Arriving to New York we delivered the car in JFK airport and then took the train and subway to Manhattan. We spend the first couple of hours to find a hotel where we could stay but either they had no vacancy or the price was to high, or at least to high compared what we’ve been spending on hotel in other cities. Finally we found a hotel which is located very central and was also not too expensive. The first day we spend walking around in the city. We saw and crossed the Brooklyn Bridge by night and we went to Times Square as well.

Times Square

Second day we took a tour to the Ellis Island to see where most of the immigrants entered the US. The third day we took a tour in the United Nations building as well a trip on in the Rockefeller building to get a nice view of the city from above. We also bought some lunch (actually salad) and brought it with us to Central Park.

Today friday it’s the last of our trip and it will be good to come back again…one month is a long time. But it has been a fantastic trip.

The U.S. Capitol

After spending the day visiting museums we prepared to head out in the nightlife of Washington. Our destination was 18th street which should hold many bars and be the Latin quarter of Washington. There was a lot of bars and the street was crowded by people going out. Since it was Halloween people were dressed out, actually more or less everybody were dressed out with the exception of us, which also was commented on. Anyway it was good night out and actually also the first real night out where we got home rather late (3-4 am).

The day after we had to leave Washington and head for Philadelphia so we left around noon. It was a 3 hour drive.

Route from Washington to Philadelphia

So far the city looks very nice and with everything in walking range. We went out to a american-italian restaurant and had some very good food, maybe the best so far and also at a very cheap price. Today we decided not to go out so instead we went to the cinema nearby our hotel to catch a movie. Prior to that we came by the Liberty Hall and saw the Liberty Bell, it was dark so we will probably come by again when it’s daylight. Our plan is to stay some days here in Philadelphia until wednesday where we will arive to New York at noon and stay until we end this trip and return home.

Also I did’t get to see any NFL game here in US. It’s pity but seems that it’s not that easy to order an ticket online since you have to have a shipping adress. But I saw the Lincoln Financial Field coming from US 95.

Hopefully some day I’ll be able to see a game.

The first day (thursday) in Washington we saw the White House, the Washington Memorial and the Lincoln Memorial.

In front of the White House

We also bought a bus tour ticket which last for 48 hours so we can jump on different bus routes and view the city from the roof of a double-decker. In the evening we found a place to find something to eat close to the Dupont Circle. After having had our dinner we also took some beers in the bar. It was a an Irish restaurant but would say it was more of a bar. Most of the people in the bar wear tie and jacket all looking like they came directly from work. It’s also this dressing which dominates the city landscape compared to other cities we’ve visited so far. People working in the congress, embassies, lawyers, bankers etc.

The day after we headed for the Arlington cemetery, which I must say is rather big.

Arlington Cemetery

After that we walked around the city and saw the White House from the other side where some people stood outside demonstrating. The last thing we did that day was to visit the National Museum of American History. That night we didn’t stay out long after having dinner we went back to our hotel we a few beers in a bag. We played some cards and had 1-2 beers before we decided to head to bed.

Today saturday we’ll spend the day visiting more of the museums. We will probably also stay out a little longer tonight since it’s Halloween and people usually get dressed up for that. I’m not sure that we will though. Tomorrow we will head to Philladelphia.

View from the Smoky Mountains

We crossed the mountains and also the state border of Tennessee and then headed back eastbound to Raleigh, North Carolina. In Raleigh I had hope to meet my aunt Iris who I thought lived there, but I had misread her email saying that they had moved back to Northern California. The trip was a small detour of approx. 2 hours instead of heading directly to Washington. We stayed the night over in a cheap motel outside Raleigh and continued our trip to Washington the day after.

It was a 4 hours driving from there to Washington and since we woke rather early we came to Washington a little past noon. We found a nice hotel where we were able to bargain on the price so it was a little more friendly due to our budget.

The day after we went out of the door at 10 am. Troels drove the car on Interstate 10 until we reached Tallahassee, Florida. We drove around in the city to find a bookshop so we could read about the cities and what to see in the South. We have a book but it has not much details. We found some outdoor malls but no bookstores.

After having some lunch I took over the car and drove all the way to Savannah, Georgia, driving on Interstate 10 and then later on 95.

