Writes of Passage

A few in this link how reliable is it? (a year ago – May 2016) – wrote that Train Line is more expensive but I found otherwise. Be-known that thetrainline.com is within UK while trainline.eu covers continental Europe.

The Train Line is easy to use especially for people who don’t know who the carriers are. For example, I need a ticket from The fares change but not really according to if you book x weeks in advance. When I looked up on May 22, 2017, the tickets from London to Oxford go for:

1. May 24
2. June 5
3. June 6

It operates @ Paddington Station, which is a short hub (5 stops) from the Eurostar @ St. Pancras Int’l – Kings Cross. The ticket is expensive tho, 

Jupiter the beautiful: thanks to the armature astrologer society of New York (?) who provides telescopes on weekends all summer long.

My season’s last NY Phil concert @ David Geffen Hall. Brahma’s violin concerto is wonder but the soloist Leonidas Kavakos is so so – no wrong notes but the performance isn’t clean. He reminds me of the three brothers in

The second half program is pretty terrible: New York Premieres of Esa-Pekka Salonen

9th Avenue, between 42-57 streets

A street fair on the west side, 2-day event.

A wonderful day out.

We did’t go too deep in to the fair, instead we stopped at Kilo, a wine bar, have really good time there.

857 9th Ave
New York, NY 10019

The joke goes that you need eat to have energy, in order to be able to go on diet. Ehhhh … pardon me my chinglish but you get it.
As I’m closing their handsome but heavy bathroom door, I thought of this joke. You’ll need that little extra strength to deal with the bathroom door. All good and pretty clean bathroom.

High ceiling. Small. Exposed brick walls. Delicious food. Good wines, served in great wine glasses – theirs ranks near the top of my good wine glass list – thin stem and fat bulb, feels really good both in hand and on the lips.

We went on a Saturday evening before the Brahms violin concert @ Lincoln Center. We usually go north for dinner bec the south is just bit dingier. The host asked us if we’ve reservation – so remember to make one – nevertheless, he sat us immediately.

They hang a candle holder as decor. A nice wooden bowl for the shells. A cool tattooed wine connoisseur. Everything feels just fine. The south of Lincoln Center is just as lovable.

In Yangzhou, Jiangsu province; taken by a relative

60828

21216 48th Ave
Bayside, NY 11364
(718) 225-2272

This is a tiny Italian bakery, with no sit down. Girls behind the counter are experienced and efficient, working in harmony; making the trip inside pleasant. They offer to cut the round bread (ciabatta?) which is appreciated (I prefer Addeo & Sons Bakery in Bronx tho), although sometimes I do enjoy tearing apart my bread.
The butterfly cookies and biscottis are all good.

It’s not as crazy as I expected. Although the waiting staff throwing dished into the cart when they clean out a table, could have been handled with little less brute and more care? Let’s be honest, does throwing takes less time than putting down a bowl or dish?

Aside, food is pretty good. The texture of scallion pancake is less chewy, perhaps made from thick paste then dough.

1096 Ira Vail Road,
Leeds, New York 12451

The Guangming Temple has a pot of land abt 100 acres in upstate Leeds, Greene County in the Catskill. It’s directly north of their Chinatown temple, 127 miles door to door to be exact. According to wiki, Leeds’ pop 377 and area is 0.54 sq miles (1.39 sq km). They don’t have piped in gas but use out door canister.

The two store house is newly renovated. A shed to the side.

The land is very enchanting, although there are far too many bugs that fly into your eyes – it’s only May. Wondering what would be in the summer.

0.7 miles south is 大乘寺 (wiki) Da Chengsi (@ 710 Ira Vail Rd.) It has a temple in Chinatown (133 Canal St., #1, New York, NY 10002, under the name of Mahayana Temple Buddhist Association) too. We drove in but the temple is closed.

Empire State Plaza
Downtown Albany, NY

I’ve been to NY state capital a few years ago on a tennis tournament but did not come to the power center (aerial photo). The buildings are very grand and impressive, especially the State Capitol (wiki), finished in 1899. And a little free library.

The  State Education Building and Legislative Office Building (built in 1972).

The Egg and more …

36-36 Prince St
Flushing, NY 11354

The second one after their Chinatown flagship. So far the rating is pretty low on Yelp, only 2.5 generated from 169 reviews. I don’t have any issue with them, from one lunch. We ordered a lot, a little too much. All of the food/dishes are good. The congees are delicious. Service is fine. Bathroom is clean. I’ll return.