12:00 Tue.

8 Aug, 2017

Top of The Rock

Intrepid Museum

Tags: Empire State Building, intrepid museum, Lady Liberty, Manhattan, New York, Statue of Liberty, Top of the Rock

New York , United States

21 °C

Partly Cloudy

12:00 am

7:52 pm

Third day started with a shopping in a giant electronic shop B&M where I bought 128GB SD card for my camera for less than half the price of the card in Slovenia. The store has an interesting concept. There are counters everywhere and you tell a guy what you want, he hen fetches the product and puts it on a conveyor belt that runs all over the store (multiple floors). You then proceed to play what you ordered and the items are already waiting for you.

After the store we went to visit a museum on the aircraft carrier from Second World War – Intrepid museum. It’s hard to imagine how huge the thing is, when you see it on TV or in a picture. Even the planes that seem so small are gigantic once you step beside them.

American WW2 aircraft that was capable of landing and taking of from aircraft cariers

We visited the captain’s bridge, overlooking land stripe, and despite the huge ship the interior is small and crowded. It’s hard to imagine how it was being in here during the war.

The museum not only has an aircraft carrier but a submarine also and it was possible to go visit it. If the ship felt tight and cramped the submarine was nothing but claustrophobic. More often than not you had to be crouched and had to watch for your head, legs basically everything.

This was the first submarine capable of carrying ballistic missiles.

Multiple sailors shared same bed (they worked in shifts so when one was sleeping the other one was working)

After the museum we took a boat around the Manhattan. We stopped at the Statue of Liberty again, this time really close and then continued under the Brooklyn Bridge up the river. Again it was interesting to see the city from the river and the guide had an interesting and funny way of convening information about the city. It felt like a movie.

Golf course in New York. I guess they don't have space for full course with holes and grass. — Golf course in New York. I guess they don’t have space for full course with holes and grass.

Toward the evening we visited Top of the Rock – one of the landmarks in Manhattan, quite tall skyscraper with famous Christmas tree (during December) in front of it. New York is such an iconic site, almost every part of it was in at least one movie, Top of the Rock was in Home Alone 2.

After not so quick ride with an elevator we were at the top, it was crowded with tourists but with some help of the elbows we managed to fight our way to the edge of the terrace. The views were breath-taking. You could see whole Manhattan, Brooklyn and New Jersey. Since we came in the evening the sky took nice shade of red.

My favourite photo from last year: Central Park, New York

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13:00 Mon.

7 Aug, 2017

ChinaTown

Going around the city

Tags: Brooklyn bridge, china town, little italy, New York, staten island ferry, time square, wall street stock exchange

New York , United States

27 °C

Mostly Sunny

12:00 am

7:57 pm

Thanks to the time difference we woke up early and rested. We had a day full of sightseeing ahead of us.

Giant graffiti of Lady Liberty in a building in the Little Italy.

Again we started the day with one of the free tours. This time we started at the Wall street stock exchange, 5 minutes from our hotel. Despite being early in the morning it was already packed with tourists. There is a statue of George Washington (I think) overlooking NYSE which is decorated with a gigantic american flag. (They really love their flags, I think I saw more flags while being in USA than in my whole life before).

New York Stock Exchange. The most famous one in the world.

It's full of gold inside. — It’s full of gold inside.

After the Wall street we went by the WTC memorial and embarked on the new metro station they build in place of the old one. The metro is dark, dirty and very hot. I wonder if I’m ever going to see a better metro than the one in Hong Kong.

Instead of having one big fire department for the whole city - as in Slovenia, they have numerous small ones with just 1 truck and ladder. I guess because of the traffic this makes sense. — Instead of having one big fire department for the whole city – as in Slovenia, they have numerous small ones with just 1 truck and ladder. I guess because of the traffic this makes sense.

Car for a big city. :) — Car for a big city. 🙂

Watch out you don't fall down there. — Watch out you don’t fall down there.

We came from the underground near the Chinatown. When approaching the district you begin to notice more and more Asians walking around. As we walked into a district you are greeted by old buildings no more than 5 floors high as opposed to 30+ just a block away.

Again we were surprised by the amount of people on the street. Just after the Chinatown there is district called Little Italy. The architecture is the same as in Chinatown small buildings out of brick and on the sides you can notice old rusted fire escape stairs. There were a lot of Italian restaurants on the street serving pasta and similar.

Crowded streets of Little Italy district.

Well well well, this was the last place I expected to see someone selling mandulat.

They are all over the city. I think the idea is that they slowly pump the water up, since it is impossible to have pressure from city pluming to reach high floors of skyscrapers.

