Category Archives: Travel

Atlanta, USA

New York City

1 Comment

Right after our arrival through the Holland Tunnel we went to see the Times Square. Billboards and displays all over the place and an unmanageable amount of people are shaping this place. What else is important to see if you are in NYC at Christmas time? Right. The Rockefeller Christmas Tree. But I need to warn you! It was way not the greatest Christmas Tree I saw!

Time Square

Brooklyn Bridge was our next place to go. What a fantastic bridge! If you saw Kate & Leopold you might even more appreciate it. Due to the temperature, we were not able to stay very long on the bridge. After dinner I decided spontaneously to go for the Empire State Building. No line at all! I ended up staying there from 11pm until 1am when they closed – always returning inside for warming up. I had also the chance to see the rising moon, which made the visit unforgettable.

Manhattan Skyline, from Empire State Building

Ground Zero, St. Pauls Chapel, M&M Shop next to Times Square and a lot of Starbucks due to much wet snow was the program for day #2. In the evening we watched 4 Christmases at the Regal Cinema at W 42 Street.

The Plaza and South Central Park

Day number 3, last Saturday before Christmas. Grand Central Station and a more or less quick visit at Macy’s. At around two o’clock I started lining up for ticket’s for The Phantom of The Opera at Broadway. Although the line was quite respectable, it just took me a little bit more than half an hour. Before I returned to the hostel for dressing up we did a little walk at Central Park. The musical was fabulous!

Brooklyn Bridge and Lower Manhattan

Sunday. Started in Brooklyn, walked over Brooklyn Bridge, break at Starbucks. Wall Street and Staten Island Ferry to get close to the Statue of Liberty. The weather cleared up and I had the chance to enjoy a wonderful sunset from Brooklyn. After dinner we returned to Brooklyn to take some more pictures of Manhattan Downtown and the Brooklyn Bridge. It was super freezing! We ended this evening with a nice cocktail at The Plaza at Central Park.

Main Reading Room, Public Library

Monday, last day. Public Library and Bryton Park. At three o’clock I headed for Penn Station where I took an Amtrak train to Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, where I’m going to stay with an American family for Christmas and New Years Eve.

Atlanta, USA

Philadelphia

Leave a comment

We traveled to Philly from DC by Greyhound. Unfortunately, the bus broke down after short time in the middle of a five lane highway. We transferred to another bus which took us to Baltimore. There we were waiting for the final transportation to Philadelphia. We took the subway from the bus terminal to our hostel located in Bank Street, a side road from Market Street.

Liberty Bell with Independence Hall in Background

On the rest of the first day we visited the Liberty Bell and walked up all Market Street until the City Hall. On the place right in front of the City Hall was a little Christmas village; very similar to what we Austrians are used to. I enjoyed this a lot! We proceeded along Broad Street southwards to The Kimmel Center for the Performing Arts where we ended up listening for a little concert for a while. After that we went to get a “Philly Cheese Steak”. Don’t expect a hearty steak topped with cheese – Americans are making a sandwich out of everything *haha*. We went to Jim’s located at the corner of South Street and 4th. The rest of the evening was about hanging out in the hostel, playing pool and meeting other guys there.

Love Park / JFK Plaza with Philadelphia Museum of Art in Background

We started our second day, Wednesday, at the Reading Terminal Market where we had breakfast. The Philadelphia Museum of Art was the next sight to see. The steps in front of this building are especially famous trough the movie Rocky. (And we went there just because of this.) We planned to attend a tour at the City Hall but finally we canceled it because it lasted for two hours and we didn’t have so much time. We took some pictures at the Love-Sign at JFK Plaza and continued with the Independence Hall.

Independence Hall

It was impressive to see the original place where once the Declaration of Independence was signed. This building is listed as a World Heritage Site. Before we went to see the Masonic Temple we went very quickly to see the Betsy Ross House. On the way there i jumped into the Benjamin Franklin Post Office, first post office of the United States, to send my postcards. The tour in the Masonic Temple was very spectacular for me. We saw all the halls where the lodges are meeting. Each hall illustrates another theme – the Egypt Hall was my favorite one. After the tour we went to Rittenhouse Square for dinner and then back to South Street in Old City for a drink.

Pennsylvania Grand Masters Lodge, Egypt Hall

We stayed for another night and left Philadelphia on Thursday at 9am with the Chinatown Bus.

Philadelphia Skyline from Penn Square / City Hall
Atlanta, USA

Washington D.C.

1 Comment

Washington D.C. – a good place to start my Christmas Journey. A city full of monuments and museums. A city full of history.

World War II Memorial / Washington Monument
World War II Memorial / Washington Monument

In the evening of the first day I started a little night-shooting (The Ellipse, World War II Memorial, Washington Monument, The Mall). It was super freezing but I was too anxious to explore the city and get some good pictures!

