Today Nick and I split up. He wanted to go to the Empire State building (and I was not standing in those queues again!) among other places while I wanted to go to the Statue of Liberty and Ellis Island (he was quite happy to see them from the free Staten Island ferry).
It was Saturday and they were doing work on some of the sections of the subway lines so it took forever to get down to South Ferry. By the time I eventually got there I was much later than I wanted to be but the queues for tickets weren’t that bad so I was quite relieved. I became a bit more concerned when they announced that there were no more tickets left for getting into the statue of Liberty museum then I went to stand in the line for the actual ferry and I realized why! It was one of the longest lines I’ve ever seen. It took us an hour and a half before we got to go through security and board the ferry. Craziness! Coincidentally the lady standing behind me in the line was originally from South Africa although she’s lived in the USA for the past 20 years.
Eventually we headed off for Liberty Island. Lady Liberty is really impressive up close – she’s huge! In some ways I was really glad I couldn’t go into the museum – the line for that on the island was also nuts! So I was quite happy to admire the statue, read about her history and construction, admire the views of Manhattan and then head off to Ellis Island.
Ellis Island is where the majority of immigrants to the USA were processed before being allowed in. They've restored it and turned it into a museum where you can see the long and fairly arduous process that people had to go through before being admitted to the US. It was all very interesting although I think it's probably more relevant and moving for Americans with immigrant ancestors. What I found very interesting was the fac that they said this was the largest human migration ever in History!
I then had to queue again to get a ferry back to NY and by this stage I was exhausted! Everything had also taken much longer than I had anticipated (it was already 5pm) and I was sick of standing in queues so I just went back to the hostel and had a quiet night in reading Shantaram (by Gregory David Roberts - I highly recommend it if you haven't read it)
Monday, July 28, 2008
Day 2 in NY!
Nick is a pain in the butt to get out of bed in the morning if he doesn’t want to wake up! This was one of those mornings. Eventually we got going and went off to the Cathedral of St John the Divine. I think it's America's largest Gothic Cathedral or something along those lines. Whatever it is, it was very impressive! It’s huge and there are such beautiful stained glass windows. It looks like it belongs in Europe to be perfectly honest – not on the upper west side of NY! We couldn't see the whole thing because they had a fire in 2001 and half the cathedral was shut off because they were replacing the organ. So next time I go to NY I’m definitely going to have a look at it again. Unfortunately when I got there I realised that I didn't have my camera battery so I couldn’t take any pictures which was quite irritating! I was not about to spend the whole day sightseeing without my camera so we went back to the hostel to fetch it before carrying on to Central Park.
Central Park is huge and very confusing. I wasn’t always sure where we were even though I had a map. Inside the park the first thing we went to see was the Strawberry Fields which is the John Lennon Memorial. There’s a very pretty garden around it and in the middle of the walkway is a mosaic with the word ‘Imagine’ in it. Someone had decorated it with flowers and petals. I’m not sure if it’s always like that but it looked really pretty. We then wondered down through the park to the classic carousel to have a look and then got lost on our way to the mall which is the main, tree-lined walkway through the park.
On the advice of my guidebook we headed off to Barney Greengrass the Sturgeon King for smoked salmon and cream cheese bagels which were divine. In true American style they were definitely not stingy with the salmon either. He (or his father or whoever owned the store before him) is credited with creating the smoked salmon and cream cheese bagel. I think he deserves a culinary Oscar – it’s a fabulous invention!
We then headed off to Central Park again to see another section of it (I said it was huge!). First stop was Belvedere Castle. I’m not to sure why it’s in the middle of the park but you got a really good view from it! Plus I call Andrew (my brother) Belvedere sometimes so I decided I had to have a look. On our way down to the road there was an old guy on a bench who was also feeding the squirrels. After last time I decided against that idea and just settled for watching them instead. There’s a really cool statue of Alice in Wonderland in Central park as well as one of Hans Christian Anderson. They were both by a pretty pond that people were sailing little remote control sailing boats on – very picturesque! By the Alice in Wonderland statue there was a group of Jazz musicians who were really good! They had pulled in quite a crowd so we stayed and listened to them for a while.
