Blogs from United States, North America - page 6523

This was a great day. I started it out at about 8:30 AM by walking almost two miles from my hotel to Navy Pier. The streets were very empty out where I am staying (they are usually very busy) due to the holiday and "Taste of Chicago" in Grant Park. At Navy Pier, I had a quick bite to eat at McDonald's and then picked up a bicylce I reserved online from Bike Chicago. It was a comfortable mountain bike with easy to shift gears. From there, I rode leisurely along the coastline... around Shedd Aquarium (highly recommended, but I went there a few years back) and to the Adler Planetarium (http://www.adlerplanetarium.org/). Then I watched "Space in Your Face", which is mainly a lesson on the constellations and some other interesting facts. It was early and ... read more

We are leaving on Monday, so we’ve been spending the last few days getting everything ready and trying to anticipate what we’re going to need when we get to Sweden. We’ve also been going through the guidebooks and trying to decide what things we want to do and see when we get to Stockholm. I lean more toward history and museums and scenic areas, while my husband is more interested in the people and the contemporary culture. We’ve been using the DK Eyewitness Guide to Sweden and the Rough Guide to Sweden. The DK has nice color photographs and good maps. I’m a sucker for the DK guides because of the sumptuous pictures and the cut-away diagrams of the big buildings. The Rough Guide has more descriptions, more words at least, so the two seem ... read more

London Heathrow, Terminal 4, 9 AM On the home stretch. Monkey and I are sitting at gate 9 looking at the British Airways 747 that will take us back to the U.S. At this point it seems like this trip has lasted a lot longer than 5 weeks. We want to be home and in our own beds. The hotel manager has an arraignment with a gypsy cab driver for discounted trips to Heathrow. The manager said to allow 3 hours before the flight, and an hour ride to the airport. Well the crazy cab driver never did less than 50 MPH, and we made the trip in just over 1/2 hour. Not much of a line at either the ticket counter or the security checkpoint, so I have 2 hours to kill. I’ve got the ... read more

I am back in Marietta, staying with my parents for the next 10 days until I leave. http://www.travelblog.org/gmaps/map_1wl.html Only 10 more days! My concert was a huge success!!! Everyone says they enjoyed themselves immensely, and we raised. . . (drumroll) 800 bones! Thank you so much to everyone who attended and to everyone who helped make the night flow smoothly. AND yesterday I finally got my US tax return for. . . 750 bones! Wooo! It pays to think you're still a dependant and take out extra taxes all year and then find out you are not! I have a GA tax return coming soon for around 200 USD sometime soon! And then there are the expenses. They certainly keep piling up. These past few days I have bought: *Train tickets in Italy; *a flight to ... read more

I've been back now since saturday morning. I've been meaning to write down a few things since I got back but I haven't been able to get my thoughts straight until now. Mostly I wanted to describe three encouters I had over the 30 or so hour journey from Dehradun to New Hampshire. I traveled from Dehradun to Delhi via the 5am train on Friday. I arrived at the train station around noon. My flight to the states didn't leave until 11 that night, so Mayank had arrainged for a taxi to take me to a hotel for the afternoon where I could store my bags/relax until it was time to go to the airport. I'd been in India for a full month by now so I wasn't really suprised when the driver was an hour ... read more