Architecture finds around NYC

Museum at Eldridge street (info)

Morgan Library and Museum (info)

NY Public Library Schwarzman at Bryant Park (info)

San Diego–Bonus Chapter

San Diego was the first stop on my four-city West Coast Trip. While it was my first time visiting the city, I only did enough research to narrow down my “to-do-list” to Coronado Beach (Voted number one by Dr. Beach in 2012) and Fish Tacos (the hype lives up). My friend and travel companion E. recommended the San Diego Zoo (one of the world’s best, didn’t you know?). I liked the fact that the Zoo was inside Balboa Park, another popular sight mentioned by various San Diego guides.

Outside of the main three attractions, I considered all the other stuff we saw along the way extra bonuses. This entry is all about those bonuses, and also a celebration of taking “side-trips”, “detours”, and “spontaneous adventures” before heading back to the main road and final destination.

Tribute to Classic Baseball Stadiums

Petco Baseball Stadium was one of these bonus side-trips. We were heading towards Coronado Ferry/Coronado Beach and decided to stop by the the stadium for some photos. Once we got there, we find out the stadium tour had just started so we ran halfway around the stadium to catch up with leader. Last year I took E. to AT&T Park in San Francisco (2011 blog writeup) and had a fun time. Could this be the start of a new travel tradition? (note to self, start a separate entry listing all the baseball stadiums/tours/etc).

Out of the many stadium photos that I took, this is the only one that features the western metal supply building.

The old building kept most of its original structure and columns on the inside. I loved walking inside it and running my hands along the brick/wood structures. Keeping this one old building to build a stadium around it… what an idea.

One word of caution for SF Giants fans and NY Mets fans (myself included) who love their stadiums: Petco stadium doesn’t try to look too grand or luxurious. The “canyon” feel of the stadium as well as its many tributes to classic stadiums (Wrigley, Old Yankee Stadium, Camden Yards, Fenway, etc) make it understated yet very special. The paintings of famous players found in the VIP section are unique and lovely and provide a decidedly different feel than classic ball game photos that are featured more prominently in other areas of the stadium. Another nice touch for the fans is the slanting of the stadium seats on the sides towards the home plate, without straining your head. Regular stadium seats that are on the side simply direct attention to what is in front of you whereas everyone is inclined to sit facing pitcher’s mount/ home plate.

The Harbor had a few boats

Architecture around Balboa Park

Wishing well and nearby fountain

Santa Barbara Station - The most postcard-perfect tree

More to come:

• San Diego main entry (Beach, fish tacos, and giant pandas!)
• San Francisco (Where we caught the mist over Golden Gate Bridge)
• Portland (Where I spent way more time than is healthy at Powell’s and went to three gardens)
• Seattle (Where I hiked Mt. Si, saw Radio Lab, and chilled out in Pike Place Market for an entire day)
• Trip notes as recorded and organized in tiny memo pad, with more virtual links
• and of course… tons of photos

Summer in NYC

Assorted shout out and photos for H., T., and the lovely S. Cheers for good times and beautiful new found friendships.

Cheering on the Mets at Citifield
Take the 7 to Mets-Willets Point.
First Mets game for T. and S. The Mets may have lost 13-0 but the experience  of the beautiful stadium and lobster roll outweighed all of that.

Chilling with Comfort Food at Wonjo
23 W 32nd St. New York
http://newwonjo.com/
After a night of happy hour specials, I had the idea to get some good hearty food. While I’ve been to Wonjo for Korean BBQ a million times, I stayed from that this time. Cold noodles in beef broth was just the right dish for hot summer nights. I probably should have ordered the regular bibim bop instead of the cold veggie version (which was more like a salad with rice…) Made the right call to order a small seafood pancake for a group of four, just enough food to get people interested but not so much to get all greased out from them. We also ordered the tofu… (I still prefer BCD tofu house but found out they moved recently).

Waving to Statue of Liberty from Staten Island Ferry
White Hall Terminal
http://www.nyc.gov/html/dot/html/ferrybus/statfery.shtml

Midtown Night from Brooklyn Bridge
Look for the benches near the middle and enjoy the skyline and the cool evening breeze. There’s nothing quite like crossing the bridge at night. It’s a completely different experience from the day.

Walking together on Summer Streets
This is a NYC city sponsored event where an entire stretch of the city becomes car-free, and the streets are clear for biking, roller-blading, and walking. My two favorite sections of the entire walk were the roadway leading up to Grand Central and the entire downtown section (below Astor or thereabouts). First Saturday I took the entire route from City Hall to 72nd (around 2.5h). Second Saturday I went with T., H., and S. and we had a blast walking south from 51st to 23rd or so. We also tagged on other activities along the way.

