So we departed DC and got on a train to Charleston. Given the distance between DC and Orlando, we wanted a short-ish break somewhere in between and decided upon Charleston.
It seems that the permanent status of Amtrak trains is late. It's just a matter of how much. The ridiculous length of the freight trains in the States means that if you have to wait for one to pass the other way it can be a lengthy delay. Anyhoo, the upshot is we got into Charleston about 90 minutes late. Thankfully we got to check-in before the staff left for the night!
The hostel was cool. It was effectively two houses turned into various rooms. Our bed was very squeaky, but comfy. Bagel breakfast and free use of the washer/dryer was a bonus.
The weather? MUGGY! I am certainly not designed for that level of humidity! We did hide in a coffee shop for 3 hours to avoid a thunderstorm. At the moment, it seems that when it rains, it really rains!
We got around by using the free 'DASH' trolley service, which was a real time saver. Downtown Charleston is not huge, but the trolley made getting to the separate destinations much easier.
Charleston is very quaint, steeped in revolutionary and civil war history. We visited a slave mart, where slaves were bought and sold. Chilling to think human beings were bought and sold where we were. We also visited 'Rainbow Row', a very pretty row of houses painted different colours.
We took a tour of an old jail, used by us pesky Brits back in the day to lock up non-compliant Yanks. Our guide was dressed in old-timey garb, which always seems a nice touch.
So Charleston is definitely a place to spend a few days in if you like your history. Plus it was quite a change from all the big cities we have stayed in thus far.
The worst part of the trip? We had to catch a 5.06am train from Charleston to Orlando, which meant getting up at around 3.45am. Fine for doing that again!
Jess will post about Orlando next. Expect lots of Harry Potter. Until next time muggles...
Tuesday, 29 July 2014
Thursday, 24 July 2014
District of Jess gets a COLD
I woke up on Sunday with a cold. Now if you know me I'm pretty laid back when I'm ill, I hardly moan oooooooor pity myself.... Ahem.
So we got on with sightseeing, being in the political capital of the world and the capital of monuments we decided the best way to get truly aquatinted with the city was by having a tour. (I'm a bit obsessed being trained as a guide myself) we went for dc by foot. This is a company that offers FREE TOURS! I know... What's the catch, we'll the idea is that you tip what you can afford or think it was worth. Which I think is pretty cool, we have all been on some horrendous tours not worth the time or money and we have also all been on EXCELLENT ONES. (Mine)
So this tour... We chose (I chose) a 4 hour mammoth tour of the national mall in DC. (it's where you'll find all the famous bits.) not knowing I would be ill for it. We'll I got up regardless of the needed tissues and cold/flu tablets (yes we may have been over cautious but you see, Heavy Backpack, this is why you are so heavy, but ultimately I am the winner here) and we walked a mile down the road to meet up with our guid at 10am, cleverly grabbing a subway in prep for lunch.
We are living on subways at lunch... For 5 dollars we share a footlong... Epically cheap!
We signed in, ( the guide looked and sounded like the annoying one in hangover.... EPIC) at this point I'm regretting my shoe choice faced with the next 4 hours being walking and standing and not much else, stupidly I'd worn my new birks which I am still in the process of breaking in. Hello blisters. It's in the strangest place though, right at the bottom of the ball of my foot/top of the arch? ODD. Plasters just rub off after 5 paces... No joy. But I persisted and we had an excellent tour.
We started at the Washington monument, it's overwhelmingly LARGE. And has a pretty interesting story behind it, won't bore you with it, it's probably already written down on the internet somewhere anyway... We then wandered to the ww2 memorial, which was ok... It had a fountain. And some stars.
We walked down to the Vietnam memorial, this was surprisingly moving. It is really peaceful and the memorial itself kind of envelopes you at one point, it was sad to see wilting flowers, it's obviously still very recent to many families. There's also a statue that is so realistic! It's of 3 soldiers and they look as if they have just walked out of the jungle.
We moved onto the Lincoln memorial. Ahhh good old abe, he's very big. Very serious. I got a few cool photos here. And on instruction by the guide to check out the back of abes head from certain angle I saw general lee, sculpted into the marble. Now if your want to know who he is you'll have to ask mike as I don't... But whilst grabbing a snapshot of this a ranger told me that the general didn't exist. He was quite stern and very matter if factly about it. I verbally disagreed with him... I think he gave me evils as then a few other tourists came to check it out.... Lol. ( I totally won that encounter with the law)
We wandered down to the Martin Luther king memorial (I didn't like it)
Now before you all judge me I'll tell you why.
It's rubbish.
A) he looks like Han Solo trapped in the metal thing in the film my husband loves.
B) even though his face is very realistic, his suit is crap, it's not in a style of sculpture I like, it's cartoony and poop.
C) it was sadly outsourced as it was done on the cheap... (To china...) I was looking for the made in China logo...
D) it's rubbish
Google it. You'll see I'm right.
See, I'm right.
Then we walked through the FDR Memorial. Loved it. It's huge and interesting. Not rubbish. And we went on to finish at the Jefferson memorial. The tour was about 2.5 miles long and ended a good mile from anything else you'd want to do... So I was super tired and ill (don't forget) se we walked to a subway and got the train back to the area we were staying in.
Had a surprisingly awesome tea (surprisingly yum and cheap) it was a make your own pasta Sunday special. You chose the type (fat spaghetti for me) the sauce (pesto obv) and then just chucked whatever else you wanted in. I went for asparagus, broccoli and italian sausage. NOM.
I then went to bed. And pretty much stayed there for more than 24hours. I knew if I didn't stop I'd only get worse.
LUCKILY we had a TV in this accommodation so we have had a fair share of crap American TV. I feel we are getting the full package. ;)
So Tuesday was spent slowly meandering and not overdoing it as I'm still ill, we went to newseum. It had an anchorman exhibit. Which was pretty funny, especially as every other part was epically serious. But in a city where all museums are free (except this one) it's worth paying!! Very emotional 9/11 section. It's an interesting view on world events as you see behind the scenes from the medias perspective.
So then Wednesday was spent on a train. All 10 1/5 hours of daylight (hah) on a train. Although we had the sleeper car seats so it was comfy enough. We are now well trained at the art of train. We get a footlong sub each (half lunch half tea) and plenty of supplies as we are very aware that train food is poop.
