Les Foufounes Electriques
I arrived in Montreal in the early evening after seven hours on the Greyhound from Boston. The Canadian border crossing was a pretty informal affair, nothing even nearly as serious as customs in the U.S.A. I was asked where I was going, how long I’d be there and when I’d be back. Nice. Anyway, a five minute walk from the bus-depot had me at he Montreal Hostel Central, which looks like a converted hotel. After getting settled, I met my first room-mate Sam and then a couple of other guys in other rooms, Raoul (who has a travel beard of epic proportions) and Kouji. After getting to know a few other guests, it turns out that there are a lot of people staying here while they find a job and a place to live for a year. Seems like a pretty sweet idea to me.
Beers were collected, and we found ourselves hanging out in a small basement room drinking and talking a serious amount of travel before half of us decided it was time to check out the city’s night life. Matt took us to Les Foufounes Electriques; a rock club that played dance and pop music. Outrageous, but when you’ve had a couple of drinks it’s all good. I’ve never been in a club that was so crowded and those of us who can’t speak French immediately found it difficult to talk to a lot of the locals. Having been so used to talking bad English with Americans there’s a bit of a culture shock when the primary language suddenly changes, especially as it’s so localized. As the night drew to a close, having spent time between the bars, the dance floor and even the stage we called it a night passing out in the hostel in the early hours.
Downtown Montreal
The following morning once I had eventually managed to drag myself out of bed, I picked up a large fruit salad from a supermarket and started with my standard plan of “walk until I get lost, and then walk some more until I figure out where I am” and ended up doing a short tour of the Downtown area and finding myself by the Saint Lawrence River.
For those with an interest in GCSE Geography, you might be interested to know that Montreal is located on an island at the confluence of the Saint Lawrence and Ottawa rivers. Downtown is an interesting neighbourhood as the architectural differences of the past and the present are combined together with skyscrapers looming over churches.
Sandwiched between Downtown and the river is the historic old town; a jumble of cobbled streets and 17th century houses which makes it particularly picturesque. Especially as, for what seems like the first time in weeks, the sun was shining! Interestingly, there is a small column in one of the small squares with our home-town hero Admiral Nelson perched on top of it; a replica of the very same statue in London.
Olympic Park & The Botanic Gardens
On returning to the hostel in the afternoon, I found Michael had just returned from an interview and he wanted to check out the Olympic Stadium across town. We met up with Matt and caught the metro. Once we got to our destination, the first thing we saw was a vast concrete plane with a futuristic stadium in the background; the home of the 1976 Olympic Games. The place genuinely looks like it’s been airlifted in from a former state of the U.S.S.R. We walked around the stadium, commenting on how the single tower looked like an oversized shower-head.
From the Olympic Stadium we crossed under the street to come out in the Montreal Botanic Gardens, we spent a lot of time strolling around the Oriental themed garden for the obvious reason that it looked awesome.
Eventually, we took time to chill out and had the standard conversations of “where are you from?” “why are you here?” “how long are you here for?” getting to know each other a little bit. Shortly after this Michael revealed to us that he had got the job from the interview earlier that day, giving us good reason to celebrate later that night.
Once we had finished with the Botanic Gardens, we decided some food was in order and as we were in Quebec Province it seemed necessary to sample the French Canadian, I would say delicacy but it really isn’t all that delicate, heart attack on a plate; poutine. Poutine is essentially a mess of chips, gravy and cheese curds. Not all that bad, certainly worth trying and ideal for a hangover!
Motel Raphaël
That evening at the Montreal Central Hostel there was a rumour circulating that there was free pasta and a live band would be playing and as you can probably gather I’m not one to turn my nose up at such prospects! After some alfresco dining, the hostel common room turned into a performance area; Motel Raphaël, an all girl band from Montreal were setting up ready to play a mix of covers and a set of their own.
They began as a three piece, playing covers of songs varying from Katy Perry’s Teenage Dreams to The Cranberries’ Dreams before playing a set of their own material when their bassist eventually turned up. Everyone at the hostel got pretty into it and seemed to enjoy their set, as they finished what they claimed would be their last we began demanding one more song! At which point they told us they didn’t have any more songs. Raoul then began chanting “write more songs” before we eventually got down to “play a song again” which they did.
Once the band had finished, those of us who had enjoyed just enough beer to feel the desire for more rallied together and headed out to the five storey bar just around the corner; St. Sulpice where we continued drinking long it to the night.
Cambridge Nightlife
When I arrived in Boston, I gave my friend Avi (who I met in Bulgaria last year) a call. We’d previously spoken through facebook and he’d kindly agreed to let me spend a couple of nights on his sofa while I stayed here.
He lived just north of Boston in the city of Cambridge. We met up at the Porter Square T station and he walked me back to his appartment, introduced me to his flat-mates and showed me where I would sleep for the next few nights.
Once I’d dropped my bags and changed out of my “I’ve been on a bus for four hours” clothes, Avi took me to Red Dee, an excellent Thai restaurant minutes from his place. The food was excellent and cheap, and we caught up on what each of us had been doing since we stayed in the YoHo Hostel. Over our meal, Avi explained that he had made the mistake of planning to meet a girl that very night. I told him not to worry and not to let my stay interrupt his plans. Fortunately for me, Avi’s flat-mate Kevin was planning on going to one of the local bars to watch the fifth game of the Stanley Cup play-offs between The Washington Capitols and the New York Rangers and he was more than happy for me to tag along with him.
