I think last time i updated this i was sitting at the train station. Well its safe to say that a lot has happened since then. After our timely wait at the train station in Rocky Mt. we boarded our train bound for Washington DC. We rode on the Amtrak train and it was very comfortable. 5 hours later we were to arrive in the nations capital. Here we did everything you'd expect. Saw the White House, Washington monument, World War II memorial, Lincoln memorial, Kennedy centre and the Watergate towers.... all of which warrented a photo and that's about it. A stroll through Georgetown was quite pleasant, stopping in at a French cafe for a delicious meal. From here we made it back to our hostel, with minimal sleep the night before, we crashed for the night. The next day we were back to the train station for our trip to Philadelphia. A short two our train ride dropped us in the city where we checked in to our hostel (Apple Hostel). The first thing on our agenda was to find some Philadelphia Phillies apparrel. A generous guy at the thrift store gave us some classic shirts, so we were then bound for the baseball game. The stadium was set quite far out of town, along with Ice Hockey, Basketball and Football stadiums. In the centre of them all was a complex of bars and restaurants. With an ice hockey game on the same time, it was bound to be busy. After a few beverages we saw the game. Quite an experience. We had seats not far behind the catcher which was good. The Phillies won 2-1 which was quite a result. The next day we did the touristy thing and saw the Rocky Momument and walked (yes walked) up the stairs where he ran in all the movies. At the top is the art gallery, the long lines and steep prices pushed us away. So we went to the Pen State Penetentiary for a self guided tour. It was quite interesting to learn how and why this structure was built and a bit of background behind some of the inmates. Next we walked back downtown via the well known LOVE statue which was a serious let down! That night we went to a pub trivia night for something to do. The next day we literally did nothing apart from eat a Philly Cheesesteak..delicious! That night the hostel put on a pub-crawl with free drinks before hand. For a pub crawl it turned out to be a rather decent night of drinking, yarning and dancing.

And then it was time, we made our way to the big apple, NYC, via a two-hour bus ride from Chinatown costing $12. Needless to say it was not very comfortable. But we made it. Being the poor planners we are we left it too late to book a hostel and resorted to finding a place on Airbnb.com which looked quite decent. Making it to Anthony st, Brooklyn we looked at the building and were weriously disgusted at what it looked like. An old building that looked as though it was ready to be knocked down. Anyway we went inside to check it out and to our surprise it was quite nice. Loft apartment with access to the rooftop which overlooked Manhatten. We dumped our stuff and made our way to a bar where Bell, a friend of Leo's from back in Perth met us with a couple of her friends. What started with a few drinks went on to be a blinder of a night in Brooklyn. The next day we forced ourselves up and made it to Manhatten. Walked through downtown NY, saw the line for the WTC memorial and the Statue of liberty and decided we'd come back Monday. So back to bed it was. And then it was Easter Sunday. Bell's friend Bindi, also from Australia (originally Kiwi) had Leo and I along with an array of fit broads around to her house for a Sunday roast. The girls provided food while Leo and I provided the makings for Bloody Mary's. This apartment was amazing! with a far greater rooftop than ours. We spent our time on the roof overlooking the city sipping on Vodka and Tommy juice. The time came to feast, and that we did.. An amazing roast beef and roast vegetables came out of the oven. Such a delite although a struggle to get down after filling myself up on Toast with cream cheese and Salmon. People then made their ways to work etc while we were lucky enough to accompany a couple of the girls to a rooftop party in the middle of Manhatten. The night progressed with plenty of booze. A quick 4 block stroll and we were in Time Square at about 1:00am where it was totally buzzing! After that i made my way back to bed for a good nights sleep. So Monday came and this was our last opportunity to check out the sites. So we pumped it out. Central Park, Statue of Liberty, Empire State building etc etc. The city is so large but i loved it!. Tuesday came and we were bound for the PS1 Museum of Modern Art. But we got there and it was closed on Tuesday... Just our luck. Over the road was an enormous warehouse coverered top to bottom in Grafitti. We spent quite a lot of time looking around taking hundreds of photos. We rushed back to the apartment for Leo to pack and get to the bus terminal where he was to head upstate to stay with his grandad for a while. We had to detour via Pen station to pick up the snowboard bag which Leo also took with him. We made it to the bus terminal with about 15 minutes to spare. Where i received a call from cousin Guy, asking if i would like to accompany him and his friends to Rome for the weekend in celebration of his 21st. Great News!!

From here i then headed back, packed my goodies and went to the airport where i would board my flight to Reykjavik. A short 5 hour flight got me here, but with the time difference i arrived at 6:30am and had no sleep. I made it to my hostel and forced myself to book a tour for the day. The Golden Circle tour it was. This consisted of a 6 hour tour around waterfalls, Hot springs and Geysir, along with a few other cheeky stops around the way. Coming totally unprepared i was freeezing in the 1 degree weather. One generous lady was kind enough to lend me her scarf for the day!. During the day i embraced the opportunity to eat something other than fried food and had a delicious cream cheese and salmon bagel (with loooads of salmon) along with an outstanding homemade lamb soup. Best meal in a while i think! Back to the Hostel by late evening, a quick look at some live music in the lobby and a lot of hassle aranging flight changes, before it was time for bed. I think the long term partying and lack of rest has caught up as i woke up with a terrible flu. Nevertheless i forced my way out of bed to breakfast. Bagels with cream cheese, cheese, ham, tomato, egg, yoghurt, coffee, cereal, toast etc. The Lot! I am now waiting for my next tour bus which will take me to the o so well known Blue Lagoon which I am very excited for to say the least. I will upload photos when i get a chance. Tomorrow i leave early morning to make it to London by midday to meet aunty Sandy, only to hop straight on a flight to Rome to meet up with Guy. Rather excited!