mybigadventures.com

Today, we had a reservation to visit the Statue of Liberty at 10 AM, so we had to get up early to get there on time. Remarkably, we managed to negotiate the subway and, perhaps through luck rather than actual understanding, we took the right train to South Ferry. Were a little confused about where to go when we came out of the train station, however, due to the lack of signs - no surprise there really! We took, what appeared to be, a plausible route, which turned out to be the right one (we later noticed that if you were a pedestrian going in the opposite direction, there were actually quite effective signs - typical!). 

We walked through Battery Park to the ticket office, where we went straight up to an assistant, who printed our tickets out, got on the ferry and got ourselves a prime spot for viewing. Once settled, I went to the ferry snack bar (as we had missed breakfast) and I got a hot pretzel and a hot dog for breakfast. When I got back up to the deck, Ben suggested we move to the other side of the boat – looking at New York – as there was a strong chance that the boat would turn around en route – and it turned out to be fact. So, we ended up with uber-prime spots and admired Liberty as we passed her by.

Getting off the ferry, we picked up our audio guide and nipped into the gift shop to get a sew-on badge for our collection. It wasn’t something they stocked, however. So, a bit disgruntled, we went out, via the other gift shop and – guess what? – sew-on badges! Who knew? Clearly, a more tasteful shop.

We walked up to the entrance to go up into the statue itself. We found out that to go up to the Crown - which we had paid for - we had to leave all our belongings, except for a camera each, in a locker, which we had to pay for - it all seemed to be a bit unfair.

Anyway, snapped out of being grumpy and went on into the museum. You went in past the original flame from the statue, which was replaced in the 80s, as it was corroding badly. Originally, it had little tiny panes of yellow glass – a bit like leaded lights – and it was lit from within. But, it still didn’t light up powerfully enough, so, when it was replaced, the restorers went back to the original plans and made one to be gilded instead, rather than lit.

From there, we went up inside the statue. You could see the structure that supports the copper exterior – apparently, the actual molded sheets of copper are only the width of two pennies. It took a lot of different pieces to make the whole statue – it was a gift from France during Napoleon 3rd’s reign, as an emblem of liberty and democracy.

We went up to the first layer – the top of the granite base - and had a little look around and then joined the short queue to go up into the Crown itself. We only waited for a few minutes and then went up a very, very narrow spiral staircase for a few hundred steps. It was good job it was cloudy today – otherwise, we would have been very hot, sweaty masses when we finally arrived at the top! It was much smaller than we expected. Only about six people would fit. Some of the little windows (openings in the crown) were open for air, and you could see fantastic views out. And the people on the lower levels looked tiny! The view of downtown Manhattan was lovely – all the skyscrapers nestling together. We spent some time up there and then made our way down. One of the Park Rangers ‘guarding’ up there told us to look back up, about 10 steps down, from where you can see her face, so we did – and we could! It was quite strange to see her from behind the mask, as it were – and amazing to think she is sculpted from metal.

When we got down to the lower level, we wandered around and took photos, then we headed towards the cafe for some lunch. We both had panini’s – I had mozzarella and tomato and Ben had chicken fajita – both came with a vast pile of lettuce and tomato – by way of a side salad! Vast portions again!

We went back into the statue to look at the museum, to find out more about the designers – one of whom was Gustave Eiffel. Fancy that! Made some purchases in the gift shop and collected our free certificate for visiting, and then joined the queue for the ferry back. It did try and rain a bit again – as earlier – but it didn’t come to much. Both ferry crossings were very calm and smooth as well, so happy days all round.

Once off the ferry, we made our way into the Financial District to have a look round. We saw the big bull – like the one in the bullring, in Birmingham – near Wall Street. Then we walked up to the site of the World Trade Center. It’s currently a big building site, as the World Trade Center is being rebuilt around a memorial park. We queued briefly for free passes and then went into the park. It was beautifully laid out - a really peaceful contrast to the buildings and bustle around us. They’ve created two huge square fountains at the site of each of the two former towers and they are designed so the water falls into seemingly endless holes, with the names of the victims inscribed all around the edge, so it all seems quite endless – an endless tribute.

We went to get the subway – we’re becoming pros at this! – and headed back to 7th Avenue. We popped into Macy’s, so Ben could get the toilet bag he’d admired. We managed to get 10% off, as it had little mark on it and it was the only one. Then we went to K-Mart to buy the small wheelie case we had seen earlier in the week. We also got another Lego set!

We headed back to the hotel and dumped our stuff, heading back out again for tea. We got some pizza from a local place – they sell by the slice – and we went back to the hotel to scoff. While catching up on some journal and writing some postcards, we rented a film – The Internship, about two middle-aged men who become Google interns - and stayed up quite late, watching films and scoffing.

I started off my birthday by opening my cards. I had opened one late last night, from my bean, and he had drawn a picture of a horse and carriage – one of today’s birthday activities. I had a lovely little Scottie dog brooch from mum and dad and some spending money from Rhi and Rachel. Slothed about for a bit before getting showered and dressed. We left the hotel at about midday.

We went to Penn Station to get the subway, buying some breakfast at a cafe. I bought a lemon and poppy seed muffin and Ben got a half-dipped cookie, and we took them with this. We got on the ‘A’ line – the express, as it turned out. It went to 59th Street and we are expecting to get off at 72nd, however, the train hurtled on to 125th without stopping – just about 50 blocks too far! We then had to get the ‘C’ local line back. So that was an exciting start!

Eventually got off at 72nd. This took us into Central Park, by the lake, as our first birthday activity was ‘messing about on the lake’ in a rowing boat! Walked through Strawberry Fields, where there is a tribute to the Beatles – a stone circle on the floor with ‘Imagine’ engraved in the middle. Apparently, Yoko Ono’s apartment overlooks this part of the park and she contributed to its landscaping. Strawberry Fields is a ‘quiet’ zone, so it was quite peaceful walking through. From there we walked around the lake, trying to find the boathouse. It turned out we were going slightly in the wrong direction, so we had to walk back and round.

