Melisasa: Travel

Monday, January 11, 2016

#throwback to Gossip Girl

Monday, January 11, 2016

Everything I think of NYC, the first thing that comes to mind is Gossip Girl. I would dream of the Grand Central Station, and how the girls ...

Everything I think of NYC, the first thing that comes to mind is Gossip Girl. I would dream of the Grand Central Station, and how the girls were always hanging around upper east side and the steps of the New York Public Library. And then there were the TedTalks the spoke about public spaces and all the beautiful parks in NYC. I was more than excited to see all these for myself.

In all, we traveled around NYC for 8 days and took a day trip out to the Jersey Short Outlet for a day. The $31 one week travel card was a great discount (until I lost mine and had to buy another) and we never used any of the city passes. We weren't interested in most of the observation decks stuff and the museums we visited went by donations, which meant we could pay as much/little as we liked. The only tour we took was a walking tour that went by donations as well. We could pay as much as we wanted at the end of the tour and that left us with much more budget for food.

While we were there, we stayed at an airbnb apartment in Harlem. It's a black people neighbourhood and it was generally safe as long as we didn't return too late at night. Ed said he heard gunshots and saw drunks on New Year's Eve after the countdown, so celebrations might be an exception. Otherwise, the house was wonderful and cosy and located just 20 mins (or less) by metro to everything.

Outside Chelsea market. The first day we arrived we went to Chelsea market only to find it close, cos it was Christmas. The next time we went back, it was on new year's eve and most of the shops closed early. Guess we never got to fully see the sights and sounds of the market.

The highline. A public park that was converted from an abandoned rail road site, built at a height from the ground. I wish Singapore did the same with the KTM tracks. This is probably one of my favourite places in new york city.

The Grand Central Terminal

Can anyone spot a Serena? Ahaha

The exterior facade of the Grand Central Terminal and the Chrysler building

Walking around the super packed and congested Times Square

The Metropolitan Museum of Art. It was so crowded and there are so many exhibits. To think I thought the Anthropology museum in Mexico City was huge!

Guggenheim museum. We went on the free thursday night and the queue was so long it went round the block

Naruto ramen, at the upper east side, surprisingly affordable and the portion is so huge, I couldn't finish my noodles.

Taken outside Grey's Papaya, a hot dog store. It was recommended on some of the sites and I thought we try it, but it turns out to be nothing fantastic.

American museum of natural history. Surprisingly this museum needed us to queue too, despite normal opening hours. And likewise it was packed inside. The exhibits are mostly about animals and are more suitable for families though

Central park. Now I know why it is so important. Because its the only non crowded area within this bustling and noisy city.

Most fascinating thing I saw in the Central was probably this bunch of people throwing the disc and doing tricks out of them with every catch. Didn't take a photo cos I didn't want to be rude, but I never knew people actually does this with the disc

This looks amazing. Totally out of every movie scene

How could we not visit the Statue of Liberty. I did however regret not doing enough research and booking the pedestal/crown tickets prior, which allows us to access the interior of the statue. Our USD$18 ticket only brought as around the statue and to a museum on the nearby island.

UMAMI burger. Ed and I had such a great time singing this little tune we made for it and we're still singing it now that we're back

The New York Public Library! So upset the main reading room was closed, but nonetheless, it's a dream to see the steps of this place. Couldn't imagine how they shot the scenes with so many people going in and out all the time though.

We went early in the morning and queued for an hour for a cheap broadway ticket, but the cheapest we got was CHICAGO and there were no regrets, cos it so good! I'm absolutely in love with the cast and the Mr. Cellophane song is still stuck in my head.

This was my favourite song in the musical, this is a school's rendition, can't beat the one I watched, but it's close!

More ramen!

This is built in the shape of the angel's wings to commemorate the tragedy of 9/11

Where one of the world trade centers once stood

Trinity church

Wall street! Like wolf of wall street, ahaha.

Inside trinity church

Near the court houses

Chinatown. Everything seems so much cheaper here

A few blocks away and its little Italy!

