The Big Easy

New Orleans is awesome. Totally awesome. It is, without doubt, the best city we have encountered so far in the States, including New York. And that's saying something.

The funny thing is, it doesn't really feel American. It has its own indomitable spirit, and draws heavily from its Cajun, French and Spanish heritage. You won't see many stars-and-stripes down here, but you'll see the Fleur-de-Lys liberally plastered on almost everything. The cuisine is totally different from the rest of the United States, and the whole city (and indeed the state) has a deeply festive atmosphere, not just during Mardi Gras, that the surrounding states such as Alabama and Mississippi, don't seem to have as much of.

Shop signs and verandas in the French Quarter

Part of the reason it is so fantastic is that it's rather liberal when it comes to alcohol consumption. Any supermarket or cornershop is allowed to sell it; one is allowed to drink in the street (plastic cups only); and while the drinking age is 21 like the rest of the States, most establishments are somewhat relaxed, far more so than they are in the Northeast, say.

Bourbon St at night, photo not our own

So on the first night it was hardly surprising that we found ourselves holed up in a restaurant just off Bourbon St., with a bowl of Gumbo and fried alligator in front of us and two pints of the 'local brew' in our hands. After supping, we took a wander around the French Quarter. In the day, this historic district is full of restaurants selling Cajun and Creole food, quaint museums and fantastic cafes. At night, the place comes alive. Bourbon Street especially. Neon signs burn your irises as you walk down row after row of late-night bars, seedy strip clubs and dive eateries. Live music blares out of every venue: usually jazz, blues or rock. Bar employees stand outside beckoning to people to enter: cover charges seem not to exist here (thank god), and bouncers put up only a token resistance if you're under 21. Far from marking your hands and practically segregating you as they do in New York and other places, you are usually waved inside with a fleeting "ok, you're not allowed to drink, right?". Nobody asks any questions on the inside, and there's nothing to differentiate you from the other punters. Its nightlife feels very similar to that in some of Europe's party centers: think Ibiza, Agia Napa or the Greek Islands of Ios or Mykonos. Advice for future travelers: definitely go through Bourbon St for the experience, but to get a better sense of the local flavor head down to Frenchmen St (only a 5 min walk from Bourbon) and check out the jazz bars and hole-in-the-walls. There are always live acts at the bars there that locals and musicians alike flock to at night.

The infamous Bourbon St., in the daytime.

It isn't just a party town, of course. New Orleans is steeped in culture, by virtue of its multinational heritage. On Monday, a walk around the French quarter in the day yielded views of beautiful French and Spanish architecture, narrow streets and the intriguing sensation of walking 'up' to the river. We perused the daily Farmer's Market, which sells all sorts of interesting foodstuffs, and made the mistake of sampling some Ghost Pepper sauce (apparently the strongest pepper in the world).

Outside of the French Market

The real thing: N'awlins Ghost Pepper Sauce

Needless to say Dex spent the next two hours with a numb tongue, stomach ache and headache. On the 'Scoville' scale of pepper heat, the 'Ghost' pepper has about 800,000 to 1,400,000 units. A jalapeño has about 5,000, and Tabasco about 50,000. That says it all, really. To soothe our numb mouths we sat down at the first established cafe in NOLA (Cafe du Monde) and enjoyed a much-needed cafe au lait and some beignettes, so-called French doughnuts with powdered sugar on top.

Dex with the Cafe du Monde goodies

Later that afternoon we took the antique St. Charles streetcar into the Garden district, and to the districts to the west of the French Quarter. We saw some stunning 'Southern mansions', and got a feel for public transportation in the Big Easy circa A Steetcar Named Desire era.

St. Chaaaaaarles Streetcar

New Orleans food is pretty interesting. It all seems to be some form of seafood broth served with rice. Gumbo, the classic, is filling and tastes fantastic. Jambalaya and red beans n' rice are ok, but nothing quite beats étouffée dishes, specifically with shrimp or crawfish. Crawfish étouffée is highly recommended. There is also a lot of alligator on offer, which tastes like tough chicken with a slight seafood flavor.