Made it to the boathouse, and join the shortish queue for the boats. We had to queue for about 10 minutes and then paid ($12 an hour and a $20 deposit) before we were in the boat, and we were off!

Ben did the rowing, so I was the official photographer and ‘crash averter’. We were just rowing along, when Ben spotted what he thought was a turtle on a tree root, sticking out of the water. We went closer and it turned out to actually be a turtle! A real turtle! In the wild! Awesome. I took lots of photos. We then saw a few more turtles as we made our way around the lake. We also got a bit wet – there was a mini-island which had a water spray on it, and it got us on our way round! As we rowed, we saw more turtles and we explored the lake thoroughly, even nearly getting grounded twice! We also managed to see a few key sites from the boat – the Bethesda Fountain, one of the biggest fountains in the Park. We also stopped by the bank to listen to a busker, who was entertaining the crowd on the grass. He did quite a range of songs and even got another boat actively involved as they did the drum solo on their boat. There was also a wedding taking place so the busker performed an impromptu first dance for them, which was really sweet.

We were getting close to our time, so Ben started to do super-speedy rowing back to the boathouse. We very nearly had a collision with a gondola – we were both going in the same direction and, as it was near the boathouse, there were loads of other boats wiggling all over the place and often veering out of control! But we made it back safely – a little late, so we paid an extra $3 for the extra 15 min we had. Not exactly breaking the bank!

From the boats, we went to find a horse and carriage for a ride. We had seen some earlier, but there didn’t seem to be any available, so we strolled down to 59th Street where they congregated, according to a helpful lady.

As we walked, we had a lollipop each from a stand. The park was really busy and there were also a couple of baseball games going on. People were sunbathing and playing frisbee – a typical day in Central Park!

We made it to 59th Street by about 4:30 PM and enquired about prices for the horse and carriage rides. There were two options – a long ride for about $100, plus tip ($120) or a short ride for $50, plus tip ($60). Obviously, they kept trying to sell the long ride by telling us all about the sights we’d see – but we’d already seen them by walking around, so we stuck to the short ride. It was more the experience that we wanted anyway, as I’d never been on one before. It lasted about 20 min and the driver told us a few bits about the places around us. It was very enjoyable and the horse made very satisfying clippy-cloppy noises!From there, we headed for the subway, to go back to the hotel to change before dinner. Ben had made a reservation at a place called ‘Robert’ in the Museum of Art and Design, which has magnificent views over Central Park. He had booked it a month ago to secure a window table.

Having showered and changed, we headed back to the subway at about 6:45 PM, arriving near the restaurant by 7:10 PM. We had a bit of time before our table at 7:30 PM so we wandered in the Park for a while. When we did go up to the restaurant, we were shown to our window table, with lovely views over Central Park and the surrounding area. We overlooked Columbus Circle and it gradually dawned on us that it was a memorial to Christopher Columbus.

We had iced water while we perused the menu and then I had an Olmsted cocktail – Hendricks gin, with sprigs of rosemary and thyme - while Ben had a Heineken. We were then bought a bread basket, with some warm mini breads – a rosemary one, a white one and a rye one. We were then brought small portions of shrimp cocktail, ‘compliments of the chef’ – a very refreshing, fresh tomato and pepper-based sauce with prawn pieces. We then shared an appetiser of burrata (a very soft mozzarella-type cheese) with big chunks of tomato, baby figs and balsamic dressing. As the main, I had roasted duck breast with cherries and a really nice fruit and wine jus. I had mashed potatoes as a side – and it was good mashed potato – and we shared sauteed ‘snow peas’ (mangetout). Ben had a pork chop, that seemed to be as big as his head, with red pepper mash and a mango garnish. It was all absolutely delicious. It made a great change from burgers, chips and pizza. In celebration of this (and also my birthday!) we decided to go all out, and have dessert too – so, in keeping with the cherry theme, I had cherry clafouti with ricotta ice-cream and Ben had a scoop of cherry, and candied walnut ice-cream (they didn’t have his favourite chocolate). Finally, by way of a fifth course, I suppose, I was presented with some little blueberry shortbread biscuits, with a candle and ‘happy birthday’ inscribed in chocolate on one side. It was really sweet and they have a good pastry chef as the biscuits were lovely. $190 later, we were a lot fuller, our wallets were a lot lighter, and it was probably the best meal of the trip yet!

To walk it off a bit, we walked in the park for a while. It was very quiet – almost eerie in parts – and Ben took quite a few pictures of the skyline from amongst the trees, capturing the shadows and the lights. From there, we went catch the subway home.

Got up a little later today, as we had planned to take it easy and do a bit of shopping. Headed out just before midday and headed over to ‘Five Guys’ – a renowned burger joint recommended by Chris. It was a little on the expensive side – however, on receiving the food, it was clear why. We both had cheese and bacon burgers with everything on, with a coke each and a large fries to share. Everything was massive. The burgers were double burgers, standing about 4 inches high and the fries filled a small bucket (at least, a large drink cup). It was all very nice - very filling - costing about $30.

After lunch, we decided to head over to Macy’s and ended up popping into K-Mart en route. In K-Mart, we saw a small wheelie suitcase for $39.95, that we thought may give us a little  luggage space for the journey home. We also saw some Lego we liked, but decided to leave both until later in the week.

