My USA holiday :D

this post is wayyyy overdue!

Okie, no pictures of me on holiday this time :P haha cos I look so unglam wrapped up in all me layers D: it was so cold there!!! Absolutely horrendous >.< although I definitely had a wonderful holiday :)) but the weather.. O.o although the temperature was in the teens, the gusty winds everyday made it quite unbearable :( but! The point of this post is for me to share about the various places of interest I visited on the trip :) warning: its a long post!!

As you can see in the map, we arrived in new York at the John F Kennedy airport. We immediately started driving southwards to Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Then we went on further to Virginia, Washington D.C., and then travelled back up to New York :D yep it was a free and easy driving trip this time :) so fun!!! I really enjoyed it much more than a tour group. We had much more flexibility naturally. And I love the car we rented!! Haha. We rented it from Hertz, and you can collect the car right at the airport which was really convenient :) I can't remember what was the exact name of the car but it was a Chevrolet MPV, or whatever (im so it good at car types :p) but it was a huge 7-seater! :D hehe so shiok xD huge and comfy. Loved it to the max! oh and digress a bit. We found this radio channel called 'The Blend' that was pretty good! It played songs that appealed to both us as well as mummy & papa's generation haha. Sort of like a 95fm ;) but omg. It had a serious tendency to repeat so gs. Extremely often O.o Adele's Rolling in the deep probably topped the repeat list, with a grand total of 10 times during our trip -.- they also kept repeating lady gaga's Edge of Glory and Mine by taylor swift. Seriously...I love these songs, but the repetition was.. -.- I mean, a few times is fine, but they could have also played different songs by the same singer right?! Haha I guess thats what happens when there isn't a radio DJ for the channel :/

Anyway, time to get on with the places on interest! Haha.

Philadelphia

Liberty Bell & Independence Hall

haha this was the first place i visited in USA! and i was quite bored by it :P haha. the Liberty Bell was rung to summon the citizens of Philadelphia to hear the first public reading of the Declaration of Independence, i think when Philadelphia was the capital of US then? there is quite a bit of historical significance which you can read while taking a walk through the exhibition.

Virginia

Jamestown Settlement

when we went to Virginia, the places of interest were much more fun! at least in my opinion :) we visited the Jamestown Settlement, which was where Pocahontas used to live!!! it's really cool, cos they actually reconstructed the entire place to look like what it did in the past. and there are these costumed interpretors who can bring you on a tour around the place and explain the history in detail. it might sound boring (history zzzz...?) but it was actually surprisingly interesting! we also watched an introductory film to trace Jamestown's beginnings and the lifestyle of the Powhatan Indians who lived there which was also pretty fascinating.

and the scenery there is absolutely gorgeous :O :O :O while driving around trying to find our way to the place, we kind of got a little lost. but we came across this BEAUTIFUL creek which was just so serene and captivating that we just had to get down from the car and admire the surroundings.

Battle of Yorktown

this was another historical site similar to Jamestown, but i felt that it was more boring? it was still fun to visit the various sites which were reconstructed. but i think this part of the history was less interesting.

Colonial Williamsburg 

colonial williamsburg on the other hand was another attraction which i really enjoyed! it's really nice to see all the quaint english houses there - it's just so spacious! which makes everything look so much prettier.

Washington

Mount Vernon

another beautiful place we went to was mount vernon! which was the residence of george washington. that place is really nice! you can walk around and explore the estate - which is huge btw! besides the main house shown here, there are about a dozen other outbuildings in an expansive field.

and look at the view! this is the view of his backyard. imagine that! :O it was soooo breathtaking! (: (: i really loved it.

they have the costumed interpretors there too! this is martha washington (the wife of george washington), and we could go to this little house to speak to her (as if all this was taking place in the past while she was still alive). she was so cute!!! haha.

White House Visitor's Centre

we wanted to visit the white house! but security seems to have been beefed up significantly, and now it isnt even possible to walk anywhere NEAR it. we couldnt even see it at all! -.- but we explored the visitor's centre which has the history of all the presidents of america who have stayed in the white house. it was really quite interesting! each president who moved in brought along their own style and character, which makes for a really rich and diverse compound. pity we didnt get to go to the real grounds.

Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History

i was really excited to visit the smithsonian! but i was a tad disappointed by the one in washington. visit the one in new york!!! i think it's nicer :) especially if you watched night at the museum cos it was filmed there :D the museum really does a terrific job in preserving their exhibits though! and it was really educational.

The Capitol

the Capitol is where the House of Representatives and Senate meet to debate their issues. haha this was..hmm pretty boring i thought :P mummy loved it though. haha. we were lucky that day because the house of representatives were meeting! and we managed to get tickets to go in and watch. but it was kinda disappointing. i expected more people to be there debating! -.- instead, it was rather empty in there. and i had no idea what they were talking about zzz.

Lincoln Memorial

the lincoln memorial was fun to visit, since we've seen in on TV so many times. but there isnt really much to do there. just visit the statue to take photos.

New York

Getting around

okayyyy NEW YORK :D haha the most happening place :D traffic congestion there is absolutely horrific, so once we were there, we returned the rented car. mostly travelled around by foot and we also signed up for a city tour by Grayline, which brought us on various routes around New York City to visit the uptown and downtown areas, Brooklyn, and also a night tour. it's really good in that there are tour guides who will describe all the various sites and also give little nuggets of information based on their own knowledge. there are many stops along the way, so you can hop-on and hop-off at any of these stops to explore the place on foot.

one of the stops along the Grayline tours will bring you to the harbour where there is a free ferry tour to see the statue of liberty!

Times Square

when you go to new york, it's IMPOSSIBLE to miss times square. please please make a point to visit it!!! it's so fascinating! it's the brightest part of new york. to be honest, i felt that new york looks way nicer on tv as compared to real life haha, but times square looks as impressive as ever. it's super bright, super fast paced, super happening ;) that is where the new year's ball is dropped every year.

Broadway

and while you're at times square, walk a couple of streets to broadway! there are so many wonderful shows there to catch! haha we went all the way there to watch The Lion King, instead of catching it at MBS. not that it's cheaper. haha but i think we watched the best show cos it was a sunday! so it's all the original cast acting. AND IT WAS AWESOME!!!!!! haven't watched the cartoon for so long - totally revisited beautiful memories then :) the songs are so nice!!

Empire State Building

and look at the night view of new york from the empire state building! absolutely breathtaking. i could just stand there, in the cold, looking at the city lights. that day when i went, it was really nice because it had just rained and there was no wind. might have been slightly disappointed, but it definitely made it way more bearable so that we could stay up there for a longer time.

M&M's World

some of the stores there are so fascinating to visit too! they're like a tourist attraction haha. like M&M's world! look at the amount of M&M's there!!!!! this was just 1/3 of the collection haha. it was soooo fun! and there are all sorts of M&M's merchandise there.

Madam Tussauds Wax Museum

on the last day of our tour we went to Madam Tussauds Wax Museum. it was pretty fun! totally the perfect camwhoring experience, with all the 'stars' :)

haha after this super long post, tempted to visit the US east coast? ;)