Lost & Found

The end...?

2010-06-03T15:28:00.006-04:00

Well that's it! The end of my 2009 backpacking trip! (On a side note, I know it took me a long time to finally get this all done, but I'm not getting paid to blog right?!) It was filled with many ups and downs - I'd like to think mostly ups - but I wouldn't change the way anything happened....I believe it all happens for a reason. For now, my world travelling is done, while I figure out my future, and more importantly, try to set up the right career so that I can have money for more backpacking haha! The costs were heavy, but I'm really glad I did this trip and would recommend any fresh undergraduate to do the same. A lot of people call it a "gap year" (even though most people travel for only a couple of months) but I don't see it that way, because while it might seem like I was taking time off from my "regular" life, I was still learning a lot and making new experiences. Plus, I wish I had the money to have done a full year hahaha. There's a handful of people that helped me make this trip happen, especially my mom, and I'll always be very grateful for their help. I know how few get a chance to do something like this, and I'll always appreciate the opportunity I got. It's true what they say about these trips - I really did find out more about myself, though I still feel pretty lost...but then again, how many people actually completely find their way, right? Mystery is what makes life fun to live!

And with that said, I can't wait to go on my next backpacking trip! I have something big planned for my next one, but I know it will take a lot of time and effort to get the funds for it. I'll probably do a much shorter one just to hold me over until I can do the next big one. For the time being, it's "the end"...but you can bet I'll be back out there as soon as I can afford it! So until next time, to all the other backpackers out there, bon voyage!

The perfect finish

2010-06-03T11:17:00.004-04:00

For my last day in the Bay Area, my aunt and uncle had something really nice planned for me: a trip out to the 17-Mile Drive near the town of Monterey, a scenic drive that passes through Pacific Grove, Del Monte Forest, and Pebble Beach (home to the world famous Pebble Beach Golf Course). It was quite a drive too, about 1.5 hour south (by driving) of where they lived.

During the car ride down. If you look closely, you can see the reflective pads I mentioned in an earlier post sitting between the painted lines, and if you look at the centre or sides of the highway, there's no streetlights!

Approaching Monterey, overlooking Monterey Bay.

Now on the scenic 17-Mile Drive route; parts of the drive passed through some pretty dense forest.

At the first scenic stop of the route. There was already a group there staring into the trees when we got there, and it turned out they spotted a falcon perched on a branch, hidden among the pine needles. Can you spot it in the second photo?

Here's some help if you couldn't find it (it was just as hard spotting it in person).

Back on the road, passing through more dense forest.

At The Inn at Spanish Bay, next to the Spanish Bay Resort Golf Course...man, rich people really know how to live eh? Hahaha. And wouldn't you know it, shortly after reading the caution sign (last photo; it says "Golfers in play. Watch for golf balls."), a golf ball came flying by haha. I've borrowed some photos from my uncle for this post as well.

Next, we stopped off along the shore at a stop where there were some picnic benches. We were going to have a picnic-style lunch, along the scenic California coast - I couldn't possibly have come up with a more perfect last lunch for my trip.

Enjoying our lunch: tomato basil bread, sliced ham, salad with smoked salmon, and blueberries for dessert! I really like the plastic covering my aunt and uncle brought for the picnic table - it looks like the typical picnic blanket, but it has the convenience of a plastic cover, so that all the trash can be easily wrapped up and tossed out at the end!

Despite the very grey skies (that only seemed to appear in this area), there were quite a few surfers out in the water!

Oooo...wipeout!

We had plenty of seagulls watching us enjoy our lunch, as well as a few passersby hahaha.

Enjoying the scenery at the beach a bit more before continuing on the 17-Mile Drive route.

Just as we were leaving, a huge flock of birds came out of nowhere and started flying around in one area above the water.

Enjoying the scenery at the next scenic stop. There were some really powerful waves here. I particularly like the photo of the trees shaped from the constant strong winds along the coast (4th photo).

Passing by some golfers. It must be nice playing right next to the Pacific Ocean.

On 17-Mile Drive.

The view at the next scenic stop. Really gorgeous scenery - it kind of reminded me of NZ too! I guess I didn't have to fly out all the way to see what I saw hahaha (of course I'm joking).

Back on the road.

At the next scenic stop. This area reminded me even more of NZ. It was teemingly with wildlife: seals (all over the big rock off the coast; 5th photo), some squirrel-looking animals (2nd - 4th photos; I had some focusing issues on the 3rd photo), and plenty of different birds (the birds in the 1st photo, which I'm assuming to be crows, were so black that I can only show their details if I brighten the photo so that everything else is also whited out).

I think the top half of this sign pretty much says it all in terms of my style of travelling!

Back on the road. I wonder how expensive it must be to live here, since it's nothing but golf courses and incredible scenery, and the property themselves are quite private (you can see how far away from the road the house is). I forgot to mention that the entrances to the 17-Mile Drive are controlled...in other words, there's a fare (and a surprisingly hefty one) to get into the area that is part of the 17-Mile Drive.

At another scenic stop...there were a lot hahaha.

And back in the car.

This next stop was also gorgeous, but extremely windy. They must have had previous problems here with tourists, because this spot was fenced off from the beach below, which my aunt told me was a new addition since they had last been here.

At the next scenic stop, home to the "Lone Cypress" tree (1st photo). Supposedly, it's a pretty popular symbol of California - they've even built it its own stone wall (look closely at the 1st photo, it blends in well with the rock foundation), my guess is to protect it from vandalism. Like the previous stops, the scenery was breathtaking - I think the photos speak for themselves. It also suddenly got really sunny here, so I didn't always get the best balanced exposures.

Our last stop on the route was The Lodge at Pebble Beach, neighbouring the internationally known Pebble Beach Golf Links, which has regularly played home to the US Open. I wonder much those guys on the course paid to play there. I already said it before, but I need to say it again - rich people really know how to live hahaha. I found the level of extravagance to the point of almost being ridiculous...come on, it's only golf! I'm part of the camp that believes golf is only a rich person's game...that's right, it's not a sport hahaha.

After leaving the 17-Mile Drive, we stopped at the nearby Carmel-by-the-Sea so that I could get a look around the quaint little town, but not without a stop first at Carmel Beach. It was very serene overlooking Carmel Bay, with the sun starting to set and the clouds of varying contrast making a perfect background. Everyone on the beach was enjoying themselves - the perfect place to let all your worries melt away.

Walking along Ocean Ave., what seemed to be the "downtown" area of Carmel-by-the-Bay.

Before I went off exploring the town by myself (while my aunt and uncle did a little shopping), we stopped at the Carmel Bakery and Coffee Co. for a little snack. I was craving ice cream, so I had a scoop (they give big scoops too) of caramel pecan...but if I had known then what I know now about how popular their pastries are locally, I would've tried one of their pastries instead!

I think it's pretty obvious from the photos how the town perfectly fits the definition of quaint haha...there were some really interesting shops and buildings to look at.

I stopped inside a boutique candy shop and picked up a small bag of their store brand chocolate covered cherries - my favourite! Plus, it was one of the few things in the store that was relatively cheap (and it was still around $3 USD). Since it was from a boutique shop, I was hoping for relatively fresh cherries, or high-quality candied cherries at the very least, but I was so disappointed to find out they were actually cherry candy coated chocolate!

More views as I walked along Ocean Ave.

Carmel Plaza. Even this shopping plaza was had a quaint feeling to it!

The plaza had these cool imitation flame heaters! At least I think they were imitation flames...I didn't smell any butane around them. If they were imitation, they were the most realistic fake flames I've ever seen, and I have no clue how they managed such an illusion. If they were real, they looked so good that they looked like they could be fake haha...but I'm thinking it'd be a little dangerous having open flames like that? I spent a bit of time observing the flames hahaha...I'm leaning more towards very good imitations.

Practising my long exposure photography skills on a nearby flower bed while me and my uncle waited for my aunt to finish shopping. Pretty good for 1 second hand-held shots eh? And it didn't hurt that the flowers were so colourful.

Looking over my photos.

Wondering what to photograph next hahaha.

I was actually looking up at the tree hanging above the chairs. I like the silhouette the tree's branches and leaves made against the dusk sky, with some of the tiny decorative lights on the tree popping up here and there.

Ocean Ave. after the sun was almost completely set. Even almost in darkness, the town still had a quaint feeling to it haha.

After long day of sightseeing, we were back on the road for the long drive back, except they were headed north past Cupertino to a town near Oakland, where my aunt and uncle took me out for one last dinner at an Italian restaurant. We were originally considering The Cheesecake Factory after I had heard so many raves about the chain and had never actually been to one, but after finding out how long the wait was, we decided on the Italian restaurant, where the food was pretty decent. And then it was back to Cupertino for some packing and sleep, since I had an early flight out the next morning.

Before the sun was anywhere close to rising, we were back on the road, headed to the airport. It was a bittersweet feeling: I had a great time these last few weeks in the US and actually wanted to stay on the west coat a little longer but I was also looking forward to sleeping in my own bed. At the same time, I knew once I got home, my trip would be officially over.

I remembered seeing something about See's Candies on the Food Network show "Unwrapped" and that it was a regional specialty (they're based in SF), so when I saw the boxes of their peanut brittle at the gift shop, I had to get a box for myself! They're great by the way...I wish I had bought more than one box hahaha.

The flight back to NYC actually went pretty good. I was flying with Continental this time (no delays this time!), and though the service wasn't exactly the friendliest, at least they offered a "snack" on the 7 hour flight where United offered nothing. It actually turned out to be a downsized meal (as if in-flight meals could get any smaller haha) that was pretty decent all things considered: a hot sandwich, a small cup of fruit, and a small cookie dessert like they usually have with regular meals. But just in case it turned out to really be a snack, my aunt even packed a few things for me to eat!

When I got into Newark Airport, I had a 4.5 hour layover...yeah...I could've left, headed into Manhattan to pick up some souvenirs, and gotten back to the airport, without breaking much of a sweat haha. But of course, being on a budget, I hung around inside the airport. I should mention the airport has an unnecessarily confusing setup - in terminal A, there were multiple wings each with their own separate checkpoints (pretty much divided by airline), and the person at the check-in counter didn't bother telling me which one Air Canada flew out of, so I ended up going through the first checkpoint I saw and ending up in the wrong wing! Luckily the lines weren't that long, otherwise it would've been really annoying to have to go through the security check twice. I spent the rest of the time having dinner at the T.G.I. Friday's and watching the NFL divisional playoff game between the Chargers and the Jets. If I had known what would be coming next, I would've tried to find out if I could have switched to an earlier flight back to Toronto.

As you can seen from the photo above, my plane was set to depart at 8:30 pm...it was actually delayed by 10 minutes already at this point because we were supposed to leave at 8:20 pm. Even though I was flying with Air Canada, I used my Continental points to book the flight, so I'm going to blame this a bit on Continental even though they really had nothing to do with what would happen next hahaha. As luck would have it, I wouldn't get to fly home until after 11 pm! I'm sure it goes without saying that over 2.5 hours of delay (closer to 3 hours) after a long day of flying sucks, especially after such a long layover!

The last plane of my trip. With my luck with flying, it was actually a pretty befitting final flight; it was just one problem after another. First, the inbound flight was delayed, so we had to wait for it to come in, and then wait for them to service it after it finally came in. Then there was a problem with the plane - one of the lights on the tail didn't work anymore and it turns out it was against regulations to fly without all the outer lights working. So then they spent the next while trying to fix it (I honestly didn't know it was that hard to change a light), but after not being able to fix it for a long time they finally decided to change planes, which they really should have done after the first 15 - 30 minutes. After more waiting, they finally brought in the new plane - that's it sitting docked to the terminal in the photo, all alone with no one on board. But then more delay! They decided that they couldn't fly with the current crew because at this point it was overtime for them, so then they wanted to switch crews, and we spent even more time waiting for the next crew to scramble from wherever they were staying to get to the airport! Personally, I think they took their time trying to fix it on purpose just so they could do a crew switch, because the time they spent trying to fix the light was ridiculously long. And so by the time the next crew got to the airport and we finally took off, it was after 11. I know...I couldn't believe how stupid the events proceeded one after another! There's really no way you can make up a story like this hahaha.

Finally back at Pearson Airport, waiting for the last GO bus of the night to take me home. I decided to end my trip the same way I had started it at the airport in HK, a self-portrait! I think my last photo of the trip turned out pretty good despite being very tired at this point hahaha.

And before I knew it, I was on the bus heading back to familiar territory. It was officially over after 7 great months of travel...time to get back to reality!

A day of higher education

2010-06-02T09:50:00.002-04:00

On Friday, my aunt was able to take some time off work, so she decided to take me out to more areas I wouldn't readily be able to get to on my own. First stop was the local Costco for some quick shopping and lunch. I found it interesting to see what kind of products they offered in the US compared to in Canada - it looks like more selection in general. Even what they offered at the cafeteria differed. The biggest difference though was that you could buy alcohol in bulk! I had forgotten that there's no restrictions on where to buy alcohol in the US unlike in Ontario, so I was totally surprised to see an entire section filled with only alcohol - beer, spirits, everything! I picked up a bottle of Remy Martin XO for myself to round out my set of fine cognac - $20 cheaper than it is here after conversion, and it came with a special jewelry gift box too!

Oh my...

My aunt wanted to take me around to take a look at the universities in the area to give me an idea of what they were like in the Bay Area (not all schools can be ivy leagues after all).

On the campus of the University of California, back to using my compact camera. It looked a bit bland, just grey and green, but I think the cloudy weather had a lot to do with that.

The next stop was the town of Berkeley, before visiting UC Berkeley. To get here, we had to cross the Bay Bridge, and that is one long bridge - over 3 km long! My aunt told me Berkeley would have some interesting sights, and she couldn't be more right - I think the photos speak for themselves haha. The 60s may be over, but there was still a very strong hippie/bohemian vibe in the air. Somehow, I doubt the sign in the 4th photo...take a look at the 6th photo hahaha.

On the UC Berkeley campus. I didn't spend too much time checking out the entire campus on foot, mainly because the grey skies threatened a rain storm at any time. I spent most of the time in their gift shop, checking out the very stylish University of California gear - way better than the junk in the U of T stores both in quality and style. I ended up picking up a Marshawn Lynch jersey that I had wanted since the Buffalo Bills had drafted him, and my aunt bought me a school hoodie that said California across the front (the perfect souvenir!). Honestly, the quality and feel of material is so much better than the cheap U of T stuff, the actual hood had a nice design, and inside the pouch, there was even a cool mini-pocket for a MP3 player, with a slit so that the earphone cord could go directly underneath the hoodie!

Driving through the surrounding school residence.

Driving by the school stadium and athletic fields. Ohhh, now I know what a real school stadium looks like in person hahaha. It looked like there was lacrosse practice going on while we were driving through the area (3rd photo).

