Los Angeles

It turned out that the website we'd booked the hostel through had given the wrong address, so first we turned up to the wrong hostel, then had to walk several blocks in the heat with all our gear to the right hostel. Then we weren't allowed to check in early, so we stayed in the lobby for a little while, then headed out again to see LA. Our hostel was in a good place just off the Boulevard, so we saw a lot of Hollywood just by walking to and from it. It was very near a shopping centre, so we got some smoothies to revitalise ourselves and went in a few shops. For lunch we had some tasty sushi, we decided to head downtown to see what that was like.

Well, it turns out that downtown LA is, basically, horrible. We made the mistake of venturing too far east into a very poor area, and felt very exposed and vulnerable walking around. Also there just didn't seem to be any nice shops or sights around. So after wandering around for a while we got back on the underground to Hollywood Boulevard again. I bought some pizza for dinner and we spent the evening in our room working out how to get to Burbank the next day.

On Wednesday we felt we'd seen enough of Hollywood, so after breakfast at Starbucks we got a bus to the La Brea Tarpits ("La Brea"actually means "The tarpits", so that's like saying 'The "The Tarpits" tarpits', but anyway) where we spent a pleasant couple of hours. It was a good museum. I like it when museums are kind of antiquities in themselves. This one had a definite seventies vibe to it. We saw lots of skulls and some animatronic mammoths and things, and a video about the tar pits and the excavations/scientific discoveries they were making there. Then we bussed back and had lunch in the shopping centre again, this time at a place where you have a computer screen in front of you and order all your food through that. You can also play games or do quizzes while waiting for your food. It was a bit silly and slightly expensive for what we got, but kind of worth it just for fun. Afterwards we went back to the hostel and sat outside waiting for our taxi to take us to the airport. I would like to go back to LA, but next time with a car or to the coastal bit, as that was too far away for us to get to this time.

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.

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.

Cincinna-TEA

Well, it was a joyous train ride to Cincy: 11:10am til 1:30am. Woo. I didn't like it too much because it was all mountains and woodland and it all seemed very sort of wild and isolated. The lady checking our tickets said she liked the way we said Cincinnati, because we, in our English way, said Cincinn-atty, not Cincinnahhddy.

We didn't have anywhere to stay that night so we hung out in the station until 6:30am, when we got a taxi to the Travelodge, who let us check in early at about 8:15 (they were meant to charge us $20 to check in early, but they didn't - not sure if they forgot or what but I'm not complaining). So we fell into bed and slept until 1, when we wandered over the bridge - the Travelodge was across the river Ohio so technically in Kentucky, not Ohio as the rest of Cincinnati is - to get some lunch and see what there was to see. Turns out, not too much, but that was ok because everyone was super nice to us (especially the man at the AAA, where we wanted a map/bus info), and though when we strayed from the central part of the city things did look a bit worn down, the centre was rather nice. We got a bus to Mount Adams, a suburb with a free conservatory on a hill. It was very lovely, a little perverse going into basically a greenhouse on a really hot day, but we saw some cool plants and bought souvenirs and wandered around the park it was in too (more because we were lost than anything else). Everything shut at about 5 which was a bit of a shame, so we didn't have time to go to the zoo - apparently the sexiest zoo in the USA as it has the highest success rate for animals mating. Macy's was still open though, so we looked in there and I ended up getting a belt and a bag and purse that matched. Oz bought the bag and belt as my birthday present, but let me have them early =) We found a burrito dinner in Newport (the semi-suburb over the river where the Travelodge was) then watched Cartoon Network and the end of The Truman Show. Sometimes it's nice to just bum about!

The next day, we hung about in Newport. We watched the new Starwars movie then spent some time in the arcade and had freaky smoothies. The smoothies all had dodgy stuff added like soy protein and carbohydrate something-or-other. Then we had lunch in a seafood place, picked up our bags from the Travelodge and got a bus to the station, which is less a station and more the Museum Center, with a children's museum, a natural history museum (which was actually quite devoid of natural history, apart from one skeleton) and a museum about the history of Cincinnati. We got lucky as that Friday it was free museum day, which apparently happens once a month, so we saved some $$. We also went to the Imax theatre there to see a film about the human body at 9pm - as our train wasn't until 1am, we wanted to keep ourselves amused.

