Adrian's words:
From Boston we caught a bus down to New York City. It's the biggest city we've seen with more than 8 million people, but it's still very functional and easy to get around.
Highlights of our time here include time spent at Times Square, time spent on a large schooner cruising the Hudson river by Lower Manhattan and the Statue of Liberty. After a few nights we caught up with my friends Bethany and Paul who had travelled down from Chicago to see us. We went with them to see Mary Poppins on Broadway.
New York City may have been our favourite city in the US had it not been for the terrible service we received in a couple of places. It got us thinking, could a city be so big that customer service no longer matters? Those attractions will still receive several million visitors every year (e.g. the Empire State building), so what's the point in being nice?
Enough of that, I'll end this hurried post with another highlight of our time in New York. In Queens (where we were staying), we found a small Bolivian restaurant, and I was able to introduce Renae to my favourite Bolivian dish, the Silpancho! Queens is one of New York's 5 'boroughs' and apparently has a large Latin American community - I don't think the restaurant sees many English speakers!
Renae's words:
On our first night in New York, we went for a sunset sail on a schooner, where we relaxed with free wine and beer as they sailed us past the Statue of Liberty and Manhattan Island. The light was incredible at that time of day, and Adrian was pleased that a band was performing on Governers Island, playing trance music by Tiesto, his favourite. The music was so loud that you could hear it from miles away, right across the harbour.
New York was incredible for its sheer scale and the inevitable craziness that comes with it. Times Square at night was amazing. One night we sat on some grandstand-style seating in the middle of it all to take in the lights and sounds and it was just a sea of people. The crowd moves so slowly and each person is just focused on getting where they're going...
Central Park is huge! You can easily get lost. We saw people filming a new Tom Hanks/Sandra Bullock movie, but the stars weren't on site. The Metropolitan Museum of Art (the Met) was amazing. Not surprisingly though, the staff were super rude and patronising! Possibly the highlight of NYC for me was Mary Poppins on Broadway. Incredible. I think you go into a Broadway musical expecting incredible, and that's exactly what you get!
Friday 29 July 2011
Thursday 28 July 2011
Going East: New Hampshire + Boston
We left our friends in Chicago and flew to Boston, from where we drove north to New Hampshire to see Craig, another of Adrian's Bolivia friends. Craig was the best man in our wedding. Driving into New Hampshire was as we expected - beautiful. The woods surrounding Craig's house were such a brilliant green, something like southern Germany or Switzerland.
It was lovely spending a few days with Craig and his family. We drove to the White Mountains and searched for moose, but even Adrian and Craig's moose calls didn't bring them out. We swam in a river that had natural rock waterslides - so much fun. During our time in New Hampshire we saw our first porcupine as well as some deer (I love deer). The place was gorgeous.
We also quite liked the state motto, 'live free or die'. New Hampshire people see themselves as free and independent, so they don't make it illegal to not wear a seatbelt and you can get away with various other things. Then you drive across the border into Maine and numerous signs detail all of the things you can no longer do!
We then drove on to Boston. Boston was packed with American history, which you probably needed a little more context to understand, but it was good nevertheless. We walked the Freedom Trail and saw Paul Revere's house and lots of important graves and buildings (can you tell I don't remember details? :P) Something that did surprise us about Boston though was the people. Compared to the west coast and Chicago, people in Boston were so direct, bordering on rude and brash. For example, when you're enquiring about something (to a customer service person) they will answer part of your question, get distracted and talk to another staff person, then turn back and answer the rest of your question, not making eye contact. I guess it's part of the culture. Is that an excuse though? It's not that hard to be polite. Another example was when Adrian got told off by a man dressed as Abraham Lincoln, when he didn't pay him money first. So he can now say that he was given a talking to by Abraham Lincoln. :)
By far the best part of Boston was our whale watching trip one evening. I've been a tour guide on a boat cruise that took people to see whales and I've studied them, but never have I seen so many so close. We had humpbacks breaching all around the boat. We also saw a minke whale (my first). And a beautiful sunset. It was one of the most amazing evenings!
It was lovely spending a few days with Craig and his family. We drove to the White Mountains and searched for moose, but even Adrian and Craig's moose calls didn't bring them out. We swam in a river that had natural rock waterslides - so much fun. During our time in New Hampshire we saw our first porcupine as well as some deer (I love deer). The place was gorgeous.
