Around the World 2024: July 2024

<< Previously in Mexico ---. Next stop, Portugal >>

I started writing this long after our time in the USA but before Joe Biden stepped down from being the presidential candidate for the 2024 election. You can see how gloomy I was when I chose the title. It seemed at that moment that the USA was about to do a Brexit again and shoot itself in the foot by electing that orange faced crook in. Things are looking more optimistic now but we're not out of the woods yet.

So after Mexico the next stop was The Unites States of America. The original plan was to spend a couple of weeks there, stopping off at various cities on the Amtrak crescent track from New Orleans to New York, but when we saw the prices they were charging in hotels we decided to cut it in half. Three nights in New Orleans, an overnight on the train and three nights in New York.

Bottom line - We'd liked to have stayed longer in New York and less time in New Orleans. The train ride was a great experience but we didn't see as much stunning scenery as we'd hoped/

Day 37 Saturday, 13th April - Guanajuato to USA

So, picking up the story back in Mexico at the Leon-Guanajuato airport. It all went very smoothly and it wasn't long before we'd crossed the border and were technically in the USA,

The queues to go through passport control were very long and you got the distinct impression that America didn't really wan more visitors. At Dallas we had to go through security twice, which was a pain. The airport itself is massive and we had to catch a train to go from one terminal to the next.

One guy on that train seemed to typify the mood of 80m or so Americans these days. His T shirt had words to the effect "I didn't get vaccinated. I eat meat. ( own a gun. Is there anything else I can to do annoy you?" I wanted to tap him on the shoulder and say "Yes. Vote in that would-be fascist, mafia boss Trump" but it didn't seem a good idea.

The flight from Dallas to New Orleans was much shorter but after the 2-3 hour wait in Dallas (where I had a low quality MacDonalds) meant it was dark when the plane came in to land.

The bus from the airport to the city center was fast, clean, convenient and cheap. Lesley impressed a few travellers from New York and England with her very small luggage that fits into a single back pack and after exchanging tales from our travels we arrived bang in the center of New Orleans just around the corner from our hotel, The Hilton.

Now we weren't always going to stay at the Hilton. I'd originally book a hotel through Booking.com that was expensive but looked nice enough a couple of blocks from the French Quarter. It was my good mate Des, who is manager of the Hilton in Busselton, who persuaded me to look again and see if I could get a better deal through their "Friends and Family" discount scheme. It is so kind of Des to include me in that. And sure enough, using a few of his tips and techniques, I found a deal at one of the twenty or so Hiltons in New Orleans that was better for the three days we were there than the Booking.com stay.

So, it was the Troubadour Hilton that we arrived at just two minutes from the bus drop off. You can't get more convenient than that.

When we arrived we were greeted by the coolest dude who I thought was Bob Marley at first. We settled in our big comfy room, albeit one with a weird sign on the wall "DESIRE". As if we needed reminding!

Anyway, after getting changed we headed down to the ground floor bar to find it empty. Ok, the rooftop bar then. This was more like. Humming with a packed crowd. It took ages to get served though. Not that they were short of bar staff, it was the drinks that the punters were ordering. It seemed everyone just had to have the most elaborate cocktail which took five minutes to prepare. Me? One beer and one soda water please... took thirty seconds.

Leb sitting in a fancy chair by the rooftop bar

After that long day it was bed time in the USA.

Day 38 Sunday, 14th April - New Orleans

Our first day in New Orleans was the last day of the music festival there. So it was a no brainer to make the short walk to the French quarter where the festival was taking place.

After a few minutes we crossed Canal Street which used to be a big dividing line racially in the city. It;s a pretty dramatic road even today although there's no longer that racial angle.

Canal Street

It wasn't long before we sensed the party atmosphere. The banners. The music. The happy vibe.

Leb couldn't resist dipping into to a wonderful lighting shop. One of the great things about America is its wonderful commercial sector. You can buy anything there. The shop, I think, was Fischer-Gambino, right in the center of the French quarter.

It was exciting to visit the French Quarter during a festival. There was a real buzz about the place with thousands of revellers milling about and attending the scores of performances going on. The sound of music was everywhere.

We stopped for a really good egg and bacon muffin. Much better than MacDonalds. They also had bottomless coffee.

We went by the Mississippi too. I must admit this was surprisingly narrow compared to what I remembered in Memphis. I ca only assume by the time it reaches New Orleans the river has already began to split into its vast delta.

The it was beer o'clock and we visited Riley's. They had a really good choice of beers.

Then, we just bimbled around going to bars that had music playing or watching performances in the street.

Some were just too heavy and loud for us.

