Hello Portsmouth

We are now safely home again and are finishing off our blog by matching the iconic sights we have seen around the world with what we can offer visitors in Portsmouth.

First of all we had to take Radish back to the links (Bonds of Frienship) in Portsmouth.  He made a friend himself in Australia and Sheila the Sheep has accompanied him home

These links are identical to the links in Loftus Street Sydney.


As regards the iconic parallels on Pompey- look below

A large white structure at the entrance to a world famous harbour  that went way over budget and took years to complete:  The Spinnaker Tower

Hollywood may have Universal Studios and fantastic rides but we have South Parade Pier where Tommy, Pinball Wizard was filmed and Pirate Isalnd mini golf

Please note clear blue sky.


San Francisco had Alcatraz and we have the forts in the Solent

Melbourne and Sydney may have had superb stadiums but we have the Mountbatten Centre sports centre and covered 50 metre pool

Boston may be the home of Harvard University with all the famous graduates but we have Portsmouth University with Sue as a graduate

And last but not least Boston also had the USS Constitution but Portsmouth is home to HMS Victory

It is good to be home and as you can see from this blog Portsmouth has lots to offer to visitors so if any of the people we met on our travels would like to visit we would be very pleased to put you up.  (Special rates for family and friends)

Homeward Bound or a Fist full of Dollars

We are finally on our way home and sat at Logan airport waiting for the flight to London. The temperature plummeted today back to minus 5 all day with strong winds so a massive chill factor.  I was thinking of all those Ugg boots we saw in Australia when the temperature was 35 degrees and I foolishly didn't buy any!

We went up the Prudential Tower today which has a viewing floor on the 50th floor with an audio guide to tell us about the city. What surprises me is that every guide mentions the Italian influence on the city and the new Latino arrivals but fails to mention all the Irish and the number of Irish pubs and gallons of Guiness that are drunk. Here we are in Dooleys with Richard's cousins .and dad Barney.  Barney was actually part of the "Big Dig" excavatijng all the new tunnel system in Boston so definitely deserves a mention in the Guide books

Here are some of the views from the tower - This is another skyscraper that was built with 10,000 panes of mirrored glass but some of the panes fell out and they had to replace them all before the building could be used. It does reflect the surrounding area beautifully.  It had to be built at an angle as the church down below had rights to the light.

One of the most famous sights is the Fenway stadium

According to signs in our taxi to the airport, Boston invented the snow machine.  Looking at these photos you must wonder why they bothered.


The river Charles runs through the middle separating Boston from Cambridge.  It is solid ice at the moment but there are 6 miles of tree lined promenades along the edge which must be lovely in summer.

The best sight in the snow is the State House with a gleaming god leaf covered dome which is just above the common.  They painted over the dome in WW2 as they thought it made rather a good target.

In England we argue whether you pronounce scone to rhyme with Boston or stone, in the states they solve this by calling them biscuits.  Biscuits of course are cookies.

Every part of this tour has been fantastic but it is now time to go home so thanks to all the family and friends we have met and if we win the lottery we will do it all again but maybe go to Australia when it is cooler and Boston when it is warmer

Friends Reunited

We have managed to meet up with Richard's cousins Thomas and Mary and partners and their dad Barney .We spent a great evening in an Irish pub with great company, great music and great food + a few pints of Guiness (purely medicinal)

Mary and Colm

Tom and Jen (+ Radish)

We crossed the river today and went up to Harvard.  Here is a statue of John Harvard who founded the university in 1638.

Two previous graduates are George W Bush, and President Obama.  Two famous drop outs are Matt Damon and Bill Gates. 

The students stay are in some of these Clapperboard houses

We did actually have blue sky today and the temperatures soared to 10 degrees centigrade.  The piles of snow are starting to melt but they have a way to go yet.

This is our final evening in the USA and we are flying home tomorrow. Not sure if I remember how to use a cooker and will be lost if someone doesn't put a menu in front of me and ask if I want fries or guacamole with it.  Che has offered to provide food for us but has said it will be Australian prices not American!

