once again my mind is a blur …of christmas lights, cold wind, cramps, cars darting, laughing faces and exotic drinks.
i left on saturday the 23rd around midnight on a non stop flight to jfk. the airline, jetblue, is great. i fulfilled my tv watching quota for the next 2.5 years. i was able to flip channels on the arm rest until my arm went numb and those damn earplugs wore red spots into my skin. i suppose i slept, druled (how do you spell that word, anyway?) and snored. and when i woke up, i was on the other coast once again and looking forward to a fantastic 4 days.
victor was there with a warm hug and a smile. which is awefully nice at 7am on a sunday morning on your holiday. we hopped in his mom’s green bug and drove out to staten island to see his childhood home, grandparents aparment, grade school and other nostalgic places of his youth. it was a lovely island. not at all what i expected. it was hilly, lots of trees and beautiful old house and aparments. we found a diner and had breakfast and i loaded up on caffine in hopes of staying awake for the 45 minute drive to jersey. i think i made it out of the city and i was a goner.
when we arrived at his mother, connie and step dad’s (ted), house they were waiting at the door. it is a lovely neighborhood with lots of space and trees out back. we said our hellos, got the tour of the house and then i was excused to take a nap to gear up for the annual family dinner/night with a lot of ted’s family and victor’s brother, alex and his girlfriend patricia.
around 6pm the people started piling in with dish after dish of food. it was everywhere. victor started us off with pisco sours (which he has mastered!) and we chatted with everyone and munched on food. his mom made black beans, rice and fried plantains. (3 of my favorite things.) all the other food was your typical potluck food. after everyone was done eating we had a ‘white elephant’ gift exchange. it is loads of fun with 25 people!! i ended up with a GIANT gothic looking goblet that has been the gift that seems to come back every year. it was recieved with oohhhss and aahhhs from the crowd and when that happened, i knew i wouldn’t part with it, even if it was hideous. (it will match victor’s giant jar of pickled tomatoes.) after dessert all but victor’s mom, step dad, brother and his girlfriend was left. we exchanged a few gifts and had the privledge to get a phone call from North Pole for the annual reading of ‘the night before christmas’, read to us by my father. (32 years and haven’t missed a reading) it is always weird to hear it over the phone, but i was great to share the experience of my favorite family tradition with more loved ones. it was REALLY special. it was after midnight, but we all stayed up drinking, dancing tango and salsa and laughing for a while longer, until we just couln’t do it any more. what a christmas eve!!
christmas day i woke up to a huge breakfast of eggs, homemade potatoes and coffee. aaahhh. victor and i borrowed connie’s car, bundled up and drove into the city!! i have to say… i love the new york drivers. they know where they want to go and GO! none of the regular bullshit of driving other places. we went to manhatten and found a parking spot near time’s square and started walking. it wasn’t long and we were on the main drag looking up at all the billboards. it is pretty spectacular! what was even better was the smell. there are street vendors on every corner selling, hot dogs, shish-ka-bobs, pretzels, soda, candies nuts. mmmm… the place buzzed with people taking in the sites and basking in the chilly christmas day. unfortunitly this is also about the time i was started getting horrible cramps. shit! this kindof shifted my mood and slowed down my picture taking. anyway… we made are way over to rockafeller center where the big christmas tree and ice rink are. wow! that was shocking. the space is really quit small, despite the large tree. i am convinced that the rink is made for elves. it was packed and the line to go skating was so long. we hung out there just enjoying the realization that… we are in new york, together! we started making our way to the street but that seemed to be more than we bargained for. it was like charging the stage at a sold out U2 concert. we were literally packed together and couldn’t move until the ‘crowd’ moved. but to spite the close quarters… it was a good feeling. everyone was happy, warm and patient. thinking about it now… it makes me laugh.
we did a bit more walking and headed back to the car as it started to rain. victor drove me around to see china town and other hot spots as i started dozing in the passenger seat. we made it back to the house and had christmas eve leftovers for dinner and decided to go see ‘the good sheperd’ at the theatre. wwooha. that was a long three hours. it was good but hard to track at times. not to mention the lack of ANY action or drama. (which i am fine with in real life, but hey… this is a movie… entertain me.) we had a nice time and went back home to show ted and connie our south america pictures and go to bed.
let’s see… we are at tuesday now. the 26th. back into the city. we decidedt to go to the metropolitain museum of art that is near central park in manhatten. there are tons and tons of museums in new york and i am sure i could have stayed there for months and not even found all of them.
