If baseball doesn't thrill you, there are other museums in Cooperstown, NY that might just. Located across the street from each other, and with a discount if you buy tickets to each are The Fenimore Art Museum and The Farmer's Museum.

Unfortunately The Fenimore didn't allow any photographs. But I can share images from their website with you. They featured some special exhibits including Through the Eyes of Others: African Americans and Identity in American Art which featured harrowing work and some less memorable, Gilded Lions and Jeweled Horses which featured carousel horses and lions from carousels and synagogue carvings, and the small but quaint Bits of Home which featured everyday artifacts from people's homes. I was most inspired and blown away, though, from their unexpectedly first rate folk art collection. The paintings from Edward Hicks and those lovable creepy portraits of children and pets, that lined the museum's grand staircase were among my favorites.

Much fun was to be had across the street at The Farmer's Museum, where they set up an old town with people in costume to answer your questions, just the way I like it. They too had a couple exhibits: The Cardiff Giant and an unnecessarily in depth exploration of ice cream.

Outdoors we saw a magnificent carousel before trying our hand at old fashioned games under the guidance of an awesome theater girl doing well in her summer job. Next stop was the store where we didn't buy anything, but walked away with priceless information about nearby attractions to visit from the friendly shop keeper. Other interesting spots were the printing press office, the blacksmiths where a cute boy was making an ax, the medical office and herbal remedy garden, and the farm house where employees made lunch out of eggs and vegetables in their own yard.

It was a little disappointing that the stable animals were out grazing, but we did see chickens and a clan of ugly turkeys and their cute turkey babies. And any disappointment was made up for by the historic homes and their beautiful wall paper, interiors and maze garden.

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Posted on September 15, 2008

Past the Catskills, between Otsego and Chenango counties, the land of huge old wooden farm buildings teetering on the brink of falling down, shiny, gleaming Dodge Rams with souped up engines, and expansive fields of green with something usually burning in the distance, we found a little cabin to rent for our fifth anniversary.

Outside the small and regionally typical town of New Berlin that has a feed and grocery store and a teenage-run spot to buy hoagies (these three things can be found in nearly any town west of I-87) the cabin lies on a secluded 4 acres. Past a kind of wild trailer park (with things burning in the yard), the gates open to a private long driveway that opens to a spectacular scene. The lovely pond, the surrounding trees, and the quaint cabin are picturesque and offer the kind of secluded relaxation the waining days of summer call for.

While there will be no swimming for you in the pond – it's quite shallow with a murky bottom and is teaming with fish, it is great for rowing – an activity I got pretty good at by the end of the long weekend. There is also a small sauna that was a bit overwhelming for me for any longer that ten minutes or so, but a fun luxury to have at your disposal.

While you're not exactly roughing it with a?full kitchen and running water, the furniture set up is less than comfy. If you plan on watching movies late at night, bring a lap top and watch it on the porch on the futon (It's almost like seeing a movie at a drive in). The double bed, which at first seemed daunting due to it's hardness was actually just fine – perhaps there is some validity to the claim that a hard mattress is good for your back.

There is a barbecue that is kind of tough to get going and a nice trail beside the house as well as tons of toads, frogs, geese, and reportedly a red fox (hence the cabin's name) but he didn't make an appearance during our stay.

Not far from town, affordable produce, pulled straight from the ground can be bought from Gayle Austin (up route 8 from New Berlin), though beware!! She is a talker and mostly, she wants to talk about how you have no future unless you too become an organic farmer and that NYC will be under water in ten years leaving us stranded to die on the island. Fun times, but her carrots were sweet and delicious.

We stayed the long weekend and there are lots of attractions and things to do nearby (which I'll be getting into more detail about in future weeks).

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Posted on August 25, 2008

One of the first things we noticed about Vienna was that it seemed really big when we first drove into our hotel.?We started planning things thinking we could only do a couple of them a day.?Once we started walking around, however, we realized that stuff was really close and easy to walk to, so we were able to do lots and lots of things…

One of our first stops was the famous Hotel Sacher for their equally famous Sachertorte:
Philharmonikerstrasse 4
1010 Wien, Austria

It was pretty touristy with lots of shots featuring smiling couples with treats exchanged between tables.?The torte was really delicious though.?The torte consists of two layers of dense, not overly sweet chocolate cake (traditionally a sponge cake) with a thin layer of apricot jam in the middle and dark chocolate icing with shreds of chocolate on the top and sides.?Its perfect with a cup of coffee.?BTW, Vienna has amazing coffee and they take coffee culture seriously.?I've never seen so many cafes.

