I’ve never been to New York. Had the chance to see the big apple in white last weekend.

On the day of our trip, New York was right in the middle of a big snow storm. Luckily we were able to land in JFK, the flights after us weren’t so lucky, they were all diverted to other airports.  Since we were the only flight in JFK, all cabs went to the other airport, where business is. And all public transit are limited, buses are on snow chains, moving at turtle speed. We were stuck at JFK for a good hour before we were able to find a ride.

Lucky for me, the snow transformed central park, making it a visitor’s paradise: winter wonderland ! we don’t get snow like this in California !

I saw this little house in the middle of central park, I didn’t have the guts to walk all the way there in the knee high snow to find out what it is. So… I took a picture of it

I gotta say, snow looks better in picture, rather than out there in the cold !

Enjoy,

Jenny Liu

Jenny Liu Wedding Photography Portfolio | Jenny Liu Wedding Photography Blog | email: jenny@jennyliuphoto.com | phone: 310-614-1014

I like ramen, the broth, the noodle, the meat. All of it.  I actually live really close to one of the best ramen restaurants in the Los Angeles area, Shin sen gumi.

I thought Shin Sen Gumi was as good as it gets, since it’s a chain store from Japan. And my friends that had it from the store in Japan said it tastes just the same. So when a friend of mind told me that Shin Sen Gumi isn’t as good as Ippudo in New York, I got real curious. Curious to see how good this Ippudo really is.

We got there around 6:30pm on a Saturday, and Ippudo was already jam packed. As I was taking this photo, there were people still walking in, and the entire waiting area was shoulder to shoulder. I had to literally squeeze through just to get to the receptionist.  Ippudo is definitely popular!

Though the waiting area was crowded, inside the eating area is a totally different scenery.  Roomy, full of laughter,  and smell of good food.

Prior to us going to Ippudo, I yelped Ippudo and found that ramen and their appetizer pork bun are the two must have items on the menu. They were right, it’s definitely tasty!   If you plan on visiting Ippudo in New York, I recommend that you go at odd times, to avoid the crowd !

Enjoy,

Jenny Liu

Jenny Liu Wedding Photography Portfolio | Jenny Liu Wedding Photography Blog | email: jenny@jennyliuphoto.com | phone: 310-614-1014

Natalie is a dear friend of mine, she’s always supportive and up for anything!

In order for me to grow as a photographer, I want to experiment different things. When I told Natalie my ideas, she said, “I’ll be your model!”

Off we go to Manhattan Beach for some portraits!

There is something about these two portraits that I adore!

Natalie, you’re gorgeous!

The air vent on the ground was blowing up Natalie’s dress; don’t kill me for posting these two photos Natalie! They are too cute !!

Enjoy,

Jenny Liu

Jenny Liu Wedding Photography Portfolio | Jenny Liu Wedding Photography Blog | email: jenny@jennyliuphoto.com | phone: 310-614-1014

]]> http://jennyliublog.com/life-photography/natalie/feed/ 5 http://jennyliublog.com/life-photography/paris-vacation-all-around-paris/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=paris-vacation-all-around-paris http://jennyliublog.com/life-photography/paris-vacation-all-around-paris/#comments Mon, 19 Oct 2009 03:22:04 +0000 Jenny http://jennyliublog.com/?p=581

After the first two days, we were pretty walked out. But there are still so much to see….

Sacre Coeur – build as an act of penitence for the sins committed during the civil war, as well as for the Franco-Prussian war which followed. Prominent businessmen put up the money and architects worked together to build the Sacre Coeur. They don’t allow camera inside the church, probably the only place in Paris that don’t allow camera inside. You’ll get yelled at if you try to take a picture.

Sacre Coeur is next to Moutmartre, the art district of paris.  You don’t see any painting or art of any sort because the artists are all very aware of cameras and don’t allow any photos towards their direction.

Nothing like a little french sidewalk cafe !  Pink chairs, I like.

Alright, this is completely random, but I’ve never seen this Fedex Urban cab in the states…. I think it’s a bicycle with an actual chair?

Paris river bank scenary

The back of Notre dame near sunset.  I like the couple on the bottom right hand side hugging

The gargoyles of Notre Dame. Gargoyles are said to ward off evil spirits from the church. Everyone wants to see the Gargoyles, the line to get up to the top of Notre Dame was super long.

Riverbank view of the Louvre

Random Paris river bank sunset views

I don’t know why the eiffel tower is white and red right now, but it looks really good at night !

To see more of my Paris travel, visit Paris Vacation Day 1 – The Louvre Museum and Paris Vacation Day 2 – Versailles Palace

Enjoy,

Jenny Liu

Jenny Liu Wedding Photography Portfolio | Jenny Liu Wedding Photography Blog | email: jenny@jennyliuphoto.com | phone: 310-614-1014

We got up bright and early that morning, and hop on the RER train to Versailles Palace !

On our way transitioning from the metro to the train is my favorite croissant store Bonne Journee , totally made my morning ! We bought extra croissants and coffee and off we go to Versailles Palace !

I saw the king’s initials (right) everywhere in the palace, and when I went to Marie Antoinette’s place, i saw her initial (left) everywhere as well. It was very obvious whose property it was. LOL

I was also fascinated by all the old locks I saw in the palace, they are all very well decorated.

