Washington DC

Washington has been a breath of fresh air (quite literally!) following New York. As much as we loved New York, we appreciated Washington for all the things New York lacked – it’s an immaculately clean city, with relatively quiet streets and far less pollution.

Constitution Gardens Pond

We’ve spent three lovely sunny days here being in awe of the main sights – the Lincoln memorial, the Capitol building, Washington Tower, memorial sights and of course, the White House.  It was funny feeling seeing these attractions first hand after seeing them in so many movies before... I was also a tiny bit disappointed by the Lincoln memorial, I really got in my head that you could actually sit on Abe’s knee, I think I saw it in an episode of the Simpsons though!

Abraham Lincoln Memorial Statue

We even managed to see the man himself, Obama, one day. We were waiting to cross the road over to the park, near the White House when we noticed it was all blocked off. A small crowd had gathered with cameras but most people were just walking on by. We decided to stick around to see what was going on and within in minutes a few police bikes came down the road, followed by Obama’s car and then several scary looking jeeps with armed guys hanging out of the back and an ambulance. It must be quite a hassle for the President to go anywhere; it must be a nightmare when he wants to go to the cinema.

Mr President's Car

There are so many interesting museums here too, the majority of which are free (a stark contrast to New York). We managed to fit in a few while we were here, but there was tonnes we just didn’t get round to doing. Plus, we managed to find a fantastically cheap and friendly bar, just down from our hostel - $2 beers, our cheapest yet. So we ended up staying there for a most of the evening on our first night. The hostel was ok and did the job, plus it had free Wi-Fi and a complimentary breakfast – peanut butter and jelly toast with coffee!

All in, it was a fantastic city and it would have been great to spend more time here to explore some of the nearby islands, but it’s time to leave for the next stop on our tour.
Just at Union Station in Washington, waiting to board our amtrack train. In 14 short hours we will be in the windy (and chillier) city – Chicago!

Emily

NYC Best Bits

En route to Washington DC now, so we are writing this posting from the comfort of the Megabus!
 
Looking back over the past (and very quick) four weeks, some of our best bits have to be:
•    Seeing the Foo Fighters in Madison Square Garden
•    Taking a boat out on Central Park lake
•    The hustle and bright lights of Time Square in the evening
•    Chilling out in Washington Square Park in the sunshine and listening to the piano man
•    Visiting the Metropolitan Museum in the evening...and getting in for a $1 each!
•    The view from Brooklyn Bridge on a very sunny November morning
•    Sunbathing in Central Park...in November
•    A Shack Burger from the Shake Shack - hands down the best burger!
•    Being in the city in the lead up to Christmas

But to save me writing tonnes of stuff, why not have a look for yourselves: NYC Video

Arran & Emily

Next stop Washington DC

Last day in New York today, it's hard to believe we've been here for a month, it’s passed so quickly. Really feel like we have got to grips with the city though.

Top of the Rock tonight must have been the worst way to see New York

We spent today taking in the last few sights of the city and booking our train tickets for the next leg of our tour before finishing up with some beers in 'Tonic', the bar at the end of our street and the first bar we went to when we arrived in New York. Sat up on the roof garden, with some Buds...until the rain started!
Just getting packed up and making use of having our own washing machine before we venture on to the hostels!

Next stop, Washington D.C (via Megabus - should be interesting)

Arran

 

Best of Manhattan Part...2

Last week we managed to fit in a few more “best ofs” from the Best of Manhattan 2011 guide.

Metropolitan Museum of Art

Best dive bar...Holiday Cocktail Lounge.
The term “dive bar” is used a lot of here, I was a bit worried it meant somewhere a bit sticky and horrible... like Exodus in Aberdeen! But apparently it just generally refers to independent bars with juke boxes and cheap drink. The guide recommended this bar for its free popcorn, unfortunately, there was no free popcorn on tap when we were there, despite us sitting at the bar and trying to look hungry, but it did have some very good happy hour prices and after staying for a couple of rounds, the bartender treated us to a free round, which was a bonus. It is also had a well stocked juke box with some good 70s rocks classics, so we managed to hear some good tunes, until my quarters ran out.  A nice laid backed bar in the East Village, but for free bar snacks, I think our favourite bar would have to be the Rodeo Bar (just a two minute walk from our apartment) – masses of free monkey nuts!

