Terminal Market. For those not in the know, this is a collection of food and grocery stalls in an old railroad terminal. It’s a little touristy but there’s still plenty of good to be had there. I was on the hunt for something to bring north to my next host and I found it. A bottle of honey harvested in South Philly. It might be toxic but at least it’s cool. Pack up, ship out, and all aboard Amtrak to the run to Newark and Jersey City. Yeah yeah JC isn’t NYC but this is a global blog, we’re going to blur the lines. I’m staying with my friend Matt and his girlfriend Avery. Matt is the first friend I made when I started at Drexel over a decade ago. A decade wow, we’re getting old. We catch up over dinner and drinks. Lots to talk about even though it’s only been a few months since I’ve been here, time flies.

My last full day in Philly. After lunch with Shannon it was time for a little grocery shopping. As a thank you to my friend Jackson for tossing me the keys to his apartment I cooked dinner for him and his girlfriend. That means shopping and what better way to do that than leisurely strolling the Italian Market. For those not in the know, that’s an old school open air market in South Philly. Fruits and veggies are sold from stalls, anything that needs to stay really cold is in a store. The neighborhood is old and changing to serve the changing demographics. The older Italian groceries don’t sell staples anymore. I’d guess this is because anyone going to an Italian grocer there is looking for specialties and prepared food. Hispanics are moving in and the Mexican markets are fully featured. I had an amazing afternoon wandering from stall to stall picking up my vegetables, bread, cheese, and canned goods. Jackson picked me up and brought me north to his girlfriend’s place to cook. I wish I...

 Breakfast today was a very Philly experience. I walked a few blocks north to a spot that claimed to be open. Popped open the door and immediately an old man in a chair pointed for me to leave and just said “window”. Foolish of me to assume that just because they sold breakfast and I saw people walking out of the door with food that I should also go in the door. I walked up to the window which was just the window of a house complete with iron bars. Someone had cut out a chunk of the bar at some point to allow money and food to be passed around. A man slid the window open and asked me what I wanted, I asked for a menu and he seemed annoyed. The breakfast sandwich he made me was fantastic. Eggs, hot cheese, peppers, and ketchup on the sort of Italian long roll that you just don’t get out west. I scarfed it down on Broad Street and walked to a coffee shop for a cuppa tea and to work on a visa. Today is a planning day, I’d like to go to Uzbekistan but first I need permission. The time ...

 After a good night’s sleep Emily and I met up to look for brunch. We were both in dire need of food. This would up being harder than we expected to take care of. Neither of us had cash (this is a cash heavy city) and the Eagles were playing today. Everyone is in the city going to “their spot” for lunch. Lots of green in the crowd. Eventually we found a spot and sat down. It’s only been a day but there’s still a lot to catch up on. We found food eventually After brunch I went to Fishtown to meet Jackson for a bike ride. He’d graciously managed to requisition a bike from a mutual friend. The roadie was in good shape but not well suited to the roads out here. Glass and cobblestones are common. We did about 10 or so miles going down the river path into a park on west Philly. When I went to school here a decade ago they were just starting to open this path, now it goes for miles. How time flies. We bikes through West Philly to get back, trying not to get hit by a driver, while not gett...