Where in Australia? ......I have a mother from there......Oh really?

Had a great night last night.  Wizards v Heat.  LeBron, Wade, Bosh and John Wall...well until a scuffle broke out and John Wall got tossed before half time.  Was great to see the guys from the Heat...they are just a level above anyone else.  Oh...I have maintained that a dunk by Al from my thursday night team was the best dunk i have seen live, sorry Al but a dunk by LeBron in the final quarter last night may have topped it.  I think that LeBron guy could actually make the Thunder squad if he knuckled down and trained hard.

Before the basketball we braved the cold and wandered up to Union station, hoppped on the tourist trolley that scoots around the city and then spent a couple of hours wandering around Arlington Cemetry.  We were on our way out when we got held up by a funeral procession.  It was a pretty sobering time.  It is one thing to see rows upon rows of tombstones but when you see a coffin followed by a train of loved ones it really brings it home just how many people sacrificed so much .

Getting some rest this morning...the combination of the cold weather and long hours of walking has taken it's toll.  A bit of a sniffle and a sore throat...we will survive though.  Having to good a time not to.  We are both looking forward to getting to Crockett and Kristy's in a few days.  We have one more day of sight seeing here. We pick up the car tomorrow and drive up to Scooter Burgans (my old house mate) place up near Philly.  From there we take a looooong dirve to Ohio on saturday to visit my little niece.  Hoping that the snow stays North of where we are driving because I am really not in the mood to find out how easy or hard it is to drive in a snow storm...I suspect it is the latter. 

Catch you all in a few days...if not before

Almost Dodgy

Lots of pics...went a bit camera crazy today.  We rocked up in Washington today in the middle of the annual Cherry Blossom Festival. Basically it is a whole bunch of tourists coming to Washington to look at all the trees that start to blossom..quite pretty really.  One thing I will say about Americans is that they know how to do a good monument.  Can't wait to see Australia catch up and build the Edmund Barton Monument in Canberra...(shame on those of you who have to google Edmund Barton).

Despite the crowds it was a pretty good day.  We got a bit of a scare though when we were pulling up to the hotel in the cab this morning...we turned down the street and there was abandoned building after abandoned building  and we were wondering what sort of dive our hotel might be...turns out the buildings were abandoned because they are knocking them down to build some big fancy hotel there...our hotel is really, really nice, a lovely apartment with a kitchen that Gabi is using to cook up a nice home cooked meal...had great fun in the supermarket looking at the weird and wonderful things you can get here.  You should see the size of the ice cream tubs you can get...love it.   Have to go....Dinner is served...going to catch some more monuments and some of the galleries tomorrow...weather man says some snow is on the way.

Night for now

We started out with a train trip first thing this morning from NY to Philadelphia followed by one of the most interesting cab rides ever from the train station to, well...near the hotel.  We got to the street where the hotel was and he couldn't see it so just started to pick streets at random to drive up and down...not sure about the logic but in the end he ended up turning off the meter.  Pure craziness.  After that we checked into the hotel...such a great spot..next time you are in Philadelphia I highly recommend staying here. 

Spent the day walking the streets poking our head into a thousand and one little historical sights...Independence Hall where they wrote something called the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution..kind of a big deal here as it turns out. A cool little church where all the founding fathers used to hang on a Sunday morning. Tomorrow sees us check out of Philly and head down to Washington...would love to be staying here for longer..what we have seen so far makes us want to see more...but now at least we have an excuse to come back...next time.

Really looking forward to Washington although the man on the TV says that the weather isn't going to be so good but I am sure we will make the most of it.

Just watching Gabi pack the bags ready for tomorrows trip to Philadelphia.  We spent our last day in New York wandering around Soho and the East Village.   I bought a couple of pairs of Jeans, my favourite jeans sadly didn't make it through their NY adventure...they suffered a terminal, Gabi can't fix them blowout...sad times..sad times.  So anyways..I found a couple of pairs of Jeans, I hope they do the job like my old favourites...they have a lot to live up to.