 

Eating Brunch at Spoon
17 West 20th street (between 5th and 6th avenues)
http://www.spoonnyc.com/
Three of us ordered the Hungry Man Special, which consisted of two sunny side up eggs, blueberry pancakes with the best syrup ever, toast, bacon and shitake hash browns (the best!). While I didn’t realize this at the time, Spoon is actually my first proper Manhattan brunch after I moved into the city. I guess this is what people call one of the essential city experiences, hanging out with good friends and catching up over good food. I liked it even better since I didn’t have to wait in a long line or anything.

Browsing Books at the Strand and the B&N
Strand 12th Street and Broadway.
http://www.strandbooks.com/index.cfm
B&N Straight on Union SQ north side
http://store-locator.barnesandnoble.com/store/2675/

Lounging at Ginger Man
11 East 36th Street
http://www.gingerman-ny.com/
Every bar should have comfortable couches in dim-lit corners and 60+ beers on tap. Feel so incredibly spoiled! Before you order any bottled beers, read this wise quote we found at the entrance:



Walking up the steps of NY Public Library at Bryant Park

Taking a break with Ginger and S’Mores Gelato from Ciao Bella in GCT

Admiring the Cloud City exhibit of the Metropolitan Museum
http://www.metmuseum.org/en/exhibitions/listings/2012/tomas-saraceno

Obviously the complete Met experience also included American Wing, Egypt Temple, the Knights and Armor Room, Chinese Garden, and even sitting on the front steps. Pleasantly surprised that T. liked this museum as much as I do.

Just an appetizer from Ooki Sushi
1575 3rd Ave. New York NY 10128  ( between 88th - 89th Street )
http://www.ooki-sushi.com
I can definitely recommend the tuna tataki here (next time will try toro) and it impressed both people in the table next to us (awesome!)

America’s Beloved Capital: Day 2

A continuation of my Oct post [link to day 1].

Stamps and letters
Next to Union Station, there is a Post Museum [link] that I managed to miss during my four years of living in DC. Beautiful space with plenty of educational and fun exhibits for kids and adults alike.
My family has always enjoyed collecting stamps so I grew up saving and looking at different stamps. I suppose this museum will be equally fascinating and mysterious for kids growing up today without knowing anything about snail mail or stamps.

Some exhibits that I enjoyed:
-Victory mail: You’ve probably heard about war time letters between soldiers and their family/sweethearts, but did you know they had developed vmail in order to reduce the amount of cargo weight? Reading their letters made me nostalgic for the days when people captured their feelings through handwritten letters, and waited quite a while for a response. Receiving a letter then must have been an exciting event and a relief. With technology today it is possible to text/call/tweet/IM/Skype but people find it harder to express their feeling in coherent ways.

-International stamp gallery [link]: Ever wondered what kind of stamps other countries used? This small room with pull-out plates holds a vast amount of stamps. If you want to see everything you may need a day. I recommend Italy, France, Japan, and Spain. They had really unique and artistic stamps.

-Stamps A-Z: Educational but such a short-lived exhibit! I wish they had made a book or a pamphlet of the alphabet.

The souvenir store also has many goodies for stamp lovers. I bought a series of travel related stamps for my parents: trains, ships/boats, planes, and overall transportation (including hot air balloons!)

A little bit of art
I dragged T. to the National Gallery of Art [link], mostly for the Edvard Munch exhibit [link]. Besides his famous Scream painting, he’s done plenty of other works that deserve attention. I liked all of the prints where he depicted people and their interactions in a fluid manner. The way people curved and surrounded each other was interesting. He also captured red flowing hair of the female subjects that is both dreamlike and dynamic.

T. recommended that we check out the Arcimboldo exhibit [link]. How do you merge people and fruit/vegetables? He’s found a way, even as early as the 16th century. My favorite series was the 4 seasonal one. Four different portraits with seasonal produce! Below is a statue someone built in his style.

I tried to introduce Rothko to T. without too much success. I don’t even remember when I started to appreciate Rothko’s works. Most likely after seeing enough exhibits in MoMa and Whitney and realizing that although abstract, those paintings had a certain mood and texture that was not found in other works. 

New find
Every time I find a new space somewhere in DC and NYC I’m always wondering why it took me so long to discover it. T. and I both enjoyed photo ops in front of the Capitol Building (my favorite in DC), Library of Congress, Archives Building, and more. In any case, the Navy Memorial Plaza [link] gave us a chance to rest our feet and enjoy the autumn weather. Note to self, check out the heritage center next time. One of the buildings also had intricate and navy themed stained glass window art.

Tapas and sherry to end the day
After much walking and adventuring, T. took me to Tasca [link], a tapas restaurant. I would do a full review but of course I’ve since forgotten what we’ve ordered. I do remember Serrano ham, fig and cheese, tomato garlic toast and grilled octopus…along with some others. They had a wine special that night and sherry was included. We had a bottle that we couldn’t finish…I hope T. found a way to use it in her cooking or entertaining. I’m pretty sure we got the sponge cake for dessert which was just perfect. How can you go wrong with condensed milk and evaporated milk? The place also gets bonus points for great decor and ambience. I loved the framed mirror and lighting.

