Third trip to North America in less than 3 years! Because IIHF Women's Hockey World Championships was held in Utica, NY this year, and the Professional Women's Hockey League also started this year and there happened to be 2 games in Montreal and Ottawa just a week after Worlds, so decided to take the opportunity to do both in one trip!
My itinerary was to fly from Singapore to NYC, travel up to Utica (upstate NY), then to Boston, then take a flight to Ottawa, and fly back to Singapore from Montreal. I decided to take Emirates as it's cheaper than SQ and it allowed me to fly back from Montreal without going back to NYC. I also booked all my tickets on the assumption that the PWHL Ottawa game was on April 20th and PWHL Montreal game was on April 21st, but then the Montreal game got shifted to April 20th, so my plans were kinda messed up and I had to do a lot of extra travelling since 1) I didn't want to change my flights, and 2) I still had to fly back from Montreal as Emirates doesn't fly from Ottawa.
Day 1
My flight was just after midnight, and the first leg was Singapore to Dubai since I was taking Emirates. Was in window seat for the first leg which was ok since it was only 7h so I didn't have to get up. I decided to order the low fat diet for fun because I checked the menu ahead of time and didn't want either of the options. It turned out to be tomatoes, mushrooms and some sticks of veg haha.
It was fine because I was going to make use of my lounge access, and visited the Merhaba lounge and had some salad, cakes and a coffee.
In the second leg, my original seat was back row window which is literally the worst, but managed to eventually change to a middle section aisle seat, with no one beside me! So had a very comfy flight. Emirates seat space is really good, practically on par with SQ premium economy. Did a Barbenheimer on the plane.
We arrived at JFK 30min late, and I was super speedy to get through immigration since I was at the front section of the plane...but waited close to an hour for my baggage. Also, I've never seen so many people require wheelchairs lol there was an entire row of them when we disembarked and at the baggage claim. And there were many people who kept taking the wrong luggage so I was slightly concerned. The number of times I saw luggage being picked up and thrown back onto the belt :/
Then there was a jam on the way to Manhattan so I reached my friend's house at nearly 6pm, which meant I couldn't visit the Morgan library & museum. Decided to head to the Times Sq area anyway as I wanted to try getting cookies from Culture Espresso but the shelf was empty by then, so ended up walking nearly 30min to Breads Bakery near Union Square to get their choc babka which is supposedly one of the best in NYC. Luckily it was still available, and it was sooo good. It's 17 bucks for the humongous loaf but so worth it.
Headed over to Chama Mama just a short walk away to meet up with my friends! We had the taste of georgian platter, khachapuri, khinkali, some chicken thing and a humongous dessert platter. First time trying Georgian cuisine and I really liked the food though it was soo much.
Day 2
Somehow managed to wake up in time, quickly packed and took an Uber to Moynihan Hall for my 4h train ride to Utica. The train goes all the way to Toronto and I think they make passengers who are only travelling within US go to the back and luckily there was plenty of space there. I love Amtrak seats which are super spacious and comfy. Why can't airplane seats be like that. We were about 15min late arriving to Utica. The Utica train station is gorgeous!
DoubleTree Hilton was only a 12min walk from the station but it was an ordeal getting there as it was extremely cold and windy. I arrived way before check in time at 12 plus but the staff were very nice and tried sooo hard to check me in early. While waiting, I headed to Knead to Eat for lunch, and ordered a hummus toast with scrambled eggs - weirdest take on scrambled eggs I've ever seen lmao. Oat latte was not bad!
Finally managed to check in around 215pm, and was given the special DoubleTree cookie which was soo good but so sinful.
Hurried over to Adirondack Bank Center which is just 5min away on foot. Battling wind and rain again.
US & FIN teams were already warming up, and Finland was warming up on my side of the rink, which means 2 out of 3 periods, their goal will be there. Which is great because most of the action occurs at the non-US goalie side haha. For the first 2 periods, it was still a decent score at 2-0 for US, as Finland's goalie was playing lights out. In the last 3 periods, US scored another 3 goals so the final score was 5-0. But shots on goal were like 50-10. Love watching Jenni Hiirikoski play. She's such a legend. On Team USA, the standout is a newbie called Laila Edwards, who scored a hat trick and won player of the game! Taylor Heise was buzzing as well. Most memorable moment was this insane poke check by the Czech goalie for a save. Everyone was like :O when she did it.
The game ended around 545pm, so I headed back to my hotel for a short while before going back to the rink for the second semis between CAN vs CZE scheduled for 7pm. Much smaller crowd for this game since it's not the home team. Czech was practicing on my side of the rink so again, most of the action happened here! Canada was buzzing, and the standout moments was Poulin HANGING FROM THE GOALIE BAR hahaha I'm sure there'll be gifs of this. It was hilarious because they showed a replay and then cut to Poulin grinning. And then both Stacey and Pou getting roughing penalties lmao.
