reporting on the 16th
I awoke to find that the zip on my rucsac had died during the night potentially ruining all of my careful packing. I instead bodged a solution that would hold until I got home. I put all of the stuff inside the bag in plastic bags, put the rucsac in my NASA laundry bag and used zipties to hold everything together. I had gaffa ready, but in the end I didn't need it. The bag did look an absolute monstrosity, but it held everything, so it was a success. We celebrated with breakfast. It was our last breakfast in America so I had pancakes with sausages and coffee, which was great.
We had a couple of things we needed to do in the city before we headed off to catch the plane, the first of which was to drop off the second KON travel bug at a geocache. Since our last visit a TB hotel had be replaced in Central Park, perfect. It was a nice easy find and in a spot where few people seemed to go, a rarity it New York. The second task was to find one more penny machine so that would fill my penny passport. We found the machine at the Museum of Natural History next to Central Park so now I have a full penny passport :D. I'm planning on taking the pins of the badges I have to fill the larger slots in the passport so I will have no free spots.
We got lunch from a cool deli just next to Mt. Sinai hospital. Due to it's location it was full of doctors and nurses getting their lunch. We got a couple of cream cheese bagels each, good bagels they were too, nicely toasted :) After printing off our boarding passes at the hostel we headed off to JFK. The journey was actually fairly painless, possibly due to the 5 kg I took out of my bags when repacking, although my “frankenbag” was a bit annoying to carry and got a few odd looks. Due to it's oddness it had to be searched by security at the airport, which was a pain as I had to dismantle the thing, have it searched and put it all back together again afterwards. Terminal 7 at JFK really isn't a very interesting place to spend a few hours waiting for a plain. The shops are frankly crap; expensive and boring. The whole place is so cramped it almost feels like it's underground, at least T5 at Heathrow is a large and light space. We got on the plane in good timeand to schedule but once we were seated we were informed that one of the runways was being resurfaced so we had to queue to take off. It was an hour and a half until it was our turn to take off, so in all we would be on the plane for over 8 hours. Fortunately my seat was at the front of a block so I had a good amount of legroom. I decided that to combat the jetlag I would stay up throughout the flight, so I watched Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid and Up in the Air, both films were pretty good.
So, we are back in the UK and I guess that means the end of the blog. It has been a great trip and it has been fun keeping an online journal. As promised I have weighed myself now that I'm home. If you recall, I was 75kg (about 12 stone) when I left. After 2 months with limited exercise and a horrific diet I lost 2kg so I am now 73kg (about 11.5 stone). I'm sure this will make some people very angry, but I think it's hilarious.
If anyone has any questions or wants any elaborations on anything please say. I have a couple of reviews still to write, but otherwise that's it, my blog is done. I hope you have enjoyed reading it.
Cube out
Wednesday 16 June 2010
13/06/10
reporting on the 16th
Our room at the motel included a cooked breakfast at the diner next door, so obviously had pancakes. It was good to have a decent breakfast before the long hard day that we had ahead of us. We had to get all of our stuff to the centre of New York using the public transport system. Firstly we had to get to the train station that was 1 kilometre away. 1 km is not far at all if you are not carrying 45kg on your back and I had somehow hurt my foot a couple of days before, which wasn't doing me any favours. After a fairly unpleasant walk we got to the station to find that it was a crappy little station that only had trains at peak times on weekdays, so we had to walk another 2 km over to the next station. Well... the walk wasn't fun, in fact it hurt quite a bit, but we got there in the end. After a train, two subway trains and another short walk we found the hostel and I was very glad to put the bags down and go for a shower.
