Our little son and Olya at 5 months

La Jolla and Del Mar

We decided to head out to to California on a very cold Thursday and arrived at Del Mar around 9 pm. We stopped at Bully's East http://www.bullyseastsd.com/ for some dinner. One of the dishes we ordered was potato soup which tasted very much like a Russian stew and was very thick. Very good dish. We met a Russian girl there - Tatyana from Belarussia who studied to become a nurse in San Diego. She was the friendliest waitress in the restaurant that night. Our waitress on the other hand seemed to either have a bad day or a bad attitude - it was very hard to tell. I wish I could afford to be so intolerant to complete strangers.

The next morning we had breakfast at Bibby's Crepe Cafe in La Jolla. We love crepes and always look for places that serve them. Bibby's served a menu full of buckwheat savory crepes and sweet crepes. They also sold Leonidas Belgian chocolates - same ones we always get at New York's Manon Cafe. We ate there twice that week and especially enjoyed a crepe with pears, chocolate and vanilla cream.

We saw the seal beach on the news while in the hotel and decided to go visit the seals at the beach in La Jolla. The seals were very relaxed and quiet, sunbathing in the sun and completely oblivious to the people watching them. One very large seal occupied a prominent spot on on of the bigger rocks. It wasn't until he was completely dry that he decided to slide down to the water very slowly. I previously only saw seals while on catamaran in Boston and at the Sea World in San Diego, but never like that - wild in the open. It was wonderful to see them in the natural habitat - near the ocean water.

After driving around looking for a place to have lunch, we somehow settled on Pamplemousse Grill http://pgrille.com/. While nice and welcoming, the place was way too formal for what we expected from the name. We gave it a try and I ordered a seafood bisque, which was absolutely wonderful and full of flavor. A great soup for $18. Felt good in my pregnant belly.

We wanted to relax by the hotel pool in the afternoon and it was wonderful. It was still windy and chilly on Friday, but very refreshing. I swam for the very first time since November. It made me think how much I enjoyed swimming in the past.

We decided to go back to La Jolla beach to try Royal Thai Cuisine http://www.royalthaicuisine.com/. The place had excellent red curry. Although it looked more like yellow curry and was hardly warm enough. I wasn't a big fan of their "hot green tea" either - just lightly colored lukewarm water. Are they saving on electrical power there as well as tea bags?

Wayne discovered that right across from the hotel where we used to stay in the past was the Russian-Georgian Restaurant called Pomegranate. Naturally, we decided to try it. We ordered a salad platter full of familiar Russian salads and some Georgian salads that I wasn't familiar with. There was mashed bean salad that was pretty good. The green spinach dip was our least favorite, while the cabbage-apple salad was the best. We had an authentic Russian feast there: chicken kebabs and golubtsi - cabbage rolls filled with ground beef and cooked in the vegetable stock. The $4 tea came in a glass with metallic holder and we had to choose the syrup to go with the tea: I went with sour cherry.

We met uncle Bob and Diane on Sunday - the hottest day of our trip and went to the Presbyterian church with them in the morning. The service was good, but I didn't find the church to be very friendly. The pastor hardly made any eye contact when we went to visit with him and ended the conversation well before it started. Another tall guy with a big nose came up to introduce himself, did not even glance our way when shaking our way. Sometimes I wonder if it is social awkwardness that makes people act that way. I don't think we are very intimidating. Either way, I was happy that our home church is completely the opposite. We are friendly, open and like to socialize with new people.

We had wonderful time with uncle Bob and Diane during our brunch in Alpine. They got a new puppy - a little adopted white poodle mix named Princess that loves to jump on coaches despite having hip problems. The cat was still living at the house and we decided not to go there to avoid my allergy outburst.

St. Louis

Why St.Louis?

It's a matter of where my husband gets send on a business trip. The company he works for is headquartered in St.Louis and he had to be there for over 2 weeks, which is way too long for us to be apart. So I flew to St. Louis for a 4 day weekend and we had a wonderful time.

We went to the St.Louis Art Museum - a rather small yet very diverse museum. I think we enjoyed our visit there so much because it was small and pretty much void of people - just the way we like it. We saw every single exhibit with the exception of the Ming Dynasty Exhibition that was taking place at the museum during the time. The museum is located inside Forest Park which is a beautiful park located in a very expensive area of the city. The residences right outside the Park are $1 million and up and look the price.

German painting from the times of Berlin Wall: Of course, we wouldn't miss riding the St.Louis Arch in a tiny little card for anything in this world. Why wouldn't anyone want to experience the shock of getting locked in a window free cell with 4 other people, packed so tight, none of us could move or stand up. It's a good test of whether you can handle a state of panic while stuck in the arch with no way to go. Once you're on top, you exit the tram cart and enter the tiny observation deck area, which is another enclosed space with tiny rectangular windows.

Does it look to you like a fun start to a journey to the top of the arch? Looks more like a concentration camp cell:That's how small those carts are. I don't look very happy. People behind me are concerned as well:We are smiling, but we are trembling inside:)

Cathedral Basilica of St.Louis was the best experience of the trip. Magnificent building, with mosaics telling the story of Christ. I was surprised to find out that Pope John Paul II visited this Basilica back in the 1990s. The singing was beautiful, the service - very ceremonial.

