marvelousmouse

Boston and NYC highlights

I stayed at hostelling international in both cities. Both are in fairly good locations.

Boston's is near Chinatown; it's a short walk from Beacon Hill. It's on a busy thoroughfare, and I didn't really feel safe when I got in late at night. But it turned out to be a fairly lively bar neighborhood, so I thing it was safe enough. I really did not like the fact they allowed transients to stay there- perhaps that's not an issue during the summer, though, when the hostel is probably fairly booked solid. So it's definitely not one of my favorite HI's despite being very modern, but given that I know all too well how expensive Boston hotels are, I would not hesitate to return.

NYC's is near Columbia University, Harlem, Central Park (103rd and Amsterdam). Very convenient to subway lines 1 and 2. Food and bars in the area although I didn't spend much time there. The hostel is in a historical building and is very nice. No complaints. They have a fairly active social calendar, housekeeping is decent, and staff is nice. I had a really good mix of roommates, and that always helps- a few very friendly Brazilians were there for most of the week and I always like it when I have great roommates. Hostel rule #1: always be friendly- you earn a lot of brownie points. My roommates were very chatty and night owls- if I had not been friendly with them, I would have decamped fairly early in the week. (We were fairly certain we scared away a very quiet Asian roommate. I felt a bit bad for her, but if you want absolute quiet do not do a large dorm in a hostel.) It helped that I don't generally do a grueling sightseeing schedule and also, this was the tale end of a long Europe adventure. So socialization was more entertaining than sleep for once.

I didn't do much in Boston. I was feeling cheap, so really all I did was walk the neighborhoods and visit the Mapparium. Previous visits to Boston had been with relatives who prefer taxis, so I didn't get to walk around much. I really enjoy all the statues and memorials in Boston- this time, I "discovered" the Irish famine and emancipation memorials. I walked through the holocaust memorial as well- very well done, and a bit spine tingling in the dark.

Mapparium is really fantastic- I had wanted to visit it last time, but hadn't had time. It's immersive and the library that houses it is really peaceful. I still have no idea what Christian Scientists believe...feel free to educate me if you are one...but I enjoyed learning about the founder. She sounds like she was quite a character!

Boston food is really expensive but I had seafood on the brain. I revisited Daily Catch in the North End and then had dessert across the street at Mike's Pastry in the form of a florentine cannoli. Sound too rich? Yes. But the stomach ache was worth it! Only other meal of note was at the barking crab- I enjoyed the fish and chips and beer. Fun place near the children's museum.

NYC:

Let me just say I have found my Mecca and it is the Met. Amazing building, fantastic collection. I could probably live there. It was in hindsight a bit of a mistake to go to NYC on the way home from Europe; I have so many museums on my list that I didn't get to visit because I am bone tired. But something that I really enjoyed about the Met and the Natural History Museum is the "suggested" entrance fee. I do not at all begrudge paying 20 dollars for a museum like these but I have a hard time justifying spending the money if museum closes in an hour or tour and I just want to wander around. So if they didn't have the suggested fee, I just would not have gone. This way, they got a small donation and I got a good dose of beauty to feed my soul I spent two evenings in the Met and one evening with NH's resident dinosaurs. The titanosaur- I think that's how it's spelled- is awesome.

Also visited Ellis Island. It may be useful to mention the tour sellers here. Gray line tours have authorized ticket hawkers lurking outside the south ferry subway stop, waiting to sell you tickets. If they don't lie, they definitely misrepresent your options. They sell a tour that cruises around the various harbor sights. I think it's $36. That's fine. What's not so fine is that they sell it as "the" tour to the Statue of Liberty. They tell people that "the ferry" doesn't get close enough to the Statue of Liberty and that their tour is much faster. They also try to convince people that their shuttle bus is a selling point. I was a bit suspicious because generally the NPS sets up things fairly efficiently, and also, anyone selling stuff outside a subway station is suspect. Sure enough, the NPS has a boat schedule set up around the audio tours of both Liberty and Ellis. Their ferry leaves from Battery Park. It's fast and efficient, you get a fabulous view of Liberty, and it costs only 18 dollars. The only real difference is that they don't sail around pointing out things like Governor's Island to you but if I had to hazard a guess, that's not the reason people are booking Gray Line. So walk past the ticket sellers, and buy a ticket at the NPS gift shop.

