Washington D.C

16th-17th October 2012
The last day, we visited the Highline. I had quite high expectations for the place; everyone had recommended it. I didn't particularly like it. It was alright but not overly interesting so I was quite disappointed.

My Overall Thoughts
NYC is bustling and loud. It was both overwhelming and underwhelming; it was what I imagined it to be and it was also not. My favourite part was visiting the borough of Brooklyn. In some respects, I am a little disappointed that I didn't love NYC more than I thought I would.

Would I re-visit?
Eventually. But probably not in the near future. I would love to explore upstate New York. Especially after following Jessica Naomi's blog.

We caught the bus from NYC to Washington D.C with Megabus. It was a 5hr overnight bus ride and it was hard to sleep since I kept on getting motion sickness and cramping from curling up onto a seat. Nonetheless, it was a $10 ticket, so I can't complain too much. We arrived in Washington D.C as the sun was rising and wandered around the Capitol before heading back to union station for breakfast at Au Bon Pain.

For breakfast, we had Jelly Bellies. And became inspired to draw this at the Smithsonian American Art Museum

Sunbear hadn't tried sushi before. Say what? I obviously had to rectify that. Although, I am not the biggest fan of sushi; I have an aversion to fish, especially when it is raw. Although, sushi is ridiculously expensive in the US. In Atlanta to NYC and then to Washington D.C. Though to be fair, I do only visit the cheapest sushi train in Sydney. We went to Yo Sushi!and it had a very high novelty factor. If you pressed the button for attention, all the music would stop and the light saber instrument would turn red. It was expensive, I think the cheapest plate was $3 and the most expensive plate was $7. A decent plate was around the $5 mark (I think the $3 was probably something along the lines of cucumber only sushi). Of course, factor in tip and tax it was a very expensive dinner. Oh well, peanut butter.



We had an Amazing Race moment when we couldn't locate the bus stop to the airport and had to ask everyone for directions. No one knew anything, including the security guard working at a boom gate. Really? We made it to the airport. Note to self: don't fly out from Dulles International Airport. It was too far away from where we were staying, considering that there was a much closer airport. D'oh.

My Overall Thoughts
Washington D.C. was as I expected it to be. (I basically didn't expect much, but just some pretty buildings to look at).

Would I re-visit?
.No. I am not a museum enthusiast and for me, Washington D.C is one of those places where if I have visited it once, then it would suffice for the rest of my life.

The Three Sisters

A month ago, my old manager had transferred to another store in Katoomba. A few co-workers wanted to surprise her so I joined as I did want to spend a day out. We woke up before the sun rose and caught the train from central. A pet peeve. I hate people who are late, anything longer than 5 minutes already irks me. But this girl who has been late every other time we were together was, once again, late. Normally it isn't that significant except as we were catching the train to Katoomba, there was only one train every hour. She missed the train and was late.








The two hour train ride wasn't overly long; it was pleasant. When we were 4 stops away, one of the coworkers really needed to go to the bathroom, however we didn't think that there was a toilet on the train so he got off at a station in the Blue Mountains. There wasn't a bathroom at the station and he ended up walking on the track before finding a porta-loo.




The rest of the coworkers and I waited at a cafe for the stragglers. It was cold in Katoomba. Well, it was actually quite chilly and the air was so much fresher and crisper.






As I was taking my shots of the Three Sisters, there was this tourist who asked me, "do you know the story of the sisters?" I said, "Yes. Do you know the story?" because sometimes people are overly helpful and just want to tell everyone what they know. He said that he didn't no. So I proceeded to tell him the two versions that I was taught.

1) There were three sisters who fell in love with the men from another tribe, however there was a battle and the father of the daughters wanted to protect them so he got an elder to turn them into stone, with the intention of turning them back to women after the battle. However the Elder died and they remained as stone formations.

2) There were three sisters who fell in love with the men from another tribe however the father wasn't happy with their decision and so turned them into stone to prevent them from being together. Elder died and then the sisters remained as stone formations.

After I told the story, the same tourist went, "well that's actually not true. The story goes like this: there were three sisters and they were called X, Y and Z (I can't remember what he said). Did you catch that? They were called X, Y and Z. And they were granted a wish to turn into swans however after 500 years as a swan, they would then turn into rock".