Amusing myself during the car ride hahaha.

Trying to take some photos of Berkeley as we drove out of town, unfortunately with my compact camera.

When we got back into town, my aunt actually took me to the HP headquarters to take a peek at their offices and miniature product museum, since she works there. It was actually pretty interesting to see inside the offices - the company has preserved the original offices of Hewlett and Packard - and they had a layout of their most recent product releases in the lobby. It's too bad I've had too many bad experiences with their laptops, I don't think I'll ever buy another HP unless they improve their product quality.

Replica jersey of Marshawn Lynch's Cal jersey, photographed back at home. It's too bad he seems to have fallen out of favour with the Bills.

Back home, with my set of fine cognacs (all XO), now finally complete with the big 3 (Remy Martin, Courvoisier, and Hennessy) plus Camus as well (which I picked up at the airport in HK before my last flight from HK)!

When we visited UC Berkeley, we actually passed through Oakland, but there's not really much to see in Oakland so we drove straight through. I now really understand why the college experience is such a major thing in the US; from my point of view, the Canadian experience just isn't as notable. I can only imagine what it would've been like to go to university in the US; I'm kind of jealous (in a good way) of my American cousins now hahaha.

San Francisco, my way: Part II

2010-06-01T11:30:00.001-04:00

And my long walk through SF continues (based on a very rough estimation using Google Maps, I walked at least 13.5 km that day)!

I continued northeast, wandering into what looked like SF's red light district. I like the advertising line of the bar in the last photo: "Where - good friends & girls meet"; at least it's not trying to hide what type of place it really is hahaha.

I headed back west, ending up wandering through Chinatown again.

Coming out the south end of Chinatown.

Definitely no longer in Chinatown; I continued westward along Bush St. through the southern end of an area known as Nob Hill, which looked to be mostly residential. More interesting architecture to keep my eyes busy!

Continuing west, I crossed into a mainly residential neighbourhood known as Lower Pacific Heights, which includes SF's Japantown (4th photo).

Wow, remember when this was such a big deal? I still haven't gotten my shot yet, and I don't think I ever will hahaha.

Continuing on through Lower Pacific Heights. Check out the crazy network of cables for the buses (3rd photo)!

More interesting graffiti.

The real reason why I wandered this far out west from the SF downtown core: a deadstock shoe specialty store called harputs. On their website, they were showing they had a pair of deadstock shoes that I really wanted, so I figured since I was going to be in SF, I might as well head out to the shop. Well, wouldn't you know it, with my luck, the shop was closed when I got there! They already had a moving sale and were in the middle of relocation, but nothing was listed on their website when I checked! I wouldn't say this trip was a complete waste of time, since I still got to see areas of SF most tourists probably don't see, but it was still a long walk to get out this far from where I started and I was really disappointed to learn the store was closed.

An interesting statue I noticed near the shoe store.

Looping back around east through Japantown. The Peace Pagoda (2nd photo) was donated by the city of Osaka, Japan! There were quite a few Korean shops in the area too.

Passing through the northern end of another neighbourhood known as Tenderloin. There were so many homeless people here - SF has one of the highest homeless rates in the US - and the Tenderloin area is considered a high crime area (I could feel it, prior to now researching this fact, when I walked the streets).

At Union Square. There were so many upscale shops in the area! And who says you can't go skating outdoors in sunny California (7th photo)? I ended up stopping in the Nike flagship store to take a look around - not as nice as the NYC one hahaha.

My last stop of the day in SF, the Financial District, with more interesting architecture to look at. It might've been the buildings or the sun starting to set, but the streets felt more cramped compared to the financial district in Toronto.

On the bus ride back to the Caltrain station. I could've easily walked back, but I came across a bus headed for the station just as I passed a bus stop, so I decided to board it. They have a pretty strange way of checking for fares though - halfway through the ride at one of the stops, the bus completely stopped, and transit officers came on and checked everybody's fare as they exited the bus and then everyone else who remained seated. The way it works in SF is that you're given a transfer ticket automatically after paying your fare, and luckily I read the ticket to know that you're supposed to keep it as proof of payment even if you don't plan on using it, but it seemed like such an unnecessary and time-consuming step, since you pay once you get on the bus at the front like in most cities. I guess they have a lot of problems with people trying to sneak on through the back doors?

Back at the Caltrain station.

Double-decker, just like the GO trains.

How appropriate that my day would end at a station called California Avenue! The dusk sky was gorgeous, and with this photo marked the last time I'd explore a city solo with only camera in hand, at least for now anyway...

San Francisco, my way: Part I

2010-05-31T14:26:00.005-04:00

My 5th day in the Bay Area, and I finally got around to seeing San Francisco by myself. It would've been a really long trip if I relied entirely on public transportation, but luckily my aunt was willing to drop me off on her way to work at the Caltrain station in Palo Alto, otherwise it would've taken me an extra 45 minutes or so by bus to get to the station. Caltrain is the commuter train that links some of the suburbs in the Bay Area to SF, just like how we have the GO trains here in the GTA. (On a side note, an interesting thing I saw as we passed by the local Home Depot was that there actually were several Mexican workers hanging out around the edges of the parking lot, hoping for some construction work! I know some American shows poke fun at this phenomenon, but for some reason, I never thought it was actually true until I saw it with my own eyes.) I was back to seeing a city on foot one last time; to be quite honest, I was totally confused by the public transportation available in SF (they have so many different acronyms!) and I would've walked everywhere anyway even if that wasn't my style.

On the train to SF! I must've missed the morning rush hour commute...

Finally in SF after about a 45 minute train ride, which wasn't too bad considering it would've taken around the same time to get to Toronto using the GO Train (well, maybe a little shorter, but still...).

After exiting the station, I randomly boarded one of the buses that would take me near Ghirardelli Square at the north end of SF. It was interesting to see even the buses ran on cables, so they probably consume much less fuel than buses in other cities. When I figured I was near where I wanted to be, I got off and ended up in the mainly residential area of Russian Hill.

Interesting architecture, and very hilly haha.

I randomly wandered north, eventually reaching a residential look-out point that gave a great view of Alcatraz Island and the docks. The best part was the great weather!

Another crazy looking tree!

The fog was still pretty thick in certain areas, completely hindering the view of the Bay Bridge in the distance (it links SF to Oakland).

A street called just Francisco!

Getting closer to Ghirardelli Square.

Finally, Ghirardelli Square! It's an upscale square with small boutiques and restaurants, mainly for tourists, but the main attraction of course is the Ghirardelli shop (for those that don't know, Ghirardelli Chocolate Company is the US division of Lindt!).

Inside the Ghirardelli shop. It was strange - the place was open, and there were a few staff inside, but nobody was in a serving capacity. It was like the just opened but weren't ready yet?!

Inside the actual square. It was morning, on a weekday, during "winter," so understandably the place was pretty empty.

At the far end of the square was another Ghirardelli shop, more focused on selling the chocolates and other products, and there was actually someone ready behind the counter haha. So I ordered something unique: hot cocoa made with Ghirardelli cocoa, topped with caramel and sea salt! Quite tasty, good balance of salty and sweet, there was still chocolate at the bottom that hadn't fully dissolved into the drink that was like a bonus (2nd photo), and nothing beats a hot drink on a cool morning!

The view of Alcatraz Island from Ghirardelli Square.

The water fountain in the square.

The Ghirardelli shop at the square's entrance (the one I first went into).

The main entrance into the square.

SF cable car parked at one of the cable car stations. I didn't bother riding one - it's a rip-off now ever since they raised their prices to $5 a ride!

Heading north to the piers.

Some things I found interesting as I randomly wandered onto Hyde Street Pier National Park, then continuing east towards Fisherman's Wharf.

At The Cannery.

I passed by an In-N-Out Burger while continuing east, and since it was almost noon, I figured I might as well stop for lunch! I had accidentally deleted the photos from my phone and I already knew my photos from the drive-thru were corrupted, so this made for the perfect opportunity to replace those photos. And of course, it never hurts that the food is good - to be honest, I probably would've eaten here anyways even if my photos from my phone hadn't been corrupted. What I tried to capture in one of my photos from the drive-thru was how simple the menu was; I actually prefer it this way because at least I know what they focus on and what they're good at making, not like most other fast food places...I think we all know the ones I'm talking about hahaha. I had the cheeseburger combo with a chocolate shake, and it was delicious and more importantly, it tasted fresh. I tried to get a photo of the custom potato slicer in the last photo, but the guy cutting the photos (at the very left) blocked most of it just as I took my photo!

In fact, it was so good, I picked up a double cheeseburger sandwich to go hahaha. When am I ever going to get a chance to try it again?

Back at Fisherman's Wharf.

Some views at Fisherman's Wharf I missed the last time.

Heading south back into the SF core, with views of Coit Tower to the left and the top part of the Transamerica Pyramid to the right.

Classic American cars in January - only possible in the south haha.

Interesting...!

More interesting architecture as I passed through an area known as North Beach.

"Table Tennis Robot"...uhhh!? I can only imagine what that is hahaha.

Didn't expect to see a huge basketball court here - I've now found out it's the North Beach Playground.

Another view of Coit Tower.

Sts. Peter & Paul Church.

Some of the monuments at Washington Square (right next to the church).

Interesting graffiti.

Passing through what looked like the Little Italy community.

I don't know why, but the building really didn't seem to look like a medical centre haha.

More hilly roads.

The Transamerica Pyramid building.

More views around the Little Italy, near where Little Italy meets Chinatown.

Interesting name...

More cool wall artwork. Doesn't it look like the books are really flying out of the wall?

Officially in Chinatown now. I didn't expect the Chinatown to be this big! Even at midday, the streets were busy with local shoppers.

I've never seen that, not even in Toronto's Chinatown! Suffice to say the Chinese population in SF must be huge.

More views as I continued to wander through Chinatown. I came across way too many shady looking electronics/souvenir shops aimed at tourists, similar to the ones in Times Square in NYC...I wonder if those places ever actually make any business.

I somehow managed to loop back around east out of Chinatown hahaha.

And this seems like a good place to take a break. More from SF to follow!

Damn my fast fingers!

2010-05-30T15:36:00.004-04:00

If I had been more cautious with my cell phone, I wouldn't end up with what I have now: a bunch of badly corrupted photos. Unfortunately, on my 4th day in the Bay Area, I took all my photos with only my cell phone because I didn't think it would be appropriate to bring a camera to where I was going, so this entire post only has enlarged thumbnails that I recovered front the corrupt files...ah well.

Since this was just another normal work week, my aunt and uncle had work obligations, so I was happy to learn my aunt was willing to take some time to take me out for a quick lunch before dropping me off at Stanford so I could have a look around at the campus of an ivy league school while she went back to work. It really sucks that all my photos from this day were badly corrupted because I managed to get some pretty decent photos with it.

First up, my aunt took me for a quick drive-thru lunch at In-N-Out Burger, the only fast food joint they ever go to and one that she highly recommended. And I can't agree more. Burger was juicy and full of flavour, and it felt like you were eating a real burger, not just another fast food (a la McD's) production. The best part was the fresh cut, fresh cooked fries! They're known for their fries - each location has a custom made potato slicer, and prepare, slice, and cook fresh whole potatoes right to order! You can instantly tell they're really fresh, and they're just the right size - a halfway between McD's shoestrings and regular cut fries.

On the road on Stanford campus leading up to the main buildings. It's hard to make out, but it was all lined with palm tress! It gave a feeling that I was about to step foot on a real higher education establishment.

It's a bit hard to tell for the photos, but the campus was beautiful even though it started to lightly rain; it's a shame these photos don't do it justice. All the different buildings made it feel like something you'd expect for a university, full of history and a sense of higher education...UTSC can't even compare, which feels like an oversized high school hahaha. It almost reminded me of a small Spanish villa, until classes must have ended because then a stream of students on their bikes came rushing out for all different directions, making their way to other parts of campus - it was actually quite amusing to see, I've never actually seen something like that before on campus.

A better look at the palm trees as I walked down the road leading up to campus to get into downtown Palo Alto (the small town where the campus is located). It definitely had a small town feel, and while a lot of stores were catered to students, it didn't completely feel like a campus town, which is always a good thing.

After spending some time in a local Chapters reading up on some cook books, I headed over to a Red Mango (frozen yogurt) shop I had passed by earlier and decided to treat myself with some frozen yogurt! I had the pomegranate flavour - great texture and taste, plus Red Mango markets it as being healthy for you because of the yogurt and real ingredients they use (think Yogen Fruz up here)...relaxing on a sunny day and I left perfectly satisfied.

I dropped into a chain pharmacy/convenience store (I forgot which one), and took a look around, and couldn't believe what I found: shelves upon shelves of candy and pop! The candy especially comes in bigger sizes and in more varieties (plus a lot of US-only candies) than I've ever seen in Canada. I really couldn't believe the selection and portions of sugar that was offered in a regular convenience store...now I completely understand why diabetes is such a problem in the US.

Of course, I couldn't try a little something myself...the American jujubes! I now know that jujubes refers to a different type of candy in each country, so I was totally not expecting the tiny, hard (but still soft candy), chewy candy when I bought it...so different from what you think of jujubes if you've grown up in Canada! I definitely prefer Canada's jujubes better hahaha - they're so much chewier and softer (ie. easier on the teeth).

My aunt managed to step out of work really quickly and picked up me back up at Stanford and then dropped me offer at a local chain electronics store so I could see if I could find any of those awesome US electronics deals I always see when I'm at home. And wouldn't you know it, with my luck, absolutely nothing work buying (even though the place was huge)! In fact, most things were on par or even pricier than in Canada?! What happened to all the deals I usually see!?

And that pretty much wrapped up the day's activities. It might not seem as exciting as my other daily adventures, but to be honest, it was still an interesting experience, just to get a sense of some of the local community. And it was definitely nice to see what a real university campus should look like haha. It was similar enough to the types of places we have here in the GTA that it felt familiar, but I still was very aware of the fact I was not in Canada. And plus, who can say know to the sun and mild temperatures in January after growing up in Canada? No one!

San Jose? Pass...

2010-05-30T10:33:00.000-04:00

I spent my second day in the Bay Area just hanging out in my aunt and uncle's house, basically recuperating after being out all day, every day when I was in NYC. It was really relaxing, and I was interesting for me to observe how the typical daily life was like in the US, since I've only ever known the US as a place to visit and live like a tourist. Plus, I got to play with their very friendly and large dog, Petey! And when my aunt got back from work, she showed me around Cupertino to give me an idea of the neighbourhood my cousins grew up in (who are both currently away from home). It actually kind of reminded me of Richmond Hill - wide streets, middle-class to more affluent homes, giant chain supermarkets, huge chain stores like Staples, and a lot of small suburb plazas.

