Cheers to the Freedom Trail

Now, we had a big old list of places that Paige's parents had given us that they said we should visit (they used to live there years ago, hence it being where Paige was born and all) and I must say they came up trumps! It was a glorious day of sunshine so we headed off on the Freedom Trail so we could go and see all of the sights that we could possibly want to see. I even set foot inside a couple of church's which is unheard of for me but they were beautiful and one of them had the oldest pulpit in America! So there you go. As we were wondering along the red line through Boston, we hit a street which sounded familiar to Paige as she said the 'Cheers' bar was on there. So we took a little detour down a big hill (I didn't like the thought of going back up it in the heat - took me back to the days of San Fran!) and stumbled across it. Was pretty cool to be there and I wanted to buy some memorabilia for the folks but it was all a bit naff really! We then got back on the Freedom Trail until we hit Faneuil Hall which had a great buzz. We pottered around the market and found a massive piece of macaroni (as you do!) and Paige was extremely pleased as she's a huge fan (she is in the mac pic above - see if you can spot her!). We then found some cookies the size of our faces (literally) so all in all we were pretty glad we'd stopped there! We were then commandeered by some old bloke dressed up funny until he kindly told us that his name was Benjamin Franklin! What are the chances of bumping into him in Boston eh! So we got to chatting and it turns out he lives on the same street that Paige's Mum lives on in London so I think it was fate that the two of them were brought together like this! I had to cement this chance encounter with a photo (which cost me $2 but I figured he was saving up to get back to London) and was pretty pleased that we'd bumped into him. After a LOT more walking (I'm not complaining, I just wanted to emphasise that we'd walked a really long way that day!) we came to the U.S.S Constitution which is the oldest working Navy ship in the world to still be...er....working! So some very nice, jolly sailor gave us a grand tour and we got to see what life was like for the Navy guys back then, scurvy and all! I thought I could give Johnny Depp a good run for his money at the wheel!

On the Hunt for Sabrina the Teenage Witch!

Here are my wise words which you must take with you if you ever visit Boston - you MUST get the ferry and go over to Salem! It is very quaint and they totally love their witch history but who can blame them! After a sound sleep in our lovely four poster bed, we went on the hunt for some witches. We started off at the Witch Dungeon Museum where they reenact a witch trial from the 16 hundreds. We sat in an old court room and were told the story of a woman who was accused of witchcraft which was pretty cool. They then take you down into the dungeon to show you the conditions that those accused would have stayed in. It's safe to say they were very small, dark, damp and creepy! Paige was not a fan of being in the dungeons....but she did touch a big piece of wood which is said to bring you luck if you touch it. It was part of the original court house back in the day. Anywho, they had all these manikins that set the scene for how the accused would have lived (one guy was being pressed to death by stones as he would not confess to being a witch) and the last scene was a load of people hanging from the ceiling! Just what one wants to see at 11am!! The second witch museum we went to told of the story of the first woman accused of witchcraft and they had laid out 15 scenes of the story (with the same creepy manikins!). I won't spoil the story for you so you'll have to go and check it out for yourself. The last museum on our tour was the Pirate Museum! Now, we had no idea that Salem was famous for pirates but the museum has assured me that they are! The tour guide we had was hilarious (and looked very much like a pirate) and told us some great gruesome tales! Paige then dressed as a pirate as she was feeling all mischievous after too much grog and we headed back over to Boston to check into another hostel. But to sum up, Salem is awesome and well worth a visit!

Good Paige Hunting!

For those of you that don't know, Boston is the place in which Paige's life began. So we did what any two young adventurers would do and went on the hunt for the hospital she was born in. After a nice long walk in the heat we came across it and it was really quite exciting knowing that this was the very place that Paige's existance started - especially as she hadn't been in Boston since she was six months old. We went inside and found the old maternity ward but didn't go right in side there for obvious reasons but it was really cool to think that her parents had been there not too many years ago (that bits to make Paige feel better about the age she's turning in December!) welcoming her into the world. After that we went back to our hostel and headed to the ferry port to go to Salem. Now, for those of you that have been on a ferry with Paige know that she doesn't have the best sea legs so I did feel bad that this was the second ferry we've been on this trip (it would be three in total by the time we'd gotten back to Boston from Salem) but she was a trooper and survived the journey without any vomitting incidents. Lucky me! Biggest bitch was dragging our suitcases on and off the subway and up all the stairs and then onto the ferry but we made it just about! Oh and I also cheered up when I saw the Barbie yahct pictured above! Salem was absolutely beautiful. If you're in Boston ever I'd definitley recommend getting the ferry over there. Even if just for the day. We got to the pretty B&B we were staying in which was right on the main square. We arrived on a good day as there was a big cycling event going on around the square so it was all shut down to traffic. We had a good spot on the finish line and watched these fit men cycle round and round and round. The commentator was great and we learnt a lot about cycling races that day. There were three races in total and the last one of the day was for all the pro's. There was this one guy, Luke someone (I will look up his name at some point) who is going to be in the Tour de France and will be challenging Mark Cavendish for the win (Royce - I hope you're impressed with that knowledge there!). The race had us on the edge of our seats, it was really exciting and I've decided that cycling is my new favourite sport! Well, my favourite spectator sport! The thighs on those guys (see pics above!). The rest of our evening was pretty quiet as we wanted to get up refreshed to fight off all the witches and pirates that faced us the following day......

Philly Without the Rocky Steps!

