Apple-picking, Pumpkin-hunting & visiting West Point Military Academy

I'm back in Manila.  I arrived last night just before midnight. 

Anyway, here's the rest of my New York adventure.

Apple-picking at the Orange County. We went to a farm called Master Richards. There were 20,000 apple trees of 12 apple varieties (Empire Red, Cortland, Red Delicious, etc.... and I thought there were just 2 varieties - red and green! haha...)! 

It's free entrance and you can eat as many apples as you want for free while you're there. Ok, I finished 3 apples! Haha...

You can also buy apples for about USD20/bushel.

Pumpkin-hunting. We saw gigantic pumpkins along the road on our way to the Woodbury Outlet Mall and decided to make a reverse since my friend wanted to get some pumpkin decors for their home. 

The farm was called Manno Farm.  The small pumpkins sell for about USD6 and the bigger ones for over USD20.

And here are some cute pumpkins which the owner hand-painted herself -

Woodbury Outlet store shopping. If you're visiting at least one outlet store on your trip, make it Woodbury. It's actually tax-free for clothes and shoes in New Jersey but my friends said that it's more worth it to go to Woodbury, New York even if it's not tax-free since the stores have nicer stocks.

West Point Military Academy. On my last day in New York, we decided to drive to West Point Military Academy. I didn't want to do any more shopping or I'll go bankrupt (I think I already am! haha...). 

Anyway, you're required to present an ID in the admission and when the staff saw my Philippine driver's license, he said "One of your presidents studied here - Ramos" (which he pronounced as Rey-mos).  How cool that ex-President Ramos is highly regarded at Westpoint.  :)

We joined a guided tour around the beautiful grounds of West Point. West Point also has a breathtaking view of the Hudson River. 

BTW, the route going to West Point from New Jersey is very scenic. It passes through Bear Mountain and the Seven Lakes Drive. 

Happy trip.  But happy to be home too. :)

Fascinating facts about our Body

I was able to visit an exhibit in New York entitled "Bodies...the Exhibition".  

This is the promotional poster of the event and that's how the preserved body specimens look like -  they are preserved organs, tissue and parts of the body of real people. 

Other than being educational, the exhibit is also an eye-opener - you'll see how unhealthy organs look like, for example how  lungs look like when one has cancer, how a brain of someone looks like after he has suffered a stroke. BTW, you cannot touch the specimens but at the end of the exhibit, there are some preserved organs that you're allowed to touch - a liver, brain and some bone with tissue.

Sharing with you some fascinating facts I learned from the exhibit (most likely, these were taken up in Biology class but maybe, I wasn't just paying attention! haha...):

- Bones are 5x stronger than steel.

- The brain is 80% water.

- A female's brain is 2.5% of her weight; a male's brain is 2% of his weight.

- Nerve cells create electrical impulses that reach speed exceeding 270 miles/hour.

- Studies show that eating breakfast can improve memory.

- The size of eyes do not change between infancy and adulthood.

- There are 60,000 miles of blood vessels in the human body.

- On average, a pack of cigarettes takes 3 hours and 40 minutes of your life (there was trash bin in this section and guess what?  A lot of visitors dropped their box of cigarettes after reading this fact.  Haha...)

Before going out of the exhibition, I browsed through the guest books in the kids' play area.  I was curious to find out what children thought about the exhibition.  Generally, the kids found the exhibit cool particularly the fetal development section. But there was one note that made me laugh!  It said something like - "These things made me sick. I do not want to go to lunch anymore! Why did they cut a body open? That is ugly but kind of cool. I like it. It is weird. I will come back."  Haha...

New York Diaries

I've been taking the bus and subway going around New York (yep, on my own!) and so far, I've survived with just a map and by asking random people for directions!  Haha...

Anyway, to save on costs, I got the New York Pass and a CitySights bus pass, both for 3 days, which cost about USD145 (cheaper to get online at http://www.newyorkpass.com/). There's another pass called City Pass which is actually cheaper (about USD 74) and with longer validity (9 days) but it only gives you access to 6 attractions. The New York Pass, though more expensive, gives you access to 40 attractions! And you'll already get your ROI just by visiting 4-6 attractions. In my case, I was able to visit 12 attractions in 3 days!.   Money well-spent!:) 

My friend also got me an unlimited eTicket card for the subway for 7 days.

So anyway, here are the attractions I visited using my New York Pass:

Empire State Building. It's one long line after another before you get to the observatory so you've to be patient. It took me about an hour considering I went there on a weekday. Also, the elevator will only take you to the 80th floor - from there you can line up again and take another lift to the 86th floor or take the stairs. I took the stairs thinking that it was just 6 floors up - only to find out that each floor was equivalent to 2.5 flights each so that's a total of 13 flights! Haha...

Overall, the experience was breathtaking - literally, you will be out of breath going up the stairs (haha...) and figuratively when you see the view from the top.  Here are some shots I took at the top of the Empire State Building - 

BTW, there's another attraction at the Empire State Building called the SkyRide - a simulator that takes you to the most popular NY attractions - on air, land and under water! If you're on New York pass, you might as well take it since it qualifies you to free admission (and that is worth USD35 alone).


Statue of Liberty and Ellis Island Ferry Tour.   I decided not to get down at the Liberty Island since there were a lot of tourists and I figured out that it might take another hour to get up the monument. It was enough for me to see the Statue of Liberty up close. 

