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Hoboken - 29 September 1998

Well last week I moved from my old apartment on the Upper East Side across the Hudson River to Hoboken New Jersey. Luckily I had not accumulated too much stuff so I was able to move in one go with the help of friend. Hoboken is easily accessed from Manhattan via the PATH train from either the World Trade Center or 33rd Street station. After a week of commuting from here to Wall St I must admit that I find things a lot easier since I do not have to change trains half way, also the trains from here seem to be less crowded than the subway in Manhattan. The main street of Hoboken ( Washington St ) has many great eating ( and drinking places ) so I won't go hungry ! There is also a Barnes and Noble bookshop and a Starbucks nearby so just about everything I need is here ! Another great thing about Hoboken is the fantastic skyline views of Manhattan, I have discovered a great roof top restaurant were you can view the skyline at night which enjoying a fantastic Italian meal. When you come over here I'll have to take you. So far I am glad that I have made the move over here and would recommend Hoboken to anyone else thinking of living in and around Manhattan.

My room on the first floor

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Moving - 9 September 1998

Looking from Hoboken to Manhattan

Well, after spending about 6 months living in Manhattan I have decided to move across the river to Hoboken New Jersey. People ask me why I want to do this ? Well, there are a couple of reasons. The main one being the cost - rents in Manhattan are HUGE and I will be saving quite a bit in rent. The other major reason is that I want to try living somewhere else just for the experience and change of scenery. Hoboken is the birth place of Frank Sinatra and located about 20 minutes via subway from the heart of Manhattan. I'm planning to actually move on the weekend of the 19 - 20th of September. I'm just glad that I haven't really accumulated too many possession but as people know any sort of move is always as hassle. Hoboken is a very different area from Manhattan, it is more suburban and could be best described as quaint. Let's keep our fingers crossed that everything goes smoothly. More details soon.

Main Street in Hoboken

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Boston - 23 August 1998

Breakers Mansion, Newport

One of the places that I have always wanted to visit in the US has been Boston, which is about five hours drive north of New York City. Once again a group of us from work took a bus tour from Chinatown north to Boston. Our first stop on the tour was the old Mystic Village which has plenty of natty souvenir shops, however the setting is spoilt by the surrounding commercialism, in my opinion. Our next stop was Newport Rhode Island where we went on a tour of one of the historic mansions of the region known as "the Breakers". From here we proceeded to view the Plymouth Rock - where the pilgrims are believed to have first stepped ashore after arriving on the Mayflower. Our final stop was Boston.
We arrived in Boston as the sun was setting and basically only had time for dinner and a quick look around Quincy Market. Our accommodation was in an excellent Holiday Day Inn establishment - much better than the Days Inn where we stayed while on our Washington D.C tour.
After an hearty breakfast we set off for Harvard university and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology ( M.I.T.). From here we went to Boston Common which is in central Boston. After looking at State House I realised that the bar made famous in the TV comedy series "Cheers" was located nearby. Even though time was now short we made a mad dash down to take some photos and get back in time for our next stop - we couldn't come all this way and not stop at "Cheers" ! Our final stop before lunch was at the Christian Science complex which has a fantastic reflecting pool. Our final stop on this "Boston experience" was a famous Boston lobster lunch from the No Name Restaurant.
The only problem with this tour was that we seemed to spend most of our time on the bus. This is understandable considering how far away Boston is located from New York ( 5 -6 hours normal drive ). We realised that there is so much more to see in this historic town that we will be coming back.

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New England Getaway - 9 August 1998

After a hard week at work I decided to accept an invitation from another Australian to come up to Mystic, Connecticut for a weekend break from city life. After getting up early Saturday morning, catching the Amtrak from Penn Station and a pleasant three hour train trip I arrived in the very beautiful and scenic New England region. With fantastic weather and hospitality I was chauffeured around all the fabulous sights that this locality has to offer. It is impossible to truly do justice to this magnificent region, with its majestic forests, fantastic architecture, charming towns and villages in this short piece. It is something that needs to be experienced first hand. Life up here is much more relaxed and laid back than the hustle and bustle of New York City and spending time up here gives one a much better perspective of what the really important things in life are all about. The most remarkable feature of the region has to be the picturesque country side with its magnificent forests and striking waterways that together convey a sense of peace and tranquillity that fill the whole region. At this time of year the place is amazing enough but come fall it would be magical. The area is dotted with quaint villages and townships that give the place a very old world feeling and are full of unique shops, cafes and historic architecture. This is one of the most beautiful, peaceful and relaxing places that I have been to in the United States, and best of all it is only about three hours from the centre of Manhattan. I hope that I get the opportunity in the future to return here and spend some more time with the people and scenery of New England.

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