Holland, East Coast of United States of America and Frankfurt

16 July 2015, Casablanca – Amsterdam

We took a very early morning flight by Lufthansa, departed  at 1.45 am, we had transit at Frankfurt around 7.10 am, From Frankfurt we took off at 8.10 am and arrived in Amsterdam Airport Schiphol at 9.12 am. From Schiphol to Amsterdam Central Station took around 15 minutes.

We stayed at Ibis Amsterdam Airport (EUR 81.26/night), this hotel provided free airport shuttle every 30 minutes. We had our lunch at the Aiport first before we went to the hotel. There were some restaurants, convenient stores and shops in the airport. 

 

Today, we planned to visit Kinderdjik. We took train from Schiphol to Utrecht (around 30 minutes) then we continued by bus. The bus will stop in front Kinderdijk. Kinderdjik is a small village where we can find 19 windmills which were built in the 1500s. We can go inside some of the windmills, and we can also take canal cruise here.

From Kinderdjik, we took the same bus to go back to Utrecht Central Station. From the station we just need to walk through the Hoog Catharijne shopping center (that connected with the station), then we will arrived at the Utrecht Old City. Here, we can see Domplein, the square which we can see The Cathedral with its famous tower, Dom Tower. The Dom Tower of Utrecht is the tallest church tower in the Netherlands and is the symbol of the city

There was also another square that we can explore, Janskerkhof square, next to the statue of Anne Frank. Besides these, we can see there were so many shops, branded shops, restaurants and café.

17 July 2015, Amsterdam

Exploring Amsterdam City Center, we can see Dam Square-Amsterdam’s Central Square, Royal Palace, National Monument and Nieuwe Kerk (New Church).
Just walked along the canal, we arrived at The famous Red Light District. It is one of Amsterdam’s most renowned tourist attraction.

18 July 2015, Volendam, Edam and Amsterdam

Today, we will visited some town near Amsterdam. From Amsterdam Central Station we took bus from bus terminal that located behind train station. We bought bus pass that allowed us to stop at some town. First, we stopped at Volendam.

Volendam is a fishing village, just around 20 kilometres from Amsterdam. It is a very touristic spot with a great view and lots of shops. Besides the the souvenir shops, there were also shops that provided costume for tourists to wear and take photo. Just walked around the area, we can see small canal with houses along the canal.

Next, we visited Edam. The bus stopped near the Old Town Center, where we can see some historical buildings. First, we can see the Church of Our Dear Lady with its Carillon Tower. The bells still ring every 15 minutes.  Then, we walked to the Town Hall with its wooden tower. There was also The Edam Museum, opposite the Town Hall. It was a private house that turned into museum (when we visited, it was closed for renovation). Edam is famous for its cheese, so in here we can find cheese market that held on each Wednesday in July and August.

From Edam, we backed to Amsterdam. From the Central Station, we walked to Vondel Park, it’s very big and full of people. Not far from the Vondel Park, there was a station for canal cruise. We took paddle boat for cruising the canal. Along the canal, we can see some famous building, such as Rijksmuseum and Anne Frank House.

19 July 2015, Amsterdam – New York

Our flight from Amsterdam at 8.00 am, had transit in 9.10 am then departed from Frankfurt at 10.50 am, arrived at JFK Airport New York 1.25 pm. From JFK Airport, we took airtrain that connect with subway city center.

We stayed at bed & breakfast accommodation in Brooklyn Area (58^th street), it’s reachable with subway, only 5 minutes walking. Today, we just walked to Sunset Park, see city view from the park, explored area near our accommodation, then took a rest.

 

20 July 2015, New York

We started in the morning. First, we headed to Rockefeller Center. We bought online ticket to go to Top of the Rock, the observation deck of the RCA Building in Rockefeller Center, where we can see new york city view from up. From up here, we can see the famous Empire State building and also Chrysler building. Just accros the building, we can see the Radio City Music Hall.

 

 

Then we walked in the famous fifth avenue with lots of famous branded store. Visited St. Patrick Cathedral, New York Public Library with its lion sculpture in the gates and Grand Central Terminal, one of the famous station in the world. Inside the terminal, there was a food market that sells fresh fruit, vegetables, bread and drinks.

 

 

From here, we took subway to Times Square. The sun still shone when we arrived there. We walked around, checked for broadway ticket, but the price was quite expensive since we wanted to buy last minute. We stopped by at Toys R Us to buy toys for Kaeo. Not far from the Toys R Us there were so many people wore costume. If people wants to take photo with them, should give them some money. We stayed in Times Square until night, to see all the lights on. We had dinner at Mc Donalds. 