But the next day I headed out to neighbouring San Jose to look around town. It might've been the weather (it was very cloudy and eventually started raining), or it might've been the dated look of almost all the low rise buildings I saw during the 1 hour bus ride into downtown San Jose from Cupertino (San Jose is very big), or maybe I was expecting too much from the 10th largest city in the US, but whatever it was, I was not impressed at all. In my opinion, there's really not much to see there, so I'd recommend to anyone planning to visit San Jose for the city itself to skip it. But then again, I don't think San Jose is very much geared towards tourism anyways, it felt much more like a live and work city to me.

On the driveway of my aunt and uncle's home, looking down the street. It was blindingly sunny in the morning, but the sun quickly disappeared after that.

The first building I saw after getting off the bus in downtown San Jose. Probably because it was a weekday, but the streets were deserted - again, not really a touristy place.

This is what I get for bringing my cheap compact camera with me instead of my DSLR hahaha. It was the middle of the day and quite cloudy, so it couldn't figure out how to pick up enough light!

At Bicentennial Plaza.

At the Plaza de Cesar Chavez park.

Outside The Tech Museum, the main reason for my trip into San Jose.

With a forecast of lots of rain, we figured a trip to the science museum would be a good way to stay indoors and kill some time, and plus, my uncle was a member of the museum, so using his pass, I could get in for free. The big attraction there was that they had the Star Trek Exhibit for a few months, and even though I'm not a Trekkie, it wouldn't hurt to check it out. Well, let's just say I was glad I didn't have to pay to get in hahaha. Honestly, if I didn't have an interest in science stuff, I would've been bored to tears haha. It was really small, and yet, there was so much empty space! There were so few things to look at, I easily cleared the entire museum in under 1.5 hours, and I really took my time with it since I was trying to kill some time. Not even comparable to the Ontario Science Centre...I haven't been there in ages haha. But I'll let the photos do the talking, and see if you agree with my perspective that it looks like the designers tried at least to make the place look decent with the limited resources they had.

The ceiling above the escalators. 3 floors, but only 2 floors have exhibits.

Off to a decent start...

Okay, maybe the problem was that I was too old for this museum hahaha.

Looks promising? Well it's not, you just sit and watch a poor computer-animation of a roller coaster ride...

Probably the most interesting thing in the entire museum, and one half of it was broken, a robotic arm demonstration, where your picture is taken with a camera (a cheap one at that), a computer analyzes it for the borders, and then the robotic arm draws it in pen.

I wasn't kidding about the empty space. I should add that I've cropped most of the photos I took just to minimize the emptiness, because I didn't want the photos to look so pathetic hahaha.

Some of the exhibits themselves weren't that bad; like I said, it looked like they tried to make the best of limited resources. But the setup was just terrible, and the fact that there were a handful of visitors (maybe 1 or 2 small school groups) only compounded the feeling of too much empty space.

A heat vision camera...this was pretty cool to see.

Another broken exhibit.

I'm not going to bother repeating what I've already said hahaha.

The internet exhibit wasn't half bad. There was a globe with certain countries you could touch, and then the accompanying screen would show free webcams (at least the ones that worked) set up in cities of the country you pressed (2nd photo); it snowed in Sapporo! You business is bad when the employee tries to strike up a conversation with you about the activities even though you clearly look too old for this stuff just so she has somebody to talk to for a bit hahaha.

I really did try to take the most flattering angles hahaha.

The earthquake simulator at the museum that simulates the quakes of some of the most famous earthquakes in recent times. It was interesting, but the equipment really showed its age even though I really don't think it could've been that old.

I didn't even see the Star Trek Exhibit the entire time I was at the museum. I tried looking for it, but there were no signs set up to point it out, and in the only area left that it could've possibly been set up (since I basically covered the entire museum minus the IMAX theatre), it looked like something was still being set up, so that was another disappointment.

Back outside, looking at the museum, looking at the back of the Larkspur Hotel. It was already drizzling a bit at this point, so I decided to hop on the bus back to Cupertino.

The the bus stop was a bit of a walk from my aunt and uncle's home, so despite the rain, I took advantage of the walk back to check out the surrounding area. Not much to take photos of since it was a suburb, plus I'm sure my compact camera would've failed miserably at getting a correct exposure hahaha. The best part though was that I popped into a supermarket to get a look at some of the US-only candy varieties!

I picked up 2 bags of Cheetos with flavours I'd never seen before, and I'm pretty sure they're not available up here in the GTA. The Cheddar Jalapeno Crunchy turned out to have just the right kick, but the Flamin' Hot Puffs were too much - so much artificial spice to the point that it was disgusting. If I ate a few in a row, my taste buds would get overwhelmed from the heat alone, and the Cheetos lost the all the flavour it had, and it didn't have much to begin with...the best way I could describe it's flavour is "simulated hot" hahaha.

The finished drawing from The Tech which I kept as a souvenir of San Jose! I think it's actually pretty decent.

When I pass through that Golden Gate I will be smiling!

2010-05-29T08:33:00.007-04:00

The 7 hours flight to my next and final leg of my backpacking trip was pretty good even though I was flying with United Airlines (only drinks and the tiny bag of pretzels for the 7 hours flight and really unfriendly service, I now know why everyone hates United)...because I slept like a baby through the whole thing! After going the whole night without sleep and not much the previous night, I had no trouble falling asleep, even before we took off hahaha. I didn't even wake up until just a few minutes before we touched down!

And so, 7 hours later, I was in San Francisco, and it wasn't even noon yet (time zone difference)! I have to start by saying my first time to the US west coast would not have been possible without if it weren't for my Aunt Barbara and Uncle Stanley and I'm forever grateful of them taking me in for the week I spent in San Francisco and the Bay Area. They gave me a private room in their home for the entire stay, took me sightseeing, treated me to everything, and gave me all the possible means to do some of my own sightseeing. There's really not much to see or do in San Francisco itself (the city and its attractions could easily be covered in 2 days without breaking a sweat); I found it's really out in the surrounding Bay Area that offers the best sights, and without having my aunt and uncle take me out to see those areas, I really wouldn't have been able to see those places (I didn't have any money to rent a car at this point).

They picked me up from the airport, and in only a short time after touching down, I was already back on my feet sightseeing in San Francisco...no time for rest when you're backpacking! Driving into SF, the contrast to NYC was sharp to say the least hahaha...it actually kind of reminded me to Toronto in that there's only a small concentration of skyscrapers in the city's financial distract and the rest is sprawled out as low rise buildings (except they have Spanish style roofing on most of the buildings in SF haha). First stop was SF's most famous symbol, the Golden Gate Bridge! And things must've been going my way because when we got there, it was clear enough to allow great views of the bridge (my aunt said it was really foggy earlier).

At the view point on the SF side of the bridge, offering great views of the Golden Gate Bridge. You can even see downtown SF off in the distance, though it was still pretty foggy for a clear view (5th photo).

A comparison of the same photo taken with my XSi and non-L optics lens (1st photo) and my uncle's superior 40D and L optics lens. If I had set my XSi to the same settings as on the 40D, the clouds in the background probably would've turned out to look like one single blob.

A look at Horse Bay on the north side of the bridge.

Parachute surfing in the San Francisco Bay! How cool that would've been to try!

The views of the bridge, its towers, the SF Bay (which was teeming with activity; 2nd and 10th photos), and SF (6th and 13th photos), as me and my uncle walked across the Golden Gate Bridge! It was pretty cloudy, but it wasn't as dark as it appears in the photos - I purposely shot the photos darker so that I could capture the nice cloud patterns with my camera (otherwise the sky would've looked whited-out in all my photos). I've also borrowed some photos that my uncle took for this post (9th photo).

At the north end of the bridge...they've had a lot of problems with suicide jumpers at the bridge...apparently it's the most popular place to commit suicide from in the world!?!

Looking back as we made our way to the view point at the north end of the bridge.

Some shots at the north view point. SF was barely visible through all the fog. And that's me with my aunt and uncle in the last photo!

We stopped at the small picturesque town of Sausalito, north of the bridge, for some much needed lunch!

After lunch, we walked around town for a little bit and passed by this small ice cream shop and decided to stop for ice cream. It turned out to be a great stop! I don't remember the exact name of the flavour I had, but I know it was basically caramel cinnamon ice cream! Sounds strange? That's why I had to try it, and believe me, it was sooo good! Honestly, one of the best I've had in a long time, if not the best ice cream to date!

The views at Hendrik Point, overlooking the Golden Gate Bridge. The fog again made it hard to make out SF (3rd photo) and Alcatraz Island (4th photo) in the distance; I had to shoot it dark just so the fog wouldn't grey out the details. So I didn't exactly have the greatest weather to get those spectacular shots of the bridge you often see online or in tourist brochures, but I still really like how the 7th photo came out with the big contrast in the clouds (even though I again had to shoot it dark to capture the differences in contrast).

On the bridge heading south back to SF, this time in a car haha.

Next stop was at The Palace of Fine Arts, the only surviving structure from the Panama-Pacific International Exposition (aka. 1915 San Francisco Worlds Fair). The immediate surrounding neighbourhood is now a very wealthy one, and I think it's pretty obvious from the photos that this place is quite popular for wedding photos. Surprisingly, there were a lot of different birds here too!

Back on the road to our next stop, another one of SF's famous landmarks, the winding part of Lombard Street (often claimed to be the crookedest street in the world).

Another popular SF attraction, a SF cable car, which happened to stop at the top of the crooked street when we arrived.

A look down at the crooked street.

How I managed to get my angle of the crooked street haha.

Back in the car, driving down the crooked street! I'd hate to live in one of the houses that lines the street, there's way too many tourists to have any sense of privacy during the day.

At the bottom of the crooked street.

I spotted this funny little "car" (more like a go kart) driving down the crooked street just as we were about to leave - obviously a tourist thing that you can rent.

Back on the hilly roads, with Alcatraz Island in the distance.

Some shots as me and my aunt made our to the Fisherman's Wharf area, really a very touristy area. It was still a pleasant walk to get there though with plenty to see.

Some homeless-looking guy was hiding behind some branches on the sidewalk and scaring people as they approached him hahaha.

At Fisherman's Wharf.

As expected, lots of seafood! Every restaurant and stand along this strip of sidewalk looked different, but they were all basically selling the exact same thing for pretty much the same prices...? And of course, there's nothing like enjoying your food on the trunk of your car hahaha (5th photo).

There were some very loud, aggressive, huge(!) seagulls walking up the street demanding food scraps from the people nearby haha.

At the Boudin Sourdough Bakery & Cafe that we came across, known for their sourdough bread and animal-shaped creations. The bakery even had glass walls facing the sidewalk so that people walking by could watch the bakers create the animal-shaped bread. Some very pricey bread, and it's actually pretty good (we bought a small loaf to try) but still a bit overpriced in my opinion.

The McD's across the street from the bakery. I was drawn to the giant fries and burger models sticking out of the wall...I don't think I've ever seen that at a McD's before...

Uhhh...ok hahaha. Someone dressed up in a giant skeleton costume, obviously a tourist picture-taking thing.

Some crazy looking trees that are pretty common here.

At Pier 39, home to the typical unique pier shops, restaurants, and tourist attractions, as well as (yet again) stinky seals (9th photo)! I finally managed to get a decently clear shot of Alcatraz Island from the end of the pier (7th photo) and had a seagull fly straight at us which made for a cool photo (8th photo). Being a left-hander, I was naturally drawn to the left-hand store...I think this was the first one I've actually seen!

Attack of the giant heart-shaped crab! Back at the Pier 39 entrance with the sun almost completely set.

On the streets of Chinatown at night, with Coit Tower in the background. After a long day of sightseeing, my uncle and aunt took me to dinner at one of the better Chinese restaurants in SF's Chinatown that's known locally to have pretty good Chinese food, and sadly it wasn't nearly as good as the Chinese food here in the GTA! I guess it's true what they say, that the Chinese food in the US really is no good.

After dinner, we finally headed back to their home in the suburb town of Cupertino, situated at the southern end of the San Francisco Bay. One interesting thing I noticed right away during the drive on the highway was that there almost no streetlights on the highway! I'm so used to seeing streetlights everywhere on the highway like it is here. Instead, they use these small square reflector pads on the along running where the lanes would usually be painted so that the lanes are still very visible at night. Very energy efficient! Though I imagine the upkeep costs must be high to maintain those pads considering the weight of cars and trucks constantly passing over them during lane changes.

It was so nice to finally stretch out in a private bed and get some sleep in a non-seated positions hahaha. The bunk beds at the Village Inn Hostel in NYC were really small - I just fit on the bed length and width wise, and I always had to hunch over a lot when sitting up to not bump my head. They have a very nice house and it seemed so spacious despite it only being one storey; I've always believed 2 storey homes for one family to be completely unnecessary haha. And after a much-needed refreshing shower (I'd been travelling all over in NYC for a day, no time for a shower, then sleeping on the plane, then travelling all over SF...I must've stank!), I completely passed out that night despite the jet lag hahaha.

Some final words on NYC

2010-05-02T13:44:00.005-04:00

I don't think there's any doubt that I enjoyed every minute in New York City. I can easily understand why many refer to it as the greatest city in the world. I feel really blessed that I got to experience New York in all the aspects that I possibly could (which most tourists unfortunately never get a chance to do): I visited the famous landmarks and walked the regular residential streets; visited most of the Manhattan neighbourhoods (at least all the major ones) and some of the other NY boroughs; ate the best of the American classics and tried some of NY's cultural foods; travelled underground (subway), on ground (foot and taxi), by water (public ferry), and by air (tram); partied in NY's night scene and took a peaceful stroll through Central Park; enjoyed the bustling Broadway shows and quietly mused over art at the MET; and went from living like the upper class (my stay at Rockefeller Center Hotel), to the middle/lower class (my stay at the hostel), to (very, very briefly) sleeping on the streets.

My one and only regret was that I didn't get to see Queens (which I had planned to do the day I got sick but then completely forgot about it the rest of the trip) and so I never got to see places like Flushing Meadows Park, Silvercup Studios, Citi Field, and its different residential communities. For some reason though, I didn't have any motivation to see the Bronx.

I think I had one of the best beginnings and endings for a trip to NYC that anyone could ask for: New Year's Eve celebration in Times Square, and watching SNL live in the studio. And as a result, I got to see free live performances by Jennifer Lopez and Alicia Keys which I never thought would've happened; I'm not much of a concert goer so it's something different for me. I've also noticed that somehow I was in Times Square at least once every single day I was in NY (except the day cut that was short when I got sick)! It was like the place had some kind of hold on me hahaha.

