Life in New York

Pennsylvania

Dear all,

I hope you are well.
For those who did not get my New Year's wishes, here you are.
Happy New Year. Better late than never, right?

Long time no posting on my blog.
I know but I am not sorry. I have been busy.
Between work, visits and travels, there is not much time to write something decent on this blog of mine.

Like every good Belgian, let's start complaining about the weather.
I am telling you, it is crazy. We went in one week from -21 degrees to +17 degrees Celsius. Needless to say that the flu has been raging in the Big Apple.
Enough about that.

Last weekend Christine (colleague) and I rented a car and went on a road trip to Pensylvania. We did not plan to get a GPS since we are expert map readers. LOL
But my intuition gave me a little nudge and we got one from the brand Magelan. Since all GPS give directions via a female voice, we affectionately called ours Magelane. We were glad to have her with us (although we screamed a lot at her) because otherwise we would have ended up in Canada....hmmm...maybe it would have been more interesting.

Anyway, with the excellent directions of Magelane, we drove down to Gettysburg.

Prior to 1861, the United States of America "were" known as separate states that created most of their own rules and regulations. An ongoing debate argued whether to have each state or a singular central government decide issues such as taxation, commerce of products and, in particular, the issue of slavery. The northern states opposed slavery while the southern states, whose economy depended on it, supported the institution. In 1861 and 1862, Confederate armies achieved many victories over their Northern counterparts. By the summer of 1863, the brilliant General Robert E. Lee was in command of the Army of Northern Virginia. He decided upon an invasion of the north, which would pull both armies from war torn northern Virginia, where most of the fighting had previously been. By invading the north and particularly, winning a victory in the north, it might cause disenchanted northerners to pressure the Lincoln administration to seek a settlement toward peace, thus ending the war. This decision eventually brought the war to the doorsteps of a small, rural south central Pennsylvania town called Gettysburg.
This area is best known for July 1st, 2nd and 3rd, 1863 - the Battle of Gettysburg. Though the conflict ended well over a century ago, each year nearly 2 million people make the pilgrimage to this venerable site, the largest battlefield shrine in America with over 1,000 monuments and cannon and over 40 miles of scenic avenues. They come to see for themselves the spot where thousands fought and died for their "cause".
It all sounds very impressive but to be honest, there is not much to see.

The second day of our 3-day trip brought us to the Amish. Being winter the fields are not attended. Furthermore, it was cold, humid and gray, so sensible people stay at home. As a result, we did not get to see that many Amish. 3 Amish kids waved at us from their cart. What would you do if two tourists are staring at you?

The last stop of our road trip was Philadelphia. We entered the city via the Ghetto. Between you and me, not a real tourist site of the city. We found our way to the historic part of Philly located in what is called "America's most historic square mile". We saw the Independence Hall (where a very important piece of paper was signed... I am sure you know what I am talking about), the Liberty Bell (ding dong) and the National Constitution center explaining the US Constitution.

It was a fun little trip. It felt so good to be out of New York but also so good to be back afterwards.

Pictures are on http://picasaweb.google.com/Rudiinthecity/Pennsylvania

Take care and stay tuned for my next adventures... Chicago...

Rudi

posted by Rudi @ 2:03 AM