Sunday 14 December 2008
Day 61 - Mon 15 Dec 2008
I woke at 10am, trying to get my body clock back to the times it should be working on. After putting on my washing and checking my emails (and also what the closing score was in the cricket at the end of Day Four - it looks as if it will be a very interesting last day in a very tight game with both sides in with a chance of victory), I went to Tatsumi's for lunch at midday, again ordering the fabulous Beef & Onion on rice with poached egg, miso soup and japanese pickles, as well as getting a complimentary Canterbury Ale from a voucher I've found in a visitor guide to Christchurch.
Day 60 - Sun 14 Dec 2008
After waking at 3pm (!), I took a very late lunch at the Cathedral's cafe which is over the road from the hostel I'm at. Sausage, bacon, poached eggs, tomatoes with toast and has brown (all x2) did the job perfectly in filling me up. The next three and a half hours I spent updating my finances (as well as following England's progress in the First Test against India). Before I left I'd compiled what people would probably view as a complicated spreadsheet whereas in my view its rather straight-forward (though relatively large) and just helps me record what I've spent so far on my trip and the expected costs of the rest of the trip over the next few months.
Needless to say, with it being the 60th day on tour, I had a lot of updating to do to it as this was the first time since starting my tour that I'd got round to doing it. As anticipated, I'm a little poorer than what I thought I might be but I know that if the situation called for it, I could utilise a combination of the various overdraft facilities I have. A trip like this probably won't come around too many times in a lifetime so if there's a chance of doing something that I wouldn't have a chance to do back home then I really should do it, regardless of the cost implications.
The useful thing about going from east to west (most travellers I've met appear to be doing it in the opposite direction!) is that having done USA and New Zealand early on in my trip is that two of the most expensive legs are out of the way. New Zealand I count as expensive partly due to the costs of the organised tour and also the additional activities (such as skydiving, glacier hiking etc) that I've done. Also, there were many costs in the USA that I won't be repeating elsewhere, such as acquiring "more-suitable" clothes and shoes than those I'd started my tour with (shoes, waterproof jacket, new comfortable jeans etc) as well as the money I spent gambling in Las Vegas. Food can be purchased everywhere relatively cheaply but I admit my daily estimates of GBP 10 a day for food was a bit unrealistically-low; for the rest of my tour I've now increased that to GBP 20 a day - just doing that increases expected costs by approximately a further GBP 1,500 !
Anyhow, this took me up to 8pm and after returning to the hostel briefly and chatting to a new room mate who'd just turned up at the dorm I went to Little India and had a chicken saagwalla with basmati rice and a bottle of Steinlager.
After following the English cricket effort on the internet and doing some further research in to the places I'll be visiting in the coming months, I got to bed around 12.45am, relatively early for me! I will be intriguing to see how the day ends in the cricket - when I left there were about 20 overs left and Virender Sehwag was hammering the English attack all over the park as India set about a run-chase of 387 that England had set them earlier in the day after fine centuries by Andrew Strauss and Paul Collingwood.
Needless to say, with it being the 60th day on tour, I had a lot of updating to do to it as this was the first time since starting my tour that I'd got round to doing it. As anticipated, I'm a little poorer than what I thought I might be but I know that if the situation called for it, I could utilise a combination of the various overdraft facilities I have. A trip like this probably won't come around too many times in a lifetime so if there's a chance of doing something that I wouldn't have a chance to do back home then I really should do it, regardless of the cost implications.
The useful thing about going from east to west (most travellers I've met appear to be doing it in the opposite direction!) is that having done USA and New Zealand early on in my trip is that two of the most expensive legs are out of the way. New Zealand I count as expensive partly due to the costs of the organised tour and also the additional activities (such as skydiving, glacier hiking etc) that I've done. Also, there were many costs in the USA that I won't be repeating elsewhere, such as acquiring "more-suitable" clothes and shoes than those I'd started my tour with (shoes, waterproof jacket, new comfortable jeans etc) as well as the money I spent gambling in Las Vegas. Food can be purchased everywhere relatively cheaply but I admit my daily estimates of GBP 10 a day for food was a bit unrealistically-low; for the rest of my tour I've now increased that to GBP 20 a day - just doing that increases expected costs by approximately a further GBP 1,500 !
Anyhow, this took me up to 8pm and after returning to the hostel briefly and chatting to a new room mate who'd just turned up at the dorm I went to Little India and had a chicken saagwalla with basmati rice and a bottle of Steinlager.
After following the English cricket effort on the internet and doing some further research in to the places I'll be visiting in the coming months, I got to bed around 12.45am, relatively early for me! I will be intriguing to see how the day ends in the cricket - when I left there were about 20 overs left and Virender Sehwag was hammering the English attack all over the park as India set about a run-chase of 387 that England had set them earlier in the day after fine centuries by Andrew Strauss and Paul Collingwood.
Wednesday 10 December 2008
Day 57 - Thurs 11 Dec 2008
The day started relatively early at 11am and after walking in to town and purchasing a few more things in order to wrap up presents, I then spent the best part of the afternoon doing so. I'd been to a fairly basic chinese restaurant for chicken chow mein whilst in town, which was nice enough. After preparing the package to go back to England I walked to the Post Office and after an exorbitant amount of form-filling (including an export invoice!), got the package in the post.
For my evening meal, I went to Mum's - a Japanese and Korean restaurant - just around the corner from the hostel. I ordered a Benton box, which had a variety of foodstuffs in it. It was quite nice but compared to the previous night's food it didn't quite stack up.
I believe this was the first time I'd ever - knowingly - had sushi of any sort as the salmon in the box was definitely raw.
For my evening meal, I went to Mum's - a Japanese and Korean restaurant - just around the corner from the hostel. I ordered a Benton box, which had a variety of foodstuffs in it. It was quite nice but compared to the previous night's food it didn't quite stack up.
I believe this was the first time I'd ever - knowingly - had sushi of any sort as the salmon in the box was definitely raw.
Day 56 - Wed 10 Dec 2008
After waking at a reasonable 10.30am and having a noodle fried rice from a stall outside the Cathedral, I set about doing my Christmas shopping! Back in England usually the entire process for Christmas shopping would start and finish on December 24, Christmas Eve, from a visit to Milton Keynes.
As I had no "ideas" as such, though, I had to think on my feet more than usual when doing such shopping as historically I've just got lists from close family and then worked out what I should buy from there. However, it was good to do it different for once and in fact was probably more "fun" doing so and trying to work out what individuals may or may not like. This took up most of the day.
After a short internet check, I went to Tatsumi Japanese Kitchen & Pub for dinner at a decent time for one, around 7.15pm. As my first time in a Japanese restaurant I wasn't quite sure what to expect or what to order so went for a Prawn Spring Rolls followed by Beef and Spring Onion on Rice in a Miso Soup with a poached Egg on top. When the spring rolls arrived at my table I knew from the presentation of it - even before I'd tasted it! - that it was going to be good and it sure was! Astonishingly enough for someone who likes curries and chicken as some of my favourite food, I was absolutely bowled over by the Beef and Onion main course; it was delicious, probably in my top 10 meals of all time; and the entire meal was only $18.50 !
I take back what I've thought before about it being difficult to "cock up" when cooking rice or (vice versa) to make it exceptionally good, as here they achieved the latter very much so, with apparently little effort and cost. Two complimentary cups of green tea - again presented simply but with style - completed a delicious evening's meal.
As I had no "ideas" as such, though, I had to think on my feet more than usual when doing such shopping as historically I've just got lists from close family and then worked out what I should buy from there. However, it was good to do it different for once and in fact was probably more "fun" doing so and trying to work out what individuals may or may not like. This took up most of the day.
After a short internet check, I went to Tatsumi Japanese Kitchen & Pub for dinner at a decent time for one, around 7.15pm. As my first time in a Japanese restaurant I wasn't quite sure what to expect or what to order so went for a Prawn Spring Rolls followed by Beef and Spring Onion on Rice in a Miso Soup with a poached Egg on top. When the spring rolls arrived at my table I knew from the presentation of it - even before I'd tasted it! - that it was going to be good and it sure was! Astonishingly enough for someone who likes curries and chicken as some of my favourite food, I was absolutely bowled over by the Beef and Onion main course; it was delicious, probably in my top 10 meals of all time; and the entire meal was only $18.50 !
I take back what I've thought before about it being difficult to "cock up" when cooking rice or (vice versa) to make it exceptionally good, as here they achieved the latter very much so, with apparently little effort and cost. Two complimentary cups of green tea - again presented simply but with style - completed a delicious evening's meal.
Day 55 - Tues 09 Dec 2008
Given the lateness I got to bed the previous night, a late lay in was sorely needed and despite a tedious continual "hum" of rht efridge in the room and the builders working from early in the morning next door that you could hear through the windows, I woke at 4pm!
A shower later and a walk through town got me to The Raj Mahal, a restaurant serving "Classical and Contemporary Indian cuisine". I ordered two popadums, a 660ml bottle of Cobra lager with lamb kebab for starters followed by chicken balti with basmati rice and a plain naan and then set about getting the manual version of my travel journal up to date for the last few days, which I have now done :-)
The food was decent enough, though again nothing really to phone home about, then once it reached about 9.30pm I headed back to the hostel.
A shower later and a walk through town got me to The Raj Mahal, a restaurant serving "Classical and Contemporary Indian cuisine". I ordered two popadums, a 660ml bottle of Cobra lager with lamb kebab for starters followed by chicken balti with basmati rice and a plain naan and then set about getting the manual version of my travel journal up to date for the last few days, which I have now done :-)
The food was decent enough, though again nothing really to phone home about, then once it reached about 9.30pm I headed back to the hostel.
Day 54 - Mon 08 Dec 2008
I woke up in time to checkout at 10am in order to upgrade rooms to an ensuite room to give the party that had already booked up my present room access to it. Then to Cafe 90 for breakfast, a three egg omelette with ham, cheese, tomatoe and spring onion. I then took a walk around some of the many souvenir shops in the city but after a while thought better of it and went over to the pedestrianised area near the Cathedral where there's a full life-size chess set that the council bring out every day for the public to use. I sat down and watched two games and standard appeared to be quite good.
When the third game was being set up I was asked if I wasnted to play so duly took up this offer against a New Zealander, Rex Tail. I was playing as the black pieces and after a mixed opening it transposed into a French Advanced but without my light-squared bishop that my opponent (folloishly I thought!) swapped off early on. as a result, I appeared to have a lot of space, more so than normal anyhow, and a relatively stable buut easily-playable position. After taking a while to clear my f-file pawn and castle it was a fairly even position but a clever tactic by myself won the game. I was quietly impressed with myself, given that I'd played rather averagely at Central Park a many weeks before and it had been my first game apart from that one for the best part of five years.
Due to it being the time of day or that due to the relative solidity with which the game had been played, although there were a few spectators watching none wanted a game. So we had a furthe game, which this time I jotted down.
As my opponent preferred the "white" pieces (although in fact on this board White was represented by red peices) and I prefer playing as black, we started with the same colour pieces as in the first game.
When the third game was being set up I was asked if I wasnted to play so duly took up this offer against a New Zealander, Rex Tail. I was playing as the black pieces and after a mixed opening it transposed into a French Advanced but without my light-squared bishop that my opponent (folloishly I thought!) swapped off early on. as a result, I appeared to have a lot of space, more so than normal anyhow, and a relatively stable buut easily-playable position. After taking a while to clear my f-file pawn and castle it was a fairly even position but a clever tactic by myself won the game. I was quietly impressed with myself, given that I'd played rather averagely at Central Park a many weeks before and it had been my first game apart from that one for the best part of five years.
Due to it being the time of day or that due to the relative solidity with which the game had been played, although there were a few spectators watching none wanted a game. So we had a furthe game, which this time I jotted down.
As my opponent preferred the "white" pieces (although in fact on this board White was represented by red peices) and I prefer playing as black, we started with the same colour pieces as in the first game.
Monday 1 December 2008
Tuesday 18 November 2008
Day 34 - Tues 18 Nov 2008
Dear all
I am getting round, slowly, to manually having my blog complete so all I need do now is to post it.
However, in the meantime, I have downloaded the majority of my Tour photos on to my Facebook profile; I will integrate some of them on to this blog once I've worked out how to.
Best wishes
S
I am getting round, slowly, to manually having my blog complete so all I need do now is to post it.
However, in the meantime, I have downloaded the majority of my Tour photos on to my Facebook profile; I will integrate some of them on to this blog once I've worked out how to.
Best wishes
S
Monday 17 November 2008
Day 24 - Sat 08 Nov 2008
Saturday 08 November isn't the day after Thursday 06 November I hear you say? Well it is for me, with Friday 07 November 2008 never happening for me as I flew over the International Date Line during the flight to Fiji. The flight itself was not the best I've ever had either, partly made worse by the duration of the flight - it left LA at 10.30pm and got in to Fiji at 5.05am and what with a 4-hour time zone change it made for the small matter of a 10.5 hours in total. This means that instead of being 8 hours behind UK time I am now exactly 12 hours ahead of UK time which at any rate makes the time calculations easier to work out.
The inflight entertainment was also a bit poor; instead of having a menu to choose what to watch and when to watch it, all of the tv / movie schedules were on a "loop" meaning that if you missed the start of any movie you had to wait until it had completed its run and was about to repeat itself until you could watch it in its entirety from the start. Similarly, if food was taken or one decided to take a walk around the cabin to stretch one's legs then one couldn't put the programme on hold and came back to it at a later point in time; in overview, a pointless and outdated system in my eyes given the technology in use on other planes out there.
As the plane was a 747 and accomodated hundreds of travellers, it took a few hours to clear customs and retrieve my baggage, however it was a good that I'd come prepared and purchased a guide to Fiji when I was in LA so I read that whilst I was waiting in the queue when everyone around me was getting agitated. At the Information Desk I was directed to a representation of the hotel who in time directed me to a private bus that took me to the hotel, getting there by 7.30am. Given I'd only had a few hours' sleep (uncomfortable at that!) I thought I'd probably need a good relaxation day so spent the entire day outside at the hotel's pool which was warm and lovely.
However, the morning was slightly ruined by an Australian and a Kiwi who decided to play about like kids at the pool; jumping in to the pool from a high metal cabinet-like structure and throwing plastic tables in to the nearby mango trees to retrieve the fruit. Despite the mangoes tasting delicious and them buying several jugs of the local Fiji beer I found out the next day that they'd left without paying their bar tab. A fellow englishman, Jamie, seemed to be a sound lad and we got chatting to two Canadians Laura and Amy, both of them from Toronto.
The inflight entertainment was also a bit poor; instead of having a menu to choose what to watch and when to watch it, all of the tv / movie schedules were on a "loop" meaning that if you missed the start of any movie you had to wait until it had completed its run and was about to repeat itself until you could watch it in its entirety from the start. Similarly, if food was taken or one decided to take a walk around the cabin to stretch one's legs then one couldn't put the programme on hold and came back to it at a later point in time; in overview, a pointless and outdated system in my eyes given the technology in use on other planes out there.
As the plane was a 747 and accomodated hundreds of travellers, it took a few hours to clear customs and retrieve my baggage, however it was a good that I'd come prepared and purchased a guide to Fiji when I was in LA so I read that whilst I was waiting in the queue when everyone around me was getting agitated. At the Information Desk I was directed to a representation of the hotel who in time directed me to a private bus that took me to the hotel, getting there by 7.30am. Given I'd only had a few hours' sleep (uncomfortable at that!) I thought I'd probably need a good relaxation day so spent the entire day outside at the hotel's pool which was warm and lovely.
However, the morning was slightly ruined by an Australian and a Kiwi who decided to play about like kids at the pool; jumping in to the pool from a high metal cabinet-like structure and throwing plastic tables in to the nearby mango trees to retrieve the fruit. Despite the mangoes tasting delicious and them buying several jugs of the local Fiji beer I found out the next day that they'd left without paying their bar tab. A fellow englishman, Jamie, seemed to be a sound lad and we got chatting to two Canadians Laura and Amy, both of them from Toronto.
Thursday 6 November 2008
Day 23 - Thurs 06 Nov 2008
Not a particularly enthralling day for me, all things considered, as it involved a significant amount of travelling, with two flights - the first from San Francisco to Los Angeles, the second from there on to Fiji. I'd stayed up until 4am the previous evening / this morning checking emails and posting my blog as I knew the flights would throw my body clock into turmoil irrespective of what I did, so I thought I may as well get in there first and make myself tired for the Thursday.
