After saying good bye to a number of friends that we have made in the UK and closing the book on almost 4 years in London we headed to stay with Ant and Kai in New York in their very cool New York apartment.
We flew into JFK and saw New York and its high rises looking just as they do in the movies which was very cool. We spent the next day travelling
around New York visiting Times Square with its huge advertisements all of which made Sarah hungry even though we had just had breakfast! We then went to the Rockefeller Centre and travelled to the top look out over all of New York from the Hudson River to Central Park to the Chrysler building to Brooklyn. It offered an amazing view of the Empire State Building. We also saw the famous ice rink but no one was proposing. We then headed up 5th Avenue to Central Park and enjoyed the obligatory Hot dog. We walked through Central Park and visited the Metropolitan Museum of Art which was impressive. We also visited a burger bar and had a cheese burger and ate pop corn on the way home. That night we ventured into Chinatown and Little Italy which was pretty cool especially hearing people talk just like in Sopranos but didnt bump into any mobsters. Shaun was looking for them at the Italian restaurant.
The next morning we headed to the construction site that is the World
Trade Centre and the area is simply huge. Strange to look at the places you saw on that day. We then walked over to the place where millions are made and lost each day Wall Street and saw the Stock Exchange then headed over to Brooklyn Bridge. It was then time to head uptown to see the end of the New York marathon as Ant's uncles were running it but it was madness so we gave up and went and watched a gridiron game at a bar called ESPN Zone and it is a sporting fans dream with huge screens playing the main game and every other game on smaller screens. You can even book a booth or a corporate box. Shaun would never leave there on a weekend if he lived in NY. We are staying with Ant in an area which is predominantly gay and it is intriguing to see so many guys getting their nails done, going out on dates drinking huge martinis and quite often talking about how he was such a catty bitch. Sarah is loving the people watching and Shaun is tired of being checked out!! haha hardly.
The next morning we jumped on a 5 hour bus ride to Washington DC
catching a bus from China Town which is an experience as you have to find the bus which aren't exactly a scheduled thing. It seems that you walk along and then they come and find you and put you on a bus to where you want to go which leaves in 5 minutes but then they come and grab you off that bus and tell you that "that bus now go to DC so you get on it, not this one". All part of the fun and the buses werent too bad. We arrived in DC and couldnt locate our hostel so we visited the information office. The lady said that she had not heard good things about our hostel and that we should go to another one. We informed her that we had already booked and would be charged for it if we didnt turn up. She said that we would get what we paid for and suggested that we should get a taxi there then. We looked at the map and decided it wasnt that far so we would walk as now travelling on a tight budget.
When we started walking we realised why she had tried to persuade us not to go there or if we had to, to go by taxi. We were walking into the Bronx of Washington
essentially. Security guards were escorting kids onto buses. The library said that it was a drug free zone and every car passing by was looking as if to say what are you two crazy white folk doing walking into this area!! We found the hostel which was run by a guy who didnt appear to have washed for a week and watched tv and surfed the internet all day. He greeted us saying that although it didnt look it there had been no crime there for 5 years as all the rich folk in Georgetown got robbed as nothing worth stealing in this area. Comforting! Sarah looked around and decided we were getting the hell out of there the next day. We decided to head into town for dinner and to see a bit of the Capitol. The owner said to catch the X2 bus and leave the door open so that he could make sure we got on the bus safely. He worringly looked out twice before a bus pulled up. We hopped on and were the only two white faces and had to walk to the back of the bus which was interesting as gangsters young mothers grandparents alike stared at us especially when we spoke to reveal our accent.
We went to look at the large white building at the end of the mall
which Shaun mistook for the White House!! Sarah was reading the map and thought the White House was further down. Surely a misprint in the Lonely Planet according to Shaun but Sarah then realised it was Capitol. We then went looking for the reflecting pond which Forest Gump runs through but the reflecting pond in front of Arlington seemed to again fit the description at night time. Tick. Anyway we walked down to the Washington Memorial and then headed up to the White House well what we again mistook for the White House and which we realised the next day was the Treasury Department. The Treasury building is a large building with columns all lit up at night guarded and is the neighbour of the White House. Anyway after all this we caught the bus back to our hostel to jump on the internet to find another place. On the bus home were a few homeless people some more gangsters etc. As we got off Shaun thanked the driver who was shocked that we were getting off where we were and probably thought that was the last that would be seen of us.
