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Ruck2905

23 Blog Entries
1 Trip
205 Photos

Trips:

Coast to coast USA baby!!

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Foggy Bottom

Washington, United States

After a day of doing nothing apart from shop (or play pool in a bar for an hour, Sunil will tell u he won every game but its not true) and drink in the basement we decided to go and do some sightseeing! So we managed to the leave the hostel before midday for once and decided to go to the natural history museum, which I have to say was pretty disappointing even the one in Liverpool is better! We then ambled to the Washington monument...although to be honest I'm stillno wiser as to what this represents because all the tickets for the day had gone. So we walked round a lake to the Jeffereson Memorial which was pretty impressive, and then on to the Lincoln memorial via a Roosevelt memorial, a WWII memorial and the reflection pool (which only made sense when we got to the top of the stairs at the Lincoln memorial). The Lincoln memorial was once again pretty impressive, the two are definately the best we've seen since we have been here. We also decided to visit the Einstein monument, which apparantly if you rub his nose then you get get more intelligent...so given the majority of Americans need for this you can imagine how it was...but the way they climbed all over the monument seemed if anything disrespectful. We then headed upto Foggy Bottom, for no other reason than it was a place called foggy bottom! So its our last full day here today (which we will spend watching footy) and then tomorrow its off to Chicago on an incredibly long train ride. So I'll update you guys from there xx

permalink written by  Ruck2905 on October 18, 2008 from Washington, United States
from the travel blog: Coast to coast USA baby!!
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The Whitehouse, the debate and the hillbilly I forgot!

Washington, United States

Ok so Im gonna start this entry by telling you about the Hillbilly in Baltimore that I forgot to mention! So me Sunil and Chris(an english guy we met in Philly) were just hanging out in the lounge watching baseball when a guy comes down to join us...his first words consisted of 'what are you watching?...baseball?...pfffff'. So this kind of set the tone! We went on to find out that he was trainingfor UFC (this is ultimate fighting champion for those of you who dont know) and had quit his job to stand in line all day to audition for a comedy circuit (where he mentioned jokes about the KKK!). As we talked to him a little while we found that he thought Baltimore was the best city ever and he wasnt gonna vote in the election because there is no choice! So erm a 'colourful' character indeed! (And its also seemed he had taken a lawnmower to his hair)
Anyway...on to DC, after Sunil finally got his lazy ass out of bed, we headed downtown, to watch thefooty n look around. After walking a lot and all to no success in ridiculous heat, we gave up on the footy and went to capital hill! We had lunch and much needed liquid before we went to the Whitehouse...not that u can really get close. In the evening we decided to get a few drinks in and watch the debate and i Swear if they vote McCain there is something seriously wrong with this country!! Anyways off to shop today...xxx

permalink written by  Ruck2905 on October 16, 2008 from Washington, United States
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Escape from Baltimore

Washington, United States

So escaping from Baltimore was priority...it was just sooo quiet, so after filling up on a pancake breakfast we made a break for the train station! It took only 40 minsto get to washington, and as soon as we got into the train station we saw that the station alone is bigger than Baltimore...we made our way to the hostel, which is on the north side (pretty much in the suburbs). Its a strange little place after staying in chains since we got here, this has more character, and you can actually drink in it! We decided to go up to the little suburban town called Silver Spring rather than go downtown as it was already quite late, and had a ganders around there, it was pretty nice and Sunil was satisfied with his pint of harp for less than 3 bucks!! So today we will go and explore now that we have a big city in front of us again, though I'm sure we will be stopping to watch the footy! x

permalink written by  Ruck2905 on October 15, 2008 from Washington, United States
from the travel blog: Coast to coast USA baby!!
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The Liberty Bell, the midnight train and some little ghost town called baltimore.