Regardless of that, I still managed to somehow get 6 hours' sleep in the Green Tortoise Hostel's upper bunk bed in a very tight five-bed dormitory. After checking out at 11am and with the flight at 4.40pm from San Francisco International I utlised the free internet service available and completed a few more days on my blog. A shortish walk to the Montgomery Street BART station got me on to the SFO-bound train by 1.45pm and after the scheduled 30 minute ride the BART train arrived at the airport. Passing through check-in and security was a mere formality and with a few hours to wait until takeoff a bite to eat was needed.
Unfortunately the flight was one to forget as shortly after we were served drinks the fat American sat next to me decided to knock over MY drink - that happened to be an orange juice - over the table in front of me, the juice falling on to my backpack that was on the floor under the seat in front, soaking the front top part of the bag where the zips are and the front pocket where some of my valuables were with other bits and bobs. The American just said "sorry" and then got back to whatever he was doing, leaving me to spend the rest of the flight using napkins to soak up the juice that was seeping through my bag.
Suffice to say I wasn't too impressed with him but by the time I landed in Los Angeles although parts of the bad were still slightly moist the majority of the dampness had been taken up but it did have the "scent d'orange"!
Based on many negative comments from several friends during the (very) brief planning stage of my Tour, I'd decided not to visit LA apart to use the airport for my connection to Fiji but my first impressions of the airport weren't great either as the International Terminal B (the "B" standing for the first letter of an ex-Governor's surname, Tom Brading) was in the process of being completely renovated. As a result of this, after having picked up my baggage from the American Airlines flight from San Francisco, checked-in for my evening flight and cleared security - which took some time - I found that there was essentially only two places to eat at as the rest of the terminal was inaccessible to the public. I grudgingly bought and ate (well I had to eat something!) a rather mediocre-looking and -tasting ham, swiss cheese and egg croissant before the wait continued before my 10.30pm flight out to Nadi.
Regardless of that, I still managed to somehow get 6 hours' sleep in the Green Tortoise Hostel's upper bunk bed in a very tight five-bed dormitory. After checking out at 11am and with the flight at 4.40pm from San Francisco International I utlised the free internet service available and completed a few more days on my blog. A shortish walk to the Montgomery Street BART station got me on to the SFO-bound train by 1.45pm and after the scheduled 30 minute ride the BART train arrived at the airport. Passing through check-in and security was a mere formality and with a few hours to wait until takeoff a bite to eat was needed.
Unfortunately the flight was one to forget as shortly after we were served drinks the fat American sat next to me decided to knock over MY drink - that happened to be an orange juice - over the table in front of me, the juice falling on to my backpack that was on the floor under the seat in front, soaking the front top part of the bag where the zips are and the front pocket where some of my valuables were with other bits and bobs. The American just said "sorry" and then got back to whatever he was doing, leaving me to spend the rest of the flight using napkins to soak up the juice that was seeping through my bag.
Suffice to say I wasn't too impressed with him but by the time I landed in Los Angeles although parts of the bad were still slightly moist the majority of the dampness had been taken up but it did have the "scent d'orange"!
Based on many negative comments from several friends during the (very) brief planning stage of my Tour, I'd decided not to visit LA apart to use the airport for my connection to Fiji but my first impressions of the airport weren't great either as the International Terminal B (the "B" standing for the first letter of an ex-Governor's surname, Tom Brading) was in the process of being completely renovated. As a result of this, after having picked up my baggage from the American Airlines flight from San Francisco, checked-in for my evening flight and cleared security - which took some time - I found that there was essentially only two places to eat at as the rest of the terminal was inaccessible to the public. I grudgingly bought and ate (well I had to eat something!) a rather mediocre-looking and -tasting ham, swiss cheese and egg croissant before the wait continued before my 10.30pm flight out to Nadi.
Day 20 - Mon 03 Nov 2008
Wow, Day 20 already! Time goes very quickly when exploring new places.
At present, I'm sitting at the Crissy Field Center in San Francisco having had a breakfast of a chocolate croissant, two bananas, a hard-boiled egg and a purity.organic "Strawberry Paradise" juice drink.
Many of you may think..."yeah that's nothing special" as such. However, look out of the window where you're sat - can you see the Golden Gate Bridge from where you are? :-) Like most structures it doesn't sing nor does it dance, but it doesn't "need" to - it just soars majestically in to the sky, spanning the Bay in one swoop, standing tall in its International Orange colouring.
I woke at 8.30am this morning and turned on the television for a quick update on the weather but instead got immersed in the elections that will be concluded by the end of Tuesday I think it is. Across the entire country, 13 million votes have already been cast in advance of the day - an astonishingly high number given the number of voters that vote in TOTAL in the UK general elections. However, it wasn't so much the election itself that was of interest, it was the related Propositions within the San Francisco area that residents vote on that were intriguing.
In the ad breaks, of which there are a considerable number each hour, there were advertising campaigns for each of the major Propositions being voted upon - by a "Yes" or "No" vote - which also have cost implications for the San Francisco area.
The detailed list of the Propositions being voted upon I have not yet seen, but they include the following:
Prop 2: This is with respect to the state that animals (in particular those for human consumption) are kept;
Prop 8: A very controversial topic...the Proposition proposes the banning of same-sex unions. In San Francisco at the moment, same-sex marriages / unions are legal; however the main supporters of this bill are apparently churchgoers, although there are significant debates on both sides.
It'll be interesting to see what happens to all of these propositions come voting time; one "minor" proposition suggests the renaming of a sewage plant in the area to that of the present president, George Bush!
It looks as if Obama is ahead in the exit polls so far though there is a long time left yet before the new President-Elect can claim victory.
My plan for today is to continue my walk that I started from the hotel on Lombard Street up to the marina then west alongside the Bay front towards the Golden Gate Bridge along Crissy Fields for a while before turning back and walking through Fisherman's Wharf (including food in a restaurant there) before getting to Pier 39 where the Aquarium of the Bay is based, along with the Bay cruisers and Alcatraz tour boats.
=====
I am now sat in the restaurant at Castagnola's on Pier 47, having just eaten yet more food; the stop necessary partly to break up my day and partly because its absolutely heaving down with rain outside.
Earlier, my walk further west took me past the Crissy Fields Center and to the Sports Basement where I stocked up on a few items I will require later on in my travels. After thinking about it for a while, I decided not to get any sandals at this point in time but settled on a pair of shorts suitable for swimming, a pair of decent walking socks, yet another Lonely Planet journal to help me write up my travels and some sunscreen. Based on the rate that I'm getting through my present journal, this new one will be in use very shortly, an essential I need without having to revert to writing up my travels on receipts and other bits of paper I have in my possession.
For lunch I've just had a Pacific Red Snapper with rice and vegetables of the day; very delicious at $16.22 (tax included). The Pier itself is actually in the middle of a marina, so its as if one is on a boat in the middle of all the others, though given the amount its rained recently I'm more than happy to be inside than out on the deck of a boat.
Given the nasty weather there seems little point in going on a boat tour on either a Blue & Yellow Cruise boat or one to Alcatraz today; as its turned 4pm a leisurely walk down the many Piers seems like the best idea.
=====
I am now sat in the Coventry Motor Inn where Anthony and I stayed last night and where we've stashed our bags whilst I went out for the day and Anthony went on an organised trip to Monterey and Carmel. My day overall was quite good though the weather was absolutely appalling and did put a bit of a damper on things. After lunch I walked further east, keeping on the seafront where possible, unfortunately the weather continued to stay bad all afternoon and didn't really ease off at all, subsequently making those wooden piers - such as part of the famous Pier 39 - treacherously slippery.
On Pier 45 I came across quite a surprise find - a WWII submarine - the USS Pampanito - a National Historic landmark. Of six war patrols it went on it sunk 6 enemy ships and also rescued 73 allied POWs; quite a significant achievement it appears!
The submarine service represented only 2% of the US Naval personnel but incredibly enough accounted for the sinking of 55% of the Japanese ships sunk during the war.
A short walk in the rain - thankfully, the North Face shoes and waterproof I'd purchased in New York were doing a sterling job of keeping me dry - took me to Pier 39 which - as well as giving good views of Alcatraz and, way across the Bay, the Golden Gate Bridge - is the home to some of San Francisco's sealions which gather in their hundreds on floating rafts where they huddle for warmth as well as being where they take a sleep, clamber over each other and have "play-fights" as well as being ever so noisy with their almost-continuous barking.
Strangely enough, scientists believe that the sealions come to rest in the Bay as opposed to anywhere else because the water in the Bay is too saline for the sealions' main predator - the great white shark - to swim whilst the rafts ensure there is a low yet solid surface for the sealions to be able to "haul" themselves up on. They definitely seemed at ease with their surrounding environment.
Given it had reached 5.30pm by then and the light was rapidly fading, I walked back to the hotel and waited for Anthony to return back from Carmel after which we got a taxi across town to the Stratford Hotel on Powell Street, which is very close to Union Square as well as have a cable car track on it too.
It was useful to have got a taxi as San Francisco is built on hills and it would have been a tiring task carrying bags across town. Once checked in at the hotel, we went to Cafe Mason, a diner on Mason Street where I had salmon with potato whilst Anthony had Linguine Gamberi. However it wasn't the best food I'd had although the bottle of local Anchor Steam helped the food go down. Overall it didn't appear the most professional outfit either with apparently nine staff doing a variety of jobs (which appeared to involve a degree of duplication) bar the one front-of-house lady who's sole role was to welcome in customers and then show them to their table. Furthermore, despite the fact that the dinner sitting was still very much in full swing, the tables - including ours whilst we were eating! - were being prepared for the breakfast sitting the next morning; suffice to say, a "reasonable" tip (which in San Francisco they recommend as 15%+) was not forthcoming from us.
At present, I'm sitting at the Crissy Field Center in San Francisco having had a breakfast of a chocolate croissant, two bananas, a hard-boiled egg and a purity.organic "Strawberry Paradise" juice drink.
Many of you may think..."yeah that's nothing special" as such. However, look out of the window where you're sat - can you see the Golden Gate Bridge from where you are? :-) Like most structures it doesn't sing nor does it dance, but it doesn't "need" to - it just soars majestically in to the sky, spanning the Bay in one swoop, standing tall in its International Orange colouring.
I woke at 8.30am this morning and turned on the television for a quick update on the weather but instead got immersed in the elections that will be concluded by the end of Tuesday I think it is. Across the entire country, 13 million votes have already been cast in advance of the day - an astonishingly high number given the number of voters that vote in TOTAL in the UK general elections. However, it wasn't so much the election itself that was of interest, it was the related Propositions within the San Francisco area that residents vote on that were intriguing.
In the ad breaks, of which there are a considerable number each hour, there were advertising campaigns for each of the major Propositions being voted upon - by a "Yes" or "No" vote - which also have cost implications for the San Francisco area.
The detailed list of the Propositions being voted upon I have not yet seen, but they include the following:
Prop 2: This is with respect to the state that animals (in particular those for human consumption) are kept;
Prop 8: A very controversial topic...the Proposition proposes the banning of same-sex unions. In San Francisco at the moment, same-sex marriages / unions are legal; however the main supporters of this bill are apparently churchgoers, although there are significant debates on both sides.
It'll be interesting to see what happens to all of these propositions come voting time; one "minor" proposition suggests the renaming of a sewage plant in the area to that of the present president, George Bush!
It looks as if Obama is ahead in the exit polls so far though there is a long time left yet before the new President-Elect can claim victory.
My plan for today is to continue my walk that I started from the hotel on Lombard Street up to the marina then west alongside the Bay front towards the Golden Gate Bridge along Crissy Fields for a while before turning back and walking through Fisherman's Wharf (including food in a restaurant there) before getting to Pier 39 where the Aquarium of the Bay is based, along with the Bay cruisers and Alcatraz tour boats.
=====
I am now sat in the restaurant at Castagnola's on Pier 47, having just eaten yet more food; the stop necessary partly to break up my day and partly because its absolutely heaving down with rain outside.
Earlier, my walk further west took me past the Crissy Fields Center and to the Sports Basement where I stocked up on a few items I will require later on in my travels. After thinking about it for a while, I decided not to get any sandals at this point in time but settled on a pair of shorts suitable for swimming, a pair of decent walking socks, yet another Lonely Planet journal to help me write up my travels and some sunscreen. Based on the rate that I'm getting through my present journal, this new one will be in use very shortly, an essential I need without having to revert to writing up my travels on receipts and other bits of paper I have in my possession.
For lunch I've just had a Pacific Red Snapper with rice and vegetables of the day; very delicious at $16.22 (tax included). The Pier itself is actually in the middle of a marina, so its as if one is on a boat in the middle of all the others, though given the amount its rained recently I'm more than happy to be inside than out on the deck of a boat.
Given the nasty weather there seems little point in going on a boat tour on either a Blue & Yellow Cruise boat or one to Alcatraz today; as its turned 4pm a leisurely walk down the many Piers seems like the best idea.
=====
I am now sat in the Coventry Motor Inn where Anthony and I stayed last night and where we've stashed our bags whilst I went out for the day and Anthony went on an organised trip to Monterey and Carmel. My day overall was quite good though the weather was absolutely appalling and did put a bit of a damper on things. After lunch I walked further east, keeping on the seafront where possible, unfortunately the weather continued to stay bad all afternoon and didn't really ease off at all, subsequently making those wooden piers - such as part of the famous Pier 39 - treacherously slippery.
On Pier 45 I came across quite a surprise find - a WWII submarine - the USS Pampanito - a National Historic landmark. Of six war patrols it went on it sunk 6 enemy ships and also rescued 73 allied POWs; quite a significant achievement it appears!
The submarine service represented only 2% of the US Naval personnel but incredibly enough accounted for the sinking of 55% of the Japanese ships sunk during the war.
A short walk in the rain - thankfully, the North Face shoes and waterproof I'd purchased in New York were doing a sterling job of keeping me dry - took me to Pier 39 which - as well as giving good views of Alcatraz and, way across the Bay, the Golden Gate Bridge - is the home to some of San Francisco's sealions which gather in their hundreds on floating rafts where they huddle for warmth as well as being where they take a sleep, clamber over each other and have "play-fights" as well as being ever so noisy with their almost-continuous barking.
Strangely enough, scientists believe that the sealions come to rest in the Bay as opposed to anywhere else because the water in the Bay is too saline for the sealions' main predator - the great white shark - to swim whilst the rafts ensure there is a low yet solid surface for the sealions to be able to "haul" themselves up on. They definitely seemed at ease with their surrounding environment.
Given it had reached 5.30pm by then and the light was rapidly fading, I walked back to the hotel and waited for Anthony to return back from Carmel after which we got a taxi across town to the Stratford Hotel on Powell Street, which is very close to Union Square as well as have a cable car track on it too.
It was useful to have got a taxi as San Francisco is built on hills and it would have been a tiring task carrying bags across town. Once checked in at the hotel, we went to Cafe Mason, a diner on Mason Street where I had salmon with potato whilst Anthony had Linguine Gamberi. However it wasn't the best food I'd had although the bottle of local Anchor Steam helped the food go down. Overall it didn't appear the most professional outfit either with apparently nine staff doing a variety of jobs (which appeared to involve a degree of duplication) bar the one front-of-house lady who's sole role was to welcome in customers and then show them to their table. Furthermore, despite the fact that the dinner sitting was still very much in full swing, the tables - including ours whilst we were eating! - were being prepared for the breakfast sitting the next morning; suffice to say, a "reasonable" tip (which in San Francisco they recommend as 15%+) was not forthcoming from us.
Day 19 - Sun 02 Nov 2008
I awoke at a decent time at the Whitcomb Hotel considering the relatively-late night but what with re-packing my bags as we were changing hotels, an early check-out wasn't what was required.
Also, as the next hotel's check-in was not until 3pm and the Whitcomb had a computer room where I could access various emails and I needed to keep myself updated of where I stood with various bits of information, I stayed in the computer room until 2pm at which point Anthony returned from a walk he'd taken to the shops and then we walked down the road to catch a bus to as close as we could get to out hotel for the next night.
