Boston Red Sox Versus NY Yankees

The main reason why I travelled to Boston was to go to Fenway Park to see one of the greatest rivalries in sport. The Boston Red Sox and NY Yankees baseball rivalry dates back to the early 19th Century when the Yankees acquired a player by the name of Babe Ruth from the Red Sox. Since then the Yankees have been the most successful baseball team of all time while the Red Sox struggled with the curse of the Bambino.

The stadium was opened in 1912 and is the oldest in major league baseball. The stadium features a large green wall known affectionately as the green monster as it is very difficult to hit home runs over it. During the game Robinson Cano actually hit a home run over it in the fourth innings.

In the end the Yankees would go on to win 5 to 4. I have seen the Yankees play Boston at Yankees Stadium and I must admit that the crowd at Boston was a lot more enthusiastic and created a really exciting atmosphere. 

Sunny Boston

Last week I travelled up to Boston for the day. I had purchased a return bus ticket through Megabus for only $10. I arrived into Boston at 11am and was excited to see that Boston now has a bike share program much like Paris, London and Washington DC. For only $5 you can rent a bike for 30 minutes a time for as many times as you like. The first stop of the day was Boston Common followed by a ride down to the Charles River. 

 










I then parked my bike and had a walk along Newbury St, which is the main shopping stretch in Boston. They have all the best designer stores including Chanel, Ralph Lauren and my favourite Burberry store in the world.

In the centre of the city on the Freedom Trail is the Granary Burial Ground. Here lies some of the most famous Americans including Samuel Adams, John Hancock and Paul Revere.

For lunch I grabbed a bowl of the famous New England clam chowder from a restaurant near Faneuil Hall. When I had finished I walked past a line of restaurants on Union Street that were all offering lobster specials from $11-$14. Even though I had just finished lunch I couldn't go past the special so I decided to come back after Charlestown and get a late afternoon snack of lobster and beer. Coronas were only $2 so my bill with a tip came up to only $21 for 1 1/4 pound lobster and 3 beers!

The next stop was a short ride over into the North End neighbourhood. On the Freedome Trail are the hostorical sites of Paul Revere's house and the Old North Church.

















I then rode across the Charlestown Bridge into Charlestwon to see the Bunker Hill monument and the USS Constitution. Charlestown is a lovely neighbour hood with beautiful architecture. This ended my sightseeing and I started my trip back towards Fenway Park for that night's baseball game.

Fashion's Night Out

I was photographed by the website Guest of a Guest during Fashion's Night Out last week. I think they liked the colour of my blazer as that night I had 9 different strangers stop me and compliment me on its colour.

Below is the link to more of the photos from that night.

http://guestofaguest.com/new-york/galleries/2012/september/fashions-night-out-nyc-2012/727105

Labor Day at Montauk in The Hamptons

On Monday the 3rd of September was Labor Day, the unofficial end of summer. I travelled out by train to the last stop on the Long Island Rail Road tracks, Montauk. Montauk is part of the Hamptons that has largely maintained its laidback beach side feel as compared with the likes of East Hampton that is very much wealth and status influenced.

There is a large number of lakes around the area that provide other boating and swimming options aside from the ocean.

For lunch I stopped into the main street of Montauk to visit Shagwong Restaurant for their lunch time special. It included a serve of clam chowder, 1 1/4 pound lobster and a serve of fries. The lobster was amazing and very filling. I tried some local Montauk beers from the Montauk Brewing Company as well.

The beach is a lovely long stretch of white sand that is rather quiet compared to the other Hampton Beaches. The sun was shining with amazing blue sky which was a wonderful way to end summer.

Kimset and Fire Island

Over the Labor Day weekend I took a day trip out to the hamlet of Kismet on Fire Island. Fire Island is a 50 kilometre long barrier island off from the South Shore of Long Island. To get there I purchased a $36 beach getaway package from MTA and the Long Island Railway. The package included 1 Discounted LIRR Off Peak round trip ticket from Penn Station to Bay Shore, 2 One way Kismet Ferry Tickets, 2 David Brothers One Way Taxi tickets from Bay Shore to the Ferry terminal and 1 Fire Island Lighthouse Admission ticket.

I left Penn Station around 8 45 in the morning and arrived at the ferry terminal at 11 15am. The ferry only takes 20 minutes and is a beautiful ride.

The hamlet of Kimset is a lovely small community with narrow streets and no car access. All the locals ride bikes and it is only a 10 minute walk from the ferry terminal to the beach.

To get to the Lighthouse is a bit of a treck but definitely worth the effort. If you walk along the beach from Kimset, you will walk through a nudist section, which was quite a surprise. There is a road if you want to avoid the naked sunbathers.

To get up to the Lighthouse you need to take the internal stairs, which are easily walked by people of all ages. The views across Fire Island are amazing from the top. Robert Moses Beach is shown with the large parking area behind.

I finished up my day with a beer at one of the bars back at the Harbor and then caught the 5 15 ferry back to Bay Shore followed by the 5 45 train back to Penn Station. I look forward to going back again next summer.

Public Pools in Manhattan

During my previous summers in Manhattan I was for some reason unaware that Manhattan and New York had such a great array of outdoor pool options. It was to my great surprise that I found the NYC Parks Department list of pools across the 5 Boroughs. The past week I have visited both a downtown and uptown pool. The first pool was on Houston Street in the Lower East Side. The Hamilton Fish Park pool has both a wading pool and olympic size pool. There are limited sun beds but I was able to score one quite easily.

The second pool I visited is the Lasker Pool and Rink that during winter is converted into a skating rink. The pool is the biggest one in Manhattan and features one large over sized circle pool. A nice feature was the Fountain at the end which sprayed water that was colder than the pool. The Lasker Pool is in Central Park only a 5 minute walk from 110th St. 

Brooklyn Bridge Park Beach and Pop Up Pool

Continuing the Summer of George I visited the pop up beach and pool at the Brooklyn Bridge Park. The pool opened up earlier this summer and is open till Labor Day on September the 3rd. Once again you needed to bring a lock to put all your valuables into the provided lockers. The pool is kept quite cold which is great with the 30+ degree weather happening at the moment. The sandy beach is a nice touch with lounge chairs that are freely available. With the amazing views looking back towards Manhattan and up the East River you can easily tell why I went back more than once to this pool.