B_and_R
Travel Log Joined: June 17th 2007
Logged in: March 4th 2008
Logged in: March 4th 2008
Travel Blog Posts
Central Park West
On Saturday we revisited Central Park in the morning, and later in the afternoon caught a ferry from Manhattan to Staten Island which passes close to the Statue of Liberty. Although the ferry doesn’t stop at the statue itself we got spectacular views of the statue and the city (you can’t go up it anymore for security reasons so we weren’t too worried about going there). We spent our final day in New York (my birthday :o)) relaxing and walking around Madison Square Park. It was a clear day with blue skies, but was also really cold, so we sat in café’s and enjoyed warm coffees. In the late afternoon we went up the Empire State Building just in time to catch the last few minutes of daylight then see the city light up. Tomorrow we ... read more
Thanksgiving day parade - Pirates
On Thanksgiving day we went to the Macy’s Thanksgiving day parade - along with the rest of the population of New York! We couldn’t have asked for better weather for the day which was unseasonally warm. The parade was over 3 hours long and filled with American celebrities, giant balloons, floats, and marching bands and put the New Zealand christmas parades to shame! After the parade we headed back to Bryant Park for some hot drinks, and watched the skating. Later in the day, we went to the Rockefeller centre, and watched the iceskaters under the famous Rockefeller christmas tree then went and watched a movie (The Darjeeling Line) in the evening. The day after Thanksgiving, “Black Friday”, is famous for its sales and it didn’t disappoint. People were lining the streets as early as 1pm ... read more
Times Square
The final stop on our trip was New York. We said farewell to the UK early on the 21st of November, after a panic getting to the airport when our organised taxi didn’t turn up. We still made it on time though, and we had a relaxing flight to JFK. After manoeuvring the confusing subway with our luggage, we arrived at our hotel in Greenwich Village (lower central Manhattan) about lunchtime. Keen to see the city, we spent the afternoon looking around Macy’s (the biggest store in the world), Times Square, the Empire State building, and the Chrysler building. In the evening we had a traditional American dinner of McDonalds so we could see if the serving sizes really were as big as everyone says the are. We weren’t disappointed. After dinner we walked to Bryant ... read more
![[L - R] Rochelle, Brandt, Claire and Alex on the Literary pub tour](http://photos.travelblog.org/Photos/41071/220437/t/1691002-L--R-Rochelle-Brandt-Claire-and-Alex-on-the-Literary-pub-tour-1.jpg "[L - R] Rochelle, Brandt, Claire and Alex on the Literary pub tour")
[L - R] Rochelle, Brandt, Claire and Alex on the Literary pub tour
After leaving Edinburgh and our jobs this week, we took a quick trip to Dublin. We arrived at Thursday lunch time, and after wandering along O'Connell street, we enjoyed our first pints of Guinness with lunch. We later met up with my friend Claire, and then we all met for dinner with Alex - our flatmate in Christchurch last year. We had a nice (but pricey!) dinner in the touristy "Temple Bar" area. On Friday we wandered around the lively Grafton Street, where we had coffee and scones in an oriental cafe, and watched the buskers. Later we looked around the famous Trinity College, before meeting again with Claire and Alex for an amusing literary pub tour around the city. We sadly had to say goodbye to Dublin on Saturday morning, after a quick goodbye to ... read more
Loch Ness
After working this week, we decided to take a weekend trip to the north of Scotland. It was a wet and misty day as we drove through the highlands, with stops at Loch Lubnaig and Loch Tulla along the way. The landscape of the highlands is very bleak, with rugged country side and steep hills, with Lochs dispersed in between. We made our way to the small town of Fort William, where we decided to stop for the night and hope for weather the next day. We found a quaint B&B, and in the evening, we faced the rain and spent the evening in the “Grog and Gruel” pub, where boar is their specialty dish. Sunday morning was clear and sunny, and we made our way an hour further north to the famous Loch Ness. The ... read more
Canons against the north wall
Two weekends ago we took a drive out to Stirling, and went to Stirling Castle - the residence of the Stewart Kings and Queens of Scotland in the 16th century. The castle sits high on Castle Hill, with three of its sides having sheer drops down the cliff, which made it easily defendable. From the top of the castle there are 360 degree views of all of Stirling, including the King's Knot, Wallace national monument and the River Forth. Last weekend we headed to Perth for an afternoon, and did a bit of shopping. It ended up being a long day however, as both ways we were stuck in traffic for over an hour due to roadworks on the Forth Road Bridge! Next weekend we are off again - taking a trip north to Loch Ness ... read more
Princes St Gardens
After staying in London for a week recovering from Contiki, we decided we would leave London and head to Scotland for a change of scenery. After buying a car, we drove up to Edinburgh, with a stop over night in Loughborough along the way to visit one of Brandt's friends. It was a nice drive into Scotland, and the hilly landscape and greenery reminded us of New Zealand - a far call from London! When we arrived we stayed at a hostel for the first week, while we found somewhere to live. Edinburgh is quite a small place (500,000 people), and it was hard work looking for a flat and jobs. In between we did a bit of sightseeing and went for a few drives in the country. We found a nice flat eventually, sharing with ... read more
The Colosseum
Rome was the final destination on our Contiki tour. We travelled by coach from Florence, and arrived in Rome early evening. We headed into the city for a night tour of the Piazza Del Popolo, Via del Corso, the Spanish Steps, the Trevi Fountain and the Pantheon. The next day was our last day on Contiki, and a busy day trying to see all the sights in Rome. We started with a guided tour of “Imperial Rome” - the Colosseum and the Roman Forum. Even by todays standards the Colosseum is a very large building - in its heyday it must have been incredible. Apart from its sheer size, it was also very cleverly designed to get people in and out as quickly as possible. Each of the 80 gates around its perimeter served a dedicated ... read more
Beach at Cinque Terre
Early this morning we got back on our coach, and left Nice for Italy. The weather was great, and after driving through the France - Italian border, we took a train to the Cinque Terre region known as the Italian Riveria. This beautifully rugged stretch of coastline hosts 5 small villages which are accessible only by boat. The combination of these tiny picturesque villages, the clear blue waters and dazzling sunshine made this one of the highlights of our trip - we could have happily stayed for weeks! After having lunch overlooking the beach and having a quick swim at the first village, we hopped aboard a boat which took us to 3 more of the small villages, taking around 3 hours in total. The views from the boat were amazing and the weather made it ... read more
The dome of domes (The Duomo)
After visiting Pisa, we drove to Florence, and arrived in the city at about lunch time. We checked into the hotel, and then headed out to get lunch and have our first look around the beautiful city. Our hotel was very centrally located, very close to the Duomo cathedral - the dome on the cathedral was completed in 1436 and was the first dome erected in Europe (Duomo means The Dome). The inside of the famous dome was hand painted by Brunelleschi. The outside of the cathedral is made of white, pink and green marble (no part of it is painted), and there is also a baptistery and tower made of the same marble. The Duomo took 200 years in total to build and is a truly amazing piece of architecture. In the early afternoon we ... read more