Soho! Apparently all these fancy patterns on the buildings are casted iron overlaying plain brick walls

The brooklyn bridge

We hung out here from daylight till nightfall on new year's eve

Thursday, December 31, 2015

"She said, I think I'm going to Boston"

Thursday, December 31, 2015

First time I heard of Boston is through this Augustana song. To date, its still one of my favourite songs so far. Boston was alot warme...

First time I heard of Boston is through this Augustana song. To date, its still one of my favourite songs so far.

Boston was alot warmer than we thought it would be, which wasn't bad. Except that I really wanted to see and experience a white christmas instead of a rainy one. Nonetheless, I enjoyed Boston for its buildings and academic town feel. The brief visit to Harvard made me envious of the students and motivated to be smarter ahahah. The walk through the park in the winter with Ed felt mind clearing and romantic too. The visits to the public library and museums also provided an opportunity to walk through grand and majestic buildings, leaving me in awe. But my favourite will also be at Quincy market where we tried different samples and ate great food, whenever we got tired from shopping ahahah.

We arrived and took the metro to the hostel. Carrying the luggage was insane though.

The first place we went was the public garden that was just 15mins walk from the hostel

There was a light drizzle before, but it just added to the serenity and calmness of the park

There's a lake in the middle and the background is surrounded by churches and beautiful historic looking buildings

If my mum was here she'll be taking photos everywhere ahaha

There are even cherry blossom trees! <3 I thought these are only found in Japan!

There's a voiceover that says "Wait" everytime you press the button. If you can press it quick enough, you can make a tune/rap out of it, AHAHA

The public garden led us straight to the Trinity Church. Idk why, but unlike the churches in Mexico, these are open for us to visit ):

And then it led us to the Public Library

The building itself is so grand and majestic and this classic reading room just adds on to the appeal

If I had all day, I'll be sitting and reading here all day. Who can resist these books and view?

And check out this amazing filing system. Idk how they maintain it seriously, or if they still do

At night we visited the Daily Catch for dinner, a small restaurant located just opposite the Mike's Pastry at the North end

Mussels with thyme and lemon

Best part of the meal was looking at the chef prepare it right in front of us

Black pasta, aglio olio style with grounded squid

And of course, Mike's Pastry to end off the meal

And thus, ended our first day in Boston

Day 2!

Still not over the beauty of Boston's buildings and landscape

State hall, which we never visited, despite walking past a few times

Granary Burying Ground. Holds quite abit of history and its a beautiful place too. Lots of nuts and squirrels ahaha

We then walked all the way to Quincy market (burn some fats before gaining more)

FOOD. FOOD. FOOD.

There's uniqlo too! They even sell books and products form Japan here. Wished they did it in Singapore too.

And finally, we get to Harvard!

And the famous statue whose feet makes one smarter. No point, I only have one semester in school left ):

And that's the famous Harvard magazine building that is built to resemble a face

We lingered around for a little longer, grabbed a coffee and chilled

In the evening, we visited the Museum of fine arts which was free after 4pm on Wednesdays

I love this corridor with the view of art, the cafe and the museum store

And within the gallery, there's a drawing session on going and anyone could participate and draw anything they wanted

And that's how the museum display its rules, ahaha

That night, we went to the Chinese supermarket to shop for dinner and guess what we found!!

In the end we settled for laksa and durian mochi ahaha

The next day was Christmas eve! It got colder, but still there was no snow ):

The south station, where we went to take out bus to new york later that night

And after a 30mins long walk, we finally arrived at the Harpoon Brewery for a tour!

Tours are $5 and includes a sampling session

Overall, the tour took an hour and they showed us all the inner workings of the brewery. Totally a throwback to MA class where we explained Heineken brewing process

Ed and I only tried 4 small cups of beer during the sampling session but we got so red, it was slightly embarrassing ahaha. But their raspberry and christmas flavour was nice

At the end of the tour, we bought a pretzel that was made with the remaining grain mixture from the brewing process. Its really good, but a little pricey at $5