Return to Oz

Just a quick little hello and goodbye from the both of us. We left you in New York after our trip to Brooklyn for a basketball game and a tour of Radio City Music Hall.

After all that excitement we started to wind down and did some shopping again and just some final looking around.  On our last night in New York City we caught up with a friend from our India travels and walked the High line park with her.  This is an old section of elevated railway tracks in the Meat Packing District that has been converted to a beautiful skyline walk that makes you feel that you are no longer in the thick of it all.  Its a beautiful place to sit and ponder and maybe see some local acts or buskers and get a bite to eat.

After walking the High line we headed back to the hotel for the last minute packing and fretting about whether they would accept our baggage or not.

After getting to the airport we checked our bags in a little overweight but they did accept it.  Checked through the long line for security and headed to the gate to head to San Francisco (the first leg of the home trip).

After a 6 hour flight from New York to San Francisco we wandered through the airport got a sandwich and some nibbles.  We heard them announce that our flight was full so they were cutting down the hand baggage allowance to ensure that they could fit it all in.  So we check in another 2 bags (this time free of charge) and got on our flight.

After a long arse flight from San Francisco to Auckland (with kids in the row behind us yelling most of the way and kicking the back of the seats for the last part of the trip) we  arrived with little sleep under our belts and a little worse for wear.

So we are sitting here in Auckland waiting to board our last flight.  The other end we will pick up our 5 checked bags and clear customs and go home to crash.

We will add some photos up in the next couple of days from our time in New York so please check back!

Love to all

Toot and Gordo
 

Shooting hoops in Brooklyn

So yesterday started our like any other day. Setting an alarm and wishing it was later.  But we couldn't sleep in as we were booked on an NBC studio tour starting at 9:30am.  This was a tour around some of the studios in Rockefeller Centre. We saw studios for Saturday Night Live, Late Nights with Jimmy Fallon and also a studio they film some American football show in.  They also used to film 30 Rock in here as well.  We saw the control room that filters and edits everything that is broadcast by NBC or one of its channels.  We learnt some of the history behind NBC and also the Rockefeller Centre itself.  It was interesting to see the photos of people that built the studios to what they are today and those who have walked the corridors and been behind or in front of the cameras.

After our tour of NBC we did Top of the Rock.  This is going to the 70th floor of the Rockefeller Centre and getting a 360 degree view of Manhattan.  It was a little hazy but could still see all the main things that we wanted to see.  You get a great view of Central Park and a view of the Empire State Building with the New World Trade Centre building in behind it.  It was a different perspective of the buildings than that of the Empire State Building as it is further uptown and you can see things that you don't get to see from the other buildings and vice versa.  Getting to the top is much better organised than The Empire State Building shambles although you still get the odd dumb tourist that cant read signs and will try to get a knife through the metal detector and past security.  We were waiting in line to go through and get our bags scanned and metal detected.  The couple in front of us walked straight past a sign with a picture of a knife with a cross through it (like at every place you go in the US) and both looked really surprised and made out they couldn't understand when the security guy pulled them both aside and told them that they couldn't take their Swiss Army Knives through.  Fair enough!  He said they could throw them out or return to their hotel to leave them there and come back later.  They both still stood there and acted dumb.  He told them again, bin or hotel. Still the husband put it back in his pocket and went through the metal detector again.  Same conversation had until the security guy starting raising his voice and only then did they realise he was serious.  Man some people are dumb.

Once we had got past security and been to the top it was time for us to get some lunch and then do a tour of Broadway.  Our tour guide was an actor (of course) and has done some shows Off Broadway.  We have learnt the difference between an On Broadway Show, and Off Broadway show and an Off Off Broadway show.  Confusing I know.  So an On Broadway show is a venue that has 500 seats or more, an Off Broadway show is a venue that holds between 100-499 seats and an Off Off Broadway show is 99 seats or less. If we learnt nothing else this trip we now know this.  We also heard some history behind some of the venues and theatre in general in New York.  How it all started and some of the behind the stage stories about some of the shows.