From there, we headed to Macy’s, which seem to be running a one-day sale. We spent some time looking at the men’s wallets, as they were between 30% and 50% off. I eventually chose a Tommy Hilfiger one, as mine is looking a little tired. I also had a quick look at belts and, on the way to cosmetics, spotted a yellow leather Fossil wash bag, which I liked, and decided to think about it. We had a quick look at the luggage on the top floor to see how it compared to what we had seen; it turned out that their cheapest cases were about twice the price of the one we’d seen, so we decided to move on. Took us a while to find the women’s section of the store, as the whole shop is split over two buildings and only certain floors are connected. Eventually found the Clinique counter and Dani bought some bits as they are a little cheaper than back home.

After Macy’s, we headed along 5th Avenue to look at some of the shops. Along the way, we turned off to go and look in Grand Central Station and stayed there for a while to take some photos. Them we continued up 5th Avenue, dropping into Saks to look at some very expensive clothes ($900 for a small blue cardigan). We also stopped in Abercrombie and Fitch and the large underground Apple store. We finally reached Bloomingdale’s, having realised it was on Lexington Avenue, not 5th. Again, Bloomingdale’s was very expensive and very difficult to navigate. Once we managed to make our way out again, as it was already late afternoon, we decided to head back to the Rockefeller Centre in time for sunset. We caught the subway there as it was much faster and saved our legs – it was only $2.75 each.

We got to the top a little before sunset; it was very busy and you couldn’t really get towards the edge. I was also annoyed by the Kodak photographer, who asked us to move at one point, as we were in the ‘perfect spot’ for a photo! What cheek! As it got darker, it did get a lot quieter and the views again were spectacular. Took lots of photos using the gorilla pod and admired the lights across the skyline for ages as the sun went down.

Headed down a little after 9 PM. We went to nearby Applebee’s for a light dinner, sharing nachos (which turned out to be massive) and a Blue Ribbon Brownie and ice cream for dessert (as it turns out, ‘light’ dinners don’t really exist in the US!). It was about $50, including beers. After, as we walked back to the hotel, we stopped to take some night shots of Times Square on the way. Did some journal before bed.

We got up at about 8:30 AM, in preparation for our train at 11:02 AM to New York. We sorted out the rest of our stuff and headed down to breakfast, to take advantage of it before we left. I had fruit and a toasted bagel with cream cheese, and Ben had two chocolatines. We gathered together our stuff and then got a taxi to the station. The taxi driver was very friendly and was chatting eagerly to us, mainly about football. The taxi to the station was about $12, but, as the driver was so friendly, we tipped him quite happily.

We got into the station and went up to the ticket office to enquire about our tickets – we apparently had reserved seats, but we had no idea how to find them! Seemingly, there are five ‘reserved’ coaches, so you just got on and found a seat. Easy. And it actually was! We had to wait at the ‘gate’, like in airports, where we had to wait. A queue quickly started to form by the gate, and then suddenly, we were released onto the platform. We found a seat, hooked onto the free Wi-Fi and off we went! Caught up on some journal, did a bit of Skype-ing, ate the Subway that we bought in the station and, three and half hours later, rolled into Penn Station, New York. Love Amtrak trains!

We were further surprised to find our hotel to be - literally - a few minutes walk from the station. We hadn’t even broken a sweat walking there in the bright sunshine. Result! Checked in and went up to our room. It must be our lucky day as our room with merely metres away from the lift. Perhaps our smallest room so far with just a double bed, but it will do!

And so our New York adventure begins...

We began by walking up 7th Avenue, walking past the Pennsylvania Hotel that Ben and his family stayed in, when they came a few years ago. We popped into Macy’s to have a look around. Unsurprisingly, they are renovating, so it was completely baffling - we had no idea how to get from floor to floor, let alone different departments! Managed to find our way to their gift section after a while and browsed for potential gifts.

Then, we made our way out and carried on up 7th Avenue, crossing onto Broadway. Came out in Times Square and admired the lights and dazzling adverts. Went into Toys “R” Us – they have a ferris wheel just inside the door, with life-size toy cars to ride in – amazing! We then went in a few ‘tat’ shops in search of sew-on badges, but it wasn’t a very successful search. We only found a couple of quite basic ones. In the square itself, we noticed that some staged seating had been set up (facing the New Year’s Eve Ball side of the square) and, at the back, there was an interactive scream for you to pose in front of, but we just sat and people watched from the steps. It was a good point to take photos from, although people did keep standing in the way!

Decided to move on, after a while. Went into Hershey’s, as I wanted to try some of their chocolate. We bought a small selection box, as small bars don’t seem to be their thing, but after the first one, we weren’t convinced about the taste!

Made our way from there to the Rockefeller Centre – it took a bit of finding, despite it being a huge building! When we finally found the building itself, we were at the wrong side! Typical! Found the ticket office and bought the ‘Sun and Stars’ ticket, for $40 per person. This meant that we got to go up twice, once in the day and once at night, over a 24 hour period. As it was nearly 7 PM, we were aiming to see a bit of sun and stars, and then again tomorrow! We had to wait a while for our timed ticket, but once through security, the journey up was really quick. The elevator shaft was lit up, so you could see where you were going, which was pretty exciting.

Once out of the lift, we went up a further two floors and, then, we were at the top. It was spectacular from the top! We could see or miles – Central Park to the North and the Empire State building to the south, with the Statue of Liberty in the distance. We stayed up there until about dusk, so the colours began to soften and everything began to look hazy and ethereal. The views were amazing!

Starting to feel both weary and peckish, we headed down to ground level. We had picked up a coupon for TGI Friday’s (15% off), so we headed in that direction. It was allegedly their ‘grand opening’, but it appeared to be a well-settled restaurant. However, the food was good – we had potato skins with cheese and bacon to share, and then I had a bacon cheeseburger and Ben had chicken and tomato pasta. The service was pretty poor, though, as they tried to bring our mains out before our appetizer and, consequently, our mains sat on a hot plate for a while. We were a bit disgruntled about it so left a minimal tip (the whole tip thing  continues to be both baffling and irritating).

Turned our tired footsteps towards our hotel and turned in, feeling very weary.

