My final day...and catching up with the past couple of weeks!

I have been really rubbish and not written a blog for quite a while, but I blame it mainly on the all the fun stuff I have been up to getting in the way. The past few weeks have flown by and it was my last full day today as I fly home tomorrow evening, getting back early Friday morning UK time. I'm sure it will be a bit strange when I get back at first, especially as Ashling is staying out for a few more weeks to hang out with her mum and sister for a while longer, but I am looking forward to seeing everyone.

I left off just over 2 weeks ago, I am having to use Ashing's journal to remind me what we did, it has all blurred into one. We had a great time at the Harry Potter preview. When the film finished we walked past the small queue forming for the midnight screening that night, hours before it was due to start and felt quite smug! That day we also took a ride on the Staten Island ferry and had a quick look around the American Indian museum. They happened to have American Indian dancers in that day so we watched a little show with singing, drumming and dancing. We spent the next day in the city again, this time to watch West Side Story. We were lucky enough to get half price tickets in really good seats and it was a great show, Ashling loved all the dancing. After a bit of shopping we headed over to Brooklyn to Prospect Park where the NY Philharmonic were putting on a free outdoor concert with a fireworks display at the end. It was a great atmosphere, the park was packed with people with picnics and candles, it was a really nice evening.

On that Thursday we got up early to leave for Washington DC on the megabus. We got off the bus and were instantly hit by the heat and humidity, it was like being in Florida again. It is a great city to explore with historic buildings and monuments on every corner. We got a photo outside the white house, had a look around the Washington memorial, WW2 memorial, Vietnam memorial and then walked along the pool of reflection to reach the Lincoln Memorial. We also stopped by the National Archives to have a look at the original copies of the Declaration of Independence, the Bill of Rights and the Constitution. It was really interesting seeing it all for real after learning so much about them on our trip to Philadelphia. We ended our first day watching Night in the Museum 2 in the imax inside one of the Smithsonian museums where the film is set. It was great as it gave us a tour around all the museums so we could decide what we wanted to see the next day! We stayed in a hostel that night in a really lively part of the city called Adams Morgan, full of bars and restaurants from around the world, including a lot of the countries we have visited! It was quite strange being back in a hostel again, but we didn't hang around for long. We spent most of our second day in Washington looking around the museums, The Natural History museum was probably the best one. Our last stop was the old post office building which has a lookout above the bell tower with great views of the city. When we returned to Rockaway, there was yet another block party, this time on the block where Ashling's mum lives.

We spent a few days on the beach, at the cinema and relaxing before our next trip into another State, this time to Boston in Massachusetts. We booked ourselves into the YMCA which gave us access to their gym facilities including a swimming pool which we were excited about! Another journey on the megabus, this time it took just under 5 hours dropping us in the middle of the city. We spent the afternoon walking around working out what we wanted to do while in Boston walking around the two major parks. We had a quick look inside the bar that the TV show Cheers is set in and also walked around the Public library which is a very grand building. That evening we stumbled across cheap tickets for an impro comedy show which was really funny, very much like whose line is it anyway. We spent our first full day walking the Freedom Trail which takes you all over the city stopping off at important landmarks that have significance to America's Independence. There were too many stops to write about it all but it was a really great walk which took us most of the afternoon. In the North End of Boston, they had a small festival taking place in the streets and the Navy Show Band put on a little show which we hung around for. We are very lucky because we always seem to stumble across free things to do wherever we are. The next day we walked for a couple of hours along the Charles River to Cambridge, where Harvard University is found. We jumped on board the unofficial Hahvahd (that's how they pronounce it, they all speak a bit funny) tour which was run by students who took us around Harvard Yard and spoke about the history and told funny stories about the University. We were not feeling up to walking back into the city so jumped on the train, but it was more like an underground tram system, even their bus stops are underground it was all a bit strange. We tried to get tickets to see the Red Sox baseball game but they were all sold out so we settled in a bar opposite the stadium to watch the game, it was a really great game and they won. Our final morning I decided I would go along with Ashling to a yoga class at the hostel to see what all the fuss was about. It was really strange with lots of loud breathing and the teacher had us doing handstands against the walls and balancing on our hands. Not sure I will be so eager to try it out again! Before getting on the bus back to New York, we spent some time by the water front watching the sailing boats and did a bit more shopping.

