New York, New York!

On Tuesday Anne and I headed to South Street Diner in Boston for breakfast before we drove to New York City. Trying to find parking in Boston is so hard that I think both of us entertained the idea of just skipping it and driving straight down to New York, in the end we just had to pay to park in a parking garage, which was ridiculously expensive! I'm really glad we went to the diner though as I've wanted to go to a proper old fashion Diner for a long time, it's just so typical american! The food was really nice as well.

After breakfast we drove to New York, the drive there was nice, it seemed a lot shorter than it was as we just kept talking the whole time. When we got to New York we got lucky and found a spot right outside the hotel, so at least we didn't have to spend hours searching for a spot there as well.

The hotel we stayed at is really close to Central Park, so after we had taken up our suitcases we decided to walk to and through Central Park. The park is beautiful! It's kind of nice now in the winter that you can see the city through the empty branches and I can imagine it's really nice in the summer when the city disappears behind all the leaves, and it's probably beautiful in the autumn when the leaves are all orange, red and yellow.

There is a castle in the middle of the park, I think it's called Belvedere Castle, it's just a lookout and a weather station, I think it's really nice that someone built this really pretty building instead of just a plain platform.

At the bandshell there was a street artist blowing huge bubbles! It was quite exciting to watch how big the bubbles would get before they burst. The Central Park Zoo was closed by the time we got there, I don't think I would have gone in it anyway, but we did see a cool sea lion posing for everyone that walked by the Zoo.

When we got out of the Zoo we continued walking east down 60th Street until we got to 3rd avenue, the goal was Dylan's Candy Bar. 2 floors of sweets and one extra floor which is an actual bar and also ice cream place. I don't know how long we spent in there, but I think we both wanted to spend much more money there than what we did. Definitely a place to visit if you're in New York.

After we had bought more sweets than we should, but less than we wanted, we headed back to 5th avenue and continued south past all the super expensive stores until we found the Rockefeller Centre. We took a few pictures at the Rockefeller Centre before heading to Times Square where we got out faces on the big screen and then we took the subway back to the hotel.

At least all the walking we did burned some of the sweets from Dylan's off...

Chandler Inn Hotel

While in Boston I stayed at the Chandler Inn Hotel. The staff there was very friendly. There is a subway and train station 5 minutes away from the hotel.

I was happy to see that they had a lift so I wouldn't have to carry my suitcase up the stairs. 

There was no breakfast at the hotel, but they did have a complimentary coffee machine and ice machine in the reception.

The room was very nice; modern and quite large, and I just have to say the TV was enormous! And I didn't even use it! I had a room on the corner of the building so I had windows on two sides of the room which was really nice, made the room a lot lighter, the view was also really nice, I wasn't just staring into a brick wall. Only thing I didn't like about the room was that there wasn't a duvet just a blanket covered by sheets, and no one had “warned” me that I should turn on the air-con for heat in the night. I woke up in the middle of the night the first night because I was freezing.  I do like to have a duvet, even in summer, just because it feels a lot more “snuggly”, I think I might have slept better if there had been a duvet there but as it was I slept fine and the room was a very nice place to come back to after a long day exploring.

The bathroom wasn't large but it was just the right size for me. The shower was large though, and it was kind of nice to be able to stand in one end while I checked the water without getting it all over me when it was too cold. Took me a while to figure out how the get the water the right temperature though, but when I did it was a “duh!” moment. As usual I didn't think the pressure was hard enough, but it was okay. I liked that there was a small shelf over the sink where I could keep all my skincare products while I was there.

There was free WiFi at the hotel but it wasn't very good at all. It was really slow and would sometimes just fall out, but that might be because I was so far away from the reception, but still… I would lose a whole blog post a couple of times because I didn't think to copy it in case it failed to post. 

The Lucky One

The Lucky One
By: Nicholas Sparks

I am very glad I didn't read the back cover of the book as it would have completely changed the tone of the characters and the book. Highlight it if you wish to read it.

Outer back cover: Do you believe in lucky charms?
While in Iraq, U.S. Marine Logan Thibaul finds a photo, half-buried in the dirt, of a woman. He carries it in his pocket, and from then on his luck begins to change.
Back home, Logan is haunted by thoughts of war. Over time, he becomes convinced that the woman in the photo holds the key to his destiny .So he finds the vulnerable and loving Beth and a passionate romance begins.
But Logan battles with the one secret he has kept from Bet: how he found her in the first place. And it is a secret that could utterly destroy everything they love...

