It is July. JU-LY. Can you believe it?! And so many of the USA’s most important holidays have flown by over the past few weeks, including Memorial Day weekend. Au Pair in America blogger Vanessa has made the most of the long weekend, as she somehow managed to squeeze in: A beach day with her au pair friends, a spontaneous day trip to Philadelphia AND the Memorial Day concert in Washington, D.C.. Don’t believe us? Right, then here we go:
Looking good, Philly!
It’s finally summer! Which means that in this blog you will get to listen to me raving about some of my favorite summer trips from May and June, including Memorial Day weekend! I can’t believe though that yet another month has gone by and I only have 8 weeks left until I leave my host family and start my travel month. May started off as a really good month, because I was finally able and super excited to book my flights to Hawaii, which is where I will be travelling to during my travel month. It was admittedly quite expensive, but it is going to be totally worth it. My friend and I are going to spend a part of our travel month together and we will be going to three different islands in Hawaii. I still can’t put into words how excited I am to go to the one place I’ve been dreaming of visiting for years. Make sure to stay tuned for my travel month blog!
BETHANY BEACH – HERE WE COME!
But the most exciting things happened over the Memorial Day weekend. We went on a little road trip to a beach in Delaware. By ‘us’, I mean my friends Franzi, Nele and I. I picked them up early Saturday morning. From that point on, we had a three hour drive ahead of us. But just like you would imagine, we packed a lot of food, we were listening to our road trip playlist, and we took several stops along the way to get some coffee.
Beach life is the best life, especially at Bethany Beach!
Once we arrived at the beach, it instantly felt like we were on vacation. It literally looked and felt like a completely different country! We headed straight to the beach. And of course we immediately went swimming in the ocean – which was surprisingly pleasant, as we had expected the water to be really cold, which it wasn’t! After we had been relaxing for a few hours, we got hungry. We found a really cute restaurant called “the big chill” right by the beach with an amazing view and even better food. You can definitely say that we had lunch with a view, in the most literal way.
After our stomachs were filled and all three of us happy we decided to drive down to Ocean City as it was only a 30 minute drive away. Unfortunately we could not find a parking spot anywhere, so in the end we decided to make our way back to D.C.. On the way back we came across a little field right by the sea that had lots of American flags stuck in them. We could not help but stop for a quick picture sesh – yes, we are a little proud to be Americans by heart!
LEONA LEWIS & CO
After another three hours in the car, we finally made it back home. I was really exhausted from driving all day long but doing that road trip had definitely been the perfect idea. It is pretty cool that every now and then, we have the chance to escape the busy au pair life and be at the beach within a few hours.
The next day we decided to go to the annual Memorial Day weekend concert in D.C., where all veterans who used to serve or who are still serving got honored. Unfortunately it was pouring down while we were waiting in line to get in and we got soaking wet. But right after the concert started it stopped raining. So many people came together to remember all of these American heroes and to listen to their stories. People like Leona Lewis were performing while personal stories of veterans were told. We did feel a little bit awkward being there, considering that we are not American… But was such an emotional event that even I had to blink away a few tears. And once again I realized how beautiful my second home is, as you can also see in the picture.
D.C.: The place to be on Memorial Day!
NEXT STOP: PHILLY!
On the actual Memorial Day – Monday – my friend and I spontaneously decided to take a bus to Philadelphia. Once we arrived in Philly, we walked straight over to the famous Rocky steps. If you know the movie „Rocky“, you’ll know what I‘m talking about. We were standing on top of the steps and had an amazing view over Philly.
After that, we took a stroll downtown, enjoying the pretty streets and water fountains. For around noon, we had previously booked tickets for the Magic Gardens to avoid long waiting lines. The Magic Gardens are an outdoor museum with pretty mosaic art. The mosaic art was something that I have never really seen before, and it was fascinating.
MANDATORY CHEESE STEAKS
For lunch we had one of Philadelphia’s famous “Cheese Steaks”, which is basically a whole baguette with steak bits and cheese on top. It was really good even though we were struggling to finish the whole thing. After we finished our yummy cheese steaks, we headed to the Liberty Bell; the iconic symbol of American independence and the Independence Hall. Once again the waiting line was way too long so we were a little sneaky and took a picture from the outside.
Gloomy and yet beautiful: Philly’s Benjamin Franklin Parkway!
Our feet were starting to hurt because of all the walking we had already done that day, so we had a little coffee break to get some rest and to kill some time. On the way back to our bus station we bought some souvenirs. I, for example, am collecting license plates. One for each state that I’m visiting. And that was basically it, as far as our spontaneous and quick Philly trip goes. It was a little different than my usual trips because all we did was walk around the city, really… But it was definitely worth going.
Only a few days later I left for Canada with my au pair travel class. But more about this trip in my next blog post…
