pittsburgh

Saturday 23rd May
About a four hour drive to Pittsburgh today. Not really anything that exciting along the way. All freeway and nothing of note. Arrived at the motel and then headed to Walmart for a look. While at Walmart found a Lone Star restaurant and had dinner there. The food was really nice, a nice big steak and vegies!! Will head into Downtown Pittsburgh tomorrow.

the mall and air and space museum

behind the Lincoln Memorial

Bronte at Washington Monument

Lincoln Memorial

The White House

U.S. Capitol looking along the mall

Heat sensing camera at National Air and Space Museum

Friday 22nd May
Drove into central Washington and parked the car near the mall area. The mall is a space which runs from the Capitol Building all the way to the Lincoln Memorial with different buildings, museums and land marks along the way. It would probably span about 2 to 3 km in length. We basically walked the full length and looked at all the memorials and monuments along the way. Had lunch in the city and then walked back to the National Air and Space Museum. It was really good and had lots of planes and NASA stuff on display. Spent around three hours there and then went back to the car. Made our way back to the motel and then headed to IHOP for dinner. The meal was really nice, but way too much food. Heading to Pittsburgh Pennsylvania tomorrow.

our car

Pontiac Vibe

registration number (4EWA69) I'm not joking!!!

Thursday 21st May
Straight to the bus station today as we had booked the 8.30am bus for Washington . On the bus for a five hour trip, whoo hoo!!. Was not the most exciting trip but the time seemed to go quickly.

Arrived at Washington at around 1.30p.m. and then walked to Budget rental cars at the train station. Picked up our car and then went for a drive around Washington to find some lunch. Made our way out of the city and tried a few places in the Tom Tom for accommodation. Managed to find a good motel at Clinton Marylands.

Bronte is not happy with the hire car. We booked a Ford Mustang 'or similar' as it stated on the website. When we picked up the car we could have had a Camry or a Pontiac Vibe. We chose the Vibe and it's not a bad car really. I don't know how it is similar to the Mustang though as it's a 2.4 litre and not much different in size to a Corolla. Anyhow we are off to Washington city tomorrow for a look.

central park and general sight seeing

the chrysler building

inside the guggenheim museum

outside the guggenheim museum

the jackie'o lake in central park

the infamous dakota entrance

Wednesday 20th May
Had a bit of a sleep in today and then headed to the bus station to book some ticket for the morning to head off to Washington D.C. From the bus station we went to the western side of Central Park to the Dakota which is where John Lennon was killed. From there we got some lunch and then went for a walk in Central Park. We made our way across the park and then north to Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis Reservoir. Walked a little around the reservoir and then across to the Guggenheim Museum which is on the east side of the park. The Museum is almost famous for the design of the building rather than the actual contents of the museum. We then caught a subway to 42nd St to see the Chrysler Building, this building is not as much of a tourist spot as you can not go up it. Its more about the look of the building with the metal stepped top and the gargoyles on the side. From there we walked around the streets near Central Station and just watched the day to day traffic and pedestrians go by. Made our way back to the motel.

empire state building & hss intrepid

us on top of the empire state building

the view looking north towards central park

the famous empire state building

the flatiron building

concorde at the hss intrepid museum

the (former) hss intrepid

Tuesday 19th May
Today we went to the Empire State Building. We had heard that there could be a wait of up to three hours to get to the top of the building. Got across there at about 9.00 am cause it only 500 metres from the motel. Almost no line up, by the time we got the tickets we were ushered through to the lifts and in no time we were at the top. The view was awesome, almost 15 miles visibility in all directions. Could see all the way to Central Park to the north and all the way to the Statue of Liberty from the south. It was such a good vantage point and we spent about 1 hour at the top taking photos and just looking over NY and surrounds. Came down from the building and got some lunch at Quiznos subs. For the afternoon we went to visit the HSS Intrepid Sea Air and Space Museum. The Intrepid is an old air craft carrier which has bee converted into the museum. There are planes on display on the upper deck and some on the inside of the ship too. The whole ship had been renovated and re-opened in November 2008. Also there was a British Airways Concorde on display. We ended up spending the afternoon there and it was very informative and we enjoyed it. Later in the evening went for a walk a little south of the motel on Fifth Ave and Broadway and walked to the Flatiron Building. It is a building that is built on the corner block where three roads meet and its a very skinny triangular shape. In front of the Flatiron is Madison Square Park which is really nice and lots of people go there to just sit about, lay on the grass and drink coffee and eat food. Took a few pictures of a Squirrel sitting on one of the seats, there were squirrels everywhere all of which very cute.

statue of liberty

The Sphere

Ellis Island

Manhattan skyline from Liberty Island

Lady Liberty

Original torch

Bronte and lady Liberty

Monday 18th May
Today we got up early and had Maccas for breakfast. From there we went to the Subway and caught it to the bottom of Manhattan and found the place that sells tickets to tour out to the Statue of Liberty. We were there at 9.00am and managed to get good tickets. They only give out a certain amount of tickets to enter the actual statue in one day. On the boat and about a ten minute boat ride to Liberty Island. Once there we had to line up to get into the statue. When you enter the base of the statue you walk 156 stairs to the top of the pedestal and you end up just at the level of her sandles. You can look up the inside of the statue where the stairs take you to the head. Unfortunately since 9/11 you can not climb the statue. Came out of the pedastal and walked around the base and took a few photos. From there we got back on the ferry and went to Ellis Island which is where all the immagrants landed when coming to America to be allowed into the country. They have made the main part of the island into a museum for tourists to see how the immagrants were treated. From there back to the ferry and back to Battery Park at the southern tip of Manhattan. Walked into Battery Park and found "The Sphere" which was once located in the plaza area of the World Trade Center. The Sphere is now a temporary monument to those that lost their lives on 9/11. Back on the subway and back to the motel. Tomorrow we are going to go up the Empire State Building.

new york

Brooklyn Bridge

Times Square

Wall St Bull

New York Stock Exchange

Central Park

Sunday 17th May
We finally arrived in New York at about 6.30pm on Saturday evening and by the time we got the train from JFK airport to the hotel it was about 9.00pm. Anyway we got checked in had a shower and went and had Wendy's for dinner which is a hamburger place. Got up Sunday morning and had breakfast at Maccas. From there we decided to go to the subway and head to Wall Street. Saw the bull statue and the NY stock exchange on Wall Street and then walked to Ground Zero. It is amazing to see a full city block with nothing on it. However they are building something at the moment on the space. Walked around Ground Zero to the Hudson River where we could see the Statue of Liberty in the background. We walked to the Brooklyn Bridge and walked the full length of it into Brooklyn. From there we walked down to the Manhattan Bridge and walked back across to Manhattan and into China Town. From there we caught the subway to Times Square and had a look around. It was fairly busy and just like you see on TV with cars, yellow cabs and people everywhere. Walked to the Rockefeller Center and headed towards Central Park. We walked along 5th Avenue where there are many boutique shops such as Louis Vuitton, Abercrombie and Fitch etc. Walked further north and got to the edge of Central Park, we spent about and hour walking around the park which was probably about a tenth of it. Central Park is massive and I doubt you could see the whole thing in one day. Caught another Subway from Central Park and went back to the hotel. We are going to find out some info about Statue of Liberty Tours and the Empire State Building. Our hotel is actually only about 500 metres from the Empire State Building so we should be able to do it anytime really.