Central Park is bordered by 5th Avenue on one side so we strolled down there and had a look at all the fancy apartments and expensive shops! The only one we bought stuff in was the Lindt store and they also give you a free sample when you walk in! I dragged Nick into the Ferragamo store to have a look. I think some of the prices shocked him! He said that the handbags price tags should have SQ on them!
Our last stop for the day was Times Square where we watched the Dark Knight in the most ridiculously huge cinema complex. I thought it was fantastic! The audience was entertaining too – cheering during certain parts of the movie and then clapping at the end. After the movie we headed out into the chaos that is Times Square at night so Nick could take some pictures. I was very glad when we got out of there and onto the train back to the hostel.
Central Park is huge and very confusing. I wasn’t always sure where we were even though I had a map. Inside the park the first thing we went to see was the Strawberry Fields which is the John Lennon Memorial. There’s a very pretty garden around it and in the middle of the walkway is a mosaic with the word ‘Imagine’ in it. Someone had decorated it with flowers and petals. I’m not sure if it’s always like that but it looked really pretty. We then wondered down through the park to the classic carousel to have a look and then got lost on our way to the mall which is the main, tree-lined walkway through the park.
On the advice of my guidebook we headed off to Barney Greengrass the Sturgeon King for smoked salmon and cream cheese bagels which were divine. In true American style they were definitely not stingy with the salmon either. He (or his father or whoever owned the store before him) is credited with creating the smoked salmon and cream cheese bagel. I think he deserves a culinary Oscar – it’s a fabulous invention!
We then headed off to Central Park again to see another section of it (I said it was huge!). First stop was Belvedere Castle. I’m not to sure why it’s in the middle of the park but you got a really good view from it! Plus I call Andrew (my brother) Belvedere sometimes so I decided I had to have a look. On our way down to the road there was an old guy on a bench who was also feeding the squirrels. After last time I decided against that idea and just settled for watching them instead. There’s a really cool statue of Alice in Wonderland in Central park as well as one of Hans Christian Anderson. They were both by a pretty pond that people were sailing little remote control sailing boats on – very picturesque! By the Alice in Wonderland statue there was a group of Jazz musicians who were really good! They had pulled in quite a crowd so we stayed and listened to them for a while.
Central Park is bordered by 5th Avenue on one side so we strolled down there and had a look at all the fancy apartments and expensive shops! The only one we bought stuff in was the Lindt store and they also give you a free sample when you walk in! I dragged Nick into the Ferragamo store to have a look. I think some of the prices shocked him! He said that the handbags price tags should have SQ on them!
Our last stop for the day was Times Square where we watched the Dark Knight in the most ridiculously huge cinema complex. I thought it was fantastic! The audience was entertaining too – cheering during certain parts of the movie and then clapping at the end. After the movie we headed out into the chaos that is Times Square at night so Nick could take some pictures. I was very glad when we got out of there and onto the train back to the hostel.
Thoughts on Hostels... particularly the NY one!
The reason I haven’t posted much on NY yet is that the silly hostel we were staying at in NY only had one computer! Needless to say it was difficult enough to get time on it to check my email let alone find the time required to update my blog. So I didn’t. Now we’re in Boston and back in a Hostelling International hostel so there are way more computers! Hostelling International may be more expensive than the independent hostels but at least you know what you’re getting – there seems to be a reasonable standard.
That said you really can’t beat $27 per night for a bed in NY so I wont complain too much. Even though the phrase ‘not enough room to swing a cat’ instantly comes to mind. The bathrooms were seriously tiny. For example, if you wanted to get out of the toilet stall and go to the sink you actually had to walk out the door into the corridor because there wasn’t enough room to get round the toilet door with the door to the bathroom closed. It was an experience! Keep in mind that these were shared bathrooms – one female one for the whole floor! You could fit a max of 2 people in there at one time.
Our Hostel in NY was in Harlem. It was called the 5th Ave Spot which sounded promising until you realise that 5th ave goes all the way up Manhattan Island! It’s definitely and ‘interesting’ part of NY! It’s older and the part we were in was definitely quite run down but everyone was really friendly especially the lady in Starbucks (I was suffering from tea withdrawal). Last time I posted I mentioned that Nick and I were going out for proper NY pizza. Well the one place that my guide book suggested was not far from us in Harlem so we headed off there. It was quite funny! I think Nick was way more nervous than I was walking there and back. We got some odd looks from people because we were definitely out of place there but it was 6pm and light and not too bad! I felt much safer there than I do walking around town in Durban.
