Friday, August 31, 2012

New York Series: From the Top of the Rock

Don't worry I blurred this photo of the Empire State Building on purpose. I really liked the effect that I got and wanted to share.





If you go to the Top of the Rock you will find that the rails are full of people and that you have to wait a little bit to get to the rail in a good spot. It looks kind of like this.




 Empire State Building was beautiful at night, but I would recommend going at twilight. I'm sure the sunset from the Top of the Rock is beautiful! I would have loved to come here at that time of day, but we were limited on time and this was the only time we could come. Maybe next time I will go while the sun is setting.








The Chrysler Building....too bad the Metlife building is in the way!!



















Looking towards Park Avenue where we stayed.


Central Park at night.




I really liked how the bridges were lit up.


This is pretty much what everyone was trying to do at the Top of the Rock. We went to the third level where there is no glass in the way, but of course there are lots of people up there for that reason. I would have loved to use my tripod to take a night photograph, but there was no space to do so. I would have had to shove a lot of people out of the way and I didn't want to be rude. There was plenty of room on the second level, but the glass is not clean so you can't get a good photograph anyway. The best you can do is shoot from inbetween the panes of glass, but of course this limits the angles. Good luck!

Wednesday, August 29, 2012

New York Series: Inside The MET

The Tiffany's stained glass window. It was so beautiful! It really is too bad that the person who commissioned this window past away before it was completed. The good news is that it is available for everyone to enjoy when they visit the MET.


 There were some extremely detailed stained glass windows here.


 A carving of the Last Supper. They were tiny, but the artist didn't skimp on the details!











 Reminds me of the artwork I saw in the AyaSofya mosque in Istanbul, Turkey.


 An aged look of the top of the gate.













 I liked these mosaic tiles of flowers.



Monday, August 27, 2012

New York Series: The Metropolitan Museum of Art

We spent the entire day in the MET and we still missed one whole wing! Luckily, the day we decided to go to the MET it was raining. It was a day well spent.


 Egyptian art is always interesting to look at.


 I have to admit my favorite part of the Egyptian exhibit is looking at the hieroglyphics.








 I wonder if they transported this stone by stone and then put them back together....


 The walls were covered in carvings and hieroglyphics.


 It must have taken so long just to complete this one wall.





A nice view of the buildings surrounding the MET.


 Mosaic tiles and statues in the open court.


Lots of natural light in this area.

Saturday, August 25, 2012

New York: At First Glance

 I found so many amazing details just walking around my hotel!




It's always wonderful to see how each city is so unique in its design. It would be difficult to mistake Manhattan for any other city in the world.








 A sandwich of mini buildings....or maybe they just seem mini because the buildings on either side are very tall!


Let's all go to the Metropolitan Museum of Art!



Wednesday, August 22, 2012

Food in New York City


 We stayed at the Loews Regency Hotel in Manhattan. The location was great (2 blocks from Central Park) and the staff was very friendly! I asked for recommendations for restaurants and the concierge went out of his way to find a restaurant within our budget and yet was close enough for us to walk to. The staff seemed happy working here as well which means they are friendlier to the guests. Nice work guys!

 For our last day in Manhattan we ate breakfast in our hotels' restaurant (the boyfriend had an earlier flight than I did, so we had to eat breakfast in the hotel to save time). I had the Brioche French Toast, it was delicious!


 This gelato was really good! It is located in the Chelsea Market. We were starving (the boyfriend woke up late) since we didn't eat breakfast, but the restaurant Morimoto didn't open for lunch until 12pm (We had to wait 30 minutes until noon. Yeah, we couldn't wait that long.) So, for breakfast we had gelato at L'arte del Gelato! The boyfriend had the mixed berry flavor while I had the vanilla with cherries in it. I would tell you the exact names, but I don't remember the names. Also, I don't know Italian so I can't even fake it.


Alright, so in this photo the gelato I had is the white one with black dots on it (those are the cherries) and the boyfriend had the red one next to it. Yum! The staff wasn't particularly friendly, but the gelato was good enough for me to not care too much. 



 We devoured our gelato with people staring at us as they walked by. That must have been a pretty sight to see us inhaling our gelato, but oh well.




 This is the Morimoto restaurant. It is located sort of in Chelsea market. You have to go out the door and turn to the right and you will see this entrance.




 The interior decoration was very nice. The atmosphere was relaxing and the place filled up more and more as we were eating our lunch. I don't know what it is like at night, but they do have a bar area downstairs that looked nice.



The kitchen staff hard at work to make our lunches. Nice work guys and lady!


 We ordered the bento lunch set. It came with a salad, a little bit of tempura (I wasn't a fan of the blue cheese dipping sauce, I prefer the traditional Japanese sauce which is light) white miso soup, beef or fish ( I had the fish and I really wanted rice to go with it) and some tiny pieces of sushi....Man, I think I have been spoiled in Nagoya to be able to make these comments. I'm sure these things are standard in New York (mini pieces of sushi and an interesting change of sauce) but I like my Japanese food Japanese style, not New York style.

FYI: I didn't want to come to New York and eat in a Japanese Restaurant, but the boyfriend really wanted to eat here.


 The dessert was really good though! It was Mango panna cotta with fresh fruit topping! This I liked! I would come back just to eat this dessert again!