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Trip Report: Ten days on the East Coast

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Trip Report: Ten days on the East Coast

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Old Oct 20th, 2010, 08:18 AM
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Trip Report: Ten days on the East Coast

This September we had a wedding to attend in New Hampshire, so we stretched out the dates to include a family visit in NYC and a few days up the Hudson Valley.

The flight was uneventful, but ground transportation was horrible. The line for taxis was snaking around and there were practically no taxis in site. We had arrived just a few hours after some mini-tornadoes had ripped through Queens and Brooklyn. At 11:45 p.m. we were stuck with using public transportation and did not get to our daughter’s house in Brooklyn before 2:30 a.m. with fairly quick connections once we were on the subway (the A train took forever to arrive). For the few days we were in NYC we visited MOMA and the J.P. Morgan Library. MOMA had a nice Matisse exhibit, but its kitchen exhibit was a little disappointing--just not that appealing with the exception of the reconstructed Bauhaus kitchen and the movie of the Gropius house. The Morgan exhibit on Mark Twain was over-hyped and had little to do with his forthcoming autobiography. But there was an exhibit of women aid workers (led by a daughter of J.P. Morgan) after W.W.I in France with an interesting comment at one point on how the French should develop a public health system similar to what was available in the States (I think that one might reverse the proposition now).

We took our daughter out for her birthday at 11 Madison Park (http://www.elevenmadisonpark.com/ ). To be considered only if willing to spend a lot of money. With four cocktails, 4 glasses of white wine and a half bottle of red wine (all at their low end of their price scale), and the 4 dish $125 prix fixe, the total cost came to more than $800 with tax and tip, but there are all sorts of amuse-bouches and end of the meal mignardises not mentioned on the menu. The cocktails are elaborately described. The menu is somewhat of a conceit. It is there to engage conversation with the wait person. One item, for example, said: potatoes. It does not sound particularly interesting, and yet it was feather light gnocchi with a light seafood sauce of shrimp and calamari (outstanding). Chicken sounded no more interesting, but turned out to be fantastic. We simply took everything on the menu, shared among the four of us, since there were 4 sets of dishes with four choices in each set. Here’s a sample dish: http://www.flickr.com/photos/mksfca/...7623088372713/ . Our conversation with the wait person was perhaps less extended than if we actually had to make a choice.

We also took spent a day strolling on Governor’s Island and in the linear park being developed from the Brooklyn side of the Brooklyn Bridge south. For lunch we had a delicious lobster roll from a stand that’s almost under the Brooklyn Bridge (http://www.flickr.com/photos/mksfca/...7623088372713/ ). The ferry to Governor’s Island is free and gives a wonderful view of the tip of Manhattan (http://www.flickr.com/photos/mksfca/...7623088372713/ ).

That Monday we picked up our friend in Manhattan, much later than anticipated because trying to get from Brooklyn to Manhattan via the Battery Tunnel is just a mess. We had an E-Z Pass, but it was from the D.C. area (a borrowed car) and we did not know if it worked with NYC toll booths. It turns out that it does, and would have saved us at least an hour trying to get to the cash booth. So we arrived late to pick up our friends. The FDR Drive was OK, but we could not get off near the Queensboro Bridge because of U.N. security creating another traffic jam on city streets and had to go up to Harlem and drive back down to pick up our friend in the 70’s. Second Ave. was also a mess with the construction of the new subway line. All this to say that our timing was off. We were to take a tour of the Rockefeller Estate at 1:30, and I wanted to take a photograph of my parents’ burial plaque before that (the cemetery being on 10 miles out of the way). We got to the meeting point of the tour an hour late, but caught the next one, which would have allowed us to join up with our original tour, but missing the first hour. However, two persons did not show up with the tour we hooked up with, so we got a full tour by staying with them.

We essentially did tours of estates while in the Hudson Valley: The Rockefeller Estate (http://www.flickr.com/photos/mksfca/...7625177939146/ ), the Vanderbilt mansion (http://www.flickr.com/photos/mksfca/...7625177939146/ ), the FDR estate (http://www.flickr.com/photos/mksfca/...7625177939146/ ), and Olana Estate (http://www.flickr.com/photos/mksfca/...7625177939146/ ) of Frederic Church. Each estate is different. While the Rockefeller estate was built as an Italianate mansion by John D. Rockefeller, it was changed over the years of family occupation (through Nelson Rockefeller) to be lighter inside than what I would imagine the early 20th century mansions would be. It also has a wonderful collection of art indoors and outdoors, including tapestry reproductions of Picasso paintings that were approved by Picasso. It’s definitely worth a visit and is an easy day visit from NYC.

