Boston

Boston! One of the oldest cities in the US and largely inhabited by the Irish, giving rise to its unique accent. We arrived early on Friday morning and managed to locate our hostel with the help of a friendly local who was also only too happy to point out the best eating places nearby, Indian for lunch then... Scotty and I immediately decided to run off all the picnics and poutine we’d had over the previous week and set out along the very picturesque albeit black watered Charles River. We stayed right next to Fenway Park - home of the Red Sox - so decided to have a nose around there that afternoon, unfortunately the home games were not scheduled during our stay so we missed out on that (Yankees game in NYC tonight though!). We made friends with some Brits and had a little predrink party – no drinking in the hostel so we had to smuggle the wine in and the bottles out of our room – and then headed for a night out Fenway style. Saturday saw us head to Harvard (est 1636) which we were able to pretend we went to for a couple of hours, we even got asked if we did go and we ummed and ahhed while we were tempted to say yes before we finally said no – as if our Kiwi accents and the conversation didn’t give us away anyway. A stroll along the Charles River and a stop off at MIT before heading back to a Saturday evening that followed in much the same fashion as the previous night but included a conversation with a very patriotic and inebriated marine at the local bar.

Over the next couple of days we managed to fit in all kinds of things touristy. The Freedom Trail took us on an historic walk through Boston and into Charleston. We found Mike’s Pastry who famously serve cannoli’s – what I can only assume is deep fried pastry filled with some kind of cream, the one I chose was then dunked in chocolate with chocolate chips on the outside – thank god we’d barely started the walk because it needed to be burnt off somehow.

On Monday we headed to the “Cheers” bar for lunch where for decades we’d been promised that everyone knew our name, but they didn’t. At least they were glad we came. We wandered around Beacon Hill (beautiful old houses where old money from Boston Brahmins (European immigrants) rules) and took a swan boat ride through the pond in Boston Common (very loser touristy). I explored the city some more for the afternoon, discovered the Boston Tea Party site but was disappointed to see that, like everything else in this country, the museum and ship were being renovated and there was actually nothing to see. I wandered around the harbour walk, the Quincy Markets, the Financial District, Chinatown and intrigued by the movie “The Town” tried to get myself lost in real Charlestown only to be disappointed by rows and rows of beautiful townhouses before arriving at the Bunker memorial site and the U.S.S Constitution once again. The evening resulted in me dragging my new found German friend Johannes up to the 52^nd floor of the Prudential Building to the “Top of the Hub” bar for scenic views of the city and expensive cocktails. 

We woke up yesterday morning to discover we’d got our days mixed up and that we were leaving tomorrow (today now) and not the day after, all activities for the day were booked, Scotty and Aimee went to Salem for witch hunting while I headed out with Tacey and Corny to go whale watching. On the brink of seasickness we finally arrived at the whale feeding area and saw several Humpbacks having a munch and showing off.

Unfortunately I’ve missed out on the Samuel Adams Brewery tour and actually going into Fenway Park but gotta leave something for next time! NYC now, hopefully we get out alive Jxx

Photos next time! I'm sitting in Bryant Park in NYC (where they have NY Fashion Week) and the internet is crap. Cool view of the library though xx

Montreal...

I’m, unfortunately, slightly uninspired to write this bit of the blog. Montreal was beautiful but we couldn’t help but feel a little underwhelmed at what there was to do. Fortunately for us it was sunny the whole time so we spent our days hiking, picnicking and lazing.

We arrived late in the evening and after refusing to purchase train food we quickly found our beds and headed to the closest place for some poutine! If I haven’t mentioned it before now, poutine is basically fries smothered in cheese curds and gravy and tastes a lot more amazing than it sounds.

The next morning our hostel dude pointed us in the direction of a big walk for the day so we set off to see the sights – except that we found that there weren’t too many. After a few hours we came across Lafontaine Square and decided that a picnic was in order.  We let that settle while we lounged next to the lake (that turns into an ice skating rink in the winter) and then headed for Vieux Montreal to wander the piers. Again once we got here there wasn’t actually a lot to see, we checked out a memorial site and then set up camp beside the river under a tree for a few hours to people watch. We discovered the two favourite pastimes of Montrealian’s (?) -running and tanning in the local parks so there were near naked bodies running and lying about everywhere! That night we headed to a bar called St Sulpice that had a beer garden for about 400 people, and also a rude bartender demanding tips.

Day 2 was much the same except we hiked up Mont Royal and had our picnic next to the chalet. We lazed here for a few hours and checked out the views, had fun feeding the squirrel’s chocolate and then hiking around the rest of the mountain before heading back home for some more R&R. I headed back to St Sulpice for a few bevvy’s with a couple of others later on but all in all a quietish day.

As our trip is seemingly revolving around food we made sure our last day was no exception and hiked it to the Kiwi and Aussie Café on Mont Royal – via a few cathedrals (have to do something touristy). We got our fill of pies and tim tams and then headed back to the supermarche where we had previously discovered massive pork roasts for $5. That was dinner and it was delish – we miss home cooking!

So now I am all inspired to learn French again, and am actually going to do it this time. Does anyone speak that wants to help me learn?? J Mon Francais est terrible.

A big shout out to all of you and your other halves that are popping or about to pop – can’t wait to meet all these new bubs next time I’m home! Boston now for 5 days then NYC for 6 and then we have finished in the US L Iceland for 2 days and then reality strikes as we hit the UK and the real world for a little while!

Inside Cathedrale Marie Reine du Monde

New Orleans threw up all over Rue St Catherine, Montreal

McGill University

Rue St Paul - the street La Maison du Patriote (our hostel) was on

View over Bassin Bonsecours to Bonsecours Marche

Picnic Montreal style

Nearly....

Ahhhhhh success!

View of Montreal from Chalet du Mont Royal

DC and Philli

Not a lot of exciting news to report this time round! Have spent the last 5 or so days in Washington DC and Philadelphia where we have immersed ourselves in all things US history themed. Stayed in a disgusting hostel in DC but at least it was in a cool area – Adam’s Morgan. Great food – tried Ethiopian our first night, I had the Kitfo or raw beef mince with spices, Yum! And for the next couple of days just visited all your favourites – the White House, Capitol Building, Lincoln Memorial, Washington Monument… Reflecting pool was a disappointment (see photo below), seems Washington is a gorgeous city but absolutely everything was under construction while we were there. Did see a Congress party taking place in the White House’ backyard though so that kinda made up for it. Found the mothership of all Whole Foods and took it upon ourselves to sample everything for dinner one night, amazing, hope it’s in the UK by now! Apart from eating we did visit a lot of Museums including the Holocaust Memorial Museum (very touching), Air and Space Museum, Natural History Museum and American History Museum, all for free – thanks US tax payer.

Onto Philadelphia, the first capital of the US and home of the Philly Cheesesteak! Here we learnt even more Declaration of Independence and Constitution history. Again, beautiful city and has about a million statues/memorials of/to old George – most popular American of all time (well of course because you keep putting statues of him everywhere and his face is on that pesky $1 bill that makes you look rich with a wad of cash but actually no). Visited the Liberty Bell, Independence Hall (signing of Independence and Constitution), the steps Rocky runs up (Museum of Art), Ben Franklin’s Grave, JFK square with the LOVE sign (photo below) and the Mutter Museum – by far my fav museum to date. This freaky little number had all things weird and wonderful from 1800’s medicine. Gangrene limbs, Siamese twins, TB ridden intestine, small pox and cancer ridden body parts, cross sections of every part of the human body, skulls and skeletons a plenty, you name it, it was there – no photo’s though unfortunately so I picked up a little fact for you… Scrotum cancer is an occupational hazard of chimney sweeps. It didn’t go into detail so I’m not sure how.

