NEW YORK
Sunday Flight out - 31st July
Pleasant flight, bit uncomfortable but good enough.
Had a scare at the airport when we were separated but met at the gate and all was well.
Arrived, good system of taxis downtown and arrived at hotel ready to sleep ñ still late Sunday as we flew with the son of course,
Waking early because not totally adjusted to this time.
Girls sleeping well though.
Breakfast in hotel bit frantic and stressed. Space too small. Just continental breakfast.
Room suits our needs ñ 2 rooms.
Phil writes:
Monday - 1st August
explored Central Park ñ loved it; big space, old trees, lakes. People singing and drumming etc.. Saw outside of Zoo but Phil not keen to go in.
Got US mobile phone SIMS, Subway tickets and went shopping a bit. Phil got his camera.
Went to expensive restaurant ñ food delicious but spent 100 dollars on very little food!
Phil writes:
first morning in new york, took a walk round outside at 6am since couldnt sleep
breakfast - buffet style with disposable plates
went walking round central park then katie and children went to macys whilst i went round to buy camera ñ bit of a negotiating flop ñ paid same as what I would have done in germany, got pressured into buying 5 yr service insurance which I normally wouldnít have done, but anyways, also not really convinced it was a brand new one
had meal at trendy nouvell cuisine place around the corner, expensive since small portions and had to buy 2 courses per person, 100 dollars and katies meal was forgotten
Tuesday - 2nd August
Brooklyn Bridge ñ amazing views from it around the harbour. Walked around Ground Zero although not much to see yet except building work. Saw beautiful Trinity Church ñ very peaceful there with lovely stained glass. Came out onto Wall Street ñ again magnificent impressive buildings. Walked to Battery Park ñ looked drab and dried up. Travelled on Subway to Circle line cruises. Too late for all the trips except one but managed to get upgrade and did 3 hour Circle trip across harbour and up North River ñ back down Hudson River. Speaker knew his material but presentation very American and hard to follow.
Bought Pizza and sweet red wine and ate in our room.
Phil writes:
went out to brooklyn bridge and walked across taking too many photos it drove katie and kids mad
went round to ground zero and then down to trinity church, on to battery park back up to circle line tours at 42nd street. had takeaway pizza meal from frankie and peppers at table in our room
Wednesday - 3rd August
Phil writes:
took train downtown to garment district and then flower district
went thru penn station and madison sq gardens
on to flat iron building around union square gardens which had farmers market going
took train up to grand central station where after looking round we had lunch
then on to rockefeller building - more picture until the batteries ran out!
walking back to subway across 52nd street to 8th avenue to columbus circle we come across a load of people waiting outside
the back door exit of a theatre - we wait around and get a glimpse of Emma Stone who is the star in a new film, Crazy Love
had burger meal at big nicks burger joint which the kids really enjoyed and had fun
great heineken bier (they spell it this way on manhattan due to dutch influence) in glass chilled and taken out of the freezer
half pounder for me, eve had chicken burger, sabs fish and chips (no vinegar but delicious) and katies took the longest - a veggie burger
Thursday - 4th August
Phil writes:
got up and went for swim at the jewish community center, got told off for diving in and later going into ladies
back for breakfast then usual late start to go to Natural History Museum, looked at African mammals and the people section in the 4 different areas:
desert, forest, river bed and grasslands
went into planetarium for the Whoopie Goldberg narrated "Journeyto the Stars".
Then saw hall of life, a section on meteorites and then gems section
went home, katie went for walk to end of west side to get to hudson river, whilst i took kids back to room where they finished off film "when harry met sally" then I go down to get the next film, where we are now trying the marilyn Monroe collection, with ìthereís no business like show businessî.
Friday - 5th August
Phil writes:
New plan for breakfast thanks to Katie: we go down and bring 3 slices of toast to girls, sabs has one each of grape, strawberry jams and marmelade, eve has peanut butter. I bring the o/j and they watch the end of the other film. We narrowly miss a taxi and end up getting stressed again on the way to the Empire State Building, still the argument is out of the way early in the day and we enjoy the great views from the 86th floor and then descend. We go to starbucks to re-cuperate and then walk to fashion technology museum where there is an exhibition on the influence both ways of fashion and sports clothing. It passes a half hour, then we take a taxi to MOMA doing floors 5, 4 and 3 ñ 2 floors of modern art and one of multimedia, architecture and design. We take a bus home, since one turned up faster than the cab. Ate at home again, pizza from same place, we find a wine shop nearby, also subway salad. Delicious. The kids watch the next Monroe film, ìBus stopî.