New Orleans is also situated in a rather unique environment. It is caught between a lake and a river, themselves situated in a huge bayou. We ventured into this bayou on Tuesday, when we went for an swamp tour! We highly recommend it to anyone who finds themselves in NOLA. We were taken through the swamps and saw birds, turtles, and of course.. Alligators!! We have quite a few photos from the tour (see below). The tour also took us to a Cajun village (the residents are known as 'the swamp people'), and learned about their past and present way of life. Quite a few residents are new and reconstructed their own swamp homes after Hurricane Katrina, which completely destroyed the majority of the homes. Interestingly, a few of the homes sported Confederate flags...

The Bayou

Maryann with a baby gator, d'aw

An, erm, much bigger alligator, nicknamed 'Cindy'

Swamp People, don't mess

It's shocking to see how the devastating effects of Hurricane Katrina are still felt throughout the Big Easy. As we drove to the bayou, our driver pointed out the 9th ward, one of the areas most affected by the storm, where most of the homes were still destroyed. In other areas, just this year have businesses reopened their stores in the lower levels that couldn't weather the storm as well as the historic districts (which are situated much higher above sea-level). In the 6 years since the storm hit, thousands of previous New Orleans residents are still living in temporary accommodations in Louisiana and Mississippi. Needless to say, while the Big Easy soldiers on with life, Hurricane Katrina has definitely cast a shadow that will take time to pass.

1st Big Train Journey (21 hours)

So, after waiting in Lynchburg until almost midnight, we boarded our train. Instead of doing a lengthy and verbose blog about the Amtrak train system, a few succinct bullet points will do:

- the trains get very cold at night (they leave the aircon on full)
- they stop once in a while to let freight trains pass, and are often somewhat late to their destinations. Don't take them if you are on tight deadlines.
- the seats are absolutely fantastic, far better than plane seats. They have more than enough legroom, are nice and wide, and are quite comfortable to sleep in.
- bring your own food and entertainment. This is a must, since the train prices are rather high; and there is no on-board entertainment.
- the windows are very broad, so you get an amazing view of the passing landscape and get a great feel/glimpse of the area.

The Viewing carriage, available on all long-distance Amtrak routes.

As we journeyed on through the South, we had quite a few interesting views. We passed many quintessential suburban Southern towns (no, we didn't see a Confederate flag anywhere). It's interesting that quite a few of our stops along the way included historic towns that have lovely historic districts, yet run-down modern additions. This was definitely noticed at Lynchburg: on the one hand you have the pretty, upmarket historic district, with pretty Southern homes and cutesy antique shops; and on the other you have a very poor community that is sharply segregated from the picturesque downtown. This seemed to be a repeated pattern throughout the South, where one block sometimes meant all the difference.

Another was when we travelled through Alabama. As some of our fellow Americans may have heard, tornados ripped through areas of the state in April, completely demolishing some towns and taking a toll on the community, emotionally and financially. Well, we passed one of those towns. After passing through desecrated woodland, the rails eventually shifted and we were right on the edge of a small town: homes and shops completely destroyed, cars flipped over, trees all over the place. It's one thing to see it on television, it's something else to see it in person. It was unbelievable and shocking, to the point where every passenger just stared transfixed at the scene before us. We didn't take a photo. A scene Maryann probably won't forget for a while is the sight of a man walking up his front lawn with the morning newspaper in regular routine, up to his home that was half destroyed. It's shocking and infuriating that these towns are in the state that they are in nearly 2 months after the event; interesting comparison to the NOLA scandal.

On a completely different note, we also caught a glimpse of an amazing sunset when we were crossing the bay over to Louisiana! Photos to follow.

Interlude 1, Lynchy-lynch & our 1st Big Train Journey

Our bus left early in the morning the next day, so we bade DC farewell, and began the long journey down south, stoppin' at... Lynchburrrrrrrrg, VA!!

We actually almost didn't make our connecting bus. Our Greyhound didn't leave from DC until half an hour after scheduled departure, so we were basically biting our nails from there to Charlottesville, where our connecting bus was. In Britain we would have just brushed this tiny inconvenience off, since in Europe there are loads of buses leaving practically every minute. Not so in the US of A, where everyone has a gas-guzzling SUV that can take you anywhere, anytime you please. Luckily the other bus waited for us and a few other passengers, and we were on our way, with MaryAnn's nails half-intact.