Annoyingly the train was delayed by 2 hours.. So we got into Charleston pretty late last night. It was humid and gross. Buuuuuut I'll leave Charleston for the next post... :)
Xxxxx Jess
So we got on with sightseeing, being in the political capital of the world and the capital of monuments we decided the best way to get truly aquatinted with the city was by having a tour. (I'm a bit obsessed being trained as a guide myself) we went for dc by foot. This is a company that offers FREE TOURS! I know... What's the catch, we'll the idea is that you tip what you can afford or think it was worth. Which I think is pretty cool, we have all been on some horrendous tours not worth the time or money and we have also all been on EXCELLENT ONES. (Mine)
So this tour... We chose (I chose) a 4 hour mammoth tour of the national mall in DC. (it's where you'll find all the famous bits.) not knowing I would be ill for it. We'll I got up regardless of the needed tissues and cold/flu tablets (yes we may have been over cautious but you see, Heavy Backpack, this is why you are so heavy, but ultimately I am the winner here) and we walked a mile down the road to meet up with our guid at 10am, cleverly grabbing a subway in prep for lunch.
We are living on subways at lunch... For 5 dollars we share a footlong... Epically cheap!
We signed in, ( the guide looked and sounded like the annoying one in hangover.... EPIC) at this point I'm regretting my shoe choice faced with the next 4 hours being walking and standing and not much else, stupidly I'd worn my new birks which I am still in the process of breaking in. Hello blisters. It's in the strangest place though, right at the bottom of the ball of my foot/top of the arch? ODD. Plasters just rub off after 5 paces... No joy. But I persisted and we had an excellent tour.
We started at the Washington monument, it's overwhelmingly LARGE. And has a pretty interesting story behind it, won't bore you with it, it's probably already written down on the internet somewhere anyway... We then wandered to the ww2 memorial, which was ok... It had a fountain. And some stars.
We walked down to the Vietnam memorial, this was surprisingly moving. It is really peaceful and the memorial itself kind of envelopes you at one point, it was sad to see wilting flowers, it's obviously still very recent to many families. There's also a statue that is so realistic! It's of 3 soldiers and they look as if they have just walked out of the jungle.
We moved onto the Lincoln memorial. Ahhh good old abe, he's very big. Very serious. I got a few cool photos here. And on instruction by the guide to check out the back of abes head from certain angle I saw general lee, sculpted into the marble. Now if your want to know who he is you'll have to ask mike as I don't... But whilst grabbing a snapshot of this a ranger told me that the general didn't exist. He was quite stern and very matter if factly about it. I verbally disagreed with him... I think he gave me evils as then a few other tourists came to check it out.... Lol. ( I totally won that encounter with the law)
We wandered down to the Martin Luther king memorial (I didn't like it)
Now before you all judge me I'll tell you why.
It's rubbish.
A) he looks like Han Solo trapped in the metal thing in the film my husband loves.
B) even though his face is very realistic, his suit is crap, it's not in a style of sculpture I like, it's cartoony and poop.
C) it was sadly outsourced as it was done on the cheap... (To china...) I was looking for the made in China logo...
D) it's rubbish
Google it. You'll see I'm right.
See, I'm right.
Then we walked through the FDR Memorial. Loved it. It's huge and interesting. Not rubbish. And we went on to finish at the Jefferson memorial. The tour was about 2.5 miles long and ended a good mile from anything else you'd want to do... So I was super tired and ill (don't forget) se we walked to a subway and got the train back to the area we were staying in.
Had a surprisingly awesome tea (surprisingly yum and cheap) it was a make your own pasta Sunday special. You chose the type (fat spaghetti for me) the sauce (pesto obv) and then just chucked whatever else you wanted in. I went for asparagus, broccoli and italian sausage. NOM.
I then went to bed. And pretty much stayed there for more than 24hours. I knew if I didn't stop I'd only get worse.
LUCKILY we had a TV in this accommodation so we have had a fair share of crap American TV. I feel we are getting the full package. ;)
So Tuesday was spent slowly meandering and not overdoing it as I'm still ill, we went to newseum. It had an anchorman exhibit. Which was pretty funny, especially as every other part was epically serious. But in a city where all museums are free (except this one) it's worth paying!! Very emotional 9/11 section. It's an interesting view on world events as you see behind the scenes from the medias perspective.
So then Wednesday was spent on a train. All 10 1/5 hours of daylight (hah) on a train. Although we had the sleeper car seats so it was comfy enough. We are now well trained at the art of train. We get a footlong sub each (half lunch half tea) and plenty of supplies as we are very aware that train food is poop.
Annoyingly the train was delayed by 2 hours.. So we got into Charleston pretty late last night. It was humid and gross. Buuuuuut I'll leave Charleston for the next post... :)
Xxxxx Jess
Location:Washington
Saturday, 19 July 2014
Have you got any tea?
Loved Boston. Boston is great. If you imagine everything you love about Britain, Boston is the closest you'll find in the USA. It's super quaint, brick pavements to match all brick buildings, quirky neighbourhoods, wagamamas, interesting diverse humans, history geeks and so much more.
It's the only place so far I'd genuinely consider moving to... (And I'm a home bird!) it's so pretty too. The roads are lines with trees and most building are covered with foliage (or at least they are in Southend - we're we stayed) (it's nothing like Essex).
So due to bad feet (and bad weather) we took it well easy which maybe another reason I kind of love Boston. It felt really laid back and easy going. But I suppose it's because we were. For the first time this trip we both just relaxed. We wandered instead of missioned and we strolled instead of stressing.
The first day was all about finding half decent shoes for Jess as the sketches that we bought turned out to actually be too small (oops) and the I soled for my shoes are good for the bottom of my foot but make my heels pretty bad as my shoes then don't really fit... Dilemma! So I decided to give in to my inner hippy/traveller and find some Birkenstocks... This meant shopping (mike was really excited, as you can tell)
Now... They are comfy, but do rub a little but I've read that you have to break them in, which I'm in the process of doing, so fingers crossed by the time we finish I may have a pair of comfy shoes. In the mean time I've been living in flip flops and it's not too bad :)
Post shopping... We had a DUCK tour. Much like the London ones (same vehicle and worry about them bursting into flames) we survived the trip and the awful guiding banter. Being British on the tour was a bit of an eek as of course in Boston the tea party happened and war broke out with the Brits etc.... But you know our guide didn't make a big deal out of it at all..... (Rolls eyes, personally I was waving a miniature British flag the entire time and wanting to stand up and declare war as we wanted our land back... Mike did actually ask if the driver had any tea. I found it funny, I guess it's why I married him aye?) If you don't know why this is funny Google Boston tea party... See hilarious #somuchbanter
That night we went to a wonderful French restaurant around the corner and eat EXCELLENT food. I love France. It was just like a small independent authentic French restaurant except for the Americans... Who I've noticed shout. ALOT. I just want them to tone it down, just a tad. Eek 5 more weeks :/ lol.