Brrrrilliant Boston

We have gone from 35 degrees celsius in Western Australia to 35 fahrenheit in Boston and I can tell you there is quite a difference  . About minus 5 at the moment.  I am wearing all my clothes at once to try and keep warm.  The pavements and roads have been cleared but the snow is just stacked up on the sides.

We did a trolley bus tour to be able to sit in the warm and see what is available. Obviously the main focus is on beating the English and gaining independence.  We also heard other snippets of history like the time a huge vat of molasses containing over a million gallons burst and created a sticky tidal wave that destroyed houses and killed over 20 people.  Apparently that is why the Boston people stick together now.  Boom boom.

There is a lovely park in the middle of the city and it certainly looks like a winter wonderland with a skating rink in the middle. Designed by the same man who designed Central Park New York. Skaters are in the background

The trolley did take us over to Cambridge where Harvard University is but we were too cold to get off the bus.  Maybe try tomorrow.

The weather has been exceptionally cold and even the river is frozen.

We  did of course pass the Cheers Bar which apparently is very different inside but they have created another one somewhere else in Boston which looks the same inside.  Not sure if everyone knows your name though.

Boston is full of Irish Bars and we are meetng Richard's cousin Mary tomorrow to go for a meal and then off to an Irish bar to hear her husband's group in an Irish Bar. 

We noticed strange towers all over the city and these are huge air filters that clean the air from all the tunnels that take traffic under the city.  We are just across the bay from Logan International airport and the taxi brought us through a long tunnel to the hotel.  We crossed 3 time zones flying across the states so lost 3 hours in that flight and are now only 5 hours out from the UK.

Too cold to notice any strange names today but one I had been confused about in LA was signs saying PED XING all over the place until I finally realised it meant Pedestrian Crossing.  I thought it had been in recognition of some famous Chinese American.

Off to do a bit of history tomorrow and see how the British got beat and lost the colony.  Should be fun.

Have tried phoning home but no-one is ever in.  Have you all emigrated?

Los Angeles Day 2 / Los Angeles Dia Dos

Am now used to getting everything in English and Spanish with a flavour of Japanese.  We are staying in a Japanese Hotel in an area called little Tokyo which has Japanese tea shops and Japanese supermarkets.  We were slightly surprsed to go round the side of the hotel and find a replica of the space shuttle as a memorial to the Japanese American colonel who went up on it.

We then walked through a more Spanish area with lots of murals.  This was one in the veg market

There was also the world's shortest fenicular railway here called Angels Flight.  (Unusual for USA to have the smallest of something)

Our main destination for the day was Universal Studios. We had never done a theme park before and were interested to see what was on offer.  We thoroughly enjoyed ourselves and tried to make the most of photo opportunities and soak up the atmosphere. Here is Martin with the one that didn't get away.  He is definitely going to need a bigger boat!

The studio tour showed us some amazing special effects - we experienced King Kong and also passed some spectacular car stunts.  You could feel the heat of the flames.

There was also the flood in the Mexican village.

The one area we couldn't go into was Wisteria Lane as they were actually filming there but we did just get a glimpse

After the studio tour we went to watch the animal actors.  They had cats, dogs, pigeons, chickens, a pig a falcon, a parrot and of course a monkey and an orangutang.  The show was introduced by a monkey

We also saw a Shrek show, a special effects show and a Waterworld extravaganza.  I hated the film with Kevin Costner but this show was excellent with people whizzing round on jet skis aand jumping off high platforms

We then had a quick look round universal city which springs into life when the park closes.

Having been entertained all day we were glad to go back to the hotel but sad to pack away all the summer clothes and get out the warm jumpers again.  5 hour flight to Boston tomorrow .  Now need to do our homework on what to see in Boston.  The guidebooks we got for Christmas have been very useful as we are usually such a short time in the cities that we need to know what to see.

Lots of good signs in the park today but favourite was "The Brews Brothers" on a coffee stall

So goodbye/ adios from California

Lovely Los Angeles

It is only a short flight from San Francisco to LA but quite a different feel to the place.  Everything is much more Spanish and all signs and announcements are in English and Spanish.  My favourite sign at the airport was to remind you to take the bullets out of your gun before you pack it!!! Think of the trouble at Heathrow if you try and take a nailfile on board.


