This morning I went back to the 9/11 tribute gallery to have a proper look. It’s quite moving actually. The reality of what happened hits you far harder than it does from TV and newspaper reports. There are storyboards, with a timeline of what happened, with pictures and videos to go with it. It’s well worth going to see, and the proceeds go to the families of the victims.  It’s on Liberty Street, just near Century 21 and Burger King. There’s also the plans for how the site will be developed over the coming years, which includes a memorial museum, which will replace the tribute gallery. There are messages of condolence from people from all over the world posted on a pinboard downstairs.

I left my bag in the hotel this morning to avoid carrying it round all day, but after the 9/11 tribute center I went back to the hotel to get it. I had to be out of the room by 12…I got back at about 11.55, so it worked out quite fine! Did a quick bit of shopping, bought an NY mug and jumper…has to be done I suppose.

I had planned on going on a sightseeing bus for the rest of the day, to see some things I hadn’t seen but also because it would mean I could see stuff without lugging round my backpack. I only had about 2 hours to kill, and it was $40 for the bus, so I decided not to bother. It’s a shame, it would have been good, but not really worth it for such a short time. Instead I went to the American Museum of Natural History, which you may know from “Night at the Museum.” It’s really good. There is no entry fee; it’s a donation, which they recommend as $15, you don’t have to pay this, but you should. I did – and it was well worth it. There are some galleries which require an extra ticket though, such as the planetarium. You could easily spend a full day there to be fair, but it filled in the time nicely.

After that, it was time to go to the airport. A taxi is $40 + tolls and tips, an airport shuttle is $15 (per person), and the subway is $7 in total (including air-train). I took the subway. Should you ever do the same, one way to go is to take the downtown A train, bound for Far Rockaway – NOT Lefferts Boulevard. You can’t really get mixed up, they are clearly marked. The correct train also shows “via JFK” in it’s window. You get off at Howard Beach/JFK. Again, you can’t miss this station. Make sure you leave a lot of time; I’d suggest allowing 2 hours to get there, it takes quite a while. I was getting a bit worried because I had no idea it would take so long. But yet another friendly local could see I was craning my neck at every station sign, from when I got on the train. After a few stops she asked where I was going…”oh, you can relax for a while, you got a long long way to go, I hope you aren’t in a hurry!” – I wasn’t, so that was OK. Got to Howard Beach and then got the Air Train to the terminal which is $5 (the long subway ride is only $2).

So that’s another trip over and done with, I now have the mammoth task of sorting out all the photos! But I will do that in a few days. In the mean time, I have a flight to catch, and airline drinks to drink!

What a week – New York is every bit as fantastic as I expected – I will be back.

From there we went to Madison Square Garden, but unfortunately the tickets for the Knicks were sold out for that evening, which was a bit disappointing because the game was against Boston Celtics, and since we were in Boston only a few days ago, it would have been good to see. This somewhat altered our evening plans.

After yet more wandering, it was getting towards 6pm, so we went to Wall Street to find a bar which had been recommended to my friend Pete last time he was there. We didn’t actually find that pub, but we found a good substitute just of Wall St called the White Horse Tavern, which had 2 hours of happy hour left and just $3 per pint and offers on food. Needless to say we made the most of that.

Decided to head to Greenwich next to check out the bars we had seen yesterday. We went to get on the subway, but there were two buskers – one on sax and one on bass guitar and went by the name of ‘Just the two of us’ They were really good, so we purposefully missed the first train to listen a bit longer. The rate at which people were chucking dollars at them was impressive. The bars in Greenwich were good – good atmosphere and reasonable prices on drinks.

After a few ales, headed back to the hotel, stopping for a great chicken kebab from a stand near the subway station in Greenwich. Only $3! Bargain. Unfortunately I go home tomorrow, but I still have a few things up my sleeve to do before I go to the airport. It was time to part ways with my friends, as they head off to San Francisco in the morning.

