The Big Apple and beyond

New York was an amazing experience and a fitting end to our time in the US. Madam became Madamandkate for 5 days when our friend joined us from London. We also caught up with Justin, a mate of Adam's from high school. All in all an excellent time was had. Highlights included a ferry ride around the south of Manhattan, including the Statue of Liberty, the Brooklyn Bridge, Ellis Island and the former World Trade Center site. We visited the site on foot as well, and it really just looks like a huge construction area at the moment, with a small display of photos to remind people of the day.

Kate and Maddi had a fine afternoon shopping in Soho, as well as picking up a few choice purchases at a designer discount store. Adam had a bit of fun with his own purchases. Some of the best times were just hanging out in different areas. We had lunch in Jewish delis, dinner in Greenwich and East Village, and bar crawls in the Meatpacking district. Justin added some excellent local knowledge and an appreciation for a big night out, so he fit in well with the group! We tried out a number of New York taxis in an attempt to become contestants on the Cash Cab, a roving game show that Adam had loved on cable TV, but to no avail.

Other New York experiences included a hot dog in Central Park, and a trip to the Guggenheim (to prove we are cultured). Adam went to Columbia Uni trying to find the site of scenes from Ghostbusters, but no luck.

It was sad to say goodbye to Kate in the transit lounge at Heathrow airport, as it was lovely to have another travelling companion for a brief time. We had 6 hours in the airport before heading to Rome, where we have just spent our first day. More details in a few days.

New photos for Florida and East Coast now available!

Click on link in the right hand column to see them.

Boston Tea Party

Boston is a lovely town. Home to some very famous events in the American revolution, we have had the opportunity of retracing the ride of Paul Revere as he raced ahead of the English Army to warn the patriots. His house remains as a monument to 17th century architecture, and while looking its age is an impressive structure. Travelling through what is now Little Italy is a fantastic adventure with hundreds of caffes and restaurants packed in together, many along cobblestoned streets. The Newbury Street strip shops rival and exceed anything on Chapel St back home. One bedroom studio apartments in the area are going for US$2500 a month. Though we are surrounded by universities (MIT and Harvard are just over the river), it would take serious old money for a student to live in these digs! Maddi decided that she should try hostel living at least once. After standing under a randomly alternating hot and cold shower, with the pressure of a slight trickle from a garden hose, 4 mornings in a row, standing in a queue to wash her breakfast plate and needing earplugs to get a decent sleep, she cracked it. There will be limited hostel stays in Europe we think!

We are in Philadelphia at the moment, and are heading to New York tomorrow to meet up with our friend Kate. Philly has been an unexpected pleasure, with lots of historic streets to wander down. There are restaurants aplenty, but in anticipation of New York have been very good and cooking for ourselves. We haven't even tried a famous Philly Cheesesteak (strips of beef, melted cheese and sauce on a white roll). Today Adam took Maddi on a cultural expedition to the steps made famous in the Rocky movie, but we did not get a photo of him standing at the top with his arms raised, unlike other tourists.

No liquids, gels or pastes

We managed to clear security at Washington DC in less than 10 minutes. I gues that made up for the hour it took to check the bags in and get our tickets. Both of us are wondering just how much stuff we are going to have to get rid of by the time it comes to going to the UK where carry on luggage has all but been banned. Those Lonely Planet books are quite heavy you know!

DC has been great. The Smithsonian Museums truly amazing and great value (free). Some of the more interesting museums were closing for renovations and had less on display. Adam was disappointed that the "Pop culture" display had been reduced to a corner near the escalators. We also made the trek to see the Washington monument and the Lincoln memorial and are now determined to get to the Shrine of Rememberance on our return home.

Next stop Boston..

Sweltering in Savannah

We have just arrived in Washington DC after a 15 hour train trip that was scheduled to take 11. The locals just laugh at us when we say we are catching the train, as this sort of delay seems to be standard. Maddi had given Adam "In Cold Blood" by Truman Capote to read, and he was very freaked out when he realised that the murderers had visited Miami Beach and stayed at the exact same address as the one where we had stayed! (Bear in mind this book is a true story, though it was based in 1959).

