A Very Fruitful Xmas Day (^ ^)

I finally saw real holly! o(^ ^)o

This year, I had a really wonderful Christmas Day.

It was blissful to have a full day away from work and just enjoy the sights. What made it even better was to have great company and interesting conversations. (^ ^)

That day, a good friend and I walked all the way from 11am to around 6pm without much rest.

Even without doing any form of planning for that day, we unconsciously covered nearly all the well-known places in NYC: Central Park, 5th Avenue, East Village, Chinatown, Union Square, etc.  

It's been a long time since I did that much walking. I loved it. (^ ^)

Ah... back to nature in Central Park

The Literary Walk in Central Park

Shakespeare, the Bard

How can we not have a statue dedicated to him on the Literary Walk?

Inside the Trump Building

What? You didn't know that Donald Trump actually had a building dedicated to himself and furnished with stands selling souvenirs of him?

I didn't know either, haha~ ;-P

We just happened to stroll past this building on 5th Avenue and since it was open to the public, we decided to pop in for a look.

A lot of gold mirrors and red decorations in it. A lot of tourists.

That's about it.

It had a very obstentatious feel to it, as if the building is meant to be a tribute to Trump's Midas touch. 

I think they overdid it on the gold mirrors and warm lighting, I felt like we were in a gold vault which was quite an interesting experience.

  

Food stands on 5th Avenue

DON'T buy food from these food stands here.

They didn't display their prices and arbitrarily charged a high price for their food.

Spicy hotdog and potato knish

which cost an exorbitant USD$10

My first experience buying food from a food stand in New York and I had to get ripped off.

I didn't know the price and assumed it to be standard like the ones near campus. 

Imagine my surprise when I heard how expensive it was as the stall owners handed me the items.

Well, it was still an experience. ;-)

At least now I know I have to be careful of food stands that don't declare their prices. Take it as payment for knowledge gained, haha~

Knish

To put it in more comprehensible terms, it is actually a mashed potato fritter.

I was intrigued by the very foreign sounding name and decided to get one to try. Despite the expensive price, I didn't exactly regret getting it.

Piping hot and delicious on a chilly winter day. Very filling and satisfying.

I think they added a bit of spice, such as cumin in it.

Ground Zero

One of the places that I wanted to visit.

Statue of Liberty

Yes, I finally saw the Statue of Liberty after nearly 5 months here. (^ ^)