Sex and the City

Not really. Last week I had visitors. My cousin Samantha and her friend Steffy came to visit me in NY after they had visited my family in Miami and gone to Key West and the Bahamas (you see - this traveling thing actually does run in the family). The only people that visit me sort of regularly are my mom and my friend Camille who comes up for business. How exciting to be able to show these two around one of my favorite cities!

I picked them up at JFK, we had dinner in Brooklyn at Picket Fences, which is in my neighborhood and is really delicious. Their mac and cheese is awesome. Anyway after dinner I packed these two into my car and drove them into Manhattan. I have some pretty strong opinions on how people should see NY and I consider a night time drive through the city essential. How else do you begin to take in the twinkling lights, the bridges, the billboards, the shock and riot of color, sound and light that is Times Square?

So we drove over the Brooklyn Bridge with great views of lower Manhattan, up the west side, down through Times Square (that really hit them!), through the Village, up the FDR, back down through Times Square again (for the pictures) and back over the Brooklyn Bridge and home. But not before they could experience the difficulty of finding legal street parking in Brooklyn at 1am. Ha ha ha.

The next day, with spectacular weather, we went to Rockefeller Center. The top of Rockefeller Center is 70 stories above Manhattan, with amazing views of Central Park and the Empire State Building. No lines and no waiting. Bonus.

We visited St. Patrick's Cathedral on 5th Avenue, which is as beautiful as any cathedral in Europe. Funny enough I have lived here for 8 years and never been to either the top of Rockefeller Center or St. Patricks.

We hopped on the subway and went to Gray's Papaya on the Upper West Side for hot dogs that my sister insisted they try. So for something like $3.50 you get the recession special - 2 hot dogs and a drink. I have to say they are really good. I have actually been here before but generally after a night out. We sat in the little park on 72nd and Broadway, watched the city walk by and took it all in. I think one of the really important things to do when in a city, be it your own or one you are visiting, is sitting on a bench in the sun. Somehow I think you get a better feel of the place, you just have to sit, be still, observe and get the energy of the place. Now that I think about it I think I have been doing this for a really long time. Funny that I just notice this.

After chilling out a bit we headed back on the 1 train and hopped on the Staten Island Ferry, the best and cheapest way to see the Statue of Liberty, Ellis Island, and lower Manhattan. Why is is the best? It's free! Imagine, something that's still free in NYC! So after the trip on the ferry it was time to get back on the 1, we went to Central Park, took a carriage ride through the park - again something I have never done, and it was really nice. After taking some pictures with our cranky horse, we walked up to Lincoln Center and had dinner at Rosa Mexicana. For sure one of the best restaurants in the city. We drank pomegranate margaritas, Samantha made guacamole table side with our waiter overseeing, we ate too much, tried to get through the pitcher of sangria and headed out again. But destined for home we were not.

I ask, where in the world can you go shopping at 11:30pm? Times Square of course. So we headed to the Quicksilver store, the girls did some shopping and we finally made our way home.

The next day we headed back to Manhattan. The girls were not much for seeing museums but the weather was not so great, I thought well, I could take the to the Museum of Sex. (Yes this is where the Sex and the City part comes in.) Again another place I have never been - so first we see the exhibit on Sex in Design - plenty of interesting objects and art on display, for cultural purposes of course. Next comes the "film" exhibit. Well, that was interesting. Everything from "educational" films to soft core, hard core and celebrity films on display. Kind of a weird place, a few suspect characters standing around just sort of watching the films very intently. It was sort of shocking and funny all at the same time.

We decided to go get some lunch and headed to Coffee Shop in Union Square. Models and quasi celebrities abound, we ate a delicious lunch, went shopping again in the claustrophobic atmosphere of Times Square. We caught our breath in Bryant Park with a coffee and made our way back home. Initially I had big plans to take them to a fancy dinner and then out to a bar or lounge but I think we were all so tired out that we opted to stay in, order a NY pizza and watch a movie.

The following day, I got the girls some bagels (I had to make sure that they ate the NY classics!) and they packed. We went for lunch at the super fantastic A Farm on Adderly, where we intrigued the bar man and the patrons with our Swiss German. We finished up, packed up and made our way back to JFK for their flight to Zurich.

Ah Bella Italia!

Since I was having such a good time in Europe I decided to extend my stay another week and upon the suggestion of my cousin Philipp I hopped on the train to Venice. I have loved riding trains since I was a child and this was quite a long one, Luzern, then various towns in Switzerland, Chiasso the border town where ultra serious Italian immigration officers check your passport, then on to Milan, Verona, and finally Venice.

This was my first time in Venice and I was strangely daunted by the fact that I was arriving in this unknown city in the evening by myself. I made my way out of the train station to the Vaporetti (the boats that are the city "buses"). Sitting on the Vaporetti, driving down the Grand Canal, I was breathless. It was evening already and the water glittered with reflections of the lights shining from the palatial villas on the Grand Canal. Every little canal, like an alley, held the promise of secrets and mystery.

