USA - The Final Way.

After hitting the road again, we high-tailed it back to Seattle to jet on over to the windy city - Chicago. I think we both had high expectations as Chicago is world renown for its architecture, which i guess is Edwina's thing... and also pizza, which happens to be one of my things!

Chicago really didn't disappoint as we had more than enough time to settle in and explore the city as we were staying right in the middle in an area known as "the loop" (train line style). One of the highlights, not just in Chicago... or on the trip... BUT IN MY LIFE, had to be the architectural Segway tour. Yes people... a segway! Do yourself a favour and go out.. find one, hire one, steal one, I don't care how you get it just ride it! It was super fun and an amazing way to check out a city without using your legs like a weak human. I have no idea how these things aren't everywhere (although I have seen many police forces in the states and even Europe using them...)

Anyways, we also managed to squeeze in some famous Chicago deep dish style pizza at Uno Pizza (thanks for the hot tip Claire!) which is apparently where the style began. These things are huge and delicious. We also spent some time check out Millenium park which contains heaps of amazing art and sculptures, including the famous "bean" and "faces of chicago" (two huge walls in a water park that project faces of over 150 people of Chicago. Random but awesome). We also checked out the view from the top of the Sears tower and the John Hancock building, and spent some time on the pier.

From Chicago we made the cross country leap all the way to the nation's capital, Washington DC. We only had two full days to explore so iwe pounded the pavement. The town is jam packed with museums so it was hard to pick our battles. For once, I won and we got to go to the Spy Museum and live out my dreams of being Agent Spence... James Spence. Next stop after a friend's recommendation was the Newseum. Hands down - Best museum ever! The little journalist inside of me went wild with all the amazing exhibitions including; National Geo's Photo's of the Year, 9/11, Katerina, Media around the world, Sports and countless others. This place was so big and amazing we had to come back the next day to see more! Once all the museums shut-up-shop, we hit the "Mall" and checked out all the monuments, Capital, Library of Congress and White House. Those American's sure know how to build a grand structure.

At night we got to squeeze in some live music and check out one of Edwina's faves - Friendly Fires. Flashbacks to Splendour 09 in-sued, the weekend we met. sigh.  *cue corny music*. Luck would have it Edwina's friend Jolly was also in DC at the time so we got to catch up for an old fashioned Ethiopian dinner and drinks. As always, lovely to catch up with a friendly face in a foreign land.

Our next destination was one I had been dreaming about since I was old enough to stay up and watch Carrie and the Girls... NEW YORK CITY. Okay... maybe that wasn't the reason, but I was tots defs pumped for the NYC. We started our trip in the much underrated, although now super hip, Brooklyn. We were very lucky to meet an awesome couple from Brooklyn on our Inca Trail trip who were silly enough to offer us a place to stay if we were ever in town. Unlucky for them, I have an amazing memory and little shame, so pounced on that offer like a spider monkey. Vanessa and Johnny were AMAZING hosts and managed to squeeze so much into our short stay with them. After our time in Vancouver, it was lovely again to have a nice home to relax in. We checked out the super hip Williamsburg (where we couldn't move without knocking over a dozen hipsters on fixie bikes),  corny Coney Island, beautiful Prospect Park and amazing Brownstone buildings. Hands down there were two highlights. #1 our first celeb spotting - Anne Hathaway and more importantly #2 Johnny and I finishing our first eating challenge! It was suprisingly easy, well for Johnny at least, and we both earned our photo on the wall of fame (check out Facebook for photo montage of events.. its awesome). It was sad to leave the lovely "Remington nest" and I hope our paths cross again soon.

It was time to plunge deep into the heart of NYC, Manhattan. We set up shop if the fabulously hip and combustibly gay hub of the Meatpacking district. Named after all the former abattoirs, not the current residents. Our hotel was appropriately "nautical themed" which was code for tiny but nice. Anywho's, it was a fantastic location for us to start exploring the most famous city in the world. We started local and checked out the Meatpacking and surrounding areas. Whilst wondering around a night we had our celeb spot #2.... non other than ANNE HATHAWAY. Yes... again. By this stage I'm pretty sure she's taken a liking to me and has begun stalking me. Can't blame her really.

The next day we got up early and made the trek over to New Jersey to avoid the lines and hit up the big lady herself, the Statue of Liberty. The ferry ride over stopped at Ellis Island, the famous immigration centre, where we stopped and checked out the museum. Jumping back on board the ferry we landed on Liberty island and got our tourist on. Luckily we had planned ahead and pre-booked tickets to the viewing platform so we got amazing views over the Hudson river to Manhattan. We then high-tailed it away from the swarming crowds and ferried back to Battery Park. Lucky again for us, Edwina had another friend (wow she is popular!), Sian, who was now living in Manhattan near Tribeca. We crashed that couch like nobodies business! That night Sian took us to famous Shake Shack - her pick for the best burgers in town. True to form, they were delicious. The next day we explored Sian's local area including the Brooklyn Bridge and the Financial District where we eventually found the famous Bull.  Edwina managed to grab him by the horns and we both gave his balls a good polish. From here we also checked out Ground Zero, which is still undergoing construction for the 9/11 memorial. We also discovered the shopping mecca that is Century 21. Discounts galore on all your favourite brands... or so they tell me.

The next day we set off early again and explored only part of the huge Central Park, the Guggenheim, the United Nations and the shopping on Fifth Avenue. Hello Tiffiany's ladies! By night we took in the Broadway show experience and saw The Lion King, which was pretty cool. We then hit the bright lights of Times Square and climbed on over to the Empire State Building at midnight. Yes, there was still a half hour line at this time, crazy.

