"How do I get rid of this Limey?!..."

A little late but here is my post for the day I left the states.

I didn't sleep too well; I was anxious about the coming flights and wasn't looking forward to spending a day in airports and sat in planes. When I did wake, I packed and washed. It was a bit of a down day, for obvious reasons and even Sam wasn't her usual chipper morning self... oh wait.

We eventually toddled off to get my tickets which I had printed out at Sam's office and after a quick stop off at the store, It was off to the airport.

It really was hard to leave, Sam was red eyed once we had finished our last smoke together and as she wiped her eyes, we said our goodbyes. I almost started bawling myself. I knew I had a long day of airport sitting and plane rides ahead of me and I knew I was going to be tired. The journey was as to be expected... tiring.

While on the plane, it felt like forever that I had been in New York State. I was so glad that I had managed to be able to save and go. I saw American life that we only ever really see in films. Sam was a fantastic guide and an exceptional hostess. She provided me with memories of friends and events that will never leave me.

It was a great idea to spend a week in Upstate New York before hitting the city, to become acclimatised to America. Get to know Sam on a more personal level. We spoke most days on skype but it's always so different to actually meet in person. I feel like I came to America to see a friend but left with a big sister.

It was more than a holiday. I had met people I had spoken to online, Sam and Nina and got to know them more as actual friends. I met other people too, Rocky and his family, who welcomed me into their home for thanksgiving and I tasted a true American Family atmosphere. So, I'd like to think it was more of a life experience than a holiday.

As I sat on the plane, leaving JFK, the skyline of Manhatten splayed out in front of me, the huge city, I was immersed in a few days earlier now crammed into the tiny window of the plane, I knew I'd never miss a city as much as I'd miss this one. It's reputation is only half of what this city is. Again, Sam and Nina were a big part of that.
The plane took off and the lights of New York got smaller and smaller, I mentally waved to everyone I know below. I was saying good bye but a part of me felt like it was forever; I have no idea if I'd ever be going back. I'd love to but the way things change, who knows? I started to well up just as the plane levelled to cruising height and we headed for Blighty.....

The lights of the South Coast met me nearly 6 hours later, welcoming me home and as we flew past Southampton I smiled to myself. Normal service will soon be resumed.

I got home at about 9ish UK time and immediately sought out my cats. The poor things were hid under the sofa and were reluctant to come out. I think they were a little upset that I had left them for so long and they were a little jumpy. Scamp has acquired a  pitiful 'sore throat' style meow. Almost like a little cry. I think she missed me the most. Although I suspect they were a little annoyed at being left for so long. I went to bed and slept for about 5 hours. They eased their way into the bedroom and when I woke up, had a coffee and sat down, Scamp gingerly made her way onto my lap. I'm home kitties.

That's it. It's all over. I'm home. It's done. Save one thing....

I put together a slide movie of my time in New York. Its long, I'll warn you. It includes so much more than what my blog did, so please, enjoy my Tribute to New York.

Blog video part 1
Blog video part 2

And that's it, That was my New York Adventure.

Fin

"I am Dave; namer of towns!..."

It was my last full day in the states today and we woke up feeling the need to explore just a little more of local upstate New York. Our first stop was a railroad car diner. It was a 1940's railcar and was totally what I expected. I had the traditional American breakfast with pancakes. Oh I'm so going to miss those beggers when I gets home.

This set us up for the day and we packed the dog in the car and headed out north! Our intentions were to see mountains because I didnt know what else was around here. Sam suggested we go to see Saratoga. I knew i had heard that name someplace before but when asked Sam said I's probably heard her talking about it on the phone or that there is a spring there. So we trundled off to see this town.
We found the springs. Its popular for locals to come up and collect fresh spring water in containers and while we were there, four or five locals were filling up various containers full of fresh spring water. Water from around this area has different properties. One spring we tasted was a normal spring water while another a few yards up the road was incredibly sulphuric.  It was amazing to taste.

This was the sulphur spring, only a stone's throw away from the more palatable spring. This one was... well... interesting, to say the least. So we left the park and drove a little around Saratoga. The houses here were something else. We took a quick tour of some of these house, just look at these beauties....

I think my mother would appreciate the decorations on this one. Later Sam said "Or you may know the name of Saratoga from a battle where the Americans Beat the British" wow really? springs? phone calls? you didnt think i may have heard about this?! This rather important battlefield? THATS where I had heard the name before. Ok, so now the challenge was on to find the battlefield itself.
In England, we had the battle of Hastings that was actually fought near a town called Battle, here the Americans have the battle of Saratoga, where they were victorious against the British, actually fought near a town called Victory... Is the same guy naming these towns or what? Anyway, we found the battlefield and, this is why i love the yanks, the battlefield was 'drive thro'! No kidding, you can drive from point to point. Seeing as we were late the site, it was going to be dark soon but we managed to see a lot of the drive thro tour.

