NYC

I wanted to get certification in "Consulate-General of Japan in New York(http://www.ny.us.emb-japan.go.jp/en/html/index.html)", so my husband and I went to NYC. We arrived there about 12:30 and went to have a lunch at "Aburiya Kinnosuke(http://www.aburiyakinnosuke.com/aburiya.htm)". I heard this restaurant serves "Robata grill" and "Yakitori". I was looking forward to eating them but in the lunch time, there were not any menu like that. They served ordinary Japanese restaurant meals and I was little depressed. Otherwise, there were many Japanese customers and I was so surprised!
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Aburiya Kinnosuke
213 East 45th Street,
New York, NY 10017
TEL (212)867-5454
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After eating lunch, we went to Consulate-General of Japan and got the certification. Then, we went to "Cafe　Zaiya(http://www.yelp.com/biz/cafe-zaiya-new-york)". I went to this shop last summer but there were many people and I could not enter the shop. Today, There were some people but I can enter there. We bought 2 Lunch boxes("Omu rice" and "Fried Chicken") and 1 pack of An-pan for our dinner. I really like such a shop and I am envy New Yorkers! After that, we went to "Kinokuniya Bookstore(http://bookweb.kinokuniya.co.jp/indexohb.cgi?AREA=03)" to buy some stationary.

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Cafe Zaiya
18 East 41st Street,
New York, NY 10003
TEL (212)779-0600
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Kinokuniya Bookstore
1073 Avenue of the Americas,
New York, NY 10018
TEL (212)869-1700
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Before getting on the train, we bought a Cheese cake at "Junior's(http://www.juniorscheesecake.com/)". Last time I went to NYC, I did not have a chance to eat this cake. So, I wanted to buy it! I heard this Cheese cake is best in New York. I will judge it with my friends tomorrow!

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Junior's
Grand Central Station
(Lower Level Dining Concourse)
TEL (212)983-5257
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New York City One-Day Trip

My husband and I went to "Consulate-General of Japan" in New York City(http://www.ny.us.emb-japan.go.jp/en/html/index.html-japan.go.jp/en/html/index.html) because we had to update our passports. We left our apartment at 6:00AM and went to Harrison station by our car and we rode on a train from Harrison and New York City. We arrived there about 9:30AM. I had a first time to ride a train in the US. So, I was little exciting!
After arriving, we went to Consulate-General of Japan and received new passports. Next, our purpose was to see Christmas show in Radio City Music Hall.(http://christmas.radiocity.com/index.htmlex.html). I watched this show last year when I went to New York City for my school trip. It was impressed me a lot, so I wanted to see again. Same as last year, the show was really gorgeous and surprised me a lot. My husband and I enjoyed very much.
After we saw the show, we walked around the Radio City Music Hall to look for some Japanese restaurant. I found the "La Maison du Chocolat(http://www.lamaisonduchocolat.com/fr/)" and bought some pieces of chocolate. Then, we dropped in "Gyu-kaku(http://www.gyu-kaku.com/)". Gyu-kaku is one of the famous Japanese BBQ restaurants. When we lived in Japan, we went there a lot. We ate Lunch combo($20) and enjoyed eating very much.
After eating lunch, we went to grand central station and walked around the shopping mall and returned to Harrison by train. Because we got up very early today, we exhausted but were really fun; gorgeous show and delicious meals!!

Boston 1 Day Trip

I went to Boston with my friend yesterday(Sep. 29). We met at 7:30AM on uptown campus and went by bus. We arrived at Boston about 10AM.At first, we went to Harvard University(http://www.harvard.edu/) by subway. Compared with New York City's subway, Boston's subway is cleaner and comfortable and I like it! Harvard University has huge area and a lot of green. There were many people to see campus. We wanted to see a statue of "John Harvard" who founded this university. I heard the story which "touching his left foot makes us happy", so I touched his left foot. After walking the campus, we went to "COOP" and bought some goods.
On lunch time, we went to "Porter Exchange Mall", where is famous Japanese restaurant and Japanese supermarket. We ate Sushi(http://kotobukiyamarket.com/sushi.htm) and it was so delicious, especially row fish was so tasty. After eating, we went to Japanese supermarket(http://kotobukiyamarket.com/tobukiyamarket.com/) and bought some Japanese groceries.

