Three and a Half Weeks in the Eastern Coast of the US: Week 2

I know what you're thinking. "Why is she splitting up her US trip posts into parts when they're so short?" See, the first part was supposed to be really short. But here come the second and third weeks. Why are they separated? Well. In our second week, we went to four places. And these places, especially New York City, must be described in detail. Or as detailed as I can get, maybe. But here it, our second week in the United States!

A little bit of the New York City skyline. Photo taken and posted on Instagram by me.

The second week came by in a flash, we suddenly found ourselves on the road to NYC. But before that, we, of course, went to Liberty State Park first. Some people might find it "boring", but for people who like reading history and current events (like me), it was all kinds of fascinating. Plus, this is the first glimpse of the NYC skyline that you would see.

Times Square at 5PM. Photo taken and posted on Instagram by me.

New York City. It's hard to properly describe that place. It's busy, for one. If you're not used to traffic, never go to NYC by car. Or if you still want to take your car, park it somewhere and just walk. You can't take in the NYC experience properly if you don't walk around. You see all kinds of people and all kinds of places. First thing you should visit? Times Square, most definitely. Every kind, and I mean every kind, of people is there. There are the kids who go in and out of the Disney store and Hershey's Chocolate World. There are the girls who go inside the four-storey Forever 21. There are the people, tourist or New Yorker, who are taking pictures in front of iconic Coca-Cola/Times Square building. You also see people dressed up as comic book or cartoon characters for photo ops and asking you for tips. And let's not forget the old lady who was wearing nothing but a pair of panties, cowboy boots, a cowboy hat, and a pair of shades.

Besides Times Square, Central Park is another place to be. People were lying down on the grass, as is in any park, but there was something about Central Park that just screams "magical." Or I may have just watched Enchanted one too many times. In any case, we did try to look for Andrew Garfield or Emma Stone (because oh God, they were shooting Spiderman 2 there, so you get where we're coming from, yes?) but nothing came out of it. And we were finally able to try the famous NYC hotdog!

My sisters, my cousins and I at the Rockefeller Center. Photo taken by my uncle.

The GE Building at the Rockefeller Center was too high to take a picture of in full. Unless you're already lying down on the pavement, that is. But it was a place that was literally filled with flags. There was also a cafe down below, but they said that during the winter, they turn the cafe into a skating rink. Fancy that! But that wasn't the only place that was all kinds of fascinating in the Rockefeller Center; Radio City Music Hall is another. The iconic Radio City sign illuminated by pink lights was as lovely as it can be. Too bad we weren't able to go in that time. Still, imagine the number of concerts held in there. Just the thought is making me go "wow."

The Empire State Building. Photo taken and posted on Instagram by me.

The Empire State Building was even more breathtaking than it was on photographs. I mean yeah, it was just a building. But there are so many things I can remember from movies that involved the Empire State. There was King Kong, there was Thor using his hammer in The Avengers (or actually, the whole movie itself), there was Andy Warhol's silent film called Empire, and there was Percy Jackson and the Olympians: The Lighting Thief wherein Olympus was found on the "600th floor." For someone who loves movies as much as I do, you could just imagine my glee when I saw the Empire State Building.

But of course, besides that, we also went to Broadway (my mouth watered at the number of shows they had), Fifth Avenue, plus a bunch of other places that I couldn't really remember that much anymore. Keep your eyes peeled for celebrities too! They're always filming something in the city.

Walking around NYC can be very tiring but it doesn't really matter when you're having fun with it. We haven't even explored NYC that much because we had to go home. But trust me, whether you're spending 7 hours or 7 days in the city, you will fall in-love with NYC.

Atlantic City Boardwalk. Photo taken and posted on Instagram by me.

While NYC is busy, Atlantic City's a little bit more quiet. Or it might just be because we went there on an afternoon and all you could see there are casinos. And a bunch of disturbing stuff that I don't really want to see again. But! Once you do get past that and go to the boardwalk, it's like a completely different world. Think Main Street USA in Disneyworld/Disneyland. It has that kind of ambiance minus the overly crowded streets. It's nice to just chill there and take in the sun while eating funnel cake and drinking lemonade. If you farther into the boardwalk, you'd see the humongous Ripley's Believe It or Not building!

The thing with irony is that it likes to play with you. So why am I talking about irony all of a sudden? Because the most ironic thing happened to us happened when we went to see fun. play live at Jersey Shore. The TODAY Show was present at the re-opening of the boardwalk, after it was totaled by Hurricane Sandy before. Anyway, how is it ironic, you ask? There were a lot of stars that we say during the boardwalk re-opening. When the Jonas Brothers had their concert here in Manila, we were seated so far away, we had to use binoculars to see them clearly. Lo and behold, we were able to see Kevin Jonas (!!!!!) up close and personal in the boardwalk. When Michelle Rodriguez came to the Philippines for the Fast and Furious 6 premiere, we had to leave for the US. And again, we saw her up close at the boardwalk! Irony and fate always did like playing with us.

Week 1                                                                                                                                          Week 3