The Vanderbilt mansion was constructed about 15 years before the Rockefeller mansion, but is of completely different concept and style. While the Rockefeller mansion was designed for the family in grand style, it was not an attempt to recreate royalty on the Hudson--they needed to imitate no one. The Vanderbilt mansion is a McMansion of its time. Apparently the Vanderbilts vied to see who would be the most ostentatious in building mansions, many in Newport, RI. This was a lesser attempt, but the inside is an adaptation of Louis XIV to Louis XVI style to the point of having a railing around the bed in the master bedrooms, à la Versailles (http://www.flickr.com/photos/mksfca/...7623316531799/ )--no inside pictures allowed in the Vanderbilt mansion. All the furnishings are either antiques from Europe or pieces done to be in the style. There is absolutely no sense of what the Vanderbilts had as individual taste--perhaps none which is why they relied on the interior architects. The gardens are wonderful and should be seen after the tour of the house.

The Roosevelt were old family, and the house is a redo. It is large, but not as grand as either the Rockefeller or Vanderbilt mansions. But there is a lot of history in it, as well as in the Library. I found the documentation of FDR as he was growing up particularly interesting. We also wanted to see Eleanor Roosevelt’s home, but the number of visitors per tour is limited and there were two bus tours one after the other that prevented us from touring her home. It might be useful to have reservations if available.

Olana is fascinating. The tours are small because of the limited space and one cannot touch anything in the house. My wife feels that Frederick Church was a far better interior decorator than painter. He made is money before he was thirty and by the time Olana was built, he was no longer very popular as a painter. It is advertised as a Persian fantasy, but that is misleading. He had an eye for color and was inspired by his travels in the Middle East, but was too eclectic to have created a Persian fantasy.

We stayed in no mansion. We stayed at the Golden Manor Motel, across the street from the entrance to the FDR estate, which turned out to be well located. Coming from the north, one must continue farther down the road to make a U-turn because the road markings do not allow a left turn at that location. The motel is a little tired, at least for the back curtains, but it is clean and the cost was right: $55 + tax per night. Its breakfast (included) is absolutely forgettable--bad coffee and muffins and donuts from someplace. But it is only a couple miles from the Culinary Institute of America which has wonderful breakfasts in their café and relatively cheap--$3.95 for eggs toast and some type of meat (http://www.ciachef.edu/restaurants/apbc/breakfast.asp ). So every morning after the first one, we drove 5 minutes to the CIA (http://www.flickr.com/photos/mksfca/...7625177939146/ ) to have breakfast, pick up bread for lunch, and on our last day pick up a wonderful apple pie to bring to our friend’s family in Vermont. The tour--reservations necessary--is also worthwhile.

Our first evening meal was at a diner about a quarter of a mile north of the motel. The food is plain but good and not expensive. After that we ate in Rhinebeck, which has several good restaurants, including a French one (Arielle, 51 Market St.) east of the main intersection in the middle of town. Rhinebeck has more interesting restaurants than Hyde Park, almost an embarras de choix for the couple of evenings we ate there.

We crossed the river near Rhinebeck and went to http://www.adamsfarms.com/ for picnic supplies. They had a wonderful selection of local apples and cheeses. Definitely worth a stop for local products. We went to Kingston, picnicked by the waterfront, and then visited its colonial section (http://www.flickr.com/photos/mksfca/...7625177939146/ ), including seeing where the first State senate met. We did not have the time to visit the main museum, but a Victorian house has been converted into a museum and it had an interesting exhibit of Currier & Ives river boat prints. From there we drove to the pedestrian bridge that spans the Hudson at Poughkeepsie. We had a nice view of the Hudson at sunset (http://www.flickr.com/photos/mksfca/...7625177939146/ ).

We left Hyde Park to drive up to Olana (definitely worth a visit) and the town of Hudson. Signage for Olana is not the greatest, and we missed the turnoff the first time. It’s best to have a Google close-up map to identify the section of road where the turnoff might be.

From the Hudson Valley we spent a night in Vermont (http://www.flickr.com/photos/mksfca/...7622674580165/ ) and then attended a wedding in New Hampshire (http://www.flickr.com/photos/mksfca/...7624950627391/ ). Back to Vermont for a night and then our friends drove us to Springfield, MA to catch a bus to Logan Airport. We had dinner at Legal Seafood in the airport. The oysters were delicious, but the Portuguese fish stew had none of the advertised chourizo and my wife’s shrimp gumbo had none of the advertised andouille sausage. We complained and received a gift card in the mail. The return flight was uneventful.
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Old Oct 20th, 2010, 09:32 AM
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Well it sounds like you had a great trip overall, even if you ran into a few special events.

