Chartres Cathedral

I own a children's book titled "Cathedral" which is an illustrated account of how one Medieval, pastoral town managed to build a massive cathedral.  The amount of work and passion put into this impossible task floored me.  Since reading this book I've always had an enormous amount of respect and admiration for Medieval architecture and on a recent trip to France I found myself intent on visiting one of the most famous buildings from this era.

Taking our rented VW Golf TDI from our hotel on the outskirts of Paris to the city of Chartres did not seem like a hard task when planned from my computer back on Long Island.  We had to cross to the other side of the French metropolis and we would do this by avoiding the city as much as possible.  This is a common thought process and we found ourselves crawling along several congested roads.  Needless to say we ended up at Chartres in late evening and parked our car only a half hour before the parking meters closed for the night.

When you approach Chartres it looks like a small town/city that is dominated by the cathedral that stands atop its highest point.  We had a great view of this because we were in bumper to bumper traffic as we approached it.  Exhausted and a little delirious we walked through the meandering stone roads up to the apex of the town.  It was so quiet and the sun was setting as we turned a small alley and happened upon the side of the mighty cathedral.

Since it was only 15 minutes before closing we snuck in and found ourselves almost completely alone in the cold, open space.  The last beams of the sun glowed behind the blue glass of the rose windows and the deep, distant chant of monks buzzed in my ears.  It was noticeable colder inside and the air felt like it was being vacuumed up into the vast space above us.   You could hear every footstep being made and I realized that we had again happened upon a place at the right moment.

It was a terrible time of day/night to take photos so I don't have many.  It was however the perfect time to see this magnificent building.

Spontaneity and Sunrises

The beginning of the school year brings on many wonderful things.  It also bring on a bit of anxiety and stress.  As the days flew by I started to feel like I was marooned on Long Island and I needed to get out.  With my next few weekends booked and a Monday off I devised a plan.  Joe had work until 3 in the city.  Afterwards we would set off on an adventure with Niagara Falls as our destination.  I've been to the falls before and I felt like Joe had to see them.  We had a hotel for Sunday night in Ontario but our Saturday night was a little unclear.  We decided to just drive and see where we ended up.  We assumed we would probably want to start trying to find a hotel near Binghamton and assumed we would find something along the 8.5 hour drive to the falls. 

We were very wrong.

As the night progressed we visited Binghamton, Cortland, Syracuse and countless other towns and cities up until Buffalo.  We pulled into every hotel, motel, holiday inn I could find on my phone and begged for a room.  In some places it was parents weekend at a college that filled their rooms.  There were weddings, football games and white tailed deer conventions in other places.  We took turns sleeping and ventured on into the night.  At around 4 am somewhere between Rochester and Buffalo, Joe almost drove the car off the road in exhaustion.  He pulled into a rest stop and we decided to take a 45 minute nap which turned into an hour and a half snoozefest.  I woke up meeting the gaze of a drifter/yeti man as he walked slowly past our car.  I decided I could handle driving and our plan was to soldier on to our Canadian hotel and hope we could get a room to crash into.  At around 6:00 am we stumbled into the lobby of our hotel only to find out that it was also sold out for that particular night and check in was at 3 pm.  Delirious we stumbled out the door of our hotel, down the steepest road outside of San Francisco and down towards the rushing sound of the falls. 

We arrived just as the sun began to peek over the horizon.  We were almost completely alone. 

 I am so glad we had the fortune of being denied a good nights sleep because we would have missed an unforgettable sight.  I've seen the falls before but not like this.

Driving in California

I love to drive.  I love it so much I can't even explain it more than that.  Driving down highway-1 in California is a must-do life experience.  From towns like Loma Mar to Point Reyes, northern California is filled with dreamy roads to coast along.  We went to a "swim up" Taco Bell in Pacifica.  We twisted and turned along roads on the edge of the ocean.  It was reminiscent of the Amalfi Coast and its infamous cliff dwelling roads.  We drove through endless farms and the breathtaking Sierras.  Our car, Nicky Number 2, was a powder blue Hyundai Accent.  We got her up over 8,000 ft to Glacier Point in Yosemite.  She drove us through the vineyards of Napa, over the Golden Gate bridge and down to Santa Cruz.  