We began in a Tavern, which turns out to be part of a chain of pubs across Cambridge and perhaps beyond. Grabbed a couple of beers and waited for the game. At this point Avi was still with us, debating whether or not he really wanted to go on his date. Eventually he decided, with perhaps a little persuasion from Kevin that he should and he left us. Shortly after the game began and Kevin and I spent the majority of it caught between conversation and the intensity of the match. The series was tied two all before this round and whoever won would take the advantage into the final games. End of normal time and it was one all. Kevin, originally from D.C. was concerned and as over-time began he made a break for the toilets. On his way there, the Rangers scored what I thought was a fairly impressive goal to seal the game.
We finished our drinks and Kevin decided we would try another bar and after passing two rather empty places we headed down into what appeared to be an unmarked basement to the Saloon. First impression was this was going to beat the bars and clubs I had visited in New York, and it didn’t disappoint. There was a healthy atmosphere, the other frequenters were predominantly what I assumed were students, although I did challenge one of them to find out if he was actually old enough to be out so late. Kevin and I chilled at the bar, I would say enjoying a couple of PBRs but if you’ve ever tried it, you’ll know it’s not something that is strictly enjoyed but rather endured. We then decided it would be prudent to enjoy a shot, Kevin asked my preference but I insisted that this was his town, he should choose. Right call and right answer; Jaegermeister! However, the bartender made his best attempts to foil our plans by informing us that instead of Jaegermeister they stocked Fernette. If anyone offers you Fernette, politely refuse and leave via the nearest exit and never speak to them again. It is not a subsitute, and this was enough for us to try somewhere else.
Kevin knew of a place that often had live bands playing, and this to me sounded like the perfect plan. When picked up a beer and headed through to the back room to find Cold Chocolate a bluegrass come funk band four songs into their set. We pulled up a couple of chairs and I enjoyed the eclectic line up including a double-bass and a banjo. Once the bad finished their set, I got chatting to their drummer (by this point, I was substantially drunk enough to not really recall what I said) and came away with a CD, a setlist from that night’s show and a business card. After this, Kevin and I decided to call it a night.
The Back Bay
The following morning I woke up to find what was becoming standard weather for the trip. By now, I’d given up caring what the weather was doing, got dressed and headed out. The guys has informed me that I could walk down Massachusettes Avenue to Harvard, follow it onto M.I.T. and eventually in to Boston.
I made it as far as Harvard took a wrong turn and when I eventually crossed the Charles River into Boston found myself quite some way from the About an hour later than planned and I found myself in the Espalande, a large park area that stretches between the river and the city. Afrter walking through here, I decided to save my legs a little and caught the T line (the Boston subway) into Downtown where I picked up some lunch.
I made my way through the Boston Common and the Public Gardens, stopping to catch a quick snap of the Swan Boats. At the party in New York, one of the girls there had told me that this was one of the biggest attractions in Boston. Interestingly enough, they were moored up in the middle of the lagoon with nobody in sight.
After this, I found myself walking down Newbury Street which from the looks of it is the Boston equivalent of Oxford street; shops on every floor of every building on both sides of the road for eight blocks. I got halfway down where I found the Public Library.
Both Avi and Kevin had said it was worth a look, so I walked in. Part of the building looks incredible, retaining it’s colonial charm and I was drawn in, in awe at the imperial¬ styled bookcases and writing desks. A much larger section of the library is contemporary but holds one of the largest collections of books I have ever seen and enjoyed browsing my way through the floors.
Eventually, I quit for Newbury Street again which lead me back to Massachusettes Avenue and I felt that I’d been on my feet long enough to make my way back to Avi’s place and this time I knew I couldn’t miss M.I.T. and I succeeded in finding my way back.
That night I decided that I must have eaten something that didn’t agree with me over the past twenty four hours., spending a good portion of the night with my head in a toilet. I found this rather frustrating as it meant I didn’t get much sleep and struggled to eat the following day and spent most of it in bed.
The North End
When I did finally manage to convince that I couldn’t let sickness prevent me from seeing more of the city I made my way to the North End and Boston’s harbour.
I followed the harbour walk down the east side of the city, managing to hold down an apple and a cereal bar in the process. Boston strikes me as a very likeable city from my experiences of walking through it but the council seem to only really cater for tourists in the summer. A lot of places that I came to, most frustratingly for me the Boston Tea Party museum, were closed for renovation as it was the off season. Once I had made it this far I decided I’d had enough and my body was not to happy that I’d pushed it this far and so I headed back to Avi’s place and passed out on the couch for a few hours.
Shambhala Training
Kevin got back from work to find me asleep, and asked if I’d been there all day as I was exactly as he had left me earlier that morning and I convinced him that I had managed a brief outing into the city before deciding that sleep was going to be of more use to me. We hung out until Avi returned from work and Kevin asked us if we wanted to join him in going to the Shambhala meditation centre for an open house night. When we had been out together Kevin had told me he’d been practising Buddhist meditation for several years and this struck me as another “when am I going to get this kind of opportunity again” moment and I said I’d be pretty interested to see what it’s all about. We headed across the city to the centre and Kevin explained that he’d be going with the group of regulars and that there was an instruction group and that I should join them to learn more about Shambhala meditation.
This was a pretty unique experience as I’ve never had any dealings with any forms of Buddhism be it in writing of in physical practise. A small group of us were led into a room where we found cushions. Our instructor John guided us to be seated, and began by talking us through posture, crossed legs, a straight back and open arms placed on your thighs. He then talked us through how to begin the meditation process by taking a tour of your body from head to toe, releasing any tension that you find along the way. Next, we were told to pick a point four to six feet in front of us and focus upon it. The final step was to give our breathing bare attention, to be aware of the way it feels, whether it was in our abdomen, our chest across our lips or through our nose. If our minds drifted away, we were encouraged to accept this without judgement and then find our way back to our breath.