(Warhammer nerd alert!- expect MMO references, not for the unknowing) We entered the tour and became RVR flagged. Looking around for gankers, we saw only deer so carried on. We followed the tour directions and it was most informative. We made our way to the American 'warcamp' and learnt alot about this turning point battle. This picture is of me at the American River Fortifications...

Ok, that's ONE battlefield Objective captured! Typical, Sam was taking a picture instead of watching my back for a damned witch hunter! *Sigh*. It was Getting dark by the time we finished the tour but wait! Whats this at Burgoyne's HQ? I.E, the British 'warcamp'??

Thats Sam, flying the 'jack'! God damn those xrealmers! After failing to lock the zone, I got the loosers tick and left. We made our way home.
Tonight, however, we managed to get into the Old English for the Fish and Chips dinner we didnt get the night before.

Ah it's just like home! We had a couple of drinks and had to go, you see, on the way home from the 'British Embarrassment' we had picked up a christmas tree and Sam was eager to set it up and decorate it. I said I'd help but seeing as my family employed fairies to decorate our tree every christmas, I didnt know how much help I'd be and upon unpacking the lights, it became apparent that I really wasnt cut out for this....

So, finally we got me untangled and completed the tree, the result, is not as bad as I had previously anticipated....

That's it. That's the last full day in America. Tomorrow I'm off home and back to my normal, everyday existence.  I have no idea how I'll cope with that, stay tuned to find out..

Thankyou....

"It chewed me up and spat me out like bad fish..."

Last day in NY. The plan was to check out of the hotel, check the bags and go do some last moment sight seeing and grab an afternoon train back to Albany. What actually happened was, we woke up and I was so sore and stiff that the thought of walking around, even a little bit made me shudder. So we booked our train tickets for the morning and left the hotel.
I took one last look at New York from the taxi window, pawing at it like a dog who wanted to be let out and collapsed into the train seat. We waved goodbye to the city and watched the countryside whoosh past from the comfort of our seats.

New York is fantastic. Every film I ever saw,  I was picking landmarks out from. If you can handle city life and manage crowds to an extent then its totally worth the money to see it. If I were a little fitter I would of loved to have stayed longer, seen more, done more. I dont even think a full week is enough.  I can really appreciate the architecture, the fact that they built up, fast. The fact America is a young country and the bedrock of New York has created a really neck aching city skyline.

No sooner had we arrived in Albany than I could feel the sudden change in pace. The city is hectic, just waking up and getting out is a mission. I think it was Baz Lurman that said "Live in New York city once but leave before it makes you tough..." I dont consider myself to have 'lived' in the city but I certainly bit a huge chunk out of the apple and had a mighty fine taste! If I were to go back, then I would consider the period between one visit and the next, where I would return to normal life and save up, a rest! I am so glad I had this opportunity to witness it first hand and I am so grateful I had Sam and Nina to help me and guide me through, thankyou.

We got back into the car and picked up Skylar from the Doggie Hotel.

  Then we all went home to relax and reflect upon our individual adventures.
Later that evening we went out for food, I was hoping to visit the Old English but it was way to packed. I had quite enough of crowds this past week, as so did Sam, so we found a very quiet Italian restaurant, had a couple of glasses of wine, some food and went home.
We rented and watched Cloverfield, just mainly to pick out familiar sights from our visit. Then... the inevitable happened; we crashed in our beds.

"We're baaack! And we're taking your women!..."

Today is our last full day in NYC, I'm sorry to say. So we decided to get up early and head out. The first stop was Ellis Island and the Statue of Liberty. As a tourist, you just gotta do this right? Well, even Sam hadn't done this and she lives in the Empire State (not the building, the state). So, we hailed a cab and done the downtown day!

This picture shows a statue to remember the New York Merchant Mariners and the 'Lady' can be seen way in the distance. We boarded the boat from just around the corner and we took the short hop to Liberty Island to start with.

We learnt about why the statue was given to America, basically, those pesky French gave it to the Americans as a 'middle finger' to the British. It was to celebrate their independence but seeing as the french didn't like us brits very much at the time, it was very much a gift for two purposes. They even sat it atop an eight pointed star fort, complete with murder holes. The fort was to protect NY in case the British returned, well guess what.... we're back! Mind you, that huge stone fort is a little over kill for just little old me.
We got some great shots of the NY city skyline..

It looks wonderful in Autumn, you can see the shore through the branches of the trees.

Ah yes, that's me, in my jaunty new hat.