I arrived at my stop at the Rialto Bridge and tried to find my way to my hotel through the piazzas and alleys that snake through the city in no logical way. A word to the wise, if you go to Venice, PLAN to get lost. I made it to my charming hotel without major incident and was so excited to see this beautiful city. I dropped my bags and headed to San Marco Square. I walked through little alleys and over little bridges and arrived at this magnificent square. While I was taking it all in a man selling tickets for a concert approached me. He spoke to me in Italian for a bit and at the end of his spiel I laughed and told him I don't speak Italian. But I did buy a ticket and listened to Vivaldi's Four Seasons performed live in a church. Amazing.

After the concert I decided to get some dinner, well unbeknownst to me at the time, all the restaurants around San Marco are very expensive. I walked into a cafe and asked about dinner for which they sent me upstairs. When I arrived upstairs I noticed this was a bit posh for me, ladies in dresses, men in dinner jackets. Oh well, what the hell I'm rocking this fur coat from my aunt and I figured I would play woman of mystery for the evening. So I sat down, received a few curious looks from other patrons and had a lovely glass of wine, pasta dish and tiramisu. After a brief conversation with the Swiss couple next to me I finished up and headed back to my hotel (after getting lost again, OF COURSE).

Bern, Switzerland

Friday morning, a little worse for the wear, we got on a train again and went to Bern, the capital of Switzerland. All these years that I have visited Switzerland and I have never been to the capital! So on the train we were, tired and probably a little hungover, we traveled about an hour and were in Bern.

We strolled this beautiful medieval city that was founded in 1191, we walked down cobblestone streets, through archways, past the shopping arcade (the longest covered shopping promenade in all of Europe), admiring churches, towers and fountains along the way.

We eventually made our way to see the famous bears of Bern. I think we were all a little torn between how amazing it was to see these animals but also how awful it was to see them stuck in this pit with not a whole lot of room to live. I would hate to be trapped like that. The bears have been a fixture in Bern since 1441 and the bear pit is actually part of the Bernese zoo.

After seeing the bears, we stopped for a beer and some lunch at a local brewery, did a little shopping and made our way back to Luzern. Back home we were treated to another amazing and typical Swiss meal, Züri gschnätzlets or Zurich Veal. It is small pieces of veal cooked in a cream sauce served with Rosti (Swiss hash browns) and its deeeelicious! So after dinner Elisa, Rob and Kiki packed their bags as they were heading back to the US in the morning.

Alpine Adventures - Part 1

Monday our program really began. Our initial plan was to go to Bern, the capital city of Switzerland, or up into the mountains, specifically the the Jungfrau if weather was permitting. Well the weather forcast called for sensational weather, so Monday morning we got on the first of many trains and headed to Jungfraujoch. It has been a really long time since I have been to Switzerland in the winter and a really really long time since I have been here on actual vacation.

We passed one charming village after another on our way to the Jungfrau. Our first stop was Interlaken, which was straight out of a postcard. Swiss chalets, bright blue skies, massive bright white mountains in the background and of course, lots and lots of skiers. Next we boarded a panorama train to the next stop up in the Bernese Alps. The view was beyond description, our train climbed steeper and steeper around turns and bends with the Alps surrounding us. We switched trains again and got on the last train that would take us up to Jungfraujoch, the highest train station in Europe. The train carried us on tracks that were first laid in 1896, up the mountains and into a tunnel that is actually in the Eiger north face. I could not help but be totally amazed by this feat of engineering and think about all those who have perished at the hands of the Eiger. This is a SERIOUS mountain.

We finally made it to our last stop, 11,387ft above sea level. Not a place to be running up and down stairs, a simple flight of stairs will literally take your breath away and that is before you take the view into account. Other members of my family have been up to Jungfraujoch but unfortunately they were not as lucky as we were with the weather. The views were jawdropping - the Eiger, the Jungfrau, the Monch, the Aletsch Glacier - it was more vivid than any dream or reality could ever seem to be. We took in the sights, played in the ice palace that is in the mountain, I tried to reenact a famous Anton Ono speed skating scene and successfully managed to fall on my ass, twice! Somewhat familiar to someone else I know who shall remain anonymous. Ha ha.

After taking in as much as we possibly could, we got back on the train (totally exhausted as high altitudes can take a toll on you) and headed back to Luzern, where we were treated to Raclette for dinner by Philipp and Radka. Raclette is a very typical Swiss winter dish. Essentially you have a mini grill on the table and you place slices of Raclette cheese into mini frying pans on the grill. You take the melted cheese and pour it over potatoes, mini pickles and cocktail onions. It is a delicious meal after a long day in the fresh mountain air.