Route from Mobile, Alabama to Savannah, Georgia

We arrived at 8 pm (we had also crossed a time zone). We’re staying her for the night and will spend the morning and noon here in the city tomorrow, walking around the old city. Savannah was established in 1733 and was the first colonial and state capital of Georgia. It is also the city that was used in the movie Forrest Gump where he’s telling his story sitting on the bench. Later tomorrow we will head for Charleston in South Carolina founded in 1670.

Tonight we went out to have dinner in the area City Market of Savannah. Compared to our last night there was a lot more life here. First we had some food (pizza), and then we went to an Irish pub where they showed Monday Night Football. I watched the game in the bar while Troels and Martin played pool. After the match we went back to our hotel, where I am now.

Stuffed Lobster

After having finished our meals we headed back to the French quarter. We tried different bars, at one point we ended in a bar where the majority of the customers were guys, we had found our way to a gay quarter, a little like in San Fransisco. When we got out of the bar after a single beer we could see the gay flag hanging in the street. We several beers that night and went home at around 2am.

Sunday we all woke up with some hangovers and a little tired. The day before I had talked with my aunt Hiliana for meeting, since she and her husband Jan also was in the area. Luckily we could meet after checking out since they had just come to New Orleans after staying a couple of days in Springfield.

We met at our hotel and decided to go out for lunch, but first we had to pick up our new car. We picked up the car and then again met with Hiliana and Jan. We had a nice lunch and it was nice to meet them New Orleans, mucho gracios por el almuerzo.

After the lunch I bought a TomTom GPS, since Hertz had not installed a GPS in the SUV. They offered and full size car instead with GPS, but the price was more or less then same and we (I) wanted a SUV.  Also the new GPS is much better than the one that Hertz would provide and I can use it for own car at home.

We had planned to head for Memphis but had changed our minds since we had read that the city should have a very high crime rate, so instead we’re heading more eastbound. We have crossed the state of Missippi and we’re currently in a city called Mobile in the state of Alabama. We have found a cheap motel were we’re staying at. Having checked in we went out to find some place to eat. The city seems very dead. We found a place and had some nice food. After the dinner we decided to head back to the motel to watch some tv and relax so we hit the road early tomorrow. We have plenty of miles to drive.

Toyota RAV4

The SUV is a RAV4, the MPG should be better than the Mustang, 22 vs. 16 (city) and  28 vs. 24 (highway). It is also a lot more spacy than the mustang. We have plenty of room for our bags.

Haven’t spend much time seeing american football while I’ve been here. Troels is not that happy about the sport, so to be nice we’re trying to do something else. I know that Hiliana and Jan went to see LSU vs. Auburn (college football) saturday including tailgating and they had a great time, I envy them

My plan is to catch a game in Philadelphia (1st November) with the Giants vs. Eagles. Troels is not really interrested and Martin will also not see the game due to the price of the ticket, so I will probably be going alone to watch the game..

A street in the French Quarter

Specially Bourbon St. is famous. The street is primarily a party street with bars and people walk up and down with a drink og a beer in a plastic cup. This is the second place in US we’ve seen that it’s legal to drink in public, here and in Las Vegas. We had expected more jazz bars, though we encountered several on our walk, but most of them played too low for us wanting to get in.

Later we walked to the French Market to find something to eat. We found a restaurant with an open terrase on the roof from which we had a nice view. I had grilled shrimps, they were good. After having enjoyed our meals we walked down along the Missippi River and took a local ferry, which took us across the river to Algiers and back again. It was a short trip but we got too see the city skyline from the riverside.

Steamboat Natchez

We then went back to our hotel to take a bath and get ready to go out. First we tried to find Frenchmen St. which should have some very nice jazz bars, and which also should not have been spoiled by the tourism. In most of the bars there weren’t many people and place looked a little edgy. So we went back to Bourbon St. to find a bar where we could also dine. We had large portion of Nachos to share between the three of us as an appetizer. The portion was huge and would do as a main course in itself. I had ordered some shrimps and catfish with frites but could only eat the shrimps since I was full.

