Around
365 days ago...
4th July is Independence Day of USA. Just so coincidental, 2007 is USA's 400th year of independence!
We planned our off day to be on this day so we could visit Richmond Town and get a feel of how they celebrate their national day!
Early morning, we visited the Richmond Train Station.
Very old school feel hor...
And then we walked to the Holocaust Museum opposite... for more info on what the Holocaust is about, pls click
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Holocaust
(above)
From left to right: scratches on the walls of gas chamber; artifacts from that period; symbolical thingy that represents the holocaust; mannequins that depict how some ppl lived undergrd to avoid being caught by Germans.
The whole tour of the Holocaust Museum was a audio guided one. In fact it was my first experience of such a tour, and I really enjoyed it very much. You could pause and play to your own pace; and the narrator (himself a survivor of the Holocaust)was vivid in his own accounts. Very interesting enriching lesson which taught me how cruelly ambitious the Germans were.
Below, individual shots of us listening attentively... haha.
(above) Nearing the end of the guided tour, the listeners were asked to step onto the Nazi flag as a protest and a display of hatred.
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After about 2 hours of the history lesson, we went in search of what was Richmond's best pizza - Bottoms Up Pizza.
This particular part of Richmond Town was beautiful in its own definition.
Below, artistic shots!
Before our hungry stomachs and savoury mouths brought us to this signboard!!!
We were so excited Roys and I bit off the corner of the signboard.
And so we entered the restaurant without any hesitation!
We ordered 2 pizzas for the four of us. The first one is off the menu while we created the second one by ourselves.
LOOK!!!!! How gorgeous and appetizing the pizzas look!!!! They're making me hungry and salivating already!!
I WANNA MUNCH ON THEM SOOO MUCH!!!!
Yes, they tasted as tantalizing as their looks. Each bite was filled with the melt of the fragrant cheese, followed by the crunch and chew of the fresh ingredients, lastly the soft thin crust. Unlike the pizzas found in Singapore, we realised the pizzas in USA use much thinner bread, much to my liking.
We LOVE Bottoms UP!!!!! Absolutely Great!!!! ________________________________________________________
After a wonderful morning and lunch, it was already mid afternoon. We then made our way to some park (forgot the name) near Carytown, where we had earlier checked out that celebrations would be ongoing, fireworks included!
Came upon this signboard in a fast food restaurant.
LOL, I found it damn interesting!!!
After that, we decided to shop for some necessities at CVS pharmacy.
No, we didn't go in for medication hahaha. It really isn't quite a pharmacy. It's like the NTUC Fairprice, except with a pharmacy corner!
Roys and me really wondered why an intended 15mins wasn't enough; the girls spent so much time looking through every item at every aisle. Thus Roys and me hopped opposite to 7-11 and enjoyed Slurpee. I recall, we had Ginger tea flavour mixed in.
After harrassing the girls to hurry up cos it was getting late, we walked south towards Carytown. We were actually discussing abt the Peanuts comics aka Snoopy, where we read abt children setting up their own lemonade stalls?
Talk about coincidence!!!
This very chubby girl is only 10!!! Check out the sales machine which her grandma got her. This adorable girl manages her own stall - from squeezing lemon to customer service to accounting. In fact, she was so friendly and independent she talked like an adult. We were so impressed by her marketing we patronised her business... her lemonade was fabulous!!!
We walked down the streets and finally reached the park!
(above)
top row: police officers on horses, saluting while the national anthem was being played.
bottom row,
from left: bee enjoying ice balls with syrup; free bottled drinks and glowsticks for everyone!
We were all getting into the mood of Independence Day, the weather was great and the people so friendly!
The crowd of people all gathered to celebrate their nation's 400th birthday.
Below, experimenting with shots of us donning light sticks.
After that the sky got darker and it was really difficult to get still shots without the flash. Hence the following shots required respectable camera skills. HAHAHA. Just kidding about that, but check out the heart shape I created. Sweet hor?
Heh heh.
Above, we have devil Roys, angelic Bee with a halo, and baby Kaiwei. The baby girl was super cute btw... she kept on coming over to us, grab a lightstick, run back to her dad, putting it onto his head, then running back to return the lightstick to us. -_- she repeated it umpteen times. but it's cutttteeeeee!!!
Soon night time arrived. Everyone was like getting settled, preparing for the celebration. Same for us; we simply lied on the grass and gazed into the night sky. The feeling was absolutely heavenly - with the breeze blowing onto our face, the band music in the background... simply the fact that we're lying on USA soil la!!! :)
Finally came the finale...
FIREWORKS display!!!
They were shot in accompaniment to the music played by the band. We enjoyed the entire performance with our backs on the grass, admiring the fireworks displays... It felt heavenly. How to describe to you?? Just like pretty lights bursting into big flowers in front of you on a black drop of the night starry sky!!!
The entire show lasted for very long... I think more than 20 mins!!! Seriously!!! Very excellent cheorographed fireworks... especially near the ending, when the music was reaching the high decibels, the fireworks were shot endlessly and bursting into pretty stars furiously... FANTASTIC!!!! :) Deservedly a nation's grand celebration...
Soon the night was over... we managed to catch our lifeguard supervisor Dillard there too! He offered to drive us back to our hostel cos it was quite a distance away. :)
Us with Dillard - A memorable off day, well spent and happy!!! :)