The first stop of the day would be the financial district, so we headed there for breakfast and in doing so I got my first ride on the NYC subway. Got a great bagel from the ‘Cafe Plaza Deli’, right at the bottom of Broadway. Go there if you are in the area! The guy behind the counter was a good laugh, and when I asked what type of bagels they had, he reeled off a list for about 30 seconds, although he did repeat himself. Still, that’s impressive, and once again highlights just how much choice there is in the States.

We walked off breakfast around Wall Street and the financial district. Quite alot of construction work going on down there. The New York stock exchange is massive, and is adorned with the biggest USA Stars & Stripes flag i’ve ever seen. Some serious money changes hands down there…

Next was the Staten Island Ferry, which is well worth doing because it’s free and gives good views of the New York City skyline, as well as Statue of Liberty. It’s not as big as I had expected; but then again you don’t get that close to it on the ferry. We didn’t bother going up. Next to Liberty Island is Ellis Island, which was the first port of call for all immigrants to New York way back when. Apparently, nearly half of all Americans today can trace their family history to at least one person who passed through there! When the ferry arrived at Staten Island, we just walked straight round and back on it again and headed back to Manhattan. It then struck me that just a few weeks ago, people doing the very same trip would have witnessed a plane land not too far away from them on the Hudson! The ferry operates 24 hours a day, should you fancy a night time cruise.

Once back on dry land we had a walk to Ground Zero. Being up close is very different to seeing it on T.V. It’s a very built up area. There are a few signs and memorial plaques around the site. We didn’t go to the 9/11 tribute gallery, but I plan to head back on Saturday before I fly home.

After that we jumped back on a subway and headed for Greenwich Village, which is a pretty cool place with alot of quirky streets. Lots of bars and restaurants and cheaper than on Times Square, with the added benefit of not being hassled by sightseeing tour ticket sellers and comedy show promoters. We stopped off at the Qdoba grill for a burrito, which is quite like Chipotle, although since Chipotle was a novel experience when I was in Minnesota, Qdoba wasn’t quite as good. In typical fashion I went for the hot salsa option and then topped it up with tabasco. I chickened out of the extra hot. I suspect we will return to Greenwich for a few beers at some stage!

Following a bit more wandering, it was getting on a bit, so we headed for the Empire State Building. As with yesterday, the lines were very short (dispite the hotel concierge telling us they would be huge!) so we had no waiting time at all. We just opted for the outdoor observation deck for $20; if you want to go to the higher level (102nd floor) then you have to pay an extra $15 dollars, and even the ticket guys say it’s no better a view, it’s just for bragging rights. Given the layout of the queing barriers, I would certainly not like to visit at peak season, where you can wait up to three hours….The sun was still reasonably high when we arrived. The views of the city are just amazing to be honest. The camera was straight out. The only trouble was the cold, with wind it was -19 degrees C! We stayed up there for sunset, and as the sun goes down over New York, the lights come up, for an even more spectacular view. I managed to flatten the battery on my camera rather fast…

We stayed up at the top for over an hour before heading back to the hotel to drop off our stuff and head to Billy Elliot, which was conveniently just accross the street from our hotel. We got a snack from a street seller…chicken on a stick. Although in reality it was more like fat on a stick, but fairly tasty all the same.

Billy Elliot was a great show. I’m not really into musicals, but let’s face it – it’s Broadway. The whole performance was of such high quality, the lights, sound and the performers themselves. Highly reccomended! As a tip, just go for the cheapest tickets at $40 – you are right at the back in either the left or right corner, but you still see just fine, with the exception of the rear corner of the stage on whatever side you are sitting on. There were people just a few feet away from us in the next secion who paid $80 and really, the view was no better! So, either you pay $40, or go all out with $120+, but don’t bother with the rear centre seats, just doesn’t seem worth it at all.

So that’s all for today. Tomorrow is as yet unplanned, although we want to go to see the New York Knicks at Madison Square Garden.