On our way to Montreal where we are sure to fill up on more culinary delights, thankfully I’ve run more in the last 6 weeks than I have in the last 6 years. Au Revoir xx

Capitol Building

Me at 1600 Pennsylvania Ave

The White House

Barack and Michelle's Vege Garden

Washington Monument

The Reflecting Pool - not doing a lot of reflecting

 It's not so secret when you paint the name of it down your car...

Michelle's Inauguration Gown

Ruby Slippers from the Wizard of Oz - American History Museum

Spirit of St Louis, Charles Lindbergh's plane (the child that studied this in school came out in me!)

Rocky! (In Philli now)

What and where Benjamin Franklin's House used to be

The Liberty Bell 

The room where the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution were signed including George Washington's Sun Chair bang smack in the middle up the front there

Love love love - JFK Square

City Hall Phili

Me posing on the giant dominoes

New Orleans!

New favourite city = New Orleans or Nawlins even in spite of the humidity and the regular occurrence of hand grenade induced hangovers. We arrived on Tuesday evening and quickly increased the wolfpack again, spent the night chatting in the courtyard with lukewarm beers (can’t keep anything cold in 40 degree weather) and dodging our first thunderstorm. The rest of the week saw us trekking into Bourbon St each day where we would be armed with a new bucket list of food to try; we ticked a lot of boxes this week - Gumbo, Jumbalaya, Crawfish, Po Boys, Alligator, Muffaletta, Praline, and eating things like pork chop and smothered cabbage at your typical hole in the wall. Daiquiri’s were high on the list of things to try as well as Hand Grenade’s – sneaky big alcoholic slushy’s. We took a ferry ride over the Mississippi, shopped at the vintage stores on Magazine St where I could have bought a lot of things but had to be content with my new old pink aviators, went on a haunted tour of the city, explored the French Markets for Voodoo Dolls and the scoped out the rest of the French Quarter, frequented Frenchman Street for Jazz bands, and made the oldest pub (1722) in America our local after spending each afternoon lazing in and around the pool. Aimee and I wandered around the old cemeteries where all the graves are now above ground due to the high water table around New Orleans – I think they found this out the hard way! Scotty and I managed to sneak in one 20 minute run before we nearly carked it from heat exhaustion (nothing to do with the fitness levels). Up to DC now where hopefully the weather is a little bit more bearable, we did just get off the train briefly in Atlanta though and things weren’t looking too promising, oh well at least the tan is getting worked on! J

Spanish Themed Houses in the French Quarter

Mississippi

Just chilling in the 38 degree heat by the murky Mississippi

French themed in the French Quarter

Crawfish!

Horse and Cart

Me riding the street car

Barely Legal Club on Bourbon St, just how it should be?

Chicago and Memphis

So we arrived in Chicago at 4.55am on Thursday and ventured in to town pretty exhausted to find our hostel. Located it and scoffed down some well needed brekky before heading to the building formerly known as Sears – the Willis Tower. We looked out over the stunning views of the city and read the countless accounts of everything Chicago history themed on the walls and then ventured to Millenium Park. Here we soaked up the sun, sounds and city sights and took pictures with the (jelly)bean before heading to get a taste of local cuisine – deep dished pizza. Yum! A quiet afternoon skulking round the hostel and meeting all the others before a large group of us descended upon town for the evening. Another slow start to the day on Friday but we managed to squeeze in a walk to Navy Pier and then a boat tour taking in the architectural wonders that make Chicago magnificent. Scotty and I squeezed in a 5mile run around the city via the river and waterfront and came to the conclusion that we will probably never run again after leaving the states as we will be disappointed without the grand sights we have become accustomed to running with. That night we mosied on up to Wrigglyville - home of the Cubs - to catch up with our new friend David for a few bevvys, everything closes at 2am over here and it’s way too early! Saturday morning saw an early start to catch up with Kate and do a spot of shopping. We then walked north up the lake front for a couple of hours before arriving at Lincoln Park Zoo and checking out all the animals. Apparently the weather changes very rapidly in Chicago and within the space of about 2 minutes we were sent scrambling for cover from the thunder storm so we decided to set up camp 96 floors up the John Hancock Building to wait for the weather to clear. We soaked up the panoramic city views and got ourselves dry all for the price of a slice of cheesecake. A quick walk down Magnificent Mile (Rodeo Drive on a less grander but larger scale) and around the river back to the hostel to grab our bags to board the overnight train to Memphis.

