Author Archives: Li

Discovering New York

One of the significant desserts in New York City. In every summer, there are many ice cream trucks that stop by everywhere. I love Ice Cream just like how much love New York City

Spend more time in nature-Brooklyn Botanic Garden is one of the attraction that people love to go. Especially, the sakura festival. The garden is a place that makes you feel like you are not in NYC.

Brookfield Place-Modern style shopping center mall. This shopping center is next to the waterfront. Visitors can enjoy the view while they are having meals.

ABC Ice- Malaysian’s dessert in Brooklyn reminds me the taste of hometown.In NYC we can get foods from all over the world. Some people travel to NYC is because of the culinary.

Belt Parkway Waterfront- In summer there are many people come here to enjoy the smell of the sea. It is so fresh and make you feel very free.

Long Island City’s Pepsi Cola sign. In Long Island City there is a new library coming soon.

Lower Manhattan Tour

     The field trip to me was a new perspective of the Lower Manhattan area. I been to Lower East Manhattan many times, every time  I travel to the place. I just felt like the place was too crowded, many tourists and office workers around there. As I know, in that area there are many attractions to visit. At first, we met in front of the Staten Island ferry entrance.  And then we walked to a church name Shire of Saint Elizabeth Ann Seton that crosses the street. The church used to be the home of Elizabeth Ann Seton. Elizabeth Ann Seton was the first American born    Fraunces Tavern Museum & Restaurant is an interesting attraction to visit. Professor mentioned about in the past George Washington situated its headquarter in this place. It is a museum with dining restaurant, the museum is located on the second floor and the restaurant is located on the first floor. The floor is made of wood, when you came into the building step on the floor you can hear the sounds of stepping the floor, it is a sign that the building is historical. The fee of the museum only cost $7 for adults, $4 for senior, children, and student, and free for the children that under 5 years old.  I did not have a chance to visit the museum this time. I definitely would visit next time.

  The most interesting part on the trip was the Trinity Church. Trinity Church is a beautiful church that with gothic style. It reminded me the place of the Green-Wood Cemetery. In my culture, we never visited a cemetery as an attraction. We only go to the cemetery on a certain period of date which is the Qingming festival. I don’t know why in my culture they believe in this way. When we visited the cemetery of Trinity Church, I felt the cemetery was consecrated to memory the important person. I think Chinese culture should adopt this concept, to be more open to that the people can show their respect. When we went to the National 911 Memorial & Museum, I heard one visitor said; “It is kind of sad.” The movement of the water that blash reminded me of the sadness of losing families and friends. I liked the way that they put roses on the memorial.

  Overall, it was a great experience.The information that the professor provided was informative I never knew that Lower Manhattan was the start of the place of the immigrant.I had learned about the Lower Manhattan area history from professor. I think the history of Lower East is very important to the Hospitality.

 

The reflection at The Met

   

     

 

 

 

 

The artworks at The Met


The second trip of the class we went to The Met museum. It is one of the largest museums in the world. People come from all over the world to visit The Met because The Met has different period collections. The year of the collections can be back to 5000 years ago, which means the museum contains 5000 years history of the art. Also, visitors can find the art not only from American, but from Asia, Africa, Australia, Pacific Islands, and, Europe. Every year there has over 5 million visits. The location of the museum is convenient, located in the central park. I got off at 4/5/6 station at 86 St and walked about 6 minutes. The admission for New York State residents that is included New Jersey and Connecticut students, is paid as you wish. For the outside visitors, the admission fee would be
$25 for adults, $17 for seniors,  $12 for students and the children that under 12 would be free. I think the admission fee is reasonable

    At first, we met with a guest called Robert. He is the Food and Beverage Manager at the museum. Robert introduced us to the restaurants that at The Met and brought us to a fine dining used to a place that only allows members. I found that very interesting, that was the first time I knew The Met museum fine dining restaurant. And then Robert brought us to the rooftop bar. The bar is a  nice place to chill, the beautiful view of the Big Apple City. I think it is a very good trend for marketing the museum, the museum wants to target all ages of the people. I found that in common, many hotels is doing the rooftop bar. Rooftop Bar can increase the revenue and attract more visitors, it is a win-win situation.It was a nice experience that, I never knew the rooftop bar.

