a free tour of the grand central terminal

one of the best new york experiences we had when we were there in 2012 was the free tour of the grand central terminal, by the grand central partnership. you'd think that a free tour wouldn't give you a lot of bang for no bucks, but this tour was comprehensive and highly informative.

we were a bit early to the meeting point, so when we got to grand central, susie and i explored outside and took a few photos. here's one of my favorite shots:

Three iconic buildings: The Metlife (formely PanAm) Building, Grand Central Station, and the Chrysler Building.

then it was off to 120 park avenue for us, where we found a huge group of people waiting for the tour to begin. we were divided between the two guides--justin ferate and peter laskowich.

The man with the red tie is Peter Laskowich, our guide.

i was expecting him to lead us directly to grand central, but we made a detour to see this building:

Chrysler.

i was pretty psyched to be inside the chrysler building--it was my favorite building in the NY skyline. it was hard to pay attention to everything peter was saying because i was mesmerized by the ceiling of the lobby: 

Lookit all the colors!

after this, peter led us through some labyrinthine tunnels which eventually led us to the belly of grand central terminal. he told us of the whispering gallery, letting us in on the secrets of the psychology of the train station's architecture. it was all pretty mind-blowing to hear, susie and i are still in awe of it to this day.

peter then took us to a secluded corner, went up a flight of stairs, and told us that we were privy to seeing the campbell apartment, which used to be the office of american financier john w. campbell. here, campbell didn't only keep office, but he would have parties where famous musicians would play. today, the campbell apartment, while still called that, is a bar and cocktail lounge. take a look:

I want to go back here, all dolled up.

after this, peter took us outside, telling us more about the history of midtown manhattan, and the significance of grand central terminal (and why it still exists). sus and i walked away from that tour with so much more knowledge about the train station and new york. i highly recommend this tour to everyone who'll be in new york on a friday. please, please, don't miss it.

tour information
the grand tour
schedule: every friday, 12:30pm
meeting point: street-level atrium of 120 park avenue, at the southwest corner of east 42nd street and park avenue, across grand central terminal
tour duration: 1.5-2 hours
fee: FREE, but you may give a tip if you wish
no reservations necessary

2011 ptaa travel & tour expo

next year, i'm going to make sure i secure plenty of travel deals for myself. :)

the 18th travel and tour expo for 2011 will be on 18-20 february, at the SMX convention center at mall of asia, with the theme "around the world in 3 days."

it's going to be the first time in two years that i'll be here for this, so i'm going to get myself a lot of deals!

this means, though, that i have to start saving up for the trips already! 2011, here i come!

taking on the louvre

visiting the louvre is a must, and is probably on every traveler's list. while i certainly did not want to pass up the opportunity to see a fraction of the 35,000 things in its collection, i have to admit that i actually was not completely looking forward to my visit.

for one thing, the musee du louvre is HUGE. it occupies over 60,000 square meters of space. because of this, i took the advice of the well-traveled and told myself that i should not even attempt to take in all the masterpieces in its walls. another thing was that i have read very little about this museum (being too caught up with the orsay), so i didn't know what to expect, or who to expect (save for the mona lisa and venus de milo).

no line had formed yet when we arrived by metro. as it turns out, there's an exit in the metro that takes you to the carrousel du louvre, a shopping space under the museum's famous pyramid. here, another entrance to the museum can be found, with much less people than by the main entrance.

since the museum was not opening its doors until 10am (that's later than usual because there was an event they had to take care of), susie and i decided to explore the area right outside the museum. we ended up walking to the jardin de tuileries, where we were able to sit by the fountain and watch the other people in the park. the weather, however, decided to turn chilly, so we headed back to the carrousel du louvre entrance.

under the pyramids.
another entrance to the museum by the carrousel du louvre

i was shocked to find that an incredibly long line had already materialized in the few minutes that we were gone. so we quickly fell in line, and after a few minutes, the "gates" opened. this line was just to enter the cour carrée, a square that contains information booths, ticket booths, and the cloak room. good thing we already had our museum pass, so we didn't need to line up again for tickets. we decided to pass on the audio guides, so we just got a map of the museum, and dove headfirst into the throng of masterpieces.

we saw venus de milo, ramses II, winged victory. then came the paintings. i saw the card sharper by georges de la tour, a self-portrait of albrecht durer, une odalisque (la grande odalisque) by jean-auguste-dominique ingres, who became an instant favorite. my head was starting to spin with all the colors, the figures, the symbols. i may sound like an ingrate to you, but i didn't want any of these paintings to be forgotten, to be erased in my head. they were all beautiful, all important, and i wanted to allot precious brain GBs in my head for them. but thank god photography was allowed, and i can look at them so i can keep remembering.

