East Coast U.S.A 2000 Travel Diary
Days 1 and 2
Now I had postponed my flight back home and decided to accompany Zuzana to Chicago and travel around the Eastern side of the States with her until she went home to Europe. First things first. We were still in Los Angeles. We jumped onto the first of many greyhound busses. Our destination was Chicago, where Zuz had lived for the year. Yep L.A to Chicago takes a while in a bus. We travelled through California, Tucson Arizona, El Paso. We were left standing outside in the rain due to a bomb scare, Abilene, Fort Worth and Dallas, Texas, Little Rock, Memphis (where we came across a driver who was nowhere close to being nice), Missouri, Illinios and finally Chicago. To be honest, it was not as bad a journey as I thought it would be. It helps give a different perspective of the country. Even so, I had cashed in some of my frequent flyer miles to get back to L.A
Day 3
We hit Chicago at about 6:45am, just as the sun was coming up. After stashing our bags we strolled off to explore. Walking through the downtown area to the park. Past the fountain, you know the one from 'Married with Children' and along the waterfront. Then on past the Aquarium towards the planetarium to give us a lovely view of the city surrounded by a very clear blue sky. Being very early on a November morning it was quiet chilly, almost down right cold. Most of the leaves around had already fallen. We walked past Soldier Field (where the bears play, N.F.L) and up Michigan Avenue.
We walked past a Boudin Bakery. Now everyone who knows San Francisco well knows what that means. Heaven, Clam Chowder. I strolled in with a spring in my step, then despair. The chowder would not be ready for a few hours. Bugger !! So it was French bread instead. I have to improvise and bought a couple of long sleeve warm shirts, as I did not really pack for this part of the country.
Next stop was Barrington, the Chicago suburb where Zuz spent the year, to tie up some loose ends and say farewell to her host family. Firstly we went to the bank. I was sitting there just waiting and minding my own business. This person came up and asked if I would like a tea or coffee. Lucky I was sitting down. Maybe some of our bankers can go over to see what service really is. Another funny thing was when we were walking through the library with our packs on our bag, sleeping bags and all. This woman came up to us and asked if we were backpacking. Umm : )
We arrived at Zuz's place and after saying G'day a much needed shower was taken. It was a good opportunity to wash our clothes, have a nice feed and a good chat. We left at about 10:30 ish for the train back to the city. With one small, or rather very large addition. The suitcase from hell. It was huge. But I suppose Zuz did have to pack for the whole year. This caused us to catch a cab from the train station to the bus station. We jumped on an overnight bus to Buffalo, N.Y. Passing through Cleveland, almost missing our connection on through Erie PA.
Day 4
We jumped off at Buffalo with plans to get to Niagara Falls. But first it was onto a metro bus for an hour. The bus dropped us off at the visitor centre, how handy : ) We took the opportunity to find some accommodation and picked the closest one. It was off season and it was nice and fairly cheap. It also had a huge bed. It all seemed way too easy.
Now it was time to go and explore the falls. To our surprise it was a very short walk to the falls. We felt like we were walking through a ghost town. There was hardly anyone around. The trees were in the grandest of fall colours. Rich reds, orange, yellow and some were still a little green. It was absolutely beautiful. The weather was less than grand so we went up the tower to look at the American falls. Then we went down to the river level to check it out from a more intimate level. After lunch, we walked over to Bridal Vail falls. Then up to the grand and alluring Horseshoe Falls. It was still raining a bit and we just walked up the river and gazed at all the lovely colours of the trees. We went back to the hotel to relax and as I had not seen a bed in some several days I took the opportunity to have a nap as Zuz took a similarly relaxing bath.
As the batteries had been recharged and the sun had gone down, we returned to the falls to see them lit up in a magnitude of colours. It was very picturesque, We spent some time taking photos of the beauty.
On a side note 10 days after leaving Niagara Falls they received 9 feet of snow, wow. Lucky we missed that one.