One interesting thing about the sachertorte was they had these diagrams everywhere telling you exactly how to spot the 'official' torte.?Things like the way the box is stamped and what sort of hinges it has and what seals are on the torte.?We thought this was odd until we saw that 'fake' sacher tortes were EVERYWHERE.?Airports, shops, street corners, etc…?Guess all of Vienna has gotten in on the crazy.
The “real” torte!

Next we walked around and noticed a few things about the city:
1. No one walks fast
2. At 10am people love to eat huge things of ice cream and start drinking bottles of wine and/or beer.
3. All bars take wine seriously, no 1.5L bottles of dusty merlot w/ screw caps here. ?br/>4. Everyone orders spritzers, its like a national drink.?Makes you wonder why it hasn't caught on more in the US

When we were there the EU 2008 was just heating up.?Vienna was a host city and there were soccer fans everywhere.?The idea was to corral them all into 'fan-zones' where they could watch the games on a giant screen.?But, in Vienna you can walk around with alcohol in your hands so most of them took advantage of that!

This picture was taken on the walk down the Kartnerstrasse around 10am.?What you can't see behind them is an ice chest w/ cold Stoli! The Kartnerstrasse is the main shopping/cafe pedestrian area (read: tourist zone). It leads straight past the Stephansplatz and St. Stephen's Cathedral, which is massive.?Its also really impressive.

We then marched down to the Belvedere Palace, a baroque palace complex built by Prince Eugene of Savoy in the 3rd district of Vienna, south-east of the city centre.?It now comprises of a museum on each end with a really beautiful garden in the center. They take great pride in that garden.?There was one worker whose sole job it seemed to be driving up and down the side of it telling tourists not to lie in the grass.

Next stop was the Vienna Naschmarkt, the city's most popular market and it is three city blocks of foodie heaven.?There was everything there from spices, to Austrian delights, to barracuda!

As you walk by its just rows and rows of proprietors trying to make eye contact wit you to sell you something.?Astrid and I both agreed that if we lived there we'd be at that market all the time.

A fair amount of time the next day involved exploring the Prater which is a huge amusement park with beer garden after beer garden in between the rides.?Sort of like Central Park meets Six Flags meets a German beer fest.?One of the most numerous of the ride types seem to be haunted house themes.?Some were about zombies, some werewolves, some about creatures living in the dark forests. Come to think of it… its pretty macabre for a kids park. Of course the Prater is famous for its giant ferris wheel (remember Before Sunrise?).?It was mobbed with partying soccer fans so Astrid and I went on the new one.?It gave us a great view of the city.

The soccer fans were in full force that day, crawling around the Prater which was a designated fan zone location.?At first I thought it would be a pain to have all these revelers in the way but they added a really festive air to the place.?I've never seen such a huge group of people in a good mood and ready to party.?That day was Austria vs Poland.?Which was interesting since they both have the same colors (red and white) so it was like a huge crowd surge where you couldn't tell at first what team was being supported.?

Other interesting sites: Sigmund Freud's home and patient office:
(Berggasse 19, A-1090 Vienna). Sigmund had great taste in neighborhoods.?His was tucked away and quaint but near the city center.?Reminded me of the better spots in Brooklyn.

The Austrian Criminal Museum
2nd District/Leopoldstadt
This is a homage to some of the more gruesome crimes committed in Austria.?They don't hold back with murder/torture instruments, graphic photos, and reconstructed prosthetics to really drive the stories home.?It was really fascinating.?They even had a cafe!

Speaking of cafes…we went to plenty.?Most of the coffee is the Julius Meinl brand.?Its delicious and prompted us to seek it out as soon as we got back to the states.?The brand also has a great gourmet grocery and wine bar in the city center.

