On the 12th of September all sleepy but excited, we met at 5 o‘clock in Vaclav Havel Airport. We could not even imagine everything that awaited us across the ocean. The trip we had been waiting for finally began!
We arrived safely in New York at JFK Airport, took a bus to Washington DC (with wifi and an air conditioning system which made us feel frozen) where Mr. B’s sister‘s husband and his friend waited for us with 2 huge cars (and they did right, because we had a lot of luggage with us!). We finally arrived in Gainesville, a perfect little town with beautiful houses and kind people. We stayed only one night with Mr.B’s sister and her husband, because we headed for Norfolk the next day.
In Norfolk we stayed at Mr. B’s friends‘ house. The beach was just across the road, but that wasn’t Virginia Beach. For that one, we had to drive a little farther. Before going to Virginia Beach, we visited Norfolk Naval Air Station – the world’s largest naval base. We had a nice tour, drove through the whole base, saw naval ships and aircrafts. The next day we went to Busch Gardens, which is a theme park. And the theme is – Halloween! We enjoyed all the rides and Miss Haskova rode all of them with us! She is very courageous! We spent the whole day in Busch Gardens, till the evening, and when it turned dark, we went to the Haunted Houses and well... some of us even cried from being so scared. There were real people wearing scary costumes with nightmarish make up, always jumping out of the corner and screaming at you, making everything insane.
We also visited The College of William and Mary in Williamsburg, where Mr. Babiera spent a lot of time while being a college student. We saw a sorority house and also met a girl that answered our questions about how a sorority works, how they recruit new members, etc.
After that, we came back to Mr.B’s sister’s house and had an amazing dinner (basically like every meal we had during this time!). That evening, while visiting Baltimore, we went to watch a baseball game; Toronto vs. Baltimore Orioles. The game was very suspenseful, but in the end Baltimore Orioles won and we were all happy for them, they did a very good job!
The next day Washington DC welcomed us with the tour of the US Capitol. We went inside, saw the senate chamber and some glorious rooms where presidents were inaugurated. The US Capitol was not all. We also visited many memorials and monuments in the National Mall. Mr.B gave us two hours to visit museums, so we tried to see everything and the best was probably the Air and Space Museum. Washington is a beautiful clean city and we really loved the atmosphere there. After all excursions we had time for shopping. And yes, it was as great as having all the tours! Mr. B brought us to huge outlet shops and we were about to lose our minds.
Our last three days were spent in New York. I can definitely say, this city never sleeps, especially Times Square! We also watched the musical Pippin and went on top of the Empire State Building at night where we were amazed by how New York is beautiful! The last evening in NY we had dinner with Mr. B’s aunt in a Chinese restaurant with delicious food. The next day we left for Prague.
This trip really outdid itself! Everything was more than perfect, Mr Babiera, his family and friends, and of course Miss Haskova did an amazing job! I already miss every moment we spent all together. Thank you for such an adventurous trip. And even millions of thanks is not enough!
Olga V.