Tonight we took a walk across the Brooklyn bridge to watch the sunset from the waterside in Brooklyn.  Was really pretty to look at but a little cold...ok a lot cold, like 3 degrees cold.   Gabi is doing a great job with the packing but I think she might need a hand...I probably should help..catch you all with stories from Philadelphia.

Is it still considered stalking if the person you are stalking is fictional?

The Gabitron and I on the tour bus

Now that is a beard....ancient greeks knew how to do it all curly like.

The Gabitron and some bloke called Vinnie

A day chock full of New York goodness today...started out with a walk north up Riverside Drive to stalk my favourite fictional TV charachter and her fictional place of residence...unsurprisingly she wasn't home, oh well...next time. We caught up with the tour bus for the trip around Harlem then spent most of the day getting an overdose of all things art...the Guggenhiem, the Met and the Neue Galleries.  It seemed like there were more Rembrandts, Picassos, Van Goghs, Warhols, Klimts and Degas then you can poke a stick at...I read in the pamphlet that they don't really like you poking sticks at the paintings so the theory sadly remains untested...

After getting a bit over staring at priceless pieces of art and antiquity we headed to the other end of the island to look at an old overhead railway line that has been converted into a long park that snakes itself through the buildings...quite something...but hard to appreciate when it was colder then a fridge outside. We took a look at Grand Central Station on the way back uptown to catch a night tour of the downtown district and Brooklyn..someamazing views accross the River...well worth the freezing cold...

Flavour of the day...Mango Snapple...

Gabi thought of a crappy title so I am not using it, I am using this instead

Took the opportunity to have a sleep in this morning after a big day yesterday...once we dragged ourselves away from our home delivered omelets (gotta love free delivery from all the local delis and cafes) we took the subway down to the Statten Island ferry to catch some views of the statue of liberty and the city from the water. 

After the nautical shenanigans we dropped by the United Nations to see if we could help out with the whole Libya thing but they seemed like they had things under control so we went on our way.  Oh, speaking of sticking your nose where it isn't needed yesterday when we were adventuring around Central Park we got in the way of a filming for a tv pilot. It was crazy how many people were involved in getting just one shot for a tv show that isn't even approved for airing yet. 

I will leave you with one last thought...Grape flavoured Fanta. 

You Muppet!!

What a busy, busy day....

First stop...get our Art on at the Museum of Modern Art..four floors chock full of Picassos, Van Goghs, Warhols, Pollacks and a whole bunch of other things that the Gabitron knows a whole bunch more about then I do.

A spot of shopping along 5th Ave where I got Muppetized...now all of you who thought I was a Muppet are kind of right. Was great fun creating a fabric clone...."I shall call him Muppet Me!!" 

We meandered around Central Park for about an hour longer then we thought we would...short cut indeed!

Oh...forgot...we also went to the Top of the Rockefeller Center...got our skyscraper on...I took a wonderful photo of the Empire State Building...I am glad I did..I am not sure anyone else has taken a photo of it...would hate for no one to have a pic of it.

Tonight we eerily took advice before it was given...We set out this morning to get tickets to a Broadway show..the Gabitron really, really, really, really wanted to see the musical Wicked (five basketball games in a month I think i can sit through a musical, am i right boys?)..  Anyways, turns out there were only 2 tickets left to Wicked in the next week...so long story short, 4th Row centre to see Wicked...Sat next to a lovely couple all the way from a strange place called Australia...all in all a good night...an absolutley amazing Show and a great way to finish an absolutley epic day.

Not quite sure how I am going to get Muppet Me home in my suitcase yet...but that is a problem for another day.

Four Seasons in One Day

Does four seasons in one day count if three of them are winter?

Started out the day rugging up and heading out for breakfast at a local diner up on Broadway...took a bit of a detour to stand out in the snow in Riverside Park to pose for a photo.  I was very excited to be in the snow..it was the first time I have ever had snow fall on me...I went to the snowfields once when I was a kid but this was completely different...very cool experience.

The next season was again winter...walking thru Central Park in the snow and sleet to the American Museum of Natural History where we had a little taste of Summer in the butterfly exhibit...was nice to getdown to a t-shirt.  I tried to convince Gabi to stay after dark when all the exhibits come to life but she said wasn't keen.