The next day we got up early and headed into town to find another hostel as one hostel had 250 beds. Surely a place for us. We visited it and found out that it
was booked out even though it was a Tuesday. We went to a hotel and it too was booked out. Desperation started to kick in as we didnt want to head back to the Bronx and a 100 fried chicken restaurants. Luckily we found a basic hotel in a great location where the price for staying one night was the equivalent of 3 at the hostel. Decision made, stay one further night in Washington rather than 2 blow the budget and see as much of Washington as possible before heading to the luxury of Kai and Ant's flat in NY. We therefore headed to see the awesome Air and Space museum and saw the Wright brothers original plane, Lindenburgh's St Louis, we touched a piece of moon rock, saw the original lunar pod and the fastest ever plane 6 x the speed of sound. We then walked down the Mall looking at the Washington Memorial locating the actual White House and realising our mistake. We then saw the WWII Memorial, the reflecting pond the Vietnam Memorial which was very busy as this weekend is Veterans day we then headed to the Abraham Lincoln memorial, saw the spot where Martin Luther King Jr made his "I have a dream" speech saw the Lincoln memorial which is very cool and has his speech "Four Score and Seven Years ago" written out. We then saw the Korean War Memorial which Shaun thought was the best, 17 tired looking soldiers walking through a rice paddy field. NZ is honoured there as well.
We visited the holocaust museum which is very good. It was moving seeing a
number of rabbis crying and praying in the hall of rememberance. That night we headed to Georgetown which is a very pretty place and looks a little like an old english village. We ate at Martins Tavern and saw where JFK proposed to Jackie.
We visited Arlington cemetary seeing some of the 300,000 graves including JFK's and his family and learning about the place, the civil war and how it came to be, the criteria for been buried there and a few of the stories behind the graves. The changing of the guard was impressive and after that we headed back to NY.
We headed out early the next day to catch a boat to the Statue
of Liberty and see Ellis Island. Sarah expected the statue to be bigger but Shaun now felt that they had been to NY as he had seen the lady up close. Ellis island which is where the immigrants were processed was really interesting. We headed up to see NY at night from the Empire State building. The building was not as impressive as the Rockefeller Centre but the view at night on a cloudless night was simply spectacular and the photos dont do it justice. It seems that the whole place is lit up with lights and Times Square is unreal. We decided to see Times Square at night but with all the lights it might as well be day. We stopped off at Madison Sq Garden before heading home.
The next day we walked through China Town and did
some shopping for cheap watches for Sth America and sunglasses. We walked across Brooklyn bridge to an old Brooklyn pizza place called Gimauldis where Frank Sinatra used to hang out. We then headed up to Strawberry field where John Lennon used to hang out which is opposite the Dakota building where Yoko Ono still lives. We then head to FAO Schwartz to see the piano from the movie BIG before walking down 5th Avenue with all its amazing shops.
We have eaten so well in the past ten days and it has been so great having Ant and Kai take us to all their locals. We have done a bit of shopping but you wouldn't believe how hard it is having to restrain yourself from buying too much!
We are now flying down to South America and our first stop is Ecuador and after five days in Quito we head out to the Galapagos Islands.
We flew into JFK and saw New York and its high rises looking just as they do in the movies which was very cool. We spent the next day travelling
around New York visiting Times Square with its huge advertisements all of which made Sarah hungry even though we had just had breakfast! We then went to the Rockefeller Centre and travelled to the top look out over all of New York from the Hudson River to Central Park to the Chrysler building to Brooklyn. It offered an amazing view of the Empire State Building. We also saw the famous ice rink but no one was proposing. We then headed up 5th Avenue to Central Park and enjoyed the obligatory Hot dog. We walked through Central Park and visited the Metropolitan Museum of Art which was impressive. We also visited a burger bar and had a cheese burger and ate pop corn on the way home. That night we ventured into Chinatown and Little Italy which was pretty cool especially hearing people talk just like in Sopranos but didnt bump into any mobsters. Shaun was looking for them at the Italian restaurant.The next morning we headed to the construction site that is the World
Trade Centre and the area is simply huge. Strange to look at the places you saw on that day. We then walked over to the place where millions are made and lost each day Wall Street and saw the Stock Exchange then headed over to Brooklyn Bridge. It was then time to head uptown to see the end of the New York marathon as Ant's uncles were running it but it was madness so we gave up and went and watched a gridiron game at a bar called ESPN Zone and it is a sporting fans dream with huge screens playing the main game and every other game on smaller screens. You can even book a booth or a corporate box. Shaun would never leave there on a weekend if he lived in NY. We are staying with Ant in an area which is predominantly gay and it is intriguing to see so many guys getting their nails done, going out on dates drinking huge martinis and quite often talking about how he was such a catty bitch. Sarah is loving the people watching and Shaun is tired of being checked out!! haha hardly.The next morning we jumped on a 5 hour bus ride to Washington DC
catching a bus from China Town which is an experience as you have to find the bus which aren't exactly a scheduled thing. It seems that you walk along and then they come and find you and put you on a bus to where you want to go which leaves in 5 minutes but then they come and grab you off that bus and tell you that "that bus now go to DC so you get on it, not this one". All part of the fun and the buses werent too bad. We arrived in DC and couldnt locate our hostel so we visited the information office. The lady said that she had not heard good things about our hostel and that we should go to another one. We informed her that we had already booked and would be charged for it if we didnt turn up. She said that we would get what we paid for and suggested that we should get a taxi there then. We looked at the map and decided it wasnt that far so we would walk as now travelling on a tight budget.When we started walking we realised why she had tried to persuade us not to go there or if we had to, to go by taxi. We were walking into the Bronx of Washington
