Spring Break Trip, Part II: Philly and DC

All right folks! As promised, here's the second part of the Spring Break travelogue.

We left for Philadelphia in early Thursday morning after spending six wonderful days in NYC. The bus trip took two hours, which I pretty much spent reading and sleeping, of course (I'm still just a human being, more than 2 pages of any textbook makes me sleepy). Luckily, I saw the best part of the bus trip: the first 20mins in New Jersey (including the multipurpose arena shared by the Devils of NHL and the Nets of NBA) and the last 20mins in Philadelphia (Flyers' and 76ers' arena). So, after dribbling in my hoop dreams, and on my textbook, for the most part of the trip, it was finally time to check out Philly.

We arrived at a bus station in downtown Philadelphia around noon. Along the way we also saw a glimpse of a local Chinatown, which was surprisingly close to the city center. Since we only had around 6 hours to explore the city, I suggested we should go for some of the cultural sites in Philly. Therefore, from the bus station we began our quest to find the Philadelphia Museum of Art, which according to a toursit map, was only a couple of miles away. With my satisfactory navigating skills we eventually made it to the museum. However, we didn't go inside. Not that I was eager to see the art in the museum, but I had another goal in mind. 

In front of the Philadelphia Museum of Art

Ever since I got brainwashed by the Rocky movies, I always knew that I had to visit the legendary statue of Rocky someday. That was one of the must things to do for me while here in the States, and on my bucket list from day one. As we walked along the Benjamin Franklin Parkway that was decorated by flags of various nations on both sides of the road, including a Finnish flag, we could see the museum at the end of the Parkway. The legendary Rocky Steps in front of the Museum immediately brang a tear or two to my eye (metaphorically speaking of course, though guys don't cry). Here the hero of every young boy of my generation, Rocky Balboa, ran the steps when he was training for his fights. The legendary scene of the movies (I guess he runs the stairs in every movie :P, or maybe not, who cares, the soundtrack is awesome) immediately started playing in my head. And, of course I had to relive the moment myself! Oh boy it was great: running to the top of the stairs where the beautiful scenery of Philly opened in front me, just like in the movie.:D  ...Such a small thing, but still one of the best feelings ever! The statue itself wasn't on top of the stairs but there was a pair of Rocky's footprints in one of the flagstones. Nonetheless, the moment was so worth all the travelling, and it will definitely be one of the highlights of my exchange year!

The Rocky Statue

From the Museum we headed to Love Park, originally JFK Plaza, and the"LOVE" sign. I had only heard from a friend, a skater, that such park exists without even realizing that I had actually been there before. Yes, it is true, although it was in a virtual world. The place is a somewhat legendary place in the history of skateboarding, and is featured in Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 2! So, without even knowing, I had been grinding the rails and wallriding the walls of LOVE Park for years during junior high and high school. That explained why I had a some sort of deja vu, when we arrived at the park. After spending some time in the Park we decided to take an earlier bus for Washington DC at 5pm so that we would have a chance to get a good night sleep and continue the hardcore touring the next day in the nation's capital, Washington DC.

Our hotel in Washington DC, once again, was in a very good location: all the most popular attractions were within a walking distance or you could get anywhere easily by metro. In addition, there was even a bike rental right next to the hotel, which made it very convenient to get from point A to point B throughout the city. Renting bikes had turned out to be a great decision in other occasions before, i.e. while traveling in Minneapolis and Miami, and this time was no exception.

The Lincoln Monument

As we did in NYC, we opted not to visit all the museums but chose only one to visit, the Air and Space Museum. The museum had no entrance fee and it was located close to the Capitol Building. Since we didn't have that much time spend at each tourist attraction, we had to be quite selective in choosing the places to visit. Nevertheless, most of the popular sights are around the Reflecting Pool and National Mall & Memorial Parks Area, so, it was no surprise that our one day touring would be centered around that particular area. Unfortunately, the Reflecting Pool was going through a renovation process, so there was no water in the pool. But, of course, during our time there we got to see the White House, the Washington Monument, the Lincoln Monument etc., that you definitely have to see when visiting Washington DC. Also, we took a metro to Pentagon, but didn't get a chance to see the building inside. It was not allowed to take any pictures outside of the building, so, not much evidence was left from that trip.

That concludes my rants and raves of the Spring Break Trip 2012. But, no need to worry! A few more blog posts should be coming during this month before it is time to go back to Finland in the beginning of May!