The Lady, the skyline and the boat, as we left for Ellis Island.
Ellis island is where they processed millions of immigrants coming to start their new lives in America.  I found myself thinking about how a country is formed, in relation to it's people. How America was formed on Immigrants and migration of people and this occurred fairly recently, whereas, my own country was formed on war, invasion and occupation.  You have to go back a long way in European history to reach the point where England's people migrated there. I just found that fascinating to think about.
While I was thinking about this, I decided, I'm emigrating to America!!! That's it, I'm staying here folks....

The trouble was, my name WASN'T on the list, so, I'm not getting in! Not only that but to rub salt into the wound...

I was imprisoned for 'insinuating a family member was a primate'! Can you believe it? I know right? Some weird laws in this country. So needless to say, I'm not allowed to stay.
After my release from Ellis Island, we went to find Memorial Park.

They are now rebuilding the area around ground zero with some beautiful new buildings. The American 'can do' attitude is amazing. I know its been over 10 years since the event, but it seems like these new buildings are being put up as a defiance, a symbol that no matter what you do to these people they will come back stronger and harder.

I believe that memorial park is meant to be a place to remember those that lost their lives on that day, be they members of the public or the brave emergency service workers that done whatever it took to rescue people. I believe it is also meant for anyone to come to and be reminded of the spirit of the civilized world, remember how one should treat others. The list of meaning for this park, to me, is endless. I also believe it to be a place where, workers of the area can come on lunch times for some quiet reflection.
However, when we arrived at the park, there were barriers, security and police, not a huge amount but enough to make me wonder what was occurring.   It's still an active building site so some must of been there to guide trucks and deliveries into the site. We got closer to the entrance finding hoarding all around the site, you can not see inside unless you go inside. That raised a brow. We joined the back and were told, that we needed to have tickets, we get those online apparently. This made me angry because basically the powers that be have taken a disaster, a catastrophe then patented it, packaged it and are now 'selling' tickets for it. I don't think an event was happening, not at that moment but they turned this sensitive location into a theme park almost.  I was disgusted and refused to stay there a moment longer, so we moved along.
We saw Trinity church next and I was surprised. A spire of a church back home is generally the tallest point around, a church should dominate the skyline so people have a point to know where to go to pray. I'm not religious, obviously but the spire of Trinity church is just dwarfed by the surrounding buildings. I'm sure at some stage in New York's history, the spire was the tallest point around but as the city grew, the spire... shrank. It reminds me a lot of the town churches we have dotted about back home.

We hailed a cab and moved onto the Brooklyn Bridge. I am a big fan of bridges and this is one impressive river crossing!

After this, we were meeting Nina again. This time she was bringing her son into NY to visit us. So we met her at Grand central and made our way to Bryant Park to see the ice-skating. We had dumplings, crepes and hot chocolate. I also played top trumps with the excitable Ryan, who had never seen this game I grew up with playing and is still very much a common game in England. For those who dont know what it is, here is a link to the official website...
 Top Trumps
Basically its a simplified version of Pokemon cards. But comes in a variety of topics from sharks, to dinos, racing cards to building machinery. 
Ryan is one awesome Kid and Nina is a great mother. Im totally going to miss you two. We managed to see the Rockafella tree as well this time! Fully lit but we completed our tree quest!

We had to leave Nina and Ryan to catch a taxi as it was getting late for the poor little dude and Sam and I were tired as well but physically tired.  I ached and was sore, I had taken more pills today than I had taken in a long time. We eventually got back to the hotel and although our minds wanted to go out our bodies were clearly saying "NO!"


We leave NY tomorrow and I'll be sorry to leave. I have had an awesome time and it's been amazing, especially to meet friends from the internet... hugs and kisses to Nina and the little dude.

"I seen hell and it was big, green and fluffy!..."

Id like to thank everyone, first of all, for following my blog and leaving such great comments. I do like coming back to the hotel at the end of the day and reading your great comments. So thankyou for showing interest in my humble trip to the Big Apple.

Today, we got up a little late, after a late night out we stayed in bed a little longer than perhaps we should. Eventually we got up and grabbed a cab to the Empire State Building. It was a beautiful day and knew the view would be awesome. Going into the lobby it was obvious that this is one impressive building. We opted to use the lifts, like normal human beings, seeing as we had 86 floors to ascend, i felt the stairs may have been a little rough going on my knee. We got to the top and really, the views were impressive. Buildings that I had craned my neck to see the top of from street level, looked like match boxes and I could see for miles. I will post just a couple of the shots I managed to take from up there, just so you have something to see...

I like this next shot. We found a pigeon that was clearly a poser, perhaps trying to get himself a part in the next big blockbuster but whatever his ideas, he made a great photo...

This next shot, I have seen similar to it before and I really like it.

Sam was suffering with a little vertigo and didn't venture too close to the edge. An edge, I might add, had a thick stone wall topped off by an incredibly secure stainless steel fence to about 8 to 10 feet. The chances of an accidental fall were 0, at best, but there we go. So We left the observation deck and headed down to ground level.