Basically a U.S. Marine finds a photo of a lady in the dirt while posted in Iraq, he puts it up on a message board but when no one claims it after a few weeks he takes it back down and keeps it in his pocket. He survives the war and, with the help of a very superstitious friend, he comes to think that he owes the girl in the picture something, like she was his lucky charms and helped him survive the war, so he sets out to find her and repay his debt.

I really liked this book, it's sad, romantic, happy, exciting... Everything a book should be. Sparks is very good at describing emotions and places so you feel like you're there in the book with the, or as a, character.

I actually really enjoyed how the book started as, it wasn't the kind of start I had expected but it was quite funny and Sparks kind of went back to it later in the book.

It's a book I'd recommend to any girl/lady that likes an exciting and romantic read. I will BookCross it, but only because I don't want to have to carry it around with me.

Exploring Salem

Anne picked up the rental car we will use to get to New York and DC today and we headed up to Salem in it for the day. Nathan couldn't come as he was working, but suddenly we got a text saying he managed to finish early and he'd meet us in Salem. It was really cold today, but in a way I think Salem is one of those places it's nice to go in the winter, just because the bare trees adds a little to the charm, makes it look a little more "creepy", unfortunately a lot of the places doesn't open until April!

Before Nathan showed up Anne and I took a tour of the House of the Seven Gables. I actually didn't realize it is a book as well, I will have to try and read it now. We weren't allowed to take pictures inside. It was kind of like the Newport Mansions, but in a much smaller scale, and without all the marble. Inside the house we actually got to go up a very narrow secret staircase! I've wanted to go up a secret staircase for years so I can now tick that off my list of things to do, although I guess it isn't really secret  when everybody knows about it. It was fun to walk inside the house as you could tell it was old because the floor wasn't flat any more. I would definitely recommend taking a tour of the house if you're ever in Salem.

After the house we met up with Nathan and ate some lunch that Anne had packed, before we saw the "Friendship of Salem", which is an old ship, we didn't get to go aboard though as it was closed. We then went to the Salem Witch Museum, pictures inside there also wasn't allowed. It was basically a story about how the Salem Witch trials started and then a small guided tour about the different types of witches and the story behind them.

I'm not really sure what I expected when I went to Salem, especially as I try not to have expectations, but it didn't quite look the way I though, but that's probably just because we didn't go to the places that have been on TV and stuff though. I still really liked it! Before we had dinner and headed back to Boston we checked out the Bewitched statue.

I am a little sad to be leaving Boston, but I am also looking forward to exploring New York in the coming days!

Pretty mansions in a new state!

Anne, Nathan and I drove to Newport, Rhode Island yesterday. Apparently it's where all the rich people live, and you could tell by the houses.

Anne had purchased tickets to go and see two of the mansions while we were there; The Breakers and one more of our own choice, we chose Marble House. We weren't allowed to take pictures inside but I can tell you the mansions were beautiful, just like those old British mansions and palaces, for example Chatsworth in Derbyshire, although there was a lot more different types of stone in the American houses. It was amazing to walk around in both of them. We were guided in groups in both of them and the guides were very knowledgeable. It's strange to think that people were living in the houses so recently, and that they have taken so good care of it. Like all the old furniture and carpets. Of course it's also very strange to think about people actually living that way. At the Breakers, the family that built the house, the Vanderbilts, although they no longer own it (it is now owned by the Preservation Society) they still come and stay whenever they like in an apartment at the top of the house.

After the mansions we went for a little walk around Fort Adam. We saw a house on a little island, the island was only just big enough for the house to fit on, and I couldn't help thinking that it must not only have been cumbersome to built and decorate it, but also to get to and from. We also saw a hawk! I couldn't believe how close we got to it, unfortunately my shutter time was a bit to slow to get a good picture of it as it "finally" flew away. When we had almost finished out walk around the fort we also noticed some people that were coming in on their little sail boats, I can't help but think that it must have been cold for them even though they were wearing thick wetsuits.

We finished the day off in Plymouth, Massachusetts. At Mama Mia's restaurant we had some very tasty pizza indeed! I can understand why it was so busy and we had to wait almost a half hour to be seated, the pizza was worth it! After dinner we saw what apparently is the fake Plymouth Rock. Anne and Nathan said that the real one is further south but that this is the one all the tourists take pictures of.

Unfortunately Nathan has to go back to work today so he won't be able to join Anne and me on our trip to Salem. I'm really hoping to come back next year though, to see New England in the summer or late spring. We also talked about them coming to visit me in the UK and Norway.

I am glad that we're all getting along so well! 

