...be seeing you!
Monday, 14 February 2011
Saturday, 12 February 2011
Central Park, that Museum and Times Square
Last night, Liz got out of bed, opened our Hotel room door and told some noisy people to basically shut up.
It's just started snowing big, heavy, beautiful flakes!
Friday, 11 February 2011
BACK IN NYC (Dalek's in Manhatten)
Friday 11th Feb, 2011...The sun was going down behind us by the time we hit New York yesterday evening and there she was, The Empire State Building, shining back at us, all lit up...and looking out of the car window to the right, The Statue of Liberty. We'd left Philadelphia in good time, around mid afternoon, but now we're in rush hour traffic, New York style. Eventually, we get to the hotel, completely fried from the last couple of hours trying to forge our way through the ugly traffic. We neck some egg fried rice, watch some films on tv (The boat that rocked) and crash!
Dawn breaks and Liz looks out of the window to check our car is still in one piece.
"Shit! Is that a ticket on the windscreen? Bob, we've got a ticket!!"
Oh well, we don't want to let this ruin our day do we, oh supreme queen of parking fines...we breakfast and pack our bags and by the time we're ready to leave, we've got two parking tickets all loved up next to each other on the windscreen. Liz is mortified. I suggest that if we spread the cost over the six months we've been gone, then actually it's nothing really (yea right).
We drop the car at JFK Airport and after 4880 miles driven in it's protective surrounding, say goodbye to it, forever. We get a taxi to our lovely Days Inn Hotel, New York style.
It's still only just gone eleven and we can't officially check in till 3pm, so we leave our impressively large collection of bags with the grumpiest shit we've come across in six months. Then, off we go!
"Courtesy is contagious and it starts with you"
What a nice looking traffic police woman. There's quite a shift in attitude here, we've gone up a couple of gears on the brash front. There's the lady in the ticket booth at the Metro, answering Liz's queries with cartoonish, deliberately unhelpful replies, before bellowing at a couple of unfortunate tourists with little grasp of English, who are stuck at the barriers, "SWIPE THE GODDAMN CARD! PUSH IT!!
SWIPE THE CARD!!"
Liz is standing her ground in a controlled fashion and you can see something switch behind the eyes of Madame Metro, there's even a hint of a smile. She mellows and we're on our way. Yea, don't fuck with us! A few stops along on the Metro, we exit the subway, turn the corner...and there it is, Empire State.
Dawn breaks and Liz looks out of the window to check our car is still in one piece.
"Shit! Is that a ticket on the windscreen? Bob, we've got a ticket!!"
Oh well, we don't want to let this ruin our day do we, oh supreme queen of parking fines...we breakfast and pack our bags and by the time we're ready to leave, we've got two parking tickets all loved up next to each other on the windscreen. Liz is mortified. I suggest that if we spread the cost over the six months we've been gone, then actually it's nothing really (yea right).
We drop the car at JFK Airport and after 4880 miles driven in it's protective surrounding, say goodbye to it, forever. We get a taxi to our lovely Days Inn Hotel, New York style.
It's still only just gone eleven and we can't officially check in till 3pm, so we leave our impressively large collection of bags with the grumpiest shit we've come across in six months. Then, off we go!
"Courtesy is contagious and it starts with you"
What a nice looking traffic police woman. There's quite a shift in attitude here, we've gone up a couple of gears on the brash front. There's the lady in the ticket booth at the Metro, answering Liz's queries with cartoonish, deliberately unhelpful replies, before bellowing at a couple of unfortunate tourists with little grasp of English, who are stuck at the barriers, "SWIPE THE GODDAMN CARD! PUSH IT!!
SWIPE THE CARD!!"
Liz is standing her ground in a controlled fashion and you can see something switch behind the eyes of Madame Metro, there's even a hint of a smile. She mellows and we're on our way. Yea, don't fuck with us! A few stops along on the Metro, we exit the subway, turn the corner...and there it is, Empire State.
Thursday, 10 February 2011
PHILADELPHIA
10th Feb, 2011...
Philadelphia Museum of Art. Outside stands a statue of Sylvester Stallone as Rocky. The seventy two steps that lead up to the museum, became known as The Rocky Steps after they appeared in the first film, with our hero running up them as part of his workout. They've made cameo appearances in some of the sequels too.
Philadelphia is a mighty pretty place. After an amazing breakfast at our Days Inn motel, we decided to stop off in the town that boasts the Springsteen song named after it, held the American side of Live Aid in 1985 and even has a Magazine song and a soft cheese spread named after it.
We called into the Rodin Museum, put together by a private collector who had something of an obsession for the man's work. The entrance is graced with the presence of The Thinker, this one being the largest version of this very famous work. We saw a smaller one in Washington and apparently there are some sixty casts of this one elsewhere.
Lunch, an amazing table full of humous, falafel, shawarma, lightly spiced, fresh cut fries, chess and black Turkish coffee. Lovely stuff.