Monday and Tuesday this week Ashling was babysitting her cousins which mainly involves playing with them at the beach so not too much hard work. Today we headed back into the city to do some clothes shopping and to see a show. We got really cheap tickets to see Shrek the Musical and it was really good fun. The set, props and costumes were all really clever and the songs were all very funny, I would recommend it if it makes it to London. I had better go to bed now, need to get up tomorrow and pack, Ashling's mum has lent me another suitcase as I definitely won't be able to fit everything back into my rucksack, and Tom is going to meet me at the airport on Friday morning. I hope it's not raining!

An update from New York

It has been a busy couple of weeks and I got lazy with the blog so I'm afraid it's going to be quite a long one! I left off two Saturday's ago when we were getting ready for the block party with Ashling's cousins. We had a great time, Phil came with us too. There was lots of food and drink, a DJ and all of the children in the area were going up and down the road on their scooters and skateboards. The night ended with a small fireworks display. We spent that Sunday in Brooklyn with Ashling's dad and Phil. Phil stayed with us for the week in Rockaway as his plans to stay with a friend in the city fell through. Our first stop was Prospect Park where we walked around for a few hours. We then walked along the promenade in Brooklyn Heights, with great views overlooking the city across the water. We finished the day with more walking, this time over the Brooklyn bridge into downtown Manhattan to have a look around Wall Street and Seaport Village.

In the past two weeks I have been to two more baseball games. The first was with Phil to the Yankee Stadium to see them play against the Seattle Mariners. We stopped off at a hotel on the way because Phil had been told that they serve the best burgers in Manhattan. The burger place was hidden behind a huge curtain off of the main lobby of the hotel, you had to know it was there to find it. It was a tiny, darkly lit room with a small hatch where the burgers are made. The burgers were good, although quite small for American standards. When we arrived at the stadium is was pouring with rain and the game was delayed by an hour. Fortunately our cheap tickets were some of the only seats under cover so we could at least take a seat in the stadium while the rain passed. The game was really good, a bit slow in the middle, but then lots of runs came in. There were a few loud guys in front of us who would turn round for hi-5's every time the Yankee's did well and Phil got a video of a man doing an interesting dance to the YMCA. The Yankees won. The second game was not a major league team, it was the Brooklyn Cyclones (named after the rollercoaster) who play in Coney Island. The stadium was very small but had a great atmosphere with entertainers coming out after every innings for competitions and giveaways, I caught a t-shirt. The game went to a 12th innings and the Cyclones eventually lost.

Last Saturday was Independence day and we spent all afternoon on the beach with what seemed like every other resident in Rockaway. The weather has improved a lot since July came in, we have had hot sunny days most of the time so the beach has been busy most days. In the evening, Tom arranged for us to go and watch the Macy's firework display on the Hudson river in Manhattan. His brother in law is an inspector in the police force so we were driven in a police car through the crowds to our own private waterside view of the display. It was great as it meant we could sit down and wonder around while we waited without having to squeeze past the thousands of people who turned up to watch. The display itself was one of the best I have seen with some really impressive fireworks, some of them made 3D shapes in the sky. It was about half an hour long and apparently there were over 6million dollars spent on the fireworks.

We have been on two day trips this week out of New York, the first was to Connecticut. We were told that Mystic would be a good place to stop off, so we set on out way not really knowing what there would be to see. Ashling has become quite confident driving around in the States, so we borrowed her mum's car for the trip and it took us about 3 hours to get there. We found a great place called Mystic Seaport which had a working boat yard an old village set up with actors walking around in costume and lots of exhibitions about America's nautical history. There were a few whaling boats in the dock too which we were able to walk around. It was a really great day.

