BLaM!!

Crunch-Wrap…. SUUUPPPREEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEMMME (it actually...

stbooker — Fri, 25 Mar 2011 17:40:26 -0400

Crunch-Wrap….

SUUUPPPREEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEMMME

(it actually was not that bad, despite the cheese being the kind of non-dairy liquid which turns to a fine mist the second it enters your mouth, and the meat being made of recycled animal dongs and old copies of USA Today)

We finished our Junk Food Odyssey today. White Castle and Taco...

stbooker — Fri, 25 Mar 2011 17:29:09 -0400

We finished our Junk Food Odyssey today.

White Castle and Taco Bell.

From White Castle, I got this #1 Sack Meal (actual name!!) containing 4 original sliders, some chips (actually: “Regular Fry”) and a coke (“fountain beverage”).

From Taco Bell, I got a Crunchwrap Supreme (tm), a photo of which unfortunately follows.

Now we’re all lying around in assorted food comas.

God Bless America.

We also visited the Met(ropolitan Museum of Art). I think we...

stbooker — Thu, 24 Mar 2011 22:58:04 -0400

We also visited the Met(ropolitan Museum of Art).

I think we could have spent every day of our New York stay here and still not seen everything. As it was we were there for hours and only saw most (not all!) of one wing.

Opposite to the MoMA, the Met had the strange effect on me of making me realise that 99.999% of everything is complete and utter shit, and that nothing I ever do will mean anything. So… yay?

We also went to the Sex Museum. This is probably the tamest...

stbooker — Thu, 24 Mar 2011 22:51:03 -0400

We also went to the Sex Museum. This is probably the tamest photo I could have taken there.

Note: RealDolls are just as creepy in life as you would imagine. Something about their cold, dead eyes and bizarre proportions.

and we’re back. I think we’re kinda getting burned...

stbooker — Thu, 24 Mar 2011 22:35:30 -0400

and we’re back.

I think we’re kinda getting burned out on walking nine hours a day and having crappy internet all up ins, so this blog has not been maintained as it should have for most of this week. I apologise for this.

Anyway, I’m gonna dump a few photos now from our time in and on New York.

(I’m sorry about this one though Lizzie)

MoMA, I’m home. For a fairly solid little-over-a decade,...

lightfantastic — Tue, 22 Mar 2011 00:44:24 -0400

MoMA, I’m home.

For a fairly solid little-over-a decade, I’ve been dying to visit the Museum of Modern Art. Ever since I heard of the place in my 8th grade art class and all the wonders it supposedly held. The photos in my textbooks all had ‘From the collection of The Museum of Modern Art, New York’ tagged along the bottom, essays detailed its collections and all those that studied there in residence or performed there as part of their installations.

MoMA has been my spiritual home since I was 13 years old. And today I finally got to see it.

Anything I say from this point would just be garbled flailing and nonsensicals; I cried when I found the Frida Kahlo works, discussed the Spanish writing and music scrawled across the top of Self-Portrait with Cropped Hair with an elderly lady who was equally emotional over seeing them. I saw the Lichenstein and Warhols, a gallery over from the Picassos, the Cezannes and the Munchs. Dali’s Persistence of Memory, van Gogh’s Starry Night, Picasso’s Guitars series… it’s just… I can’t even. These are works I have read about, studied, wrote about, compared, contrasted, dissected and HERE THEY WERE.

This was the only place I was dead-set on seeing this trip, and I’ve been humbled completely by it.

Photo

lightfantastic — Mon, 21 Mar 2011 17:47:00 -0400

Bah bah. Bah bah bah bah bah baaah. Bah bahbahbah bah BAH bah.

adenofthieves — Sun, 20 Mar 2011 18:38:41 -0400

Bah bah. Bah bah bah bah bah baaah. Bah bahbahbah bah BAH bah.

Ah, Central Park. Despite the fact that it was significantly...

stbooker — Sat, 19 Mar 2011 23:59:15 -0400

Ah, Central Park.

Despite the fact that it was significantly colder today than Google Goddamn Weather led us to beleive, and that none of the beautiful old American elms in the park had any leaves, and that it mostly smelled pretty overwhelmingly of poo… where was I?

Right! Central Park was beautiful. It’s very strange, because you essentially step from the dirty criss-cross of streets (around 60th or something, I forget, but only 5 or so blocks from where we’re staying) and into this huge expanse of grass and paths and trees. Go over one little hill and suddenly you’re completely out of the city - just people jogging and walking dogs and having picnics. But look up and just above the trees there’s this huge imposing skyline. I guess it’d be different outside of winter when the trees have their leaves, but for me and at this time it was very surreal.

