Robert Reiss Travel Blog and Other Ramblings

All baseball teams have travel days when they don’t play but just relocate from one city to another.  Well today was a travel day for Patrice and me.  We got an early start and made it to JFK airport in plenty of time to make our flight to Miami.  It was fortunate that we were early because we saw, Dwayne Johnson (“The Rock”) at the airport and he was kind enough to let me snap a photo of him with Patrice (See below).

At the airport I found the bathrooms rather tricky.  Sorry but the high tech equipment in public restrooms can be difficult for an old guy like me to understand. I am sure you are familiar with the systems that start water flow once your hands trip a sensor alerting the equipment that you are in the proper position.  Below you will see a picture of a sink in a bathroom at JFK.  It took me a long time to finally figure out how to turn on the water (see below).

We had a rather uneventful flight to Miami.  Upon arrival I wanted to immediately return to New York.  It was 82 degrees when we landed but the humidity was about 12,000%.

After checking into the hotel we rested for a bit.  After all we were sitting in an airplane for 3 hours, and needed a rest from all that hard work.   We then decided to explore South Beach before dinner.  Apparently weather can get a bit strong down here so trees need to be supported (see below).

They also have some interesting observations about the surroundings.  Note they want you to stay off the grass (see below).

But take a better look at what they call grass (see below).

Also I think they have an interesting opinion about health food down here.  Possibly the humidity has gotten to their brains.

Now Patrice is trying to get me to go to the hotel gym to work out.  I am trying to convince her I need to write my blog.  I better go, it wasn’t easy to get her to leave “The Rock” when we were at JFK this morning.  I need to get into better shape.

Baseball tomorrow.  And a meeting with a woman of my past.

This morning we decided to get in some early exercise so we walked to “Ess A Bagel” (831 3rd Avenue) for breakfast.  The place was very crowded.  They got our order wrong but with 20 people in line we were just happy to get food.  The bagels were scrumptious, and of a quality that you don’t see in Los Angeles and definitely not in the Beach Cities.  We then got chocolate dessert at Teuscher Chocolatier (620 5th Avenue).  Their chocolates are imported once a week from Switzerland.  They sell for $112 per lb.  To translate to clearer terms, Patrice got a small chocolate covered hazelnut confection (about the size of a Reese’s peanut butter cup) and it sold for $3.70.  After that we returned to the theater district where we saw the play “The Little Foxes”.  The play was written by Lillian Hellman and debuted in 1939.  It was a successful movie with Betty Davis and this edition has been nominated for a number of Tony awards.  Patrice enjoyed it a lot but I thought it was a bit dated.  There were a number of name actors in the production (Laura Linney, Cynthia Nixon, Michael McKean and Richard Thomas). Patrice didn’t remember Richard Thomas so I tried to jog her memory.  Robert: “He was John Boy in the Waltons on TV”.  Patrice:  “I don’t remember, I was too young for that show.”   Grrrrrr, this woman is flirting with danger.

After a quick and uneventful dinner we headed uptown to see “Spamilton” a spoof about the Broadway hit musical “Hamilton”.  They also poked fun at a number of other Broadway productions and stars.  I thought it was good but Patrice and most everyone else in the theater thought it was spectacular.   Now we are back at the hotel packing for our trip to Miami in the morning.

Patrice had a good mother’s day.  We both called our mothers to tell them we love them and wish them a happy day.  I found this picture on my computer.

A word of thanks to my niece, Shaynee.  As I said I found this picture on my computer.  I wasn’t sure where it was located on my computer or how to access it.  Somehow I posted it somewhere (not sure where it posted or how I did it) but my niece, Shaynee saw it.  I confessed to Shaynee that I couldn’t find the picture and asked her to download and email it to me so I could post it today.  Many men my age are impressed with my computer skills.  Clearly I have a lot to learn.  Thanks Shaynee.

It’s been a long and tiring day so please forgive me for quickly writing down my thoughts then turning the post over to my editor (Patrice) to proofread and publish.  I have a bunch of other things to do and know I leave my work in the trustworthy hands of my editor.

