While I'm waiting for the zip file of the contest poster to get sent to Vic (because zip files are such a drag), I decided to continue with showing some of my photos from the trip.

This impulse is tempered by the news I received from my sister this afternoon. Let's just say another door is closed for me.

Then again, with all the walking I did in New York City (three weeks' worth of walking), my right foot has become swollen and too massive, so much so that it didn't have to exert great effort in jamming itself just in time to keep the door open.

Having dispensed of that sordid detail, here are more photos from the trip:



(From left to right: bananaducky, PJ and Joffin)

A cherished part of the trip is meeting up with old friends. It's not like I haven't seen them in decades; I saw Joffin last in August of '06 during her trip to the Philippines and PJ months back when she was in the midst of her MLE review in Manila. Still, the thrill never gets old.



This is a picture of me with Grace, my old college bud, taken near Heckscher Playground at Central Park. There were man-made boulders perfect for sunning and seeing a better view of the immediate periphery. Grace and her husband Derek live on the east side of Central Park while I was on the west side with my sister. Made for a quick get-together at a nice cafe somewhere midway our locations.



This is Tanja (L) and her friend Rina (R). They became friends while working at Citibank Manila until Tanja moved to another job and Rina got transferred to the NY office of Citibank. This picture was taken while waiting for the bus at Jersey Gardens, an outlet mall, to take us back to the city with bags upon bags of marked-down bags, shoes and what-not.

And speaking of shoes, I didn't buy anything during that trip to Jersey Gardens, but I fell madly in love with this pair of Azzedine Alaia flats. (Think Cher in "Clueless" getting mugged and pleading with the mugger: "But it's an Alaia!" This is precisely what I felt.)



I even bothered to style the pair ala store display.

And because I just had to try them on and say to myself that, for several minutes, I was wearing an Alaia, I did this:



I love taking pictures of my feet at rest. This could have been picked up from our high school barkada's penchance for taking pictures of our right or left feet, in sun formation. Most of my 'feet shots' were taken with my tsinelas on. My tsinelas saved my feet from eternal damnation via blisters.



This is my feet along Amsterdam Avenue with Tanja and PJ on a very lazy Sunday, a day before Memorial Day. People were just out, looking as if grateful that it's a beautiful day to wear your sun dresses, shorts and easy tees and, of course, your trusty tsinelas.



PJ wanted to visit Tani. It's a shoe shop along Amsterdam Avenue. While she and Tanja were eyeing some pairs, I sat down and chanced upon this rainbow. I consider it one of my favorite pictures of the trip.



But then, blisters became inevitable, as evidenced by the plaster strips wrapped at the littlest toes of each foot. I believe I took this shot after eating my baon at the serene backyard garden of the Cooper-Hewitt Design Museum, where they had a great Rococo exhibit.

I could honestly say I walked for three weeks without exaggeration. Walking with day bag, walking with a weekend bag filled with coffee cans, pistachio nuts and dried fruits from Costco, walking with sensible shoes, walking with very tight shoes, until I finally settled in what is the most reasonable situation - walking with tsinelas.

My feet have a great love affair with the streets of New York City. I know that relationship does not have to be cut short. It'll have to be a long-distance relationship. For now, that is.