DC

We've only had one and a bit days in DC and already have walked a total of about 15 miles (or 24km) around the city! Unlike New York the subway system isn't as extensive or conveniently close to our hotel, so we've been deciding to just walk everywhere, with pretty tiring consequences... but it's all grist for the mill, especially as Yosemite isn't far away now.

Last night when we arrived from New York it was already about 7pm, as soon as we got into the room it was a relief to see that the lack of space restriction meant we could actually walk around without tripping over ourselves! And finally some free in-room wifi too. Unfortunately laundry service prices were still astronomical (US$3 for a pair of socks, US$8 for one pair of pants) so this morning we had to find another laundromat, but that worked out okay.

Dinner was at a tapas bar called Jaleo which was packed, we had to wait for a table but it was worth it because everything was delicious! Afterwards we decided to take a look at some of the monuments in the dark, first we went up to Capitol Hill, and then all the way down to the Washington Monument, which was actually quite a walk... we also intended to have a look at the White House at night but it was so well hidden behind the trees (and we didn't really know at the time where to look) that we missed it entirely. By the time we got back to the hotel it was about midnight and we were exhausted, little did we know how much further we would walk the following day...

The following day (today) first thing we did was drop off the laundry, and also grab some breakfast - I tried cheese and grits for the first time, which to be honest was a bit bland by itself, but I'm still glad I got to try it... it was raining pretty miserably the entire time, so we headed into the Smithsonian's Air & Space museum. It was packed (especially with school groups) but still worth the visit, it was funny to see how they had hastily corrected all the Pluto references in the Solar System exhibition, everything was in need of a bit of an update really! But probably the coolest thing was seeing things like the actual propeller from the first Wright brothers' plane, actual things used by astronauts in the Apollo mission, and I also touched an actual rock from the moon (worn smooth by many visitors past)!

After we finished we were pleasantly surprised that it'd cleared up outside, and was actually quite balmy. It was time to collect our laundry so we did that, dropped it back off at the hotel, and then headed back out with better directions to find the White House. We managed to snap photos from both the rear and the front, and then went to look at the Lincoln, FDR (Franklin Delano Roosevelt) and Jefferson Memorials.

Overall, I've been very impressed by how well the neo-classical architecture (as James informed me) has been executed in DC, the wide expanses and grand monuments are a complete contrast from NY, and reminds me a lot of Vienna. Also, it was cool to see the famous speeches from the various presidents carved into their monuments, even though we weren't American, a lot of it is still universally relevant, especially seeing FDR's quotes and today's wars and economic crisis.

Tomorrow we'll look at the Natural History part of the Smithsonian and probably just take it a bit easier, given how much we've already done in DC.

New York Sum-up

As some of you may have seen on my Facebook, it's been unseasonally cold in the East Coast lately, in Boston it was as low as 12 degrees Celsius and overcast or raining interchangeably, same in New York. For most of our time it's been reasonably okay, but yesterday the skies let loose and it poured continuously for the entire day - really helpful when you're taking a ferry ride to the Statue of Liberty... Basically we got out, took some photos as best I could under the umbrella (shielding us from the sideways-rain) and then hurried back to the ferry and the mainland.

However, not to worry, we already got some great (clear) shots of the UNESCO site (another one ticked off the list!) from our Staten Island Ferry ride and the Circle Line cruise. Ironically it's still overcast but at least not raining today, but ah well.

At the moment we're just waiting in the hotel until closer to the time that our bus to Washington leaves from Penn Station, I'm using the 'public' free internet computer in the hotel's 'business centre' to post this entry, which also explains why we haven't had much of a chance to upload photos yet - this has a 30 min time limit and I inevitably have to relinquish this before I can organise the photos properly. Nevermind, the Washington hotel supposedly has free in-room wifi, so hopefully that's going to be able to cope with some uploads!

Some things I want to note down before I forget about our time in New York, in no particular order:

• Saw a rat in the subway tracks one time, but heaps smaller than the ginormous one we saw in Pondicherry, India!
  
  
• I managed to tick two of the three (?) NY food icons off my list - a pastrami sandwich at Katz's, a lox bagel at Barney Greengrass. The hour plus line at Grimaldi's kinda put me off waiting for that famous Brooklyn pizza though, maybe next time.
  
  
• If you ever come to New York for 3+ days, I'd definitely recommend getting some sort of New York Pass/multiple-attraction discount pass and also an equivalent period unlimited ride Metropass, which works on both the subway and the buses. The New York pass basically meant we got about a 50% discount off all the attractions we went to, not to mention help us avoid a few queues, too.
  
