Jul 05

Managed to get up reasonably early and we decided to do the hop on/hop off bus tour seeing the sights we missed out yesterday.The bonus is you get a better look around places you wouldnt normally notice like where Ronald Reagan was shot.First was a look around the National Cathedral which is one of the highest points in Washington and gives you great views over the city.Then onto Georgetown where theres some great places to go shopping and down to the canal where there was a barge being pulled horses.Next we headed over to the White House and it was suprisingly how close you can get to the front of it,and how close it is to the centre of downtown.Pretty much the rest of the places we passed we had seen yesterday but it was still a worthwhile trip.

Jefferson Memorial

The White House

The White House

Massive Hangover today and more piss taking from Jill.We had originally planned on getting up early and go on the bus trip around but neither Simon or I felt well enough till at least till 12pm and by then it was roasting hot.Still we did manage to see quite alot in the day but did alot of sitting down drinking and having rests.We walked past the FBI Building before heading to the US Capitol Building and then spent an hour and a half outof the heat in the Air and Space Museum.Next was a walk over to the Washington Monument and World War II Memorial which was very impressive and then the Lincoln Memorial.We had thought about sticking around to see everything light up in the dark but were all to tired by then.

Lincoln Memorial

Washington Monument and Reflecting Pool

World War II Memorial

World War II Memorial

Washington Monument

Smithothian Castle

US Capitol Building

Stopped off for a short while in Baltimore much to Jill and my disgust but due to the heat and nothing to see we continued the drive to Washington.Yet more fun at the hostel we had booked into as the 6 bed dorms we had thought we were staying in didnt exist and all they had were 9 bed dorms with the beds being stacked 3 high.And guess whos on top risking breaking his neck by falling out of bed because theres no safety rail to protect me from falling out.YES ME.
Which brings me to the events of monday night.
Jill got chatting to James a guy from wales at the hostel and all 4 of us went out for a meal first followed by going into a pub across the road from the hostel.Initially i thought it would be a quiet drink or two and especially as it was empty but how wrong i was.Between Simon and i we bought 3 rounds of drinks but the barman proceeded to give us either free beer or shots to drink.It wasnt long before simon and james were being sick in the pub shortly followed by me.Jill on the other hand paid me back for the other night and was laughing at both of us with her feeling fine.Stumbling to the hostel around 1.30am i managed somehow to get into bed nearly standing on a womens head in the process but after 5 minutes felt very ill and made it to the toilet and ended up waking up at 5am on the floor of the toilet.

Nobody was to sure what to expect in Philadelphia.I had researched it last night and hadnt found anywhere i really wanted to go and see.We were fairly central with the hotel we were staying in and everything was a fairly short walkaway.First we went to see the Liberty Bell which is now in a small building next to Independence Hall,then had a walk around looking for other places sites to see and stumpled across the steps that sylvester stallone ran up in Rocky III.The pinnacle of the trip so far.Only joking!!!!!!

The Rocky III Steps

Independence Hall

Liberty Bell

Philadelphia

JFK Plaza Memorial

Philadelphia Art Gallery

Philadelphia Art Gallery

World War II Memorial

Philadelphia

Philadelphia

Woke up with a throbbing headache around 4am but after eventually find some headache tablets in the bottom of my rucksack it had nearly disappeared by the time i woke up again at 10am.Suprisingly i didnt feel as ill as i thought i would considering i was drinking from 6pm to 2am.After the short drive to philadelphia with Jill being sick enroute (oh and it was just us 2 out on the beers last night) the rest of the day was spend crashed out in the hotel.

A chilled out day walking around the few shops they have here followed by one hell of a night drinking cocktails,beer and some other drink that a couple in a bar bought us containing half a pint of guinness and then a shot glass with jaimesons whisky and baileys which you drop in the guinness glass and down in one.Mine was down in seconds but suprisingly Jill struggled with hers and well thats just say after looking at her face afterwards she looked very much the worse for wear.Thats all happened in the Irish Pub where we are staying and also that night i met some fantastic people including Andrew,Jeremy and their mates out on a batchelor party.(Good luck with the wedding jeremy).

