Tomorrow we invade...

[WhiteRose]

AMERICA. And to a lesser extent: CANADA. :scared:

So we're hitting up Portland, Boston, Montreal and New York for a substantial amount of time, and we've got a little list of things we wanna do but I'd like to know the local opinion: what would 3 geeks who would still do the touristy kinda things but love the ridiculous and obscure do in these places? Maybe a silly theme bar or hole-in-the-wall bistro that serves the best burgers. Or a museum dedicated to unexploded ordinance? I DON'T KNOW.

Help a girl out?

[Thequeerjock]

Amanda, be SURE to hit up either St. Marks Comics or Forbidden Planet for the geekiness.

OMG, and do you like burgers? Go to the Shake Shack too! It isn't that obscure, just awesome.

[Corrina]

Boston--walk the Freedom Trail. Or, if you have funds, take the Duck Boat tour!

But if you're looking for a great snack, try Emack and Bolio's.

http://www.emackandbolios.com/locations.htm#MA

ICE CREAM!! :)

Also highly recommend Legal Seafoods for dinner but for good Italian, you want a place in the North End. Irish bars...likely in Southie.

[ever_seeking]

When are you in Montreal(And in the future, should hit Montreal in Late June, early July for the Jazz Fest followed up by the comedy fest, plus the weather is nicer)?

[MischiefMakerr]

Some great places for comics, food, and beer in Portland, ME - Casablanca Comics, Gritty McDuff's Bar and Grill, Nosh's, Sebago Brewey, Sea Dog Brewery, Ri-Ra's Irish Pub, Three Dollar Dewey's, and Bill's Pizza.

[Hybrid2]

When will you make it to montreal?

I might need to ask a day off.

[pseudicide]

In Canada go to a harvey's and order poutine :)

[Dreg]

There's a place called "Dick's Last Resort" in Boston. It's a barbecue restaurant where the waiters purposely act like dicks to you. They even make you wear hats that say insulting things. It's a lot of fun in a group setting.

[CutterMike]

1 -- Are you doing Portland, MAINE, or Portland OREGON?

2 -- Boston: If you can't do the whole "Freedom Trail", at least hit up the Granary Burial Ground (https://www2.bc.edu/~marko/carroll2.html), purported burial-place of Mother Goose, and the U.S.S. Constitution (http://www.history.navy.mil/ussconstitution/), the oldest commissioned Naval ship in the world (Yes, all those guys on board in the old-fashioned uniforms are, in fact, active-duty U.S. navy personnel!).

Also, the Boston Museum of Fine Arts (http://www.mfa.org/) and/or Museum of Science (http://www.mos.org/) (particularly the latter for geeky interactive fun), and -- a must-see -- the Museum of Bad Art (http://www.museumofbadart.org/).

3 -- New York: Bust of Sylvette (http://artnerdnewyork.tumblr.com/post/1299031865) -- one of (I believe) only two large-sized, outdoor interpretations of his work ever permitted by Pablo Picasso.

While you're down in the village, visitThe SoHo Gallery of Digital Art (http://www.sohodigart.com/thesgda.html). Just what it says -- walls full of monitors displaying digitally-created art instead of walls full of paintings.

And if you want to have some truly EVIL fun -- I don't know if they still do this, but a lot of the art galleries in Greenwich Village and SoHo used to have their special openings, etc., on Saturdays, in order to get in the yuppies that don't have "incomes" but actually have to work on weekdays. Pick up a copy of the Village Voice and look in the gallery listings for Saturday show openings.

What a friend and I used to do was to go in and look at the art on the walls of the various galleries while surreptitiously scoping out the buffet tables until we found one that we liked. (We were hungry art students -- we weren't actually THAT fussy!) We'd also make sure to note the location of, say, the thermostat or fire alarm, or some such item stuck on a wall at eye-level. We'd then stand in front of that and gaze intently at it, occasionally with hand on chin or leaning slightly to one side or the other to get it from all sides, and occasionally muttering nonsense into each other's ears -- just enough to make a noise, but not enough that anyone could realize that we weren't actually SAYING anything. The trick is to be unobviously obvious, if you know what I mean.

Now, you have to understand that a LOT of the people that showed up at these things had NO idea about art, had more money than sense, and were ONLY there because they knew that gallery openings were THE place to see and be seen on Saturday noontimes.