After all our excitement on Broadway we headed back to the hotel to get ready before we headed over to Brooklyn.  We were going to see an NBA game.  We saw a game between the Brooklyn Netts and Boston Celtics.  It was an awesome experience and our seats we pretty close.  Glad we weren't in the nosebleed section.  The place was huge! Part of half time entertainment they send out the Netts girls and their mascot and throw (or shoot in the case of the mascot) Brooklyn Netts t-shits into the crowd, it was kinda cool.   Again we got carded when buying a beer and then when Gordo went to go and get the second beer got denied.  She was told that they have a rule at the Barclay's Centre (where the game was) that you have to have a US id or your passport.  Yeah right, coz carrying your passport around NY is such a great idea and all.  So after a few angry words from Gordo telling they guy exactly what she thought of this she headed around the corner to the other place who were quite happy to serve her and accept the South Australian drivers license.   The guy who did giver her beer was suitably impressed that the license was all the way from South Australia.  Problem solved, Gordo now had her beer.  In all the excitement of this beer story let me tell you that Brooklyn won a close game and came out on top by 2 points.  We also saw our busking mates the Afrobats from Central Park who are also the half time and any time out break entertainment on court for Brooklyn.  It was kind of cool that we had seen them before.  As we were about to leave of course two girls in the crowd asked if we could take their photo for them.  Of course they were Aussies as well.  We obviously looked trustworthy.  Haha if only they knew us. Once the game was over it was back on the subway to head back uptown to the hotel and go to bed.

So a little sleep in today as it was a late night last night and had been a busy day.  We started off our day by heading to Radio City Music Hall, home to the Rockettes.  We met a real live Rockette also.  She told us about the requirements to even audition to become a Rockette.  You must be proficient in tap, Jazz, classical ballet as well as be within a height range which is between 5 foot 6 and 5 foot ten and a half inches.  This is to keep the illusion when on stage that they are all the same height. We did a tour of this amazing old theatre which was opened December 27th 1932.  This place is huge and has been restored back to its former glory.  Unfortunately due to money shortage in the 1970's it closed its doors and didn't reopen until 1999.  This was after a $70 million refurb.  Thankfully it has been restored to its former glory and is decorated in the original art deco style that it opened its doors with originally.  They are currently putting the stage together for the Radio City Christmas Spectacular.  When the stage was originally designed it was state of the art.  In all the refurb that happened the stage was still considered ahead of its time and that was 60 years later.  It has an a amazing hydraulic system that can raise and lower different parts of the stage.  The US aircraft carriers from WW2 had their decks designed on the hydraulic system used in Radio City Music Hall.  The hydraulics here were monitored by security during the war so that nobody could take photos etc and feed information to the enemy.  The original brass panel that runs the hydraulic stage is still in use today.  The seating capacity is very close to 6000 and they can add seats for major productions that makes the capacity 6200. We sat in some of the seats up the back and let me tell you that there would not be a bad seat in the house.  Everyone gets an unobstructed view and the acoustics are brilliant.

After this amazing tour we headed towards Columbus Circle and Gordo bought some new sneakers.  Very nice and feels like walking on pillows.  We then did some walking around the Upper West Side and saw a few locations that were used in the filming of You're Got Mail and I am sure a few more things.  After all this walking we got some soup for dinner and headed back to the hotel.

Tomorrow we will walk the other side of Central Park and see the Upper East Side and also hopefully catch up with a girl we met while travelling in India who lives in New York. We will do our last minute souvenir shopping and then the dreaded culling and packing.  Til then.......

The Villages of Manhattan

So yesterday started out like any other day.  Set the alarm, faff around for half an hour and then finally decided to get up and shower.  We decided it was a perfect day to spend walking around Central Park.  Being a beautiful Sunday morning there were plenty of people around going for runs, riding, taking their kids for a walk and just generally hanging  around the place.  

We walked around and went to places such as Strawberry Fields and saw the Imagine memorial for John Lennon and saw his apartment building that he was killed in front of.  We went from there to a few sights that have been used in filming for things such as Law and Order SVU and a few other movies etc.  We saw some really entertaining buskers called the Afrobats and an amazing group of singers.  After watching the busking we headed towards the Central Park zoo but decided not to go in as Alex the lion, Melman the giraffe and Gloria the hippo from Madagascar were not there.

After walking in the park, taking some photos and eating from a hot dog vendor we headed back to the hotel to unfortunately get the laundry and go and do that.  We had been a little lazy on sat night and not done it which still meant it had to be done. We put the washing in the machine and sat outside in the sun to read a book while it all washed.  Once clean we popped it in the dryer and went back to reading in the sun.  As boring as doing washing is, it was nice to sit in the sun and read a book. Even if it was on the side of the street with lots of people.  It was at least good for people watching.