Firstly, that has to be the stupidest story I have ever heard. It sounds like some warped fairytale. Oh really, the sisters wanted to be swans? And if they were turned into rock, why didn't they resemble a rock in the shape of a swan? Secondly, Google didn't show me any story that sounded even remotely similar. And more to the point - and I was fuming- why did that tourist need to act as some hot-shot and correct me on a story. I don't even know what his game was; to correct people? Seriously. Why ask and lie and tell me that he didn't know the story, when he knew a story. My god. And all those Chinese tourists; there is something in life called manners and common courtesy. Learn some. You shove me with your shoulder, I will shove you back.

Though all that aside, it was lovely visiting the manager. She was so stunned and it was really nice being able to see her again. We had a lovely chat with her in the tea room. The best part was when the group of us couldn't quite turn off our 'work mode'. There was a couple and I only noticed them because the girl was dressed as the biggest bogan. White tank top, hair in top knot with a leopard turban type headband and leopard harem pants. All that she was missing were her Ugg boots, although of course she didn't have them as she stole a pair of shoes. Mind you, they were $6 canvas shoes. I don't even know. Actually, if I could understand why people steal $6-10 pair of shoes, then maybe I can also also understand why people steal one shoelace, not a pair, just one.

Coney Island & Brooklyn

14th October 2012
There was a plan to watch the sun rise from Brooklyn Bridge however we were lazy and slept in. We caught the subway to Coney Island; an empty subway carriage which was odd. I am not entirely sure why I had wanted to visit Coney Island and why Sunbear had agreed. It might have had something to do with this song, but not entirely sure.


Coney Island is definitely a place for summer. We were there in autumn and the amusement park was closed which was eerie. It reminded me of the amusemment park from Zombieland truth be told. There were quite a few people at the beach, but it was due to the Kite Fest for Healthy Minds. There were so many kites and some were very large too.There was also a playground on the middle of the beach which reminded me of Henry's "castle" from Once Upon a Time.


We then caught the subway to Prospect Park.









Brookyln was lovely and this was the best day on the trip. I guess it was also because we had settled our differences and could actually enjoy the trip. Although, I do think it was also Brooklyn (on my second trip, I stayed in Brooklyn and I enjoyed it a lot more than when I was in Manhattan).

We went to IHop for dinner and there, I witnessed the birthday song or this as it is from the Emperor's New Groove.   There, I said that I wanted to have my 21st birthday at IHop, just so the employees could sing to me.

New York, New York Part 2

13th October
The previous day we had booked our tickets for Top of the Rock so that we could beat the the line at 8am. It was relatively chilly in Manhattan although it was predominately due to the weather change. For the previous few weeks, Atlanta had been averaging at around 24 degrees celsius and sunny and when we arrived in Manhattan, it was around 15 degrees which was considerably cooler.

I really liked this photo. I really did. Until Sunbear pointed it out that he looked as though he was decapitated. Now I can't unsee.

Soup to keep warm and a super, super dry sandwich

Childhood dream of visiting this statue

Afterwards, we visited Central Park and walked 3/4 of the length of the park, from 59th street all the way down to 97th street. It was a bit surreal being there, I guess it is because I have seen so many scenes from both movies and television shows that had been filmed there. From Home Alone to Enchanted. I am certain that when we walked under one of the bridges used in Enchanted, I was grinning.

We ended up napping outside on the lawn near the Met for around 2 hours unintentionally. Afterwards, we caught the subway back down to Chelsea to visit the Highline. As it was a Saturday, it was incredibly crowded, to the point of uncomfortable and we decided to leave it for another day. We walked all the way down to the Financial district, which was a considerable walk.

On the way, we passed by Washington Square Park, NYU, Soho and Little Italy. I purchased a 'bubble' tea for Sunbear, as he had never tried one before. It was interesting to witness him try it for the first time, though I have to admit that I am not the biggest fan of it; I don't like the 'pearls' or tapioca balls.

Stupidly, I had forgotten to plan adequately and wasn't aware that passes were required to visit the World Trade Centre memorial and we didn't end up going (although I went on my second trip to NYC).  We ended up catching the subway back up to central park, with plans to visit the Met however by the time we got there it was closed and pouring with rain.