Now back to Grand Theft Auto IV. While we were chatting, Amanda asked me how I knew where to go and what to see in New York since it was my first time. I didn't even do any research before arriving in NY, and the minimal brief "research" I did while in NY was just using Google Maps to figure out how to get to where I wanted to go. I told her I just knew because it was NY and NY was famous, but in actuality, it was because of GTA IV. I know it might sound ridiculous, but since Liberty City in GTA IV is so heavily based on NYC, I already got to "see" a lot of what NYC had to offer (like when I went to Coney Island) while playing GTA IV without having to read about it! Every time I'd go through Star Junction (GTA IV's equivalent to Times Square), I'd always imagine and wonder what it'd be like to be walking through the real thing, and everything I saw in NYC totally exceeded my expectations. So it may be crazy, but I have GTA IV to thank for much of my time in NYC; there's always some thing that inspires people to visit certain new places, and for me, GTA IV inspired me to go to NYC (though I'd always wanted to go to NYC, GTA IV gave me the final push).

NYC lived up to its name and everything I imagined it to be and more. I definitely cannot wait for another opportunity to visit The Big Apple, I could have used at least another week there to see and do everything I wanted to. But until next time, later New York City!

Live from New York...

2010-05-02T09:31:00.002-04:00

Obviously, getting into bed at 8 am after being out all night will affect when I eventually awoke...around 1 in the afternoon! If I was back home, I probably would've hibernated until 3, but I didn't have this luxury since it was my last day in NYC! Plus, I had planned to get together with my cousin, Amanda, for the day since I don't see her very often (who'd actually just arrived in NYC a couple of days ago to visit some friends). Despite only getting about 5 hours of sleep, it was very solid rest, so I was feeling completely refreshed haha. We decided to meet up in Wall Street since she was hanging out with her boyfriend that day, who happened to live in the Wall Street area, which was great since I hadn't seen Wall Street yet.

A film crew just down the road from the hostel...I wonder what they were filming?

Another shot of McSorley's Old Ale House, this time in daylight.

Near Wall Street, about to meet up with my cousin.

After meeting up, her boyfriend, Wayne, showed me around Wall Street for a bit since he knew the area pretty well. It was hard to get good photos, especially of the New York Stock Exchange (1st photo) since the really tall buildings created some very heavy shadows.

We actually were heading towards a subway station to get over to Brooklyn, since none of us had eaten lunch (I didn't even eat breakfast yet haha), but it turns out the 2 subway stations we tried (on the same line) were closed this Sunday?! So headed back to Wayne's place since was nearby to search Google Maps for the nearest open subway station to get us to Brooklyn. I actually had a small subway map in my pocket in my entire time which I completely forgot about hahaha; but then I wouldn't have gotten to see Wayne's apartment - let's just say it was in a very nice location and not affordable for me haha.

Why Brooklyn? We were going to Grimaldi's Pizzeria, rated as one of the best places for pizza (again, being NY, arguably the best) in NYC. I actually almost went to Grimaldi's when I walked the Brooklyn Bridge a few days earlier (it's right next to the bridge) but decided it'd be too tough to navigate my way there (the streets aren't nowhere nearly as organized as Manhattan), and plus, they only sold whole pizza pies (ie. no individual slices). After being unused for a while, my compass watch came through in a pinch here since we didn't know which way to head after getting out of the subway. And when we finally got to Grimaldi's, there was a line all the way out the door onto the sidewalk, even though it was after 2 pm! But after 10 - 15 minutes or so, we finally got in.

Outside Grimaldi's, waiting in line.

Finally seated, watching the staff work their magic.

A look around inside; it was constantly packed.

We ordered 2 pizzas: Wayne ordered the larger no topping pizza (just tomato sauce, cheese, and herbs, the way pizza started) (1st photo) and Amanda ordered the smaller sausage and sun-dried tomatoes pizza (2nd and 3rd photos). We were all starving at the beginning so we thought we'd easily be able to finish everything...we ended up struggling with the last few slices hahaha. The pizza was really good, probably the best I've ever had, and the real star was the dough - just the right chewiness, crispiness, flavour, moisture, and thickness (actually pretty thin, the way real pizza dough should be in my opinion).

The intersection near Grimaldi's.

After a very filling pizza brunch after 2 pm hahaha, we headed back into Manhattan, where Wayne took us to one of his favourite coffee shops, in Tribeca, so we could just hang out with a good cup of coffee. He was not wrong when he said the coffee was really good here - it's probably the best cup of coffee I've ever had so far, and it really hit the spot (only 5 hours of sleep after a long night!). And believe it or not, it was my first and only time I had coffee while in NYC! I had a Brazilian blend that had a strong rounded flavour but not overly bold, little bitter aftertaste, and a warm rich aroma. I really wish I remember where he took us, because I'd love to visit it again if I ever go back to NYC (I think it was Kaffe 1668...not sure). After finishing our coffees, it seemed like a good time to take a group photo: the cousins in the 1st photo, and all 3 of us in the 2nd photo.

We spent quite a while just hanging out and chatting in the basement of the cozy little cafe, so by the time we left, the sun was already almost set, and Amanda and Wayne had planned to join some friends for dinner. They kindly asked me to tag along, so we headed back to the hostel so I could drop off my DSLR (and they got to see how a hostel was like!), and then they took me for my first cab ride in NYC (since we were running a little late now)!

I tried to get a good shot inside the cab, but again, using a compact camera sucks for night shots. The cabs are so advanced now! There was a touchscreen inside that showed our GPS location on Google Maps and offered weather info, news, and other entertainment. And the cabs are now built to really protect the cab driver - most of the division between the backseats and the driver was made of this hard black plastic.

We ended up in Koreatown, another neighbourhood I hadn't visited yet (to be honest I hadn't even thought about it)! Amanda and Wayne had planned to meet up with their friends to try some new craze in Koreatown - I think it was deep fried goose or duck...something like that, I don't remember...needless to say by now that we ended up not having that for dinner hahaha (the restaurant was packed and the wait was too long). I was disappointed by NY's Koreatown: it's really small, spanning just a street, and the buildings just didn't make it feel like a Koreatown; Toronto's Koreatown is waayyy better.

We ended up eating in another Korean restaurant, where we ended up ordering some fish dishes. And thanks to Wayne's awesome fish bone removal skills (he's Korean and knew how to do it the Korean way), which impressed our server so much (I think the place was family run), we even got a discount on the bill!

Next, we decided to all go for dessert at this Japanese dessert place in the East Village near Astor Place. None of them knew where exactly it was, and it was actually me, the one with the least time in NY and on his first visit, who actually led them through the streets to find the place hahaha! I'm pretty proud of how quickly I learned the streets haha. The place (a really small upstairs restaurant) must be pretty popular because it was full and we ended up having to wait for quite a while to get a table. Unfortunately, after finally getting seated, I had to leave early and couldn't stay for dessert since I had already made other plans for the night...I really wanted to stay too because the menu looked so good, and I was really enjoying my time with Amanda and her friends.

I had to go back to NBC Studios to get in the standby line to see if there was an open seat for me. But first, I decided to stop by Cort Theatre to get Scarlett Johansson's signature! To be honest, I initially didn't really care if I got it or not (I don't really get the craze behind collecting celebrity signatures), but after being snubbed (haha that's what it felt like even though she probably didn't do it on purpose!) by Scarlett the other night, I was now determined to get her signature to compliment's Liev Schreiber's signature. Since I had already seen the show, I knew what time it ended, and the theatre was close enough to Rockefeller Center, so I knew I'd have enough time to try to get her signature and then head to line up.

And I was successful, despite being much farther from the crowd barrier than last time...I just kept saying "Thank you Ms. Johansson!" hahaha. Her signature is the top right one, Liev's one is on the bottom.

Then the Rockefeller Center Hotel came through for me again! I got the signature a lot quicker than I thought I would, so it looked like I had some extra time before I had to go to NBC Studios. I didn't have time earlier during the day to check-in to my flight (which left in the morning), and the hotel offers a very useful service for its patrons to use their free computers to check-in online and print their boarding pass, also free! Now I know I probably shouldn't have done this, but I walked right in like I was staying there, and quickly checked-in and printed my ticket...the way I figure it is, I was just a paying customer a few days ago but hadn't been able to take advantage of this service during my stay since I didn't have to fly out then, so it was like I was only now getting around to utilizing this service...right...right? Hahaha.

Then I headed to the next door NBC Studios, only to find out I had just missed the organizing of the standby line by a minute or two, and that the first 30 tickets (which includes my ticket) had already been brought in! Luckily, there was still room for me, so the staff were kind enough to let me in right away instead of having to wait in line. So I rode the elevator alone up to the floor of the SNL studio, and started down the hall lined with photos of famous past SNL sketches. I was surprised to find that there were actually a lot of empty seats for this show; a lot of people even came in after me. Strange?! I guess there's just not that many Charles Barkley fans? I got seated in the 2nd row in the far left balcony, which meant my view of the far right stages were mostly blocked, but I had a up-close, unobstructed view of the musical performance stage! For those that don't know, the regular people like me all get seated in the balcony and only the VIPs (ie. friends and family of the cast, crew, and NBC execs) only ever get seated on the floor seats that you often see in the opening monologues.

I secretly took a photo of myself in the audience (photos were strictly prohibited inside, and there were a lot of security guards around watching for people trying to take photos). I couldn't believe my luck that I actually got in and all the pain and cold I went through earlier had all been worth it! I'd be watching SNL live! I was so excited; it was my first time ever watching a live show taping and being part of a live studio audience! I've probably said this way too many times now, but I honestly could not have imagined myself in this position at the beginning of my NYC trip.

There was the NFL NFC Wild Card (playoff) game going on that night which actually ran long, so the show was delayed for 35 minutes! But this was actually really cool because as a result, I got to see Jason Sudekis warm up the crowd and do a little casual stand-up to keep us entertained while killing some time (he is hilarious by the way), then Kenan Thompson came out and performed a song with a couple of the new female cast members as back-up singers, and then Kristen Wiig came out to perform a song while Fred Armisen rocked out on guitar! Then during the cold open (opening sketch), I finally got to hear Fred Armisen announce the words I'd been hoping to hear all day:"Live from New York...it's Saturday Night!!!"

To be honest I wasn't expecting much from Barkley, and his opening monologue was kind of dull, but he actually gave a decent performance the rest of the show. The sketches were all pretty funny and solid - except for the last sketch where it seemed like Barkley screwed up but SNL actually had to cut it short due to time constraints...everyone in the audience was so confused during the last sketch as Barkley just kept reading lines with no pause - and I was laughing almost the entire time. You can even hear me in one of the sketches because I had to cough part way through the sketch (I don't remember which one)! And it was so cool being able to see how SNL worked - how they staged everything, seeing what happened during the commercial breaks, and watching the cast members rush off stage after each sketch to get ready for another. The "Scared Straight" sketch was particularly hilarious, and the audience loved it when Bill Hader tried to hold in his laughter and then finally broke down laughing.

But the best part was Alicia Keys - she was amazing! I got to see Alicia Keys perform 2 of her songs live, for free, right in front of me(!) - my seats turned out to be awesome! I still can't believe I was there; the crowd went WILD for her (and rightly so, she rocked both performances)! Because she was performing, and she's featured on Jay-Z's hit "Empire State of Mind," I know a lot of people in the audience were hoping Jay-Z would be making a surprise cameo appearance. When she started performing her version of the song, "Empire State of Mind (Part II)," I instantly recognized it and even yelled out "Jay-Z?" hahaha, but of course he didn't appear, which didn't matter in the end because she gave an awesome performance.

A shot I sneaked of the main stage after the show wrapped (I know my phone's camera sucks!); I know I wasn't supposed to take a photo, but for now this is probably a once in a lifetime thing for me (I'm not sure I'd want to line up again all night in the cold)!

The wristband I was given to be allowed into the studio audience; a unique souvenir!

Since the show started late, it ended a bit late too, and by the time I got back to the hostel, it was already after 2 am. By time I had finished packing up in partial darkness, it was around 3 am! My flight out was at 7:10 am from JFK Airport, so I didn't have time to catch any sleep or even a shower; I only had enough time to brush my teeth! So with not much else to do, I left the hostel and for one last time, walked down E 7th St. to 3rd Ave.

I initially had planned to ride the subway all the way to JFK (which would've required at least one transfer), but after reading about how dangerous it could be, and especially after Wayne told me another way to get there, I decided against it. I could've saved a little money and walked past Washington Square Park to catch the subway up to Penn Station, but knowing a lot of bums hung out around NYU and parks at night aren't exactly safe, I decided to spring for a taxi to get me to Penn Station. From Penn Station, I took the LIRR (Long Island Rail Road) all the way to JFK's AirTrain to eventually get to JFK.

I was so confused at first when I got inside Penn Station - the train's boarding time was posted but no platform number was shown. It wasn't until a few minutes before boarding that the platform number was finally revealed. I was expecting for a pretty quiet ride where I could rest my eyes even for a little bit, but to my surprise, the entire train became packed...all clubbers (at least in my car) returning home after a night of partying, all drunk, loud, and rowdy hahaha. Luckily I managed to get off at the right stop despite barely being able to hear the PA over all the commotion.

At Jamaica Station, looking down at the LIRR train; my final photos taken in NYC!

To any backpacker that needs to get to JFK from Manhattan, I'd highly recommend this route, it may be much more expensive than just the subway, but it's safe, faster, and doesn't cost anywhere as much as those airport shuttle services the hostels will probably recommend (that's taxi + LIRR + AirTrain). So after a night of little sleep, I didn't get to sleep at all that night! And the service at the Continental Airlines counter certainly didn't help - completely disorganized; now I know why so many Americans hate flying domestic.

I am eternally grateful to Amanda and Wayne for showing me to such a good time, and especially for covering all of my shares of the bills; they wouldn't let me pay for anything! And of course getting Scarlett Johansson's signature to complete my playbill only enhanced the night. And best of all, I couldn't have possibly asked for a better finish to my time in NYC, being part of the SNL live studio audience! What's more New York than that(?) - SNL is synonymous with NYC! An experience I will never forget!

Friday, Part 2: An even longer, wild night...

2010-05-01T09:47:00.003-04:00

Friday night was a crazy one; one crazy enough that I felt it warranted its own separate post (I have a lot to remember hahaha) and one I won't forget any time soon.

Ajay, a local Couchsurfer I met the other night at the bar, told me a a few CSers were getting together tonight for "salsa night" at a nearby bar, Mannahatta Lounge (like I said, the hostel was in a good location). So I met up with Ajay at the bar and joined in with his friends that he introduced me to for some salsa dancing! Before I knew it, I was dancing with a girl I had just met (I don't even remember her name hahaha), no clue what I was doing, but I was having a good time! It was a pretty good atmosphere too, nice ambiance and decor, a little packed (it was a small place like most bars in NYC), and everyone was there to enjoy themselves - a really relaxed feeling. I don't know if it's a NY thing, but besides Ajay and the girl I danced with, everyone else he introduced me seemed a bit cold and involved with only they were immediately talking to (I've read that's quite common at clubs in NY).