At the hostel we met a couple of French girls who we chatted to for a bit before going out to find some food. According to the girl who spoke English, I was quite hard to understand as apparently I have a strong English accent. I have never considered my accent to be particularly strong, but there that is. G0N had decided that he wanted to give blood whilst in America so we wandered towards the blood doning place looking out for places to eat. En route we managed to find the Puerto Rico parade. Although it was towards the end there were still lots of people wearing the Puerto Rico flag and lots of shouting. We grabbed some pizza before G0N went over to bleed, I left him there as there is no way in hell anyone is getting me anywhere near a blood donating centre. I went back to the hostel so that I could repack and weigh my bags. Unfortunately, on the way back it rained pretty hard, so I ended up soaking wet but thought that it would be best to wear the wet clothes to dry them out as wet clothes weigh too much to fit in my bag. Before the repack my bag was way too heavy, in fact it broke the scales, so I had to be brutal and throw quite a bit of stuff away and transfer the dense stuff into my hand luggage. After another few attempts I managed to get my bag under the 23kg that was needed to be within weight :)
After the epic reshuffle it was time to go out into the city. Last time we were there we never really saw anything at night due to our jet lag, so we went to see Times Square. Another reason for visiting Times Square is that it has wifi and we couldn't seem to get ant internet at the hostel to do our plane check in with. In the end we were unable to do the check in at Times Square either, but we did get to see the square lit up at night and get a couple of flattened pennies to add to the collection, leaving one solitary space left in my penny passport. When we got back I managed to find a spot in the kitchen that had wifi so we could do our check in,but by that point there were not many seats remaining, so we would have to sit separately on the flight home, but on the plus side we did get seats at the front of the blocks that had leg room.
Cube out
Our room at the motel included a cooked breakfast at the diner next door, so obviously had pancakes. It was good to have a decent breakfast before the long hard day that we had ahead of us. We had to get all of our stuff to the centre of New York using the public transport system. Firstly we had to get to the train station that was 1 kilometre away. 1 km is not far at all if you are not carrying 45kg on your back and I had somehow hurt my foot a couple of days before, which wasn't doing me any favours. After a fairly unpleasant walk we got to the station to find that it was a crappy little station that only had trains at peak times on weekdays, so we had to walk another 2 km over to the next station. Well... the walk wasn't fun, in fact it hurt quite a bit, but we got there in the end. After a train, two subway trains and another short walk we found the hostel and I was very glad to put the bags down and go for a shower.
At the hostel we met a couple of French girls who we chatted to for a bit before going out to find some food. According to the girl who spoke English, I was quite hard to understand as apparently I have a strong English accent. I have never considered my accent to be particularly strong, but there that is. G0N had decided that he wanted to give blood whilst in America so we wandered towards the blood doning place looking out for places to eat. En route we managed to find the Puerto Rico parade. Although it was towards the end there were still lots of people wearing the Puerto Rico flag and lots of shouting. We grabbed some pizza before G0N went over to bleed, I left him there as there is no way in hell anyone is getting me anywhere near a blood donating centre. I went back to the hostel so that I could repack and weigh my bags. Unfortunately, on the way back it rained pretty hard, so I ended up soaking wet but thought that it would be best to wear the wet clothes to dry them out as wet clothes weigh too much to fit in my bag. Before the repack my bag was way too heavy, in fact it broke the scales, so I had to be brutal and throw quite a bit of stuff away and transfer the dense stuff into my hand luggage. After another few attempts I managed to get my bag under the 23kg that was needed to be within weight :)
After the epic reshuffle it was time to go out into the city. Last time we were there we never really saw anything at night due to our jet lag, so we went to see Times Square. Another reason for visiting Times Square is that it has wifi and we couldn't seem to get ant internet at the hostel to do our plane check in with. In the end we were unable to do the check in at Times Square either, but we did get to see the square lit up at night and get a couple of flattened pennies to add to the collection, leaving one solitary space left in my penny passport. When we got back I managed to find a spot in the kitchen that had wifi so we could do our check in,but by that point there were not many seats remaining, so we would have to sit separately on the flight home, but on the plus side we did get seats at the front of the blocks that had leg room.
Cube out
12/06/10
reporting on the 15th
Handing the van back was something I had been dreading since the incident in Florida, but my day of reckoning had arrived. We turned up pretty early with the intention of having any problems sorted before the England USA world cup game started. I was surprised how easy the car return was, no problems with the ding, the insurance pays for it after the excess that I had already paid over a month previously. One frustrating point was the fact that all of the hostels in New York had been fully booked for the night, so we ended up having to stay in a crummy motel just by New York Newark airport in New Jersey. Fortunately the car hire guys did give us a lift over there so we didn't have to buy train tickets or carry our bags, at least for that day.
