We rode a Greyhound bus from Philly to DC four days ago. The cities are right next to each other on the map but it took the better part of a day to get from one to the other, the USA is that big. The bus driver used phrases like “You are no Longer in my Jurisdiction” and “All Passengers must Personalize all phone conversations”. Bit of a laugh.

Our accommodation in Washington DC was hip and trendy and in a good location, but hot water was intermittent and I’m sure our room had a racoon rotting away in the floorboards. At least it gave us somewhere to shelter form the -5 air whirling around outside.

Our goal was to find the Whitehouse and see if we could muscle in on a guided tour of it. We spotted the big house on the hill easily enough in the distance  but getting up close to it took another hour. A wild goose chase led us in and out of many security blocks that are part of the preparations for this weekends “Lighting of the Christmas Tree” celebration. Despite circumnavigating the Whitehouse, and a bit of sweet-talking with staff in the visitor centre, we never managed to get that tour inside. So with our teeth chattering we headed down dale and up hill towards the Washington monument which is the trademark obelisk at the end of the long reflection pool. On this journey the massive helicopter that had been sitting on the front lawn of the White  House started up and flew up over head, directly above us and the obelisk and it was joined by another chopper above us, both with missiles on the sides and just over our heads! That was the President heading off to a meeting, and Louise is afraid that they will now be tracking our movements because I was waving madly and taking photos. I’m sure he saw us, we were the only people outdoors at that time of the day and in that weather in Washington DC.

I thought Capitol City would be a slick, busy and organised city. When we got off our bus and were walking the blocks towards our hostel a guy stopped his bike to check we knew our way. Never wanting to show a weakness I lied and said of course we’re not lost. He said “that’s good, because you don’t want to be in this area too long” and rode off. What was that supposed to mean?? We had read that this city beats New York to have the most crime, but it is hard to believe. The whole place is half asleep! There’s not a lot going on anywhere. During our visit we found it difficult to find somewhere cosy to pop into for a rest. All tourists are either looking at the statues dotted around the show, taking photos of the White House, walking up the empty Mall between Capitol Hill and the Monument or in the museums.

We got security checked EVERYWHERE. To enter a building that has posters up of the White House history and three staff you get padded down. I don’t know what you would do with a weapon in there if you did have one. We even went through a thorough security check on the way into a post office! And there are food courts and tourist shopping centres that you can’t get into without going through security checks.

Luckily we had saved our museum visits for Washington DC because there is not much else to do in this city. It is great that they are all free but in general I wouldn’t rush there to visit them. The brand new Native American museum was really good and we loved the authentic food on offer there. Our main museum goal was the Holocaust Museum, which was really well done. Unfortunately it was so effective that Louise got a bit over-whelmed at the beginning so we couldn’t spend long in there. We visited the Natural History and Air & Space Museums too, but their coolness is stuck in 1985 and not much has progressed since.  After museuming in London and Washington DC, I would say that Wellington’s Te Papa does as good a job as any, if not better.

Highlights from this trip: A bright Chocolate and Wine shop, the Thai restaurant called Thaitanic (located under the sushi bar called Tsunami), a good selection of beers, interesting boarders at the DC Lofty Inn, and seeing the White House chopper. We also stalked a live racoon, which a local told us to be careful of because you never see them here and “you don’t know what he might do”. That’s three wild racoons including the other two we saw in New York (and a local also said she was scared to see them). 4 if you include the funky smell in our hostel room.

Louise has seen it differently to me, and I think enjoyed it more than me, so don’t take my word for it.  Maybe I should not have been designated to write the Washington DC blog. Now we are sitting in Chicago en-route to the balmy West Coast. We are happy to hear that people in California are just as helpful and friendly, because we are used to everyone we meet being our friend now. Chicago has the sort of Arctic conditions that would cripple London, and our flight to San Francisco is majorly delayed due to Fog over there. So who knows how long we will sit here in this airport…

Ben.

After booking four nights in NY from London, we had no idea where we’d end up next and from NY we found ourselves on a really huge comfy megabus to Philadelphia, the original capital and a cutesy city after NY filled with history and American sentiments including the Liberty Bell which seems to represent both freedom but sometimes oppression, their local hero Benjamin Franklin, the first flagmaker, the oldest inhabited street in the USA, and the Independence Visitor Centre.