While the town name leaves a lot to be desired, Lynchburg is actually quite a pretty Southern town! One of the first things we noticed down South is that there are loads of churches. As in, one on every block. It's very interesting how while Dublin and London have a pub every block, the south has churches. Another thing you are struck by is the hospitality. When we were walking down the sidewalk people would say "good day" or "how're you doin'?", definitely something you don't find in the Northeast or in Europe! People were also more than helpful with helping a lost Brit and Yank find their way to the historic district, or recommend some good places to chow down on some grub. A word of advice to potential South-bound travelers: many shops and eateries close from 2-5:30 for siesta, so don't be too surprised or exasperated to find nothing open at 3:00! Not like we're speaking from experience of course...

As we had the afternoon free, we explored the historic downtown district, weaving our way through the main streets and avenues. Lots of Antique shops and cutesy boutiques. We were recommended by a local to a cafe called 'The White Hart' which does a mean Mac 'n' cheese, FYI. It bases its aesthetic around the Oxford University 'Inklings' society, and thus has a bookish, scholarly feel to it - a great contrast to the surrounding townscape it is situated in.

Downtown historic district, photo not our own

After sitting down for the meal, we decided to hit the sidewalk en-route to the Amtrak station for our first long-leg train journey!! Our excitement was amusingly diluted in two ways. One: Lynchburg is built in a valley. Meaning when you walk to certain destinations, expect to either be walking downhill for 40 min, or uphill. Of course, we had to trekk up the steep streets. Word of advice: take a bus/car. Unless you're planning on working off 7/11 nachos with chili and cheese, which we got in desperation. So in hindsight, maybe it was for the best. Next, when we finally got to the train station, we found out that our train was delayed an hour.. Then an hour and a half.. Now two. Haha. Oh well, part of the Amtrak experience! We're actually waiting in the train station for our train as we type, at 11.30pm. What fun. Anyway, until New Orleans!

Front of Lynchburg Amtrak train station

Raving it up at the station

Find us at the capital: Washington DC

Hey all! Currently we're both waiting for a much-delayed train at Lynchburg, VA that'll eventually take us to the Big Easy. So, what better way to pass our time than update our blog (which needed updating anyway)? Apologies for the lack o' foe-toes; they'll be put up as soon as we get access to a CPU.

On Wednesday we drove into Philly, and finally embarked on our rail trip proper. Woo! The train ride to Washington DC was brief, and after two hours we arrived in Union Station.

The first thing we planned to do was to take the Metro system to our hotel, which was located up in College Park on the outskirts of the city (technically in Maryland, Washington DC being a tiny city-state). So, we entered the Metro system... and were confronted by ticketing machines which looked more like computers from the 70s than anything else.

D'oh?

The displays were like those on really, really old calculators; and apart from that we were presented by a mismatched assortment of buttons, labels and stickers creating varying levels of confusion. Add really long queues/ lines of grumpy DCers and... yeah. Needless to say it took a while to work them out, but after observing commuters in their local habitat we got the idea and hit the tube.

An aspect of DC that many of our American readers may know of, but our international compadres may not, is that outside of center-city there are some of the most dangerous neighborhoods in the USA.. Even rivaling New Orleans. Gang violence and homicides were particularly high during the 1990s, when DC was known as the 'murder capital' of the states. To be fair, it has gotten better: crime rates have gone down drastically in the past few years, and the two of us didn't have any problems when we took the metro past the outskirts of town on our way to College Park, MD. Some neighborhoods to the east, like Prince George County (the stop right before ours on the green line), are getting worse however.

Our hotel was right next door to the University of Maryland's College Park, and was a stone's throw away from rows of suburban frat houses.

Having dropped off our stuff, we took the metro back down to DC (a day pass is $9, and is worth it if you do more than two trips in a day) and saw all the must-see touristy sites. We checked out the Capitol building, the Washington Monument, the White House, and had a brief glimpse of the Lincoln Memorial from afar.

The Capitol Building, D.C.

