Alexandria, Virginia, United States - 16th April 2011
By: tarepanda
Tonight we have dinner at the hotel for the BookCrossing convention.
We have the organizers explaining what the future plans are, and an author as guest speaker. Then some members from Ireland come on stage to tell us about next year's convention in Dublin. Wish I could be there.
We take a picture with Orange and Wolle, whom we met yesterday. Orange decides to come with us to visit Florida. We are so excited!
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Posted May 21, 2011, 8:43 pm
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Washington DC, United States - 17th April 2011
By: tarepanda
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Posted May 24, 2011, 12:58 am Last edited May 24, 2011, 2:29 am by tarepanda
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Georgetown, D.C., United States - 18th April 2011
By: tarepanda
Such busy days going around sight seeing, it's time to take a break. Let's sit down for a cup of tea!
We find this tea shop in Georgetown. Founded in 1751, the city of Georgetown is much older than the establishment of the city of Washington.
We enter the shop.
The decoration is very traditional Chinese. I don't feel like I am in America at all!
The shop sells a lot of tea and paraphernalia, like teapots, magazines and more.
On the shelf are many jars of tea with different names: Dragon Well, Jade Cloud, Golden Needle, Monkey King, Oriental Beauty, Silver Needle, Hairy Crab, Chrysanthemum Oolong... What interesting names!!
Wow look at all the different tea pots!! They are made with a special clay from China.
Let's find a place to sit!
We read the menu to select our tea.
Now we wait for the water to boil!
We ordered a tea called Floating Lantern. I don't see how it looks like a lantern, but my host tells me to be patient.
Look! After a few minutes, the bud blossoms. How beautiful it is! And it tastes very good too!
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Posted May 28, 2011, 5:56 am Last edited May 28, 2011, 6:03 am by tarepanda
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Georgetown, D.C., United States - 18th April 2011
By: tarepanda
Next we visit Georgetown University. It's a very famous university. Found in 1791, it is the oldest Catholic university in the United States. Among its alumni are Bill Clinton, King Abdullah II of Jordan, as well as many royalties and head of government from other countries.
The main campus is just over 104 acres (0.4 km2). Healy Hall, built in Flemish Romanesque style from 1877 to 1879, is the architectural gem of Georgetown's campus, and is a National Historic Landmark.
In the center of the campus is a bronze statue of John Carroll. He was appointed by Pope Pius VI as the first head of the Roman Catholic Church in America, and is the founder of the university.
The cherry blossoms on campus are blooming beautifully.
Completed in 1933, the White-Gravenor Building houses several classrooms, the Georgetown College Dean's Office, The Office of the Undergraduate Admissions and the university registrar.
Ignatius of Loyola was s Spanish knight and the founder of the Society of Jesus (Jesuits).
There is a little pond next to it with some kois inside.
Let's sit down and play some chess!

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Posted May 31, 2011, 1:46 am
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Washington DC, United States - 18th April 2011
By: tarepanda
We continue on to walk around town.
The cherry blossoms are so beautiful.
We walk along Pennsylvania Ave.
We reach Washington Circle, where you can see a statue of, who else, Washington on a horse.
This is Renwick Gallery, another Smithsonian art museum.
This is LaFayette Park, in the center is a statue is President Andrew Jackson.
In the four corners are statues of foreign Revolutionary War heroes, from France, Poland, and Prussia.
This is the White House Press Center.
Look here's some white cherry blossoms!
This tree looks interesting, like it's growing flowers on the branches!
Across from Lafayette Square, on the other side of Pennsylvania Ave, lives a very important person...
Yes, ... the President of United States!! Hello Obama!!
Hmm, I guess the secret agents are everywhere.
This is the U.S.Treasury Department.
And here's the headquarters of the National Geographic Society.
The Democratic donkey and Republican elephant. These two animals are used to represent the two parties in U.S. government.
We see this beautiful building but now cannot remember what it is!