Once washing was completed it was time to head back to the hotel and get ready for our second Broadway experience.  This time we were off to see The Lion King.  This was amazing.  It is impossible to explain how well this was done and do it justice.  If you ever get a chance to see a Broadway show and this is playing, go and see it.  The music was amazing, the actors and singers brilliant and the whole show just worked so well.  Its the sort of show that makes the hairs on your arms stand up and tears well in your eyes.

After The Lion King it was back to the hotel to sleep and rest up for another day.

Today we did lots of walking.  We started the day a little slow and once we were off there was no stopping us.  We walked to the subway station and caught a train down to Union Square which is at the top of Greenwich Village and walked around a small farmers market and then made our way to Washington Square Park.  After taking a few photos here we then headed towards the West Village to the Brownstone used in the filming of Sex and The City for Carries apartment.  Of course due to the number of people that visit this and do dumb things like ring the bell etc, the owners have now chained off the steps and put signs up saying please don't sit on the step, ring the bell and please keep the noise down (this was not up almost 10 years ago when Toot was here). The next street over is allegedly where Sarah Jessica Parker actually lives now but no celebrity sighting, dammit.

From here we made our way over to Little Italy for lunch and then Chinatown for a look around. We ate at a little Italian restaurant for lunch and then got a cannoli from another place for dessert. The sign out the front says the best on the planet but we beg to differ.  The cannolis that we used to get at Imma and Marios at home were so much better.  We miss the little lady that made these and wishes that she was still making them.

After walking around here we went to look at the East Village and Alphabet City and walked through some dodgy looking streets and skirted the edge of Tompkins Square Park.  We looked in and thought better of it.  We continued walking and decided a change in scenery would be good so we jumped back on the subway and headed back up town.  We got off the subway and it was time to visit Tiffany and Co.   Of course a couple of purchases were made by Toot (one to replace her lost bracelet from her 21st and another because she was celebrating her 30th). I must say that they are lovely and sure she will enjoy them immensely.  We did another walk down 5th Avenue and then headed back to the hotel with a stop on the way to pick up some soup for dinner. 

We currently have a couple arguing in the room across from us.  It could be a long night, she is a screamer. Here's to hoping there is no make up sex later this evening.

I would like to use this time to mention there are no photos again as the internet is painfully slow in this hotel.  If you are lucky and we have fast internet in the airport on the way home you may get some then, if not you will have to wait for our return.

City Rankings: 

1. San Francisco / Stowe (Vermont)

These two get a tie for first as San Francisco is an amazing city and Stowe was our favourite small town.  




2. Boston/ Washington D.C. / Bar Harbor (Maine) 

Boston and D.C get a tie for second as they are hard to separate. They are both beautiful cities and so easy to get around.  Bar Harbor was our second favourite small town.




3. Anaheim 4. Las Vegas
5. Niagara Falls / North Conway 6. Los Angeles
7. Albany (only got a mention due to the cheesecake factory) 

Portland hard to say as didn't see much of it but the B&B was amazing.

New York again has a separate mention as it is a place  that we both love.  There is so much here but so many people and so little space.  There are beautiful things as well as the tired areas but it is great to see the whole picture. We can't place New York in the above table as it has so many different elements that make it up and is too hard to put in.  But we both love it.

Empire State of Mind

Firstly we are still alive.  Thank you for your concern. I know you haven't heard from us for some time but we have been busy.

So we left you with an image of us eating dinner at the fancy diner with fancy prices and us doing laundry in the Big Apple.  Since that time, we have seen and done a lot.  Just ask the layer of our feet that are peeling off and the rest of our poor old bodies.

So our first day out exploring took us to see a pop up free concert of in Times Square with none other than Paul McCartney. For those younger players at home, one of "The Beatles" members. We happened to hear on the radio while in a souvenir shop that he would be playing in 15 minutes.  Lucky we were about 2 blocks from there.  We managed to stand on a small wall and see over most of the crowd.  He played about 4 songs from his new album and then left.  It was a great experience and one we certainly weren't expecting and wont forget in a hurry.