Our second road trip was to Philadelphia in Pennsylvania to the historic district of the city. My American history is quite sketchy but we discovered a lot by walking around the many museums and old buildings. Philadelphia was the first capital of the USA and is the place where the declaration was written and signed. The visitor centre played a short film that gave a great overview of the events leading up to America's Independence. Another stop was at the Mint, one of about 6 places in the States where the money is made. At the Philly branch, they were in the process of making a new 1 cent coin with 4 different images depicting that life of Franklin. They are also responsible for printing the state quarters, the ones that represent each of the 50 states. We also stopped off to look at the famous Liberty Bell, Benjamin Franklin's grave and the longest standing, continually inhabited street in America called Elfreth's Alley. Philadelphia is also famous for its Philly Cheese Steak sandwiches so I took the opportunity to have one in the place it was invented. It sounds exciting but it is really just thinly cut steak smothered in melted cheese in a roll, tastes great. We ended the day by running up and down the stairs outside the national art gallery, as made famous by the Rocky films.

On Thursday Ashling and I went on a tour around Greenwood cemetery in Brooklyn. Her mum's friend Marge is going to become a tour guide there so she took us on an unofficial tour. The cemetery is set in acres of parkland with lots of hills and forested areas. There are lots of famous people buried there such as the Tiffany family, the founder of the ASPCA and most importantly the inventor of the hot dog. Marge also showed us the hill where a major battle between the Americans and the British took place during the revolution, and on the top there is the statue of Liberty's sister, looking out towards Liberty Island. That evening we drove into the city to meet Tom after work, and he took us to a blues bar in Greenwhich. They were a great band, really good musicians, who sang a lot of songs about "my baby who left me" with five minute guitar solos.

Yesterday we were invited to a beach party happening two blocks away from us. The beach was packed with tables full of food and bbq's but it was a bit windy so sand was getting everywhere. We got in the water with some bodyboards and stayed in for ages, it was much warmer in the water away from the wind! The ocean was really choppy and the waves were crashing in all directions so it was a bit difficult to surf them but still good fun. Ashling's mum got back from London (she has been there for the past week) so we all went out for a meal at a bar where her friend Marge was singing. Before bed we took Lily (the dog) for a walk and found that the beach party had turned into a block party with a DJ and children running around everywhere, luckily we didn't stay long as a big storm came over with lots of rain and lightening.

Other than that, we have spent a lot of time on the beach, swimming and body boarding in the ocean, been on a few bike rides and eaten out lots! Today we went to a local amateur production of Oklahoma! It was a really well-done show, the main characters were all very strong singers and the cast had children as young as five up to seventy year old men. We really enjoyed it. This week we are planning to go to Washington for a couple of days and we also have been given tickets for a preview screening of Harry Potter this Tuesday.

Phil (he wanted me to call it that)

Have had another really great week in New York. On Monday, we woke up early to sing happy birthday to Elizabeth (Ashling's youngest sister) who turned 14 and she opened her presents. Sara left Rockaway that day to meet her Mum in the city for the week so the three of us headed into Times Sq, meeting Phil on the way. He has come to NY for a 10 days and is then is flying to LA for a gig. After the both checked into their hotels, we went for a long walk in Central Park. We stopped to watch a softball game in the park and stumbled across a really nice cafe. After a bit of shopping we met Ashling's dad for a meal back in Rockaway. When we got back to the house, it was full of Elizabeth's friends as she had a sleepover for her birthday, so we stayed well out of the way!

On Tuesday, Phil came to meet us in Rockaway. We went for a short bike ride and then went to the beach for a quick dip in the ocean. It was much calmer than the other day so we were able to actually swim a bit but it was still quite cold. That evening we all went out to a bar with some of the locals. Phil and I got signed up for a beer pong tournament, apparently its extremely popular here and involves aiming a ping pong ball into small cups of beer. We did really well against a couple of experts who had been winning all night, making it down to the last cup each, but they just beat us!

