The Orange State

After New York we flew down to Orlando, Florida.

The first day we went to Universal Studios, Florida and the adjacent Universal's Islands of Adventure. At the Islands of Adventure there were some pretty good roller coasters. The Dueling Dragons wasn't bad, although it was a bit of a worry that they had to stop the ride for a few minutes when something went wrong.

The scarier ride was the Hulk. It started off creeping up a slope where it feels like you're going to accelerate down the other side but instead you start accelerating before you get to the top! It was fun but really very intense. Dad said it was about as intense as his ride in a MiG fighter jet!

Something interesting I noticed about these two rollercoasters was signs on the way in saying something like "People come in all different shapes. Rows 3 and 6 have been modified to accommodate these variations." That is to say, as we boarded the ride, the guard directed the fatties to those two rows. A necessary thing in contemporary America. (I must say, these things serve as a bit of a reminder to me not to eat too much American food and not to let the car make me too lazy!)

The rollercoasters were good but what was quite new to me was Shrek 4D. Not only is the movie 3D but the seats also move. And there's more special effects. In one scene where a bunch of spiders appear (in 3D) you suddenly feel something brushing your legs! The seats are equipped with little air jets for this as well as water jets in the seat in front of you. Erin was particularly impressed (read: disgusted) when we felt Donkey's sneeze in 4D!

New York, New York, It's a Hell of a Town

After Boston we came down to New York city by train, staying in a little two-bedroom apartment just off Times Square (on 48th St between 8th and 9th Ave). It's certainly an overwhelming place. Not because of the tall buildings, I've spent enough time in downtown Sydney (and now Montreal) to be used to getting around a big city. The thing that struck me was the people. All the caricatures you hear about obnoxious New Yorkers are really quite accurate. The drivers are all insane, especially the taxi drivers, and the pedestrians are just as pushy. Erin was particularly appalled when she overheard a mother instructing her children to push and shove!

Erin and Mum are disappointed that it's not snowing and there's none forecast before we head down to Florida. (Erin is particularly sour, saying a White Xmas is the only reason she came all this way!)

The first day there we saw the American Museum of Natural History together then I went over to The Met by myself. The dinosaurs were very impressive, so many huge fossils! The Met also had tons of famous works but my favourite part was when I overheard an American badly mispronouncing French names, saying "My favorites are Monnett and Rennoyer."! Both museums were far too big to see all of. The walk back to the subway station through Central Park was a little scary as it was getting dark and I was by myself but I was fine. I think the danger might be a little exaggerated.

Christmas Eve we went to see the Empire State Building; the 3rd tallest building in the world, now that the World Trade centre is no more. Dad and I went all the way to the 102nd floor. It was VERY windy! That night we had dinner at a very expensive restaurant on Central Park, The Tavern on the Green, and then took a carriage ride through the park.

Boxing Day we toured the UN building in the morning and saw Little Italy and China Town in the arvo.

On our last day in New York we caught the ferry out to La liberté éclairant le monde. Dad and I went inside but you can't walk up into her head anymore, we could only go to the viewing platform at the top of the pedestal. Still, it was interesting to see such a famous landmark up close.

On our last night we had dinner in a Puerto Rican restaurant, just as appropriate to New York as our lunch in Little Italy the day before. One of the sides offerred was plantains (a word I recognised from a conversation I had with a couple of Latino friends who were patiently explaining to me the differences between Mexican and Puerto Rican cuisine). So I tried the green ones and Mum tried the sweet ones. The sweet ones were too much like bananas for my liking but the green ones were very starchy and, fried up, tasted much like potato scallops.

A chocolate so dark that light cannot escape its surface!

More important than where we went is this discovery I found at the Lindt store at Kittery: Excellence 99% (sic.) Cocoa "Noirissime" Dark Chocolate!

I expect that this will make Waden green with envy as they have been known to wax lyrical about the pathetically weak 85% variety. Wade said that 85% takes some getting used to. In fact, their website gives safety guidlines so that consumers aren't overpowered:

To fully appreciate its flavor and texture, we recommend that you progressively develop your palate through our range of high cocoa content chocolate bars, starting with Excellence 70% Cocoa, then 85% and finally 99% Cocoa.

I haven't opened it yet. I might take their advice and make a base camp at 85% before attempting the 99% summit.

Oh and, Baden, they recommend that you take it with coffee, not tea, as you are wont to do.

Boston and Salem

Yesterday we went walking around downtown Boston, we followed an historical walk and saw a few old buildings. Did a little shopping but overall a quiet day.

Today we took a drive up to Salem. We saw the memorial for the witched they hanged back in the 1690s. (Apparenly Arthur Miller stuck to the true story pretty closely, all the names match.)

Then we drove up through New Hampshire into Maine to some factory outlets at Kittery where Mum and Erin spent several hours shopping.

Pennsylvania

After leaving Washington we travelled up through Virginia and Pennsylvania etc. on our way to Boston. We spent most of Friday at Leesburg, Virginia outlet shopping. We stayed that night at Harrisburg, Pennsylvania and the next night at Milford, Pennsylvania. In between we stopped at Hershey, Pennsylvania, where we saw Hershey's Chocolate World. The animatronic tour was basically one big advertisement with a free piece of bad chocolate at the end. Oh, the kitsch value!

After Milford we drove through a bit of New York state and Connecticut into Massachusetts. Tonight we're in Woburn, in the outer suburbs of Boston.

The Centre of the Centre of the World

The first city on the winter trip with my family is Washington, DC. Yesterday Dad and I went to the Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum on the National Mall in the morning and then in the afternoon to another Smithsonian air and space, the Udvar-Hazy Center, out in Virginia, where they keep the planes that are too big to display in a normal building, as well as the space shuttle Enterprise.

Then today we got to take a tour of the White House and the Capitol. Not just anyone can do that, yoou have to organise it through your congressman (my friend Sean arranged it for us). The White House tour was ultra high security, of course but once we got inside it was self-guided. We saw all the stately rooms and it was pretty impressive.

The Capitol Tour was even better. A staffer took us behind the scences and all throughout the Capitol, telling us all the stories behind every little detail of the building, as well as how congress works. It was really a fantastic experience.

We also took a bus tour around the monuments. We went up the Washington Monument and saw the Lincoln Memorial. I was really amazed at just how big the Washington Memorial is. I had no idea that you can go up to the top of it; you sure can see a long way.

Brass Monkeys Again

I woke up this morning to find it particularly cold. After turning up the heat I checked the temperature and found that it was -11 ˙C outside! It's not going to get above -1 today. Yesterday it didn't get above +1˙. There was just a little snow on Friday, just a few flakes that melted instantly, nothing much to speak of.