The Donkey and The Elephant
The Donkey and The Elephant

On Saturday I started with looking for a grocery store, which was not as easy as I expected – shops are obviously rare in the area I stayed and are opening not early on Saturdays. But I had a chance to see a nice area of the city 😉 . After breakfast I headed for the White House, The Ellipse and finally for the Washington Monument where I queued for some minutes to go up to the observation deck. The view is just amazing! Down again, I walked down to the World War II Memorial and along the Reflection Pool to the Lincoln Memorial – a great place to hang out! Right next, the Vietnam Veterans Memorial is an even imposing place. So many people bring flowers and candles to this place.

The White House

On my way home I passed once more The Ellipse, where I stopped a few minutes for listening to a little Christmas concert. At night I did almost the same tour once more to experience the impression from all these monuments in the dark. Additionally, I visited the in the dark almost scary appearing Franklin Delano Roosevelt Memorial and the magnificent Jefferson Memorial.

Washington Monument at Night / Reflection Pool

Day number three. The Pentagon and the Arlington Cemetery were waiting for me. At the Pentagon, a memorial to the 9/11 attacks was founded. The Arlington Cemetery is really huge. I spent several hours there to see the Tomb of the Unknowns, the memorial to the crew of the space shuttle Challenger and the JFK Eternal Flame. Later this day I visited the Holocaust Museum. Unfortunately I got there short before they closed. In the evening we’ve been to Madame Tussuad’s – funny place!

JFK Eternal Flame

On my last day I visited the Library of Congress, the Capitol and the Air and Space Museum. The Library of Congress was very impressive. The first map of the United States was exhibited there as well as one of the Gutenberg Bibles. The building is impressive too. Through the connecting tunnel I walked over to the Capitol. I was really lucky to get right on a guided tour. It’s obviously a great time of the year for going there – we where just three people on this tour! At the Air and Space Museum I had a chance to see the Apollo 11 command capsule. So impressive! This thing has been to the moon!

Library of Congress

After all these impressions I really need to say that Washington is one of my favorite so far!

Atlanta, USA

Atlanta Midtown Shooting

Leave a comment

This afternoon I did a Atlanta Midtown tour with my camera. I startet at trainstation North Avenue, walked W Peachtree St NW – Ponce de Leon Ave NE to Fox Theater. Then I continued walking down all Peachtree St NE, took a break at Starbucks, passed Margaret Mitchell House, till 14th. Finally I walked through Piedmont Park and took 36 back to Emory (Clifton Road). Enjoy my pics!

Atlanta Midtown Sky
Atlanta Midtown Sky

Atlanta, Canada

More of Montréal!

Leave a comment
Mount Royal Park

My last day in Montréal was a lot of walking around. I started at Rue St-Denis, walked along Avenue Du Mont-Royal up to the observation platform in park Mont-Royal. After enjoying the skyline, I coninued walking to Université de Montréal where Maria and I had a short lunch break.

From there, I took the metro back downtown where I tried to see a few more sight, the Notre Dame Basilica in particular. Unfortunately, it was already closed. Finally I ended up at Juliette Et Chocolate and enjoyed a great brownie with a hot chocolate, grandmother style.

Brownie and Hot Chocolate Grandmother Style at Juliette Et Chocolate
Brownie and Hot Chocolate Grandmother Style at Juliette Et Chocolate
Atlanta, Canada

Back to Montréal & Canadian Thanksgiving

1 Comment

We spent a kind of lazy day today! After the long ride back to Montréal, we were sleeping almost until noon. So, we went for brunch to L’Avenue, a very nice restaurant.

Right after brunch we took an afternoon nap 🙂 . And then coffee and cake at Premiere Moisson at Av du Mont-Royal corner Rue Saint-André, exactly the right place to linger around all afternoon long! We stayed there for almost three hours.

Atlanta, Canada

Toronto – The Tour

Leave a comment

Today, on Sunday, we were explored Toronto. We were walking all the time – no public transportation. We startet at Queen St W after breakfast at Second Cup. At the Campbell House we turned into University Ave. We walked along University Ave till the Ontario Legislature. After Passing the park behing Ontario Legislature we took a break at Victoria University. Now, we strolled down Yonge St to the Toronto Eaton Centre – with a short break at Starbucks. We did some shopping at the Eaton Centre.

Happy girls after shopping 🙂

After having lunch there we headed directly to the CN Tower. The CN Tower took us about 2.5 hours. The elevators are fast but you have to queue a lot. Especially the elevator to the Sky Pod is a bottleneck. But it was worth it! We had an amazing view from the observation decks!

North View from CN Tower

Back on the ground floor we just went back to our hostel where we parked our car for the day. Then we returned home to Montréal. We left Toronto around 7.30pm and arrived in Montréal at about 3am.