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Posted Jun 7, 2011, 4:57 am
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Key West, Florida, United States - 14th May 2011
By: tarepanda
Yippy!! We are travelling again! This time we are heading south, to a place called Key West. The word Key actually comes from Spanish Cayo, which means a small island. At the southern tip of Florida, there is an archipelago of 4500 islands, and Key West is the westernmost of the inhabited islands.
We drive along the Seven Mile Bridge. You can see another bridge to our side. That's the old bridge built in 1909-1912 and destroyed by a hurricane in 1935. This bridge has been filmed in movies like True Lies, 2 Fast 2 Furious and the James Bond film Licence to Kill, as well as in the car show Top Gear.
After 3 hours of driving, we arrive at Key West!
We are here for a event called Key West Paddle Board Classic. We will paddle 12 miles to circle around the island.
A lot of people have gathered at the starting point at Smathers Beach already.
Everybody looks very fit and sun tanned. This is the third beach I've visited!
This is a shop for renting stand up paddleboards.
There are many different types of boats. These two are kayak and outrigger canoe.
Here are surf ski, kayak, stand up paddle board and stand up kayaks.
This one is kind of like your regular rowboat, called a dory. It's open at the end so any water entering the boat can drain away easily, and waves can go through without capsizing the boat.
Our host is very excited about this outrigger canoe, because it looks like the one she has at home.
Some of her friends are on this 12-men outrigger canoe.
As for us, we are riding in this, a dragon boat!! It can sit 20 people. I am excited!! I am going to take a boat trip, and in a very unusual type of boat too!
Let's take a picture with the dragon!
Wow, people are leaving the shore to go to the start line!! How exciting!
The trip around the island is a lot of fun. We pass through waves and calm water, we see beaches, mangrove, and hotels. Sadly we do not take too many photos though, because our host doesn't want to be taking pictures while other people are paddling hard. We don't want to get thrown out of the boat.
You can see the finish line behind us. People stand up there to cheer for the paddlers. The fastest ones take a little two hours, the slower ones three or even four hours.
Now we can sit on the beach and relax!! I must say it's a beautiful day. I am liking Florida! Hey where is my margarita?
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Posted Jun 22, 2011, 3:12 am Last edited Jun 22, 2011, 3:16 am by tarepanda
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Key West, Florida, United States - 15th May 2011
By: tarepanda
We do a quick tour about Key West before we head home. Key West is known as the southernmost city in the Continental United States. A little interesting fact: In 1860 wrecking (salvaging valuables from shipwrecks) made Key West the largest and richest city in Florida and the wealthiest town per capita in the U.S.
We pass by the Southernmost Hotel.
And the Southernmost House.
I am here at the southernmost point of Continental U.S.! This used to be a sign but it was stolen so often that they put this big, impossible to steal monument instead.
Here in Key West is the beginning of US Route 1. It is a major north–south U.S. Highway that runs the length of the East Coast of the United States and runs 2,377 miles (3,825 km) from Fort Kent, Maine at the Canadian border all the way south to Key West, Florida. If I drive along this road I will go all the way up to Canada, though it will take a long, long time.
We cross the street, and what do we have? The end of US 1, ha ha.
One interesting thing tourist will find is that there are lots of chicken running around Key West. This is because of a law that prohibits killing the birds on the island, established many years ago to ban voodoo practices. As a result, nowadays you can see chicken crossing every street around town.
We also come by the house of Earnest Hemingway. He is a very famous author who wrote Old Man and the Sea. He wrote several of his novels here, including For Whom the Bell Tolls and The Snows of Kilimanjaro.

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Posted Jun 22, 2011, 5:38 am Last edited Jun 22, 2011, 5:41 am by tarepanda
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Miami Beach, Florida, United States - 18th June 2011
By: tarepanda
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Posted Jul 29, 2011, 4:08 am Last edited Jul 29, 2011, 4:09 am by tarepanda
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Grand Haven, MI, USA - 1st August 2011
By: kessalia
Hello mom! I have arrived in the USA and Michigan just in time for the city's big festival! I wanted you to know that I made the trip safely.
We went to pick up Mel's nephew from the skate park. there were a lot of children there playing! And from the top of the hill there we could see the arrival of the big Coast Guard cutters. They are in town for the week of the festival. We may get to go tour them soon!
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Posted Aug 2, 2011, 2:50 am
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