We got up to the alarm, as we had timed tickets for the Capitol Building today. We gave ourselves a bit of a lie-in - having decided last night to get a taxi there. It was quite a long walk otherwise and we were both still suffering a bit with bikes. Upon checking the timed tickets, as we left the room, we realised it said to get there 45 min early, to allow time to get through security. Given that it was 9:15 AM and we were still at the hotel, and the timed tickets were for 10 AM, we realised that this was never going to happen. Nevertheless, we decided to skip breakfast and get going. The bellman got us a taxi for a fixed price of $12, and we arrived about 9:50 AM. It wasn’t very busy and we got straight through security, collecting our passes in time. The tour was led by a person speaking through a microphone, which was picked up by our headsets - although only when you are very close which meant we kept missing what he was saying. The tour lasted just under half an hour and included a 30 minute video on the history of the Capitol building. Although the tour was free, we didn’t find it particularly good as you only really go into two main rooms. The Dome room and another anteroom, containing statues gifted by the individual states. Our guide was from Florida; their statue was of the man who invented air-conditioning. There was also a statue of Rosa Parks and a trick where you could whisper in one part of the room and hear it across the room. (In the Dome room, there is a statue of Reagan and it was mounted on a layer of pieces of the Berlin Wall).

After the tour, we went to the shop and bought a sew-on badge, then headed over to the Library of Congress, which, in comparison, was awesome. We managed to get a free official guided tour, just as we arrived, with a guy called Ray. He was very knowledgeable and took us all around the library, explaining everything. The group whittled down somewhat, until only about five others were left. The tour ended overlooking the reading room - which appears in the National Treasure film. Apparently, the books on the second floor were painted on by the film company.

Feeling hungry, we went back to the cafe in the Capitol building. There was a wide selection to choose from. Dani had a salad (that they weighed) and a chocolate bun, and I had chicken and chips. It cost about $25 and was very filling. After lunch, we headed over to the station, which was nearby, to ask about luggage. Turned out we would be fine with regards to our luggage on our train journeys, and on the way out, we picked up a new map, and an Australian tourist gave as a bus ticket for the bus tour that he no longer needed, which still had time on it.

From here, we headed over to the Capitol area again, to locate the Shakespeare Folger Museum it was easy to find, as we realised it was actually located on our map! We went in and a quite abrupt security person gave us the basic info. Feeling a bit confused, we went down the corridor until we came to a main room, containing some artefacts. After about 1 minute, a different woman came in and told us where we were and what there was. There were various items from Elizabethan England - a letter from Elizabeth I to James I (as he became) about Catholicism in England; some China; and then some texts from the time. But, most impressively, the first Folio edition of the works of Shakespeare’s plays (only 36), published posthumously by two of his friends! Quite exciting! You can actually look through it, with an electronic version that you could interact with. It was prefaced with a poem by Ben Johnson. Unfortunately, the main room of the museum was closed for restoration (this is becoming a running theme!) so they only had a limited collection available. The Folgers were/are avid Shakespeare fans, who were fascinated by the Elizabethan era, and collected as much material as they could.

At the other side of museum, they have the Folger theatre, which has been constructed to resemble an Elizabethan theatre. The woman, seemingly in charge of that side, talked to us about the theatre and the reasons behind it. When she found out we were from the UK, she confused us a bit by talking about the recently discovered theatre in London - we thought she meant the Globe, but we weren’t sure! We left and had a quick look in the reconstructed Elizabethan garden to the side and then headed back down the grassy mall to head back to the hotel.

We were walking quite casually, until we became aware of a helicopter flying back and forth. It appeared to be the presidential helicopter! So we hurried on, at top speed! They kept appearing as if it was flying away, but it kept going in circles and coming back, so we kept going, heading towards the White House. We made it to the grass patch in front of the White House, and were glad that we hadn’t tried to get nearer as it was cordoned off. We watched as the helicopter landed on the White House’s main lawn and squinted to see if anybody got out, but apparently not. It lifted off and flew away, only to repeat the whole thing again several times! Eventually, we decided to head off - we then heard a policeman telling another bloke that they were practising manoeuvres while the President was on holiday. Never mind - it was nearly a spot!

Once back at the hotel, we slothed for a bit and made our way to ‘Matchbox’, (having worked out where it was this time!) up 14th Street. We both had pizza - I had spicy meatball and Ben had chicken - and then we had a vast trio of desserts to share - sorbet, chocolate brownie and pancake balls, with dipping sauce. Despite very itchy bites, a very good day!

Had a slightly more relaxed start to the day, as we didn’t have a timed ticket for anything. So, we were up at around 9 AM, showered and went down for breakfast. We made the most of the free breakfast - Ben had cereal and I had fruit and yoghurt, then we both had a toasted bagel. We got going shortly after that, aiming for the Smithsonian National Zoo, heading out a bit after 11 AM. Unfortunately, whilst getting ready, the hairdryer (the hotel’s - not mine!) blew up, and dented the bathroom sink, shorting the electric! Oops!

We walked to DuPont Circle, taking it quite steady as our bites were very irritated and irritating. We managed the Metro ticket machines better this time, allowing the extra dollar for the paper ticket. We got on the train and went merrily on our way. At the second stop, we realised we’d gone too far! We’ve been expecting a fair journey, but it was only actually one stop and it took less than a minute. So, caught the train back again, feeling surprised.

We followed the signs to the zoo - a 10 minute walk from the station. We were greeted by a man in a cubicle, who told us about the daily events and sold us a map/guide for one dollar - considering the actual zoo is free, this didn’t seem too excessive! The zoo is separated into different sections, so we followed it quite methodically. First, we went to see cheetahs - who were having a nap in the grass, so the view of them was only partial. But there were some huge frogs in the pond, sitting about on lily pads and frogging about. Then we saw a vulture in with some African deers, who are close to extinction in the wild. It was nice to see some of the animals mixed together in the enclosures, similar to how they may be in the wild. We also saw some zebras, although they seem shy, staying at the back of their enclosure.

