Seeking Beauty on Roads Less Traveled

Glancing out the airplane window right now, as the snow covered mountains of the Western United States are segueing into the Grand Canyon that is being continuously carved and reshaped by the Colorado River, I find myself thinking, “Wow. This is gorgeous but this plane can not be flown fast enough for me tonight”. The assault of colors…from blindingly white snow to soft hues of oranges and browns and reds combine with the blue of the river below and the sky I am surrounded by at 40,000 . I often am humbled and marvel at what a staggeringly beautiful country these United States are. How lucky and blessed am I? I know. I know. I am grateful. Truly. But it’s Christmas Eve and I’m heading home to my hometown and my favorite place for the Christmas holiday season. New York City.  As much as I love seeing all the beauty below me,  above me and around me, there's no place like home.  We land. We can't taxi to the gate fast enough.  I can't explain it but I want to be home.  Home i

There are moments in all our lives that are just  humbling "wow" moments.  You know which ones I'm talking about, don't you?  The ones like this one.  The one where I am sitting with my dear friend Clyde and my Mom at Le Jules Verne restaurant, 125 meters (375 feet) up in the Eiffel Tower, thinking to myself, "I grew up poor in the South Bronx.  When I was growing up, a dining treat was if Mom would take me to Howard Johnson's for fried clam strips and a banana split.  And I loved it!  And I would still love it except it's not the same any more.  Not nearly as fresh and good as back in the day"  I envisioned many things for myself, but sitting here, now, with two of the many people I love...nope, I didn't envision this moment.  I may have envisioned myself being one of the tourists getting rained on whilst standing on the observation deck below us. We are seated at a table where we can watch the tourists "observe" Paris from the observa

I have asked myself a few times, "Estelle, when will one of your postings actually be about NYC?" After all, look at the title of this site.  The answer is, "I don't know."   I simply know it will not be today.  Also don't be too concerned that I am talking to myself :) I'm so glad we bought this unlimited pass for the Paris Metro just so we could take a taxi to the restaurant for dinner.   We are driving past the Convention Center when all of a sudden I shout out, "Oh, my gosh, look at that. Bunny rabbits".  No, we have not arrived at our dinner destination.  There is one big traffic convergence in front of the Convention Center and all the roads circle around this park.  It looks to me that the bunny rabbits are happily stuck on this island park .   I counted about 8 of them in a quick glance.  I expect to see many things in Paris but bunny rabbits? We drive past the Arc de Triumphe sans scaffolding, down the Champs d'Elysees and arri

Some things about Paris haven't changed in 22 years such as the Gare du Nord train station. The same gypsies and pickpockets that want to steal wallets and grab purses are still there. I'm just standing there watching their antics knowing it is only a matter of time before they approach me. I just came off the lovely Eurostar experience and I rather not have anyone ruin my lovely Eurostar after-glow. I am so annoyed that I just roll my eyes in that New York way that makes no mistake about what I want to say. Besides my dollars are worthless so it isn't even worth the effort to try and steal them. The other thing that hasn't changed? The station needs a big feather duster to pass over it. It needs a dousing of Pledge..lemon-scented, please and some dust mops in a big way. It is still grand in that only-in-Europe way with huge vaulted ceilings and more train tracks than I can count. It is busy and bustling but it's also dirty and a bit run down. It's still Paris,

Here's the thing. A million years ago (okay, maybe more like back in the 1980's), I went to Paris, France with my Mom and my now ex-husband (oh, yes...those of you who had no idea, I was married once in a world that seems light years away from today. No horror story to tell. I just married a very nice man who was not the man for me. That's all. So now you can pick your jaw up from the floor and keep reading. If the Catholic Church has recovered from my walk down the aisle in St. Patrick's Cathedral in NYC so can you :) Everything that could have gone wrong during that trip in 1987 did go wrong. Here are some of the highlights or lowlights depending on one's perspective. We arrived at the Paris Gare du Nord train station from Brussels on a windy, rainy night. It was late; we were tired and we were told the hotel was within walking distance of the train station but pray tell, which direction? We asked the gendarme, the local police and were told, "That way"

“..and if the weather is bad, do you recommend still visiting the Blue Lagoon?’, we asked on Day 1 on Iceland adventure when we simply didn’t know any better and also had no idea just exactly how different our definition of “bad weather” can be in comparison to that of an Icelander. Rain, sleet, hail storm…gale force winds? That’s evidently a normal weather day to an Icelander. We arrived at the Blue Lagoon, just as the rain started …again. I am convinced there is about 7 minutes of sunshine to be had on a daily basis and after that, the rest of the day is a bag of tricks courtesy of Mother Nature. It should not surprise us that the rain began when it did and thankfully, it passed quickly. We did the mad dash from the enclosed section of the Lagoon to the great outdoors…it is a rather cool (no pun intended) experience. The water wasn’t nearly as hot as I thought it would be but it was far from being ice-cold either. It was just about right in most spots. Now, imagine..it is sai

We’re hungry…but not so hungry that we want to go to a fine dining establishment tonight. Plus we have had a full day of sightseeing so we don’t really want to head back into the city center either. What to do? What to do? There is the Pearl observatory right across the street from our hotel. I ask at the front desk and they say, yes, it is an easy 10 minute walk up to the observatory. There is a self-service restaurant open until 9p.m. plus a five-star French gourmet restaurant that revolves on the upper level…and from either dining locale one can enjoy the breathtaking views of…well, Iceland is so flat I think depending on what direction you are looking…you can see the U.K. to the east; and NYC to the west. The locals say if you get lost whilst driving in Iceland just stand up…you’ll find your way. We decide soup and salad will do us just fine so after blow-drying our clothes dry from our days adventure and changing our soaked socks, we prepare ourselves for literally, a walk

Some days just feel more like cosmic jokes than others....and maybe Mom has now finally learned that there is some truth to that age-old adage, "Beware of what you wish for". Ever since last year the resounding chorus and theme from her has been, "You never take me anywhere. I haven't been to Iceland". Oh, well, she will have to pick some other theme song like, "You never take me anywhere because I've never been to an obscure monastery down a road of 99 twists and 49 u-turns inTibet" because we have done Iceland...or Iceland is trying to do us in...one or the other.It started relatively harmless enough (I am presently writing this as the typing is being drowned out by a howling wind outside accompanied by rain) on Icelandair from JFK - Reykjavik. For those of us in the airline industry, I know there is not a lot to appreciate about our jobs anymore but the fact that we can fly business or first with a fair degree of frequency is a freaking bless

Visit often for lively writings about my travels.