Sceptical as I am, I came away from this experience feeling unusually relaxed. When you’re used to constantly thinking about whether or not you booked the bus on the right day, or if you’re actually booked into a hostel when you’re in the next city, or even what you’re going to do with yourself when you get back home, to be able to let go of all of this was incredibly refreshing. I was certainly glad I’d had yet another opportunity to try something new.
Boston was a treat, if a little marred by sickness and it was awesome to catch up with Avi and laugh over our memories of Bulgaria. It was incredibly decent of Kevin to take me out and he made me feel more than welcome in Avi’s absence. Next stop, Montreal!
A Night Out, The High Line Park, Top Of The Rock, The Russian Tea Room & A Rooftop Party: New York
May 7, 2012
What a packed week it’s been in New York! Mixed emotions about leaving; sad to say goodbye to some wonderful friends and leave this incredible city, but excited to move on again and catch up with an old friend from last time out!
A Night Out
Ingrid and I met up outside the Electric Room, which she had been told was one of the hottest places to go in West Village right now. After we got in, without queuing or paying we quickly realised that everything she had been told was almost certainly a lie. We found that everyone inside seemed to be having a pretty average time. People sitting in groups of twos and threes, some people old enough to be my grandparents and I wondered if this is was anywhere close to what it is like to be a character in a Brett Easton-Ellis novel. After one drink, Ingrid and I both decided that a dive-bar would be a better option and we caught a cab across town. Spotting a sign that read “5 shots for $10″ we knew we had found our place. Several shots later, last orders were taken and we grabbed some pizza to end our night.
The High Line Park & Top Of The Rock
The following morning I was feeling somewhat out of sorts. Two nights on the town had taken it out of me so I took a relaxed approach to seeing some more of the city. My first destination would be the High Line Park, recommended to me through Twitter, I hadn’t heard of it until I had arrived in the city. The High Line is built on an old freight-train line above street level in the west of Manhattan and is perhaps the most interesting park I have ever seen.
It certainly ranks as one of my favourites to walk through, if drinking laws in the U.S.A. were somewhat more liberal it would be a great place to enjoy a couple of beers with friends. Walking the length of the park took me most of the way through the Meatpacking District, offering stunning views across the Hudson into New Jersey and the city of Manhattan itself and fortunately, today the weather was much improved!
Once I had finished walking through the park I grabbed a quick bite to eat before heading to the Rockefeller Centre where I hoped to be able to see the sunset over the city and watch it light up as night fell.
There was only problem with this hope, everyone seemed to have the same brilliant idea. Once I got to there and had joined the queue the next available slot was at twenty past nine. This gave me two hours to kill and the first thing I found to do with my time; visit the Lego store across the block.
I didn’t spend too much time and fortunately avoided spending any money. I then took a walk around the area heading West initially to try and catch the sunset but I gave up on realising how long it would take. Once the sun had gone down I headed back towards the Rockefeller Centre, stopping by at Times Square as after dark it was a must see.
Eventually the time came around and I was able to catch the elevator to the Top of the Rock! The experience begins once you step inside the elevator, a see through ceiling lets you watch the floors fly by as you race up the tower and once on the top, the view is magnificent.
The Russian Tea Room
When we had been sat on the beach in Key West (nearly a month ago!) Nik, Ingrid and I had talked about going for tea in New York once I had made my way there and today we were finally going. The Russian Tea Room has been in the city for more than 80 years, claiming guests such as Dustin Hoffman, Woody Allen and Madonna. It makes a claim to be a fairly exclusive joint, so I was expecting another pretentious affair but when we arrived it was fairly quiet.
Too quiet in fact, as Nik for some reason or another “couldn’t make it.” Ingrid and I got on with brunch and, obviously, tea. For a brief moment, I was in my British element; talking Ingrid through which tea she would probably like the most and we ran with a lapsang suchong. Coincidentally, this happens to be the best tea anyway. For myself though, I tried a Russian Country, which I was told by our waiter to try it with sour cherries. It was interesting, but I wouldn’t recommend it. Once we had finished eating, we each ordered a cocktail in preparation for the coming night.
Rooftop Party
That night, we headed over to Guillaume’s appartment, Nik and Ingrid had met G in Miami after I had left. Nik had eventually caught up with us on the Subway and was subsequently guilt tripped for the rest of the evening for being supremely unreliable. The weather had once again turned against us, and we didn’t spend much time on the rooftop of the appartment.
Once inside we were introduced to all of G’s friends , a great mix of people. I picked up an interesting statistic while I was here; 10% of New Yorker’s believe that 90% of New Yorker’s are not originally from New York. He was moving apartments the next morning and was holding a leaving do. It was a pretty cool place to hang out, John, one of the other guys who lived there had some of his paintings out, furniture was sparse and I was beginning to think maybe I want one for myself.
Plenty of beers and margaritas were consumed by all. After some time of drinking, the executive decision was made to head out into the city to find somewhere to drink, and, for those so inclined, to dance.
Sight Seeing, The MoMA, & Hangouts: New York
May 5, 2012
A Wet Wednesday In New York
Last night I made my way to the Life Cafe, less than two blocks from the New York Loft Hostel, to grab what I hoped would be a pretty tasty vegan chilli. I was not disappointed, the staff in Life were also incredibly helpful and friendly when I got chatting to them about the local area. After enjoying my dinner, I found that two girls I had met in D.C. were also staying at the Loft Hostel and we spent the evening chilling out in the garden discussing the rest of our plans for New York and the journey beyond.
Today, my plan, quickly thrown together last night was to meet up with Ingrid, who I’d met in Miami. We were going to meet at Columbus Circle at the South-East corner of the park. The weather was pretty bad, but after the way it had cleared up yesterday I was confident that the same would happen again. I caught the subway as far as Time’s Square and thought it would be worth walking from there.
