New York

Day 39 17/05
Thought it would be nice to have lunch with our relatives so we caught the subway (here subways are simply named by a single letter or number, so we were catching the R line) to Chinatown, Manhattan for yum cha. Afterwards we walked around the nearby sights including New York Supreme Court, City Hall, Brooklyn Bridge, Ground Zero which they are currently rebuilding so there is no memorial there and St Pauls Chapel which also has a memorial about 911, though its original claim to fame was George Washington frequented it. Our last stop was a tourist trap known as the Seaport which has a maritime museum and views of Brooklyn Bridge.

NY pt1

18/05
Today we would visit the major central sights of New York with Times Square being our first stop to get some tourist information.
On the way there we passed the offices of the Wall Street Journal and nearby the National Debt meter (only a measly $1,113,887,132,398 then). Time Square is really just a messed up traffic intersection with two small squares on the north and south side and the multitude of electronic billboards screaming from any vantage point around it.
We decided to pound the vibrant pavements to the famous Chrysler building, passing Grand Central Terminal and the Lincoln Building. Unfortunately the Chrysler building is 100% offices with no observation deck or facilities open to the public. Next was the Empire States Building (back to being the tallest building in New York after 911), we decided we would come back at sunset and so we continued to Madison Square Gardens, nearby is also the US Post Center. We did see Central Park but it is impossible to cover by foot and so we only scratched the surface there when we traversed the southern side. Nearby are some of Trumps buildings.

NY pt2

Sig was really keen to see a Yankees game and so we purchased tickets for a game the next night before finally making it up the Empire State Building to the observation deck. I’ll let the photos explain themselves but the orientation roughly is north is Central Park, west is New Jersey (where is the sun sets), east is where you see the Chrysler building and the twin bridges and south is the nearby skyscrapers of the financial district with the Statue of Liberty to the southwest.

Empire State Building

19/05
Today was going to be Statue of Liberty day or so we thought. Like the Washington Monument in DC, there is a tour that allows you inside the statue but again you have to go early in the morning to grab those limited special tickets. We decided to defer the statue for early next morning, but we did walk around the Clinton Castle in Battery Park where the tickets are distributed. A rare fact is that the Dutch actually purchased land off the natives back in 1625 to establish Fort Amsterdam; which the Brits would gladly take to establish New York.

NY pt3

We just had time before the Yankees game to quickly visit the USS Intrepid, an aircraft carrier from WWII that’s now a museum to yet more planes, the real highlight being able to go inside the Concorde.

USS Intrepid

Then it was onto the new Yankee stadium, we had mid range tickets to watch them play the Baltimore Doubles. After an even start the Yankees routed the Doubles with a triple and double home run for a final score line like 9-1. It was their most comprehensive win so far this season. Got to see 13* A-Rod in action, he wasn’t having a good night though…maybe Madonna was back in town?

Yankees

20/05
We got up early to easily snap those “special” Statue of Liberty tour tickets which lets you inside the pedestal which the statue stands upon where there is a small museum about it.
The statue was a gift from the French people basically to pat the US on the back for snubbing the British. Inside there is the original torch, the one currently visible is post 1984 based on the original design as the elements quickly corroded the original. This corrosion has also affected the public gallery that surrounds the torch which was closed back in 1916, with the crown closed after 911 this means the top of the pedestal is the highest one can climb the statue now. This still offers superb views especially when that day there was a naval review involving several warships cruising past in preparation for Memorial Day.

Statue of Liberty

Afterwards I decided to do a mini self tour of the financial center which is centered on Wall St where the NYSE is. Got to meet our long lost friend Mr. Bull, I am sure his companion Mr. Bear is rampaging somewhere inside the NYSE and so didn’t see him…

Financial District

21/05
Today we spend some time with our great uncle before boarding various subway connections to the airport for a flight into Toronto, which would be our base for visiting the Niagara Falls.

Philly

Day 37 15/05
The night before we caught a cheap Chinatown bus from DC to Philly, it was hot, crowded and late; luckily the hostel was one of the better ones so far when we arrived at around 10pm.
Of course the whole objective of visiting Philly is to see the birthplace of America, when they declared their independence from the Poms.
This is symbolized by the Liberty Bell (which has a famous big crack in it) and Independence Hall (where the declaration was signed). There are also many other landmarks being Philosophical Hall (where Philly’s famous son Benjamin Franklin was a member of), the US Mint (1 of 6 around the country), Benjamin Franklin’s final resting place, Philly’s famous LOVE sign near the JFK plaza and last but not least the infamous steps up to the Philly Art Museum (which we also entered), site of THAT Rocky scene and which now has a statue of Rocky nearby too.
There is also the National Constitution Center which we didn’t enter as many school tours were (as in DC) taking place. Later that night we visited the steps to the art museum again for a look at the city skyline.

