Day 9 - Lancaster County

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After breakfast both of us went for a long walk to a nearby store called Trader Joe's. After lunch dhal-keerai-cauliflower-soft chappathi went to Lancaster. It is a 1 hour 15 min. drive.

Saw Amish farms, Farmer's market and Buggy rides http://www.padutchcountry.com/activities/amish-activities.asp. People are living as they used to 200 years back without using modern inventions. They plough the field with horses and move around in cycle without pedals. Ride horse drawn carts (buggies) and not cars. Buggies also have left/right indicator lights and they stop at the STOP signal at the cross roads. We need to go behind them at their speed until the yellow line becomes dotted yellow lines at which point we can overtake them.

Amish people - apart from being farmers - also are good carpenters. They sell readymade homes! (Yes, the whole houses are readymade and available for sale.... displayed on the roadside!)

Night watched second half of Cheran movie 'Muran'. Had Mexican dinner of quesadilla and guacamole. Then played Loot. N scored 28 gold after doing badly in the first game and I won the last game with a record 40 golds.

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Photos

Bagels for Breakfast
Poornima and R went here in the morning to get bagels for me for breakfast. i wanted to know what it was. R got a large sweetened (sticky) bun with raisins and a big muffin.

Morning Walk
After breakfast went for a long walk up to Trader Joe's and back. This is where Poornima gets most of her stuff.

Horse farm
On the way back home..you can see a horse farm..children learn horse riding here.

30 Chadds Ford, PA
Outside Poornima's house...No:30. You can see Poorni's car in the forefront. Another in the garage which is Prashanth's. The door to the house is on the right and cannot be seen. Saturday afternoon..we are leaving for Lancaster..to see the Amish village.

Gas station/shop
Putting band aid for some small wound in my leg.

WaWa
Putting gas for the car before starting on the trip

Buggy
A 'buggy' showcased in front of the Information Center. The Amish people use these horse driven buggies.

Info Center
Poornima got a map from the Information Center.

Outside the shop
A much bigger wagon outside the Farmer's Market. This place is called Bird-in -Hand!

She is going back from work.
Can you see the girl going on a cycle. It has no pedals. You can see that she has her left foot resting on a flat board between the wheels. Right foot is on the road and used to push oneself forward..like the children's scooter.

Amish Scooter
This cycle is used to commute to work place!

Following the buggy!
You can see a buggy coming on the other side of the road.

Covered Bridge
Philadelphia is famous for these closed bridges. There are many of these retained in the Amish village. The history behind it is that bridges freeze faster than the roads, hence the cover to prevent this. They are also called Kissing Bridges..obviously because people used to kiss under them!!

Granaries
The two tall towering structures you see in the background are there everywhere and used by the farmers to store grains.

Saw this after parking!
This sign here says,'Don't even THINK of parking here.'

Dinner
The peas like things you see in the front are called edamame. You have to boil them, sprinkle salt and eat the beans inside,like our groundnuts... they taste like that too. You don't even have to open the pod with you fingers..just put the pod inside your mouth, between your teeth and pull it out..the beans are in..throw the skin. The green mushy dish on the left is guacamole..made with avacado and is eaten with quesadilla..which is actually tortillas with a layer of cheese and vegetables in between.

Loot
The winning hand is on display!

Comments

[shankar]

Great work
have been following the wonderful blogs routinely, though lazy to comment every time!! the detailed blogs make me feel as if i am there!! good. keep it up love ss