I emerged into the lights and screens to find the rain still pouring down, but continued on to Columbus Circle, almost walking into Ingrid as she walked through a door. We grabbed a quick waffle as we decided what to do.
We had originally planned to hire some bikes and cycle through the park, but having both said we’d not been on a bike for years and the treacherously wet conditions we decided to walk instead.
Fortunately for the most part of the journey, the rain eased off and it wasn’t until we reached the Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis Resevoir, which I think if the weather would have been better would have been very picturesque.
The rain started to come down on us again and Ingrid had a couple of ideas of places to go to eat. We got on a bus which, whilst being considerably slower than the subway, allows you to take into some of the city. We ended up at Serendipity, famous for frozen hot chocolates; an idea at first I struggled to understand but after trying one, made significantly more sense. We stopped for a while, enjoyed a burger before heading back out into the miserable weather.
After wandering through the city for a while, I headed back to the hostel where I met up with my German room mates again. Tonight we found ourselves on Bedford Avenue once again and found a small bar where we enjoyed a couple of beers, fried pickles and a couple of bowls of fries. After a little debate as to where we should go from there, Christian decided SpikeHill would be the best place as he really wanted to see some more bands playing. More beers were consumed and we got ourselves an invite to a party. At around two in the morning we stumbled back to the hostel and passed out.
Sight Seeing & The MoMA
Initially the four of us had agreed to leave the hostel at nine thirty to get to the Museum of Modern Art as it opened. Unfortunately, Christian, Phillip and myself had a little too much fun last night and didn’t wake up. Tim had left us early and had already gone for a run by the time we got up and ready to go.
Eventually we found ourselves on the subway heading towards the MoMA. Three of us were suffering slightly and had to grab a coffee and pretzel to help deal with our headaches. Once inside the museum it didn’t take long for us all to be separated; each of us moving at our own pace enjoying some works more than the others. I particularly enjoyed the Pop-Art galleries, having been a fan of the likes of Keith Harring and Roy Lichtenstein.
My favourite exhibit in the museum though was a set of photographs; A Living Man Declared Dead and Other Chapters by Taryn Simon. The most provoking of her works, for me, is a documentation of the genocide in Bosnia. The work consists of three panels; one containing portraits of bloodline members of one victim, a second containing an annotation and the final panel of photographic evidence of the event. There were plenty of other pieces that I was drawn to but I don’t think I can really do them any justice. The label of “must see” applied to the MoMA is totally justified and I can’t recommend it highly enough! If I had one bad thing to say it would be on the lack of the Soviet Space Race Propaganda; I can’t get enough of it and didn’t find any here!
Once I had eventually had my fill of modern art and design I headed across the city to pick up a Circle Tour of Manhattan. Down at Pier 83 I got on the boat and was carried down the Hudson, past the Empire State Building, Midtown, to the Downtown Skyline and out to the Statue of Liberty.
This time I really got a good look at it and Liberty is truly beautiful. The boat then travelled up the East River, going under the Brooklyn Bridge and as far the United Nations building. Unfortunately, as it has been for the duration of my stay so far, the weather wasn’t perfect and visibility was somewhat poor but being able to see the Statue of Liberty more than made up for this. Once the boat tour came to an end, I made plans to meet up with Ingrid in the evening to be shown around the pretentious New York club scene.
Williamsburg
I left Philadelphia yesterday afternoon, another short trip on the still pleasant Megabus got me into New York just before four o’clock. I had to navigate the subway out to East Williamsburg where I would find my hostel, but this was pretty easy and I arrived at the New York Loft Hostel just before five. East Williamsburg is probably the hippest place I have been to since East Berlin. Everyone looks like they’re aged between 18 and 24, all dressed like they’ve just finished a photo shoot for a glossy magazine, and sporting excellent haircuts.
Once settled into the hostel, I got chatting to three German guys sharing my room; Christian, Tim and Mortz. All three of them are doctors, on a two week vacation road tripping from Boston to D.C. We exchanged stories from the places we had been to respectively and chilled. When they were getting ready to head out for the evening, I asked if they would mind if I would join them, and fortunately for me, they were more than happy to take me under their wing for the night. We headed out to Bedford Avenue, Mortz, who had lived in New York briefly, knew of what he considered to be the best pizza place in the town; Fornino. Once inside, I let the guys know that unfortunately for them, I was a vegetarian. They took this news surprisingly well and we enjoyed a meat free Bianca and a Calabrese with a bottle of red. While it was no Fire & Stone in terms of originality, it certainly turned out to be some of the best pizza I have ever had, and with some truly excellent company. After we had been shown to our table, Christian commented in German to his friends before translating on my behalf that he had fallen in love with the waitress. He later added to this when two brutally good looking girls walked in with two other guys; how nice, they brought their brothers he said. Brilliant, just like being at home. When it came to the bill, my new friends insisted that I was their guest for the meal and would not let me pay for my own food. Such gents I had found!
Following the pizza, Mortz mentioned that he once got incredibly drunk in the Spike Hill bar across the road. Christian decided that it would be a good idea to check it out again. I picked up the first round and we found that jazz-band; Evil Giraffes on Mars would be playing.
This was excellent news for me, as one of the things I really wanted to do while I was in New York was to see a jazz-band play and I’d achieved it on my first day. The band were pretty good and after enjoying a few beers we decided to call it a night and headed back to the hostel.