  
• Pedestrians and cars pay zero attention to each other, I was led to believe jaywalking was some sort of henious crime here, but everyone in NY does it pretty much at every crossing, and cars don't wait for you even if the pedestrian light is green - if they're trying to turn and they see a gap, they just go.
  
  
• Every single American tourist in New York can't go around without wearing the 'I *heart* NY' t-shirts. Once we even saw a group of about 30 people in the exact same one, it was a bit weird... We've managed to get through the entire trip without purchasing a single kitschy NY souvenir, which I'm pleased about. I was somewhat tempted by the personalised 'CLARA' items (fake NY license plates, keychains) since they usually never have my name on personalised items, but at US$6.99 for a small keychain I managed to resist.
  

Right, someone else is waiting to use this computer now so I better go, watch out for some photos soon!

All malled-out

Yesterday I managed to go through pretty much all the stores in Natick Mall and surrounding area and only spent about $2! There were all sorts of stores I'd heard of but never been to, including Macy's, Neiman Marcus, Sears, JCPennys, Gap, Nordstrom, Crate & Barrel, etc. Also, there were the specialty places like the Lego store, complete with candy-bin like dispensers of different coloured bricks, and of course a proper Apple store (not just a Magnum Mac).

Unfortunately I had more time to kill at the mall than I really needed, while I waited for James to finish his last day of work-related stuff, so... my first visit will probably also be my last - but I didn't come here for the shopping (definitely not why James agreed to take me along, anyway!).

By the time we got into our new hotel closer to town, we wandered around the Faneuil Hall Marketplace area before having dinner, which was not too bad - it was the after-dinner drinks that was interesting though... We were wandering around and ended up at an Irish pub, as soon as we walked it we could see it was a local joint, and the barwoman immediately asked for our IDs - even though we were 25, 26 and 44 (James' boss)! We pulled out our NZ driver's licenses but obviously she just wanted us to leave because she said it wasn't good enough...

Anyway, so we wandered off into the Hard Rock Cafe instead. That was also funny because we were told to go through to the bar (since we said we didn't want dinner), we went through and since there wasn't really space for all three of us to sit at the bar we sat down at a nearby table, and then a panicked waiter came over and started berating us for not getting seated by the proper person, and basically told us to get up... We ended up at the bar in the end, but not without some drama!

In the end, I guess the weird thing is how rule-conscious people seem to be here, and they freak out (loudly!) when you don't do what they expect... I guess we'll just have to pick it up as we go along!

Good Ol' Catholicism

Alfonso Guest House, Panaji, Goa

The term 'sleeper bus' is a bit of an oxymoron in India, what with the way they drive here... Since it's festival time (again - these are turning out to be quite a hassle when travelling), the train from Mumbai to Goa was pretty full, so we decided to opt for an overnight bus instead. We were booked on an 'upper berth', basically kind of like the top bunk of a bunk bed, which was alright for me, but was obviously not designed with Caucasian statures in mind. Also, what with two daypacks with us on the bunk, it was a pretty tight squeeze to even lie still, let alone move around during the night. Ah well, I guess it was still better than that bus trip from Budapest to Prague we had last year, when it was just a bus with normal seats and hardly any leg room.

We got off at Panaji, the capital, and were immediately inundated with people asking if we needed a taxi. This persisted throughout the day, even after we had dropped off our big bags at the guest house and were just wandering around the town. Apart from that though, Goa's been a refreshing change from the rest of India. I have yet to see any cows wandering the streets! I don't have to watch the ground every single step of the way to ensure I don't step in cow poo/someone's spit/etc! In fact, I even saw a store advertising beef...! I probably still wouldn't shop there because who knows how dodgy it might be, but nice to know that it's at least there... And there's not so many beggars! Although there was some lady walking along who suddenly either 1) asked for 5 rupees because her friend was carrying a baby, or 2) offered to sell James her friend's baby for 5 rupees. All we really understood was 'baby' and '5 rupees'. And neither of them looked needy at all... I still don't really understand the whole asking-random-strangers-for-money thing, especially when they don't even look like they need it.

During sunset we went on this river cruise thing where there was an emcee/DJ/singer trying to get people to dance on this stage, complete with flashing disco lights and synthesizer music, it was super camp, I got a few good videos which I'll post online when I get back... The view itself from the boat wasn't that spectacular, but the hilarity factor and the campness of the whole thing made it all worthwhile.

Unfortunately since today's a Sunday, pretty much everything was closed (like ye olde days in New Zealand) but should be back to normal tomorrow, when we plan to explore Old Goa a bit, before heading south to some nice (hopefully not polluted) beaches!