At this point, I invite all those people who complain about the quality of buses in England to come visit San Francisco! The buses here are long, for sure (those that "bend" in the middle) and hence fit in lots of people but the daily charge of $1.50 to use them is a fair price as they are reasonably old (they still have "pull cords" running down each side of the bus that is supposedly the technology in use to bring to the attention of the driver that a stop has been requested). Furthermore the seats appear "small" width-wise whilst the seats themselves are solid wood with no give in them whatsoever whilst the buses are difficult to stand up in when they are moving, even whilst gripping the handrail to keep from falling over when the bs brakes or when the accelerator is applied.
For $1.50 a day's travel across the city appears to be a decent deal.
After utilising this method of transport and checking-in at the hotel it was turned 4pm but we decided to use our bus ticket again, to get another bus up to the Golden Gate Bridge; with hindsight this was a much better than walking there because despite plenty of photos being taken it was very foggy by the time we arrived and with it also getting dark there was only about 30 minutes' opportunity to take photos before there was not enough light to do so. However, the lights on the Bridge itself assisted identifying the outline of the bridge for some night-shots - including what I believe are some of my best photos to date, particularly some "black-and-white" ones and some "colour-accented" ones (where, for instance, the yellow in a particular photo is picked up whilst everything else in the scene is a "neutral" black and white).
The Bridge itself was shrouded in fog when we arrived but still looked majestic; if nice weather comes along in the next few days a walk over to the other side may be worth doing.
=====
A bus back to the hotel - via an inadvertent detour on the bus going in the opposite direction that we wanted to go in! - pre-empted a walk to what I'd call a "proper" American diner (like the ones in films such as Pulp Fiction or Goodfellas) called Mel's Lombard to complete the day.
I ordered a ham steak with three poached eggs and potato which also came with...two pancakes (!); what was entitled a "Lumberjack" on the menu...whilst Anthony picked out a considerable half pound burger. My food was very good but oddly enough it was the potatoes - often the "forgotten food" of a meal when its included as essentially a side dish - that was the highlight although that doesn't mean the rest of the meal was bland by any means whilst Anthony's burger was the best he said he'd ever had.
To burn off some of the excess calories consumed from the pancakes a walk down Union Street - the "main street" of the Cow Hollow District renowned for its preserved Victorians that now house art galleries, antique stores, boutiques, fine dining and world-class spas - was deemed necessary. The street reminded me of the nicer parts of Oxford; indeed the entire street would not have looked out of place there.
Whilst on this walk, I noticed something slightly strange; even though it was not foggy at ground level, due to the low clouds / fog, the sky was a mix of black and grey...something I don't ever remember having seen in England before, with the clouds essentially being "lit up" from the lights in the San Francisco streets. This eerie sight made for some rather unusual photos.
Also, as the next hotel's check-in was not until 3pm and the Whitcomb had a computer room where I could access various emails and I needed to keep myself updated of where I stood with various bits of information, I stayed in the computer room until 2pm at which point Anthony returned from a walk he'd taken to the shops and then we walked down the road to catch a bus to as close as we could get to out hotel for the next night.
At this point, I invite all those people who complain about the quality of buses in England to come visit San Francisco! The buses here are long, for sure (those that "bend" in the middle) and hence fit in lots of people but the daily charge of $1.50 to use them is a fair price as they are reasonably old (they still have "pull cords" running down each side of the bus that is supposedly the technology in use to bring to the attention of the driver that a stop has been requested). Furthermore the seats appear "small" width-wise whilst the seats themselves are solid wood with no give in them whatsoever whilst the buses are difficult to stand up in when they are moving, even whilst gripping the handrail to keep from falling over when the bs brakes or when the accelerator is applied.
For $1.50 a day's travel across the city appears to be a decent deal.
After utilising this method of transport and checking-in at the hotel it was turned 4pm but we decided to use our bus ticket again, to get another bus up to the Golden Gate Bridge; with hindsight this was a much better than walking there because despite plenty of photos being taken it was very foggy by the time we arrived and with it also getting dark there was only about 30 minutes' opportunity to take photos before there was not enough light to do so. However, the lights on the Bridge itself assisted identifying the outline of the bridge for some night-shots - including what I believe are some of my best photos to date, particularly some "black-and-white" ones and some "colour-accented" ones (where, for instance, the yellow in a particular photo is picked up whilst everything else in the scene is a "neutral" black and white).
The Bridge itself was shrouded in fog when we arrived but still looked majestic; if nice weather comes along in the next few days a walk over to the other side may be worth doing.
=====
A bus back to the hotel - via an inadvertent detour on the bus going in the opposite direction that we wanted to go in! - pre-empted a walk to what I'd call a "proper" American diner (like the ones in films such as Pulp Fiction or Goodfellas) called Mel's Lombard to complete the day.
I ordered a ham steak with three poached eggs and potato which also came with...two pancakes (!); what was entitled a "Lumberjack" on the menu...whilst Anthony picked out a considerable half pound burger. My food was very good but oddly enough it was the potatoes - often the "forgotten food" of a meal when its included as essentially a side dish - that was the highlight although that doesn't mean the rest of the meal was bland by any means whilst Anthony's burger was the best he said he'd ever had.
To burn off some of the excess calories consumed from the pancakes a walk down Union Street - the "main street" of the Cow Hollow District renowned for its preserved Victorians that now house art galleries, antique stores, boutiques, fine dining and world-class spas - was deemed necessary. The street reminded me of the nicer parts of Oxford; indeed the entire street would not have looked out of place there.
Whilst on this walk, I noticed something slightly strange; even though it was not foggy at ground level, due to the low clouds / fog, the sky was a mix of black and grey...something I don't ever remember having seen in England before, with the clouds essentially being "lit up" from the lights in the San Francisco streets. This eerie sight made for some rather unusual photos.
Day 18 - Sat 01 Nov 2008
After waking at a surprisingly early time for me (8.30am!; yes that's early for me) I did a quick channel-hopping on the tv to grasp what programmes they have in the States and to see what they have to put up with.
Suffice to say, its the first time I've seen a James Bond movie - GoldenEye to be precise - being shown on a national television station at that time of day. There were also many channels about the upcoming general elections, which include all sorts of Propositions to vote on as well as the comparatively "easy" vote for John McCain or Barack Obama. Unexpectedly enough, there were also a fair few channels advertising sports equipment and diet / skincare products - all invariably being endorsed by stars such as Cindy Crawford.
As when I was in New York, when I visit a city for the first time I tend to want to explore it on foot, even if in the case above it led to an eventual six to seven hour walk! I personally think its the only way to really discover and get to know a town or city fully and it tends to give one a much clearer idea of the geography of the place and a sense of scale that you don't initially realise when using public transport, particularly any Underground system. However, once the geography "above ground" is understood more clearly I tend to start using the public transport to get around, which in a way helps to "join the dots" too.
Today, a walk (via the local laundrette to deposit all of my dirty clothes where a "wash and fold" service for $14 was provided), northeast up Market Street to then cut north through Chinatown and North Beach (by going up the northern stretch of Broadway) saw us arrive at Fisherman's Wharf before lunch with it hammering down with rain all morning.
At Fisherman's Wharf a walk further westwards to Hyde Street Pier, coming across the only floating National Park as its where several historic ships are docked. Given the horrendous weather, however, the Golden Gate Bridge (to the west) was just a faint outline in the distance and Alcatraz Island (to the northeast) seemed to be many miles away sat in the middle of the Bay. A look around and on the old ships may have been an interesting experience but given Anthony's umbrella he'd bought earlier in the morning had already broken on him and even with my waterproof jacket doing a grand job at keeping me dry, my jeans were getting soaked and so a lunchtime stop to eat was required. Moving off the Pier and heading back east along the seafront we came across a friendly restaurant called Pompei's Grotto, apparently serving up a variety of foodstuffs.
Given a friend at the wedding had recommended I try some clam chowder I plumped for a lemon sole with vegetables which came with a bowl of clam chowder as a starter, which I really enjoyed. In terms of comparison to other foods, I'd liken it to having a similar consistency to chicken soup and it tastes similar to it too. The sole was ok, though I'm not too keen on the tendency there is here in the States to fry / grill their fish; steamed tastes better in my opinion, reason being that I don't believe fish should be "crunchy" at all, which invariably is how fried / grilled fish turns out.
However, the dessert of warm chocolate sundae with cream and vanilla ice cream with hazelnut I couldn't complain about in the slightest, whilst a bottle of the local Anchor Steam beer ensured the meal went down smoothly.
As we'd slightly dried out when in the restaurant but the weather wasn't particularly easing off, we decided to walk back to the hotel to re-energise before a night on the town. Along the way, we walked up one of the hills in the centre of the city, where at the junction of Lombard Street and Hyde Street we came across the "peak" of the hill at which point there's a slight anomaly in the road; as its a 40 degree slope going downhill its a one-way road and for safety reasons it snakes from side to side so as to slow traffic and is known as "the crookedest street in the world" because of these eight switchbacks down the hill.
After arriving back at the hotel and spending considerable time drying everything out using the hotel-provided hair drier, we went to the concierge-recommended John's Grill in the Union Square area but unfortunately it was closed due to a private party however Les Joulins - a live jazz venue - was open across the street and as a big lunch had been consumed earlier on, a Seafood Platter was ordered along with a Budweiser. The food was really very good, the white wine sauce that was coating the Platter being the sort that you request extra portions of french bread and butter so as to soak it all up.
Afterwards we walked to a club not far away from the restaurant and after bargaining half price entry for $10, which I personally thought was a bit excessive but was still $30 cheaper than Ruby Skye - the club I preferred but at that price ($40, about 27 GBP) it wasn't really a feasible option just for an entry fee.
With hindsight and after three drinks, Anthony eventually came round to my way of thinking that the club really wasn't particularly good; I'm sure it was good-quality hip-hop and reggae music being played but its not quite the sort of music for me to want to get on to the dancefloor as its generally too slow a beat for my liking.
We stopped via Ruby Skye at around 2pm to see if the entry fee had been reduced at all but despite the 4am closing time the entry fee was still an extortionate $30, which was even more surprising given the number of people who appeared to be leaving the club at that time of night.
The short walk back down Powell Street - where the cable cars run in the daytime - and then down Market Street completed the evening.
Suffice to say, its the first time I've seen a James Bond movie - GoldenEye to be precise - being shown on a national television station at that time of day. There were also many channels about the upcoming general elections, which include all sorts of Propositions to vote on as well as the comparatively "easy" vote for John McCain or Barack Obama. Unexpectedly enough, there were also a fair few channels advertising sports equipment and diet / skincare products - all invariably being endorsed by stars such as Cindy Crawford.
As when I was in New York, when I visit a city for the first time I tend to want to explore it on foot, even if in the case above it led to an eventual six to seven hour walk! I personally think its the only way to really discover and get to know a town or city fully and it tends to give one a much clearer idea of the geography of the place and a sense of scale that you don't initially realise when using public transport, particularly any Underground system. However, once the geography "above ground" is understood more clearly I tend to start using the public transport to get around, which in a way helps to "join the dots" too.
Today, a walk (via the local laundrette to deposit all of my dirty clothes where a "wash and fold" service for $14 was provided), northeast up Market Street to then cut north through Chinatown and North Beach (by going up the northern stretch of Broadway) saw us arrive at Fisherman's Wharf before lunch with it hammering down with rain all morning.
At Fisherman's Wharf a walk further westwards to Hyde Street Pier, coming across the only floating National Park as its where several historic ships are docked. Given the horrendous weather, however, the Golden Gate Bridge (to the west) was just a faint outline in the distance and Alcatraz Island (to the northeast) seemed to be many miles away sat in the middle of the Bay. A look around and on the old ships may have been an interesting experience but given Anthony's umbrella he'd bought earlier in the morning had already broken on him and even with my waterproof jacket doing a grand job at keeping me dry, my jeans were getting soaked and so a lunchtime stop to eat was required. Moving off the Pier and heading back east along the seafront we came across a friendly restaurant called Pompei's Grotto, apparently serving up a variety of foodstuffs.
Given a friend at the wedding had recommended I try some clam chowder I plumped for a lemon sole with vegetables which came with a bowl of clam chowder as a starter, which I really enjoyed. In terms of comparison to other foods, I'd liken it to having a similar consistency to chicken soup and it tastes similar to it too. The sole was ok, though I'm not too keen on the tendency there is here in the States to fry / grill their fish; steamed tastes better in my opinion, reason being that I don't believe fish should be "crunchy" at all, which invariably is how fried / grilled fish turns out.
However, the dessert of warm chocolate sundae with cream and vanilla ice cream with hazelnut I couldn't complain about in the slightest, whilst a bottle of the local Anchor Steam beer ensured the meal went down smoothly.
As we'd slightly dried out when in the restaurant but the weather wasn't particularly easing off, we decided to walk back to the hotel to re-energise before a night on the town. Along the way, we walked up one of the hills in the centre of the city, where at the junction of Lombard Street and Hyde Street we came across the "peak" of the hill at which point there's a slight anomaly in the road; as its a 40 degree slope going downhill its a one-way road and for safety reasons it snakes from side to side so as to slow traffic and is known as "the crookedest street in the world" because of these eight switchbacks down the hill.
After arriving back at the hotel and spending considerable time drying everything out using the hotel-provided hair drier, we went to the concierge-recommended John's Grill in the Union Square area but unfortunately it was closed due to a private party however Les Joulins - a live jazz venue - was open across the street and as a big lunch had been consumed earlier on, a Seafood Platter was ordered along with a Budweiser. The food was really very good, the white wine sauce that was coating the Platter being the sort that you request extra portions of french bread and butter so as to soak it all up.
Afterwards we walked to a club not far away from the restaurant and after bargaining half price entry for $10, which I personally thought was a bit excessive but was still $30 cheaper than Ruby Skye - the club I preferred but at that price ($40, about 27 GBP) it wasn't really a feasible option just for an entry fee.
With hindsight and after three drinks, Anthony eventually came round to my way of thinking that the club really wasn't particularly good; I'm sure it was good-quality hip-hop and reggae music being played but its not quite the sort of music for me to want to get on to the dancefloor as its generally too slow a beat for my liking.
We stopped via Ruby Skye at around 2pm to see if the entry fee had been reduced at all but despite the 4am closing time the entry fee was still an extortionate $30, which was even more surprising given the number of people who appeared to be leaving the club at that time of night.
The short walk back down Powell Street - where the cable cars run in the daytime - and then down Market Street completed the evening.
Day 17 - Fri 31 Oct 2008
Today saw my last day in Las Vegas, the end of a surprising but decidedly entertaining and eye-opening trip to this gambling Mecca. Although not even close to the Bellagio Hotel in style or class, the Stratosphere served its purpose as a place to lay my head for one last night before the flight to San Francisco. Given not a huge amount of sleep had been had in the last five nights, to wake up in either a five-star hotel (Bellagio) or a more-budget hotel (Stratosphere) is neither here not there in a way - in both cases a decent night sleep was had and the "high" beds / thick mattresses and a minimum of four pillows were very cosy. The difference between the two is akin to the differences you notice when walking through the two english cities of Oxford and Slough.
Slough appears to have all the same type and number of shops as Oxford, including the major retailers, but it doesn't appear to have - on closer inspection - some of the "more individual" shops that Oxford does. Similarly, Slough town centre is not in a state of total disrepair by any means, but it doesn't quite compare with Oxford as it has very few historic buildings and has more eye-sores than eye-pleasers. When walking through Oxford the easiest way to describe it is that it is quite "peaceful" on the eyes with many beautiful old buildings that ooze character and history and it is only when walking around towns such as Slough and Reading that one realises something is "missing in character" from them.
Even Oxford's town centre has been "standardised" to the apparently same masterplan as every other town centre in the country- which identical paving through the pedestrian areas and "standard" lighting and even bins, but with its historic buildings it tends to preserve a degree of the individuality that a lot of other town and city centres seemed to have lost, particularly with the last 10-15years "globalisation" that has seen the world get smaller and the major (and also not-so-major) high street names appearing in EVERY town in the country.