Manhattan
This morning I was awake pretty early, free breakfast in the hostel for the first time since D.C. I couldn’t miss out! Once I’d enjoyed some fruit, cereal and a coffee (I know right, not like me.) The weather outside, as I had discussed with another traveller from the U.K was reminiscent of home; grey skies and pouring rain. This wasn’t going to stop me today. I got on the subway and made my way to Downtown Manhattan, spotting a Patrick Bateman lookalike on the way; cool slicked back hair, sunglasses indoors, blue collared shirt, red tie. Fortunately he didn’t kill me in the face with an axe and I got off around Union Square.
I began walking through the skyscrapers of Wall Street and the under construction World Trade Centre buildings, spotting a small dog seriously wearing Wellington boots. Madness! My first plan was to get to Battery Park, which looked like a level from one of the old Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater games. My intentions were to see the Statue of Liberty, but as you can see, I didn’t get much of a view. I definitely did see a silhouette of it through the mist though!
I then made my way back to the World Trade Centre. It turns out you need to make a reservation online to get in to see the monument so I was only able to go into the visitor’s centre. There was not much to be told that I didn’t already know, 9/11 being one of the first major tragedies I can actually remember. There were a couple of artefacts; a fireman’s hat, melted aluminium and a twisted steel girder. A lot of construction work is going on in the area, with one of the new buildings soon to surpass the Empire State Building as the cities tallest.There is also a museum under construction to commemorate the terrorist attacks that had happened on this fateful site.
My next destination was to be Brooklyn Bridge, I only really wanted to go halfway as my intentions were to stay in Manhattan for the day. After about an hour of wandering around in the general area I found my way up onto the pedestrian walkway and crossed to the first tower, where, if the weather is clear I imagine you can get some pretty fantastic views of the Atlantic basin.
After returning into the city from the bridge I started to make my way up Broadway towards Midtown and eventually the Empire State Building. On the way I came across Strand Bookstore and immediately lost myself inside for well over an hour. Sadly, I didn’t find any of my favourite books with an aged, hardback cover and decided to move on.
The Empire State Building
The 102-story cultural landmark soon came into-view and I’m pleased to tell you that the weather had began to clear.
Last minute decision as I walked past the ticket entrance. Do I, don’t I? Turns out my brain decided I had to. Standing in full at 1454ft tall, I was expecting to feel a little queasy when I reached the 86th floor observatory.
I picked up a CityPass on my way, allowing me access to six attractions or landmarks over the course of my stay for the healthy bargain of $89. Once the tallest building in the world, the views from the observation deck are extraordinary, even when visibility isn’t at it’s best. I even took the time to find someone to take a photo of me! Aren’t you lucky.
On my way out of the building I found myself meters infront of a protest. At the time, blissfully unaware that May Day had been selected by the Occupy group for a series of marches across the country. After a few minutes pinned against the wall as the youthful protesters marched against Capitalism I was finally able to pass and continue with a little further walking through the city before finally deciding it was time to go.
Real Life Twitter: Philadelphia
April 30, 2012
Having spent most of the morning recovering from too much beer eventually a plan was made! My good friend from Twitter, Suzy, lives incredibly close to the Apple hostel and she talked me into leaving the comfort of my bed for brunch. After a minor hiccup on my behalf I made it to Continental. As I don’t have a phone at the moment, all communication was done through Twitter, and once I was outside I was on my own. Suzy had been kind enough to tell me that she had a table out in the back. I walked on through, straight past Suzy and then back again after I realized she was the only person in the back. She introduced me to her husband, Jeff and I got stuck into the menu.
For a while, I had been annoyed with myself at becoming a vegetarian before coming to the U.S. I wouldn’t be able to try a Philly cheesesteak! What was I thinking? The obvious answer; I wasn’t. Anyway, to my delight on Continental’s menu was a veggie cheesesteak and I had no choice but to order it. Thick cut Portobello mushrooms, red peppers and onions, drizzled with cheese and a huge stack of shoestring fries. Goodbye hangover!
Before the food arrived, a couple of Suzy’s friends; Troy and Jo joined us. I’m sad to say that in my haste I forgot my camera, so I was unable to get a group shot of my current companions, or of my brunch! I had a very pleasant time simply chilling out and listening to the guys chat about their plans for the rest of the day which consisted primarily of eating and drinking. Once we had all enjoyed our food and got the bill we parted ways, with Suzy taking me to the Reading Terminal Market, via the Gallery.
This was a bit of an eye-opener for me, as I had initially assumed that shopping in the States would be a similar experience to back home. I was to be proved wrong in the market. Independent food outlets, greengrocers, fish-mongers, bakeries, all spread out in one place. It was, like most good markets, a brilliant experience. Suzy was kind enough to buy me a praline cookie; which is simply put pecan flavoured sugar.
From the market we walked through china town. It still amazes me how the atmosphere of a city can change so quickly once you’ve crossed a road or walked another block.
After china town we passed through Franklin Park, where Suzy showed me the sights of the city on a mini-golf course. We didn’t stop for a round.
We then continued on to Elfreth’s Alley. Elfreth’s is popularly known as the nations oldest residential street and it looks like a slice of Europe has been dropped into the city.
We walked around for a while, before Suzy pointed out where she lived and worked. Eventually we parted way, with me being content that I had once again managed to meet a friend from the internet in real life.
Self-Guided Walking Tour: Philladelphia
April 29, 2012
Having woken up to find the weather significantly less overcast than the previous day, I decided that I should probably take advantage of what I expected to be warm weather and walk into Philadelphia again. I purchased a bus token from the reception as Chamounix in order to get the bus back later that day. However, once I got out into the open I found a sub-arctic gale blowing and upped the pace as best I could to get to the sheltered city centre as soon as possible. Once I arrived my first point of call was the Independence Visitor’s Centre to pick up a ticket for a tour of Independence Hall.