In afternoon, we went around "little Italy" and ate dessert at "Trani(http://tranibrand.com/)".

First we selected our pastry(we selected eclair and cup cake), then they put ice cream in pastry and finished the process by topping with warm chocolate. they were really delicious!!!

After went around "Little Italy", we went to "Qunicy Market(http://www.faneuilhallmarketplace.com/)"　and bought some food for dinner. We bought Lobster's sandwich, boiled shrimp and clam chowder. We shared all of them and were full. We left Boston 7:30AM and arrived Albany about 10:30PM. I was soooo tired.

Brotherhood Winery

My husband and I went to "Brotherhood Winery(http://www.brotherhoodwinery.net/pages/default.asp" today. It took about one and half hour to go there from our apartment. This winery is one of the oldest i the New York State and is very famous. There were many visitors in this winery. We could taste $2 each and tasted 8 kinds of wine(4 kinds of White wine, 3 kinds of Red wine and a kind of Sparkling wine) . They have more kinds of wine; such as special wine and dessert wine. If I want to taste, I can do. After tasting, we bought 5 bottles of wine(N.Y.Burgundy $6.99、Cream Sherry $7.99、Merlot $14.99、Cabernet Sauvignon $14.99、Johannisberg Riesling $9.99).

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Brotherhood Winery

100 Brotherhood Plaza Drive,

Washingtonville, NY 10992

TEL (845)496-3661

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Lake George

My husband and I went to "Lake George". "Lake George" is famous place where many people spend summer time. We had a first time to go there. At first, we got on a steam boat for sight seeing(http://www.lakegeorgesteamboat.com/). Today was little cool, so we could not see on outside deck. Then, we ate lunch at cafe and walked around the town. This town has a lot of souvenir shops and restaurants. Also, there was farmers market in a big park. I enjoyed to see many shops. This town is like a Saratoga but little noisy for me. I like Saratoga better.

Winery

My husband and I want to "Benmarl Ainery(http://www.benmarl.com/". It is in the Catskill area and "Sangria Festival" was held today. It took about one and half hour from our apartment. This winery is in the small hill and scenery is so beautiful. Entree fee was $15 each included wine tasting, food and sangria tasting. At first, we tasted wane. There were 18 kinds of wine; 8 red wine, 4 white wine and 7 sweet wine. We selected 6 kinds of wine and tasted them. I was so happy because I could dink good wine and saw a good view! After tasting wine, we ate food; paella, olive and soup with beans. Then we tasted 2 kinds of sangria; red sangria and white sangria. We had a good time to spend in this winery and bought 4 bottles of wine which we liked ('06 Zlnfandel $17.99、'04 Cabernet Fusion $16.99、'05 Muscat $17.99、 Sweet Sarah $29.99).

On the way to return home, we dropped in "Weed Orchards(http://www.weedorchards.com/)"

. "Sweet Corn Festival" was held in this farm. people can pick vegetables and fruits by themselves and pay depend on the weight. We can see the fields of tomatoes, egg plants, pumpkins, apples, peaches... My husband tasted a sweet corn and we tasted a peach. It was soooo sweet!! I hope I go there again.

