April 2010Monthly Archives

Touring New York City

Whether one is visiting New York for the first time or has been living in the city for a while, taking a tour is always a fun way to learn more about the area. New York has some really interesting tours giving different perspectives of the city. Which makes a lot of sense because in New York just about anything is possible.

A really peaceful way to see the the city as a whole is by getting on the Circle Line . They have a long 3 hour cruise and some short cruises that take people around the New York Harbor. They will take people out to see the Statue of Liberty and Ellis Island. There is a lot of amazing history to learn about the buildings and landmarks located along the waters edge. They also have a great way to see some fireworks on the Fourth of July.

Walking tours have become rather popular way of seeing more about a place. If one likes to shop or design than taking the Gotham Garment District Walking Tour should be on their list. This is a great behind the scenes look at the fashion industry with a chance at some wholesale showroom pics. If 30 Rock is a new favorite show than one may like to take the Rockefeller Center Tour learning more about this beautiful landmark and the family that built it is more than interesting.

Speaking of television or movie locations in New York. There is a whole list of tours that one can catch to see the many locations that were used for filming their favorite movie or television show. The Sopranos Sites Bus Tour has my vote. Check with your New York hotel concierge or local listings for more information on these tours and more.

Lisa

April 22, 2010

Travel

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new york hotel concierge

Unbearable Los Angeles

The moment you lost me forever is the same moment that I moved in, and opened the first box. I couldn’t tell your plans, because you never told them to me, hoping I would guess, but treating me as though I were the crudest man alive if I were to speak them out loud. You are a force of contradictions, and the weight of all of our histories runs down my back when I am standing under the sun.

There are Arab traces that make this heart heavier than it might have been in another time and another place, and Hollywood calls for some strange new request for a better idea, and I have not been near enough to take the call. Nor do I think I would, even when I did know what this was, and where it was going. Los Angeles became unbearably light from that first moment. That’s the one that everything sprang from, and that’s the moment it would return to.

Do you remember the first time we walked this city together? I knew nothing about it, only that the hotels in Los Angeles were the best I’d ever seen, and that there were going to be some things in the city that would make me nervous. Some constant ritual that I would be asked into, and one which I could not possibly know or speak of in any contexts I knew.

Do you remember how I asked you to walk the city with me, we would go from one end to the other and tell each other life stories for a night. And you laughed and told me it would take 4 days of walking, and we would never finish because we would not survive. 4 days seemed short enough to me then, they spread out before us like an eternal return . I wouldn’t turn you down, not one request, in Los Angeles, there isn’t one request that I would refuse, but we flew away from each other like balloons on the day of the big parade, the one where we no longer believe in the marshall, and the only thing we can stand are the floats.

Lisa

April 4, 2010

Travel

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eternal return

Fresh Tortillas in Amarillo

There’s something about fresh tortillas that can bring people to their knees. It doesn’t happen just anywhere, because a tortilla is something that is very much like French bread. To some people, French bread is just that, with way too much gluten to bother with, but to others, it’s a potential for paradise on earth, but only if it’s made in the proper way.

Anyone can make French bread, apparently, but few understand that it’s a sacred trust between the loaf and the cook, and the one who comes to eat it enters into the same sacred trust. That’s the same with tortillas, and when they are good, then there’s a reason to celebrate breathing for another day.

Travelers coming to stay in the hotels Amarillo offers, then, will likely find a lovely place to become engaged in this sacred trust as a little restaurant called La Campana . It’s been getting some well-deserved attention of late, but even with a million articles in the press, the business is driven here based on their traditional recipes cooked in traditional ways, and that pulls in regular customers better than any advertising can.

When it comes to Mexican food, there are some who think it all tastes the same, and they’ll eat anything anywhere and still complain, because they don’t understand, or care enough to learn about the regions and origins of anything. And probably don’t know how to tell the sides of the tortilla apart. However, for those who do know it, La Campana is a very bright spot in a pretty bright town.

Good tortillas have a way of reaching the hidden parts of the soul, and offering a little bit of a break from the rush of things. It’s a taste that grows deeper and more profound with age, surely, and cooking them properly requires the same. This is one place to find that particular door to paradise.