After the film, we got really lucky. In the station is a 4000-pipe organ, which is only played very rarely. But this being the age of electronical wonderment that it is, there were "recordings" of the organ being played which, when played back, made the pipes play themselves so it was just like the real thing. When we were there, one of the station employees was showing off the organ to some other people, so we got to listen too. It was really impressive as there was nobody else around, and the station is huge with an arching roof, so it sounded amazing. Although it was completely a case of being in the right place at the right time, we felt extremely lucky, and it made me glad we were travelling. Sometimes it's not just the things you see when you're there, but the things you see along the way. 

Adventure in Maryland, or, how Li got SHOT IN THE FOOTs

Okay, so Oz is being really rubbish about updating the blog, and he keeps hogging the laptop so I can't update it either. Or he gives it to me when I'm really tired and can't be bothered. Well, we've been having busy days!

Sunday at Ethan's: we have a lie-in, which feels pretty good, then take the opportunity to do an American activity, namely, going to a range and shooting guns. We wanted to do this with Ethan because he's responsible and actually knows how to work guns, so we won't shoot ourselves (that doesn't mean that we won't get shot by other people, though). So we pick up Pat (another American Oz met in halls last year), who also has never shot a pistol, who lives in Virginia. It's kind of cool driving around there because you can go into three states in about as many minutes. We got a little lost trying to find the range, but we got there in the end. To give you a little background on this place, their website advertised Monday's: Ladies' Night, Wednesdays: Couples' Night and Fridays: Parent and child night. 

We got two 9mm pistols, a Glock and a Sig, and three boxes of ammo between the four of us. Then, armed with our earmuffs and... arms, we assumed position in our lanes. Ethan had, of course, shown us how to load and fire the gun, and how to eject the magazine afterwards (because you should always set the gun down with the magazine out before you step away). I went last because I was frightened, but I think Oz and Pat were too, just hiding it better or being manlier! I wasn't good at loading the bullets at first because the spring was kind of strong and my fingers kept slipping on the bullets, but after a couple of goes getting Ethan and Oz to do it for me, I managed to work it myself. Shooting was surprisingly fun after the initial fear, though I was rubbish at aiming.

Then, I got SHOT IN THE FOOT. Not really. The guy to our right was firing increasingly large and scary guns, and as I was getting ready to fire, he fired and something flew off from somewhere and hit me in the foot (flipflops clearly being sensible footwear), scratching me and drawing blood in two places. Luckily I lived to tell the tale, and get lunch afterwards. Pat stabbed Ethan's cup with a cocktail stick so his soda was squirting out, so Ethan naturally got revenge by attempting to drive off without Pat. I think all the people in the parking lot thought we were crazy. After lunch we went to wander around Old Town in Alexandria, VA, which by our standards was really not that old. Then we all headed back to Ethan's place for Halo and a Taco Bell dinner where Oz ate entirely too much.

On Monday Oz and I went into DC, which we both really liked. It was possible to do everything in one day, as it's all really close and easy to get to. We started off at the Capitol then walked along the Mall to the Smithsonian air and space museum, where we saw moon suits and spacecraft and the original Wright Brothers plane, etc. We also went to the Natural History Museum, which I greatly preferred over the one in NYC, though we didn't spend too long looking around there. I'm developing a fascination for natural history museums, though Oz doesn't share my enthusiasm quite so much. So what did we do instead? We went to the Holocaust Memorial Museum. We wanted to go to the museum of American history, but it was shut until September for some reason. The Holocaust museum was entirely depressing (as I expected), but afterwards we wandered around the Washington Monument, Reflecting Pool and Vietnam Memorial then up to the Lincoln Memorial. All very lovely, and we saw the White House afterwards too, where there were some amusing children. One was very disappointed when told she couldn't go in. The other asked her dad if George Bush drove a Mini Cooper.

Dad: I don't think so, he has a limo with lots of security

Child: Why?

Dad: In case someone tries to shoot him

Child (incredulous): But who would want to shoot him, Daddy?

Dad (very serious tones): Crazy people, honey. Crazy people.

We got back kind of late, but Ethan kindly drove us to the supermarket so we could get some food for dinner. We thought we were leaving on Tuesday, but when I checked our tickets it turned out we weren't leaving til Wednesday, so we had a whole extra day to play with. So, we went to Arlington cemetary and had a picnic lunch nearby (obviously you can't picnic in the actual cemetary). It was cool to see but it was sooooo hot - didn't help that we didn't get there til about 1 because when we called a taxi to take us to the subway station they didn't make a record of it so we had to call them again - but we saw the changing of the guard at the Tomb of the Unknowns, and Kennedy's grave. It was too hot to wander around any more so we came back and had a look around Rockville, getting smoothies to refresh us. Then we went back to Ethan's, packed our bags and had some dinner. More Halo was played until around midnight, when we went to bed so we could get up fresh the next morning to get on a train to... Cincinnati.