The next day after A VERY EXTREME MIDDAY THUNDERSTORM (which we spent wasting time in the hostel... I love my iPad) we went on a proper tour of Boston on the trolley (ding ding) with lots of different drivers (it was hop on hop off kinda vibe) all of them with similar jokes, kind of dad jokes. It was just like a normal Burton holiday so I felt right at home! ;) one actually just talked about his daughter costing him a fortune in college fees (we had hit traffic and I guess he had run out of material) it was fun. In all honesty it was great because it was raining seeing everything with out getting (too) wet. Especially after a very heavy shower the other day I've realised my mac is not waterproof.... Stupid Asda. (The pic below is the rain, not fog... It was insane. But you know a normal summers day in Wales if I'm honest)
THAT night we went to an American live underground jazz club called the Beehive, where the food was great! It wasn't greasy or dinnery it was classy and the food was actually very nice... I had a veggie lasagne with ricotta. It was amazing. There was live jazz and it was just really cool. It felt like the club would fit perfectly in the east end (you know... Where all the hipsters hag out in London) I tried a few cocktails... One tasted like smoke... Like smokey. It was the weirdest thing... I only ordered it because it said cherry... It wasn't cherry. It was odd. "Trendy" I'm not very trendy...
So the next day we had more trolleying as it was a BOGOF deal on ticket days... But we also went to the Boston Tea Party Museum. Which had lots of geeky live actors ourselves included as we were given rolls to play. I was a doctor. I (wrongly) declared mike dead (I was suppose to - just to clear that up) as he has knocked himself unconscious with a box of tea... Silly mike. That's was a silly hour. I did have to disagree with the name of this attraction... I don't think you can call yourself a museum if you only have one artefact. It's all they had. Maybe they should call it an experience... Anyway we came away with a free feather. So all in all it was pretty good deal! (It was free with the trolley tour)
We then went on a mission for lunch, found an Irish pub. Standard, they are everywhere! Where are all the welsh pubs?
We wandered to the park and then decided to make our way back to the hostel and went out for a lobster roll for tea. Sadly that was it for our time in Boston. I want to go back.
Now I haven't mentioned the hostel. It was gross. If you'd like to hear my thoughts on it I have left an honest opinion on trip adviser and I can't be bothered to copy and paste.
We left yesterday and had a long journey down to DC and went back past New York. Today again was kind of lazy. We slept in until about 10 then left the hotel about 11.30 and we found lunch in a dodgy diner and saw the Washington monument and the White House. We sat in Starbucks for 2 hours then grabbed some dim sum in china town before a movie in the cinema. LAZY!!
Tomorrow we doing a 4 hour walking tour of just the national mall... Hahahaaa whoop where are my birks?!
Xxxxxx Jess
It's the only place so far I'd genuinely consider moving to... (And I'm a home bird!) it's so pretty too. The roads are lines with trees and most building are covered with foliage (or at least they are in Southend - we're we stayed) (it's nothing like Essex).
So due to bad feet (and bad weather) we took it well easy which maybe another reason I kind of love Boston. It felt really laid back and easy going. But I suppose it's because we were. For the first time this trip we both just relaxed. We wandered instead of missioned and we strolled instead of stressing.
The first day was all about finding half decent shoes for Jess as the sketches that we bought turned out to actually be too small (oops) and the I soled for my shoes are good for the bottom of my foot but make my heels pretty bad as my shoes then don't really fit... Dilemma! So I decided to give in to my inner hippy/traveller and find some Birkenstocks... This meant shopping (mike was really excited, as you can tell)
Now... They are comfy, but do rub a little but I've read that you have to break them in, which I'm in the process of doing, so fingers crossed by the time we finish I may have a pair of comfy shoes. In the mean time I've been living in flip flops and it's not too bad :)
Post shopping... We had a DUCK tour. Much like the London ones (same vehicle and worry about them bursting into flames) we survived the trip and the awful guiding banter. Being British on the tour was a bit of an eek as of course in Boston the tea party happened and war broke out with the Brits etc.... But you know our guide didn't make a big deal out of it at all..... (Rolls eyes, personally I was waving a miniature British flag the entire time and wanting to stand up and declare war as we wanted our land back... Mike did actually ask if the driver had any tea. I found it funny, I guess it's why I married him aye?) If you don't know why this is funny Google Boston tea party... See hilarious #somuchbanter
That night we went to a wonderful French restaurant around the corner and eat EXCELLENT food. I love France. It was just like a small independent authentic French restaurant except for the Americans... Who I've noticed shout. ALOT. I just want them to tone it down, just a tad. Eek 5 more weeks :/ lol.
The next day after A VERY EXTREME MIDDAY THUNDERSTORM (which we spent wasting time in the hostel... I love my iPad) we went on a proper tour of Boston on the trolley (ding ding) with lots of different drivers (it was hop on hop off kinda vibe) all of them with similar jokes, kind of dad jokes. It was just like a normal Burton holiday so I felt right at home! ;) one actually just talked about his daughter costing him a fortune in college fees (we had hit traffic and I guess he had run out of material) it was fun. In all honesty it was great because it was raining seeing everything with out getting (too) wet. Especially after a very heavy shower the other day I've realised my mac is not waterproof.... Stupid Asda. (The pic below is the rain, not fog... It was insane. But you know a normal summers day in Wales if I'm honest)
THAT night we went to an American live underground jazz club called the Beehive, where the food was great! It wasn't greasy or dinnery it was classy and the food was actually very nice... I had a veggie lasagne with ricotta. It was amazing. There was live jazz and it was just really cool. It felt like the club would fit perfectly in the east end (you know... Where all the hipsters hag out in London) I tried a few cocktails... One tasted like smoke... Like smokey. It was the weirdest thing... I only ordered it because it said cherry... It wasn't cherry. It was odd. "Trendy" I'm not very trendy...