The tour ended after about 4 hours of walking. After it Veronika and I walked back through the south harbor. On the way back we decided to grab something to eat from one of the food truck that seem to be at every corner. After reality check on the prices we each took a piece of pizza (which is quite poor with ingredients compared to Slovenia) for about 5$.

You can see police at every corner in the city.

If I remember correctly the floors being renovated will cost 100M $.

Gun laws in New York are quite similar to Europeans. It is in general forbidden to own and carry a gun. Still you find such a store from time to time. This one is for police officers I think.

This words sounds familiar. :) In my dialect in Slovenia we actually call shoes "superga". — This words sounds familiar. 🙂 In my dialect in Slovenia we actually call shoes “superga”.

I said before the city stinks. Well no wonder.

There are traffic jams everywhere. I think it's actually faster to just walk around. — There are traffic jams everywhere. I think it’s actually faster to just walk around.

As an European I never can get used to the tall buildings and always end up looking up in awe.

I don't think there is anything special inside this building. — I don’t think there is anything special inside this building.

In the southern docks you can take a free ferry to the Staten island that goes by the statue of Liberty. On the way there we saw, well at lest a bit of silhouette, a certain bull.

So packed of people that this is the most we saw of it.

Well I bet no-one though he was going to win later that year.

A free way to see the statue of liberty. It departs every few minutes from downtown Manhattan to the Staten Island.

A view from another angle. It truly looks incredible. It's hard to think it was build 100 years ago. — A view from another angle. It truly looks incredible. It’s hard to think it was build 100 years ago.

After the ferry we still had some time left and decided to go far up to the Central Park. We found a random electronic store there were I bought 2 TB external hard drive for 1/4 of the price in Slovenia. Electronic really are cheap there. We took a quick look at the central park and went toward Time Square. If I though there were a lot of people in the city before, I was speechless at time square. Place was so packed with people you could barely move, and not only that there were actually some drivers who though it was good idea to drive through it.

You can hire rickshaws to drive you around central park. It's quite expensive though, 15$ for 5 minutes. — You can hire rickshaws to drive you around central park. It’s quite expensive though, 15$ for 5 minutes.

Central park is surrounded by super expensive hotels.

City streets are perpendicular to each other throughout the city. It just so happened that the time we were there each sunset aligned exactly in the middle of the streets.

In the middle of the time square there is an army recruitment center. I wonder how many people actually go in there.

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12:00 Mon.

7 Aug, 2017

New York

United States of America

Tags: Brooklyn bridge, JFK, Manhattan, New York, taxi, United States of America, USA, WTC

New York , United States

18 °C

Rain

5:58 am

12:00 am

Last year just after new’s years I was working hard on an article that was submitted to the IJCAI conference. The hard work paid off and the article was accepted, this meant only one thing: I was going to New York, USA. Moreover I was able to bring Veronika with me.

Early morning on July 1st we departed Ljubljana to catch a plane in Vienna. From Vienna we flew to Zürich, Switzerland where we had a short 2h layover. From Zürich we had a direct flight to New York, USA. The flight took about 8 hours and I have never felt sicker during the flight, luckily we landed just in time for me to get together. The customs were a breeze, nothing like what you would expect from TV, and we were in USA for the first time.

If you are as lucky as me, who cannot sleep on public transport, this is a godsend. With some luck they have quite new movies you haven't seen and the flight gets a little shorter. — If you are as lucky as me, who cannot sleep on public transport, this is a godsend. With some luck they have quite new movies you haven’t seen and the flight gets a little shorter.

Veronika and I landing on the plane to New York, USA.

We landed at JFK airport and took train to the financial district in the heart of Manhattan. It was surreal watching endless american suburbs with the city rising from behind.

Because of the time difference we arrived to our hotel in the afternoon. We were super lucky and got very large room with kitchen in 16th floor just 1 block from WTC.

Our hotel room just one block from WTC and Wall street. We were really lucky and got a larger than usual room in 16th floor.

We had a mini kitchen and large bathroom with shower in the room.

Despite being in 16th floor there was no much view. Well I guess this is great view for New York if you aren't millionaire. :) — Despite being in 16th floor there was no much view. Well I guess this is great view for New York if you aren’t millionaire. 🙂

We took a quick nap and then went to a tour around WTC and Brooklyn bridge. The tour was organised by free tours. Its a great concept, a local guide, usually a student, tours you around part of the city at the end you pay him a tip, there is no extra charge. They operate all over the world, we also went on some in Valencia and Stockholm.

As soon as we got out it started to rain. Luckily it didn’t last for long and we were able to start our tour. We first visited the WTC memorial. The site is really large. It’s hard to believe there were two enormous buildings there just few years ago, but all that is left now are two giant holes.

After we continued past Trinity church toward City Hall. It’s funny how these old buildings look small and out of place compared to the modern skyscrapers around them.