in the middle of our visit, an alarm started to go off. "haha, somebody must have touched a painting or something," susie said. then the alarm was followed by an announcement in french, spanish, and then english, of which we only caught "please leave the premises immediately." i looked around and saw that nobody was following these instructions, so i thought i should do the same. susie insisted we go out and see what happened, since there were terror threats at the time.

i was very resistant and reluctant to do that, because we had come so far into the museum, and i really didn't want to go back to the cour carrée, then pick up where we left off if things were fine. it's idiotic, i know, but that's how enormous this museum was. i was tired and hungry, and i wanted to just cover the other things we wanted to see and leave. but susie kept insisting, and it was the logical and safe thing to do, so we looked for the exit.

tired.
where can i get a massage around here?

when we finally reached the exit, the museum guards were just hanging out and talking like nothing happened, while the alarm was still going off inside. we asked them what the matter was. the response? something along the lines of "oh, nothing. false alarm. if we want you out, we'll get you out." i counted to ten, and walked back into the labyrinth.

after that, all the other things in the museum became a blur. all i was after was to see the mona lisa. we had entered one of the galleries, and saw a line of people trying to muscle their way into another gallery. and that's when i knew that i was only seconds away from meeting her. my exhaustion melted, my hunger vanished. i went straight for the crowd and used the singit skills that i've acquired through years of taking the MRT. in no time, i was near the front, elbowing my way to a wall covered with glass, to protect the precious little frame inside it.

my right hand lowered the camera. all around me, people were scrambling to get the perfect photo, but i couldn't take a snapshot--i was just staring. some people told me that when they saw her, they said, "that's it?!" because she was so tiny. but the words in my heard were, "THIS. IS. IT." it sounds too dramatic, but i nearly cried. for a friggin' painting. but being face to face with something so important was so incredibly overwhelming that i froze. i managed to get ahold of myself, and eventually snapped a photo, but i think that moment will stay with me for a while.

the superstar of the louvre.
the crowd trying to get closer to la gioconda

before that moment, i was being so cranky, i was being an ungrateful bruha because the louvre was exhausting the hell out of me. but when i got to that moment, and looking back at what i've seen, i would do it again, but next time, i will slap myself silly if i ever feel like complaining. because the things you see in the louvre are worth all the effin' trouble. the expensive admission fee, the long wait in the even longer line, the crowds, the indecipherable french descriptions, the starvation--they all seem so inconsequential when you think about what you take away from the louvre.

more photos of my visit to the louvre here.

museum information
musee du louvre
address: 75001 paris, france
opening hours: 9am-6pm (monday, thursday, saturday, sunday), 9am-10pm (wednesday & friday), closed on tuesdays
admission fee: EUR 10
metro: palais royal-musee du louvre
buses: 21, 24, 27, 39, 48, 68, 69, 72, 81, 95, or the paris tourist bus
batobus: louvre stop

philippine travel mart is tomorrow

what: philippine travel mart (travel deals for philippine destinations, or SALE NG BAYAN!)
when: september 3-5, 2010
where: SM megatrade halls, sm megamall

i probably won't be going, since i've a big trip scheduled in a month. but i can't not tell you about it--you might be looking for a quick getaway, and this is the best place to find a great deal! :)

intramuros with our mabuhay guide

our friend, bryan ocampo, is part of the mabuhay guides, a group of pinoys who have been trained intensively in the art of tour guiding in the philippines. he offered to take us on a free tour of intramuros last saturday, and what ensued was a fun and interesting morning filled with rizal trivia and other philippine historical info.

our first stop for the day was fort santiago, and while i've been there a number of times, that day was my first time to enter the rizal shrine. it's a museum that houses plenty of rizal artifacts, including photographs, paintings of rizal, and even rizal's vertebra (strange, right?). my favorite area was the staircase, which doubled as a gallery of paintings of rizal as portrayed by different artists.

san agustin church was closed for lunch, so bry took us on a tour of casa manila first. no photography allowed, and i wouldn't have been able to take anyway, because bry was sharing plenty of interesting details, including the placement of the rooms, the little details in each room, how the room you're entertained in by the head of the house signifies his relationship with you. having a guide with you really changes the entire experience. the displays take on a lot more meaning.

jose rizal's business card

after casa manila, we had lunch at barbara's, and went back to san agustin. we entered the church, and learned about the architecture. bry then took us to the different exhibitions in the museum, pausing to expound on an artifact or two. it's funny, i've been to the san agustin crypt a number of times, but if bry (and susie) hadn't pointed it out to me, i would never have known that THE juan luna's remains are in that crypt.

now, i didn't tell you what i learned exactly, because that would be giving it away. :) if you want to learn what i learned, the best way to do so is to go on a tour yourself. so why not contact bryan ocampo to find out more about our history?

see more photos of our intramuros tour.

snore: the manila hotel (part 1of my manila weekend)

Part of the reason I signed up for Carlos Celdran’s My Manila Tour was so that I could finally have a chance to stay in The Manila Hotel. I know that it hasn’t had a good reputation for the past few years, but I’ve always fancied staying in a hotel that has so much history, and holds memories of how my country was like before the war.

