Rachel’s Final Travel Blog

I’ve got to get this blog finished so I’m going to stop going into so much detail and outline the rest of my trip.

Thursday: My mom came to NYC so that she could take me to the Metropolitan Museum of Art. It has been in the process of renovation for several years and recently moved back to its premises in Manhattan from its temporary digs in Brooklyn. Mom had wanted the whole family to come, but Nicole and Dad vetoed that idea in favour of a family vacation to Montreal. So it was jut Mom and I. Mom wanted to reminisce about her university days praying to the big statue of Balzac and seeing her favourite modern art. We wandered around the museum for a couple of hours, then left to visit the BUST headquarters. BUST is the mag that lip was inspired by and I was hoping to meet its editor, but she was already away for the long 4th of July weekend. The office was a very cool, wood-floored loft space with lots of Hello Kitty paraphernalia and comfy couches. After visiting BUST, Mom and I went back to the museum for about an hour.

I think I may have got my days messed up in the previous couple of blogs because I’m sure I went to dinner with Aunt Kathy, Kevin and Mom on Wednesday night. We ate at this teeny fancy Mexican place: gourmet Mexican, but truly yummy and different.

After MoMA, Mom and I met Solita and Val (Solita’s best friend from high school) for a quick dinner and then Solita and I went to see Shakespeare in the Park: As You Like It. The play was so boring we left after the first act. Very sparse and no famous actors…hmm, it was better with heaps of skipping people in bright colours dancing around and famous actors. After Shakespeare, Solita and I met up with Louisa for a couple of drinks.

Friday was the wedding – the whole reason I went to NY in the first place! Lucia pulled off a perfect wedding. Well, the Catholic wedding part was irritating as fuck, but the reception was awesome. She had a gorgeous dress, her sisters (bridesmaids) had great dresses, Jason learned two ballroom routines with her, there was so much food it was unbelievable, an open bar, a good dj who played 80s dance, salsa and some current dance music and it all overlooked the Long Island Sound. Solita came with me to the wedding and we sat next to a friend of Lucia’s from college and her friend. Solita’s cousin Albert also sat at our table. He went to high school with us and was thrilled to see Solita and me after all these years. He was great fun. It was just the kind of wedding I like: lots of dancing, a bride smiling from ear to ear, a relaxed groom, free-flowing alcohol, but no one getting annoyingly drunk. I’m so glad I went.

Saturday Mom and I drove to Pennsylvania. We stopped off at a cousin’s high school graduation party and I was able to see a good cross-section of my big extended family there – which was awesome. I hadn’t expected to get to see all those relatives, but it just worked out great. Following the party we continued onto Aunt Lorraine and Father’s house, though we got lost and didn’t show up until after midnight. Father (he’s a priest) is dying of prostate cancer, which is why I made sure I got to Pittsburgh this trip home, and Aunt Lorraine is getting a bit out of it and driving the family nuts. I was so dreading this part of the trip, especially after the family went on and on about how bad she is. Last time I visited I wanted to commit suicide rather than stay around that house with nothing to do. But it was really okay. Aunt Lorraine, to me, can’t concentrate long enough on one topic anymore to be annoying, and as long as no one is trying to discuss Father or dying or her future with her, then she’s fine. I saw Kirsten, a family friend who is an artist, on 4th of July and we saw the Pittsburgh fireworks together, then walked, and walked, and walked, mostly on highway ramps because there was no other way to get across town.

After a few days in PA, enjoying Aunt Lorraine’s new kitty and the lovely home nurses helping father out, Mom and I drove back home to upstate New York. Nicole (my sister) came home from grad school and the whole family was together again for the first time in a long time. Nicole was lovely—we had a nice time together—despite being stressed out about grad school. On Saturday, the family drove to Montreal. We got a bit lost finding the hotel (I definitely inherited my poor sense of direction!!!) and didn’t get in until after 4.00. That evening we ate dinner in the hotel, tried to catch a movie that turned out not to have English subtitles even though the paper said it would and then walked along the main road the hotel was on, which was just full of crap shops. The next day we spent a few hours at the Montreal botanic gardens and then walked around Old Town for an hour or so. Mom and I were really disappointed we didn’t stay for dinner, especially as Mom complains all the time how there’s no decent restaurants in upstate NY. I had thought the whole point of going to Montreal was too eat! But Dad wasn’t hungry and wanted to get home and Nicole was too hot to be hungry. Mom and I were ready to eat, of course. Instead we at this truly crap Chinese restaurant. For some reason my parents love the buffet: I think they’ve forgotten what good Chinese food tastes like. On Monday, Mom, Nicole and I drove to Manchester, VT, where I met Linda, an old work colleague. It was great to be able to catch up with Linda, who is an editor as well, is lefty and interesting to chat with.

After leaving Manchester, Mom drove us to the airport, where Nicole caught a flight home and I caught a bus back to NYC. I met Albert at Grand Central and we wandered around the East Village, looking for Mexican or Hispanic food, which I really wanted for my last meal in NYC. All we found was a fancy Cuban place. It was pretty good, but not any better (though different) than non-gourmet Cuban food, heaps more expensive and heaps less food. But I had a good time chatting away with Albert, learning about what he’s done with the past 10 years of his life. We went to Veniero’s for one last attempt to see my cousin Eva, who still wasn’t working that night (if she still works there at all) and then I had to go to Queens to Aunt Kathy and Kevin’s place. Kevin drove me to the airport in the morning and that was the end of my trip.

It was smart to do the NYC stuff first, because I wouldn’t have wanted to leave all that awesome social activity. After Pittsburgh and upstate NY I was ready to come home to Australia. And please don’t take that to mean I don’t like my family. I love my family – I had a good time with my parents and sister, but upstate NY does nothing for me. Despite the fact that it is pretty in a cows and rolling farmland sort of way, it makes me bored and morose. I spent a lot of my time at my parents’ fighting with the internet, trying to get my lip grant application done. And one time when Nicole and I tried to go for a decent walk, we had to abort the attempt due to severe bug biting. So, yeah, despite the fact that I was leaving summer behind me, I was ready…

I’m still not quite back into the whole swing of things. But at this point I don’t have any excuse anymore!

I still haven’t gotten my other 3 rolls of photos developed. As soon as I do, I’ll post some!