We spent Wednesday in the city again with the aim to try and get some cheap tickets for West Side Story. Ashling, Phil and I put our names down for a lottery draw for very cheap front row seats but while we were waiting for the results, we blagged ourselves free tickets to see the David Letterman show, a popular chat show that is recorded in the city. The recording of the show and the matinee performance both happened at the same time so we were really hoping we didn't win the cheap tickets too, and Phil almost did as he was called out as a standby winner. Luckily all the tickets were sold, but we will definitely be entering the ballot again, they do the same for Shrek the musical so we may be able to see them both. The show was good fun, they have a live band who play in the commercial breaks to keep the audience entertained and the guest was Ray Romano from Everybody Loves Raymond. It was broadcast the same night at 11:30, but we fell asleep before the end where you could catch a glimpse of us clapping in the audience.

Yesterday was our first proper beach day here with really nice weather. It seems the rainy weather is on its way out, just as Kelly and Danny have left to go back to England. Elizabeth came into the water with me and tried to teach me to 'skin surf' properly, where you ride the waves on your chest, without a board. Some of the waves were pretty big but just wiped us out. In the evening, I went for dinner with Phil at the famous Katz Deli. We shared a huge pastrami sandwich, its most popular dish, which was filled with a lot of meat. We then met up with Ashling, Sara and both their mums and sat in Times Sq. It was really bustling with lots of TV crews interviewing people about Michael Jackson, and quite a few people walking around with boom boxes playing his music.

Today we decided to take on a bigger bike ride to Coney Island and back again. Phil is riding to Paris in August with Ben, so it was good training for him! It was about 10 miles each way and it was surprisingly easy to do. At Coney we rode on the Cyclone roller coaster again and had an ice cream before jumping on our bikes and heading back to Rockaway. It had been a really hot afternoon, but after about 5 minutes on our return home, the weather turned on us and a huge thunder storm broke out with really heavy rain. We were completely soaked through and when the lightening was much closer we decided to take cover until it passed. We stood under a sports centre entrance watching the fork lightening for about 20 minutes and eventually were able to get going again. It was really great fun, I think we did the return leg in a fraction of the time as we were so eager to get out of the rain! Tomorrow the next street down is having a block party which we have been invited to. They do them throughout Rockaway all summer, closing down a road at a time with all the residents chipping in to throw a big party all day. Ashling's cousins are very excited as there is going to be a gunging tank which they want to get us in. Photos will be coming soon.

Disney World and New York so far

It has been a busy week in New York, I have finally found some time to sit down and write this! We arrived at Disney World two Tuesdays ago at about 11am, but we were exhausted when we landed due to the time difference and flying through the night so we stopped ourselves going straight to the park and had a power nap for a few hours. When we were feeling awake enough, we jumped on the shuttle bus to Magic Kingdom and managed to ride everything we wanted to and then watched the parade and fireworks in the evening. We woke up very early the next morning to fit in a quick swim before getting to the Animal Kingdom park for opening. In this park they have one of their best roller coasters called Everest which does some loops and goes backwards and those sorts of things. Was good fun. We also watched a few of the shows like the Finding Nemo musical and the Lion King. For lunch I bought a smoked turkey leg, it was like a chicken drumstick but about ten times the size, I was sick of it after tackling it for half an hour! When we had finished everything in that park we moved onto to Epcot. Every evening they have a huge firework display over a lake in this park which was very impressive. Our third day was spent in the Hollywood Studio park where they have some of the best rides like Tower of Terror and Rock N Roller Coaster. Ashling also volunteered me to take part in behind the scenes show demonstrating how they use water canons to make a boat look like it is blowing up. They didn't have enough volunteers so she also ended up taking part too! We were kitted up in waterproof jackets, trousers and big boots and were both given the roles of deck hands. They filmed us as we pretended to scrub the boat and then run around when a torpedo hits the ship. We looked pretty stupid and got quite wet, was a good way to cool down though as it was extremely hot in Orlando. The evening show in this park was probably my favourite, again set over a lake, they projected clips from films onto water fountains and had characters running around on boats and rocks telling a story. Of course there were more fireworks too. On the last day we went back to do the things we had missed or wanted to ride again. We queued for over an hour to meet Tinkerbell as this is Ashling's favourite character, and they are new to Disney World. Ashling bought me a peter pan hat which I wore for the rest of the day. I got a lot of looks as I seemed to be the only person in the whole of Disney World who was wearing that particular hat. We had a really great time.