Washington Monument

All of these are located relatively centrally, and all are about a medium walking distance away from each other (apart from the Lincoln memorial, which is a bit more of a trek). This is because centre DC is organized around the National Mall, which is essentially a large strip of grass which runs for about 2 miles from the Capitol in the East to the Lincoln memorial in the West. The grass wasn't quite as well-kept as the lawns of the government buildings, but hey, what do you expect?

That evening we went back to the hotel and tried out the pool, much to Dexter's delight. Such things are a bit of a novelty for those who hail from rainy Britain. Poor chap ;)

At the Capitol end there are lots of museums, conveniently close to each other, and conveniently free. So, the next day we decided to hit the museums! DC, like any good national capital, has the standard selection of National Galleries, Natural History Museums, etc. But as a wise person one said, "once you've seen one natural history museum, you've seen them all", and going by this logic, we made a bee-line for the museum that sounded the coolest: the Air and Space Museum. Good idea, because it was wicked.

It has some pretty cool stuff inside, like the Apollo 11 command module, the Apollo 11 'Eagle' Lunar lander, a walk-in section of the Skylab space station, a lunar rover, a prototype of the Hubble Telescope, a prototype Voyager probe, a prototype Viking Mars lander and some early Mercury command modules, to name a few things. And that's just the Space section. There were other interesting things, like one of the Wright brothers' first aircraft, a jet-powered Messerschmidt and some (supposedly decommissioned) nuclear missiles... but it is pretty hard to beat the Space displays. (Yes, Dex wrote this section) After this we found we has little time for anything else, so we quickly headed over to the Library of Congress, and then to the National Archives. We found the archives were closed, however, because Laura Bush was making a speech there that evening. Boo!

A replica of the Apollo 11 Lunar lander in the Air and Space Museum.

That evening we met up with our good friend Cristina, who is interning at PETA for the summer. We walked around the Adams Morgan district, and caugut dinner at a bookstore-restaurant-bar. Afrer dinner we heard there was a free open-air screening of the film ET down at the Navy Yard metro stop, so we headed down there and enjoyed ourselves greatly.

Outdoor cinema in DC.

DC itself is a rather small city, considering it's a national capital. New York, for example, is far, far larger. The areas around the Mall are quite nice, although for some reason a lot of the grass in the parks is unkempt... as mentioned above. To the North of the museums area of the Mall you have a very small Chinatown, which soon gives way to Adams Morgan, and Dupont in the west. These areas have a 'trendy' feel, not unlike some of the more grimy-yet-trendy districts in London or Paris. Outside of these, it's pretty much grimy urban decay until you reach the far outskirts.

The next day we went back to the National Archives, and after over an hour's wait outside in the searing sunshine (again for effect, SEARING) we finally entered and got to see the Declaration of Independence, the Constitution and the Bill of Rights; and toured round a very interesting exhibit on the way in which the US government has tried to influence what Americans ate over the past century, particularly in wartime etc. We then walked down to the Lincoln Memorial. While we expected a dazzling view of the Washington Memorial's reflection on the, you guessed it, Reflection Pool, it was completely drained and being 'fixed'. Yes, it is high tourist season in DC atm. No, we don't understand why they chose June to fix it up either. Maybe because we were there, as drained pools became a theme in our trip. We trudged back up to the National Archives, where we waited (in vain) for a hotel shuttle to pick us up. For over an hour. Lawlcats n00bcopter phail fml. In the end we took the metro.

The empty reflection pool, as seen from the Lincoln Memorial. Can't get more unique than this.

and so it begins...

Our rail trip proper is starting today. For all our outings up until now we used Egg Harbor Township as a base, but today we're heading over to Philadelphia and hitting the rails. Our plan has been revised somewhat, so now we plan to go down the Washington DC today, and from there we're taking a bus to Lynchburg, Virginia, and from there a train to New Orleans. Then our travels will take us along the bottom of the country, stopping at San Antonio in Texas, Tucson in Arizona (if it isn't on fire) and finally to Los Angeles, California. From here we'll hop to San Francisco and Las Vegas, and then onwards to Albuquerque, for White Sands, Roswell etc; and then we'll take the train up to Chicago and back to Philadelphia. I would create a map, but it's pretty much the same as the one on the first post of this blog, except with the cross-country line stopping at Chicago before returning to Philadelphia.