The night you landed there waw awful weather and tornados - so traffic was backed up hours everywhere. (I have never seen this before and am a native). Otherwise te cab line is usually no more than 5 or 10 minutes.

As for the UN - yes - every year once or twice - depedning on scheduling - the entire east side of Manhattan is hell. there are many complete road closures and other major streets are severaly limited - since they have to leave soem lanes completely open for emergency vehicles in case of a problem.

(You may not realize it, but NYC has been in a permanent state of full alert since 9/11 - so any large international gathering causes traffic chaos. You probably would have been better off doing Brooklyn Battery tunnel and going up the west side and across. Often the longer route is much faster.)
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Old Oct 20th, 2010, 09:55 AM
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Going up the FDR drive was not the problem--just a little slowdown when going under the U.N., and going up the West side to get to 77th and 2nd Ave. would have made the trip even longer because I would then have had to go cross-town. The real tie-up was trying to get to the Battery Tunnel.
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Old Oct 20th, 2010, 10:52 AM
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Thanks for the wonderful trip report, Michael!
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Old Oct 21st, 2010, 12:24 PM
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Michael: You did a wonderful job of "doing" the Hudson Valley: (Hyde Park, Rhinebeck, Kingston area)!! Congratulations!

I live in the area, and I couldn't have advised you any better than you managed yourself.

I love the new Walkway Over the Hudson at Poughkeepsie, and we took some Dutch visitors there last weekend.

Next time, when in NYC take a walk on the High Line, which we also just did yesterday with our Dutch Visitors.
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Old Oct 22nd, 2010, 08:40 AM
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We did the High Line last spring.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/mksfca/...7623088372713/

I find it more inventive than the Promenade Plantée in its design:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/mksfca/4361040649/in/
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Old Oct 25th, 2010, 01:11 AM
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Great trip report!

You don't say what compelled you to take the Battery Tunnel. I'm sad that you did and then ended up in that mess - I would never take it unless I needed to be all the way downtown or to get onto the West Side Highway!! (Not to mention, the crossings that are better for getting uptown do not have tolls!) If you haven't tried it before, hopstop.com is an excellent resource for getting around town, whether by public transit or automobile; it even takes into account any construction that would be occurring at the time of your trip.

I love the Hudson Valley but never thought to get breakfast at the C.I.A. Thanks for the tip!

And one last note: Of course it didn't fit into this trip, but the next time you are in the Boston area, do stop in my hometown to see the Gropius house in person! (Oh, would I have loved to live in that house!!) Combined with a trip to the nearby DeCordova Museum, it makes for a nice afternoon.
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Old Oct 25th, 2010, 07:11 AM
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hopstop.com is an excellent resource for getting around town

I do not see a drive option, and I was leaving town by car. But it is useful for readers who are not driving.
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Old Oct 25th, 2010, 07:15 AM
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to see the Gropius house

In MOMA it was the Gropius' house in Dessau.
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Old Oct 25th, 2010, 07:43 AM
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I do need to proofread more when I'm posting in the middle of the night!

That should have been two sites: hopstop for public transit, and Google Maps driving directions for car travel. The latter even takes current traffic conditions into consideration, and as someone who has been driving in and around NYC for many years, I can safely say that Google's routes are reliable.

As for the Gropius house in Dessau, I'll now have to go to MoMA to check it out. But the one in Lincoln, MA is truly wonderful!
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Old Oct 25th, 2010, 08:39 AM
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Thanks fro the excellent report. CIA does excellent dinners also if you take another trip in the area.
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Old Oct 25th, 2010, 09:06 AM
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CIA does excellent dinners also if you take another trip in the area.

We were with someone who probably would not have wanted to spend that kind of money, otherwise we probably would have considered dinner reservations.
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Old Oct 25th, 2010, 09:07 AM
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What a wonderful read. I loved that you called the Vanderbuilt a McMansion! You've sold me on a future visit to Olana.

And then I got caught up with your photos. Your study of subway tile art was really fun to look at. What a treat. Thank you so much for sharing. Your report and photos made my day!
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Old Oct 25th, 2010, 09:30 AM
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Glad you enjoyed them.
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Old Oct 25th, 2010, 10:38 AM
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Ah, and then I had to take a peek at your pics too. Very nice!

This mosaic you captured is by a friend of mine!
http://www.flickr.com/photos/mksfca/...7623088372713/

And Eagle Provisions is my part of BK!
http://www.flickr.com/photos/mksfca/...7623088372713/

FWIW, the MTA has a mini-site for Arts in Transit, which lists all the permanent art, posters, etc:
http://mta.info/mta/aft/
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