Wave Organ, San Francisco, Jetty

San Francisco is an eclectic place.  It is entirely itself and does not try to be like any other city.  I love a lot of things about San Francisco.  In concept the Wave Organ sounds like a fantastic idea.  It is literally an acoustic organ that is being played by the waves that lap up on a jetty in San Francisco bay.  The Golden Gate Bridge is in full view (on a good day) and there aren't many people who actually make the trek out to this spot.  It is quite a walk from downtown but I love to put down 20 miles or so on a good wandering day.  I read once that the Wave Organ was made from the remnant granite and marble stones of an old cemetery.  There are seats, steps and outcroppings to accommodate you as you explore this site.  Large pipes come out of the bay and you stick your ear into them or sit closely and you listen.  That's all that is required of you.  Enjoy your surroundings and listen.

Did I mention the wave organ sounds like a thousand toilets flushing over and over again? 

Grounds for Sculpture, New Jersey

You know you are going to someplace fantastic when you are never quite sure if you are at your destination until it hits you over the head (or you pay the parking fee).  There is a specifically defined entrance to the Grounds for Sculpture but before arriving at the gate one might think they've already entered the sculpture garden many miles prior down the road.  The sculptures can not be contained inside this 33 acre park.  They ooze out into the environment around them, infiltrating town walkways and creating surreal scenes outside of local factories.  The work isn't ground breaking or new at the Grounds but the ambiance makes up for it.

 It transports you to another place.  It may have a similar effect of Disney World on me.  It made me feel like I was in my own head wandering through a book or a painting.  In many cases you are doing just that at the Grounds, where famous works of art are made into sculptural scenes.  It is kind of cheesy but I loved it.

It is only a 2 hour drive from Nassau County and right near the Princeton campus.  Instead of sitting in traffic driving out to a pumpkin farm or a winery maybe you can spend a Saturday at the Grounds for Sculpture.  Most importantly they have peacocks that roam free.

Newgrange - Neolithic, Irish, Wonderful

On a recent trip to Ireland we found ourselves in a rented Nissan Micra headed up to Drogheda from Dublin.  Our destination was the visitors center for the Newgrange ancient burial mound complex.  Why would we want to see this?  

 - It is 1,000 years older than Stonehenge.

- The main chamber aligns with the sun on the winter solstice, illuminating a burial chamber along the back wall for only a few moments a year.

- It's gorgeous (said in a terrible Irish accent). 

- It's part of the Brú na Bóinne complex of Neolithic structures in the Boyne River Valley.  There are several visible burial mounds from Newgrange alone.  You can visit a few others from the visitors center although Newgrange is the only one you can enter inside.

- It is nestled amidst working farms in this beautiful valley that has been inhabited for thousands of years (repetitive, I know). 

 - It is within driving distance of Dublin.  It is also incredibly close to several other noteworthy sites in eastern Ireland.  

- The inner chamber has a huge corbel-ed dome that is the largest Neolithic dome in the world.

- We got there so early we greeted all the workers as they walked into work.  Everyone was really nice and once it opened we got on the first bus over to the site.  We were never rushed but we didn't sit around and wait either.  

Triple Swirl Art!

Me :)

Entrance to the burial chamber

Veggie Burgers and Artichoke Dip

Best Artichoke Dip in the WORLD

If you read the title of this post and think "YUM!" and if you love to go out to eat but hate to use all of your money you should read on.  Penelope.  It is in midtown, a few blocks from my old dorm.  I think I had like 4 life epiphanies while dining there it is so relaxing.  Whether you have brunch, lunch or dinner the menu is fantastic.  They seem to put pesto in everything (yumyum).  I always tell Joe that we are going to go to a new restaurant when we go into the city these days but we very often end up wandering over to Penelope.  We get the warm artichoke dip and split the veggie burger entree.  If we are feeling crazy we will get the mac and cheese.  Its not diet food but its definitely food for my soul.