The next morning we got back on a plane (the last one before we fly home) to meet Ashling's parents at the airport. Her mum lives in New York and her dad just happens to be out at the same time as we are, visiting his family that also live here. We are staying with Ashling's mum and her sister Elizabeth, but her other sister Kelly is also visiting with her boyfriend Danny so it is a very busy house, not forgetting Lilly their King Charles who constantly wants to be played with. The house is in a place called Rockaway, about an hour away from the city but only a 5 minute walk from the beach. Kelly and Danny have been here for almost a month and have only had 4 days on the beach so far, the weather has been uncharacteristically bad for this time of year with quite a lot of rain. It hasn't been much better this week, but I still have plenty of time here for it to improve! On our first evening here we all went to the beach for a quick dip in the ocean, even though it was freezing cold we all got in and swam around for a while. On Monday we were invited to a BBQ with Ashling's cousins who live round the corner. Danny and I have been trying to learn how to use this skateboard they all own which you have to twist on to move forwards. It has taken a little while but I think we are both pretty good at it now! We have also been on a few bike rides this past week but most of our time has been spent in Manhattan. We bought city passes to get us entry into the major attractions including a few bus tours around the city. On Tuesday we did a bus tour of the downtown area and then got on a boat over to Liberty Island to see the statue of Liberty up close. Another boat took us to Ellis Island to the old immigration building where we learnt about the history of the immigrants who came to New York. It was really interesting to hear how openly the country excepted new citizens. After some food we hung around in time square waiting for it to get dark before we travelled the 86 floors up to the viewing platform on the Empire State Building. We were really lucky to have good weather so had a really great view of the city. On Wednesday we did a tour of uptown Manhatten, taking us through Harlem and around Central Park. On Thursday we braved the rain and did a tour of Brooklyn, we were the only four on the open top bus so had a private tour around the city, dressed in blue ponchos. Then on Friday we did the last thing on our ticket which was a boat ride on the Hudson River up towards Staton Island and back again. I think we definitely got our money's worth from the ticket! After our cruise, we met up with Sara again, after leaving her in Miami to travel the states by herself. She has been with us this weekend but is checking into a hotel tomorrow, to meet her mum who is flying over for a week before the both leave for home. Today we went for a walk on the beach for a couple of hours then got a bus to Coney Island to ride on their wooden roller coaster called the Cyclone, it was Ashling's fathers day present to her dad! It is a really old ride which shakes you about a lot with some quite steep drops! Not sure I would recommend it to everyone! We had a huge dinner in an all-American diner and then Ashling and I popped out to a local bar where they were throwing a big party, for no apparent reason! Tomorrow we are heading back into the city where I will be meeting Phil, my old housemate, who is staying in NY for a week.

New York, New York

Just thought I would drop by to give a quick update. We had a great time at Disney World and had really great weather. I am in New York now on Rockaway beach, its a great location. We are heading into the city tomorrow. I will write a proper entry with some photos soon.

More west coast, back in California

This past week has gone so fast, didn't realise it has been a week since I last posted on here. On Sunday, Pat and Morgan took us to Virginia City, an old mining town just outside Reno. It is very touristy but good fun full of old fashioned saloons and souvenir shops. Ashling and I got a cheesy old time photo taken in which we had to dress up in Western clothing. We also took a short train ride past all of the old mining shafts. On our final day in Nevada, we had a stroll around a shopping mall before being met by Ashling's uncle Jimmy who drove us to San Francisco. It was about a 4 hour drive and we didn't get to his until gone midnight so got straight into bed. They live a short drive away from the city in a suburb called Walnut Creek.