The Brooklin bridge is just beside the City Hall and connects Brooklin with Manhattan. It was build in late 19th century and is almost 2km long. It is one of the most famous New York’s landmarks, despite being late and raining it was full of tourists.

Brooklin bridge with Empire state building in the background. — Brooklyn bridge with Empire state building in the background.

After the tour it was already dark and late so Veronika and I walked toward our hotel. It was surreal walking through the streets, it felt like being in some of the old criminal movies.

It's quite a shock coming from Slovenia to such large cities. The first thing you notice is smell and trash usually lying on the streets. — It’s quite a shock coming from Slovenia to such large cities. The first thing you notice is smell and trash usually lying on the streets.

You can't say New York without yellow taxi. — You can’t say New York without yellow taxi.

2016

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20:00 Sun.

6 Aug, 2017

Bled

Jean and Maggie visit bled

Tags: Bled, Jena, maggie, Slovenia

Bled , Slovenia

25 °C

Partly Cloudy

5:43 am

8:36 pm

When foreign looks up what to visit in Slovenia there is one destination everyone agrees is a must see, I’m talking about Bled. We saved a nice whole day trip for Friday, where we left Ljubljana, visit Bled, go through Karnsja Gora, over Vršič and back to Nova Gorica.

We rented a rowboat at Bled in order to visit the small island in the middle. Since Jean is the most experienced sailor among us it was only natural that he would be the one rowing for next two hours. 🙂

We soon reached the central island and despite being April it was crowded with tourist. To be fair it was a gorgeous day, warm and sunny, somehow I managed to get sunburned in April.

The island is small with a small church on it, not much to do really. We took some photos, fed a swan and went rowing around the lake again.

After it we climbed up to the castle above the lake to visit museum and for great vistas.

Veronika, I, Maggie and Jean at Bled castle.

Before we left Bled we went for a Kremšnita, sadly everyone thought it was better than the monstrosity I made in Luleå. After Bled we went to Kranjska Gora to visit Planica. We climbed on top and wow I forgot how high it is. When you’re at the top you can barely see the cars parked at the bottom. I think you can also do zip lining now that’s why there is a cable in the middle.

Top of a ski jump in Planica. About 250m away from the landing strip.

After Planica we departed toward Nova Gorica over the highest pass in Slovenia – Vršič, where there was still snow around, despite being almost 20 degrees in the valleys below.

When we arrived in Nova Gorica we got a chance to eat my grandma’s minestrone soup and for desert we had pancakes from Kekec. Next day (saturday) was the last day in Slovenia. We went to visit casino in Perla and go see Miramare Castle near Trieste.

We were pretty lucky with the weather in general it was much warmer that is usual for April, well until the last day that is. On Sunday we departed early in order to visit Venice before Jean and Maggie left. The visit was not the best one, it was pouring rain as we were walking around Venice and despite bad weather there were still tons of people around. We didn’t spend a lot of time in the city but rather retired to the coffee shop near the airport where we waited for their flight.

It was very nice hosting Jean and Maggie here in Slovenia and I hope they liked it here as well. Don’t know where our next meeting will take place but by now, it has become almost a tradition to see each other every few years. 🙂

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20:00 Thu.

3 Aug, 2017

Jean and Maggie

Visit Slovenia for the first time

Tags: jean, kurent, ljubljana, maggie, piran, portorož, postojna cave, ptuj, Slovenia

Ljubljana , Slovenia

25 °C

Sunny

5:41 am

8:35 pm

Last year toward the end of April, Maggie and Jean finally visited Slovenia. We met with them in the evening at Venice airport and just after an hour and half we were in Slovenia. We went to one of my favourite restaurants OK Corral near Nova Gorica, and Jean and Maggie had a chance to try some Balkan food like čevapčiči and pleskavica.

Next day we went to visit one of the most well known tourist attraction in Slovenia Postojna’s cave and Predjama castle. If I remember correctly driving in a train through a cave was a first time for them :).

Jean, Maggie and me in front of Predjama castle.

Stalagmites in Postojna's cave — Stalagmites in Postojna’s cave

After it we took the local roads back to Ljubljana in order to see some of Slovenian landscape. Next day we had a seaside to visit. The weather wasn’t the best possible as Jean and Maggie got a chance to experience burja, despite a bit of chill Jean decided to go for a swim. Since this was April, and it was only about 15 degrees he was the only person Swimming at that time, needles to say passers-by were looking at him quite interestingly.

Next day Jean and Maggie had a chance to explore the Ljubljana on their-own. In the evening we went to Brazilian restaurant near our apartment. We had a chance to try around 13 courses of meat dishes, it was very good experience, despite not being Slovenian. In the evening we walked through the city center and ended up in Nebotičnik bar with a great view of Ljubljana.