And we couldn't miss visiting the The Museum of the Dog, that moved to St.Louis from New York City. The museum is located in a upper class residential area, which struck me as odd, because I wouldn't necessarily look there for a dog museum. It occupies a former Jarville House.

Some fancy dog house:
Old Courthouse located near the arch. Beautiful structure!

Forest park photos:

Trip to New York

We arrived in Detroit early Wednesday morning. Because of the biggest snowstorm, the Northeast they had in years, all flights headed northeast got cancelled. We were to spend all day in the Detroit airport with no way of getting out:).
Here's the picture of the fully automated train that we would ride from one end of the airport to the other:

Once it was clear that we had to face many hours at the airport without the possibility of getting out earlier, we had to decide on where to eat. We settled on eating at Sora -the Sushi & Asian Cuisine restaurant that seemed to be very popular with the travellers. We ate there on the way back as well and both times the place was packed with people. Surprisingly for the airport joint, the restaurant had a regular Sushi place menu.

As one of the main U.S. hubs to Asia - with direct routes to Japan and, by 2009, China - it came to no surprise that there were so many Asian travellers as well as all signs and announcements done in English and Chinese, as opposed to English and Spanish at Sky Harbor. We were craving for ice cream and went to look for Edy's restaurant, but found it to be out of business despite the fact that it was listed on all the signs. It's time to take Edy's name off!

After about 6 hours there we were so exhausted, that decided to explore the "Religious Reflection Room", located in the administrative area of the airport. Besides two of us, there were 4 Muslims that were using it. After spending 11 hours in Detroit, we finally got on the plane to Albany close to 10 P.M.

The landing was absolutely one of the scariest moments of our lives. Besides the bad turbulence on landing, the plane started rocking from side to side up until the moment we touched the ground. The runway was icy and full of snow. No wonder that once we were on the ground, the plane wasn't able to slow down for a while which caused a lot of concern for all of us. We had a pilot sitting next to us who missed his flight due to weather as well, who was holding the seat in front of him during the whole time. He looked pretty scared as well.

Praise to the Lord that we made it safe!

We rented a car around midnight and arrived at Karen and Bob's shortly after. After settling down 2 am in the morning we were finally in bed only to get up 3 hours later at 5 to catch a train to New York City.

It took us over 3.5 hours to get to the City by train because the malfunctioning signal kept halted us for 40 minutes. So we barely made it for our noon lunch meeting with my school friend Erianna. We took a taxi from the Penn station to the La Grenouille restaurant http://www.la-grenouille.com/. Because it is one of the few formal places left in New York, it was required to wear a jacket and more or less decent clothes. All waiters were french and in their 50s which was quite unusual. I ordered Steamed Cod with Anchovies, Capers, Shallot Crust with Lemon Zest and Wayne got veal special.

Erianna arrived shortly after we settled down. I have known her since I was 7 years old - since 1st grade and haven't seen her in 10 years. We went through 10 years of school together and graduated from the same Malasyan college together. She won a green card 5 years ago, received her MBA from Baruch and is working now as Vice President for Lazard in Rockefeller Center, NYC.

We talked more than we ate, then walked to the 30 Rock, took some photos together, saw Erianna off to her work and went up to the top of the Rock observation deck. It wasn't a perfect day for photography, but I was able to get a couple of good shots.

The following photos were taken from the top of the Rockefeller building - Top of the Rock:

There is only so much time you can spend on the roof of the sky scraper. And we've been on top of lots of them: World Trade Center, Chicago's Hancock Building, Sacre Coeur Tower (the highest point in Paris), etc.

Luckily, St. Patrick Cathedral was right next door. It proudly stands in the midst of the Manhattan skyscrapers and is the seat of the Roman Catholic archbishop of New York. It was amazing how much it looked like the Cologne Dom in Germany. A great example of the decorated and geometric style of Gothic ecclesiastical architecture. Walking into Saint Patrick's Cathedral and the medieval cathedral of Cologne, you would find a similar atmosphere of beauty and peace.

We also visited one of our favorite cafes in New York, called Manon Cafe http://www.manoncafe.com/. There are three of them in the New York City and two in London. The one we went to was located at 74 Trinity Place(immediately next to the American Stock Exchange and at the rear of Trinity Church). It features two levels of comfortable seating, one of the best cappuccinos and espressos in town, which Wayne orders every time we go there and loves it every time, and of course, a complete selection of Leonidas Belgian Chocolates - my favorites. You also get a free Leonida with a cup of tea and it's a delight to have tea there!

A new place we tried was called Pret a Manger http://www.pret.com/us/. They serve food with only natural ingredients. They make their stuff fresh so they can sell it fresh!

And finally it was time to take a train to Queens to see my college friend Frida. We got off at Woodhaven station in Queens, took a taxi and arrived at the apartment complex where Frida lives.

We had great time with her family and stayed up till 1 A.M. again. Only to get up early at 5 A.M. again to catch a train back to Albany.