One of my favorite coffees in Vienna was from the Beletage Salon Heiligenkreuzerhof Courtyard, Vienna. It's an all organic restaurant/cafe that's owned by the same people that run the hotel we stayed in.?Its located in a Vienna's oldest courtyard near the 'Bermuda Triangle' bar area north of the city center.?That whole area is just beautiful…lots of tucked away restaurants and courtyards amongst the cobblestone streets.

Also, I couldn't recommend our hotel enough, the Hotel Beletage is a great place in terms of value, location, and style. Pick any travel site and you'll see what great review it has.

On our last night we wanted a dinner that would really remind us that we were in fact in Vienna.?We settled on the semi-famous Figlmuller.?Its pretty popular in the guide books so is always busy but they didn't disappoint.?The specialty of the house is Weiner Schnitzel and its huge!?Much bigger then a plate.?Its perfect with a simple salad of cider vinegar and pumpkin seed oil and some skillet potatoes with fresh parsley.?The schnitzel was so tender you could cut it easily with a fork.
(Wollzeile 5
1010 Innere Stadt, Wien, Austria)

Vienna is such a great city.?We're already scheming to go back!

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Posted on August 11, 2008

I was recently sent to Austin, Texas on a shopping trip for work. It was my first time back in the wacky city (where even the Mary Kay cars are huge) that I used to call home since I moved to Brooklyn in 2002. It was kind of neat to drive through the parking lot of the strip mall that houses the Book Stop (where I used to work) and Central Market (where I used to not be able to eat at for lunch because I was too broke). Now someone was paying me to go there. Movin’ on up…

As for shopping there was much to be had. We began at South Congress, where Feathers, a nice, selective store (though one that was uppity about me wanting to take a photo for my blog) held a real gem: a perfectly fitted original Judas Priest t-shirt. I was ecstatic. Other great vintage shops in the city includes the large, overstuffed Blue Velvet on “the drag” of Guadalupe, the half consignment/half hip new stuff store Parts and Labour, and the legendary Lucy in Disguise – a mind blowing and overwhelming bright rainbow of a costume shop.

For non-vintage we scoured the expensive racks of By George, a store with two locations that impresses with its high end fashion. The South location is more boho with lesser known designer dresses while the downtown spot features names you’ll recognize and tons of “yah right” price tags. Great to browse and dream though. The other excellent high price spot in town in The Blue Elephant, a slightly hipper shopping option with lots of chic denim and Marc Jacobs.

We also liked Blackmail a store that initially seemed like a no-go due to the overly gothy, never left the 1990s racks of black clothes. However, it’s worth a stop for the creepy, modern, interesting and, yes, gothic accessories like jewelry inspired by House of Waris and darkly Victorian inspired dish ware.

Hovercraft is another cute store that features lots of great t-shirts and some good mens options much like Downstairs (which used to be called Upstairs in its previous location) . Both also feature good looking staff, including the Downstairs owner, manly bearded Jeff Strange.

Spartan, which shares a space with the lovely Bows and Arrows is another shop run by an interesting person. I never got her name, but you’ll known her as the pretty and enthusiastically helpful woman that runs this clean, feminine gift shop filled with items you would actually want (and would also be able to afford) for a loved one. Outdoorsy loved ones can be shopped for at the Big Red Sun, where plants can be purchased in their garden, NPR is pumped through the intercoms, and tons of caged birds sing to you in the shop.

I relived some olden days and stayed at the iconic Austin Motel, a no frills (except for my odd honeymoon suite mural), quirky motel that has been there since 1938. My co workers had slightly nicer digs next door at the Hotel San Jose, which featured a great outdoor bar (but a much smaller pool than mine). We met there for an excellent michelada. Other blog worthy drinks during the trip? Certainly the chilango margarita at El Chile (which also has amazing thick smoked salsa) a perfectly spicy orange concoction and the nearby Red House Lounge an outdoor laid back bar owned by the same people.

