28th July, 2007

Heading up north today to the Green Mountain state - Vermont

It is about 3 hours' drive away and because of that, we set off at 7am so that we could have more time to explore the area. Weather wasn't that ideal as it drizzled and sprinkled and rained on and off, through out the drive. We reached Montpelier - the capital city of Vermont at about 10am. We had one hour to explore the downtown area before the guided tour started at 11am in the State House. The town is pretty small n as we walked around, we chanced upon the Famers' Market (these are usually weekend markets where people set up stalls to sell their own-grown vegetables or handmade crafts)

The Farmers' Market

Vermont's famous maple syrup

Then there was this stall that caught our attention - a CHINESE stall selling CHINA food, obviously manned by a PRC. She has been here for about 15 years she said but after asking twice which province she was from n she din wanna answer us, we thought it was 'fishy'... Keke

After spending sometime at the Farmers' Market, we then proceeded with our 'touring' of the downtown. Walked past the Court house, SMALL museum, library, shops and eateries and... the fire station.

Headed back to the State House when it was abt 11am and the guided tour has just started. We were introduced to the history of Vermont and got to know that these little state has produced 2 Presidents for the United States of America. The guide then brought us to the various rooms and halls of this State House that has been there for more than a century..

Time for some 国会... Wahaha.....

Just when it started to drizzle, we made our way to New England Culinary Institute for lunch. Waited for quite some time before we were served the not-so-fantastic food. After filling our stomachs, we made our way to one of the MAIN attractions in Vermont - Ben & Jerry's ice-cream factory!!! Got ourselves the $3 admission ticket to the 30-min factory tour, where we were given a free sample of Banana in rum at the end of it. There was no production during weekends but we were shown video of ice-cream production at Ben & Jerry's..

Crowded gift shop

Sampling time!!!!!! Yum Yum!!! :p

All Ben&Jerry's QC analysts have to do everyday, is just to eat ice-cream!

After the tour at Ben & Jerry's, we then set off for Burlington - the largest city in Vermont. Parked our car near the bustling Church Street and started strolling down the street to get a feel of the city. Somehow, the street reminded me of Tasmania and Christchurch... Hmm....



Stumbled upon something as we were walking down the road... LOOK!!!!!!

Followed the directions on AL's flyer, and that brought us to a glass-blowing studio..


He is the owner of this studio, which he and his wife worked in. All these are the masterpieces created by the both of them.. And they ARE pricey :p

He was really friendly and after knowing that we came from NH, he showed us the way to the Burlington Waterfront with the map that was in our hands.

Again, one is for you :)

27th July, 2007

TADAH~~~~~~

The long-awaited USOpen ticket... ...

23rd July, 2007

IT'S THE FINAL COUNTDOWN~~~!!!

Okay... I have gotten an official email at work today -

"For the QC TAPS, for successful completion of the program the default for the last day here in Portsmouth will be Friday, Jan. 11th. If the program is completed successfully by an individual, the default to start work at Lonza Biologics Singapore will be Wed, Jan.23rd."

21st July, 2007

Today's lineup came from our contributions...

SF's American Independence Festival
AL's Greek Festival
My Route-1A scenic coastal drive

First stop - American Independence Festival @ Exeter



It was a day full of activities relating to the history of USA. There were people who dressed themselves up as people from the past and there were little stalls set up to show activities from the past..

There were live demostrations of firing, by the British troops as well as the American ones..

And canon as well.....

After watching the re-enactment of military troops firing, we left the festival after sharing a fried dough (aka hum chim peng) :p We then took a walk around Exeter Downtown...

Walked into a couple of shops - toy shop and gift shop where SF and I bought a few cards before we found ourselves having lunch at this Green Bean cafe...



After lunch, we then made our wat to the 2nd stop of the day - The Greek Festival

We were supposed to pay a fee of $3 at the entrance, but we happened to enter the event through the side entrance after parking our car.. Hence..... kekeke :p Part of the event was held in the function room where there were Greek pastries, Greek coffee and also authentic Greek food...



There was also an outdoor portion to the event where there were Greek food for sale and also a stage for singing and dancing later in the evening..

It was only abt 430pm and then I suggested trying out the Route-1A scenic drive as I have never driven along that road before... It was a direct road that led us to the coastal area.. After some time, we decided to pull over at this State Beach n went for a dip in the water.... Water was ICY COLD~~~~~~







Errmm... that refer to cigarette butts :p