It began on the BART. Finding my way to one of the last trains to the city, I made it to Powell Street. There I found the streetcar. I held $5 in my hand, but they did not ask for anything. I got off at the last stop 20 minutes later near Fisherman’s Wharf. I asked the man for some directions, and he pointed me in the right direction and I made my way to the hotel.

There I met up with Ngoc’s brother, Truc. I waited for Ngoc and James to get back. They came back and since we were all exhausted, we just slept.

In the morning we had to decide what we wanted to do. Ngoc and James’ friends, Audrey and Erik were picking us up to go eat $1 oysters. Despite this, we headed to Mama’s and had brunch. The place was interesting, you walk in and order from a counter before sitting down and being served. Between the 4 of us, we ordered 3 dishes.

Eggs Benedict at Mama's

Afterwards we walked back to the hotel to wait for Ngoc and James’ friends – Audrey and Erik. They planned on taking us to Hog Island Oyster Company and then to Berkeley.

We drove over the Golden Gate Bridge and stopped to take some photos before continuing on to the north bay.

Me and Ngoc at the Golden Gate Bridge

We drove for a long time along Highway 1. I fell asleep (of course), but we arrived at the Hog Island Oyster Company an hour later. It was such a beautiful place for an oyster farm. A huge bay, picnic area and oysters for $1.

View at Hog Island Oyster Company

We had 5 people, so we got 50 oysters. I wish I wasn’t so full from breakfast, so I could’ve eaten more! Audrey and Erik also brought guacamole, fruit and other snacks. It was such a fun day to sit out there eating.

Oyster Cheers!

After the oysters, we took a drive to Berkeley. The campus was really great. It really made me want to go to school there. I’m considering business school there in 2011. We’ll see where that takes me.

We had some tri-tip sandwiches before we headed into campus. We walked around, bought some things, but mainly, we headed to campus to check it out. The campus is really nice. Some parts are a little weird – ie: the architecture building was not pretty. The sciences building on campus was really nice.

We also chatting with some squirrels, looked at the protesters, watched students walk by… it was a nice college visit. After Berkeley, we went to get Cheese Board Pizza. We sat in the median in the street and ate the pizza. After that we headed to get some gelato. Overall it was an AMAZING food day.

Cheese Board pizza

One of the coolest things in regards to NYC are how many historical sites there are on one tiny island. There’s so many random things to find and I love discovering something new.

After an amazing (and very filling) lunch at Dinosaur Bar-B-Que on 131 & the West Side Highway.

My plate from Dinosaur Bar-B-Que!

After that, Drew had told us Grant’s Tomb was only down the way, so we headed over there (in the cold) and walked up a hill. Greg’s poor friend Jake must’ve been wondering where we were taking him!

The area is a little obscure, but very nice (and quiet). The Tomb is HUGE! It’s just sitting there in the middle of the park.

Grant's Tomb

President Ulysses S. Grant was the 18th President of the United States and a decorated and much celebrated Civil War General. Despite is general unpopularity when he left office in 1877, his tomb is considered the largest mausoleum in North America (crazy!).

Near/next to Grant’s Tomb is the Cathedral of St. John the Divine. It’s MASSIVE. That’s really all I have to say about it. I’d seen it before when I went up to the Cloisters, but this was the first time I actually stopped to take some shots.

Cathedral of St. John the Divine

After all of this, we walked through Columbia… which isn’t very large (nor exciting). I was kind of surprised about how small their campus felt. I guess that’s the problem with going to a large school, everything else feels small.

Hopefully I can get some more shots of the city this summer. So much more to explore!

Headed to Philly for a beautiful Sunday to see the lovely Amy because her birthday was last week and I didn’t get a chance to see her!. Took the Chinatown Bus with Jiye who was heading back home.

Here’s the big problem: I took one whole picture while there. Ok,  three. Two of which were on my cell phone.

Sign at Reading Terminal Market

So, here it is, the one grand photo I took. I’ll go back to Philly soon, so no worries, much better photos in the future!

Highlights from the trip:

• Mussels & Duck Sandwich from Monk’s Cafe
• Chocolate Banana & Mango Champagne Gelato from Capogiro
• Sushi (unmemorable, so I don’t remember the name)

Of course I have no photos. Of course. Anyway, more postings soon and maybe an exciting update if I find the time to do it!

I went to the New York Botanical Garden in the Bronx this past weekend. This was my first time there, but it’s 250 acres of land dedicated to one of the best plant collections in the world. (Yes, I was listening when they were giving a tour).