I had hoped that I could pick a time, but there were only spaces left on the 16:15 tour. On the brightside, this gave me plenty of time to check out the older parts of the city.
I began with the President’s House, just across the street from the Visitor’s Centre. Much of the information detailed here was to do with George Washington and slavery. There is obviously much debate over the contradictions between the way the Constitution was written and how people actually lived. It seemed that the right to freedom was only available if you were white. Washington himself had brought slaves from his Mount Vernon ranch to work for him in Philadelphia, despite the fact that he had fought for the freedom of his people against the British. Also controversial was the fact that the state of Pennsylvania had already began the abolition process, banning slavery and only allowing slaves from other states to work for six months before they were freed. In order to get around this, Washington rotated the slaves between the President’s House and his home in Virginia.
I had hoped to see the Liberty Bell, but as a place of national historic interest there were more than enough school parties queueing up to go inside and walk around it. Instead, I opted to take a look from outside, catching a break in the crowd to snap a quick photo unfortunately not from the side with the iconic split.
My next stop was the American Philosophical Society, for obvious reason. (I’m a philosophy graduate.) Founded by Benjamin Franklin, over many years it had attracted some of America’s finest minds. It has also taken in many foreign intellectuals, Charles Darwin has even been a member and in the small gallery open to tourists there was an invitation to his funeral.
Sadly though, there was not much philosophy to be found and the rooms reserved for research were not open to the public. I decided that the next logical step would be Franklin Court; where I should have found a museum and several houses built by Franklin that contained artefacts and articles from his life. Instead, I found a building site; a new museum was under construction in honour of Franklin and his life’s work. Now, I wasn’t sure what to do so I wandered the streets until I found myself in front of the American Polish Cultural Centre Museum. Since visiting Warsaw and learning of the Warsaw Uprising I’ve had a greater interest and respect for the Poles, so I thought; why not take a look around. It was pretty interesting, documenting the lives of Chopin, Marie Curie, Casimir Pulaski and Tadeusz Kościuszko to name a few, and of course there was a whole section devoted to the efforts of Poland in WWII and I very much enjoyed this refresher of knowledge. Finally, I decided to make my way to the Delaware river, which marks the far side of the city centre. I found my way down to the cruiser; Olympia, and submarine; Becuna, before heading back to Independence Hall for my tour.
Independence Hall is where The United States of America as we know them today were founded. The Declaration of Independence and the United States Constitution were both drafted and signed under the same roof.
The following day I was moving hostel. Chamounix was nice but it was very much a quiet hostel. In the morning I found somebody else who was heading the same way and we booked a taxi to take us across the town. We spent a couple of hours hanging out in down-town before chilling in the Apple Hostel. I met an Australian who introduced me to the basketball play-offs and we watched Lebron James of Miami Heat destroy the New York Knicks. After that we picked up some beers and got chatting with everyone else in the hostel which eventually turned into a foosball tournament one of the biggest games of ring of fire I have ever played. As I write this I am lying in bed nursing the worst hangover of my trip so far.
The Megabus
After an incredible week in D.C. it was finally time for me to move on; the next destination was Philadelphia. I took a casual approach to my final morning in D.C., getting up late, chilling, packing and eventually saying goodbye to any of my friends who were still around and heading down to the Union Station to catch the Megabus. I’d booked my ticket online and written down the reservation number on my phone for ease. Or at least, that’s what I thought had happened. It turned out that I taken the first jumbled collection of numbers and letters in the confirmation email and assumed that this was the reservation number. Wrong. For some reason, Megabus give you two numbers; a reservation number and a transaction number. Fortunately, I had my Kindle accessible and was able to just about pull up the email before feeling the urge to smash it upon the ground. Crisis averted. I boarded the bus, relieved not to have actually smashed my Kindle and got some serious reading done. Compared to the Greyhound bus the journey was marginally better; the seats and bus as a whole was more comfortable.
Fairmount Park
Once I arrived in Philadelphia, I had to find the #38 SEPTA bus and do my best to enjoy the hour-long tour through the suburbs to Fairmount Park and the Chamounix Mansion Hostel.
As I got off the bus I was followed by Kathy, who was also staying at the hostel who informed me that it was quite a long walk. Fortunately, we didn’t agree on the concept of far. Chamounix Mansion turned out to be quite an incredible looking hostel. Originally built in 1802 as a country home, it was taken over by Hostelling International and is a pleasant place to stay if you want to avoid the bustling city centre.
It is, as I’m sure you can tell, a little too far out to be convenient but it made for an interesting change of pace. That evening I spent quietly tucked up in a winged armchair with The Count of Monte Cristo until Kathy walked in, asking if I would mind if she played her harp. I was more than happy to listen to her play and enjoyed a very different kind of chilled out evening.
The next morning, I checked with the hostel staff on how long it would take to walk into the city and instead of a time I was given a map, rough directions and a very enthusiastic suggestion that I should go to the East State Penitentiary as it would be one of the first places I would come to once I entered the city. The route in followed the course of the Schuylkill river as it flowed to join up with the Delaware. It wasn’t half bad as far as walks go, and only two geese were annoyed enough by my presence to harass me. Eventually, the city skyline came into view and its quite an impressive sight; with the old waterworks in the foreground, the Philadelphia Art Museum in the centre and the skyscrapers of down town in the background.
I was pleased to find the Art Museum would be on route, while in the city it would be rude not to see on of it’s most famous cultural icons; The Rocky Steps. Once I had made my way around to the front of the museum I found people of all ages running up the steps, one young man even humming the tune to Gonna Fly Now. After a few minutes of amusement at the various poses a group of British “lads on tour” I headed on to find the East State Penitentiary.
