I am now in Japan. For a business trip.
And since it is freezing outside, I decided to stay at the hotel to finally start the vacation report that I owe. So, I am not going to talk about Japan. I will do that on a later post. I will talk about our lovely first stop in Maryland.
Arriving at JFK from Incheon was a relief. It was my first time in the airport.. and was a little bit surprised that all the comments were true. The airport was very old and looks like a bigger NAIA Terminal 1.
We stayed overnight at the Hampton Inn, an airport hotel near JFK. Instead of autumn leaves, the ride to the hotel showed us Hurricane Sandy's wrath -- dirty snow, fallen leaves (no more autumn leaves) and a city which seemed tired from the stormy weather.
It was adventure time the next day. First time... hubby drove 4 hours to Maryland with only me (a non-native) as the navigator. We got a free upgrade on the car we rented - Jeep Liberty, which turned out to be a gas guzzler.
We eventually got to our destination safe and sound.
Then, it was sightseeing for 5 days.
My Auntie Nene first brought us to the National Shrine that Sunday. For most of my visits in MD, I paid this church a visit. Now, my little boy had a chance to see the beautiful shrine.
It has a collection of the Mama Mary of different cultures. Our Lady of Antipolo was there.
The rest of the Sunday was spent in Washington DC. We had to visit our house in the Stoites and see if our Christmas tree was put up (kidding, of course).
Next stop was the Arlington Cemetery where all American soldiers from way back are buried. Tourists will also see the resting place of Pres. Kennedy and his wife Jackie O. Hubby and the little boy had a chance to watch the changing of the guards for the Unknown Soldiers. I swear the guards were eye candies but I do not have close up pictures now. Promise to share them later.
Day 3 was the boy's day. We went to the zoo. The Maryland Zoo is maintained by Smithsonian institute and it was really very nice. The boy enjoyed a lot even if he had to walk the whole day.
The zoo was very big, they have areas for every kind of animal I could think of.
We really made it a point that this trip was worth every penny. My story has yet to reach one week but this post is now too long. I will cut this for now and have the next batch soon.
Promise.
