Washington Wow - the capital of the USA

Washington DC, USA
21-28 August 2010

   The capital of the United States of America is Washington DC, and it is mighty impressive. It is home to a massive collection of museums, many of them Smithsonian museums and many of them amongst the best in the world. Whatever your interests, I think you could find a museum of interest here. And, the Smithsonian's are Free! Aside from the museums there are impressive buildings, monuments and the National Botanical garden is just fabulous. I thought I would spends 4 days in Washington, but I decided to skip some other places and stay a week here. Lucky for me I had a friend hosting me, and his place is even in a top location.

Arlington cemetery. WOW! The remains of 320,000 servicemen and servicewomen are sheltered here. Some famous....

.... and some unknown. This is the tomb of the unknown soldier. It is guarded all day everyday. The guard paces 21 paces from end to end, waits 21 seconds and paces back again... again and again. It is actually and extremely moving place. Changing of the guard is every 30 minutes in summer, every hour at other times.

Union Station, WOW! It is beautiful inside and out. And massive.

"I have a dream....". The Lincoln Memorial is where Martin Luther King delivered his famous speech.

Capitol (think Parlimentla house) has free tours, you can book them through your senator or book online (as I did)... thanks Wikitravel for this hint! Yep, it is WOW too.

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The Smithsonian Natural History Museum is ... well ... WOW. The mammals! The human evolution (forget primates... this goes way further back!), the butterflies, insects, gems... there is so much to see here.

The other must see attraction, no photos, is Washington DC's Jewish Holocaust Museum (entry Free). It is definately not an uplifting experience, but heartbreaking. The stories are so sad. I have been to other fantastic Holocaust Museums before... but this gave me a much better understanding of the events that happened and how they came to happen.

Notes

Smithsonian Museums FREE

Spy Museum (Interesting and Fun, but it makes it sound like the USA never did any bad spy work) $18.

Grey Line Hop On Hop Off sightseeing bus (I would try one of the other company tours, there are at least three others. This tour had recorded commentary that isn't particularly interesting, I overheard some of the trolley bus (driver talks over mic) and it sounded more interesting) $35 for 2 days.

Metro Tickets, usually less than $2, and easy to negotiate your way around. (meaning that, another hop on hop off bus might be worth doing, but it isn't worth spending $35 on the Grey Line Washington DC bus for the quality of it's commentary, when the metro is so do-able.

Baltimore, the Charm city of crabbiness

Baltimore, Maryland, USA
18-21 August 2010

   Honestly, Baltimore is a pretty nice city, not charming and not crabby in attitude, but a pretty good place. They call themselves the Charm City, and tourists T-shirts everywhere say "I'm Crabby, Baltimore, USA" because the place is famous for crabs. And honestly, probably the best thing I did in Baltimore was eat steamed crabs with my couchsurfing host. The crabs are tasty, and the experience (you get to make a mess and use a hammer) nicely different.

Baltimore has the National Aquarium, and it's big and impressive, but I think at almost $30 admission they could let a few less people in so that maybe I could see the aquariums. It was way too crowded! But the jellyfish exhibit was extra cool and reminded that once upon a time I worked (just data entry) for a Sealife aquarium in Portsmith, England and they too had jellyfish (I think, they were actually the first public aquarium to raise jellyfish). I also experienced a 4D film at the aquarium, called "Pole to Pole", it subjected us to the elements.

The Peabody Library, is beautiful and the photo doesn't capture it. It smells like old books too.

You might have heard of the historic Lexington market. It has a lot of food stall, many old like this one, Faidleys. I had oysters at Faidleys.... They were big but the most flavourless oysters I have ever had, but I enjoyed having the time to take in the scene.

Notes ($US)
Bus Philly to Baltimore, Chinatown bus $15.
3 oysters and glass of wine in Lexington Market $9
Steamed Crab dinner with salad and glass of wine $36
Accommodation in Baltimore via Couchsurfing.

