San Diego, CA

Last week we traveled to Southern California again and stayed at the Country Inn & Suites San Diego North.  We had reserved a standard room for the night.  It was nice that the front desk upgraded us to a suite with no extra charge when we checked in.. 

Country Inn & Suites By Carlson

5875 Lusk Blvd.

San Diego North, CA 92121

(858)558-1818

The suite was comfortable, except the A/C in the suite was really noisy.  This was the bedroom.  The living room was very nice with sofas, tv, refrigerator and a desk.  

There was a complimentary breakfast buffet in the morning.

There were omelets,bacons, hash brown, oatmeal,cereal, orange and apple juice, coffee, tea and milk on this side of the station.

A self-serve waffle and toast station where you can have toast, bagel and waffle with serveral kinds of syrup to choose from.

After breakfast, we visited the Premium Outlets mall in Carlsbad, which I will describe in another post later.  We had a late lunch at the ocean view cafe in UCSD.  It has a spectacular view.  There were many selections on the menu, from sandwiches to other hot food.  They also had an impressive array of pastries and smoothies.  All were made fresh.

Ocean view cafe

 Overlooking the ocean

Later that evening ,we went to 99 ranch market to get some fruits and drinks before heading to dinner.  I heard so much about this one restaurant and decided to go there for dinner.  The place is located inside a Chinese grocery center.  The food was really good and the portions were huge.  We ordered a plate of rice with roasted duck.  It was so delicious that we ordered an extra half of a duck afterwards.

 The congee we ordered tasted average, but the amount of preserved duck eggs was generous in the congee.

 We loved the beef chow fun which was not greasy and was stir-fried well.

We also ordered a red bean cold drink, and to my surprise, it was really good.  We couldn't finish the congee, so we packed it to go. The place is open until very late in the evening.  It is certainly a place worth to visit at anytime for good food at an affordable price.

San Woo restaurant (inside the 99 Ranch Market)
5975 Clairemont Mesa Blvd.
San Diego, CA 95211

Luxurious Living in Southern California

After the hot and spicy meal at the Korean restaurant, we drove to our relative's place and stayed there for the night.   We had stayed at this luxurious condominium previously, but I never had a chance to take pictures of the place before.  Let's begin with the tour of this resort style place which offers a 24 hours full service amenities.

A valet parking service was provided for visitors at the front of the condominium.  We dropped off our car at the front and walked into the grand lobby.  The first thing we saw was a 24 hours concierge desk and relaxing area where you can unwind at anytime.  There was a cappucino machine with which you can make your own gourmet coffee.  All sorts of tea bags and cocoa also provided at the lounge area.

On the other side of the lobby, there was a pathway to the pool.  The pool area had all the fancy amenities, including jacuzzi, cabanas, outdoor terrace with BBQ grill and lounge area.

Located on the second floor, there was a  recreation lounge, kitchen, library and gym.  There was also a guest suite which you can reserve and pay ahead of time.

The view inside the condominium was spectacular.  It was built with floor to ceiling glass wrapping along the corners for maximizing the outside views.  To respect the privacy of the owner, I did not post the interior of the place. It was just nice to stay in a lavish place like this.  Here is a slideshow I made to show off the fabulous building, just so you can get a better idea of the place.

University of Southern California, Los Angeles

After our trip to the east coast, I was kept busy shopping with my daughter to get all the necessities for her to move to her dorm.  Finally, a couple weeks ago, we headed down to Southern California.  My daughter wanted to visit her friends at USC first before she moved to her college.   I took my younger daughter out from school early on that day so we could drive down and stopped by University of Southern California before the night fall.    By the time we got there, it was already seven o'clock in the evening.  It was so nice to see my daughter's friend waiting by the parking area.  I was able to see the beautiful dorm and get a brief glimpse of the campus before nightfall.

Front Entrance of USC

Campus View

Outside of dormitories

Dorms Hallway

Common Area inside the dorm

One side of a double room

 Night scene

We went to dinner at a nearby Korean restaurant and left my daughter there for her to spend a few hours with her friends before we continued heading to our next destination in Los Angeles.

New York - Day 5 Metropolitan Museum of Art

After we had breakfast, we headed to the Metropolitan Museum of Art and spent the whole day there.

We didn't anticipate to be there for such a long time. The place was huge with so many galleries to visit.  Here are some highlights of the place.

Egyptian Children wears made in 200 -400

Child's hat and shoes 200-900

Egyptian child's tunics 400- 900

Egyptian Hall

A horseman along the silk road

Rodin's Sculptures

Hand of God by Rodin

I was estactic when I saw this original painting by Monet.  This is my favorite from Monet.

It was great to see many of Monet's original paintings here in a room.  All oil paintings were displayed in a room dedicated to each individual artist.  I stood in front of these particular two paintings for a long time and was amazed by the painting technique.  The two paintings below didn't look like they were painted with oil but like a couple of photographs.

Arabs Crossing the Dessert, 1870

What caught my eyes about this painting was the lady in the golden yellow dress on the right.  It was so real like a photograph with all the details. 

For some reason, my little daughter and I love this painting.

We went into this special exhibition from China.  The  exhibited items were rare to see considering they were already over a thousand years old.  The fact that they are still here to be seen is hard to believe.

Altar Set, Zhou Dynasty, late 11th century

Han Dynasty

Han Dynasty

Horse and female rider with attendants, Tang Dynasty, mid 7th century

Standing Court Lady with female attendants, Tang Dynasty 618-907, mid 7th century

Silk scroll with story, 12th century

Stoneware Pillow, Song or Jin Dynasty, 960 - 1230

 (12th - 13th century)

Stoneware Pillow, Jin or Yuan Dynasty,1115 - 1368 

 (13th or 14th century)

Jade Basin, Qing Dynasty, 1700

Set of Twelve Silk Scrolls, Qing Dynasty, 17th century

The last gallery we went was the Egyptian.  Carving art and words on stone walls.

Jewelry wore by an Egyptian princess

Gold Wig

Reconstruction of an Egyptian Tomb from Dynasty 5 (2323 B.C.)

We then headed to Empire State Building before going back to our hotel.  The visibility was about 16 miles but our kids said the view was still beautiful from there. 

This was our last night in New York City.  I am glad they were finally able to go up and look at the view before we left.  We were all homesick by that day.  Overall, we all enjoyed the trip and the food very much.   I am sure we will be going back to New York someday.