Some views of the dance floor (the bars in the background of the 2nd and 4th photos).

After dancing for a while, me and Ajay were feeling hungry (since I hadn't eaten dinner...a small bowl of soup doesn't do much haha), so he took me to this Indian restaurant he regularly visits, often with CSers who he hosts. I didn't take any photos of place...all I got to remember it was the business card Ajay picked up for me. I'd recommend Banjara - even though it was completely packed, we were seated eventually, the service was great, and the food was really good. Ajay knew the owner since he'd been here so often, so she gave us both a free glass of house white wine while we waited to be seated (hey, better than nothing right?!). And after splitting the bill, we were off to a club/bar Ajay had in mind.

It was very cold, and it was quite a long walk, so we stopped inside the random bar along the way just to warm up for a minute. It wasn't packed, but then we discovered there was a back room that was hookah lounge. Wanting to remember that we stopped off here, me and Ajay both took a quick pick of the place, and then as we were about to leave, 2 guys from the hookah lounge came out and asked us about the photos...they seemed pretty sketchy and spaced out, so it was pretty easy to talk them down and leave without trouble hahaha.

We finally arrived at the bar/club (the bar/club scene reminds me of the bars in NZ hahaha). To this day, I had no clue where Ajay had taken me, but thanks to the awesome work of Google Maps, remembering there was a McDs we stopped at nearby after clubbing, and my incredible sense of direction (it works even when I'm drinking hahaha), I've discovered we went to La Caverna! Seems like a pretty appropriate name, since the entire place (set downstairs) was designed like a cavern.

I think it was around 11 pm or so when we got there, and it was pretty weak at first: the music sucked, there weren't many people inside... But then it suddenly picked up about a half hour later; the music got really good and the place was jam packed! And so we drank and danced the night away with random people we met. That's me with Ajay in the second photo (it's pretty obvious we were both pretty drunk since we couldn't take a good photo hahaha). The last photo shows how it really looked inside the bar (no camera flash).

My attempts to get a photo of the bar when we finally left sometime after 3 am. Using a compact camera, adding the fact I was shivering from the cold and still drunk, leads to blurry unusable photos hahaha. I edited the 1st photo to get the 2nd photo in an attempt to try to make out the bar name, but it's clearly not usable.

After a quick stop at a nearby McDs to get some food in us (I had a lot of beers that night...no clue how many hahaha), we parted ways, and I made the long cold walk alone back to the hostel. Was I finally going to get some much needed sleep? Nope! I just stopped in to change out of my clubbing clothes into something warmer, and then I headed for the subway. Next stop: Rockefeller Center, outside the NBC Studios entrance. Why deprive myself of sleep?

Well as it turns out, there was going to be a new episode of Saturday Night Live (SNL) that Saturday (Jan. 9th) and being a fan of SNL, I've always wanted to attend a live taping of the show! It was perfect timing for me, because SNL doesn't air a show every week and the schedule always fluctuates each year, so I never really knew until the last minute when new shows were aired. This week's guest host was former NBA star Charles Barkley, with Alicia Keys as musical guest. I didn't really care to see Barkley, but I was pretty excited about the chance to see Keys perform live.

So I went to NBC Studios to join the other SNL fans lining up for possible seats to the show. Without going into too much detail, this is why I had to line up: SNL gives out a limited number of tickets randomly each year in a lottery to each show, and in anticipation not everyone who wins one will be able to go to their assigned show, if you're willing to line up, NBC will give out standby tickets Saturday morning for open seats at either the live taping at 11:30 pm or the dress rehearsal earlier in the night, in order to have packed studio audiences. But a standby ticket doesn't guarantee anything; it's first-come-first-served, so if the audience is already packed, or the people in front of you fill up the remaining seats, then you go home empty handed.

So by the time I got to NBC Studios, it was shortly after 4 am, and there was already a well-established line (there's a lot of dedicated SNL fans). But I figured I was still close enough to the front to have a chance to get a decent standby ticket, so I decided to stay. The night only got worse from here. First, it was bone-chilling cold that night; I was all wrapped up wearing an undershirt, hoody with the hood up, scarf wrapped tight, toque on, winter jacket zippered and buttoned up, and I was still cold! Second, I was feeling really sick from all the drinking. For those of you that don't know, I'm one of those people that feel sicker the more I drink, which is why I never have hangovers in the morning - I get it during the night! Usually after clubbing, I go straight home and then straight for the bed, so I actually sleep through the sick feeling and never feel the worst stuff. Well, since I had to stay awake to line up, and I probably had too much to drink tonight, so I just kept feeling sicker with each passing minute (and the cold sure didn't help).

The next hour was brutal, so bad that I seriously considered just abandoning all this and going back to the hostel to sleep. After an hour or so of trying to endure the incredibly painful headache and to not to puke, I had to leave the line and go to the nearest public restroom still open, the 24-hour McDs all the way in Times Square! Miraculously, I managed to make it all the way there and after waiting a short while for the restroom to become free (one single-use restroom in a McDs in a heavy tourist area?!?), I was finally able to relieve my stomach through my mouth hahaha. And of course, I could now get my hands on the hangover cures: sport drink and greasy food, so I bought a Vitaminwater and a cheeseburger (which I actually never ate and ended up throwing it away at the end of the night since it was freezing cold and probably gone bad by then).

Lucky for me, when I got back to the line over half an hour later the guys behind me respected the water bottle I had left behind to mark my place. They really could have just told me to go to the end since I had been gone for so long and I wasn't having to suffer the cold for as long as they had...most groups rotated their members to go to McDs to stay warm because it was so cold out. By now, the line was quite long stretching down the sidewalk.

All the people in line. These photos were damaged too (taken with my phone), so I've included the big thumbnails I was able to recover. Most of the 2nd photo was saved (so the thumbnail wasn't really necessary), and it clearly shows just how long the lined stretched behind me.

Feeling some relief now and quite drained, my mind was no longer distracted by a constant, throbbing headache, and luckily there were crowd barriers at my position in line. So I sat down on the sidewalk, propped myself up against the barrier, and was finally able to peacefully close my eyes. And I actually managed to fall asleep on the sidewalk (despite the cold - my butt was so cold after)! I woke up just on time, a few minutes before 7 am, to the noise of passing pedestrians and a slightly brightened sky. Then around a quarter after 7, an NBC employee finally came out to hand out the standby tickets (NBC's website says at 7 am)! Now I had to quickly make a decision: whether to go for the dress rehearsal or the live taping ticket; you only get one, and generally there's a better chance to get into the dress rehearsal since the live taping is much more popular. But with my heart set on being a part of the live audience, when I finally got to the front, I chose the live taping ticket, and hoped that everything I just went through would be worth it in the end.

Then I walked as fast as I could back to the subway...I can't even begin to describe how badly I wanted to get into bed and just sleep at that point hahaha. I didn't get into bed until almost 8 am!

The fruits of my labour, my SNL standby ticket! I was #26 in the standby line for an open seat at the live show. I think it's safe to assume I actually took these photos when after waking up on Saturday? Hahaha.

So like I said, this was one long wild night, that actually seemed to fly by during the night (except for the last few hours). I had no clue at the beginning of the day that I would end up hopping through 3 different places later on at night, having Indian food for dinner, and finally partying it up in NY's night scene. I have to give much thanks to Ajay for showing me a good time, because if it weren't for him and his friendly nature, the night wouldn't have been possible, and I would never have went to any of the places by myself (since I didn't even know about them beforehand). Even as the night progressed, I couldn't have even imagined how my night would've ended - puking in McDs in Times Square and then sleeping out in the cold on the sidewalk outside NBC Studios! It may sound bad, but for me, it was a truly unique New York experience!

Friday, Part I: A long, grey day...

2010-04-30T10:41:00.010-04:00

With my second last day in NYC, I decided to go for more neighbourhood hopping (like I said, I really took advantage of the 7 day unlimited subway pass!). If I had remembered to visit Queens (since I didn't get a earlier chance to when I had originally intended to), I would have went there instead, but I completely forgot about it! Instead, my first stop was the Roosevelt Island Tramway.

Another truck covered in graffiti, passing through Astor Place.

On my way to the tram, passing by Bloomingdale's (1st and 3rd photos). It's sad to see discarded Christmas trees waiting for garbage pick-up (4th photo).

Finally at the tram, next to the Queensboro Bridge. There were so many pigeons here!

About to board the tram to Roosevelt Island. The awesome thing was that the 7 day unlimited subway pass could also be used with the tram so it was basically "free" for me to ride!

Some views along the tram ride, offering plenty of views of the Queensboro Bridge up close, as well as Manhattan and Roosevelt Island (last photo). I've done some heavy editing to the photos because it was really cloudy and the photos looked really dreary.

There isn't much of anything to see on Roosevelt Island really, it's mainly a residential area, so after snapping a few more photos of the Queensboro Bridge and watching the tram depart, I hopped on the next tram out.

About to board the next tram out. I was one of the first on so I got a much better seat this time for taking photos.

Some views on the return trip, including a look out over the East River (1st photo). I really like the 6th photo looking down 2nd Ave.; if you look carefully, you can spot cars parked on the roof of an apartment building on the right side of the photo!

Pigeons really liked hanging around the tram station for some reason.

One last look at the tram station.

On the way back to the subway, I passed by a Mexican food cart (the first I'd seen in NYC), so I picked up a tamale as a little snack, my very first time trying one! I quickly figured out you don't eat the corn husk on the outside hahaha.

A performer jamming in front of a colourful wall mural inside the NYC subway - can it get more New York than this?

Next stop: a visit to Harlem! As soon I stepped out onto the streets, I knew right away I was in a completely different neighbourhood of Manhattan - the buildings alone gave off a completely different atmosphere. With a big DSLR camera hanging around my neck, I could sense a lot of people looking at me as I walked down the streets hahaha. My main goal was to see the Apollo Theater, but then I accidentally stumbled upon a White Castle along the way, so it turned out to be the perfect time to stop for lunch!

My first time trying the famous White Castle sliders (of course, made famous by the first "Harold & Kumar" movie)! I got 4 sliders with cheese and 4 "White Castles" (the regular slider). It looks like I ordered a lot, but it's actually not much since they are sliders (think miniature burgers). It was actually pretty good fast food, I could see why so many people in the region like it (they won't franchise outside northeast US).

More views of Harlem after I finished my lunch. I think the 2nd photo really emphasizes what I meant about the area having a different feeling than the rest of Manhattan.

I hopped back onto the subway to head downtown, in search of the New York Times building. I had forgotten I had already seen it earlier during my first few days (while exploring the Times Square area), and was now incorrectly picturing it as the Daily News Building (which I had also already seen when I went to see the UN), which served as the model for the "Daily Planet" building in the Superman series (hahaha, yes, I'm a Superman fan). I was naively expecting to see a building with some big globe on the roof like in Superman haha (the globe is actually inside the lobby of the Daily News Building). Combine all this along with misinterpreting the NY Times building location on Google Maps (and I think Google Maps displayed the position wrong when I had searched for it), and somehow I ended up spending the rest of the afternoon on a lacklustre walk through the mainly residential area along 10th Ave. I think it's safe to assume I was only tourist here the entire time hahaha.

A close-up of the top of the Empire State Building.

Passing by Madison Square Garden again...another huge ad!

Some views as I walked west to 10th Ave., including passing by the James Farley Post Office (2nd photo; the main USPS office in NYC), another giant GTA ad (3rd photo), and St. Michael's Catholic Church (4th and 5th photos).

Now on 10th Ave., outside West Side Storage Yard Complex, where they stored the subway trains, an interesting and unexpected find! I was actually now beside the building which I had thought was the NY Times/Daily News building according to NY - turns out looking at Google Maps now, it was the building for the Associated Press and New York & Co. hahaha.

An interestingly designed road barrier I passed, now making my way down south on 10th Ave.

Cool, I didn't know I was so close to the Lincoln Tunnel!

Getting into the residential area now. I guess when you're tight on space, you come up with ways to make use of what's available, like building the playground on top of the school!

Some locals working out.

Some views along 10th Ave. as I inadvertently entered Chelsea! Like I said, it was a pretty lacklustre walk - there were so few people on the streets (maybe it was the dreary weather?)! There were some very interestingly designed buildings alone the way, so at least every so often I had something to look at. And believe it or not, the Lukoil gas station was the only gas station I saw the entire time while in NYC (4th photo); of course there's probably a bunch of them outside of the touristy areas.

I passed by Empire Diner while walking along 10th Ave. - it's the type of diner I picture when I think urban city diner! And there's also a diner in GTA IV that is based heavily on this diner hahaha (which is what it reminded me of)! I didn't go in since I'd already eaten not too long ago, and I'll probably never get a chance to - I just found out its closing forever this May 15th.

Some more views as I continued through Chelsea - another crazy parking garage (reminds me of a matchbox for cars haha)!

Cool, Chelsea Market!

Morimoto - (Iron Chef) Masaharu Morimoto's restaurant in NYC! If only I had the money to step foot inside hahaha.

Outside Chelsea Market, finally off 10th Ave. I really regret not having at least taken a glimpse inside, considering how much I love food and the Food Network (where the network is based and does a lot of their filming).

Some views along W 15th St. as I headed towards the nearest subway station...it was time to give my feet a much needed brief break hahaha.

Inside the 14th St. subway station, I noticed these very interesting bronze sculptures - they're quite humourous, and I never expected to see anything like this!

About to exit a subway station.

Back at Rockefeller Plaza, now able to take some photos I didn't have a chance to previously take due to the huge crowds (now all gone). My real intention was to try skating in the plaza's famous ice rink, but I guess it wasn't meant to be: it was surprisingly quite expensive to rent skates and be allowed to get onto the ice (well to be honest, I really shouldn't have been surprised), and I got there just a few minutes before they were about go on a 30 minute break (I assume to flood the ice).

So instead of skating, I actually went inside the NBC Experience Store this time, taking a look at all the products they had to offer. I was debating whether to buy a "The Tonight Show with Conan O'Brien" coffee mug, and ultimately decided against it; I should have got one...hindsight is always 20/20 ain't it?! They had some pretty funny stuff there, especially "The Office" products.

I passed by the Magnolia Bakery while heading back to the subway. I know nothing about this bakery, and I didn't bother popping in to take a look (since there was a huge line of people inside), but whatever they make must be really good because it was always packed whenever I passed by (including the times I passed it during previous days). Judging from what I could see through the windows though, I'm guessing probably cupcakes?

I decided to go for soup again at the Soupman back in Astor Place; what can I say, his soup is good! I went for the chicken noodle soup this time since it was on special sale, and once again, I came away very satisfied. The only flaw I could find was that the noodles were a bit overcooked - but that's probably because the soup was kept heated for so long (and thus not enough turnover).

