24 Oct - 06 Nov - Karen's visit

it's nice to have friend visiting you overseas!

Karen flew over for a short holiday...

of course...we had a blast hanging out~

Albany, Vermont and NYC...

too bad i cant take more vacation time from work.

******

Rented a car for the weekend...

1st time using my driver's...

guess what!?!

they gave me a pretty awesome car....

it's a convertible!!

cool, huh~

it cost me $120+ to rent this car for 4 days!!

where can you get such deal???

heehee...lucky me~

1st stop: Thatcher Park

Been there in the Spring and Summer...
now in Fall, it's totally a different view!

Karen's enjoying the pretty foilage...

seriously those leaves are fun to play with...
they are dry and crispy...
the rustling sound from the fallen leaves can be soothing to ears!
******
Adventurous road trip to Vermont.
it was my longest drive up till now...
a day out with crazy weather conditions...
and as a freshie driver that's harsh!!
heavy downpour,
foggy and dark road through the national park,
plus getting abit lost along the way...
but was a gd "training" for me!

at last we got onto the ferry crossing over to Vermont!

Our 1st stop in Vermont...

Vermont Teddy Bear Company

What a nice parking lot!!

The three happy girls...

excited to start running around the place!

we were "trapped" in the car for more than half the day...

going in to the Teddy Bear World...

this is the biggest you-are-allow-to-touch bear i have seen!!

the bear could hug me instead of me hugging the bear~

other huge Bear along the tour...

but no Touching!!

yeah~i got my teddy bear pin patch!!

2nd stop: Ben and Jerry Ice cream Factory!

in time for the factory tour...

i don't usually see so many varieties in stores...

hmmmm...they are hiding the nice ones!!

me in "pint-of-ice-cream"

well...flavour of the season!

******

I went to NYC with Karen for sightseeing too...

it's better to have someone together to do stuffs...

so i was there with her for 2 days...

here is the STRESSFUL to be in now...

all the finanical crisis around the world will be reflected in this place,

New York Stock Exchange on Wall Street!

We went on a free ferry ride to see the Statue of Liberty...

the orange ferry that we rode on and...

the tiny statue that got everyone coming!

Brooklyn Bridge

one of the nicest place to stroll along slowly...

taking in the night view...

though the bridge is pretty busy with tourists and traffic!!

How could you miss a chance to go on a "Sex and the City" site tour?!?

here's our guide...Lou!

it's a very girlie girl tour...cos the show was for girls!

90% of the people on the tour were GIRLS...

all ages from all over the world...

one of my favourite spots...

the Magnolia Bakery for cupcakes!!

nice simple warm shop at a street corner...

Bleeker Street Park

a park in the city during the Fall...

don't you feel those fallen leaves makes it so unreal like a scene on TV??

Any place in NYC could be a scene that you had seen on a movie, drama etc...

but when you are actually at the location....

WOW...it's different!

you will be passing the place for Nth times,

you will not realise till someone told you so!

Maybe that's the power of NYC being able to transform itself through camera~

having yummy cupcakes by the park...

it's early to hit the bar in the afternoon...

since they bought us...haha~

time for a small drink!

nice Cosmopolitan at the bar...

well well well...

you don't get to see this often in US,

the presidential election!

we are lucky to be in the city when the action happens~

not a big fan of politics...only for today...

it's fun to watch all the happenings around!