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Hi everyone, Alyssa here. Sorry we have been a bit slack in updating our blog but the last couple of weeks have really flown by!!Our flight from Sydney via Abu Dhabi, Paris and Toronto to Chicago was seriously hell!!We were so exhausted by the time we arrived in Chicago and over a period of less than 3 days had spent over 32 continuous hours in planes!!
We really didn't anticipate the cold in the US and didn't pack appropriately so bought some new clothes for me, although I think Greg was just embarrassed to be seen with my oversized beige ski jacket and white running shoes!So now I'm very trendy in new shoes and jacket picked out by fashionista Greg!!After a night in Chicago we checked in for our Amtrak train to Omaha, Nebraska. The train journey took 8 ½ hours and was pretty uneventful apart from the large group of Amish people travelling with us.We had a day in Omaha which was surprisingly a very nice city, we walked around the old town which was really deserted and looked like a wild west town.We also picked up the rental car there and later that afternoon drove to Kansas City, Missouri which is only about 3 hours away.In Kansas City we had 2 nights, and on the second night saw Coldplay which was excellent.From Kansas City we drove across the state of Kansas on our way to Denver, Colorado.We got a chance to stop at Abilene, birthplace of President Eisenhower and home of Bill Clinton's saxophone.
Half way across Kansas while getting our daily dose of Sean Hannity on Fox news one of the car's tyres blew - probably divine retribution!!We pulled in to the nearest gas station and a local cowboy helped us change our tyre and advised us to stop at the next town.We drove to the next town called Russell where everyone owns pick up trucks and you can buy one for US$5000 (no wonder everyone has one), the place was deserted and we had to go to about 3 places before we found someone who could help us.In the last place which was full of guys in trucker hats with pick up trucks in the car park (one of the number plates said "Eat Beef"), a mechanic with a confederate flag on his wallet fixed up our tyre and we got on our way and stayed the night further down the I-70 in a little town called Colby, where Greg had the biggest steak on earth at a place called 'Montana Mikes' and I had a salad that had absolutely no taste (like most food in America..)
The next day we arrived in Denver and finally got to see Monica and Brian (friends of mine from when I worked in Colorado), it was soooo good to see them again and we had a really nice 3 days spending time at their place.They took us on a restaurant crawl around Denver which was great, it's such a nice city and we finally ate food with taste, I think you need to know where to go!!The next day we played a game of golf, the best part of which was Monica playing in high heels and ordering bloody marys on arrival at the course at lunchtime (some things never change) and also me actually being able to hit the ball!!We spent some time in Boulder which was a really nice town, but the highlight for Greg was having hamburgers for dinner and watching Monday night football back at Monica and Brian's place with their gorgeous dog Salomon.
After 3 days with them (and a sad goodbye) we drove up to the Rockies and had a couple of nights up there, we spent the first night in Glenwood Springs and visited the hot springs and the second night in Frisco in Summit County, both places that I lived when I worked in Colorado so it was really nice to go back and visit and I think Greg is now convinced to go back for a skiing holiday one day!!We flew from Denver to Chicago about a week ago and had 3 days in Chicago, we found out that all airlines in the US bar one, now charge you to check in bags, the more bags you check in the more expensive it is!They also charge for leg room!In Chicago it was freezing so we didn't do much really, visited the top of the Hancock tower and got ripped off on our drinks but the view was good.We had some great meals, the highlight of course a beautiful Japanese restaurant.We also had a pizza slice that was the size of a regular pizza and our favourite place which was called 'Billy Goats' and had really cheap hot dogs and hamburgers and was like a real Chicago bar.
From Chicago we flew to Paris and had about 7 days here, today we're on day 5.We have been so jet lagged since we arrived as our flight here was an overnight flight and we only slept about 2 hours.We've been through the Lourve, Versailles, up the Eiffel tower and the rest of the usual sights.Today we're going to Bayeux in Normandy for a couple of nights to visit the D-day beaches and to see the Bayeux tapestry which is one of my favourite things I've ever seen in Europe, hopefully Greg doesn't just think its another boring carpet, as he thought of the tapestries in the Lourve!The highlight of Paris for me was dinner last night and for Greg pretending to be French having croissants and espressos every morning.Luckily we haven't had to attempt to speak French very often, Greg has completely given up trying and now just speaks English to anyone which is quite funny.Then we'll be back to Paris for a night on Sunday before flying to Abu Dhabi on Monday and the beginning of our middle east travels....
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