Back Home

We landed in Durban on Monday evening at 19h55 after a smooth trip all the way from Washington! We were very fortunate to not have had even one adverse incident throughout our travels! The worst thing that happened to us on our return trip was that there were 9 children aged between 3 and 11 on the same flight! When we arrived at the boarding gate, there was chaos! The children were occupying several seats around the boarding gate and their stuff was EVERYWHERE! They were running around screaming at each other, running up and down to the bathroom and generally striking fear in the hearts of all the other passengers on the flight. Everyone was dreading having to sit in the vicinity of these children for the next 14 hours. The only adult traveling with these children was a middle aged man in a suit and tie, who seemed completely incapable of controlling them. In fact he wasn't actually trying to keep them in line at all. He just sat there and watched them running amok. He occasionally had a few harsh words with his only potential ally: a teenage girl who was part of the group. When he got to the front of the line to board the plane, he was missing a few boarding passes! He held up the line for a while before being told to move to the side and sort it out. Eventually all 11 of them got on the plane: 9 children, a teenager and a middle aged man in a suit and tie. There was chaos on the plane trying to seat all of them. Their seats were scattered and there were many unhappy faces and people asking to change seats. Eventually everyone got settled and the plane was ready for take off. Surprisingly, I didn't hear much from the children throughout the 7 hour flight to Dakar. Occasionally one would tell another to "shoosh!" but that was about it, and they were sitting about 5 rows behind me. Everyone seated nearby heaved a sigh of relief when they got off in Dakar.
Other than that, we landed about 15 min ahead of schedule in Jo'burg and about 15 min ahead of schedule in Durban as well! We didn't have any lost or tampered with baggage and we're home in one piece. Still a bit confused about what time zone we're in, but trying to get as much sleep as possible.

I must say: Holidays are wonderful, but it's also wonderful to come back home and put an end to living out of a suitcase!

Saying Goodbye

I counted yesterday (Saturday) as our last day in Washington, because today we didn't do anything. We got up and finished off the last minute packing and now we're sitting having brunch and watching "30 Rock" then we're off to Jimmy's place and from there to the airport. Not looking forward to the 14 hour flight which will end 24 hours later for us- crossing time zones and all that.

Yesterday we spent the day seeing a few of the sights we hadn't seen. Most of them were war memorials. I don't get the whole American tendency for fighting wars and then building memorials. They say they're fighting for their freedom, I'm not sure if all of it is actually real. And they all honor their war veterans.

The Vietnam War Memorial, three young soldiers face the two walls with the names of all the dead and missing soldiers from the war.

The reflective walls with all the names of the soldiers who are dead and missing. Relatives come by everyday to look for the names and leave memorabilia. One of the most touching, was a letter written by a soldier to his brother saying how he hopes he isn't a changed man when he comes back from the war and how hard it was to leave his wife.

The Lincoln Memorial by day from across the reflective pool.

The newest memorial in Washington: The World War II Memorial. There was a large group of veterans visiting from Minnesota. They were really old, most of them were in wheel chairs.

This is the Freedom Wall in the World War II Memorial, it's covered with 4000 yellow stars, one for every 100 Americans who died during WWII. These are replicas of the stars mothers were given and wore when they lost a son in the war.

A bridal party was taking pictures on the Mall.

The National Natural History Museum. Night At The Museum is set here.

The Hope Diamond: 45,52 carats. This diamond was found in India in 1668 by Jean Baptiste Tavernier and it was originally 112 3/16 carats. It was sold to King Louis XIV of France and stayed in the collection of the French Royal Jewels until the French Revolution when it was stolen and went missing for years before resurfacing much smaller. It went between jewelers and rich families until it eventually was bought by Harry Winston, a New York jeweler, who donated it to the Smithsonian Institution in 1958. Since then it has been for the people of America.

At the end of it all, I can't decide which city was my favourite! Coming back to Washington after being in New York felt a bit like coming home. And I think it's a beautiful and clean city. (Did I mention that many New York subway stations smell very bad, and all of them are dirty? We saw rats running along the tracks many times.)

But New York has such a vibe. While in Washington all clubs close at 3h00 (Eric the DJ, Mr E, says it's cos Barack and Michelle live just down the road and they need to run the country, so they need their sleep) in New York you can find a place to party on a Monday, that will stay open at least until 4h00 and the subway runs 24 hours a day- perfect if you can manage to figure out the right subway to get you home when you're inebriated.

Boston was just so classy and modern, but still a place where you wouldn't mind bringing up your children. Who wouldn't want to be in an environment where most people are above average intelligence? Where you can walk through the park and decide what kind of music you'd like to sit on a bench and listen to and where there's a bakery which makes the most amazing cheese cake!