But note that it will probably still take you longer than you think- the Ellis Island audio guide is for 45 minutes, but the exhibits easily eat more time than that. My favorite was "treasures from home". Families donated items that made the journey through Ellis with their relatives. A mother from Italy wove her son a watch chain out of her hair. An Austrian woman grew her own flax and wove her marital bedspread as a child for her trousseau...and then later in America, embroidered her American children's names on it. Just wonderful stories. Hurricane Sandy (I think?) flooded the island several years ago, so some items are still in storage, but there is still an impressive amount on display.

I made a half hearted attempt to visit the 9/11 museum, but it turns out they stop selling tickets at 6. (I was there at 605). I say half hearted because honestly I don't know that I wanted to see it. Bit too fresh. The monument is really interesting. I'm not sure I love the design, but there's something very powerful about the water cascading into the black hole. As my roommate said- kind of freaky. I can see why the design was chosen, and I am glad they turned the area into a memorial- it would have been awful to rebuild over the site. So it's definitely worth a visit even if you don't intend to see the museum. It's very much a piece of American culture. I don't think any of my friends lost anyone, but we all know where we were- a moment of history. If you're from another country, and you want to understand the last decade and a half of American life or politics- I think the memorial is a good place to start. So many people angry, frightened, grieving. But also a very powerful narrative of pulling together as a country. Pride in the military. The surge of patriotism- whether one thinks it is positive or not- was a tangible force after that.

Speaking of people from another country...I almost feel like I should wear a sign. One side I'll show around fellow Americans and it will say- "I know what you think, because I've seen your Facebook page, and I don't want to listen to your dissection of current events, because I may have to, I don't know, dump this beer in your lap and you know how I feel about wasting good beer". And one side I'll show around foreign tourists or London taxi drivers and that'll say "no, I didn't vote for trump. No, I don't want to hear your conspiracy theory. Yes, sadly, I do understand how he could be elected. Look, if you really want to talk about this, let me do a bit of research so I can ask incredibly insulting questions about your country's politics in return." Except sadly that last bit would not work in London...when they're not entertaining themselves with The Apprentice: Presidential Edition, they're doing a lot of navel gazing on the topic of Brexit. I am thoroughly bored with the hand wringing people are doing. Sure, I'm worried. But Trump really hasn't been doing anything that another Republican president wouldn't do- so far. Well, except for Twitter, but I generally try to pretend that doesn't exist. I feel like if you're a politician spending any time at all on Twitter, you need to get a day job. Anyway- at first it was refreshing to have a political conversation that doesn't end blue and red bloodshed. And to be fair, it was really interesting learn about how people from other countries view the US. A common theme that comes up is that people really don't understand how big and diverse America is. I never visited the east coast as a kid. I still haven't seen much of the south. Even Eastern and Western Washington are really, really different from each other. My roommates wanted the "American view" but, really, what is the American view? Who is "the American"?

Whew. Sorry. Didn't mean to get all serious there. But this has been a really large part of this trip. In Europe, people wanted to know why Trump got elected. In the US, people are either coming up with absurd reasons to defend him or they're coming up with even crazier ideas on how to get rid of him. But everyone- American or international- is waiting to see what he'll do next. Well...at least we're all doing something together

Anyway. Aside from the Met, my favorite museum was the Cooper Hewitt. Another Smithsonian knocked of my list! Woot! Is there a Smithsonian passport? Because I would go for that. Cooper Hewitt has a great backstory- it was the first American museum established by women. And it's very interactive! They give you these interactive wands with which you can create art or "save" your favorite collections pieces. The pen/wand is tagged to your ticket so you can see your creations or favorites at home. Surprisingly a terrific museum for kids. I really enjoyed the permanent collection, but I spent a great deal of time on the top floor, which is all about community engagement and outreach. Wonderful stuff. There's also a great textile exhibit on the first floor, so check it out.

The Food:
Marea's- pricy, and juuuuust on this side of pretentious but worth every penny. And very good service.

Katz's- PASTRAMI. Just saying...

Irving coffee roaster- very serious about their coffee and that's how I started every day.