The experience was enjoyable, though definitely not perfect. I’ve broken down The Manila Hotel experience in various segments, so read on:

Booking
To book for the My Manila Tour, I sent an email to Carlos’s assistant, Lesley, who then referred me to The Manila Hotel’s representatives, Nian and Gyranne. They told me that I can reserve a room through them (by email), or through The Manila Hotel website, which is what I did.

Since I would have to provide my credit card details, I decided to reserve through the website, which was more secure than my GMail account. At first, I was a bit confused about booking online, because the only price shown was for single occupancy. But once I clicked on “book,” I found out that you had to key in the number of guests per room, and the system will automatically add an additional person charge.

It was also nice that they put the inclusions and itinerary on the site, so you know what you’re going to get out of the tour.

Check-in
We drove to Manila Hotel and were greeted warmly by the valet. Did you know that valet parking comes free of charge, whether or not you’re staying the night? Pretty cool, methinks.

To check-in, we showed a printout of our reservation, and check-in went off without a hitch. We were escorted to our room on the eighth floor, where we had some down time before the Intramuros tour.

Room and Amenities
The room we got was in the new wing of The Manila Hotel, and was one of the redesigned/updated rooms. While it retained the wooden closet doors, the entertainment console, and antique-style bed, it also had modern accents, such as the mother of pearl frames on the mirrors, a Samsung flat-screen TV, an iLuv mp3 dock, and a waterproof LCD TV by the bathtub. The look was also updated by installing new wallpapers.

It was a pretty good-sized room, and provided us a view of the bay. Being a budget hostel regular, it was one of the more luxurious rooms I’ve been in. It was also newly carpeted, and the king-sized bed had a Senso Memory Foam mattress, which, for someone who has scoliosis like me, was very, very comfortable.

I discovered through the website that the bathroom was newly redesigned as well, and is decked in Italian marble. Aside from a tub, it also has a separate rain shower area, and comes with L’Occitane toiletries. I was stoked when I saw that they also provided a loofah, aside from the usual shower cap, toothbrush, and shaving kit. The bathroom also came with three sets of towels for each guest, and a bathrobe.

Other room furnishings included a safe, a set of office supplies placed in a leather case, complimentary water, a mini bar/ref, coffee-making facilities, and comfy hotel slippers. I was also surprised to find that they offer free wi-fi in the room—I’m so used to being charged for that in other hotels.

Facilities
During our stay, we also got to enjoy the different facilities in The Manila Hotel. On our first night, we used our coupons for complimentary 2-for-1 cocktails at the Tap Room, which featured very classic bar design (I loved the wooden walls and wooden bar).

For my first drink, I decided to try an alcoholic one, which reminded me of a tequila sunrise, but was called something else. It was too strong for me, so I opted for a non-alcoholic one for my second, which I ended up enjoying a lot! They called it a Fruit Crush, which reminded me of a Piña Colada sans the alcohol. Malou, one of the writers, was able to obtain the recipe from the waiter, and we found out it had coconut, cream, and pineapples. It was very, very yummy.

We were then given a private tour of the MacArthur Suite—a two-bedroom extravaganza with a kitchen, dining room, living room, and an office at the top floor of the old wing of The Manila Hotel. It was decorated with MacArthur memorabilia, but upsized with modern comforts: the kitchen had a washing machine and refrigerator, while the living room and master’s bedroom were both equipped with their Samsung flatscreens.

Afterwards, we were treated to a lovely dinner by Chef Christine Zarandin at the Champagne Room. I loved the charming, Frenchy interiors of the place, which seemed to come alive when it’s filled with happy, chatty people. The food was superb (especially the lobster), but service could use more courtesy and speed. The experience was made more enjoyable by the company we had—Susie and I were exiled to a table separate from the larger group, but we were lucky enough to be joined by Tessa, Carlos’s wife, and their friend Ria.

On the second day, we woke up to a breakfast buffet at Roma, since Café Ilang-Ilang was being renovated. There was a wide selection of breakfast offerings—cereal, various kinds of bread, yogurt, typical Filipino breakfasts like tocino and lugaw, plus a few others that made it quite a good spread.

Carlos was also able to snag us private access to The Manila Hotel Archives, which was tiny room near Mabuhay Palace. As tiny as it was, it included a deluge of memories, among them old brochures, menus of the hotel’s many restaurants, clippings that featured the hotel. The walls were decorated with black and white photos of famous personalities who’ve stayed in The Manila Hotel, among them the King and Queen of Spain and Prince Charles. We also found a signed Philippine jacket by Manny Pacquiao, which sent one of our companions, Colin, quite giddy, as his son happens to love the Pinoy Boxer.