After the pop up performance we headed to Toys R Us in Times Square to have a little look around, Gordo at Lego and Toot at the Barbies then discovered the Wonka section on the way out.  Whoops, we may have made a little purchase, or maybe a big one. Toot was a little disappointed with the Barbie range and stomped and made her way to the Cabbage Patch section. This was a point in our day that made us feel old.  It was discovered that Original Cabbage Patch dolls are now considered vintage as they are celebrating their 30th year.  Does this also mean that Toot is vintage now that she is 30?! One must ask this question.

After Toys R Us we headed to get some lunch and continue our adventures. We purchased some Broadway tickets to see The Lion King and also Annie. After ticket purchases we did some wondering around Times Square including Hersheys World, M &M's World and some general souvenir purchases.  After this we did some more shopping and Toot bought her new pretty watch.  She loves it and has been eyeing it off since LA but needed to make an informed decision so has been looking since then at others just in case. 

After watch purchases we headed up to get a glimpse of Central Park. We only walked along the South edge of it to get a quick look and then headed for Fifth Avenue and The Plaza hotel (which was featured in Home Alone 2; Lost in New York). This was all covered in scaffolding for cleaning as are a lot of things at the moment. Also a few closed for renovations or because of the damn government shutdown. We walked across the road to FAO Schwartz , which is the toy store featured in the movie Big, with the giant walk on keyboard. After toy shopping we walked down 5th Ave and checking out a few stores we headed back to the hotel after grabbing a couple of slices of pizza on the way through to eat for dinner.  We had a shorter day as we were pretty tired and slept in and didn't rush too much.

Yesterday (Friday) we headed back to Times Square via and  headed to the Subway station and purchased our ticket for the week and took the subway to South Ferry at Battery Park.  From here we wandered the tired and run down area along the shore to take a photo of the Statue of Liberty and decide whether we would take the water taxi our there or wait for a day that wasn't raining and chilly. We decided to see what the weather was doing and headed around to Pier 17 to get a look at the Brooklyn Bridge.  At this stage it was getting shittier and colder and wetter so we headed for Wall Street instead and opted to take the boat road another day. We walked up Wall Street (which is actually quite tiny) and looked for the Charging Bull to have our photos with. We found the Bull ( the symbol of aggressive financial optimism and prosperity) and took some photos.  We then made our way over to the 9/11 Tribute Centre and Memorial.  It was fascinating to hear some of the stories of survivors or from people who lost family and friends and to also see things that were recovered from the sight.  It was very confronting in a way that we both remember where we were and what we were doing when we heard the news of the disaster.  I guess a piece of history that we remember.

The weather had started to improve but by this stage we decided to finish up at this end of the island for the day and head back uptown to get some dinner and get ready for our show.  We got our epic sandwich from Carnegie Deli and headed back to the hotel to eat this before heading out to see Annie.  This was cool as it was obviously set in New York back in the 30's and it set the mood in a way.  This was our first Broadway show and we weren't disappointed. It also had Anthony Warlow playing Mr Warbucks. After this finished it was time to call it a day and head back from some sleep.

Today was a big day.  We started off by heading to the banks of the Hudson River to jump on a water taxi to take us around the lower half of Manhattan. While on board we heard a few details about the history of Manhattan and also just some general info on the place.  We got off at Pier 17 and tried to find our way to walk the Brooklyn Bridge.  One would think this was quite an easy task as the bridge is massive.  Having said that the sign posting leaves a lot to be desired. While trying to find our way to the bridge we saw a some filming happening.  Not sure what it was for but it looked kind of busy and exciting.  Typical no stars or film sets in LA but we have seen filming trailers left, right and centre in NY.

We eventually found our way onto the bridge and walked across all the way to Brooklyn.  We ate lunch (from a tasty roach coach) by the water in Brooklyn before jumping back on the water taxi to take us out to the Statue of Liberty.  Of course due to the dumb government here we were unable to disembark when we got there as it is closed.  But we were able to take some good photos (without lots of people in them) from the boat and they also set the scene and mood by playing some NY themed music.

After we got off the water taxi we decided to finish our lunch which sounds easier than it was.  The wind felt like Hurricane Sandy had returned.  We sat down at a table on the water front and set up our corn chips and salsa only for it to all take off in a  massive gust of wind that coated Gordos pants in coke and Toots handbag in salsa and guacamole. After cleaning this up we made our way to the Empire State building and waited in line.