New Jersey without a car is painful, nothing of note is within walking distance of anything else. After having the van for 2 months, walking was really not a nice experience. The only thing we could find for lunch was Burger King. We decided to get the most calorific thing on the menu as it was going to be one of the final fast food meals of the trip. We each had the Triple Wopper: 3 big burgers and all the toppings in a bun totalling 1250 kcal. I will review it if I get a moment but I was really quite disappointed how hungry I was after eating such a ridiculous number of calories, I could have eaten a second one, but I had self control and instead had an apple when we got back to our room.
To watch the game we found a nearby sports bar that was showing all the games of the World Cup. We strolled in and in my best English accent asked for a bud and a coke to which the response was “depends which side you're supporting”. They all joked about throwing us out when I said that we were English but it turns out that there were a few other brits in the bar as well as us. The bar was actually a great place to watch the game, the people were really friendly and there were big tvs everywhere you looked. It was funny when the first goal went in as the place was silent apart from a couple of English guys at the other side of the bar, but when the US goal was scored the place erupted and the “USA, USA...” chant began. It does seem that the Americans are beginning to get into soccer. I'm sure I don't need to go into the game, but if there is anyone who didn't see it, America won 1 – 1. We spent the remainder of the afternoon repacking our bags trying to fit in all of the stuff we had bought along the way.
Cube out
Handing the van back was something I had been dreading since the incident in Florida, but my day of reckoning had arrived. We turned up pretty early with the intention of having any problems sorted before the England USA world cup game started. I was surprised how easy the car return was, no problems with the ding, the insurance pays for it after the excess that I had already paid over a month previously. One frustrating point was the fact that all of the hostels in New York had been fully booked for the night, so we ended up having to stay in a crummy motel just by New York Newark airport in New Jersey. Fortunately the car hire guys did give us a lift over there so we didn't have to buy train tickets or carry our bags, at least for that day.
New Jersey without a car is painful, nothing of note is within walking distance of anything else. After having the van for 2 months, walking was really not a nice experience. The only thing we could find for lunch was Burger King. We decided to get the most calorific thing on the menu as it was going to be one of the final fast food meals of the trip. We each had the Triple Wopper: 3 big burgers and all the toppings in a bun totalling 1250 kcal. I will review it if I get a moment but I was really quite disappointed how hungry I was after eating such a ridiculous number of calories, I could have eaten a second one, but I had self control and instead had an apple when we got back to our room.
To watch the game we found a nearby sports bar that was showing all the games of the World Cup. We strolled in and in my best English accent asked for a bud and a coke to which the response was “depends which side you're supporting”. They all joked about throwing us out when I said that we were English but it turns out that there were a few other brits in the bar as well as us. The bar was actually a great place to watch the game, the people were really friendly and there were big tvs everywhere you looked. It was funny when the first goal went in as the place was silent apart from a couple of English guys at the other side of the bar, but when the US goal was scored the place erupted and the “USA, USA...” chant began. It does seem that the Americans are beginning to get into soccer. I'm sure I don't need to go into the game, but if there is anyone who didn't see it, America won 1 – 1. We spent the remainder of the afternoon repacking our bags trying to fit in all of the stuff we had bought along the way.
Cube out
11/06/10
reporting on the 15th
I am getting a little behind on my posts I'm afraid, but everything is okay and will be completed in due course. I am currently on the plane above the Atlantic ocean just off the coast of Cornwall, practically home.
Back to the 11th. We had a bit of a lie in as we really didn't have all that far to go for the next day or so before we handed in our beloved van. In the morning we visited Rutgers: the University of New Jersey. To be more accurate I went for a wander round the Busch campus whilst G0N started getting his things together. I have to say that after the preposterously awesome campuses of Stanford and Berkeley, Rutgers was somewhat underwhelming. The campus was quite nice; spread out, green, big physics building, but really wasn't as polished as the other US universities that I have visited, or Warwick for that matter. The surrounding town of New Brunswick really isn't anything to write home about either, so a valuable visit as these are not the experiences that you can get off Wikipedia.