Best underdog store in the East Village...Ray’s Candy Store
I had read about Ray’s Candy Store before in another guide book, so we felt we should give it a try. The store is renowned amongst locals in the East Village, and Ray, the 80 year old owner, seems to be a local legend too. Really pleased we looked this place up. It was actually around the corner from the cocktail lounge, so we popped in on the way home to for an egg cream (a yummy milkshake type drink) and some fries. A tiny store (actually looks a bit more like a shack) but again, once you are in you can see what all the fuss is about. It’s a quirky little place; as well as selling burgers and fries it sells merchandise with Ray’s logo on it as well as Obama socks for $1. Huge portion of fries, would definitely recommend it if you’re in the neighbourhood.

Tomb Chapel of Raemkai - 2446–2389 B.C

And if you can only visit one museum while you are in NYC...The Metropolitan museum
We’ve managed to visit a few museums whilst we’ve been here, but hands down the best one has to be the Met. We went last Sunday and spent a good 5 hours wandering around the exhibits. We stayed until closing time (9pm) and still didn’t have enough time to see the second floor. Again, it’s one of those museums with a “recommended” admission price, so we got away with paying $1 each. We didn’t feel too bad about it though as the museum was really busy (even at 4pm in the afternoon) and we had just paid $26 the night before for two beers, so we felt we needed to make our money back somehow!
 

Tomorrow is our last day in New York before we set off for the next stop on our trip -  Washington DC.

Emily

Brooklyn

We went to Brooklyn today; it was an ideal day for a leisurely stroll over Brooklyn Bridge. The bridge was a little bit busy with people walking from Brooklyn into Manhattan (we should have expected this, it being the day after thanksgiving and the first real sunny day we’ve had this week), but it was a great way to see the city skyline in the sunshine.

Brooklyn Bridge from the park

We then walked over to Brooklyn Bridge Park. It’s great place for a hanging out, there’s a small beach and even better there’s a retro carousel, it looks like it’s jumped out of Mary Poppins (it's a refurbished 1920's carousel). I really wanted to have a go, but as we got closer we could see that all adults on the ride had small children with them and I really couldn’t get away with going it alone, without looking a bit simple! So I took some pictures instead...where are your little nieces when you need them!

Jane's Carousel

We then headed up to Prospect Park (Brooklyn’s answer to Central Park) and chilled out in the sunshine with some pizza.

Once you’re in Brooklyn, you definitely get the sense you are out of the hustle and bustle of the big city – the pavements are a lot quieter and it’s far easier to cross roads (you don’t have to make the pesky stop for traffic at the end of each street). The buildings are quite different too; more brownstone buildings with large staircases. I quite liked the vibe and slower pace in Brooklyn, if we had more time, it would be great to stay in Brooklyn for a bit and explore it a bit more; we just did the tip of the iceberg today I think.

Emily

Thanksgiving

Well, we woke up a bit late this morning, so we decided to watch the parade from the comfort of our cosy apartment (it was 4 degrees this morning!); we also realised that over 3.5 million people gathered for the parade and the majority started queuing around 7am.

This year’s parade included 11 marching bands, 800 clowns, 1,600 cheerleaders, dancers and singers, 27 floats and 15 giant balloons!

Don't see that everyday.

Macy’s Parade facts

• Live animals including camels, goats, elephants, and donkeys, were a part of the parade in the first year back in 1924.

• In 1925 and 1926, bears, lions, and tigers were added to the live animals used, but the use of these animals had to be discontinued because they scared children. Ha!

• Most of the clowns in the parade are actually Macy store employees. They have to attend a special Clown University and study the craft of “clowning around” for weeks beforehand.

• Macy's is the world's second largest consumer of helium. The United States government is the first.

After enjoying a semi-traditional thanksgiving dinner, we headed out to Rolf’s in the East Village – a German bar and restaurant, decorated in the most intrusive Christmas decorations all year round!

Happy Thanksgiving everyone! 

Emily

 

The night before...Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade

It's Thanksgiving tomorrow, which means the Macy's Thanksgiving Parade. Today we decided to head down to the south west corner of Central Park and join a throng of other folks, to see the balloons being inflated ahead of the parade.