It's a long way. And it looks like we'll be spending half our lives on the train. But we cannot wait...

A New York state of mind...

Finally, our post about New York. Now, such a big city needs an equally large post, so apologies if this runs on a bit.

We took the Greyhound bus from Atlantic City bus station last Monday afternoon, and arrived in NYC's Port Authority Bus Terminal at about 6pm. There's something magical about seeing the towering skyscrapers of Manhattan from afar, entering the Lincoln tunnel, and then surfacing in the midst of the urban centre. When you exit the Lincoln tunnel, there are so many elevated roads passing over each other, and so many skyscrapers, you almost feel you're in some burgeoning future metropolis, along the lines of Los Angeles from Blade Runner or Coruscant from Star Wars. 


We exited the bus station and surfaced. Having met Maryann's cousin, Milton, we had dinner at an artsy Thai fusion restaurant in a district of Manhattan called Chelsea. Now, whereas London's Chelsea is full of sloanes, large townhouses and Land Rover Defenders full of Waitrose shopping bags; NYC's version is a lot more snazzy. It's a bit like London's Soho, with lots of trendy bars and restaurants.

Like pretty much every major city, it seems New York is made up of many districts, each with its own feel and vibe. There are too many to note here, but some main ones we went to included Hell's Kitchen, once a grimy industrial hell hole, now an up-and-coming area to live; Chinatown, with its bustling narrow streets; Little Italy, which has on the whole a more European feel, characterised by its ubiquitous restaurants and cafes. There are many others, which all form the island of Manhattan, New York's city centre. The distances involved are rather large, too: the distance from Battery Park to Central park is about 4.5 miles, and that's under half the length of Manhattan...

Anyway, so after having our Thai dinner, Maryann's cousin Constantine met up with us and showed us around the NYC Google office, where he works. It was pretty sweet: with scooter stations where workers ride from one end of the floor to the next, cafes and eateries packed with food, and lots of interesting/geeky decor. Each floor had its own snazzy theme, with ladders connecting the floors. If any of you happen to be in NYC with a bit of time to spare, definitely check it out!

After oogling at Google, we headed back to Milton's batchelor pad in Jersey City, a quick PATH ride away under the Hudson river. Unlike the rest of the US, the public transportation systems in NY are actually pretty good. There's the Subway system, which covers all of Manhattan and most of the Bronx, Queens and Brooklyn; the PATH, or the 'Port Authority Trans Hudson' train service, which is essentially a subway add-on
which connects Manhattan and Jersey City on the other side of the Hudson; and ample bus and overland train services, etc. And then there are the omnipresent yellow taxis, of course.

The next day, we got up early and decided to check off the 'big must-sees', namely Times Square, Central Park, and some more of Midtown Manhattan. Before taking off, we met up with another cousin of Maryann's, Penelope (we imagine you're getting a 'big fat Greek family' impression right now.. you're right.), who took us to the waterfront between Hoboken/Jersey City and Manhattan. Below are some photos we took:

View of Manhattan, with a ferry crossing the Hudson River.

Times Square. Duh.

A nice film shot Dex took, with a NYC cab.

Rockefeller Center (film). We had to wait 15 min for Japanese tourists to finish taking their photos, so hope y'all appreciate this!

After treating ourselves to a brownie and cupcake from Magnolia Bakery, we headed up to Central Park, which is massive. It's interesting because if you find yourself in some areas, you almost forget that you're in one of the biggest and busiest cities in the world.

One of the lakes in Central Park, with remote-operated boats.

It sounds like we didn't do much so far, but trust us, we were exhausted by the time we reached Central Park. NYC is simple enough to navigate, but the distances involved in sightseeing do rack up. We probably walked around 3 miles by the time we reached our final stop: the Met Museum of Art.

G(r)eek shot of Maryann with the NY kouros.

One of the annoying things about America has to be the price tag that goes along with all historic landmarks and museums. Fortunately in London (esp for us uni students)  almost all museums are free. The Met was $10, and MoMa was $12, which must be a pain for humanities students, or anyone else that is in the mood for a museum visit. Bear in mind that these are student tickets: the regular adult tickets are about twice this. These are not even considered expensive tickets: a trip to the top of the Empire State building, or a ferry over to the Statue of Liberty will each set you back about $30 or more. Sightseeing in New York is an expensive game.