Did we mention that its a long weekend here? Yep, busy! It took us over an hour just to get to the 86th floor observation deck (from the time we got to the building).  I bet this didn't happen to Meg Ryan and Tom Hanks in Sleepless is Seattle. That would have made for a different movie I would say.  Once we got up there we spent about 30 mins taking pics and looking around. Both glad we waited in the line though.

After the Empire State Building we went to Penn Station and Madison Square Garden.  This was all good but as I said earlier there are a few things shut for renovations, this is one of them.  Bugger, it opens back up the week after we leave. We jumped back on the subway and headed to Grand Central Station. We got off the train to change lines in Times Square only to find out that they had closed that line for the weekend (yep more closures) so we once again braved the massive crowds at street level in Times Square and walked to Grand Central.  But before we did this we stopped at the Discovery Museum to check out "The Art of Brick."  This was like Gordos dream exhibition.  All sorts of statues, pictures and other stuff all made form Lego blocks.  Very cool.

We headed to Grand Central Station and went inside and took some photos and decided to head back to the hotel and get some dinner on the way.  Along the way we walked past Rockefeller Centre and had a nosey (we will return to do "Top of the Rock" in a couple of days).  They opened the ice skating rink there today and there were people down there skating.

We decided on Chinese for dinner tonight as take away and were both upset t find that it didn't come in the typical white Chinese boxes that are on every show you see and that we have come to expect.  Having said that the service was fast and the food was good.

On that note its time to say good night.  I would like mention at this point that there are no photos as the Internet in this hotel is somewhat patchy and a little slow at best.  You will have to wait until we return for photos.  Unless we get a night where we have the time to sit while they load.

Thanks for reading.  Just a heads up there may not be an entry tomorrow night as we are off to "The Lion King."

Til then!
 

From Beantown to the Big Apple

So again you get two days for the price of one. Don’t say we don’t give you a bargain.  By the time we shopped til we dropped yesterday and repacked to head to NY we were knackered and writing just wasn’t possible.

So yesterday we started off with a tour of Fenway Park (home to the Red Sox baseball team).  Fenway is the oldest baseball stadium in the US.  It is 101 years old. It was great to see behind the scenes and what it is like with nobody in it.  We saw the grounds being maintained (they hand mow the grass) and heard all about the history of the place and the legends behind the game.  It was really quite interesting. As part of the tour we got to also see the visitors change rooms (not very big at all) and heard about the conditions in which the visitors were hosted.  For the first five years of the change rooms they had no hot water at all. Poor players!

After our tour we did some souvenir shopping at the team store and picked up a few items.  From here it was back to the hotel to dump said goods.  When we left the hotel again we headed for Beacon Hill (the cute little posh area of the city) via some farmers markets in Copley Square. We meandered our way through the cute little back streets of Beacon Hill and took many a photo.

From Beacon Hill we headed back to Quincy Markets to have a little look at some more shoes, coz Toots 14 new pairs isn’t quite enough(she is allegedly making up for all the trips to Asian countries where she can’t get skis to fit her clodhoppers, or so she says).  I would like to mention that the scarves she was collecting in India and Turkey were much easier to pack and took up less space in the case. But hey you only live once.

Once we looked at the markets we headed to the very far end of Tremont Street in search of some more shops.  We then headed back towards the hotel via Boylston St (the finish line of the Boston Marathon) and Newbury St to do some last minute checks of shops.  They are still doing building to repair the damage caused by the Marathon bombings.

We arrived back at the hotel and rested for about half an hour to rest our poor little feet and then headed for a farewell to Boston meal at the cheesecake factory.  Dinner was delicious and we got a piece of cheesecake to chair to take back to the hotel to eat while packing. Once packing was done and cheesecake consumed it was time for bed.

This morning we got ready and checked out of the hotel.  We got a cab (not sure how he fit our bags in but he managed) and headed to South Station to catch the Megabus to New York City.  This Megabus is a nonstop service from Boston to New York and cost us the huge fee of $15 total which included 4 seats for us.  We had to get extra seats to ensure that they would pack our luggage.  This was also beneficial as it meant that we had 2 seats each to spread out over which was certainly used well.  As we were boarding the bus Toot got in a slight argument with some foreigners that were queue jumping. She could have beaten them over the head with one of her 14 pairs of shoes. They of course didn’t know this and were lucky they backed down when they did. Don’t upset a Ranga!