In a similar way, the Bellagio is head and shoulders above most of the other Las Vegas casinos and hotels, although I didn't visit The Wynn whilst The Venetian did look as if some considerable thought had gone into its design. However, the Bellagio doesn't have the elaborate setup like the Venetian does, or the rather fake-looking statues that are at Caesar's Palace but it doesn't need those "gimmicks" to show its class. Like most hotels it does have something different to offer guests, but the dancing fountains in the massive pool out the front of the hotel that bring visitors from all hotels to watch in amazement from early evening-time and the vast outside swimming pool with its saunas and sunning areas are much more class than mere gimmicks.
The Stratosphere has a decent-sized casino and the tower with its astonishing rides but after having stayed in and gambled at the Bellagio, the second night at the Stratosphere just didn't compare at all. I can see myself visiting Vegas - and the Bellagio in particular - as a yearly detox from work and the normalities of every day life...Vegas is indeed an incredible place.
A breakfast at The Courtyard Buffet at the Stratosphere comprised of scrambled egg, bacon and potato waffle and although it was decent for $11.87, it could have been better. With Chris feeling slightly better after his illness and more in touch with reality, Anthony and I left him with a late check-out at hotel as we departed to the airport for our flight to San Francisco. The taxi driver appeared pleasant enough but I am quite sure that we were overcharged at $35 for the trip to the airport; although the traffic was fairly heavy, I am convinced he could've just driven straight down the Strip instead of the highway parallel to that which had roadworks on.
As it was an internal flight, it took hardly any time at all getting checked-in and through security although once we were through there we were faced with a flight delay, if only for an hour. Only in the States, however, could you walk up to a Gate to speak to a representative of the airline to ask for more information on the delay to find that...the staff were busy setting up an ad hoc bowling alley with a plastic bowling set, after which an announcement came over the tannoy informing passengers that if any of them would like to bowl down this makeshift alley and achieve a strike then they would be rewarded with a free drink or movie when the plane eventually departed!
Several passengers had a go, after about five or six it was obvious it was a bit "too" easy to get a strike and with interest waning on that front the staff changed tack to asking general knowledge questions for the same "prizes". Eventually, we were ushered through the Gate and the flight departed. On this flight the future of plane travel was partly-sampled as their in-flight entertainment system included such gimmicks as being able to type messages from your seat on the plane to any other seat on the plane, whilst I also got to play a game of Doom! Once the system is fully-running, one will be able to check emails on board the plane and buy whatever you want using the in-handset card reader.
The flight itself took hardly any time at all and flying over the Golden Gate and Bay Bridges on the way in to San Francisco airport was a nice experience. The security at the airport seemed as slack as any internal flight through USA, with a walk through the entire airport to get to the Baggage Claim Carousels which, as far as I could tell, everyone and anyone had access to, although understandably the area is supposedly under 24 hour surveillance.
A walk to the BART for a half hour trip to the Civic Centre Station near the Whitcomb Hotel was cheap and efficient at only $5. After checking-in and getting our bearings, we had an amazing meal at Lalita, a seafood/thai bar. A massive Calamari Platter for starters was top quality, before an also-delicious Sautee'd Crab with vegetables, along with a bottle of Bud. On the way back to the hotel, a significant number of Halloween-celebrating cyclists zoomed past, all dressed in a range of outrageous and colourful outfits; considerably more participants in the celebration than I've even experienced in England.
Slough appears to have all the same type and number of shops as Oxford, including the major retailers, but it doesn't appear to have - on closer inspection - some of the "more individual" shops that Oxford does. Similarly, Slough town centre is not in a state of total disrepair by any means, but it doesn't quite compare with Oxford as it has very few historic buildings and has more eye-sores than eye-pleasers. When walking through Oxford the easiest way to describe it is that it is quite "peaceful" on the eyes with many beautiful old buildings that ooze character and history and it is only when walking around towns such as Slough and Reading that one realises something is "missing in character" from them.
Even Oxford's town centre has been "standardised" to the apparently same masterplan as every other town centre in the country- which identical paving through the pedestrian areas and "standard" lighting and even bins, but with its historic buildings it tends to preserve a degree of the individuality that a lot of other town and city centres seemed to have lost, particularly with the last 10-15years "globalisation" that has seen the world get smaller and the major (and also not-so-major) high street names appearing in EVERY town in the country.
In a similar way, the Bellagio is head and shoulders above most of the other Las Vegas casinos and hotels, although I didn't visit The Wynn whilst The Venetian did look as if some considerable thought had gone into its design. However, the Bellagio doesn't have the elaborate setup like the Venetian does, or the rather fake-looking statues that are at Caesar's Palace but it doesn't need those "gimmicks" to show its class. Like most hotels it does have something different to offer guests, but the dancing fountains in the massive pool out the front of the hotel that bring visitors from all hotels to watch in amazement from early evening-time and the vast outside swimming pool with its saunas and sunning areas are much more class than mere gimmicks.
The Stratosphere has a decent-sized casino and the tower with its astonishing rides but after having stayed in and gambled at the Bellagio, the second night at the Stratosphere just didn't compare at all. I can see myself visiting Vegas - and the Bellagio in particular - as a yearly detox from work and the normalities of every day life...Vegas is indeed an incredible place.
A breakfast at The Courtyard Buffet at the Stratosphere comprised of scrambled egg, bacon and potato waffle and although it was decent for $11.87, it could have been better. With Chris feeling slightly better after his illness and more in touch with reality, Anthony and I left him with a late check-out at hotel as we departed to the airport for our flight to San Francisco. The taxi driver appeared pleasant enough but I am quite sure that we were overcharged at $35 for the trip to the airport; although the traffic was fairly heavy, I am convinced he could've just driven straight down the Strip instead of the highway parallel to that which had roadworks on.
As it was an internal flight, it took hardly any time at all getting checked-in and through security although once we were through there we were faced with a flight delay, if only for an hour. Only in the States, however, could you walk up to a Gate to speak to a representative of the airline to ask for more information on the delay to find that...the staff were busy setting up an ad hoc bowling alley with a plastic bowling set, after which an announcement came over the tannoy informing passengers that if any of them would like to bowl down this makeshift alley and achieve a strike then they would be rewarded with a free drink or movie when the plane eventually departed!
Several passengers had a go, after about five or six it was obvious it was a bit "too" easy to get a strike and with interest waning on that front the staff changed tack to asking general knowledge questions for the same "prizes". Eventually, we were ushered through the Gate and the flight departed. On this flight the future of plane travel was partly-sampled as their in-flight entertainment system included such gimmicks as being able to type messages from your seat on the plane to any other seat on the plane, whilst I also got to play a game of Doom! Once the system is fully-running, one will be able to check emails on board the plane and buy whatever you want using the in-handset card reader.
The flight itself took hardly any time at all and flying over the Golden Gate and Bay Bridges on the way in to San Francisco airport was a nice experience. The security at the airport seemed as slack as any internal flight through USA, with a walk through the entire airport to get to the Baggage Claim Carousels which, as far as I could tell, everyone and anyone had access to, although understandably the area is supposedly under 24 hour surveillance.
A walk to the BART for a half hour trip to the Civic Centre Station near the Whitcomb Hotel was cheap and efficient at only $5. After checking-in and getting our bearings, we had an amazing meal at Lalita, a seafood/thai bar. A massive Calamari Platter for starters was top quality, before an also-delicious Sautee'd Crab with vegetables, along with a bottle of Bud. On the way back to the hotel, a significant number of Halloween-celebrating cyclists zoomed past, all dressed in a range of outrageous and colourful outfits; considerably more participants in the celebration than I've even experienced in England.
Thursday 23 October 2008
Day 9 - Thurs 23 Oct 2008
Today was an interesting day; I went for breakfast at my usual Broadway Bagel with an American staying at the hostel. Again, the steak, cheese and onion on bagel was too tempting to resist. After that, a subway train to 42nd Street (Times Square) to see if any cheap(ish) Broadway tickets could be purchased followed. Unfortunately, the half-price ticket booth didn't open until 3pm so I went to Grand Central Station, via another subway ride, to have have a look at the architecture and grandness of this building. A vast waiting hall awaited me, a huge high ceiling.
Wednesday 22 October 2008
Day 7 - Tues 21 Oct 2008
After putting off the one breakfast meal I knew some day I had to experience, I succumbed and chose the pancakes with bacon, butter and lashings of syrup; at first thoughts probably the most unhealthiest breakfast meal I've ever had although the most calorific! I don't even think the "goodness" of the accompanying banana made even a slight dent in the amount of sugar that was implicitly within the three-high pile of thick foamy-like textured pancakes that were served up.
However, it was consumed with relish but ultimately I completed the meal wondering exactly what the fuss over pancakes for breakfast is all about. They were edible, that is for sure, but I am not convinced I could eat them every day at that time of the day - though maybe they're a good hangover cure?
The American History of Natural History is the plan for today; the advertised 94-foot long blue whale in the Hall of Ocean Life is too tempting to resist; though if a meat-eater, I wonder how how tall the pile of pancakes with bacon would need to be for a whale at breakfast time to keep it from going back for seconds?
In the bagel shop, there is a tv in the corner at the front that is flicking through various news articles, political or otherwise. For some reason, the broadcasters feel that there is a need to punctuate the news reels with details of horoscopes...apparently my horoscope for the day reads..."Let someone bask in the spotlight a while. Sing the praises of other people".
Now, me...I'm not someone at all who believes in horoscopes and all the associated horoscope in any way shape or form; maybe because I've got a scientific mind? Who knows.
However, this IS the perfect time in my trip now that I'm well in to it to thank a few people whom without their input, advice, help and patience this trip would never have occurred; or, if it had, then not in the same relaxed "stress-free" way that it has.
Firstly, I must thank my mum and dad for all the help they've given me and the never-ending support they have provided - and continue to provide - for this trip, despite a few hick ups along the way when planning. My dad's selfless driving me to the airport on Day One where any delay on the roads could've got him in to trouble at work took away the potential stress of trying to use public transport to travel to and across London using buses, overground and underground trains; the time one requires transport to work as it should do for even a few hours will invariably be the same day when there will be a major hold-up - Sod's Law dictates it.
My mum; well what can I say; without her I would never have got packed or as prepared to leave for the airport as it turned out to be. Also, as I was staying at my parents' house the few weeks before I left for New York, my mum cooking good-quality food helped free up a lot more time in which I could prepare and organise for my trip as well as being a significant step up from the "healthy but slightly dull" food I typically cooked for myself when living in Reading.
I made the decision to go travelling completely by myself and I am still surprised to this day that at no point in time from anyone I know have I heard any comments questioning my decision to travel; not from friends, family, work colleagues, no one! Not that I feel that I need any "green light"-approval from anyone to do whatever I want to (after all, I've managed to live with only myself to answer to for several years since I went to University at the age of 18) but it is still nice to have left England with everyone's blessings and good wishes.
It's also made the path over the last few months since the start of June when I handed in my notice at work more straight-forward and stress-free so I thank everyone I know for respecting my decision to travel and providing me with invaluable advice where they could as to where they feel are nice places to travel to, what sights there are out there to see and experience etc; something I knew absolutely nothing about before I started planning my trip. I now know about (and have almost completed my visit to...) New York before heading off across the continent, at which point I will look back on the advice given from friends and family on that area of the globe to try and minimise hassles and maximise the time I spend there.
Given I have had a few years where I've been work-committed and with a "safety-first" policy, which probably translates to being in my own comfort zone of sorts. even deciding to pack in my job was something most people - let alone myself - probably never saw me doing whereas for someone else no one would've batted an eyelid!
To then break the typical circle of "leave one job, shortly after go into another job (probably very similar) job" and to make a relative leap of faith in to the unknown and to think "actually, what is there to stop me going travelling for a few months - I don't particularly enjoy the english winters anyhow!" surprised myself and once I'd got the idea in to my head I couldn't let it go - I would have always been wondering "what if..." had I not gone through with it. That I had a limited time period to sort every aspect of the journey out is neither here nor there in my eyes; as long as I had a plane ticket leaving England and a few nights' accommodation booked in my first port of call - wherever that may be - I was going travelling and that was that!
In executing the rough idea into a firm plan was time-consuming to say the least, but the fun is often found in the research; plans can always be changed regardless how much money (a lot or a little) has been paid up front.
That one of my close friends Liam kindly dedicated some of his own time to help me move back to my parents' from Reading where I rented a place was an exceptionally kind gesture, even more so given that evening didn't end until 2.30am the next morning - and poor Liam was due in work the next day whereas I wasn't! That him and his family have very kindly assisted me with another issue I needed to resolve before I left again shows his unfailing generosity. Thanks Liam, you're a star.
Finally, a general thank you to all my family and friends who I will miss on my travels whilst they are probably working in the week (and maybe weekends!) whilst I go and see things I know a lot of them would love to go and see first-hand too; I will try and live the dream for you whilst I'm travelling and try to keep you updated on this blog. I won't forget how you've all helped me out.
Unfortunately, after a subway ride and walk to the Natural History Museum and subsequently realising that as the Museum was a massive four blocks' long, I decided to visit another (smaller!) museum for the day at which my CityPass would gain admission to and give a discount on the audio tour; the Metropolitan Museum of Art.
In terms of art on show, the following caught my eye; Yves Tanay's My Life, Black and White 1944 and The Satin Tuning Fork 1940 were more my type of art than a lot of other stuff on show, whilst there were two truly huge works by Stephen Hanning (Kaaterskill Falls for Frank Moore and Dan Hodermarky 2005 and The Oxbow: After Church, After Cole, Flooded (Flooded River for the Matriarchs E.&A. Morgan), Green Light 2000 that impressed, the latter being a contemporary interpretation of the Connecticut Rive made famous by another American artist, Thomas Cole, in 1836.
Something I have learnt in this past week is what "type" of artists whose works I like and which artists' works I don't rate too highly. As described in a previous day's notes, I quite liked Giorgio de Chirico's works and here in the Met was his The Jewish Angel 1916; compared to a lot of other works in the galleries in all museums I've been to recently this again appeared to stand out from the others.
In the Met was a Cubism gallery, within which although the works displayed (such as Pablo Picasso's Still Life with a Bottle of Rum 1911 or Georges Broque's Still Life with Banderillas 1911) detail (suuposedly "complex arrangements of intersecting planes, letters and fractured objects" I do wonder whether this style of painting was just an excuse to not bother with the finer detail that some of the aforementioned works have in spades. Though from the audio tour narrative, Picasso and Broque essentially had that particular style "sewn up" as their own, in that they were the masters in the style and could thereby push the genre forward in whichever direction they chose to.
Another work of "art" I was sceptical about was more to do with the subject matter than anything else...as it depicted a woman being burned alive, at which point (so goes some random story associated with it...) some bats flew over and urinated on her so as to douse the flames! How this can be called art is beyond me.
However, the Norwegian gallery gave me back any faith in art that I may have temporarily lost, with Jonan Christain Dahl's The Eruption of Vesuvius 1824, View of Dresden from the Road to Meissen 1822 and his Copenhagen Harbour by Moonlight 1846, the works probably comparing with Giorgio de Chirico as my favourite artist of the last week.
In the Musical Instruments section were two of the stunning few Stradivari cellos, one of which was the Piatidorsky-Batta from 1714, subsequently named after the Dutch cellist Alexandre Batte (1816-1902) who purchased it in Paris around 1836. Both very nice.
As time was getting short for another appointment later in the day, a brisk walk was needed through Central Park before a subway to the hostel and a quick turnaround down to Madison Square Gardens where the New York Knicks were due to play Boston Celtics in a pre-NBA season basketball match up.
Two hotdogs (the taste is becoming addictive!) had kept me going through the day and this was followed by a "Soda Cup" of Coca-Cola and a large box of popcorn as the evening food whilst watching the game.
Madison Square Gardens itself is quite vast, though plans are afoot for an upcoming redevelopment of this famous venue. As it was a pre-season (friendly) game with nothing bar pride and gloating honours at stake the stadium was understandably half-full but in terms of an event parents would be keen to take their children to watch it was by far and away a more "family-friendly" atmosphere than football or rugby back in England were but, given the lack of a competitive "bite" in the stands coupled with it being a friendly game the atmosphere was quite flat.
Any aggressive or inappropriate language or gestures are prone to get you thrown out of Madison Square Gardens whereas in England if that philosophy was adopted, there would probably be very few spectators left to watch the game!
Also, I wonder whether its the attention span of the American public being incredibly short or just another method to justify the price of tickets and to prise better deals out of sponsors but during the game there were a number of "non'basketball" events "held" during timeouts and at the end of each quarter that added absolutely nothing to the game itself but assists in keeping the fans entertained when no action is going on the court.
