St. Augustine, a Spanish enclave

Written by Nadine Zangerle on 02 October 2012. Posted in USA

On our way south we drove through Virginia, parts of North and South Carolina and saw some nice spots of Georgia before we finally arrived in Florida. In the visitor center a German-American couple recommended us St. Augustine. The city was really gorgeous.

The Anastasia State Park was like a fairy tale and we stayed for 3 days. While Rita and Dieter explored the long, empty beach, Micha and I did some repairs at the 5^th wheel.

One of the elbow connectors of our water pump was broken so it was dripping. Every time when the pressure fell the pump started to pump again. For sure there were no spare parts for this pump and at the home depot we couldn’t find anything that would fit. But finally Micha found something to improvise and now it is running again without dripping. While Micha fixed the water pump I was busy repairing our door.

In the afternoon we went into St. Augustine and felt like leaving America and entering Spain. Small alleys twisted through the old town along the Fort Castillo de San Marcos. The Flagler College and Lightner Museum reminded us on the Alhambra.

After all this sightseeing we enjoyed a cold cider with a beautiful view over the river.

Let’s do some more planning for our next trip.

The powerful city

Written by Nadine Zangerle on 29 September 2012. Posted in USA

32 Degree Celsius welcomed us when we arrived in America’s capitol. We walked down the Mall and had a look around at the Museums and Monuments. It felt like coming home.

I still knew all the places and memorials except the Martin Luther King Jr. which was built in 2010. The Jefferson, Roosevelt and Lincoln Memorial were as impressive as ever.

From the Old Post Office we had a good view over the government buildings of Washington D.C. and back down we went to the Capitol. Finally I could see the Botanical Gardens because they had been closed back than.

The next day we met with Paul, my guest father from 1997 and it was really funny. He just didn’t change at all.

Later the day we had a tour in the Capitol after we had been visiting the imposing Library of Congress. When I had been living in D.C. in 1997 I always loved this Library and I don’t know how many times I had been in there.

On my top list was definitely the Air and Space Museum. This is one of the best museums I have ever seen. The Smithsonian Institutions offer over 30 museums and research center.

Like little kids we admired all those old airplanes and spaceships, got a good idea about the beginning of flying. After hours we didn’t feel so weightless anymore so after a nice birthday dinner for Michael we went to bed very tired.

Before we left D.C. we met with Andy and his wife Sarah at the Silver Diner. At this Diner I had been so many times during my time as an AuPair in America. It was just great seeing Andy again and so funny. Like Paul, he didn’t change a bit.

Unfortunately Rudy, Chris and Kathleen couldn’t make it, maybe next time. But the Orio Cookie Milkshake was still as awesome as I remember.

Why the big apple

Written by Nadine Zangerle on 25 September 2012. Posted in USA

In Houghton, New York we had a stop over before heading down to New York City. Unfortunately we missed Max and Tinka by one day. They are already on their way back home. Maybe next time!

The destination to our cheap campground at the Floyd Bennet Field, which is the first New York airport, wasn’t that easy. We found restrictions for height and weight everywhere and our GPS just wanted to coordinate us to those roads.

It took us almost 2 ½ hours to find a route around those stupid roads and finally we found our campground in the dark, next to an old airplane hangar.

Since New York has so much to see we decided to stay for 4 days. Wandering around in the Central Park, walking down the 5^th Avenue with all its stores, strolling along the blinking Times Square, taking pictures of the Rockefeller Center and enjoying the great view of the Empire State Building, we still had so much to see.

So we stopped at Ground Zero with its horrible memories of 9/11 but we didn’t go in. At the end of our New York trip we got some nice night shots from the Brooklyn Bridge Park.

You could spend weeks in New York City and still haven’t seen everything.

Do you guys know actually why New York is called the “Big Apple”? Well check it out, didn’t know it either :O)

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