Photos from friends

One of the best thing in life is getting nice photos from friends. Here's my favorite four from their travel adventures.

From Debbie. Taken during her visit to Melbourne, Australia.

From Mildred. Best luck in the world. She saw a pair of mating turtles in Sematan.

From Phyllis. A beautiful sunset in Bintulu, Sarawak.

And finally, from Alex. Thai sex massage ad he saw while walking along Carpenter Street, Kuching. Must have been quite a discovery for our traveler friend from Winnipeg ;)

Duty, Honor, Country - the USMA is 200 years old


We had a sense of military adventure last Sunday, so we drove 50 miles to the United States Military Academy (USMA) at West Point. It has been almost 4 years since our last visit. During our first visit, we didn't get the chance to go inside the "restricted" area since we arrived quite late. This time, we paid for a tour and were admitted through the heavily guarded Thayer* Gate.

Video recording is prohibited and since we were in the bus, we couldn't really take good photos too. Maybe that's the idea. It's understandable that they don't want a bunch of civilians or would be terrorist in civilian disguise running around sensitive areas of the USMA unchecked. Sir, Yes Sir!

After passing by the American Soldier Statue, we got off at Cadet Chapel; a non-denominational chapel for Protestants. There are also other houses of worship e.g. Jewish Chapel, Catholic Chapel and the Old Cadet Chapel.

*Thayer, S. = father of West Point; longest serving Superintendent of the USMA - 16 years.

The Gothic facade of Cadet Chapel

This is the heart of many musical & religious events at USMA. Cadet Chapel is the house of the world's second largest pipe organ. Being a former church organist albeit mediocre, this is an awesome discovery. No half-baked organist here, for sure.

The organ's console. Fit for an organ maestro or maestra's fingers only. There are over 570 stops! Just imagine the splendor and majesty of the end result. Too bad nobody played it that day. I would love to hear the sound and the acoustics from within the granite walls of the Chapel :)

Pipes as you enter the Chapel.

More pipes surrounding the entire chapel walls.

The organ has over 23,000 pipes. Currently, it's ranked number two because the one in Convention Hall, Atlantic City isn't working. Number one still belongs to the Wanamaker Organ in Philadelphia's Lord & Taylor Departmental Store. Yes, it's in a mall. Not a church.

The USMA alumni contributed to the many beautiful panels of stained glass windows. They were made in Willet Studios, Philadelphia.

This is the Superintendent's pew; specially reserved for him, his family & friends. Past Superintendents' signatures are etched on silver plates mounted on the front row pew. Among the notables - Gen. Douglas MacArthur. The rest? A bit ancient history for our lifetime.

There was a military tattoo going on that day. Our tour guide, Penny had to wrestle with the crowd & music chatter. Poor her!

This is the BIG BOSS a.k.a. Superintendent's house - Quarters 100. He lives next to the barracks! How nice to have your school principal living next door, isn't it? The Superintendent is THE MAN at West Point. He oversees all the going-ons in the military academy.

A military tattoo performing within view of the mighty Hudson and Constitution Island

TROPHY POINT

It's called trophy point simply because the military salvaged their enemies' cannons upon victory. While headhunters collected heads in the past, the army collected cannons as their show and tell. Not so ghastly and certainly made more sense. They could always recycle the cannons while expanding their arsenal.

Cannons - S to XXL

BATTLE MONUMENT

This is perhaps the most haunting monument at West Point. The figure on top is "Lady Fame" or "Victory". It is a civil war monument and perhaps the saddest of all military conflicts which pitted brothers against brothers, friends against friends and USMA graduates against one another.

So, to ensure that Americans don't fight and kill each other again, several inverted cannons were affixed into the ground. Never again? Perhaps, civilian right to bear arms should be banned to avoid senseless killings these days.

A cannon pointing down

Here ends the tour. We're leaving the restricted area of West Point. One last panoramic view of the barracks.


Fun facts from Penny:

Gen. MacArthur's mother checked herself into a West Point hotel for 4 years while he was studying there. She would check and see if MacArthur's room light was still on at night. If his room lights were on after 12 midnight she would complained that the Academy worked him too hard. If he went to bed earlier, she would complain that her son wasn't conscientious enough. MacArthur a Mommy's boy? Or, Mrs. MacArthur the meddling Momma?

Cadets would leave trinkets in their caps they wear for graduation. At the end of the ceremony, graduates traditionally throw their caps up in the air and leave them in the field for children to keep as souvenir. After all, they've graduated and don't wear cadet caps anymore.


WEST POINT MUSEUM

West Point Museum documents every arm conflict both domestic and overseas the Country fought in as well as the astronomical achievements of its graduates e.g. "Buzz" Aldrin & Michael Collins in space. We didn't see the current wars being added, though. The Museum has 4 floors:

1. Sub-basement - a "Large Weapons" Gallery and an "unexcavated area" (whatever that means!)
2. Basement - "Small Weapons" Gallery
3. 1st. floor - "History of Warfare" Gallery & "West Point" Gallery
4. 2nd. floor - "American Wars" Gallery and "History of the U.S. Army" Gallery

Yup, "boom-boom and peng-peng" fanatics could definitely knock themselves out examining all the exhibits in there.

Civil war (19th. century) 12 pounder Howitzer or "Napoleon"

Kissing cousins: a 17th. century Chinese cannon from the Boxer Rebellion

Early 20th. century antiquated tractor tank

"Fat Man" atomic bomb casing

Assault rifles in the small weapons gallery

And the list of arsenals go on and on. A tad tedious after a while. You get what I mean.