Patriotic

This patriotism was tempered with the laid back South Street where Ben of course found the hidden gem – the magic gardens made completely of mosaics by a local hippy artist.

Magic garden

In our long trips that we’ve done in Eastern Europe and Vietnam, we’ve found small pensions, home stays or small hotels are the cheapest and best way to travel for a couple, however during early December on the cold East coast hostels have ended up being cheap and easy to book into, and every single person we’ve met has been friendly and polite. From the cashiers at the Giant Foods to the front desk hostel staff we’ve had enough ‘hello ma’am and sir and welcome to …!!!’ to last a lifetime.

In New York we were lucky enough to meet up with two American friends of friends who showed us the east village and the classic pizza which was huge and very very thin and crispy, almost crunchy. We’ve discovered that American meals are huge and everyone takes home what they can’t eat. The next day we met our friend Laura at her work cafeteria for free lunch – burgers, salads, noodles, desserts, drinks, cookies – where else but Google headquarters in NY with breathtaking views of the Manhattan skyline.

Pizza pizza

After waiting in line on the NY sidewalk for 2 hours for a broken down megabus with another bunch of friendly chatty Americans, we arrived in the quainter Philadelphia, where we had the one of the best lunches EVER at the Famous Fourth Street Deli. Starting with coleslaw and an array of pickles (big green gherkin types) and ending with free cookies, it was stuffed with the biggest deli sandwiches wrapping chunks of pastrami and salami, huge salads and giant soups in the middle.

Chicken soup with matzo ball

I’m on a mission to try the American candy and they seem to have a taste for sweet and salty (from pretzel M&Ms to peanut butter reece’s pieces to sweet and salty popcorn). I had to throw away the twizzlers because they were so red but so flavourless, even though they looked like delicious red licorice sticks. The colour popping fruit-loops cereal was like eating candy for breakfast, though at the opposite end of the scale is oatmeal which are like big porridge flakes which people seem to eat raw with milk! Most mornings we’ve had cinnamon raisin bagels with cream cheese – I’m almost bageled out so looking forward to the $1 pancake breakfast in San Fran. I wonder if the folks we meet on the West coast will be as friendly as the East coast…

What can I say NY, we love you!

Skyline from the Google offices

View from the Brooklyn Bridge

Love on the Avenue of the Americas

Today for the first time ever Ben and Louise split up their days, Louise visiting the UN headquarters in NY and Ben continuing his trend and heading for the Bronx Zoo.

Sloshing through the rain after the subway to beautiful Grand Central Station I had powered up 42nd Street through the wind tunnel drenched and almost crying when the wind whipped my NY Times out from under my jacket and threw it completely across the opposite side of the street to slap it on the UN building. Sorry! As the lady trying to cross the road with me said “that’s the end of that newspaper”.

The highlight of the UN headquarters was the General Assembly room where every member state has four seats, but I couldn’t see NZ as it was across the other side of the room, and I only had an instant camera as Ben took the digi to the zoo. I thought I would try to walk some more of Manhattan afterwards but it was hard enough getting back to the subway in the wet windy weather. Back in the hostel I met Ben five minutes later with his tales from the zoo!

Ben says it is one of the best zoos he has ever seen!!! It was shown to its best because of the rain but at least Ben had the place to himself. The Bronx is no where near as scary as it’s made out, and was only an easy subway off the island of Manhattan. Seeing it in the rain involved bush bashing to get around the mini lagoons that had developed and racing to see everything before meeting Louise back at the hostel.

Sliding frog

Lovely polar bear

There was grit on the roads and zero degrees when we left our London life for the start of our 3 week road trip through the states. Landing at JFK in New York on Monday was simple and easy and by 3pm we were strolling around Central Park in the warm sun, looking at the still glistening reservoir (to be walked counter-clockwise) with the Manhattan skyline in the distance.

Central Park

Staying in a popular hostel on the edge of Central Park in uptown Manhattan, where we found out Ben’s brother stayed some years ago – our first NY breakfast included jelly on toast and oatmeal and big red shiny apples, with coffee and huge milk bottles by the gallon. Everything is big and all drinks seem to be served in plasticy cups.

