11-11-2014 Tuesday USA Trip Day 5

Memorial/Veterans day

There was a parade in NY and the free gig we saw setting up in Washington today.

Went all over NY today.

Central Park (Low and mid), Strawberry fields, Alice in wonderland, Top of the Rock, Tiffanies, Apple Store, Grand Central train station, the great deli food place for lunch, Macy’s.

Saw a lot of the parade. Marching bands and veterans.

Went Ice Skating at the Rockefeller Tower, well little miss did, I watched, well proud as all those early morning lessons paid off. Then off to Times Square.

Saw the after effects of a $2M diamond heist!

Brought food from a supermarket round the corner and watched Enemin on HBO performing at the Concert for Valour in Washington whist eating our food on the beds. What a prat! He was also the headliner, With such Fing bad language.

10-11-2014 Monday USA Trip Day 4

Leave for New York via the train.
Washington to New York at 10:20 takes around 3h20.
Had breakfast in Johnnys!
Thought we had a reserved seat, but no, we did not.

Got on the “Quite” car, by mistake, and I was told off for speaking to my daughter who was sat across the aisle. We were not loud and had just got on. Just general stuff like are you ok, do you want a coffee etc. His bloody paper rustled louder, think he was pissed off because someone sat next him
Now I know why the seat was free, the miserable sod. Miserable Git!

We moved after an hour when space becomes available elsewhere and we could sit together.

Listened to the whole of the new Pink Floyd album, twice. Very relaxing.

Must say the seats were comfortable and you could get cases into the overhead bins, better than BR, who have added more seats and shrunk the luggage storage. Idiots!

Arrive in NY, travelled to our accommodation having successfully brought tickets for the subway.

Checked in, room was a little disappointing compared to the last one, more in terms of cost.

Then back into NY to see the Statue of Liberty via the Staten Island Ferry. This is free so good value. Sunset was great.

Then went for a beer or two.

Last time I was here, a year ago, the 9/11 memorial was a free ticket entry but hidden behind a big wall , did some research on-line and it implied it was chargeable now. Not the case. It is now all open. It was dark and it was stunning. The waterfalls and names were all lit up.

Rick and Cindy recommended a pizza place in NY, so we went off and found it.

Magnificent! Small outside queue, but very quick service once in.

Back to the hovel and sleep!
 

09-11-2014 Sunday USA Trip Day 3

More walking and site seeing and shopping…..but at a more leisurely pace

The Washington mall, White House, Pentagon Mall (shopping), beer , first outdoor ice rink, watched some of the Sunday afternoon American football game taking place at Wembley in London, Pentagon 9/11 Memorial and out to my Marillion mate Ricks for dinner. Home cooked Chicken and mac ‘n cheese.

He was most impressed I was at the Six of the Best gig, I was impressed I got a bootleg recording! Cheers Rick.

During the day we…

had a long chat, standing in the middle of the Concert for Valour gig venue, to a security guard about Washington and the gig. His advice was be somewhere else as 800,000 – 1,000,000 were due to arrive.

and the Pentagon Memorial is very moving. The seats for each victim are in rows for birth year, youngest 3 oldest around 70. Their names are engraved in the open end of the seat. The direction of the seat also has significance and is very moving! We got there as the sun was setting so the Autumn leaves cast a nice colouring. Wish we had seen at night!

08-11-2014 Saturday USA Trip Day 2

Went off exploring Washington after meeting our host. A lovely lady.

Walked everywhere. Started at the Eastern Market  and then saw the Capitol, the mall, American Monument, some marching band competition, WWII memorial, Reflecting pool, Lincoln Memorial, Arlington National cemetery (JFK site and the unknown soldier).

Caught Metro back, as it was a long way, then went for food and beer!

Knackered!

07-11-2014 Friday USA Trip Day 1

Having my 6th and 7th flight of the week. A four day business trip to Sweden used up flights 1 – 5!
Was up very early for trip to Brum airport. I only left ther e only 8 hours earlier.
Tipped it down on the way there.
Arrived and checked in the car and took the bus to the airport, checked in and had easy path through all the scanners. We were on our way to the USA via Dublin.

At Dublin we had breakfast, went through the USPC (United States Pre Clearance) took all of 10 mins and boarded flight.


Off we went, 8 hours of movie watching. For everyone else, yes. Me no. The screen worked, the sound worked, but the audio failed. The audio is delivered separately so they can have different languages. All languages failed. No subtitles either, No spare seats for me to move to except up front, and no that was not allowed! Bored. Very bored. Managed to watch one film while little miss was asleap.

Arrived in Washington, and just walked out of the airport, how easy was that! Caught a bust to the end of the Metro, battled with the ticket machine and went off into Washington. It was a long time….

Checked in at our AirBnB accommodation and all was fine, great room.

Went out for some beers and food. Little miss was ID’d but she is now 21 so that’s good!

Back to room to sleep it off. Knackered