Author: perfectlyimperfectsteph

Washington Monument & The White House

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I was so excited to have arrived in Washington D.C.

There is so much to explore here you would need at least 4 days to cover the main attractions.

We got the chance to walk around the white house on the outside and I have to admit, I couldn’t believe how small the White House actually is, for some reason I thought it was going to be a lot bigger.

Don’t get me wrong though I think its a beautiful building.

It was very peaceful visiting the white house, I think this was down to us going early on in the morning.

Its still worth going and checking it out your self!

I just wish we could of had a guided tour through the white house but we still got the chance to see it!

After our meal we went onto to have a look at the Washington monument.

It really is impressive at night time, especially when its all lit up.

We spent a while there just sitting on the grass looking up to it.

Unfortunately for us we made the mistake of not having a blanket/ towel to sit on and that led to us being bitten by bugs! So I highly recommend if you go in the evening make sure to have something to sit on and use insect repellent.

Walking around the streets of Washington D.C felt very safe.

I would love to go back to Washington D.C one day.

The Amish Village

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We stopped of on our way to Washington DC, to see and learn what the Amish culture is all about.

The Amish core value is to lead a very simple life of faith.

Amish life revolves a lot around family life , community and working on their property’s.

They practice spiritual lifestyles and maintain a rural life style with farming and small business’s.

As we went on our guided tour through the village, we were told a lot about the Amish culture and how somethings have changed over the years.

The Amish village is 12-acre and they have 1840s homestead you can go through and be so up close to see how they use to live.

The use of electricity they use is very limited as they don’t use it from the public power grid but they do use alternative energy sources.

Dating in the Amish community starts from the age of 16 and couples don’t really get married till there 20-22 years of age. Unmarried couples are not aloud to have physical touch unless they are married, meaning no kissing, hugging and even holding hands.

Most Amish families can have up to 7 children.

As we came out the guided tour we had free roam to have a little wander, they had loads of farm animals and a lovely little gift shop. There food is amazing to!

It really is intriguing to learn about there culture and how they live, it definitely is worth the visit if your ever pass through Pennsylvania.

Here is a link for booking a tour:

Experience the Amish Way of Life

Thousand Islands

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Thousand islands has more than 1,500 small isles in the St. Lawrence River in North America.

Many people own homes on these tiny islands and are most often used as holiday homes.

We manged to do the boat tour around the Islands. I was so amazed on how big some of these houses were and how they were built on these small islands.

The boat tour lasted an hour, but it was so worth it! I’ve never seen such blue river water.

Boldt Castle and Singer Castle are two castles in the Thousand Islands that can be easily visited as part of a boat tour or by your own boat.

Boldt Castle, which is the most famous castle there, was built in 1900. It was designed as a summer home by George C. Boldt as a tribute to his beloved wife but just a few months before it was completed, sadly Mrs Boldt passed away suddenly, leaving George heartbroken to the point he stopped all construction and it was left vacant for 70 years.

Boldt Castle was to be six stories tall, with 127 rooms and sits approximately 60,000 feet.

Boldt Castle is now maintained by the Thousand Islands Bridge Authority as a tourist attraction.

Unfortunately we never got the chance to go inside and explore but there is so much more to learn about the Thousand Islands and not just about Boldt castle its self, even though its full of rich history.

Niagara Falls

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Niagara falls is very beautiful and so surreal. You could hear the roar of this powerful waterfall when we stepped out of our bus, it sounded like a chopper was landing!

We just stood there in awe watching as the water was flowing down, we just couldn’t absorb the beauty of it enough!

I’ve always wanted to visit Niagara falls even from a young child I’ve always wanted to go. I felt so lucky to be able to visit the falls.

We manged to book the boat trip where it takes you right up to the bottom of Niagara falls, what an experience that was!

They do supply you with oversize waterproof jackets before entering the boat, make sure you take one and put it on because if you don’t you’ll regret being soaked!

As we approached the bottom of Niagara Falls, we couldn’t hear each other with how loud the water was crashing below, it felt like we were in a movie scene, being able to see it so up close was magnificent.

Couldn’t believe how blue the water looked, it was like something you see on a post card!

Niagara Falls has a lovely gift shop and you can find all sorts of souvenir’s in there to take home with you, from photographs to posters, it is worth going in to see as you never know you might find something you really like.

After our boat trip we manage to get a reservation at the Skylon Tower, which is also a 360 rotational restaurant. When we were going up in the lift you could see so far out and once we got to the top and seated at our table, we had a fantastic view over Niagara falls!