So the next day we had more trolleying as it was a BOGOF deal on ticket days... But we also went to the Boston Tea Party Museum. Which had lots of geeky live actors ourselves included as we were given rolls to play. I was a doctor. I (wrongly) declared mike dead (I was suppose to - just to clear that up) as he has knocked himself unconscious with a box of tea... Silly mike. That's was a silly hour. I did have to disagree with the name of this attraction... I don't think you can call yourself a museum if you only have one artefact. It's all they had. Maybe they should call it an experience... Anyway we came away with a free feather. So all in all it was pretty good deal! (It was free with the trolley tour)
We then went on a mission for lunch, found an Irish pub. Standard, they are everywhere! Where are all the welsh pubs?
We wandered to the park and then decided to make our way back to the hostel and went out for a lobster roll for tea. Sadly that was it for our time in Boston. I want to go back.
Now I haven't mentioned the hostel. It was gross. If you'd like to hear my thoughts on it I have left an honest opinion on trip adviser and I can't be bothered to copy and paste.
We left yesterday and had a long journey down to DC and went back past New York. Today again was kind of lazy. We slept in until about 10 then left the hotel about 11.30 and we found lunch in a dodgy diner and saw the Washington monument and the White House. We sat in Starbucks for 2 hours then grabbed some dim sum in china town before a movie in the cinema. LAZY!!
Tomorrow we doing a 4 hour walking tour of just the national mall... Hahahaaa whoop where are my birks?!
Xxxxxx Jess
Location:Boston
Wednesday, 16 July 2014
Beaten by a salad... twice!
So it is currently pouring down with rain in Boston, which is delaying our plans for the day until it subsides. Given I haven't blogged in ages, now seems the perfect time!
We went to one more show on Broadway, titled 'Bullets over Broadway', written by Woody Allen and starring Zach Braff of Scrubs fame. As they did not sell out, we got directed to better seats, which was nice. It was pretty funny.
We spent a few days with one of Jess' best friends Debbie, who was one of the signees of our wedding register. As well as seeing the musical, we chilled out in Central Park, wandered through Chinatown and Little Italy and had some yummy breakfasts.
Oh yeah, the blog title. So I've had a few salads recently, to try and counter the sugar/fat intake of other meals! I had a Cobb salad in a deli called Sarge's, but ended up eating just the meat/cheese/egg part of the salad, and then topped that with a mahoosive slice of carrot cake (Jess had New York baked cheesecake). Yesterday I had another salad for lunch and again, could not quite polish it off!
Boston is pretty cool. A very different vibe to New York. Brick houses and sidewalks, more old timey buildings, churches, etc. It is much less busy, and far fewer beeps of the horn from taxi drivers!
The hostel in Boston has no air-con, which has made sleeping uncomfortable. The heat has been stifling at times. We went out in a thunderstorm the other day, which of course stopped after we sat for dinner.
We had a Boston Duck tour yesterday, in the same vehicles that give Duck tours in London and Liverpool. That was a lot of fun, especially telling the driver/guide that we were British! I asked if he had any tea. :) (search Boston Tea Party).
When the weather subsides, we are going to jump on the Boston trolley and take a tour of the city and also go to the Boston Tea Party museum. Once a history geek...
We went to one more show on Broadway, titled 'Bullets over Broadway', written by Woody Allen and starring Zach Braff of Scrubs fame. As they did not sell out, we got directed to better seats, which was nice. It was pretty funny.
We spent a few days with one of Jess' best friends Debbie, who was one of the signees of our wedding register. As well as seeing the musical, we chilled out in Central Park, wandered through Chinatown and Little Italy and had some yummy breakfasts.
Oh yeah, the blog title. So I've had a few salads recently, to try and counter the sugar/fat intake of other meals! I had a Cobb salad in a deli called Sarge's, but ended up eating just the meat/cheese/egg part of the salad, and then topped that with a mahoosive slice of carrot cake (Jess had New York baked cheesecake). Yesterday I had another salad for lunch and again, could not quite polish it off!
Boston is pretty cool. A very different vibe to New York. Brick houses and sidewalks, more old timey buildings, churches, etc. It is much less busy, and far fewer beeps of the horn from taxi drivers!
The hostel in Boston has no air-con, which has made sleeping uncomfortable. The heat has been stifling at times. We went out in a thunderstorm the other day, which of course stopped after we sat for dinner.
We had a Boston Duck tour yesterday, in the same vehicles that give Duck tours in London and Liverpool. That was a lot of fun, especially telling the driver/guide that we were British! I asked if he had any tea. :) (search Boston Tea Party).
When the weather subsides, we are going to jump on the Boston trolley and take a tour of the city and also go to the Boston Tea Party museum. Once a history geek...
Thursday, 10 July 2014
Concrete jungle where dreams are made of..... You know the next bit.
Yep that's right NEW YORK, NEW YORK!!!
So it's midnight and we have just got in from an amazing show (our second of three this week....uh huh!!!) we went to see Idina Menzel in the new musical If/Then. It was awesome. We had amazing seats (and even though we arrived at 7.58pm we still managed to get in!!! We read the wrong ticket and ended up at the wrong theatre... It's a hard life) BUT WHATEVER.... It was so good!! And as we were in the middle of the circle we were her spot for the entire performance and it felt like she was personally singing to me! EPIC. I'm still a bit WHSSKCNDJSJSVAKPALAVH about it!!
Back to the rest of the week. Well... I've managed to walk my feet into oblivion... So I've been hobbling around as much as I can but really we haven't taken New York by storm but rather leisurely and slowly (like the true old married couple we are ;)) but we have seen the Statue of Liberty, and listened to a rather over stretched 30 minute "tour" about the green beauty, we wandered around Ellis Island a bit and watched a rather stretched 30 minute documentary about it, then realising the artefacts had indeed been removed from the island (due to sandy? Or something?) we moved on...
On to the 9/11 memorial. Now I don't know anyone who was involved that day, but even I objected to the awful tourists posing and smiling next to it.... Talk about DISRESPECTFUL!! It's not even 15 years passed and yet it was trawling with globe trotters posing and selfie-ing. I got a bit moody about it. It was really sad. There were fresh flowers on various names around the memorials. It's really still quite fresh. So so sad.
So we then meandered towards City hall and walked a fair way around downtown ( saw Brooklyn bridge we agreed that it looked like batmans one in arkham city) and up through Chinatown an little Italy. But it was way too hot and my feet were in shreds so we caught the subway back to the hostel. (Which is pretty decent again... We've been very lucky so far!!)