After an amazing and hectic week in the Big Apple we bused ourselves north to Boston. After the hustle and bustle of NYC, it was nice to slow the pace down and explore a little slower. On our first night we joined the old hostel pub crawl and of course managed to make friends with the Aussies and adopted the lovely Sarah into our posse. It is always nice to meet new people to party with and luckily she was a big sports fan as it was finals in the NBA and NHL - Go Mavs! To top off a sports filled weekend, we FINALLY managed to attend a baseball game, and watched the Boston Redsoxs. Fenway Park (their home field) is one of the most famous in all of baseball and the city of Boston is completely obsessed with the team. It was an amazing atmosphere as we both donned our team hats and downed hotdogs and popcorn. Our final day in Boston we spent exploring Harvard and finished with dinner with Sarah and a hockey match (on Tv sadly).

From Boston we again crossed the great white boarder and entered Montreal where we tested our French (or lack there of), checked out the street parties in town for the Formula One, explored the old town and saw another of Edwina's fave bands live - Yeasayer.

We then headed west to Toronto for a super quick stop before returning to NYC for our flight to Europe. So it is that I write this blog as I stare out the window to the beautiful French Riveria. But those stories dearest reader will have to wait until next time. Au Revoir!

Bright Lights, High Rollin', Fancy Free, Coffee lovin' and the Great White North

Please place your hand on the scanner... now your other hand... now look into the camera. Flash. Welcome to America, land of the free and home of the friendly welcome! I guess it was a blessing we had such a long delay in Mexico so we arrived at LAX late at night and had a relatively quick journey through the infamous US customers.

For those who haven't felt the buzz of LA and Hollywood, it quickly wares off. Don't let the crack addicts and wannabe celebs fool you, from day one the city was pretty busy promoting itself as "the place to be". Even though this turned out to be a bit of old Hollywood smoke and mirrors, we did check out some cool things (hello Playboy mansion... gate). The city is one giant highway/ parking lot, so us poor vehicle-less bums had to rough it on the bad public transport. Well enough of my whinging... there were highlights including; the people/freak watching at Venice and Santa Monica beaches, the Getty Centre and of course DISNEYLAND!! We lived every child (and a lot of adults) dreams and had a fun filled day visiting Mini and Mickey, riding Space Mountain and going wild on Dumbo and in the Tea Cups. Fun fun fun!!

After about five days in LA we jumped the first bus full of crazies and headed into the desert to a little place known as LAS VEGAS!! In summary, Vegas is the adults equivalent of Disneyland with gambling, booze and entertainment on every seedy corner. We took this rare opportunity to live like rock stars and stayed in a nice hotel, had an amazing limo ride and then helicopter trip out to the grand canyon and front row seats to Cirque du Soleil (no magic mushrooms unfortunately) Edwina ensured we squeezed in some outlet shopping and I ensured we squeezed in some rockin' out with a giant guitar-shaped cups filled with frozen cocktails. (Thank you Boca you dirty Brazilian for the heads up!) Both of us being very amateur gamblers kept it really low key but managed to come up a little on top. After our time in vegas I think we both started planning our own separate return visits. Start saving boys!!

Riding high on the fun of Vegas we jumped on board a plane and hit the free lovin' San Fransico. Everyone who has been to San Fran are mostly in agreement that it is one hell of a town! It has turned out to be a highlight of our USA trip. We were blessed with amazing fog free weather so hit the great outdoors and rode across the golden gate and strolled the parks, explored Chinatown and downtown and did a night time tour of Alcatraz. Our hostel was perfectly located so we could walk from the piers to Chinatown to downtown without much fuss. The city radiates a welcoming, very liberal and liveable vibe. A+

Next stop would be the very sunny (not) capital of coffee (Starbucks at least) Seattle. We had mostly okay weather though and checked out the pike place markets (fish throwing included) and the amazing interactive music museum which had a fascinating Nirvana and punk exhibition. I managed to bribe Edwina into also visiting the Boeing factory just outside of town which has the largest (in volume) building in the WOLRD!! Yep... it was pretty big. Super interesting tour if you are into anything mechanical/ aviation related. Even if that isn't your thing, we found just watching how this amazing massive building worked was pretty damn cool. Seattle proved to be a hub of awesome tours which included the "underground tour" which meant we ventured under the streets of Seattle and could see the remains of the "old town" from before the city was raised to address massive flooding issues. Pretty odd concept but cool.

It was time to chalk up another country on the scoreboard as we crossed over from Seattle to Vancouver and the Great White North that is Canada. Often voted one of the most liveable cities in the world, it was hard to argue during our stay. We were lucky enough to spend the time with Edwina's friend from college Sarah "Fitz" and her boyfriend John "John". (sorry no nickname for you yet!) It was soooo amazing to be staying in a proper house with proper people we (well Edwina) knew. They were the definitive hostesses with the most-ess-es and showed us the best bits of Vancouver life. I think Fitz may secretly work for the Vancouver Tourism as she did not lead us a stray the whole time. We ate and drank ourselves silly, strolled the city and local parks/ nature areas and even managed to watch the Cunnucks win a ice hockey game. (from the pub - tickets way too expensive!) They were kind enough to even include us in their weekly pub trivia team and I tried hard to live up to the massive hype Fitz had given me. Sadly we didn't go that well... no thanks to Edwina... but it capped off an amazing visit.

It was sad to leave the comfort of a good air mattress and even better company, but "thems the breaks" of the globe trotting superstars.