If you like Chinese, Uncle Ted's in Greenwich Village (I think) was a good place. Good cocktails, dumplings, generous helpings. Sauce was sweeter than I liked- I would say it's more Americanized than authentic. But fresh, good service, interesting/pleasant setting.


And of course the shop "do". 20 flavors of raw cookie dough...how do you pass up that? You don't. But I wouldn't attempt it on the weekends at all and I wouldn't present it to your kids or traveling companions as a "sure" thing, because when I walked by too different days, there was a line all the way down the block. To give you a way to measure: when I went, I waited right outside the door. It's a tiny place. It took me 30 minutes to get to the cashier.

Lastly, if you like bookstores, don't pass up a chance to visit the mysterious bookshop. It's one of those rare mystery bookstores but it's one of those even rarer great bookstores.

doug_stallings

I guess I just don't get "Do" at all. Why would you want to pay a lot of money to buy a cup of cookie dough? As my resident millennial just told me, "It was good in theory ...". She enjoyed a bite and then baked the rest to make fairly mediocre cookies. (Yes, it bakes too.) My only regret is that they didn't have the dog version the day she went. I think my dog would have loved every bite.

marvelousmouse

I think you either "get it" or you don't. It's not any stranger to me than an ice cream parlor. I just happen to like cookie dough more than ice cream. It was surprisingly expensive, but everything in NYC is expensive. (Katz as an example- that's a lot of money for a pastrami sandwich). I did wonder somewhat about their staying power. That whole line, both times, were millenials and that may unfortunately mean it's just a passing craze- they might not last long.

Daniel_Williams

Great trip report!

My cousin & now-deceased aunt were living in the area near the NYC hostel and had told me that it was an option to consider for a less expensive way to stay in NYC. I had opted instead for the nearby Hotel Newton or Days Inn instead in recent years, as I've thought it better to not have other guests not sleep due to my snoring , but I nevertheless enjoyed reading about your experience. A part of me has thought I might like the social aspect of a hostel (the ones is Antigua, Guatemala I saw looked like a great place to make friends) but a part of me likes the privacy of a room. Although I understand there might be private rooms available at the hostel you stayed at in NY?

I'm always glad to be in Boston also; hard to believe it's been 6 years since my last time there! You wrote that you walked the neighbourhoods--Boston IMO is such a great city for simply meandering with surprisingly charming nooks and crannies ...especially North End, South End and Cambridge.

Enjoyed reading this very much! Daniel

marvelousmouse

Thanks, Daniel! Yes, there are private rooms. But usually in a place like NYC, they aren't a better deal than an inexpensive hotel- unless that inexpensive hotel has jacked up their prices due to events or high season. Hostels adjust their prices too, but not nearly as much. I had debated pretty heavily between the Jane and the hostel, and really the hostel only won because the cheap Jane rooms are bathroom down the hall, if I remember right. But I'm glad I picked that hostel- very well run, even for an HI!

I can do hostels mostly because I generally sleep like the dead when I'm sightseeing. I also tend to stay in the smaller more expensive dorms that the partiers don't choose. If I choose a hotel, it's almost always for the "luxury" of a private bathroom

I love walking around Boston! It had been about 6 years for me too- I'd forgotten how small it really is.

marvelousmouse

Also meant to add that I generally like hostel goers more than the folks that stay at places like Days Inn. Lots of people who stay in hostels know the score and do it for the socialization. So they're thoughtful and outgoing. Budget hotels are more likely to have either rowdy thoughtless idiots or just people who don't want to socialize. Makes a huge difference in atmosphere!

SueNYC

Great report and good point about hostels. HI has really upgraded itself in lots of ways too. Had I known you were going to Cooper Hewitt I would have tried to catch up with you. I don't live far away.

marvelousmouse

HI has, that's very true. Never sure what I'll get when it it comes to their hostels, but the newer ones tend to be the most comfortable/chic.

Aw, sad I didn't mention Cooper Hewitt, then! Whole reason I stopped in NYC, actually- got all excited about it when planning my trip last year to D.C., and then realized it wasn't with the rest of the Smithsonian, lol, and no time to go to NYC then.

Daniel_Williams

Dear Marvelousmouse,

Thanks for your answer regarding the presence of private rooms at that particular hostel and for your thoughts in general on the experience.

Best wishes, Daniel