At this point I decided to get last minute tickets to a show. And when I get an idea I have to do it... Soooooo for 25 quid each we went to see HARRY POTTER ahem... Daniel Radcliffe in the Cripple of Inishmann. He was really very good, but I had to stop myself from shouting 'Accio Harry Potter!!' At various points throughout the evening!!
Today we took it slowly, got up late, ate breakfast late, wandered to Macy's and begrudgingly bought myself a pair of sensible 'touristy' walking shoes. Sketchers memory foam ones. GROSS. But I care more about seeing America than how I'm seen by America (that's totally a lie, but I figured the more I say it maybe the more I'll believe it)
We then came back to the hostel and watched a few breaking bad episodes... Final season. It's so good!!
Then off to broadway again!! Waaaaah (see top of post)
Oh em gee! I haven't mentioned the food!!
Oh my gosh, so the first night (as we are staying in koreatown) we went for a Korean... Yup it's a thing... We had sashimi, the best beef dumplings of my life, teriyaki (I know it's Japanese but I was scared of the menu... Half of it was octopus) chicken and mike had a random spicy pork belly thing with a huge pile of bean curd. Needless to say he left the bean curd... But it was awesome all the same!
Yesterday we had an epic breakfast as a Tunisian deli, fit!! Then burgers before Broadway (if you're gonna do it... Do it right!) and today we tried to eat cheap so subway and a true 80s Jewish deli!!! Oh my goodness!! They gave you a bowl of gherkins (pickles) and coleslaw before any food gets ordered. Loved it. We had the corned beef and pastrami open hot sandwich. It came with the best chips ever, no french fried here, and gravy.... Literally heaven. *drools everywhere*
New York is a beast of its own design. I've meet been anywhere like it. It stinks. It never sleeps. It's gaudy. It's in your face. It's... GROSS. But I love it.
We are not done here yet! We don't leave until Monday. And tomorrow I get to see my bestest friend! AND go to see Zach Braff on Broadway. So many celebrities so little stage time!! ;)
Waaaaaaaaaah!
Xxxxxx Jess
So it's midnight and we have just got in from an amazing show (our second of three this week....uh huh!!!) we went to see Idina Menzel in the new musical If/Then. It was awesome. We had amazing seats (and even though we arrived at 7.58pm we still managed to get in!!! We read the wrong ticket and ended up at the wrong theatre... It's a hard life) BUT WHATEVER.... It was so good!! And as we were in the middle of the circle we were her spot for the entire performance and it felt like she was personally singing to me! EPIC. I'm still a bit WHSSKCNDJSJSVAKPALAVH about it!!
Back to the rest of the week. Well... I've managed to walk my feet into oblivion... So I've been hobbling around as much as I can but really we haven't taken New York by storm but rather leisurely and slowly (like the true old married couple we are ;)) but we have seen the Statue of Liberty, and listened to a rather over stretched 30 minute "tour" about the green beauty, we wandered around Ellis Island a bit and watched a rather stretched 30 minute documentary about it, then realising the artefacts had indeed been removed from the island (due to sandy? Or something?) we moved on...
On to the 9/11 memorial. Now I don't know anyone who was involved that day, but even I objected to the awful tourists posing and smiling next to it.... Talk about DISRESPECTFUL!! It's not even 15 years passed and yet it was trawling with globe trotters posing and selfie-ing. I got a bit moody about it. It was really sad. There were fresh flowers on various names around the memorials. It's really still quite fresh. So so sad.
So we then meandered towards City hall and walked a fair way around downtown ( saw Brooklyn bridge we agreed that it looked like batmans one in arkham city) and up through Chinatown an little Italy. But it was way too hot and my feet were in shreds so we caught the subway back to the hostel. (Which is pretty decent again... We've been very lucky so far!!)
At this point I decided to get last minute tickets to a show. And when I get an idea I have to do it... Soooooo for 25 quid each we went to see HARRY POTTER ahem... Daniel Radcliffe in the Cripple of Inishmann. He was really very good, but I had to stop myself from shouting 'Accio Harry Potter!!' At various points throughout the evening!!
Today we took it slowly, got up late, ate breakfast late, wandered to Macy's and begrudgingly bought myself a pair of sensible 'touristy' walking shoes. Sketchers memory foam ones. GROSS. But I care more about seeing America than how I'm seen by America (that's totally a lie, but I figured the more I say it maybe the more I'll believe it)
We then came back to the hostel and watched a few breaking bad episodes... Final season. It's so good!!
Then off to broadway again!! Waaaaah (see top of post)
Oh em gee! I haven't mentioned the food!!
Oh my gosh, so the first night (as we are staying in koreatown) we went for a Korean... Yup it's a thing... We had sashimi, the best beef dumplings of my life, teriyaki (I know it's Japanese but I was scared of the menu... Half of it was octopus) chicken and mike had a random spicy pork belly thing with a huge pile of bean curd. Needless to say he left the bean curd... But it was awesome all the same!
Yesterday we had an epic breakfast as a Tunisian deli, fit!! Then burgers before Broadway (if you're gonna do it... Do it right!) and today we tried to eat cheap so subway and a true 80s Jewish deli!!! Oh my goodness!! They gave you a bowl of gherkins (pickles) and coleslaw before any food gets ordered. Loved it. We had the corned beef and pastrami open hot sandwich. It came with the best chips ever, no french fried here, and gravy.... Literally heaven. *drools everywhere*
New York is a beast of its own design. I've meet been anywhere like it. It stinks. It never sleeps. It's gaudy. It's in your face. It's... GROSS. But I love it.
We are not done here yet! We don't leave until Monday. And tomorrow I get to see my bestest friend! AND go to see Zach Braff on Broadway. So many celebrities so little stage time!! ;)
Waaaaaaaaaah!
Xxxxxx Jess
Tuesday, 8 July 2014
A short stop at the famous falls
Well after an awfully long boring wait in the middle of nowhere(!) for a stopover, the second train FINALLY arrived and we got out of the festering cesspit that is Depew Buffalo.
To my relief it wasn't long before we arrived in Niagara Falls. We were met by the owner of the local #1 hostel (of 2... They are very proud) on the station with a sign saying "Jess". I felt really glamorous... We'll not really I had day old clothes on, I was burnt from an unsuccessful hike that morning, cranky and fairly hungry after only eating doughnut holes and vending machine food from the train station in depew.
