USA food tour part two - Racine, New York and Boston

Again a while since my last post, but writing that last one really took it out of me!

I arrived in Milwaulkee on the 26th of June, and was met at their airport by my friend Becky's boyfriend Brad, as becky was working. We made our way to the Boston store in Racine and wandered over to the Lancome counter where Becky works. Brad and I wandered around the shopping complex until Becky's break, which in that time I bought two flavoured lipglosses due to the craziness of the flavours - Cookie dough and Chocolate cake. Can't say the cookie dough one actually tastes like it, but it kinda smells like it. So insanely bizarre - but that's the US for you! After lunch Brad and I had some more time to kill until Becky finished work, so we went to Best Buy (an electronics store - very similar to Dick Smith) and had a look. There was also a Greek Festival that was on - they have food and drinks, some entertainment and rides. My all-time favourite Greek food is a dolmate: meat and rice wrapped up in a vine leaf. All dolmates I ever eat are compared to my Nana's, they are amazing! So being a Greek festival I was pretty sure they had some, and they did! A lot smaller than Nana's but still pretty good. We were able to catch some Greek dancing as well, which was great since I love any type of folk dancing. They had littlies - so cute - and some teens/young adults. All I wanted to do after was dance! I always look at people's feet when they dance, curiosity I guess to see what the steps are. After the Greek Festival Brad and I went to Wal-Mart, as it really fascinates me, especially the portion size of some of the food you can buy, absolutely ridiculous! While we were there I also went on a quest to find a new M&M that had been released - a pretzel M&M! I was able to find them and it's like a little pretzel ball covered in M&M chocolate, tasted pretty good too! Once Becky finished work we went back to her place, and then went out to dinner with her parents.





On Sunday I went to my very first baseball game - the Milwaulkee Brewers against the Seattle team. Before the game we 'tailgated' with some of Becky's family. Tailgating was a very bizarre phenomena for me - everyone gets to the game hours before and sets up little barbeques and grill hot dogs etc, and they sit around and drink and eat by their cars until the game is about to start. There often will be games set up as well. It was so weird to see people just hanging around and barbequing in the parking lot! Never would see that back at home, though if someone started it I'm sure it would catch on quite quickly! Becky had booked up seats by the left field as her future husband plays left field, and Brad had to mention to her a few times that the game was actually being played in the other direction. Baseball itself isn't an 'on the edge of your seat' game, but still really fun to watch. The best bit would definatly be all the calls that are yelled out. What cracked me up everytime was when a trumpet tune would play - like the one used when fox hunting in cartoons - and everyone yelled 'charge'! It was hilarious! Still makes me laugh. I also had the obligatory pretzel and peanuts while I was there, no crakerjacks though. Oh and Brewers won :) The stadium itself was pretty nifty, its roof can open up depending on the weather. When we got there it was closed as it had been sprinkling, but then opened up as the rain had stopped. After the game we went to a nearby casino for a bit to miss the traffic going home. Brad, Becky and I then went and had Chinese for dinner - where Becky insited she could eat 10 eggrolls, but just had two instead. It was really funny.

Monday was a pretty cruisy day for us. Itr was nice for me just to hang around and not do a whole lot, especially seeing I was heading to New York the next day. We went on a Kringle run - like a massive danish but way better, and also got desperately needed coffee beforehand! we were going out that night for dinner and drinks, and for about an hour and half before we were due to leave Becky and I kept saying to eachother that we should go and get ready, to which we would then remain sitting, laughing and saying we would get up after the next add break/show. Once we did eventually get up we still had the giggles for another half hour. It was quite entertaining, especially for Brad who had no idea why were were laughing, and neither did we for that matter! We went to an awesome wings place for dinner, so incredibly tasty. The also amusing feature about this place was the hand-dryer in the bathroom. It had this hole in the middle where you put your hands in to dry them, it was so weird. It also became more amusing the more we drank, as most things do. Needless to say I woke up with a bit of a headache and bellyache the next morning.

Tuesday was a long day of travel for me - I caught a bus from Racine to Chicago O'Hare airport, the place from Chicago to New York, the air-bus from the airport to the Metro station, and the Metro to my friend Anjali's place in Manhattan. I now had a massive headache by this point and desperately in need of sleep, so I crashed on the couhc for an hour until her roomate came home,and then she wasn't long after that. After eating dinner, we went to Korea town to this yogurt place - very much like the one in Las Vegas - and then walked to Times Square. Times Square is amazing. I could spend all night there just watching everything, the amount of bilboards advertising everything and the amount of people, just amazes me.