I have nothing against the Knicks' cheerleaders doing a routine at least a few times during the evening, but some of the other events I am not convinced about...
a.) Section volleyball; two sections of the crowd are given 15 "soft" volleyballs and for 30 seconds hit the balls back and forth in the air between the two sections with whichever section that has fewer balls in its area at the end of the time concluding in a free t-shirt given out to every fan within that section! Sport? Hardly. Entertainment value - minimal.
b) Musical chairs: Four random crowd members are given a basketball each with three soft chairs having been wheeled on to the playing surface. Music is played, the "contestants" dribble their basketball round the chairs, music stops, all four dive for the three chairs...you get the idea.
c) Knicks Notes: Anyone from the crowd can text in a message to be flashed up on the main screens at half-time; some guy called Barry wrote a message asking "will you marry me Grace?"; camera on big screen then cuts to him in the crowd, down on one knee proposing. All ends happily ever after.
d) Old School Dance Cam: The music is selected through the loudest of crowd applause at one of three various tracks, then camera cuts to particular individuals within the crowd doing their best / worst ad lib dance routines.
e) Season Ticket Shootout: Random crowd member gets to shoot a basketball from the halfway line; if he succeeds in netting it, then gets a season ticket; if not, he moves to the half court line and tries again, this time for a half-season ticket...etc.
f) Variation on a theme of above: 10 crowd-members get to have one shot each from the halfway line; if they successfully shoot it, they get $1,000 in cash. Sport? Hardly. Entertainment? Marginally, given its obvious only one at most will succeed (none did!) and at least three of the remaining nine will end up on the floor!
In terms of the basketball played, the Knicks fell behind from early on and never really looked like coming back in to the game; the halftime lead to Boston of over 20 points was insurmountable for the Knicks and although they got to within 7 points at one time, they eventually went down 90-101.
My conclusion - get rid of the non-sport stuff and just keep the basketball game and the gorgeous cheerleaders - who have to perform a routine of some sort or another in every break in play!
The other thing of note was that in most sports where the players' numbers are shown on the back of the shirts, the numbering sequence begins at 1, even if it then goes up to 99 or more. However, one of the Boston Celtic players had a number "0"! Strange; next thing, there'll be numbers used such as 33 1/3 (after the Naked Gun movie title) or fractions, or maybe even the infinity sign?
The popcorn was decidedly "moreish" and after living in New York for only a week I can see how my waistline could quite easily expand in no time at all; all this sugar and salt can't be too healthy, regardless the number of bananas and other fruit consumed to negate the effect. My diet today of pancakes with bacon, butter and syrup, one large and one regular hotdog followed by popcorn and a litre of Coca-Cola could quite easily be the unhealthiest day's food I've ever consumed! Let's hope I add some nutritional value in the coming days.
However, it was consumed with relish but ultimately I completed the meal wondering exactly what the fuss over pancakes for breakfast is all about. They were edible, that is for sure, but I am not convinced I could eat them every day at that time of the day - though maybe they're a good hangover cure?
The American History of Natural History is the plan for today; the advertised 94-foot long blue whale in the Hall of Ocean Life is too tempting to resist; though if a meat-eater, I wonder how how tall the pile of pancakes with bacon would need to be for a whale at breakfast time to keep it from going back for seconds?
In the bagel shop, there is a tv in the corner at the front that is flicking through various news articles, political or otherwise. For some reason, the broadcasters feel that there is a need to punctuate the news reels with details of horoscopes...apparently my horoscope for the day reads..."Let someone bask in the spotlight a while. Sing the praises of other people".
Now, me...I'm not someone at all who believes in horoscopes and all the associated horoscope in any way shape or form; maybe because I've got a scientific mind? Who knows.
However, this IS the perfect time in my trip now that I'm well in to it to thank a few people whom without their input, advice, help and patience this trip would never have occurred; or, if it had, then not in the same relaxed "stress-free" way that it has.
Firstly, I must thank my mum and dad for all the help they've given me and the never-ending support they have provided - and continue to provide - for this trip, despite a few hick ups along the way when planning. My dad's selfless driving me to the airport on Day One where any delay on the roads could've got him in to trouble at work took away the potential stress of trying to use public transport to travel to and across London using buses, overground and underground trains; the time one requires transport to work as it should do for even a few hours will invariably be the same day when there will be a major hold-up - Sod's Law dictates it.
My mum; well what can I say; without her I would never have got packed or as prepared to leave for the airport as it turned out to be. Also, as I was staying at my parents' house the few weeks before I left for New York, my mum cooking good-quality food helped free up a lot more time in which I could prepare and organise for my trip as well as being a significant step up from the "healthy but slightly dull" food I typically cooked for myself when living in Reading.
I made the decision to go travelling completely by myself and I am still surprised to this day that at no point in time from anyone I know have I heard any comments questioning my decision to travel; not from friends, family, work colleagues, no one! Not that I feel that I need any "green light"-approval from anyone to do whatever I want to (after all, I've managed to live with only myself to answer to for several years since I went to University at the age of 18) but it is still nice to have left England with everyone's blessings and good wishes.
It's also made the path over the last few months since the start of June when I handed in my notice at work more straight-forward and stress-free so I thank everyone I know for respecting my decision to travel and providing me with invaluable advice where they could as to where they feel are nice places to travel to, what sights there are out there to see and experience etc; something I knew absolutely nothing about before I started planning my trip. I now know about (and have almost completed my visit to...) New York before heading off across the continent, at which point I will look back on the advice given from friends and family on that area of the globe to try and minimise hassles and maximise the time I spend there.
Given I have had a few years where I've been work-committed and with a "safety-first" policy, which probably translates to being in my own comfort zone of sorts. even deciding to pack in my job was something most people - let alone myself - probably never saw me doing whereas for someone else no one would've batted an eyelid!
To then break the typical circle of "leave one job, shortly after go into another job (probably very similar) job" and to make a relative leap of faith in to the unknown and to think "actually, what is there to stop me going travelling for a few months - I don't particularly enjoy the english winters anyhow!" surprised myself and once I'd got the idea in to my head I couldn't let it go - I would have always been wondering "what if..." had I not gone through with it. That I had a limited time period to sort every aspect of the journey out is neither here nor there in my eyes; as long as I had a plane ticket leaving England and a few nights' accommodation booked in my first port of call - wherever that may be - I was going travelling and that was that!
In executing the rough idea into a firm plan was time-consuming to say the least, but the fun is often found in the research; plans can always be changed regardless how much money (a lot or a little) has been paid up front.
That one of my close friends Liam kindly dedicated some of his own time to help me move back to my parents' from Reading where I rented a place was an exceptionally kind gesture, even more so given that evening didn't end until 2.30am the next morning - and poor Liam was due in work the next day whereas I wasn't! That him and his family have very kindly assisted me with another issue I needed to resolve before I left again shows his unfailing generosity. Thanks Liam, you're a star.
Finally, a general thank you to all my family and friends who I will miss on my travels whilst they are probably working in the week (and maybe weekends!) whilst I go and see things I know a lot of them would love to go and see first-hand too; I will try and live the dream for you whilst I'm travelling and try to keep you updated on this blog. I won't forget how you've all helped me out.
Unfortunately, after a subway ride and walk to the Natural History Museum and subsequently realising that as the Museum was a massive four blocks' long, I decided to visit another (smaller!) museum for the day at which my CityPass would gain admission to and give a discount on the audio tour; the Metropolitan Museum of Art.
In terms of art on show, the following caught my eye; Yves Tanay's My Life, Black and White 1944 and The Satin Tuning Fork 1940 were more my type of art than a lot of other stuff on show, whilst there were two truly huge works by Stephen Hanning (Kaaterskill Falls for Frank Moore and Dan Hodermarky 2005 and The Oxbow: After Church, After Cole, Flooded (Flooded River for the Matriarchs E.&A. Morgan), Green Light 2000 that impressed, the latter being a contemporary interpretation of the Connecticut Rive made famous by another American artist, Thomas Cole, in 1836.
Something I have learnt in this past week is what "type" of artists whose works I like and which artists' works I don't rate too highly. As described in a previous day's notes, I quite liked Giorgio de Chirico's works and here in the Met was his The Jewish Angel 1916; compared to a lot of other works in the galleries in all museums I've been to recently this again appeared to stand out from the others.
In the Met was a Cubism gallery, within which although the works displayed (such as Pablo Picasso's Still Life with a Bottle of Rum 1911 or Georges Broque's Still Life with Banderillas 1911) detail (suuposedly "complex arrangements of intersecting planes, letters and fractured objects" I do wonder whether this style of painting was just an excuse to not bother with the finer detail that some of the aforementioned works have in spades. Though from the audio tour narrative, Picasso and Broque essentially had that particular style "sewn up" as their own, in that they were the masters in the style and could thereby push the genre forward in whichever direction they chose to.
Another work of "art" I was sceptical about was more to do with the subject matter than anything else...as it depicted a woman being burned alive, at which point (so goes some random story associated with it...) some bats flew over and urinated on her so as to douse the flames! How this can be called art is beyond me.
However, the Norwegian gallery gave me back any faith in art that I may have temporarily lost, with Jonan Christain Dahl's The Eruption of Vesuvius 1824, View of Dresden from the Road to Meissen 1822 and his Copenhagen Harbour by Moonlight 1846, the works probably comparing with Giorgio de Chirico as my favourite artist of the last week.
In the Musical Instruments section were two of the stunning few Stradivari cellos, one of which was the Piatidorsky-Batta from 1714, subsequently named after the Dutch cellist Alexandre Batte (1816-1902) who purchased it in Paris around 1836. Both very nice.
As time was getting short for another appointment later in the day, a brisk walk was needed through Central Park before a subway to the hostel and a quick turnaround down to Madison Square Gardens where the New York Knicks were due to play Boston Celtics in a pre-NBA season basketball match up.
Two hotdogs (the taste is becoming addictive!) had kept me going through the day and this was followed by a "Soda Cup" of Coca-Cola and a large box of popcorn as the evening food whilst watching the game.
Madison Square Gardens itself is quite vast, though plans are afoot for an upcoming redevelopment of this famous venue. As it was a pre-season (friendly) game with nothing bar pride and gloating honours at stake the stadium was understandably half-full but in terms of an event parents would be keen to take their children to watch it was by far and away a more "family-friendly" atmosphere than football or rugby back in England were but, given the lack of a competitive "bite" in the stands coupled with it being a friendly game the atmosphere was quite flat.
Any aggressive or inappropriate language or gestures are prone to get you thrown out of Madison Square Gardens whereas in England if that philosophy was adopted, there would probably be very few spectators left to watch the game!
Also, I wonder whether its the attention span of the American public being incredibly short or just another method to justify the price of tickets and to prise better deals out of sponsors but during the game there were a number of "non'basketball" events "held" during timeouts and at the end of each quarter that added absolutely nothing to the game itself but assists in keeping the fans entertained when no action is going on the court.
I have nothing against the Knicks' cheerleaders doing a routine at least a few times during the evening, but some of the other events I am not convinced about...
a.) Section volleyball; two sections of the crowd are given 15 "soft" volleyballs and for 30 seconds hit the balls back and forth in the air between the two sections with whichever section that has fewer balls in its area at the end of the time concluding in a free t-shirt given out to every fan within that section! Sport? Hardly. Entertainment value - minimal.
b) Musical chairs: Four random crowd members are given a basketball each with three soft chairs having been wheeled on to the playing surface. Music is played, the "contestants" dribble their basketball round the chairs, music stops, all four dive for the three chairs...you get the idea.
c) Knicks Notes: Anyone from the crowd can text in a message to be flashed up on the main screens at half-time; some guy called Barry wrote a message asking "will you marry me Grace?"; camera on big screen then cuts to him in the crowd, down on one knee proposing. All ends happily ever after.
d) Old School Dance Cam: The music is selected through the loudest of crowd applause at one of three various tracks, then camera cuts to particular individuals within the crowd doing their best / worst ad lib dance routines.
e) Season Ticket Shootout: Random crowd member gets to shoot a basketball from the halfway line; if he succeeds in netting it, then gets a season ticket; if not, he moves to the half court line and tries again, this time for a half-season ticket...etc.
f) Variation on a theme of above: 10 crowd-members get to have one shot each from the halfway line; if they successfully shoot it, they get $1,000 in cash. Sport? Hardly. Entertainment? Marginally, given its obvious only one at most will succeed (none did!) and at least three of the remaining nine will end up on the floor!
In terms of the basketball played, the Knicks fell behind from early on and never really looked like coming back in to the game; the halftime lead to Boston of over 20 points was insurmountable for the Knicks and although they got to within 7 points at one time, they eventually went down 90-101.
My conclusion - get rid of the non-sport stuff and just keep the basketball game and the gorgeous cheerleaders - who have to perform a routine of some sort or another in every break in play!
The other thing of note was that in most sports where the players' numbers are shown on the back of the shirts, the numbering sequence begins at 1, even if it then goes up to 99 or more. However, one of the Boston Celtic players had a number "0"! Strange; next thing, there'll be numbers used such as 33 1/3 (after the Naked Gun movie title) or fractions, or maybe even the infinity sign?
The popcorn was decidedly "moreish" and after living in New York for only a week I can see how my waistline could quite easily expand in no time at all; all this sugar and salt can't be too healthy, regardless the number of bananas and other fruit consumed to negate the effect. My diet today of pancakes with bacon, butter and syrup, one large and one regular hotdog followed by popcorn and a litre of Coca-Cola could quite easily be the unhealthiest day's food I've ever consumed! Let's hope I add some nutritional value in the coming days.
Monday 20 October 2008
Day 6 - Mon 20 Oct 2008
A very good long night's sleep was had, although I'm thinking (maybe!) about getting some vitamins as my diet yesterday comprised meat, egg, cheese and bagel. I'm sure one can get essential vitamins from these foods but I'm also sure there's a deficit in many other vitamins. There is, however, a VitaminWater product they produce over here, for roughly $2 for a 500ml bottle, that claims to include various additional vitamins and they're quite tasty too so a couple of those have been consumed in the last few days.
Anyway, despite that health-conscious start to my thoughts my breakfast today was steak, egg, cheese and onion on a plain bagel, a cup of tea...and a banana! Note the "healthy" and overdue inclusion of the banana.
Hugo had work commitments today so I had the day to do whatever I wanted with. Given my twisted knee was still giving me a few problems, I wasn't be too fussed about another slog through a museum's galleries so I decided to go for a more-relaxing-on-the-eyes-and-brain walk through Central Park and to see what time was left nearer the end of the day to fit anything else in.
Entering the park at West 100 Street, I walked (roughly) south. this time skirting to the west of the Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis Reservoir before stopping at the Tennis courts to observe any decent play. Surprisingly so, given it was a Monday, all of the many courts were in use, which brings me to one thing I'd been pondering...are there any New Yorkers (apart from those involved in the subway, shops, infrastructure) that actually ever go to work? Or do all of the people I've seen from the last few days who are not visitors to the city all too rich to bother about the minor matter of working?
As well as the tennis courts being packed, the running track around the reservoir was packed with joggers - again, despite it being in the working day. Of those other walkers in the park, a lot were walking dogs; I presume that most of these would have been locals, so how come they weren't at work either! Not that I really have a leg to stand on with this point, given that I presently don't have a job either.
A long stroll around the Great Lawn saw me arrive at the Turtle Pond and a hotdog stand perfectly placed to whet the appetite in to asking for a hotdog; a taste that, once acquired, is seeming rather difficult to neglect; even more so when one walks past the numerous combined hotdog, roasted nuts and drinks stalls many times throughout a day.
As is from my experience from living in England, I just expected Turtle Pond to be named as such due to its shape or size, however I thought I'd better check it out after consuming my hotdog. The rocks where I was sitting were quite warm from the sun and the wildlife seemed to think so too, with red dragonflies landing on them for a short while before going on their way doing whatever dragonflies do.
A small "jetty" extended a short distance over the pond (more a lake in size), so I walked to the end of it and was more than surprised when in front of me I saw...a little turtle swimming along! A very cool surprise at that. The turtle didn't seem at all put off as it swam for a while in the vicinity of the jetty, before I headed up to the Belvedere "Castle". Turtles swimming in ponds are something that you just don't get to see on even a rare occasion; if someone put turtles into their back garden pond, they would've been nicked in less than five minutes after they'd have been put in there!