This morning we met Patrice’s friend, Diana, for breakfast along with her son, Mark and his wife, Kelly.  We had a fantastic meal at Bouchon (10 Columbus Circle).  Mark is in medical school and Kelly works for Google.  It was fun discussing how fulfilling a career in medicine lies ahead for this young man (Patrice here:  Doesn’t a discussion mean more than one person talking?  I don’t think Robert came up for air more than once).

After breakfast we contemplated what next to do.  It was raining heavily so baseball was not an option (Patrice: Thank God!) so I felt it was Patrice’s turn to decide on an activity. She suggested a Broadway show.  I cautioned her on how expensive these shows can be and asked for another idea.  “Well how about if we do some shopping?” to which I replied, “What show would you like to see?”

We decided on seeing “Come From Away” a musical about 9/11.  A musical about 9/11?  It sounded awful to me.  Of course readers might recall a couple of years ago Patrice recommended we see a musical about one of our founding fathers.  I balked at that but was very happy seeing “Hamilton” long before it became a national phenomena.  So it was off to see “Come From Away” but the tickets were sold out and we had to wait (in the rain) for possible cancellations.  We got lucky but had to sit apart.  The musical was amazing.  It was funny (yes funny), informative, and the music and staging were spectacular.  It was also incredibly touching at times and frequently I found myself on the verge of tears (Patrice: Don’t get too taken by this.  After all we are talking about someone who use to well up when reading “Green Eggs and Ham” to our kids at bedtime).

In the early evening we worked out at the hotel gym and earned us a hearty meal. Tonight we dined at The Modern (9 W. 53rd Street) and had what might have been the best meal we have ever enjoyed. The restaurant was beautiful, the service was beyond words (seemed like we had a different server for every course) and the food tasted even better than it looked (see below).  The dinner was a 4 course meal with tip included in the price.  There were some other tidbits between courses but here are the highlights.

Like I said, the meal might have been the best I had ever eaten.  If it hadn’t been such a classy place I might have even licked the plates clean.  Trust me, I was very tempted.  That is all for tonight.  Loving your comments and hope to see lot’s more tomorrow.

This is Patrice here again.  OMG, “tempted to lick the plate”?  See for yourself.  I caught him with my cell phone when he wasn’t paying attention.  I have never been more humiliated in my life.

Today we had a wonderful day in New York.   First we got up nice and early at 10:00 AM. Hey, we are still on Los Angeles time so cut us some slack.  We then took a short walk to Thalia’s (828 8th Avenue) where we had a wonderful lunch with wonderful people.  We were hosted by our daughter-in-law’s mother, Carol and two of Carol’s sons, Corey and Marc.  We spent most of our time arguing about who was luckier.  Carol insisting she had the best son-in-law (David) in the world and we insisted we have the best daughter-in-law (Robyn).  We finally agreed that we both have amazing grandchildren.

After lunch we did some exploring of the area near our hotel and then met Corey and Marc for our trip to Yankee Stadium to see the Astros take on the Bronx Bombers.  We took the subway and it was fantastic, taking us to just steps from the stadium.  Although this is not the “House that Ruth Built” is was still exciting to arrive at the stadium.

The game was fantastic.  The Astros won 5-1 which is of course a big plus.  The food at the stadium was actually very good.  All those people who ask “Why do Dodger Dogs taste so good?” the answer is very simple…………THEY DON’T.   I had an Italian sausage in a fresh bun (yes, fresh bread, try that for a change Dodgers!).  Patrice and the guys had chicken cheese steak sandwiches which they said were also very tasty.  Not that it bothers me, since I am not a drinker, but beers which cost $8 at Dodger stadium sell for $15 in Yankee Stadium (Ouch!).  The game was filled with excitement; there was a 3 run home run (by former Yankee Brian McCann), a diving catch (by Astro centerfielder, George Springer) and Patrice’s favorite, the grounds crew dancing to the Village People’s rendition of “YMCA”.

