The Unique & the Ubiquitous

Before I go on to talk about the unique & the ubiquitous, let me just say that I'm so proud of myself because I have sewn my first ever button! I couldn't wear a jacket for the longest time ever because a button had popped out, leaving the epaulet hanging lifelessly by the side.

And surprisingly, it's not that difficult. ha!

Tada!
The jacket can now be worn!
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Ok, now on to more serious things.
Today, we decided to go visit IKEA in Brooklyn.

Now now, don't be hasty and judgemental and think to yourselves
"nothing better to do is it! Go and visit IKEA for what?"

Well, if you didn't already know, the IKEA in brooklyn is the world's first IKEA to have a dedicated Ferry Service to transport customers to their store! The service transports customers from Pier 11 on Manhattan, to Brooklyn, where their Store is not near any convenient public transport.

Apparently, when this free service first came out, they marketed it as a 'Cruise and a Dinner' for 6.99.
Cruise (free) + Dinner at IKEA (6.99) . ha!

With such ingenuity, it's no wonder IKEA remains one of the largest furniture retailers in the world.



So, to get to Pier 11, which is near the tip of the of that piece of land that is Manhattan on your right, we had to alight at Wall Street station and walk down.

This my friends, is Wall Street - Not quite as glam/swanky as I thought it would be. Maybe perhaps because it was a Sunday.
Where the Blue arrow is pointing is our destination - Pier 11!

NYSE

This is the iconic image of NYSE. (see my head there?)
This is where they had the demonstrations against the bail-out plan.

An image that I koped from somewhere else.

I think this dog was the glammest thing I saw on wall street that day

As it was a Sunday, the whole place was filled with tourists.
See everyone taking pictures?

I somehow had this image in mind that this would be how it will be like 1000 years later, when Wallstreet is crumbling and old, and tourists would come, visit and gawk at the ancient ruins, much like the Egyptian Pyramids now.

HA!
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Ok, the following is ironic, given the current Financial Crisis:

So............What needs repair?

The Wall Street Bull! (it was in the same display)
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We reached pier 11 after some walking, and there was this couple who were feeding the seagulls.
I remembered that incident in San Frans a gazillion years ago when the seagull stole my fish, and my first thought upon seeing the couple was, "mistake, mistake!"

Well, yea, unsurprisingly, she got swamped! ha!

Brooklyn bridge.

The dedicated Water Taxi Service!

The Ubiquitous Blue and Yellow!

Some weird-ass metal sculpture.
They might have made it with scrap metal left overs after they finished the building!
ha.

This was the view from the IKEA restaurant -
a SHITLOAD of buses.
Has anyone seen these kinda buses in Singapore?
I don't think so right?

Shufen and Martin digging in.
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Ok, so now let me introduce my new friend :

MR CLOWN!

Well, so he was the balloon sculptor and he was going around making little kids happy, when he decided to come ka-chiao me.

APPARENTLY...
He said my HAIR was TOO SPIKEY or something that I did not catch, but yea,
he therefore

1) used the air pump to fluff it

2) used a balloon to flatten it EVEN MORE

3) and eventually just leaned on my hair and Shufen promptly took a photo.

Awwwwwwwww.
Nice guy .
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Ok, how many times must I say that we are so lucky?
In D.C., we saw the memorial on a beautiful sunset- without intending to.

Today, on the water taxi back, we were JUST AS FORTUNATE
It was sun set and my my, it was GORGEOUS.

This was taken by me: too bad I didn't have an SLR to take a nice photo :(
I LOVE the ferry in front.

This was taken with Shufen's Prosumer cam.
Gorgeous ain't it.

Here's a video from the ferry (to create some atmosphere on the blog. LOL):

The flag at the back of the Ferry. (wow, my face doesn't look fat here!)
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So on the way back to the metro, we decided to visit the Bull (that needs Repair! =P)

The many many many security cameras at the subway.
This was the cleanest subway I had ever seen in Manhattan.
Finally something neat and clean !
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Ok, that's all folks.

See ya soon :)