Rigattoni, or sumfing Last night we went to the Opera. Honest. Our first one indeed, and a free one, but still the New York Metropolitan. As part of their free Opera in the Park series they performed La Traviata on Tuesday and Rigoletto by Verdi last night, on the Great Lawn in Central Park. I've never been the greatest fan of Opera, but I am a huge fan of picnics. So, we went along armed with a couple of friends, many bottles of wine, and some cheese [naturally]. It was great fun. We weren't very close, so I couldn't tell which was Pavarotti and which was Flamingo, but the PA system they had was excellent. The sound was very impressive. And all for free! The pics didn't come out very well due to Carrie not rocking-up until dusk, but you can get the idea.

  ¶ 11:43 PM 0 comments

  Roz in New York City After spending 2 months out in the sticks Roz ventured to the big city to visit us on her way back to the UK. We had an action packed few days covering most of the city and its famous sights by foot. Visits included the empire state building, shopping, a tour of the UN, shopping, dragon boat racing in queens, shopping, a trip to govenor's Island and more shopping. In fact Roz did so much shopping while in the US she came with one suitcase and left with three. Despite the worry over flights due to recent security troubles, we think she had a good, if not exhausting time.




  ¶ 10:04 PM 0 comments

  Corny Cornell Last weekend we too a trip up to Ithaca to visit Carrie's sister Roz, who is studying at Cornell over the summer. What a nice weekend! It's a lovely place, in an area called the Finger Lakes which are just south of Lake Ontario. They're called fingers
because they're formed in the base of a valley resulting in five very
long and thin lakes all parallel with each other. Ithaca is a bit like an American version of Cambridge but not so old obviously. Cornell University is enormous and envelops most of the area. The actual campus I'd say is at least ten times the size of Leeds University. Rosalind was staying in Zeta Psi Fraternity House (as it's
the summer the Frat boys are away and they rent out the digs to
visitors). I'd only ever seen these places on films! It was a sprawling
old wood-paneled house with enough room for about 35 frat boys (we know
because they had pictures of all the generations of Fraternity since
1967 on the walls). Rosalind thought the place was dirty and disgusting
but it appealed to my sense of adventure.
We went to a nice waterfall on Saturday morning in a State Park and then
spent the rest of the day touring the many wineries which perch on the
hillsides surrounding the Finger Lakes. Some were top notch, some were
awful, naturally we came home with a nice boot (sorry, trunk) full of wine. Saturday was a touch comedic because we all had various aliments along the way. I'd had a back back since Friday so I was hobbling around like and old man. Carrie and Roz had a tuna sandwich for lunch which brought them both simultaeously out in a blotchy red rash all over their bodies! It went after a few more glasses of wine. Roz trumped us all in the end by wheeling out the big guns and getting a migraine in the late afternoon. By that time we'd decided it was best to head back. We made up for it by having one of the nicest curries I've had in a long time in Ithaca on Saturday night. Sunday we visited another waterfall and had a nice long walk up a gorge. Then we spent the rest of the day mooching around
Ithaca itself. We went to a Farmers Market for lunch. I found a good
record shop so I bought the place out, which pleased me no end.
Jolly nice it was too. Best be off.
The photos are on here if you want a peek.



  ¶ 2:26 AM 0 comments