When we got down, I spied another great photo opportunity, possibly an alternative for my Mum's family photo frame? We'll see....

I look happy there, but after this shot was taken... well, the cavity search was not great! *laughs*

Anyhooooo... After a snack, we opted to take a trip to the natural history museum. I had always wanted to go to the New York Museum of Natural History and it really is an amazing place. The building is just as grand as the one back home. Plenty more shots coming up...
Now Sam, this IS Teddy!

They have a display in the lobby that is just amazing; an Allosaurus attacking a sauropod (i forget which one) and her baby. I couldnt get it all in one shot but please do enjoy this amazing display, I was blown away by it.

The Museum is massive, and you can only see so much. We had to pick and choose what we wanted to see. We found the African Mammals exhibit and this next picture is for Duana because she does so love her elephants.

Now there was one picture that we just had to come up with a caption for. Only a few of you may get this but here is the picture....

and the caption we came up with is... "Gank group LF healer!" oh how we laughed!

Now, the next is a family joke but it seems everywhere we go; museum, zoo or whatever we always find my sister, waiting in the wings somewhere, like she's following us around and sure enough, we caught sight of her today as well...

Moving into the sea-life exhibit, I was surprised to find Bruce, just hanging around...

Back in London, we have a huge blue whale hanging from the ceiling but I noticed the last time I was there, he was in need of a damn good dusting, he was dusty dusty dusty, the one here was far cleaner....

Not the best photo of the whale but it was very dark in there. Still, an impressive display none the less. Finally, for the marine life section, a snuggly warm bear...

After this, we went to watch a planetarium film about the creation of stars and our universe. It was a 360 degree movie and although we didnt actually move anywhere, I did feel kinda queezy and was glad to have my feet back on planet earth. We were running out of time but I insisted on making a trip to see some dinos! It was funny, I knew what a lot of them were before i read the display cases. Thats what you get for playing Jurassic park: Operation Genesis.

I'd like to introduce you to Steve the Steggie and...

Trevor the T-Rex. I took a fair few pictures in this section but I wish to show you just one more before moving on. Its the Jaws of a Megladon! A huge prehistoric shark. These jaws are actually fairly small in comparison to some that have been found. They are probably from a baby. Maybe a baby but would dwarf a Great White!

We left the museum and had to make our way to the Rockafella plaza. We were going to grab a cab but we found one of the many rickshaw riders. A little more expensive but the rider was a great guy and it was a great tour. Apparently the rider is an actor. He can be seen in a new film called "New Year" riding his rickshaw with a huge 2 in the back. So he says, so I'll be watching out for that. We rode through Central Park and he even pointed out where John Lennon was shot. Here he is, a very jaunty fellow.

Now, we were off to see the tree lighting. It was an extra special lighting because the President was in town to see it to. The quote of the day was even going to be "Oby is in town!" I was quite excited about that, well who wouldnt be?! well, here is where things went BAD! We tried to get to the plaza and the crowds were just massive. Every street was blocked off and we were crammed in like sheep. However, that wasnt so bad, I have been in crowds before, just keep an eye on your people, know where you want to go and watch your bags. So we carried on. We eventually got to an area close to the tree and thats where it stopped.

On the left in this picture is where the tree and the stage was set, just around the corner of the building. There was no big screen in which to see what was going on and you can see the crowds were just getting bigger and bigger and there seemed to be no movement towards the actual tree or stage. Sam and I even called Nina to find out what was going on, on the television. We decided to leave and try to catch it at the hotel. However, trying to get away from the area was even worse than getting in! People were packed into the streets as far as the eye could see and not moving anywhere! You couldnt go forwards and you couldnt go back. Eventually the NYPD opened up the roadside barricade after realizing we were not all trying to get in but actually trying to get the hell away. We were ushered away and then, on the right, we caught a glimpse of the demon that caused all of this mess!

its blurry because we were being ushered away from the area, so there you are... the BEAST! "You dont know! you werent there man!"
It gets worse however. When we finally managed to get to the hotel, we thought we'd just watch it on the television. I was in skype with Nina at the time and just at the moment she told us they had lit the tree, is the moment our television lost signal! Now, I'm not a religious man, but someone was definaly messing with us!

Not all is lost however, we did manage to find a shop and complete my 'hat quest'. What do you think? Jaunty enough?

This is also the English themed pub we found close to our hotel. We went here to drown our sorrows with the failure that was the tree lighting.

Now, some years ago, when I went to Ibiza, we found a bar there we enjoyed a lot. There is a famous picture, well famous between my friends anyway, of my leg placed and stood proud upon that bar. Its many years on but, for those in the know, the tradition continues!....

Well, that's all for now folks. That was a heavy day and I popped more pills than I care to remember, I just hope tomorrow is as much fun. See you soon folks.