Time to move on again even though you could spend weeks in New York and still find new places to visit.What can i say about Atlantic City? Well it certainly wasnt my prefered choice thats for sure.Casinos dont interest me at all and i dont see the fascination in spending all day in them lik some people do.The benefits were though that we were right next to the beach and we could get very cheap drinks in the bar below where we are staying.

I decided to have a day to myself today. After walking through Central Park yesterday and seeing loads of runners and cyclists I had the buzz again to don my running gear, its just a shame I didn’t have the bike with me. The heat was unbearable and at first my shins started hurting but once id done a lap around the reservoir I was feeling better and then headed over to ‘Strawberry Fields’ garden and mosaic in honour of John Lennon. After feeling very hot and tired by then I casually walked the 34 blocks back to the hostel to relax for a few hours.As it was our last night here we headed down to Times Square to take some photos as you can see.

Times Square

Times Square

Times Square

Times Square

Times Square

Times Square

Rockerfeller Center

Possibly one of the Top 5 best days of the trip so far. Yet another tall building for me today, this one being The Empire State Building. It stands at a height of 1,454 feet or 86 floors and the last 6 floors we walked up to save us queuing. It didn’t seem that high at all really and although we had fairly poor visibility it was still possible to get some great views of New York. I did the audio tour which was also well worth the extra money and it gave a very good insight into all the different places to see and a short history on them to like where the Titanic should of docked.

The metal high fence was where the Titanic was meant to dock

Looking down on New York from the Empire State Building

Chrysler Building seen from the Empire State Building

View from the Empire State Building

View from the Empire State Building

Next was a walk around Maceys the largest store in the world but for once I managed to keep my credit card in my pocket. After eating we rushed over to meet Nancy who is a friend of Simon and Jill and she took us on a very enjoyable walk firstly back to her apartment followed by all 4 of us and her dog Nathan walking along the river. It is so much more enjoyable when someone local is showing you points of interest that you wouldn’t normally see. The night came to a very nice end by having a lovely Vietnamese meal followed by a beer listening to a very entertaining blues band.

Alice in Wonderland statue in a park in New York

Did not wake up till around 10.30am after not getting much sleep the previous 2 nights. On the list of places to see today were Ground Zero where the Twin Towers once stood, The Statue Of Liberty and The Brooklyn Bridge. Standing at Ground Zero/The World Trade Centre was really strange and its really hard trying to imagine these two huge towers once standing here if you never saw them in real life and especially now when its just one huge hole. Some buildings around it are still being rebuilt or repaired and that’s after nearly 4 years later.

Globe that was retrieved from one of the twin towers

Where the towers once stood

Memorial Cross from the Twin Towers

Memorial Cross from the Twin Towers

World Trade Center Station

World Trade Center Station and behind where the twin towers once stood

After that we headed down to see about going over to Liberty Island where the Statue Of Liberty stands but then we decided to go on a boat trip that took us on a 1 hour sightseeing tour. We had fantastic views of The Empire State Building and Chrysler Tower and many other skyscrapers of New York, and then past Ellis Island and The Statue Of Liberty before going under The Brooklyn Bridge and then back to shore. It was definitely worth the $12 we paid considering going up the statue is about the same price and according to Simon the queues are always horrendous and you get a split second to look through 3 small scratched windows and that’s it.

Brooklyn Bridge

Statue of Liberty

Ellis Island

New York skyscrapers

New York skyscrapers

New York

New York

New York

Lighthouse from where the titanic was meant to dock

New York

New York Stock Exchange Building

George Washington Statue

Wall Street

World War 2 Statue

We took in a few more sights after that like walking down Wall Street and past The Federal Reserve Bank before heading to a bar that Simon and Jill had been to on there last trip here. Just before we were about to leave to head back to the hostel 2 women from New Jersey asked us if we would like another drink, which funnily enough didn’t take us a lot of persuading, so we stuck around for an hour or so. Instead of heading back and getting changed we all decided to stay out for the night and then as usual found the nearest bar.