Inside the conservatory

The conservatory was amazing. It was a giant greenhouse filled with a ton of exotic plants/flowers. I loved how they tried to let you see every inch of their jungle of plants. In the rainforest section, you could climb up into the canopy and in the dessert, they tried to give plenty of examples of plants that look like rocks.

Multi-colored Tulips

Outside we went to the rock garden & the children’s garden. There were a lot of beautiful tulips (a lot of them were past-peak). We also walked through some marshy wetland then to take the trolley around the grounds. There’s a lot of forest, but I wouldn’t walk through it (unless I was maybe jogging?).

Anyway, it was a lovely day and hopefully I’ll return once the chrysanthemum festival occurs.

The weather was amazing this weekend. After a crazy night out with some good friends, I woke up early and headed to Brooklyn for brunch at Buttermilk Channel. I met up with Jiye and Christine and we were easily seated.

I actually didn’t know what Buttermilk Channel was known for, but their eggs looked amazing. I ended up order a spinach, goat cheese and mushroom scramble. It came with a biscuit and hash browns. I also ordered some bacon-encrusted almonds for the table (which turned out to be not so great).

Salmon & cream cheese scramble

Christine ordered the salmon & cream cheese scramble. Jiye ordered the salmon platter. There was also a (terrible) coffee cake.

After brunch, we went to Jiye’s neighborhood and hung out at Tazza and had something to drink.

Then I met up with Winnie at the Brooklyn Botanical Garden. It’s currently cherry blossom season and we wanted to see what all the fuss was about.

Winnie & me in the cherry blossom promenade

They also had some beautiful tulips, especially the double tulips (which looked like a few tulips within each other).

Double Tulip

The gardens didn’t take too long to get through, about an hour and a half. After that we decided that we wanted to eat dessert – at Junior’s! So we took the subway and went to try out the famous Junior’s cheesecake.

I love cheesecake!

Winnie got the Devil’s Food Cheesecake and I got the Strawberry Cheesecake.

Overall, it was great weekend. May 1-2 is the Sakura Matsuri at Brooklyn Botanical, but I don’t suggest going (it will be PACKED). This weekend was packed… craaaazy. If you do go, enjoy!

Went to Central Park to see how the snow covered the park. The Mall was closed unfortunately, but you could walk around and take photos. Went around the Mall to Bethesda Terrace then up to the boathouse.

Central Park Mall

The Mall looks really peaceful without anyone walking through it.

Little snowman

Not much to the post besides that I adore Central Park

I’ve had a fantastic day. I decided to go on a date with myself. It began with a trip to H&H Bagels, which, if you have never gone there before, you must. I was incredibly happy with my favorite toasted everything bagel w/ lite lox spread (delectable!). Sat there enjoying my lovely bagel and writing in my journal.

Facade of the Cloisters

Then I walked across town and got on the M4 bus to go to the Cloisters. The bus ride literally took more than an hour. When I got there, I decided to take some shots outside first because the daylight was perfect. Then I went in and walked around. It’s really a lovely museum. A lot of courtyards and places to rest and just enjoy the museum.

Stained Glass

I definitely need to return in the spring when the gardens open up.

Statue

Then afterwards, I walked through Fort Tryon Park (the museum is located in the middle of the park). I walked through snowy pathways and to the entrance where there was a playground. Of course, me, being the child I am, totally went on the swingset.

The bus came and I took the hour and a HALF long ride back to the city where I stopped off at Book-Off and then Zaiya before running 10 blocks to meet up with my coffee date, and specified lover from SF, Albie. We sat around and had 2 coffees, fries and sweets before he walked me back home.

I believe tomorrow I may be going to the opera with Albie. Soooo excited to finally go!

*humming opera songs

One thing I’m always thankful for is that I live in a city where there’s plenty to explore. My cousins are currently visiting from Michigan, so I took them on a mini tour of New York. We went up to Central Park to walk around. The lighting was perfect, but I wish I had someone who enjoyed shooting as much as me there. The weather was beautiful, it was around 50 degrees, beautiful clear blue skies and sunny.

Perfect lighting in "The Mall" section of Central Park

We strolled through the section of the park known as “The Mall” over to where the Bethesda Terrance & Fountain, where we found that the fountain had been drained. We walked up to where the sailboat pond (known as The Conservatory Water) is and found that it too had been drained! Earlier in the summer Greg and I had visited to go inside the Kerbs Memorial Boathouse where the Central Park Model Yacht Club houses their boats.

We walked upwards toward the Met and over to Belvedere Castle. I’d never gone there before and this was a treat. The view is pretty breathtaking up there. Although when you look south, you can only see treetops, but when you look north you get an amazing view of the Turtle Pond below, then over the Great Lawn and into the Upper East Side.

