Boston

Our trip from New York to Boston was fairly uneventful apart from our encounter with an Easter Island head....

Once in Boston we followed two tours, one to see the sights of the city, cradle of the American Revolution, like the South Church where a public meeting resulted in the Boston Tea Party :

The North End, an Italian neighbourhood that was home to the Boston mafia for many years
No 98 Prince Street, where the FBI finally busted the Boston Godfather :
Then we went on a tour of the redevolped harbour area :
...and of course we've been hanging out with Bonnie and Paul, our hosts here in Boston :
And that, as they say, is more or less that. After 26 days we've crossed a continent, had some of great experiences and made lots of memories that will last a lifetime. We hope you've enjoyed sharing it with us, and we promise to upload "USA 2010 : The Movie" once we're back home.

New York

We started out with a boat trip around the bay seeing Elis Island, Statue of Liberty and Brooklyn Bridge. We had another great guide that was 100% gusto for a full hour, but not in a cheesy annoying way. He gave us some great information including the fact the Brooklyn Bridge was built by the worlds first female Civil Engineer, her husband designed it and when he died she took over.

We then enjoyed some minuture golf, and Christopher got a hole in one from this shot through the windmill!
We went to the Guggenheim museum which was a fantastic building but we were not impressed by the exhibition There is no rant, it just didn't speak to me, or Fiona, or - presumably - the woman who we discovered asleep in one of the seating areas either .
Then we wandered through Central Park, which was huge and also full of people on a sunny Sunday, but we found a shady spot to relax in.

Philidelphia to New York

Our first stop on the way from Philidelphia to New York was the site of Edison's lab where the majority of his inventions were generated. It did contain the worlds largest light bulb! It was a small locally run museum and the guide knew A LOT about Edison. The best thing was hearing demonstrations of the old gramophone equipment.

Then as we arrived in New York we visited Frank Sinatra's birth place, which is just a gap between the buildings these days.
We went to the worlds biggest working clock on the New Jersey coast. Christopher liked the clock.
I liked the views of New York.
I then drove through New York, which was not that bad. But I think I have got used to barging into traffic by now. On the way we kindly allowed David Hockney to cross the road, but it was just the back of a man in a yellow hat by the time we got the camera out.

We went straight up to the Empire State Building as we didn't want to spend our main visit day queueing... and boy did we queue. It was nice to see New York from above, however. If we had more days in New York it would have been better to view the city after we had explored it - however it was beautiful weather, if a bit windy.
Then we wandered up to Times Square

Philadelphia

Philadelphia! Birthplace of America! Home of the Liberty Bell! ...and, of course, destination of loads of school trips! While in Philadelphia we decided that the difference between American and British school trips, or perhaps between school trips now and "in our day" is that, while we would muck about on the bus and on the way to the places we would visit, once we entered a musuem or started a tour, we would be silent and respectful, whereas all the school groups we've encountered here continue screeching and acting up all the way round the exhibitions etc.
The Liberty Bell - a bell that may, or may not, have been rung on 4 July 1776. As well as the Bell, the Independence quarter also houses Independence Hall (about which more hereafter) and the Constitution Center. This was a very useful run through of American history as it relates to the Constitution, and as most everything that happened in American history related to the Constitution it covers all the important points. It is also home to "Freedom Rising!" a theatrical lecture on how wonderful the Constitution (and America in general) is, which ended with the lecturer asking "what will you do with your freedom?" The effect of which was somewhat undercut by a small voice near where we were sitting saying : "nothing".
Fiona used her freedom to get up close and personal with the baseball mascot, the Phillie Phanatic.
For lunch we travelled to 9th Street to sample the world famous Philly Cheesesteak Sandwich, as prepared by longtime rivals Geno's and Pat's. These photos were taken at random but, by happy coincidence, it turned out that Fiona preferred Geno's sandwich, while Christopher preferred Pat's.
We then returned to the Independence quarter and visited Independence Hall or the Philadelphia State House as it is properly known, and would have been called by those who signed the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution here. Our guide rivalled Geraldine and the bloke from the Meramac Caverns for title of "best guide ever" with his sing song delivery and insistence on completing any part of his tour speech, even though he may have repeated that part of his speech twice already.
We finished off our visit to Philadelphia with dinner at a micro-brewery pub.
On the way home the weather turned, and a massive thunder and lightning storm ensued. Look out for the exciting video coming soon!

Washington 2 and trip to Philidephia

Again we tried the Archives first thing, but queues of school kids were already around the block (see below) , so we abandoned that again and headed to the Newseum.