Eventually, one of them would notice us and would come over to see what these people who apparently know their stuff were looking at. ...Which would draw more people to see what the cognoscenti were looking at... And eventually we would have a semicircle of people all staring at the thermostat on the wall...

At which point, we would back out of the crowd and make a beeline for the refreshments.

The gallery managers generally broke down into two groups: The ones who would glare furiously at us for distracting the -- hopefully -- buying customers (in which case, grab a few of the best items off the table and get out), and the ones who were standing in the corner with their fists stuffed into their mouths to keep from laughing out loud and breaking the spell (chow down and go over and chat -- he's cool, and probably will point you to a couple of other places where you can get your second course).

All of the following may be pretty "touristy", but *I* like them, so there you go:

The Empire State Building (http://www.esbnyc.com/observatory.asp). Sure, it's not the tallest in the world any more, and the line for the elevators can stretch around the corner and down the block, but there's STILL no place in all of New York like the 86th floor observation deck.

The Staten Island Ferry (http://www.siferry.com/). Take a short (25 minute) side from the southern tip of Manhattan Island out to Staten Island. Then turn around and come back, 'cause there's not a whole hell of a lot to do in Staten Island if you don't live there. Kill an hour, cruise through New York harbor and past the Statue of Liberty, catch a breeze (not that you're going in the depths of summer, but sometimes it's nice to get away from the exhaust fumes for a while), and best of all -- it's FREE!

And then there's FOOD:


Lombardi's Pizza (http://www.firstpizza.com/). Pizza the way it's supposed to be. Cooked in coal-burning brick ovens, the crust is light and crisp while still chewy. Get their classic with maybe some sweet Italian sausage on top (my fave) and a bottle of Brooklyn Amber beer to wash it down... Mmmmmm....!

Alternatively, head to the north end of Manhattan to Amy Ruth's (http://nymag.com/listings/restaurant/amy-ruths-home-style-southern-cuisine/) and find out what all those people are talking about when they're talking about Soul Food!

And, if you happen to be rooming up at that end of the city during your stay, get your breakfast bagel and lox at a place I love up on Broadway between 111th and 112th Streets. I'm NOT going to tell you that they're the cheapest place -- they're not -- or that they have the absolute best bagels -- they don't -- but they stuff so much lox and cream cheese and lettuce and tomato and onion in that people with small mouths will have troubles and, quite frankly, there is just something so quintessentially "New York melting-pot" to me about a bakery and bagel shop called Nussbaum & Wu (http://www.nussbaumwu.com/) that it makes me smile every time I go in!

[Cam63]

Just remember, 'Manda... the Yanks are still our allies.

[RobStaeger]

In NYC, check out Molly's (http://www.mollysshebeen.com/) for a good burger. One advantage over the Shake Shack -- it's indoors.

[Cam63]

She's from Queensland.

All she needs is a knife and her favourite snuggly pill-po.

[Chris Hansbrough]

Portland Maine no idea. Portland Oregon you gotta hit Excalibur for comics. also the glory of Ground Kontrol for food and what is an amazing old school (b)arcade...
some voodoo donuts to hit the spot and a ton more depending on when you are here. I love portland.

[CutterMike]

If your Portland is in Maine, one thing that I would suggest doing food-wise is splurging once on a proper Maine lobster dinner.

What you Aussies call "lobster"... just isn't.

Here (http://www.fergusonaustralia.com/product.php?id=178&pid=241) is what Australians call lobster. It's a crayfish with a thyroid condition.

This (http://www.bigfatlobster.com/site/966755/page/589966) is what lobster is supposed to look like. (The item on the far right of the picture is an oven mitt, to give you some scale.) The atlantic lobster tends to have proportionately more weight of meat and less of shell than the rock lobster. (This may also be the only time that something from anywhere else in the world has bigger, scarier -- albeit, tastier -- claws than its Ozzie counterpart!)

I'm not sure what else there is to do in Portland, Maine, TBH.

HOWEVER --

Again, assuming again that that's the Portland in question, how were you planning to get from Portland to Boston and from Boston to New York?

