More Shopping!!

16^th November

Once again the day was lost in a flurry of New York shops and swearing under my breath at people that stop suddenly in front of me in the middle of the sidewalk.They’ve got a lot of the Christmas decorations up already and it’s really busy now so I can’t imagine how busy it gets just before xmas. I certainly don’t want to be here to find out. You’ll all be pleased to know that I’ve snapped out of my ‘tight travelling mode’ and have found my inner shopper. It’s a good job I bought a suitcase yesterday because I definitely won’t be able to fit everything in my backpack. We’ll overlook the fact that I asked for the cheapest one they’ve got and will subsequently have to claim a polka dot black and pink suitcase with a massive pink bow from the luggage carousel on Wednesday. That won’t be embarrassing! Lets just hope it’s sturdy or else my ultimate airport nightmare might come true – the suitcase splitting and me having to reclaim all my dirty clothes one by one as they come round on the carousel! I’m actually flying in to terminal 5 so if my luggage actually arrives at all it will be a bonus.

One more day left and with the shopping pretty much done I’m intending to go and see the Statue of Liberty and then have a stroll across the Brooklyn Bridge. The weather’s been nice again the past couple of days so I should have another day of sun before I head home. This will be the last post I do whilst I’m out here but I’ll do another one at some point when I’m back letting you know what weird events happen on my way home because in case you haven’t noticed they always seem to occur when I’m about!

 

Shopping!!

15^th November

Went to Jersey Gardens, an outlet mall, today to commence my 3 days of intensive shopping. Someone told me about this place when I was in Vancouver so I’ve only been waiting about 7 weeks to come here. I didn’t buy as much as I thought I would actually which is mainly down to the fact I’m in ‘tight travelling mode’. That consists of looking at a top that costs $30 and working out how many meals / nights accommodation I could buy with that before deciding it’s clearly too expensive.

So unless you want a run down of every shop I went into I haven’t got much to report other than the girl standing next to me on the bus throwing up on her boyfriend’s new trainers, that was pretty funny!

No more buses!

14^th November

My last Greyhound bus went like clockwork and now I’ve officially hung up my gloves (imagine if Greyhounds had to wear boxing gloves, that would slow them down). So I’m in New York and it’s still raining but it’s still an awesome city. Commence the shopping!

Rocky VI featuring…..me and a homeless guy

13^th November

Had to do a whistle stop tour of Philly today which was actually quite good because running from place to place was about the only thing I would do to keep warm. Did all the famous landmarks (won’t bore you with the details) and went to the Philadelphia Museum of Art which has the famous stairs from the Rocky film. Whilst several people ran up and down the stairs in a bid to look like Sylvester Stallone I was cornered by a homeless guy next to a statue of Rocky who promptly took my camera off me and commenced a 10 minute long photo shoot of me and the statue with him as director.

After that I had my final meeting of the scholarship with Joanne, one of the Directors of the Netter Centre for Community Partnerships based at the University of Pennsylvania. They’re doing a lot of good work making sure that the University engages with the community of West Philadelphia in which it is situated. This includes getting students to do community projects with school children, offering internships for people within the community and making sure that any construction work that costs over a certain amount involves local businesses.

My evening was spent watching films with an autistic guy who insisted on being called Rain Man before demonstrating how he could tell you the details of any film including when it was released, who was in it and how many awards it was nominated for. Pretty impressive.

When is a bell not a bell?

12^th November

My three and a half hour bus journey to Philadelphia took an extra 2 hours when the bus was late and then the windscreen wiper kept falling off mid interstate. This was quite a problem due to the fact that its been raining pretty much non stop for the past 2 days a fact I have neglected to tell you as I am in denial that my summer is well and truly over and that my tan is already falling off.

Philly was really cold as well and I’m not really equipped for this weather, particularly as my right trainer has a hole in it which means its constantly filling up with water and leaving me with soggy feet. Not nice! Anyway I braved the cold and went to see the Liberty Bell which some boast is the ‘best bell in the world’. Well I had a little giggle at this firstly because who keeps a league table of bells, secondly because it’s actually really small and thirdly because its got a crack in it so it doesn’t even work – technically does that even mean its  bell anymore? My laughing was met with some dirty looks probably because I was on my own and looked like a weirdo but most likely because it’s an iconic part of US history back to when Philadelphia was the capital of America.

