S is for Scorpio: New Year, New York.

I am trying to start the new year off right and actually posting, you know, once in a while…

It's true, I never got around to posting about the Great Porter Migration of 2010, but it was pretty awesome. 3 generations of Porters (my grandfather, father and I) flew across the country, saw New York City and then Niagra Falls and then took the train back west across Canada. We were having so much fun that as we looked out over the map of the railway system, we vowed to plan another trip. It all started with “where else could we take this train?”. The most exotic place was Churchill Canada. I only call it exotic because it is the farthest the railway goes and the most north –actually just inside of the arctic circle.

Now we’re all for travel for travel sake and stuff, but we figured that there had to be a reason the railroad would go all the way up there to the seeming middle of nowhere. So of course we googled that.

It turns out that up that far north there are a) polar bears and b) a chance to see the aurora borealis. Let me do that math for you a + b = we were sold.

At that point the issue became when and how and then Grandpa decided that 92 was too old for that kind of cold, then dad got a hold of google again and it morphed into a whole different animal.

Which is how I find myself in New York City again knocking around for a few days with Dad until we get on the plane to Iceland.

We arrived on the red eye this morning, properly red eyed but hungry for some city sights and well, just plain hungry. Also Cold. So Cold. Stepping into the air was like being slapped in the face with a cold, mean, mean hand. I can only discribe the windy New York cold as stinging.

After some frustrating attempts at the subway we finally made some progress and visited the Waldorf Astoria. It seemed like a good place to look around while drinking some tea.

A beautiful building with a nice history exhibit so you can see the Waldorf Astoria of the past.

After a bit more wrestling with the subway and street maps we made it (just in time!) uptown to grab our timed tickets to see the Girl with a Pearl Earring which is showing at the Frick Collection. The Frick was pretty crowded, but worth it. There were a few Rembrants, Monet and other Vermeers.

By that time we were hungry again and on the look out for some broadway tickets, so we headed to Times Square and ate at Tout Va Bien. So good. Before befriending the waitress: