NYC Chapter Two

We started out our Thursday with a long, amazing walk around the city. Starting out around Times Square we walked through town taking in the Empire State Building, the Flat Iron Building, 5th Ave etc. Taking in the city and getting a feel for downtown and the lower East side. We even tried knishes. A kind of Jewish foodstuff that was amazing, but am still not quite sure exactly what the hell it is. Like peppery mashed potato cake.

We then experienced Katz deli. Oh my.

This place cooks it's pwn pastrami and corned beef and make amazing sandwiches that are piled 5 inches high. It's so busy, with so many people behind the counter, it's nuts and loud and crazy good.

We then walked it off through Little Italy and Chinatown. In which we witnessed a woman chucking several live, squirming crabs into a paper bag for a customer. A PAPER bag. Full of live crabs.

Anyway, Columbus park is worth a mention here. Full of older Chinese people at leisure men sat playing checkers (or mah jong?) and women played cards. I'm not sure why this division, but that's how they arranged themselves under the trees. On the benches, people relaxed in the shade and several people were singing Chinese folk songs and playing instruments, seemingly off-the-cuff. It was pretty magical.

We then walked across the Brooklyn Bridge into Brooklyn. It's vibrant and leafy, really great!

After this knackering day, we finished off by SEEING BILLY JOEL AT MADISON SQUARE GARDEN.

A day in DC

Soooo hot.

Washington DC feels like a museum. A huge museum, full of some really great monuments.

The Washington Monument itself is so huge, it's impressive, as is the Lincoln Memorial. It's strange to see the centre, which is so familiar and recognisable, in real life. It's largescale and kind of strange. The White House, in context, is really rather beautiful.

The best part of Washington, IMHO, are the museums. Unfortunately we couldn't quite get to see the Constitution in the National Archives, as it closed fairly early, but the American History and Culture and the Space and Air museums were fantastic. The Native American museum sounded great too, but again, too late.

Before travelling back we rickshawed into 'real' Washington DC to have some food in Chinatown. Turns out there's more to the city than columns and reflecting pools. It had a laid-back vibe and was surprisingly nice.

Huh.

NYC Chapter One

After an uneventful flight and a two hour s-l-o-w journey through customs, we eventually turned up in NYC, dishevelled but excited.

Getting out of a cab at our very own apartment, so New York. Rung the buzzer, as instructed. No answer. Huh.

Rung again.

And again.

Called the lady. No answer. Left messages, rung again, called again. SHIT.

So at 10pm we were on to plan B. With nowhere to sleep and hotels booked up it was a sticky situation. Thank God for friendly people. We eventually found our refuge through a hotel receptionist who called a friend in another hotel.

Knackered, we wandered around Times Square, completely dazzled by the big shiny things and light pollution.

We'd arrived!

Day One covered Macy's (overrated) 9/11 memorial (really good) Staten Island ferry (fun and free) Wall st (...) and Times Square again.

In the evening we had dinner and cocktails on the 50th floor of the Marriot at dusk, in the 360 degree rotating restaurant, giving us a view over NYC as the lights came on. Stunning!

On the subway we bumped into David Milliband, as you do. We confirmed his identity by simply shouting "David Milliband" as we exited the train. He looked round, vaguely confused.

Finished off with Guardians of the Galaxy at the biggest IMAX in the Western Hemisphere.

Boom.

New Trip!

I am re-opening up my blog for my latest trip.

USA baby!

This time it's me and fiance Rob travelling together for four weeks, covering both coasts and some major cities.

Trip of a lifetime, and a longstanding dream come true.

Like last time, I will be updating as regularly as possible as we move around, relating adventures and experiences while I still remember them properly. And of course my Mum will still know that I am alive and haven't been mugged at gunpoint in Baltimore.

Only a few days to go!

Our Last Night.

Ipanema!

The posh part of town.

I went to meet the others at the beach where it turns out a massive party was taking place!

Yikes. It was pretty crazy. There were a lot of drunk, young, beautiful people there, so it wasn't too bad! Hehehe

We soaked up the atmosphere for a while before going for a spot of dinner. The look on the waiter's face when I asked for plain white rice was a picture!

It was lovely but a little sad, as it was also a goodbye dinner to say so long to the other people we'd been travelling with these past few weeks.

On the way back to the hotel, we got to see the aftermath of carnival. The party from earlier had fizzled out somewhat, leaving behind the stench of urine and beer and who knows what else. The street was covered in litter, cans, food and 'slush'. It was pretty disgusting. The side of carnival you neglect to mention or remember when you get home and tell all your friends.

Still, overall it was a pretty wild experience!

Sambadrome

On Sunday night we had tickets to the Sambadrome, which is a massive concrete venue where the best Samba Schools parade, and where they get judged by a panel of experts. It is a massive event over two days (well, two nights, it started at 9pm and went on until sunrise!)

It was amazing.

We were sat very high up (Imagine the seats like those found at football stadia or amphitheatres) so we couldn't see the details of the costumes, but we could see the overall parade as it came down the runway. It was spectacular! The floats in particular were so elaborate and complicated, it takes your breath away!

Each school had a different theme, and the most popular schools had fans singing along to their music.

Each Samba School parade took one and a half hours to complete the runway of the venue (it is THAT big!) so around 4am I'm afraid to say I had to go back to the hotel.

In my defense, I hadn't eaten anything in twenty four hours due to being ill, so not so bad!

Carnival!!!

Well. Due to a stomach bug, I managed to do the whole thing SOBER. Which is a pretty impressive feat, I reckon!

After spending the day wandering around the shops, we went to have a look at one of the street parties in Lapa. Wowee, what a lot of people! Plenty of people dancing Samba in the streets and partying hard! Every few steps there was someone selling beer or burgers or carnival masks. You could hardly move, but the buzz was great!

The next day we went to have a look at Copacabana beach. Well, once has to when in Rio, no? I must say, it was very pretty, but I wasn't blown away. Perhaps because there was no room on the beach at all! The weather was beautiful, the people were beautiful (more or less...) and so they came to tan. The mosaic pavements were very distinctive though.

We then went to one of the famous balls held during carnival.

I have mixed feelings about that. It was great, and I had a fantastic time, but it wasn't as extravagant as I had expected. The venue was like a nightclub / dinner and dance. Very strange, but there was a mixture of people and the Samba bands played on stage for hours so we danced the night away!