I highly recommend you to get a booking as it was a nice touch to finish our day off in this restaurant. The views are out of this world!

If you’ve visited Niagara Falls before, what was your favourite moment about visiting this beauty?

Toronto

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Toronto is a lovely city to visit while exploring Canada.

We manged to visit the CN Tower and what an experience that was!

The CN (Canada’s National) Tower stands at a height of 1,815 feet tall, it would remain being the tallest building in the world until it was surpassed by Dubai’s Burj Khalifa in 2009.

The CN Tower took 40 months to build and it cost Ca $63Million to build.

It was built by the the Canadian National Railway Company and was privately owned but by 1995 the ownership was transferred to the Canadian government and is now manged by the public corporation

As we approached the CN tower, it was like breaking our necks to look up at how tall it was, as we went in there was a lift where it was all glass and as we were going up in this lift the smaller the skyscrapers were becoming.

If your afraid of heights I suggest keeping your back to the lift and look the other way to the door!

What a view it was from the top, with 360 degree rotational restaurant to the spectacular views, it really was breath-taking.

The Restaurant is very slow moving and it take 72 minute’s to do a full turn, if you stand very still you can feel it moving beneath you.

It was such an experience our visit too the CN tower and I highly recommend you must visit if your ever in Toronto.

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Old Québec

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WOW!

That is all I can say about Old Québec City.

From its cobblestoned streets to its rich French Canadian culture, its defiantly a place to visit!

It is the oldest French speaking community in North America.

Québec is a very unique city, there main language is French, which is home to more than 800,000 people.

It is full of history, Québec city was founded in 1608 by Samuel de Champlain.

Québec was initially a French colony, it was later administered directly by British authorities, by 1841 it became apart of a legislative union and by 1867 a member of the Canadian federation.

Québec played a big role in shaping Canada History.

The City is most famous for its syrup and Ice hockey.

If you do get the chance to visit, you must try the syrup it is so much nicer then the syrup here in England!

My favourite part about Québec was walking around the small cobbled streets and learning the history of this fantastic city.

If you want to travel and explore Canada, Québec is the city to start of with, from its amazing food to its rich history, it sure is the place to go.

Québec reminds me a lot of York in England from its unusual streets to its buildings, it felt like home to home. Hopefully one day I will be able to go back and explore more.

If you were to travel anywhere in the world, where would it be and why?

Leave a comment at the bottom of my post!

Boston

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Boston is historically well known for being the most abundant cities in the USA. It really is a nice place to visit. With its little bustling town centre to all things baseball, it definitely worth a visit.

We got the chance to go into the town centre to have a look around, they have so many quirky shops to visit and if you are like me and like to collect things there are many little souvenir shops around to have a look at.

The Quincy Market is a great building, it started construction in 1824 and was completed in 1826. Its two stories high and is 163 meters long, standing upon 27,000 feet of land.

The Quincy market has various shops inside and outside, from food to clothes shops, there is a bit of everything for someone.

Boston was the first cities in America to build the first subway in 1897, it is also home to the first college in North America, which is Harvard.

It was originally called Tremontaine for the three hills in the area. It got the name “Boston” after a town in Lincolnshire, England from which many puritans originated.

What I really enjoyed about Boston was its lovely food and how nice the atmosphere was, I got such a chilled vibe from the city and I felt really safe walking around in the evening to find somewhere to eat. With Boston dating back to 1630 which was founded by the English puritans, it defiantly has a lot of history considering a lot of American’s think it was the birthplace of the American Revolution. It has so much history behind it which is really fascinating.

I would say Boston is on my to 10 favourite places to visit.

Leave a comment or a like if you’ve ever had the chance to go to Boston!

The Big Apple NYC

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New York City… You either love it or hate it!

What an experience it was to be able to visit the big apple, as they say!

From the architecture to the busy night life, it truly is a place to go visit if you ever get the chance too.

You must give yourself more than enough time to explore the big city as there is just so much to do and see.

The subway is really easy to use once you get the hang of where your wanting to go. Just remember the easy way to navigate around New York City is by looking at as a big grid.

The Empire state building was out of this world. Down to its structure on how it was built, to the films that were made here and to the sights you see at the top deck observatory. it is just so mesmerising.

Can you believe it stands 1,454 feet tall that includes its antenna. Its the 4th tallest building in New York City and 43rd tallest in the world.

