GONTRAN CHERRIER, an Escape From Myeong-dong Crowds

If you live in Seoul chances are you've been to Myeong-dong street and experience it's crowded atmosphere. If you're like me, who prefer less crowded place to hang, you might wanna check  GONTRAN CHERRIER. This place is quite perfect for those who like smaller, quitter place to take a quick break while travelling.



This place is located inside the Pine Avenue building right in front Euljiro-3ga station exit 12. Finding this place is really easy. We can actually see through a glass wall of the building and find a cafe right there.



Overall, the atmosphere of the cafe is quite lovely. When you go inside, you will be greeted by a sight of a dozens freshly baked breads and cookies. There is one super long table and a few smaller round tables for people to gather and talks. Look above and you can find a filament lamp to lighten up the mood. In summary, the atmosphere is nice.









We ordered Mango Juice and Lime and Passion Fruit Tea for 6,000 and 5,800 KRW each. The juice was sweet and fresh while the tea was a little sour and can wrap your lips tight but also good. If you prefer coffee then you will have to pay 4,000 KRW for an Americano.



We work here for some times and actually enjoy our short stay here. Although, I must say that this is a place to have a conversation only. I personally have two reasons for that. First, there are barely any electrical plugs for you to work on your laptop, tablet, smartphone etc. So, this is most definitely not a place to study or work. The second is a loud noise from people talking. This place was filled with people when we visited it. Not to complain about it but the tall ceiling is actually going to cause everyone's voice sounds louder then it should be.



One interesting trivia, this place is actually a franchise own by Gontran Cherrier just like the cafe's name. Another interesting fact, this place is actually a bakery not a cafe, but they expanded the store and sell coffee along the way. If you are interested to find out more, you can head to Gontran Cherrier website here.





All in all, this still is a great place to hangout or just take a short break before you head out for more adventure in Seoul.

-Mr. Koala-

What is White Day?

What is White Day? Before we talk about White day, let's talk about Valentine first.
February, 14^th, well-known as Valentine’s Day, is the most romantic day reserved to celebrate love. The history of this day was originated to honor Saint Valentine of Rome though later shifted to be a commercial celebration. It is a general practice to exchange the heart-shaped chocolate and cards with love message between couples, family, and friends on this day.

While Valentine's Day is generally celebrated all around the globe, a month later on 14^th of March, countries in East Asia region uniquely celebrate the so-called White Day, as a response to the Valentine’s Day. Starting form Japan, nowadays the neighboring countries such as Taiwan, China, and South Korea celebrate the White Day as well.
It is customary for girls and woman sending chocolate as gifts to boys or men on Valentine’s Day. Then, in return, the men will present other gifts to women on White Day. In Japan, the return is varied from chocolates, marshmallow, or even jewelries. In Korea, usually hard candies like lollipops. But then, as I experience my fifth White Day in Korea, generally two lollipops are usually given as gifts to their female friends. Couples..have plenty of cute options that have already wrapped in the store everywhere, especially the convenience stores.

So, are you going to give candy to your companion on white day?

Hotel Vetiver, Long Island

So, I was staying in Hotel Vetiver/ Manhattan skyline during my visit in NY. This hotel located in Long Island City, a part of New York State and actually really close to Manhattan. Hotel was great, large room for two person, even still okay to accommodate three. They provide large bed, free wifi, flat TV, working desk and chair, a sofa, lamp, alarm clock, phone, toiletries, towels, deposit box, cabinets, a little noisy heater, good daily cleaning service, and helpful front desk. My room was with balcony and private bathroom. So, this hotel is great and everything, but the wall is rather thin that I can hear the conversation from the next room and the street outside. So, if you have sleeping problem due to noises like me, this should be your consideration. Oh, there will be $50 deposit required when you check-in. Breakfast is free if you book directly through the hotel website. I did with booking.com, so.. can’t really tell you how the breakfast was.

Location is good with 39st subway station at about 5 minutes walking distance. Taking the Downtown direction, you can reach the famous Times Square area in less than 20 minutes without transfer. Uptown direction only takes several stations to Astoria Boulevard where you can transfer to M-60 bus bound for La Guardia airport.

 

Statue of Liberty

The Statue of Liberty is the must-visit-attraction when you come to New York City. The statue that located in Liberty island can be seen from several areas including the Battery Park. But since the island is closer to New Jersey, a better land-view is gotten from Liberty State Park in New Jersey. Another option is to take a free ferry to the Staten Island, but it won’t land to the island. So, if you just want to travel in New York, I suggest you to get a closer view of the statue by visiting the Liberty Island. The best way is to take Statue Cruise departing from Battery Park. You can use the city passes (kasi link) like I did with customised NYC Explorer pass. You can also directly purchase the ticket in Clinton Castle at Battery Park or book the ticket in the website, though you need to select a fixed schedule in the website. Price is $18 to get to the boat and enter the pedestal area of the statue and additional $3 to enter to the crown. Visit the website https://goo.gl/XyJhrg to reserve tickets. Crown ticket needs far more advanced booking since only a limited number of visitors allowed a day. I, sadly, failed to get the crown ticket…>.<

The boat route is Battery Park - Liberty Island - Ellis Island - Battery Park for one way. Expect an airport-like security check before departing the boat and before entering the pedestal area of the statue. Handy suggestion: enter the boat and climb the deck on the right side. A better photograph chance is when the boat departing from Liberty Island to Ellis Island as usually lesser people crowding the deck.