 

 

 

21 July 2015, New York

Time for the most famous statue in the world, Lady Liberty. We took subway then walked to Staten Island Pier. The ferry was free. We departed at around 12.30. From the ferry, we can see the statue Liberty. Lots of tourist took this ferry, just to get a view of the statue. We arrived at Staten Island, we must get off from the ferry, before we can get in again in the ferry. Usually tourists does this things, as there were not much to see in Staten Island.

From Staten Island we took subway to American Museum of Natural History. Ticket fee to this museum are suggested donation, that means we can pay the amount as much as we want to (we paid USD 6 for 3 persons). But we must do it in the ticket counter, not in the ticket machine. This museum is one of the greatest scince museum in America. The most famous part is the fossil hall, where we can see lots of the dinosaurs skeleton. There was also Indian diorama part where we can see about their life, rituals, etc.

 

 

Just accros the museum, there was Central Park. It’s very huge. As we enter from across the museum, it’s not far from Strawberry Fields. Here, we can see some things related to Beatles, such as a sign on the ground with “Imagine” text, the audio guide with Yoko Ono’s voice and some stall that sell Beatles picture T-shirts.

As we already booked for 911 memorial and Museum tickets (free every Tuesday) and we got the 5pm schedule, so from here we took subway to 911 memorial site. The site where the two buildings were there, now it become pools. The North Pool for the World Trade Center building I and South Pool for World Trade Center building II. There were waterfalls, the biggest manmade waterfalls in the world, in the pools. As in the museum, we can see some remains from the buildings, such as part of the structures, the walls. We can watched video about the tragedy. There were also displays for things that founded in the site, such as watches, clothes, etc.

Not far from 911 memorial site, we walked to Wall Street, looked at the skycrapers there. There were some famous building here, such as Museum of the American Indian, Federal Hall National Memorial and New York Stock Exchange building.

Although from here to Chinatown can be reached by foot, we decided to take subway to get there. It was around 7pm when we arrived there. Some shops already prepared to closed. We found a very good Vietnamese resto with a very reasonable price. 

22 July 2015, New York

We began our exploration with Macy, one of the famous department store in America. The sale in here was great, we can find many designers label with 75 percent off. Still, we just bought a very few things in here.

Then we continued our exploration to Coney Island, where we can ride in the amusement park or play in the beach. It can be reached easily by subway. The amusement parks in here were built more than 100 years ago and were the largest amusement
area in the United State until around 1945. Entry to the amusement parks and beach are free, except for the rides.

Before we continued to Brooklyn Heights Promenade, we made a short break to our accommodation, since it’s not far (by subway) from Coney Island. As usual, we took subway to get to Brooklyn Heights Promenade. From here, we can see a view of the Manhattan Skyline, Statue Liberty, Manhattan Bridge and Brooklyn Bridge. We spent quiet a long time in here. We can just sit and see all the activities in here, the boat sailing along the river, some art, ice cream shops with a long queue to buy.

23 July 2015, Philadelphia, Washington DC

To explore another city in east coast, we took tour from Take Tour. We took 4 days tour to Philadelphia, Washington DC, Niagara and Thousand Island. From our accommodation, we just need to walked 3 blocks to get to the tour meeting point. First, the bus stop at Chinatown to pick up some other participants.

Then the tour continued to Philadelphia. In Philadelphia, we visited Independence Hall, where the Declaration of Independence and the United States Constitution were debated, written, and ratified by the Founding Fathers of the USA. We can also see the Liberty Bell, the symbol of the American Revolution.

Then we continued to Washington DC, we just passed the White House, the official residence of the United States’s President. Next stop was Madame Tussaud, we decided not to go there, we just walked around the area. After spent around 1 hour, we went to National Air and Space Museum. Here, we can see displays of some airplanes. Also we can learn how the airplane works, there were some good simulation about how the flying things. There were also displays about space things, such as space craft, rockets, etc.

From the museum, we continued to Lincoln Memorial Park. In this Memorial Park, we can visited Vietnam Veterans Memorial, Korean War Veterans Memorial and Jefferson Memorial. The third one is a neoclassical building, where from there we can see the Obelisk, which its reflection can be seen in the Reflecting Pool. 

 

24 July 2015, Corning, Watskin Glen, Niagara

Around 7am, we already in the bus, ready to begin our tour. Today, we visited two places before we arrived at Niagara Falls. First, we visited Corning Glass Museum and in Corning and second, Watkins Glens State Park.