It is supposed to rain tomorrow so we most likely will look for an indoor activity.  More about that later.

Today we start our much anticipated trip in pursuit of the perfect BBQ and toward completing our goal of visiting all 30 Major League Baseball parks (9 down 21 to go).  The past week has been very busy so I didn’t get a chance to pack until this morning.  We hustled to get that accomplished and then headed to my office to finish up some work and to leave my car at work so Lindsay could have access to our garage.

We then called a Lyft for the short trip to the airport.  The driver was there very quickly and we were off to LAX.  One small hiccup occurred when he started to leave.  Before Patrice was in the car and with the back door still open the driver started to go. Being quick on her feet and very nimble Patrice backed away while I started to scream STOP! STOP!   The driver stopped and was extremely apologetic.   And THEN we started the short trip to LAX.  Unfortunately traffic had other ideas.  It took us about 20 minutes to get from my office to the terminal (a trip of about 2 miles).  As it turned out we didn’t need to rush since our flight was delayed over one hour.  I heard that the flight attendants needed to beat some passengers before take off.

We had an uneventful flight that took about 5 hours from take off to touch down.  Getting our luggage took about 30 minutes.  We then had to wait on a long line to get a taxi and the drive into town took about one hour.  If you add up all time spent getting to and from the airports, waiting for our flight and baggage, we spent more time on the ground than in the air.

All that is behind us and once again we are in the wonderful Marriott Marquis Times Square.  Patrice and I are excited that tomorrow night we get to see the Yankees play the Astros.  Rain is predicted for late in the evening so we are hoping for clear skies.  It has been a long day so it’s off to bed for us.

This is Patrice now.  Robert is sleeping and I am up late praying for rain.

 

Tomorrow Patrice and I will be heading to New York City on the start of a 5 city tour in search of Baseball, BBQ and Anything else we can find..  A few people have asked if I will be posting from our trip.  The main reason I travel is so I have an excuse to post.  I have long envied people who have real passion in their lives.  You know the type, the guy with all those great woodworking tools who makes amazing pieces of furniture (I would most likely cut off a finger).  Or the one who makes his own lures for fly fishing.  I only caught one fish in my entire life and I am convinced that the poor critter just happened to be yawning at the time my hook found his mouth.  I never really had anything that I enjoyed so much that I would look forward to doing it.  I think I finally found my niche with the travel blog. I must admit it does put a tremendous amount of pressure on me.   During our travels I am constantly thinking and asking myself, “What will I write tonight?”   Heck, I am already thinking about what I will write while we are in New York and we haven’t even left yet.

That brings me to my word of warning.  I am happy to report that my blog has escaped the realm of family and friends.  People who have been with me since the beginning know that this blog was originally just an email to my sister so she could let our mom know what was going on during my trips.  That led to a group email.  The group email grew too large so it has become a blog for family and friends.  Well somehow things have changed.  Previously people became followers by my invitation only.  Well now, like a viral illness set to destroy the world, my blog has escaped from my small world and is now somehow on the Net.  As evidenced by the plain appearance of my blog, I am somewhat clueless about this whole process.  So I am not clear how these people found me or why they would be bothered to read my ramblings.  Whatever their reasons, I say welcome to my world.  I hope you find it interesting.  If you do, please share your thoughts with me.  I am always looking for something interesting to say.

So my warning to my friends and family is the following.  I love your comments and hope you will continue to make them, BUT there are others out there in cyberspace who are watching.  I would like to think it is the FBI or NSA but frankly, I am not that important.

It is off to bed with me.  The next time you will hear from me will be when I am at 35,000 feet in the air, on my way to New York.

 

This has nothing to do with travel and I am incredibly busy with work and other commitments but I just have to write this post.  If you don’t want to read about me boasting about  my wonderful son you can stop reading right now.

Okay you have been warned.