Following the Rutgers experience, I joined G0N in packing up my stuff and cleaning out some of the crap from the van before tracking down a car wash. We went to this place down the road from where we hired the van and to be brutally honest the people were pretty surly and the cleaning job was not all that great, but good enough not to be of an issue when giving the van back. We then took our nice clean van to a nearish Wal-Mart to finish off out tidying and packing so that we could get moving quickly in the morning. In the evening we had our first steak of the trip at Applebees, another of the big chains that we could tick off our list. The steak was pretty good and pretty cheap, so a bit of a win :)
Cube out
I am getting a little behind on my posts I'm afraid, but everything is okay and will be completed in due course. I am currently on the plane above the Atlantic ocean just off the coast of Cornwall, practically home.
Back to the 11th. We had a bit of a lie in as we really didn't have all that far to go for the next day or so before we handed in our beloved van. In the morning we visited Rutgers: the University of New Jersey. To be more accurate I went for a wander round the Busch campus whilst G0N started getting his things together. I have to say that after the preposterously awesome campuses of Stanford and Berkeley, Rutgers was somewhat underwhelming. The campus was quite nice; spread out, green, big physics building, but really wasn't as polished as the other US universities that I have visited, or Warwick for that matter. The surrounding town of New Brunswick really isn't anything to write home about either, so a valuable visit as these are not the experiences that you can get off Wikipedia.
Following the Rutgers experience, I joined G0N in packing up my stuff and cleaning out some of the crap from the van before tracking down a car wash. We went to this place down the road from where we hired the van and to be brutally honest the people were pretty surly and the cleaning job was not all that great, but good enough not to be of an issue when giving the van back. We then took our nice clean van to a nearish Wal-Mart to finish off out tidying and packing so that we could get moving quickly in the morning. In the evening we had our first steak of the trip at Applebees, another of the big chains that we could tick off our list. The steak was pretty good and pretty cheap, so a bit of a win :)
Cube out
Monday 14 June 2010
Concrete Jungle
Our final day with the car started as many of our days had, in a Walmart car park. We were clearing out all the rubbish and packing all our things into manageable bags. This took a little while but we eventually dumped all the stuff in a nearby trash can and set off on our way to the car hire centre. We’d taken the car to be cleaned and vacuumed the previous day so we were hopefully going to turn up, hand over the keys and get a lift to our motel for the night.
It essentially worked that way, and after a bit of waiting around we said our goodbye to our faithful Sian Lloyd and were once again on our way. We’d driven 14852 miles in the van and spent 283 hours doing so. That brakes down as Andrew doing 5187 miles in 86 hours and me doing 9665 miles in 198 hours. That makes it look like I drive a lot slower but I think I just hit more traffic.
Once we were checked in at the motel we had a couple of much needed showers and walked a couple of blocks to ‘Terminal One Sports Bar’ to watch the England – USA game. We arrived a couple of minutes before kick-off and the atmosphere was high. There was one guy sitting at the bar for the duration of the match giving his opinion loudly just as you find in English bars. When somebody was called up for being offside he said “I guess they can’t go in that box when the ref’s not there”. I don’t think he really understood soccer too well.
Four minutes in saw the England goal and we realised that there was a decent amount of fellow England supporters in the bar. I think it was just the case of everybody who wasn’t American was supporting England. When the USA goal came it was clear what country we were in as a huge cheer went up and the whole bar started chanting U-S-A, U-S-A, U-S-A. It was a disappointing game in all but good to watch in an American bar.
The next morning we lugged our bags to the train station and rode into New York for the last time. We turned up at the hostel for our final night sweaty and knackered. Once we were showered and had our bags in their final arrangement for the flight we set out to see the city for the last time.
We caught the subway to Time Square where there seemed to be more police officers stationed than the last time we visited for some reason. It was good to see the area at night all lit up although it was a bit dazzling. We also tried to book our seat on the flight whilst there on our phones but BA's site was in the wrong format to view so we headed back to the hostel to do it.
After a humid night's sleep we had some time to spend before the setting off to the flight so we went for breakfast at a diner around the corner. We then did a spot of caching in central park and went to the gift shop of the Natural History Museum.
We then donned our bags again and caught the subway to the airport. There weren't any delays to check in or at security so we spent the rest of the time hanging around. The flight was surprisingly pleasant. We were set to leave at 19.45 US time and arrive 7.40 UK time so I got to watch the sunset and the sunrise from my window seat. We somehow managed to dodge the volcano and crew strikes too. The meal was actually quite pleasant too. The plane touched down and ended our holiday with a slight bump.
J.
