Who Am I??

An environmental engg turned Software Engg working for a MNC. U cn call me Peenuts..thats what my long lost frend used 2 call me, and its in his memory.

5/9/14

East Coast brahman..My most hectic 'vacation' yet :)

I have been in US for over a year now and had covered just one major place here - Vegas. So it was time I made up for this backlog. Though a lil but skeptic i decided to go for a 6 day East Coast tour conducted by E World Tours, and .. i couldnt have asked for more. Given the limited time and money I had this tour turned out to be an excellent deal.
Reach New York in the afternoon on first day. Were picked up from airport and transferred to Ramada Plaza Newark. The hotel was very good..neat, clean and had all  the much needed amenities.  However due to heavy rains our night tour got cancelled. Nevertheless a bad start was covered by a very  good tour overall.
Our 2nd day was spent entirely in New York. We started with China Town..which looks like a replica of aamchi Mumbai..tall buildings spaced close to each other, litter all around and lots and lots of people :)
The day was foggy to begin with. At the time of our Statue of Liberty cruise the mist was so dense that we couldnt see the statue even when we were within miles of it. But when we were close enough we did to get see it. And the Manhattan skyline looked just awesome in that weather. The mist was dense enough to envelope buildings and the it looked like just like its shown in movies. Our next stop was Intrepid Sea, Air and Space museum. Its a museum built on an old aircraft carrier, and houses World War I & II aircrafts, a NASA space shuttle and even a submarine. When i had read about it before leaving for the trip, I had thought of giving it a skip but I was glad i visited it. After this it time for another museum..Metropolitan Museum of Art. The museum was good but for someone like me who is not much into art, i would have preferred to spend that time at Times Square (yeah i didnt get to go there due to shortage of time).
If you think thats enough for a day, there's more. We were just half way done.
Next we paid the famous Wall Street and its Bull a visit. Our last stop was at Empire State building. Here we first took a Skyride (which is a 3D movie on view of the Manhattan City) and then went to observatory on the top floor. The skyride was too bumpy with an overdose of special effects. I would suggest you give it a miss.
By the time our visit was over we were damn tired and craving to be in our beds. So ended our 2nd day @ NY. Of all the things i saw in Manhattan i loved Central Park the most. Its almost a huge forest in mid of a concrete jungle and provides a feel of re-freshness to the entire city.


Day 3 - Washington D.C
Day 3 was a lot better, infact best day of the tour. Today we left New York for Washington D.C. On the way we made short stop in Philadelphia to see Independence Hall and Liberty Bell. In Washington DC, we visited National Museum of Natural History, took a cruise on Potomac river in Washington DC, saw Capitol Building, White House, clicked pictures at Madam Tussads. And thats not it, we also covered Lincoln Memorial and Vietnam War Memorial. Seems like a lot and it is, but thanks to some excellent planning by our tour guide and the fact that we didn't have to walk much, it turned out be easier that it sounds.


Day 4,5 & 6
The last 3 days involved a lot of travel. First we went from Washington D.C to Niagara (via Corning Museum of Glass). The drive was approximately 8 hrs but very much worth it. Niagara falls is a beauty and i felt privileged that I got a chance to see it in this lifetime itself. We spent the night in Niagara City only, with our hotel room adjacent to the Niagara river. Next day we spent some more time at the  falls, absorbing its beauty in the morning sun. Then we left for Boston - another 8 hrs journey. By day 6 (spent in Boston), all cities started to seem alike and we were more excited about the fact that we were going home  :)


All in all, the tour was well planned, had a lot of quality to it and exceeded our expectations. We couldnt have thought of covering all these places ourselves in 6 days. And special thanks to our tour guide Jacky Ho, who was  very considerate and kept us entertained throughout the whole trip.


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