Then back to the hostel to get ready for a Friday night out...

My date with Lady Liberty: Part II

2010-04-30T07:24:00.009-04:00

I was surprised how long I spent at Ellis Island - a lot of people actually skip it because they just want to see the Statue of Liberty and be on their way. It's been turned into quite a detailed museum showing the history of Ellis Island and its role in immigration in the US. Whoever set it up definitely put a lot of effort into it. But I had no idea I'd spend several hours here...I even had to grab some lunch here because it was taking so long to look at everything!

Approaching Ellis Island.

Finally on Ellis Island.

The first display, set in the lobby.

The displays on the ground floor.

The famous registration hall.

It was so eerie walking through the original hallways, now leading into the museum displays; it reminded me of the hallways in an insane asylum in a horror movie hahaha.

Some of the interesting displays in the section focusing on how things worked at Ellis Island; the 6th photo is my favourite, I couldn't help but smile when I read the quote.

Some of the things I found interesting in the section focusing on the journey of and attitude towards immigrants.

The type of clothes immigrants wore.

A look at the registration hall back in the day.

Showing the gradual development of Ellis Island.

The view from the second floor of the registration hall.

Some of the old pillars were preserved, which show the things new immigrants wrote and drew on the pillars while waiting at Ellis Island.

An example of the temporary housing provided at Ellis Island for those detained.

Back outside. I actually just missed the ferry while deciding whether I should stay and have lunch at Ellis Island or wait until I got back to Manhattan. So with plenty of time until the next ferry came, I ended up eating lunch at Ellis Island. The chicken burger I had actually wasn't too bad, and I got to watch a family throw out half of their lunches just because they didn't like it...I don't know what more to say about that haha.

Waiting for the next ferry to arrive.

Back on the ferry to Manhattan. I honestly had no idea visiting the Statue of Liberty and Ellis Island would be almost a full day trip - I got back to Manahttan well into the afternoon, and I had initially thought I'd get back shortly after noon. I had no more time the rest of the day to really see anything in daylight.

Back in Battery Park, there was a group of 3 street performers just about to begin their little show, so I joined the crowd and watched. They were pretty decent, but they were hustlers at heart. They hyped up their final trick, one guy jumping over 5 people in ascending height taken from the crowd, and then collected money from the crowd to before performing their finale. I was smart not to give anything, but they actively pressured so many people into giving something - really gives a bad reputation to street performers. I real felt sorry for one young European couple - the guy generously gave them a $20 USD bill(!), and then the performers had the nerve to pressure them for another $20 (which he gave!)! And of course, the finale was nothing spectacular; after lining up all 5 people, they ended up taking away the 2 tallest at the end, and then asked the 3 to crouch down, and then one of the performers jumped over them...very misleading since they had all 5 people standing lined up the whole time while they were hyping up the finale. The best thing about all this was that a few metres away, some guys had just begun to set up a cart selling "I (heart) NY" hoodies as the performers finished, so I was able to pick up a hoody for only $15 USD (the cheapest I had seen the whole time in NY, but obviously you get what you pay for...very cheap quality)!

After resting for a bit back at the hostel, I actually went up to Times Square again, this time to the TKTS booth. I was so impressed with "A View From The Bridge" that I just wanted to see another! I really had my heart set on seeing a musical, especially Wicked, but because Wicked was regularly sold out, they rarely appeared at TKTS (they heavily offer discounted tickets to Broadway and off-Broadway shows). So I ended up buying a ticket to "Time Stands Still." I had seen an ad for it in the program for "A View From The Bridge," and decided to see it because it was another limited engagement show, and it starred Laura Linney (I remember her from "Fraiser"), who I knew was a good actress and had a good reputation for her theatre performances. It also starred Alicia Silverstone and I was interested to see how she performed on stage since all I remembered about her was her portrayal of Batgirl in "Batman & Robin" hahaha.

And then I was off in search of Burger Joint, rated as one of the best, if not the best burger place in NYC! I remember reading about it in English chef Heston Blumenthal's book "In Search of Perfection." Being a food buff, of course I had to pay it a visit, but I actually almost completely forgot about it - I had thought about it before arriving in NYC, but had gone the entire trip up until this point without even thinking about it! It would have been such a shame to miss it. And then while out and about on the streets, I almost didn't find it! I spent a huge costly chunk of time (I'll expand on that soon) trying to find the Le Parker Meridien hotel, since Burger Joint is located inside the hotel. The problem was I completely memorized the location wrong when I searched it up on Google Maps earlier, and it wasn't until I passed by my old lodging at the Rockefeller Center Hotel that I finally found my way! Once again, the Rockefeller Center Hotel served me well, only bolstering my opinion of the place. Out of all the hotels I passed in the area (and I'm pretty sure I passed almost all of them), it was the only one I could get a usable Wifi signal with my phone while standing outside their lobby, and so I was finally able to search up the location. The problem was compounded by the fact that the Le Parker Meridien really did not stand out; if anything, its exterior is designed as if it doesn't want to be found!

Passing by Carnegie Hall while looking for the Le Parker Meridien hotel.

I finally found it! See what I mean? Unless the location was previously known, anyone could easily walk by without noticing it was the Le Parker Meridien hotel. But I soon found out all the searching was worth it.

Tucked away in a dark corner, all that indicated there was even something there was a single, small neon sign that anyone could easily pass without noticing. I remember reading in Blumenthal's book that the Burger Joint could be hard to find because it was quietly tucked away in an inconspicuous corner of the lobby, and he was right, but luckily since I had read about it, I found it with ease. The first photo is of how the entrance really looks, and the second photo is the same photo which I greatly brightened after editing to show dark it really was.

Some looks around the tiny, constantly crowded Burger Joint while I stood in line to order. I could instantly tell how popular this place was among the locals. I haven't altered the photos that much, it really was that dim and orange inside the place. And I really liked the quirky decorations along the wall - mostly movie and TV posters signed by cast members who ate at the restaurant before and other signatures of celebrities and professional athletes.

How to order(!); they're surprisingly strict about the ordering process.

Watching the beef patties cook; they work fast, which is why they're all blurred.

A look at the counter after I placed my order, 2 cheeseburgers with "The Works" and a Coke. I know, I could have easily just had one burger, but how often do I get a chance to eat at the best rated burger place in NYC? This was surprisingly my most expensive meal while in NYC! I spent almost $20 for the 2 burgers and pop (it was something like $8 USD per burger and $2.50 USD for the pop, I don't remember exactly); word to the wise, don't bother getting pop, that's the biggest rip-off.

A look at the last wall, with a small old-fashioned TV tucked away in the corner.

Like I said, the place was constantly crowded, but I was lucky enough to grab an open seat shortly after ordering just as a group had finished with the table. I was so excited to unwrap my first burger!

So far so good!

Perfection!!! Just the right amount of condiments (you don't feel like you're getting short-changed but it's also not overstuffed, and it tastes quite fresh), oooy-gooy cheese melted over a perfectly grilled real beef patty (not burnt!), juicy flavour-bursting beef that was soft and chewy and just the right texture, and thin buns that perfectly complimented the rest of the burger (it was the right texture and flavour, not like the cheap doughy stuff from supermarkets or that some restaurants and fast food joints offer, thin enough to not take up unnecessary mouth space, but just thick enough so that all the ingredients wouldn't soak through or break up the bread). Honestly couldn't ask for a more perfect burger...worth every penny! I completely understand why so many people love this place. The bun was actually one of my favourite parts! I've never had such a good burger bun that perfectly complimented everything else - whoever designed the burger put a lot of thought into each component. The only flaw I found was that I had ordered medium for both burgers, and they both came out closer to medium-well to well-done.

I came at the right time - when I left, the line had grown even longer, with people lined up all the way out into the hotel's lobby, and the line never once cleared the whole time I was there!

Enjoying my second burger while waiting for the subway. Remember how I said I spent way too much time trying to find the place? Well the reason I was so time crunched was that I had to make the Broadway show, otherwise I would have obviously preferred taking my time to enjoy the second burger in the restaurant. I had to go back to the hostel to drop off my camera before I went to see the show (I didn't know there was baggage check at the theatre!) and then ride back up to Times Square. And then I wasted even more time trying to find the Friedman Theatre - I had no clue where it was, didn't have time to look it up, and ended up having to ask a police officer for directions. Sadly, I ended up getting to the theatre 5 minutes late, so I had to wait in the lobby for another 10 minutes waiting for the opportunity to be seated without disturbing the actors on stage, so I ended up missing around the first 15 minutes of the play!

This brings to mind one of the few complaints I have about the NYC subway system - the time between trains is (surprisingly) waayyy too long, especially for such a big city. Even the TTC runs trains more frequently, and I found even during peak hours the time delay between trains was still over 4 minutes!!! If the subway had run more frequently, I could have easily made the play on time.

My Broadway experience wasn't as good this time. At first I was really excited, knowing I'd be watching a very good actress, and getting 50% off orchestra level seats! But it was a little annoying missing the introduction of the play and just getting thrown in part-way into the story. At first, I quickly got over this because of the well-written story and solid acting by all performers, but my attention kept getting disturbed by the incredibly annoying man sitting behind me who kept coughing and clearing his throat the entire play! At the end, everyone in my row that sat near him commented on how disturbing he was, and I even overheard his wife telling him to stop or to go outside during the play (hahaha)!

But the acting was top notch! Very impressive performance by Laura Linney and the rest of the cast. Alicia Silverstone really played her character quite well, I was really impressed with how well she did. Eric Bogosian was also starred in the play, I recognized him from the commercials for "Law & Order: Criminal Intent" hahaha. The set design was very nice, and it was a small cast of only 4 actors, Broadway actor Brian d'Arcy James being the fourth cast member. Very briefly, it's about how a photographer and journalist couple readjust to life at home in Manhattan after recovering from injuries sustained from a road-side bomb while on assignment in a war-torn country. It was a very heavy drama - I had no idea it'd be that heavy, especially since I really wanted to see something light and musical after seeing a drama the previous night, but it was still a good play; I'd definitely recommend it for those looking for something serious. And strangely enough, this time, there was no crowd of people waiting outside to get autographs!?

But then the night wasn't over just yet. After getting back from the show, I headed out to the nearby bar, Nevada Smith's, where the Couchsurfers in NY were having their weekly meet-up. I grabbed a beer (even though I probably shouldn't have been drinking so soon after getting better) and got to meet some locals and other travellers, which was a good change of pace from the hostel, where everyone seemed to keep to themselves there. Nothing wild, just simple meet-and-greets (especially since I got there a little late), and then it was time to call it a night.

And that wrapped up another long day in NYC. I had spent such a huge chunk of my day visiting the Statue of Liberty that it really seemed like I had spent the whole day with Lady Liberty. Honestly, if you're strapped for time and didn't book a crown ticket in advance, I highly recommend you skip the pedestal ticket and just see the statue from ground level - all the waiting just isn't worth it unless you're going all the way to the top. And what better way to end a "date" than with the best burgers in town and a Broadway show, right?

My date with Lady Liberty: Part I

2010-04-29T11:40:00.004-04:00

I couldn't visit NYC without visiting the Statue of Liberty right? So the next day, I woke up bright and early and was out first thing in the morning, determined to not be turned away by a "sold out" sign. And I was finally successful, arriving at the ticket booth before 9 am.

For the third time this week, on the path from Rector Place subway station to Battery Park, passing by Brooklyn-Battery Tunnel.

Inside Castle Clinton National Monument (formerly Castle Garden) after buying my ferry and pedestal ticket. I wanted to buy a crown ticket, but they were sold out all the way into February! I honestly had no clue the crown tickets were so limited and pre-booking was absolutely necessary - something to keep in mind next time I go to NYC.

Finally aboard the ferry, with views of the Statue of Liberty and Ellis Island in the distance (2nd photo) and the Castle Clinton National Monument (3rd photo; the fort on the left side). It took forever to get on, first waiting to line to go through security check, then going through security check as stringent as airport security check (9/11 really ruined everything for everybody), and then lining up to get onto the ferry.

Some views along the ferry ride of the southern tip of Manhattan (1st and 3rd photos), the US Coast Guard (2nd photo), Ellis Island (4th photo), and of course, approaching the Statue of Liberty! It was such a nice day too which made for awesome photos, way better than the first time I got to see the statue.

Me with the Statue of Liberty and Manhattan!

Almost at Liberty Island.

The old ferry boat? Hahaha.

The view from the dock.

Finally on the island!

Say what you will about the US, one thing they're very good at is inspiring patriotism.

Info board.

A view of the back of the statue.

Panoramic view of Jersey City, Ellis Island, Manhattan, and Brooklyn from Liberty Island!

Posing with Manhattan.

Now for more waiting... To get to the pedestal, I had to join yet another long, sllooowwwww line to get to yet another security screening that was even more stringent that airport screening (and much slower than at the airport). Honestly, I know how important an icon the statue is to the US, but going through another security check on the island seemed completely redundant since the only way for any tourist to get to the island would be via the one ferry, which does the same screening beforehand. What could possible change on the ferry ride? But anyway, after getting through the security check point, I finally on my way to get up to the pedestal.

The big door at the entrance into the pedestal.

The previous torch, now on display. I didn't know that the torch had gone through so many revisions since the statue was first put up.

To get to the top of the pedestal, I had to go through the Statue of Liberty museum first. A copy of the face of the statue at the entrance.

The plaque that used to be on display outside on the statue.

Showing the history of designing the statue.

Replicas of the ear and foot.

Custom supporting beams needed for the statue's frame.

Showing the statue's construction and insides.

The plaque for the pedestal that used to be on display outside.

More history about the statue's construction.

Summarizing the construction stages.

Marking the completion.

The roles the statue has played.

Looking down along the stairs inside pedestal. Of course with my luck, the elevator was down, so I had to walk up all the flights of stairs to get to the top of the pedestal.

Another panoramic view, this time from the top of of the pedestal. (I don't know why Picasa isn't displaying the uploaded full size of the photo. Download it from Picasa to get the full view where all the details can be seen!)

The view down below!

Posing with Manhattan again.

Looking up at Lady Liberty from the top of the pedestal.

New York Harbour busy at work.

Brooklyn Bridge from the top of the pedestal.

They set up windows along the ceiling for views inside the statue, including the winding staircase those with crown tickets need to climb top get to the crown (2nd photo).

A look up at the supporting beams inside the pedestal as I made my way back down.

Looking out from the lower platform.

The view of the statue from the lower platform.

I was shocked to see the NYPD were doing K9 dog tests that day at the statue?!

The view of the statue from all 4 corners of the bottom star-shaped platform.

The Statue of Liberty really is something.

This shot was a lot harder to take than it might look, because I was shooting blindly, having to guess where to put the lens so I wouldn't cut my face off or the top of the statue.

I don't know why, but I like this photo.