We got fried shrimp

Singing and dancing

Cool samba band

Day 39 Monday, 15th April - New Orleans

The second day in New Orleans was also spent bimbling around the French Quarter but first we walked to the nearby Union Passenger Terminal to check our train times and make sure we knew the way. We didn't want any foul ups the next day.

After that we walked back into the French quarter. Although the festival was over there was still a lot going on and, of course, the city is famous for its live music all year long.

New Orleans tram

We stopped for breakfast on the way. It was so long ago I can't remember what we had but here is the photographic evidence...

The French Quarter is famous for its music and its art. Now I have to admit I'm not often really big on art. Modern art, particularly, rarely elicits much response other than "what's that supposed to be?"

So, it was a very pleasant surprise to walking to one particular art shop in the French Quarter. I was grabbed by a piece in the window. It was incredibly detailed and included finely written script. Part of the artwork flowed over the frame, as it trying to escape.

Once inside it didn't take three seconds before I spotted an image that I immediately recognised. It looked like the periodic table. But this was a periodic table like nothing I'd ever seen before. So many beautiful embellishments. So much detail. And such fine calligraphic annotations.

It wasn't long before a guy from the store came up to me to see if there was anything he could help us with. Usually I cringe at these times. "No thanks. Just browsing." would be my usual response. But this time, I had to say I was really impressed with this piece of work. I love the way something so beautifully impressive form the natural world was enhanced with art, rather than a piece of art trying to look beautiful in it's own right.

"Yes. This one's by Tony Hollums and the others over there are by ... [some other guy]."

"I love this one" I said, pointing to the periodic table again, and that one over there. It looks like the tree of life."

"Yes. That's exactly what it is".

"I use an image like this when I teach human biology. There's a web site called evogenaeo that has a very similar image. All the branches of the tree are calculated form Richard Dawkins' book "The Ancestor's Tale."

"Right again. I used that image to inspire me."

"What so you're Tom Hollums?"

"That's me"

We ended up having a great chat about science and the way 40% of Americans believe in the literal truth of the bible and how scared we were that Trump might get back in. It was so good to meet someone who shared our views in this place at this time.

One day, I will buy those works of art but of course that day wasn't this one. No way we were carrying them around with us and we couldn't stretch the budget so early in the trip either.

Hollums rightly proud of his fine art

The Tree of Life - What could be more beautiful?

Outside Tom's art shop

Soon, it was beer O'Clock and we went into a bar with blues ringing out loudly. The band were already in full swing and we came in just in time to hear one of those hilarious (but let's be honest misogynist) songs about how the poor guy was being so badly treated by his woman. The song was called "Kiss my ass."

Willie Lockett and the Blues Krewe were hilarious

The nerd inside me then had the idea of covering as many streets in the French Quarter as we could manage in the time remaining. So, in the same way a Neato robotic vacuum cleaner covers a floor, we started traversing the streets up and then down one to go back. (See timeline map at the end of this section.) We didn't cover it all but when added to yesterday's effort I think we saw most of it/

Cutesy horse and carriages everywhere

Another obsession of mine is trying to find the oldest pub/bar/restaurant in each city we visit, I think we achieved that at Lafitte's Blacksmith Shop on 941 Bourbon Street. Completed in 1732 it is claimed to be the oldest building used as a bar in the whole USA. Impressive, but not in the same league as Yo Olde Trippe to Jerusalem in Nottingham!

Good to see a few Ukrainian flags in New Orleans

Another "must do" in New Orleans was to visit a "gumbo" restuarant. The stew/soup itself wasn't anything to remember but for afters we had two delicious puddings. Leb had bread pudding and I had very nice ice cream.

One sight we had not anticipated was a wedding party marching down the street with their own brass band accompaniment...

After strolling long the Mississippi for a while it was back to the Hilton for our last night in New Orleans.

Day 40 Tuesday-Wednesday, 16th-17th April - Amtrak Crescent train from New Orleans to New York

So, it was time to leave New Orleans and start the next leg of our adventure, a train journey to New York.

America is big and one of my best memories is driving in a huge pentagonal shape here in 1986. I was giving an Artemis Project Management Software course for the US Army, would you believe, on behalf of Metier Management Limited, who I worked for in England. After the five day course at Phoenix Arizona had finished I had five days off before the next courses was due to start in Albuquerque in New Mexico, so I hired a car and drove from Phoenix to San Diego, San Diego to LA, LA to Las Vegas, Las Vegas to the Grand Canyon and then back to Phoenix.

So, I wanted to relive some of that but without the driving aspect. When planning this holiday I bought a couple of great National Geographic travel books, one about great places to visit and one about great journeys. I tried to incorporate as many of those in this trip as possible but clearly it was always going to be the tiniest tip of a very big iceberg.