It was around 9.30pm by the time the game ended, so I just had the babka and the cookie for dinner.
Day 3
Since the first game was only at 1pm, decided to start my morning with a run. The hotel has a 24h fitness center which is fully equipped! Accidentally stumbled onto some USA hockey event which was also on the second floor.
Headed out for brunch at Craylee's, which was really crowded because of the influx of visitors but I was alone so I managed to get a counter seat. Ordered a veggie frittata and waited over 30min as they were so busy. And oh my, the portion was humongous. I scraped off the cheese and managed to finish about 90%, as well as half the toast. There was an old man called Gary sitting on the counter who decided to pick up the tab for me because 'someone so small who can eat so much deserves to have the meal paid for' hahahah. Cute pleasant encounter.
Still had some time before the bronze medal match so went to Character Coffee to get a vanilla latte...which was sweet but didn't taste much like vanilla.
Had pretty good seats at front row near center ice for the Bronze Medal match between FIN vs CZE and it went to shootout because OT wasn't enough. And Finland won yayyy. I have a soft spot for them after Worlds 2019 and Jenni Hiirikoski is my fave European player. Still feel like they were robbed of their gold in 2019. Czechia won bronze the past 2 years so it was time for a new winner.
And then the Gold Medal Game.
I was on the side of Canada warm ups! Which is always fun to watch, even though I have seen them warm up so many times. MPP is always last to leave and her ritual at the end used to be done with Melo I think but now it's with Stacey which is so cute.
Ok the game itself was INSANE. I was surprisingly calm, as I didn't wanna get my expectations up, but I was rooting hard for Canada. And my gosh, MPP. She had 0 goals the whole tournament and then ofc, she scores 2 in the gold medal match. The first happened on my side of the ice and honestly I saw her in THAT spot and knew it was going in. That particular spot to the right of the goalie where she scores all her big goals. Bar down, unassisted, beauty of a goal. And then she was sent to the penalty box for an egregious call. Like she collided into a us player and got sent to the box and she was already protesting, and then Hilary Knight scored on the power play and Pou was glowering from the box lmao. The gifs floating around are hilarious. Her second goal was pure commitment. Like she was in front of Frankel (US goalie) and just shoving the puck in with brute force hahah. The score was 5-5 in regulation which is just insane. They just kept going back and forth, back and forth. Sudden death OT and US took the worst penalty with too many players on ice and Danielle Serdachny scored! Unfortunately, this was on the other side of the ice so I didn't get a good view but finally. Managed to see Canada win goldddd. MPP continues her legend in gmgs, with 2 goals and Player of the game!!
Helluva game and I'm so glad I made it here!!! Finally a Team Canada victory and a happy Poulin, after a previous bronze in 2019 and silver in 2022. I stayed for the celebrations and saw the part where MPP & Stacey were taking a photo with the cup together but by the time I took out my phone to snap the shot, they were done haha.
I had made a dinner reservation at Tailor and the Cook which is one of the most recommended restaurants in the area. I wasn't particularly hungry like 10h after my lunch but I still ordered quite abit! There was complimentary bread and amuse bouche. Started with the half scallops which is their signature and was indeed amazing. Followed by the half vegan risotto for my main as it had brussel sprouts. This was super rich! And finally, affogatto for dessert, even though I was quite stuffed by then.
Day 4
Sightseeing starts proper in Saratoga Springs! I took the train to Schenectady, then a bus to Saratoga. The bus fare is 1.50 in cash only...and my leftover loose change from previous trips amounted to 1.42 lol so I bought some random snack from a convenience store to get change. Arrived around 1030am and headed to Sweet Mimi's to try the cinnamon roll pancake. Which was good for like the first 3 bites. Extremely sweet and I had to scoop out chunks of the cinnamon spread which was stuffed in between the two pancakes. Would have loved to try their other items but this is the problem when travelling solo.
Walked around Congress Park which is pretty small, and the museum is closed! Their website said reopening on 6 Apr but turns out its only on weekends. But it's very pretty and the weather was lovely!
So I ended up at the library haha. It's actually awesome. And I saw Prima Facie so of course I picked it up and read a bit. Brings back all the memories. I watched it twice (once recorded and once live on Broadway) so I can still remember some lines distinctly. The book is very similar to the script though, and I kept reading it in Jodie Comer's rapid fire monologue style lol.
Walked around Broadway Street which is like the one and only street here. Went to Northshire Bookstore and managed to find a fun looking game for the kids.
Then to The Merc as I've been wanting to try deviled eggs and they have it with some greens. Delicious but way too much mayo!
Quick stop at Mrs London's bakery to get their recommended lemon almond croissant, then Franklin sq market which is a really fancy grocery store.