Baltimore, United States

Think I will round up Philly for you first, I mean its not that it was horrendous but the two main tourist attractions the Libverty Bell and Independence Hall really did suck! And trying to charge us 20$ cover to watch England you must be kidding. So we packed ourselves up and looked forward to moving on to Baltimore...how wrong we were. The useless people at Amtrak had given us tickets for competely different trains...subsequently I had already missed my midnight train and Sunil was forced to miss his midday train to try and sort my ticket out. We managed to leave Philly an hour later than planned but I think if he had of known just what Baltimore was like we would have stayed longer! There is not much to say about here, I mean its just a ghost town, other than the harbour, there is no shops, nowhere to eat and generally no people! Its kind of freaky in that respect, I half expect to see tumbleweed rolling down the road! And to top it off there is a group of kids in our hostel that are frustratingly typically American, making it difficult to even relax at the hostel when there is nowhere to go...and with it being Columbus day today I just cant see it getting any better. All I can say is bring on DC tomorrow, I need some civilisation!!

permalink written by  Ruck2905 on October 13, 2008 from Baltimore, United States
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The weakling protest that just got bigger

Philadelphia, United States

So first full day in Philly (though we slept half of it away, we went off to explore the city. We went first to find food and ended up in this massive food market(and I can't actually remember what its called) which served whatever you wanted, which was pretty cool! We then starting walking round the landmarks. city hall and some very questionable looking statues (I'll post pics of them as soon as I can). Outside city hall there was quite possibly the smallest most ineffective protest going on. About 10 people (if that) holding signs saying 'honk for peace' was all it amassed too, with most of the motorists ignoring them anyway. So we made our way into the university district which was a whole world away from where we had been so far, very green and picturesque - and as we established, flags of all the UN countries were hung. At the end of this deceiving road (it went on for ages) stood a statue of Rocky and those infamous stairs, which we both dutifuly climbed! We made our way home after that, it had been an exhausting few hours especially when the temperature was about 26 degrees, too hot for so much. On the way back this weakling protest had actually grown into something quite credible with many more cars honking and people campaigning against the war ( and a man dressed up as Dubya, plastic mask n all, with a sign on his back saying 'Impeach me!'). We hung around in the hostel listening to open mike night where some guy was butchering classic after classic, including Zombie by the Cranberries, so decided to go grab some food...Sunil finally having a Philly Cheesesteak (although it didnt look like it was as greasy as they say) before spending a relaxing night in!! Today is football day, so pretty much all the English people have homed in on each other and we will all go together to watch the game!! Bye for now xx

permalink written by  Ruck2905 on October 11, 2008 from Philadelphia, United States
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The city of Brotherly Love

Philadelphia, United States

So time to leave Boston and sit on a 6 hour train ride down to Philly. So with no sleep we picked ourselves up dragged ourselves onton the amtrak and slept for the first few hours at least! So after we arrived into Philly's 30th Street station, which was pretty cool, we found our way (or Sunil found our way) to the hostel. The excitement over a pool table was pretty high. Remembering that we were masquerading as a couple in tghis hostel we checked in and found that there was a pub crawl so got ready to go out to that. We probably both have to admit to feeling a little unsociable in that we wanted to watch the baseball (stupid how quickly we have gotten into it) and Sunil wanted to enjoy his 1 dollar beers! It really felt like we were stuck in a time warp with Zombie nation playing in the background and cowboys at the bar...very strange! We stuck it out anyway...and as per usual outlasted the crawl, getting home at about 2am! (Not that I was drinking)! Anyway nothing else yet to report from Philly so when something more worth writing about happens I'll let you guys know! (And I swear I'll put pics up just as soon as I find somewhere that I can)!! xx

permalink written by  Ruck2905 on October 10, 2008 from Philadelphia, United States
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Beer to start and end the day...

Boston, United States

So our last full day in Boston and all we knew is that we wanted to have a reasonably relaxed day and a reasonably early night. So we started the day with a trip to the Sam Adams brewery in weather that can only be described as glorious summer in england! When we found the brewery in the sticks (and I mean Boston isnt exactly huge but more so than usual!) the founder of Sam Adams was outside making a TV show for the Food network! We started the tour which probably lasted a whole of 15 minutes, to allow a 45 minute beer tasting...which if I liked beer would be great I'm sure Sunil would agree since he doubled up with mine. After the tour we went to Unos for some food...which was not even comparable to the original Chicago and did leave me a little disappointed and Sunil somewhat hungry! Later in the afternoon the most energy we could summon was a walk down to fenway park which is nothing compared to the wonderous Anfield! After that our only plan was to relax, so while Sunil was doin his washing I ended up talking to a few aussie girls, a portuguese girl, and an Irish girl...we must have been talking for hours when Sunil appeared and dragged me to the pub! U know the difficulties I had there. So we spent the night chilling with a few dutch girls, english guys and an aussie...a pretty good night if u ask me!! Gotta shoot know, train to catch...I'll write again from Philly! xxx

permalink written by  Ruck2905 on October 9, 2008 from Boston, United States
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The day somebody ended up in handcuffs!!