The restaurant was very unpretentious to put it mildly! There were plastic cups and plates (metal cutlery though) and paper on top of the tablecloths. When we walked in we could tell it would be good though because the clientele were definitely not your Harlem locals! And it was - the pizza was awesome! It was huge (16”) but with a very thin base. They served it on the metal trays it was baked on and when it arrived it was piping hot. I just had a basic Margarita with garlic and fresh basil and I can honestly say it was one of the best pizzas I’ve ever had.
And in case you were wondering – no I didn’t finish it!
That said you really can’t beat $27 per night for a bed in NY so I wont complain too much. Even though the phrase ‘not enough room to swing a cat’ instantly comes to mind. The bathrooms were seriously tiny. For example, if you wanted to get out of the toilet stall and go to the sink you actually had to walk out the door into the corridor because there wasn’t enough room to get round the toilet door with the door to the bathroom closed. It was an experience! Keep in mind that these were shared bathrooms – one female one for the whole floor! You could fit a max of 2 people in there at one time.
Our Hostel in NY was in Harlem. It was called the 5th Ave Spot which sounded promising until you realise that 5th ave goes all the way up Manhattan Island! It’s definitely and ‘interesting’ part of NY! It’s older and the part we were in was definitely quite run down but everyone was really friendly especially the lady in Starbucks (I was suffering from tea withdrawal). Last time I posted I mentioned that Nick and I were going out for proper NY pizza. Well the one place that my guide book suggested was not far from us in Harlem so we headed off there. It was quite funny! I think Nick was way more nervous than I was walking there and back. We got some odd looks from people because we were definitely out of place there but it was 6pm and light and not too bad! I felt much safer there than I do walking around town in Durban.
The restaurant was very unpretentious to put it mildly! There were plastic cups and plates (metal cutlery though) and paper on top of the tablecloths. When we walked in we could tell it would be good though because the clientele were definitely not your Harlem locals! And it was - the pizza was awesome! It was huge (16”) but with a very thin base. They served it on the metal trays it was baked on and when it arrived it was piping hot. I just had a basic Margarita with garlic and fresh basil and I can honestly say it was one of the best pizzas I’ve ever had.
And in case you were wondering – no I didn’t finish it!
Thursday, July 24, 2008
New York, New York!
Last night when we left the hostel it was raining! So by the time we got to the bus stop both Nick and I were rather wet - and wearing white t-shirts! The bus ride was ok -not the most comfortable trip ever but at least I had 2 seats to myself. We were both asleep when we arrived in NY this morning at 5am so the bus driver had to come and wake us up! The rest of the bus was deserted.
We went straight through to our hostel which is in Harlem on 5th Ave... it's an interesting neighbourhood! Initially they couldn't find our reservation which was annoying. We ended up waiting for ages for them to get sorted out which they eventually did (after about 45mins). We weren't in as bad a position as another poor guy who was there though - he came in when we did only to find there was someone sleeping in his bed! Then the next bed they gave him also had someone sleeping in it. Eventually we were checked in and there was no one sleeping in our room so we got to go up (even though we were technically only supposed to check in at 1pm). I was soooo happy! I promptly went to sleep for the next 2.5 hours and woke up feeling much better.
Today Nick wanted to 'get a feel for the city' so we went wondering around. Our first stop was Times Square (which was a bit tricky to find - I was having issues orientating myself!). We then wet off to find Ground Zero. There's just this huge space left in the middle of the city which is quite wierd. It's all a massive construction site now - the posters say the new tower will be finished by 2012. We then walked down to Wall St and the NYSE. I'm still amazed how tiny Wall Street actually is! I've always pictured it as much bigger and grander. We got half way down Wall St when I decided I wanted to find the bull. I've always thought it was on Wall St and that I'd missed it! But we got directions from a friendly dude in a shoe repair store and he pointed us in the right direction. Around the bull was tourist central - everyone was taking pictures with it!