Also, I was more bent on spending time on the Ellis Island Museum  -

Ellis Island is where once upon a time, immigrants passed through. I watched the footages of the early immigrants (probably circa 1910) and the images were just so moving.

I was also able to chance upon a simulated trial session of an immigrant at the hearing room and it was an excellent way to learn what the immigrants had to go through. 

I remember the Ellis Island museum was used in one movie (where the leading character found her ancestor's name in the museum's ship manifesto) but I couldn't recall which movie it is. Oh no, memory lapse! haha...

Ship's Manifesto

NBC Studio Tours. Located at the Rockefeller Center, we visited the control room, make-up room and the studio of Saturday Night Live. The tour guide said that the best day to go there if you want to catch some celebs is on a Friday when guests are having rehearsals. 

We also did a simulated NBC news show where you can actually volunteer to be an anchor person or weather guy - don't worry, I didn't! I don't know where to point my fingers on the weather map! haha... BTW, I decided not to go to Rockefeller's Top of the Rock Observatory anymore since most likely, it's going to be the same view as Empire State's anyway.

American Museum of Natural History. The museum is so big that you've to select what it is that you want to see (unless you've the luxury of time). 

I prioritized the Dinosaur wing, Ocean Life, African Mammals and Pacific Peoples. Check these out -

The Pacific Peoples section is where you will find Night at the Museum's Dumdum! 

Next to the T-rex, I think this is the kids' favorite. The kid in the photo is actually goofing around with some friends and they were shouting - "Dumdum, give me some gum-gum!".

Of course, while at the American Museum of Natural History, make sure to see the statue of Theodore Roosevelt at the museum entrance. 

So that was my self-guided "Night at the Museum" tour! haha... You can actually request from the info desk for a guide that enumerates the highlights of the movie (I only found out about it it at the end of the tour!).

Metropolitan Museum of Art. On top of my list were the Modern and Contemporary Art section to see Jackson Pollock's paintings, European Art to see Van Gogh, Renoir, Matisse, Andy Warhol, Monet and Picasso paintings and Rodin's "The Thinker" sculpture (it's just small - maybe 3 ft high), and the Arms & Armor wings to see knights in shining armor! haha...  Here are some of the photos I took -

Rodin's The Thinker

By Andy Warhol

By Jackson Pollock

At the garden, there were gigantic balloon sculptures on display by an artist named Jeff Koons.  Check these out - 

Sacred Heart by Jeff Koons

Balloon Dog by Jeff Koons

Coloring Book by Jeff Koons

Koons' inspiration for this was a Winnie the Pooh coloring book featuring Piglet. He colored Piglet in various zones using magic markers. When the sculpture was fabricated, he removed Piglet from the composition resulting to this.

New York City Police Museum. If you want to see NYPD patrol cars, motorcycles, arms, 911 footages and debris and also experience being inside a jail cell (I did! hehe...), here's an interesting place to visit.

New York City Police Museum

Bodies' Exhibition. This was an unlikely attraction which I would see since I'm scared of blood (the exhibit features preserved organs and whole body specimens!) but my friends said that it's highly educational and the specimens weren't that gross so I decided to go. I tremendously enjoyed it that I spent about 1.5 hours there! I'll do a separate blog for this and share with you the learnings.

Guggenheim Museum. I went here to see more Jackson Pollock paintings but too bad, there were none this time. But I did get to see more Picasso, Van Gogh and other artworks of the masters and a nice photo exhibit. BTW, I was able to buy a lomo camera at the museum shop for only USD35. They also sell the green light lomo camera for only USD15.

Madame Tussaud's. I just had my photo taken with George Clooney, Brad & Angelina, Julia Roberts, Oprah and some other stars... I missed to see Jack Sparrow, er, Johnny Depp though. 

St John the Divine Church. I was curious to visit this church because its description says that it's so big that it can house the Statue of Liberty!  And it is really huge because here's what could fit into my camera screen from a distance!  

Madison Square Garden. I was able to visit the place but missed to join the all-access tour to see the locker rooms and arena. Apparently, the last one was at 3pm and I got there at 330pm. Sigh...

CitySights Bus Pass was also worth it. Just hop on and off from one attraction to another to save on transpo costs. The tour guide on the bus also gives interesting trivia along the way - Audrey Hepburn's apartment, Hillary Clinton's office, the Kennedy's apartment - and points of interest like these -

Trump Tower

Wall Street

Grand Central Terminal

Pier 16

New York cabs

New York Times Square

Brooklyn Bridge

Other sites I've visited (outside the NY pass) are Ground Zero - 

Tiffany's (only because I had a bracelet re-sized) -

and Central Park (to see the popular Bethesda Fountain) - 

We also watched "In the Heights", the 2008 Tony Awardee for Best Musical, in Broadway.

For foodtrip, we tried Wonjo's (Korean), Havana Central (Cuban), Green Grill (Brazilian), Le Pain Quotidien (French) and Pret-a-Manger (it's been tagged as the best British invasion since the Beatles by Zagat). Incidentally, the Pret-a-Manger branch where I had snacks was fronting the NY Library and Bryant Park - the spot where the dramatic wedding scene in Sex & the City movie was shot.


We also had the time to hear mass at St. Patrick's Cathedral. 

BTW, I also saw some film shooting along Times Square (just across the I love Ugly Betty Billboard) and at the Bethesda Fountain in Central Park but too bad, they were just setting up... no celeb sighting.  :(

While strolling around, you might also just see street performances like this -

There are so many interesting places to see in New York. Love, love, love.  Hope to be back someday.  :)