We then moved on to the Panda Trail and then the Asia Trail. The female panda has been confined, as it were, due to pregnancy, and unfortunately the male panda seems to have gone out, as despite searching, he wasn’t to be seen. A shame, as I’ve never seen a panda. We moved on, wandering around. We saw some short clawed Asian otters - they were little youngling otters too! They were wiggling all over and through an old tree stump, some napping upside down and others simply piling up. At one point, they all wiggled over to the edge of their enclosure, peering over the wall into the passage and squeaking a lot. Then they went back to piling up! While we were watching them, a very vivid red bird was flying around - a little smaller than a blackbird and with tufted feathers on its head. Ben got a couple of photos, although he was very nippy (the bird that is!). We also saw a fishing cat and clouded leopard, which I particularly liked - especially the fishing cat kitten. Had some lunch at the Panda cafe.

We admired the elephants in their huge enclosure, and then followed the American Trail, watching a beaver snuffling about, an Eagle - a bald eagle, no less - and some sea lions. Unfortunately, the bears were having their afternoon nap, so we didn’t get to see them. We also saw lots of turtles, just after the big cat section - some huge and some tiny! So cute! We were really impressed overall by the zoo. The individual enclosures were all big and clearly a lot of thought has gone into the flora and fauna for the animals. It was all very green and was over a vast space.

Feeling very weary, we left about 6 PM, heading back to the subway. When we got back to DuPont Circle, we popped into a CVS pharmacy to get some drinks, as we felt very thirsty, and made our way back to the hotel. After a bit of a sit, we headed out for tea. We decided to go to ‘The Pig’, another hotel recommendation. There was going to be a 45 minute wait for a table, but there was room to sit at the bar, so we decided to do that. The barman recommended ordering a number of different dishes from the different sections of the menu, as they were designed for sharing. We decided upon two of the small appetizer dishes and two of the larger courses. We had mac and cheese with a crumb top, and ‘spoon’ bread which was bacon, courgette and onion, baked with chunks of bread. Both very nice. The larger courses were spicy pork masala and pork Spaghetti Pomodoro. For dessert, Dani had chocolate pudding and I had two scoops of chocolate ice cream (which came in two separate bowls). It was all very nice and altogether cost about $90, including tip. Feeling very full, we tottered back to the hotel and watched some TV before heading to bed.

Didn’t sleep too well, as it seems some bugs had bitten me at some point yesterday. I’ve been bitten either side of my ankles and the itching woke me up! Got showered and had a quick breakfast downstairs in the hotel bar/restaurant. There was a decent selection of pastries, cereal and fruit, so I had a chocolatine and Dani had a bagel. We then headed out at about 9:30 AM hoping we would make it to the National Archive in time for our timed ticket at 10:15 AM. After a bit of a route march, we got there just after 10 AM. There was a big queue outside, but, after checking with security, we went in a different exit - for special events. Feeling a little sweaty, it was good to get into the air-conditioning. The guard ticked our name off his list and we went through security (metal detectors and X-ray) and were in.

When we got through, we went first into an exhibition of photos from the 70s. It was an exhibition echoing a similar exhibition from the 70s, aiming to highlight the impact of industry upon places and people. There were great photos and really interesting subject matters. We also could recognise some of the places in the images, as they were places we had visited. It was quite scary to see the impact of industry - people living virtually on top of industrial sites, and rivers that had been infected by industry, but with children still playing in them.

We spent a long time looking at the photos and the 70s music was also easy listening! From there, we went to see a copy (one of the originals) of the Magna Carta, which was pretty cool. They also have an electronic version that you can play with interactively. From here, we had to queue a little, but only for about 5 minutes, to see the last three documents - original copies of the Declaration of Independence, the Bill of Rights and the Constitution. It was really interesting to see the actual documents, although due to age, they were hard to decipher. Especially the declaration - it was in a fairly terrible state, due to having been posted in direct sunlight for many years. It was a shame, but you could still see the title! The constitution was also very faded; we could make out the signatures at the bottom - G.Washington and Benjamin Franklin - so quite exciting! We spent a while there, reading the information accompanying each document.

From here, we went into an exhibition on the archives themselves. There were lots of examples of archive documents; from soldiers in the Vietnam War, for example, and documents from the war. We spent some time in there and then headed towards the cafe. We popped into the shop, buying a sew-on badge of the Declaration. In the cafe, we had a brownie each and a Coke to keep us going until lunch a bit later. The brownies were lovely - really gooey and crispy on top. They also raised an interesting question about tax - we seem to pay tax everywhere, in varying amounts. In the shop, the assistant told us that we wouldn’t pay tax, as it was a federal building; however we paid tax in the cafe, in the same building? Tax is becoming quite mysterious!

From there, we headed out; back into the humidity, which was a shock after the cool museum. We sat in the National Sculpture Garden for a bit, admiring the fountain in the middle. The water jets kept getting bigger, eventually spraying us - quite refreshing! We then started to walk towards the Natural History Museum, although turned around to go to the National Air and Space Museum first, as then we could walk back towards 14th Street. Had to go through security again! We went first to the air section. They had exhibitions about the first developments in flight, celebrating the Wright brothers, with several of their early planes - quite awesome! Spent quite a while looking at the further exhibits - flights through the World Wars and beyond, going into a plane from the 50s/60s. We spent a fair bit of time (and money!) in the shop, buying Henry, our flight pilot bear, among other things.

