Well, for this being a travel blog, I've done a horrendous job posting about my travels this summer. Since I've come home from school, I've visited Baltimore, Philadelphia, and New York City. It was my first time ever in Baltimore, and I had only ever passed through Philly before. I had been to NYC a couple of times, but I got to see some new things on my last adventure there!
Baltimore, Maryland
We visited this harbor city because my big sister, Erica was graduating from Johns Hopkins University with a masters degree in Biotechnology and Regulatory Affairs (or something like that). Major props to my smart sis and her accomplishments! Plus my little nephew Vinny got to see his mama in her glory. Proud sister right here. :)
Our hotel was right near the harbor, so we didn't see much of the actual urban part of the city much, but the nightlife on the bay was entertaining enough that we didn't feel we were missing out at all. There were street performers, lots of great restaurants, and people from all walks of life. (I noticed several different people with neon-colored hair: pinks, greens, oranges... I've never seen that before.) There was a steel drum band whose members were all middle-schoolers! They were awesome; I tipped them for their great Caribbean-style rendition of the Jackson Five's 'I Want You Back.'
We spent two nights in Baltimore. The first morning there was my sister's graduation, and we explored town afterward. Then we all went out to Phillips to celebrate with a wonderful seafood dinner. The next day, we meandered by the harbor before visiting the giant aquarium. I loved it! It was my favorite part of the trip. We probably spent over three hours there, viewing their exhibits of jellyfish, sharks, dolphins, rays, and this beautiful gem pictured below: Calypso, the rescued giant sea turtle. Notice she only has three fins; the left 'arm' was overcome by infection and had to be removed to save her life.
I was surprised to see the types of sightseeing treasures that Baltimore is lucky to boast. For instance, there was a large monument by the harbor that commemorated the tragedy of 9/11. An enormous slab of marbled supports a giant rusted metal beam that had once been a part of one of the Twin Towers. Into the marble structure was etched a timeline of the events on the eleventh day of September that led to one of the greatest tragedies that has faced our nation.
Another point of interest that was found in the harbor was a remnant from the attacks on Pearl Harbor. This ship - which we actually got to climb aboard, for free (to see the insides, though, you had to pay $11) - is the last remaining ship that had been at Pearl Harbor.
I was surprised how much Baltimore had to offer, besides the city life. The city must do well in terms of tourism, because the harbor was energetic at night time, and there was much to see and do during the day, too. I was most surprised that these monuments (both the ship and the World Trade structure) ended up in Baltimore. They traveled quite a ways from their origins, but I'm sure that treasures like these help Baltimore with its tourism industry.
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
Tony and I embarked on our journey to Philly on a Sunday evening via Megabus. We left around 4:30, had a pit-stop in State College, PA, and continued on to Philly until 2 AM. Exhausted, we immediately hit the sack once we got to Tony's sister Mandee's apartment.
My appointment to get my visa was at 10AM in downtown Philadelphia. We got up at 8 and took the public bus (#38) for about an hour, all the way to the Public Ledger Building at 6th and Chestnut. It let us out right at the building where we needed to be (it was the last stop on the route), so it was a perfect voyage for the two of us, who are not in the least bit city-savvy. I expected the meeting to last a while, but it lasted maybe twenty minutes. The most exciting part (perhaps even more exciting than finally, FINALLY getting my visa) was when a Hispanic couple entered and spoke to one of the women at the office, in Spanish. I understood the entire conversation, despite their native speed! I almost cried a little. I felt so proud of myself, I couldn't keep from whispering to Tony, "I understood it all!"
After our morning appointment, we went straight to sightseeing. The Liberty Bell Center was just the next block over, and it was *free*, so we took a gander. The history of it all was quite interesting, but I was so surprised to see how small the Bell was! It's kind of like learning about the pilgrims landing on Plymouth Rock and then finding the Rock to be a glorified, hardly-over-sized stone. All in all, the Liberty Bell was interesting enough and my national pride flared up just a smidge.
Next, we stopped by the Visitor Center to pick up *free* tickets to see Independence Hall, the old Court House, and the other building next to them (forgive me, history majors, for I have sinned). While waiting for our time slot, we grabbed lunch at a tiny cafe. We ordered grilled sandwiches that tasted quite good, but my stomach retaliated later. We watched a twenty-minute *free* movie at the Visitor Center about the founding fathers and the Declaration and the birth of our nation. It was quite interesting.