The USA is just so vast and diverse. We only visited three cities (and 4 towns: Amherst, North Hampton, Sunderland, Springfield) and we're confused. We haven't even thought about the West Coast: Las Vegas, San Francisco, Los Angeles. What about Miami down south east? And Chicago in the middle? The Grand Canyon?

We're fortunate to have seen and done so much in such a short time, but the overwhelming feeling is that there is so much we haven't seen and we wish we had had more time!

But now we're heading back home, and I'm feeling happy about that. I'm starting a new job and I'm excited about giving people the gifts I got them! Lots to look forward to.

I'll post one last time after we've landed and settled, just to let everyone know we're back home safely. Thanks for following our trip, it's been a pleasure sharing it with everyone!

Back in Beautiful D.C.

Yesterday we took the long drive back to Washington from New York. It took us about 6 hours with the stops and traffic. We arrived around 7 and it felt like coming home. We sat outside on my aunt's balcony and had a few drinks before getting all dressed up for a night on the the town.

Before heading for "hot and happening" U Street, we decided to go and have a look at the monuments at night and we were not disappointed. It was absolutely amazing.

These are the most beautiful monuments in Washington in my opinion: The Washington Monument on one side and the Lincoln Memorial on the other, with the reflecting pool in the middle. From certain angles you can see The Capitol just behind the Washington Memorial.

The Lincoln Memorial is housed in a Grecian style temple. On the stairs of this monument Martin Luther King Jr stood and made his "I Have A Dream Speech" facing towards the Washington Memorial and The Capitol.

The back of the temple inside which Lincoln sits.

The partying in U street is really cool, the only problem with D.C. is that all the clubs and bars close at 3h00. So we only left the memorials after 00h00. When we arrived in U street the vibe was amazing, but around 2h00 things started to die down just as we were getting into the swing of things. Nevertheless, it was a very good evening and we've decided that tonight we have to get a bit of an earlier start.

Some delayed pics

The Statue of Liberty as seen from the ferry. Height from ground to top of torch: 92.99m, height of statue: 46.05m.

She was given as a gift to the American people from the French. The statue was constructed in France and as she was assembled she was displayed in a park, where Parisians flocked to see her. The outer skin is made of copper which is supported by a metal skeleton. It was finally placed on top of the pedestal, which was paid for by the American people, in October 1886. At present the pedestal houses an exhibit all about the history of the statue.

Just before getting off of the ferry onto Liberty Island

A replica of the torch in the entrance hall of the pedestal.

A full scale replica of the face.

Standing on the pedestal, looking up at the tablet in her hand. On the tablet is the inscription 4 July 1876.

Looking at Lady Liberty standing below the pedestal on the star shaped fort.

Liberty Island as seen from Ellis Island

A coast guard. Note the mounted gun! It looked quite intimidating!

Performance art in the Museum of Modern Art.

They just sit there looking at each other. I don't get it.

Hash with Starry Night. Note the look on her face...

She walked into MoMA and didn't want to look at anything else until she had seen Starry Night!

The Golden Madonna by Andy Warhol

This is what we stumbled upon when we got lost in the Financial District.

The site of the Twin Towers, a memorial site is being built.

Sitting in Times Square on our last night in New York

Leaving NYC behind

Haven't had time to blog, and certainly haven't had time to post any pics! We had a jam packed day yesterday. Up at 6h30 and slept around 2h00! We tried to fit in all the stuff we hadn't done yet, but since we're not seasoned New Yorkers, we wasted some time with getting lost and taking the wrong subway. All in all it was a good day though, with perfect weather!!

We started off at the Statue of Liberty and the ferry trip was beautiful with the perfect blue sky above and the New York City line behind us. Then we went off to Ellis Island which was interesting, it's where all the immigrants passed through before being allowed access into America between 1892 and 1954 when it closed. We had a good lunch from the Ellis Island Cafe under the trees.

We then made our way to the Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) where great works like Starry Night by Van Gogh and The Persistence of Memory by Salvador Dali are housed. There's also The Three Musicians by Pablo Picasso and some of his cubism and abstract style works for which he is so famous. It was so difficult to pick a favourite, but I think I liked The Dream by Henri Rosseau. He was a self taught artist, and many of his works featured jungle like surroundings, even though he had never left Paris! Another one I liked was Study of luxe, calme et volupte by Henri Matisse.

After the MoMA we went off to try to squeeze in a bit more shopping, but ended up getting lost in the financial district. We landed on Wall Street in front of the New York Stock Exchange!

We finally found the shop we were looking for after passing by the former site of the Twin Towers.