Went to the McDonald’s at the end of Museum, having a meal before heading back into the space side part of the  Museum. We weren’t as impressed by the space side as the exhibition seemed a little random and bitsy, so headed out. We made a brief stop at some steps, so Ben could re-apply some bite stuff, as he was suffering a bit! We walked on, towards the Smithsonian Castle, which, although it’s only visitor centre, is a bit like the leader of all the Smithsonian museums. It looks fantastic - very Gothic - all red-brick and turrets. We went in, having a look at the relief model of the area and in the shop.

Moving on, we went across the mall to the Natural History Museum. Going in, we were confronted by a huge African model elephant. It was awesome! Towering above us, and huge. We wandered around a few of the exhibits - the ocean scene and the dinosaurs, but the exhibitions seemed a little sparse, compared to previous museums we’ve been to. Some interesting specimens, but not quite as good as the museums in London, for example. We went to the shop to get a sew-on patch, but they didn’t have one! Bit of a nightmare! Went into the American Museum and - phew! - got one from there!

Feeling quite tired, we headed back to the hotel. We did a bit of washing in the bathtub and slothed about for a bit. We then decided to head out again, to see some of the sights in the dark. We both had got bitten now, so had earlier bought some new bite cream, as our stuff seemed ineffective. But, the new one didn’t seem much good in the humidity as it seemed to make the itching worse. So we popped into a CVS pharmacy to buy some more.

Then we walked down to the White House. Used the gorilla pod to take some photos surreptitiously from the pavement, until another man got told off by the White House police for using a tripod - no idea why! So we put it away sneakily and walked off!

Headed down towards the Lincoln Memorial. It was further than we thought, but we made it eventually. Like many significant buildings in Washington, part of the statue was clad in scaffolding for some reason - a little annoying. But, otherwise, it looks pretty spectacular with lights casting quite a soft glow inside, among the pillars. Ben took lots of photos and we had a bit of a wander about. We had a wander down to the reflecting pool, which wasn’t lit as you might expect, but it did reflect the Washington Monument very effectively. We began to walk back, but were conscious of lots of midges so we’ll have to wait and see. Decided walking would take us ages - as it was already about 11:15 PM at this point and Ben’s bites were playing up again - so we hailed a taxi. It was only about $12, which we were really surprised by, as it seemed low considering how late it was. Got us back speedily and we shuffled into the hotel, feeling very tired. We ordered a pizza from a local place - a pizza called ‘Golden Supreme’ and two cans of Coke - $25, including a tip. It was really nice and super-speedy. Pretty awesome end to a good day!

Woke up just before we were due to land. It was getting lighter and, for us, it was still about 3:50 AM, although in local time, it was getting on for 6:30 AM. We had been woken up at a couple of points to get a drink, but we haven’t had anything else to eat, so it was a good job we had eaten beforehand. Ben watched a bit of TV and I half-watched and half-dozed. I woke up properly as we started to land. We bombed off the plane at superspeed as we haven’t put anything into the overhead locker; a few people tried to get in front of us, but we weren’t having any of it! We got off the plane, walked down the corridor and walked through a door - which turned out to be a door onto a bus! It was so weird! The door just shut and we drove away from the terminal, towards another terminal. It was like the Indiana Jones film, when they accidentally drive into a lorry which drives off! Wicked!

Made use of the facilities, as we went towards baggage reclaim, and then went to collect our stuff. We didn’t have to wait for long as our bags came off early. From there, came to a bit of a halt, as we weren’t really sure where to go. We hadn’t planned our route from the airport into DC. We had assumed that we could get a bus or something, so followed the signs for the flyer bus into DC. We went past the ticket office, which was empty - it was coming up to 7:30 AM, and the bus was due at about 7:32 AM. So we hovered outside, near other people who seemed to be waiting. A short while later, a coach turned up and the bus driver told us we had to buy tickets inside - apparently, someone should be there now -a bit irritating! So, I loaded our stuff into the coach luggage locker and Ben went into the office to buy tickets. It seemed a bit pricey at $10 each, but we didn’t have many options. After sitting stationary for a while, the woman from the ticket office came on board - to check the ticket we just bought - taking them off as again - how pointless!

Anyway, the coach got underway. It was a fair way, into the city, and we were glad we hadn’t gone for the taxi option, as it would have been expensive. We had expected to be going to one station - Rosalind, I think - but we didn’t get that far and the coach stopped instead at West Church Metro station. Possibly, this is the reduced Sunday service? Made our way into the Metro station and stood in front of the ticket machines. It was a bit like our experience in San Fran - you have to use the list to check the fare, according to your destination, and then reduce the default fee from $20 - a little bizarre! It took a couple of goes to work it out, but we got there. Made our way to the only platform and waited about for 5 minutes, then got onto a virtually empty train. I guess Sundays in DC start later!

An easy journey - only a few stops - and then we made our way out. Got stopped by the exit machines - apparently our fare was lacking! Went to the machine and we were one dollar down each. Apparently, you have to pay one dollar for each paper ticket (obligatory) and we should have added it manually - it doesn’t default. A tad ridiculous! Also, slightly awkward as we only had $20 bills and the machine only gave change up to 4 dollars. So we asked the man in the booth, who, generously, although very half-heartedly, just let us through.

We had used the free Internet at the airport to track our way to our hotel, but we had accidentally turned it off on the train, so we had to use a combination of memory and street maps to make our way to the hotel. Found it, with a bit of luck, and went to see if we could check in early. We couldn’t, unfortunately, so we left our luggage in their storage and got directions to somewhere to eat. Along ‘P’ Street (originally, the names were alphabetized), we found a Starbucks and went in, for a panini and orange juice each (about $20).