According to USA Today, July has been the hottest month in the USA for the last 70 years, which explains why we have been melting when we are out and about. A standard day in Savannah was 90% humidity and 37 degrees Celsius. We understand now why they have siestas in hot countries, as we had to escape back to the hotel by about 3 every afternoon, and only venture out again for dinner. The historic district of Savannah was gorgeous, with a different shady tree lined square every 5 mins walk, each one surrounded by 200 year old mansions. We can see why so many movies get filmed here. We are fully informed on the history now, after doing a trolley tour, a walking tour, a black history tour, and watching the documentary film put on at the Visitor's Centre Museum.

We had heard that Savannah was know for good food, so we had some great dinners while we were there. We have now tried gumbo, collard greens and grits, though have not yet had biscuits and gravy. The waiters were good ol' Southern boys, and have given us directions to other restaurants in Boston and New York. The Civil War is still fresh in some minds here...we overheard someone at another table saying that a female friend had been going out with a Yankee, but had broken up with him "after he showed his true colours"!

Miami Vice

Its all about the look down in Miami, but in the middle of summer at close to 100% humidity its hard to be cool when you are sweating like a pig (do pigs sweat?). We are staying in South Beach, just down from Deco Drive. Its a long stretch of Art Deco hotels and buildings built along the beach. All pastel and white wash. Some places even go the trouble of placing classic cars out the front to add to the vibe. It looks awesome. It gets so hot walking along the street, that we have taken to ducking into random shops to escape the heat and have been living with the airconditioning on continuously (bad electricity consumers that we are).

Whilst with car, we travelled to a 1920's mansion called "Vizcaya" furnished to look like 4 centuries of the same family had lived there. Some pieces dated back to 2nd century while other items, such as ceilings, came from French or Italian castles of the 16 and 17 hundreds. Sly Stallone used to live next door but got sick of all the tourists, so sold his house to a rich dog (or so the guide said). I thought we had left LA behind.

We have handed in the rental car, another convertible that we got for $15 per day because the company had run out of the sub-compact that we wanted. We will publish our strategy to achieve this feat upon our return, but we have a game plan and will continue to use it! We discovered that travelling down Orlando's freeways during peak hour with the top down when its nearly 40 degrees is not really a good idea. We both avoided heat stroke by a narrow margin! Adventures in Orlando included Maddi meeting up with a couple of local girls who insisted on taking us to some club where they got us into the VIP room (we think Britney had been there) by buying two bottles of vodka (we can only guess the price but probably $600). We politely accepted the free drinks but were never in any danger of finishing those bottles. We still don't understand the arrangement the girls made with the manager who came up and introduced himself to Adam, to ensure we had a good time. That Aussie accent can do wonders down here!

The purpose of the visit to Orlando was the Kennedy Space Center. An enormous complex about an hour and a half from Orlando, we opted to take the "NASA up close" tour. Highlights of the visit included seeing the tail of "Atlantis" as it is readied for launch sometime in late August, the awesome Saturn V rockets used to send man to the moon (the plans now only available on microfiche, no hard-copy) and the massive assembly building for the International Space Station. It was an all day affair and we were truly spaced out by the end.

Whilst there are numerous amusement parks in Orlando, none offered much extra than places already visited. We couldn't pass up the opportunity to drive through Disney World, so big that it has its own freeway system to ferry people around. Couldn't park anywhere to have a look around without handing over money, so kept driving. One of the oddities of the park is Celebration, a suburb designed by Walt himself to be the perfect suburb. It was like a set from "The wonder years" except that a lot of the locals use "segways" and communal electric cars to get around. Rumours abound that you have to pass CIA investigations to even rent or buy here.

Off to Savannah soon, more adventures to follow..