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…

Dropped the car off and then got a taxi. It’s a flat rate of $45+toll ($4.95 for the Queens Midtown Tunnel) to anywhere in Manhattan; so between 3 of us that was fine. Disappointingly, we didn’t get in a stereotypical NYC taxi; it was a people carrier. We arrived at about 12.30pm.

Hotel is in a great location, about 30 seconds walk off Times Square. The Lobby is flash, but the rooms are less so. Got a free upgrade though, so had more space. Bathroom is nice. Overall it’s fine, in NYC you don’t want to spend much time in a hotel anyway! The Hotel we’re in is the Paramount on 249 West 46th Street. It was the cheapest hotel for 3 nights by £100 so it’s a good saving. Keep a few single dollars in your pocket to tip the  guy who insists on carrying your bag. I wasn’t sure how much change I had, so I pretended not to notice that he was clearly waiting for a tip…he gave up rather quickly though. After dumping the bags and tipping the luggage bloke on the way out, it was time for food, so grabbed some pizza at one of the many NYC delis.

Had a good wander around the nearby areas. Went to Grand Central Station for a look around and a quick beer. I’ve also noticed alot of Irish pubs just like in Boston. Must have a good Irish contingent. Then again, a great deal of New Yorkers are from immigrant families, so that would explain things. We planned out what we will be doing tomorrow. Empire State Building is on the cards, and we plan to go at around 4.30 so that we are there for day, sunset and night views and great photo opportunities. There was no queue at all today when we went to check it out, so that’s definitely a plus! We’re also going to a Broadway show (you have to really), Billy Elliot is the winner.

One thing I have noticed already is that you can’t walk far in main tourist areas without people trying to sell you tickets for comedy shows or bus tours! I keep thinking of Thailand, but I am sure the people here are totally trustworthy and the tour people are very helpful even if you don’t want to take a tour there and then.

After all the wandering it was time for food. But not just any food – we had a reservation at Ruth’s Chris Steak House….reputed to be among the finest steakhouses in the world! I went for a Cowboy Rib Eye…incredible. Such a contender for Kobe Beef’s current top spot….I think it may be even better. How they get so much flavour and juiciness I have no idea. Every time I make a steak it comes out overdone on the outside and raw in the middle But at least someone can do it right.

So after that we were fairly stuffed, had a few beers – Brooklyn Lager – which tastes exactly the same as Sam Adams, then a wander around Times Square in the dark for a few pictures.

Roll on tomorrow!

Our road would take us North, on Interstate 87. The route wasn’t particularly far, with only about an hour or so’s driving to the outskirts of Lake George. We passed an outlet, so made a brief stop. I refrained from buying anything, I’m still stocked up from my outlet shopping in Minnesota last year. We got to Lake George Village (off exit 22 on the I-87), and parked up next to a snowbank that was about 5 feet tall with a path ploughed next to it. I love the no-nonsense approach to snow in the States. While the UK was brought to it’s knees from 8 inches, these guys shovel several feet of snow every day with very big trucks with very big snowploughs on the front. We English should certainly take a leaf out of their book on that front.

We went into the Bank Cafe for some lunch. They do a fantastic Soup & Sandwich combo. We got talking to a few people in the Cafe, who laughed at the snow woes in the UK. They were telling us how last year, they had snow fall of 11 feet in just 2 days but their guys with the big ploughs made fairly  light work of it. It turned out that we would just miss the winter carnival, where they car and plane rides using the lake as a road/runway – the ice is over 2 feet thick!

Looking through some local guides on what to do, we decided on snowtubing. Unfortunately, the place was closed, so we went to nearby Fort Edward to go bowling. Nice chap on the counter, seemed interested in our trip and was surprised to see visitors in his town. I managed to win a game, against my ex-champ friend. Sadly I was beaten twice in a row after that. I blame the lanes, too much oil!

After that it was time for food, so we went to the Holiday Inn and negociated the middle priced room for the lower priced room rate. They had a “Taco Tuesday” night on, and they were free. We relieved them of a great deal of tacos, and had a few beers each. It came to just $39 for all of us! I sampled the local beer, Coopers Cave. It’s quite nice, but really smells of cheese…so after one I switched back to my usual Sam Adams.

