A Milestone

Today the blog had it's 5,000th visitor!

Many thanks to everyone who has visited the site since we started documenting the run up to our adventure way back in January 2012.  Writing blog posts can sometimes take up an entire afternoon but it is a chore made easier by the knowledge that people are actually reading.

Monkey Island Beach, Vietnam

Broadway

Today we were up at the crack of dawn (okay, 8 AM) in order to get over to Times Square and join the line for the thousands of discounted theatre tickets sold each morning by the famous TKTS booth.  Tickets are for performances on the day of purchase only and can be up to 50% less than the regular price.  We really wanted to see the winner of the 2013 Best Musical Tony award, Kinky Boots - mainly due to the fact that the real-life Kinky Boot factory was actually situated in the small village I grew up in, not in Northampton, as the musical and 2005 movie would have you believe - although the movie does show a few shots of our famous Saxon church.  So, although we were intrigued by the prospect of seeing a Broadway musical based on a story from my mundane little village, the recent armful of Tony awards it received have pushed the ticket prices out of our reach ($hundreds) and have driven away the need for any discounts, such is its popularity at the moment.

Tickets for last year's Best Musical Tony award winner, however, were within our budget and, just hours before the show started, we bagged two seats in the orchestra stalls for Once.  Despite having heard good things and seeing a few posters around the subway, we really had no idea what we were about to see.  As soon as we stepped inside the theatre, most of the cast were up on stage singing what sounded like Irish folk songs, all stood around inside a pub - in fact they were actually selling drinks from the "bar" to the audience who could hop up on stage and mingle with the performers as the rest of us took our seats.  The cast took it in turns to play songs, with the actors themselves playing the instruments while dancing and skipping around.  Eventually, the audience members were subtly ushered offstage to their seats before one of the actors called over to a shy looking chap standing in the corner of the pub with a battered guitar slung over his shoulder.  'We haven't heard anything from you yet laddy!' his thick Irish accent leaving no doubt as to where this was going to be set.  The "laddy" slings up his guitar, the house lights go down, and the show begins.  

The next two hours were filled with some of the most beautiful, heart wrenching musical performances I have ever witnessed - lump in throat, goosebump inducing type stuff.  The story focuses on a young disillusioned singer songwriter from Dublin who finds new inspiration in a local Czech immigrant girl, also a musician and songwriter.  So along with their songs of heartbreak and despair, the story is interwoven with both Irish and Czech folk music, all performed live on stage by the rest of the Irish and Czech characters.

If you get a chance to see this in New York or London before it ends, we highly recommend it - the music was so good it could stand up as an album in its own right, the choreography and stage direction was spot on, almost like watching a movie cut from one scene to the next, yet the scenery didn't change once, and the touches of comedy were well timed and well executed without turning the whole thing into a slushy rom-com.

A couple of songs, courtesy of Youtube:

GO CYCLONES!

We recently partook in one of the most American of American pursuits - watching a professional baseball game.  Overlooking the famous Coney Island Funfair and the misty Atlantic Ocean, we sat, beers in hand, watching our local Minor League team, the Brooklyn Cyclones, lose to the Batavia Muckdogs on the third and final night of play.  The cheer leaders cheered, random musical interludes and organ "wind-ups" filled the gaps in play, and various energetic mascots, including a seagull, a king and a pirate, kept the crowd entertained.  Aside from the game, there were competitions, raffles, a fancy dress contest for the kids, a game of apple bobbing and a running race between three poor souls dressed as Coney Island hotdogs. 

Although we were quite confused as to the exact rules of the game, the hand signals and foul criteria etc, and could not understand why the players more often miss the ball than actually hit it, the excitement roused at the satisfying thud of leather on wood and the subsequent sight of the tiny ball soaring out over the field as players run, dive and slide around the bases, was thoroughly infectious.

Let's go Cyclones, let's go!

The Final Countdown

Eleven months down and exactly one month to go.  And what better place to spend it?

It's 30 degrees at midnight, the beers are ice cold and we're at what is arguably the absolute centre of the universe.  New York City is baking.

Every avenue, every street, every sun drenched park and square; the greatest city in the world pounds to the beat of summer, an endless soundtrack broadcast at full volume to the five boroughs and beyond, sent out into the heavy air from a thousand paint spattered ghetto blasters balanced high on the fire escapes of the brownstones, the pre-wars and the walk-ups of this steamy maze of noise and colour.

Be sure to check out the new slideshow at the bottom of the page - every blog photograph shuffled and displayed for your pleasure.

What we did this month.

The beautiful 9/11 memorial.  A haven of calm reflection and remembrance amid the steaming, taxi-horn driven chaos of downtown Manhattan.  Two huge pools mark the footprints of the World Trade Center towers, with the tallest man made waterfalls in North America cascading around their edge into dark central voids with seemingly infinite depth.  Surrounding this, the 2,983 names of every victim of the attacks,  including those in Washington DC, Pennsylvania and the 1993 WTC bombing, are carved into brass panels which stretch around each of the one acre pools.  It is as powerful as it is serene and a humbling tribute to the horrors that occurred there in 2001.