Sonic returns to the parade - last seen in 93'.

Pretty good atmosphere in town, although after walking for around an hour, we decided to give the next avenue of balloons a miss and head home. Picked up some yummy things for a makeshift thanksgiving dinner tomorrow.

Oh Yeah! Spongebob bringing up the rear there.

Heading out early tomorrow morning to get a good spot to watch the parade.

Emily

The best of Manhattan...Part 1

One of the most useful guide we’ve found is the Best of Manhattan 2011 (a free paper we picked up in Grenchwich Village). It recommends everything from the best place to eat a bagel to the best place to shop in Manhattan away from all the tourists (like us). It’s pretty much a guide for the locals.

We’ve spent this week working our way through some of the “best ofs”.

The best place to see a live band...Pianos

A great little bar in SoHo. From the outside, its not much too look at (it would easy to walk past it) but It was definitely the the place to be to see some great local bands, free of charge. The place filled up pretty quickly. We arrived just in time for happy hour, so we managed to have a few cheap beers and bar snacks before the first band started. I would definitely recommend this bar. Very laid back, indie feel and great happy hour prices! 

The best place to eat a Michelin star meal for under $70...Aldea

A restaurant on 17th Street, between 5th and Broadway. Instead of going for dinner, we decided to save some pennies and go for lunch. For 3-courses at $24.70, it was definitely worth it. The chocolate pudding with homemade gingersnap ice cream was the best bit.

Next week is our busy last week in New York, but we are going to try to fit in some more "best ofs" before we go!

Emily

Foo Fighters at Madison Square Garden

Just back from watching the Foo Fighters play their first gig at Madison Square Garden after 16 years and as Dave Grohl put it “Sixteen years, we’ve been practicing to get here.” And it's all been well worth it.

“We don’t play those insy-teensy two hour shows anymore” - Dave Grohl

No gimmicks rock & roll was the theme of the night. Supported by Welsh band The Joy Formidable (who Grohl heard playing on the radio one day) and veteran punk band Social Distortion, for your buck you got five hours of solid rock n’ roll. 

And a long night it proved to be, as Grohl ripped through a career-spanning 15-track set list before returning to the stage for an unprecedented 7-song encore. The length of the encore was deliberated backstage on the big screens for all of us to join in. The more screams the more songs.

In addition to fan favourites “Everlong” (which inspired an ear-splitting sing-along) and “This Is A Call,” the Foo’s played several songs from this year’s Wasting Light, including “Walk” and the emotionally charged “These Days,” - the latter of which Grohl claimed to be the best song he’s ever written. It is pretty good. See

Other highlights of the evening included solo guitar battles between lead guitarist Shiflett and Dave Grohl and surprise appearances by rock legends Bob Mould (who is featured on Wasting Light’s “Dear Rosemary”) and Joan Jett.

This has to have been the best thing I've ever seen. 

Arran

Manhattan is barking!

A blog posting on the canines of New York City, as requested by Isla, for Lenny, the Jack Russell.

NYC is crawling with dogs; they really love their dogs here. Apparently there are over 1 million dog owners in the city. The most popular dog of choice appears to be a poodle, or those small, yappy handbag dogs.

A lot people tend to carry their dogs, while crossing the streets or at the end of a walk (I don’t really blame them, Central Park is massive, I sometimes wish I could get a piggy back home). I haven’t seen a dog bigger than a poodle being carried though; I hope to see someone carrying a German Sheppard before we go!

Is he wearing denim?

If you thought carrying a dog around the park is bizarre, nothing is a mad as the doggy fashion they adopt. There is an abundance of dog clothes shops here!

Gold body warmers are this seasons must have.

All the parks we have visited so far have specific walking arenas and ‘gyms’ for dogs. Apparently there is even a classification of New Yorkers called ‘doglers’ – those people who love dogs and would like to own one but can’t due to their lifestyle, so they get their dog fix by hanging out in dog parks now and again...

And if all this wasn’t barking enough, I even came across a specific blog for dogs this afternoon: http://ablogfordogs.tumblr.com/ ...woof!

Seriously?

Emily