Well, it's been very frustrating trying to access a pc while in the USA....even wifi is rather hard to come by and often has a dollar cost. So here I am in the Mac store in New York sneakily updating this!
All in all we've had a great and varied 3 weeks in the NE. New York city is simply fabulous - so vibrant and livable. We stayed a few nights in the 'worst' hotel in NY (just fine after some S America!) just a hop away from Times Square which was a great location.
The first thing we did was to hire a bike each for the day in Central Park...we had a gentle cruise around this truly huge and natural feeling space before hitting the coast of ManhattenIsland and opening up on the wonderful cycle tracks which run almost all around the spectacular island...we even cycled over the Manhattan and Brooklyn Bridges. One highlight was a spectacular crash while we were stationary...we ended up in a heap on a traffic island (much to onlookers delight) with me entwined in 2 bikes with sarah ontop. My fault entirely and the flesh wounds are healing nicely now!
Sticking to the plan, we hired a small car and set off for a tour around New England which was most enlightening...vast and very rural with thick tree cover. We headed to Cape Cod along the coast where picture perfect bays and inlets went on and on with idyllic manicured houses with their boats tied up alongside. Cape Cod was fun - especially when we hired a tandem to tour the beaches.....poor Sarah was squealing with fear as she was totally unable to see past me on the front.
A quick dash around Boston was good - very historic and chilled out. We even popped in to see Harvard Uni when it was Freshers day...and got lost on the 4 lane underground motorway system when Gloria (out GPS navigation device) lost her signal and spat a dummy!
Trundling north we drove (sorry) to the summit of Mt Washington in New Hampshire which plays host to the wildest weather on earth...hurricane force winds on 100 days a year!
Speaking of hurricanes, Irene was all the news and heading straight for us so we headed west for 4 hours into Vermont, only for Irene to follow us and hit us head on. Luckily we had grabbed a hotel with a gym and pool so felt little of the happenings outside, even though all roads to the west east and south of us were now blocked!
Luckily the plan was to head north to Montreal in Canada which again was a really nice city and soooo French!.Having to switch from struggling Spanish to school French was a cobblers with many a 'gracias' and 'por favor' slipping out.
(Just a quick glance around to see if the staff in this shop haven't twigged me here...all good)
Onwards down the St Lawrence Seaway past huge locks and to the 1000 Islands which lie near to Lake Ontario. Now this really is a gorgeous area with castles, mansions and boats of all types around the place....somewhat like NZs Marlboruogh Sounds without the hills. It's also where 1000 Island dressing was invented.
We really enjoyed our brief look into Canada and felt more at one with the people there than the Americans...and we finally learned the difference between a buffalo and a bison!
Onward back to New Jersey and into New York where we went on the Staten island ferry yesterday and are digging deep to put in a final effort to see as many of the sights as we can. Quite a task!...and have just bought a flash new camera for work as prices are so low her for that sort of thing.
I would like to dedicate this entry to the wonderful staff and management at Mac Stores, West 14th Street, Manhatten.
Off to see all the folks in the UK on Wednesday - can't wait!
...oh, and the difference between a buffalo and a bison - you can't wash you hands in a buffalo, but you can in a bison!
Ho ho