Saturday - 6th August
Phil writes:
Same technique for breakfast, I bring a new Marilyn Monroe film, ìSome like it hotî which is fitting as it involves a trip to Florida. Katie expertly manages us all out of the hotel for 10:30 and we take a cab to Newark airport for 75$. Weíre very early but there were so many changes to the flight time it made sense to get early in case of any mishaps.
FLORIDA
Satuday - 6th August
Good flight down to Tampa, some hustling to sell stuff at the car hire place, then get car and take down to Bradenton over the long bridge over the water.
Have meal at Applebys with Pete, Ros and Suzanne in the evening.
Sunday - 7th August
All of us go to Selby Botanical Gardens to look around, is impressive, particularly the Banyan trees whose branches extend down to the ground to support a more horizontal growth of the tree.
We go back to Pete's for b-b-q.
Monday - 8th August
Explored the beaches, rainy day, discovered a Swales type place at a shopping mall area driving out.
Tuesday - 9th August
Wet day, went to Mote Marine Aquarium which proved a good choice since it was mainly indoors.
Wednesday - 10th August
All got up early for huge breakfast at diner, then drove on to Myaka River state park and saw the alligators and other wildlife, plus the canopy walkway.
We were going to do the glass-bottomed boat ride out but they had cancelled the trip due to bad weather and not enough interest, so we looked around Sarasota downtown area.
Later we spent some time looking round the Ringling museum.
Pete took us back onto the key where we were on Monday and we explored the bridge area looking at heron and egret, were treated to some dolphins.
Went on further to celebrate Pete's 50th at Sandbar with its idyllic setting at sunset.
Thursday - 11th August
Went to Adventure Island, a water park, which the children loved. Very hot day.
Friday - 12th August
Went again to Adventure Island, this time with Suzanne along as well.
For evening out, the farewell, we went to Woodys bar on the far side of the Bradenton River.
Saturday - 13th August
Set off in good time for the airport via Pete's to say out goodbyes.
WASHINGTON DC
Saturday - 13th August
Arrive in the evening and check-in to hotel
We walk around the National Mall to the old Post Office and have a meal at the Elephant & Castle pub which is just opposite there.
Walk near White House to get back to hotel via a long diversion.
Sunday - 14th August
Late breakfast, this becoming a feature now go around the Museum of the Native Indian and its tasty cafe.
Go via the Botanical Gardens and past the US Congress building to Union Square station where we buy meals at the Salad bar to take home and eat.
monday - 15th August
Cover Museum of American History and walk round the Washington Monument and World War II Memorial
Go back to hotel then go out on subway to Du Pont Circle where we have lovely meal outside at Zorba cafe, where you go to the counter, order and serve yourself more or less, means it is good value.
Tuesday - 16th August
Have breakfast all together with Katy Wheat.
Go to zoo and children are so tired we come home early to rest. Take a swim in the roof pool at out hotel.
Have meal at Ronald Reagan centre for international development, then make our way to the free concert which we've seen promoted, including the 1812 Overture with cannons from the Presidential Salute guard.
Excellent evening's entertainment and nice picnic!
Wednesday - 17th August
Get up early to go to Washington monument and get the free tickets to go up the statue at 11:30am.
Get there around 7am, the counter opens at 8.30am, meet and get chatting with Vietnamese woman and her two sons from southern North Carolina. Show them pounds and euros to keep them amused. Different sized notes and colours are strange when compared to the uniformity of US currency.
Go back for breakfast, we invite Katy Wheat again, before she heads off for her flight back to Ohio.
We go to the monument then into the Museum of American History again (it is easy when the Smithsonian Museums are all free).
We then take the subway to the mall at Pentagon City.
We like Pentagon city, each for different reasons, there is a J Crew fashion shop which sells affordable designer clothing (Michelle Obama sometimes wears this), an Apple shop and Eve loves the spicy bourbon chicken sauce.
We then head back to the hotel for rest and swim. The children amuse themselves with facebook, Disney channel and Nintendo, like yesterday.
We go back to Washington Monument again, having picked up a second set of tickets for 8pm to see all the sights in the dark, sadly the sunset is not so visible.
Thursday - 18th August
got up at 4am and had to write some notes.