Even the fabric on the chairs are all very precisely placed with a pattern in the middle.  The baby blue chair on the right is one of the chair from Marie Antoinette’s room. I really like it.

Every single room in the palace has it’s own baroque pattern, the king’s bedroom has the fanciest one, with yellow, red and blue.

Versaille Palace is definitely huge, the garden itself is only a portion of what it was before, and yet it takes 45 minutes to walk from the palace to the one end of the garden.

View of the Versailles palace from the garden

View of the Latone Ornamental Lake, on my way to Marie Antoinette’s estate !

Marie Antoinette’s estate really is something else. The view there is spectacular !

back in 1783m Marie Antoonette ordered to build her hamlet so she can get away from the court of Versailles – the queen’s Hamlet. It became a veritable farm, directed by a farmer, whose produces supplied the kitchens of the palace. It seriously looks like a wonderland, a self-sustained wonderland.

Introducing the Hamlet Houses

The Malborough Tower – the upper portion was used to communicate with the palace of Versaille via signals

The Mill – it was used to grind grains

The Queen’s House – the most important building of the Hamlet, decorated with white and blue earthenware flowerpots with Marie Antoinette’s monogram. From the top, one could oversee the work being done in the fields.

The Boudoir – The queen’s small house, has a living room and a wardrobe. Seriously? a house just for her clothes?  Awesome !

The farm – Marie Antoinette had animals brought from Switzerland and raised them on the farm: cows, bull, calves, goats, sheeps etc.

The Dovecote – not sure what this building is for….

So there you have it, Marie Antoinette’s Estate – the Queen Hamlet. I love the rustic houses, the lake , the tower and the view ! Stay tuned for Paris trip Day 3-5 ! More to come !

To see more of my Paris travel, visit Paris Vacation Day 1 – The Louvre Museum and Paris Vacation Day 3 – All Around Paris

Enjoy,

Jenny Liu

Jenny Liu Wedding Photography Portfolio | Jenny Liu Wedding Photography Blog | email: jenny@jennyliuphoto.com | phone: 310-614-1014

Joe and I have been married for 9 months now, and is finally going on our honeymoon. We weren’t able to make up our mind on a place, after lots of recommendations, we decided on Paris, France.

Both of us have never been to Europe, so it was pretty exciting for the two of us. Our flight out of Los Angeles was delayed due to incoming flight delay, so that made us missed our connecting flight to Paris.  There were about 8 of us that missed the connecting flight to paris. At 11pm in Torronto airport, the airline personal was working hard to find all of us a flight to Paris.  We took a long detour to Germany first and finally ended up safely in Paris, 5 hours later than planned arrival.

It feels like autum in Paris, whenever the wind blows, leaves would fall and flow with the wind. So pretty !

Paris and it’s Metro system rocks ! It was so easy to go everywhere, all we needed to know was the end stations at each line, which determines the direction of travel.

There are 5 metro lines that stops at the Louvre Museum, so doesn’t matter where you’re staying, you can get to the Louvre museum easily.

The Louvre Museum

Rue de Rivoli
75001   Paris
Tél.:  01 4 020 53 17

Métro, buses
Métro: lines 1, 7, 8, 12, and 14

The Louvre and it’s garden.

Instead of showing you the exhibit of the Louvre, I’ll be showing you different architecture elements that intrigues me while I was there. The Louvre was build in part successively since the 12th century. The Louvre museum is designed by I.M. Pei, in 1983, commissioned by the French government without competition. He didn’t take on the project right away, instead, he asked for a 4 month research period before making his decision.

The problem was to make the Louvre a modern museum, there are a lot of exhibit space, but lack of infrastructure. Pei decided on a glass pyramid, it assumes the function of a symbolic entry to a huge complex of interconnected buildings which had no center. It also is a symbol that defines the entry to the Lourve Museum. The glass pyramid was very controversial in the beginning and I.M.Pei had to convince a lot of people before the start of the project.

But why a glass pyramid?  “formally, it is the most compatible with the architecture of the louvre… it is also one of the most structurally stable of forms, which assures its transparency… as it is constructed of glass and steel, it signifies a break with the architectural traditions of the past.
it is a work of our time.”  (quotations from the book ‘conversations with i.m. pei ‘)

The pole in the middle of the winding stair case is actually an elevator for the disabled.

This is on the feet of one of the statues in the museum. The heart caught my eye…

Take a look at the intricacies of this statue, it’s amazingly precise and lifelike.

If you ever visit the Louvre, make sure to walk a little future to see the upside down pyramid, the top of the upside down pyramid is  in the middle of the street circle in front of the Louvre Museum.

The Eiffel tower was lit that night, and was visible from the Louvre ! we haven’t visited the Eiffel tower yet, but it sure is pretty from a distance!

To see more of my Paris travel, visit Paris Vacation Day 2 – Versailles Palace and Paris Vacation Day 3 – All Around Paris

Enjoy,

Jenny Liu

Jenny Liu Wedding Photography Portfolio | Jenny Liu Wedding Photography Blog | email: jenny@jennyliuphoto.com | phone: 310-614-1014