It appears as if the Central Park Conservancy have been - and still are - in the process of renovating sections of the park; the Belvedere castle-like building being one of those recently restored.
This building is presently used as a weather-reading site, as well as it giving good views over Turtle Pond (from above, one can see several turtles in the water) and the Great Lawn.
The Ramble lays on the southern side of the Belvedere and needs no further explanation to explain it than the park's sign..."a place where the relationship between animals, birds, plants and the environment is protected".
Despite having left Reading, where I worked and lived for over three years it seems as if even in New York there are connections to Reading! The Falconer Statue was sculpted by George Blackall Simonds and depicts a young falconer in Elizabethan garb holding aloft a falcon poised for release. Simonds was born in Reading to a prosperous family of brewers, attending what is now Bradfield College; another of his casts - of Queen Victoria this time - is supposedly standing outside Reading Town Hall.
However, of the original cast of the Falconer in Central Park, it appears that as much of the original remains as does the broom of the character Trigger in Only Fools and Horses given that a "new" falcon was attached in 1957 before further vandalism caused the statue to be put in to storage whilst in 1982 the entire arm and falcon was replaced!
A walk down the mall before having a quick-play game of chess (being five minutes each side for all moves) at the Chess & Chequers centre, whereby my French Defence Advanced line went out of book early on and inadvertently gave white too much room and counter-attacking chances and after going an exchange down the resignation wasn't long in coming.
However, given the two players whom I'd seen play several games beforehand were moving their pieces prapidly and at a decent standard of play, I was quietly impressed with my first game in a fair few years.
And here I am, sitting in Central Park, New York, at 5pm as the day draws to a close; so different from the evenings I've been used to spending in Reading in mid-October it doesn't really bear thinking about. The Reading evening would have entailed an exceptionally-frustrating slow drive back home moving at a snail's pace (if at all!) whilst it rains hard outside and the winter cold starts to bite.
To be fair, the weather I'm presently experiencing here in New York is warmer than it probably is expected to be though it is meant to be become colder over the next few days; after all, its the American's autumn (or "fall" as I should put it in American-English!) here too, but it sure beats being back in England thats for sure.
The Carousel can be heard in near-distance, piping its tunes from Mary Poppins, Popeye and other television / movie favourites.
Time for a subway back to the hostel, then a nice meal with any luck.
Anyway, despite that health-conscious start to my thoughts my breakfast today was steak, egg, cheese and onion on a plain bagel, a cup of tea...and a banana! Note the "healthy" and overdue inclusion of the banana.
Hugo had work commitments today so I had the day to do whatever I wanted with. Given my twisted knee was still giving me a few problems, I wasn't be too fussed about another slog through a museum's galleries so I decided to go for a more-relaxing-on-the-eyes-and-brain walk through Central Park and to see what time was left nearer the end of the day to fit anything else in.
Entering the park at West 100 Street, I walked (roughly) south. this time skirting to the west of the Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis Reservoir before stopping at the Tennis courts to observe any decent play. Surprisingly so, given it was a Monday, all of the many courts were in use, which brings me to one thing I'd been pondering...are there any New Yorkers (apart from those involved in the subway, shops, infrastructure) that actually ever go to work? Or do all of the people I've seen from the last few days who are not visitors to the city all too rich to bother about the minor matter of working?
As well as the tennis courts being packed, the running track around the reservoir was packed with joggers - again, despite it being in the working day. Of those other walkers in the park, a lot were walking dogs; I presume that most of these would have been locals, so how come they weren't at work either! Not that I really have a leg to stand on with this point, given that I presently don't have a job either.
A long stroll around the Great Lawn saw me arrive at the Turtle Pond and a hotdog stand perfectly placed to whet the appetite in to asking for a hotdog; a taste that, once acquired, is seeming rather difficult to neglect; even more so when one walks past the numerous combined hotdog, roasted nuts and drinks stalls many times throughout a day.
As is from my experience from living in England, I just expected Turtle Pond to be named as such due to its shape or size, however I thought I'd better check it out after consuming my hotdog. The rocks where I was sitting were quite warm from the sun and the wildlife seemed to think so too, with red dragonflies landing on them for a short while before going on their way doing whatever dragonflies do.
A small "jetty" extended a short distance over the pond (more a lake in size), so I walked to the end of it and was more than surprised when in front of me I saw...a little turtle swimming along! A very cool surprise at that. The turtle didn't seem at all put off as it swam for a while in the vicinity of the jetty, before I headed up to the Belvedere "Castle". Turtles swimming in ponds are something that you just don't get to see on even a rare occasion; if someone put turtles into their back garden pond, they would've been nicked in less than five minutes after they'd have been put in there!
It appears as if the Central Park Conservancy have been - and still are - in the process of renovating sections of the park; the Belvedere castle-like building being one of those recently restored.
This building is presently used as a weather-reading site, as well as it giving good views over Turtle Pond (from above, one can see several turtles in the water) and the Great Lawn.
The Ramble lays on the southern side of the Belvedere and needs no further explanation to explain it than the park's sign..."a place where the relationship between animals, birds, plants and the environment is protected".
Despite having left Reading, where I worked and lived for over three years it seems as if even in New York there are connections to Reading! The Falconer Statue was sculpted by George Blackall Simonds and depicts a young falconer in Elizabethan garb holding aloft a falcon poised for release. Simonds was born in Reading to a prosperous family of brewers, attending what is now Bradfield College; another of his casts - of Queen Victoria this time - is supposedly standing outside Reading Town Hall.
However, of the original cast of the Falconer in Central Park, it appears that as much of the original remains as does the broom of the character Trigger in Only Fools and Horses given that a "new" falcon was attached in 1957 before further vandalism caused the statue to be put in to storage whilst in 1982 the entire arm and falcon was replaced!
A walk down the mall before having a quick-play game of chess (being five minutes each side for all moves) at the Chess & Chequers centre, whereby my French Defence Advanced line went out of book early on and inadvertently gave white too much room and counter-attacking chances and after going an exchange down the resignation wasn't long in coming.
However, given the two players whom I'd seen play several games beforehand were moving their pieces prapidly and at a decent standard of play, I was quietly impressed with my first game in a fair few years.
And here I am, sitting in Central Park, New York, at 5pm as the day draws to a close; so different from the evenings I've been used to spending in Reading in mid-October it doesn't really bear thinking about. The Reading evening would have entailed an exceptionally-frustrating slow drive back home moving at a snail's pace (if at all!) whilst it rains hard outside and the winter cold starts to bite.
To be fair, the weather I'm presently experiencing here in New York is warmer than it probably is expected to be though it is meant to be become colder over the next few days; after all, its the American's autumn (or "fall" as I should put it in American-English!) here too, but it sure beats being back in England thats for sure.
The Carousel can be heard in near-distance, piping its tunes from Mary Poppins, Popeye and other television / movie favourites.
Time for a subway back to the hostel, then a nice meal with any luck.
Day 5 - Sun 19 Oct 2008
After waking up reasonably late (the sleep was needed however!); food at Broadway Bagel included steak, egg, cheese and onion on a plain bagel with a cup of tea.
Today's agenda was a trip to Brooklyn, which we got to after a further subway ride. For those of you in England reading this, you will be pleased to know that rail works that slow down the train timetables are not exclusive to the English rail system. Indeed, in New York, the weekend means a considerable reduction in not the number of trains running oddly enough, but the number of stops available to get on and alight from trains!
Indeed, to go downtown, there are occasions when there is a need to get an uptown train for two stops to then take an express downtown train to the stop required. Considering stops are roughly every 7 blocks or so, the choice between using the uptown then the downtown metro or just walking a further 7 blocks in the downtown direction is often decided on by how weary the legs feel and what the weather conditions are at that moment in time.
As most lines from the north stop at 42 Street (Times Square), the crowds on such downtown-bound trains can be very heavy, with up to four or five attempts being made by the driver to shut the trains' doors at times.
The crowd tends to thin out after Times Square but given the tourist attractions such as the Statue of Liberty and Ground Zero are further downtown, there tends to be a demand for most metro stops to some extent or another.
The metro train to Brooklyn was newer than the ones seen in Manhattan; once arrived in the area though, I'd recommend the short walk from Clark Street to the Brooklyn Heights Promenade, which gives some lovely panoramic views of Manhattan and also the Statue of Liberty and Ellis Island across the water. Several photographs were taken there, again the weather nice and sunny although the drop in temperature from the previous few days was noticeable.
The residential area on the north-western part of Brooklyn appeared to be in comparative silence to the Manhattan side of the river; mainly due to the absence of the ever-impatient New York taxi drivers in these areas. In this city - indeed probably in the entire country as a whole - it is obvious that the car owns the road; at lights, the white "walk" sign for pedestrians indicates precisely what it directs, however if there are no pedestrians crossing then the cars are free to on their merry way, despite the lights being against them.
The downtown Brooklyn shopping area for some people would be a heavenly dream, though for most I'd suggest it would be a very bad dream; shop upon shop down both sides of the road selling only trainers, jewellery, perfume and mobile phones at all supposedly heavily-discounted prices; however after closer inspection the goods on sale didn't appear to be of any significant mark-down despite some of the shop sales staff's rather aggressive / keen pitching.
A lunch stop at a Junior's Restaurant for barbeque chicken wings was was sufficient enough, though the serving of complimentary pickles, white cabbage and red beetroot I wasn't entirely convinced about. In the foyer of the diner were photos of President Clinton greeting staff and diners, back in the day before the present Bush administration.
After lunch, we walked over Manhattan Bridge; length of 6,855 feet; length of the main span 1,470 feet; each cable 21.25 inches in diamter and the weight of each anchorage being 232,000 tons.
That bridge in particular, like so many other throughfares in the city,was anti-pedestrian with only a relatively narrow walkway compared to the four railway tracks and double highway.
At the Manhattan end of the bridge was a small baseball park with a perfect view of it from the bridge. There appeared to be a Juniors' practice game in progress though, after having seen ten minutes of my first baseball game (even at an amateur level!) my first thoughts about the sport are..."slow" and "dull" - and this coming from a very keen cricketer too.
Upon further inspection though, I would guess that that would be due to baseball being dominated by the ball and the fielding side, whereas - particularly at the higher levels of the game - in cricket the game is dominated by the batsmen who due to the different structure of the game have longer to "play an innings" and contribute, whether its through being patient at the start before playing the big-hit shots or whether its carnage from ball one. For the baseball hitters, there is no time to "play an innings"; the ball has to be hit hard from ball one otherwise its the walk back to the players' bench.
The Manhattan side of the bridge also houses Chinatown. As well as the mandatory McDonalds in this district is a memorial at Kimlou Square "In memory of the Americans of Chinese ancestry who lost their lives in defense of freedom and democracy".
Yet another impressive building (New York appears to have them in truckloads!) resides near the Square; the Daniel Patrick Moynihan United States Court House with the rather-relevant engraving in this day and age of..."The true administration of justice is the firmest pillar of good government"...etched above the massive ten pillars holding up the front of the courthouse.
Another subway ride back to the hostel and here I am; legs and feet slightly weary but looking forward to the coming week in New York; with some new insoles to ease my feet and pain-relieving gel to sooth my damaged knee bought from one of the numerous Deane Reade chemists here in the city, a good sleep should see me prepared for a good day tomorrow.
Today's agenda was a trip to Brooklyn, which we got to after a further subway ride. For those of you in England reading this, you will be pleased to know that rail works that slow down the train timetables are not exclusive to the English rail system. Indeed, in New York, the weekend means a considerable reduction in not the number of trains running oddly enough, but the number of stops available to get on and alight from trains!
Indeed, to go downtown, there are occasions when there is a need to get an uptown train for two stops to then take an express downtown train to the stop required. Considering stops are roughly every 7 blocks or so, the choice between using the uptown then the downtown metro or just walking a further 7 blocks in the downtown direction is often decided on by how weary the legs feel and what the weather conditions are at that moment in time.
As most lines from the north stop at 42 Street (Times Square), the crowds on such downtown-bound trains can be very heavy, with up to four or five attempts being made by the driver to shut the trains' doors at times.
The crowd tends to thin out after Times Square but given the tourist attractions such as the Statue of Liberty and Ground Zero are further downtown, there tends to be a demand for most metro stops to some extent or another.
The metro train to Brooklyn was newer than the ones seen in Manhattan; once arrived in the area though, I'd recommend the short walk from Clark Street to the Brooklyn Heights Promenade, which gives some lovely panoramic views of Manhattan and also the Statue of Liberty and Ellis Island across the water. Several photographs were taken there, again the weather nice and sunny although the drop in temperature from the previous few days was noticeable.
The residential area on the north-western part of Brooklyn appeared to be in comparative silence to the Manhattan side of the river; mainly due to the absence of the ever-impatient New York taxi drivers in these areas. In this city - indeed probably in the entire country as a whole - it is obvious that the car owns the road; at lights, the white "walk" sign for pedestrians indicates precisely what it directs, however if there are no pedestrians crossing then the cars are free to on their merry way, despite the lights being against them.
The downtown Brooklyn shopping area for some people would be a heavenly dream, though for most I'd suggest it would be a very bad dream; shop upon shop down both sides of the road selling only trainers, jewellery, perfume and mobile phones at all supposedly heavily-discounted prices; however after closer inspection the goods on sale didn't appear to be of any significant mark-down despite some of the shop sales staff's rather aggressive / keen pitching.
A lunch stop at a Junior's Restaurant for barbeque chicken wings was was sufficient enough, though the serving of complimentary pickles, white cabbage and red beetroot I wasn't entirely convinced about. In the foyer of the diner were photos of President Clinton greeting staff and diners, back in the day before the present Bush administration.
After lunch, we walked over Manhattan Bridge; length of 6,855 feet; length of the main span 1,470 feet; each cable 21.25 inches in diamter and the weight of each anchorage being 232,000 tons.
That bridge in particular, like so many other throughfares in the city,was anti-pedestrian with only a relatively narrow walkway compared to the four railway tracks and double highway.
At the Manhattan end of the bridge was a small baseball park with a perfect view of it from the bridge. There appeared to be a Juniors' practice game in progress though, after having seen ten minutes of my first baseball game (even at an amateur level!) my first thoughts about the sport are..."slow" and "dull" - and this coming from a very keen cricketer too.
Upon further inspection though, I would guess that that would be due to baseball being dominated by the ball and the fielding side, whereas - particularly at the higher levels of the game - in cricket the game is dominated by the batsmen who due to the different structure of the game have longer to "play an innings" and contribute, whether its through being patient at the start before playing the big-hit shots or whether its carnage from ball one. For the baseball hitters, there is no time to "play an innings"; the ball has to be hit hard from ball one otherwise its the walk back to the players' bench.
The Manhattan side of the bridge also houses Chinatown. As well as the mandatory McDonalds in this district is a memorial at Kimlou Square "In memory of the Americans of Chinese ancestry who lost their lives in defense of freedom and democracy".
Yet another impressive building (New York appears to have them in truckloads!) resides near the Square; the Daniel Patrick Moynihan United States Court House with the rather-relevant engraving in this day and age of..."The true administration of justice is the firmest pillar of good government"...etched above the massive ten pillars holding up the front of the courthouse.
Another subway ride back to the hostel and here I am; legs and feet slightly weary but looking forward to the coming week in New York; with some new insoles to ease my feet and pain-relieving gel to sooth my damaged knee bought from one of the numerous Deane Reade chemists here in the city, a good sleep should see me prepared for a good day tomorrow.
Day 4 - Sat 18 Oct 2008
As is now becoming the trend, I woke up and went to breakfast at Broadway Bagel; choosing bacon, egg and cheese on plain bagel with a cup of tea.
Then, a subway to 42 Street (Times Square), to find the seemingly elusive D'Italia through which Hugo had booked his flight back home to Brazil; however after turning up at two supposedly registered addresses for the company, no luck at all; walking past Patrick's Cathedral and the Rockefeller Centre in doing so. The second place was almost opposite the Museum of Modern Art ("MOMA"), which was our first major place to visit for the day.