The run-down dock facing Manhattan.

Me with Lady Liberty from the ground level.

One more close-up.

Next stop: Ellis Island.

Waiting for the next ferry to come.

I was so confused when I saw this - wasn't it a little too late to be migrating south and a little too early to be migrating back north?

A seagull actually attacked an innocent bystander's head!

On board the ferry (I was one of the first on), looking down upon the huge crowd waiting to board.

One more look at the statue's back as the ferry departed for Ellis Island...

Broadway bound!

2010-04-28T19:44:00.008-04:00

More lots of rest did the trick. I was ready to get back on my feet exploring the city, no medication required anymore. I'm still surprised now how quickly I bounced back...I guess when there's a will, there's a way. And so I was back to hopping through the different neighbourhoods of Manhattan.

Taking a walk through the neighbouring St. Marks Place. I figured this would be a good place to start the morning since I still hadn't explored the street in daylight yet. Lots of unique shops selling all sorts of funky stuff, and surprisingly a lot of Japanese restaurants and stores in the area too.

A look around Battery Park at things I missed earlier. I figured since it was still relatively early in the morning, I'd have a good shot at getting a ticket to the Statue of Liberty...I was wrong, all sold out!

Heading up north through Battery Park City...

...where I eventually ended up back at Ground Zero.

I randomly wandered into the World Financial Center complex, where I got a much better view of the ongoing work at Ground Zero (1st and 3rd photos) and a view across the Hudson River at Jersey City, NJ.

Cross formed from beams from the World Trade Center to remember the victims of 9/11.

I headed back east and found myself on Broadway, at the City Hall area.

Some views as I continued heading north. The last few photos really demonstrate how hard it is to get usable shots of building exteriors because of the heavy shadows (if I increased the ISO or tried longer exposure, the entire sky and nearby details would have whited out).

I ended walking all the way up to Canal St. and right next to Chinatown...

...so I figured I might as well take a quick look at Chinatown just along Canal St. I think it goes without saying it was a completely different environment during the day compared to when I came at night: people (mostly tourists) crowded the sidewalks looking for souvenirs, cheap goods, and other things a Chinatown would be known for, shop owners carefully watching people looking at their goods, the sidewalks littered with stands selling various items...

I headed back west, and then south of Canal St. into Tribeca. I was expecting to see some lavish residential buildings (since a lot of celebrities live in the area) but didn't see anything like that. Instead I actually walked by a small drug deal going on in one of the side streets - they all watched me as I walked by hahaha. The last 3 photos again show just how hard it was to get usable photos with all the tall buildings around in Manhattan - the shadows are so heavy in the last 2 photos that I couldn't adjust them without getting a photo like the 11th photo, where I was trying to grab a shot of the fire escape stairs.

Unimpressed with Tribeca, I found my way back to Broadway and headed back north, into Soho. Lots of high-end stores here, and even more shoppers on the streets. I popped into a few small sneaker boutiques here but didn't find anything interesting.

At E Houston St., about to cross into Noho.

I continued up north, through Noho. There weren't as many people here, but still some nice buildings to look at.

Before continuing north through Astor Place, I stopped off for lunch at Cozy Soup & Burger for some much deserved diner fare. They're supposedly well-known for their...soup and burgers hahaha! And its true, they had a long list of soups and burgers. I had some special burger (I think it was the "Astor Place" burger or something along those lines) and matzo ball soup! Believe it or not, it was my very first time trying matzo ball soup, and I found it quite satisfying! Plus, you can't go wrong with hot soup after walking around in the cold all morning. Then I continued up walking up through Astor Place...

...and finally arriving at Union Square - full of history and activity! Some very interesting sights here. I particularly liked the parked truck (last photo; graffiti can be a real art-form as the truck clearly demonstrates hahaha.

As I continued to explore Union Square Park, I noticed there was a farmer's market set up, so I decided to take a look.

And I got some hot, fresh, real apple cider. I can't even begin to describe how nice and soothing it was on such a cold day, especially after being constantly outside (the trail of steam is even evident in the photo!). You could tell it was real and fresh just by the explosion of apple flavour (with just the right touch of cinnamon and spices) and the clearly visible pieces of apple skin (that's why the drink looks cloudy)!

While sitting and enjoying some of the simpler things in life like enjoying hot apple cider on a sunny brisk winter day, I was entertained by a bird that was trying to feed on some discarded bread. It actually had to fight off a bunch of smaller birds to eat in peace, and then it had to break up the bread into a smaller chuck so that it could easily eat it (2nd photo).

Some views as I headed west and then south from Union Square and into Greenwich Village! The taxis in NYC have come a long way haven't they?...SUV taxis seemed so foreign (2nd photo).

I eventually stumbled upon a subway station, and decided to ride the subway up to Penn Station too get a closer look at it (since last time I was carrying my bag around and distracted with trying to find my way around).

Inside Madison Square Garden.

Revisiting the area around Penn Station that I had passed through when I first arrived in NYC since I didn't really take the time to absorb everything the first time.

A seemingly misplaced statue that I passed as I continued on northward (it's of a man sewing some cloth, but there were banks all around).

Fast food is sooo cheap in the US (no, I didn't go in hahaha).

As I continued north, it was only inevitable that I'd end up back in Times Square! I was completely surprised to see that huge ad for some coat company featuring the image of Barack Obama - I heard on the news a few days after that Obama's people asked the company to take down the ad for improperly using his image.

Continuing north through Times Square, I eventually headed east...

...and back to Rockfeller Plaza! I had no initial intention to head this way, but I figured since I was nearby I might as well take a look. Now almost a week after New Year's day, there were noticeably a lot less people here. And then I stopped off for a nice hearty salad at the Lenny's in the food court of Rockfeller Center.

Outside the NBC Experience Store.

Outside Cort Theatre. When I had stopped off for lunch in Astor Place, I had also dropped by the hostel, where I decided to order a ticket to see a Broadway show! I decided to see "A View From The Bridge" at Cort Theatre, so I was swinging by to pick up my ticket.

Halal chicken on rice, from the halal food cart, out in Times Square under the bright lights - I don't know if a dinner could get be a more New York experience than this! Sure it was cold, but the food was fresh and hot off the grill, and was actually really good - it was filling, pretty good quality (especially since I didn't had any troubles the next day hahaha), and only around $6 USD! Everyone passing by kept looking at me like I was crazy to be eating out in the cold, but they obviously didn't know how cool it was to be eating dinner outside in Times Square, watching life pass by as I sat and enjoyed my food and soaked everything in!

The crystal ball was still up on display?!

I realized I never took a photo of the "mix tape" I bought a few days earlier, so I thought now would be a good time - the marker signing had rubbed off by now.

The ticket to my first ever Broadway show! (On a side note, since the blanket is in the background, I never once saw the hostel change the blue blankets to wash them while I was there...ewww right? Hahaha.)

Inside Cort Theatre before the show started. The photos are really grainy because I took them with my phone (cameras weren't allowed inside) and it was really dim inside (the stage was all dark; 2nd photo).

Outside the theatre after show. Remember how I mentioned in my earlier posts about NY that a lot of my photos taken with my phone were damaged after I accidentally deleted them? Well the first 3 photos show just how extensive the damage was; I did manage to recover intact thumbnails for the ones that got damaged and I enlarged them a bit so that they could at least be viewable (last 3 photos).

When I got outside after the show, I noticed barricades had been set up and people were starting to wait along these barricades. Not knowing what was really going on, I decided to wait along with the others that chose to stay behind. Apparently, this happens after most Broadway shows, where patrons and collectors line up outside the exit after the show to get the actors' signatures, but I had no clue this was what usually happened, so I just stood there for 10 - 15 minutes just wondering what everyone was doing hahaha. And then the 2 leads finally came out, Liev Schreiber (1st - 3rd photos; that's my program that he signed in the 3rd photo!; again, blurry because it was my phone) and Scarlett Johansson (4th photo)! I had no idea Scarlett was that short; I never once saw her face because she was looking down the whole time to sign autographs and her hat covered her face from where I stood.

Liev (I remember him as Sabertooth in the recent "X-Men Origins: Wolverine" movie) was really friendly, chatting up with all the fans and signing everything put in front of him, but Scarlett seemed more reserved, not saying much and just signing a few here and there. Liev even signed my program! But it was like Scarlett was snubbing me hahaha. I was in the 2nd/3rd row, had my hand out with program in reach of the barricade, and she was working her way down my side. She got to the program next to me, but then skipped my program and went on to the program on the other side of me! Then when she got near the end of my side, she actually came back to where I was, signed another program that one guy was holding out next to me, and then left for her car, skipping me yet again!!! Hahahaha.

The show was great; very fluid and interesting story and great acting and character development - you know it's a good drama play when you feel like you're pulled right into the story! Without going into too much detail, it's set in 1950s Brooklyn, where Liev's character is the uncle of Scarlett's character, having raised her from a child, and conflict arises when the cousins of Liev's character's wife illegally immigrate from Italy and stay with them while they work to build a life for themselves in America (Google it for the full back drop).

What drew me to this particular play with some many shows available on Broadway? Well for one, it was a limited engagement, having just wrapped up on April 4th this year. And I'm not going to lie, it was also because I wanted to see Scarlett Johansson's Broadway debut! Plus, the play had quite a few celebrities in it - I've always found it interesting how well movie and TV stars can transition to the stage where there's no takes or camera effects to enhance a performance. Scarlett actually gave a pretty decent performance for her first time on Broadway, but she needs some more experience to get better. Jessica Hecht, who played Liev's wife, gave a very solid performance as well (I remember her as Susan on "Friends"). But it was Liev's performance that really stole the show - I had no idea he was such a good actor! Everyone outside was congratulating him on his performance, and it was well-deserved. I completely believed his character and his performance was one of the main things that drew me into the story; at the end, I really felt empathy for him. It's too bad it's finished now, because I would've highly recommended anyone to go see it! What better way to end a day in NYC than seeing a show on Broadway!

A day at the MET: Part II

2010-04-26T19:16:00.005-04:00

Let's continue!

Back in the hall that led to the paintings and modern art area (this was the only way back out of this section).

Overlooking a hall filled with giant sculptures.

Now in a section focused on Christian artifacts.

I think at this point, I was passing through 2 different neighbouring sections, one on Christian artwork and the other on classical furniture; like I said earlier, it was a maze of hallways.

I managed to find my way into the hall with large sculptures that I had passed by earlier on the second floor. I really like how the 3rd photo turned out; shooting fast enough to black out the background really emphasized the look of anguish on his face.

The section on the other side of the hall that I wandered into. I found the sculpture of the baby to be really creepy looking hahaha (3rd photo).

This area focused more on Native artwork. The big wooden sculpture suspended in the glass case looked like some weird alien to me hahaha (last photo).

This section focused on pieces from Africa. Some pretty interesting pieces here too.

I had somehow looped back around close to where I had started, and this time, I managed to find the stairwell to the second floor overlooking the big hall with all the Greek sculptures. There were a lot of smaller artifacts here too (1st photo).

Down the long hall that led to the big square hall - I previously skipped going down this area too.

Passing by the main staircase set at the centre of the museum's main lobby. Just to give an idea of how much I missed, I never got to see what was at the top of those stairs.

Leading into another area with Christian pieces and artwork.

A huge section dedicated to more Christian artifacts. It might be hard to tell since I brightened a lot of the photos, but it was really dark in here; I'm not too sure why they were trying to create such a Gothic setting... Some very interesting pieces here too. There was a giant Christmas tree completely decorated with Christian ornaments and a large display around the base having to do with the Nativity scene. Unfortunately, no photos of the tree were allowed, which I assume was because this was a special display they probably only put up one time a year, and there were even guards are the tree to prevent any photography, so I had to shoot it from far away (12th photo).

I managed to cross back into the area focused on classical furniture, though I didn't see any of this the previous time.

And I ended up back in the hall with all the large sculptures, so I figured I might as well take some more photos of sculptures I didn't look at the first time (like I said, I skimmed many of the pieces).

I had to turn back around if I wanted to see new areas since I had seen all this earlier, so I made my way back through the section devoted to Christian works and artifacts. I spotted many additional interesting pieces of work, like the massive collection of small engraved tablets arranged in a particular order that I think were of the Christian saints (6th photo, I don't remember exactly since I stopped just to take the photo). Passing by the Christmas tree again, I couldn't pass up the opportunity and decided to risk taking a photo of it close-up (7th photo). Obviously, I couldn't take one directly in front of it, but I managed to get a pretty good shot from the side - so much work obviously went into setting it up that there was no way I could not take a photo to remember it!

At this point, the guards began actively herding people out of the museum because it was about 10-15 minutes before closing time. I found myself back at the main stairwell, and stopped by the side of the exit to take this one last photo, and then an over-aggressive security guard jerk started harassing me about no photography since the museum was closing now...as if me stopping that one extra second, already right next to the exit, to take 2 photos of the flight of stairs - not even artwork (this I would at least see some reasoning behind being stopped) - would compromise the entire integrity of the security of the museum hahaha; I wasn't blocking the exit and I didn't see any postings of a rule stating that no photography was allowed while exiting the museum...some security folk take their jobs way too seriously (*cough*failed cop tryouts*cough*).

Walking through Upper East Side. Even at night the area seemed really high-class hahaha. I was heading for the subway to get to...

Grand Central - 42nd St. station? Well not exactly, but it was as close as I could get to Times Square using the subway from where I was in the Upper East Side.

And even though I had already taken similar shots before, somehow, these photos looked different than my previous photos (I think it's because of the different ads they play on the giant screens).

I don't know why, but I felt like taking a peek inside the Toys'R'Us. I couldn't believe how huge it was - it had an operational ferris wheel ride at the entrance!

Why did I go back to Times Square? Well besides the fact that I loved the area, I wanted to try eating at Ellen's Stardust Diner (which I had passed by several days earlier). There were always long lines whenever I passed it the previous days, but there was no line this time, so it was like it was meant to be haha. A '50s styled diner with singing waitstaff, what's not to like? The food was actually pretty good - I had the guacamole chicken burger (last photo; it's blurry because I took it with my phone) - but pricey, but the obvious attraction was the singing waitstaff, who all rotate singing classic hits from the '50s - '60s eras. My waitress (3rd photo) had a decent voice and got a few of the customers to join in, but the server with the styled hair gave the most entertaining performance, jumping up on a section divider and belting out these comical wavering sounds to make fun of the song he was singing (4th and 5th photos).

Back in the subway, there was a woman singing opera! Even the cops were watching hahaha. I had been doing pretty good so far, but I didn't want to push it, so after dinner, I headed straight back to the hostel for more sleep. The day ended up a lot more productive than I had initially thought, which is always good!