On the way to catch the subway Nick had proper NY hotdogs for lunch which he said were excellent! We caught the subway to Brooklyn and walked back across the Brooklyn Bridge which was so pretty! I figured it makes far more sense to walk across the bridge looking at Manhattan than the other way around. After our stroll across the bridge we had come to the end of my 'plan' so we sat in a park and regrouped and worked out what to do next. Nick wanted to see the Flatiron building so we went to find that and then had a look at Grand Central Station which is awesome!
That completed our 'getting a feel for the city'. Now Nick and I need to sit down and work out what he wants to do that I don't (like waiting in the line for the Empire State building again), what I want to do that he doesn't (like museums...) and what we both want to do. Then I think we're going to go and have some proper NY pizza later tonight.
We went straight through to our hostel which is in Harlem on 5th Ave... it's an interesting neighbourhood! Initially they couldn't find our reservation which was annoying. We ended up waiting for ages for them to get sorted out which they eventually did (after about 45mins). We weren't in as bad a position as another poor guy who was there though - he came in when we did only to find there was someone sleeping in his bed! Then the next bed they gave him also had someone sleeping in it. Eventually we were checked in and there was no one sleeping in our room so we got to go up (even though we were technically only supposed to check in at 1pm). I was soooo happy! I promptly went to sleep for the next 2.5 hours and woke up feeling much better.
Today Nick wanted to 'get a feel for the city' so we went wondering around. Our first stop was Times Square (which was a bit tricky to find - I was having issues orientating myself!). We then wet off to find Ground Zero. There's just this huge space left in the middle of the city which is quite wierd. It's all a massive construction site now - the posters say the new tower will be finished by 2012. We then walked down to Wall St and the NYSE. I'm still amazed how tiny Wall Street actually is! I've always pictured it as much bigger and grander. We got half way down Wall St when I decided I wanted to find the bull. I've always thought it was on Wall St and that I'd missed it! But we got directions from a friendly dude in a shoe repair store and he pointed us in the right direction. Around the bull was tourist central - everyone was taking pictures with it!
On the way to catch the subway Nick had proper NY hotdogs for lunch which he said were excellent! We caught the subway to Brooklyn and walked back across the Brooklyn Bridge which was so pretty! I figured it makes far more sense to walk across the bridge looking at Manhattan than the other way around. After our stroll across the bridge we had come to the end of my 'plan' so we sat in a park and regrouped and worked out what to do next. Nick wanted to see the Flatiron building so we went to find that and then had a look at Grand Central Station which is awesome!
That completed our 'getting a feel for the city'. Now Nick and I need to sit down and work out what he wants to do that I don't (like waiting in the line for the Empire State building again), what I want to do that he doesn't (like museums...) and what we both want to do. Then I think we're going to go and have some proper NY pizza later tonight.
Wednesday, July 23, 2008
Washington day 4
This morning we had to pack and check out before we could go so we nearly ended up missing the walking tour of the DC Monuments that the hostel arranges (for free!!). Luckily we caught up with them just down the road from the hostel. The guide was awesome - he was super knowledgeable and full of interesting facts but wow - he walked fast! I like staying near the front of a tour group so when I turned around a couple of times all I could see was this long line of people strung out behind me!
The major stops (not including the random statues and buildings) were the White House (Washington was the only President not to live in it), the Washington monument (which you can actually go up in), the Jefferson Memorial (which was designed to resemble the Pantheon), the FDR memorial (more later...), the Lincoln Memorial (modelled on the Parthenon), the Korean War Memorial (one of the most interesting) and the Vietnam Memorial (which has the names of all 58000 people who died in Vietnam. Our guide was a Vietnam veteran). Our guide spoke a lot about all the men and what they did. I particularly liked the FDR memorial and I was really impressed with everything he accomplished that is until I learned that he was the one who denied Jews entrance to America in WWII.
After the tour my feet were dying (again) so we parked off on a bench in the park area between the memorials and watched the world go by. There were lots of squirrels around us and our guide had mentioned that they were really tame and would eat out of your hand. So off I went to buy something to feed the squirrels with (trail mix). I was feeding them peanuts and they were really cute until one of them grabbed the peanut and then bit my finger - hard! So I was bleeding all over the show and Nick was shaking his head with an 'I-told-you-so' expression on his face. I maintain that it's not my fault my finger looked like a peanut and the squirrels were really cute!
