July 30th, 2011

RAMBLING IN WOODSTOCK
Day Two - July 30, 2011
>  link to photo album 

Saturday morning we departed from our sweet Chelsea digs, caught the #1 train at 23rd St and 7th Ave to 42nd St station.  The 7 line to Grand Central was under construction, so we had to catch a different shuttle train across town.  Some nice subway cop ladies buzzed us back in the gate without having to pay again.  While following the maze of tunnels, I spotted Ira Kaplan of Yo La Tengo scurrying down the hall.   At Grand Central, we quickly bought tickets and just made the 11:40 Metro North train to Poughkeepsie.   The train went through the Bronx and we caught a tiny glimpse of Yankee Stadium, and then we were right alongside the truly scenic Hudson River for the rest of the trip.

We caught a cab at the historic Poughkeepsie train station and drove 3 miles to pick up a rental car at Avis on IBM road.  We drove across the Mid-Hudson Bridge, saw the Hudson Walkway and caught Hwy 9 N to Kingston.  A friendly local in a pickup led us over the old iron bridge to Wurts St.  We pulled up in front of one of a few old churches on the block.   It took a few minutes to figure out the gate latch, but once we were in the beautiful courtyard, it was obvious we had found a very special place on airbnb.com.    Peter and Julie welcomed us graciously into their converted chapel space and we rested for a few minutes after a brief home tour.  Our corner loft room had high ceilings and gorgeous stained glass windows.   

After a quick detour to the Rondout Creek strand of restaurants by the water near the chapel,  we decided to wait and eat later.  We took Hwys 28 and 375 into the Woodstock Village, where we parked and walked around for awhile.  We stopped at the Bread Alone bakery and admired the Elliot Landy autographed album cover photos.  We ate at the Landau Grill across the street, where Julie got a voicemail saying our Hotel Chelsea rooms reserved for Sunday night had been canceled due to the sudden sale of the property.  We walked to a couple of hippie memorabilia shops and took a photo on the steps of a former bakery that also appears in the Landy collection.   The famed photographer had extended an invitation to meet with us but there was not time to devote a proper amount of time so we declined until the next trip.
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