A day at the MET: Part I

2010-04-26T17:04:00.009-04:00

The MET, aka. the Metropolitan Museum of Art. One of the world's largest art museums, and synonymous with NYC. So of course, I considered it a "must visit." I didn't want to waste any unnecessary time in bed but I also knew I couldn't push myself to continue hanging out in the cold, so the MET seemed like the perfect thing to do - it'd let me stay inside, and I'd be visiting the MET.

I guess getting as much rest as early as possible once the symptoms become present is the key to recovering from a flu, my body was still in travel mode, or my mind willed my body to do it since I knew I couldn't waste any time. But whatever the reason, I recovered from the flu surprisingly very quickly - I think it's the fastest I've ever done it. I awoke just before the hostel stopped serving free breakfast, so I grabbed a few things and then headed back to back. I went in and out of consciousness for the next couple of hours as the cleaning crew came in for the daily cleaning (the typical kind you'd find at a hotel/motel in the US - I found it surprisingly because I wasn't used to seeing a dedicated cleaning service in a hostel before staying in the US). I finally woke up again at around noon, groggy and still a bit warm, but feeling like I could actually head out! And after finishing my breakfast and popping some cold pills, I was back outside, on my way to the MET.

Astor Place. This area became my residence for the rest of my stay in NYC.

The Soupman restaurant I had dinner at the previous night. If you watched Seinfeld, then you'll know who the "soup nazi" is, and apparently, the character was based on the chef who started the Soupman chain (although he's supposedly not anything like the Seinfeld character). Like I said before, his soup was really good (though a bit pricey), but this particular location was a bit strange - it shared its location with a Cold Stone Creamery! Ice cream and soup...strange combination haha.

At Washington Square Park. The park was so close to the subway station and it was such a nice day, that despite still recovering, I felt I just had to see it; I don't know why I didn't just wait until another day. Of course, with my luck, part of the park was closed due to construction (1st photo)! I assume the evergreen beside the Washington Square Arch was there as a Christmas tree, like the one at Grand Army Plaza in Brooklyn.

I didn't know NYU was right next door to the park. See Columbia University and NYU without meaning to, check and check.

Back outside the MET.

Inside the main lobby. All the people are a testament to how popular the place is. I arrived with about 3-4 hours left before closing time, and there were still plenty of people buying tickets. I read somewhere that it takes at least 6 hours to skim through everything in the entire museum, but figured I could do it in two thirds the time - little did I realize just how enormous the MET really is...

Taking photos in an art museum is a good exercise of photography skills: flash can't be used, there's often dim lighting in the rooms and harsh lighting on the pieces, and there are plenty of perspectives to choose from for most pieces. It also shows the limitations of the camera and lens in use. My XSi really faltered here - the auto white balance really struggled, leaving me to spend a lot of time doing quick colour editing to all my photos from the MET, so some strange colouring may be noticeable in some photos...I guess that's what I get for buying an entry-level DSLR.

I should also warn that there are a lot of photos to follow, the most I've ever had in one series of posts (I have to split this into multiple posts otherwise it'll get way too long). I really rushed through everything I saw, not taking the time to read any of the background info behind the pieces or really get a good look at them, and I can estimate I only saw no more than two thirds of all the public galleries in the museum, and even then, I'm definitely sure I missed a handful of galleries in the area I attempted to cover because of the maze of hallways (and I didn't bother using the museum map). So if one was to read the background info and briefly study each piece on display, it would easily take at least 2-3 full days to cover everything inside, just to give an idea just how many things there are to see at the MET. Now keeping this in mind, I only took photos of pieces that interested me so that I could look at them later on. So putting that all in perspective, there were actually many more photos I could have taken. So with that, enjoy the photos (a lot of effort went into getting these photos up), and I'll try to keep the commentary to a minimum hahaha.

The first section I walked through - even at this point I was impressed with the collection. Walk can I say, I'm a sucker for ancient armour hahaha. Some pretty interesting pieces here, like the eyes (those were kind of creepy haha) and the carvings with missing bodies, body parts, and heads (I guess since not everything could be recovered).

Next section, with lots of very intricate, detailed work (check out the 16th, 19th, and 20th photos). The main hall had plenty more sculptures with missing heads and body parts. The sculpture of the woman had so many missing pieces she looked horribly disfigured (23rd photo). I found the sculpture of the "African youth" quite interesting - it shows how the Greek perceived the Africans (7th photo).

I was now on the second floor. I was actually looking for a way to get to the second floor overlooking the big hall of all the Greek sculptures, but I couldn't find one and ended up in this section.

Finally, I got to the section with paintings! For some reason, I pictured numerous rooms filled with paintings when I thought of the MET, so I was really expecting to see these type of galleries the most when I got here.

Modern, more abstract, artwork. Some very interesting pieces here, like the big shiny concave structure made of hundreds of tiny mirrors (1st and 2nd photos), the sculpture of a man crouching down attached to the side of the wall (8th photo), and the various sculptures. I'm one of those people that can't believe some artists make thousands of dollars with a painting anyone else could make, but makes up some unique perspective that the painting is supposed to show that suddenly makes them an artistic genius, ie. the paintings in the 3rd, 10th, 12th, 13th, and 17th photos.

I wandered into a special (ie. limited time) gallery of Japanese items, including swords, armour, clothing, and artwork. Unfortunately, there was no photography allowed in this gallery (even though I saw some people seek some with compact cameras); I managed to get off this shot at the entrance before I was told photos weren't allowed (I didn't see any postings saying not to?!). I preferred seeing the exact same things in Japan, obviously, hahaha.

I think this is a good place to split up the post. More great photos to come!

Great start, awful finish...

2010-04-24T10:11:00.011-04:00

It's funny how much earlier I can wake up when the bed is a lot less comfy and just barely hit me hahaha. At least I was finally able to start the day with a decent breakfast, thanks to the free bagels (most likely "day olds"), free fruit (quite ripe apples, oranges, and bananas), and free coffee and OJ (instant mix variety, closer to Tang) included with price! It was so nice to be eating fruit again haha. While researching hostels for NYC, I found out that most, if not all, hostels in NYC offer free breakfast items (items vary between hostels) as part of the stay...strange all previous hostels I stayed at didn't offer anything like this...I guess it pays to backpack in the West?

There was free wifi at the hostel too (though it was an inconsistent connection) so I got a chance to do some quick research to figure out where I wanted to go today. I decided I'd visit parts of Brooklyn, and the first stop, walking the Brooklyn Bridge from Manhattan to get into Brooklyn! The weather was perfect too, a good change of pace from the previous days - finally the sun shining brightly in the clear skies. A brisk morning walk in the cold can't be too bad right?

The surrounding area after getting off at City Hall station, which I assume are mainly government buildings, and a view of nearby Brooklyn Bridge (3rd photo).

Beginning my walk across Brooklyn Bridge.

Some views along the beginning of the walk, including more views of the surrounding area, along the walkway (8th photo), and Manhattan Bridge (9th photo).

Approaching the first tower.

Commemorating the bridge's construction and engineering feat (it was the world's longest suspension bridge for a period).

Views of the traffic below the walkway (wasn't too busy, it was still pretty early), and Pier 17 (2nd photo).

A close-up of the arches.

Looking past Pier 17.

Another look at Manhattan Bridge.

Seemed to be more cars coming in from Brooklyn.

So many wires!

The coveted shot.

And me in the coveted shot hahaha.

From the perspective of one of the large cables.

Looking into Manhattan.

It's a popular photo.

Looking into Brooklyn.

Closer views into Manhattan.

A police helicopter passing by.

On a clear day, the Statue of Liberty is visible from the bridge.

Another look along one of the large cables.

Getting closer to Brooklyn.

Looking back.

Some photos taken at the second tower.

Leaving the second tower behind.

Another angle of the Manhattan Bridge.

A look at DUMBO (Down Under the Manhattan Bridge Overpass).

Finally!

How sweet is it supposed to be?

There were many tourists walking the bridge to begin with, but at the Brooklyn end, the path split in 2, with one leading into DUMBO and the other farther into Brooklyn. All the tourists ahead of me chose the DUMBO path, and for some reason, I decided to go the longer path into Brooklyn...questionable decision since it seemed really quiet here and I was just going into the political/judicial centre of downtown Brooklyn (so probably not as much to see as the path leading into DUMBO)...there's probably a reason why no other tourists took this path. But then again I would've missed out on the things I saw by choosing the longer path.

A bunch of road barriers were decorated with artwork about bees...

At Cadman Plaza Park, next to the Brooklyn end of the bridge.

Wandering around Brooklyn Heights looking for the Clark St. station.

My next stop was deeper into Brooklyn: Grand Army Plaza.

At Grand Army Plaza. That's the Brooklyn Public Library in the third photo. Surprisingly, I was the only tourist there the entire time I was there, and one of a handful of pedestrians in the area...probably had something to do with how cold it was.

I'm assuming it was meant to be a Christmas tree? Otherwise it was the most randomly placed evergreen tree.

A statue situated at the centre of the plaza.

More statues of American war figures.

It was almost noon at this point, and I really needed to pee hahaha. So I left the plaza looking for a place, and walked into a Subway thinking there would be public restrooms there, but there wasn't! I ended up having lunch there anyway hahaha. This is a shot of the area I passed through. I later found out that "Christie's Jamaican Patties" was apparently a pretty popular place for patties; too bad I didn't go in because I didn't know if it was open since all the windows had fogged up.

Despite being unsuccessful in finding a place to go, I hopped on the Q train and rode it all the way to the end, next destination: Coney Island!

Inside the Q train; this one used the new subway cars that the New York MTA upgraded too. They're so clean and bright! Check out the cool and informative destination board! Very useful; instead of just showing a subway map which tourists would find harder to navigate on such a small scale, the board digitally updates the upcoming stops so you know exactly where the train is going (especially since I couldn't hear the conductors over the PA system half the time). Last stop: Coney Island.

Mounds of garbage on the platform at a stop...not very sanitary...

I was trying to get a shot of the buildings, not the guy standing there hahaha.

Some views along the subway ride (the route eventually transitioned to all above ground) - noticeably much more residential. I'm surprised with how decent the photos came out, considering how dirty the subway windows were.

End of the line. I finally found a public restroom, after exiting the station and asking the booth operator...it was back inside the station! Good thing I had the 7 day unlimited ride pass hahaha! Seriously, as I'm sure it's quite obvious by now based on how many different spots I hit each day that I took full advantage of the unlimited pass - well worth the price.

A really interesting and eye-catching wall mural just outside the station's entrance.

Outside Nathan's Famous, across the street from the station. Too bad it was closed, I would've loved to try a hot dog!

Outside the Cony Island subway station. When I turned around to look at the station, I suddenly felt like I was in GTA IV hahaha!!! I felt like I was Niko stepping out into Firefly Island at the beginning of the game. I know it sounds absurd, but if know me, then you how much I loved GTA IV and then understand why this image came into my head here. For those that don't know, GTA IV is a video game set in a fictional city heavily based on NYC and Firefly Island is the area in the game based on Coney Island, where the protagonist Niko starts off the game. I'll expand more in a later post about the importance of GTA IV to this trip haha.

Some views down the street.

Maybe I'll have to come back on July 4th? Hahaha.

Looking into Steeplechase Park (and a view of Astroland Amusement Park in the background of the 2nd photo)...completely abandoned (it hasn't been open for years).

At the Coney Island Boardwalk, with views of Steeplechase Park and the Coney Island Beach. It was almost desolate save for a handful of locals here and there - I couldn't spot any other tourists, which is understandable considering how cold it was out here. That's the Parachute Jump tower in the 5th photo.

The stretch of boardwalk that leads out into the Atlantic Ocean - completely devoid of people.

I'm sure the playgrounds are more popular in the summer.

Nothing like a good solitary walk along the shore for some quiet meditate.

Well that's good to know (in case it's not clearly visible, the sign warns about consuming the eels and fish caught in New York's waters...like that really needed to be said haha)!

Taking some time to relax and enjoy the great view.

They were hopping the rocks! I tried doing the same later on but quickly bailed on that plan - my shoes had absolutely no grip on the rocks.

Some views along the boardwalk.

The view at the end of the boardwalk. It looks like I was out on a boat in the first 2 photos, doesn't it?

Coney Island Beach. There was so much debris in the sand (I tried to show a close-up in the last photo)...I wonder if they clean up the beach before summer, otherwise it'd be pretty painful to walk around barefoot.

Back on the boardwalk, which I found out had these really interesting trash cans, each painted in a unique design!

The food stalls and venues lining the boardwalk, unfortunately all closed up for the winter.

Looking into the non-operational Astroland Amusement Park, with the famous Wonder Wheel in clear view.

Another interesting trash can.

Awesome mural on the wall of the New York Aquarium!

The Cyclone roller coaster, also park of Astroland Amusement Park.

Watching the subway trains come and go.

The wall of glass tiles inside the Coney Island station had some interesting decorations.

Back on a train to Manhattan.

This is where it hit me: the all-to-familiar warm/flushed feeling leaving me drained and tired. My initial plan was to actually transit onto another line while still in Brooklyn to go up to Queens, but ended up riding it all the way back to Manhattan when I was forced to close my eyes to prevent my head from throbbing. It was probably a combination of being constantly out in the cold damp air, exposing myself to areas of high winds for extended periods of time, possibly straining my body with all the walking, poor nutrition, the dense population of Manhattan, and returning to a dorm room setting that caused me to get sick. Not wanting to waste any time, I decided I should at least head back to the hostel to take a nap and then see if I could still visit Queens.

Looking down E 7th St. at Cooper Square; the hostel was further down the road. I always passed this area to and from the subway.

Village Inn Hostel. I realized I forgot to take a photo of it the day before. See? Unless one knew of the hostel ahead of time or read the small posting on the front door, it looked like any another regular residential building, which I felt only enhanced the entire NY experience.

It was late-afternoon by now but I had no trouble crawling into bed for a nap, and was surprised how easy it actually was for me to fall asleep. Plus, the fact I had the entire room to myself for now sure helped. I ended up sleeping well into the evening, waking up slightly hot - I knew for sure I was sick. Obviously I still had to eat, and I actually mustered up enough energy to get changed and head back out into the cold. I actually managed a pretty decent meal; I picked up a custom salad at the Ray's Pizza around the corner, and then went for some much-needed warm hearty chicken soup at a Soupman (a soup specialty chain in NY) I had noticed earlier by the subway. With a nutritious dinner finally in me, I went right back to catch some more sleep - I knew the only shot I had at a quick recovery was plenty of sleep. Another good thing about this hostel: plenty of Brita filtered water available. And despite the inconsiderate roommates (seriously, what kind of decent person carries on a loud phone conversation in a room where it's plainly obvious that some people are trying to get some extra sleep?), I managed to get some decent rest. A day that had started off as a pleasant, sunny walk along Brooklyn Bridge was cut short by the dreadful symptoms of the flu.