We went looking for the zoo but couldn’t find it (inexplicably) so we ended up just wandering around, seeing some breakdancing and a few places we recognised from movies, before winding up basically back where we started. Whoops! I’m sure the zoo’s in there somewhere. We’ll find it later this week.

It’s so strange to think that today we spent eight or nine hours walking around, without much repetition in routes, and still only saw a tiny amount - not of the city, but of the half of Manhattan we’re staying on.

Oh, right! We saw the Empire State Building too, but that is a story for tomorrow.

Also, friends, family: the time is now. Press the link at the top of the BLAM page and request your gifts. This is your last chance. I guess you could also email or facebook or @ or DM or… well, you get it. We’re wired.

So. New York City. This is a cliche, but New York is the most...

stbooker — Sat, 19 Mar 2011 23:38:03 -0400

So. New York City.

This is a cliche, but New York is the most incredible city on this whole stupid planet. It goes on forever in all directions and is filled with everything you could possibly consider. Hyperbole aside, it is both old and new, beautiful and hideous. You could buy anything in here; you could see anything.

Case in point: Times Square.

Tonight we visitied Times Square (yes, on a Saturday night) after dinner at a cute little chocolate and wine bar on West 31st St (note how mentioning even this basic street name adds a touch of class, of cosmopolitan chic to the story).

Times Square (see above) is a screaming, searing shitstorm (alliteration: and they said I couldn’t write!). It isn’t even a square - it’s a collection of intersections, thronged with the howling masses and surrounded on all sides by brightly-lit monoliths. I guess there’s hotels and shops and such behind there but all you can see and hear is this blitz on the senses.

Most of the other photos don’t really do it justice.

Next: Central Park!

Also, I bought another Nerf gun. I am five.

Yesterday we left Montreal, and much like Boston it took a day...

lightfantastic — Sat, 19 Mar 2011 17:46:28 -0400

Yesterday we left Montreal, and much like Boston it took a day or so for it to grow on me.

Montreal was unexpectedly loud and dirty, a lot of the people moreso. The city itself made me feel very, very stupid as everyone we spoke to were effortlessly bilingual and I couldn’t understand a lick of what was going on around me. Of everywhere I’ve ever been (which is admittedly not that many places, precious few times overseas and generally to English-speaking countries… except New Zealand [oh snap]) it was the biggest culture-shock for me. Mostly in terms of the language barrier, I felt like I stumbled through 4 days in a cotton-headed fog.

But then… the street art. And the Plateau, and the weird little op shops and dirty-looking diners that housed amazing sandwiches and THE SNOW and playing chess in a crowded cafe and the wrought iron balconies and finding that CD mum wanted and I hope to GAWD it’s not in French and poutine and the trying not to die. The last two days in Montreal were my favourite of all.

And now, we’re in New York. And we have Muppets. And we will discuss this at a later date.

POUTINE More Montreal stuff tomorrow. Tonight, we are in New...

stbooker — Sat, 19 Mar 2011 00:51:48 -0400

POUTINE

More Montreal stuff tomorrow.

Tonight, we are in New York City, and we ate burgers from a square burger place behind a curtain behind a concierge desk in an extremely swanky hotel on 56th Street, and I am excited and delirious and running on fumes.

I think this might be my first appearance on this blog, and I...

stbooker — Thu, 17 Mar 2011 18:19:10 -0400

I think this might be my first appearance on this blog, and I look like a goon, but w/e.

We’re in front of the Notre-Dame cathedral in Old Montreal, of which I hope the girls got better pictures than I did.

(also note the PAX East scarf, what uuuuuup)

Old Montreal. We didn’t look around too much here, but I...

stbooker — Thu, 17 Mar 2011 18:15:02 -0400

Old Montreal.

We didn’t look around too much here, but I forget why! Next time, I guess.

Smoked meat sang-widges at Schwartz’s Deli, Blvd...

stbooker — Thu, 17 Mar 2011 18:09:26 -0400

Smoked meat sang-widges at Schwartz’s Deli, Blvd Saint-Laurent.

We had to wait in line with a bunch of other sucker tourists but this place was worth it. Anyway we’re only here for a couple of days so I really need to stop feeling guilty about only doing “mainstream” things. Worst hipster ever.