I drove into New York while Simon navigated and it wasn’t as bad as I imagined although having said that it is Sunday and we are about 3 miles from downtown. Parking though was another matter as on certain days they sweep the roads so we had to keep driving around before we eventually found somewhere. Finding a needle in a haystack springs to mind and would be easier. The hostel we had booked into ‘Jazz on the Park’ had good reviews so we were hoping it would be nice but how wrong we were. The staff were not very helpful and to make matters worse they put us in a 12 bed room the size of a rabbit hutch until we complained and told them we had booked a 4 bed room. Still at least we were in New York and once we were sorted and changed we headed downtown. My first experience of New York was the subway, it makes London Underground look like a palace and so hi-tech. It wasn’t the nicest of experiences but upon getting downtown we headed to Times Square. The lights and tall buildings are the first thing that hit you and I stood open mouthed for awhile trying to take everything in. Its so hard explaining whats its really like unless you’ve seen it for yourself before, and then the amount of people for a Sunday night was unbelievable. Eventually I started coming to terms with where I really was and the size of it and we managed to relax in a bar before heading back to the hostel.

Walked around the grounds of Harvard University and spent the rest of the day booking places to stay in advance.

Not too much to write about today.Simon and Jill went to the cinema and i sat on Boston Common reading my book and then had a walk around the shops.We did find the 'Cheers' pub where the tv programme was made and had a pint there but to be honest after having good impressions on this place at first theres not really to much to see here.Although the hostel is very nice.My mind at the moment is on the Tour De France though which im missing soooooooooooo much,but when i do have an internet connection at least i get live audio commentary.

After getting here fairly late and then settling into the hostel and then chatting to our aussie room mate Mac we were suprisingly all up fairly early and just made breakfast in time before 10am,although the choice was pretty poor.
We did the usual walkabout tour of the place that normally happens on the first day and then followed the Freedom Trail around Boston which takes you to several landmarks,although to be honest most were pretty boring ie things like churches mainly.It doesnt really seem to have to much to offer here in the way of seeing things.The trail took us to the USS Constitution warship and the Bunker Hill Monument but nowhere else interested me to much.
Upon getting back to the hostel i didnt realise how badly i had caught the sun and my neck was glowing red so i spent some time smothered in aftersun.
The bargain of the day was spotted by our aussie room mate who noticed the pizza parlour around the corner doing pitchers of beer for $4 compared to around the usual $11-$15 we paid.So the 4 of us sat down on the patio and all got drunk and to our benefit the guys working there kept bringing us out free beer as well.After a fabulous night out i crashed out at 3.30am.

Yet another very long and this time boring drive. Nobody got much sleep due to us all being worried about border control not letting us into America. Talk about feeling intimidated and feeling like you had done something wrong. The woman that was dealing with us had a face like a bulldog chewing a thistle, and its times like this I just want to laugh. Also not helping was the huge photo of ‘The Weapons Of Mass Destruction King Himself Mr George Dubya Bush’ looking like he had a hot poker stuck up his arse. Anyway now it was Question Time with your host Miss Bulldog The Thistle Chewer.

‘So Mr Sanford why would you want to pack in your job and sell your house and go travelling’.

My reply ‘Erm because I want a life where I can see the world and not intimidate people and not be a pen pushing miserable bitch like you’. WRONG ANSWER.

The correct answer is ‘Because coming to America will educate you and make you a better person’ or in other words they will corrupt my brain and scramble my mind into a complete mess. Then it was questions like

‘How much money do you have?
And my answer is “Mind your flippin business”.

And do you have any firearms? ‘Yeah I have 3 rifles and a box of grenades stuck up my arse, jesus of course I bloody don’t.

After around an hour and paying them $6 they let us in to America. We were meeting one of Simons mates later in Biddeford and he very kindly took us all out for dinner and not known to us it was a place called Kennebunkport and also known as George Bush Senior land. So after that it was then onto Boston and finally we got to the HI Hostel in Boston at 11pm and first impressions were very good.