Verrrry early Sunday morning (4am to be precise) I woke up to leave little Jenkintown for the big city - New York, baby! I walked to the train station, train to Philly, bus to New York and arrived at 8.40am (not bad considering the bus left Philly at 7am). I was so excited seeing glimpses of the city as we drove in. I took my first subway ride to the Museum of Natural History - with a little help from my first New Yorker! The subway had construction going on so she helped me out with with new directions and we chatted on the way to the museum.
The American Museum of Natural History was amazing! It had four levels and every nook and cranny had an exciting display. There were animals from Asia, Africa and North America. People of Mexico, Central America, South America, Africa, Asia and America with displays of their costumes, toys, tools, homes and more. Minerals and Gems, Human Origins, Ocean Life, Biodiversity, Earth and Space - I was so overwhelmed. I was there for 5 hours and still didn't see everything!
I made my way back to the hostel - which was surprising clean, safe and warm! I was home by 6 but that was okay because I didn't want to stay out at night until I knew my way around the city more.
The next morning I decided to explore Central Park (which I originally wanted to do on the Sunday, I just didn't realise the museum would take so long!) so after walking to the park, I got out my trusty map and got going!
My first stop was the Swedish Marionette Cottage. It was beautiful on the outside, such a sweet little cottage, but unfortunately due to the public holiday (President's Day Weekend) there was no puppet show :( Next onto Shakespeare Garden, which was actually quiet dull - just a few plants and benches and one Shakespeare quote. Up from that was the Belvedere Castle which was awesome (if you've seen Stepmom, you'll remember it from the photo shoot with Rapunzel where Julia Roberts loses the lil boy). You could see the Delacorte theatre from the castle, which is where they hold performances of Shakespeare in the summer. I was surprised how big the theatre actually was, and I just can't wait to go back and see a performance of Hamlet. The castle offered a great view of a nearby lake and part of The Great Lawn (big patch of green in CP) and nearby Upper East Side.
Those three were all within a metre of each other, so for my next stop I had to investigate a bit (no signage in Central Park, except at the actual sight). After a stroll past the MET, under a beautiful bridge and I ran into the statue of Alice in Wonderland. It was bigger then I expected and had some quotes from the book around the perimeter.
Next a hunt for the Hans Christian Anderson statue (where they do readings in the summer) but I couldn't find it :( I found the Bethedesa Fountain which was lovely but not as exciting as everything else.
I walked to Strawberry Fields, and ran into a couple from Britain. They were so lovely and recognised my accent (yay) and turned out the woman had worked on the Gold Coast and actually lived in Nerang! Wooh! I was so excited and we talked for a few minutes about our adventures in the city. Strawberry Fields wasn't as I expected. It was just a sectioned off hill and garden with the famous 'Imagination' mosaic. There were lots of English tourists paying tribute to John Lennon.
Afterwards I walked down 'Literary Walk' which is the famous path you see with all the big oak/elm/etc trees down either side, and it always looks so beautiful with the changing seasons. It wasn't as beautiful today because there was no snow, only leafless trees, but it was still good. I can't wait to go back when it is snowing and during the autumn (although these damn americans call it 'fall').
I took a ride on the Carousel, which was inside (how odd) but it played the best music with that carousel twang - wizard of oz, disney, musicals. So magical.
I got lost trying to find the Zoo (officially called 'The Central Park Wildlife Conservacy') and by the time I got there they had stopped selling tickets, but I got a sneaky glance at the seals being fed.
Before I taxied home (yay first american taxi ride!) I took a quick peak at the Balto statue, which I remember from the movie as a kid. Another amazing day - I loved Central Park and can't wait to go back! An early night for me (after a slice of the BEST pizza EVER) again.
The next morning was a meeting with a potential host family in Hastings-on-Hudson. They seemed like a great family. By the time I got back to the city it was 1pm so I just saw the rest of the museum before heading downtown to catch my bus. It was CRAZY down there! People rushing everywhere, you couldn't even stop because you would get bowled over! You almost had to put a blinker on to merge out to do anything!!
After the bus arrived (late, grrr) and I got safely home in my beddy byes (11pm) I was exhausted but satisfied - I just loved the city and had truly the most amazing time. The only thing that could have been better would be sharing it with my friends and family! Miss you all xxx
Wednesday, February 18, 2009
Sunday, February 8, 2009
Today I saw two tortises hump....