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Benmarl Ainery
156 Highland Avenue, Marlboro, NY 12542
TEL (845)236-4265
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Weed Orchards
43 Mount Aion Road, Marlboro, NY 12542
TEL (845)236-2684
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Howe Caverns

My husband and I went to "Howe Caverns(http://www.howecaverns.com/)", which we took about 1 hour driving from our apartment. We bought tickets($18 for Adult) and joined the tour. There are some tours in this cave ; traditional Cavern tour, Lantern tour and Adventure tour. We joined Tr additional Cavern tour. At first, we went down by the elevator and walk in the cave. A guide explained us about the cave. Inside the cave was so cold. We walked about 40 minutes and rode the boat. I felt mystery of the nature and was interested in some shape of rocks. After finishing this tour, we ate snacks and drank hot drink. Around this cave, there are large picnic area, horse riding Field and restaurant. I think small children will be fun in this area.

NYC 2nd Day

My husband started to work at AM 7:30 but I relaxed in our room until AM 10:00. Today, I went to MoMA（The Museum of Modern Art; http://www.moma.org/）. I arrived there AM 10:30 and there was long line. I waited 15 minutes to enter the museum. Because I am SUNY student, I got free ticket! Lucky!!
The museum is soooooo large and there are many exhibits, such as paintings, sculpture and pictures. I was interested in architecture and design articles. Some ridiculous and strange chairs, desks and other products are displayed. I took about 2 hours to see all of them. Also, I took 30 minutes in museum store because there were many goods what I wanted to buy.

Next, I went to “BOOK-OFF (http://www.bookoff.co.jp/english/shops/kaigai02.html)” because I wanted to read Japanese novels and magazines. There were not only Japanese books, CDs and DVDs, but also English. After all, I bought 2 English books.

I decided to eat lunch at “Café ZAIYA”, which is Japanese bakery. My friend recommended me to eat bread and cakes whose taste is Japanese. But there are many customers in this shop and I did not wait for a long time, so I gave up eating there.
Then, I entered “Sugo! e Basilico（http://www.sugoebadilico.com/）” to eat lunch. I ate Wrap but its taste is not good and not bad. I have nothing to write about this shop.

After eating lunch, I felt little tired and returned to hotel and rested. Then, I went to “Amy’s Bred（http://www.amysbread.com/）”. This shop is famous for food bread and one of my friends recommended me to go. There are many kinds of bread and it was difficult to me to decide to buy but I bought 3 kinds of bread for tomorrow’s breakfast.

When my husband finished his work, we went to Japanese restaurant with some Japanese who work with my husband. The restaurant name is “Hatsuhana(http://www.hatsuhana.com/）". We paid $80 each but taste was soooo delicious, especially Sashimi (raw fish) is really good. I was so impressed them. I was very happy to eat good Japanese meals!!

NYC 1st Day

Because my husband had to join the conference in NYC, so I went there together. We left our apartment at AM9:30 and went to “MITSUWA(http://www.mitsuwanj.com/index.htm.com/index.htm)” in NJ. MITSUWA is Japanese supermarket which is the biggest one around NYC. There are many kinds of Japanese products but I can get most of them in Albany’s Korean or Chinese supermarkets. This time, our porpoise is to eat Ramen at food court and we ate. We were so satisfied and then went to NYC. We stayed in “The Roosevelt Hotel（http://www.theroosevelthotel.com/）” and that hotel’s room was smaller than I expected.
My husband had to join the party at PM6:00, so we had several hours to go around the city. We went to Japanese bookstore ”Kinokuniya（http://www.kinokuniya.com/）” and checked some books and magazines. After buying some books, we went to “St.Patrick’s Cathedral” and saw beautiful stained glass.

I had a plan to meet my friend at PM6:00 and went to Times Square. We went to the Italian restaurant “LAVAGNA(http://www.lavagnanyc.com/)” where she recommended me. This restaurant is small but atmosphere was so good and I enjoyed eating dinner very much. Especially, pizza with mushrooms and truffle oil was really delicious. After eating dinner, we went to the Crepe café “Cecel”. We ate double mango crepes. Taste was same as Japanese crepe but size was the smaller. Then, I dropped in Japanese supermarket and returned my hotel. We have not met for 2 months, so we had a lot of topics and talked a lot. I enjoyed very much.

