Sofia Somewhere

The morning before I left for Los Angeles, Tita Susan took me out to breakfast for some really good eggs benedict . Then she dropped me off at the airport and I was off to L.A. In L.A., Ange and our friend Tasha picked me up at the airport. From the airport we drove to Downtown and chilled there for a while. For dinner, I met up with Tita Louele who was my adult leader when I went to CISV in 2001! It was so nice to see her, catch up, and make kwento. We ate at a really good hand roll sushi bar, KazuNori .

Spent the next two days touring Downtown Chicago. On Monday afternoon Tita Isa dropped me off at the Art Institute of Chicago  (General admission $23, Students $17) since she had to go see patients. Art Institute of Chicago One of the two famous lions that guard the entrance

On Friday morning, I left New York for Chicago! I was actually flying out of Newark Airport in New Jersey so I took the train from Penn Station to the airport. The train was quick, about 25 minutes (and then another 12 minute air train from the train station to my terminal at the airport). I had a pretty uneventful flight with a stopover in Boston, and even landed early in Chicago. But we were made to wait in the plane, and ended up waiting for almost an hour. My Tita Isa picked me up in the airport and then we drove their home in the suburbs, in the north of Chicago.

I started off my last full day in New York with an early lunch at Eataly , an Italian market and food place in Madison Square Park. The place was incredible. They sell all kinds of Italian products - from pasta to chocolate to sauces to coffee, and many more. The set up is also really interesting. Aside from the open market, they also have restaurants. So they sell the meat beside the meat restaurant, the pasta beside the pasta restaurant, so and so forth. Fruits Fresh pasta Focacia

The next day, I put on my rubbershoes and prepared myself for a day of walking all over Lower Manhattan. First, I went back to the High Line , since I wanted to walk it again, but this time more slowly. (In a bobo moment I realized that I brought my camera but left my memory card at home. Buti na lang it was still the start of the day, so I was able to take pictures on my iPhone. So not so great quality photos for this post). It was my second time around at the High Line but I was still so amazed and impressed by it. Walking along the High Line

Spent the whole day today visiting museums in Manhattan. First up was the Museum of Modern Art (also my favorite among the three). The 5th and 4th floor were the paintings gallery. They had a lot of classics, including one of my favorite paintings: Van Gogh's Starry Night . Van Gogh's Starry Night Warhol's Campbell's Soup Cans

Before Dan left, we woke up at 6am to try and get on The Today Show ! The Today Show is filmed live every morning at their studio in Rockefeller Plaza, and at the Plaza there is always a crowd of people with signs hoping to get 'interviewed.' The crowd outside the studio The guy in pink selects several random people who are interviewed/talk about their signs