essentially. Security guards were escorting kids onto buses. The library said that it was a drug free zone and every car passing by was looking as if to say what are you two crazy white folk doing walking into this area!! We found the hostel which was run by a guy who didnt appear to have washed for a week and watched tv and surfed the internet all day. He greeted us saying that although it didnt look it there had been no crime there for 5 years as all the rich folk in Georgetown got robbed as nothing worth stealing in this area. Comforting! Sarah looked around and decided we were getting the hell out of there the next day. We decided to head into town for dinner and to see a bit of the Capitol. The owner said to catch the X2 bus and leave the door open so that he could make sure we got on the bus safely. He worringly looked out twice before a bus pulled up. We hopped on and were the only two white faces and had to walk to the back of the bus which was interesting as gangsters young mothers grandparents alike stared at us especially when we spoke to reveal our accent.We went to look at the large white building at the end of the mall
which Shaun mistook for the White House!! Sarah was reading the map and thought the White House was further down. Surely a misprint in the Lonely Planet according to Shaun but Sarah then realised it was Capitol. We then went looking for the reflecting pond which Forest Gump runs through but the reflecting pond in front of Arlington seemed to again fit the description at night time. Tick. Anyway we walked down to the Washington Memorial and then headed up to the White House well what we again mistook for the White House and which we realised the next day was the Treasury Department. The Treasury building is a large building with columns all lit up at night guarded and is the neighbour of the White House. Anyway after all this we caught the bus back to our hostel to jump on the internet to find another place. On the bus home were a few homeless people some more gangsters etc. As we got off Shaun thanked the driver who was shocked that we were getting off where we were and probably thought that was the last that would be seen of us.The next day we got up early and headed into town to find another hostel as one hostel had 250 beds. Surely a place for us. We visited it and found out that it
was booked out even though it was a Tuesday. We went to a hotel and it too was booked out. Desperation started to kick in as we didnt want to head back to the Bronx and a 100 fried chicken restaurants. Luckily we found a basic hotel in a great location where the price for staying one night was the equivalent of 3 at the hostel. Decision made, stay one further night in Washington rather than 2 blow the budget and see as much of Washington as possible before heading to the luxury of Kai and Ant's flat in NY. We therefore headed to see the awesome Air and Space museum and saw the Wright brothers original plane, Lindenburgh's St Louis, we touched a piece of moon rock, saw the original lunar pod and the fastest ever plane 6 x the speed of sound. We then walked down the Mall looking at the Washington Memorial locating the actual White House and realising our mistake. We then saw the WWII Memorial, the reflecting pond the Vietnam Memorial which was very busy as this weekend is Veterans day we then headed to the Abraham Lincoln memorial, saw the spot where Martin Luther King Jr made his "I have a dream" speech saw the Lincoln memorial which is very cool and has his speech "Four Score and Seven Years ago" written out. We then saw the Korean War Memorial which Shaun thought was the best, 17 tired looking soldiers walking through a rice paddy field. NZ is honoured there as well.We visited the holocaust museum which is very good. It was moving seeing a
number of rabbis crying and praying in the hall of rememberance. That night we headed to Georgetown which is a very pretty place and looks a little like an old english village. We ate at Martins Tavern and saw where JFK proposed to Jackie.We visited Arlington cemetary seeing some of the 300,000 graves including JFK's and his family and learning about the place, the civil war and how it came to be, the criteria for been buried there and a few of the stories behind the graves. The changing of the guard was impressive and after that we headed back to NY.
We headed out early the next day to catch a boat to the Statue
of Liberty and see Ellis Island. Sarah expected the statue to be bigger but Shaun now felt that they had been to NY as he had seen the lady up close. Ellis island which is where the immigrants were processed was really interesting. We headed up to see NY at night from the Empire State building. The building was not as impressive as the Rockefeller Centre but the view at night on a cloudless night was simply spectacular and the photos dont do it justice. It seems that the whole place is lit up with lights and Times Square is unreal. We decided to see Times Square at night but with all the lights it might as well be day. We stopped off at Madison Sq Garden before heading home.The next day we walked through China Town and did
some shopping for cheap watches for Sth America and sunglasses. We walked across Brooklyn bridge to an old Brooklyn pizza place called Gimauldis where Frank Sinatra used to hang out. We then headed up to Strawberry field where John Lennon used to hang out which is opposite the Dakota building where Yoko Ono still lives. We then head to FAO Schwartz to see the piano from the movie BIG before walking down 5th Avenue with all its amazing shops.We have eaten so well in the past ten days and it has been so great having Ant and Kai take us to all their locals. We have done a bit of shopping but you wouldn't believe how hard it is having to restrain yourself from buying too much!
We are now flying down to South America and our first stop is Ecuador and after five days in Quito we head out to the Galapagos Islands.
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