We had a few hours to kill before we could check in at about 2 PM-ish, so we thought we’d go for a wander. We went back to the hotel to get some stuff out of our bags, only to discover the shampoo had leaked in Ben’s bag. It hadn’t done too much damage, as it was outside the waterproof bag, but everything was a bit gunky in the toilet bag. Sorted ourselves out and then headed off. Walked down 14th Street towards the main sites, although we were feeling increasingly tired. It was incredibly humid, which didn’t help - hot, but damp and it just made us feel sweaty and tired. Passed in front of the White House, which looked suitably white and imposing and took some pictures, but were too tired to hang about. Decided to head to the National Aquarium, in search of air-conditioning. It cost us $10 each, which seemed a little steep. It turned out to be very steep, given the quantity of things to see. They had various tanks of fish, snakes, a couple of alligators and some turtles, but otherwise, nothing very exciting. We did take advantage of the sitting opportunities however, but, due to the low lighting and increasing levels of exhaustion, Ben nodded off on my shoulder for a few minutes. Although only about 1 PM, feeling absolutely shattered, we headed back to the hotel, squinting against the brightness of the sun, which essentially meant we were walking with our eyes closed. Not ideal. Stopped, for an air-conditioning break and a drink. We went into a CVS pharmacy and I got a gallon bottle of water and Ben got a 2L bottle of Sprite, in an effort to wake up. Sat on a bench for a few minutes and then went on.

Got to the hotel and, fortunately, they had a room available, on the 10th floor. It seemed quite a trendy-looking hotel and we went up, albeit in a slow and rather cranky lift to our room. It was very nice - bathroom to the left and the bedroom part was in an alcove, leaving the main part of the room to be a sort of sitting area. Very spacious and clean. Zonked out on the bed and slept until about 6:30 PM.

Dragged ourselves out of bed, showered and went in search of food. Ben had seen a recommendation for a place called ‘Matchbox’ down 14th Street, so we thought we’d try it. After walking fruitlessly for about 30 minutes, and having seen a few places to eat (only rather expensive hotel restaurants) we turned back.

We stopped at somewhere called Birch/Barley/Churchkey, which was still serving food upstairs in the bar. It turned out to be a place where they specialised in many different beers. Slightly baffled by the choice, we asked the barman to bring a selection of tasters to share, each containing about a third of a pint - some more like blondes, a couple of light lagers and a darker one. Some smelt lovely - like elderflower and ginger, and we both preferred different ones - which was quite handy. We had food too - Ben had a ‘brat’ burger with chips and I had chicken flatbread with fries. The fries were amazing! We were pretty pleased to have found somewhere and we went back to the hotel, still fairly shattered and turned in.

We got up and showered about 9 AM, packing the remaining few bits before checkout. We took all of our stuff down and checked out, then headed over to the Bell desk for the left luggage store. It was free to leave luggage, so we left everything apart from the camera and Dani’s handbag. Then asked about the shuttle service to the airport. It was going to cost $7 each and they went every half-hour. We decided to aim for the 4 PM shuttle which would get us to the airport in plenty of time for our 7:20 PM flight.

We then headed off to get some breakfast, and decided to go to McDonald’s, upstairs in the resort. Ate and then headed down to the casino to do a bit more gambling. We spent a lot of time between the blackjack table and roulette, with some ups and downs in some large bets on double or quits roulette - I think the largest bet was thirty-two credits (32 times 25 cents equals $8 dollars) - somewhat smaller than when Dani accidentally bet $11 on a single hand of blackjack! We ended up winning some money back today and finished up by about $20!

We walked around to the lobby to see if we could connect to the Internet and ended up connecting outside Starbucks, which was closed. We had a sit at the tables outside Starbucks and caught up on a bit of journal and I wrote a postcard for school - as Tom had requested one from Vegas.

Having posted the postcard and made use of the nearby facilities, we decided it was time to make a move. We went and picked up the luggage and asked at the desk where we needed to go to get the shuttle. Turned out we needed to have booked a ticket - a small, but rather important detail that the other person at the desk had neglected to mention. Either way, the man on the desk said it would be the same price or less to just get taxi - so that’s what we did. We got a taxi from just outside the hotel. The airport is really close and it cost just under $14 to get there. It seemed very quiet with very few cars about and, once inside, there were hardly any people about. We got checked in okay and they put our rucksacks in large plastic bags to protect all the buckles. It turned out we didn’t have to pay for the luggage after all. Before going through security, we sat on a bench in the large empty airport and ate crisps and finished the water and coke we were carrying. We then had to catch a short train to security and the gates. There were a few shops and places to get food in the departure lounge, but not a great deal. There were also a number of slot machines - in case you haven’t had your fix of gambling. There’s free Wi-Fi so we had a sit and I spoke to Lorna on Skype for a short while. We decided to get something to eat as we were feeling quite hungry by this point. We didn’t have a lot of time so we ended up getting a sandwich to share. We went back to the gate and sat down to eat - the sandwich was very deeply filled and ended up being a little messy. About 10 min later, we ended up boarding. We had to queue for a bit, as we were virtually last to board, but we got settled into our seats quickly. We had to pay to watch TV/films - the back of the chair had a swipe card machine embedded to pay - so once with had set off we paid for it on my TV ($5.99) and began to watch ‘42’ - a film about the first black baseball player for the international team in America. Flying out over Vegas night was amazing. Not only could you see the lights of the strip and all of the vast hotels, but we watched the sunset over the mountains, the light reflected in the pools on top of the mountains. It was all a vivid orange and looked beautiful.

We had a complimentary drink and settled down to watch the film. It was literally about 40 min later, when, to our surprise, the final announcement was called - making the final approach into LA. It’d seemed very quick. The landing was very quick - it did feel as if we were coming into land very fast. So, leg one of the journey was complete.

Headed off the plane and into LA airport to await our connection. We were a little surprised by the airport itself - it had a very temporary feel about it and seem to be just departure gates without any shopping or eating facilities. We had hoped for a ‘tat’ shop, as we haven’t been able to get a sew-on badge in LA, to add to our collection, but there was only a very expensive WHSmith- type shop, which did sell ‘tat’, but not what we were looking for.