After that I managed to bare the cold enough to go get my tea, a subway sandwich (my healthy snack of the week) followed by a dunkin’ doughnut (not so healthy). At Subway I asked for a 6 inch sandwich to which they said ‘it’s only a dollar more for a footlong’ so I said ‘why not’. At Dunkin’ Doughnuts I asked for 2 doughnuts to which they said ‘it’s only a dollar for 6’ to which I said ‘why not’. I think this adequately illustrates why there are obesity problems in America but also that whilst people might be overweight boy do they get their moneys worth!

No show chilli Wednesday

11^th November

It’s Veterans Day today so all the flags throughout the city (which is a lot) are all at half mast. They have been for the past few days actually but I think this ismainly due to the shootings at the military base at Fort Hood, Texas. Presumably you all heard about this back home but for those of you that haven’t, an army psychiatrist opened fire on his colleagues at the base and killed 13 soldiers and wounded about 30. He was stopped when someone shot him but they didn’t kill him despite the fact he’ll probably get the death penalty with it being in Texas. Unfortunately it’s also kicked up the terrorism debate again as he is a Muslim and seems to have links with radical clerics.

Anyway, went up to Capitol Hill today and learnt a bit about American politics which is slightly less baffling now, probably should have done that at the start of my trip. Went to a couple more museums and had a look at the Whitehouse. I was going to knock on the door and ask whether Obama was playing but didn’t think that joke would go down to well with the 50 or so armed police circling the lawn. Besides he was busy today so I’ve said he can come round to mine for tea next week.

Chilli Wednesday at the hostel was sadly a no show due to a lack of people to actually make the chilli. Was pretty impressed however, when they turned up with about 10 pizzas and a load of cupcakes instead. Can’t argue with that!

Taco Tuesday

10^th November

My challenge for today was to see if I could go the whole day without spending any money. Armed with rolls for lunch and safe in the knowledge that is was Taco Tuesday at the hostel (free tacos) I succeeded! That’s another $20 towards the New York shopping fund.

Went to Arlington Cemetery which is the military cemetery and is pretty impressive for a Graveyard. It’s kept in immaculate condition as well. Whilst I was there there were loads of people sweeping up leaves and jet washing the gravestones although that may have had something to do with the fact that Obama’s visiting tomorrow. People always go on about how pretty places are in Fall with all the different colours and I’m not one to usually notice but it was a pretty beautiful place (does that make me middle aged?). Saw where JFK is buried and the tomb of the unknown soldier which contains the remains of unidentified soldiers from several wars and is constantly being guarded 24 hours a day. It’s Veterans day tomorrow (the American equivalent of Remembrance Sunday) so there were lots of people laying flowers and lots of old men in uniforms everywhere. Went to the Lincoln Memorial, the Korean War Memorial, the Vietnam War Memorial, the WW2 Memorial and then up to the top of the Washington Memorial.

They certainly like to remember their dead here which I think is important especially with regards to educating people about war and what people in the past have gone through to secure the freedom of future generations but personally its led me to question whether they are spending to much time and money immortalising the past. Washington DC is known as the murder capital of the United States and has severe drug, violent crime and hate crime problems. It alsohas a large population of homeless people. The suburbs in particular have got large problems due to the gentrification of the downtown area which havepushed poorer people out as property prices and the cost of living have increased. This is becoming a familiar story in many of the cities I have visited in the USA. I therefore wonder whether millions of pounds spent on monuments to honour the dead should really be the priority and whether the focus should maybe be more on the here and now. Whilst it’s great the museums are free it seems almost baffling. I’m sure that they would argue that it’s to keep them accessible for everyone but I bet that 99% of people would still go to them if they had to pay. Even if they just charged a couple of dollars and reinvested it into the area. I’m sure that there are huge political reasons behind all this but it seems astonishing to me.

As for the cemetery I understand that it’s an honour to be buried there and it certainly is a beautiful place but I wouldn’t be keen on being a tourist attraction after I’m dead. Personally I’d like to be cremated and put in a firework (I had that idea long before that TV show) or maybe cremated and put into a capsule then implanted into a whale along with a tracking device. And then you’d go on underwater adventures with the whale. Just a thought.

Taco Tuesday was a great and tasty success. It was for the first 20 people that signed up which in the ended up being 18 blokes and 2 girls. Blokes are definitely quick off the mark when free food is involved and apparently so am I!

 

A Squirrel eating Mayo