FFF: Almond Nut Bluebree Waffle

Just toast and its ready. Noticed it was on offer one day at Safeway and so I decided to buy it. For those who did not know about the Safeway promotional label yet, they have been tricking us into buying two. It is sufficient to buy one. Yes, you would still be eligible for the discounted price. Thanks Champ for informing me, even though it was already second last week of school.

Back to topic, its that easy. Toast it, spread it, eat it. For awhile in the beginning, I insisted on baking instead of toasting.

For afternoon snack or supper treat, scoop up a generous serving of Ice cream and chocolate cream. I used honey instead of maple syrup. Still good.

In an odd variation of breakfast waffles, I lay a slice of cheese and put prunes. Healthy!.. or not..hmm

I was given a bottle of Blueebree jam in April. Spread together with Almond Nut Butter Jam. Heavenly goodness. Pictured above is a typical breakfast that I had during first week of exams. Bowl of cereals and oats in milk. Wash down with hot Milo.

Sugars keep my brain awake!

Philadelphia Liberty Bell

Thursday 21st May 2009

The bus ride bypasses Benjamin Franklin Bridge. Other signs that we were near Philadelphia included the signboards which scream out loud their loyalty to the Phillies. Also passed were the Wachovia Center, home of the Flyers and 76ers.

Walked towards Liberty Bell. Despite being known as the most walkable city, our luggage in hand did not permit us to walk freely, limiting our exploration to the Old City district and the vicinity around Liberty Bell. Below is Independence Hall and on left Supreme Court Chamber. On right of Independence Hall but not pictured is Congress Hall.

Just as well because it was getting late and most places of interest had begun closing its doors. John Philip Sousa, the 'March King' composed Liberty March. One of his more famous songs and was even used for the President's inauguration. 

The Liberty Bell is extremely symbolic. I say so because it is a prime example of 'epic fail' in terms of fulfilling its functional duties. Ordered from London in 1750s, it arrived in Philadelphia but during testing atop the State house, the bell cracked. Recasting to bridge the gap and modifications to improve the sound were in vain. Originally named State House Bell and renamed Liberty Bell by abolitionists of slavery, it is a bona fide symbol of freedom.

'Proclaim Liberty throughout all the land unto all the inhabitants thereof' from Leviticus 25:10 and inscribed on the Bell

Pennsylvania towns - Hershey and Amish

Friday22nd May 2009

Interstate 76 towards Harrisburg gets us to Hersheytown. Technically, as I would learn on the trolley tour the township is still named Derry and Milton Hershey never meant to have the town named after him. Welcome to Chocolate World. 

Chocolate Factory ride gives a simulated preview of what goes on in the Hershey factory. Ends off with a funsize of Hershey Milk Chocolate. The real Hershey factory makes 33 million kisses per day. More sweets to come during our Hershey trolley tour. 

Chocolate Avenue with its iconic kisses shaped street lamps. In 1963 all the lamps were unwrapped kisses but today the wrapped and unwrapped kisses alternate along the whole of chocolate avenue. Kudos to the deliciously informative tour and the cheerful guide.

Founder Hall was built in italian and Vermont Marble. The 'Milton Hershey and Student' statue in the rotunda was dedicated in 1959 to him and all children of the school are his children. Back when he founded the school, only underprivileged boys were enrolled. Now the school does enrol girls but it remains that the yearly acceptance exercise is prerequisited on needy children first. Hence, not just anyone can be part of this school. One of the perks of being a student here is a home residence with a tap which dispenses milk chocolate.

On the way back, stop by Amish village. I was impressed and also amused at the commitment of the folks to resist change and stick to their beliefs.

Enjoying the farm scenery and walking in the fields. Breathing in the fresh air of the countryside.

Trip back to Philadelphia was not without blunder. A wrong turn somewhere meant we almost ended up spending the night in Hersheytown.

Philly Breakfast to go

Saturday 23rd May 2009

Stories of crime and violence on the dangerous streets of urban philadelphia. Stay safe friends.

Operating 24hrs from Passyunk Avenue fulfilled our wish of Philly Cheesesteak at 9am before returning the car. This two stalls are located just across the street from each other and it reminded me of Sempang Bedok in Singapore. 