Boston, United States

This could quite possibly been our laziest day so far...after sleeping in after the drag show the previous night not to mention the snoring, we decided we would relax a little and do laundry etc while we had the chance. We eventuallly left the hall to head down to Faneuil Hall market place and Quincy Market for a ganders and since we both had got nothing to read(and with a 6 and a half hour train journey on thurs this might be an issue). We had decided to go to the comedy night on the persuasion of another aussie and a geordie so we managed to get ourselves back in time to meet with the crowd who were majorly american, aussie or english. The guy from Newcastle is pretty much doin an identical trip to us all be it a few days behind and by greyhound not amtrak but im sure our paths with be crossing again...and on that note I have refrained from making a dig about newcastle united (not that I would even know where to begin on that one!!) We also had new roommates, 3 Germans, a father and his 2 sons who I would guess are a little older than us, So at this point I am in a room with 5 guys...well thats what I thought. The comedy club was ok, I mean some of the comedians were better than others and you know american humour just isnt the same...although Im pretty sure I was getting the jokes an awful lot faster than the texans sat behind us!! So we ambled home after the show and back to our room to notice that Jerry's (the guy who has been there since we arrived) bed was empty was a little strange since he only seems to sleep n do yoga. This morning Matthius (one of the german sons) said that the police had come in last night and arrested him...what for we dont know but if I find out I won't keep you all in suspence for too long! Bye for now x

permalink written by  Ruck2905 on October 8, 2008 from Boston, United States
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The Freedom Trail...and the drag show

Boston, United States

So our first day in Boston we once again to attack it with as much energy as we could muster! After walking through china town to South station to book our tickets to Philly we ambled over to Boston Common to begin the freedom trail. We started full of energy looking at each landmark ( although since we didnt buy a guide not quite sure what everything was), sticking closely to the bricked or painted red line on the floor. After 2 hours and a few Miles we ended at Bunkers Hill Monument over the other side of a very questionable bridge. We had seen 16 of the countrys most historic monuments at this point...apparently! On the way back to the hostel we thought that a drink would be well deserved so we stopped at the friendly neighbourhood cheers bar!! After a quick drink we headed back to the hostel for a shower n change before we went out with the hostel to a drag show (although im pretty sure sunil sneaked to the pub to watch the baseball while i showered). So we arrived at a bar called jaques in a quiet(er) area of Boston and and sat down ordered drinks and prepared for the show. The russian drag queen 'Katya' was hilarious as was Becca Le Bus. Believe me I do have pictures to follow just struggling to get them up right now!! After a good night at the show we ambled back to the hostel through a scarily quiet college town, to a disturbingly loud room, where all 3 of our roommates were snoring so loud i slept with loud music on to drown it out and a pillow over my head!! Bye for now x

permalink written by  Ruck2905 on October 7, 2008 from Boston, United States
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The First Train

Boston, United States

So the time had come to leave the Big Apple (this was after watching a fantastic comeback by the redmen!!) and board the Amtrak to Boston. We mistakenly thought this trip would last about 2 hours, so were a bit shocked by the 4 and a half hour journey. Still couldnt complain though with seats more comfortable than anything ive experienced in public transport and a variety of views, it was a relaxing train ride. As we made our way though conneticut and Rhode Island, you could see the small town feel of real america become more apparent and the arrival of the fall seemed imminent. So on our eventual arrival to Boston we made our way across to our new home for the next 4 nights and were surprised to find it in downtown pretty close to everything, with comfortable beds and a free gift of flipflops!! So after throwing our rucksacks in to the room we set of to explore...the neighbourhood a few blocks away seems to be pretty nice, with shops and restaurants etc. We decided in the end to stop to for a burger before stoppin at a bar for a drink. This little dive bar seemed pretty friendly and the owners wife was from manchester(who i debated footy with later) and had the baseball on. My god longest baseball game of my life - 12 innings until maybe half 12 but being as though it was the red sox and we are in Boston we thought it would be good. Eventually they lost. So I had spent almost 4 hours watching a sport which is kind of glorified rounders, with some drunk american guy talking absolute nonsense to me (and later being kicked out) to watch the red sox lose...hopefully the next game of the playoffs xxx

permalink written by  Ruck2905 on October 6, 2008 from Boston, United States
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