Nobody believes me when I say that the 80 days thing is a coincidence. But it is.
We leave the day after Isabel's last exam and return the day before the first full day of school. 80 days.
Actually from take off to touch down at Winnipeg International is 79 days and 20 hours, but door to door from our house... precisely 80 days.

And a bit about the backstory. In 1993 after three years in veterinary practice Lorraine and I quit our jobs and backpacked around the world for eight months, doing everything from living in a cave in Greece (a very nice cave mind you) to camel trekking across the Rajastani desert to celebrating Christmas in Hong Kong to island hopping in Thailand to volcano climbing in Indonesia to living with a family in Samoa to... well, the list does go on and on. Everyone said, "Wow, that was the trip of a lifetime!" To which we responded, "Nooo! It can't be the only time we do that! It just can't be." We swore we would do something similar again when we had kids. It's 22 years later. Isabel is 13. Alexander is 10.
It's time.

Monday, September 7, 2015

Day 78 Taking The A Train

As is relentlessly proclaimed on fridge magnets, tea towels and dog sweaters, I Heart New York. I really do heart it. So keep that in mind when you read the following.

The A Train (subway, but everyone calls them trains) runs directly beneath our bed. Several floors directly beneath it, but straight down there and we feel it and hear it every time one rattles through. This is mildly irritating, but only mildly and greatly outweighed by the cool factor and the convenience. Nostrand Station is only a block and a half away. My previous experience with NY subways was entirely in Manhattan and we had just come from London, so to say that Nostrand was a... letdown would be an understatement. This is a New York subway station like the kind in movies from the 70s. Dingy, dirty, dangerous feeling, unbelievably hot and humid - so hot and humid in fact that the air down there is actually hazy - and rat  infested! OK, I'll concede that "infested" is an overstatement, but the kids did see several rats. I'm sure they're in Manhattan's stations too, but just not as brazen anymore. Incidentally, the subway in Istanbul is gleaming and modern and clean and beautiful. Istanbul. That's in Turkey.

But the A Train is an express and takes you quickly to Manhattan and Manhattan stations are mostly (although not universally) far nicer. And Manhattan itself is of course billionaire disneyland and consequently brimfull with eye candy of every description. Funny how quickly Nostrand Station and Bed-Stuy began to feel like "home".

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2 comments:

  1. MichelleSeptember 7, 2015 at 6:57 PM

    I don't know, I remember Cheryl pointing out many rats in the Manhattan stations. That and "Rodentacide" warning signs along tracks.

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    1. Philipp SchottSeptember 14, 2015 at 4:57 AM

      I thought I replied to this, but I don't see it here. Sigh. Technology. We didn't spot any Manhattan rats this time (certainly did the first time though in the mid 90s), but I'm sure you're right and there are plenty there, but just perhaps with a little less confidence and swagger than their brethren in da hood.

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