Two of us were dumped at 30th Street Station with the bags while the other two returned the car and went to buy our Soft pretzel from the Reading Terminal Market. Below is a sculptor titled "Spirit of Transportation". Dating from 1895 when it was located at the Broad Street Station before being translocated to Pennsylvania-30th Street Station, Karl Bitter 'represents the triumphal procession of progress led by a child carrying a model of an airship. A prophetic vision of a mode of transportation to come'. Note the Wright Brothers experimented with wing warps and eventually built the first powered aircraft around 1900.

Below is the interior design of the 30th Street Station built in a Classical Revival style of Rome. The Pennsylvania Road War Memorial consists of an ominous archangel lifting a body of a dead WWII soldier. 

Amtrak's history from its beginnings as Pennsylvania Railroad (PRR) is interlinked with this station and the importance of rail travel in 1900s. Below is our pick up point outside the station where we hopped on the bus back to New York.

Up to now, I still had no idea what exactly Memorial Day was about other than a long weekend holiday. This meant massive crowds in New York.

From Harlem to Comedy Club

Sunday 24th May 2009

An omelette breakfast and the rest of the morning was spent browsing shops on 34th Street.

Apollo Theater. Maybe it was too early in the morning because the historic theater was very much closed and did not look that impressive from the outside. Never the less, its prominence was noticed by many tourists like myself. Think Ella Fitzgerald, Billie Holiday, James Brown, Jackson 5 and Stevie Wonder.

125th street is also known as Main Street of Harlem. It is also Martin Luther King Jr Boulevard. In photo is Adam Clayton Powell Junior Statue and the Building with his name. He was the first African-American elected to congress. From where I took the photo, I had the time to browse artwork in the Studio Museum Harlem.

Walking south on Malcolm X Boulevard, there were many churches. I liked the laid back feel of characteristic of Sunday mornings. Most people that were up and about were probably heading to church. At the intersection of 116th Street was the above Masjid. I was told by the security officer that Malcolm X gave his lectures here. Impressive! A few blocks east along 116th Street there was a Malcolm Shabazz Market.

Walking down 116th Street(aka Luiz Munoz Marin Blvd) and where it cuts St Nicholas Ave and Adam Clayton Powell Jr Blvd, I couldn't resist joining the queue at Make My Cakes.

Baseball game with sports commentary in Spanish at Morningside Park. In the distance, Columbia University.

Eveningtime was taking in the sights of the lower Manhattan districts. Memorial Day eve was packed with visitors and it was hard to manouvre through the human traffic as we ploughed up from Chinatown and Tribeca to Soho and Little Italy. Festivities in Little Italy included a very lively funfair. The most popular stall had a jackass clown and you could pay $2 or $5 for the opportunity to dunk him by throwing balls hard at a target. Vincent tried.

The sounds of trumpets playing military tunes added to the festivities. During pasta dinner, the waitress belted out her rendition of the star spangled banner.

Ended of the night with some good laughs at Gotham Comedy Club.

SHUCKS!

Memorial Day Parade

Monday 25th May 2009

The morning begun with the search for breakfast. When looking for something, it just becomes more elusive. Chocolate chip from Dunkin Donuts was what was on my mind. Cheap and delicious. Normally found abundantly but it was not on our route up to Times Square. 

Settled for Fillet-O-Fish from Macs. As we people watched. Traffic was not blocked off like yesterday and to summarise a funny sight- "girls queueing to take pictures with a man and his cowboy hat and holding a guitar". Upon returning again in the late afternoon, I noticed another such act. This time by a woman in her golden years. The picture above is the of the overhead tracks of the subway at Inwood.

After choosing the annual Memorial Day Parade held at Broadway at Dyckman over the awesome-ness of walking the Brooklyn Bridge, I was slightly disappointed by how small scale the event was.

Other than a small group of people sitting on the kerb and a little league baseball kids at the pavement, the only real thing that looked like a programme was a small junior band. Playing among other songs, a BEP medley. 

As I ran through some shops to search for a cool drink, I saw a Pipes and Drums contingent. I had a coconut flavoured ice stick because the juice with Acai berries was way too expensive.

