These Days

Neil's first time on the zipline, at 4 yo.=)  This was at Balik Bukid . He wasn't scared at all! Good job, Neil! You're my little adventurer.

Last Saturday, we went to Sta. Elena in Laguna for Balik Bukid Part 2.  We enjoyed the first one in May so I blocked our calendar as soon as I heard that they're doing it again. Photo from Balik Bukid @ Facebook. We arrived at the venue at 10AM. At the onset, I could see that this was better organized than the first one.  They improved the layout and some of the facilities and we were able to do more activities. Sand house Boat ride Trampoline Horseback riding Carabao ride Fed the animals - guinea pigs and rabbits Zipline! Video here . Let's get wet! Kids' Obstacle Course Rope course Spider kids Celebrity sighting We will!

Fourth and final installment of the NY sightseeing posts! Our first stop on Sunday, November 11, was the 75-minute Liberty Cruise from Circle Line Cruises.  Both Liberty and Ellis Islands were off limits to tourists because of significant damage from hurricane Sandy so we had no choice but to pick the cruise option on Citypass.  We walked from the hotel to the pier on 42nd St for the 10AM departure. Our ride There she is! This was a fun activity.  There was a tour guide on the boat who talks about the different landmarks along the way so it was very informative, too. After the cruise, we walked towards the Subway station to the World Trade Center Memorial area.  We met Joel at the subway station and he said the lines were to enter the WTC Memorial was very long.  We decided to skip it and go for lunch first.  He took us to Veselka in East Village, which serves Ukrainian food. Hello, Joel! Yonder is the WTC Memorial East Village, the bohemian side o

Although NY is beautiful to see on the ground, it's also quite spectacular from a higher vantage point.  Citypass included both the Top of the Rock and Empire State Building so they had to be in our itinerary.  We went to Top of the Rock on Saturday (after MoMA) and the Empire State Building on Sunday evening. The Rockefeller Center View of the Central Park from Top of the Rock Glass ceiling of the elevator. It was great that we decided to go to the Empire State Building on Sunday evening.  NY at night had a different feel from the previous day's afternoon viewing at Top of the Rock. Famous visitors to the Empire State Building.  Sila lang.=)

I've decided to split my NY posts to four parts: museums, on the ground (Central Park, Grand Central Station, Times Square), above ground (Top of the Rock and Empire State Building) and at sea (Circle Line Cruise, Brooklyn Bridge and East Village).   Welcome to part 2 - On the Ground. =) On the way from The Museum of Natural History to The Met, we had to cross Central Park , my favorite place in NY.  I like parks in general and to have an expansive one in the middle of a busy metropolis is a breath of fresh air, literally and figuratively.  It was especially pretty because of the fall colors.   I wish we had parks like this in Manila... Stone's throw away from Central Park At the park! We also dropped by the Grand Central Station on Saturday.  Grand is the right word. Last stop for Saturday was  Times Square . We hung out on the steps in the middle of Times Square and just soaked it all in. Long day with a lot of walking!