Saratoga Shakespeare Company

My friends and I went to Saratoga to see a play at Congress Park(http://www.saratogashakespeare.com/). The theater is outside and we sat chair or blanket which we brought. The title of the play is "Much ado about nothing". I read the book, so I know the story but sometimes I could not understand why audience laughed. The weather was so nice and I was comfortable to see the play such a lovely park. In summer season, there are a lot of activities in this area and I want to go and see many things!

Baseball Game@Bruno Stadium

My husband and I went to see baseball game of "Tri-City Valley Cats（http://www.minorleaguebaseball.com/index.jsp?sid=t577）at Bruno Stadium(http://www.ballparkreviews.com/troy/troy.htm）. It took only 15 minutes from our apartment. The stadium is small but very comfortable. There are 3 kinds of ticket ; $10,$8 and $6. We bought $6 tickets. Our seats were outfield of left side. Because of small stadium, we could see all. My husband bought 2 cups of beers and was satisfied. The game move slowly and took about 4 hours. Tri-City Valley Cats lost the game. I enjoyed to watch this game but I want to watch MLB game.

Camp@Dippikill

I joined camping as IELP（http://www.albany.edu/ielp/AboutIELP.html） activity from July 6th. to July 8th. We went to Dippikill（http://www.dippikill.com/）, where SUNY has a summer house.
First day, we would leave at 2PM but my husband finished his work at 3PM, so we depart lately. We arrived the Lodge at 5PM. The lodge has one large room(for 10 people) and & small room es(for 2 people). The members of this camp are IELP students and SAI students（http://www.albany.edu/ielp/SAI.html） and their family, so there were over 30people. At 7PM, we ate dinner(Pasta, fruits, salad...). After becoming dark outside, we did campfire. We drank beer and baked marshmallow. I talked a lot and went to bed at 2AM.

Next day, after breakfast, we went to the pond near our lodge. I did not swim but some of us swam in the pond. I rode in canoe with my husband. It was so comfortable to ride on canoe and felt good wind. At lunch time, we returned to our lodge and ate sand witches. After lunch, we went to lake by car. It took about 30 minutes from our lodge. I forgot this lake's name but it was beautiful and I could see a beaver dam. It was so interesting for me. At dinner, we ate BBQ at backyard. And then, we did campfire but it started rain soon, so we returned to our lodge and talked in living room with drinking beer and wine.

Last day, we ate breakfast(Pancakes, fruits...) , packed our lug age and return home.
I had a first time to camp in the US and it was so fun. I thank to my teachers!

National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum

My husband and I went to "National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum(http://www.baseballhalloffame.org/)" in Cooperstown. It took 1.5 hours from my house. In Cooperstown, many shop sell goods related to baseball such as T-shirts, bats and cards. I really impressed that American people like baseball! In this museum, there were many people and they took a lot of pictures in front of baseball players' goods. For me, most impressed goods were Ichiro's. He is one of the most famous Japanese and I like him very much. Now, he has a record, so his bat and uniform were on display. I took some pictures of them. I like baseball but I know American MLB only a little. But I want to know MLB!!

Drive to Vermont State

Today was fine weather, so we drove to Vermont State to go to"The Vermont country store（http://www.vermontcountrystore.com/jump.jsp?itemID=0&itemType=HOME_PAGE）". One of my American friends recommended me to go there. At first, we arrive around the "Manchester Desiner Outlets（http://www.manchesterdesigneroutlets.com/）” but we did not buy anything. We had a luch at "The Little Rooster Cafe" near this outlet mall.

After eating lunch, we went to "The Vermont country store". In this store, there were a lot of people and most of them were eating because there were many samplers in this shop; cheese, ham, dipping source, cake, soup... I found why my friend recommend me this shop! My husband and I ate many samplers and were full. We bought cheese, salami and snack. I enjoyed this store very much.