We arrived in Memphis early yesterday morning where absolutely nothing was open, after sitting at the station waiting for a cab for half an hour one of the staff offered us a ride to our motel which we gladly took. We had our first authentic diner experience where a round of fried chicken benedict with white gravy was ordered before heading up Elvis Presley Boulevard to Graceland. The tour around Elvis’ house was incredible and was humbling to be in such a place still as it was 40years ago. I wanna live there(but just not in Memphis, I have never felt so white before in my life)! We had a quiet evening as it was 37 degrees here and so hard to function in the sweltering heat! Today we headed into town to have a nose at the spot where Martin Luther King Jnr was killed, lunch on the famous Beale Street and up to Sun Studio for a tour through the place where people such as Elvis, Johnny Cash, Jerry Lee Lewis and Carl Perkins got their big breaks and recorded many hits. Back into town this evening for some more local cuisine, music and beer at a place called Alfred’s on Beale St, up on the patio peering down at all the action. Off to bed now, 5am rise for the train to New Orleans! xx

103 floors up the Willis Tower

Me and the Bean

Deep Dish Pizza

Sailboats coming under the bridge

Kate and my hand's are slightly smaller...

Sichuan Takin at the Lincoln Park Zoo

96 floors up the John Hancock Building - best views from the toilets in town.

Sun Studio Recording Room

Elvis' Jungle Room

Graceland

Elvis' Famous Pink Cadillac

Lorraine Motel where MLK was shot

Million Dollar Quartet

Sleepless in Seattle

Two updates in three days!! You lot will be sick of hearing from me J sitting in Seattle airport waiting for our overnight flight to Chicago. 

Seattle must be sad that we only spent a short time with it because it has cried for two days. I guess they don’t call it semi sunny Seattle for nothing. Packed in quite a bit in our three days though – the famous Pike Street Markets where we watched fish throwing and sampled delicacies such as buffalo jerky, dried apple and raspberry honey hazelnuts, Yum!! Did an underground tour, pretty neato but Seattlians (?) were crazy back in the day, building their streets higher (8-30ft) than the foot paths, a large chunk of the city has another storey below it now that they leveled everything out! Later that evening we went and chillaxed with the folk life at the Northern Folklife festival, listened to reggae music and inhaled second hand marijuana smoke from all the teenagers and parents with their toddlers toddling around.  Obviously we weren’t as well prepared. Hit up a fun little pub for $6 beer pitchers and continued on into the wee hours. 

The next day we set off up to the 73^rd floor of the Columbia building - tallest building in Seattle - for a lookout over the city, the guy took a shine to our Kiwi accents and discounted our tickets, gave us his binoculars and told us to come back for another look for free when it was sunny (yea right). We then headed down to the Experience Music Project to check out the Nirvana exhibition and a spot of Battlestar Gallactica. And today we caught a ferry over to the quaint little town of Winslow on Bainbridge Island. Not a lot to do in the rain so we shopped and then read books before coming back to cheer on the Canucks for a couple of hours while blatantly not spending any money at the pub.

Number of dollars hustled off me by the stupid ATM: way too many.

Number of ice hockey games won by the Canucks over the Bruins: 1. Three more wins to go!!! (yes band wagon fan, I know).

Monk Fish at the Fish Market, Pike Place. (Watch out it moves!!)

Pike Place Market Entrance

Photo of Kurt Cobain playing at the same pub we were drinking at.

The original Starbucks

Light in the Underground

Seattle's Most Disgusting Attraction - bubblegum wall.

Kurt Cobains shirt he was wearing on the cover of Spin.

Seattle from the Columbia Tower

Seattle from the Bainbridge Ferry