It essentially worked that way, and after a bit of waiting around we said our goodbye to our faithful Sian Lloyd and were once again on our way. We’d driven 14852 miles in the van and spent 283 hours doing so. That brakes down as Andrew doing 5187 miles in 86 hours and me doing 9665 miles in 198 hours. That makes it look like I drive a lot slower but I think I just hit more traffic.
Once we were checked in at the motel we had a couple of much needed showers and walked a couple of blocks to ‘Terminal One Sports Bar’ to watch the England – USA game. We arrived a couple of minutes before kick-off and the atmosphere was high. There was one guy sitting at the bar for the duration of the match giving his opinion loudly just as you find in English bars. When somebody was called up for being offside he said “I guess they can’t go in that box when the ref’s not there”. I don’t think he really understood soccer too well.
Four minutes in saw the England goal and we realised that there was a decent amount of fellow England supporters in the bar. I think it was just the case of everybody who wasn’t American was supporting England. When the USA goal came it was clear what country we were in as a huge cheer went up and the whole bar started chanting U-S-A, U-S-A, U-S-A. It was a disappointing game in all but good to watch in an American bar.
The next morning we lugged our bags to the train station and rode into New York for the last time. We turned up at the hostel for our final night sweaty and knackered. Once we were showered and had our bags in their final arrangement for the flight we set out to see the city for the last time.
We caught the subway to Time Square where there seemed to be more police officers stationed than the last time we visited for some reason. It was good to see the area at night all lit up although it was a bit dazzling. We also tried to book our seat on the flight whilst there on our phones but BA's site was in the wrong format to view so we headed back to the hostel to do it.
After a humid night's sleep we had some time to spend before the setting off to the flight so we went for breakfast at a diner around the corner. We then did a spot of caching in central park and went to the gift shop of the Natural History Museum.
We then donned our bags again and caught the subway to the airport. There weren't any delays to check in or at security so we spent the rest of the time hanging around. The flight was surprisingly pleasant. We were set to leave at 19.45 US time and arrive 7.40 UK time so I got to watch the sunset and the sunrise from my window seat. We somehow managed to dodge the volcano and crew strikes too. The meal was actually quite pleasant too. The plane touched down and ended our holiday with a slight bump.
J.
10/06/10
reporting on the 11th and 13th
Today we went into Philadelphia. In the words of James Rolf: Philadelphia is referred to as the birthplace of America, but I went there because Rocky jumped a park bench! For those who don't know the works of James Rolf please watch the following videos:
Part 1
Part 2
To get into the city we used the New Jersey Transit trains, which worked pretty well, even had free parking for the day. It dropped us off right in the centre of town perfect for our day of wandering. We first headed to the tourist info centre, which had a penny machine but was full of school children. The gift shop was horrific, so many children, so much noise,. The area is run by the NPS, so as usual everything is free and there are a few videos on the history of the area. In this case we saw a video on the war of independence, which was a little anti-British as expected. After the video we went over to see the Liberty Bell, which is a big deal over here and a representation of all things American. The place was packed to we had our look, took a few photos and got out of there. We also saw Constitution Hall; the place where the decoration of independence and the constitution were written and signed.
The history of the place is pretty cool but it is a haven for school trips so It was nice to hit the Rocky trail and get away from the children. Our first hit was Penn’s Landing; the historic site where the founder of Pennsylvania William Penn docked in the city. This is also the waterfront where Rocky sprints in the training montage. From Penn’s Landing we went back into town to the urban district and found the Italian market where Rocky gets thrown the orange in the training montage. It’s a cool place, full of energy and very down to earth as it is not a real tourist area. Just south of the market there is the crossroads which claims to be the birthplace of the Philli cheesesteak. There are two cheesesteak joints, one on either side of the crossroads: Gino’s Steaks and Pat’s Steaks. Despite Gino’s being more famous and glitzy, we ate at Pat’s as that’s where Rocky eats. If you were wondering, a Philli cheesesteak is a sub sized sandwich packed with steak and melted American cheese slopped on top. I will do a review when I get a moment. Cheesesteak is a really big deal in Philli and all sorts were gathered at the crossroads enjoying their sandwiches when we were there.