Sunset - New Jersey

On a bit of a tangent. Travelling with someone is challenging and I honestly believe it is the best way to test a friendship/ relationship. Even though I thought that I knew him pretty well, I realised that I didn't and it was, at points, aggravating to be stuck with someone for so many hours a day. It really does test the bond, and I believe it either makes it or breaks it. This wasn't just based on this experience, but when I visited New Orleans and listening to two other people talk about their experiences of travelling with supposed close friends. Day 1 was not too bad but this day was almost unbearable at some moments. There were many parts of our relationship that, in hindsight, seemed as though it was from a scene of a movie. Our first kiss, our first 'date', just a lot of little things. The breaking point was when we were yelling on the steps of the Met, in the pouring rain (which by the way is not as glamorous as it sounds. Rain is wet {no shit sherlocks} and uncomfortable).




After our dramatic fight, we went wandering around the Upper East Side in our drenched clothing whilst it was still pouring, and desperately tried to find a place to eat. We stumbled upon this diner and the name escapes me. The burger was good and the rice pudding was as well. I guess food tastes better after a fight that has been resolved.

New York, New York

12th October 2012
How could I travel to the US without visiting New York City? I always knew that I wanted to travel to NYC and Washington D.C on my fall break. The plan originally was to travel with a group of students, however I got invited and then un-invited (maturity as its finest). In the end, I decided to book my flights without asking anyone to join me. Timidly, Sunbear asked to join, which was a little odd as he originally had his heart set on visiting the Everglades.

We caught the bus and then the train at the crack of dawn from our apartments. I never realised until that morning (and then later reaffirmed in London) that I get motion sickness when I can't look out the window. I was feeling terrible sitting down and resorted to standing up for the 30 minute train ride to the airport, trying not to hurl. We didn't check in any luggage as we had crammed 6 days worth of clothing into our respective day packs. Quite a feat I must say. I was still feeling terrible and Sunbear bought me soup and a croissant which did settle my stomach.


Flying over Brooklyn, we could see Manhattan and the term 'concrete jungle' came to mind. Getting to the hostel was more challenging than it should be. We caught the bus from the airport and then instead of catching the subway, Sunbear suggested that we catch a bus down to Times Square so we could see more of Manhattan. Worst. Idea. Ever. We started off at 125th street and an hour later, we were at 100th street and we needed to get to 20th street.

We stayed at the Chelsea International Hostel. One of the worst hostels I stayed in throughout my trip. The only redeeming thing was the location as it was relatively close to the lower end of Manhattan and close to the majority of the attractions. The rooms were terrible, there was no wifi and the shower facilities were half-assed. It wasn't cheap either, but then again, everything was very expensive on Manhattan. I would have stayed at the Hostelling International, which the other group of students stayed at, but it was all the way up at 103rd street. I guess it was all about trade offs in the end, but even then.

Times square.

A problem that we had was that whenever we were hungry, we were unable to find a decent place to eat and yet the moment we ate, all these restaurants popped up. Grr. For dinner we ate at some non descript place. Yes, it looks as though someone sat on our burgers but it tasted okay.

Overall first impressions from the first day. Manhattan was busy, crowded and loud. It was both overwhelming and also underwhelming.

Atlanta Quickshot Shooting Range

A group of exchange students visited the shooting range and I happily joined as I was fairly certain that that would be the only chance to hold a firearm. It was surprising how easy it was to book a session, almost as simple as buying a movie ticket. Everyone just had to hand over a form of identification which they would return after the conclusion of the firing session. No age checks and no questions asked. There were also a few -I believe- dates happening at the shooting range which I found interesting.


The safety goggles and ear protection were awkward as they kept on sliding off my face/ head. I used the two smallest firearms (I don't even know what they were, 8mm and 12mm, perhaps?). No idea if I even shot at the target successfully, but the experience was surreal. I had never held a gun before and didn't realise that it would feel so, now this sounds silly, but heavy and solid, which is logical as it is constructed from metal.

I also tried the bigger gun. I am sure it has some fancy name, but it was basically a machine gun of some sort. That was freaky, especially when I held the trigger down and bullets just fired continuously. The force that pushed me back after each shot was a bit scary; the employee was bracing my shoulder to ensure that I didn't move back too much.

An interesting experience and I can now say that I have fired a gun. I picked up 3 shell casings from the floor of the range and they are now lined up on my shelf of memories in my room.

Coming up next, my fall break trip to New York City and Washington D.C. (Still trying to figure out the best way to divide the trip).