Exploring Boston

Today Anne, her boyfriend Nathan and me started the day off at Samuel Adams brewery. I had never heard of that beer before but it's a Boston beer and apparently quite famous. I don't like beer at all, but the tour was free and it was fun to learn a little bit about the beer, the guides were really funny. Unfortunately, since I raised my hand when they asked if there were any out-of-towners on the tour, they asked me if I liked the beer when we got a sample... And I didn't lie... Got a few laughs though!

After the brewery we walked around Boston for a bit. Nathan really knows his Boston history, with the buildings and everything so he was a great guide (or maybe he was just telling me gibberish in a confident manner!). Even though I met him for the first time today it felt like I had known him for years, out little group was full of playful banter and it felt like it was usual for us to hang out together, it was very nice and relaxed.

We went to the USS Constitution, which was also free, to get on it was just like walking through customs again though, I had to show my I.D. and they scanned my bag. It's a beautiful old ship, and the fact that it was  saved by school children is really cool. I'm kind of surprised that the brewery and ship were free, but a goof surprised, they are both the kind of things you'd expect having to pay for.

We followed the Freedom trail up to the Bunker Hill monument after that, and we walked up the steps to the top of the monument! I should not have bothered doing some exercise this morning! All out legs were shaking by the time we made it back down again!

Once we'd stretched and gotten some water we followed some of the Freedom Trail around again. On the way we walked past this thing with a heap of dogtags on it behind Old North Church, but as far as we could see only two of the dogtags actually had names on them... Maybe it started out with no "real" ones and then some people have added those two on it?

We also walked through this Holocaust remembrance thing, it was quite cool, and also sad of course. There was one glass tower for each of the concentration camps, and they had all the numbers of the people who died in them on them, or maybe not just died, maybe every person that was in there, I don't know.

One thing I have to say about Boston is that it seems really quiet.... There a busy places of course, but it doesn't seem very busy for a big city.

Tomorrow we'll be checking out Newport, Rhode Island! I'm really looking forward to it, seeing the more non-touristy parts of America while I'm here will be nice.

First few hours in the USA

So I am currently on US soil! Arrived yesterday.

The plane over was fine. I flew with SAS. One thing I didn't like though was that I couldn't choose when to start a movie on the screen in the seat back in front of me, I had to just hope to be lucky and get the start of a movie if I wanted to watch, which is a shame because there was a lot of movies that I would have wanted to see! But I just read a book instead, and finished it. Apparently you only need about 7 hours to read "The Lucky One" by Nicolas Sparks. Good book.

We had to stop in Newark to go through customs and immigration. I only had about 2 and a half hours there so I was really nervous that I wouldn't make my next flight, there was no clock on the wall and you weren't allowed to turn your cellphone on, which  I think was a bit silly... I mean, if you have to stand in line for an hour and a half you should at least be allowed to turn your cellphone on so that you can tell people you might be late, or play games on it to make time pass.... I did see the New York skyline from the queue though, which was amazing!

When I finally made it through the immigration line I had to get my suitcase out and check it back in, which no one had told me about but there wasn't really any other choice at that terminal and it was quick and easy. Then I had to change terminals, walk through security again and then find my gate. Luckily everything after immigration was quick and easy, and I made my flight with like maybe 15 minutes to spare, I had time to nip to the toilet before I got on. But I didn't like having to stress so much, I was only just starting to relax as we were landing in Boston.

My suggestion if you have a lay-by, or whatever it's called, in America when coming from a different country, make sure you have at least 3 hours just so you don't have to stress!

When I landed in Boston I had to go to a different terminal than the one I landed in to get some dollars, it wasn't too bad though as the next terminal was within walking distance of the one I landed in.

I hopped in a taxi, had to pay $7.50 for tolls plus the regular fare but it was fine, and arrived at my hotel.

Yellow school bus!!!

I had some time to freshen up before meeting with my friend Anne which was really nice as I felt all yucky from the plane.

Now, my friend Anne.... We've known each other for about 10 years but we'd never met until last night! It was really weird to meet her face to face. One thing was that even though I've never really imagined what I thought she sounds like it was really strange to finally hear her voice!! After a short while though it was as if we were just having a catch-up and that it was completely normal for us to meet up. I'm looking forward to hanging out with her even more. Although we talked so much my throat is sore!

We went to this restaurant called FiRE+iCE, you just choose the food (pasta, veggies and meat) that you want and they cook it right in front of you! It was really tasty! Only minus is that the music was so loud we had to constantly shout to hear each other. I can understand why the music would be loud downstairs in the bar area, but upstairs in the dining are I think they should have turned it down a little bit.

Because it was quite late once we finished dinner (especially when I'd been flying for so long just following the sun) we just arranged where to meet later today before I headed back to the hotel and went to bed.

I'm looking forward to exploring more of Boston now in the daylight!