After getting that little situation under control we headed off for the WWII memorial and just relaxed with our feet in the fountain. I figured we weren't doing anything wrong because the sign said no coins and no wading but nothing about feet! We then headed off to the Holocaust Museum which was excellent. I think Nick got a bit bored because he disappeared ahead of me and I found him waiting on the steps at the end for me looking a little exasperated. But really! What did he expect? - I wasn't about to motor through a place like that. I really liked that it focused on so many of the facts and told the whole story as well as showing elements of the horror - like piles of shoes from Aushwitz and photos of all the human hair that was shaved off before they sent people to the ovens and then sold (gross!)
We're leaving for NY at 11pm tonight and arrive at some ungodly hour in the very early morning.
The major stops (not including the random statues and buildings) were the White House (Washington was the only President not to live in it), the Washington monument (which you can actually go up in), the Jefferson Memorial (which was designed to resemble the Pantheon), the FDR memorial (more later...), the Lincoln Memorial (modelled on the Parthenon), the Korean War Memorial (one of the most interesting) and the Vietnam Memorial (which has the names of all 58000 people who died in Vietnam. Our guide was a Vietnam veteran). Our guide spoke a lot about all the men and what they did. I particularly liked the FDR memorial and I was really impressed with everything he accomplished that is until I learned that he was the one who denied Jews entrance to America in WWII.
After the tour my feet were dying (again) so we parked off on a bench in the park area between the memorials and watched the world go by. There were lots of squirrels around us and our guide had mentioned that they were really tame and would eat out of your hand. So off I went to buy something to feed the squirrels with (trail mix). I was feeding them peanuts and they were really cute until one of them grabbed the peanut and then bit my finger - hard! So I was bleeding all over the show and Nick was shaking his head with an 'I-told-you-so' expression on his face. I maintain that it's not my fault my finger looked like a peanut and the squirrels were really cute!
After getting that little situation under control we headed off for the WWII memorial and just relaxed with our feet in the fountain. I figured we weren't doing anything wrong because the sign said no coins and no wading but nothing about feet! We then headed off to the Holocaust Museum which was excellent. I think Nick got a bit bored because he disappeared ahead of me and I found him waiting on the steps at the end for me looking a little exasperated. But really! What did he expect? - I wasn't about to motor through a place like that. I really liked that it focused on so many of the facts and told the whole story as well as showing elements of the horror - like piles of shoes from Aushwitz and photos of all the human hair that was shaved off before they sent people to the ovens and then sold (gross!)
We're leaving for NY at 11pm tonight and arrive at some ungodly hour in the very early morning.
Day 3 in Washington DC
Please note that my title rhymes! I'm a poet who didn't even know it :-D
Yesterday morning we got up bright and early and made our way over to Mount Vernon - the home of George Washington. We nearly didn't get there quite so bright and early because I forgot that day passes could only be used after 9:30am. Considering we were at the Metro station at 8:30am that was a bit of an issue! Nick was just going to wait until 9:30 but I got over this idea quite quickly and just bought a 1-way ticket for both of us.
At Mount Vernon we watched an introductory video on Mount Vernon and George Washington. Considering that I knew almost absolutely nothing about him before yesterday I was a bit confused during it but I got the general idea! We then went up to have a look at his house which is beautiful and has an awesome view! We had to go on a bit of a round about route because there was quite a storm while we were watching the video and apparently some trees had come down on the normal path. I found this really odd because it was sunny when we went in! After eavesdropping on the National Treasure tour (Mount Vernon's where the President's birthday party was filmed in the second movie. We didn't do the tour because Nick hasn't seen it) we wandered down past the stables to the wharf on the Potomac River and then up to his tomb. What was more impressive was the memorial to all the slaves that are buried on the property. I really liked the museum and education centre because it told you all about the life of Washington in exhibits and short films. They even had his dentures on display! I was impressed that he set his slaves free in his will but hearing the thoughts of descendants of his slaves makes you think about why he didn't do it during his lifetime and why he never fought for the abolition of slavery.