Awesome weekend spent in DC. Looking forward to (re)discovering more places next time I visit.

Grand Central

nobody told me that Grand Central had so many amazing shops, quick food, and produce market! I found a dozen pastry shops and a bakery or two with olive loaf (fav!)

The architecture itself is enough reason for a visit. I would recommend visiting after evening rush hour so you can stare at the wall/lights/ceiling and not be ran over by commuters (this happened to me a few months ago on a Friday evening rush hour visit).

If you've seen Madagascar, you'll see why the movie featured this station and not say, Penn Station. The old Penn Station was gorgeous, as you can see from photos and books at the transit museum.

The transit museum is more shop than museum. But who has time to go to Brooklyn for the big museum? I certainly don't. The shop carries creative and crazy souvenirs (from subway art tiles to Metrocard playing cards)

I visited the chili bar which served up a number of chili in meat, poultry, and vegetarian contents. I got the 3 bean (vegetarian chili) with jalapeños as the topping. It tasted better with jalapeños and the olive bread I had just acquired. Their corn muffin that comes with the chili is delicious too, but I'm not sure if it would go as well with chili. I just ate it on another occasion. Some of the other food court places include: Ciao Bella sorbet, Brooklyn Juniors, Chinese food, Japanese food, Indian food, Greek food, and others. Needless to say I will probably come back. This reminds me so much of Union Square food court which was quite nice as well.

on a random note, anyone else find it funny that Metro North track entrances are lined with people selling alcohol? Clearly Conn. commuters are much more interesting than NJ/Long Islanders.

Hot Jeans, Historical Landmark, and Orchard St.

TWS Sample Sale
I went to a designer denim sample sale at the Puck Building, which is located in SOHO and quite a landmark. The building was indeed gorgeous. I loved the red brick and golden Puck statues. Although I have to say I enjoyed the jeans bit more. T. is a bad influence on me. I never thought I'd actually buy anything until she encouraged me. Well, I used a bit of self-restraint and bought only two pairs (she bought 8!). I don't know too much about designer jeans but the two pairs I got are:
//Antik Denim// in dark blue with cute thready details and small turquoise and silver buttons. I found them on google all right. Apparently a famous brand according to T.'s fashion conscious friend.
//Literature// in red. rather slim cut. Can't seem to find this brand on line. Oh well.

Orchid Street
We went after dinner to this street because I recall seeing some ads for this street's shops and also the fact it's marked as a shopping street on my handy pop up NY map. Yes, I won't be able to survive if it weren't for my subway/street map. Sad, isn't it?
Highlight were three shops, since most places did close after 9pm. Yes, NY never sleeps, but I think clubs and bars tend to open, not clothes shops.
//American Apparel//
Although I have issues with this company's advertising, I have to admit that they have very colorful and edgy clothes. Sheer and low cut, T. wasn't too crazy about the stuff there. They had very interesting suspender swimsuit there (not as bad as Borat, don't worry), as well as a bunch of metallic, shimmery tights and hot pants. Maybe I'll gather up courage next time. website here.
//Shop with very "downtown" clothes//
Why I don't remember shop's names is anyone's guess. We sort of wandered inside and took a peak at the clothes there. Are they constructed by hand or something? I see many t-shirts with safety pins as well as other embellishments. One of them had cute aqua bows. There was even a pair of pants with circular mesh throughout and some large circle patterns. T. and I really felt out of place with our "somewhat preppy" clothes. Next time we should dress "downtown" if we want to shop "downtown".
//Exhibitionist Jewelry//
This place made quite an impression on us. Not only did I love the crown rings and necklaces, I also loved their extravagant silver jewelry designs. T. fell in love with a ring with a really cool cross cut stone and while she tried it on, the saleslady recommended a stared jewel ring which fitted me perfectly. After we asked the price, we realized the truth to the saying, "if you ask for the price, you can't afford it". Oh well, at least we have experienced something beautiful.
After I came home I looked up the place and of course found their website. I would recommend going over to the store itself though, because you need to be there to really be dazzled. The site also names a bunch of fashion magazines and celebrities as customers. No wonder we couldn't afford it then!

Email Alert
I would also use this opportunity to recommend Daily Candy email newsletter. Not only does it bring you the deals in fashion and food of NYC, it comes with beautiful illustrations. A very well done site and newsletter. In fact, I found out about the jeans thing through it. Can't wait to try some of the food recommendation though. And oh, the newsletter announces sample sales at various boutiques, which provides temptation and ideas for a fashion stroll. If only one had all the time and all the money in the world!