We also took a horse and carriage ride!! It was pretty expensive, but since everything else wasn't, and since horse and carriage rides are so romantic, we hopped on. I felt like a princess in the white carriage, upholstered in royal red velvet. The horse was pretty too, but the driver was missing just about every tooth in her mouth. She was friendly, though, and knew a great deal, so I tipped her kindly at the end of the ride. I don't think she's used to such generous tips, because she let Tony and me each feed the horse a carrot, and wished us well in our future, with her toothless grin.
Unfortunately, the sandwich from our new favorite Philadelphian cafe seemed to disagree with my stomach. (A couple days before our trip, I had gotten sick with a stomach virus, which caused me to suffer from excruciating stomach pains for hours, with no relief. This happened only when I ate, so I ended up having to turn to bland foods - like toast or chicken noodle soup - for every. single. meal.) So instead of visiting Independence Hall, Tony and I laid in the grass at the park, hoping my aches would subside. They didn't, so unfortunately we had to trek home on the #38, for a painfully long hour of prayers that I wouldn't toss cookies. (However, before the tummy-episode came on, I got to snap a few photos of the outsides of the buildings that we never got to visit...)
Finally, we got back to Mandee's apartment, so I sipped ginger ale and laid on the floor with Tony in our make-shift 'bed,' a stack of blankets and a couple of pillows. The three of us watched 'Where the Wild Things Are,' until Ray (Mandee's main squeeze) came home. Then, we went out to an all-you-can-eat Chinese and sushi restaurant, where I jealously watched everyone else pig out. (I ate chicken noodle soup and toast when we got back to the apartment.) Then Tony and I hit the hay again because we were getting up to go to New York in the morning!
New York, New York
We got to 30th Street Station and had no idea what to do. "I've never been on a train before!" Tony said. So we had to wing it. It worked out, though. We took the New Jersey Transit to Trenton, NJ and then from there to Penn Station in NYC. Each train ride was about an hour each, so we were ready to stretch our legs when we got to the Big Apple. We met Rob, our good friend from college, at the station. Since he's a Long Islander, he's more familiar with the city, so we let him take the reigns.
We took the subway all the way down to Battery Park, and we walked many, many, many blocks all the way to Times Square. We had lunch at Good Burger in the city, near Broadway ("Welcome to Good Burger, home of the Good Burger, can I take your order?"). We passed NYU, took a breather in the park there. We passed through Chinatown and made our way to the Brooklyn Bridge. We walked halfway, but turned back toward the city, continuing on.
Finally, after grabbing a smoothie at Jamba Juice (we had never been there before, but as Rob said, "There's a first time for everything,"), we got to Times Square. We stopped in the Hershey's store, M&M World, Toys R Us, and the Disney Store (who says we're grown-ups?). After a long day and LOTS of walking, though, we were pooped. We parted ways with Rob at Penn Station, and headed back to Philly.
The next morning, we got ready to catch the Megabus home. We bought sandwiches at the local deli for the trip home, and left Mandee's apartment early (an hour before the Megabus would leave, though the public bus ride took just over 15 minutes; we had ridden the route to 30th Street the day before). However, it turned out to be an extremely stressful hour.
We waited at the #38 bus station for over twenty minutes, starting to panic. We had left five minutes before Mandee said we should! Where was the bus? Finally, it came, and we took it to its next stop, which was a five minute ride. We were to catch the #44 bus down to the station where the Megabus would be waiting for us. We waited there for almost ten more minutes, and by this point, I was freaking out. Finally the bus came, and it was 1:25. The Megabus would leave at 1:40. And, of course, we got stuck in traffic on the highway. We watched the minutes tick by, certain we'd miss the bus. Finally, it was 1:40 and we hadn't moved far. We tried to figure out what to do: We couldn't get into Mandee's apartment; both she and Ray were at work, and the apartment was locked. We could stay downtown and see the sights, but we had all of our luggage with us. Plus, we'd have to book another bus home...
Finally we got to 30th Street. It was 2:00PM, twenty minutes after the bus was supposed to have left. There was no way it was still here, but what the heck. Tony took the luggage, and I RAN FOR IT. I saw one Megabus that was already rolling. Is that ours? Maybe I could stop it! But no, the sign on the bus said it was going to New York. I turned back to Tony in defeat, but he motioned to me to check beyond that bus; there was another bus! I ran to the line of people waiting to load their luggage and asked where the bus was heading. A young boy uttered the most wonderful word: "Pittsburgh."
