The Statue of Liberty Crown Tour we booked 4 months in advance because of the limited amount of visitors allowed per day. Approximately 240 people only are allowed to visit the crown each day. This tour included the following: access up to the Crown of the Statue of Liberty, priority entry into the Boarding Queue, which saved us wait time at the departure point and access to the grounds of Liberty Island and Ellis Island.
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I really enjoy our short New York trips. One time we visited NYC at Christmas Time. The other time we spent time in Chinatown and Little Italy. This time we were there for a Broadway show and the Statue of Liberty Crown tour.
Dave and I were looking forward to see The Book of Mormon musical for a while. Finally, The Book of Mormon musical arrived at the Opera House of the Kennedy Center in DC. Dave bought the tickets in advance for the first row of the balcony.
This is a picture of The Book of Mormon Proscenium (the stage opening) and Scrim (special effect theater curtains). I was wondering what they exactly mean, and I found the explanation from the playbill.com site: “The Proscenium, which is inspired by contemporary Mormon temples and other religious architecture, is filled with illuminated stained glass windows that transform in color throughout the evening, and is topped by the gilded (and rotating!) statue of the Angel Moroni. This frames our entire evening, attributing an important pageant-like quality to the story. The Show Scrim and the architectural panels installed above each of the audience boxes are inspired by galactic views of the universe, combined with an inspirational greeting-card-style sunrise to create an imagined vision of Mormon heaven.”
Category: Travel
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This Sunday Dave and I drove to the closest beach to our home, Colonial Beach, which is located in the riverside resort town of the same name. Colonial Beach is a nice, small town on the Potomac River with a small beach. The sand is a little coarse, but soft and the water is very calm. There are a few businesses on the short boardwalk area, like a beach shop and restaurant.
The Wegmans supermarket was opened at Hilltop Village Center, just 3 miles from our home, last month. Dave and I finally visited this premier grocer in the Mid-Atlantic and Northeast United States today. Not an exaggeration to say that this supermarket is the best supermarket I have ever seen! Shopping at Wegmans is like a journey through a small, beautifully maintained, self-sustaining city. The food selection here is unparalleled, especially the cheese selection!
Recently, I noticed that the Visit Alexandria website was advertising the arrival of the ship “Hermione” to the Alexandria harbor. The event included various activities and the ship looked beautiful from the picture. The Hermione was supposed to be there for 10 days, but it was almost over by the week-end. After Alexandria, the ship was planned to visit several historical ports, one of them was Baltimore next week-end.
Early Sunday morning Dave and I arrived at the Baltimore Inner Harbor to explore the Hermione, visit the National Aquarium and enjoy a beautiful sunny day on the Harbor. Isn’t she beautiful?
Dave and I enjoy visiting the Renaissance festivals or fairs. We attended several of them through the years and always had a great time there. It is like going back in time to take a glimpse of how life was back then. This year we visited the Virginia Renaissance festival. It was a nice venue, although not as large as Maryland or North Carolina Renaissance festivals. I discovered that there are two types of Renaissance Festivals: the permanent (or semi-permanent) faire like The Maryland Renaissance Festival with buildings and streets, etc. and the tent faire where the buildings are mostly tents with small stages as in the case of the Virginia Renaissance Faire.
Category: Cultural Events, DC Surroundings
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What a surprisingly great show we attended today! We bought tickets to the show, “Cabaret” , just to explore a local theater, besides the price was very reasonable. I am really glad we did it. First, the theater is located in the cozy Shirlington Village, full of cute boutiques and gourmet restaurants. Second, the theatre has unique settings. Third, the show is a sultry and bold new performance of the classic Cabaret. I would definitely recommend visiting this theater to anyone in the area. Dave and I would consider visiting it again. 🙂
The last day of our stay in Orlando, Dave and I spent at Islands of Adventure. We visited this amusement park a few years ago, but decided to re-visit it. We went through the attractions that we missed last time and enjoyed our favorite rides again. We started our journey with the most popular The Wizarding World of Harry Potter Island, which was already crowded.
Second day of our Orlando stay we spent in SeaWorld, which is very different from Magic Kingdom. We were not disappointed in this park. SeaWorld has Marine life shows, thrill rides, aquariums and up-close encounters with dolphins, penguins and more.
When combined with its neighbor Discovery Cove and Aquatica, it forms SeaWorld Parks Orlando. As of Summer 2014, SeaWorld Orlando has been separated into 8 themed areas, that encompass the Port of Entry and seven “seas”, which are the Sea of Shallows, Sea of Legends, Sea of Ice, Sea of Delight, Sea of Mystery, Sea of Fun, and the Sea of Power.