It was a great opportunity to have a walk round the park at our own pace and take it all in. I do recommend you should take plenty of water as you can walk and walk forever around before being able to get a drink from somewhere.

Fun fact, since 1908, Central park has featured in 240 films, thereby making it the most filmed park in the world!

Central park takes up roughly around 843 acres which according to online that’s 16 billion NYC apartments. I didn’t even know it was all man made!

Avoid sitting on the floor next to the trees unless you want to be bitten by ants!

This link I have attached could be useful if your looking to purchase tickets for the Empire state building:

https://www.esbnyc.com/

It is worth looking for NYC guided map.

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Capri Island

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Next day I could barely move my legs, considering the day before we had done Pompeii and Mount Vesuvius in a day.

So we had a relaxing day by the pool and walks down to the centre of Sorrento looking around all the shops.

Which was lovely day just chilling.

The day after,  we were going on our third trip out and this time we were going to visit Capri Island.

 

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My partner Ben, on our way to Capri.

 

The only  transport to  the Capri island is by boat, so we had to get on this fantastic looking boat, and we managed to get seats at the front, which we were very lucky to as we had a tour around the island and were told the history and who lives on the island.

 

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Faraglioni- Capri

 

Once we got off the boat, we had a small bus take us to the top, where all the big brand shops were and all different types of restaurants.

At the time we visited, we got told some celebrities were staying there, but unfortunately, we never got to bump into any!

I know it’s not a big island at all, but I didn’t realise how small it was.

The streets were so narrow, but so fascinating with great views across the island.

 

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Views from the shops

 

It’s such a beautiful place to go visit.

Capri is known well for their designer shops and handmade leather shoes, that’s why they say its for the rich and famous.

I loved the different architecture and colours of the buildings, it was defiantly showing you how the other half live…

Before we were due back at the pick-up dock, we had a lovely meal at this tiny café that was overlooking out to the sea, and the food was so nice, such friendly staff too.

When we finished, we made our way back down to the pick-up point, and when we got back on the boat, we managed to get the same seats coming back but it was dark. It was a clear sky and you could see all the stars.

We got let down in a way as they said there was going to be a fire work display on the way back from the island, so we would be able to watch from the boat, but unfortunately, they didn’t put the display on for some reason.

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Capri at night

 

 

Capri is a lovely place to go visit, but I must admit you get more interest out of the guided tour around the island then being on the island its self.

Overall it was a lovely day out, and interesting to find out so much information about this island.

Here is a link to the history of Capri:

https://www.capri.net/en/e/chronology

Mount Vesuvius

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After visiting Pompeii in the morning, we went for some lunch and some rest before getting back on the bus and making our way to Mount Vesuvius.

What was great about this trip was that the bus took us up as far as it could and dropped us off at the highest point and we had a choice to go up the last mile or to stay at the café.

 

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The start of the climb

 

My partner Ben turned to me and asked if I want to try it or to stay at the café. Silly question as I really wanted to try and get to the top of Mount Vesuvius, as this was going to be the most achievable thing for me since the car accident.

 

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Half way up

 

We started of great, I had my walking sticks to help. As we started to go up further it got a little rocky, I was having to push my walking sticks right into the ground to help me get up, I stopped just a few yards from getting the top and I said to ben think we should turn back, at this point I was really struggling , but he turned around and said “ come on you’ve made it this far, ill make sure you get to the top” and with a little help and push I made it to the very top of mount Vesuvius.

 

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Looking into the volcano

 

The air up there was very thin and very cloudy, but you could see right into the middle and I was surprised to see some bushes to be growing inside the volcano.

It was an unbelievable moment being able to get to the top of Mount Vesuvius and reflecting on what I had been through.

 

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View from the top of Mount Vesuvius

The tricky part was coming back down, Ben had to carry me most of the way down as my leg started to give in, as we were making our way down some people stopped to help me down as it was very uneven ground.

I must admit I was pleased to be back on the bus on our way back to the hotel, as my legs were just so sore.

I just wish I never wore my good trainers as I was covered in so much dust that was coming of the side of the Volcano and floor. Id defiantly advise you to take plenty of water with you as the air is so dry up there.

 

 

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Me and Ben half way down Mount Vesuvius

 

It was one of those days where I really felt I achieved a lot of things in such a short time in a day.

Here are some links to have a look at for more information about  Mount Vesuvius:

https://geology.com/volcanoes/vesuvius/

https://www.livescience.com/27871-mount-vesuvius-pompeii.html