This funny film where I am snorkeling and cracking whole coconut speaking Russian.
And the day 23 – trail to Captain Cook monument.
You have to be scared before the trail. Not all trails in Hawaii are like that but we chose challenging ones. It the trail is not as missed workout, it doesn’t worth doing. This one is short but good. Even to go downhill is challenging enough. My husband fall on the rocks and miraculously didn’t get crashed himself and the camera. After that he put in in the backpack and we don’t see any pictures from this trail until the very end.
The only I have from my camera. 1/3 of the way is in high grass, which you can spot on the video above. Its disgusting enough, so you’d better wear long sleeve AND long shorts, which I didn’t have.
Ok, I was naive enough to think I would translate all my Hawaii and USA posts later but it had never happened. I even didn’t finished “USA month” yet. So from day 23 I decided to write it here directly.
Maybe not so huge posts but still something and of course a lot of pictures.
First of all I have short videos for each day, well, almost each day in Hawaii. And a lot, lots of pictures below.
This day we had to move from our jungle house in nowhere to Kona. This house was close enough to Waipio Valley, so we packed everything and went out to find it.
I read many warnings not to leave anything in a car while you are on a hike, so I was pretty nervous about that fact that we have all our stuff in the Jeep. On the parking close to Waipio was a booth with a guard, who was kind enough to promise to look after the Jeep. But still we packed our notebooks and camera and all passports backpack with us. Mine was ok, but my husband had on his back about 15 kg (28lb).
Of course, we knew that the road is steep but you know what we didn’t knew, it is the steepest road of its length in USA, for example.
The valley floor at sea level is almost 2,000 ft (610 m) below the surrounding terrain. A steep road leads down into the valley from a lookout point located on the top of the southern wall of the valley. The road gains 800 vertical feet (243.84 m) in 0.6 miles (0.9 km) at a 25% average grade, with steeper grades in sections. This is a paved public road but it is open only to 4 wheel drive vehicles. It is the steepest road of its length in the United States and possibly the world. The shore line in the valley is a black sand beach, popular with surfers. A few taro farms are located in the valley. Several large waterfalls fall into the valley to feed the river which flows from the foot of the largest falls at the back of the valley out to the ocean.
The warning sign which meets you at the start of the hikeAnd stunning view from the very beginning. I want to cry when I see this pics now in winter in Europe. Its freezing and gloomy and I wish to be there.Hiking lowerContinue reading →
I decided to order skating dress from Thuono and I have to say it was right. The dress is super warm so I don’t need to wear many layers anymore. The only thing it is made as a body, so if you need to go to the restroom that would be a problem.
I was advised to buy L size because of the length and still, despite I am not a tall person, I feel a kind of short in the shoulders inside the dress. I wish it would be longer.
I had long flue and after flue recovery. I lost more than one month in total. Finally I feel I am as healthy as I was before the flue. But unfortunately I am not as strong as I was what makes me quite sad.
February is here and its windy. I gained few kilos this winter and started 100% protein diet for two days today, then I am going to continue with high protein meal plan to be ready for the spring.
My garden is starting blooming. I have many plans to grow veggies this year. I will keep it updated soon. I propagate a lot of seeds at the moment. Asparagus, 7 kinds of tomatoes, melon cantaloupe which I bought in CA this summer (see below),
4 types of basil (2 of them are Thai for my curries) and normal for pesto and tomatoes.
Let me skip first two days for one simple reason – we didn’t take our camera and relaxed with snorkeling and walking around. The third day my husband was totally sick with his throat and nose and fever so I had to tell “Good Bye” to my dreamy Olomana trail and turn to the beach.
The Lanikai beach was nice and very calm as recommended in Lonely Planet guide for families and snorkeling. But I wanted to have an adventure.
You can take a kayak to the islands in front of the beach or even swim there. I was afraid to swim alone but it didn’t seem too far.
Once I saw people climbing somewhere not far from the beach. And I said myself, if Olomana is not an option for us today, I can take this hike alone. My husband was bored and decided to join despite of his health condition. The trail named pillbox trail wasn’t very hard, but you need to have good shoes. It is muddy and many people fall.
Can be dangerous after heavy rain
Watch some people climbing on the picture below.