Sad girls in snow (Monument on the edges of Mont-Royal)

stbooker — Thu, 17 Mar 2011 18:07:24 -0400

Sad girls in snow

(Monument on the edges of Mont-Royal)

SNOW DAY I feel like we kind of lost our mojo to begin with in...

stbooker — Thu, 17 Mar 2011 18:03:50 -0400

SNOW DAY

I feel like we kind of lost our mojo to begin with in Montreal. We slept in every day and stayed up late not doing too much. We wandered around town but didn’t really find much to look at. We didn’t even find very much to buy or eat (unusual)

But, today, it all turned around. We headed up Boulevard Saint-Laurent towards Mont-Royal, which turned out to be full of funky little shops and interesting places to which we will return tonight (cf. Gogo Lounge, Pinq Taco Tequila bar). We ate at Schwartz’s, a Montreal icon; gigantic smoked meat and mustard sandwiches with fries and a coke (cherry, in Manda’s case). A lot of reviews said it was overrated but it was basically the best sandwich I ever ate, so, whatever haters.

Mont-Royal itself was covered with snow and we later translated a sign which read ‘trail closed for winter’, so it is lucky we did not follow through on our plan to climb to the summit. We did throw some snowballs around, trudge through thick snowdrifts, and fall down, though, so I feel like we got the full treatment.

This was my first experience with snow! It’s basically like snow cone ice, huh. Also, packed snowballs is basically like throwing a giant ice cube at someone, so, uh, whoops.

You sink deep, too, and stairs become treacherous ramps of ice. I should have brought my pitons.

The photo above is Lizzie enjoying the snow drifts but I’ll post a few more photos now.

LOOK AT THAT SNOW. Let me start by saying Montreal is gorgeous....

adenofthieves — Wed, 16 Mar 2011 18:54:57 -0400

LOOK AT THAT SNOW.

Let me start by saying Montreal is gorgeous. Truly. To be honest, everywhere we’ve visited so far has been so. That said, we’re reaching that stage of the trip where we’re beginning to tire, yet the prospect of heading home is prompting feelings of urgency. Thoughts are beginning to form that we must see EVERYTHING, the kind of “oh god, what if we miss something incredible?” musings that flash through the mind and have caused some of our time here to feel… somehow incomplete. We’ve spent most of our time wandering through Downtown which has been nice, but left us hoping that we haven’t overlooked anything astonishing just around the corner. Chapelle Notre-Dame-de-Bonsecours was gorgeous, though, as were the snow-covered, wonderfully old-fashioned streets of Old Montreal. Weather permitting, we’ll be visiting Plateau Mont-Royal tomorrow for further wandering and hopefully a visit to such famous eating spots as Schwartz’s Deli (for smoked meat sandwiches) and Resto la Banquise (for poutine).

Montreal has been culturally fascinating, too - it’s not just the snow that has made us feel like we’re definitely in another country. Obviously we were aware that as part of Quebec, the city would have a palpable French influence. But we weren’t really prepared for about 95% of people speaking French as a matter of course, before effortlessly switching to English on the seemingly rare occasion that the situation calls for it. The menu of every restaurant we’ve been to has been entirely or almost entirely in French, including coffee shops and fast food outlets. It’s been a great opportunity to practice and extend my very limited French, even though everyone seems happy to converse in English before I can blurt out the requisite je ne parle pas français très bien and/or je parle un peu de français (embarrassing moment of today: managing to converse rather well with a host at a cafe until he asked whether we wanted to dine in or takeaway. Thankfully, he was sympathetic to my blank stare). One almost feels slightly guilty for not speaking French, since that seems to be what everyone feels most comfortable with, and English is merely an afterthought. Even the most overtly ‘eh’-dropping Canadians speak flawless French. It’s wonderful to listen to.

Montreal is also cold. Deliciously so, though the apparent acclimitization of some residents and tourists has astounded our fragile, warm-blooded bodies (we’ve found it necessary to retire indoors every couple of hours in order to defrost). It’s been about 2 degrees celsius today. We’ve seen girls in short skirts with long boots and men in t-shirts. We heard one not-especially-warmly-dressed woman tell a shopowner that today’s weather was “a little rainy, but nice and spring-like”. Spring-like. Manda was told by another that this week has been one of the warmest since November.

Canadians, man. They’re made of sterner stuff.

I HAVE BEEN SLACK. Belated, but reason #10 why I loved Boston.

adenofthieves — Wed, 16 Mar 2011 17:49:58 -0400

I HAVE BEEN SLACK. Belated, but reason #10 why I loved Boston.

OH CANADA. More to come later!!

stbooker — Tue, 15 Mar 2011 19:01:08 -0400

OH CANADA.

More to come later!!