We do still exist

You are probably wondering about the rest of our adventures in the USA. Well, we are home safely but what with jetlag, spending time with people and packing to move back to university, we haven't really found time to update. Also I'm now on my laptop, and Oz has all my photos on his laptop that we took with us. Hopefully we can magically send them through the air from his to mine this weekend (the wonders of technology...), though I will be busy trying to fit all my (many) possessions into my room. So I will write up the rest of the fun times we had, but it may have to wait a little while. 

In other news, it's good to be back. You can get decent cups of tea and change is actually worth having. Things are the price they say they are (even if they are expensive). You don't have to give people your life story every time you go into a shop. The bread doesn't have sugar in it, nor do the baked beans contain molasses. Most things are free from high fructose corn syrup. I've definitely missed good old England. 

San Antonio

We were pretty tired by the time we got to San Antonio. It was meant to be a 3.5 hour train journey from Austin, arriving at 10:30pm, but I think we didn't even leave Austin til about 11. So though we got up for breakfast at the Travelodge at 9 (no sense passing up free food after all), we went straight back to bed afterwards and didn't head out until lunch time. Thus our first stop naturally was a cafe, where we had a very tasty lunch. San Antonio was pretty quiet compared with Austin, but everything was in walking distance which was nice, as public transport is ok but it can take an age to get from A to B sometimes.

Obviously the first thing we felt obliged to see was the Alamo, which confused us at first because we didn't fully read the signs so then we didn't really get what was going on. But once we'd figured it out it all made sense. Basically it's all to do with the Texas Revolution: first the Mexicans had it (the Alamo) then were driven out by colonists, who defended it against the Mexicans even though it seemed like a sure thing that they would lose, which they did in a short battle one day that started before dawn and finished by morning time. Anyway, it's all about it being an heroic struggle against impossible odds, etc. Also Davy Crockett and Jim Bowie were there fighting with the Texians, so they have a bunch of stuff about that too. Well, I'm sure that was a very illuminating account for you all but I never was that into history :P However I did enjoy the gift shop, which was full of Texas- and Alamo-themed souvenirs such as Alamo biscuits (shaped like the front of the Alamo), Texas flags, magnets etc, Sheriff badges, etc etc etc. I bought a bonnet because they'd had them in the cool museum shop in St Louis but I didn't buy one then because while I thought it would make a fun silly souvenir I couldn't think of any sensible reason to buy one. But I decided that if I saw one elsewhere I'd buy it, then Oz said if he saw a Mexican wrestling mask somewhere he'd buy it, because we'd seen those previously as well and he'd wanted one for the same reasons as me but hadn't bought one.

Afterwards we went to the Mexican market, which was filled to the brim with tat, but we both bought genuine Mexican blankets because they were only $6 and the over-zealous air conditioning on the trains was starting to get to us, especially at night because it's hard to sleep when it feels like all of San Francisco's finest breezes are breathing down your neck (more on that later). Oz also bought a Mexican wrestling mask, because I'd bought my bonnet. We also went to a pharmacy because somehow I managed to get a cold. In Texas. Where it was 35+ degrees Celsius. I blame the trains! Then we walked along the river for a little while before heading back to chill out for a little bit. 

In the evening we found a big shopping center to go to, so we went there and bought hats in the hat shop and I got some shorts (not from a shorts shop), then we had some dinner in the food court. We've learned that mall food courts are good places to get cheap, half-decent food. The American food courts are generally a lot more extensive than English ones and there's always a Chinese option so you can get vegetables, or a place to get salad (though, salads here are quite often some leaves drenched in sauce with lots and lots of cheese on top). On our way back we stopped in a convenience store to get some food for the train to El Paso, as the train was at 5:40am and was 12.5 hours long, and train food is limited and not cheap or particularly nice - microwave pizza anyone? 

Oz in aforementioned Mexican wrestling mask...

...and me wearing my bonnet. I think we both look rather fetching! 

Keep Austin Batty

All right! So as you have noticed I finally got a chance to update. Lazing around in California is difficult I tells ya! Where did I get up to...

...Oh yes, Texas. A little note on Texas is in order here, I think. The guidebook tells me that Texas is just under 262,000 square miles, or larger than Germany and Poland combined. And it surely is a force to be reckoned with. Everywhere you go in Texas there is the feeling that everyone is inwardly (if not outwardly) going "WHOO TEXAS! YEAH!". Or, "yee-aah," as Texans add extra syllables into many words: Car = Caw-uh, All right = Aaall raa-yit, etc. Everywhere there are Texan flags, images of Texas, Lone Star and Longhorn memorabilia, etc. I really liked it because I felt like many of the places we'd been didn't really give us a sense of where we were, if that makes sense. Obviously NYC is totally unique and you could never mistake it for anywhere else. But Cincinnati could have been anywhere. If we hadn't been to the Missouri Botanical Gardens while visiting St Louis, you could be forgiven for not knowing what state it was in. But most of Texas was is so very decidedly Texan that you'd have trouble mistaking where you are, even way south near Mexico. So I really enjoyed the character and identity of Texas throughout, which, I can tell you, was a pretty long throughout: we spent about a week and a half in Texas, and countless hours on trains going past mountains and through deserts baking in the sun. 

We both really liked Austin, though it was SO HOT. You'd walk three blocks then want to sit down with a nice cold drink. We stayed in the Austin Motel, which was a very lovely place. Our train was super-delayed from Dallas and when we got to Austin late at night, some nice people on the train offered us a ride to the motel rather than us having to get a taxi, as the motel was only about 10 minutes' drive from the station and vaguely in their direction. So we were off to a good start. On our first day there (Tueday 26th Aug) we wandered around downtown and visited the Mexic-Arte museum, then went back to SoCo where the motel was to see the quirky shops there. After dinner we headed back to 6th Ave to take in the nightlife. Austin is renowned for its live music scene, and we weren't disappointed (well, with free live music almost everywhere and $2 beers, who would be?). As we went out quite early, many of the bars were pretty empty but it gave a nice intimate feel - in the second one we went to, the guy playing had a break in the middle of his set and went and talked to everyone in the bar (we had a conversation about jeans and he told Oz that he liked his style). We met a bunch of guys also staying in the Austin Motel who were from London and were there because one of them was getting married, so we talked to them about Austin and things to do here. Then we went to the Coyote Ugly bar where the bartenders were dancing on the bar and it was just a bit odd so we left soon afterwards and walked back to the motel.

The next day we got up late and had some brunch in a Mexican cafe that was practically next door to the motel. I had a tasty omelette served with fruit, which was just what I needed! Then we found a bus to take us to Zilker Park, Austin's favoured open space. There's a pool there fed by spring water so is a constant 68F (20C) all year round and a place to rent canoes. So we spent a nice afternoon paddling down the creek then up and down a little bit of the river. I really liked the creek because there were wild turtles everywhere (I think we hit one or two unlucky ones that didn't move out of our way quick enough...) and fish and big trees sticking out of the water that you could go underneath and paddle around. It was very peaceful and lovely. It wasn't too deep and you could see all the plants growing on the bottom. Afterwards we went for a little paddle in the spring water, which was SO COLD. So we didn't stay too long. We decided to go and look around the botanical garden instead. We saw most of it - it was divided into different bits like the cactus garden, the butterfly garden and the Japanese garden, which was the best. It had been built/donated by a Japanese man and it was very beautifully designed with waterfalls and a little bridge and trees. After wandering around for a while we were pretty hot and tired so we headed back to the motel and got some microwave burritos for our dinner (which sound disgusting but they were from this little organic supermarket place so they weren't full of rubbish and were actually pretty decent, especially for under $3!). We also had a swim in the pool, which being outdoors in Texas was lovely and warm. Then we went to see the big evening event in Austin, which is the bats coming out from under the bridge. The bridge has a colony of 1.5 million bats living there. They come up from Mexico to have their babies, and after sunset they all stream out to go and find their insect dinners. In the day you can hear them all chittering in there but you can't see them. It was pretty impressive to see them all coming out but they smelt pretty bad! 

On our last day in Austin we went up to see the University of Texas campus, which was rather nice, and it felt good to be surrounded by students again! We didn't have too much else to do, but as we'd checked out of the motel we had to kill time until our train, so we headed back downtown and went to the Museum of the Weird on 6th Ave, which we'd noticed before. It was incredibly cheesy but pretty awesome, worth the entrance fee anyway! It was like an old-time dime museum, with shrunken heads, a two-headed calf, a supposed Fiji mermaid, and a Mummy. We'd called the Amtrak hotline beforehand and discovered our train was delayed, so as we still had a few hours to kill we decided to see a film. The only thing showing was Tropic Thunder, which turned out to be ok. But the cinema itself was worth seeing. In front of each row of seats was a long table, and each seat had a menu in front of it so you could order food by writing down your order then clipping it into the stand in front of you. Then someone would come and get your order and bring your food and bill. Of course, being a cinema it wasn't exactly cheap, but they gave you a decent-sized serving and it was pretty tasty. When the film ended it was time to head to the station. Annoyingly our train was even more delayed so we had to wait there for a couple of hours. While I liked Texas itself, the Texas Eagle was most definitely not my favourite train!

The bats. They were hard to take photos of as it was completely dark and they were moving so fast, but this will hopefully give you some idea.

As promised

I bring you Oz Eating a Lime:

"Pff, Li was such a wuss eating that lemon. I'm sure I won't pull such silly faces as her, for I am Manly and Strong"

"AARGH! The Limeiness of it!!"

"Oooouuuuughhh..."

"Blech! I am done with this nonsense!"

"And that is it, no more lime for me! I think I managed to maintain my dignity..."

Bah + Dallas

Well I tried uploading some photos but it was going really slowly (or not at all) so I gave up. I have these pictures of Oz eating a lime in St Louis to balance out the ones of me eating a lemon in Boston, but I guess they'll have to wait a little while.

I forgot to mention before but when we went to Delmar we were filmed by some people making a TV show for American TV. It was about Easter and Christmas and they asked us questions about what Easter/Xmas meant to us and what advice we'd give to a person who was stressed over Christmas because they had to see relatives they didn't like. All rather random. 

Anyways. Our next stop was Dallas. Many people have told us that it's an odd place for tourists to go. I agree, but it was either stop in Dallas or have a train journey starting at 8pm one day and finishing in Austin at 6pm the next. So, we stopped in Dallas. We stayed at a Marriott hotel near Addison, far out from Dallas really but it was very cheap, and had a pool and gym etc. Also the breakfast was included in the price and was quite extensive. In fact we had lots of food for breakfast then took enough with us to feed us for the rest of the day on fruit, cereal bars, bagels, bread rolls, cheese, muffins, cake, cereal and milk (cool bag + ice = instant refridgeration). There was also a free shuttle bus to the Galleria mall, which was pretty massive and had an ice rink in the middle of it on the bottom level. Very sensible when it's 35C outside. So the evening we got there we shopped and ate in the mall food court. I found some snug boots that I wanted for winter, but figured I'd buy them in a different branch of the shop when we'd completed our travels. 

On Sunday we got on a bus to take us to Downtown Dallas so we could go to the Sixth Floor Museum, which tells you all about JFK being shot. It's on the sixth floor (obviously) of the building where Harvey Lee Oswald (apparently) shot him from, though they did tell you a bit about the conspiracy theories and alternate theories involving the grassy knoll. Outside on the road is a big white X at the precise spot where he was shot. All very tasteful, especially when there are grinning Japanese children standing around it having their photos taken by their parents. It's a wonder people don't get run over there, as it is just in the middle of the road. Afterwards we had a wander through the "historic district" which mainly consisted of random shops. We found Wild Bill's Western Store (see http://www.wildbillswestern.com if you're interested , full of all things Texan, where Bill himself helped us find some cowboy boots to buy. Now there was an extremely Texan man. Then we went back because it was extremely hot, and Return of the King was on so that kept me entertained all evening.