     About 12:30 p.m., we went downstairs for the highlights tour. The name of the tour guide is Susan Jordan. The first place that we went was the Greek sculptured effigy. Madam Jordan explained to us about the history of the sculpture, The art is called Kourus; it is a man with contrapposto position. This remained me the art class that I took the art class. The next part that we looked at was the marble sculptured effigy he was more realistic. And then we moved up an artwork that called Ambrym Slit Gongs. Ambrym Slit Gongs is a musical instrument that came from the Pacific Island. This musical instrument is very unique; the structure of the instrument is a human body and it represents the ancestor of the village. Every village has it own Slit drum (the musical instrument). I never knew that Ambrym Slit Gongs is a musical instrument. Madam Jordan let us take a guess where is the mouth of the instrument. It is interesting that some people think that the long hole of the body is the mouth, actually, it is. The next piece that Madam Jordan showed us was the Instruments of Power. The Instruments of Power was the reflection of United States’s situation in the past. This was new to me, I never paid attention to the art before. The favorite artwork during the tour was the portrait Velazquez by Juan de Pareja. The portrait is like a photo, it is very smooth. Madam Jordan explained to us the artist used the technique of wet to wet so it made the portrait very smooth. This was the first time I heard about wet to wet.

    The tour of The Met was amazing, I have learned so much from the tour guide. I think the knowledge of the art is very important to us, it can drive our passion to go to the museum. After the museum had changed the price policy, the museum was not as crowded as before. In the past there was a long line at the museum, people were waiting to get in from outside to inside. I felt $25 ticket for The Met is worth it. The comfortable level of the museum, was nice I felt I had common with some people, I appreciate the art from 5000 years ago. To me, The Met is a museum that could bring you to explore the art that from different countries and from the art I can learn about the culture of the country.

 

Trip 6/12 Reflections

The Eagle Warehouse

   On June 12th it was a beautiful day to explore the beauty of New York City. I was lucky that
Professor Phillip brought us to a trip. As a New Yorker that has been living in Ne

w York City 6 years, I have been visited Dumbo several times, but I never realized that there are some historical buildings still exist. While we were walking from our school to the Dumbo, Professor Phillip told

us that the building that with the clock was like a public service back then. There is a building called The Eagle Warehouse that used to be newspaper warehouse, it has turned in to the residential building. This reminds me of the Paper Factory Hotel that used to be a warehouse and has turned into a hotel that located in Long Island City. This is very interesting like people are staying in historical buildings, it sounds green to me that people have reused vacant buildings.
   I was so excited to take the NYC Ferry; the ferry ; NYC Ferry is not free, but it only cost $2.75 that take you to the Williamsburg. The ferry seemed new and fresh, I would say it had a better condition than the Staten Island Ferry. The ferry crossed under the Manhattan Bridge, I had seen a building that was under construction that located beside the Manhattan side of Manhattan Bridge. When I saw the building, it made me think of the historical buildings that the professor had mentioned. I think the city is getting more modern buildings which means more and more historical building are hidden by those new buildings. It was a great experience to take the ferry, the view was so beautiful.

The residential building

   When we arrived at the destination, I saw the residential building with clear glass. The environment over there was clean not like the street that I used to see in New York City, I had a feeling that I was in Singapore. While we walking to the Domino Park, I saw there was plenty of pet stores. I assume that many people have at least one dog at their house. Street gave me a feeling that I was in Boston. It was quiet, and the tempo was slower. There was some warehouse turned in to the office or residential buildings. Those buildings are the mark of the history, I hope that those buildings would exist as long as possible because it is meaningful to the history. When we passed by a place that the artist was painting the wall for the movie theater, this remained me this was the culture of New York. I was in New York not in Singapore or Boston. When we walked along the park, we saw three sugar tank over there. This is the traces that the sugar factory been here before and has reused it and has turned it this place to a fresh looking.

Domino Park

   Domino Park was clean, and I saw some workers were picking up the trash when they saw it. Many parents brought their children to this park and some people brought their dogs. It is a great place to spend time with pets, kids, friends, and family. This place is like a place that escapes the stress and to relax. One of the classmates has mentioned about Domino Park has the feeling of High Line, I totally agree with her opinion. The park has the modern feeling and the natural element on it. It was amazing that turned a Domino Sugar Factory to Domino Park. There was a vacant factory or warehouse that was under construction. At the time, I was thinking it might be a new residential building.  Last stop, we went to was the Taco Cina. This was the only place that selling food and beverage at the Domino Park. Taco Cina was a little pricey and the food was not that special. I suggest they can add more options to the park like hot dogs.
  Overall, this was a great experience that let me had a chance to see and learn about the urban history of New York City. After the factory left the waterfront, it became vacant places.  But, people reused it and turned into a place that people would love to visit. I was grateful that I had this opportunity to learn more about New York City.