The view from Belvedere Castle

After spending some time there, we walked through The Ramble over to Strawberry Fields near the Upper West Side. I’d never seen the Imagine memorial (for John Lennon) and stopped a second to take a picture.

I love this song.

After that we exited the park and took the train down to Midtown and walked over to Rockefeller Center to see the big tree. The crowd was insane. They blocked off the roads because there were just too many people flocking to see the tree. It took us about half an hour just to get through the crowd.

We walked down Fifth Avenue (a bad idea during the holiday season) toward the New York Public Library on 42nd street. We sat in front of the library for a bit to rest before we went around to Bryant Park. They had their holiday shops up and their lovely little tree and ice skating rink. They rename the winter version “The Pond.” We took a bunch of pictures around the tree and watch the Zamboni go round and round on the rink.

Bryant Park Tree

After that we walked over to Grand Central where I showed them the inside and then we went our separate ways.

My cousins, Billy, me, Andrew and Tim.

If there’s one place I’ve been meaning to visit for awhile, it’s The High Line. Sometimes I just love being a tourist in my own city! Yesterday was a chilly 17 degrees while also the calm before the biggest snowstorm of 2009 (well the end of 2009). We accumulated around 12-15 inches last night.

Yesterday, in snow and cold wind, my friends Yaya, Matty and Steve walked from my apartment to The High Line. The High Line is a park built on the remnants of an elevated rail line that lifted freight cars 30 feet above the streets in the west side of Manhattan. It runs from the Meatpacking district (Gansevoort St) up to 34th Street.

The High Line is really pretty lit-up

So The High Line is a cemented sidewalk with some wildlife on each side. At night they light it up so it is a really beautiful setting against the backdrop of the city.

Keep It Wild! Stay on the Path!

This past Sunday, I went to Philadelphia to meet up with my cousin, Jessie. Billy, Jessie’s brother, drove us there. We left around 9 and arrived around 11. We met up with Jessie and her research assistant Yi-zhen. The first stop was South Street. We headed to Ishkabibble’s Eatery to have some Philly Cheesesteaks. I noticed that the line for Jim’s Steaks, the typical tourist stop, was already out the door and down the block. Ishkabibble is rated highly on Yelp, which tends to be my bible for finding delicious places.

Although I wasn’t elated about the quality of food, I wasn’t quite disappointed either. Between the four of us, we ordered 3 South Philly Cheesesteaks (red pepper, spinach, provolone and beef), 1 South Philly Chicken Cheesesteak (same, but with chicken), a large order of fries, 2 Gremlins (half grape juice, half lemonade), 1 Diet Coke, 1 Apple Juice.

The inside of Ishkabibble’s is tiny, but we found a space for the 4 of us at the counter. There we chowed down, but I was only able to get through half of mine, but I also ate half of the large fries (oh man!) and also downed the Gremlin, which was amaaaaazing.

Making Philly Cheesesteaks!

After Ishkabibble’s, Jessie needed to get back to the conference center (she was there to give a speech on public health), so we dropped her off and took Yi-zhen to the Eastern State Penitentiary. I called up Danny (my friend from college) to come chill with us as well.

The outside of the Eastern State Penitentiary looks like a castle. It looks completely out of place in the outskirts of Philly. Due to Halloween, the haunted house decorations were still up. $8 for a student ticket, and $12 for regular adult. With every entrance ticket you get an audio set to take you on your own tour. There’s also free tours with guides if you go at the right time.

Creepy Hallway

Walking in, you just go between a thick wall and you see the old buildings to your left. When you enter for the first time, you realize that it’s cold. Not just cold temperature wise, but just like that eerie cold you get when you feel like you’re all alone. It was actually a nice day outside (where jackets were not needed), but I was practically shivering inside the building.

Who is this prisoner!?

Walking hallway through hallway, I knew that I would never want to experience prison or jail. Even if it is supposedly “nicer” these days (whatever that means).

We walked down the different cells peeking in doors (if possible) and just feeling the eeriness of the prison. We went past death row, the greenhouse, outdoor area, and completely dilapidated cells. It was a great and surreal experience.

We walked by Al Capone’s old cell (which was “beautifully” furnished). Over all it was highly recommended.

After the penitentiary, we headed back to find my cousin. We went to Capogiro Artisan Gelato and had some truly divine gelato. Pera, heirloom apple and bacio (chocolate w/ hazelnut). Not only those 3 flavours, but also a huge dollop of homemade whipped cream! YUM!

Delicious gelato! YUM!

We walked a mile or so to a small store that sold some Japanese goodies, but otherwise, we didn’t do much besides drop off my cousin and her assistant back at the hotel and then my cousin and I headed back to NY.