America Day 3 4 & 5 - New York, Philadelphia, Annapolis and Washington

I've been so busy and tired! I think I have slowly adapted to the time difference though... maybe??

DAY 3

Anyway... back to my last day in New York which was Day 3 of my holiday. I woke up early and got on a hop-on/hop-off bus tour. The tour guide was lovely. He was very smart and informative! I stayed on the bus from Times Square all the way to Battery Park where you catch the ferry out to Liberty Island. We went past streets and restaurants where Sex and the City was filmed, ground zero, tiles for America (it was really cool, anyone who had lost a family member in 9/11 was allowed to hang a tile. They will be used in the memorial that is being built), the wall street bull and other little cool places.

Some of the beautiful tiles hung for the people lost in 9/11

Battery park itself was pretty cool. There were lots of street vendors and atmosphere! There was also a big statue that was crushed when the twin towers collapsed. It was kind of cool to. 

So I caught the ferry out to Liberty Island which didn't take to long. Seeing the Statue of Liberty was quite breath taking! It was another hit... wow, I'm actually in America. I thought it would be much bigger then it was though. 

Me visiting the Statue of Liberty

After that Statue of Liberty I caught to ferry back to battery park (I didn't stop at Ellis Island). I got back on the hop-on/hop-off tour bus and caught it to the Rockefeller Centre (the one from Home Alone). It was pretty. The ice rink was really beautiful! I did a tour of the NBC studios in the Rockefeller centre. it was very American but was cool. I just didn't know many of the studios we visited because they were all American news programs or talk shows. Still fun though.

Outside the NBC studios

After this I was absolutely BUGGERED!!! I tried to go to the post office to send heaps of stuff but apparently they close at 3 in New York! I think that is the only business in New York that closes at all let alone that early!! So instead I went how and had a nap. I was supposed to make it to an introduction meeting at 7pm that night for my tour. When my alarm went off to get up and go the meeting I just couldn't move, so I just went back to sleep. Turns out that it wasn't that important anyway! 

DAY 4

Day 4 began for me that morning at 4am... because I slept so much that day/night before, I couldn't sleep anymore after 4am so I got up and organised. I was at the Contiki meeting place (Skyline Hotel New York) at 6am and I didn't really have to be there until 7am. It was good though because another girl, named Keri got there early too and we got talking and she became my first friend! She is from England and we get along pretty well!

Then we got on the bus and drove to Philadelphia. Our first stop was the Rocky steps... the ones from the movie that he runs to the top of. So I ran to the top of the stairs. When I got to the top I jumped around like Rocky did in the movie. It was really cool!

Me in front of the Rocky Statue

Then we went to down town Philadelphia. A questions I still have got answered though is does Philadelphia cheese come from Philadelphia?? Well, we got told to go eat a famous Philly Cheese Steak! This kinda sounds grose right? I thought it would be a steak covered in Philly cheese. This is what we got:

A Philly Cheese Steak!

It was so American. It reminded me of what a sloppy joe would be like. A what is the deal with a steak not really being a steak?? Weird!

Anyway.... then it was off the the small seaside town of Annapolis. We have decided it was named after a famous Polish lady named Anna Polis. It was actually quite a beautiful little town. A few people on tour did a walking tour of the Naval Base but me and Keri just walked around the town. It was so beautiful to look at the houses. A really cute authentic American town.

Beautiful seaside town of Annapolis

From Annapolis we went to our hotel and dropped our bags off, went to dinner and straight back on the bus for a night tour of Washington DC. I was so tired but I am so glad I went on the tour. It was beautiful. We firstly went to Capitol Building, Jefferson Memorial, Roosevelt  Memorial and the Lincoln Memorial. They were all very lit up at night and it was quite beautiful!

Capitol Building

Outside Jefferson Memorial

Jefferson Statue

Part of the Roosevelt Memorial

Outside Lincoln Memorial

The place Martin Luther King Jr stood in front of the Lincoln Memorial and gave his 'I have a dream...' speech

President Abraham Lincoln

After all this site seeing it was 10.30. I had been up since 4am! I was so exhausted!!! We went back to the hotel and I went straight to sleep!

DAY 5

Day five began with breakfast at the hotel and catching the bus in DC at 9am. This was our first of 2 free days in DC.

Firstly, we went and visited the National Air and Space Museum. There are 19 Smithsonian museums in DC. I got bored after the first one. There was some interactive parts that made it more exciting but I all in all it was pretty American and boring! I did find out though that I wouldn't live up to the needs of the first female flight attendants... I think I am too short... just a little

Qualities of a Stewardess

Then we walked to the White House... it was quite out of the way but when we started to see the massive amounts of police and security, we knew we found it! It really wasn't as spectacular as you think it would be. It was cool, don't get me wrong, we were standing out front of the house of all the famous American Presidents! It was just a lot smaller then I thought it would. Guess it was still HUGE for a house.

Oh look... its the White House!

Now I am back at the hotel after a short subway ride and a REALLY long wait for the hotel shuttle to pick us up from the subway station. Five days down and I already feel like I have seen soooooo much! It has been amazing so far!

Looking forward to relaxing with another day in Washington tomorrow and then off to Raleigh.

So far... BEST HOLIDAY EVER!!!