We spent our first day here in the city, walking around and taking in some of the sights. Jimmy printed out a map and highlighted some of the things to look out for. We took the BART (SF's train system) into the city and walked along the edge of the water. Our first stop was pier 39 where the sealions hang out. A bit further down, we came to Fisherman's Wharf where we found an old fashioned arcade full of old penny machines. We used up all our quarters in there playing on the games and watching the little sideshows. Walking away from the water, we popped into Ghirardelli's chocolate shop for a quick sample, and began walking up hill to find Crookedest Street. It is a road that snakes from one side of the pavement to the other downhill and there was no explanation for it, it looked like it must have been there for fun.


The next day, Jimmy took us out for lunch to meet up with his cousin Sean and Ashling's great aunt Anne. We ate in a small restaurant called The Fat Lady in Oakland, named after the portrait of a huge naked woman they have hanging over the door. They then took us down to a waterside Italian restaurant for a drink with their golfing buddies. It was good fun. That evening, Ashling's cousins Matt and Ryan took us out into Walnut Creek to meet some of their friends. We ended up in a bar with a band who were dressed as nerds playing 80s songs. They were actually pretty good.


On Friday we heading back into San Francisco to visit Alcatraz. It was really great weather so the short crossing over was very smooth. We watched a short film which documented the history of the prison itself and its different uses before walking up the many ramps to reach the main prison house. We took a self guided audio tour which was really great fun. A lot of effort had been put into the soundtrack to make it feel like you were in the prison during its time of operation, so there was constant sound effects of gates slamming shut and men shouting while the guide talked through some of the key events. There are still 3 men unaccounted for who made an escape attempt by digging away at the air vent with a stolen spoon. They managed to escape but it is likely they drowned in the ocean trying to swim to safety. Nobody else ever managed to escape and survive. We had a great afternoon exploring the island before catching the boat back to the main land. Matt and Ryan then took us to a baseball game to see their local team, The Oakland A's play the Baltimore Orioles. They won it 9-1, although we missed 6 runs from the first innings as we were not in the stadium in time. They have continued to win the next 2 games since and are on a good winning streak after not doing so well recently. We must be good luck charms. We went back to Matt's house after the game and met more of his friends.


Yesterday we relaxed in the house and read our books before meeting up with some slightly more distant relatives, Ashling's mum's cousin Anne, and her parents (Ashling's great aunt and uncle) who also live in Walnut Creek. It is very complicated piecing together how they are all related, even Ashling was a bit confused for a while! We went to the park to watch Anne's son in his little leaugue baseball game and then she took us out to a very nice french restaurant for dinner. When we got back to Jimmy's house, we jumped into the hot tub with Ryan and stayed in it for hours. It was very relaxing.


Today we took the train back into the city and hired a bike, we thought it would be fun to cycle across the Golden Gate Bridge on a tandem bicycle. At first, we were a bit wobbly, I was riding up front so had control of everything apart from our balance! Ashling said it was really difficult at first to just trust me up front, when I leaned one way, she naturally wanted to lean the other way to counter it but that just made us wobble. After a few hairy moments weaving between crowds of people, we soon got the hang of it and ventured out into the road until we hit the cycle path. We got the hang of it very quickly and stopping and starting became very smooth manoveurs, it got a bit tougher when we had to climb the steep hills that lead to the bridge itself. It was extremely windy on the bridge but we were able to get a good speed going, lots of people waved at us as we were one of the only tandems out on the road. The views of the city and the bay from the bridge were amazing so we pulled over for a while to take some photos. Once we reached the other side, we turned around and came right back again, Ashling had a go up front but the seat didn't quite go low enough so it wasn't too comfortable. All together we rode just over 10 miles which I think is quite impressive especially considering we were on a tandem bike. We are a bit sore now as there was no suspension on the bike!

We have to pack our bags up again tomorrow as we fly overnight to Orlando for our trip to Disney World.

Photos!