September Eternal Spring recap
Our travels and thoughts from last month and our plans for October
September saw us taking five trips, which might be a record for us. We’re settling in to Mexico City for the whole month of October, though. Here’s where we’ve been, and what we’re planning.
Finger Lakes
For the past few years, we’ve gone to the Finger Lakes area in upstate New York for Memorial Day and Labor Day weekends to enjoy the wineries, restaurants and scenery and just relax a little. We stay in the same Airbnb in a cute little town called Hammondsport, on Keuka Lake.
Berlin
This year, we had to cut our trip to the Finger Lakes short by a day, since Lenovo invited Paul to attend the IFA Berlin trade show and we had to take an overnight flight on Labor Day to get there in time.
We’ve been to Berlin a few times before and it’s a city we both love, so we were happy to be there for a few days. Even though Paul was busy with the show, we still had time to eat at some great biergartens, get our fill of currywurst, meet up with an old friend from France, and check out the Brandenburg Gate, the Tiergarten, the Berlin Wall Memorial, the Memorial to the Murdered Jews of Europe, and the East End Gallery.
Massachusetts
The next weekend, I went solo to Massachusetts to visit friends and family while Paul stayed back in Pennsylvania to get caught up on some projects so he could turn his attention to our Eternal Spring Mexico City guidebook in October.
Along with seeing a lot of people I care about, highlights for me were eating steamers, which are soft-shell clams that you can only find close to where they’re harvested, and having three days with perfect weather to take out a kayak, one on a pond in Massasoit State Park and two on Mount Hope Bay.
Rochester
The following weekend we headed back to upstate New York. This time it was to Rochester, to visit our son, Mark.
On Saturday, Mark drove us around the campus at Rochester Institute of Technology—we hadn’t been there since his graduation a few years ago. Then we headed to DogTown to have a Rochester classic called a garbage plate for lunch. After that, we checked out High Falls in downtown Rochester, walked out on a pier at Ontario Beach (Lake Ontario), and watched Rochester’s AAA baseball team play one of the last games of the season.
Sunday, We went to Niagara Falls with Mark and three of his friends. We were amazed at the splendor of the falls and dismayed at the amusement park/Las Vegas-esque scene on the Canadian side of the falls.
Allentown
This isn’t really a trip, but it’s worth mentioning that we visited our county government office to vote, since we’ll be out of the country until after the US election. Delightfully, the ballots were in English and Spanish, as are “I Voted” stickers we got.
Dallas (Arlington, really)
At the end of September, we flew to Dallas, where Paul was one of the keynote speakers at the TEC Conference. It was a busy few days without time to explore—the events were all at or a short walk from our hotel.
One highlight was meeting artist Ross Boone, who creates visual representations of speakers’ presentations live, in real-time. Here’s him sketching Paul’s talk, and the final version.
Eternal Spring updates
On Substack, we reviewed La Oliva Tapas Bar, one of our favorite Roma Norte places to eat when we need a break from Mexican food:
We also reviewed Rosetta, a popular, Michelin-starred Mexico City fine-dining spot:
We’re both using Duolingo as one strategy toward learning Spanish, and we published the first in a series of articles detailing the tips and strategies that have worked for us in the 10 years we’ve been using the app.
After our trip to Berlin, we thought about why Mexico City is the place for us, and we shared our thoughts on Substack and YouTube.
Paul’s been doing a lot of behind-the-scenes work on our upcoming guidebook to Mexico City. We’re focusing on Roma Norte first, since we know that part of the city best. We have about 100 pages of the book finished and when the Roma Norte section is done, we’ll share at least that part of it with our paid subscribers (who will get the book and future updates for free, of course).
Coming in October
We’ll be in Mexico City from October 3 until November 12—unlike in September, we expect to stay in one place for the whole month. We’re looking forward to connecting with Nadine Heir when we’re there—she’s the mastermind behind the Substack publication Migrant in Mexico.
On the content front, watch for:
More mini-restaurant guides on Substack that will also be compiled in our upcoming guidebook
A detailed review of our hot air balloon experiences above the Teotihuacan pyramids outside of Mexico City
Video highlights as we explore Mexico City
Plus, in November, we have reservations at Pujol, one of only two restaurants in Mexico with two Michelin stars. (The other is Quintonil, which we reviewed in July.) At Pujol, two of our friends who are restaurant industry insiders at home will be joining us, so we’re looking forward to their opinions on the meal and the experience.
Thanks for being part of our journey!