Day 5
After packing and arriving back at the metro station I was pleasantly surprise, Clam Chowder. Yummy. Then, back to the Greyhound station. We wanted to go to Yonkers, and the schedule we were given said we had to change several busses, some of which were very slow. In hindsight we should have caught the express into New York and then back to Yonkers. We were not to know this would work. Something learnt for the next time.
We got off the bus at Yonkers and Zuz's friend Katka was waiting for us. As our preferred lodging for the night was full we had to find somewhere else to bed down. We checked out this joint that said he would have a room after midnight, but until then is was on an hourly rate Oh.Kay, very seedy. Finally we found somewhere and had a feed of Chinese for dinner. Unfortunately we had to eat with our fingers as we did not have any cutlery. Luckily, none of us ordered the soup.
Day 6
I woke up today with the thought in my mind that if I had played by the rules I would now be at work. Now that thought is an instant way to get yourself into a good mood. It was time to face today's challenge. It was Saturday and we wanted to find a cheap place to stay in Manhattan. We rang several hostels and received the same answer. "Nope sorry we are full, but here is another number to try" and the cheapest hotel we could find was 400 bucks. As things were getting pretty desperate this place said that they had room for two, but in separate dorms. He had not finished the sentence and I said O.K. The deal was he would hold it until 1:00pm. It was now 11:45. Time to hightail it to the big smoke.
It was 1:00 and we just arrived at Grand Central station, so back on the phone to tell him we were still coming. Now it was time to have the experience and get in a New York taxi. We knew we were in New York when we saw some irate commuter going totally ballistic. We arrived at the hostel, which ended up being 150 meters from Times Square and the dude had put us in a Quad room. " The things I do for Aussie's" he said. All that for 30 bucks a night each, what a bargain : ) The place was called the Big Apple Hostel if anyone wants to know. Highly recommended. On a previous trek I have payed twice as much to share a room that you could not swing a mouse in, let along a cat.
After sorting that out it was time to do some city hiking. Basically we walked down to Times Square and then up to Central Park. As if the wonderful colours of the trees were not telling us that winter is well on the way the ice rink was full of ice and ice skaters. Thought about having a go but did not want to break anything, namely bones. We walked back down 5th Ave with about a million other people back to Times Square. As it was now nighttime the square was at it grandest. Bright neon signs in every direction and to say it was crowded is a major understatement.
We dropped our daypacks off at the hostel and were going over to Queens to introduce me to a bit of Czech culture in a Czech Pub. I sampled some of the Czech brew. It was very nice and some yummy soup that I had never seen before. We caught the Subway back into the city and wanted to go up the Empire State Building. Unfortunately we did not make it in time. They were just closing. Maybe we should have thrown in the excuse they used in Sleepless in Seattle. We walked back to the hostel via the square, still as busy as midday.
Day 7
We were still packing as the cleaning lady was hurrying us up. We went for the Subway and down to the World Trade Centre. I thought I would look for an Aussie flag to show Zuz. In the end I was looking all day long. I eventually found one, on my shirt. Talk about absent minded : ) From there we walked to Wall street, on to Fulton Square and markets and toward the Brooklyn Bridge. Finally we found how to get onto it and took a stroll up to the pylon. A pretty cool looking bridge with good views of the New York skyline. It was time to leave New York so back to the hostel to pick up the bags (including the cement filled suitcase) and cab it to the bus station. We caught the 4:00pm bus to Washington D.C. It was a fairly slow trip especially out of Manhattan and arrived in D.C. at 8:15pm.
I always like to utilise my learnings so we stashed the suitcase in a locker at the bus station. Thank God they were there. We walked about 500m to the train station to travel out to our hostel. Luckily it was only a short walk when we got off the train. The place was called 'India House' and was an awesome hostel even if it was a challenge to get up the stairs to the room. The dude who ran the place was a gem. Real funny guy and Zuz always seemed to be laughing at him.
