What I did for my Holidays last year

[Madmax]

Last year as in 2008! :bsmilie: I went on a 20 day trip on the East of USA. I brought some pictures to share with you.

#1 - My Garmin GPS. It served me so well. Here, I am using it to navigate out of New York. I drove from New York to Niagara Falls. The journey took me 11 hours and it was so tiring. It snowed along the way and it really slowed down the driving.

#2 - Niagara Falls. During the winter, 86 million litres of water flows through the falls per min. This is half the amount of water as compared to summer.

#3 - American Falls. The other half of Niagara Falls, and less spectacular.

 

[Madmax]

#4 - Winter at its best. And it was very cold.

#5 - Even frozen twigs look so beautiful

#6 - We were supposed to drive back from Niagara Falls to New York. But after the 11 hour journey from New York to Niagara Falls, we gave up and book an internal flight back to New York from Buffalo. Here, an airport worker is working hard to remove ice from the plane's wings.

 

[Madmax]

#7 - The Manhatten Skyline from a taxi. Taxi is not cheap. This is a large taxi for 12 persons as my entire family was with me. The 1-way journey from JFK airport to the hotel costs US$120 without gratuity.

#08 - The Rockefeller Centre. There is an observation deck which will gives you a birds's eye view of New York City.

#09 - The all-too-famous yellow taxis of New York. Here, they are queueing for customers at Times Square.

 

[Madmax]

#10 - Cops...They are everywhere. So are the police cars. There is a police car and policemen at nearly every street.

#11 - I went to the observation deck of the Empire State Building. It cost US$20 per adult and US$13 per child (under 12 years of age). At this height, you can actually see the curvature of earth.

#12 - The statue of Liberty, taken with my cheap 70-300 mm lens. We were supposed to take the cruise ship to it. But the queue was so long that the estimated queueing time was approx 2.5 hrs. We gave up the idea of visiting it.

 

[Madmax]

#13 - The New York Stock Exchange. It is here that the other stock markets watches. The security is so tight. There is a cordon around the building. No one passes the cordon unless you work in the NYSE.

#14 - The NYSE is so well guarded that there are policemen with automatic machine guns

#15 - If you happen to be in New York, do try Junior's Cheese cake. It is the best cheese cake in New York.

 

[Madmax]

#16 - The New York subway. In New York, we abandon our cars as it was too expensive. Parking is an average US$10 per half hour. Subway is a cheaper alternative to get around. Each trip, irregardless of stops, costs US$2. Not cheap, huh? Also, the subway is dirty and trains badly vandalised. A word of caution : Do not take out your DSLR in the subway. After I took this pic, a guy kept staring at my camera. I had no choice but to keep it.

#17 - We visited the American Museum of Natural History, which is just opposite Central Park. The exihibits were amazing!

#18 - It was said that the Ben Stiller's movie "Night at the Museum" was supposed to be at this museum. Well, I found Dum Dum who loves gum gum.

 

[Madmax]

#19 - Times Square by night. If you want to take pictures in New York, it is very safe as it was very crowded and policemen everywhere. As you can see, even the police has neon lights. If you want to shoot billboards, try the largest aperture. I found out that if I used small aperture and long exposure, the billboard comes out white.

#20 - After New York, we flew down south and drove to Key West. At Key West, we stayed at the Santa Maria Suites which costs US$350 per night. Sounds expensive? Well, it came with 2 bedrooms, a living area, full size kitchen with clothes washer and dryer.

#21 - At Key West, there is a sunset party every evening. Buskers are out at full force to make you part your money. Cruise ships also dock here for a port call.

 

[Madmax]

#22 - Key West offers the best sunset. But I missed it during my stay there. So, I decided to check out the sunrise. Here, the sun is about to come out and the colours are perfect.

#23 - And the sun is out. It was so round.

#24 - We also booked a cruise aboard the Norwegian Sky. It departed from Miami Cruise Centre and a 3 night cruise. One of the port calls was at Paradise Island in Bahamas. It is the home of Atlantis resort. This port looks small, but it can accommodate up to 5 cruise ships at any time. Here, the Norwegian Sky is accompanied by the Carnival Imagination and Monarch of the Seas.

 

[night86mare]

i like #2 and #4.

you were driving alone? :bigeyes: props if you were, i can hardly keep my eyes on the road and the gps sometimes, always make a friend act as navigator.

 

[Madmax]

#25 - We took a day trip to Atlantis. The aquariums are unbelievable. Here, a manta ray does a face-off with me.

#26 - A view of the Atlantis resort from underwater.

#27 - After the cruise ended, we headed to Orlando for Theme Park actions! The 1st stop - Epcot Centre. Day photos turn out pretty boring. The Epcot icon looks better at night.

 

[Madmax]

i like #2 and #4.

you were driving alone? :bigeyes: props if you were, i can hardly keep my eyes on the road and the gps sometimes, always make a friend act as navigator.

Nah...my family was with me. My wife and I took turns to drive.

 

[Madmax]

#28 - Fireworks at Epcot. This was a 20 min show of both spewing flames, lighted sphere and fireworks. On this day, there was freak weather and the temperature plummetted to 9 deg C at night. Most park visitors were so badly dressed against the cold.

#29 - During their fireworks, they turned off all the lights. So, there is no background to work on.

#30 - The last shot of fireworks

 

[Madmax]

#31 - We visit Epcot, Animal Kingdom, Disney Studios and Magic Kingdom. We spent a total of 5 nights in Orlando. Honestly, it is not enough. 10 days should be able to cover all parks with a rest (and factory outlet shopping) in between. I am going to omit all the shots I took at the parks as they are pretty tourist-type (aka nothing spectacular). But I did caught David Cook (American Idol 2008) at Magic Kingdom. :bigeyes:

#32 - Soon, we were at the tail-end of the holiday and it was back to New York. We took another visit of Rockefellar Centre. Can someone confirm that this is the place where they shot the "mother found the son" scene of "Home Alone 2"?

#33 - And if you are an Apple gadget freak, do visit NY Apple outlet. This is the entrance. The whole entire shop is in the basement.

Well, there is all I have to share. I wish all of you and your family a happy, blessed and prosperous 2009.

 

[hohoho32]

Wow.. i enjoyed your pictures and narration very much. Gives a good feel to wat you were experiencing there. heh... Happy New Year to you and your family too!

 

[hockerivan]

Beautiful pictures! I'm heading there in about 3 months time hopefully I can grab some pictures too!

 

[emlee]

very nice narration that complements the photos. thanks for sharing.
among them I particularly like #26.

 

[luffs]

Hey Madmax.. gd narration.. Could almost feel that I'm physically there.

Happy New Year to you and your family!

 

[AlexK]

Hi Madmax, nice series and thanks for sharing. Brought back good memories.

 

[Madmax]

Thanks for your kind comments. Let me share with you 1 more photo.

#34 - We drove to Key West. One of the bridge you get to drive on is the Seven Mile Bridge. This is the same bridge that was featured in 'True Lies'. In 'True Lies', Arnold Schwarzenegger ordered 2 harrier jets to 'take out the bridge' as terrorists were transporting nuclear warheads to the mainland.