Took a quick dip in the hot tub, our hair froze, then went to bed. Tomorrow, we head to New York City!

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.

After several hours of wandering about we stopped off for a drink in the Cheers bar, which just seemed totally aimed at tourists, which isn’t really surprising I suppose. On the way out you are directed via gift shop! We did get a tip from the barman for where to watch the Superbowl though, so that saved us the effort.

So after yet more wandering we had a quick rest in the hotel, and then made for the sports bar which was about a 15 minute walk for the hotel. We arrived, and then were immediately asked for I.D…but they wouldn’t take our driving licenses so we had to get a taxi back to the hotel to get our passports, and the cheeky driver reset the meter while he was waiting for us!! So…if you want to drink in Massachusetts, you need your passport.

Superbowl was good, but there wasn’t really much atmosphere in the bar we were in, which was a bit disappointing. I did enjoy pigging out on hot wings though, and several pints of Sam Adams, which is a great beer. Went to a few other bars after that, and then got a huge slice of pizza before heading back to the hotel just after midnight.

This morning we went for breakfast at the Quincy Market. Loads of little food places. I just went for the standard eggs and bacon combo! Jumped on a subway to the airport to pick up our hire car after that, and then got onto the I-90 Massachusetts Pike road heading west on our way to up-state New York, with the planned first stop of Springfield! Lots of tolls….

There wasn’t a fixed plan for today…we did intend to get up to Lake George and stay there for the night, but warnings of 1 inch of snow per hour, plus a crash further along the I-90, made us all agree that taking an unscheduled stop in Albany for the night was a good bet. So that’s were I am now, the state capital of New York. Great drive here, typical big landscape, only with snow so it’s great for driving views. We’ve planned a bit of sightseeing for tomorrow, and then we’re hoping to get to Lake George later in the day. After taking a very wrong turn (even though  we followed signs for the entertainment district) and ending up in a really run down area full of boarded up houses, we ended up downtown in a cafe where we checked out hotels. The Best Western a few miles out of the centre is just $95 for the night, so works out well split 3 ways. It’s pretty great heading out of a major city in the US without knowing where you will be by the end of the day.

Just had a good steak and a few beers, will probably catch an early night!

The plan is to fly in to Boston (obviously..), spend a few nights there, then head to up-state New York and the Adirondacks State Park & Lake George. From there, down to New York City! It’s been a long time ambition for me to go to the Big Apple…so this will be a trip to remember. I’m only away for a week (due to work!) but there is quite alot planned, and with the cheap air tickets, it’s well worth it. Opportunities like this don’t crop up every day after all.

The route (roughly):

View Larger Map

So…more on that at a later date. I am spending this weekend in Holland, as I have to work there on Monday…and the flipside of cheap transatlantic travel with KLM, is the silly pricing to Amsterdam. But no matter, there are worse places to spend a weekend. Unfortunately, it’s forecast to rain alot.

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.

We got a little lost on the way into Minneapolis. It’s a one way system, but didn’t take us too long to figure it out and eventually found the hotel. As it turned out we had passed it about 20 minutes before, but that’s life! Hotel was nice, and only cost us $40 each… We arrived just in time for the free drinks, which was a great way to get started. 2 drinks per person at a time and as many trips to the bar as you want. Reminded me of a few weeks ago when I was in the Dominican Republic…only it was near freezing and not a palm tree or beach to be seen. We spent a good hour on the beers, then had a few cuba libres (that’s dark rum and coke for those who don’t know…) which for once we’re not 90% ice. There were alot of football fans (both home and away) there aswell, in preparation of the big game the next day – the Minnesota Vikings vs. the Green Bay Packers, from Wisconsin.

Our “temporary boss” recommended a Brazilian restaurant (Fogo de Chao) just near our hotel, but when we got there it was a 2 hour wait, so went for a steak, at a place that brewed all it’s own beer called Rock Bottom Brewery – it was great, and very reasonably priced.