Philly

16/05
Today the plan was to visit USA’s most decorated warship, the battleship New Jersey also called the “Big J”. We didn’t even know it was in the nearby Delaware River if not for a tourist card in the hostel. This battleship had served in WWII, Korean, Vietnam and the first Gulf war, hence the decorations achieved. We had to catch a ferry from Penns Landing with views of Benjamin Franklin bridge across the river to Delaware state where the ship was berthed.
Being the warship geek I am and also Sig (who had already gone on its sister ship in Hawaii), we pretty much spent a few rushed hours (the ship is that big) there as we had another Chinatown bus to catch to New York later that day. Not before earlier that morning visiting the namesake house where the first American flag was designed and created by Betty Ross.
There was much confusion when we arrived in New York that evening as I had misinterpreted my Great Uncle’s instructions (my Chinese is nowhere near to what it should be), and so we ended up by accident taking the longest way possible to his house in Brooklyn…

Battleship New Jersey

Planes and Space...

Just for any "geeks" like me, some of the planes and spaceships on display across the two sites in DC:
SR-71 Blackbird
Space Shuttle Enterprise (yes I know it didn't go into space)
Last Concorde (that flew)
Enola Gay (the plane that dropped that bomb...)
X-1, first plane to break the sound barrier
X-15, fastest rocket plane
Boeing's 707 forerunner the 367-80
Apollo, Gemini, Mercury space capsules
the actual 1903 Wright Flyer
Spirit of St Louis
Backups of Skylab, Moon Lander, Spacelab and numerous other satellites
JSF (semi stealth military plane that Oz intends to purchase)

Planes and Spaceships

DC

Been very lazy with updates…

Day 32 10/05

Today was just a rest day with relatives before we leave the West Coast for good and fly over to the East Coast. For fun we tried a batting cage where we had an automated pitcher pitch slow balls (at about 40 mph still)

11/05

We had an overnight flight into DC however due to time zones it was only a 5-6 hour flight and so sleep was minimal. That did not stop us upon landing navigating the morning peak using what was initially a confusing ticketing system. Basically you have to look up the exact fare required and buy a ticket of that monetary value.

After checking into our so called hostel (basically someone’s overcrowded home) we visited the following which are all close to each other in the east side of the National Mall (which is the area where a lot of american museums and institutions reside):

Library of Congress, Supreme Court, Capitol Hill and lastly the Smithsonian Air & Space Museum. Luckily the later closed late as we are big fans of military planes but there would be even more to come….

12/05

Yesterday we made slow progress as really each attraction constitutes almost a day if done thoroughly. We skipped several museums to concentrate on the following:

Smithsonian Natural Museum (where the new Ben Stiller film Battle of the Smithsonian was based on), the White House, Washington Monument, WWII memorial, Lincoln memorial, Vietnam war memorial, US Army Division I and II war memorials and lastly the Kennedy Centre of Performing Arts (the national centre was renamed to be JFKs “living” memorial).

We had dinner near the Hard Rock Café and I got talked into buying a pin of the local manager of the place, haha.

13/05

You can go up to the top of the Washington Monument!

There are tours every 30mins, chance your luck by asking for any spare tickets assigned to tours that are not utilized or like us today; go early in the morning to guarantee the tour at your preferred time slot. We went up on the 2^nd morning slot and the views are great! Downstairs is a small museum about the monument and the man who inspired it, George Washington.

For the rest of the day we caught the bus way out west to visit the Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center in Chantilly, Virginia; for planes, rockets and a space shuttle!!! My favourite plane of all time was there, the SR-71 Blackbird; the worlds fastest plane!

14/05

The famous Arlington War Memorial would close our stay in DC. Many school groups were there and each would present a bouquet of flowers to the tomb of the unknown soldier with a little ceremony thrown in. This tomb is guarded 24/7 where a sentry paces up and down for 30 mins with 21 secs exactly between each pass.

Lastly we caught the equally important memorials on the south side of the “mall”, the Jefferson and Roosevelt memorials.

The monuments/memorials of Washington DC symbolizes the history and ideals of the US of A, this is reinforced to the younger generation by the numerous school groups of almost every state that we came across. I can see why some Americans are so perhaps (viewed as arrogantly) proud of their country…

DC