Prospect Park's Long Meadow, the best place for a sun drenched picnic.  Every once in a while, the giant shadow of an airliner approaching nearby JFK will race up the lawn at three hundred miles per hour - ensuring that you never quite forget where you are.

Meeting the madcap characters of Greenwich Village's "Accomplice".  Part treasure hunt, part theatrical production, part walking tour.  The city becomes a detective thriller - you're the star and everyone and anyone around you could be in on the act.  We did the original "Soho" show back in 2011 and can honestly say that this is one of the most fun ways to spend an afternoon in New York.

One of the many exquisite display cases at the American Museum of Natural History.  This is more than taxidermy - it is art.  Along the walls of its vast, darkened halls, giant windows open up into beautifully arranged snapshots of wildlife from around the globe.  Wolves howl in the platinum moonlight of a winter's evening in Alaska, Buffalo graze on wide open plains and a colony of penguins, gathered on a floating ice sheet, bask in the Antarctic sunshine.

On a hot Sunday afternoon, couples paddle slowly across one of Central Park's many lakes.  Through the trees, Art Deco sky scrapers peer down onto this giant slab of greenery dropped right into the heart of Manhattan.

Grand Central Terminal - the busiest and most spectacular train station in the USA.  The main hall's aqua marine ceiling with its "god's eye" mural of the stars in resplendent golden paint, the immense, gilded chandeliers, the polished marble floors and the soaring stone arches and columns - it is more of a palace than a train terminal.

The Chrysler Building's towering reflection.  Sore necks are what you get when exploring this part of town, where the sky is just a strip of blue running off into the distance and the city roars over, under and around you.

Originally the colour of a shiny new penny, this copper colossus has guarded New York harbour for almost 130 years.  Whether you're way over in Brooklyn or right up under her feet, she is a spectacular sight, standing 305 feet (93m) over the choppy waters.  Both an awe inspiring work of engineering and a beautiful piece of neoclassical art, she is, for many, the most iconic symbol of the United States of America. US troops in the 40's, heading for the war in Europe, boarded ships just up-river in Hoboken, New Jersey and would have sailed right passed her before turning out to sea, while for the thousands of immigrants escaping poverty in Europe, her resplendent form, rising out of the horizon, promising a new world of hope and freedom, was their first sighting of this strange new land after weeks at sea.

Other NYC highlights this month have been: 

The Secret Science Club - an evening of science lectures, short films, cocktails and craft beer beneath a ceiling of thick wooden beams and softly lit chandeliers in an old Brooklyn warehouse.

Barcade - My favourite bar in the world.  Inside what appears to be an old motor mechanic's garage, a long row of 23 micro brews on tap keep patrons fully lubricated as they huddle around the classic arcade machines which line the bare brick walls.  Pacman, Space Invaders, Paperboy, Rampage, Donkey Kong, Frogger - the list goes on....and only 25c (less than 17p) a play.  Over the binging, zapping and beeping of the machines, an eclectic mix of hand picked tunes provides an appropriately cool soundtrack to accompany the sinking of quarters and extermination of pixelated aliens.

Syfy Movies With a View - New Yorkers flock to this weekly summer event in Brooklyn Bridge Park with blankets, pizzas, snacks and drinks, in the hope of grabbing a much coveted patch of grass on one of the many rolling lawns by the river.  With the backdrop of a warm summer sun setting behind the magnificent Manhattan skyline, sending the sky into a fluffy pink inferno, and the Statue of Liberty glowing in the distance, we sat and watched the eighties classic Ferris Bueller's Day Off.  Fireflies danced over our heads like tiny ushers and an endless line of planes heading into and out of the city formed a slowly revolving string of twinkling lights in the sky around us.  As the film's "Twist and Shout" musical interlude got underway, the crowds around us rose to their feet for an impromptu dance right there in the darkness.  A great cheer and round of applause and everyone was back down on their blankets for the rest of the movie.  Next week they're showing "Return of the Dragon"....I think we'll be going...

You can just about see the  glow of the screen through the trees to the left of the footbridge.

The Brooklyn Flea

After a month of plenty of rest and relaxation, with various New York City adventures along the way, we have now moved into another apartment just around the corner from the first (thank you craigslist) and will be here in Brooklyn until we return to the UK mid-August - although we're trying very hard not to think about that.

