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Published: October 26th 2006
Greetings from the Windy City - Chicago!
Brrrr, it's 5 degrees today, wet AND windy, what a treat! I last wrote from Texas, where we had our flip flops on, and could stroll the river bank with a cold drink in hand. That's not the case here in Chicago!
Back in San Antonio and we knew we had to visit the Alamo, as it's their major attraction. I didn't know much about the place, but apparently it's where a few hundred Americans held off a few thousand Mexicans in some battle, years ago. I guess America does war a little differently now........! I wanted to see the Alamo itself, because it's set in a nice parkland area, but first of all, we went and saw the IMAX film, explaining what happened at the battle. IMAX films are great, you get to recline in a comfy chair and watch a six-storey screen.
My pet hate at the cinema is people that talk or check their phones, disturbing my concentration, so I was delighted to see we were to see the 30min film with about 200 SAGA types, who should be no trouble at all. WRONG. They couldn't sit still, they ALL had phones and because some of them were a bit deaf, you could hear them....."What's happening now?!" "When's it going to finish?" etc etc. You should never assume!
We continued to enjoy the sunshine in San Antonio, stuffing ourselves silly on great food. One particular meal, we ate this fantastic beef that had been slow cooked for 20 hours, covered in gravy and served with mash potato and corn bread. Weightwatchers it is not, in Texas. Ju particularly liked Texas for it's great shopping - he found a Nautica shirt in Macy's that he liked, marked down from $45 to $8. Bargain. That's about 4 pound 50. I can't understand how we've spent so much cash on this trip 😊
Onwards we went, flying again to New Orleans, or N'Orlennnsss as it seems to be pronounced down there in Louisiana. No scary flight this time, until we landed and the whole plane whipped out their phones to tell people they had landed. I wouldn't mind, but you're not supposed to have your phones on yet, at least wait until the tyres touch the tarmac!! Americans do seem obsessed with shouting down their phones, like no-one has told them how to whisper yet. Imagine how annoying it is to have 100 people all yelling the same thing - yes, we've landed, yes, I've got to get my baggage, blah blah - at the same time!!! Can't the people picking them up just check teletext to make sure the flight was on time!? Argh!
So, we weren't sure what to expect from this place, after Hurricane Katrina devastated N.O. last August. As we drew up to our hotel, there were a few boarded up shops, but no real evidence of water damage. The French Quarter where we were staying had escaped the worst of it apparantley. Ju got us a hot deal on a hotel, a four star for $69 a night, bargain or what! It was a mystery website - you didn't know what hotel you'd get til you booked it, so a swift trip to some travel websites & chatrooms and hey presto, we knew we were getting the Crowne Plaza. I wouldn't normally be THAT excited, but after some of the grot-holes we've stayed in (Hello Bangkok, etc), this was heaven.
I wanted to check out Bourbon Street - the famous part of town where all the partying happens. Wasn't too sure what to expect and it wasn't packed out with people, so we had dinner at the House of Blues, then made our way to a few bars on Bourbon. Most had bands playing, the kind of cringey bands you get in the winter season at Yarmouth, but it seemed fun enough. The people we saw drinking were pretty much your white trash USA - hammered on two watered-down Buds, wearing Jimmy Buffet t-shirts and generally yee-ha-ing along to the music. Great people watching!!
Until Ju went to the toilet that is.....I was left watching the beers (3 for the price of 1!!) and began eavesdropping on a group of women behind me....
" So, now that you're a lesbian, can we have your sofa??!"
" It's so great, now we can ALL enjoy popcorn!"
" Lesbians of the world UNITE!!"
And so on. I haven't a clue about the sofa comment?!
I looked around, slowly realising that Ju and I were the only straight couple in the place. We have absolutely no GAY-DAR whatsoever, never realising we're in a gay bar until we're halfway down our drinks. Happened in Dublin too, we managed to walk past all this purple neon telling us we were in the best Gay bar this side of Kerry too. Still, all good fun, but we soon changed venues.
