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Reading Terminal Market Philadelphia

Reading Terminal Market is an enclosed public market found at 12th and Arch Streets in downtown Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.Over one hundred merchants offer fresh produce, meats, fish, artisan cheese, groceries, ice cream, flowers, grilled cheese, baked goods, crafts, books, clothing, and specialty and ethnic foods. Every space in the market is rented out; three of the vendors are descendants of original market…


United States |

Rock Garden Extended

It was at the start of the September (2016) - we were finishing wall replacement works and already had installed first bearing beams, there were still some things left on home remodeling works, but all the major tasks were done, and everything was done to preserve house for the winter (as we will be absent)It was good day to spend some hours in garden and continue shaping our rock garden, please see:Building a Rock GardenShaping Rock…

Outer Walls from AAC Blocks + Installing Bearing Beams

As Summer of 2017 is approaching really fast, and I still have so many not post processed images from home remodeling works performed during Summer 206 in Adobe Lightroom library, I decide to extend articles and feature more info in fewer articles.In today's article I'm sharing a two day construction works performed at the start of September 2016. In day one I continued to construct walls from aerated concrete blocks, and in fact…

Philadelphia Greyhound Terminal

There is a super cheap way to travel across the United States using intercity buses. Back in the Summer 2013 I made a long journey from New York to Houston, Texas for about USD 200 per 2 persons using MegaBus. Last time I was in the US, we decided to go to Philadelphia from NYC using Greyhound, the ticket price was very cheap some 24 USD, again for two persons. When we traveled back to NYC, we bought even cheaper - USD 10 tickets…


United States |

Night Office 2016

It's in the far future I will build a fancy working space in our rural country house, for now we are still busy of replacing log walls with aerated concrete blocks.For now to perform digital nomad activities I'm left with what I have a laptop and high speed internet - and I cannot complain.See: My Outdoor Working Place During Last Summer (2015)  and My Summer Office 2016It was on the cold September night, I had to finish…


Home Remodeling – Bākūži |

Red Robin Gourmet Burgers, Secaucus, NJ

Once in the Burger bar - order burgers. That's how in short I could describe my experience at Red Robin Gourmet Burger in Secaucus, NJ.Located in the some building were La Quinta Inn & Suites Secaucus Meadowlands, in which we stayed during my latest US trip Red Robin was an oblivious choice for meal. They indeed have gourmet burgers and super delicious milkshakes. Red Robin Gourmet Burgers in SecaucusNo wonder it's called Red.…


United States |

First Rows of Aerated Concrete Block For Pump Room

Let's keep building walls from aerated concrete blocks - the material I really love - it's easy to install, it's durable and it should be cost effective in combination with proper insulation.Today I was left alone, no handy hands, completely on my own - at start I was worried, but result turned out really good.Walls from aerated concrete blocksYesterday I did the soil grading, and this part of the house starts looking decent. A couple of days…


Home Remodeling – Bākūži |

La Quinta Inn & Suites Secaucus Meadowlands

La Quinta Inn & Suites Secaucus Meadowlands was our first hotel in United States, during our latest trip here. We booked this hotel as a secret deal on hotwire, as we wanted to get a reasonable price for a hotel with easy access to the Manhattan, New York city.Our booking price was about USD 140 per night here.Once our reservation was confirmed, it turned out to be located in the New Jersey, we paid for a limo service about $140 to get here…


United States |

Grading Soil Around Foundation

I could probably come up with an article How to grade soil around foundation, but I'm not an expert on this topic.In today's home remodeling series I will show with images how I leveled soil around foundations using just two tools - a shovel and a rake.Technically speaking, here is what you should know about grading soil around foundation:Proper grading around the foundation of your home keeps many potential issues at bay. Without the right…


Home Remodeling – Bākūži |

Zen Ramen and Sushi House, New York City

Nestled in the middle of financial district, New York City, we discovered this place by an accident. After wondering around Manhattan, I took the wrong subway ride and once we left subway, we were in a cool neighborhood somewhere in Midtown.This place promised some 50% discount on some select sushi and we decided to go inside.Zen Ramen and Sushi house in New York Cityif you don't read Japanese you should take a careful look around, as it was…


United States |

Constructing Foundation From Fibo Ceramsite Blocks For Pump Room

The long story short - we are continuing to build a pump room, a room to store inside pumps and other aggregates, earlier this Summer we drill a bore hole and we are looking to draw in water to the house. For that we need a pump room.Unfortunately the old log walls have been rotten and we started to replace them with aerated concrete blocks, prior to that we had to strengthen foundation. During foundation works we found out that there are…


Home Remodeling – Bākūži |

When Foundations Crumble - Home Remodeling

When the foundations are being destroyed, what can the righteous do? Psalm 11:3Today was meant to be an easy day, we had to continue foundation works, pouring in concrete, nothing complicated in fact, just a manpower to carry gravel with wheelbarrow for some 100 meters from the pile to the concrete mixer. I had two workers helping me out today, what could go wrong?It was planned some visitors will arrive in the evening and we will grill some…


