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Firstly, an apology. We have been told by many that we are terrible infrequent bloggers, and we are aware of this fact. Rest assured our lack of updates is a reflection of what a fantastic time we are having, and certainly not because we don't have anything good to write about. Anyhow, although we are home very soon, we thought we had better briefly post an update on the past couple of weeks.
We left off on the coach to Philadelphia, which incidentally got a puncture, so we had to change buses. Our bus to Boston also broke down as it happens, leaving us none too pleased with Greyhound, but that's beside the point. We had two distinctly different days in Philly. The first consisted of sightseeing - Philadelphia was the original capital if the USA and played an important role in the independence process. We saw Independence Hall and some other pretty old houses, and I was distinctly disappointed by the Liberty Bell, which was a fraction of the size I expected it to be. We also wandered the Italian area of the city, enjoying our first Philly Cheesesteak bought from a rather unpleasant xenophobe with an apparent obsession with American police and firemen. Tasty cheesesteak though. To work off lunch we went for a run in the early evening, predominantly so that Will could run up the 'Rocky steps' outside an art museum. This meant little to me, but he seemed very happy.
Our second day was Labor Day, an American bank holiday brought in in the 1880s to appease a dissatisfied workforce. These days it means huge sales and thus our second day was spent shopping. We left Philadelphia rather more laden down than we had arrived.
Next stop was New York, probably the place I was most excited about visiting. I wasn't disappointed. We spent one day climbing the iconic Statue of Liberty and visiting the fascinating Ellis Island, and also paid an obligatory visit to Wall Street. On the whole, however, we decided that soaking up the NYC ambience (that is walking, shopping, drinking and eating) was far more important than being sightseeing tourists. As such, we explored Central
Park, Chinatown, Little Italy, Soho and the Upper East Side on foot, shopped in Times Square, ate several good meals and visited swanky hotel bars for cocktails and whisky. It was a lifestyle I could easily have got used to.
Another New York highlight was attending the New York Open, where we watched Wozniacki win a women's quarterfinal and Federer win his male one. The stadium and the atmosphere were fantastic, though very far removed from Wimbledon. Polite English silence there was not; in its place loud music between games, competitions on big TV screens and free T-shirts being thrown into the crowd. The tennis atmosphere had a lot more in common with the baseball match we had seen than I had expected!
I'll stop there, and Will will shortly fill you in on our time in Massachusetts and Niagara. See you all soon!
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