Generally Bourbon St had a kind of desperate feel to it, people wanting to have a good time, but not quite managing it and there weren't enough people out for it to be a truly buzzing nightspot, except for the old-school jazz bars which were packed out. Jazz is SO not my thing. Day 2 in New Orleans, turns out it's not so great a sight-seeing city. It has a few nice streets and a wonderful park in Jackson Square, but we weren't saddened by the fact we had only booked 2 nights here. Beyond the alcohol, there just isn't enough here to see & do for us. I don't think Hurricane Katrina had had this effect, it's just a one-dimensional place. So we moved on.
This time to Nashville, picking up a car and driving down to Memphis, primarily to see Elvis! Well, his Graceland Mansion anyway.
It's a fabulous testament to the bad taste decor of the seventies. Green shag pile carpets, indoor waterfalls and fur lined chairs eveywhere. Our guide at the front door had THE best Southern accent too - pronouncing Graceland as Gracelin, as do most of the people from Memphis. Graceland was a great tour, you get to see not just his house, but to go on his two planes (The Hound Dog & The Lisa Marie, cool or what!?), see his car collection and shop at some of the tackiest gift shops you will EVER see. We spent nearly the whole day there and I bought the best souvenir - a Hound Dog! well, a small stuffed dog with an Elvis hairpiece.....I'm not a fan of his music particularly, but I'm glad we went for a nosey around his house. Great fun.
From Memphis, we drove back down the Music Highway (yes, really) to Nashville for one night. It's pretty in Nashville, bu unless you LOVE country music, you wouldn't miss much if you never made it here. And I couldn't hear anyone singing Jolene, Joleeen, JOLEEEEN by Dolly Parton! Lots of big haired women sightseeing (mum - you'd love it �nd a nice feel to the place. Had a very quick look around downtown, ate yet more superb food and generally tried to relax as the next day we had to catch a flight to Chicago. This USA tour has been exhausting. I'm not after sympathy but I can't remember when we last had a lie-in - there's too much to do and I'm knackered!!!
Arrived in Chicago, tried to check-in but we were too early, so we went for a walk. When we came back, the tall building over the road was on fire!! A big, proper fire!! We watched the news later, no-one was hurt, but it took 300 fireman 27 hours to put it out, and now it;s being demolished, so a bit of excitement for us! You could feel the heat across the road, so they shut all the pavements near our hotel - one day we had to cut through a neighbouring building's basement, into a dodgy alley before we made it to street level again, terribly exciting stuff. Saw another great band, unheard of in England, actually pretty unheard of here, so I won't bore you with the details, suffice to say it was a barnstorming set and we both wore our gig t-shirts the next day - Harold & Hilda or what!?!
We've seen a fair bit of Chicago - Grant Park, The Magnificent Mile, Navy Pier - all of it at a fair pace coz it's FREEZING COLD here!!!! You can tell we've moved North now, it's not got above 10 degrees yet, it's warmer in bloody England! We've been indulging in mucho hot chocolate, poor us, but don't have too much sympathy - Saturday, we fly to the Sunshine State for 11 days!!!!!!
After that, Boston & New York, then HOME. Can't believe how quickly nearly seven months has gone!! The next blog will probably be my last!
Take care, email us or leave comments on the blog
Love Kelly & Julian xxxx
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Brian B
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Icy Times in Canaryland
Enjoyed pics and blogs. Thanks. And its such a lovely warm sunny day here in Deutschland. Made even better as I've just heard of another five goals. THIS TIME 5-0 and not 0-5!!!!!! Up the town! Kelly, expect your saying "right-up"!!!!. Suggest you do some scouting during the remainer of your stay in Yankyland, looks like you need a goalie, at least until Ollie is old enough. Ju, bet you'll be glad to get home for some decent beer after that p??? they serve there. And I can't stand Bourbon either, give me Irish or Scotch anytime. Have fun!!!! Beebee