(so i forgot to mention… it cost $9 dollars to cross the verazano bridge from new jersey to new york. it cost $26 dollars to park in the museum parking lot for 3 hours and it cost $10 for a piso sour at the club.)
so… back to the museum. it was full and huge. there was no way we were going to see a quarter of it in the 3-4 hours we had before it closed. we decided, with little help of our map, to see the cezanne to picasso exhibit. a good choice. there was also the weapons and armor gallery, impressionist, american art. (the frank lloyd wright house was closed.) egyptian mummies… and so on. we were trying to end up in the modern art section of the museum and find a gustav klimt. well… as we are finishing up what we think is the last of the modern art the securtiy guard says… ‘the museum is closing.’ we begin to walk out of the current gallery and follow the masses to exit the building. as we start to leave i look down the hall and there at the entrance to another set of rooms, there she is… a klimt staring at me. of course i make a bee line right to it ignoring the orders we had just received, hoping, just hoping i could catch a closer look at her. i get about 5 steps away from the crowd and i was summened back with the herd. shit. i missed it. and who knows how many were just waiting for me around that corner. damn it. (found out later… only 2 total.) but what a bummer.
we went for a walk up park avenue and 5th avenue looking at the buildings and christmas lights.
ok… now we are getting hungry and thought going into the village would be the perfect place for dinner. we park near the washington square park in lower manhatten. now this is a place i could hang out in. it felt like an american version of palermo viejo in buenos aires. restaurants, cool buildings, pub and clubs a bit edgier and less stuffy… we wondered a bit to find the perfect place and settled on ‘extra virgin‘. partly because of the atmosphere, partly for the menu and mostly for the name. TANGENT… i am completely confused by this phrase, ‘extra virgin’. how can you be more than a virgin… and be extra virgin? it is like a tv commercial i saw once, “Now you too can find out if you are a little pregnant!” i thought both of these things were of the black or white scale, not GREY. am i wrong here?
back to the funny named restaurant. holy crap. fantastic food. mussels, herb crusted chicken, pumpkin ravioli, chocolate melty-cake, creme brulee…. a good malbec wine. oh heaven! next up was a local live jazz clup for a beer. by this time we get a hold of victor’s brother that works on the other side of the tunnel in jersey. we jump in the car and see the restaurant where he and patricia work. we make our way to his place for a quick tour and then it is back into the city and back into the village. it’s another local pub for a mojito and converstation… i figure, while i was there, i might as well get the bar tour. so off we went to anther place, called ‘employees only‘. the place was hopping with hip villagers all in black and looking the new york part. we happen upon a table and order pisco sours that would compete with their chilean/peruvian counterparts. mmmm…. we order some food. (it is about 2am by now and the raviolis have been diluted by cocktails). finally at about 3am we head back to jersey and say goodbye to alex and patricia and on to connie and ted’s. whheeewww… what a night!!
one more day… hold on, i think this is my longest blog yet. yikes.
we crawl out of bed around 10am, i pack and we have some breakfast/lunch at the house. this time it’s connie, victor and me that head into the city to take me to my evening flight back to portland via white castle, a view of statue of liberty, the pier and the brookly bridge. there was a ton of traffic but we made it to the airport with enough time for a long goodbye and for me to get some dinner.
what a way to spend christmas. i am really enjoying exploring new places for the holidays and always being nostalgic about home when it’s the night before.
i hope all of you had a great christmas and party your asses off for new year’s. see you next year!! love ya.