One of the great train journeys the book mentioned was the Amtrak Crescent line from New Orleans to New York so that sounded like a good one, as we'd never been to New Orleans and Leb had never been to New York.

So, there we were, at the Union Passenger Terminal waiting room in New Orleans. We'd arrived very early and told to wait in their and we'd be called when ready. There were quite a few other travellers doing the same as us. Presumably because we'd booked a sleeper car, it wasn't all the people getting on the train.

Anyway, soon enough we got the call and we went straight to the front of the line and were told where our carriage was and then our room. I was pretty impressed I have to say. It was a personal cabin for just Leb and me, comfortable enough with a table to put my laptop on if I wanted. The dinning car was a couple of carriages away and that's where we would have our breakfast.

All this and more was explained to us by our own dedicated Amtrak service guy, Randall, who was great. He told us everything that was going on, brought us food three times a day. Later in the day he asked us, respectfully, if we could leave the cabin for a few minutes as he converted the seats into a bunk bed for us to sleep in.

In the sleeper carriage

Leaving New Orleans

The view out of the back carriage

Crossing open water away from New Orleans

Our home for the next 36 hours

Long corridors

Typical American village whizzes by

Nice packed lunches

Read for sleep somewhere near Atlanta, Georgia

The first day's journey

Passing through a typical village

American Countryside - not as spectacular as we hoped for

Passing through Washington

Washington

Impressive train

Getting closer to New York

Downtown Ney York straight ahead

Destination Penn Station

Arriving at New York after 26 hours

Overall I'm certainly pleased we travelled by train even if the views from the windows were not as spectacular as we'd hoped.

It's certainly a very different way of travelling from flying and driving. I'm not sure if I would do it again through and we were glad to reach New York.

Final day's journey

Day 41 Thursday, 17th April - New York (Population 8.3 million)

We arrived in New York, Penn Station, at 7pm in the evening of the 16th and it was quite cold. I'd specifically booked a hotel that wasn't too far away so it was a question of just walking a couple of blocks east and a few blocks south to our 20th home of the holiday so far - on West 24th Street.

When we arrived I got a surprise when the guy on reception said, presumably, after realising we weren't youngsters...

"I want to give you [old] guys the heads up - You know the room has a bunk bed, right?"

This was a surprise to me, as it was costing us $300 (Aus) per night. I asked how much an upgrade would cost and he said another $200 per night.

"We're ok this it" we said.

Apart from the tiny bunk bed in a tiny room (you couldn't swing the proverbial cat around it and the TV was bolted on the wall such that neither of us in top or bottom bunk could watch it easily) it was not too bad. The shared bathroom was close enough and clean and there was a shared kitchen a couple of floors below where one could make endless flasks of tea for free.

The main thing, of course, was its central location - hence the price.

We went braved the cold to go out to "Two bros pizza" a block away and then settled down for our first night in the Big Apple having made some tea in the communal kitchen downstairs.

In the morning of our first day in New York, I left Leb in bed for a couple of hours as I did a laundry run. The nearest laundromat was just a couple of blocks away and after a bit of help I managed to do a big wash, get them dried and bring coffee and brekkie back for Leb.

Then it was time to leave our room and explore as much as we could. First stop was an art deco shop around the corner, High Style Deco.

On the way to Broadway we saw a Yeti shop. This was odd. We had thought Yeti was an Australian phenomenon and here was a store in New York dedicated to the brand. They have everything here. As I'd lost my flask in La Paz, Mexico, it was a great opportunity to replace it. And, yes, they did the personalisation thing too. When would it be ready? 24 hours. Brilliant,

Then we headed south down Broadway with one of the objectives of the day to catch the Staten Island Ferry to catch a free view of the Statue of Liberty.

Leb had found another art deco (jewellery) store on the way. I'm always amazed how store owners make a living out of selling just a few specialist items like this but some of them were beautiful.

Then it was time to eat and I found a great place that served craft beers and good burgers, albeet at a high price,

We continued south past some of the impressive architecture of New York.

Amazing food options all along the way.

Then, in the midst of all this modernity, an echo of the past Trinity Church. It certainly made a big contrast with its surroundings. A church was first built on this site in 1698 and the building reached its current state in 1846.

Leb wanted to go in to take a look at the stained glass windows from the inside but this turned out to have been a futile exercise as you're not allowed in that part of the church and before we found that out we had to hand our bags in for security reasons. So we had to queue twice.

Anyway, the church is in the financial district just opposite Wall Street, which was the next obvious destination.

And when you think of money and New York, the thought of the orange faced crook soon pops into you head. Just around the corner is the Trump Building.

It was getting close to beer o'clock and where better to have a pint than in the oldest pub in the city. Fraunces Tavern in Pearl Street, serving beer and other drinks since 1762.

