Walked 18 miles… of books

 Arriving early yesterday, we got a free upgrade at the hotel to an even bigger apartment than we booked. After naps, we went to Koreatown to eat lunch. Jane says anything would have been good, but the food at this particular Shanghai restaurant impressed us all. 

Airport arrival.


Melon Tea


Jane’s favorite pork buns ever. 

After lunch, we did some shopping. We went to a comic book store and then bought all of the books we could carry at The Strand bookstore that advertised 18 miles of books. Jane said we couldn’t stay any longer because the longer we stayed the more books we bought. 

At the comic book store next to the book store. 


Dessert at the chocolate shop Max Brenner’s.  The dessert menu was insane, bigger than the dinner menu. 




Jane tried to get a pic of the chocolate machine but instead got a creepy stare from an employee. 

We had a big shop at the world’s emptiest Trader Joe’s before a ride back to the apartment. We stayed in the apartment for an early night and some extra sleep. All in all, we were pleased with how much we accomplished on our travel day.  

A note on aka hotels, a new brand of residential hotels. These are only apartments for more extended stays. Unlike an AirBNB, there is always staffed front desk and hotel service amenities, without having to wonder if you’re going to get a gross mattress or shabby sheets. The front door is locked and manned like a fancy NYC apartment building, unlike a hotel where folks can wander in. The aka hotel married the two concepts of hotel and AirBNB perfectly, with a fully functional kitchen and washer/dryer.  The apartment was dead silent last night and ideally comfortable to sleep in. We will shop for one again in future stays. We have the below tour videos so you can see what we are talking about:
A tour of our hotel apartment. 



Nothing too interesting or dramatic for this post other than morale is very high, and we have enjoyed doing our favorite NYC things. 

A preview of the next blog post: Brooklyn and the first of our musicals. 






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