Thursday 29 May 2014

Thursday 22 May 2014

Tuesday 20 May 2014

Chasing Sunsets 4


"Be still and know that I am God."
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Hey there! I haven't added to this series in a while. It's more like a golden hour photoset. I went to a retreat this past Saturday in Crieff Hills, Guelph, Ontario. I went for a nice, quiet walk around sunset time and snapped these pictures. 
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Monday 19 May 2014

Saturday 3 May 2014

New York City: End

Read Part 1, Part 2, and Part 3 (food) first!

Sorry for breaking up my NYC trip into so many parts. Here is the last one (I promise!)
We spent the majority of our 3rd day in Central Park. On the last day we went to the Statue of Liberty before our flight.

I will try my best to tell you all the locations we visited in Central Park but to be honest, I forget some of them... (bad blogger!)
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It was a beautiful day to walk around Central Park. It was almost 20 degree (celsius)! Finally, the chilly winds subsided and the skies opened up for us. It was extremely bright so it was difficult to take good pictures, but I cannot complain!
These ferns were starting to unravel. I can't remember exactly where I took this, it might be on the bank of The Pond. 
Lovely view from a little lookout near the Woolman Rink.  
The Mall, which you might recognize from many movies like Maid in Manhattan. We were fortunate that the leaves were starting to grow back--or else this place would look pretty bare.  
Self-proclaimed Cheetos sponsor.  
Yours truly is awkward on the other side of the lens. Hey, that's why I'm a photographer and not a model! 
Bethesda Terrace was up next! Look at those pink blossoms everywhere. 
The entrance to the Bethesda Fountain. I was going to wait for all this people to leave so I could get a clean shot but forget it...not waiting.  
Wowee, here's the Bethesda Fountain. 
San Remo apartments as seen from the park. This building really stands out among the others.  
This was taken at Trefoil Arch. I won't lie, I really like the composition on this one! 
I really liked how she was sitting there reading serenely. I took this near the Hans Christian Andersen statue.
She was also wearing a nice outfit. Thank you stranger for making such a nice composition.  
Photocred to Inez! She has also made a blog about NYC (twice). Check her out here.
The Belvedere Castle as seen from Turtle Pond. Whoever built Central Park is a genius. It's a wonderland in the middle of urban chaos. 
Couldn't resist taking a picture of this lamp surrounded by blossoms.  
 Beautiful gardens on the way to the Belvedere Castle. 
I can't resist taking pictures of flowers. Now this is spring! Canada, please watch and learn!  
 Finally, the steps to enter the Belvedere Castle. 
Can't beat the view from the top! We are overlooking Turtle Pond and the Great Lawn towards the left. 
The castle-like building you see is the Beresford Apartments. 
The iconic Bow Bridge. You could also explore the waters on row boats. 
Beautiful potted arrangements on the bridge.  
I had to step over some barriers to get this shot. You gotta do what you gotta do! 
I rarely see yellow magnolias in Canada so this was quite the sight.  
The iconic Imagine mosaic in the Strawberry Fields commemorating John Lennon.  
Cool green blossoms (not sure what exactly it is called) near the Museum of Natural History.  
The one and only Theodore Roosevelt.  
There is no fixed admission to the American Museum of Natural History. It's donation based.  
I believe this was a velociraptor skeleton. I owe my dinosaur knowledge to watching each Jurassic Park movie more than ten times as a child.  
Hey, remember this from the Night of the Museum movie? Dumb-dumb, give me some gum-gum! 
We went to the Top of the Rockefeller at night to see the city lights. We had the option of going to the Empire State Building but decided on the Rock because we can take pictures of the Empire State Building (lol). However, I've been told that the views from the Empire State Building was better.  
The system to get to the Top of the Rock is a little odd. They are very strict on timeslots and have a limited amount for each one. If you're planning to come here, make sure you book the tickets with a timeslot! If not you will have to wait in line and become disappointed as your desired timeslot fills up. We planned to go up right at sunset but we got pushed back to the 8:45 pm timeslot.  
Central Park from above. Massive, right?
Here's a pano I took. Technically, I wasn't allowed to bring a tripod but I still used my Joby Gorillapod and nobody restricted me from doing so.  
Statue of Liberty was the final destination on our last day. It was a very, very, VERY cold day. The winds were crazy on the ferry and even more so on the island itself. I couldn't take many pictures.  
Here she is! The colour itself is perhaps what makes it so iconic.  
Lady Liberty overlooking NYC.  
The replica of the torch inside the Statue of Liberty Museum.  
The structure of the Statue of Liberty. Yes, it is hollow inside in case you did not know.  
Snapped this picture real quick because it was hella windy on this side of the island. 
Bye Lady Liberty! Bye New York City!

The verdict about New York City? Whoever built this city was a great visionary. Apart from the concrete jungle it is known for, it has plentiful greenspace in between. I would live here, especially as a student of NYU--don't think it will ever happen though. The city's subway systems are quite efficient and much more extensive than that of Toronto.  However, there are also downsides. It is widely known that NYC is not the most sanitary of places--a lot of garbage is produced here and piles of black garbage bags can be seen on every street, there is a significant rodent issue, and the drivers here are simply nuts. 

If you'd like to visit NYC one day, prepare to do a lot of walking (unless you can afford taking the taxi everywhere, that would be much better). Four days is definitely not enough to explore everything. Remember that we only spent our time in Manhattan and we still did not cover everything. I hope you enjoyed this series. 

See you in the next adventure!
-e.m. 
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