One of the best ways to spend a warm Saturday or Sunday afternoon on this side of the East River is at the Brooklyn Flea - a cool and kitsch collection of market stalls which pops up out of nowhere each week, offering everything from vintage baseball bats and suitcases, to 1960's toy soldiers and 1930's Brownie cameras*.  At the edge of this maze of wallet tugging delights, lines of hungry bargain hunters form  in front of local street-food vendors who churn out some of the best eats the city has to offer.  Fresh and zingy Vietnamese summer spring rolls loaded with delicately steamed shrimp and crisp bean sprouts, slow smoked pulled pork sandwiches oozing with home made BBQ sauce, steaming bowls of aromatic Indian curry, piles of giant, gooey chocolate brownies, snow cones shaved from crystal clear blocks of ice and flavoured with various sugary cordials - no wonder it's one of Brooklyn's most popular weekend hangouts.  Plus, if you head to the Williamsburg site on a Sunday, you get an awesome view thrown in for free:

* All of which we have actually purchased.  Fortunately, as round-the-world-travellers, we get double the baggage allowance!

Let's get the touristy shots out of the way...

Brooklyn Bridge

The Empire State and The Flat Iron Buildings

The downtown Manhattan skyline as seen from Brooklyn Bridge Park

A Security Alert?

No, we just happened to stumble upon the filming of the next Spiderman movie.  With Madison Avenue sealed off by the real NYPD, teams of stunt drivers raced up and down as cries of 'Action!' and 'Cut!' echoed around the buildings while a camera, suspended between two cranes high above the street, swung over our heads and into the distance.  Unfortunately Spidey was nowhere to be seen.

It's good to be back...

We now have ourselves a gorgeous apartment on a leafy street in Fort Greene, Brooklyn, where we shall be residing for the next month.  No more motels, no more tiny bars of soap and no more living out of rucksacks.

Downtown Manhattan is only a few subway stations away with the iconic skyline shimmering just across the East River.  My favourite city in the world awaits...

Kentucky - Tennessee - North Carolina - South Carolina - Georgia

A lot of driving this week!  From Kentucky, we dropped in on the home of country & western music, Nashville Tennessee, for a spot of line-dancing.  We then drove east towards Knoxville to take a boat ride on the largest underground lake in the USA (second largest in the world) at Sweetwater's Craighead Caverns, before settling down in the uber kitsch and oh-so-American town of Gatlinburg - gateway to the Great Smoky Mountains National Park.  Moonshine, whiskey & wine distilleries (with free tastings), mini golf, arcades, haunted houses, fudge & saltwater taffy shops, novelty t-shirt stores, themed bars, retro restaurants and faded vintage waffle houses line the main thoroughfare of the town, which buzzes, rattles and beeps like a British seaside resort in Summer.

From here, we evaded the National Park's weekend crowds by heading into the picturesque, tree covered hills for an 8.5 mile hike up and down Rich Mountain.  In scorching 33 degree heat, the air thick with the scent of warmed pine amber, we slugged through the dense forest, following a cascading mountain stream uphill.  From behind a tree, we suddenly met a black bear on the opposite bank.  'The guidebook says to stay at least fifty yards from them,' Rosie says very quietly as our hearts pound away in our chests.

'...And how far would you say he is from us?' I ask, never really knowing what a yard is.

'About thirty yards...' comes her whispered reply.

With the bear now watching us very closely, we begin to take very light but very large steps forwards, up the hill and away from our new friend.  With no sign of aggression or hostility from him, we were pretty safe and could relax just enough to enjoy the whole experience.  As the bear stood on one side the of stream, his eyes fixed on our retreat, a very large short-eared owl suddenly swooped down from the trees - five feet of wings and feathers and two enormous round eyes.  Dropping into the stream, she caught and ate a fish right in front of us and with a few pounds of her wings, launched herself into the air again and vanished into the forest.  This was something that the folks stuck in their cars on the park's famous "Scenic Drive" would never see.

A full day's drive took us through North Carolina and into South Carolina for a whistle stop, one day tour of Charleston.  Originally named Charles Towne by the British (after King Charles II) who first established the settlement here in 1670, a prominent role in the revolution, the first shots of the civil war and a historic downtown dotted with churches, mansions and cobbled alleyways mean that this place is crammed with history.  It's also possibly the prettiest town we've ever seen, they even had dolphins swimming in the bay just metres from the waters edge.

Now, in the final few days of this, our second and last grand US road trip, we relax in our Country Inn suite (yes, a suite for under £50 a night!) at the edge of downtown Savannah Georgia.  Before flying to New York on Sunday, we intend to fully immerse ourselves in the culture and cuisine of the Deep South one final time...Fried okra, biscuits'n'gravy, shrimp'n'grits, seafood gumbo and some good ol' BBQ cookin'.

En Route to Nashville we stop at the largest waterfall east of the Mississippi and south of Niagara...

...but it wasn't quite as large as we were expecting.  Still a beautiful spot though -

Downtown Nashville

"The Lost Sea", Craighead Caverns, Sweetwater, Tennessee

Gatlinburg, Tennessee

The Great Smoky Mountains National Park

Charleston, South Carolina