The lower floors of MOMA didn't, in my view, have much of interest in them at all; how a string formed in the shape of a rhombus with one of the long sides attached to the floor and the other the wall, with the implied shape at a 45 degree angle to the floor could be viewed as "art" (whether modern or not!) is beyond me; it's the sort of thing that a child could've bettered in five minutes given a long piece of string and a stick of glue!
However, coming to the upper floors also came the "proper" art with Vincent Van Gogh's The Olive Trees 1889, Paul Cezanne's Chateau Noir 1904, Salvador Dali's Illumined Pleasures 1929, Giorgio de Chirico's Great Metaphysical Interior 1917 and Claude Monet's gigantic Reflections of Clouds on the Water-Lily Pond 1920 being highlights that most caught my attention, the latter exhibit taking up the entire length of the long wall of one of the galleries.
One of the stranger exhibits was Alghiero E Boetti's Tapestry of the Thousand Longest Rivers of the World 1982, which is quite huge and depicts everything it suggests.
I believe that this museum was "better" than the Guggenheim, though my view of the Guggenheim is possibly-unfairly tainted because of the artist being showcased there at that point in time.
You could easily have spent an entire day at MOMA but with a prolonged journey back to the hostel due to repair works at several midtown subway stations meaning a walk further south before an express train travelling northwards.
After a couple of hours rest at the hostel, Hugo and I went for food at a Thai restaurant, where Phad Thai and white rice were consumed with relish.
Something recommended in the Lonely Planet guides was a visit to Arlene's Grocery, a live music joint in lower Manhattan, so that's where we went on the subway and after a quick pit stop on the way to sample a Brooklyn lager. That night Arlene's were hosting a M.E.A.N.Y. music festival between a few rock acts.
Dizzy Jenkins were the band on stage when we turned up; with the basic band of a lead singer, guitar, bass guitar and drums; I thought they performed a decent set (given it was my first live rock music I'd seen since a trip to Germany many years ago), but to be fair to them the atmosphere in the audience was completely flat and subdued, which as far as I could tell was no fault of the band.
Also, $10 to see just the one band seemed a lot for what was presented; at $5 though it would probably have been good value!
A walk across town and subway back to the hostel completed the day at 2am. The weather appears to be closing in a little now and tomorrow a fleece will be required that's for sure.
Then, a subway to 42 Street (Times Square), to find the seemingly elusive D'Italia through which Hugo had booked his flight back home to Brazil; however after turning up at two supposedly registered addresses for the company, no luck at all; walking past Patrick's Cathedral and the Rockefeller Centre in doing so. The second place was almost opposite the Museum of Modern Art ("MOMA"), which was our first major place to visit for the day.
The lower floors of MOMA didn't, in my view, have much of interest in them at all; how a string formed in the shape of a rhombus with one of the long sides attached to the floor and the other the wall, with the implied shape at a 45 degree angle to the floor could be viewed as "art" (whether modern or not!) is beyond me; it's the sort of thing that a child could've bettered in five minutes given a long piece of string and a stick of glue!
However, coming to the upper floors also came the "proper" art with Vincent Van Gogh's The Olive Trees 1889, Paul Cezanne's Chateau Noir 1904, Salvador Dali's Illumined Pleasures 1929, Giorgio de Chirico's Great Metaphysical Interior 1917 and Claude Monet's gigantic Reflections of Clouds on the Water-Lily Pond 1920 being highlights that most caught my attention, the latter exhibit taking up the entire length of the long wall of one of the galleries.
One of the stranger exhibits was Alghiero E Boetti's Tapestry of the Thousand Longest Rivers of the World 1982, which is quite huge and depicts everything it suggests.
I believe that this museum was "better" than the Guggenheim, though my view of the Guggenheim is possibly-unfairly tainted because of the artist being showcased there at that point in time.
You could easily have spent an entire day at MOMA but with a prolonged journey back to the hostel due to repair works at several midtown subway stations meaning a walk further south before an express train travelling northwards.
After a couple of hours rest at the hostel, Hugo and I went for food at a Thai restaurant, where Phad Thai and white rice were consumed with relish.
Something recommended in the Lonely Planet guides was a visit to Arlene's Grocery, a live music joint in lower Manhattan, so that's where we went on the subway and after a quick pit stop on the way to sample a Brooklyn lager. That night Arlene's were hosting a M.E.A.N.Y. music festival between a few rock acts.
Dizzy Jenkins were the band on stage when we turned up; with the basic band of a lead singer, guitar, bass guitar and drums; I thought they performed a decent set (given it was my first live rock music I'd seen since a trip to Germany many years ago), but to be fair to them the atmosphere in the audience was completely flat and subdued, which as far as I could tell was no fault of the band.
Also, $10 to see just the one band seemed a lot for what was presented; at $5 though it would probably have been good value!
A walk across town and subway back to the hostel completed the day at 2am. The weather appears to be closing in a little now and tomorrow a fleece will be required that's for sure.
Friday 17 October 2008
Day 3 - Fri 17 Oct 2008
Surprisingly, the majority of the 12-strong dorm were all in by 10.30pm the previous night although all appeared to be having trouble with the rather poor swipe cards that instantly cleared their temporary memory if they were put anywhere near credit cards or passports (absolutely no use practically given that, being credit card sized the first place you'd look to store such an item would be ... (surprise surprise!)...in a credit card wallet, next to credit cards.
Anyhow, enough energy spent talking about those. For breakfast, myself and one of the dorm members Hugo from Brazil went to a bagel shop in order that I could try one of these for the first time. That I did, with a rather delicious bacon, egg and melted cheese bagel and a cup of tea, the food being something quite different ti my usual breakfast fare of a bowl of cereal!
After the food, we headed off in the direction of Central Park, passing on the way some most remarkable-looking cop cars outside their station, being considerably smaller than a normal car but larger (but similar in size to...) a golf buggy.
Central Park itself it was obvious to be a haven of relaxation as soon as we entered it and given the autumn-time the colours on the trees were striking. There also appears to be thousands of squirrels who - given the placement of the park right in the centre of an absolutely huge city probably reproduce at a fair rate given the expected small number of predators in the area.
I had been recommended from a close friend back home that I should visit the Chess & Chequers Building at the southern end of the park to show the Americans who's who in the chess world, but that will have to wait until another day as first on the agenda today was the Guggenheim Museum, on the eastern side of the Park.
However, just as we were approaching the Guggenheim on the road, I noticed a bank within the park with steps leading up it. Astonishingly, once I was at the top of the mound, it turned out that right there was a massive reservoir, the Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis. Talk about unexpected; accepted, on the map it does look "big" but when you see it up close its something else indeed; more than ten blocks in length north to couth and covering the majority of the complete width of the park, its one large open stretch of water indeed; yet another surprise from New York.
The common theme I've seen from the buildings in New York is that there is significant individuality in the character of the buildings, with none being the same; probably as a result of oneupmanship from where developers have sought to build taller and bigger buildings than their rivals, which is exactly how the Empire States Building ended to be the way it is, with a completely-redundant docking pole for blimps at the top of it installed solely to increase the height of the building by "that little bit extra".
Similarly, the Guggenheim Museum is similar, with its spiral "walkway" leading all the way from the ground to the top floor. Unfortunately - though technically through no fault of its own as it were - the Guggenheim failed to live up to its billing for me, though that was due to the artist's work that was being shown throughout the Museum being Catherine Opie.
There were a few landscapes (as expected) but with her style to be "to create a series of images of command, sexual and cultural identity" there were galleries that included topics such as lesbianism and HIV, although it wasn't the actual topics themselves that were controversial, more than the way she'd decided to show them. One photo entitled "Self-portrait/pervert" (1994) was what I would consider different from typical photos in art galleries as it showed herself half naked with approximately 20 hypodermic needles in both arms, from the shoulder down to just above each wrist, with the word "pervert" engraved in to her upper chest.
The "audio tour" option at the Museum came in useful throughout the tour although I'm not convinced that the artist saying that the hypodermic needles and the cuts in her chest were made by professionals actually support her case for the photograph to be considered as "art".
The other disappointment at the gallery was that because they were bringing in a new exhibit, the sprial walkway and two galleries were closed for the day; though I'm quite happy that there weren't too further Catherine Olie galleries to view on the day with hindsight.
Following that, a bus ride from there to the Empire States Building made the modes of transport used so far in the city to five - plane, taxi, subway, walking and bus. For an extra $100's, helicopter could technically be counted as a sixth possible mode, though for a 10-12 minute helicopter ride I don't think its the best value for money although as I haven't been on such a tour that could be a bit short-sighted of me to say.
What I have seen though is the financial sense of acquiring a City Pass if you vist the Big Apple, or indeed any other of the several American cities that have similar passes. The New York pass includes the admission (and audio tours) for the Empire States Building Observation Platform, the Guggenheim Museum, the Museum of Modern Art, the American Museum of Natural History, the Metropolitan Museum of Art and a choice of one of two "mini"-cruises past the Statue of Liberty; overall a grand saving of over $60, a pass validity of 9 says and the added bonus of being able to skip entire queues as its used as a VIP pass!; not bad considering to get the pass you're actually receiving a discount as opposed to paying a premium whereas the layman off the street purchases a ticket at market price and has to wait in line behind you!
At the Empire States Building, this pass means priority access through security, thereby queue-jumping approximately 300 noticeably-disgruntled others. Unfortunately, that still meant an hour wait in total as the VIPs join the general throng of sightseers before being herded like cattle from one part of the building to another, with a further delay once you've got to the 80th floor at which point there's a further queue before the final lift up to the 86th floor where the viewing platform lies.
For someone who doesn't particularly like heights, it probably hit home only when I was in the lift to the 80th floor that maybe it wasn't going to be the best idea I'd ever had, however as the lift was shifting through 10 floors in approximately 3 seconds flat (and only counting each 10th floor in the process!), I didn't really have time to think about it too much.
Overall though the wait was definitely worth it; as soon as you see the view for the first time you suddenly realise how quickly the lifts had been moving; wow, its high!
I'd have been a bit tedious to look down out of an open fifth-storey window, but probably as a result of the metal safety fence around the Observation level and the obviously-sturdy structure beneath me (in a 100mph wind the entire building moves by only a quarter of an inch!), the vertigo didn't really kick in at all. It being a gorgeous sunny day definitely helped matters, as did the lack of any significant wind. It is a shame that the wait to get to the top does take a reasonably length of time but it doesn't take the magic away from the end result too much; I doubt too many people left too disheartened with their experience; irrespective of the long wait some people endured, they can still say that they've been up the Empire States Building, at present the 7th tallest building in the world.
In the non-surprisingly over-the-top gift shop I had a look through some of the books to see if I could find photos of where the Twin Towers used to stand and how tall they were compared to everything else in the Financial District. When on the viewing platform, I had thought about the previous day's walk past Ground Zero and identified on the horizon where I thought they'd stood and estimated their comparative height to everything else in the nearby vicinity; however, after subsequently finding such a photo showing the skyline back in 1997, I was surprised at just how much I'd mis-estimated their height - by approximately a factor of two!
It doesn't take long to do a quick calculation to figure out how many people those two Towers could have held between them to realise the devastating loss and impact on the city when they were destroyed in 2001. However, in its place the Freedom Tower - yet another huge skyscraper - will reach for the skies in much the same way as the gigantic Twin Towers used to.
Hugo parted company shortly after we got to the top of the Empire States Building to a work appointment elsewhere in the city, so given it was well past 5pm by the time I got back to ground level I searched for a restaurant for a very late lunch / early dinner.
I found exactly what I was searching for between 27th and 26th; a French joint with live jazz, called Park Avenue Bistro. A ceddar plank smoked duck breast over frisee greens with button mushrooms, haricots verts and sesame ginger sauce, a slow cooked marinated chicken with pearl onions, mushrooms with creamy mashed potato and crust of bread, a dark chocolate mousse, a complimentary glass of champagne, litres of ice-cold New York water and a Cappuccino served by the generous host Louis Lynn later and here I am! Really delicious food, great venue and comparatively decent pricing at $33 without taxes for the three courses seemed fair, given I'd not eaten since breakfast time.
Time to head back to the hostel (via a $2 subway train - the subways are a doddle to use and for the price and convenience is by far and away the most efficient form of transport out there). A night on the town may be on the cards, but given the walking in the last few days I'm completely shattered so an early(ish) night with a few sights to see tomorrow is probably more likely going to be the order of the day.
At the moment, relaxation is the name of the game; to acclimatise to the lifestyle of not having to go to work, sleeping in shared dormitory accommodation, having to be conscious at all times where my wallet, camera, phone, wallet, passport (etc) are on my person...etc etc
Has to be said though - this traveling lark beats working any day! So far so good.
Anyhow, enough energy spent talking about those. For breakfast, myself and one of the dorm members Hugo from Brazil went to a bagel shop in order that I could try one of these for the first time. That I did, with a rather delicious bacon, egg and melted cheese bagel and a cup of tea, the food being something quite different ti my usual breakfast fare of a bowl of cereal!
After the food, we headed off in the direction of Central Park, passing on the way some most remarkable-looking cop cars outside their station, being considerably smaller than a normal car but larger (but similar in size to...) a golf buggy.
Central Park itself it was obvious to be a haven of relaxation as soon as we entered it and given the autumn-time the colours on the trees were striking. There also appears to be thousands of squirrels who - given the placement of the park right in the centre of an absolutely huge city probably reproduce at a fair rate given the expected small number of predators in the area.
I had been recommended from a close friend back home that I should visit the Chess & Chequers Building at the southern end of the park to show the Americans who's who in the chess world, but that will have to wait until another day as first on the agenda today was the Guggenheim Museum, on the eastern side of the Park.
However, just as we were approaching the Guggenheim on the road, I noticed a bank within the park with steps leading up it. Astonishingly, once I was at the top of the mound, it turned out that right there was a massive reservoir, the Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis. Talk about unexpected; accepted, on the map it does look "big" but when you see it up close its something else indeed; more than ten blocks in length north to couth and covering the majority of the complete width of the park, its one large open stretch of water indeed; yet another surprise from New York.
The common theme I've seen from the buildings in New York is that there is significant individuality in the character of the buildings, with none being the same; probably as a result of oneupmanship from where developers have sought to build taller and bigger buildings than their rivals, which is exactly how the Empire States Building ended to be the way it is, with a completely-redundant docking pole for blimps at the top of it installed solely to increase the height of the building by "that little bit extra".
Similarly, the Guggenheim Museum is similar, with its spiral "walkway" leading all the way from the ground to the top floor. Unfortunately - though technically through no fault of its own as it were - the Guggenheim failed to live up to its billing for me, though that was due to the artist's work that was being shown throughout the Museum being Catherine Opie.
There were a few landscapes (as expected) but with her style to be "to create a series of images of command, sexual and cultural identity" there were galleries that included topics such as lesbianism and HIV, although it wasn't the actual topics themselves that were controversial, more than the way she'd decided to show them. One photo entitled "Self-portrait/pervert" (1994) was what I would consider different from typical photos in art galleries as it showed herself half naked with approximately 20 hypodermic needles in both arms, from the shoulder down to just above each wrist, with the word "pervert" engraved in to her upper chest.
The "audio tour" option at the Museum came in useful throughout the tour although I'm not convinced that the artist saying that the hypodermic needles and the cuts in her chest were made by professionals actually support her case for the photograph to be considered as "art".
The other disappointment at the gallery was that because they were bringing in a new exhibit, the sprial walkway and two galleries were closed for the day; though I'm quite happy that there weren't too further Catherine Olie galleries to view on the day with hindsight.
Following that, a bus ride from there to the Empire States Building made the modes of transport used so far in the city to five - plane, taxi, subway, walking and bus. For an extra $100's, helicopter could technically be counted as a sixth possible mode, though for a 10-12 minute helicopter ride I don't think its the best value for money although as I haven't been on such a tour that could be a bit short-sighted of me to say.
What I have seen though is the financial sense of acquiring a City Pass if you vist the Big Apple, or indeed any other of the several American cities that have similar passes. The New York pass includes the admission (and audio tours) for the Empire States Building Observation Platform, the Guggenheim Museum, the Museum of Modern Art, the American Museum of Natural History, the Metropolitan Museum of Art and a choice of one of two "mini"-cruises past the Statue of Liberty; overall a grand saving of over $60, a pass validity of 9 says and the added bonus of being able to skip entire queues as its used as a VIP pass!; not bad considering to get the pass you're actually receiving a discount as opposed to paying a premium whereas the layman off the street purchases a ticket at market price and has to wait in line behind you!