Eastern State Penitentiary, Philadelphia

The best place I visited in Philadelphia was, without a doubt, the Eastern State Penitentiary. It is America's most historic prison, famous for the method it used to incarcerate prisoners in complete solitary confinement and a breathtaking architectural design. Also famous for having held Al Capone. The prison isn't being repaired or restored (it closed in 1971), and this adds to the dramatic scene. I have linked the website below and I recommend you take a look.

Just one of the wings.

Notes:
Entry $12 Adults.
http://www.easternstate.org/

Philly Cheese Steak

This is what you have to eat when in Philly. My hosts explained that they are best after a night of drinking, so we went to a bar first. We didn't make a big or heavy night of it, and picked up the Philly Cheese Steaks at about 11pm. And here is mine, chopped steak, moistly cooked with loads of oil, cheese, onion. I also got tomato added in. The taste? well, it's heavy, I would eat one again, but it wouldn't be something I would seek out.

Notes

Philly Cheese Steak, about $8.

Love letters on the streets of Philadelphia.

Philadelphia, PA, USA
15-18 August 2010.

Public art project "A love letter for you".

Across 50 rooftops and walls along a train line of Philadelphia are these public love letters. I liked it a lot. At one stage, spread across 3 walls, I saw "we share defeats" "we share sheets" "we share receipts". The art could be on either side of the tracks and facing either direction, so it would take a lot of going back and forth to see it all, I probably saw about a quarter of them, but was completely happy with what I saw.

 Here are two of the works.

 This is in a building in Philadelphia which I forget the name of. As you looked up (as this figurine encouraged) you saw all these figures walking across beams all the way up.

Notes
Metro tickets in Philly are $2 each.

Philadelphia in the house of friends

Yay! I finally made it to the USA. My insurance got me a direct replacement flight on Saturday night and from the flight I went to directly to the train station and came to Philadelphia. It is such a relief to be here! Each of the 3 times I had been in Lima my departure had been delayed and I had got the idea that I might never escape. So finally making it here is a big relief.
   I am staying in the house of friends in Philadelphia. I met one of the guys in Colombia and now I know the rest of the house I am using the plural and saying that we are all friends. It's really nice to be here in this house, and nice to be in the USA, which isn't the same as home but feels so much more familiar.
   My friends tell me the Philly is the 5th biggest city in the USA. Yikes, I hadn't a clue prior to arriving. There is a lot to see here. A lot of it would be more interesting if you were an American tourist, because this is the heartland of the freedom, independence movement, and the constitution, and I'm not USA patriotic enough to get the most out of these museums. But I am impressed by the old buildings and tree lined streets and the neighbourhoods (another thing Philly is famous for). And I have always been impressed by American patriotism, which I feel is much stronger than Australian patriotism.
   Yesterday I went sightseeing and the places I most enjoyed were the Quaker buildings. Not for the buildings themselves, but I found myself really interested in the Quaker movement and bought a booklet to help me understand better. When I was told that Quakers refuse to put their hand on the bible in court and swear to tell the truth because this action implies that you needn't tell the truth the rest of the time, I understood completely, I have always thought the same.
   My friends and I finished the day by going to an awesome bar (decorated very grunge like with graffiti and dodgem cars to sit in), and then getting the famous Philly cheese steaks to finish off (apparently they are best eaten after drinking). Despite Mikes description of the Cheese steaks (which sounded terrible) I quite enjoyed it. Obviously, it's not gourmet cuisine, but more like what I used to get from the Shell servo in my home town after the towns only night club closed it's doors for the night. Definitely grub for after drinking.
   Today I am off to see the Art museum and the old goal.

