Random pics from my trip! Have to get up to fly to Japan in the morning, so it’ll be a quickie.

Viv  wins on this one, she definitely got higher. These were taken at an arch in Central Park.

Free ferry to Staten Island! We took it there and back so we could say that we rode a ferry. On the way back we got to stand at the bow of the ferry (if ferries have bows) and see NY from afar.

Got closer to the Statue of Liberty this time. Mission complete.

This is how they dock the ferry...there were birds under there, not sure if you can see them

J didn't know that I was taking this pic. He graciously offered to hang out and play tour guide showing Viv and I the sights as we walked in a huge loop around lower manhattan.

If you know Vivian, you know that Viv loves dinosaurs! The Museum of Natural History had LOTS OF THEM, boy was she thrilled. I was too

Cool view from the Natural History Museum

I still can’t believe that I didn’t take a picture with Steph! We also got to meet up with Andrea (hooray roomie!) in Chinatown for lunch. Once again, camera fail, no picture with Andrea either On a brighter note, I absolutely love how you can not see people for a year or two and have things be perfectly normal like you had never left each other in the first place.

After lunch in Chinatown, Steph, Viv and I took a tour at the Lower East Side Tenement Museum. Quick explanation below:

Lower East Side Tenement National Historic Site preserves a six-story brick tenement building that was home to an estimated 7,000 people, from over 20 nations, between 1863 and 1935. Known also as Tenement Building at 97 Orchard Street, it is located at 97 Orchard Street on the Lower East Side neighborhood of Manhattan in New York, New York. The tenement building is the heart of the Lower East Side Tenement Museum which promotes tolerance and historical perspective at this gateway to America. (taken from Wikipedia)

We got to learn about the story of the Moore Family and their lives as immigrants in the United States through a tour of the space which they resided in, in the tenement building.

I have now hit 4 of the 5 boroughs in NY. The Bronx is my last one.

NYC Food pictures and Philly pictures to come!

this time it’s for FUN! Yay! I decided to screw saving up vacation time and to just take one!

My friends Stephanie and Emily just moved to the East Coast and a few months ago Vivan and I were able to take advantage of a Southwest Airlines sale that they had going on. I got myself a flight from Oakland to NYC for $90 and flying back to Oakland from Philly for $90 as well, which is a gosh darn steal. OH, and Viv just informed me that we will have Wifi on the plane!

I’ll be in NYC for about three days, and Philly for two.  Since I just returned from San Diego on business and work has been quite hectic, I haven’t been able to plan out too many things to do. Vivian is a total foodie, and I definitely don’t mind gorging on tasties, so we’ve decided that this trip is going to be a super eat fest. The one thing that I looked up that I am definitely going to eat is chicken and rice. I found a place on Yelp that is close to Stephanie’s placeand got 4.5 stars, so we will hit that up. $5 for a plate! CHEAP!

I could definitely use some more suggestions on where to go. Steph lives in Astoria, close to Queens I believe.

Two days after returning from the East Coast, I’ll be aboard another plane to Japan for work again. I definitely don’t mind traveling to Japan anymore since we are familiar with our surroundings now. My favorite clothing store, Uniqlo is in the Narita airport as well as at Meguro Station which is close to where we will be working….now if we could find some spare time that would be wonderful. Plus, Japan is great because I don’t think that I can ever get sick of Japanese food.

However, it also means another weekend spent WORKING