It really is a lovely old pub and we were able to easily find a table and be served some lovely beers. I was pleasantly surprised that instead of Guinness, the place sold Porterhouse stouts - far superior, and successful not by result of centuries of mafia-like bullying.

After a couple of pints we were ready to brace the cold and head to the southern tip of Manhattan to take the Staten Island Ferry.

The terminal itself is worth seeing. When we were there a very skills violinist was playing some beautiful classical music and the buzz of the wide diversity of people was a sight in itself.

I must admit, I couldn't believe the ride was free until we actually got on board. In the home of capitalism this is a rare piece of altruism which I don't really understand.

Perhaps it's to encourage tourists to visit Staten Island to spend their dollars. If so, I can only apologise as we just wanted a closer view of the Statue of Liberty for nowt.

Once we arrived we simply got off and went around the corner and got back on the next returning ferry.

Back in Manhattan I spotted a Wendy Burger and had to buy one for nostalgic reasons if nothing else.

Ironically, most of the burgers on the menu were not "Wendy's" but "Dave's" apparently after the founder, Dave Thomas.

From there it was a short walk to the the new World Trade Center.

... and close by the surprisingly moving memorial to the victims of 9/11. We both thought it had been done so thoughtfully. Beautiful really.

On the way back north we were reminded about New York's powerful Jewish community when we saw a line of "Mitvah Tanks".

The walk finished with a return to the Yeti shop we visited at the beginning. Amazingly, my personalised flask was ready for collection just a few hours after putting the order in.

That was the icing on the cake of another brilliant day.

Day 42 Friday, 19th April - New York

Our last full day in New York and our aims for the day was to see the Chrysler Building, The United Nations, Trump Tower, Central Park and end the day with some kind of live show on Broadway.

We just about made it.

We set off heading north along 5th Avenue, stopping for breakfast at a typically over the top American café, and then passing pretty much underneath the Empire State Building.

We turned left at the corner with w24th Street and headed to Macy's to pay a visit. The store was impressive but definitely looked a little dated.

After this diversion we headed back to 5th Avenue and soon passed by the very impressive New York Public Library. We paid a short visit to that too.

After the library we took a right, down East 42nd Street towards the Chrysler Building which soon came into view.

Before that, we passed by Grand Central Station and so passed through its vast interior.

The Chrysler Building is famous for its Art Deco style, something Leb certainly appreciates and was keen to see. Unfortunately, we could not see more than the lobby on the ground floor but it was still a classic-looking site.

Continuing to the end of East 42nd, you eventually reach 1st Avenue and if you turn left you soon see the Unite Nations Building. This was my first visit here since my first in 1983. Incredible to remember what has change since then.

My tiny personal protest against "Russia" was to hide their flag from the postcard display. Can you spot where it was?

After visiting the UN, we headed west back towards Central Park.

We stopped for a pint at a nice looking bar on the way.

Suddenly there it was in all its pretentious glitzy veneer.

Trump was actually on trial as we walked past the tower and I asked a policeman why the street was blocked off. The said all former presidents get the full protection treatment.

I said "He's a crook. I hope he gets put behind bars."

The reply was vert diplomatic: "Everyone's entitled to their opinion, sir".

Imagine a similar situation in Moscow with someone suggesting Putin should be arrested.

It's a very short walk from the orange-faced sleazy tower to Central Park which was our next destination - if only to tick the box. Another "must do" in every place we visit is to sample their basic cheap street food. In New York that had to be a howt dawg.

It was ok, I suppose, but not as good as I was hoping for.

Central Park didn't disappoint though. So green and vast and not flat and dry but hilly with a lot of water. You could easily spend the whole day exploring Central Park but we just stayed for 15 minutes or so and then moved south again towards Time Square as time was ticking and we had a show to go to later.

As you approach Time Square from Broadway you are soon hit by just how many theatres there are. Entertainment is certainly the name of the game in these parts.

We eventually found the Broadway Comedy Club, our (relatively cheap) venue for the evening and then went for a pint and something to eat at Alfie's Kitchen and Craft Beer Bar, just a block away, on the recommendation of a guy outside the club.

That was great. I love the buzz in downtown New York bars.

Then we went to comedy club where, upon entry, they make it clear that he have to buy a couple of drinks during the show. No problem there.

It was good old Stand up comedy with ten acts one after the other with a funny guy host doing the intros. It's a blur now but I remember a really hilarious, rude, fat guy and a very witty female comedian at the end. We were sat with a couple of aussies who clearly had the same budget conscious idea as us.

It was a great night out and another box ticked (go to a show in New York).

The walk back was straightforward enough... just follow Broadway along until we got to the Yeti shop and turn right.