After seeing the Met, we took the subway down to the PATH station at 33rd St, and went home. Now, if you go to NY, a trip on the subway seems to be a kind of rite of passage. At off-peak times, it's a busy as hell; at peak times it's a complete nightmare. It provides a crushing, sweaty experience that the metros of Europe can only hope to live up to. In fact the actual subway system itself resembles the Paris Metro somewhat, but is even more dirty and grimy.

That night Milton and Penelope treated us to some delicious dinner and fine drinks:

Milton showing how risotto's done: a Food Network star in the making.

On Wednesday we took the ferry over to the World Trade Center part of the downtown Financial District. Here we tried (in vain) to catch a glimpse of Ground Zero: all we could see was the perimeter fence of this building's construction site:

'Freedom Tower'

They're calling it Freedom Tower, and it is being built on the site of the World Trade Center skyscrapers. It was going to be the tallest building in the world, but the Burj Tower in Dubai spectacularly overtook it.

While we were in the area we wandered down Wall Street, and took a photo with that icon of capitalism, the Bull.

And after that we headed down to Battery Park, at the southernmost tip of Manhattan, for a quick ice cream and a glimpse of Castle Clinton and Lady Liberty herself. Then we checked out Chinatown, Little Italy, and of course SoHo.

On our third day we met up with our friend Jeff, who's working for an IT firm in a Hell's Kitchen. We went out to a Texas barbecue restaurant and indulged in ribs, mac and cheese and shredded pork burgers. Ah, American cuisine.

That afternoon we walked up to the Museum of Modern Art, or MoMA, as they call it. We spent most of the afternoon there, and as a consequence had to forego a trip to the Museum of Natural History.

That evening, we decided to sample New York city's famed nightlife. Now, America being the somewhat conservative protestant country it is, they have a ridiculous drinking age of 21, and actually go out of their way to make it as damned difficult for under-21s to have fun as they possibly can. Why they don't just relax and step in line with the rest of the world is anyone's guess. It is perfectly legal for nightclubs to let 18-21s in, but it seems only a handful are willing to do so. And when they do, the cover charges are ridiculous. Consequently, we ended up in a nightclub called 'Webster Hall', somewhere in a Greenwich Village backstreet. After paying a ludicrous $10 for girls and $30 for guys, we entered. Now, some of you will be familiar with a certain nightclub in London nicknamed 'Moonies'. For those who aren't, it's essentially a leopard-printed, STD-ridden dive on Greek Street in Soho. That's essentially what Webster Hall was, except spread over three floors. And to make things worse, we couldn't have alcohol to make things better.

At about 3am we grew tired of the power-tripping DJ (he regularly stopped the music to make incoherent speeches about god-knows-what), and found that his gangsta rap playlist got repetitive. We left, and as we were walking back to the PATH station, the heavens opened in a spectacularly British fashion. By the time we arrived back at Milton's, we were soaked to the skin.

Essentially, this is our advice to would-be underage NYC clubbers: wait until you're 21.

Regardless of the underage nightlife, New York is a fantastic city. It lives up to its worldwide reputation, without a doubt. Three days was too short a time to experience it fully, and we greatly advise anyone who happens to visit the States to try to see it on their travels.

School's Out...for the Deep Purple concert

Sorry about the lack of posts lately! We've been pretty busy sight-seeing in New Yawk the past week, and still have a night to go in the Big Apple. Before we blog about that, however, there is Dex's tour of the all-American EHTHS and the Deep Purple concert.

So, high school. The yellow school buses, the packed locker-lined corridors, the jocks, the over-zealous sports coaches... That's exactly how it is. Every time I contribute to this blog, I find myself saying "it's just how it is in the movies". And that says something, really.
We managed to walk around during the school time, and thus got a real feel of the high school atmosphere.