After the shopping we decided to go to the top of the Empire State Building. We underestimated the crowd that would be there! We had wanted to go up around sunset and stay until after dark to appreciate New York at night. We waited in line for about 90 minutes before finally getting to the 86th floor where the observation deck is located. When we got out to the observation desk it was so crowded we had to wait behind someone then gap in as soon as they moved. I'm not sure if it was worth it, although the view was absolutely spectacular!! Maybe it's better to do the Empire State Building during the middle of winter when there are not so many crowds.

For our last night in New York we decided to walk around Times Square. So we found our way there and bought some ice cream (gelato to be exact) and walked around, then found a place to sit and just take it all in. It's amazing! We only left Times Square after midnight, but it was still bustling and bright! Amazing! You have to see it to believe it.

Today we've been quite productive too. We went for our last run through Central Park, had breakfast with Hash's aunt, went into town to do some last minute shopping. Now we're all packed and getting ready to leave.

So long NYC!

West Side Story

Today we went to see the classic New York story on Broadway: West Side Story! It was amazing!

We started off the day with a jog through Central Park to 86th street West for breakfast with Hashanti's aunt. I won't even try to explain the menu, it's enough to say that we didn't do any jogging back after breakfast, we could barely walk!

We got back from breakfast around 11h30 and started getting ready to go to the show. As I mentioned we got matinee tickets at 50% off the usual price. We had the most amazing seats ever! In the orchestra area, 10th row from the front. For those who don't know, West Side Story is the Romeo and Juliet story of New York- a Peurto Rican girl falls in love with a white New York boy and forgets about the Peurto Rican boy her family wants her to marry. It's a tragedy, so it ends with quite a few people dying, including the hero.

Broadway is right in Times Square, so the atmosphere is vibrant. All the matinee shows start at 2pm, so there were crowds waiting outside all of the theatres, besides the usual tourists walking through Times Square. There were also some interesting characters to be seen, as would be expected on Broadway. The guy below was promoting the show La Cage, which is the same as the movie Bird Cage. He was fabulous and he was flaunting it. He didn't mind posing for a picture at all!

The show was shorter than I expected, but I think it was just right, because I certainly do reach a point where it just becomes too much when the characters break into song almost every 5minutes. I have to say that I thought there was a good balance in this particular show, I didn't get at all nauseous.

After the show we decided to head for The Apple Store on Fifth Avenue. It is a beautiful store. You go through this glass area and you can descend into the store either using a curving stairway or a round glass elevator.

As soon as you get into the store you know you've entered Apple world. The place is just full of people getting into the Apple products. There's everything: Macs of all shapes and sizes, ipods of all shapes and sizes, ipads and more, including all the accessories you may think you'd need.

I got myself a 13" Mac Book. The only problem that I have with it is that it's white, but I think I'll get used to it. It's the easiest computer set up I've ever experienced. Within a few minutes I was online and doing what I needed to do. I didn't need to spend thousands extra on software, etc, etc. So I'm sitting here blogging using my new Mac.

Once you go Mac, you'll never go back!

I Happen To Like New York

Yesterday (Tuesday) was less productive than we would've liked as far as ticking things off our list of tourist places to visit, but definitely more productive than we would've anticipated in terms of ticking items off our list of things to buy.

We were supposed to go with Mairi to another bridal shop, but we couldn't wake up in time! Luckily Mairi went on ahead of us, because by the time we reached downtow

n, her appointment was over already! We felt quite bad, but she wasn't blown away by any of the dresses she saw, so we hadn't missed anything spectacular.

It was raining, so we didn't want to walk around outside too much. Luckily, as we came up from the subway, there was a Victoria's Secret right across the road! We went into that and spent a happy few hours trying on beautiful bras. When we left, Hash's bag was significantly heavier than mine.

On the other side of Victoria's secret was the largest Macy's store in the world! There's no need to explain what happened in that store. I'm not sure how many floors it has, but it crosses at least one road and we made it to the 7th floor. The best news we received while in Macy's was that we received 10% off EVERYTHING, just because we were foreigners.

Our bedroom now

looks like it was hit by a Macy's tornado- there are red and white packets EVERYWHERE!

We got back to our place after 19h00 and just had enough time to get into some of our new purchases before meeting friends for dinner. We went to a Mexican place where I swear the tequila is stronger than usual. Also, Americans have this funny habit of serving shooters which we would consider double shots, but they call them singles. We're proud to say that we walked out of the restaurant without falling over, and made it home on the subway

without slipping onto the tracks and injuring ourselves: we only had one shooter each!

Today, we vow to visit at least one museum, and we have matinee tickets to a Broadway show. We could hardly afford the tickets even though they're matinee tickets and we got them at 50% off!!!