Photo Friday

September 22, 2017 By Susan Blumberg-Kason Leave a Comment

This summer I spent time in New York and Hong Kong, so it was fun to run into this bar in Hong Kong last month. When I stay in New York, it’s with my brother, who lives off the Q and B lines. I take those to another station in Brooklyn before changing to the N or R for places like Prince Street in Soho.

I was lucky this summer to travel to some of the best public transportation cities in the world: Paris, New York, Washington, DC, and Hong Kong. I find Hong Kong’s to be the easiest, then DC, then Paris, then New York. I also know Chicago’s underground well because I live here. I rate it below DC and above Paris.

Do you have a favorite city for public transportation?

Miffy dim sum in Hong Kong

September 17, 2017 By Susan Blumberg-Kason Leave a Comment

When my little ones were really young, we’d rush downstairs on Saturday mornings just like I used to do when I was their age. With the advent of cable TV, the novelty of Saturday morning cartoons wore off three decades ago. But there was still something special on TV some years back.

Miffy.

I had read Dick Bruna’s Miffy books when I was young and bought my kids Miffy the Artist, which quickly became a favorite in our house. And when I found it on our local PBS at 7am on Saturday mornings, my kids quickly became huge fans.

When I saw a Miffy dim sum restaurant in Central last month, I wasn’t fanatic enough to drag my friends there. But I filed it away on my to-do list when I bring my kids to Hong Kong. (We’ve been talking about it long enough, it’s going to happen one of these years.)

I’ve never been to cutesy dim sum places.

But I’d be up for trying it.

After all, how many dim sum places pay tribute to Dutch children’s books?

Photo Friday

September 15, 2017 By Susan Blumberg-Kason Leave a Comment

It’s so hard to believe I was here four weeks ago, standing on the balcony outside my bedroom window at the airbnb my friends and I rented.

I spent my last night walking around PMQ (on the left of this photo with the zigzag fence), even though most of the shops had long closed before I jumped off the tram after dinner with my college roommates and made my way back up to the apartment. It was so lively around there with a nightclub going strong until 2 to 3am during the week (but silent Saturday night).

Slow wouldn’t really describe that vibe.

Photo Friday

September 15, 2017 By Susan Blumberg-Kason 2 Comments

Last week at this time I was in New York. Although I was there for back to school, I had lots of time to walk around and take in the architecture. I’ve been to New York countless times, but always find new buildings (for me).

This Art Deco arcade is wonderful! I wanted to go inside and see what the interior looked like, but didn’t have time on this trip. It’s near Lincoln Center on Broadway. The rest of the building had Art Deco features like lots of vertical lines, but this arcade really stood out.

The sterilization of Nathan Road

September 12, 2017 By Susan Blumberg-Kason 2 Comments

Back in the early 90s, it was common to hear in Hong Kong that travelers either loved it or hated it. I never understood the hating part. Hong Kong was still pretty much at its peak with Kai Tak Airport, old double-decker buses, and neon. Neon was everywhere and one of the most iconic places for these signs was Nathan Road in Tsim Sha Tsui. What’s not to love?

To the far left of this photo is a sign for the Kowloon Hotel. My husband and I stayed there five years ago on my first return to Hong Kong after leaving in 1998. There was still some neon in 2012, but not as much as in the 90s when the photo above was taken.

But I was startled when I was there last month. I’m standing about half a block behind where I stood when I took the 90s photo.