We left this cozy cafe, situated at the start of South Street, think Greenwich village with bits of Camden, braving the icy conditions to explore it's many interesting shops and boutiques.
Philadelphia Museum of Art. Outside stands a statue of Sylvester Stallone as Rocky. The seventy two steps that lead up to the museum, became known as The Rocky Steps after they appeared in the first film, with our hero running up them as part of his workout. They've made cameo appearances in some of the sequels too.
Philadelphia is a mighty pretty place. After an amazing breakfast at our Days Inn motel, we decided to stop off in the town that boasts the Springsteen song named after it, held the American side of Live Aid in 1985 and even has a Magazine song and a soft cheese spread named after it.
We called into the Rodin Museum, put together by a private collector who had something of an obsession for the man's work. The entrance is graced with the presence of The Thinker, this one being the largest version of this very famous work. We saw a smaller one in Washington and apparently there are some sixty casts of this one elsewhere.
Lunch, an amazing table full of humous, falafel, shawarma, lightly spiced, fresh cut fries, chess and black Turkish coffee. Lovely stuff.
We left this cozy cafe, situated at the start of South Street, think Greenwich village with bits of Camden, braving the icy conditions to explore it's many interesting shops and boutiques.
Wednesday, 9 February 2011
6NEM901
9th Feb 2011, Wilmington, somewhere near Philadelphia...
Days Inn Receptionist..."ok,i just need your ID"...(is handed Bob's driving mugshot)..."WHAT KIND OF POSE IS THAT?"
Bob replies something like, "oh I dunno, my gay pose?"
"Your what pose?"
Liz pipes up with, " he always pulls faces in photo's"...
"I just hate those fridge magnet photo's, that's just Bollocks", reasons Robert
"heck yea, why be normal?" Retorts the firm, fine figured black lady sarcastically, "and I suppose you stuck with this one for keeps huh?" She chuckles to Liz, " least you'll always have laughter, that's a huge thing!"
Aah, ain't that nice. As we get the door of our latest motel room open, Liz mutters something like, "yea, she wouldn't be saying that if she'd seen you half an hour ago"...
Lunch has been an exquisite visit to a wonderful Indian, whose flavours have excited and left us feeling completely content. Life is worth living. It's freezing, there is snow shovelled from paths and into piles, but it's ok. We're still on holiday, still free of all the crap, we still have a few more Motels yet, we still have New York City to come! Free...just.
Nastassja is sat in her new black hooded top, cutting around something she's putting in her diary she's been keeping. Actually, both she and little bruv have been keeping diary entries, he is also working on his Washington DC entry! (Also in a new black hoodie)
Air and Space was Oskar's fave museum. Stash dosnt know. Liz is Starting to sort through the kids toy bags and cases, ready for the final chapter. Anything they don't love one hundred and ten percent, isn't going to make it to New York, let alone back to our home planet. Keep an eye on them things kids, I've seen her in action before...
Nastassja has been saving the last couple of hundred pages of her book,"Breaking Dawn" till the end of this journey. She's been reading through all the books in the 'Twilight' series and loves them so much, she dosnt want the experience to end, so she's put this, the final book, to one side and has been busying herself with another series of books to help fight off temptation. I think she's quite looking forward to getting back to England, as is Oskar, Liz too. I just want to go back to Siem Reap and start it all over again...it would be amazing to have a few beers with Tina again! Dollar! Tanya and Mr. Lady!
Moquito repellant is being binned, along with the coils we no longer have any use for. Liz is also threatening to lose her swimming costume...
The day after tomorrow, we hand back the keys to 6NEM901, our faithful travel machine for our time in America, God bless her!!
Days Inn Receptionist..."ok,i just need your ID"...(is handed Bob's driving mugshot)..."WHAT KIND OF POSE IS THAT?"
Bob replies something like, "oh I dunno, my gay pose?"
"Your what pose?"
Liz pipes up with, " he always pulls faces in photo's"...
"I just hate those fridge magnet photo's, that's just Bollocks", reasons Robert
"heck yea, why be normal?" Retorts the firm, fine figured black lady sarcastically, "and I suppose you stuck with this one for keeps huh?" She chuckles to Liz, " least you'll always have laughter, that's a huge thing!"
Aah, ain't that nice. As we get the door of our latest motel room open, Liz mutters something like, "yea, she wouldn't be saying that if she'd seen you half an hour ago"...
Lunch has been an exquisite visit to a wonderful Indian, whose flavours have excited and left us feeling completely content. Life is worth living. It's freezing, there is snow shovelled from paths and into piles, but it's ok. We're still on holiday, still free of all the crap, we still have a few more Motels yet, we still have New York City to come! Free...just.