Anyway he drove us to the hostel (for a small fee) and we checked in. It was a lovely afternoon, and as it was due to potentially rain the next day, under instruction from the wife of the owner of the business, we went out to explore.
We used the map she had provided us with and missioned a mile and a bit down to the falls. They are SPECTACULAR. If you haven't seen them go. Its only a day trip that's needed but factor it in next time you are close. They are so majestic. Mike and myself spent at least 10 minutes just staring watching the water fall... I guess that's all you can do really at a waterfall....
Anyway, we walked over to the Canadian side (GOD SAVE THE QUEEN) we got a stamp in our passports wandered down to the horseshoe falls and just looked. Stunning. If you are going to see them visit Canada. Best view. There is no comparison. It's about a 10 minute walk over the bridge and then 20-30 minutes down to the falls. Not too bad (not when all you have done for the past week is walk!!)
We then made the mistake on trying to go for an Indian... We aimed for the destination circled on our map from the hostel, only to be greeted by a buffet (what's with Americans and buffets?!?!? Gross) and (this is the worst part) RED PLASTIC TRAYS TO EAT OFF. And I mean like the ones you get in schools and prisons... Now call me a food snog if you want, but anywhere that treats their customers like school children/criminals will not get my custom. So we walked out...
Just down the road when we thought all options had evaded us another little Indian restaurant turned up. And boom, it was quiet, had normal plates, and even though it had a buffet... It also had a menu..... Hurrah. We didn't order any meat (food snob) but the veggie options were delish!!!!
Cheap Indian in Niagara Falls 0 - 1 Jess
So any who, we went to bed early after a long day... I feel it was totally justified.
Next day, up with the sun, PANCAKES, COMPLIMENTARY PANCAKES. Winners all-round. With a happy Jess full of pancakes, off we trotted again, a quick Starbucks break then over we walked to Goat island (in-between American falls and the horseshoe ones) and down we went with our sexy cave of wind shoes and ponchos.
Now for those of you who don't know the cave of winds is NOT A CAVE. I learnt this on the day, small bit of false advertising... Apparently it collapsed some time ago. I felt mildly robbed... Anyway so we plunged down a lift and emerged close to the bottom of the American falls and walked closer to them all the time getting more and more wet. It was actually.... Quite fun! We got about 15 feet from the actual falls and got splashed by more that 15feet worth of water I reckon!
Then we popped over to the top of the falls restaurant for a dirty burger and fries and jumped on the trolley to go on the maid of the mist. Now it's not the longest boat ride but it's super fun! Again you get wet... It's a big selling point of the falls you see.
All in all the falls are big and wet and pretty amazing!
We had tea at the Hard Rock Cafe. I had the worst mojito of my life. It cost far too much money. Then we went back to the hostel. Another early night as we had a Very early start this morning to catch a 6.35am train to New York.
We have now arrived and can see the Empire State Building from our hostel.
I'm having a GREAT TIME. :D I'm pretty sure mike is too.
Catch you soon!
Xxxxx Jess
Ps. Not many pics as I took a disposable to the falls...
To my relief it wasn't long before we arrived in Niagara Falls. We were met by the owner of the local #1 hostel (of 2... They are very proud) on the station with a sign saying "Jess". I felt really glamorous... We'll not really I had day old clothes on, I was burnt from an unsuccessful hike that morning, cranky and fairly hungry after only eating doughnut holes and vending machine food from the train station in depew.
Anyway he drove us to the hostel (for a small fee) and we checked in. It was a lovely afternoon, and as it was due to potentially rain the next day, under instruction from the wife of the owner of the business, we went out to explore.
We used the map she had provided us with and missioned a mile and a bit down to the falls. They are SPECTACULAR. If you haven't seen them go. Its only a day trip that's needed but factor it in next time you are close. They are so majestic. Mike and myself spent at least 10 minutes just staring watching the water fall... I guess that's all you can do really at a waterfall....
Anyway, we walked over to the Canadian side (GOD SAVE THE QUEEN) we got a stamp in our passports wandered down to the horseshoe falls and just looked. Stunning. If you are going to see them visit Canada. Best view. There is no comparison. It's about a 10 minute walk over the bridge and then 20-30 minutes down to the falls. Not too bad (not when all you have done for the past week is walk!!)
We then made the mistake on trying to go for an Indian... We aimed for the destination circled on our map from the hostel, only to be greeted by a buffet (what's with Americans and buffets?!?!? Gross) and (this is the worst part) RED PLASTIC TRAYS TO EAT OFF. And I mean like the ones you get in schools and prisons... Now call me a food snog if you want, but anywhere that treats their customers like school children/criminals will not get my custom. So we walked out...
Just down the road when we thought all options had evaded us another little Indian restaurant turned up. And boom, it was quiet, had normal plates, and even though it had a buffet... It also had a menu..... Hurrah. We didn't order any meat (food snob) but the veggie options were delish!!!!
Cheap Indian in Niagara Falls 0 - 1 Jess
So any who, we went to bed early after a long day... I feel it was totally justified.
Next day, up with the sun, PANCAKES, COMPLIMENTARY PANCAKES. Winners all-round. With a happy Jess full of pancakes, off we trotted again, a quick Starbucks break then over we walked to Goat island (in-between American falls and the horseshoe ones) and down we went with our sexy cave of wind shoes and ponchos.
Now for those of you who don't know the cave of winds is NOT A CAVE. I learnt this on the day, small bit of false advertising... Apparently it collapsed some time ago. I felt mildly robbed... Anyway so we plunged down a lift and emerged close to the bottom of the American falls and walked closer to them all the time getting more and more wet. It was actually.... Quite fun! We got about 15 feet from the actual falls and got splashed by more that 15feet worth of water I reckon!
Then we popped over to the top of the falls restaurant for a dirty burger and fries and jumped on the trolley to go on the maid of the mist. Now it's not the longest boat ride but it's super fun! Again you get wet... It's a big selling point of the falls you see.
All in all the falls are big and wet and pretty amazing!
We had tea at the Hard Rock Cafe. I had the worst mojito of my life. It cost far too much money. Then we went back to the hostel. Another early night as we had a Very early start this morning to catch a 6.35am train to New York.
We have now arrived and can see the Empire State Building from our hostel.
I'm having a GREAT TIME. :D I'm pretty sure mike is too.
