♥ The Shoes Factory

US Day 30 - NYC Day 3
Tuesday, June 12, 2007

This is the residential area behind our hotel. looks pretty by the day but eerie and quiet by night!

Subway station revisited- the number 96 means we're at Subway 96 st.

Had our brunch at a chinese restaurant near Chinatown. Took Metro to Brooklyn Bridge-City Hall. NYC has a few state-of-e-art bridges to other parts of NY. We didn't walk thru the entire bridge to Brooklyn cz the 2nd half was just a mirror image of the first. Statue of liberty? Yes we can see, thanks to my Canon 16X digital zoom.

Brooklyn Bridge

Look at the trusses and beams! perhaps only engrs can appreciate...

Statue of Liberty

Since we were quite near to Wall Street, might as well just stroll along the streets and try our luck if we can find Ground Zero.

Wall Street- heavily guarded with barricades and security guards.

Ground Zero - although it looks like just like any construction site, plenty of visitors.

opposite to Grounf Zero there's a cosmetic mall- SEPHORA http://www.sephora.com/. I feel this is the best cosmetic shop ever. the staffs are approachable, the prices are cheap, it has great variety of cosmetics and perfumes. We spent aroung 2 hours inside- trying to finish all our USD!!
Apparently, shopping is endless here in Midtown.

We continued to shop after dinner...spoke to one of the staff in a souvenior shop and he assured us that NYC is very safe, there's video cams and undercover agents all aound the city.

Went to Hersheys, M&M's

look at the sexy legs!

Well, we saw another SEPHORA, went in and shop till 11...

By the time we reach back hotel, there were already so many things to pack. We had to wake up 3 plus the next day to catch our flight back to Singapore...

11:48 PM

US Day 29 - NYC Day 2
Monday, June 11, 2007

Had a good night's rest. Brunch at Sapporo Ramen near Times Square. Not bad since we could have Jap food in US! Actually, NYC is easy to get around. there's everything, subway is super efficient, maps and the streets' numbering are in sequence!
The subway looks abit scary- dull and old...but after taking several times, its ok!

Times Square by day...

Sapporo Ramen. Picture taken from www.chopsticksny.com/guide.php?guide=restaurant

We spent the afternoon at MoMA ( Museum of Modern Art) Things here looked more interesting than Metropolitan Musem of Art...or maybe we're more into the arty mood after a good night's sleep?

Vincent Van Gogh - The Starry night

Pablo Picasso - Les Desmoiselles d'Avignon

John Baldessari - What is Art

Clement Greenberg - Art and Culture

I luv this best. It's created by Dan Perjovschi http://www.perjovschi.ro/- What happened to US? His works showcase the US culture and they're all drawn on the walls.

Henri Matisse - Dance

We went to Grand Central and on our way we passed by the famous St Patrick's Catheral facing Rockefella Centre. Nice structure huh...

Grand Central Station. supposed to be BIG cz the railway runs here too...

Nice souveniors to bring back home...

Had our dinner at this famous Vietnamese Restaurant Cho Dang Gol http://www.chodanggolny.com/. Nice setting and appetizer is refillable!!!

Refillable Appetizer

We rushed to The Majestic to watch our 2nd musical in US- The Phantom of the Opera. Our tix were ard 130USD each so we sat at the 4th row. The musical was superb. All the money was well spent. I would wanna see it again...!!!

After the show, we walked around Times Square. The lights were nice, very modern feeling. Better than Orchard Road! We even had our self portraits drawn at a reasonable price by those China artists along the road.

11:48 PM

US Day 28 - NYC Day 1
Sunday, June 10, 2007

Didnt sleep well on the plane last night so I was like a zombie when we reach NYC. The worst thing was we couldn't checked in until 3pm. We wandered abt the streets, had our brunch and set off to The Metropolitan Museum of Modern Art. http://www.metmuseum.org/

Streets were full of ppl. St 40 plus to 50 plus were all barricated. We wonder why. Saw some posters and it said Puerto Rico Day !http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Puerto_Rican_Day_Parade! look at those Ricans on the streets!!! We even have to make 1 big round just to cross a street to MoMA. Security was tight, policemen everywhere. Did it make the parade safer or more dangerous???

Preuto Rico Parade outside the museum.
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Picasso's art piece

A wrought iron structure which was intalled in one of the Cathedrals in Spain.

Marble Sarcophagus showing Dionysos with four Seasons as ladies

Ugolino and his sons

Tired cz slept only less than 4 hours on the plane+ haven bathe yet+ lost cz just arrived in NYC + quite a boring museum = took little photos....

maybe i'm really not that arty after all.

Took a quick dinner at this famous italian restaurant. Has nice ambience!

11:16 PM

I'm in America!
Saturday, June 9, 2007

i'm in America, leaving for new york JFK airport today! It has been for almost a month since we're in America!

6:23 PM

US Day 25 - Bonneville Dam, Multnomah Falls
Thursday, June 7, 2007

Bonneville Dam is one of the 9 dams along Columbia River. The turbine blades are specially designed so that the Pacific Northwest salmon that return to Columbia River for reproduction will not be "trapped" and the die in between the blades.

Turbine blade...

Salmon has an interesting migration pattern. They will come back to the place they were born for reproduction. But it's a pity when the baby salmons hatch, their parents are no longer around. www.nww.usace.army.mil/lsr/reports/save_salmon/salmontoc.htm

Next stop-Multnomah Falls and then the Gorge again!

Can u see the 3 of us on the bridge?

11:54 PM

US Day 24 - Sunset Falls, The Old Spaghetti Factory
Wednesday, June 6, 2007

Alot of vegetables are grown in SY's aunt's house. Brocolli, Snow peas, spinach, carrots, strawberries, pears, parsley etc

After lunch we went to Sunset Falls www.fs.fed.us/gpnf/recreation/campgrounds/sites/sunset-falls.shtml. It's a good place for camping and picnic. As compared to living in Singapore, there's really limited things ppl can do during weekends. And whereever we go, there's so much ppl! Over here in US, ppl really live a tranquil lifestyle...

Dinner at The Old Spaghetti Factory http://www.osf.com/menu/location-menus/vancouver.htm. They have huge variety to choose from and tasted really different from the normal spaghetti we eat in Singapore.

11:02 PM