Last saturday (the 11th) we tagged along with the Kontonicolas clan to see Deep Purple play in the Atlantic City Tropicana, one of the super-casinos mentioned earlier. Needless to say, it was friggin' awesome. They played Highway Star, Smoke on the Water, Strange Kind of Woman, Woman from Tokyo and a few of their other famous ones. But not Child in Time, much to Dexter's chagrin. Some of the fans were pretty mental: one (very drunk) middle-aged woman clambered up onstage and proceeded to grope the lead singer, rather explicitly. Eventually she was ushered off stage by security, who then kicked her out. It could be said that she was a strange kind of woman. Lol.
*slaps forehead*

We also got a sneaky peek into the world of American casino gambling. Here's a brief picture:
You walk down a large, spacious corridor decked out like a carribean backstreet. Fake palm trees line its sides, and the shopfronts masquerade as old colonial-style houses. The lighting is such that you could be forgiven for thinking it was early evening, albeit there are no windows, and all light is artificial. Somewhere down the corridor a drunken singer sings Lady Gaga obscenely loudly. People are sitting on balconies above you, enjoying food and sipping lavish cocktails. You enter the gambling floor, and are greeted by row upon row of people sitting at slot machines, single-mindedly staring at the gaudy neon lights in front of them. The illusion goes on for hall after hall, corridor after corridor. It would be possible to lose track of all real time and spend weeks down here, in the dream.

The day after, it was MaryAnn's birthday party. All the cool kids came round, and we had a great time. We cannot say exactly in what way we all had a great time, however, because this page is public, and Big Brother is watching us. What's to say we had a good time at all...? Anyway, you get the idea.

photos to come soon! (tomorrow, to be exact)

Life's a Beach

For the past few days we've been relaxing in the all-American suburbia of Egg Harbor Township, and visiting various beaches and towns nearby. On Tuesday we met up with some of Maryann's friends and drove to Ocean City beach, 10 minutes away from EHT. As it's still early in the season there weren't too many guidos (much to Dex's disappointment) but we still managed to engage in guido-esque activites: namely sunbathing, eating cheese fries and walking along the shoreline showing off our amazing pecs.

Speaking of cheese fries, Dex was also shown around the OC boardwalk: a long stretch of ice cream shops, pizzerias, and arcades that attract tourists (known as 'shoobies' in NJ) and locals alike. There Dex also got to experience ridiculous American size proportions of funnel cake and pizza. OC is a traditional seaside town, reminiscent in places to Bournemouth in the UK.

The Boardwalk in Ocean City

Touristy photo of OC Boardwalk

Later on in the week, Maryann showed Dex Atlantic City's beach, close to OC yet very different. Whereas OC seems very family-oriented (alcohol is banned within the city limits, for example (!!!)), Atlantic City caters firmly towards the Casino crowds. The vista is dominated by high-rise casino-hotels, such as Trump Marina, Tropicana and the Hilton. These casinos aren't the seedy affairs like they are in Britain, they are practically small cities in their own right, with shops, restaurants, spas, clubs and of course gaming floors. It is interesting how two cities can be so close yet so radically different.

Atlantic City beach, with the towering casinos on the horizon.

Tonight we'll be heading to a Deep Purple concert at one of the AC casinos, so more news to come!

Touchdown!

So, yesterday at around 1.30 we touched down in JFK airport. After navigating the labyrinthine exit to terminal 3 (so many damned lifts elevators), we drove for 3 hours back down to Egg Harbor Township, NJ. Due to Milton's schedule, we'll be heading up to NYC sometime next week, instead of beginning there.

It seems when they're abroad, Americans like to boast that "everything's bigger in the USA". They're right. While driving back, the first thing that hit me was just how spaced out everything is compared to Britain. Also, the cars are massive: I don't think hatchbacks exist out here. We stopped at a roadside service station, and bought a large iced coffee which was about a third bigger than the ones you get in the UK.


Finally we got to 12 Hartford Drive - home. Nestled in the heart of the Garden State's suburbia, it's straight out of the movies. Each house sits in its own acre. Mail boxes and perfectly-clipped hedges line the wide road. Sprinklers seem to be compulsory. The amount of space is staggering.

Oh yes, I also had my first true all-American burger last night at a place called Chilli's. Mmm. It looked something like this:

And it was so greasy and filling that I could only eat half my portion of chips, and was not hungry for the rest of the evening.

- D