Decided to investigate a little further and went down an escalator, signing a different terminal. At the bottom an old chap in a buggy asked where we were going. A little anxious that perhaps we were in the wrong place, we just vaguely said we were having a look around, looking for something to eat as we waited for our flight. At this, he offered to drive us to the next place, down a long corridor. Awesome! So we got a ride on one of those golf cart-buggy things! He dropped us off, directing us up the escalators. We got to the top; there was more choice, but, also, no suitable ‘tat’ shops. We settled for McDonald’s, sharing a double cheeseburger meal, as we weren’t sure what the food arrangements for the flight would be. It wasn’t long before our flight was due to start boarding, so we walked back down the long corridor to wait at our gate.

The gate had filled up considerably - people were clearly ignoring the ‘please do not queue until your group is called’ signs - you are assigned a boarding group, here. I think the plane was a little late arriving as boarding started late, although our actual departure time wasn’t really affected. They began to make announcements about how people in group 4 (us) and 5 may want to take advantage of an additional complimentary checked baggage opportunity - basically, they implied they were concerned about the lack of space and needed less carry on. So we checked our little wheelie case, taking the camera bag out to carry on. Boarding was uneventful and we got settled, snuggling under a complimentary blanket. Again, we had to pay for TV/film. Ben decided to get it again, to finish watching the film, but I thought I’d try to sleep. This turned out not to be so easy, however; I had the travel pillow tucked under my chin, but legroom was minimal. I did doze on and off, and Ben eventually tried to sleep as well.

As we had packed up our stuff last night, when we got up around eight, we were ready very quickly. In preparation for our flight from Vegas, we had tried to sort out our stuff really carefully, even laying out our clothes for today! So, we were ready to leave about nine-ish. Packed up the car and then went to check out. Checkout was very straightforward - the staff were very friendly and we were allowed to keep the key cards, which have beautiful pictures of the canyon on, unlike the slightly less-PG key cards from the Luxor hotel (containing pictures of semi-naked women!).

On the first step of the journey, we drove back through Kaibab National Park. It was very picturesque and we saw a number of birds of prey hovering, with whiteheads. We think they may have been bald eagles. A couple also had white beaks, so we’ll have to look them up when we get home. The journey was straightforward - very straight roads and light traffic. We got to Kingman around 12 PM and stopped for lunch. We went to Denny’s and it was a very friendly and typical small-town diner. I had a salad, which turned out to be vast! Mixed leaves with grilled chicken, apple slices, dried cranberries and glazed pecans, with balsamic vinaigrette - delicious! Ben had a club sandwich with fries, and it had virtually a whole turkey in it, it was so vast. As we hadn’t had breakfast, we decided to treat ourselves to desert. I had pancake puppies - little balls of pancake batter, with syrup for dipping - for $1.99. Ben had a huge chocolate ice-cream sundae, with Oreo cookie chunks and cream - a bargain at $2.99. The whole lot only came to about $25, including a tip. Amazing!

Having had lunch, we crossed over the road to get some petrol. We put in $30 and it didn’t completely fill the tank - it seems a little more expensive to fill up than the previous rental car. Once back on the road, the rest of the journey was really good - more straight roads and easy directions. Once again, we stopped at the Hoover Dam to go up on the bypass bridge to look down to the dam. Although was very hot, it was windy, so the air wasn’t so ‘heavy’ feeling. The view from the Bridge was spectacular and we caught Bruggers on camera again! There was some interesting information about how the bridge was constricted and why - as a bypass to connect Vegas to Phoenix more easily and ease congestion around the dam. We approached Vegas at about 4 PM. We found a petrol station and put in another $15 so that it was full for return. As we headed into Vegas, the directions were leading us towards some particularly heavy traffic, but we recognised where we were, so we diverted, making it back by about 4:20 PM, in plenty of time for our 5 PM deadline.

Up in the Luxor car park, we unloaded the stuff by the door to minimise carrying it in the heat. Ben parked the car, while I waited by the stuff. Going into the hotel, Ben checked the car back in while I joined the queue for the hotel check-in. Ben wasn’t impressed that no one was available to check the car over with him, to authorise that no damage had been done and hence we couldn’t be charged. We dislike the way that they just hold you over a barrel. The check-in to the hotel was also less than impressive. The woman was less than helpful - lacking the necessary skills and communication - and barely told as anything. We went up to the room to dump our stuff, and discovered that we had got a room in the pyramid - with a view over the five pools. As there was no fridge in the room - you could hire one for $25 a day, but we didn’t think this was worthwhile - we collected ice from the ice machine and filled the sink, chilling a bottle of water and Coke - perfect!

We headed down to the casino floor and gambled a bit, and then headed out, to take photos of the hotel at night. We went to the bridge over to the MGM, to take photos down the strip, a slightly different viewpoint from before. It also got the MGM building in, although there was work being done on the main building, so their lights weren’t on.

From here, we went into the Disney Palace, visiting a gift shop, for more ‘tat’ items. However, found some awesome items and ended up going back again to get more gifts! Went to McDonald’s for some tea and then went back to the room to grab the tablet in order to check in online for our flight tomorrow. We headed down to the lobby to get onto the Wi-Fi - the hotel has now sorted Wi-Fi access, but it’s limited to only two hours. We got connected, but struggled to check-in. I had to go to get the charger plug as the battery on the tablet was critically low. Ben tried to get Lorna to help, but it wasn’t happening. We gave up and ended up heading back to our room to phone. I inadvertently called 911 in my attempt to ring out, but eventually succeeded and very helpful woman from United Airlines sorted us out, resolving the issue with our check-in. We finished the evening back in the Luxor, gambling on our favourite blackjack and roulette machines. Though we were up at many points, we took some heavy losses, having gambled big and lost (we are talking about $0.25 machines here!). We called it quits about $40 down.