For a Life Less Ordinary.
Hello! As I write I’m in JFK Airport, waiting for my flight home. No delays, always a plus. Flight time is only 6 hours too, which is shorter than I thought. Can’t complain. I just had a Sam Adams…for $10! What a rip off.
Today we went to the Central Park a for breakfast, then took in some sights around there. Didn’t see the friends building though. Checked out the Apple flagship store on 5th Avenue (on the corner of 53rd street if I remember right). Even if you don’t like computers, it’s worth a look just for the experience. It’s a big glass cube at the top, then you walk down some spiral stairs and then you can play with all the toys, it’s huge. If nothing else; it’s a chance to check emails, etc, as there is free internet on most of the machines. Free WiFi too.
Exceptionally cold. Today, with windchill, we endured temperatures as low as -2 degrees Fahrenheit. That’s -19 degrees Celcius! Madness. But still, today was no day to be indoors.
Woke up this morning to a fantastic view of the sunrise over Lake George & the Adirondacks. Quickly stuffed everything into our bags and then got back on the road. We stopped at a deli nearby for breakfast. The standard coffee and bagels….with cheese, obviously.
The drive to New York City was good, again plenty to see on the way. We needed to drop the hire car off at JFK airport. The views over the bridges of the NYC skyline were very impressive – I believe it was the George Washington and Bronx Whitestone bridges, although apparently the GPS took us a different way to Google maps, so I may be mistaken as some of the signs were confusing…
Since we were in Albany today it was worth taking a look at the city before hitting the road and heading for Lake George, in the Adirondack National Park. We took a stop at the Corning Tower to go to the observation deck (42 floors if my memory serves me right), which is free. You need to show photo ID on your way in, and you get a little printed security badge. I suspect that on a clear day, the views would be stunning. However, it was rather overcast and snowing, so we really couldn’t see a great deal. However, there was no waiting time and the place was empty so it was still worth it. After that we went to the Capitol building, which is very grand and well worth a look (great architecture). Again, this is free and comes with airport style security check. This was really all we had time for, so we jumped in the car. From what I read, Lark Street would have been well worth a look, it’s noted as a good place for younger people, but we had bigger fish to fry! Read more…
Well, arrived in Boston after a great flight. Got the usual grilling from Customs & Border Protection though! Met friends in Logan airport in and then headed to our hotel. They had warm chocolate chip cookies for us at reception, very nice indeed! Didn’t get up to much as it was about 8 by the time we got sorted, so just headed to an Irish bar close by and then went for a steak at Flemings. Between three of us, we had one side and didn’t actually finish it – the onion rings were enormous.
Yesterday was Superbowl sunday, and we made a very early start…we were out wandering by 8am. We walked the ‘Freedom Trail’, which is a great way to see the city, and it’s all free! There are lots of communities in Boston; we stopped and had a coffee in a shop in Little Italy. It reminded me of more civilised scenes from gangster films.
Well i’ve finished packing with just 10 minutes to spare before needing to go to the airport and I’m happy that I have everything. Great timing! So I’m off to Boston today, via Schiphol (yet again!). I get there at around 5.30pm their time, so that’s good timing to see a bit of the city, get some food and enjoy a few large Sam Adams!!
Well, in a rather sudden move over a few beers with a colleague a few weeks ago, I have booked up to go back to the USA again…and I’m going a week tomorrow! The discussion led to me checking the flight prices with KLM, purely as a matter of interest. I expected to laugh at the sheer expense of the flight…but for a change, this wasn’t the case. For just £350 I have a ticket to Boston (via Amsterdam), flying home from JFK (via Paris).
The unseasonably good weather I have been enjoying is long gone. When leaving the hotel yesterday, it was minus 7. Toasty. So finally the ski jacket that came with me is being put too good use. The car was frozen too, and Hertz didn’t see fit to give me a scraper.
At the weekend we took a trip to Minneapolis. We got a very favourable rate on a hotel that was about a 5 minute walk to the main street (1st), so we decided to make a weekend of it.
First port of call was the Mall of America, which is huge. So huge that it can accommodate a theme park with 3 roller coasters right in the middle of it, along with a bunch of other rides. We spent a few hours wandering round the shops, but malls are malls at the end of the day! We were going to go to Hooters for lunch, but the queue was too big, so we went to the food court and joined an even bigger queue. But hey, it was a good burger! We took a few rides and then set off to our hotel.
Halloween is a big deal in the USA, as we discovered on Friday when we turned up to a bar, dressed normally, only to discover that everybody was in fancy dress! Not to worry, we still had a good night and did a tour of Rochester’s finest night spots – Gilligans, Kathys and a brief stint in CJ’s; until we realized that we were the youngest there by at least 20 years.
Ironically, low calorie light beer is very popular here. In England we refer to this as “water” but fortunately I have been introduced to a great white beer called “Blue Moon.” You need to be careful mind…the large glasses are definitely more than a pint! We were briefly talking to a “security” guy in Gilligans, who was only identifiable as a security person by his t-shirt. We mentioned how we had came dressed as “European Guys” to which he replied “Wow, you have really convincing accents” and then went on to say how everyone from Europe sat down with a straight back, with their hands on their knees, drank tea and spoke like Hugh Grant. We all had quite a chuckle at that. I didn’t have the heart to tell him that there’s more to Europe than England. We had a great night (a good band were playing in Kathys), but everything shut at 2, and with the nearest place open after 2 over an hours’ drive away, we decided to call it a night.
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