Catch you soon!
Xxxxx Jess
Ps. Not many pics as I took a disposable to the falls...
Location:Niagara Falls
Sunday, 6 July 2014
Uncle Samtrak
So we've left Chicago, stuffed full of deep-dish pizza and wonderful memories.
As I type, we are coming to the end of a 10.5hr train journey from Chicago to Buffalo in upstate New York. We then have a 6 hour layover in Buffalo before we head to Niagara Falls. Speaking to people in the queue for the Buffalo train, the falls are apparently way better from the Canadian side, so we'll see if we can get across the border.
The Amtrak train and service has been a pleasant surprise. Picking up all our various tickets was a doddle, and for some journeys we can check our bags. In the carriage, the chairs recline quite a bit, plus there is an extension and foot stool, which made sleeping much easier. Jess said I looked like a dog all curled up trying to sleep (I cannot sleep sat up). I'm going to assume she meant a cute dog...
We had doughnut holes and coffee for breakfast on the train. They'll make a nice addition to my developing 'pizza-belly'. :)
Update:
We pulled into Buffalo-Depew station and decided to have a wander. After 3 odd miles, we found a huge charity shop for war veterans, a motel, various haulage shops and various masonry shops. Basically, do not come to Buffalo-Depew for a good time.
Mike.
As I type, we are coming to the end of a 10.5hr train journey from Chicago to Buffalo in upstate New York. We then have a 6 hour layover in Buffalo before we head to Niagara Falls. Speaking to people in the queue for the Buffalo train, the falls are apparently way better from the Canadian side, so we'll see if we can get across the border.
The Amtrak train and service has been a pleasant surprise. Picking up all our various tickets was a doddle, and for some journeys we can check our bags. In the carriage, the chairs recline quite a bit, plus there is an extension and foot stool, which made sleeping much easier. Jess said I looked like a dog all curled up trying to sleep (I cannot sleep sat up). I'm going to assume she meant a cute dog...
We had doughnut holes and coffee for breakfast on the train. They'll make a nice addition to my developing 'pizza-belly'. :)
Update:
We pulled into Buffalo-Depew station and decided to have a wander. After 3 odd miles, we found a huge charity shop for war veterans, a motel, various haulage shops and various masonry shops. Basically, do not come to Buffalo-Depew for a good time.
Mike.
Friday, 4 July 2014
Chic a go go.
The first post from abroad. Exciting!
We'll so far so amazing. (Apart from the stressful queues in immigration whilst on a short stop over in Philly... I nearly posted a rant called 'I'm a tourist not a terrorist' but mike thought it wouldn't be wise... As always he is the voice of reason.)
So having been in Chicago for three days we are fairly sure we have done most of what we want to do here and can just hang out and relax for a bit in the glorious sun. So we are currently sat in the amazing millennium park, shoes off and being very social on our phones, thanks to PARK WIFI. Amazing. There is wifi everywhere here. It's pretty epic.
It's the 4th of July and all Americans are celebrating independence from us Brits so the place is full of American flags on clothing etc, there's even a guy in the park draped in a flag asking people how they feel about America and filming it, probably for an artsy student type project. It's fairly entertaining. Later we will be having a free BBQ courtesy of our hostel and then straining our necks and watching some fireworks for our last night in Chicago. :(
I have to say, Chicago has it all. There is so much to see and do here and the pizza is undeniably WOW. (With two literally under our belts I can say it's easily the best pizza of my life, and I'm not even keen usually)
So we arrived on Tuesday night about 9pm here (3am at home) I was exhausted and convinced mike to get a taxi from the airport. Staying north of the city means it wasn't too expensive a journey and I stand by the decision. It caused no arguments, which with a tired and grumpy all travelled out Jess was a pure victory!
Our accommodation is very basic! But it's very clean and the bathrooms are pretty nice for a hostel. We even get a free breakfast which consists of a bagel and some cereal but I'm not complaining, I love bagels!!
The second of July was spent visiting the willis tower ( previously known as the Sears tower- it's something to do with the British company leasing a large amount of space and the contract they singed saying they could change it. It's nice to see that Brits are still conquering parts of the new world and claiming them as their own ;) ). We then popped over to the aquarium which made me feel awful after seeing a sad sea lion... It was blind though and had been rescued which made me feel a bit better. But on the whole it was a good place, got to touch a sting ray.... I freaked out a bit, it feels like wet slug. Gross.
We then went for pizza that was huge in gino's east just of the magnificent mile (Oxford circus of Chicago). It was epic- you can write on the wall, it's also where we found out Murray had lost... Wah. I stupidly ordered a side that came with its own side of fries.
Only in America.
We treated ourselves to an early night then due to full bellies and jet lag!!
The third was a more civilised day, we went on an expensive boat architecture tour. I took a million photos then we went wandering in the millennium park ( we saw the famous bean!) and then the art centre in Chicago. We went into the Magritte exhibit which was surreal...ism. It was pretty awesome seeing a few VERY famous bits and bobs! We then went back to the park and listened to the warm up for that evening free concert.
We then meandered down the mile again to the John Hancock centre and grabbed a coffee at the top and took in the view for a good hour or so ( it was mostly so I could rest my feet).
Today was the field museum which is natural history. It was ok... I think it's aimed at families. But we did get to meet sue... A very big t-Rex. Cool. Then we ambled down the shore line to the park. (I love this park!)
So this city is awesome. It's been a great start so far. Epically enjoying it but my feet are in shreds.
Anyway let's get our 4th of July on. There's a huge bottle of Disaronno with my name on calling...
Xxx Jess
Ps. We will be following hurricane Arthur down the coast apparently :/ bye bye sunshine. Glad we brought macs!!!
We'll so far so amazing. (Apart from the stressful queues in immigration whilst on a short stop over in Philly... I nearly posted a rant called 'I'm a tourist not a terrorist' but mike thought it wouldn't be wise... As always he is the voice of reason.)
So having been in Chicago for three days we are fairly sure we have done most of what we want to do here and can just hang out and relax for a bit in the glorious sun. So we are currently sat in the amazing millennium park, shoes off and being very social on our phones, thanks to PARK WIFI. Amazing. There is wifi everywhere here. It's pretty epic.