Day 8
Slept in and woke up with a shocker of a sore throat. Went to the Drug store for some medication and the convenience store for some good old salt and vinegar chips, which is the only way to treat a sore throat, mind you. Back on the Metro and into the city. We surfaced on 'The Mall' near the Smithsonian Castle. We walked down past the White House to say Hi to Bill, Hillary and Buddy the dog. As the elections were held last week it was about time for them to go. We continued walking along the reflecting pond to the Lincoln Memorial. Lots of photos were snapped. We took some time to walk around the Vietnam and Korean War memorials. As Veterans Day was only days prior to this, all the reefs and flowers were still around. Very sombre.
We wanted to visit Arlington Cemetery next. The city guide said that the nearest metro station to us was Foggy Bottom. So we looked up the map and headed that way, for a while I might add. We rode to the metro station for Arlington Cemetery and resurfaced. We turned around and there was the back of the Lincoln memorial. Doh, if we had walked straight to the cemetery, we would have arrived quicker than the time it took to walk to Foggy Bottom. This reinforces why maps should always be drawn to scale. Oh well, at least the exercise was good.
Now we had some time to check out the cemetery. It was gigantic, all the white grave stones formed a long line no matter which way you looked. We went up to see the grave of J.F.K. The colours of the trees and the late afternoon light painted a surreal scene in front of us. Out with the cemetery map and we found our way to the Iwo Jima statue. I never realised how big this thing was. It is massive. After a few photos we walked back through the cemetery before it closed. We chose to walk back to the Lincoln memorial this time. Spent some time taking in the night time views of the memorial and the Washington Monument, might have even snapped a photo or 7 : ). Due to a long day of walking we decided to go back to the hostel and chill out on the veranda with a nice bottle of Aussie Chardonnay.
Day 9
We slept in again, oh well. From our experiences you need every minute you get in Washington. After catching up with e-mail we were off to the Smithsonian today. We got to the mall and walked up to the Capitol building to take some photos. After admiring the castle some more we had to decide which museum to suss out. The Smithsonian is a multitude of many museums, all having no admission charge. These suckers are not small museums either. If we were to go through them all we would have to give ourselves a week to do it, I mean 7 days not the 5. We decided on the National Museum of American History. I must admit it was not what we expected and was not very exciting. In saying this there were a few interesting exhibits.
After lunch we decided to bail and go next door to the National Natural Museum. Big Doh ! We should have come here first. It was amazing. Unfortunately we only breezed through it before they shut the doors. It had things from dinosaurs to Indians. The later enhancing our prior knowledge of what we obtained on the Trek. As they were throwing us out the door we walked into a beautiful sunset. Clear blue sky that faded into a nice bright orange on the horizon. Pictures just had to be taken of that one. How apt that the good old U.S. of A dishes up that kind of a sunset for our last one.
We stumbled onto a mega food court, so the choice for dinner was overwhelming. We washed it down with a non-alcoholic Pinna Colada after Zuz's question, "What is a Pinna Colada?" One she may regret. Once back at the hostel it was time to pack for the morning.
Day 10
No sleeping in today. Up at 6:00am to get a 7:30 bus to New York. We rescued the granite rock (suitcase) and enjoyed the ride up. Even though we stuck to the highways it was a very scenic ride. All of the trees in their fall uniforms, golden yellows, browns and reds. It is a sight that I don't often get to experience.
We arrived in New York at 11:30 and sat around for an hour so we could catch a bus to J.F.K. airport. I checked in first, even getting my L.A. to Sydney boarding pass. Then it was time to get Zuz checked in. We dragged the suitcase one last time from terminal 6 to 4west. Yes it felt longer than it sounds. Now that all the official stuff have been completed it was time to head to the gate and wait for the boarding call at 3:30. I must admit it was the hardest goodbye I have ever had. Unfortunately the first of many. Other than that it was an uneventful, but long flight all the way home.
The End : )
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