Getting lucky in Kentucky and NY city!

Hi there!

For the people who didn't know: the last week I have been in the United States! Almost at the end of our trip I am writing this short story to share the highlights of our trip with all of you.

I am writing this story in English so Darell, Cherry, Kelbie, Jayden, Michael, Christopher, Matthew and perhaps also granny can read it.

Let's start with thanking all of you (the Smith family) once again for the wonderful time in Kentucky and your great hospitality!
It was like running a business having a whole family from holland in your home ;)
After all the stories and several Skype conversations it was great to meet you in real life.

So, for the people in holland, a short summary of our impressions from Kentucky. First of all I think that it isn't the state an ordinary tourist would visit. When visiting the United States you would think of the big cities or beautiful beaches like you find in Florida etc. But I can tell that Kentucky also deserves a visit from every tourist. I compare it mostly with Tuscany, central Italy. Lot's of hills with wide open fields. The opportunity to see how the Smith family lives there made it even better (of course we feel very lucky because not every ordinary tourist is able to do that!).

Kentucky is mostly famous for the horse racing and it's Bourbon whiskey. It was great to see the horse racing and win some bucks betting on horses. Not that we had any clue, but it was fun :) Most of the famous Bourbon whiskey is made in Kentucky, so we went to a historical brewery where they still produce a small amount of bourbon whiskey. In a tour we we learned about the process of making real bourbon. Of course there was also some tasting included ;)

We also visited the place where Abraham Lincoln is born (for me as an history fanatic that was very interesting). Actually he was born somewhere else than the American history books tell. Also we visited the beautiful home of Darell's parents in Springfield. It was great to meet them and of course have a ride on the four wheeler (for the dutch people: quad). We really enjoyed all of this and the beautiful landscape. But most of all we enjoyed the company of the Smith family and in the end it was hard to leave…

On the night before we flew to New York we heard on the news that Osama Bin Laden had been killed. What was this going to mean for our trip to New York? Would it be safe? Would there be planes flying there? In the end everything was just fine. New York just keeps rolling, no matter what I guess. After a short flight we arrived safely. Damn, this really is a BIG city. I have seen some big cities around the world like Paris, Bangkok, Saigon, Barcelona etc. but they can't win from the skyline of New York. This is the city of cities. When we arrived we flew very low over new york which gave us a great view. There are so many things to see and anything you can think of is somewhere to find. The yellow cab's, the traffic lights, sirens rushing through the streets, strange smelling subway stations, limousines, lots of police officers when Obama was visiting, we experienced it all… In a short period of time we did a lot of great things:
- Climb to the top of the rock for a great view over NY city
- Visit the statue of liberty and ellis island
- Eat at the Hard Rock cafe
- Go to a baseball match of the New York Mets (wow!)
- Visit the american museum of natural history
- Walk around Times square
- See the president :)
- Visiting ground zero and the 9/11 memorial center (very impressive!)
- Walk around Chinatown and Little Italy
- Eat at B.B. King
- Have breakfast @ central park
- Buying a macbook at 00:30 in the night in the 24/7 open apple shop
- Visit Wall street
- Visit the Brooklyn Bridge
- Shopping Shopping and even more shopping (special thanks to the dollar/euro exchange rate)
- Visit the central station
- Visit the library (you know the one from the day after tomorrow)
- Visit the largest toy store I have ever seen

The other side of such a city is that it can feel dirty and tiring. Tonight we will fly back to holland and I guess we will all sleep well because we are exhausted! Tomorrow morning around 8:30am (local time) we will arrive in Brussels.

Last but not least I want to thank Betteke and Herm for taking me with you on this special trip. I enjoyed every minute!

Take care,

Kai