And finally to Uncommon Grounds to have coffee and chill. Also took away a chicken salad bagel with rosemary olive for dinner. I was surprised that the bagel texture was still pretty good even after keeping for awhile as I had half at the Schenectady station and the other half post-run.
Day 5
Started the day with the lemon almond croissant I got from Mrs London's Bakery in Saratoga Springs and it looked pretty unassuming but it was really good! Checked out, and headed to the station, stopping by Utica Coffee Roasting Company to get a "sugar-free" vanilla latte which was the sweetest latte I've ever tasted haha.
The Greyhound bus was late, but luckily they give live updates online. Arrived at South Station around 2.20pm and made my way to Club Quarters hotel which is about 12min away. I had to wait awhile for check in, probably a surge in guests due to the Boston marathon which was the day before. The room was much smaller room than my huge room in Utica.
Headed out to Bakey to get a bureka for lunch and got a chocolate banana pecan babka to go. Super nice! Then popped over to Thinking Cup just few steps away for an oat latte.
First stop of the freedom trail - Old State House. There are a lot of stops on the freedom trail but most of the exhibits are pretty small so you can easily cover most of it. I finished this in less than an hour and finally learned what the Boston Tea Party and Boston Massacre are.
Went to the Faneuil Hall which sells souvenirs. I think there's an exhibit but it's unfortunately closed for reno currently.
Then Quincy Market which sells more souvenirs and food but I read online that the food is mediocre so I skipped trying it.
Walked past the Granary Burying Ground.
Then headed to the Massachusetts State House and the very
pretty Boston Common with random cherry blossoms. Absolutely lovely weather!
Finally ended up at Saltie Girl to try their famous lobster roll and managed to switch their side of chips to a salad! This was VERY expensive, though they did give sooo much lobster. The standout is the bread - perfectly crispy on the outside and soft and buttery inside.
Day 6
Full day in Boston! Started with a 17min walk to the North End to try North Street Grille which brands themselves as best brunch in boston. Got a prosciutto and fig jam eggs ben and a single french toast, but the single turned into a full order. When the guy came with 2 full plates, I was like....is my idea of a 'single' different from the Bostonian idea of a single? But no, the staff did key in the order wrongly. They decided to just let me keep it (but only charged for a single) and gave me a box to takeaway, which I realised is very common. Like almost everyone leaves every place with a box. I also decided to come here partly for the free banana bread which reviews raved about and it was indeed super delicious.
It was around 9 plus and all the museums only open at 10am, so I headed to the Boston Public Market to get an oat flat white from George Howell which is another popular roastery in Boston. I think this was my favourite coffee out of all I had tried so far.
Then took the train to the other side of Boston to visit the Bunker Hill Monument and Museum and USS Constitution. Started with the Bunker Hill Museum to learn about the fight and the monument.
As the monument is only open for climbing at 1pm, I went on to visit the USS Constitution ship and museum which is very child friendly with so many interactive exhibits and games.
Went back to the monument to climb 294 steps to the top and wow, I'm proud of myself haha managed to climb up without stopping and passed many people trying to take breaks at the side of this super narrow staircase.
Completed my itinerary on this side so I headed to the Charlestown Ferry terminal to take a 10min ferry ride back to North End, passing by the pretty Constitution Wharf on the way. It was way too cold to sit upstairs on the ferry though.
Alighted at Long Wharf and decided to stop by Mike's Pastry to try their famous cannolis, and the wrong order saga continued. Honestly their system is a mess. There is no proper queue and people just crowd around and hope a staff attends to them. Unfortunately the staff I got had terrible hearing or comprehension problems, because I'm pretty sure I said one chocolate chip cannoli and she ended up packing two. When I asked how much and she said 14 dollars, I was shocked that one cannoli costs 14 bucks and no one is complaining? They pack the cannolis at the back and by the time it comes out it's like closed and being tied up, so I couldn't check what was inside until I left :/ Anyway, had one for lunch, and it was very sweet and creamy and not my thing. Definitely a one and done thing.
Went on to visit the Old South Church and was enticed by the ticket lady to get the audio guide and a ticket to the crypt which was the tiniest exhibit ever haha.
Managed to make my way to the Paul Revere house just before their last admissions at 5pm. Interestingly, his daughter married some guy called Balestier and moved to Singapore and there's some Revere bell in Singapore :O
Day 7
Last morning in Boston! Took the red line to have breakfast at Brookline Lunch, which is famous for baklava pancakes that were indeed really good. Texture wise, probably one of the best I've tried.
Continued on the red line to Harvard and wow, they really embrace the tourism. There were so many tour groups and shops selling Harvard merch, though I didn't buy any as I think its weird to wear random unis' merch haha.