The next day I went to the United Nations building and went on a tour. It was pretty interesting, and some of the things I already knew about. Three highlights of the tour for me included a quote by Nelson Mandela about education, a 'school in a box' which can teach up to 80 students a day in areas with no schools or schools that have been demolished, and the massive room where they have meetings with heads of state from around the world. As it turns out they don't have tours while meetings are being held or while the Queen is visiting. I then went to Times Square to line up for cheaper tickets to broadway productions for the night. I would have loved to see Wicked or The Lion King again, but they weren't selling any ticktes for those. So as I was lining up and looking around Times Square at the bilboards, I decided that seeing Mary Poppins, Westside Story or Memphis would be pretty good choices. Westside story had the best price and seat, so I got my ticket to see it that night. In the hours I had between I went to a Hershey's store, didn't buy anything but had a great time looking around at all the different chocolate products. I then went to the Rockerfeller Centre and walked around the outside bit, and then into the NBC store where they had merchendise from all of the NBC productions like Seinfield, Friends and the Office. It was really fun looking around in there! After going back to Anj's place and having a quick dinner and shower - my feet were black with dirt for most of the week - I went back to Times Square to see Westside Story. The music and dancing was incredible, especially the opening number and 'America', just fantastic. A bit disappointed with the singing, I found Maria's voice to be a bit too ear splitting, but the guy playing Tony had a great voice. The only production of Westside story I had ever seen was a highschool production my friends were in, so I figured it's one fo those ones you just have to see, and I'm glad it did.

The following day I had planned to get up at a decent hour and have a whole day to spend. I ended up out of the appartment at 11am! Oh well. I walked over to the Empire State - Anj lives in a great part of New York as everything was so central- and went up to see the views. They were pretty amazing from up there, also very windy in one section. I then caught the metro down to battery park - all the while singing New York New York from On the Town in my head. I was going to catch the ferry to see the Statue of Liberty and Ellis Island, but there was an hour and a half wait AFTER you bought the ticket to get on a boat.. so I passed and went on the Staten Island Ferry instead. I then walked up Wall Street and saw the New York Stock exchange building, and then walked towards the World Trade Centre site, and then a small building which shows what they are planning on building there. Hard to believe what happened almost nine years ago. I then walked to the World Financial Centre where Anjali works and had a few drinks down at the bar below where her boyfriend came and met us. The three of us went up to her office as she has a view of the Statue of Liberty and you can also see the construction of the World Trade centre. Anj and I ended walking all the way back to her place - a good hour and a half walk, but it was fun seeing different parts of Manhattan.

I made it to the statue of Liberty and Ellis Island the next day - getting up early to miss the crowds. The Statue of liberty is just huge, it's made out of copper so that it would oxidise over the years and eventually become green. I then went to Ellis Island where my great-grandparents would have immigrated through. It was really interesting reading about the stages the immigrants went through to be able to stay in the US. They had one part of the exhibit that talked about how families have claimed that their surnames had been changed on arrival but there are no records about the changes. Ironic thing is that my family was one of those families as my grandfather's (on my Mum's side) last name got changed from Malowsky to Lewis, and some of the other part of the family had thair name changed to something starting with M- have been told this but have forgotten what it was. After that I started making my way back up to Mid-Town and stopped and walked along the Brooklyn Bridge for a bit. Scott and I had watched a program about the making of the bridge a while ago and how risky it was, and that some people were killed in the process. So kinda interesting to be walking on it! That afternoon I relocated to a hostel on the north end of Central Park bordering on Harlem as Anjali was going to a friends place for the long weekend. Hostel was pretty good, though a very wobbly bunk bed, didn't feel the safest sleeping on the top, but I made it!

Saturday I spent the morning walking around Central Park. Central Park is just amazing - definately fell in love with New York after being there. The amount of trees and little lakes and resevoirs is just unbelievable. There are so many different types of 'environments' in such a small area. I eventually made my way down to the Natural Museum, which is about halfway down the park. I only really had time to go to one museum, and the Natural History Museum came as a recommendation from my dad- it was a very good one so thanks Dad! They had a massive dinosaur exhibit there and I was able to see 'Rex' from the Nightmare at the Museum movie! I think what I found really interesting is the documentation of how they originally had some of the dinosaurs standing and how they changed their position due to new theories of what modern-day creatures they are related to. There also was a section which had skeletons of ancestors to 'modern day' animals. Not so surprisngly I was attracted to the Australian animals... The wombat and kangaroo ancestors were huge! There also were all of the animal exhibits which was pretty interesting. Especially the section full of Colobus monkey's, as every time I see a colobus monkey I think of Mr John the colobus monkey at a restaurant we went to in Kenya or Tanzania who would sometimes steal peoples food. The museum had a section of Native Americans, which I had studied in year 4, so it was a good jog for my memory about a few things! One section was about the evolution of man, and they had some bones from one of the earliest skeletons found, or maybe it was Mungo Man's skeleton that was found in South Australia... can't remember the exact details but I was pretty awestruck by it! After spending a good 3 hours there, and I didn't even see all of the exhibits, I headed back into Central Park and down to the opposite end, and was still amazed by the scenery! I met up with my friend Emma from back home in Times Square, and it was so nice to see a familiar face. We went over a few streets to 6th street which they had blocked off for the markets. The markets were nothing fantastic, since every third store was selling the same things. I was able to buy my I love NY t-shirt though - a must have item in NY!!! Emma and I ended up walking down towards the West Side and then across to the High Line, which used to be an old railroad line that has now been converted into a walkway, filled with plants, flowers and sunchairs! Something rather different, so we hung out there for a bit, also we were extremly tired from walking and walking and walking! We walked back up towards Times Square, and stopped at a diner along the way for dinner- the quintessential place to eat! The most hilarious part was i ordered a coke and could get it upgraded to a 'Texas' size for like an extra 50 cents, and I did- it was massive!!!! It was like a bowl of coke, absolutely crazy. Once we got back to Times square we went and visited the M&M's store, still just amazed me the amount of M&M merchendise they had there. I finally got back to the hostel - by subway this time - around 11 that night. A massive long day but loved every minute of it.