We spent a good part of the day at Mount Vernon and on the Metro on the way back to DC Nick decided that he'd done enough for the day and went off for beers with a Swiss guy, Sam, who we'd met at the hostel. I went off to the National Gallery of Art which was awesome! I saw the only Da Vinci that's in the Western Hemisphere (it's double sided which I found odd) but the highlight was definitely the Impressionists section. There were five Van Gogh's on display including his self portrait. My favourite was one called 'white roses'. They also had an awesome collection of Monet's and I have found a new appreciation for Renoir. The Gallery only had one Dali on display so I went off and found that. It's one I hadn't seen any mention of before (it was called the Crucifixion I think).
The Gallery closed at 5pm so then I went off to the Art and Space museum (which closes at 7:30) to see the rest of the exhibits that I had missed the day before. I'm really glad I did! My favourite exhibit was definitely the exhibit on the Wrights and how they solved the problem of flight - it was fascinating! It was also very cool to see the first plane ever and I was surprised to see how insubstantial it actually was.
I got back to the hostel fairly exhausted but felt revived after my shower so Nick and I decided to go for a walk to see all the monuments lit up at night. It's so nice to be able to walk around a city in the dark and not have to worry. We saw the Washington monument although to be perfectly honest it's quite hard to miss, the Jefferson memorial which was quite spectacular all lit up, the WWII memorial and the Lincoln Memorial. By this stage I was totally finished so we caught a taxi home - the best $12 I spent all day!
Yesterday morning we got up bright and early and made our way over to Mount Vernon - the home of George Washington. We nearly didn't get there quite so bright and early because I forgot that day passes could only be used after 9:30am. Considering we were at the Metro station at 8:30am that was a bit of an issue! Nick was just going to wait until 9:30 but I got over this idea quite quickly and just bought a 1-way ticket for both of us.
At Mount Vernon we watched an introductory video on Mount Vernon and George Washington. Considering that I knew almost absolutely nothing about him before yesterday I was a bit confused during it but I got the general idea! We then went up to have a look at his house which is beautiful and has an awesome view! We had to go on a bit of a round about route because there was quite a storm while we were watching the video and apparently some trees had come down on the normal path. I found this really odd because it was sunny when we went in! After eavesdropping on the National Treasure tour (Mount Vernon's where the President's birthday party was filmed in the second movie. We didn't do the tour because Nick hasn't seen it) we wandered down past the stables to the wharf on the Potomac River and then up to his tomb. What was more impressive was the memorial to all the slaves that are buried on the property. I really liked the museum and education centre because it told you all about the life of Washington in exhibits and short films. They even had his dentures on display! I was impressed that he set his slaves free in his will but hearing the thoughts of descendants of his slaves makes you think about why he didn't do it during his lifetime and why he never fought for the abolition of slavery.
We spent a good part of the day at Mount Vernon and on the Metro on the way back to DC Nick decided that he'd done enough for the day and went off for beers with a Swiss guy, Sam, who we'd met at the hostel. I went off to the National Gallery of Art which was awesome! I saw the only Da Vinci that's in the Western Hemisphere (it's double sided which I found odd) but the highlight was definitely the Impressionists section. There were five Van Gogh's on display including his self portrait. My favourite was one called 'white roses'. They also had an awesome collection of Monet's and I have found a new appreciation for Renoir. The Gallery only had one Dali on display so I went off and found that. It's one I hadn't seen any mention of before (it was called the Crucifixion I think).
The Gallery closed at 5pm so then I went off to the Art and Space museum (which closes at 7:30) to see the rest of the exhibits that I had missed the day before. I'm really glad I did! My favourite exhibit was definitely the exhibit on the Wrights and how they solved the problem of flight - it was fascinating! It was also very cool to see the first plane ever and I was surprised to see how insubstantial it actually was.
I got back to the hostel fairly exhausted but felt revived after my shower so Nick and I decided to go for a walk to see all the monuments lit up at night. It's so nice to be able to walk around a city in the dark and not have to worry. We saw the Washington monument although to be perfectly honest it's quite hard to miss, the Jefferson memorial which was quite spectacular all lit up, the WWII memorial and the Lincoln Memorial. By this stage I was totally finished so we caught a taxi home - the best $12 I spent all day!
Monday, July 21, 2008
I'm in Washington DC!
I know my blogging has been terribly slack as of late but my new-school-year-back-in-San-Diego resolution is to keep it more up to date. So here goes!