From there it was a case of trial and error to find a decent bar or ten and a club. We settled on O’Donovans Irish Pub and then to a club called First Avenue following the recommendation of a bunch of girls outside O’Donovans, who, when they realised I was English, stated that I would drink them all under the table because English people have good drinking skills. I wasn’t going to argue, especially since I’d suffered an earlier defeat at a game in the Mall of America, where you had 3 chances to knock a floating ball off the fan that was keeping it in the air. English pride restored. We had a good few more Cuba Libres, leaving just after 2. Lots of people were around the hotel, so we ordered a pizza and talked to a few locals, before rolling to bed at about 4.

Took a walk around the city on Sunday afternoon. It was cold, but bearable, even with a headache! Very easy to find your way around as it’s not particularly huge. There were a whole lot of people sitting outside camper vans etc, watching the football game in the stadium car park. That’s dedication! I’m sure staying at home would have been a better option…..After that we set off for another outlet store, only this time it was about 5 times bigger than the one we went to a few weeks ago. Spent quite alot but I have alot of stuff. No idea where it’s going to go…i’m going to be a bit warm on the way home I think….

So that was Minneapolis. We have booked into the Hyatt in downtown Chicago (living the high life eh!) for next weekend. We will just have to see how the weather pans out…if it’s naff then there is no point going. Once again though, we got a good rate. Will be just over $100 each for two nights. Not bad at all.

Last night went to a bar for Fabrizios birthday. Quite a multicultural event….Two Italians, two Americans, one Indian, one Swiss, a Colombian and an Englishman. Never seen so many beers available on tap or in bottles in my life; certainly puts Wetherspoons to shame

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.

Yesterday we took a road trip, and I had the pleasure of driving us North of Rochester up highway 63 to Lake City, home of Lake Pepin which is the widest naturally occurring part of the  famous Mississippi River. From there we continued to Red Wing, which was a strange little town with apparent Native Indian history.

After that we crossed the Mississippi into Wisconsin, and followed the Mississippi south on State Road 35 (at 55 mph…) via Bay City and Stockholm (population 97!) before continuing on to Nelson, at which point we crossed the Mississippi again into Wabasha, and then headed back via Kellogg, Plainview and Potsdam before joining Highway 52 which took us back into Rochester. It was a great drive, very scenic – lots of corn fields, and it’s very flat! All in all it was around a 4 hour trip and a good experience of those real, small American towns (some of which are called Cities….) you see on the TV.

I found a motorbike license plate lying by the side of the road, so I have claimed it as a souvenir. I did quite well in the drivers seat considering it’s the first proper driving I’ve done here….I wonder how many traffic violations I racked up! Fortunately there no police on hand to make me spread ‘em for any violations I might have made. Speed limits vary from 55 on single lane roads, to 60, 65 and 70 on highways/Interstates.

On the way back we decided to call in at the local Outback Steakhouse. Hell of a steak, but once again the portion was too big, even though we shared the starters! It only came to around 30 dollars each, which is very reasonable indeed.

Today has been pretty laid back. We took a trip to an outlet centre, which among others had a Nike and a Levi’s outlet. Obviously I had to take advantage, and I returned with a new pair of Nike trainers, a Nike 6.0 jacket, a pair of Levi’s and a Columbia hoody….and even though the exchange rate is crap at the  minute, this totaled just over £70 (not so long ago it would have been £55).  Quite unbelievable really. Some of the stuff you could get was amazing, proper Columbia winter/ski jackets from $100! I also saw a pair of UK size 17 trainers in the Nike store….talk about canoes!

Took another trip to Walmart to pick up some supplies, and had a look at the sports section, where you can buy yourself a rifle and a whole lot of bullets….I’m also glad I have a habit of reading the nutrition labels on food because there is some seriously bad stuff on the shelves here!

Anyway, I’m going to get back to my Coors Light and one of the greatest movies ever….Terminator 2.

Bye for now.