The Sunday was the 4th of July (American Independence Day) and the hostel had organised a 4th of July bbq for that afternoon. So I decided to spend my day traipsing around central park again as there was still so much more to see. I went across to the other side of the park this time, and came across a small forest. There was also this beautiful lake in the centre where you could hire row boats and paddle around the lake. There were all these willow trees lined along the back which made everything even more beuatiful. I also walked down Literary Walk, which has all of the trees overhanging the path, very picturesque. the whole park is just picturesque. I made my way back to the hostel's bbq and met a bunch of the girls who were staying at that hostel as well as a sister hostel in another part of New York. Again had the experince of how small the world is... There was another girl from Australia and said she lived about three hours from Sydney, so I asked whereabouts. She said near Bathurst and I told her that I lived there for uni and then moved back. Turns out she's originally from Oberon, and went to the same school as a friend of mine and knew of her. Also knew quite a few of the teachers who worked at the primary school where I did casual teaching at as well. The world is such a small place! A bunch of us then organised to go and see the fireworks by the Hudson river - we had a great joke about how there should be a firework of the American Flag, but unfortuenly there was none. As we were leaving we were continously doing headchecks to make sure we had everyone. We went to Juniors for cheesecake, very very tasty!!!

Monday I left on the bus for Boston and slept pretty much all the way-probably catching on lost sleep from my nights spent at the hostel! I was met at the bus station by my long-time friend Ishani, who is Anjali's sister. Had a very amusing time at the grovery store with her and her roommate Lydia. I think it must be a pre-requisite for med students to be a bit off with the fairies, as my friend Lara is doing med and can be extremely ditzy at time and would get along so well with Ish and Lydia!!

The next day I made my way down to the main area of Boston where I booked myself to go on the Freedom Trail tour. In the half hour that I had spare I went to Boston Gardens and just relaxed by yet another beautiful lake under a willow tree, and subsequently got interviewed and photographed by someone from the Boston Globe. Generally about how hot it was and how I felt about the heat. It reached almost 40 degreees that day, which is hot but not catastrophic in my opinion! The freedom trail was great, although hot, and it was really interesting for me to hear about some of the American history. What I loved was seeing where the Declaration of Independence was read from, rather awe inspiring! After the tour I walked to the wharf and had a wander around there before heading to Little Italy, and having a very good cibatta sandwich! I finished my day with walking around another area of downtown Boston then back to the public gardens and hanging out there again - no interview this time!

My next day was pretty cruisy as I was rather tired of being a tourist! I walked down Newburry street where there are a bunch of shops, and very cute, quaint appartment blocks. I found my way to the Boston Public library at one point, and saw a first edition of Little Women and a letter written by Louisa May Alcott. They also had a really interesting travel poster exhibit in the library, all the sorts of posters from the 1940's. There were a few from Australia, one about Tasmania and another about the train across the Nullibor (sure I have misspelt that!), so nothing really tacky which was nice for a change. I ended up by the Charles River and watching the sailboats go up and down. Very relaxing. That night I heard all about Ishani and Lydia's first days at their new rotations, quite amusing, especially with Lydia practicing her spanish!

My last day in Boston I took the train up to Harvard, and wandered around the shops for awhile, and around the resedential areas as well. I walked through Boston Yard, a very big common area with lots of trees. Would be a great place to go and just hang out after class. I then made my way to Harvard Law school, the buildings weren't as spectacular as I thought they would be, but I can say I've been to Harvard Law school now! That night I went out with Ish to one of her favourite plces which happens to be a five minute walk from her place. we went to a place called the Beehive which has jazz music and a very chilled out atmosphere. while looking for things to eat I cam across the most amazing food ever - poutine! Very Quebecoise and I could have waited one day to try it, but I didn't :) Not as good, as they didn't use the right cheesed, but still had a temporary fix. we also had a really good French beer, with an extremely long name! I had a great time catching up with Ishani, hadn't seen her in about three years, so we always had lots ot talk about, and about life in general.

I left Boston on the Friday, without much sleep the night before becuase I was so excited.. and finally arrived in Montreal still very tired - had very small planes - but extatic to be there. So that was my food journey across the US, very tasty, but I was ready to leave and head to the next place! Québec post to come soon...