At the moment I'm travelling with Nick Westbrook - a friend of mine from SA who now lives in New Zealand (and owns an All Black's shirt - the traitor!). He stayed with me in San Diego for a few days and now we're in Washington DC. I have to add the 'DC' bit because Washington's a state too all the way over on the west coast and if you just say 'Washington' then Americans assume you're talking about the state not the city. We're also going to New York and Boston!
We arrived in Washington bright and early (at about 6am) but then only got into the city a bit later because we had to wait for the bus which only starts at 8am on Sundays. Washington is revoltingly hot. It's humid and sticky and walking around Arlington yesterday I thought I was going to die! literally. We went to the tomb of the unknown soldier which is really impressive - we saw the changing of the watch. Then went to the Kennedy's graves. Nick then wanted to see the Iwo Jima memorial but I passed. I just couldn't handle the heat. Before Arlington we went to the Pentagon which was totally boring. It's just a building with lots of security. We couldn't even take pics of the 911 memorial because there was a security guard arresting some other tourists for taking pictures.
By that stage I was exhausted. I blame it on a lack of sleep and food and extreme heat! All I wanted to do was go back to the hostel and shower! Thankfully that's what we did. I felt soo good afterwards. Later in the evening we met up with Nick's friend, David, from SA at an Irish pub in Chinatown... go figure! It was fun though! As we were leaving I couldn't believe my eyes - across the street there was a Nando's! In Washington! I have pictures to prove it but will have to add them later when I can upload them.
Today was another busy day. We left late because Nick was being lazy this morning so we got going at about 10:30. Thankfully it didn't seem as hot as yesterday although it was still really hot and humid! We went up the tower in the old Post building first and got some very cool views of Washington. Then we went off to the Air and Space Museum. I really liked it! There were so many interesting exhibits. The hostel has a file of things to do in the area and they recommended the museum and the show 'Cosmic Collisions' in the Einstein planetarium there. It was absolutely fascinating! They showed a theory on how the moon was formed (a big meteorite smashes into a young earth and all the matter that's dislodged orbits the earth until it coalesces to form the moon!), how the dinosaurs were wiped out, the predicted future of the Milky Way (combining with Andromeda to form an even bigger galaxy) etc. It was also really good to sit down for a while! Afterwards we went back and looked at some more of the exhibits but then Nick decided he was over the Museum so we went and got some McDonalds for lunch and then went walking!
First stop was Capitol Hill and the Capitol - very impressive - followed by the Supreme Court (which let us in to have a look). There were some protesters outside. We're still not too sure what they were protesting but they all had red tape over their mouths with the word 'life' on it. We the walked back down the National Mall to the National Archives. We queued to get in but it moved fairly quickly so it wasn't so bad. Then we had to queue to see the Declaration of Independence in the Rotunda and that took forever! But at least it was airconditioned. The Rotunda houses the Declaration of Independence, the Constitution and the Bill of Rights. The Constitution is in really good condition and still looks very impressive but the Declaration and Bill of Rights are both so faded from being displayed over the years that there's hardly anything to see! I asked the one security guard if what was in 'National Treasure' was true and the Declaration of Independence gets lowered into a vault below the Rotunda each night but my answer was 'I don't know nothing about no National Treasure' which was really funny! She obviously was avoiding the question entirely. Then we walked along to see Georgie's house. I was not impressed! The Americans are so paranoid about security that you can only see it from really far away and you have to look across the gardens so you only see the centre section. Buckingham Palace is much cooler!
On our way home we stopped for some dinner at... McDonalds - again! It's quite a record for me. I think I've only eaten McDonalds twice the whole time I've been in San Diego and now it was twice in one day! But it was cheap :-) While we were eating we saw a secret service motorcade go past then when we were walking back they were all parked just down the street on the corner by a restaurant. I'm not too sure who the dude was who was being escourted but he must have been pretty important! He cracked 2 police cars and 4 secret service SUV's and then there were 2 normal black sedans. So we stopped and took pictures of course!
It was sooo good to get back to the hostel - my feet were officially dead by that stage. Tomorrow I think we're going to see Mount Vernon (George Washinton's home) and then museums in the afternoon. I want to go back to the Air and Space Museum and then I just discovered that the National Gallery of Art has a couple of Van Gogh's so I want to see those too!