Conclusions and thoughts
my potted review of american history so far
pre 1492 - native americans with 10x as many tribes as are known today roam free and at a balance with the land
post 1492 - europeans settle and bring deadly diseases which obliterate the indigenous population
1776 - declaration of independence, chiefly washington and gefferson, 1st and 3rd presidents
1812 - battles with the british but final victory 2 years later
1865 - abraham lincoln becomes 1st president to be assassinated
1963 - JFK becomes the 4th
1968 - MLK jr is assassinated
2001 - presidency is "stolen" for 2 terms and US slides into bankruptcy
2009 - us elects first "black" president and there is hope again
the country contains huge potential and if it werent for some huge ones (the big lazy or greedy ones) and a few other huge ones (the ones my daughters look up to, ie. the showbiz/disney movies ones, giving impression that riches can be easily obtained without talent or hard-work), then I would be confident that this great country will be great again.
It is also hugely wasteful compared to Europe - gas prices are less than half in europe at 3,50 per GALLON!
I reckon it would be possible to easily cut the energy consumption in the us by a half.
having said al that, all the americans we have met have been kind, honest, gentle, friendly foljks.
the epitomy of this was the vietnamese-looking lady with the 2 delightful boys, from north carolina waiting in line behind me for tickets to the washington monument; she adored her kids and they her - they waited on her every word and caried it out straight away, she was so positive and full of energy, if a little naive (eg. rather than take 6 new tickets which she is allowed to do, she gives back the 3 she has to swap). for me, she currently epitomises the americam dream
US qualities
- positive
- op¸timistic
- > ebullient and invincible/superior
European qualities
- negative
- worrying
- > reserved and aloof/superior
Today, girls and I have breakfast together, whilst Katie goes to a Wash and Fold (launderette) east of the city.
We take the subway as far south as it goes and look around ALexandria Old Town. Get chatting with an ex pilot on the way down.
We look around the Lyceum Museum and then walk further on to the Torpedo Arts Gallery.
We walk back via a church which has ties with Washington and shop at a healthy supermarket, 365 Organic.
The children eat soup. Katie and I eat salad back at the hotel room.
Friday - 19th August
Making our hotel breakfast vouchers spin out (we get enough only for 2 per day when we need 4, but luckily the staff have got to know us and let us off, or we let them charge just for Eve at 8$),
we go to have breakfast in the underground mall on the way to the subway, at Au Bon Pain.
We then take the subway to the Capitol Building and are amazed at the Rotunda, the Crypt (statues), the old Representative Hall and the old Supreme Court rooms.
We go back to the hotel, then come back out for the jazz at the sculpture garden, but they don't let us in with a "box of wine", so we site on the mall and drink it twice as fast as we'd intended.
We spend an hour and a half at the Air and Space Museum and sit in the second planetarium film, called "Cosmic collisions".
Come outside where the earlier suggestions of a storm are materialising and we make a bad mistake in not taking a taxi to the hotel, making our way, later dashing through and sheltering from the torrential rain.
We arrive via the Old Post Office at the Elephant and castle looking like drowned rats.
Warm up, have the usual very english meals and head off back to the hotel.
Saturday - 20th August
Saving the vouchers up for the last days, we eata "Au Bon Pain" and then journey out to the delightful Eastern Market, then Pentagon City again for more shopping.
We eat at Union Station and take a twilight open topped bus tour around the city in the dark.
Sunday - 21st August
Again we hack out to Eastern Market, then make a loop tour taking in the White House (Eve is so disappointed that the Obama's don't come out to greet us), Arlington cemetry (where we get taken hostage in the visitor centre, waiting for the rain to stop), then back again(!) to Pentagon City for more shopping.
Girls go into Natural history museum briefly to see Hope Diamond and some other things, I get stuck taking a pic of Michelle Obama's inauguration ballgown, which Eve missed photographing and then we head out for a meal at the DC Chop House and Brewery.
It is expensive but Fortunately we are not so hungry, having got used to the huge american portions, so we order a starter plate to share which keeps the bill pretty reasonable since we are running out of dollars!
Monday - 22nd August
Breakfast, packing, last minute shopping (guessed it, Pentagon City), then the subway back to the hotel, at which point, unbeknown to us, there is an earthquake of 5.5 strength.
We take the bus out to the airport, the only consequence of the earthquake is huge traffic jams and delays. I make a wise move not to jump out and investigate where I put my ipod at the hotel, having finally located it in my camera bag.
Long wait and then the flight home.
Tuesday - 23rd August
Flight arrives early morning on time, we check our bags out, then wait around Terminal 5 at Heathrow until we can check them back in again.
We're all very tired of course, spend most of the time at Nero's cafe, is one of the few areas for hanging around and needless to say Terminal 5 has no customer shower facilities.
USA
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