Four cities; Four days - And Go!

And finally I am back, after a small vacation, which I consider was long due for me! So here I am sitting in front of my computer, with soar legs and a stiff back. My head is still a little dazed, and I guess some part of my brain is still at work trying to digest all that happened since Saturday...

So I started out at 3 am on Saturday, with a hot shower and a close shave. Thankfully the cab arrived on time and I checked into the airport terminal on time, for a flight, which was also on time! Everything was so on time, that I nearly missed my flight when I decided to have a little breakfast before boarding the plane. So eventually I had to run out of the terminal, waving my hands furiously, to stop the air hostess from closing the airplane doors. But eventually I made the flight, and when I landed in Rochester, good ol' Naufal was waiting for me at the airport! Again on time!

(This is like describing someone else's trip, as my trips never go on time)

So we drove from Rochester to Niagara, and were at the falls by 3 pm. I guess the gods were in a good mood as the day was bright and sunny (even though the forecast said rain). The Maid of the Mist and Cave of the Winds were great. I guess the ferociousness of the falls can make a believer out of anyone! There were moments of absolute Nirvana on the tracks that flirt with the falls taking you closer and closer (but never any cigar), where the soul is lifted beyond the grip of the worldly realm. I guess a picture of Naufal that would always stay in my mind would be him on his knees, sitting under the spray of the falls (Hurricane point on the Cave of the Winds), for a moment just disconnected from everything, floating away without a care in the world...

The falls seemed very different from what I remembered. I really don't think they could have changed the falls that much, so it must be the difference in the pictures a boy retained in his mind in the year 1989, and the pictures the pudgy bald guy stored in his head come 2006!

Another interesting person I came across there was this spray-paint artist, he had a disability in one hand, and was working with his son. Using stencils, blades, and hands, he would make quick pictures of the falls, interpretted in different lights, and I guess even on different planets...I bought one of his pictures for Alina, let's see what her artist bearings say about the hurried work of art!

So completely drenched, a little cold, and totally exhausted, we left for Syracuse. I remember that by the time we got there, it was an extreme effort to head into Naufal's dorm of sorts. I say dorm of sorts because it isn't a dorm, just a little house, practically on the SU campus, packed with "gaanjed up" (I think that's the latest expression) students, going through education at its best!

So after barely 2 hours of sleep we left for Boston. This time the drive was much longer, and in bigger patches of inactivity, where you just get on a highway and struggle to stay awake!

Now Boston was a surprise for me. It's like one of those towns you find in fairytales, with uneven roads, and little homes popping up here and there. At least that's what I got from the place where our hotel was. It was like we suddenly drove into those little spots they talk about in Europe, where life is preserved against time...

This is when we met up with our guiding angel in Boston. Now our angel didn't really know the exact routes and roads but she always had an idea of where we were headed. See she hasn't been in Boston for long, and I guess when you're doing your masters in some form of multi-media, you don't get much strolling time! And if ever there was a strolling town, it's Boston.

So led by our angel we took a self guided tour of the Freedom Trail, walked though a serene park, ate in the hustle and bustle of Quincy Market, walked on the harbour where you can taste the water in the breeze, and had a nice little meal sitting out in the open in some nook of Harvard Square where this guy played songs out of the 60s and 70s on his guitar. O and we also visited a lot of churches, with amazing windows laden with Gothic art. To sum it all up, I think I fell in love with Boston, and all it took was a day.

What's so great about the town, well hundreds of small restaurants that aren't part of any big chain, history going back to the time it all began in this part of the world, uneven roads with unplanned construction, glistening harbour, and a small city breathing life in general!

Very reluctantly we left Boston the next day for Syracuse. At least this time we were able to sleep for at least 5 hours. The drive back to Syracuse was followed by a quick university tour provided by Naufal, whose every third sentence was "I don't know what that is". I guess Syracuse is the kind of a campus that grows on you after a while, but I wasn't there long enough for it to have had any real effect on me.

So this short tour was followed by a long bus ride to NY City, which as expected was packed with people from all over. Times Square was the same as I remembered, even got the exact same feeling I used to get there, and Gray's Papaya hot dogs were still the best in the world. The trip to the Guggenheim was very refreshing. Even though Zaha Hadid's architectural scketches didn't make much sense to me, paintings by Kandinsky, Pollack and Van Gough were as entralling as ever. This was the first time I saw the works of Kandinsky, and his "Landscape near Murnau with Locomotive" is for me one of those painting that can draw you in, and then not let you go. It's like the landscape explodes out of the canvas.

The trip was eventually concluded by our missing the bus, and in turn my missing the floght back to Raleigh! And of course we only missed the bus by just 5 minutes, so the missing of the bus was preceeded by mad dashes into and out of subways, running madly on the roads, bumping into everyone, requesting people to let you through, and so on and so forth...

So here I am eventually, after an 11 hour bus ride, still a bit dazed, but more relaxed then I've been in a while...all in all, a great holiday comes to an end!

Next time then...