We went to see our Lady of the Angels new cathedral.  It looks a bit bleak from the outside but is set around a beautiful couryard with fountains and orange trees and is stunning inside.  There is also a a garden full of statues for the children to play on.  Can you name the bible stories connected with these animals?

The cathedral was pretty spectacular inside and the only Catholic church I had been in with no stations of the cross along the walls.

We then caught the metro to Hollywood Boulevard (for $6 you can travel all day on the metro and buses within the city)  Spotted lots of famous names and of course had to take a picture of Radish .

There are lots of people dressed up as spiderman etc so lots of photo opportunities

My favourite poster for valentines day was this one with Ken

Blue sky and sunshine all the way for us in LA.  I think winter here just means it gets dark earlier.  This is how Martin measures up to the tallest man who ever lived

The metro entrance here was pretty spectacular where they had old film spools covering the ceiling and tiles with characters from famous movies.

In the afternoon we took the metro out to Long Beach and saw the liner the Queen Mary

This was in another beautiful site near a development called rainbow village.  Very pretty - like Gunwharf but with sunshine.

One more day in the sunshine tomorrow and then off to Boston and the snow and ice. 

My favourite sign today was the unforgettable " Messrs Stricken and Sniveller"  Undertakers

San Francisco day 2

We started the day with breakfast in an American Diner 50s style, unfortunately it wasn't 1950 prices.

Afterwards we took a cable car to Fishermans Wharf again.  The cars are billed as living museums and they are great to ride on and you can hear the cable creaking underneath.

Fishermans Wharf is a real tourist trap but we did find the free museum with the old 25 cent machines from amusement arcades.  Some very intersting machines - slide shows of the earthquake and fire in the 1880s (shake and bake as they have called it).  One of the most unusual was "The opium den" which showed the perils of smoking opium.

There was also more signs with Rita the Riveter and I had a go as posing as her.  Apparently this poster was only used for a couple of weeks during the war and then rediscovered recently by the women's movement and it is everywhere now  (refer to blog in Hawaii)

We then took a trolley bus and wandered around various areas of the city.  We did end up in Castro the Gay centre of town and saw some very strange sights.  The weirdest was a man who was completely naked (apart from a hat) walking down thee road at 3 in the afternoon.  No photos of that thankfully.

Dog walking seems to be big business here and you can aparently make a good living from it.  Would you want to poop scoop this lot?







We have had to get used to American English after the Australian version. 

Thongs are no longer something you wear on your feet but you do wear your pants on top of your pants here

An entree is your main meal here

A Mimosa is a Bucks Fizz


My favourite signs today have been

"A site for sore eyes"  An opticians
"The Odditorium" - entry to Ripley museum

We also found out that the term "Buffalo Soldiers"  as in Bob Marley song etc comes from what the Red Indians called the black soldiers when they first saw them as they thought their hair looked like buffalo skins



We are off to Los Angeles tomorrow, thankfully a short flight and the same time zone.  Last warm place before we hit Boston

San Francisco and Alcatraz

Have just done the urban safari tour.  Here is the bus and driver.  He must have the longest dreadlocks ever. There were 13 people on the bus and they were all Australians apart from me and Martin.

 

Here are Martin and me by the Golden Gate. We are wearing pith helmets as we are on safari. Mark please note we are in short sleeves, the sky is blue and no sign of fog anywhere!

.

We went around the city and the streets really are as steep as they look in films.  We saw where Mrs Doubtfire was filmed and many other films and of course the Tropicana advert.

We stopped at the Golden Gate of course and there are marks on the wall for joggers to touch to show they got this far and there are also paw marks underneath for the dog to touch too.

The city is an odd mixture of old and new.  Here is city hall with a new sculpture donated by China to show the conflict between new and old values.

Some of the houses have great murals on the side

We went across to Alcatraz in the afternoon.  This is a only 12 minute ferry ride but must have been very daunting for the prisoners who had no way out.

The prison was closed in 1963 but occupied by Indians (Native Americans) in the 70s to protest about losing their lands.

Here is Radish in a cell in Alcatraz

After returning to the mainland we went to Fisherman's Wharf and watched the sealions who are just basking on a pontoon in the harbour