At the Empire States Building, this pass means priority access through security, thereby queue-jumping approximately 300 noticeably-disgruntled others. Unfortunately, that still meant an hour wait in total as the VIPs join the general throng of sightseers before being herded like cattle from one part of the building to another, with a further delay once you've got to the 80th floor at which point there's a further queue before the final lift up to the 86th floor where the viewing platform lies.
For someone who doesn't particularly like heights, it probably hit home only when I was in the lift to the 80th floor that maybe it wasn't going to be the best idea I'd ever had, however as the lift was shifting through 10 floors in approximately 3 seconds flat (and only counting each 10th floor in the process!), I didn't really have time to think about it too much.
Overall though the wait was definitely worth it; as soon as you see the view for the first time you suddenly realise how quickly the lifts had been moving; wow, its high!
I'd have been a bit tedious to look down out of an open fifth-storey window, but probably as a result of the metal safety fence around the Observation level and the obviously-sturdy structure beneath me (in a 100mph wind the entire building moves by only a quarter of an inch!), the vertigo didn't really kick in at all. It being a gorgeous sunny day definitely helped matters, as did the lack of any significant wind. It is a shame that the wait to get to the top does take a reasonably length of time but it doesn't take the magic away from the end result too much; I doubt too many people left too disheartened with their experience; irrespective of the long wait some people endured, they can still say that they've been up the Empire States Building, at present the 7th tallest building in the world.
In the non-surprisingly over-the-top gift shop I had a look through some of the books to see if I could find photos of where the Twin Towers used to stand and how tall they were compared to everything else in the Financial District. When on the viewing platform, I had thought about the previous day's walk past Ground Zero and identified on the horizon where I thought they'd stood and estimated their comparative height to everything else in the nearby vicinity; however, after subsequently finding such a photo showing the skyline back in 1997, I was surprised at just how much I'd mis-estimated their height - by approximately a factor of two!
It doesn't take long to do a quick calculation to figure out how many people those two Towers could have held between them to realise the devastating loss and impact on the city when they were destroyed in 2001. However, in its place the Freedom Tower - yet another huge skyscraper - will reach for the skies in much the same way as the gigantic Twin Towers used to.
Hugo parted company shortly after we got to the top of the Empire States Building to a work appointment elsewhere in the city, so given it was well past 5pm by the time I got back to ground level I searched for a restaurant for a very late lunch / early dinner.
I found exactly what I was searching for between 27th and 26th; a French joint with live jazz, called Park Avenue Bistro. A ceddar plank smoked duck breast over frisee greens with button mushrooms, haricots verts and sesame ginger sauce, a slow cooked marinated chicken with pearl onions, mushrooms with creamy mashed potato and crust of bread, a dark chocolate mousse, a complimentary glass of champagne, litres of ice-cold New York water and a Cappuccino served by the generous host Louis Lynn later and here I am! Really delicious food, great venue and comparatively decent pricing at $33 without taxes for the three courses seemed fair, given I'd not eaten since breakfast time.
Time to head back to the hostel (via a $2 subway train - the subways are a doddle to use and for the price and convenience is by far and away the most efficient form of transport out there). A night on the town may be on the cards, but given the walking in the last few days I'm completely shattered so an early(ish) night with a few sights to see tomorrow is probably more likely going to be the order of the day.
At the moment, relaxation is the name of the game; to acclimatise to the lifestyle of not having to go to work, sleeping in shared dormitory accommodation, having to be conscious at all times where my wallet, camera, phone, wallet, passport (etc) are on my person...etc etc
Has to be said though - this traveling lark beats working any day! So far so good.
Day 2 - Thurs 16 Oct 2008
Day Two (Thursday 16 October 2008) was a slightly unusual day, more for the surprises that the city unveiled throughout the day more than anything else.
I've always thought the only "proper" way that one can get to know a city, or indeed any new place, intimately is by walking through it. Yes, subways and buses are fine for convenience, but you don't quite get the same feel of a place with those transport mediums as you do when walking.
The day started reasonably late at just after midday, after a rather sleepless night - not assisted in any way shape or form by any influence of jet lag and/or first night "tensions" and/or the dorm being on a main road which is relatively "busy" throughout the night.
Having looked at the map, the walk down to the most southern tip of Manhattan appeared possible enough; however, despite the walking being (generally) just down one arrow-straight road, this eventually took up the best part of 7 hours.
However, on the way, the Lincoln Centre, Times Square amongst others were visited.
Followed by a meal.
I've always thought the only "proper" way that one can get to know a city, or indeed any new place, intimately is by walking through it. Yes, subways and buses are fine for convenience, but you don't quite get the same feel of a place with those transport mediums as you do when walking.
The day started reasonably late at just after midday, after a rather sleepless night - not assisted in any way shape or form by any influence of jet lag and/or first night "tensions" and/or the dorm being on a main road which is relatively "busy" throughout the night.
Having looked at the map, the walk down to the most southern tip of Manhattan appeared possible enough; however, despite the walking being (generally) just down one arrow-straight road, this eventually took up the best part of 7 hours.
However, on the way, the Lincoln Centre, Times Square amongst others were visited.
Followed by a meal.
Wednesday 15 October 2008
Day 1 - Fri 15 Oct 2008
When I wrote this entry in my journal, I was sitting on the plane about to take off for the first part of my journey...
Suffice to say, it was a long night spent organising some final details / clearing the boards so that there was nothing hanging in the air whilst I am away.
It's always surprising how much time, cumulatively, all the individually apparently-minor things take to complete when done immediately one after the other.
However, all elements that were carried out were essential for my own piece of mind rather than for anyone else's. Ultimately everything that I needed to be done were and those that weren't done...well obviously they weren't essential at that point in time.
It seems as if there's an issue with th air-conditioning at the moment so the plane;s captain is waiting for a seal to be fitted on to it before we can depart. I find it quite ironic that the departure is at least five minutes late - obviously the captain seems to concur with my philosophy that five or ten minutes here or there ultimately doesn't make much difference in the long run.
So, as I have a few minutes more than I expected before takeoff, you may ask what my thoughts are as to what lies ahead of me in the coming days, weeks and months.
Within the organisation of part of the trip having taken top priority since I left my workplace about six weeks ago, I've not really had much time to think about it to be honest.
Over 200 days to plan, even on only a very rough basis was a difficult proposition compared to all previous holidays / weekend excursions on a whim where the entire plan could quite easily be sorted out from scratch in less than a few hours at the most!
Although there were reasons as to why a longer trip than a week and a bit was possible - work being one of the main ones; the other being general tiredness.
Oooh, the air con system is fixed - I'm off! Taxi-ing now, London lit up like a Christmas tree; hopefully we'll be in the air shortly.
To make matters "interesting", there's a lady sat two seats down from me with her young kid between us and so far it looks as if he's just a bit excitable; this could well be a longer flight than I imagined; he's already used the safety notice as a colouring book with a big pen that came with a pack "kindly" provided from the air crew to keep him entertained; it wouldn't surprise me if he accidentally used the headphone wire he's playing about with as a makeshift noose the way he's trying to trash everything in sight! I'd hope he's going to get bored soon but at the moment that looks quite unlikely...
Meantime, the inflight computer has indicated that its 1.40pm in New York, 6hr56 and the minor matter of 5,546km (about 3,446 miles) away! We've turned and at 6.42pm on Wednesday 15 October 2008 the World Tour begins. Bye bye England, hello World!
First thoughts? - COME ON!! From being at work until all hours to flying to New York and missing out on yet another gloomy winter; hubba hubba!
Strange thing though; the captain sounds like Mark Nicholas; as well as a cricket commentator and a second-rate food show host, is he also an air pilot? To be honest, I doubt it, but anyhow - there's the first cricket-related reference on the blog. I wonder how many others they'll be throughout the coming months?
After having only had 3 hours sleep last night, I think a doze on this flight could be useful. Now we're finally above the clouds, it looks as if there's a big cloud over the country at the moment; for all my friends in England, look up and say hi as I soar over you (though probably that big lump of lights was the M4 and the northern part of Reading with traffic boot to bumper for mile after mile during the later parts of today's rush hour!).
When I was doing some research I came across a very relevant quote that I will do my best to remember during the trip..."If I'm not doing something new then it's something I've done before".
In terms of "firsts" today, I've already experienced a few! My first evening flight ever and the first time I've ever had an in-flight console to play with (given that all previous short-haul flights I've been on there's not been that option available).
Now 32,000 feet up in the air, with 6hr30 left of the flight. The headwind's at 88mph, being twice the speed of Andrew Darley's bowling speed!
=====
By English clocks its just turned midnight although having just passed over Halifax I'm at a bit of a loss to work out what time zone I'm in at the moment, further exacerbated by the fact that I've just woken up from an hour's sleep.
Thankfully, the little lad who was sat beside me dozed off in no time after the evening meal of chicken, vegetables with what tasted like poached salmon salad subsequently followed by raspberry & redcurrant trifle and a small chunk of milk chocolate.
Compared to some of the food I cook myself this was a veritable feast however it would be fair to assume most meals I hope to have in the coming months will be of a better "quality".
Thanks to the flight staff for some sandwiches just midnight; thats now five meals for the day. I've been well-fed and well-watered on the flight; copious quantities of orange juice, "traditional" lemonade and tea.
====
I saw Indiana Jones 4 ("The Crystal Skull") during the flight; decent fare though probably not in quite the same league as the first three I thought. Sufficient to pass a few hours by though.
As I'm about to fly into America, I've put on Michael Jackson's Thriller album to take me the final few kilometres.
The sky's wonderfully-clear tonight and from this height the "block" layout that the Americans have used for their cities is quite apparent; straight lines of lights bisecting over straight lines of lights at right angles.
And here comes New York; Wow, loads of lights...and its a big city too.
Suffice to say, it was a long night spent organising some final details / clearing the boards so that there was nothing hanging in the air whilst I am away.
It's always surprising how much time, cumulatively, all the individually apparently-minor things take to complete when done immediately one after the other.
However, all elements that were carried out were essential for my own piece of mind rather than for anyone else's. Ultimately everything that I needed to be done were and those that weren't done...well obviously they weren't essential at that point in time.
It seems as if there's an issue with th air-conditioning at the moment so the plane;s captain is waiting for a seal to be fitted on to it before we can depart. I find it quite ironic that the departure is at least five minutes late - obviously the captain seems to concur with my philosophy that five or ten minutes here or there ultimately doesn't make much difference in the long run.
So, as I have a few minutes more than I expected before takeoff, you may ask what my thoughts are as to what lies ahead of me in the coming days, weeks and months.
Within the organisation of part of the trip having taken top priority since I left my workplace about six weeks ago, I've not really had much time to think about it to be honest.
Over 200 days to plan, even on only a very rough basis was a difficult proposition compared to all previous holidays / weekend excursions on a whim where the entire plan could quite easily be sorted out from scratch in less than a few hours at the most!
Although there were reasons as to why a longer trip than a week and a bit was possible - work being one of the main ones; the other being general tiredness.
Oooh, the air con system is fixed - I'm off! Taxi-ing now, London lit up like a Christmas tree; hopefully we'll be in the air shortly.
To make matters "interesting", there's a lady sat two seats down from me with her young kid between us and so far it looks as if he's just a bit excitable; this could well be a longer flight than I imagined; he's already used the safety notice as a colouring book with a big pen that came with a pack "kindly" provided from the air crew to keep him entertained; it wouldn't surprise me if he accidentally used the headphone wire he's playing about with as a makeshift noose the way he's trying to trash everything in sight! I'd hope he's going to get bored soon but at the moment that looks quite unlikely...
Meantime, the inflight computer has indicated that its 1.40pm in New York, 6hr56 and the minor matter of 5,546km (about 3,446 miles) away! We've turned and at 6.42pm on Wednesday 15 October 2008 the World Tour begins. Bye bye England, hello World!
First thoughts? - COME ON!! From being at work until all hours to flying to New York and missing out on yet another gloomy winter; hubba hubba!
Strange thing though; the captain sounds like Mark Nicholas; as well as a cricket commentator and a second-rate food show host, is he also an air pilot? To be honest, I doubt it, but anyhow - there's the first cricket-related reference on the blog. I wonder how many others they'll be throughout the coming months?
After having only had 3 hours sleep last night, I think a doze on this flight could be useful. Now we're finally above the clouds, it looks as if there's a big cloud over the country at the moment; for all my friends in England, look up and say hi as I soar over you (though probably that big lump of lights was the M4 and the northern part of Reading with traffic boot to bumper for mile after mile during the later parts of today's rush hour!).
When I was doing some research I came across a very relevant quote that I will do my best to remember during the trip..."If I'm not doing something new then it's something I've done before".
In terms of "firsts" today, I've already experienced a few! My first evening flight ever and the first time I've ever had an in-flight console to play with (given that all previous short-haul flights I've been on there's not been that option available).
Now 32,000 feet up in the air, with 6hr30 left of the flight. The headwind's at 88mph, being twice the speed of Andrew Darley's bowling speed!
=====
By English clocks its just turned midnight although having just passed over Halifax I'm at a bit of a loss to work out what time zone I'm in at the moment, further exacerbated by the fact that I've just woken up from an hour's sleep.
Thankfully, the little lad who was sat beside me dozed off in no time after the evening meal of chicken, vegetables with what tasted like poached salmon salad subsequently followed by raspberry & redcurrant trifle and a small chunk of milk chocolate.
Compared to some of the food I cook myself this was a veritable feast however it would be fair to assume most meals I hope to have in the coming months will be of a better "quality".
Thanks to the flight staff for some sandwiches just midnight; thats now five meals for the day. I've been well-fed and well-watered on the flight; copious quantities of orange juice, "traditional" lemonade and tea.
====
I saw Indiana Jones 4 ("The Crystal Skull") during the flight; decent fare though probably not in quite the same league as the first three I thought. Sufficient to pass a few hours by though.
As I'm about to fly into America, I've put on Michael Jackson's Thriller album to take me the final few kilometres.
The sky's wonderfully-clear tonight and from this height the "block" layout that the Americans have used for their cities is quite apparent; straight lines of lights bisecting over straight lines of lights at right angles.
And here comes New York; Wow, loads of lights...and its a big city too.
Tuesday 14 October 2008
Last day before Tour!
The day could be quite busy. Ho hum!
Good thing is, I've acquired pretty much everything I need to have done at this point (I can always purchase additional items when in the States) so today should just comprise of organising accomodation in a few hostels for later on in the trip and packing the rucksack.
Sort of getting excited but until I'm on the first plane out of here, there's too much "other" stuff to think about than the journey itself. I'll have plenty of time once I start it so no concerns so far.
Good thing is, I've acquired pretty much everything I need to have done at this point (I can always purchase additional items when in the States) so today should just comprise of organising accomodation in a few hostels for later on in the trip and packing the rucksack.
Sort of getting excited but until I'm on the first plane out of here, there's too much "other" stuff to think about than the journey itself. I'll have plenty of time once I start it so no concerns so far.
Monday 13 October 2008
Monday morning
Still a fair amount yet to organise, including chasing up banks to inform them of my pending departure from this country, acquiring spare phone and camera batteries, picking up the Mefloquine (anti-Malaria tablets) from the chemist, obtaining document wallets / passport cover, a sleep sheet, sunglasses, submitting tax reclaim form to the relevant authorities and subscribing to Skype.
However, things are under control! Just a potentially busy day coming up with parts of the tour still yet to be looked at in some detail.
Over and out for now...time to get busy.
However, things are under control! Just a potentially busy day coming up with parts of the tour still yet to be looked at in some detail.
Over and out for now...time to get busy.
Sunday 12 October 2008
Pre-Tour arrangements
Hello and welcome to the first blog of my (hopefully amazing!) Globetrotting Tour. My trip begins at the wonderful airports of London this coming week and takes in North America, Australasia, parts of Eastern Asia and then stopping briefly in Eastern Europe before returning back to England before the start of the 2009 cricket season.
I intend to post regular "catch up" blogs if and when I am able to, including photos where possible. I hope you enjoy the journey with me!
I intend to post regular "catch up" blogs if and when I am able to, including photos where possible. I hope you enjoy the journey with me!
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