Keep travelling, but don't walk too much

   Two hours prior to my scheduled departure for the airport on Saturday night I tripped over and got to go to the hospital emergency instead. I was heading to the USA to travel 3 weeks prior to meeting my mum. Instead I was told absolute physical rest, minimum 4 days. I was also given injections 3 days for the pain, and oral drugs. Arrgh. How could something so simple be so bad?
   I was so looking forward to speaking just English and understanding everything. Let's hope I can get a flight out soon! This morning the doctor cleared me to travel again, but told me I shouldn't be walking much.... seems a difficult request to me.

The Must do sites of Peru

Cuszo, Aguas Calientes, and Machu Picchu
27 July 2010 - 6 August 2010

   The first time I came close to this part of the world, Machu Picchu was closed because of the flooding and landslides at the beginning of this year. I wasn't too sad, it was one of those sites I was going to do because everybody  says you must, and it being closed was letting me off the hook.
   Now I have been to this part of the world I can say yes, Cuzco is beautiful and Machu Picchu impressive. But we knew that, right?

In Cuzco, by night

Saqsayhuaman (say it like 'sexy woman', you'll be close). Just outside of Cusco, and very impressive.

Saqsayhuaman has Inca slippery-slides!

A view.

My favourite wow site for the week (well I had less expectations of this, for MP I had too many expectations). this is Moray. They believe it was used for agricultural experimentation. The dots are young people rehearsing for a festival.

Natural dyes of Alpaca Wool.

And, incase you don't recognise it, MachuPicchu!

Notes:
Accomodation Cusco: Incama hostel. loved it, great value hostel. friendly and clean! $11 for a dorm of 3 girls only (finaly girls only).
Accomodation Aguas Calientes: Angie S..... don't bother, what is offered is not delivered, We were quoted and shown a room with private bath, then switched to shared bath after we had paid and then they wanted us to pay to hire towels (not on my nellie!)
Dining Aguas Calientes: be sure to ask for exactly what you'll get and what it will cost in advance, otherwise they sneak things onto the bill. See a local tax on your bill? refuse to pay it!
Train: Backpacker Poroy (Cusco) to Aguas Calientes $48, Taxi to Poroy S/30 ($11). Vistadome (supposed better service) Aguas Calientes to Ollantaytambo (half way) $53 (no better seats, food a bit better). Collectivo Ollantaytambo to Cuzso S/10 ($3.50)
Bus Aguas Calientes to MachuPicchu and back $14.
Entry to MachuPicchu, student price S/.63 ($23)
Entry to 16 sites in and around Cusco, 10 day ticket, student price S/.70 ($25).

Peruvian Men still annoying me

Cuzco, Peru
27 July 2010 - 6 August 2010

   My guide book (Footprints South American Handbook) spoke of a restaurant in Cusco that has items on it's menu utilizing only ingredientes available during the Inca times. I wanted to go, so in my first few days in Cusco I went to the restaurant to view the menu, and the waiter 'came onto me' so strongly that I didn't enter.
   In Aguas Calientes, I became friends with a Brazilian backpacker, and on return to Cusco I convinced him to go to the restaurant with me. It was beautiful! The food lovely, and the service very special. And I loved the music! But being that we planned to go dancing afterwards and neither of us had bought our cameras, we needed to return the next day, during the day, for photos and because I wanted to buy their CD of music. 
   On return the next day we were treated to a special visit of a 'secret museum' they have upstairs. And while Marcelo (the Brazilian) was setting up his camera for a photo of us and 'the guide' (the same waiter), the guide couldn't help himself but to have his arm around me (for the photo) and be caressing my side. Arrgh! I never know what to do in these situations. I mean it seems harmless enough, a small annoyance, and I didn't want to ruin the experience by making things nasty.
   Later Marcelo asked me if I thought we should have tipped for the special visit... I told him I thought not. Money was not the guides motivating factor.

This is he. The special treat included him playing us the Inca instruments.

Doesn't look half as good in the photo.

Notes:
Inkanato Restaurant, Calle San Agustin 280, Cusco. Inca Food about $14 a plate. Great serving sizes, great decor, great atmosphere. But single girls, take a guy.