Raleigh Day 2 280209

We started off our day with a free continental breakfast that include juices, hot drinks, waffles, bagels, fruits, bread, Danish pasteries and cereals.

As of now, we have stayed in Days Inn chain of hotel for 3 occasions in separate locations already. I must comment that I am very pleased with their service and also the value they provide. Cheap rates, good location, good service, clean rooms, good wi-fi and to top it off, free breakfast in the morning and free cookies and lemonade at tea time. Neat!


Waffles for everybody!


My 'crowned' waffle


To a good start for the day!


The skies were overcast even in the morning and the weatherman said it would rain. We were prepared though. We brought our brollies and our coats. Most importantly we have nothing planned in our itinerary for the day except MUSEUMS. Bwahaha!


There is something about UPS that Anastasia so likes. I don't know what...


Nice architecture of some government building


Our first stop - The Museum of Natural Sciences of course!


I love the holographic feel designs on the glass walls


Jaws of some great shark...

Now can anyone guess which of the pictures below are real animals or fake replicas?








ANS: Only the toad and salamander are real, both found in the amphibian display section. The rest are just very well made replicas. Amazing!


Logging is BIG in the US.


Another cool replica...


Some part of a Mammoth. Or was it a Sabre tooth? I thought it was a piece of mineral. Hmmm. Ah wells. That's what happen when you blog too late. Heh. Go figure fellas!


Father and son rediscovering and discovering together on a nice Saturday morning.


The main area with all the replicas of unique creatures. See if you can spot the Sabre tooth tiger replica in the background. Wonder what its like to have one for a pet. Haha. POTH VS Sabre Tooth Tiger! Sorry if you don't get it.


The next section was sort of like an aquatic life section, with a lot of displays on all kinds of crustaceans, aquatic birds, fishes, and mammals.


The museum is lavishly decorated with a lot of elaborate set pieces, like those hanging fossil replicas overhead.


Approaching the plants section


There's even a cool man-made jungle and waterfall right beside the cafeteria



Nothing noteworthy except these carnivorous plants. Taa daa! The Venus Fly Trap and the Pitcher Plant respectively. Finally saw them in real life. They are really tiny though. I expected them to be bigger in size. Sheesh.


The lair of a black widow. One of the most poisonous spiders in the world. Hence the warning of not knocking on the glass. Its really small too! But it sure packs a punch. Dead within minutes! Geez.


Looks like underwater world? Its all made up for this one! This replica aquarium is really life-like! With all the aquatic creatures in them too. I'll show you a REAL aquarium with my Atlanta blog post! Which won't be anytime soon at the rate I'm going. Haha.


Bronze replica of a T-Rex head. "I'm gonna put those kids in if they keep getting in my way to taking pictures!"


I friggin love this place! Because kids under 8 are not permitted. And every kid allowed in must be escorted by an adult.

Reason?

This room is a 'hands-on' and more 'observing' kind where there are lots of fragile displays that you can actually feel. The coolest displays are stuffed or preserved animals. These are real animals that died in relatively good physical condition and donated to the museum. Experts here then turned the carcass to a preserved specimen which anyone who visit can pick up and observe.


A whole wolf skin


A petrified possum


A stuffed sun bear


Owls and lots of other birds to explore in the cupboards. Yan Hao must be really hungry.


Preserved snakes anyone?


What's in these drawers?


Insects of every kinds!


We sure took our time in this room


Mucking around with some bone specimens


We did this hilarious FB photo tag. Those of you who FB me can see it! We tagged the hollow middle of the skull as Anastasia. Ana the Brainless One! Ahahaha!


There is just so much to see and absorb. Pity we didn't have the liberty of spending the whole day here.




The minerals section...


The T-rex fossil...


Our final picture from this museum!


The skies were dark and it was raining by the time we got out of the museum at noon.



Touristy pictures with a very beautiful church


Our next stop - The NC Museum of History!


Ana getting passionate with some statue. Must be the rain and lack of food.


The entrance of the museum


Replica of the Wright Brothers' Flyer. NC is where the Aeroplane was born! More information in subsequent post of the Wright Brothers Memorial which I visited in the Outer banks during Spring Break! No promises when that will be though. LOL.


Vintage automobiles


Pictures contributed by war veterans dipicting stories from the Vietnam War. A really touching section.