The bus ride took about 4.5 hours (the longest part seemed to be arriving in the Manhattan traffic).  We were dumped on a random corner in downtown Manhattan.  From here it was time to hail our first NY yellow cab.  The driver was cranky as it was going to be a short fair but too long for us to manage with 3 large suitcases.  He wedged our bags in the cab and headed for the hotel.  He did get a tip for getting us there quick and pretty much in one piece and all our bags made it in the same trip.

Once we settled in to the hotel we headed out to find some food and a Laundromat.  We ate at a fancy diner (with fancy prices) but the food was tasty, decent serves, quick and was worth it.  After dinner we got some more laundry detergent and headed to the Laundromat.  We remembered our books and bag of quarters and almost passed as locals.  The damn accent is a dead give-away every time.  After being in New York for no more than 4 hours Gordo has received two “Go Sox” cheers as she is wearing her new Red Sox jumper.

 

Laundry done and hanging in our make shift Chinese laundry and we are now settling in for the night.

Til next time……..

PS Last stop before heading home, getting a little sad now.  Will you miss us if we don’t return?

Backstroke through Beantown!

Sorry you didn't get a blog yesterday but we really couldn't be bothered!

Yesterday we swam our way around the city of Boston just like a couple of ducks!  Quack quack! Yep, it was wet.  I guess we really can't complain, we have managed 4 weeks of prefect weather leading up to this.  We started our day by jumping on board "The T" or subway.  We made our way to the start of the old town trolley tour and jumped on board.  Seemed that this was a good morning for this as it was too wet to walk anyway.  This tour lasted for about 2 hours in total and took us to some of the sights around Boston.  These include the north end also known as Little Italy, MIT, Boston Common, Fenway Park (home of the Boston Red Sox baseball team), Cheers (yep from the show), The Boston Public Gardens and a few more.  After staying on the bus for the whole time, we got off the bus and walked across to the Quincy Markets and Fanueil Hall and had some lunch and a touch of shopping.

Once we had eaten and shopped we headed back to the T and jumped on board a train to Harvard.  When we arrived here it was bucketing down but we decided that as we were here, we would take a tour of the campus run by a current Sophomore student. It was interesting to get a little of the history behind the place and understand what the building we were looking at actually were, also a few fun facts and rituals.  Once we finished the tour we of course had to buy a jumper to prove we had been there.


Once we had finished the tour we jumped back on the T and headed back to the hotel  We dropped our shopping off and dried ourselves a little before heading out to get a pizza for dinner which we ate back at the hotel while watching a movie.  Once we had watched two movies and consumed too much food, we decided that we really couldn't be bothered wiring about our day.  So again you are getting two days in one. We would also like to add the excuse that it was too wet to take photos yesterday so it wouldn't have been overly entertaining for you without        pictures to see how much fun we are having.

 Today's events included walking the Freedom Trail, walking through Boston Common and Public Gardens, doing a short tour of the seaport area and also going to the observatory deck of one of the Marriott hotels near the wharf to get some good views of the city. We also walked back to the hotel via a few quaint little Boston streets and along Newbury Street (a street with lots of shopping but also can be a little pricey).  I am sure they were going to ask to see our credit cards first if we entered some of the shops along there.

 

 The photo above shows the observation deck we were on today. It is the green railing above the clock in the tower. A photo taken from the top can be seen right.

Did we mention that it pissed down again today (you cant tell from the photos as the weather changes so fast here that of course it is sunny in them) as we got off the T and we had to buy an umbrella from 7Eleven and one from the tourist office in Boston Common. Yes we both have rain jackets but that doesn't help the pants.

Again with dinner tonight we decided to cheat the system of tipping and grabbed takeaway again to eat in the hotel room while watching another movie.  












This Dog sat and watched the squirrels play for what seemed an eternity.  He barely moved a muscle but seemed to be very attentive.











There was a book written that is famous here about a mother duck walking her ducklings through the Boston Public Gardens.  As a recognition of this book the statues of them have been erected in the Gardens so that children can come and see them.

Just a touch of Hocus Pocus

So again you get two days of our activities for the price of one.  Yesterday morning was so mentally taxing that by the end of the day we couldn’t muster the energy to write about it.