We also quite liked the state motto, 'live free or die'. New Hampshire people see themselves as free and independent, so they don't make it illegal to not wear a seatbelt and you can get away with various other things. Then you drive across the border into Maine and numerous signs detail all of the things you can no longer do!
We then drove on to Boston. Boston was packed with American history, which you probably needed a little more context to understand, but it was good nevertheless. We walked the Freedom Trail and saw Paul Revere's house and lots of important graves and buildings (can you tell I don't remember details? :P) Something that did surprise us about Boston though was the people. Compared to the west coast and Chicago, people in Boston were so direct, bordering on rude and brash. For example, when you're enquiring about something (to a customer service person) they will answer part of your question, get distracted and talk to another staff person, then turn back and answer the rest of your question, not making eye contact. I guess it's part of the culture. Is that an excuse though? It's not that hard to be polite. Another example was when Adrian got told off by a man dressed as Abraham Lincoln, when he didn't pay him money first. So he can now say that he was given a talking to by Abraham Lincoln. :)
By far the best part of Boston was our whale watching trip one evening. I've been a tour guide on a boat cruise that took people to see whales and I've studied them, but never have I seen so many so close. We had humpbacks breaching all around the boat. We also saw a minke whale (my first). And a beautiful sunset. It was one of the most amazing evenings!
Wednesday 27 July 2011
Chicago and Ohio part 2
(Renae's thoughts) Chicago was an entirely different experience to other cities as we had the privilege of staying with friends. These were the friends that Adrian made in Bolivia, who I had not met before. It was the best way to experience Chicago - with great, fun people who can tell you about their experience of the city.
We arrived on 4th July and caught the wrong bus, so we missed the fireworks, but got a fairly unique experience out of it anyway when we got stuck out in some random neighbourhood! Highlights of our time in Chicago were the baseball game, trying Chicago style pizza (so cheesy but not too bad), going to church with Katie, sailing on Lake Michigan (and jumping into the water) and of course our last day in Chicago. This was Adrian's birthday, so we went to the 96th floor of the John Hancock building for cake, went to the zoo and saw a free concert in Millenium Park with our friends.
Chicago seems like a very 'livable' city, except for the heat! I don't think I could stand the humidity. Aside from this, it's a beautiful city and greatest of all are the people - so laid back and kind - which really made the difference.
We also took a side trip to Ohio to see Kristen. We stayed in Medina, Ohio and loved how green and pristine it was. So well cared for, with manicured lawns and American flags strung from nearly every house. It resembled the neighbourhood in Gilmore Girls :) We hung out with Kristen, met her family, saw an Amish community and ate at an Amish restaurant. Oh, and visited Walmart! We were also fascinated with the fireflies, which we'd never seen before. We caught a few and then released them and tried to video them flying, but weren't hugely successful.
And that was our time in the mid-west!
We arrived on 4th July and caught the wrong bus, so we missed the fireworks, but got a fairly unique experience out of it anyway when we got stuck out in some random neighbourhood! Highlights of our time in Chicago were the baseball game, trying Chicago style pizza (so cheesy but not too bad), going to church with Katie, sailing on Lake Michigan (and jumping into the water) and of course our last day in Chicago. This was Adrian's birthday, so we went to the 96th floor of the John Hancock building for cake, went to the zoo and saw a free concert in Millenium Park with our friends.
Chicago seems like a very 'livable' city, except for the heat! I don't think I could stand the humidity. Aside from this, it's a beautiful city and greatest of all are the people - so laid back and kind - which really made the difference.
We also took a side trip to Ohio to see Kristen. We stayed in Medina, Ohio and loved how green and pristine it was. So well cared for, with manicured lawns and American flags strung from nearly every house. It resembled the neighbourhood in Gilmore Girls :) We hung out with Kristen, met her family, saw an Amish community and ate at an Amish restaurant. Oh, and visited Walmart! We were also fascinated with the fireflies, which we'd never seen before. We caught a few and then released them and tried to video them flying, but weren't hugely successful.
And that was our time in the mid-west!
Monday 18 July 2011
Chicago and Ohio part 1
Hi Adrian here again. Renae and I have different impressions of our time in Chicago IL and Medina OH so she may add to this later. For now, here are my Chicago highlights:
- Catching up with friends. It was so great to see the friends I'd made in Bolivia and to introduce them to Renae who they knew of in 2008 but had never met. They were all really generous in hosting us.
- A sail on Lake Michigan with friends provided a beautiful new perspective on the city we had been exploring.
- Chicago White Sox vs Minnesota Twins major league baseball. great atmosphere, great game that went right down to the final inning where the home team needed extra time to avoid a 10th inning. They got it!
- Cheesecake at the top of the John Hancock building. Sears was a bit expensive and we got a hot tip about free entry to the top of Chicago's 2nd tallest if you went to the lounge rather than the observation deck.
During our time in the Chicago area we also took a rental car down to explore Ohio and to catch up with another friend. We saw fire flies for the first time! We also went to Amish country and were able to meet our friend's family, so it was a great few days.
- Catching up with friends. It was so great to see the friends I'd made in Bolivia and to introduce them to Renae who they knew of in 2008 but had never met. They were all really generous in hosting us.
- A sail on Lake Michigan with friends provided a beautiful new perspective on the city we had been exploring.
- Chicago White Sox vs Minnesota Twins major league baseball. great atmosphere, great game that went right down to the final inning where the home team needed extra time to avoid a 10th inning. They got it!
- Cheesecake at the top of the John Hancock building. Sears was a bit expensive and we got a hot tip about free entry to the top of Chicago's 2nd tallest if you went to the lounge rather than the observation deck.
During our time in the Chicago area we also took a rental car down to explore Ohio and to catch up with another friend. We saw fire flies for the first time! We also went to Amish country and were able to meet our friend's family, so it was a great few days.
Saturday 9 July 2011
The grungy Pacific North-West
First impressions of Seattle when we walked into the city from our hostel in Chinatown on a quiet Saturday afternoon: a small clump of high-rises, deserted streets, parks filled with sleeping homeless people, roaring overpasses and lots of cement. The city centre looked abandoned and the streets were gloomy and empty.
We found the waterfront, which was not beautiful, just your average fishing town waterfront, except for a scattering of touristy shops on several piers. Looking out across the water, however, we saw snow-capped mountains and big ferries coming into port silently. Cutting the waterfront off from the cluster of high-rises were two big overpasses from where you could hear the constant clamour of traffic. You had to walk under these and over train tracks to get to the city.
Walking home that night, we saw a now-familiar sight: a guy walking alone, singing at the top of his voice. Another guy approached us and said 'where's Everett? [assumed he was talking about his street] I don't know where it is, cos I'm on Mars'.
Next morning we caught the bus to a suburb called Ballard where we went along to Mars Hill Church. Mars Hill has a fairly high-profile preacher called Mark Driscoll and the church has about 8 campuses in Seattle, one in New Mexico, and soon their church plants in California and [somewhere else I can't recall] are opening. The Ballard campus was in a very inconspicuous building in a quiet street. It had lots of different spaces - the main church part, a coffee room, a large entry room with couches, another room with heaps of couches.
Ballard is the campus that Mark Driscoll preaches at live. His video-recorded message is then sent to the other campuses so they get his sermons a week later than Ballard. The church is known as a megachurch but the individual campuses are not huge. It's well-known internationally though, and they have a great website where people download the sermons for free - www.marshillchurch.org - and there are some phenomenal number of downloads per week. We'd seen a lot of Driscoll's sermons prior to this and were hoping he'd be there.
But he wasn't, and had pre-recorded his message. Often he does this when his son has a baseball game or whatever. But it was great regardless. His teaching is really great. This was sermon #81 or #82 (I think) on Luke - he's been preaching on Luke for a couple of years now with other sermon series thrown in amongst them.
Afterwards, we experienced Mars Hill's own very specutacularly weird coffee - I can't remember the name but it had apple, caramel, and something else in it . It was alright!
We went to the Space Needle, saw an IMAX movie for free (Born to be Wild in 3D), went to Pike Place Market and just sat and watched people for awhile. Near Pike Place Market there we sat on a hill where lots of homeless people were sleeping and watched as a guy approached several people for a 'favour'. We saw another guy crawling around finding cigarette butts and then sucking on them. At one stage a father came along with his two sons and handed out sandwiches to the homeless.
That night we walked forever and ever, about 50 000 miles I think, to find a graveyard that Bruce and Brandon Lee were buried in. It was closed. But on the way back, we met an old man who had trained at the same martial arts school as Bruce Lee and had known him. Nice. At the bus stop in the city, an old man with huge dreads down to his waist was smoking something and having a conversation with himself. Seems like there's someone just like this at every bus stop we go to.
We found the waterfront, which was not beautiful, just your average fishing town waterfront, except for a scattering of touristy shops on several piers. Looking out across the water, however, we saw snow-capped mountains and big ferries coming into port silently. Cutting the waterfront off from the cluster of high-rises were two big overpasses from where you could hear the constant clamour of traffic. You had to walk under these and over train tracks to get to the city.
Walking home that night, we saw a now-familiar sight: a guy walking alone, singing at the top of his voice. Another guy approached us and said 'where's Everett? [assumed he was talking about his street] I don't know where it is, cos I'm on Mars'.
Next morning we caught the bus to a suburb called Ballard where we went along to Mars Hill Church. Mars Hill has a fairly high-profile preacher called Mark Driscoll and the church has about 8 campuses in Seattle, one in New Mexico, and soon their church plants in California and [somewhere else I can't recall] are opening. The Ballard campus was in a very inconspicuous building in a quiet street. It had lots of different spaces - the main church part, a coffee room, a large entry room with couches, another room with heaps of couches.
Ballard is the campus that Mark Driscoll preaches at live. His video-recorded message is then sent to the other campuses so they get his sermons a week later than Ballard. The church is known as a megachurch but the individual campuses are not huge. It's well-known internationally though, and they have a great website where people download the sermons for free - www.marshillchurch.org - and there are some phenomenal number of downloads per week. We'd seen a lot of Driscoll's sermons prior to this and were hoping he'd be there.
But he wasn't, and had pre-recorded his message. Often he does this when his son has a baseball game or whatever. But it was great regardless. His teaching is really great. This was sermon #81 or #82 (I think) on Luke - he's been preaching on Luke for a couple of years now with other sermon series thrown in amongst them.
Afterwards, we experienced Mars Hill's own very specutacularly weird coffee - I can't remember the name but it had apple, caramel, and something else in it . It was alright!
We went to the Space Needle, saw an IMAX movie for free (Born to be Wild in 3D), went to Pike Place Market and just sat and watched people for awhile. Near Pike Place Market there we sat on a hill where lots of homeless people were sleeping and watched as a guy approached several people for a 'favour'. We saw another guy crawling around finding cigarette butts and then sucking on them. At one stage a father came along with his two sons and handed out sandwiches to the homeless.
That night we walked forever and ever, about 50 000 miles I think, to find a graveyard that Bruce and Brandon Lee were buried in. It was closed. But on the way back, we met an old man who had trained at the same martial arts school as Bruce Lee and had known him. Nice. At the bus stop in the city, an old man with huge dreads down to his waist was smoking something and having a conversation with himself. Seems like there's someone just like this at every bus stop we go to.
Tuesday 5 July 2011
The Fog City
We found San Francisco to be a stunning city, so vibrant and colourful and with a great vibe - music everywhere, street entertainment, sunshine... except for when the fog hung around, but it was never over the city, instead floating down over the bay and the bridge. Beautiful.
We saw all the famous sites: the Golden Gate bridge, Fisherman's Wharf, Pier 39, the windiest street (it criss-crosses up a small hill), the Victorian houses at Alamo Square (of Full House fame!) and the cable cars. We did not visit Alcatraz - apparently we should have booked weeks in advance. All booked out.
There were a LOT of homeless people here. We had a few conversations with people. One guy said 'you're looking rich today'. On every corner people sat there with cardboard signs. They weren't menacing at all like in some other cities - they were more... hopeless. One guy wanted a bite of our souvlakis and kept persisting despite us telling him no and asking him other questions - he just wanted a bite. He walked off saying 'you're terrible people'. In hindsight: we should have given them to him and bought ourselves another. Damn hindsight! Or lack of foresight.
Highlights of San Fran: drinking Starbucks (America's Starbucks is alright! Nothing like the dirty water Australian version), the drive into San Fran with messy traffic, and riding the cable car in the morning - we stood on the outside so we had the best view.
And lastly, some observations of America so far (oooh here it is!):
- It's so common for someone to be walking down the street alone, singing at top note, without a single inhibition! Sometimes accompanied by dance moves.
- US flags are everywhere in some places. Australians just don't plaster their houses with flags. I wonder why we don't and they do.
