London
After flying with United Airlines from JFK to Heathrow we finally arrived in London. You don't even get a beer when you fly internationally with United! On top of that it was the worst service ever!!! I don't recommend that any of you fly with them.
Anyway, enough of me moaning, we did an all nighter and arrived in London at 7am. I didn't realise we were about to land as I couldn't see the ground, but as Simon explained that was because it was so smoggy! Arrived at a warm -2 degress... ahhh so refreshing.
I was lucky enough to go into the British Passport line at customs, but Simon had to wait for a wee while with all of the other foreigners. Aside from that, it was the easiest customs ever. I think I have realised that no where is as strict as NZ. I didn't even get my passport stamped here.
Once out of customs, went straight on to the tubes and headed for our flat in Clapham North. Was rush hour by this stage, so everyone was looking at our luggage as if they had bombs in them. This is our house in the picture above. We have the three windows on right of each floor. Our room is at the top with the light on:)
Managed to stay awake all day and then we headed for the pub! Our first experience of an english pub. All good! After a few too many beers we went straight to sleep and slept for nearly 12 hours i think. We have actually been really lucky since then, as we seem to have just fitted in with the UK time :)
Central Park
This was my favorite part to New York. So lovely to just stroll around and watch the New Yorkers jog through on their Saturday morning. People playing baseball, parents walking their kiddies, lovers in the park and much more. Wasn't that warm to be sitting around in Winter, but I imagine it's just spectacular in Summer. This is a picture of me looking back towards downtown Manhatten.
Squirrels were everywhere in the parks in Washington and at Central Park. Was exciting to watch, but we definitely looked like tourists as everyone else was fully over it. hee hee... And Miss Maxwell I tell you it was damn cold! I should have been wearing a hat, but was just silly. I had loads of layers underneath that coat. Snow was never in the city of New York, when it did snow it melted as soon as it hit the ground.
Living the high life
After a night out in Little Italy, Simon had had enough wine to be cheeky and walk up to the limo driver and ask for a ride home. After bargaining him down to US $25 we jumped in and felt like royalty. When we got to 38th street, turns out he didn't have any change, so we only paid $20. All good!
Chinatown
Ohhhh I love this place! New York definitely had the best Chinatown in America. I love the whole bargaining thing, where you shouldn't pay any more than half the first asked price. It's all tack - just the way I love it! I brought a pair of ear muffs and tried to bargain them down on a handbag, but they wouldn't go as low as I wanted. Ahhh I'm such a cheap ass! Brought lots of cheap fruit, food etc... wanted to buy the cheap perfume, which is aparently "real" but I wasn't convinced. My Baby Doll smelt exactly the same, but was in a different colored bottle. Ummmm dodgey.
New York, New York
This was our view from the Staten Island ferry looking back at Manhatten. It actually looks better from afar, as when you are right in the middle of it all, you can't tell how many large buildings are around you. Amazing!
Wall Street
Look at this picture closely! This was on Wall Street in front of the New York Stock Exchange. They are not water pistols!
Ground Zero
This area was totally devasting. After nearly four and a half years there is still no sign of rebuilding and many mourners praying, not to mention the cheeky sales people trying to make money off this horrible event. Lots of notes posted everywhere, memorials for all the people who lost their lives and a timeline in minutes of exactly what happened on September 11. Absolutely speechless!
The cross in this picture is a steel beam from one of the towers that was found exactly like it stands.
Seinfeld
This is Simon in front of the famous "puffy white shirt" at the Smithsonian Muesum in Washington D.C. Unfortunately this was as close to Seinfeld as we got in America as Jerry wasn't performing in Las Vegas when we were there, and we were unsuccessful in finding Tom's Diner in New York.
Run Jenny, Run!!!
Anyone recognise this? Yip it's the "reflection pool" in front of the Abriham Lincoln memorial in Washington DC. But not only is it this, it's the pool of water that Jenny ran through to see Forrest Gump. Ahhhh not as many people in it this time round though.
The White House
We were walking past this house and it looked so lovely that we had to take a picture. The gardens were so lovely, and obviously some one was worried as there was soooo much security all around it. Police man standing there with guns, yip they were ready to shoot anyone. Anyone seen this house on the Garden Show?