NYC: Wednesday

So, we had arrived. We managed to navigate the subway like pros, buying our Metro cards (which give you an extra 20% free whenever you top up) and going through the turnstiles without incident. We got to the hostel (Jazz on the Park, on the upper west side) at about 4, but they were changing shifts at reception so wouldn't check us in for a little while. Our room was rather lovely, apart from the plastic cover on the mattress which squeaked whenever you moved and also meant you couldn't tuck the fitted sheet in properly so it came untucked in the night and you woke up sticking to the mattress cover. But it had air conditioning and three mirrors (are New Yorkers really so vain?!) and we were right next to the bathroom so we didn't have to wander down the corridor dripping wet in a towel after showering. We spent a while figuring out where to go and what to do. I was getting annoyed because we'd got to NYC at 3:30 then didn't leave the hostel until 6, but some parts of it never seem to close, so we actually did a lot on Wednesday night. Having spent the day on the train we were pretty well rested. We went to the Apple store (which is open 24/7) so I could get a new iPod, as my trusty old mini (that I got for my 18th birthday, mind, so in iPod terms it is rather old. In fact I can't think of anyone who's had an iPod as long as that...) had started leaking power. I charged it in Concord to test it out and didn't use it, then when I checked it two days later it was down to 2/3 battery. So we went to the Apple store and I got a red nano. The red ones are the same price but some of the profit goes towards getting AIDS medications for people in Africa, so I felt more justified in spending $200 on it. Not to mention that even with tax added on I got the iPod and a nice case for it for about the same price as the iPod alone would have cost in England.  

The Apple store - basically a big glass box. You go down the stairs (or take the elevator) to the big shop that's all underground. On the way out I made us take the elevator because it was cool and futuristic.

After that we went to Bloomingdale's to get the brown bags (you know - the ones with the knockoffs that are ten a penny on Tottenham Court Road). We asked a sales assistant...

Oz: Do you have the Bloomingdale's little brown bags, you know, the plastic ones?

SA: Yes... Are you from London?

Us: Yes...

SA: Right. Only people from London buy those.

Then he directed us to them :P

We went to the Empire State building, because it's open until half past midnight. The queues were rather long so we got dinner first at Maui Tacos about 100 yards down the road, recommended if anyone's ever nearby and wants a cheap and tasty dinner. When we went back to the Empire State, the queues were less long, which was good as first you queue for a ticket, then you queue for the security check (like an airport where they scan your bag and make you take off your belt), then you queue for the person to check your ticket and let you in, then you queue for the lift. Unless you want to walk up 86 flights of stairs, though I don't think they'd let you even if you did. The first lift takes you up the floor 80 then you can walk the last 6 if you want, so there's optional queuing for the second lift if you really enjoy queuing (being English and lazy, of course we joined the second lift queue). These queues go around several corners so you can't see how epic the queuing is when you first go in, so it was good that we didn't go at a peak time really.

We got City Passes, which give you entry to the Empire State, the Natural History Museum, the Guggenheim, the Museum of Modern Art, the Metropolitan Museum of Art and the Circle Line Harbour tour. These passes were $74 and we were planning to do most of these anyway (Maureen recommended the Circle line tour, so it was good that we knew about that beforehand), and we did end up saving a lot of money that way. We also got extras such as a free audio tour at the ESB - always good to know what you're looking at - and a free show at the planetarium at the NHM.

The Empire State was cool and I'm glad we had the audio tour because then we learned facts about things like when a pilot accidentally flew into it when it was really foggy (5 people died but the building was fine...) and how quickly it was built and how long it took to build, and also obviously the things you could see from the top. It was very strange at the top because it was so windy and there were birds chirrupping about and lots of moths flying around, which were all lit up by the lights from the building, so it seemed sort of eerie and exhilarating and beautiful all at the same time. The lights of NYC seemed to go on until the horizon in all directions. I think my favourite things were the Chrysler building, 5th Ave and the airport, which you couldn't actually see, but because it was nighttime you could see the planes in the air lining up in their landing pattern and going down one by one. We left at about quarter past midnight and attempted to get the subway back, but it was too confusing and no trains going the right way were coming, so we gave up and got a taxi, arriving back at the hostel at about 2am to collapse into our squeaky bed and get a good night's sleep. 

