Here are some photos; you can easily guess what we did.  We started off on the Mall:

Here are some shots of those cherry trees; in fact, it turned out that it was the National Cherry Blossom Festival.

Here are some shots of the different memorials that dot the Mall.  Jefferson:

Lincoln.  Very popular photo spot:

The Vietnam War Memorial:

After that it was off to the White House:

Check out the beautiful walkway between Treasury and the White House.  Alas, government staffers only:

Day two was spent in Georgetown (after a night that saw a delicious dinner at Oyamel and drinks at Bourbon).  I didn’t realize that The Exorcist was shot there (and written by a Georgetown grad); here are the classic stairs:

Here are some shots of buildings in the neighbourhood:

This is where Kennedy lived when he was a senator:

And finally, a last short of Healy Hall at Georgetown.  Apparently there’s a periodic tradition where the students try to steal the hands of the clock (they’re each about six feet tall) and then mail them to the Pope.  Happens every few years-but not while we were there.

We also made it to The Phillips Collection, which is reputed to be one the best small museums and lived up to it.  They had a brilliant Georgia O’Keeffe exhibit which included these ones:

Red, Yellow and Black Streak, 1924:

Music-Pink and Blue No. 1:

Grey Lines with Black, Blue and Yellow – 1923/25:

and White Sweet Peas – 1926:

Also, they’ve got a few beauties in their permanent collection.  Here’s one that caught my eye.  It’s Stefan Hirsch‘s New York Lower Manhattan (1921):

Also, Rockwell Kent‘s The Road Rollers (1909).  A very different way of plowing the snow:

Here are some shots of snowy Carroll Gardens:

This is the intersection of Union and Clinton; it would normally be awash in taxis, school buses and delivery trucks:

Absolutely no one is to be seen at 8th and 15th:

And, of course, someone seems to have panicked and thinks we’re having an emergency.  This guy is wearing his “Red Cross Emergency Worker” outfit.  Please; it’s just a snowstorm:

And finally, a shot of what it looks like from work.  That awkward looking grey phalange is the Empire State Building…

I went once during the day (it’s my new place for reading technical docs) and the once this evening with Wen.  I realized two things:

1. This part is going to be a scorcher during the day.  There’s almost no shade from the relentless NYC sun
2. This is actually many different parks: I’ve never been to a place that changes character as much with the sun.  Seeing it at 2pm vs. 8pm was completely different

If you’re in New York, add this to your repertoire of places to see.  It’s a thrilling way to see the different city (you’re only 20 feet up, but the city is completely different).  It’s also balanced on the knife edge of urban and rural (and feels a bit like the physical embodiment of the term ‘post-modern’).

Enough hot air; here are some photos (more on Facebook):

This is the tree canopy in Hyde Park:

Here’s a shot of the Anzac bridge:

On the way back to the Manly ferry we saw this cruise ship in the harbour:

The sky just before a storm:

Here’s where we would catch the ferry in Manly:

A close-up of a leaf in the botanical gardens:

A couple of cockatoos in the botanical gardens just before a storm hit us:

This ridiculous penthouse was visible from Wendy’s parents’ flat:

The Sydney harbour bridge:

The forest canopy scene from above the Blue Mountains:

The sunset in the Blue Moutains:

Here are a bunch of photos of the scenery on the way to Mudgee:

Look closely and you can see the harbour bridge walkers:

Finally, a shot of the Three Sisters in the Blue Mountains:

This one is the only ‘best’ photo to come from my iPhone.  I’m hoping that in 2009 there will be more great iPhone pics:

The following image was taken at Fort Tryon, at the cafe in the park. It’s a beautiful place for brunch and they get great light:

One of my favourite New York activities is walking around the town.  If you make it down to Red Hook, there’s a scrapyard just between the BQE and the Gowanus Canal.  The five year old boy in me could spend hours there just watching:

This is Tom Savage ripping it up at Whistler.  It’s hard to tell, but he’s wearing a beautiful negligee as it was his stag:

While walking around the Robert Fulton houses near our apartment, I happened to catch someone feeding the rats of the sky:

If you visit New York (as you can tell, it’s kind of my muse), you should head over to Long Island City and take a look back at the city:

Last year I went to Dublin to see my bro graduate from medical school and was mesmerized by the city at sunset:

One of the artistic highlights of last year was seeing the Olafur Eliasson exhibit at the MOMA’s PS1.  He had erected a giant rotating mirror in one room; this kind of captures the effect:

Right around the corner from there you find the graffiti haven of 5 Ptz:

On the Fourth of July I snapped this pic while watching the fireworks.  It was raining, so take a close look at the tops of each of the buildings – everyone is holding an umbrella:

I’m trying to get better at macro photography.  Here’s a shot of a lily:

I tried to take an HDR shot of some flowers I had, but it didn’t turn out.  However, one of the shots was following:

While visiting the New Museum I leaned over the railing and noticed this little scene below on one of the adjacent tenement rooftops:

One day Wen & I set out to walk the entire length of Broadway (we started at the Bronx and made it to 85th).  In Washington Heights we went past the High Bridge water tower, and it just happened to be open to a few photographers that morning.  We tagged along and I got this photo of the Heights and the GWB:

And finally, one last photo.  The Guggenheim reopened this year and here’s a shot of their entrance way: