I just turned 62 and just discovered that I can receive senior citizen discounts on Amtrak and Metro North. The Amtrak discount is only about 20% but Metro North will give me a 50% discount. This makes traveling from the city pretty cheap. Not too many places I want to go to but I do miss the spectacular Fall foliage at my former place on a mountaintop in the Catskills. So today, I took Metro North all the way up to Poughkeepsie and wandered around, taking pictures.The Fall foliage proved to be a letdown.
Right behind the train station is the pretty Mahoney''s pub. I went inside and spoke to the owner. The building was built in 1865 and formerly housed Vassar's brewery. This was not owned by the college but rather by the family that created the college (Vassar College is in Poughkeepsie). Few beers on tap and most of those ordinary ones. The menu was likewise disappointing. I could get much better food at McSorleys, for example.Again, this is typical of an out of town eatery. All the effort is expended on the physical facility and none on providing outstanding food and drink. He said that business is bustling, People travel far to come to his place. This does not speak well of the tastes of out of towners. I had a slice of pizza at Amici's, down the other end of the building. I will only say that someone who makes crappy pizza like that is no amicus of mine.
I walked 8 or 10 blocks down Main St.. Some OK architecture but I would say that a typical block in NYC would put it all to shame. Lots of restaurants specializing in hot dogs and pizza. I must restrain the urge to throw up. I did find one nice cafe, the Muddy Cup Cafe. Those of you who have been following my postings may remember the Muddy Cup Cafe in Staten Island. The owner here said that he created the one in Staten Island. I got a cup of cappucino for $3.00. Not bad but I hate drinking coffee out of cardboard cups.
I asked myself why anyone would want to live here? Well, housing is cheaper. According to the local paper, you can get a 1 bedroom for $850/month. That might work if you are working in town and don't mind eating shitty food. On the other hand, if you have to work in the city, you would have to add $300/month for a monthly Metro North commutation ticket. You could certainly get a 1 bedroom in the city for less than $1150/mo (but not in Manhattan). Anyway, I cannot figure out why anyone would want to live here.
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