Queuing, but at least we had Tony, the nice Italian American, to listen to on the audio tour

The Chrysler building

5th Ave

hangin' out with my gnomies

Time for a more comprehensive update...

We got to Heathrow surprisingly quickly on the Piccadilly line on Tuesday, though it felt like being a fish out of water when it went overground. We checked into the Yotel and spent a little while being fascinated by how compact and clever it all was, before showering then going to bed. 

Here is a lovely picture of Oz in the Yotel:

On Wednesday we awoke bright and early, and headed out to drop off our bags. We'd already checked in at 11am on Tuesday and re-seated ourselves. We put ourselves right at the back of the plane where the row was just two seats not three, so we wouldn't have to annoy any other hapless traveller when we wanted to use the loo. It also meant that we got served our food first (well I got mine first anyway because I got veggie meals... more on that in a minute...). Though we did get off the plane last we didn't have to queue too long at immigration. Anyway. After bag drop we went through security and had some breakfast in Costa. I really wanted one of those pot things with the fruit compote and yogurt and granola on top, but the only breakfasty things they had were pastries and muffins, so I had a panini and a giant cup of tea instead. I don't know why I'm writing about this in such detail because I'm sure you all know what it's like to hang about in airports, so anyway.

Spot our plane...

The flight itself was uneventful, though I wasn't too pleased with my vegetarian lunch. The main itself (vegetarian moussaka) was actually quite yummy, but for some reason I didn't get oat biscuits or butter, instead I got some rubbishy sunflower spread. For dessert I had fruit in jelly, where Oz had a yummy Rachel's organic creamy rice pudding thing. Apparently vegetarians can eat cheese but NO OTHER DAIRY NOT ON A PLANE NO YOU CAN'T. 

We were met at Logan by Boris and lots of children. Boris decided it would be "too boring" for us to get the T straight to Tich and Lori's, so he picked us up and attempted to kidnap us. We had a tasty dinner of chowder and other seafood (Crin said we had to try the chowder when we were in Concord). Austin came over for dinner too, then afterwards drove us to Tich and Lori's as it was in his direction. Then we went to sleeeep.

***

Yesterday we met the twins, who at first seemed a little bemused by us. We went to the zoo and saw all sorts of animals, though the kids seemed more impressed by the zoo car and the tractor and the horse merry-go-round (they have never been told that the merry-go-round moves if you put money in...). We stopped for a drink and when we were in the cafe the monsoon started. We thought it had stopped so decided to go back to the car, sadly we missed the short window of dryness and got absolutely soaked. I couldn't have been more wet if I'd jumped in a pond with all my clothes on. Still, we invented the new sport of air swimming, with added handicap of two three-year-olds and a buggy. On the way back some parts of the road were getting flooded, but we made it back ok and had some lunch. 

The munchkins at the zoo - Sammy at the back and Jason at the front.

Oz and I decided to go and explore Boston in the afternoon, so we jumped on the T (the Boston underground system, though most of it's not actually underground) and wandered around downtown. We had a Starbucks and the prices were exactly the same as in England... but in dollars not pounds. Sadly it started raining again, not quite as hard as in the morning but pretty close. As we only had a small umbrella for protection we naturally got soaked all over again. Fun times. (Well, it was pretty amusing I suppose.)

***

Today we wanted to explore some more. The thunderstorms were all over and it was a beautiful sunny and hot day. We started off at the Isabella Stuart Gardner museum, then T'd it to Harvard for lunch at a grill place. Then we went to the Harvard Museum of Natural History and saw lots of glass flowers and stuffed animals in cases and things. After that Oz wanted to find a shop that would sell him expensive jeans, so we went back downtown and walked across the Common to Newbury Street where there were lots of designer shops, including the one with the jeans. There was also a strong contender for the most disturbing shop ever. It basically had in it lots and lots of gnomes. I can't describe very well why it was so disturbing, perhaps you have to see it to believe it. Anwyay, Oz successfully bought jeans, then we headed back. We got a bit confused on the T because it's just weird. Sometimes you have to get a receipt and sometimes you just have to tap in with your Charlie Card like you do with Oyster in London, and at some stations you can change and some you can't, and you can buy tickets on board if you feel like it. We had to do this going inwards because the machine on the platform was broken, but the T man was very nice to us and let us on for free even though we had exact change, I think this is our first example of people loving the fact that we're English. He told us to tell people back home that we'd had something for free here, so there you go.

xx Li