In Corning Glass Museum, we can see display of glass art. There were some good simulation using glass as tools, such as to strengthen the light in light house, as use in periscope, microscope, etc. We can also learn how to make a glass through the displays. We can also watch live demonstration of glassmaking by glassblowers. (Admission: Adult $18; Child (Under 17 yrs) Free; Opening Hours: Daily 9:00am - 5:00pm) 

In Watkins Glen State Park, we took The Gorge Trail. Like the name, here we can see the amazing gorge formantion. Also we can see so many beautiful waterfalls; such as rainbow falls, chain falls, endless falls etc. (Admission: free)

We arrived at Niagara Falls at around 7 pm. We had dinner first before we watched Niagara Falls Illumination. The Falls illuminated with rainbow color light. At around 9 pm, there were beautiful fireworks. 

25 July 2015, Niagara

From our hotel to Niagara Falls took around 30 minutes. The tour stopped at Goat Island. From here, we decided to explore Niagara by ourselves. We will meet the tour at Fashion Outlet Niagara at around 6 pm. 

As we had free time, we can explore and enjoy Niagara in our pace. First, we try the Cave of the Wind, because in this attraction we will get full gear (ponco and sandals) that we can use for another getting wet attraction. As we arrived early in the morning, so there was no queue. After we got our ponco and sandals, took an elevator to Niagara Gorge, then we climbed the wooden stairs to the Hurricane Deck. And get very very close with the falls, the bridal veil. We touched the falls, got spray from the falls. The experience was amazing. (admission USD 14 adult, USD 11 child).
 
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Then we went to Goat Island, located between the two waterfalls that makes up Niagara Falls. From Terrapin Point, we can overlooking the Canadian Falls. From here, we can see some of the most breathtaking views of the falls.
 

Next, we visited Maid of The Mist, the famous attraction in Niagara. We took boat to get close to the falls. They also provided with ponco. After we unboard from the boat, we can also climb the stairs in this site and get really close to the falls. (admission USD 17 adult, USD 9.9 child).

After we had picnic for our lunch, we went to rainbow bridge, the bridge that connect American with Canadian. We just went until the Canadian check point, as we didn’t have Canadian visa. But just from the bridge, we could see American’s side fall very clear.

Then from Niagara we took trolley no 55T to Fashion Outlets Niagara to meet our tour. Fashion Outets Niagara is a shopping mall with so many designer wares at bargain prices. 

26 July 2015, Thousand Island

We left Niagara at very early in the morning, at around 6 am, as we must catched up with Thousand Island boat cruise schedule. We arrived in time. The cruise was about 1 hour, we wereexploring the Alexandria Bay with its around 1800 islands that vary in size. Some islands were so small, but still there were house on it. And some islands were so big that they built castle on it, one of the famous castle was Boldt Castle. (Admission Adult $27; Child $15|Opening Hours: Daily 11:30am - 5:30pm).  From Thousand Island, we went straight to New York. 

We arrived in New York at around 6.30 pm. They dropped us at Chinatown area (Bewery street). For tonight we stayed at Wyndham Hotel, very close to Bewery Street, because tomorrow we took another tour to Boston, so it’s convenient for us to get to the tour meeting point. After dropped our luggage at the hotel, we still had some time to explore the Chinatown. Bought some souvenirs and had dinner at the Vietnamese resto again.

27 July 2015, Rhode Island, Cambridge, Boston

We took another tour again from Take Tour, 2 days tour to Rhode Island and Boston. We met at 8 am in Chinatown (Bewery Stree). First, they picked up another pessangers in Flushing area, then went straight to Rhode Island, New Port. Rhode Island was consist with so many nice houses, but the most famous one was Breakers Mansion. Breakers Mansion was belong to Vanderbilt Family, a wealthy family in United States. The building was impressive, surrounded by huge garden, with an ocean view. (Admission: Adult $19.50; Child $12)

From here, we went to Cambrdige to visit one of the most famous university in the world, Harvard University. Harvard University is the oldest university in the United States. Inside the university complex, we can see the statue of John Harvard Statue. It was said that there was three lies about this statue. First, the statue doesn’t represent John Harvard, the second John Harvard wasn’t the founder of Harvard University, Harvard University was officially founded by a vote by the Great and General Court of the Massachusetts Bay Colony, and the third Harvard wasn’t founded in 1638, but was founded in 1636. But despite of the “lies”, that actually make it more interesting, it was great to visit this university. The buildings surrounded by garden with some tall trees and we can see some squirrels climbing the trees.