Leaving the bar we had a beer to go in a plastic cup. We all decided to go home to the hotel since we were all tired. Coming to the hotel though we decided to go back to find a bar since it could not be true that we would end the night in New Orleans so soon. We went back with the result that we only had one more beer before we decided to head for our beds.

Unluckly I’ve had a strong pain in my right (the good one) knee most of the first day in New Orleans. Hopefully it’ll be better today after having slept for many hours (10-11) or else I will have to make some longer breaks.

And the weather is still very nice here wearing shorts and t-shirts in the day.

After monday we had three days to enjoy San Fransisco. Tuesday we spend most of the morning doing our laundry, thus we got out a little late. Also the breakfast at the hostel is not the most exciting, dry bread that you can toast and free cofee, they did not even had anything to put on the bread. We did that breakfast all three mornings, definitly not as good as the breakfast we had in Napa. Anyhow the plan for tuesday was a trip to Alcatraz, the famous prison island outside the coast of San Fransisco in the bay. Movies which have helped to make this island famous are the movies  Escape from Alcatraz starring Clint Eastwood and the newer movie The Rock starring Sean Connery and Nicolas Cage.

Alcatraz

We had ordered the tickets online so we headed for the pier where a ferry took us to the island. On the island we spend some hours walking around looking at the old prison, there was also an audio tour, which seems to be commonly used over here. Around 4pm we took the ferry back and found a bar to have a beer. The day before I had made an agreement with an old friend of mine, Søren from elementary school, who has moved to San Fransisco and got married.

So we met with Søren for a beer and then he took us to a Sushi restaurant. The food at that place was very good. Troels had only tasted Sushi (homemade) once and didn’t like it, but after tasting this sushi, he loved it. Also Martin loved it though he had never tasted sushi before. It was also the first time a tried warm sake. After enjoying our meal, we went out to play some pool at a nearby bar. Since it was a week day Søren had to leave, but he invited us for homemade dinner at his place the day after. An invitation we gladly accepted.

Wednesday we got up a little earlier. Søren had recommended that we rented some bikes and so we did.

Bike Rentals

First we tried climbing up a very steep hill (Hyde st.), none of us was able to get to the top without jumping of the bike. Tired and sweaty we all reached the top. From here the bike ride started. We had planned to cross the Golden Gate Bridge by bike and the drive up north to find some Red Woods.

Golden Gate Bridge from bike

We didn’t see the trees though. Instead riding the bike all the way home the same path we took the ferry home. We had spend 6 hours from we had rented the bike to we had delivered back. It was nice to get a little sweaty and do some exercisements.

Having delivered the bikes we got into line for one of the old cable cars.  After the trip up and down hill we hurried home to take a bath. We then took a taxi (we mostly got around by taxi from our hostel to downtown) to Søren’s aparment. He had cooked a fine dinner and later his wife came home from work and together we enjoyed a few bottles of California wine.

Thursday we had to check out but we could get our luggage stored in a room. The day we spend walking around downtown to see Chinatown, Transamerica Pyramid (the tallest skyscraper in San Fransisco at a height of  260 m), Coit Tower and just walk around.

Transamerica Pyramid

We also went to the district Castro, which is the area for the gay community. Before returning to our hostel we found an Indian where we had a spicy dinner. At the hostel we took a taxi to the airport.

The Hills at Castro

We took a plane from San Fransisco to Houston, Texas and took another plane to New Orleans.

We didn’t known where to stay when we came to New Orleans, but called different hotels in the French Quarter to here if they had any vacancy. Currently we’ve just checked in at hotel, The Best Western French Quarter Landmark Hotel located at The Best Western French Quarter Landmark Hotel is located at Rampart Street, which seems nice enough just at the border of the French Quarter, three blocks from Bourbon Street. I will take a small nap since i haven’t really slept since yesterday before we will go out to see the French Quarter.

The hostel Elements

Having unpacked our stuff we headed for Union Square to find a bar to watch the monday night football game with Chargers and Broncos. We were seated in the bar where we had beers, chicken wings, etc. and also main dish.

Pub close to the Union Square

We was seated for 4 hours and when the game ended we went back to our hostel and returned to ours beds after having a single beer in the bar of the hostel, we were all tired.