This weekend I had my second LCC meeting (monthly aupair meeting, for all the aupairs in my area) and we all went bowling. It was okay, glow in the dark which was fun. Its a bit frustrating that LCC meetings are on the weekend, because that means I can't go interstate on those weekends, I can only venture as far as Philadelphia! I'd prefer the meetings to be during the week, but it at least gives me a chance to rest that weekend and save some money for any big trips coming up.
So this weekend, I wanted to do something very cheap, so today Evelyn and I went to the Philadelphia Zoo. It was the first zoo to be built in America, and was pretty good (no where near as good as Melbourne Zoo though!!!) but I will most likely go back in the summer because quiet alot of the animals had been put away, because of the cold. It was actually a fairly nice day, considering the last few weeks we've had!
My favourite animals were the naked mole rats (so cute! google them, do it now!!), peacocks, bald eagles, giant otters, giant shrews, capybaras (but they were sleeping far away so I didn't see them well ) and of course the usual - bears (polar and black) and cats (tigers, lions, leopards, cheetahs, pumas). Oh, and of course the HUGE galapagos tortises that were humping. Disturbing yet very hard to look away, and also quite amusing!
I also added to my 'America Collectables'! In the grand tradition of my grandma and mum, I have started collecting magnets of all the places I've been. So far I have two philly, two zoo and two please touch museum magnets. I didn't have enough time to pick new york ones - there was way to many to choose from!!! I'm also collecting iron on patches, to make my own blanket and have ones from new york, philly and the zoo. Also, squashable pennies - which is so much fun! They flatten them out and put a design on them - new york, the zoo, museums. Lots of fun!!
Anyway, think thats it for now - look out for next weekend's blog cuz I am heading to New York. YAY I am so excited its not even funny!!!
Missing everyone lots xxx
So this weekend, I wanted to do something very cheap, so today Evelyn and I went to the Philadelphia Zoo. It was the first zoo to be built in America, and was pretty good (no where near as good as Melbourne Zoo though!!!) but I will most likely go back in the summer because quiet alot of the animals had been put away, because of the cold. It was actually a fairly nice day, considering the last few weeks we've had!
My favourite animals were the naked mole rats (so cute! google them, do it now!!), peacocks, bald eagles, giant otters, giant shrews, capybaras (but they were sleeping far away so I didn't see them well ) and of course the usual - bears (polar and black) and cats (tigers, lions, leopards, cheetahs, pumas). Oh, and of course the HUGE galapagos tortises that were humping. Disturbing yet very hard to look away, and also quite amusing!
I also added to my 'America Collectables'! In the grand tradition of my grandma and mum, I have started collecting magnets of all the places I've been. So far I have two philly, two zoo and two please touch museum magnets. I didn't have enough time to pick new york ones - there was way to many to choose from!!! I'm also collecting iron on patches, to make my own blanket and have ones from new york, philly and the zoo. Also, squashable pennies - which is so much fun! They flatten them out and put a design on them - new york, the zoo, museums. Lots of fun!!
Anyway, think thats it for now - look out for next weekend's blog cuz I am heading to New York. YAY I am so excited its not even funny!!!
Missing everyone lots xxx
Monday, February 2, 2009
Philly Rocks My Socks Off...
The weekend that just passed was Philadelphia Amanda & AJ style!
It started off with me catching the train to Philly (first time alone, wooh!) and catching the bus (with the nicest EVER bus driver) to the National Constitution Centre to meet my lil aussie pal AJ (who had trained in from D.C). We had a quick run through the NCC, which was pretty crappy. I may have enjoyed it if I'd wondered around on my own for a while but it wasn't really worth the $12.
Anyway, then after a "short" walk, we ended up at an Irish Pub for dinner with AJ's host dad & some aussie interns. The pub was mega packed but it was great to be around some people with familiar accents and lots of laughter! I was going to have a Philly Cheese Steak but wasn't in the mood, so went with fish & chips instead (was feeling the Aussie!) and had a vodka lemonade and boy are americans heavy on the vodkas! Apparently their shots are twice the size of ours, p;lus they are usually quiet generous with that amount so it was sort of a splash of lemonade with my vodka!