This is a museum about news, it covered how covering the news had changed over the years as well as the news itself. It was a good way to get a overall picture of the background to the modern history of the States. The terrace from the top had some excellent views down Pensilvania Avenue to the Capitol Building


We headed north to Philidephia, but en route we stopped at the oldest wrought iron bridge (for Fiona)
Then we stopped at a convered mill for lunch. The place was filled with stalls of antiques and craftware, much like an indoor market. It was really nice to wander around the oddities, particularly as we appeared to be the only shoppers there so it was a break from the crowds.

We then had a final stop before we reached Philidephia - and you may have noticed we have not seen a giant statue of anything for a while, and so to get our fix we stopped at a giant doctors bag!


Roadside America - yeah!

We started with a visit to Ford's Theatre, where Lincoln was assassinated, to watch a production of One Destiny about that fateful night, followed by a walk through the guesthouse where he was taken after the shooting, and where he died.


We then went to the Smithsonian Museum of American History which provided some insights into all the wars and presidents over the decades. We did not have enough time to do it all, and the constant swarms of school kids were also exhausting.

We then walked up to the White House, which was more cream than white.

We tried to visit the Archives to see the Declaration of Independance etc., but the queues of school groups were around the block. The time it would take to queue and get in, and the promise of hundreds of kids more interested in messing about with each other than viewing the historic documents, led us to decide not to bother. It was a really muggy day and so we rested for a few minutes on the steps of the Archives. While there we heard a number of people decide, as we did, not to bother because of all the kids. I suppose the wait with the kids is a well-deserved bit of respite for their long-suffering teachers and parental chaperones, but if it was insisted that schools groups arranged visits in advance, we're sure more members of the general public would queue up to enter. Anyway, we then headed back to our hotel to refresh for the evening.


We went to visit Fiona's second cousins, who live in Washington, and they had gathered en masse for a birthday so we met them all (14 of them). It was a very pleasant evening, if a bit of a whirlwind, and unfortunately we did not take any photographs, which would have helped remember all the names and connections.

Pittsburgh to Washington

Our only stop on this journey was at the Big Mac Museum located within the McDonalds where the Big Mac was invented. It was full of many giveaway toy displays and old packaging that brought back many memories. And yes we did have a Big Mac (but not this big!)

We arrived in Washington and took a long stroll around the Mall taking in the sights of Capitol Hill, the Washington Monument and Lincoln Memorial.

The weather was cold and rainy and so our spirits were a bit flat!

Cleveland

We stopped off in Cleveland today (on our way from Toledo to Pittsburgh) to visit the Rock and Roll Hall Of Fame. If you don't want to read a rant from Christopher, just be assured that it was quite enjoyable, and we're still having a great time and navigate away from this page now....Well, you've decided to stay to hear the rant. Here goes : This is the only picture you'll see of the Rock And Roll Hall of Fame because one of the rules of the Hall Of Fame is that no cameras are allowed near the exhibits. That's not a "no photography or video recording" rule, that's a "no cameras, or phones with cameras etc. are allowed into the exhibit halls" rule, they must be checked at the door. So, having been able to photograph a Van Gogh self portrait, or Grant Wood's American Gothic, or Seurat's Grand Jette with any camera we liked at the Art Institute in Chicago yesterday afternoon, we could not take a photograph of Nokie Edwards' guitar behind reinforced and alarmed glass this afternoon. (Who's Nokie Edwards? Exactly). The Hall of Fame also insists that the tickets you are given for the $22 entrance fee are exchanged almost immediately for a wristband that you MUST wear on your right wrist. There were many more rules and regulations that the Hall of Fame insisted you conform to, and all were thrown into sharp relief by the many videos of superannuated stars like Bono, Stephen Stills and Mick Jagger extolling the virtues of rock and roll as a rebellious call for liberty. It all went to prove that most conservative establishment of all is an establishment founded on calls for licence and dissent. I found myself in complete agreement with the Sex Pistols' response the Hall's invitation of induction (readers of a sensitive nature may wish to look away now) :

Chicago

We very much enjoyed our two days in Chicago, even though it was a little chilly and windy (who knew?), in fact we would say it is very much our kind of town Chicago is,
The Wrigley Building, Chicago is...

The Union Stockyard, Chicago is...

The John Hancock Center, Chicago is....One End of Route 66, Chicago is...
Giordano's Deep Dish Pizza, Chicago is....
The Millenium Bean, Chicago is....
Wizard Of Oz park, Chicago is....

One town that won't let you down, it's our kind of town.
(with apologies to Sammy Cahn and Jimmy Van Heusen)