Home Remodeling – Bākūži |

Central Park, New York City

Central Park is an urban park in Manhattan, New York City. Central Park is the most visited urban park in the United States, with about 40 million visitors yearly, also it's one of the most filmed locations in the world.Central Park should be on every travelers, going to the NYC, bucket list, I first visited it in the Spring 2012, and was really amazed of an elegant urban/nature solutions in the middle of…


United States |

First plants for Rock Garden

Last summer we not only concreted a lot and demolished walls, but planted some plants and trees in the surrounding territory. See: Planting an Apple Tree (Doch Melbi / Daughter Melbi / Дочь Мелбы)After we shaped a little bit our rock garden it was time to plant first plants.First plants at rock gardenFor the record - thyme and rosemary


Home Remodeling – Bākūži |

Shaping Rock Garden

It was on the same day when guys and I demolished walls and poured in concrete for home foundation, while the better part of me, decided to shape a little bit rock garden we recently formed from stones used at cowshed's foundation, during pond excavation works. See: Building a Rock Garden and Pond Digging - Part 3 - The ResultThe idea was simple, we are looking to plant some flowers and plants into rock garden, we should…


Home Remodeling – Bākūži |

Independence Square in Kiev

Maidan Nezalezhnosti (literally:Independence Square) is the central square of Kiev, the capital city of Ukraine.One of the city's main squares, it is located on Khreshchatyk Street in the Shevchenko Raion. The square has been known under many different names, but often it is called simply Maidan ("square").I had a brief chance to visit and make one photography of Kiev's Maidan Square at the end of 2016, during unplanned short Kiev city tour…


Ukraine |

Rooms Hotel Kazbegi

Located at the base of Kazbek Mountain in Stepantsminda Village, 7 km from the 14th-century Gergeti Trinity Church, Hotel Kazbegi features a lobby bar with a library (I even got local Georgian Forbes magazine in English) and free Wi-Fi.We booked our stay at Rooms hotel Kazbegi in the middle of December 2016, and were accompanied by friends of us, who luckily had a ground transport and were able to take us there, as speaking of public…


Georgia |

Let's Keep Demolishing Walls, Construct Foundation From Ceramsite Blocks And Pour In Some Concrete

Yeah, let's do that - another day on steroids from my home remodeling adventures during late Summer 2016 (August)Frankly speaking, by now, browsing through the images from last Summer works I'm getting a little bit dizzy - it looks way too dramatic.On the other hand, we already had experience and knowledge about demolishing walls, see: Remove a Wall to Finish Foundation Concreting, also constructing missing foundation from…


Home Remodeling – Bākūži |

Hiking trails near Turtle lake, Tbilisi in Winter

I'm fond of hiking/trekking trails near Turtle lake in Tbilisi, I have done several routes, with my favorite being unaccessible anymore after the Tbilisi flooding in June 2015.See: Failed attempt to complete Tskneti - Turtle lake hiking routeNow, since it was about a year since our latest hiking activities in Georgia, on a lovely's Sunday morning (February 5, 2017) we decided to catch a taxi (see: How to Get around in Tbilisi by Taxify (…


Living in Georgia |

Tasty Ukrainian Cuisine on Khreshchatyk street in Kiev

Wow, my first (yet, only one) Kiev restaurant review and I can't remember name of this place.Shame on me. On the other hand it was not planned to make any Kiev restaurant reviews this time, as we were having just a layover flight in Kiev before departing to NYC. See: About Tbilisi - Kiev - New York Flight by Ukrainian AirlinesUnfortunately our flight was delayed for 10 hours and instead of waiting at Borispol's airport transit area we…


Ukraine |

Cafe at Hotel Mate in Khulo

I just love those small roadside cafeterias and cafe at Hotel Mate in Khulo (region of Adjara in Georgia) is just another great discovery. Hotel Mate is located in the center of Khulo in front of the hospital up the hill from central road. Address: 1 Davit Aghmashenebeli st, Khulo​Hotel cafe in KhuloThe food served at this cafe is just delicious, let's say made with countryside love.Traditional…


Georgia |

Kyiv-Passazhyrskiy Railway station

Kyiv-Passazhyrsky, also called just as Vokzalna, is a railway station in the capital of Ukraine, Kiyv (Kiev)The Kiev Metro station Vokzalna is adjoining the complex, constituting the station's main intersection with city transport. The Kiev tram terminal Starovokzal'na  (the terminal for Kiev's High-Speed Tram line) is also adjacent via a passageway.I had a chance to spend here some 5…


Ukraine |

Postcards from Khulo

It was in middle of November 18, we booked a train ticket to Batumi, leaving Tbilisi. Prior to that we booked a really lavish hotel with bath tube next to king size bed for a really cheap money, see Hotel Sputnik in Batumi. After spending lazy first days in Batumi, see: 16 things to do in Batumi I decided to get to the place I had heard so much before, to the Khulo. Khulo is a townlet in Adjara, an autonomous republic…


Georgia |

Fall Through The Ceiling, Dig a Trench Around Foundations, Stone Wall Concreting

Think I have written about all topics mentioned in title already?You are right, I indeed have, see: Digging a trench around existing foundation, Stone Wall Concreting. But that's just for the other part of house, now we are mowing to other side and repeating most of the works we did on opposite side - we will remove old log walls and replace them with aac blocks, but before that there is still some need to perform preparation works.So…


Home Remodeling – Bākūži |
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