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Well a bit less than a month into my trip so time for another entry. Am currently in London preparing for my contiki trip which leaves tomorrow morning at 6:00am! Am looking forward to it. Especially spending a week sailing around the Croatian coast. Its going to be tough!!!
Arrived yesterday morning after flying out of New York. Had the pleasure of flying with Air India which bought back lots of memories of flying to and from India during High School, mainly memories of kids screaming, old people coughing and farting, people getting up all the time even when the seat belt sign is on, and planes that rattle. Flight was actually not so bad and I managed to get a seat next to an emergency exit so could spread my legs out but had to squish myself into the seat as the emergency exit seats were very narrow. Had the pleasure of waiting for about half an hour in the plane in New York as another plane had landed on the wrong runway, then broken down right in the middle of one of the approaches to the runway and therefore no one could take off or land. Don't think the pilot was very popular that day!
Had spent about another 1 1/2 weeks in canada having a great time. Not so good for my waistline. Too many delicious chicken wings! and great canadian beer! I have to save there are plenty of great Canadian microbreweries which make good beer. Was introduced to a great beer called 'La Fin Du Monde' which translates into 'the end of the world' and being twice as strong as regular beer I can imagine it can lead to people wanting the world to end.
Went mountain biking which was great fun though we, being the superstar athletes that we are, decided to choose the hardest track possible. This resulted in us trying to rid up the hill, stopping halfway and then pushing the bike the rest of the way up the hill and then pushing it up the next hill. But it was all worth it in the end when we got to fly back down the hill though even then some sections we had to go very slowly downhill. Lots of attempts at jumping over obstacles and two near death experiences! Great fun!
Spent a weekend camping in Gatineau Park (one of the parks near to Ottawa) as part of a bachelor/bachelorette weekend. Rained the day we arrived so everything was nice and went. A delicious dinner of chicken skewers cooked on a fire made it worth it even though it was about midnight by the time we ate. The next day was spent swimming in the lake and doing an interesting obstacle/relay race. Managed to get a nice bright red tan. Was not quite the colour I was after but oh well. Entertainment was provided at night by a grass skirt, a pair of shorts which had fake buttoms on them, and considerable amounts of alcohol. Some very talented male hula dancers and lap dancers. No photos I am sorry to say (though this is probably a very good thing).
Decided to spend an extra night in New York instead of going to Toronto. Deciding I should see somewhere on the way to New York I decided to go to Albany. This was a very very poorly planned decision. The bus trip from Ottawa to Albany involved going spending 4 hours in Syracuse at 3:00 am in the morning with absolutely nothing to do and even reading was impossible due to fatigue. Then due to bus delays leaving Syracuse I got to spend an hour in Albany so a quick walk around the city taking some photos.
Arrived in New York and went to a hostel in Harlem. Very interesting place! full-on and lots of people selling all sorts of things on the side of the street. Was not a big fan of the hostel. Very small bunk beds and a very unusual group of people staying at the place. Not really my type of people but still interesting. Though it was nice walking through Harlem, seeing the Apollo theatre, and getting a first-hand experience in the full-on experience that is Harlem. Even went and got a hamburger from White Castle (from the movie 'Harold and Kumar go to White Castle') pretty bad burgers but still something to experience just because of the movie.
Decided the next day to go on an overnight trip to Washington DC to visit some friends from Baxter College (first year in Australia) days and another friend from India. Spent Saturday afternoon walking along the Mall (the huge area between the Capitol Building and the Lincoln Memorial). This was done on a very hot day carrying my nice heavy backpack. Was still good to see the area and get some photos though would have been nicer without the workout. Went out to a bar which had over 100 different types of beer! very hard to make any sort of decision. Once again, I was impressed by the beer available. Putting aside the standard American beers there are plenty of breweries in the States that do good beers. Next morning a bicycle ride down seeing more sights followed by lunch at Potbellys - a really really good sandwich place.
Returned to New York on Sunday night and spent two nights in a nice hostel in the West End of New York. Very close to Central Park and lot better rooms. Meet some girls who had spent two weeks in New York and had managed to spend over USD2500 just on shopping which is incredible considering the number of sales everywhere. New York is certainly a shoppers city. Spent Monday walking around New York. Walked through Soho, Little Italy and numerous other places. Looked at the Empire State Building, didn't go to the top as very long lines and am trying to save money for drinking. Took a ferry over to Staten Island past the Statue of Liberty. Definitely looks a lot bigger in the movies. Tuesday spent getting Pop-tarts for my brother and sister and walking around Central Park - well at least part of the Park. Its very big!
So tomorrow its off to see Eastern Europe for three weeks. Followed by five weeks travelling in Europe going wherever the wind takes me.
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