CROSSING ANOTHER THING OFF MY BUCKET LIST

While I was visiting Ottawa, I thought I would be able to do one or two things on my bucket list.

I can cross off something else.

Comparing Montreal style bagels to New York style bagels.

Canadians will tell you that the best bagels in Canada are Montreal style bagels.

Americans , or maybe just us New Yorkers , will tell you that the bagels from New York are the best.

Like with pizza in New York , it’s the water that makes the dough good.

I didn’t have to go to Montreal to find out what the difference is.

At the Byward Market , which I will talk about in another blog post , there’s a store thst makes and sells them.

You can also see how the bagels are made.

I could see the difference without tasting them.

They are very thin whereas New York style bagels are big and doughy.

As I watched them make the bagels , I wondered how on earth could you load a bagel that thin with cream cheese and lox the way we New Yorkers like our bagels.

Don’t even mention loaded with butter, those thin Montreal bagels wouldn’t stand a chance .

People were buying and eating them like crazy while I was at the market, so they must be good.

Until I can really taste them, sorry not sorry,give this Big Apple gal a big New York style bagel loaded with all the fixings .

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EATING AT PIZZA PIZZA

I’ll admit it .

Being from New York City , I am that Pizza snob.

No pizza is as good as the pizza in New York .

Chicago style pizza, though is right up there with New York style pizza though.

That deep dish pizza is DA BOMB!

When I’m up in Canada , I have to make a stop at the pizza chain known as Pizza Pizza.

Now whether they’re affiliated with Little Caesars chain here in the United States , I don’t know .

It’s one of the first places the Sports Diva goes to when I’m in The True North , next to Tim Horton’s that is.

Gotta have my Tim Horton coffee or Vanilla Latte while I’m in Canada you know.

But back to Pizza Pizza.

It’s so good and while it doesn’t hit the spot like New York and Chicago style pizza does, I can eat it all the time while in Canada .

The slices are big and they slice them in two.

Can never turn down two slices for the price of one, peeps, and like a true New York City gal, I fold my pizza to eat it.

My favorite is the Pepperoni special for $5.49.

For me it’s pepperoni pizza, ginger ale and one of the most popular kind of potato chips in the country, All Dressed.

They even have a gluten free pizza, which takes a little longer to make , but according to my Circle of Sister Mish, it’s so good .

Mish is also a New York City pizza snob , so that’s high praise.

The only no no that the Sports Diva has about Pizza Pizza is when they ask you if you want dipping sauce to go with your pizza.

It cost extra.

SAY WHAAAAT?!!!!

Sorry, you can take the girl out of New York City , but you can’t take the Five Boroughs out of the girl .

Dipping sauce for pizza?!

Are you for real right now ?

That’s like putting pineapple and ham on pizza, although I understand some folks like that too.

You might not be a pizza fan (what’s wrong with you?!), but while in Canada, visit Pizza Pizza for some cheap eats that won’t break your budget.

RIDING ON THE E TRAIN – PART ONE

This is the train that next to the F train is the subway line that I take the most.

If you happen to be visiting New York City , chances are that you’ll be using this subway line a lot .

It’s the E train that starts at Jamaica Center in Queens and goes to its final stop in Lower Manhattan at the World Trade Center Station .

As I’m only going ftom Jamaica Center down to 34th Street and Penn Station , this post is going to be in two parts.

The E train is an express train, but unlike some of the other subway lines, it doesn’t go to Brooklyn or The Bronx.

It’s just from Queens and Manhattan .

One word of caution though.

On the weekends and late at night, the E train runs local, meaning it’s going to stop everywhere due to the infamous “track work” that happens on every subway line in the city.

You’d think that all this “track work” being done would make the service faster and the tracks nicer.

Nope, same old train tracks but that’s another story.

Now, let’s say you want to go to the city from JFK or JFK to the city.

This is the train that gets you there .

Just get off at Suthphin Boulevard – JFK stop, and believe ne, you’ll know when you get there.

Follow the other travellers with their luggage.

If you want to go to the other airport, LaGuardia, take the E to the Roosevelt Avenue station, walk upstairs and take the bus out there .

Remrmber to use your Metro Card that you brought for the subway.

You can use it on the bus as well .

You say that you’re taking the bus or an Amtrak train and not a plane?

The E train can get you to Port Authority and one of the largest train terminals in the United States , Pennsylvania Station or Penn Station for short.

Get off the train at 42nd St for Port Authority and 34th Street for Penn Station .

Now since this is a 30 Plus Teams Tour , of course you’re going to go to either a New York Knicks basketball game or a New York Rangers hockey game at Madison Square Garden .

The E train will take you right there.

Get off at Penn Station , you’ll see the signs for the place that calls itself, “the world’s most famous arena.”

Simple right?

Many of you will want to pay your respects at the 9-11 Memorial site.

The E train will get you there also.

It’s the last stop on the E train and the stop still reads World Trade Center .

It didn’t change after 9-11 .

SEPTEMBER 11 – NEVER FORGET

WHAT IF???

Now you might think that the Sports Diva spends a lot of time watching and attending sporting events in some city in the United States or Canada and not doing anything else.

You might be wrong.

It seems like it, but no I don’t .

As I’m retired with no children and no significant other , I spend a lot of time reading other people’s blogs .

I came across one of my favorite blogs, from Tausha, who’s blog is called The Globe Getter.

It’s a blog I think you should check out when you get a chance .

In her post, she was lamenting the fact that there were things that she referred to as ” her biggest travel regrets ” .

Now that I’m almost 66 years old , there are some things that I , too , regret .

Some of them aren’t travel related and I don’t refer to them as “regrets.”

I call them, my “what ifs ” .

What if I have had children , would I have been a good mother or given the fact that I was always traveling, would I have been a neglectful mother?

What if I hadn’t made the decision to leave home and move to Boston the first time ?

What if I had stayed in LosAngeles and never have moved to Las Vegas ?

What if I had continued to work for the airlines, would I have visited a lot more countries than the ones that I visited?

What if I hadn’t attended college and studied Sports Journalism ?

There are a lot of “what ifs ” in my life , and if I spent most of my life worrying about them, I’d be a real nervous wreck right about now, and sorry , life is too short and beautiful to think about all of my “what ifs”.

Given the fact that I’ve survived a heart attack and a mini stroke , I’m going to concentrate on the things that I can control, and not look back at all the “what ifs ” in my life .

Besides, as long as the good Lord allows me to , there’s a lot more 30 Plus Teams Tours to go on .

MY VIDEO OF GOING TO A BASEBALL GAME AT YANKEES STADIUM.

RIDING THE D TRAIN

I often take this train that goes from 205th Street in the Bronx, through Manhattan , and finally all the way to Brooklyn in Coney Island.

It is one of the most widely used trains on the New York City subway system.

Today, I’m taking this train from the Rockefeller Center Station at 47-50 Streets all the way up to the Bronx.

My stop is going to be 161st Street and River Avenue , now known as Rivera Avenue after former New York Yankees star, Mariano Rivera , to Yankee Stadium .

There is another Yankees game going on, so the station and train is more crowded than it usually is .

This train is an express train, which means that it skips many stops, mostly in Manhattan .

After it gets to 59th Street at the Columbus Circle station, it goes express and doesn’t stop until the train reaches 125th Street in Harlem.

The train might be crowded and the seats are uncomfortable , but you will be using this train a lot if you come to New York City .