Just minutes before the parade, the Navy band arrived. Parking their vehicle and setting up with near military efficiency, the Parade begun on time at 1pm. Marching up Broadway and holding up traffic, the contingents were greeted with thankful waves and smiles. A small parade does have its perks and I enjoyed the mobility of walking up and down at close proximity to the contingents. 

It was really heating up in the afternoons and ice cream was the answer. On the way back, searched for Haagen Dazs. No $4 pint so we shared a regularly priced pint of Rocky Road, which by the way is still much cheaper than in Singapore. Above picture was taken during one of the nights at the nyu apartment and our fantastic hosts kept insisting Vincent and I to help ourselves. And, I did. 

Everything proceeded on schedule and we caught a cab to JFK at 5pm at the doorstep of Gareth's apartment. The capacity of the normal sized cab was amazing to be able to fit luggage from the 3 of us. 

The end

Departing from New York JFK at 2025hrs on 25th May

Transit in Frankfurt

Arrival in Singapore at 0609hrs on 27th May

I had the luxury of a window seat from Frankfurt to Singapore. That horizontal gradient there is where the sky turned black from blue.

In the above photo, can u spot the tail of the wing? Its that reddish line. It's hard to see what else was supposed to be in that picture. But, imagine this. The upper half of the photo is the night time sky. The plane must have been above the clouds because every inch of sky was sprinkled with the stars. Irregular enough to form varying constellations across the sky but uniform enough to outline distinctly the wing of the plane which extends to the red line. Now, at the bottom half of the picture imagine viewing neurons through a microscope. Biomarked so that glowing structures form with dense concentrations from the nucleus and these glowing dots spread away like dendrites towards other cells. I probably can't make it any clearer than that. 

Oh yes. I'm back home. Almost a month of travelling. Gigabytes upon gigabytes of photos. Miles and miles walked and the memories. Tomorrow I shall start retracing each day through the photos I took. Not sure yet if I should go backwards day by day or should flashback to that first day when I left Vancouver.

one more day and i'll be back home

Philly tomorrow.

Lost in Washington
Smithsonian museums tomorrow

6 days of fun in newyork.
Now, off to boston.

Just passed customs.
Yes, there is wifi on the bus.
Newyork bound.

Selamat hari ibu!

Day 2 of Toronto. Van to Niagara Falls arriving in an hour.

And Grouse Grind bottom

The day started off with a trip downtown to DFS shop. Closed, so headed to Canucks store at BC place. Closed, so back downtown. It was nearby so the trips to and fro and to again was not a great hardship. 

Near the Canucks store. My memory is failing me as to what up with this statue. I'm guessing paralympics.

We were even able to walk from Burrard to BC place bypassing this museum.

Martin and I went to Grouse Mountain because we had never been before. 

Wolves enclosure. 

Gate to grouse grind. It was left open by someone coming down the trail. However, I closed and locked it.

But with our determination we still managed to get in. Slopes wasn't very steep at the lower part. Unfortunately, time constraint and lack of preparations (water and others) meant it would be better we save our knees and return down the trail.

Coincidentally, it was the last day of skiing. Bunches of people waited for the lift up, eager to cut the snow one more time. 

Dropped by Cleveland Dam for one last visit. Popular picnic spot for many and their dogs.

Museum of Anthropology at Sunset

The sun sets at about 8.10pm. That day I ran from Gage to Rose Garden. Nice just in time for sunset. 

The picture above was taken on another sunset chase few days earlier where I reached Rose Garden a minute after the sun setted. The sky was divided by a horizontal purplish cloud.

"How about the view at Museum of Anthropology?", I thought to myself. Instead of taking photos at the Rose Garden, I went there instead. Unfortunately, upon reaching I just missed the moment the sun went down. Here are some pictures I took when I was there.

A-huff and a-puff! But the seeds are not as easy to disperse as it looks.

On another note, I had planned to give MOA a visit before leaving Vancouver. 2nd Last day, it was closed. On the last day, I forgot. So yes, I stayed in UBC for 4 months and I did not go to MOA.

Last few days in Canada spent in Toronto

to ottawa first thing in the morning.

left Québec yesterday.
Going out in Montreal.
bonjour!