Day 5: Niagara Falls

Next day, we woke up really early..5am to go to the Niagara Falls. We caught the imax show which was about the history and the legends of Niagara Falls followed by a ride on the famous Maid of the Mist.

The raging water that will eventually flow down the American Falls.

The view is so beautiful with the rainbow and the massive amount of flowing water.
This is the Rainbow Bridge that connects America to Canada.

On board the Maid of the Mist that brings you right next to the action.

The horseshoe falls

After the boat ride, I was totally wet..here together with Amanda, a friend I made during the trip.

How to resist taking a photo against such a beautiful landscape.

After that, its nearing the end of our tour. We had to endure a 8 hour bus ride to Boston. A lobster dinner was what awaits us.

Boston Chinatown.

My own lobster. It was my first time having lobster. Personally I dont think its anything great. Just taste like prawn..a huge prawn. Lol

Day 4: Bus ride to Niagara Falls

The third day of the tour was rather uneventful. The highlight of the trip was Niagara Falls and the entire day was spent getting there. On route, we made two stops - Hersheys Chocolate Factory and Corning Museum of Glass.

Hersheys Chocolate factory. I was rather excited at first but was kinda disappointed in the end. I thought the factory would be the real deal..but it turned out to be a "theme park" for the kids. I would be very excited if I were 20 yrs younger. The chocolate factory tour is too cutesy for me. Oh well, at least I got a free chocolate bar.

There were other stuff to do..like watching a show, learning to make chocolate..but we did not have enough time for that. So after lunch, off we go to Corning Museum of Glass.
Corning Museum of Glass. Yes, first thing came to my mind was the glass pots my mum called Corning ware. And yes it came from here. But I was not interested in cooking pots, there were many beautiful glass exhibits in the museum such as this one..

Looks like an aquarium encased in glass.

The glass chess set was another intricate masterpiece as well.

A giant standing glass chandelier.

The highlight was a 20min show demonstrating how the glass vases were hand crafted. A simple vase took many rounds of painstaking work by the lady here to form. It took repeated heating, forming, heating and spinning to form the shape you desire.

At the end of the session, there was a lucky draw and two lucky winners went home with vases. Unfortunately, its not me.

Then it was anothe 4 hours ride to reach niagara falls. Its a pity we were late and we couldnt get better lighting to view the magnificent horseshoe falls.

Nevertheless, it was amazing seeing the falls right before me.

My attempt to capture the falls in night mode. I was very happy to be able to get the waterfall effect with my camera. hehee

Beside the horseshoe falls is the american falls which we would eventually visit the next morning.

Day 3: Washington DC

Day 2 of my tour began with a two hour bus ride to Philadephia. Just a brief stop at the Independence Hall to see the Liberty Bell.

Its interesting that a bell with a huge crack is of such huge significance in the history of the US. The bell was ordered in 1751 for use in the Pennsylvania State Housenow known as Indedepence Hall in Philadelphia. The bell cracked during testing. There is a long story to why the bell eventually is honored so I shant elaborate here. Hehe

The Independence Hall is right beside where the Liberty Bell is housed now. It is where the Declaration of Independence was signed.

Next was another 2 hours bus ride before we reached Washington DC. Our first stop was the Smithsonian Air and Space Museum. This museum was also featured in Night at the Museum 2 together with Lincoln Memorial which I also visited during this trip.

The Space sector with all the space rockets and space vehicles.

The lunar landing vehicle.

The rover used to land on Mars. Again, the stay was too short. I especially liked the space section of the museum where you get to see lots of space vehicles and also learned about the apollo missions.

Less than 5 min walk from the museum is the Capitol Building.

Unfortunately, we can only view this beautiful piece of architecture from afar.

Same thing for the white house. We had to view the White House from far as the road was closed to public. I managed to get this photo thanks to my camera 10x zoom.

Washington DC is a place with lots of memorials. This is the Jefferson Memorial dedicated to Thomas Jefferson, the third president of US.

Washington Monument on the left and Jefferson Memorial on the right. The Washington Monument was built to commemorate the first president - George Washington. The obselisk structure was referenced in Dan Brown' s Lost Symbol. I was quite excited to see it right before my eyes. It is the tallest structure in Washington DC.

Another memorial. This time is the Korean War Memorial.

The ghostly carving on the wall represents the people who perished during the war.

Scupltures of soldiers who fought during the war.

The Lincoln Memorial.

This scene was featured in so many movies and here I was looking at it from the same point of view. Its amazing and surreal.

The day ended with a leisurely boat ride touring the city.

View of the Washington Monument from the river.

Day 2: New York Tour

Early morning, I rushed down to Bowery Street (Chinatown) to board the bus for my 5 day tour. I was surprised and a little disappointed to find out that the tour i signed up for was actually organised by a Chinese company and hence I had a chinese tour guide. Not that its bad to have a chinese tour guide, they were really nice people in fact. However due to their proficiency in English, it was hard to understand what they were trying to say when they tried to explain the history of the various places of interest. Nevertheless, the tour was a pleasant one even though alot of time was spent on the bus, moving from one place to another.

The first day was a day tour around New York beginning with Empire State Building Observatory.

From the tallest building in New York, I was able to get a bird's eye view of the entire city.
Lower manhatton. If the World Trade Center Twin Towers were still around, they would be at the right corner of the photograph.
Next stop was a brief stopover at Rockefeller center for photo session.

A new york tour would not be complete without going to Times Square!!

The next place of interest was a place I would never have thought of going on my own - The USS Intrepid Museum. I got to go onboard this aircraft carrier built during World War II period. Cool! Wish I had more time to view all the exhibit in the museum though.

Inside the control room of the Intrepid.

Military Band performance.

After that was a tour along the Hudson river. The one hour boat ride on a hot afternoon was sleep inducing. Most of the people fell asleep during the ride, including me. lol.

However, if you were awake, you get to see the New York City Skyline from the river and most importantly...

The statue of liberty. The circle line ferry ride doesnt allow you to go on liberty island. It didnt bother me as I had been on the island before back in 2007.

The next place they brought me to was a place I had visited before too - The Metropolitan Museum of Art. This place is a must if you are visiting New York City. The museum is huge and has a huge collection of art work and artefacts.

One of the exhibition halls.

A beautifully crafted artefact.

I am a big fan of scupltures. Here is Perseus holding the head of Medusa.

Exquisite artefacts on display.

I was allowed one and a half hour in the museum which is totally not enough!! Thats the sad part of following a tour.

The United Nation building was the next stop. It was sunday so all the flags were not up flying which is quite disappointing. We didnt get to go inside, just allowed to take photographs outside..quite lame. I would love to go in.

Our last stop for the day is Wall Street and here I am posing in front of the New York Stock Exchange.

Standing on Wall Street.

Thats it for the first day. We headed to New Jersey for the overnight stay and next morning will be straight to Washington DC.