At the moment I'm travelling with Nick Westbrook - a friend of mine from SA who now lives in New Zealand (and owns an All Black's shirt - the traitor!). He stayed with me in San Diego for a few days and now we're in Washington DC. I have to add the 'DC' bit because Washington's a state too all the way over on the west coast and if you just say 'Washington' then Americans assume you're talking about the state not the city. We're also going to New York and Boston!
We arrived in Washington bright and early (at about 6am) but then only got into the city a bit later because we had to wait for the bus which only starts at 8am on Sundays. Washington is revoltingly hot. It's humid and sticky and walking around Arlington yesterday I thought I was going to die! literally. We went to the tomb of the unknown soldier which is really impressive - we saw the changing of the watch. Then went to the Kennedy's graves. Nick then wanted to see the Iwo Jima memorial but I passed. I just couldn't handle the heat. Before Arlington we went to the Pentagon which was totally boring. It's just a building with lots of security. We couldn't even take pics of the 911 memorial because there was a security guard arresting some other tourists for taking pictures.
By that stage I was exhausted. I blame it on a lack of sleep and food and extreme heat! All I wanted to do was go back to the hostel and shower! Thankfully that's what we did. I felt soo good afterwards. Later in the evening we met up with Nick's friend, David, from SA at an Irish pub in Chinatown... go figure! It was fun though! As we were leaving I couldn't believe my eyes - across the street there was a Nando's! In Washington! I have pictures to prove it but will have to add them later when I can upload them.
Today was another busy day. We left late because Nick was being lazy this morning so we got going at about 10:30. Thankfully it didn't seem as hot as yesterday although it was still really hot and humid! We went up the tower in the old Post building first and got some very cool views of Washington. Then we went off to the Air and Space Museum. I really liked it! There were so many interesting exhibits. The hostel has a file of things to do in the area and they recommended the museum and the show 'Cosmic Collisions' in the Einstein planetarium there. It was absolutely fascinating! They showed a theory on how the moon was formed (a big meteorite smashes into a young earth and all the matter that's dislodged orbits the earth until it coalesces to form the moon!), how the dinosaurs were wiped out, the predicted future of the Milky Way (combining with Andromeda to form an even bigger galaxy) etc. It was also really good to sit down for a while! Afterwards we went back and looked at some more of the exhibits but then Nick decided he was over the Museum so we went and got some McDonalds for lunch and then went walking!
First stop was Capitol Hill and the Capitol - very impressive - followed by the Supreme Court (which let us in to have a look). There were some protesters outside. We're still not too sure what they were protesting but they all had red tape over their mouths with the word 'life' on it. We the walked back down the National Mall to the National Archives. We queued to get in but it moved fairly quickly so it wasn't so bad. Then we had to queue to see the Declaration of Independence in the Rotunda and that took forever! But at least it was airconditioned. The Rotunda houses the Declaration of Independence, the Constitution and the Bill of Rights. The Constitution is in really good condition and still looks very impressive but the Declaration and Bill of Rights are both so faded from being displayed over the years that there's hardly anything to see! I asked the one security guard if what was in 'National Treasure' was true and the Declaration of Independence gets lowered into a vault below the Rotunda each night but my answer was 'I don't know nothing about no National Treasure' which was really funny! She obviously was avoiding the question entirely. Then we walked along to see Georgie's house. I was not impressed! The Americans are so paranoid about security that you can only see it from really far away and you have to look across the gardens so you only see the centre section. Buckingham Palace is much cooler!
On our way home we stopped for some dinner at... McDonalds - again! It's quite a record for me. I think I've only eaten McDonalds twice the whole time I've been in San Diego and now it was twice in one day! But it was cheap :-) While we were eating we saw a secret service motorcade go past then when we were walking back they were all parked just down the street on the corner by a restaurant. I'm not too sure who the dude was who was being escourted but he must have been pretty important! He cracked 2 police cars and 4 secret service SUV's and then there were 2 normal black sedans. So we stopped and took pictures of course!
It was sooo good to get back to the hostel - my feet were officially dead by that stage. Tomorrow I think we're going to see Mount Vernon (George Washinton's home) and then museums in the afternoon. I want to go back to the Air and Space Museum and then I just discovered that the National Gallery of Art has a couple of Van Gogh's so I want to see those too!
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