Model of the first helicopter


We went on the the civil rights section of the museum. A picture of how segregation in US was like in the past. From the picture of a play audience, you can see that the Whites and Blacks were clearly separated at this theatre by a line with a paper sign in the middle. A policeman stands guard in the middle to ensure that segregation was enforced. Violators of the rules will be arrested.


The blacks retaliated. This sign taken off a diner ran by a black family, refusing to serve white patrons.


Honouring the greatest in sports...


A ton of artefacts in here...


We then made our way to the 3 place of interest, stopping by to take random photos every now and then.


A WW2 Memorial structure


At another structure...


Because we were hungry. Another classic Ana photo. We brought plenty of snacks to sustain us. It is also because we have too much credit points given. Credit points can be used to buy anything from the Spartan Supermarket. So my cupboard's filled with all kinds of snacks. Chips, fruit bars, chocolates, sweets, instant pastas, biscuits, microwavable snacks, hot chocolate mixes, teas etc.


The interior of our third destination. The North Carolina State Building.

Its a pity that most of the precious artefacts and documents were burnt down in a fire sometime in 1831. The only thing they managed to save from the fire was the priceless portrait of George Washington. Henceforth the state building was built fully with granite, instead of wood and zinc in the past.


In the replica library of one of America's past president, Andrew Johnson, who was born in Raleigh.


The State assembly room


View from the ground floor


A statue of George Washington


More about the statue


The man who chopped the cherry tree looks like some roman centurion instead...


There you go. The prized portrait you see in this room mounted high. 2 brave man ran into the building when it was raging in fire and returned with this portrait wrapped in canvas. Thanks to them we now get to enjoy this portrait. But you can't even go anywhere closed to it. Still it beats having nothing to see.

Its about 2 p or 3 pm and its time for lunch! We were due to catch our Greyhound Bus at 615pm at the bus station. So we got time for lunch and a last destination.

We wandered about and chance on a restaurant the serves up good traditional North Carolinian food! So let me introduce some food to you guys...


Heck the descriptions. Here's what we had!!!


It looks like tuna but its actually what the locals call Barbeque. Its pork roasted and then filleted before being chopped to flakes. The other red soup is beef stew. YUM.


And yes the food is sehr gut (very good)!


We had to order vegetables to go along. But the only thing I really love was the potato salad and the corn with beans sides.


Introducing the ultimate heartstopper. Deep fried Pig Skin and Lard. Its like 'zhu you' only bigger, oilier, harder and crispier. Sort of like pork chips, if such a term exists. Hahaha! I finished the leftovers the other 2 cannot finish. I thought it was awesome!


Ahhhhh........


Last destination of the trip - The Art studio

The art studio is an open door studio concept. Artists live and work in office spaces that are opened and welcomed to all. The studio also serves as a mini gallery for each artist. They are able to display their art pieces and sell them to anyone who wants to buy.

We were able to see quite a few artists in action in their respective studios. They were all very accommodating and took time to explain their interests, passions and their inspiration to us. They even explained their perceptions or interpretations for their different art pieces to us. Neat!


The lobby



The studio rooms. Because it would be rude, although not expressively prohibited, to take photos of the art pieces, there is not much to show for. But its definitely not a place to be missed!


Artist in all aspects can be found here. This one artist specialise in pottery paintings. Not just pottery but pottery ON paintings. Its amazing. I'm sorry I didn't take any picture of a sample. But its sort of like pieces of clay on a painting. Breathtaking!


A last walk around Raleigh before we leave. Look at the giant acorn in the middle of the park. Ice Age anyone? Haha.


I got my Greyhound bus tickets and we're ready to go back home!


Part of the Greyhound bus station

Well the ride was uneventful, except for a mini verbal scuffle between a couple of passengers who were denied the ride to board by the bus captain because they were deemed to be 'drunk'. A lot of shady people on the bus too. Highly not recommended for the non intrepid.

Well our bus was an hour late. Which is normal by Greyhound standards I reckon. The seats were really crammed. And the people you meet on board are really gruff and selfish. Especially those that recline their seats to the maximum. You will literally the hair of the person sitting in front of you in your face.

Fortunately the ride was only an hour and a half. None of us dared to sleep at that time anyway. We heard enough stories for us to have the good sense to be awake and alert for the ride. Heh.

We got back to Greensboro by 10 pm that night and made a beeline to the Spartan Grill for some good food. It was nice to be back home!

That's it for Raleigh! I still got a huge chunk to blog! Stay tuned!