Because, rather than the hassle of flying or the crowding of the bus, might I suggest this (http://www.amtrakdowneaster.com/) and this (http://www.amtrak.com/servlet/ContentServer?c=AM_Route_C&pagename=am%2FLayout&cid=1241245668597)?

The Downeaster takes about 2-1/2 hour to go from Portland to Boston, and the Northeast Regional takes a bit over 4 hours from Boston to New York.

No hassles of getting out to and in from the airport -- you're basically going from downtown to downtown; no standing around in your stocking feet waiting for some government agent to feel you up; no baggage fees; even the coach seats have leg room; and you can get food and beer whenever you want them! (Well, you have to wait until they get a LITTLE ways out of the station -- 10 - 15 minutes or so...)

[WhiteRose]

Portland, Oregon. Oops.

SO YEAH. WE'RE HERE. We're in a dodgy Hollywood hotel right now and we all kinda wanna die after the 13 hour plane trip and the 2 hour car trip and the running around for 4 hours while our hotel got ready BUT WE'RE HERE.

And thanking you for all your suggestions, keep them coming. I've passed them on to the other two and we're gonna be heading out and doing some of them in the coming weeks. Also, because we're giant nerds, there's a Tumblr to follow if you're so inclined: blamaa.tumblr.com

Thanks again all :)

[sk716]

Portland, Oregon. Oops.

SO YEAH. WE'RE HERE. We're in a dodgy Hollywood hotel right now and we all kinda wanna die after the 13 hour plane trip and the 2 hour car trip and the running around for 4 hours while our hotel got ready BUT WE'RE HERE.

And thanking you for all your suggestions, keep them coming. I've passed them on to the other two and we're gonna be heading out and doing some of them in the coming weeks. Also, because we're giant nerds, there's a Tumblr to follow if you're so inclined: blamaa.tumblr.com

Thanks again all :)

First suggestion, leave Hollywood as soon as possible. That place blows.

There is a pack of YABSers up in Portland, OR.: CreamFilledTaco, Dark Galaxy, & Shades007, but they haven't really settled in over here. They are all three on Facebook if you would like me to FB message you their pages.

[bo bo]

Montreal: poutine, beer and ummmmm more poutine?


I think the Biodome is open again now. That's always fun to take a look at. The regular touristy things are Old Montreal/Old port. Downtown and shopping in the "underground" Not sure of anything truly "geeky" going on right now.

Lemme know when y ou'll be here? Post here or shoot me a pm and I can get some info for you. We can maybe even arrange a meetup if you'd like. I wouldn't mind playing tour guide :)

[Hybrid2]

Montreal: poutine, beer and ummmmm more poutine?


I think the Biodome is open again now. That's always fun to take a look at. The regular touristy things are Old Montreal/Old port. Downtown and shopping in the "underground" Not sure of anything truly "geeky" going on right now.

Lemme know when y ou'll be here? Post here or shoot me a pm and I can get some info for you. We can maybe even arrange a meetup if you'd like. I wouldn't mind playing tour guide :)

Yes poutine!

And maybe sushi?

the biodome is fun. if you like animals,they all cant kill you here.

[Cam63]

Portland, Oregon. Oops.

SO YEAH. WE'RE HERE. We're in a dodgy Hollywood hotel right now and we all kinda wanna die after the 13 hour plane trip and the 2 hour car trip and the running around for 4 hours while our hotel got ready BUT WE'RE HERE.

And thanking you for all your suggestions, keep them coming. I've passed them on to the other two and we're gonna be heading out and doing some of them in the coming weeks. Also, because we're giant nerds, there's a Tumblr to follow if you're so inclined: blamaa.tumblr.com

Thanks again all :)

I shoulda gave you the Blues State of Origin Civil War cap for good luck.

[Matt Doc Martin]

At what points will you be in NY? I will be up there the beginning of April.

[ever_seeking]

We could have a mini drinkup in Montreal with the number of boarders we have.

[Hybrid2]

We could have a mini drinkup in Montreal with the number of boarders we have.

Shame I dont drink.


Another Idea I just had.

sugar shack!
You might be in the area just in the middle of the season.

[ever_seeking]

I don't hardly drink either. But really, it's just an excuse to meet. People can drink, eat, talk...

[CutterMike]

Perhaps a Boston one, as well, if you have the time.