Around the east coast in 7 days!!

I have been harbouring a dream to take a trip to the east coast for some years now, and we finally managed to realize it 2 weeks ago. We went with our whole family, and as we had our parents with us, we didn't get a chance to roam around Manhattan on foot, but neverthless, we enjoyed the trip a lot....Here's a short summary to help you reminisce about your trip or help you plan a new one. Its a part of the world you wouldn't want to miss visiting!!

We took a flight to Washington DC straight from SFO and landed on the capital right on the eve of Independence Day....we roamed around that evening, exploring vegetarian food options on foot and taking in the feel of the city at night. The next morning we had a nice breakfast at marriott and set on for our Metro ride to the Smithsonian centre, where all the fun & excitement awaited us....we saw some famous museums, and I have to cite the Natural Art and History museum, the Air & Space museum, and the Smithsonian Castle to be must-see's, and then we trodded down the enchanted city, taking in the well-planned architecture, the nice gardens, the White House, the endless memorials and monuments and the throng of people who had flocked into the city to witness the highly-talked-about Fireworks at Night, and believe me, they were truly spectacular !!

Our next stop, where we headed by car, was New Jersey, where we stayed with our friends and took daily trips to the New York City. We took the CitySights bus tours which are hop-on-hop-off guided tours that take you around the 4 loops of the city, and besides the Empire State and other wonderful buildings, the Central Park and the manhattan Downtown at night deserve a worthy mention.....The city glittered at 12 am truly proving itself to be the "City that Never Sleeps!!" The view of the Brooklyn Bridge from south seaport at twilight was amazing, reminding me of Bombay's queen's necklace road, and so was the lovely Lady Liberty holding the distinguished torch of freedom....Little Italy, Chinatown and Greenwich Village are truly a gourmet's paradise!!

Edison, a town in New Jersey has great culinary choices that appeal to an Indian's palette very well, and we relished the vast variety of indian delicacies in 3 days' time. We then flew out to Buffalo Int'l airport where we had a brief rest, then drove to the coveted natural miracle of the world, the Niagara Falls....This, by far, was the best part of our trip, as we saw the water from the 5 lakes create an enigmatic view across the border of USA and Canada. But the absolutely perfect culmination to our trip was the colourful view of the Falls at night, as they were brilliantly lit by lights focussed from the canadian side...the water sparkled and glittered with ever-changing rainbow colours as we speechlessly took in the sights and sounds of this eternal wonder.

With this we came to an end of our journey as we flew back into SFO....but its always great to be home, and being away from it makes you appreciate it even more!!! Hope you'll enjoyed this journey through my words and pics, just as I enjoyed reliving every moment of it.....