And finally, before we took off for the Imelda Tour at CCP, Susie and I decided to check out the pool area. He decided to just hang out by the lounge chairs while I took a dip in the pool. The water wasn’t as refreshing, because the pool water was warm. Being newly renovated, the pool area looked pretty inviting—it was huge, had its own kiddie pool, and it had a pool bar where you can enjoy a drink or two. The lounge chairs surrounding the pool were comfortable enough, and provided some shade if you’ve had enough of the sun.

Service
In terms of rooms and facilities, I can say that The Manila Hotel is already on its way back to awesome. However, they really need to keep up in the service department.

The staff, while friendly and accommodating, still lack professionalism. I saw this at the reception desk while we were checking out. Our check out process went smoothly, but there was a man who was requesting for something, and he was made to wait for a long time.

He approached the reception desk while we were checking out, and the staff was clearly frazzled. When asked what was taking them so long, one of the receptionists didn’t reply, but decided to dial a number, and grumble “Please pick up the phone, pick up the phone, PICK UP THE PHONE!” That didn’t make the guest feel any better, and it even showed that they lack organization. In situations like that, I believe people should keep calm, and try to pacify the obviously irritated client instead.

There were other instances when I saw that there really is a need to train the staff. I guess, after the physical upgrades, they can concentrate on the people next.


Value
Oh, it definitely was not cheap, but not shockingly expensive either. We paid Php 13,980.00, which already included a superior deluxe room for two, cocktails at the Tap Room, dinner at the Champagne Room, and two Carlos Celdran tours. That comes out to about Php 7,000 per person, for a weekend where you can get to know your country a little better in style. I’d say it’s worth dishing out that much moolah to pamper yourself and soak up some culture every now and then.

Conclusion
Even with a few chinks in the armor, though, I will still come back. It will take a lot of work, but The Manila Hotel can and will get its former glory back, and I will be there to applaud when it happens.

Hotel Information
The Manila Hotel
Address: One Rizal Park, Manila
Phone number: (632) 5270011

my manila weekend

still reeling from my busy weekend, because i just went on carlos celdran's my manila tour. reeling because, while the tour was enjoyable, it can also take a lot out of you (but i think that's mainly because of the heat).

this was a special weekend, as the tour was an overnighter and offered a stay in the manila hotel. the hotel is now under new management, and is out to get its former glory back. the rooms have been refurbished, featuring mother of pearl-bordered mirrors, a waterproof television in the bathroom, a huge LCD tv in the bedroom, and senso memory foam mattresses for a good night's sleep. and i'm just enumerating what i can remember.

aside from the overnight stay, we were also privy to a tour of the lavish macarthur suite, cocktails at the historic tap room, and a fancy dinner in the quaint champagne room, where the lobster with vanilla cream sauce was simply unforgettable.

outside the hotel, we were treated to two of carlos's tours--the intramuros tour and the imelda tour--where we learned a lot about philippine history, art, architecture, and politics.

but more details to come when i gather my wits and edit the photos (believe me, i got plenty). it was interesting being the first "experimental" batch of this tour. i'll tell you all about what happened in my manila tour soon, so stay tuned.

carlos celdran's my manila tour

just found out that carlos celdran is collaborating with the manila hotel for the my manila tour. it's a weekend extravaganza that includes two of carlos's tours and an overnight stay at the manila hotel. :)

i'm pretty psyched to go on this tour; i haven't stayed in the manila hotel ever, and i find it strange that i've lived here all my life and have never stayed there. so now's my chance.

the my manila tour is also a great way to experience manila in a different way. the itinerary is pretty relaxed, and seems like a lot of fun:

saturday
1pm: check-in manila hotel
3pm: intramuros deluxe tour (transfer by jeepney)
6pm: tour of macarthur suite and hotel; cocktails at the tap room
8pm: dinner at the champagne room

sunday
7am: breakfast buffet
free morning to enjoy the pool (the pool area's been renovated--looks awesome!),
walk luneta park, bike around manila, go to mass at ermita church
2pm: late checkout
3pm: imelda tour (transfer by jeepney)
5pm: return to hotel for a halo-halo

tour details
my manila tour
dates: may 22-23, june 19-20, july 3-4
rates:
superior deluxe room
single occupancy - Php 10,815.00 net
twin/double occupancy - Php 13,980.00 net


sunset or sunrise suite
single occupancy - Php 24,465.00 net
twin/double occupancy - Php 27,630.00 net

email: celdrantours@hotmail.com
mobile: +63 920 9092021

photo: tap room of the manila hotel, taken from the manila hotel.