- Jaywalking - I knew it was illegal here (and probably is at home too, but no one enforces it) but they actually cross at crossings, and wait for the signal. Adrian and I went to casually cross the street in Santa Barbara and a cop came from nowhere on his motorcycle, turned off the engine and said 'you guys can't cross here. you gotta go to the crosswalk'. It was a single lane of traffic that we were about to cross!
- Burgers, 'grills' (still don't quite know what they are) and Mexican food is everywhere. They eat so many burgers! And food ending with 'dog' - corn dogs, chilli dogs etc
- Huge cars (but I think I knew that already)
- And everyone is so polite and well-spoken. Australians aren't impolite... we're just laid back :)
We saw all the famous sites: the Golden Gate bridge, Fisherman's Wharf, Pier 39, the windiest street (it criss-crosses up a small hill), the Victorian houses at Alamo Square (of Full House fame!) and the cable cars. We did not visit Alcatraz - apparently we should have booked weeks in advance. All booked out.
There were a LOT of homeless people here. We had a few conversations with people. One guy said 'you're looking rich today'. On every corner people sat there with cardboard signs. They weren't menacing at all like in some other cities - they were more... hopeless. One guy wanted a bite of our souvlakis and kept persisting despite us telling him no and asking him other questions - he just wanted a bite. He walked off saying 'you're terrible people'. In hindsight: we should have given them to him and bought ourselves another. Damn hindsight! Or lack of foresight.
Highlights of San Fran: drinking Starbucks (America's Starbucks is alright! Nothing like the dirty water Australian version), the drive into San Fran with messy traffic, and riding the cable car in the morning - we stood on the outside so we had the best view.
And lastly, some observations of America so far (oooh here it is!):
- It's so common for someone to be walking down the street alone, singing at top note, without a single inhibition! Sometimes accompanied by dance moves.
- US flags are everywhere in some places. Australians just don't plaster their houses with flags. I wonder why we don't and they do.
- Jaywalking - I knew it was illegal here (and probably is at home too, but no one enforces it) but they actually cross at crossings, and wait for the signal. Adrian and I went to casually cross the street in Santa Barbara and a cop came from nowhere on his motorcycle, turned off the engine and said 'you guys can't cross here. you gotta go to the crosswalk'. It was a single lane of traffic that we were about to cross!
- Burgers, 'grills' (still don't quite know what they are) and Mexican food is everywhere. They eat so many burgers! And food ending with 'dog' - corn dogs, chilli dogs etc
- Huge cars (but I think I knew that already)
- And everyone is so polite and well-spoken. Australians aren't impolite... we're just laid back :)
Friday 1 July 2011
North on Highway One
Hello it's Adrian here. On the morning of the 28th we headed back to the airport to pick up a hire car. It was a compact Chevrolet Aveo - not the most intimidating vehicle on the roads. The streets of LA were full of heavy pickups, vans, Harleys and sports cars - all as loud, fast, and aggressive as possible.
Our GPS took some time to charge and locate itself, and in the meantime Renae had navigated me through the busiest Santa Monica traffic toward Highway One northbound. A few manic freeways kept my eyes peeled! We stopped in a pretty town called Santa Barbara for lunch, and drove on to San Simeon motel for the night.
On the 29th we continued onto the Big Sur coast, stopping many times for some amazing sights including gray whales, elephant seals, squirrels and a jaw-droppingly amazing coastline (we'll have to use photos to describe this).
The traffic got serious as we headed on to San Francisco (12 lanes merging into 8, a 15 lane toll gate), and we made into the CBD to find our accommodation and to return the car.
Renae will tell you about beautiful San Francisco in her next post, coming soon! Bye for now!
Our GPS took some time to charge and locate itself, and in the meantime Renae had navigated me through the busiest Santa Monica traffic toward Highway One northbound. A few manic freeways kept my eyes peeled! We stopped in a pretty town called Santa Barbara for lunch, and drove on to San Simeon motel for the night.
On the 29th we continued onto the Big Sur coast, stopping many times for some amazing sights including gray whales, elephant seals, squirrels and a jaw-droppingly amazing coastline (we'll have to use photos to describe this).
The traffic got serious as we headed on to San Francisco (12 lanes merging into 8, a 15 lane toll gate), and we made into the CBD to find our accommodation and to return the car.
Renae will tell you about beautiful San Francisco in her next post, coming soon! Bye for now!
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