The next stop was MIT, The Massachusetts Institute of Technology, known as a research university. Unfortunately we couldn’t go in to the univerity’s complex, we can just see from outside.

After MIT, we went to Boston, we saw the Trinity Church-one of the landmark of Boston, the spot of the Boston Marathon Bombing. We arrived in Boston at around 7pm, to had lobster dinner. Boston was famous for its lobster, they said the best lobster was the 1.5 pounds lobster. The tour stopped at one of the chinese resto. We didn’t take the dinner, so we went to another resto around this area, that’s look like small Chinatown.

   

28 July 2015, Boston, New York

After breakfast that provided free by the hotel, we went to Boston Harbor. Some of the pessangers took the Boston Harbor Cruise (Admission: Adult $22; Child (Under 11 yrs) $17; Senior (Over 62 yrs) $22). As the tour itinerary for today was Boston Harbor Cruise, then visited New England Aquarium and finaly meet at Quincy Market at around 12.30, and we decided not to take all the program, so we have our free time until 12.30 to meet the tour at Quincy Market. 

They stopped at the Boston Harbor, which was a very good spot, because from here we can walked to the New England Aquarium and Quincy market. First, we took a water taxi from Long Wharf Pier to Charleston Pier. The ferry was only took around 12 minutes. The ride was good to take some photos of Boston skyline. We get off at Charlestown and directly get in again in the ferry, back to Long Wharf Pier. It only cost around USD 3.25 per ride. The ferry will arrived at the pier every 15 minutes.

After the ferry ride, we walked to Quincy Market, went to the tourist information to get some information about Freedom Trail. The Freedom Trail is 4.0 km path through downtown Boston, Massachussets that passes by 16 locations significant to the history of the United States. Marked largely with brick, it winds between Boston Common  to the USS Constitution in Charlestown.  The Freedom Trail was originally conceived by local journalist William Schofield, who in 1951 suggested building a pedestrian trail to link together important local landmarks. Boston mayor John Hynes decided to put Schofield's idea into action (source: Wikipedia).

We just need to follow the path on the ground, and we can visited those historical location, such as the Old State House, Boston Massacre, Paul Revere House, Old North Church, Old Granary Graveyard. From Quincy market we walked until Boston Common, the public park. Then we walked back to Quincy Market. Quincy Market was located at Fanueil Hall, with its food court and so many shops that sell souvenirs.

From here, we went to New Haven to visit Yale University, the world famous university in the United States. The university complex was huge. The university provided with campus tour that led by the students. It took around 75 minutes.

 Yale was our last stop before we backed to New York. We get off at flushing, took taxi to catch our 9.55pm flight at JFK Airport.

 

 

 

29 July 2015, Frankfurt

After around 6 hours flight, we arrived at Frankfurt Airport at 11.35 am. We had 10 hours before our flight to Casablanca. We used this time to explore Frankfurt. From the airport, we took train to get to the city. The train from airport will stop at Frankfurt Central Station ( Hauptbahnhof), from there we can change to the U-Bahn metro line (line for exploring the city).

First, we stopped at Dom Station to visit the Cathedral of Frankfurt. The Cathedral is a Roman Catholic Gothic church that dedicated to Saint Bartholomew. It was built in 14^th and 15^th centuries. 

Then we walked to Romerberg Square, the historical square with its Fountain of Justice at the center of the square. There was statue of goddess Justitia holding the scale of justice. The square was established in 12^th century. We can see Alte Nikolaikirche, a gothic church in here.

 

Continued walking until we arrived at Hauptwache Square, the most famous plaza in Frankfurt. Here, there was also Zeil shopping street, the most popular shopping place in Frankfurt. There were some department store. We went inside Zeilgalerie Department Store, went up to the roof top to see the beautiful view of the city.

 

 

 

After exploring this area, we took tram to cross the Main River. We stopped near the river, cross the bridge. It was a good spot to see the Frankfurt skyline. There was eight bridges cross the Main River. The most important bridge is the Alte Brücke ("Old Bridge), connecting the Altstadt with Sachsenhausen.

Then we took the tram again to back to the Central Station, to get to the airport. Along the way, we see the Euro Symbol that located at Willt Brandt Platz, in front of European Central Bank. The Euro Symbol was designed by German artist Ottmar Hörl in 2001. It symbols of a unified euro at a time when the currency was still in its infancy.

 Our flight to Casablanca departed at 10.05 pm and we arrived at Casablanca at 12.40 am.