We are now in England. Made the hop across the pond, and as predicted it's cold, old and expensive! But no, one must come to England with positive thoughts, so I will attempt to be more positive, once I've had a bit of a kip and regained some sort of brain function. We are staying with my wonderful aunt and uncle in a 17th century farmhouse on the shores of the Thames, in Kent. Tony has gone gallavanting off to discover how they do farm things in this country, so I have some peace and quiet to catch up on this blog and then have a nap.
Well, the last two days in the USA proved most productive. We got just about everything done that we meant to do, including night and day views of New York from on high, getting all the New York City Pass coupons used up except one (Museum of Natural History, and I've already seen that in the 'Night at the Museum' movie, so I'll consider that 'done'..!), and actually wander with time on our hands through some really nice parks. I was very disappointed with the Empire State Building however, as it was insanely crowded and badly organised. We had left it until 9.30pm to go up, anticipating fewer crowds, but no - it was crazy. And mostly crazy Italians, which can drive you insane if you are queuing with them in front and behind you...they NEVER stop emoting! (And we were jammed in between another pack of emoting Italians in the tube today coming from Heathrow - someone on high must be hinting that we should visit Rome next, or something.)
A few summary facts about our trip to the States, just to bore you with numbers;
- Number of States visited: 11 (NY, DC, PA, MI, MN, ND, SD, WY, IA, WI, ME)
- Number of Canadian provinces visited: 3 1/2 (Ontario, New Brunswick, Nova Scotia, and we were technically in Manitoba at the Peace Garden, but we have no stamp)
- Number of hotels stayed in: 412 (well it felt like that many!!)
- Number of plastic utensils, cups and plates thrown away in said hotels (but mind, they are trying to be environmentally friendly by re-using their towels) after having our 'continental' breakfasts: about 1000
- Number of soft pretzels eaten: Far too many
Weird food... Transport used: car, bus, train, helicopter, plane, ferry, segway, subway, buffalo (ahhah, just kidding about buffalo, just seeing if you are still awake)- Number of live buffalo seen: 0 (I believe there are in fact no buffalo in the USA, and it's all a trick to get tourists to come)
- Weirdest foods eaten and drunk: Dr Pepper, jerk chicken, pork ribs in a bag (like chips), biscuits and gravy (ewww how could they DO that to perfectly good scones??)
- Friendly people met: Just about everybody - thank you America for having some mighty fine people living there.
Well, the time for napping has come and gone; cousins here to meet! Must go. Will update whenever we next get to a web connection that doesn't cost a fortune - something I doubt will happen often here in the UK....onwards and upwards!
To see the final photos from New York, click here
No comments:
Post a Comment