US Trip-Philadelphia, Tennessee, Kentuckey and NYC part 2

Next morning, rise and shine for Mammoth Cave National Park.

We took the Grand Avenue cave tour which lasted for about 3 hrs.

About 60 people also signed up for the tour we were taking.

Taking the bus to the cave site.

Amazed to find a cafe and flushable toilets down inside the cave.

Underground canteen

Although the cave was very big, there were not much formations to be seen. Did managed to see some at the end of our 4 miles hike. Felt like we signed up for a 4 miles underground brisk jog instead. It's indeed mammoth but quite boring tour.

For lunch, we decided to try out White Castle.

I ordered the double cheese burger sliders. There's two tiny burgers in the set, together with fries and drink.

Hubby ordered the fish burger sliders set.

Overall, I dun really find any big hoo-ha about it as it tasted just like the microwave versions that I bought from the supermarket. Maybe the interesting thing about it is that the staffs were all wearing ties while flipping burgers.

Guess what, we were in Rome, Italy! Nay....it's just a look alike museum in Nashville, Tennessee.

Posing together in front of the Pantheon.

It's situated in this large park. The weather was excellent that day.

Lots of goose or ducks wandering around the park. I would enjoy sitting down on a bench and feed them but due to time constraint, we had to leave and catch a flight back to Philadelphia. Overall, we only spent less than half an hr in the park.

After reaching Philadelphia, it's another 2-3 hrs drive to New York. Got stucked in another terrible traffic jam again. By the time we checked into this room at hotel doubletree Hilton NYC, it's midnight! Arghhh.....

Small, typical of hotels in NYC, but clean and comfy.

Next morning, it's shopping at SoHo :) yeah~! Zara, Uniqlo, MNG, F21, H&M, etc are all there! I missed Uniqlo....since Israel and many parts of US dun have it. Soho is like the Orchard road in SG, but more crowded and chaotic. There were so many people and cars. NY is a crazy place!

Lunch at Nyonya Cafe. Nasi Lemak.

Roti canai, not bad

Char Kway tiao. Nice!

Chicken satay

Good old ice kacang...

It's really feels like home again seeing and eating these food. Hubby and I were so moved to tears coz we haven't had such nice homely eats since 1.5 years...sighz.....I missed the food back home!

Tea break with strawberry short cake and Jap green tea inside a cafe at Kinokuniya. It feels so nostalgia stepping into kino again after so long.

Went to watch Chicago broadway. It's jam-packed and full house! It's the second musical I watched after phantom. Not really to my liking, almost fell asleep though...

Breakfast at Takahachi bakery with everything matcha, matcha latte, matcha mousse cake, matcha crepe..etc. the food was great but the service was poor and the staffs were Japanese somemore...ha! Who says the Japanese always had great customer service...not true anymore.

Actually, we were supposed to visit the 911 memorial but then due to time constraint again, we did not go for fear of being late for the NBA match at 1pm at Madison Square Gardens.

Hubby's most anticipated event of this trip. NBA match- Chicago bulls vs New york Knicks!

There was quite a strong Chicago bulls support even though we were in NY's homeground. We were surrounded on all 4 sides with Chicago's fans.

Half time performances.

Overall, it was an exciting match, going into overtime and NY beating the bulls by just 1 point at the last min.

Dinner at Nyonya Cafe again....haha...coz we can't get enough of that back home feeling. The seafood egg hor fun was excellent, taste exactly the same as I had in SG. Yumyum!

Hokkien mee

Sambal belacan kang kong....OMG, I haven't eat that for more than a year. Almost forgot how good it taste!

After that, it's a crazy 3 hrs drive to our hotel Hampton Inn and suites Harriman at Woodbury Outlet. Getting stuck in a traffic jam, getting hopelessly lost, going around in circles and paying unnecessary toll money etc..we finally reached our hotel close to midnight....with Hubby going almost bonkers and me feeling sick and dying. I still remember that night, the moon was extremely huge and low. Somewhere in the dark lost road, I told hubby, "whats that sign post in front?" coz I thought it was those luminated signboard thing u saw on the road. Then I realized its actually the moon. Too bad, I din get a picture of it, coz I have never seen the moon looked like that in my whole life. Later on, on tv back in the hotel, the news was actually showing the image of the strange moon I just saw. It's called the first full moon of Spring and had some significance or sth which I can't remember. Man, that was one strange night I will never forget.

