This is going to be a long post with photos, so read more after the jump.
First stop: Manassas, VA & Washington, DC
The main reason of my visit to USA was to visit a good friend of mine who’s living in Manassas, VA. Manassas is a small town about 1 hour from Washington D.C. So my friend drove me to D.C on 2 out of 4 days I was there. During the other couple of days we went to Alexandria in Virginia (pictured above), which is an old town with really nice houses, and I also went to Leesburg Premium Outlets on my first day.
In Alexandria, most of the houses display really nice looking wreathes in front of the door. People of Alexandria are really creative with their wreaths, my favourite is the one with all the granny smith apples, so cute! I even passed by a wreath-making workshop place.
We also passed by this really narrow home (the blue one), called “The Spite House”. Why is it called Spite? Read the story and see some photos of the inside of the house here.
Second stop: New York City, NY
We took a bus to New York, and when I got off the bus I was so amazed with how tall the buildings are. I mean, Sydney has tall buildings, I just didn’t know that buildings could get that much taller, and bigger, and with so many windows. I was lucky to be able to stay in the heart of Times Square. We stayed in Room Mate Grace Hotel in the Theatre District. Many people told me how expensive staying within New York City is, and some of them had to find accommodation New Jersey to be able to travel cheap. But I got the same rate in Room Mate Grace as most of the hotels in Secaucus. The rooms are really small, but it was neat, clean and comfy.
I LOVE Grand Central Station. I’ve always has fascination towards trains and train stations. But I gotta say, Grand Central Station is now my number one favourite. Coming from Australia, I find that lots of the things in U.S are very cheap! I ate a whole lobster for $19 (and yes, I ate the whole thing by myself. I’m that greedy for lobsters!). While I remember the last time I went to a Crab house in Sydney, I paid $20 for a lot less than that. Gosh, I’m gonna miss the lobsters!
If you go to NYC, make sure that you visit The High Line Park. The High Line is a public park built on a historic freight rail line elevated above the streets of Manhattan’s West Side. You can see pretty nice city views from there. Afterwards, you HAVE to visit Chelsea Market, which is just walking distance from The High Line. And make sure that you go there hungry, because you will want to eat a lot of things in there (at least I did!). They describe themselves as “greatest indoor food hall of the world”. Other than food they also have flea markets selling quite a lot of products from local artists.
Last day: Brooklyn, NY
I actually regret leaving Brooklyn till the last day. I didn’t realise how awesome Brooklyn is! If I had known, I would have dedicate 2 days just to be in Brooklyn. I didn’t actually plan to go to Brooklyn at all, but I really wanted to go to the Brooklyn Flea Market which was recommended by one of Design is Yay’s readers (thank you!). I’m glad that I did! Brooklyn is so different from New York City. It reminds me a lot of Brunswick St in Melbourne.
I very much recommend Brooklyn Flea Market when you’re there. One side of the indoor market were people selling second hand stuff and and artists selling their products, and the other side were food. a lot of food (they even have Ramen Burger!). Unfortunately I’ve eaten somewhere else and was really full.
Claudia Pearson was one of the designers whose Tea Towels I featured in my recent post.
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Some Highlights of the trip
WASHINGTON, D.C
NEW YORK CITY, NY
BROOKLYN, NY
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