The long and winding road


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July 27th 2012
Published: July 27th 2012
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A quick update from the last few days...



Tuesday 24th...

After last nights out door disaster (apart from the neon pink forked lightening!) I decided to get to the park again today, via MoMA..



When I went to Rockerfella Centre a few days ago I got a joint ticket to the Museum of Modern Art. Loved this place when I was last in New York with Annie and her parents a few years ago. Still absolutely love the Jackson Pollock stuff they have there, really wanted to get a print but we don't have anywhere big enough at the moment! I spent a few hours checking out the contemporary art and even went to the architecture and design floors but as the weather was perfect for an afternoon in the park I headed to the mid east side of the park to read up on Fiji and where I want to go when i fly out next week.



I knew i'd spent quite a bit in Miami and around the wedding so went to find an internet cafe to update my budget, proper sad QS spreadsheet going on but forgot to ask how much it was to use and just carried on. Cost me €17 for an hour n 15 mins!! Ripped off i went for a beer in the hostel before crashing out as I had to get up for 7am to get the bus to Washington next morning.





Wednesday 25th - pop quiz hotshot



Managed to find the bus station 2 blocks away pretty easily and they guy even got me on the earlier bus so I was in DC by 12 noon.



Takes 4hrs 20mins to Greyhound down past Baltimore docks, couldnt help but give a little Clay Davis 'shiiiiiit' and a grin as we drive past the docks :-)



Worked out where the hostel was and got 2 metro's over there. Turns out the hostel is only a 25 min walk from the white house. The hostel in DC was a big terrace house that everyone has to take shoes off at front door. Was weird at first but made it very homely. As I was only in DC for that afternoon and next morning I dropped my bags in the room and headed straight out with a tourist attractions map I'd got from the bus station. In DC the streets are in grids of numbers and letters, not quite as easy as new York but still basic and hard to get yourself lost!! I walked straight down 7th st through downtown which has its fair share of bums. In fact, I'm sure I saw an actual real life 'dope feind lean' (another Wire reference if you need to google it) and lots of weird old dude mumbling away. Walked down to the Wasington memorial and across to see the White House. Now, I was expecting big things of the White House for all the press and exposure it gets..shame it's pretty tiny in comparison to all the other monuments and museums in DC. Don't get me wrong, it's pretty impressive but thought it was bigger!


Walked all around the outside to double check i wasnt missing anything, i wasn't, so headed up Pensylvania Ave past the FBI building and over to National Archives to see the American deceleration of independence and the magna carta. Then headed down to the national mall which is basically where all tge big free museums are. Checked out the Nation museum of natural history which had loads of dinosaur skeletons in, huge things which I used all my camera battery on!



Rather than head back to the hostel I stayed around that area and found another free outdoor movie screening! Tonight would be the night I seem first outdoor film! It was a rom-com called 'It happened one night' and starred Clark Gable from back in 1934. Loved it, made me want to watch a whole bunch of classic films when I get home. On Wikipedia it said:

"The film was the first to win all<span> five major Academy Awards (Best Picture, Director, Actor, Actress, and Screenplay), a feat that would not be matched untilOne Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest<span> (1975) and later by<span> The Silence of the Lambs<span> (1991)."

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<span><span><span><span>Wednesday 26th



<span><span><span><span>I was up and out for 10am, straight on the metro to the Pentagon. Lots of Feds knocking around and you obviously can't go in/get too close due to photography bans. Did a little espionage of my own and sneaked a photo, bit too easy if you ask me!!
Next up headed to Capiton hill which was very impressive with the avenue view all the way down to the Washington monument.
It was so so hot today, about 35 degrees so by now I wanted to get indoors to meet my new friend, Aircon. Went into the air and space museum, mainly to cool down but was pretty impressed by all the full sized old planes and space memorabilia they had.

On the bus back from Washington DC, 4hrs into a 4hr 20min journey we stopped at services so we're obviously way behind schedule, which was a shitter as it was hotter on that bus than outside!!! The bus on the way down was awesome, plug sockets, aircon and loads of leg room. The return journey was the polar opposite and has made me vow to never get a coach for this long, ever!!



As we drove into New York State the whole sky had gone pitch black and fork lightening was all over the place, it was like a scene from a movie! This country is nuts. Still boiling on the bus though.


Mouse x

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