Nastassja is sat in her new black hooded top, cutting around something she's putting in her diary she's been keeping. Actually, both she and little bruv have been keeping diary entries, he is also working on his Washington DC entry! (Also in a new black hoodie)
Air and Space was Oskar's fave museum. Stash dosnt know. Liz is Starting to sort through the kids toy bags and cases, ready for the final chapter. Anything they don't love one hundred and ten percent, isn't going to make it to New York, let alone back to our home planet. Keep an eye on them things kids, I've seen her in action before...
Nastassja has been saving the last couple of hundred pages of her book,"Breaking Dawn" till the end of this journey. She's been reading through all the books in the 'Twilight' series and loves them so much, she dosnt want the experience to end, so she's put this, the final book, to one side and has been busying herself with another series of books to help fight off temptation. I think she's quite looking forward to getting back to England, as is Oskar, Liz too. I just want to go back to Siem Reap and start it all over again...it would be amazing to have a few beers with Tina again! Dollar! Tanya and Mr. Lady!
Moquito repellant is being binned, along with the coils we no longer have any use for. Liz is also threatening to lose her swimming costume...
The day after tomorrow, we hand back the keys to 6NEM901, our faithful travel machine for our time in America, God bless her!!
Tuesday, 8 February 2011
Day and Night in the Museums
8th February 2011
...arrived in Washington DC last night. Christ, it's a lot colder here, in fact it's freezing, but our lovely Comfort Inn Hotel room is lovely and cozy, well done Elizabeth.
Today we take to the Metro, via a free shuttle service from Mr Comfort himself. We're dropped at Van Dorn street station and given a number to call when we need picking up later. Pretty good huh? A forty or so minute tube journey via Ronald Reagan Airport, takes us to the lovely Smithsonian, where we are spoilt for choice with places to visit, in fact there are nineteen museums here.
We spend an hour or so at the Air and Space museum, which is very cool indeed, especially the space section, which features film of the first moon landing and bits and pieces the astronauts took up with them; food, shaving gear, sunglasses, the tube they took a pee into...
Hornet mask
Had me a lovely cup of buffalo chilli at The American Indian Museum, where we were also given a performance of some music, just one guy and a single drum. A long time ago, American Indian children, some as young as four, were taken at gunpoint and made to live in institutions. They were stripped of their own clothing and forced to have their long hair cut off. They quite literally had their own language beaten out of them, for if they happened to utter anything in their own tongue, they were physically punished.
We visited the National Gallery of art as part of a quest to spot some of the characters from "Night in the museum". Nastassja and Oskar managed to find 'The Thinker,' a couple of cherubs and a dancer.
Next up, The National History Museum, where a very nice lady showed us all some
very, very old teeth from some prehistoric sharks. Liz asked if she could draw one, so the lady gave her some crayons and paper and sat her at a desk next to the jaws of a huge cousin of the Great White, a very old cousin indeed, who was about three times the size of his modern day version. Liz was happy doing this for an hour or so while we visited the dinosaur section.
And then it was on to Lincoln. Sat in his big chair at The Lincoln Memorial.
We've just about thawed out now. Lovely Comfort Inn...
...arrived in Washington DC last night. Christ, it's a lot colder here, in fact it's freezing, but our lovely Comfort Inn Hotel room is lovely and cozy, well done Elizabeth.
Today we take to the Metro, via a free shuttle service from Mr Comfort himself. We're dropped at Van Dorn street station and given a number to call when we need picking up later. Pretty good huh? A forty or so minute tube journey via Ronald Reagan Airport, takes us to the lovely Smithsonian, where we are spoilt for choice with places to visit, in fact there are nineteen museums here.
We spend an hour or so at the Air and Space museum, which is very cool indeed, especially the space section, which features film of the first moon landing and bits and pieces the astronauts took up with them; food, shaving gear, sunglasses, the tube they took a pee into...
Hornet mask
Had me a lovely cup of buffalo chilli at The American Indian Museum, where we were also given a performance of some music, just one guy and a single drum. A long time ago, American Indian children, some as young as four, were taken at gunpoint and made to live in institutions. They were stripped of their own clothing and forced to have their long hair cut off. They quite literally had their own language beaten out of them, for if they happened to utter anything in their own tongue, they were physically punished.
We visited the National Gallery of art as part of a quest to spot some of the characters from "Night in the museum". Nastassja and Oskar managed to find 'The Thinker,' a couple of cherubs and a dancer.
Next up, The National History Museum, where a very nice lady showed us all some
very, very old teeth from some prehistoric sharks. Liz asked if she could draw one, so the lady gave her some crayons and paper and sat her at a desk next to the jaws of a huge cousin of the Great White, a very old cousin indeed, who was about three times the size of his modern day version. Liz was happy doing this for an hour or so while we visited the dinosaur section.
And then it was on to Lincoln. Sat in his big chair at The Lincoln Memorial.
We've just about thawed out now. Lovely Comfort Inn...
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