It all started with a lovely breakfast in Portland and our very cute little B&B.  We left there at 8:30am to be on the road and have the car back in Boston by 12noon although we had to drop our hefty suitcases at the hotel before dropping off the car.  So Boston traffic sucks!  After taking a few wrong turns we got to the hotel to drop the bags off.  That was all good.  It was the “10 min” drive from the hotel to the car depot that was the hard part.  You would think that driving this distance would be all good.  Not so my friends.  A street we needed to go down was blocked off and not sign posted early enough (and the GPS was running a little slow, obviously feeling the pressure too), we had to fill up the car, we couldn’t find a gas station even though we had looked them up earlier in the day, we were both busting for the loo, we were running close to the deadline.  We at this stage were tossing up whether to pay extra for dropping the car off with half a tank, paying a late fee with a full tank or paying a late fee, no petrol and also a soilage fee as there are no toilets anywhere either.  So, Boston traffic, busting for the loo, no gas stations and running the clock down to nothing you will be pleased to know that we returned the car with a full tank, on time and only half our bladders empty (Toot was sacrificed as Gordo was driving).  So by the time we dropped the car back, Toot was almost crying because she needed to pee so badly, there are no public toilets open and the lady in 7 Eleven was a bitch and had no idea and was of no help.

The day could only improve from here, you would think.  We went to buy a map of Boston, as I mentioned the bitch in 7 Eleven was useless, so we went to look at the hop on and off buses which got us a free map and our next couple of days organised.  We booked a return ferry trip to Salem which also got us on the hop on and off bus there.  After all of this was organised we decided to walk back to the hotel and check in.  Of course our back pack with rain jackets and Toots jumper were back at the hotel with our stuff.  Yep, it rained the whole way back.  A 45 minute walk with no rain jacket, no umbrella and only Gordo with a jumper on. 

We finally got back to the hotel and checked in.  Only to find out that there is no internet in the rooms unless you pay $15 per day, yep that bites.  I know first world problems, but in this day and age in a Hilton hotel in Boston and no free wifi.  Even our shanty hotels in the middle of India could provide us with this service. Hence you now get two days for the price of one(of our blog).

Once checked in and dried off we decided to have an afternoon off and pretty much spent all day (from 3:30pm) sitting down doing nothing.  It was quite nice.  We decided to venture out looking for dinner (did we mention another cheesecake factory across the road). Of course there was a massive line for a table so we went to the Asian place upstairs instead.  We would have been better off waiting for a table at the cheesecake factory.  The service at the Chinese place was shit and slow. At least the food tasted ok.  After dinner we found a supermarket nearby to get some fruit and yogurt for breakfast for the next few days. After this it was time to head back and get ready for our trip to Salem the next day.

So this morning we got up and had breakfast then caught the subway to the ferry wharf.  Once we figured out the subway it was all good. We got to the wharf with 10 mins to spare (it was looking close at one stage) and hopped on board.  The ferry ride takes about 55 mins out through the harbour of Boston and through the islands out past Marble Head and onto Salem.  Once there we hopped on board the trolley to give us a tour and hear about the history of the place.  Then once we had done this it was time to get off and go into a few things such as the Witch dungeon, the Witch house and also look through the memorial for the 19 people who were hanged and the one crushed to death for Witchcraft in 1692.  It was all quite fascinating hearing about all the hysteria that happened back then.  Believe it or not all the Witch trials make up only a very tiny portion of the history of this place (9 months out of 386 years).  It was good to hear the history of the other stuff as well as the Witch trials.  Due it being the month of October, Salem has gone a little crazy with all things Halloween.  It started with a parade on Thursday night being the 1^st of October and will end with an extra 100,000 people visiting for the 31^st October to wrap up the celebrations and do some trick or treating.  Before boarding the ferry back to Boston we visited the oldest candy store in America.  We of course had to purchase so we could sample and tell you all about it.  It’s no Haighs but it is tasty none the less.

 

 

Once we returned to Boston, we boarded the subway back to the cheesecake factory for an early dinner.  There of course was a massive line but only a 15 min wait.  They seem to have the turning over of tables down to a fine art.  Very organised in what seems chaos to those who don’t work there. We had dinner and got a piece of Snickers cheesecake to take back to the hotel room with us for later this evening.  We did a little browsing in the shopping centre there and then returned back to hotel to turn in for the evening.  Tomorrow more investigating of Boston and all it has to offer us.