What will you see in the Liberty island? Basically a closer view of the statue, view inside the pedestal area (and the statue if you get the ticket), and Manhattan landscape.   

Tips:

• don’t bring too much stuff in your bag as it will make the double security check takes time
• You have to put the bag inside a locker before entering pedestal area, prepare some $1 bill to rent (cost $2 for two hours).
  Check the details for the needed preparations here: http://goo.gl/iJWerT.
• There’s a small museum which visitors usually skipped as they directly heading to the observation level. The museum is pretty interesting though. Pay a short visit to find interesting facts about Liberty Statue and check the full-scale copper replica of Lady Liberty.
• Some souvenirs cannot be found at ordinary souvenir shops in Manhattan though the price is more expensive..

I did not get off at the Ellis Island stop and directly heading to Manhattan. However, historically the island was the busiest immigration inspection station until 1954. There is also wall of honour where American family names being exhibited.



Once you land back to Battery Park, continue the adventure to Wall Street.

Battery Park

This park is the boat departure point to Liberty Island and Ellis Island. This is a nice little park with a lot of friendly squirrels! So you can stroll the park before or after the visit to the Liberty Island. 

Inside the park, there's Castle Clinton, the major landmark of the park. This little fort was mainly known as the American’s first immigration station and now preserved as national monument. The ticket office of the boat to Liberty island in inside this castle so you wouldn’t miss it.

There’s also The Sphere monument which was placed nearby World Trade Centre complex before the September, 11 attacks. The monument at that time was a symbol of world peace through trading. After the tragedy, it was damaged thus relocated to the park and remains as the symbol of peace and hope for the country. 

This is the location of battery park which is very easy to reach by public transportation. 

http://www.thebattery.org/the-battery/visiting-the-battery/ 

American Museum of Natural History

If you watched Ben Stiller’s movie Night at the Museum, this is the location where the collections turn alive at night... though not all scenes were taken there. The museum also is the largest natural history museum in the world. It is located at the west part of Central Park, 81 St. subway station. There are two entrance doors: 

• Main Entrance (79th St. at Central Park West) which gonna lead you to the Theodore Roosevelt Rotunda and directly amazed by the great hall and three dinosaurs frame. They appear in the scene where the long-necked Barosaurs is protecting its young from Allosaurs.

• Rose Center Entrance (81st St. between Central Park West and Columbus Ave) The second option is the side door with the entrance from Roosevelt Park. Entrance will lead you to the lower level called Dorothy and Lewis B. Cullman Hall of the Universe displaying cool exhibition about galaxies. This entrance usually has a lesser queue.

There will be security checking for your bags at both entrances. 

Museum opens daily from 10:00 to 17:45 and the ticket price is $22 for adults. Install Explorer application on your device as the map guide through your visit. There are also some other interesting applications as you can choose here: http://www.amnh.org/apps. The museum provides free wifi ensuring apps working well.

You can read some fun facts about this museum here: http://goo.gl/w1XOG3. Perhaps only some visitors know that you can actually pay for sleepover in the museum. Seems that some people do really curious whether the collections truly awake during the night.

I found the museum getting cooler as I digging more inside. Some exhibitions that can’t be missed are:

- the amazing big blue whale in Irma and Paul Milstein Family Hall of Ocean Life, 

- the dioramas in Mammal Halls, 

- wall of species in Hall of Biodiversity,

 

- the Fossil Halls, 

- and glorious display of gems and minerals in Earth and Planetary Sciences Halls.

Prepare at least 2-3 hours to visit the museum quickly and several more for thorough observation. 

After finishing your visit, just around the west corner of the building, you can go for a nice burgers in Shake Shack. I bought a tasty bacon burger called SmokeShack ($6.84) with fries ($2.99). You can find the full menu list here https://www.shakeshack.com/location/upper-west-side/#full-menu 

Four to Five Days New York Itinerary

This is my own itinerary on my visit to New York City, USA.

Day 1

• Arrival, go to hotel
• American Museum of Natural History
• Trader's Joe or Colombus Circle

Day 2

Let’s travel to the southern part of Manhattan! The places are closed to each other.

• Battery Park
• Liberty Island
• Wall Street Area
• 9/11 Memorial Museum

Day 3

Prepare your shoes and empty backpack as the areas are shopping and entertainment districts. All can be reached by foot.

• 5th Avenue
• Rockefeller Center
• Times square
• Broadway

Day 4

To avoid the lines at Empire State Building, I was starting the day real early. However, you can reverse the order of places as night view of Empire State Building is also breathtaking.

• Empire State Building
• Macy's
• Chrysler Building 
• New York public library
• Grand Central Station

Bonus (Day 5)

These are actually the places that were on my list but I failed to visit due to some reasons. However, I've searched thoroughly so.. these can be the alternative attraction to visit:

• Central Park and Colombus Circle
• Soho and Little Italy
• Brooklyn Bridge