As one can imagine, after a day like that and a meal like that we were ready to collapse into our beds, besides the next day we had another alpine adventure planned.

Macau & Hong Kong, China - Part 2

Thursday morning Yuly prepared a gorgeous breakfast of a fresh fruit plant and a toasted English muffin with fresh mango (Carmen - I have the recipe from Yuly, it's AWESOME) for Karen and I on the balcony. Karen went off to work and I did some yoga. I headed down the hill, checking out the little shops, peeking down the lanes and generally was in a state of absolute wonder. I caught a taxi and went off to the ferry terminal, where I took the ferry to Macao.

It was a gorgeous sunny day and after about an hour the ferry arrived in Macao. I did not really have much of an agenda, so I did the touristy thing and hired a rickshaw bicycle driver to take me towards the colonial center. The old man was impressive, I was actually tempted to have him sit in the back and I would pedal but then I paid him about three times what a taxi would have cost me so I guess we were even.

I walked past the glitzy casinos to the historic district. It was so odd to see the street signs in Portuguese and Chinese (Macao used to be a Portuguese colony). If it were not for the Chinese writing, I almost felt like I was in some little European town, winding streets, plazas, colonial architecture - it was gorgeous. I strolled around, did a little shopping, saw the fort and the old cathedral, had an egg tart (like warm egg custard in a flaky pie crust - yummy!) and eventually walked back towards the pier and past all the casinos. A bit of a strange mix of it all.

I got back on the ferry and went for a Hunan Chinese dinner with Karen and her friend Eva. Dinner was truly fantastic - I am not generally a fan of "American" Chinese food, this food was different, better and left no heartburn! Also, getting complemented on my chopstick utilization by a Hong Kong Chinese lady was pretty cool - guess all my sushi lunches have paid off!

After dinner Karen and Eva suggested I go across to Kowloon to visit the Temple Street night market. Eva was kind enough to get me to the market via the MRT (subway). This area was amazing, tons of neon signs, tons of people out, busy, noisy but amazing to walk through. I did a little shopping in the market (one will notice this recurring theme in Hong Kong) and got back on the subway at about midnight and went back to Karen's. After several weeks of being in by 11pm, this was a long day. Hong Kong really never seems to sleep.

Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia - Part 2

Day 2 in Kuala Lumpur, I got up, had a breakfast of noodles, dim sum, sushi and fruit. Strange but all part of the breakfast buffet.

After breakfast I walked to the Petronas Twin Towers and had a look around. I had intended to go to the skyway (the bridge that connects the towers) but the tickets were all gone for the day, so I just walked around inside instead. Attached to the towers is the Suria Mall. I am not a mall person by any means but somehow I was intrigued by this super mall and went to check it out. (James - you're loving me now!) I walked by Chanel, Marc Jacobs, Prada, Ferragamo, Armani, Jimmy Choo (who by the by is Malaysian) and kept walking.

I found a little museum on the third floor with Malaysian artifacts - old pictures, antique jewelry, swords and statues. Its very interesting to see the mixtures of different cultures in Malaysia. The museum was filled with Chinese, Malay, Indian and Islamic artifacts. Much like all the stores and people. There were women with their heads covered with scarves, the scarves are actually held in place with beautiful pins. You see all types of people, Indian Sikhs with their turbans, Chinese teenagers, Malay school kids. The only thing that scared me were the ladies in their abayas and veils, this is the Muslim style of dress where all you can see is the eyes of a woman. (Correct me if I am wrong anyone). So I saw two ladies in this style of dress accompanied by their men and the women's eyes looked so terrorized it freaked me out. Maybe they are ok with their custom and I respect that but somehow it just scared the crap out of me.

Anyway, I've gone off on a tangent. After the museum I went to the Gallerie Petronas next door where they were exhibiting Malaysian women artists. A great show with some really lovely pieces.

I kept walking through the mall, found a foot reflexology place , a bookstore and a cafe where I spent the rest of my afternoon. I don't know if it was the rain outside, my lingering cold, or the intense humidity later but I was pretty spent. I made a night of it with room service and the Discovery Channel. (James - now you REALLY love me.)

On Friday morning I got up, packed, had breakfast and went to the Petronas Twin Towers again. Once again, I missed the tickets for the skybridge, so I opted to get on the subway and take a trip around town on public transport. I took the subway to the central station where I walked to the monorail station. I took the monorail through the Golden Triangle area - once I got on the monorail Kuala Lumpur looked like a lot of other big cities, maybe not as bad as some in certain parts of Africa or South America but it definitely had its "economically depressed" looking areas. Maybe it was just the architecture.

I turned around and went back towards KLCC, got out at Jalan Bukit and walked to Jalan Ampang, past the rubber museum, past the Pakistani Embassy and eventually made it back to my hotel where I collected my bags, got in a taxi and headed to the airport for my flight to Bangkok.