Fine Dining
This was one of our nights out in America fine dining. Went to a beautiful restaurant called The Custom House in downtown Chicago. Was the best steak I think I have ever had!!!! So good that we even went back the following night. The second night, the manager comes to our table as though we are regulars and talks to us about New Zealand. Turns out they were playing an NZ DVD on the flat screens around the restaurant. I felt like complete royalty because we were from New Zealand. "Oh that beautiful clean country"....
Ice Skating in Chicago
Really wanted to go ice skating but we only got this far. It was just toooooo cold and we didn't have the right gear. Anyway, was lovely to watch the locals falling over multiple times. hee hee... This park was in the middle of Chicago in amongst all of the buildings. Loads of people there on a Saturday afternoon just loving it.
Sears Tower
This was our spectacular view from Sears Tower overlooking downtown Chicago. What more can I say? Sears Tower is now the second tallest building in the world after the Petronus Towers (not sure about the spelling here) in Malaysia. Went up 110 floors in a single elevator with many other tourists and felt my ears pop many times. Wierd feeling!
Aspen
Our tour guide ( Marty: guy we met at the backpackers) took us on a tour of Aspen and surrounding areas in his new car. He was a local so was great as he new all the interesting places to go. This photo is of the sled dogs which are available for public rides at the very cheap price of $US250....needless to say we passed. There are over 200 of them and when they start howling it sounds very spooky.
Amtrak
This was the little beauty that took us on our 30 hour journey all the way from San Fransisco to Glenwood Springs (poor mans Aspen). Beautiful journey through the backdoors of America and into the mountains of Colorado.After arriving in Glenwood Springs, we went straight to our previously booked accomodation only to find that it was closed during the day! Ahhhh we arrived at 2pm (thankfully cause our train was running a few hours late) and had to wait until after 4pm in the snow until we could check in. Not that fun! Soooo cold out there and the sun went down soon after three. The above is a picture of me sitting in my sleeping on the porch of our accomodation trying to get warm...
San Francisco
This is an amazing shot, that is completely real. Kind of looks like one of those shots that the touristy people manipulate to look so good and charge you way too much. Anyway it's all real! Simon and I hired a tandem bike and biked down Fishermans Wharf and all the way across the Golden Gate bridge. Surprisingly we did it all quite easily. San Fran put on a beauty of a day, and we just took it all in.
San Fran has been my favorite city so far. It reminds me a lot of Wellington - so much character and not too spread out. So many homeless begging for your money while they complement you so you feel bad if you don't give them anything. They are all like "ahhh newly weds that still hold hands, how cute". Not many Americans were holding hands we just realised.
Circus Circus
This was our accommodation while staying in Las Vegas. Very cool hotel that was mainly for families and couples on a budget. One of the older hotels, that was definitely part of the seedier side of Las Vegas. Being a good 4 to 5 km to the other end of the strip, we definitely worked off any drinks or american food we ate each night. Our room was totally circus themed, with circus curtains, walls and carpet. Circus acts happening every 30 minutes inside the hotel. We saw one act where a very flexible young man was performing balance acts on stage. Ummm makes you wonder how he really does it, or was it real? After all, we are in Las Vegas.
On our last night in Las Vegas we went to a show I had been wanting to see ever since we got here. Le Reve at the Wynn Hotel. Really beautiful show that makes me want to be a showgirl! It was an acrobatic / dance show on water with a slight twist. 90 minutes that just stunned both of us. We were in the "wet" seats that literally got you wet. For some reason, Americans weren't interested in these seats, (even though they were cheaper) so we managed to secure a couple quite late. Turns out these seats were in the best in the house I think. So close to the show you felt like you were in the water :)
Magic
Simon was soooo excited once he heard that David Copperfield was in town, so ofcourse we were going. And how amazing was it! He really made a car appear on stage, 13 people from the audience disappear off stage and much more. Just all so crazy! David Copperfield is definitely a ladies man though aye, he was working the crowd as best he knew. I guess that what makes him the successful businessman that he is today :) Simon is working on his tricks as we speak hee hee
Viva Las Vegas
Wow! What a city. This place is an adults Disneyland that never closes. I can still hear the slot machines making that attractive winning noise, that really means nothing apart from "Thank you for your money. I have taken it and put it in the casino's pocket". This is a picture of Simon enjoying his last few dollars at one of the casinos, i lost count of which one was which. They all took our money and all looked so entertaining :) We played a few hands at the black jack tables, but found it hard to find tables that will take our minimum $5 bets. ahhh ha
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