A piece of ridge and the view to Lanikai beach front
Lanikai beach and many many kilometers of water. Amazing!
The view from the other side of the ridge
Wonky stairs to the pillbox. Many people make pictures there.
And finally
Running down is an option. Maybe the one safety option.
Sandy beach is told as a beach for brave. And that is true. i wouldn’t ever enter even with a bodyboard.
There were a lot of rainbows there. Several tropical rains were passing by during that time.
My favorite picture
Selfie lovers. As you may guess they were washed in the water by waves. they were happy to get out quickly.
I would stay here forever
In the mirror
Trying to pose according to my beach mood board collection. It wasn’t as easy as it looked indeed.
Seems, I have been lost for a couple of weeks. I am all gone to figure skating and, I must admit, it is not so easy. I decide to work hard and I am so exhausted all the time now. I have long lasted health issue because I have to breathe with my mouth on the ice my throat is sick all the time. I could not run for those reasons, I skipped many swimming workouts but I am very very happy. The ice gives me a feeling of childish joy and forgotten chill on my cheeks. We have almost no freezing here and I found that I missed that a bit.
I am training with Ice Skating Ligue with small girls but I don’t care much about that. The only problem I faced with is that they think I am a trainer and I am better than they what is very very false. I hope every girl soon will understand that fact:)
I got my new skates Riedell Diamond133. We baked them in an oven and they fitted so well that I completely forgot I have skates on after an hour.
While I am trying to get well I cook a lot of vegetables. The pumpkin season is here now and a very popular pumpkin coconut soup. Easy to cook, warming and delicious.
Recipe of Pumpkin Coconut Soup
1 small pumpkin about 1kg or 4 lbs
1 can of coconut cream (400 ml)
2 teaspoons of red curry paste
seasoning salt, parsley, pumpkin seeds, pumpkin oil – all optional
Cut pumpkin into halves
Bake in the oven with salt until soft
Peel it and put in the pot with coconut milk and curry paste
Boil it all together for few minutes and blend with a blender
I have always thought it was not a deal to go sightseeing on a train station. But that definitely wasn’t that case! Not only we saw it in many films and pictures (now I could recognize the place!) but about the history of the station.
Many films also did location shooting in Grand Central Terminal. Films featuring Grand Central include:
Amateur
Around the World in 80 Days
Arthur
The Avengers
The Bone Collector
Broad City
By Grand Central Station I Sat Down and Wept
Carlito’s Way
Cloverfield
Conspiracy Theory
The Cotton Club
Duplicity
Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind
Falling in Love
The Fisher King
The Following
The Freshman
Friends with Benefits
Gossip Girl
Hackers
The House on Carroll Street
Hugo
I Am Legend
K-PAX
Little Nicky
Loser
Madagascar
Madagascar: Escape 2 Africa
Men In Black
Michael Palin: Around the World in 80 Days
Midnight Run
North By Northwest
One Fine Day
The Out-of-Towners
The Perfect Score
The Prince of Tides
Revolutionary Road
Superman: The Movie
Step Up 3
The Taking of Pelham 123
Unbreakable
Winter’s Tale
Built by and named for the New York Central Railroad in the heyday of American long-distance passenger rail travel, it covers 48 acres (19 ha) and has 44 platforms, more than any other railroad station in the world. Its platforms, all below ground, serve 41 tracks on the upper level and 26 on the lower, though the total number of tracks along platforms and in rail yards exceeds 100.
The Main Concourse is the center of Grand Central. The space is cavernous – 275 ft (84 m) long, 120 ft (37 m) wide and 125 ft (38 m) high – and usually filled with bustling crowds. The ticket booths are in the Concourse, although many now stand unused or have been re purposed since the introduction of ticket vending machines.
A lot of weddings make their photo shooting in the main concourse of the station. An even though we didn’t have a wedding, we did too.
We spent more than two hours having fun and making pictures along Just married couples.
It is said that the Terminal had a secret 45th platform, which was used for president Roosevelt to get him to Waldorf Astoria Hotel.
Dinner at Oysters bar wasn’t so impressive. Some articles say that The Oysters Bar is the best fish restaurant in NY. If so, poor you, I would say. But the place is worth visiting. I feel sad I ignored it before.