Following the culinary delights of cheesesteak we went back to the centre of town, to City Hall. The Hall is a fantastic and imposing structure right at the heart of the city and is featured in a Rocky film, but I do not know which one, check James Rolf’s video for that. En route we also passed the conference centre from one of the Rocky films. Beyond City Hall is Benjamin Franklin Parkway; an impressive mile long boulevard that leads from the Hall over to the Museum of Art. It has roundabouts with huge fountains and all sorts of statues. It actually reminds me of the Champs Elysees in Paris but with an American style. Along the boulevard is the Rodin Museum, which has an original “The Thinker” statue sitting out at the front. The boulevard leads right up to the steps leading to the Museum of Art; the Rocky steps. At the end of the training montage rocky runs the length of the boulevard and up to the top of the steps. This scene signifies the main theme of the film; the underdog story, where a normal guy from the bad areas of town can reach the top and become someone special through hard work, heart and determination. In one of the later Rocky films a statue is dedicated to rocky and placed at the top of these steps, but in reality it is down at the bottom off to the side as it is not “real art” and even this was a long time coming. After seeing the statue and getting a couple of pictures I joined the other tourists and did my run to the top of the Rocky steps and turned to see the amazing cityscape that is Philadelphia. On our way back we stopped off at the gardens behind Constitution Hall, where Rocky jumped a park bench. A nice spot, a few too many tourists but still not too busy. I didn’t have a clue which bench was the actual Rocky bench, so I jumped over a random one before heading out.
I have to say that after seeing documentaries on Philli about its terrible gun and knife crime I had reservations about the city, but it is a remarkable place where much of the early history of this great nation occurred. I also think that more cities should embrace the film industry as a form of tourism. I had a great time going round the Rocky sights in Philli just as I loved tracking down the Mulholland Drive places in LA. Does anyone know of any good films that are set in London? I can’t think of any off the top of my head. I think it would be fun to do a film tour of London too.
Our day ended just outside the Brunswick area of New Jersey where we grabbed a bit of internet at a Starbucks and dined in style at a Chipotle’s. South Park has it all wrong though, Chipotle’s isn’t all that spicy and you don’t need Chipotleway afterwards either.
Cube out
Today we went into Philadelphia. In the words of James Rolf: Philadelphia is referred to as the birthplace of America, but I went there because Rocky jumped a park bench! For those who don't know the works of James Rolf please watch the following videos:
Part 1
Part 2
To get into the city we used the New Jersey Transit trains, which worked pretty well, even had free parking for the day. It dropped us off right in the centre of town perfect for our day of wandering. We first headed to the tourist info centre, which had a penny machine but was full of school children. The gift shop was horrific, so many children, so much noise,
The history of the place is pretty cool but it is a haven for school trips so It was nice to hit the Rocky trail and get away from the children. Our first hit was Penn’s Landing; the historic site where the founder of Pennsylvania William Penn docked in the city. This is also the waterfront where Rocky sprints in the training montage. From Penn’s Landing we went back into town to the urban district and found the Italian market where Rocky gets thrown the orange in the training montage. It’s a cool place, full of energy and very down to earth as it is not a real tourist area. Just south of the market there is the crossroads which claims to be the birthplace of the Philli cheesesteak. There are two cheesesteak joints, one on either side of the crossroads: Gino’s Steaks and Pat’s Steaks. Despite Gino’s being more famous and glitzy, we ate at Pat’s as that’s where Rocky eats. If you were wondering, a Philli cheesesteak is a sub sized sandwich packed with steak and melted American cheese slopped on top. I will do a review when I get a moment. Cheesesteak is a really big deal in Philli and all sorts were gathered at the crossroads enjoying their sandwiches when we were there.