The past week or two my iPhone has been acting strange so I made a Genius appointment today.   We love the Apple store in Manhattan Beach and have had all sorts of great experiences at the store.  Today started out the same way.  I was greeted by a store employee and situated at a table and soon after a “Genius” arrived.  He quickly assessed my phone and told me that it looked like it had an internal problem.  He then offered to give me a new one.  Another wonderful Apple experience……………. almost.

After we made all the necessary adjustments the phone looked great EXCEPT I couldn’t log into my Gmail account.  I have what is called 2 step authentication for added security. I won’t bore you with the details regarding this process but let it suffice to say without my email on my phone I was in panic mode.  I then asked the “Genius” but he said “I have not been trained on that” and so he was of no help.  I then frantically did a Google search but things were not adding up.  I was confused and decompensating fast.  People were texting me, I was getting emails on my computer, all this outside input was making the situation worse.  I needed to concentrate on my phone.  I felt like a non-swimmer in the middle of the ocean.  I was going down fast without any help in sight.

Then I did what any reasonable man in my situation would do, I contacted my son.  A simple message, “I am in meltdown mode, can you help?”  The immediate reply, “Yes, are you okay?”  I reassured him that my life was not in danger (although that was debatable) and then explained the problem.  David then walked me through the process and all was saved.   The Apple “Genius” came back to check on my progress and I told him luckily I have my own genius.

As much as we enjoyed our trip to Boston, today it was time to go home.  I am happy to report that I got up early and went for a run bringing my net caloric gain for the trip to approximately 25,000 calories.

I have to rate Boston as one of my favorite cities.  It is relatively small in area so it’s easy to navigate to the major activity sites.  The food is beyond amazing.  The city has so many wonderful museums, entertainment venues and of course Fenway Park (or as they say “Pahk”) is one of a kind.  Traffic is a dream compared to Los Angeles.  So am I planning a move?  Heck no!  As they say, a picture tells a thousand words.

I think it is clear why a move to Boston in not in my future.

Before we say goodbye to Boston for this trip I do have one other observation.  I previously mentioned about the cost of parking in this city (specifically near Fenway).  It is obvious how many Bostonians deal with that issue.

I guess it is cheaper to pay for a parking ticket than to pay for parking.

That is a wrap for this trip.  Hmmm, starting to get a little cold here.  I better go put on a long sleeve t-shirt instead.

Yesterday I told you that we were headed to the Boston Symphony to hear John Williams conduct the Boston Pops in a celebration playing his music on his birthday.  That was a lie.  Sorry, I didn’t know it was a lie at the time.  We did hear the Pops (a first for me) and their conductor of the past 20 years, Keith Lockhart, but no John Williams.  They played Mr. Williams music (Superman, Raiders of the Lost Ark, Star Wars, etc.) and said it was a celebration of his birthday.  It was a wonderful celebration of his birth which is in February not April.  Keith Lockhart has the same birthday as Patrice if that counts.

As you can tell from the photo we had amazing seats.  We were in row E which was 3rd from the front.  Apparently the alphabet in Boston is a bit different than it is on the west coast.

Today was all about food.  Patrice found a Boston food tour called Bites of Boston (http://bitesofbostonfoodtours.com/sweet-savory-south-end-tour/#explore-south-end).  We walked around the South End area of Boston.  Our guide, Laurel, explained this is different than South Boston, “If you see a Ben Affleck movie he is in South Boston”.  We then walked to 6 different restaurants and sampled some delicious delights.  I don’t want to bore you but my friend, Joe, always want to know exactly where and what we ate.  So here is the list:

1.) The Elephant Walk (1415 Washington Street): A Cambodian/French restaurant and we ate a delectable spring roll.   Laurel told us a fascinating story about the owner/chef that is much too long for this blog.  You will have to take the tour yourself.

2.) Flour Bakery (1595 Washington Street): Cafe/bakery owned and operated by a Harvard grad who makes one mean chocolate chip cookie.  Not as good as the ones Patrice makes of course (actually better but don’t tell Patrice I said that).

3.) Orinoco A Latin Kitchen (477 Shawmut Avenue): Venezuelan restaurant where we had bacon wrapped date stuffed with almonds and a plantain wrapped around some cheese. I am getting hungry again.