Finally, the USMA has an impressive list of graduates. Click here to see it. Edgar Allen Poe, also a USMA graduate, never entered the military field. Surprised? If he died in battle, there might have been no Poe poems.

Post thoughts:
Looking at some of the buildings and the barracks at West Point reminded Adrian & I of Hogwarts. I think it all started when Penny mentioned that some 4,000 cadets all dine at the same time in less than 25 minutes at Cadet Mess Hall. 10 persons to a bench-table with the most junior ranked member a.k.a. the pee-on, serving home-style family meals to the rest of the folks.

My sinful indulgence

Laurent & Karen were in town last weekend. We had a lovely dinner at Satay, a superb Malaysian restaurant at Hoboken. They flew in from Lyon and brought some pralines (filled chocolates) for us. Not just any ordinary pralines but a JEFF de BRUGES! Thank you, thank you. Let's just say I've a major weakness for Belgian and Swiss chocolates. My joie de vivre. Notice that I never mention the famous American "H" before. Well, once you know your Euro chocolatiers you won't settle for anything less. I know some "H" fans will probably knock the living daylights out of me but I am standing my ground.

JB's from Mr. & Mrs. Passy :) Merci beaucoup!

To be eaten very sparingly. I haven't seen a Jeff de Bruges in the U.S. yet although they are already in 23 countries or so. These are some of their selection I "copied" from the JEFF de BRUGES Aussie site.

Enjoy the pralines but don't drool over your keyboard. It's not a couth thing to do ;)

Chicago Day 3

It's our last day in Chicago. How time flies when you're having fun. Arlington International Hostel, our cheapie snooze den is located at Lincoln Park; a very chic and hip area north of Chicago City. Just like Hoboken, New Jersey. The night scene is brought to life by students from DePaul University and the demographics of the area. Students = lots of bars, eateries, shops, etc. Definitely an area for those who love to people watch and have a good time.

Anyway, the first order of the day was the Lincoln Park Zoo & Conservatory. Followed by a short rest and dinner at Giordano's! I wasn't leaving Chicago until I had eaten their famous deep dished pizza. Though I prefer thin-crust pizza, deep dish is a must-have while visiting Chi-town. Blues music is also a biggie but I'm not a blue-y. I know die-hard fans will faint with disbelief. So pardon me, please.

Lincoln Park Zoo

One of the few free zoos left in the U.S. of A.

This camel's pee was so powerful, you could sniff him out from the entrance!

He/She was pacing up and down the whole time.

There was definitely something in the air that morning. All the animals were sleeping!

Sea lion zzzzzzz...

Even a nice juicy red meat could not rouse this tiger from his slumber.

Two lioness left a souvenir on top of the rock and retreated to the grassy spot below for their beauty sleep.

Sand cat had her eyes shut. Gawd! I must find myself some interesting animals to write about.

In an attempt to keep my visit less ho-hum, I headed toward the reptile house. Confession: I am terrified of all slithery reptiles but I had to perk myself up.

Snakes don't sleep do they?

Boa was in its usual still position. Sedentary but deadly.

An albino/fair looking rattlesnake. Definitely deadly *shudder*. Its steely gaze? Scary. Good thing it's behind the glass casing.

Things started to turn interesting at Lincoln Park Zoo after a while. Some critters started to indulge in some "recreational" activities.

A pair of tortoise getting it on right before our eyes.



What were the doing? I'll leave it to you. I prefer to think otherwise for some wicked humor. Hee..hee!



Then, there's this hyper-penguin flapping madly in the water. Maybe the zoo keeper gave him some sake sashimi for lunch. Happy Feet gone wild.

Spot the gorilla. He came out to play just after lunch. But, quickly went into his indoor enclosure to escape the hot sun. Did I hear lunch being mentioned a couple of times already?

Time to eat. We found ourselves a shady spot and ate a simple lunch. I gotta make room for my deep dish tonight, right?! This was Adrian's meal. I had a vegetarian Bruschetta sandwich. Nothing fancy.


Lincoln Park Conservatory

For those who are disinterested in gardening or don't care much for plants both exotic & non, perennials, ferns, etc. you'll have to scroll much to get to my farewell dinner in Chi-town.

Slipper orchids: An exotic plant that inspires a world of fanatical devotion. People have died, killed and gone to prison in the name of the slipper orchid.


More orchids...I wished my Grandpa was here to enjoy his favorite plant :(


Let's take a breather and look at other parts of the greenhouse.

A nice fountain and benches for visitors to rest their weary legs.

Angel's trumpet.

A bromeliad plant.

The familiar daffodils.

And the ever lovely peonies and pansies, ahhh...


Dinner time at Giordano's, Lake Street Branch

Giordano's World Famous Stuffed Pizza - another long wait before we could get a table. DejaVu *sigh*. Had to fight with those Cardinals fans from St. Louis and some Cubs fans. I think they had a game that night or something???

Our order - special (that's the name) deep dish pizza. Size: S.

Another angle of the pizza placed on top a square wooden stand ;)

My portion of the pizza...dig in! Everything tastes good when you're hungry. A little bit too much for me to handle, though. In spite of the Size: S, we still went home with left-overs in the doggie bag. Burp! I thought we could have done better if we had skipped the hot wings. No more deep dish pizza for me.

That's it for Chicago!