No trip of mine is complete without lots of good food and my belly tells me we may have almost had too much in Austin. Jo’s cafe was a perfect meeting spot to grab iced lattes and iced tea. Nearby Guero’s offered over stuffed plates of shrimp fajitas. Counter Cafe was a spot I remember vaguely as always being crowded, but I don’t remember it being so gourmet meets pit stop. My friend’s sweet potato fries were so fresh, we witnessed them being made completely from scratch, yum. My oysters, though were only so-so.

Our last meals were at Lamberts, a comparatively fancy BBQ joint where my coriander maple pork ribs delighted and the beans and potatoes salad were out of this world. For dessert we visited to adorable trailer Hey Cupcake, where the treats were good but sweet enough to make me buzz for a few hours.

It was great to see so many new places, but the best was stopping by my old haunts. No trip could be complete without a stop at Donn’s Depot with its tattered flocked wallpaper, live music, and lone star. Musashino was another old friend, an amazing sushi spot in an odd office park that is still better than any place I’ve been to in the city. And of course, Uncommon Objects, a nearly indescribable vintage and antique store that is so engrossing to wander through that the experience got me through the despair of a major delayed flight. They were kind enough to let me take some inspiring photos.

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Posted on July 28, 2008

We recently spent a weekend in Southern Vermont to attend a beautiful outdoor wedding (Congratulations Michael and Kate!). Before the ceremony we had a few hours to explore and managed to fit lots of fun in the day.

We began in the comparatively lively and heartbreakingly “Vermont” adorable town of Manchester. There we found the recommended gem of a book store Northshire. It's a massive shop, with lots to impress, but no section was more impressive to me than their used fiction.?Small in scale, it only occupied one rack in the big store, it managed to hold an unbelievable selection. I found eight books I wanted, several that I have already read and loved, and more I could have tried out. Either everyone in region has excellent taste in books (which is highly possible if my friend Stacy who grew up nearby is any indication) or the store is very selective in what they resell.

While that was my only shopping excursion in Manchester, it is home to a number of outlets, including Polo and Lilly Pulitzer (which had two tan preppy tee girls running a promotional lemonade stand outside) which draw people from all over.

About a thirty minute drive west you'll find Weston, where Jim's grandpa “the Ripper” worked and met wives at for years at– the Vermont Country Store. Itself a tourist destination, it's like a huge non-chain Cracker Barrel store where you end up walking out with the most bizarre array of junk. Myself, I got a scented cat pillow (partially for work inspiration, so chill out on the weird cat lady judgements), a box of My-T-Fine butterscotch pudding mix (I've been having an inexplicable and unquenched butterscotch fits lately), a candy necklace, some hand balm, and an amazing eight dollar bag or caramel corn.

Nearby, also in Weston, Jim was saddened to see his childhood favorite, the bowl mill was now just a shack.

But it wasn't all wasting money, we got in a couple great meals too. First, a surprisingly good sandwich and soup at Mulligan's a spot whose name and claim to have “great prime rib” had me skeptical (for some reason places that specialize in prime rib read as code for terrible food to me). We also chowed on fantastic pancakes at Gourmet Cafe and Deli. Seriously fantastic and they came with maple butter, yum.

The happy time map, which is my preferred way to get around a tourist town only failed me once, when it put French Hollow Alpacas on the map, but failed to have an exact address. The farm too has no sign to help you, so we kind of just wandered around as my dreams of petting a llama died. According to their site, you may have to make a appointment to visit, but the fun time map didn't tell us.

We weren't completely deprived of wild life though, our beautiful B&B, The Hill Farm in did actually have a small farm on the grounds with a few goats, a few cats, a lovely spotted horse and an awesomely gigantic pig all for us New Yorkers to gawk at. The inn was clean and quaint with friendly service that wasn't too in your face and a decent home cooked breakfast with (yay) Constant Comment tea.

One of the greatest parts of Vermont though, is just taking in the scenery and nowhere is the view more splendid than the magnificent steep drive up the Equinox mountain. For a fee you can drive up to the top of this green, heavenly mountain – heavenly for real as it's home to a monstary and features an all Catholic gift store. The views are unreal and make the long drive up and slow drive down worth your time.

No wonder why so many kind hearted long-grey haired ladies have made VT their hoem, I've hardly even been in a place more beautiful or more peaceful.

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Posted on July 14, 2008