It's the 4th of July and all Americans are celebrating independence from us Brits so the place is full of American flags on clothing etc, there's even a guy in the park draped in a flag asking people how they feel about America and filming it, probably for an artsy student type project. It's fairly entertaining. Later we will be having a free BBQ courtesy of our hostel and then straining our necks and watching some fireworks for our last night in Chicago. :(
I have to say, Chicago has it all. There is so much to see and do here and the pizza is undeniably WOW. (With two literally under our belts I can say it's easily the best pizza of my life, and I'm not even keen usually)
So we arrived on Tuesday night about 9pm here (3am at home) I was exhausted and convinced mike to get a taxi from the airport. Staying north of the city means it wasn't too expensive a journey and I stand by the decision. It caused no arguments, which with a tired and grumpy all travelled out Jess was a pure victory!
Our accommodation is very basic! But it's very clean and the bathrooms are pretty nice for a hostel. We even get a free breakfast which consists of a bagel and some cereal but I'm not complaining, I love bagels!!
The second of July was spent visiting the willis tower ( previously known as the Sears tower- it's something to do with the British company leasing a large amount of space and the contract they singed saying they could change it. It's nice to see that Brits are still conquering parts of the new world and claiming them as their own ;) ). We then popped over to the aquarium which made me feel awful after seeing a sad sea lion... It was blind though and had been rescued which made me feel a bit better. But on the whole it was a good place, got to touch a sting ray.... I freaked out a bit, it feels like wet slug. Gross.
We then went for pizza that was huge in gino's east just of the magnificent mile (Oxford circus of Chicago). It was epic- you can write on the wall, it's also where we found out Murray had lost... Wah. I stupidly ordered a side that came with its own side of fries.
Only in America.
We treated ourselves to an early night then due to full bellies and jet lag!!
The third was a more civilised day, we went on an expensive boat architecture tour. I took a million photos then we went wandering in the millennium park ( we saw the famous bean!) and then the art centre in Chicago. We went into the Magritte exhibit which was surreal...ism. It was pretty awesome seeing a few VERY famous bits and bobs! We then went back to the park and listened to the warm up for that evening free concert.
We then meandered down the mile again to the John Hancock centre and grabbed a coffee at the top and took in the view for a good hour or so ( it was mostly so I could rest my feet).
Today was the field museum which is natural history. It was ok... I think it's aimed at families. But we did get to meet sue... A very big t-Rex. Cool. Then we ambled down the shore line to the park. (I love this park!)
So this city is awesome. It's been a great start so far. Epically enjoying it but my feet are in shreds.
Anyway let's get our 4th of July on. There's a huge bottle of Disaronno with my name on calling...
Xxx Jess
Ps. We will be following hurricane Arthur down the coast apparently :/ bye bye sunshine. Glad we brought macs!!!
Tuesday, 1 July 2014
First stop... Heathrow
It's here the 1st of July is here. The first official day of the trip!
It started fairly civilised...ly. A reasonable 7am start with showers, coffees and a quick chat with mark and vicky before they left for work and we left ladened down with the surprisingly heavy backpacks. Looking like matching his and hers turtles in
blue and pinkwe set off.
I could feel the hatred from other commuters as we got the tube, I chose to see it as jealousy rather than them having to navigate around the monster luggage! Luckily as soon as we got the Piccadilly line we joined a whole host of people making the same route to Heathrow(BABY).
So we have just checked in, said ta'ra to our bags, gone through security and had a loo break. Now we are waiting for our breakfast in a overcrowded bar/cafe in Terminal 3 Heathrow (with rounded knives... Silly airport) and it still just doesn't feel real.
The magnitude of what we are about to do has NOT sunk in. I'm not sure when it will, I think it's because having never been to America before I have no idea what to expect. I just I've also shoved the trip to the back of my mind as I have had
ALOTof other things on my mind, like being unemployed, moving to Cardiff and cleaning for what felt like an eternity to ensure we get the deposit back (vital money we need to live on when we get back!!) I've been trying to not get to excited because generally then I find it really hard to sleep.
Christmas Eve is the worst... I know Santa isn't real ( or is he ) but Christmas is too exciting to accidentally sleep through!!! What if you miss it?
So it's been put out of my head.....
Foods here.
I just paused for the most anaemic breakfast I've ever had... It was pretty gross. I had bubble and squeak that just tasted like old food. It was gray...Why can airport restaurants get away with having sucky food! And why hasn't Jamie Oliver revolutionised it yet?! He's done it everywhere else pretty much. I begrudge paying this bill.
1 hour until take off. Two flights. Hope we don't lose our bags aha. Not funny.
Anyway so to summarise... We are at the airport and it doesn't feel real.
Love you all, wish us luck on our flights.
Jess xxx
It started fairly civilised...ly. A reasonable 7am start with showers, coffees and a quick chat with mark and vicky before they left for work and we left ladened down with the surprisingly heavy backpacks. Looking like matching his and hers turtles in
blue and pinkwe set off.
I could feel the hatred from other commuters as we got the tube, I chose to see it as jealousy rather than them having to navigate around the monster luggage! Luckily as soon as we got the Piccadilly line we joined a whole host of people making the same route to Heathrow(BABY).
So we have just checked in, said ta'ra to our bags, gone through security and had a loo break. Now we are waiting for our breakfast in a overcrowded bar/cafe in Terminal 3 Heathrow (with rounded knives... Silly airport) and it still just doesn't feel real.
The magnitude of what we are about to do has NOT sunk in. I'm not sure when it will, I think it's because having never been to America before I have no idea what to expect. I just I've also shoved the trip to the back of my mind as I have had
ALOTof other things on my mind, like being unemployed, moving to Cardiff and cleaning for what felt like an eternity to ensure we get the deposit back (vital money we need to live on when we get back!!) I've been trying to not get to excited because generally then I find it really hard to sleep.
Christmas Eve is the worst... I know Santa isn't real ( or is he ) but Christmas is too exciting to accidentally sleep through!!! What if you miss it?
So it's been put out of my head.....
Foods here.
I just paused for the most anaemic breakfast I've ever had... It was pretty gross. I had bubble and squeak that just tasted like old food. It was gray...Why can airport restaurants get away with having sucky food! And why hasn't Jamie Oliver revolutionised it yet?! He's done it everywhere else pretty much. I begrudge paying this bill.
1 hour until take off. Two flights. Hope we don't lose our bags aha. Not funny.
Anyway so to summarise... We are at the airport and it doesn't feel real.
Love you all, wish us luck on our flights.
Jess xxx
Location:Heathrow
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