After AJ & I left, we went around the corner to one of my favourite restaurants, 'Johnny Rockets'! I first went to one in Cairns (back down-under) but they shut it down, so I was friggin excited to see this 'Johnny Rockets'. Its an American 50's style diner with traditional diner food (awesome shakes) and little juke boxes on the table, and the waiters dance to certain songs that are played! Its really corny but you've gotta love it (oh and we did!) and if you see one - go!
After Johnny Rockets, we took a cab back to the station, then walked from the Jenkintown station back to my host home (got a little lost on the way however). In the morning we had breakfast at IHOP (International House of Pancakes) with was ridiculously yummy. I had strawberry & banana pancakes. There hashbrowns are really weird though - shredded potato joined together with I dunno cheese or something. So they looked like little piles of grated cheese hehe.
We headed back into Philadelphia, after breakfast, and decided we would just walk around and find anything interesting! So we toured the streets, video camera in my hand & digital camera in AJ's, map in our pocket and tourist grins on our faces! My favourite thing about Philly is how it mixes old architecture with brand new -its a really interesting combination and makes for a fascinating city. It's known as the 'City of Brotherly Love' and we visited the famous 'LOVE' sign - not as big as we thought lol but it was great to see!
As well as taking a walking tour, we did some major shopping in a cheap little fashion shop and went souvinear crazy with postcards, badges, sweatshirts and magnets. People aren't the most tourist friendly in Philadelphia, but it was still a great city to visit. You can probably do it in a weekend - we missed some of the historical sights like the liberty bell, but they wouldn't take to long.
All in all, it was a great weekend - I had the most fun since I've been here! And AJ and I have started dreaming about the rest of our American travels - so look out for more news of that (hopefully soon!)
love amanda x
ps: i really miss all of you back in aussie land! xxx
It started off with me catching the train to Philly (first time alone, wooh!) and catching the bus (with the nicest EVER bus driver) to the National Constitution Centre to meet my lil aussie pal AJ (who had trained in from D.C). We had a quick run through the NCC, which was pretty crappy. I may have enjoyed it if I'd wondered around on my own for a while but it wasn't really worth the $12.
Anyway, then after a "short" walk, we ended up at an Irish Pub for dinner with AJ's host dad & some aussie interns. The pub was mega packed but it was great to be around some people with familiar accents and lots of laughter! I was going to have a Philly Cheese Steak but wasn't in the mood, so went with fish & chips instead (was feeling the Aussie!) and had a vodka lemonade and boy are americans heavy on the vodkas! Apparently their shots are twice the size of ours, p;lus they are usually quiet generous with that amount so it was sort of a splash of lemonade with my vodka!
After AJ & I left, we went around the corner to one of my favourite restaurants, 'Johnny Rockets'! I first went to one in Cairns (back down-under) but they shut it down, so I was friggin excited to see this 'Johnny Rockets'. Its an American 50's style diner with traditional diner food (awesome shakes) and little juke boxes on the table, and the waiters dance to certain songs that are played! Its really corny but you've gotta love it (oh and we did!) and if you see one - go!
After Johnny Rockets, we took a cab back to the station, then walked from the Jenkintown station back to my host home (got a little lost on the way however). In the morning we had breakfast at IHOP (International House of Pancakes) with was ridiculously yummy. I had strawberry & banana pancakes. There hashbrowns are really weird though - shredded potato joined together with I dunno cheese or something. So they looked like little piles of grated cheese hehe.
We headed back into Philadelphia, after breakfast, and decided we would just walk around and find anything interesting! So we toured the streets, video camera in my hand & digital camera in AJ's, map in our pocket and tourist grins on our faces! My favourite thing about Philly is how it mixes old architecture with brand new -its a really interesting combination and makes for a fascinating city. It's known as the 'City of Brotherly Love' and we visited the famous 'LOVE' sign - not as big as we thought lol but it was great to see!
As well as taking a walking tour, we did some major shopping in a cheap little fashion shop and went souvinear crazy with postcards, badges, sweatshirts and magnets. People aren't the most tourist friendly in Philadelphia, but it was still a great city to visit. You can probably do it in a weekend - we missed some of the historical sights like the liberty bell, but they wouldn't take to long.
All in all, it was a great weekend - I had the most fun since I've been here! And AJ and I have started dreaming about the rest of our American travels - so look out for more news of that (hopefully soon!)
love amanda x
ps: i really miss all of you back in aussie land! xxx
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