It was a very nice and comfy room. Hampton inn, by far is one of my fave hotels. I slept very well that night, instead of waking up every hr or had uneventful sleep in some other hotels i had been to. Too bad, we only stayed 1 night here. We din get this through Priceline, so it cost about $130 USD/nite which is way above what we usually pay for a room. It cost the same as the doubletree Hilton in NYC which we got through Priceline.

The next morning was shopping at Woodbury Premium Outlet. It's hubby's shopping day coz I dun really have much to buy since I bought most of it from Soho already. Bought some baby Gap clothes for my niece who will be due in July this year. OMG, baby clothes are so dirt cheap here and it's branded somemore! If I had kids, I will sure buy a ton of it back home!

Wanton noodle at the food court

My best buy was the lesportsac black glitter classic hobo at the lesportsac outlet. I have been trying to find this black glitter print for a long time and it was sold out the moment it was released. So, I am v surprised to be able to find it at the outlet :)

Was about 6pm by the time we left Woodbury and it took about 3hrs plus to our hotel in downtown Philadelphia. Got lost and stuck in a traffic jam AGAIN. Checked into the room at midnight AGAIN. Ended up in a petrol kiosk asking for direction and discovered that its against the law to pump gas by urself in the petrol kiosk in New Jersey. U need to get the attendant to do it for u. Seriously?? That's the first time I heard of such a thing. Then i realised all the petrol kiosks in New Jersey had a small little room near the pumps with someone manning it. Guess it true afterall. Staying at Sheraton hotel this time. Not bad, surprised to find there was actually a fridge and microwave in the room though it was not stated on the website. Maybe it's meant for Priceline customer, I guess?

The next day, we went for the Independence Hall tour that we signed up online. It's a free tour. Hubby was just beginning to enjoy it when the ranger thanked us for joining the tour and said good bye. What?! It lasted only 15 mins and we spent half an hr waiting to go in.

The ranger explained that Philadelphia was once the Capitol of US. George Washington was supposed to be seated at the chair in the middle with the representatives from different states seated around him, like in the parliament. The room was replicated to look exactly like what it had been in the 18th century.

Next, we queued up to see the original liberty bell.

Back view of the bell

I love Spring! Tulips are in full bloom!

So pretty!

The tulips are even bigger than my hand! Are they mutated?

And cherry blossoms are in bloom too :)

Had dim sum at Ocean Harbor in Chinatown area. The food was awesomely good but service sucks, like u own them $$ or something.

This place served dim sum on carts and u need to tell them what u want. There were no menu. I preferred those that gave me a list and I just ticked what I want, instead of asking for items which they dun have on their carts or they trying to sell u stuffs on their carts which i dun wan.

The siew man and hargows tasted as good as the ones I ate in Crystal Jade.

The carrot cake are the best I ever eaten.

Some congee to warm me up.

Visit to the Benjamin Franklin Institute the next day. It's like a science center.

The place was packed full of kids (coz they are having their spring break now) and ultra orthodox Jews with their families. I dinoe there were so many UO Jews living here. They were dressed as usual in their typical black outfits and with their curly sideburns and tall hats. Hubby felt like he was back in Israel. We ended up just watching 1 IMAX show, 2 planetarium shows and 1 3D show.

We ended the day with dinner at a Japanese fusion style restaurant called Doma.

My fave soft shell crabs which I can't find in Israel.

Some riceless sushi.

Nabeyaki udon for hubby

My hot stone bimbibap

Managed to find some time to visit a nearby Traders Joe Supermarket. They sell only their own bands, which u can never find anywhere else. Got lots of interesting and nice stuffs and the prices are quite reasonable.