We’ve talked to dozens of New Yorkers who like to strike up conversations on the street and we’re not sure they know where NZ is, but they’re very friendly. We’ve eaten in endless diners and waved to the statue of liberty from the free Staten Island commuter ferry. Walking up fifth avenue yesterday we stumbled across the lighting of the Christmas Tree at the Rockefeller Centre – it was insanely busy with the NYPD directing traffic and blocking off roads in their square hats – no friendly bobbies here!

New York is so much fun with countless stunning sights to see, the Empire State Building looms out of the clouds on fifth avenue, the trump tower lights up the street, Times Square bombards the streets with bright flashing lights, and the stars and stripes decorate the city.

Wall Street

After finding Split cloudy and cool with less charm than Dubrovnik we decided to make like a banana and…

Hvar welcomed us with sun and warmth and after easily finding our host we explored the Old Town with our accommodation right in the centre, and the rest of the small island. Hvar is the second most visited place in Croatia, receiving 30,000 visitors a day in summer! It was the start of the season for us so while we got the warm temperatures it was very quiet and we got to experience the brand new bars and cafes that set up each season.

On our first night we had a local dish of black ink squid and more mussels overlooking the bay, and who should we see at the restaurant but the kiwis again. Although our accommodation had a kitchen that we could use we never found it in the 4 storey house so ate dinner out most nights. It wasn’t the height of summer and it’s cheaper than London, although I don’t think we ever tried the freshly caught pricey fish, sticking mainly with shellfish. As we trekked into the parts of the Balkans less visited by Westerners the prices got even cheaper.

The next day we walked up the hill behind the old town to explore the fort and look down on Hvar Town. The blue water, green islands, and orange roofs were in hyper colour to our grey London eyes. We quickly got our beach fix again spending the afternoon on the pebbly beach with the chilly but refreshing water, where Ben had his second animal fix by standing on a sea egg and getting spiked. We later learnt to do what the locals do which is to swim from the very shallows and not stand on the bottom. Apparently the authorities tip lots of salt in the water to try and dissuade the sea eggs from living there, but they always come back.

Hvar picnic spot

After pizza and wine on the beach (we seem to always be the only people ever having picnics in Europe – it must be a kiwi / English thing) we met the Jazz Bar folks and had such a fun friendly night with cherry shots and the locals. We missed the kiwis that night but met up again a few mornings later after they’d had a night at the Jazz Bar, as we all left Hvar for the mainland and a bus back to Dubrovnik. I was very impressed with the buses, after being warned by fellow travellers in London about Eastern European public transport… however we were travelling the well trodden coastal route and its probably a lot more set up for tourists now than previously. There were very few trains on our route so we travelled 90 percent of the way in buses, with tickets cheap and available enough to buy on the day.

View from our bedroom in Hvar

We are now in Montenegro, I will go back and fill in the magical island of Hvar but I’m getting behind on our trip.

Today we had a brilliant day hiking through Montenegro (black mountain). Starting in Budva which is our beach town we’ve been staying in for 3 days in an apartment above the local community officer,  we got a cheap bus to Citenje and then a taxi to the start of Lovcen National Park. The visitor centre was closed and we weren’t sure we were in the right place but there were some snappy new signs so we picked a location and started off.

The sun was shining and it was easy going, though we were looking out for snakes and bears and wolves which we read were in the park. We hiked up the sacred mountain to one of the peaks through snow and sun to come out on top of the world. We could see the coast (about 40km away) and surrounding black mountains, including the mausoleum which is the local beauty but we didn’t have enough time or money to get there in the taxi (to the dismay of our hosts).

We hiked back down and around the peak through limestone rocks folded and faulted, telling each other scary stories through the deserted trails covered in snow in some places, until we came down to a low village with crumbling walls made only of stone. There were a few new houses dotted around the valley that looked like it was out of a Mediterranean painting it was so beautiful and traditional. We passed a couple sowing potatoes and after finding out we were from NZ they called us down to their small house for a drink. The wife got out the local beer and biscuits, and then brought out a plate of domestic cheese, ham and bread. The cheese was as creamy as butter, and Ben said the prosciutto was the best he’s ever tasted. We sat on their stone wall under the shade of trees after 4 hours hiking in their special mountains and found out more about each other.