Following the culinary delights of cheesesteak we went back to the centre of town, to City Hall. The Hall is a fantastic and imposing structure right at the heart of the city and is featured in a Rocky film, but I do not know which one, check James Rolf’s video for that. En route we also passed the conference centre from one of the Rocky films. Beyond City Hall is Benjamin Franklin Parkway; an impressive mile long boulevard that leads from the Hall over to the Museum of Art. It has roundabouts with huge fountains and all sorts of statues. It actually reminds me of the Champs Elysees in Paris but with an American style. Along the boulevard is the Rodin Museum, which has an original “The Thinker” statue sitting out at the front. The boulevard leads right up to the steps leading to the Museum of Art; the Rocky steps. At the end of the training montage rocky runs the length of the boulevard and up to the top of the steps. This scene signifies the main theme of the film; the underdog story, where a normal guy from the bad areas of town can reach the top and become someone special through hard work, heart and determination. In one of the later Rocky films a statue is dedicated to rocky and placed at the top of these steps, but in reality it is down at the bottom off to the side as it is not “real art” and even this was a long time coming. After seeing the statue and getting a couple of pictures I joined the other tourists and did my run to the top of the Rocky steps and turned to see the amazing cityscape that is Philadelphia. On our way back we stopped off at the gardens behind Constitution Hall, where Rocky jumped a park bench. A nice spot, a few too many tourists but still not too busy. I didn’t have a clue which bench was the actual Rocky bench, so I jumped over a random one before heading out.
I have to say that after seeing documentaries on Philli about its terrible gun and knife crime I had reservations about the city, but it is a remarkable place where much of the early history of this great nation occurred. I also think that more cities should embrace the film industry as a form of tourism. I had a great time going round the Rocky sights in Philli just as I loved tracking down the Mulholland Drive places in LA. Does anyone know of any good films that are set in London? I can’t think of any off the top of my head. I think it would be fun to do a film tour of London too.
Our day ended just outside the Brunswick area of New Jersey where we grabbed a bit of internet at a Starbucks and dined in style at a Chipotle’s. South Park has it all wrong though, Chipotle’s isn’t all that spicy and you don’t need Chipotleway afterwards either.
Cube out
Sunday 13 June 2010
Super Hero Fish
The Hitchhiker had told us to go to Cape Cod so like obedient little boys we did. The area is a headland which sticks out into the Atlantic. It varies in width in places but driveable for the whole length. We started our trip with a stop at the National Parks Trust Centre for the area where we watched a couple of films about the areas creation and the history of the area.
We continued further along the coast to Provincetown which is sat at the end of the cape. It was good to wander along the main tourist street which seemed nicely laid back and casually paced. We stopped off at ‘Wired Dog’, a cafe with free computers to check our email before heading back to the car.
For a lot of our time in New England we would see adverts for lobster in various forms. We decided that we should really try the dish of the area before leaving. I’d spotted ‘Moby Dick’s’ restaurant earlier in the day. It was far enough from the tourist trap to be reasonably priced and with a slogan of “You’ll have a whale of a meal” we just had to go. We both went for a set menu where three courses cost us twenty dollars. I had clam chowder to start, a one pound lobster for main and vanilla cheesecake for dessert.
I’d had half a lobster once before but it was already cut so no work was required. At Moby Dick’s we were given a quick tutorial from the waitress/ owner, provided with a bib each and left to it. I think lobster tastes better because you have to work for it. Breaking through the hard shell and smashing the claws to get to the meat “gold” is almost a workout so you don’t have to feel so bad about the calorific cheesecake looming on the horizon.
Looking around the restaurant there seemed like something I’d love to try on every table. If I lived locally I think I would be a regular customer there.
J.
We continued further along the coast to Provincetown which is sat at the end of the cape. It was good to wander along the main tourist street which seemed nicely laid back and casually paced. We stopped off at ‘Wired Dog’, a cafe with free computers to check our email before heading back to the car.
For a lot of our time in New England we would see adverts for lobster in various forms. We decided that we should really try the dish of the area before leaving. I’d spotted ‘Moby Dick’s’ restaurant earlier in the day. It was far enough from the tourist trap to be reasonably priced and with a slogan of “You’ll have a whale of a meal” we just had to go. We both went for a set menu where three courses cost us twenty dollars. I had clam chowder to start, a one pound lobster for main and vanilla cheesecake for dessert.
I’d had half a lobster once before but it was already cut so no work was required. At Moby Dick’s we were given a quick tutorial from the waitress/ owner, provided with a bib each and left to it. I think lobster tastes better because you have to work for it. Breaking through the hard shell and smashing the claws to get to the meat “gold” is almost a workout so you don’t have to feel so bad about the calorific cheesecake looming on the horizon.
Looking around the restaurant there seemed like something I’d love to try on every table. If I lived locally I think I would be a regular customer there.
J.
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