Beer with subtitles

A new discovery in McCarvills on Camden Street: it’s Belgian it’s very very strong and it’s very tasty.

This wonderful three minute review tells you just that, but in a far more entertaining way…needless to say, buy this beer.

Flying from Boston is always a pleasure; the airport is only minutes from the city centre and it’s never too busy (in fact, today is the longest line I’ve seen for airport security and it only takes 30 minutes to negotiate).

The flight is short – two hours shorter than the flight out – but has some fairly strong turbulence so it’s not much fun. No cards this time!

We arrive at the ungodly hour of 5.30am and quickly say our goodbyes….then it’s all over.

Last time I was here there was a foot of snow on the ground; today the cherry blossom is in full swing.

When I walk through the park, the tour is over – time for the airport.

On the long drive up to Boston I see in the Times that an Edward Hopper exhibition – including “Nighthawks” – starts in the Boston Museum of Fine Arts this weekend.

Could this be a wonderful stroke of luck? Super mega triple jackpot? Somehow, with all the time I’ve spent in Boston and Cambridge, I’ve only ever visited one museum – the Science Museum – and that was a flying visit. Many more await…sadly, it’s not to be as it starts tomorrow, Sunday, by which time I’ll be back in Dublin. So, once more, I give the Museum of Fine Arts a miss, primarily because I only have one morning in Boston and the MFA takes about a week. Some day I will do it.

Well, the guidebook heartily recommends the Isabella Steward Gardner Museum. A few minutes fiddling with the T ticket machine later (the “T” coins have been replaced with a boring and confusing ticket) I take the green E train to the museum, which is almost next door to the MFA.

This museum was Ms. Steward Gardner’s home for twenty years before her death; a somewhat rich woman, she spent years travelling the world during which time she had filled two town houses on Beacon Street to bursting point. After her husband’s death she embarked on building a fine house to, well, house her collection.

It would not be a typical museum, but a “public house” where ancient Chinese artifacts and Monets were displayed side-by-side, music recitals a regular occurrence and artists and writers encouraged. The house’s most famous feature is its courtyard, an enclosed inner atrium bathed in natural light and featuring a rotating selection from the collection.

The collection itself has a number of interesting conditions attached; her will specifies that:

1. nothing may be added to the collection
2. nothing may be sold
3. nothing may be permanently moved from where she intended it be displayed

And if any of these things ever happened then the entire collection was to be sold and the proceeds given to Harvard University.

The tour guide tells us of an old joke whereby Harvard sends over someone once a week to see if this has happened (perhaps this isn’t so much of an exaggeration; in 1990 thieves broke into the museum and stole over $300 million worth of Monets and other paintings in possibly the most famous unsolved art robbery in history – the blank spaces remain to this day and provide some clue as the worth of the remainder).

The museum proves fascinating; firstly, the inner courtyard is as spectacular as you might imagine. Second, her vision of a house as museum works. You can spend hours exploring the rooms and reading or listening to the history of each object. I decided to forgo the latter, just spending a couple of hours wandering about admiring the fine rooms…no photographs, unfortunately…

Again with the Empire State.

Well, at least this time I go to the 102nd floor, a full 200ft higher than the standard trip to the 86th floor observatory. At 25 miles, visibility is the highest I’ve seen and so it finally seems worth going the extra mile.

Up here, it’s really really quiet. Away from the zoo that is the 86th floor, perhaps this is a truer way to experience 1250ft (380m!) of height?

The city looks like a model of itself…

I really didn’t expect to have an entire afternoon free on this tour.

With the weather being beautiful we decided on something a little different and took the 6 train from the hotel downtown to the Brooklyn Bridge.

After this morning’s United Nations tour this perhaps could be another movie wish-fulfillment trip – it’s the bridge from “Once Upon a Time in America” and “Manhattan” to name just a few – but with the weather fine and visibility long it seemed the ideal thing to do. Sure how many New York sites haven’t been featured in a movie?

Anyway, the bridge opened in the late nineteenth century and was a technological marvel of its age. A mile long, it towered above the city long before the skyscapers moved in. Nowadays there’s tons of bridges and even more skyscrapers but the Brooklyn Bridge seems to remain a favourite, an icon of the great city.

Pedestrians and cyclists share a wooden path above the traffic. Down there it’s all noise and congestion, up above it’s little different. Lone guys sell water bottles for a dollar; native tourist-weary cyclists narrowly miss bumbling Irishmen.

Strangers ask each other to photograph them in front of the New York skyline…

This is what all the fuss is about. All for 12 minutes…

Somewhere I’ve often intended to see is the United Nations Headquarters in New York.

The Rough Guide almost advises against going but, having really enjoyed the tour of their Geneva offices last summer, I thought I’d investigate. With the hotel being just a few moments walk away it seemed like a good choice for someone with a couple of hours to spare. Plus, North By Northwest is one of my favourite films…

To enter you have to negotiate the usual security checks but, once inside, you’re relatively free to wander around. A photograph exhibition on the ground floor distracted me for a few minutes before booking the (English) tour.

Standard tour guide-y stuff follows: overview of the organisation, past and present secretary generals and some trick questions (“how many flags are hoisted outside the buildling?”; the number of countries in the UN + 1).

The building isn’t at all remarkable architecturally; bizarrely, the Geneva offices are much much prettier and, well, “New York”-y. With their 1930s Art Deco touches they could easily stand alongside The Chrysler Building or the Empire State. In contrast, the New York headquarters seem to have suffered from the standard 1950s ugly building syndrome.

However, you come to see the “big rooms – chief amongst these being the security council and the general assembly. The former deals only with matters of war, the latter with everything else; guess which one is more important!

And…that’s it.

Unfortunately for me the gardens were closed – I’d been hoping for nice views of the East River but a “Japanese Tea Ceremony” stood in the way. Must be something to do with the cherry blossom.

So, it’s good to say I’ve been there but I have to side with the guidebook and advise that’s it definitely not an essential New York trip. Only if you’ve the time and have done everything else.

We arrived on time at 7pm in New York.

The flight was more enjoyable than usual; the usual cardboard food (and cardboard films) preceded a few very welcome games of cards. It turns out Aer Lingus sells packs onboard; I can’t remember the last time I played but am now hoping the return flight on Saturday will be the next…especially if I win again.

Anyway, clear skies allowed for some great views of the coast while approaching the airport and an interesting sunset upon exiting customs and entering the real world once more.

Of course, you have to wonder how “real” this world is when you’ve just embarked on a three-day long free trip to New York…

“New York…again!!!” as somebody said to me.

This time it’s a whistle-stop tour of the north-east: two nights in New York and one night and most of the following – and last – day in Boston.

It is, I think, the shortest possible way to spend 4 days in America; a late flight tomorrow Wednesday and then an early flight home on the Saturday.

Accordingly, there won’t be much free time. However, even if I only get a couple of hours to wander the streets of New York I’ll be more than happy.