The husband was a former seaman who had visited NZ and spoke perfect English so it was easy for us to chat. He showed us the stone hut he was born in that his great grandfather had built, right next to his new house built in the same style.

It was so idyllic and precious after our long walk. After reminiscing about Tito and former Yugoslavia he pointed us on our way and we headed back down to the visitor center, and hitched a ride to Cetinje with some Russian tourists.

Back at home we are now sitting in an internet cafe with our neighbours trying to track the best route from Budva to Ohrid in Macedonia, as we think it might take 2 days across Albania tomorrow.
Wish us luck!

After exploring Dubrovnik we took a 4 1/2 hour bus ride north to Split. The bus wound around the coast, one of the best bus rides we”ve been on, despite a local lady falling out of the moving bus and requiring an ambulance (!), and it reminded me of the Marlborough Sounds as the Bay was filled with green islands and mountains coming out of the misty haze. We had one border crossing in and out of the tiny coastal tip of Bosnia and Herzegovina where we had our passports checked. We passed many more olive groves and small churches set into the hills.

We arrived in Split tired and hungry and walked along the glamorous waterfront and up into the old town to find the Aussie-Croat hostel called Booze and Snooze. It was really central but full of rowdy Aussies drinking in the sun. We dropped our bags and went to explore Split (or Spalato in Italian) and ate more bread and cheese for dinner, as well as Burek which are cheese filled pastries that can be found everywhere in this part of the world.

Palm trees and yachts line Split's main boulevard

We left the Aussies to the beers and had an early night with a plan to get a catamaran to Hvar, one of Croatia’s most beautiful islands. We first walked up to the lookout above Croatia’s second biggest city and reminisced about the Mt Vic lookout in Wellington.  Before leaving Split we scouted for a travel agency to help us book accommodation on the Island as the main Information centres are not like the NZ I-sites we know and love. We found Daluma travel by the port and he set us up with two nights on the island in private accommodation, and the hosts would meet us at the port. It sounded all good until the wind was too strong for the catamaran and we had to catch the car ferry, and then a bus to get to Hvar Town.

We didn’t realise that Daluma travel was running around trying to find us because apparently the bus from the car ferry to Hvar Town only goes in Summer, and we are travelling at the very start of the season. It’s perfect for us though as the temperature is in the low 20s, we keep missing the rain and it’s still warm enough for us Kiwis to swim, and there are very few tourists around. There were a few bus loads of Octogenarians in Dubrovnik but there aren’t throngs of other visitors getting in our way!!!

On the bus from the ferry port to Hvar we found a two other kiwi couples who had just got to London and decided to come over to Croatia for a trip around as well. We were to bump into them often on the little island of Hvar.

It”s been a year since we left NZ and a week since we”ve been in the Balkans on our latest big trip away from London. We left London on a rainy Sunday in early May and landed in Dubrovnik. From the bus ride into the old town we could tell we were in a new country with the warm Mediterranean sun on our faces, and the dusty hills dotted with olive and cyprus trees, and the clear deep blue Adriatic sea.

From our first welcome at the airport by customs (Wellington! The 7s!) to the upgrade at our villa (from the tiniest studio room to the penthouse on the top floor) we have found the people so friendly, and the majority in the tourist areas so far have spoken English which is good because the language is very difficult for us. We have yet to master hello (Zdravo).

With two days in Dubrovnik we explored the old town which is a labyrinth of tiny cobbled streets and lanes, small konoba cafes and sobe rooms , with cats and dogs everywhere. We paid 700 kuna to walk along the old town walls and saw the most amazing deep blue sea as the old town sticks out over the coast.

We ate squid and mussels for dinner under umbrellas in one of the market squares and sat at one of the many cafe tables to listen to live jazz. It was a beautiful welcome to the Balkans after almost a year in London and a brilliant start to our summer.

Although summer was just starting up for the locals we thought it was time to get swimming, and after finding a quiet beach with concrete sunbathing blocks jutting out of the rocks over the water like a swimming pool, we enjoyed a swim. Ben even got his animal fix seeing a snake on our way down to the beach amongst the rocks.