4.) South End Buttery (314 Shawmut Avenue): Cupcakes.  Sorry no picture.  My cupcake was deep in my stomach before I remembered my picture duties.

5.) Formaggio South End (268 Shawmut Avenue): Great cheese and a taste of wine.

6.) Stephi’s on Tremont (571 Tremont Street): Two treats that would be Patrice’s dream choices. If you know her you could guess Macaroni and Cheese and bread pudding.  They were fantastic.  I didn’t want to leave the restaurant.  The food was great but more important it was so warm and comfy inside.

The tour lasted 3 hours.  We walked the entire tour so we didn’t feel guilty eating  Well maybe just a little guilty.

Dinner (yes we had dinner too) was at Bricco, an Italian restaurant in the North End.  As previously mentioned the North End is the traditional Italian district so we felt obligated to dine at an Italian restaurant once before leaving for home.

Tomorrow we fly back to Los Angeles.  This was a baseball trip but we did a ton of eating.  I can proudly say that we resisted the temptation to eat a cannoli.  No cannoli?  A reason to come back.

As many of the readers of this blog know, this started as an email to keep my mom (now 101 years old) informed about the activities of her baby while he was galavanting over the globe.  Today I had a wonderful reminder of my dear mom.  When I was a little boy in New York I was a big Boston Celtic fan.  I am not sure how that happened but I think it was because of their star guard (Bob Cousy) and I shared the same first name (6 year olds have their reasons, just don’t question it).  My mom, being the marvelous mother that she was (and is), wrote a letter to the Celtics asking if she could buy Celtic gear small enough to fit her son.  My mom was years ahead of her time since kid size gear which now rules the market was not available at that time.  She (and I) got a letter from Celtic Coach Red Auerbach saying that Celtic clothing for kids was not available.  He said to say hello to Robert “Bob Cousy” Reiss and that he was glad I was a Celtic fan.  I never got Celtic gear but I cherished that letter for years.  Auerbach died in 2006 but I got a chance to have my pictured taken with Coach today.

Our meeting with Coach was on our way to Faneuil Hall.  This is a National Historic Landmark known as “The Cradle of Liberty”.  It was first available for use in 1743 and is open to the public to hold meetings and express their opinions.  John Kennedy made his last campaign speech here the night before the 1960 Presidential election.  Barack Obama signed the Affordable Care Act in Faneuil Hall.  Today the Hall is a bit more than the Cradle of Liberty; it is part of a shopping mall.

Adjacent to Faneuil Hall you can find:

After Faneuil Hall I was hungry so we headed to one of our favorites, Neptune Oyster, in the North Side of the city.  They do not take reservations but they will take your cell phone number and call you when it is time for you to be seated.  So we headed over to add our name to the list and we were told it would be one hour before we could expect a call.  Let me tell you it was worth the wait.  James Hook & Company was good but nothing like Neptune Oyster.  See below.

After a rest back at the hotel we walked 2.7 miles (we had to do something to work off those Lobster Rolls) to the Museum of Fine Arts.  The museum has a special exhibit of works owned or created by Henri Matisse.  Unfortunately the Matisse exhibit is only open to Museum members until Sunday (we will be on our way home that day).  Patrice asked a woman at the information desk what we could do in a little over an hour before we head to the symphony.  The guide suggested we view the Matisse collection and then proceeded to escort us to the exhibit and past the guard.  It was an incredible thing for her to do and we got to view an incredible exhibit.  We also got to see a good part of the regular exhibits.  I was thrilled to see John Trumbull’s portrait of Alexander Hamilton and Stewart Gilbert’s portrait of George Washington (it’s on the one dollar bill). My favorite was an oil painting called Museum Epiphany III by Warren Prosperi.  It is a painting of the room in which it is located.

After the museum we headed to the symphony.  The symphony was great but more about that tomorrow.  Bed is calling me.

Lastly thank you for all the comments.  I was getting worried that I was just writing to myself.