I was very impressed that I managed to travel from NYC to Philly for $8!! I got on another Bolt Bus and it's just so cheap. I arrived at Berwyn just outside Philly where we were staying with Paige's Uncle. His home was absolutely beautiful and was in a beautiful setting. We never wanted to leave. We hung out with her cute cousin's before they went off for a week with their Grandparents so that was really cool. We did some of the touristy stuff like going to see the Liberty Bell (I vaguely understand what that was all about....but the bell was a lot smaller than I was anticipating!) and headed over to Independence Hall. It was pretty cool thinking that we were in the same room that they signed the Declaration of Independence in. We had a really old lady as our 'tour guide' and she was hilarious. She really didn't know much! She spoke about one guy but she couldn't remember his name and was like 'You know the guy, the one from Kentucky?'! It was very insightful! Throughout our 5 days in Philly we also went to the King of Prussia Mall which was massive. I promise I didn't buy anything....promise....well....maybe a few things.....but it would have been rude not to right?! We didn't run up the Rocky steps as neither of us had seen the films and it was on the other side of town so we couldn't be bothered!! We were tired from all the shopping....We did go to see Toy Story 3 though and I definitely had a little tear in my eye at the end. Great film. We also baked the night away and made brownies and a delicious carrot cake!! Mmmm! Unfortunately we had to leave it behind (after eating a few slices of course) but at least Paige's family get to enjoy our gastronomic delights!

If You Don't Have Cards, Improvise!

Central Park on a Saturday is a great place to be. You can people watch until your heart's content and there's always something going on to entertain you. We saw people painting which was pretty cool (and I was highly jealous that I have no artistic ability so couldn't join them) but we were more content with drinking the very VERY strong sangria that Holly had made for us! We ate the fruit afterwards and I nearly passed out from it! Apparently it had been soaked in brandy for over a day ha! We had Peanut with us and he was loving life when he met his match in a tiny Toy Poodle. She was adorable and we couldn't believe she was actually smaller than Peanut but was three years old! We then went to check out the roller disco that was taking place in the park (lots of rather interesting characters there I can tell you). We were just about to leave when someone came up to me and went 'Jo??' and it was two guys I went to Secondary School with!! I couldn't believe it! One of them now lives in New York and the other was just visiting on his way back from 10 month's in Whistler - what are the chances! Just goes to show what a small world we live in. That evening we went over to the meat packing district to a bar called Brass Monkey's which was great. As soon as we walked in they were playing Fall Out Boy so I knew I was going to like it. Holly then suggested we play a drinking game so I thought we should play Ride the Bus! But the only problem was, we had no cards! So I suggested we make a deck out of napkins!! So that we did! We managed to lure in the rest of the people on our table into playing and managed one round before the 'cards' got soaked and we realised that they were going to be mighty tricky to shuffle.....anywho, we then played none card drinking games and they ran a lot smoother! The following day avec mild hangover, we went to see Ashley's friend Brenna for brunch then went back to her apartment which looked over Ground Zero. The view was amazing and we also taught Peanut how to swim on her roof garden. It was so funny and it's safe to say that he wasn't a fan of the water!

Can Anyone Say Green Card Wedding??

Today was the day for walking across the Brooklyn Bridge. After cycling across the Golden Gate Bridge, a gentle stroll to Brooklyn was easy peasy. The view was awesome as we could see the Statue of Liberty and some of those little islands that go off New York (you know the ones....erm....the little ones....). Got some great shots of the surroundings from the bridge then we went for a little wonder around Brooklyn. It was more of an unintentional wonder as I was mainly looking for a ferry as I was desperate to get on one but all to no avail. We popped into a restaurant for a slice of pizza (as is mandatory in NYC) and I managed to lure a cute guy into a drivelling mess with my British accent! That was pretty fun! We went down by the river/sea (I'm not too sure which one it is - as you can see from this post my geography is pretty crap) and saw the BEST example of a 'Green Card' wedding I've ever seen! Look at the wedding pic above. Don't they just scream genuine romance! Anywho, that night was Leah's last night in NYC (booo!) so we went out to this place called the Boat Basin which was really cool. We met up with Dani who is my friend from London who recently moved to New York and it was so great to see her and find out what her new life is like (to sum up, it's pretty fantastic!). We drank the night away and I was happy as there were frozen cocktails on the menu AND Kopperburg pear cider. So it's safe to say that night I was living the dream!

CBGB No Longer Exists FYI!

I decided that I wanted to do a bit of shopping so headed over to Canal St to mooch around Soho. The area is really cool and everything is so much cheaper over there than anywhere else. I went into one shop and had a Russian sales girl try to force me to buy some Levi's and she was trying to get me to purchase some skinny jeans but I had to tell her that we were not all blessed with the legs of a supermodel like what she was!! After I'd distracted her and legged it, I stumbled across the TopShop of America. Word on the street was that it was far pricier than the UK ones and not as good and I'm confident in saying that the street was right. They had loads of 'British things' everywhere (flag, saville row sign, British bulldog etc) and it was layed out like they were at home but definitely wasn't the same. We (Leah, her Mum and I) tried to find CBGB's at Leah's Mum's husband is a huge Ramone's fan but it had turned into a shop now and they weren't allowed to sell any CBGB memorabilia even though it had all the reminisce of the place inside....all very strange. Anyways, I got some great shots from inside including an immense chandelier and an ACDC amp which was cute! In the evening we went to an off-Broadway show called 'Fourplay' and it was soooo funny! It was these four guys who were incredible jugglers and were also a comedy act. Sounds odd but it really worked! So good and I'd defo recommend it. Afterwards we went for dinner and I tried deep fried ice cream! It was bizarrely amazing!