Here is another view of the Pepsi-Cola sign (middle of the photo) in Long Island City. Click to enlarge the photo and you will also see the Queens Borough Bridge and the ConEdison Power Plant chimneys. The building on the right is one of the new condominiums that are sprouting up all over the neighborhood.
This Pepsi-Cola sign is what was left of a Pepsi bottling plant in Long Island City, Queens. The gigantic metal structure has gained such an iconic status in the area that earlier talks of moving the sign elsewhere caused quite a huge uproar among the local residents. For now, it stays where it is supposed to be.
This eclectic store north of Union Square called, Fishs Eddy stocks some of the most colorful and interesting housewares I have ever seen. As you can see in the photo, there are a lot of fun and interesting stuff to buy here including porcelain hand molds from glove manufacturers (yesterday's photo), wooden shoe molds (not shown in this photo), cake pedestals, discontinued hotel chinaware, milk jars, old paintings, etc.
Last Sunday, various New York City bloggers got together at Le Pain Quotidien to welcome Chuck of One A Day - Mostly Seattle to our city. We talked shop and politics, exchanged URLs of our websites and had a great time, in general. 
Today is September 15, which means it's mid-month subway theme day again. This photo was taken last week from the elevated subway train station (#7 train) on a surprising clear day. You can see the skyline of Manhattan quite clearly.
This photo was taken at Bryant Park last Wednesday during lunch time. Everyone seemed to be outside enjoying the beautiful weather, including me.
This beautiful girl is a host of a Russian fashion TV show, I think. She taped a series of segments in front of Bryant Park with a small crew (director, makeup person and camera man) and spoke in a language that I could not recognize. I knew it wasn't French, Spanish or Italian. No, I don't speak all those languages but I can identify them if I listened long enough.
This is Anna Wintour, the Editor-in-Chief of US Vogue and one of the most influential people in US fashion. She has a reputation of being a tough boss who insisted that junior staffers not speak to her unless they are spoken to first. The book and movie, The Devil Wears Prada was written by one of Anna Wintour's former junior assistant and the plot was (allegedly) based on author's experience working at Vogue.
New York Fashion Week began last Friday and will run through till next Sunday. Yesterday evening, I attended the Anna Sui runway show at Bryant Park courtesy of a friend who knows someone who works for Anna Sui -- talk about networking, huh?!? Because of the low light inside the tent, most of my photos didn't come out great. I gave up after a dozen or so shots and decided to just enjoy the show instead.
The mayor's office has recently designated sections of the streets into bike lanes all over in the city . Cyclists are ecstatic about the change; automobile drivers, not so much. As for me, I don't drive nor bike so I'll reserve my judgment until later.
This is 22nd Street looking east from 8th Avenue. It is one of a number of tree-lined streets in Chelsea, which is fairly rare in Manhattan because of over-development due to industrial zoning in the neighborhood. The buildings down this street are mostly residential so the trees were spared.
These adult pulp fictions (early porn?) were on a table filled with vintage books, magazines and records on a stretch 0f 8th Avenue between 21st and 22nd Street in Chelsea. I'm sure they were considered risque back when John McCain was a kid but these images look pretty tame by today's standard. 
Here are some photos from my Boston trip last weekend. They were taken at the Plimoth Plantation, a re-creation of a village in Plymouth, Massachusetts that were built by English settlers to the New World in 1627. On the other side of the plantation is the Wampanoah village where the Native Americans lived. In the 2nd photo, you can see a man and a woman dressed in period costumes performing chores that were commonly done during that time period. The "actors" will answer any questions you may have about life in the village.
The last days of summer have arrived and gone so dining outdoors will be the thing of the past pretty soon. This restaurant on the corner of Union Square West and 16th Street is called The Coffee Shop and is a popular hang out for locals as well as tourists. It was rumored that Sandra Bullock worked here as a waitress many years ago before she became famous.
I went to Woodbury Commons, a premium outlet mall outside of New York City, for some shopping recently. A friend who has been talking about going there for some time said she would drive so I decided to tag along. We managed to do some damage on the credit cards. I bought a new pair of loafers to replace the old ones that were falling apart. I also bought a new belt.
I'm not much of a drinker but I do love the Grey Goose Vodka bottles. This photo was taken months ago when I walked by a liquor on the Upper East Side. The owner did a great job displaying the beautiful bottles on the window display.
I got back from Boston yesterday afternoon. While in Boston, I ate a fair share of lobsters, clams, scallops and shrimp. I also have a new favorite dessert: Boston Cream Pie, which is more of a cake than a pie. 
According to the New York City government website, we have 10 sister cities around the world. They are Tokyo (inducted in 1960), Beijing (1980), Madrid (1982), Cairo (1982), Santo Domingo (1983), Rome (1992), Budapest (1992), Jerusalem (1993), London (2001), and Johannesburg (2003). The only sister city I have visited in the last year or so is Beijing, China. So here is a photo of the scene inside the Forbidden City from my trip there last July.
This bowl of gazpacho was from Le Pain Quotidien, the Belgian chain restaurant/bistro. I had my first gazpacho soup probably about 5 years ago at a french bistro and since then, it has been a love affair that knows no bounds. . . . except when it comes to me having to make it myself. :-) It is especially delicious during the hot summer months when the last thing I want to eat is a warm soup.
This photo was taken at the corner of Madison Avenue and 58th Street in midtown Manhattan. Madison Avenue, especially north of 60th Street is the prime shopping district for high end fashion goods like Ralph Lauren, Hermes and Versace. South of 60th Street, the avenue is comprised of mainly offices for big corporations and financial institutions.