And that was a place when I wished my children were there with me.
I would recommend those books. I love old pictures of modern places.
The tomato season is winding down here as the days grow shorter and gloomy. I have just one tomato full of green, unripe cherry tomatoes. I feel like that most of them will not turn red. So I decided to cut them and make salsa verde.
My little one was happy to help.
I took a bowl of green cherry tomatoes, cut them and added chopped
3 gloves of garlic
1 sweet onion
1 jalapeno chili (I had canned)
Juice of ½ lime
1 tsp of cumin seed
1 tbsp of brown sugar
2 tbst of apple vinegar
Black pepper and salt (a pinch)
I fry all ingredients with a rice oil. I use the rice oil because it has no taste for me.
I sterilize glass jars from baby food and put salsa it them. Then I close them. And one tip, I found in a French magazine this year. When you are using baby food jars for jam, to have vacuum sealed, you need to take a pan, fill it with water about 5cm deep, put jars upside down in it and boil for five minutes. After they get cold, the center of the top pops inside the same way it does on an unopened baby food jar.
While I was lying in a bed after a surgery I tried to entertain myself different ways. Many hours were spent surfing in the Internet regarding my upcoming USA trip.
Once I was boring, looking through some photo shoots and found an old picture from “Breakfast at Tiffany’s” film. I had added “to have breakfast at Tiffany’s” in my NY to do list. Then when I came up with the details I found that there was no right café for the breakfast and if I really wanted to follow Audrey Hepburn heroine I had to come to 5th Avenue with a sandwich and coffee.
“Not bad idea!” – I thought. I decided to make a modern casual style of Audrey. To tell the truth, I had an idea to make my hair done but I did run this day very early morning and I was so short on time that I had to quit. I wore all black except the white Nike running shoes. Yes, modern Audrey in Manhattan would have worn running shoes definitely and we went out. The weather wasn’t nice but we had a lot of fun posing in front of Tiffani store on 5th Ave. Then we came in, tried out some earring, bought nothing and went to explore Waldorf. I will tell you about it soon.
3. One World Observatory (opened 29th of May 2015)
While I was planning my trip, I hadn’t been even opened yet.
One World Trade Center is the tallest building in the USA, and for that matter, the entire western hemisphere. The skyscraper ranks third tallest in the world, behind Mecca’s Makkah Royal Clock Tower, which measures some 1,972 ft (601 m) tall, and Dubai’s mammoth 2,717 ft (828 m) Burj Khalifa.
Building Facts
Opened October 2014
Architect: Skidmore, Owings & Merrill (David M. Childs)
Bound by West, Fulton, Washington and Vesey Streets
55% leased to tenants including Condé Nast
One World Trade Center is the new icon of New York’s skyline and the most recognized and desirable office address in the world.
There are places available
Watch this amazing video. According to EarthCam’s YouTube page, the team cut together hundreds of thousands of high-definition images captured between October 2004 and Memorial Day 2015 to produce the stunning two-minute video of the building rising into the sky.
One World Observatory on the upper floors of New York City’s new One World Trade Center building opened to visitors May 29. There are absolutely new views to Manhattan from the top floors. Visitors can walk around the floors to see different views – from the southern Battery to uptown and beyond.
I was afraid of huge lines as to Empire State building but there was almost no line at all.
The Main Observatory on the building’s 100th floor offers an “interactive skyline concierge” that helps to explain what landmarks and neighborhoods you’re seeing from on high. Here you can step onto a 14-foot-wide disc called the Sky Portal to look directly down and see what’s 1,250 feet below.
Even the elevators (called Sky Pods) that whisk you up to the top are decked out with high-tech walls that re-create the city’s skyline from the 1600s to today. So interesting but very very fast just 60 seconds. I felt ear pressure when we were lifting up and down.
I found elevator video on YouTube and was happy to watch it again without a mess.
The See Forever Theater on the 102nd floor shows a two-minute video of aerial views of the city.
What was really new – The Statue of Liberty and all those small and big ships.
A view of New York City from over 381 m (1,250 ft) high
It is said that the Terminal had a secret 45th platform, which was used for president Roosevelt to get him to Waldorf Astoria Hotel.