A bit more winter when we had what I would call mini hail onthe way home to the hotel, had a bit of rain aswell...sooo cold. Loved it.

Tonights entertainment was something I had been looking forward to for a long time..Knicks v Magic at Madison Square Garden.  Exactly how I imagined it would be.  Basketball greats scattered through out the stadium (Earl Monroe, Walt Frazier, Bernard King, John Starks, Mark Jackson, a three minute standing ovation when Patrick Ewing was put up on the big screen as well as the morden day greats ofcourse).  Aretha Franklin sitting a few seats up from Spike Lee in the front row.  Knicks fans booing when their team faded away in the fourth with some horrible defense...exactly how I had imagined it.  I think the Gabitron almosthad a better time then I did but it probably has more to do with her crush on Dwight Howard then anything else.

A few galleries tomorrow..maybe catch a broadway show...who knows...soooo much to do so little time.

Until tomorrow...bye

T is for Times Square and Tired Feet

Today we got up nice and early...if you read this mornings blog you would know that...soooo early.  Pulled on our walking shoes and stolled down broadway looking for a good spot to buy a winter coat.  We pretty much walked passed all of the clothing stores and into the financial district until we realized that none of the shops open until 10am....for a city that never sleeps they like to sleep in.

Speaking of sleeping in...a tip for beginners...if you decide after walking around all day that 3pm might be a good time for a little nap..set two alarms because as it turns out it is pretty easy to sleep through one alarm.  Is it still a nap if it lasts 4 hours?

Anyway after our nap we made our way down to Times Square to visit the rest of the tourists and take the shot above...

We did end up getting some pretty nice coats...will be able to give them a good workout tomorrow..weather man says it is going to snow and rain at the same time...I am not sure how that works but I guess I will find out.  Looking forward to it....Going to spend some time in the Museums and Galleries tomorrow so we don't get rained on too much.

by the letter T

Todays post is brought to you by the letter T.

T is for Transit lounge.  If I never see the inside of another airport ever again that is fine by me.

T is For Travel Friend.  A shout out to our nameless friend from Hallett Cove who is on her way to spending a year in Pennsylvania to become a nanny.

T is for ThreeHundered and Sixty degrees.  The urban poet who is trying to change the world one subway car at a time...good luck to him on his next appearance at open night mic night at the Appollo on the the third.

T is for Three Thirty in the morning...the time that my body decided it was time to be wide awake.. That will teach me for sneaking in a sleep between San Fransico and New York.

T is for Thirty...the amount of hours it took us to get from our door to this one.

T is for Terrible Food....I am sorry i cheated on you Qantas. I know you wouldn't try and tell me what I ate was scrambled eggs.




Not long now until we start our adventure proper.  Had a little taste of it last night when we caught the subway in from JFKto the hotel.  Tommorrow we will be more tourist and less traveller....thank goodness.

I had a thought half way accross the Pacific Ocean that  will probably get me in trouble with all the mothers out there.  I made me understod how someone could go back and have a second child after having the first one hurt so much coming out.  I had done this flight before but obviously had somehow forgotten just how long it is, I am sure if remembered there is no way I would have been dragged onto the plane..I guess the fun you have at the end of it all makes you forget about the 21 hours strapped to a chair with your ears about to explode.

Catch you all tomorrow...will have some pictures for you then I am sure...but not until we go and buy ourselves a nice winter coat...The Gabitron says Hi...:)

One more sleep to go...

Someone asked me the other day if I was going to write a blog of my trip...My initial answer was no but by writing this I am sure it is apparent that the answer to their question is now yes.  Having said that, I haven't left on the trip yet and so far this is just a blog of about being unable to decide if  I am writing a blog of the trip or not.

So why a  blog?:  Basically so I can look back at in 3 years time and say.."Oh wow..I had almost forgotten about that". Apart from that it is cheaper then sending you all a postcard...you know who you are..

So tomorrow is the big flight...flying out Monday morning our time...arriving in New York City just this side of midnight Monday their time..which reminds me I must ring the hotel and let them know we won't be there until late. (Message to Josh if you are reading this later on and you haven't done this shame on you..I have reminded you twice already).