East State Penitentiary
Abandoned prison you say, probably haunted? Count me in! East State was the world’s first true penitentiary; designed to inspire true regret in the heart of its criminals. Based on looks alone with dramatic sky-lit cell blocks, wire framed beds, crumbling plaster walls, broken glass windows and towering fortress-walls there was enough here to keep me fascinated for hours.
The history was as equally compelling; to being with it was thought that solitary confinement was the most successful way to rehabilitate a criminal. Shut off from society and forced to face his own internal dialogue, it was thought that they would leave as reformed men. This idea soon began to change and people, including one visitor to the prison; Charles Dickens, started to believe that years of solitude would actually make a man mad. Eventually, second floors were added to the initial seven cell blocks, then came guard towers as prisoners were allowed to mix in the open spaces, and eventually prisoners would share the cells.
I took an audio tour of the prison, narrated by famous actor and all round good guy Steve Buscemi before going off-piste and looking into many of the crumbling cells.
It wasn’t bad for all of the prisoners who were held here; one of America’s most notorious criminals; Al “Scarface” Capone was incarcerated for one year after being arrested in Philadelphia for carrying a concealed deadly weapon. His cell was somewhat different to the others, and it would appear that the guards and even the governor must have treated him with a form of respect or even awe.
Amongst the other cells and blocks several artists had been allowed to create installations some of which were quite fascinating. After several hours of trying to decide whether the abandoned cell blocks were terrifying or awesome or a mix of the both I decided to take a quick walk into the city centre before walking back to Chamounix.
National Museum of Natural History
On Saturday evening I got a taste of how changeable the North American weather can be; having had two days of glorious sunshine a storm system rushed in and stayed with us for two days. Sunday was spent in the hostel, watching the windows waiting for a break in the rain. While we hoped for change, the few of us who hadn’t braved the weather exchanged tastes in T.V. watching episodes of How I Met Your Mother, Parks & Recreation, Community and Battlestar Galactica. I think I probably watched more hours on T.V. in one day than I had since the start of the year. It was also a good opportunity to do some further planning and research and set myself up for my next two destinations of Philadelphia and New York. There was also some interesting developments between hostel guests; Brett and Liam who had arrived in the U.S. together had decided to go separate ways, with Brett returning to the U.K. and Liam continuing on with their initial plan. It just goes to show that as amazing as travel is, it’s not for everyone.
The next morning I woke up to find that the rain had finally stopped and decided I would try and make my way to Georgetown. However, upon leaving the hostel I was caught in the face with the gale-force winds and due to my confident belief that I would get three months of uninterrupted sunshine I hadn’t packed a jacket. Fortunately, I happen to be in D.C., home of the free museum. Everyone had been telling me how good the National Museum of Natural History so I figured that I could escape the weather in there. As I’ve said previously, the museums are vast and you can easily lose yourself in them for a day.
I started off in the Ocean Hall which had an obvious similarity to the British Natural History museum with an North Atlantic Right Whale model hanging from the ceiling. This isn’t quite as impressive as the Blue Whale, but this was made up for by the preserved Giant Squid which, in it’s dried condition had a strong resemblance to the aliens from Independence Day.
From the Ocean Hall I walked through the Hall of Mammals, not really bothering too much to read anything as I had seen a lot of the specimens out in Kruger National Park and found my way to the Hall of Human Origins. I found myself interested in the different perspective given on humans in the U.S. In European museums there is a lot more focus on the cultures that have shaped the modern world, where as here there is a greater emphasis on the origins and development of the human species. I even learned that humans share 60% genetic similarity with banana trees.
From here I continued to the Hall of Dinosaurs, enjoying the reconstructed skeleton selections
Looking through the fossil collections, in particular those of the ammonites and trilobites reminded me of my once held desire to be an archaeologist.
This was only the first floor of exhibits and there was still plenty more for me to see upstairs.
On the second floor I spent most of the afternoon looking through the Hall of Geology, Gems and Minerals, being pushed and pulled by school-children and tourists alike as I tried to get yet more of an education.
The museum also holds on of the most comprehensive collections of meteorites in the world, which gave me yet more information on the U.S.A.’s history with space; If I was any good at remembering information I would probably be an expert by now. Once I had enjoyed enough “rocks and stuff” I found myself in the Hall of Bones, which is the strangest collection I have ever seen and yet one of the more fascinating. With skeletons from various fish, reptiles, amphibians, birds and mammals, many exhibits explained how the specifics differences between them had come about, highlighting similarities and redundant features. I found myself engrossed with the skeletal systems of birds, an interest I never realised I had until now.
Finally I found my way to Titanboa; one of the most important fossil discoveries since the T-Rex. The Titanboa measured somewhere between 15 and 20 meters in length and was capable of eating the large crocodiles that existed at the same time.
After this, I checked the time to find once again I’d spent over five hours in the museum and decided it was time to pick up something to eat and head back to the hostel. I’d been told by a good friend of mine to pick up a burrito from Chipotle, and having found one at Union Station I can only hope to one day have as much fast food choice in the U.K. as there is in the U.S.
Georgetown & More Monuments
I woke up to find that the weather had returned to the rich vein of form I had been used to. After grabbing some pancakes and a quick cup of tea in the hostel, I headed down to Union Station to find a post office as I had a 12″ LP I needed to send home, which I managed with relative ease and at a low cost thanks to the very helpful USPS staff. Once I was finished there, I headed down to the Metro and made my way to Georgetown.
Guidebooks and other travellers alike had told me that it was one of the suburbs to check out while I was in the area and it was a nice place to walk through but it didn’t have the same “local feel” that Adams Morgan and Dupont Circle had. This was probably because Georgetown was on the map and people knew about it and were talking about it. After checking out the Chesapeak and Ohio Canal I found my way down to the Watergate complex and the Potomac river.
I eventually found my way back to the Lincoln Monument and decided to visit the monuments I had missed on my earlier visit to the National Mall. I first ended up at the Martin Luther King, Jr monument and enjoyed reading the quotes carved into the granite, getting a better understanding of his message to the world.
I found myself on the shore of the aptly named Tidal Basin and followed an occasionally submerged path to the Franklin D. Roosevelt memorial which was unlike all the other Presidential monuments as it was spread across the basin shore, contained more than one statue, several water features and lots of quotes carved into the walls.
My knowledge of American history is incredibly bad, but I felt that having seen these two monuments I was significantly more aware of the way influential figures had shaped the country. Once I had finished admiring the Roosevelt memorial I had one more left to cover, the Thomas Jefferson Memorial. Similar in style (just about) to the Lincoln Memorial; the domed building contained a bronze statue of Jefferson and four quotes in each corner offering an overview of his beliefs and his legacy.
Air & Space Museum and Record Store Day: Washington D.C.
April 22, 2012
Air & Space Museum
On Friday Mike and I decided we’d spend the day hanging out together and headed off to the National Mall to check out some of the Smithsonian Institutions and get ourselves a free education. As Mike hadn’t seen any of the sights, we headed up to Capitol Hill to begin with and started on a similar route to the one I had taken previously. On the way through we agreed that the Air & Space museum was likely to be the most interesting museum and that would be our first stop. Little did we know at the time that the Air & Space museum is the largest collection of historic aircraft and spacecraft in the world.
Once inside, after we’d battled through hoards of school children, we began looking at the space race exhibition. Having already been to the Kennedy Space Centre I had learned a little about the setbacks the Americans had faced in attempting to beat the Soviets into space. This time I picked up information on the initial progress from missiles right the way through to the shuttle launches. It’s fascinating to think of the way that war has lead to some of the most impressive of human endeavours.
Over an hour had passed by the time we had taken in as much information as we could and we decided to move on to another exhibit. After watching a video on the Hubble Space Telescope at the K.S.C. I was interested to learn more about the history and research projects that lead to it’s development. We started before Galileo and went all the way through to the final alterations to the Hubble, learning about spectrography and having a lot of fun with infra-red cameras.
Once we had read as much as we could and our brains were full we decided we should go and look at some planes. On the way we bumped into Carissa who had left the hostel with the intention of catching up with us. The three of us spent the rest of the afternoon wandering between exhibits on the Wright Brothers and the Red Baron, talking about climate change, whether or not we would send manned missions to Mars, and the Australian Question Intonation. It soon dawned on Mike and I that we had been in the museum for over four hours and the evening was not far from us. Carissa left us to go to a yoga class and we headed into Downtown to find somewhere to eat.
After walking two laps around the same block before we realised what we were doing, we found the Spy Museum and decided to grab a bite in the restaurant. On our way back through Downtown, Mike found a shop selling cup-cakes and he felt that it would be rude not to stop and at least have a look at the selection. I quickly fell under the impression that Mike was the kind of guy who liked cake.
After enjoying his cake, Mike and I headed back to the hostel.
That evening the staff of the Downtown Washington Hostel were cooking spaghetti for everyone, which was well received by us and all the new arrivals. Once we’d eaten several of us went to the liquor store across the road to pick up some beers and we all got to know each other a little better, sharing stories from our travels and recommendations for places to visit long into the night.
Record Store Day
My good friend Taylor had reminded me that April 21st was Record Store Day, and after chatting with Mike about music we decided it would be in our best interests if we were to spend the next day in one of D.C.’s beautiful suburbs on the prowl for record stores. We navigated the metro system out to Adams Morgan and made our best attempts to make our way around the blocks without going full circle.
For most of our walk, we would both continually comment on how nice the area was; red brick town houses, tree-lined avenues and incredibly hip looking locals.
We eventually found ourselves walking up one of 18th Street and saw what appeared to be a queue for a shop and found Crooked Beat Records, which was apparently the place to go. Having done a little bit of research the night before, Mike and I decided to keep walking as there was another store, Smash Records, further up the street and this turned out to be a small stroke of genius as there wasn’t a queue to get in. After browsing for sometime, Mike picked up a few LPs before deciding it was probably about time for lunch.
Our intentions had been to get a takeaway and join the queue, but we found ourselves sitting down in what might have been an Ethiopian restaurant ordering a couple of sandwiches and took advantage of the people-watching hot spot we had found ourselves in. We headed back to Crooked Beat to find the queue had reduced significantly and in we went. This time it was my turn to make a purchase, picking up the Tallest Man On Earth’s King of Spain, which had a cover of Paul Simon’s Graceland as a b-side. I couldn’t resist. Once we’d finished we agreed we’d try to find one more and continued with our rich praise of the area before our final browse.
We headed back towards the National Mall once we had enjoyed our fill of records, checking out the White House to find the Barrack was still unavailable for a spot of tea. We decided that while we were in the area, we should probably check out another of the Smithsonian Institutes and made our way to the American History museum in an attempt to get a better understanding of the chronology of American events. As with the Air & Space museum, there was simply too much to take in in one day and we only managed to cover the Presidents, the Revolution, and the Civil War.
It has been a pretty long day, and our bodies had agreed that it was beer o’clock and we headed back to the Hostel to meet up with Liam and Brett from the UK, Raphaëlle from France, and Mark from New Zealand or Australia depending on who he was talking to. Once again we made a visit to the liquor store and began our night with a rather civilized game of Scrabble before moving on to mix cards with excessive drinking.
