G'day all,
Well I think I'm getting slacker and slacker with this blog or maybe I'm just having too much fun to keep up with it. Ok so it's been 2 weeks since my last update so let me try and remember back on what I've been up to. Dan and I had a nice last couple of days in New York and finished up our site seeing by taking the ferry to Staten Island and passing the Statue of Liberty and going up to the top of Rockefeller Center. The heat and humidity continued and eventually turned into a massive thunderstorm for our last few hours of walking around Manhattan. The funny thing is that we had near perfect weather for the last 8 or 9 days in New York, and each day we said we would go and check out the view from the top of the Rockefeller but never got around to it. By the time we got to do it we were told there was 0 visibility due to the storm so we waited a while then went up when it cleared a bit. The view was amazing and while we were up at the top th
ey were filming either a movie or a TV show up there. The director told us to be quiet and take no flash photography. Half way through one of the shoots I pull out my camera for a cheeky photo and the flash goes off and lights up the actors faces. Highly embarrassed I side step and duck away and the lady standing next to me was told off with her camera still in hand. Dan and I couldn't believe I took the photo with the flash on and after that I was too scared to pull out my camera again. We watched the sunset or what was left of it, then came back down at night. On Tuesday Christine, Dan, and I headed to Philadelphia for a couple of days and stayed at Christine's college apartment. Our main interest wasn't really to see Philadelphia but to head out to Lancaster to the 'Amish Country' and see how they live. On Wednesday we rented a car on the cheap and headed out to Lancaster. It was such an amazing thing to see the Amish riding around on the highways in their horse and buggies wearing their hats and bonnets and suits. We found it strange knowing that it's just an average day for them and they're not putting on a show for tourists, they're just heading from A to 
B. Unfortunately later on the in afternoon a storm kicked in forcing the local Amish farmers to stay indoors but while the sun was out we saw them everywhere. We felt a bit odd trying to take photos of them especially after we forced a young boy to hide behind the wheel of his buggy as Dan and I snapped away. After that we went to an Amish market and drove around the farms before doing an Amish house tour. The tour was really interesting and we learned all about the people and their beliefs and it really spun me out how different they live. When we got back to Philadelphia we drove downtown to try the famous "Philly Cheese Steak" sandwich. There are two places called 'Pats' and 'Genos' which have been competing for years and it's a
tradition to back either one or the other. We had the original 'Pats' and had to order it by saying "Can I have a wit whiz" otherwise they don't serve you as a tradition…weird. Before it got dark Dan and I ran up and down the Rocky stairs before having an early night after our big day. We left Philly on Thursday for Washington D.C. to stay with my mate Matty who travelled with in Thailand in 2006. While we were waiting for our greyhound bus in Philly we decided to have a quick peep at the 'Liberty Bell' and pulled this map out to navigate our way there. It was a bad idea as we were standing in the Ghetto and next thing some guy came up to us and said we were crazy looking like tourists here. He said this is not Philadelphia it's 'Killadelphia" murder capital of the world as he rushed us out of the back streets to the shopping mall towards the b
ell. After that bit of action we said our farewells to Christine and jumped on another dodgy ghetto greyhound bus. Once we arrived in DC we immediately liked it much better than Killadelphia and when we finally arrived at Matt's house we really fell in love with the place. Matt lives in the bachelor pad of all bachelor pads in DC in a really nice area too. Once we got settled in we were given a beer and the grand tour of his huge mansion. After that I jumped in the shower and couldn't even find it because there were so many rooms I got lost straight away. Dan and I had a cozy room in the basement to ourselves and it was perfect to prepare for the 3 huge nights of partying we had ahead of us. We soon met Matty's mates who were are all top blokes as well and headed of to this rocking bar to party the night away. Dan and I were a bit dazed the next day after such a massive night out and at 5pm finally did our first touristy thing for the day and went to the spy museum. The spy museum was reall
y awesome but we felt so guilty about not seeing anything else that we power walked to the White House and around all the monuments before it got dark. Our second night out in DC ended up being almost as big as our first night and we went to some more great bars. On Saturday Matt took us to the Pentagon and Arlington Cemetery for the day which was awesome and the changing of the guard was a real highlight. On Saturday afternoon we had huge O.C. style BBQ party at the bachelor pad with a heap of people coming around to play drinking games in the back yard. The house had its own Keg fridge and beer pong table and everything you would want for a party house. The party continued later on Matt’s brothers’ rooftop overlooking the city lights in style before we hit some more beaut bars for night 3. Dan had to leave at 7am the next morning to head up to New York then fly to LA and I left later on at night on a bus to Savannah in Georgia. We
had brilliant few days hanging with Matty and his mates and really got to soak up some American college party culture being at the house. It was sad to leave but had to be done as I took my overnight bus to Savannah. I didn’t know one thing about Savannah other than Christine’s Mum (or Mom in America) said it’s really nice so I booked my bus straight down. Without researching it too hard I soon realized they had no backpacker hostel in Savannah so I painfully had to stay in the cheapest hotel I could find for 45 bucks a night. On google maps the hotel looked close enough but once I arrived I realized I was staying way out in a real dangerous ghetto area. I ended up having to take a cab out there for 15 mins drive as the cab driver warned me not to walk around outside the hotel after dark. The hotel was nice enoug
h but I would have preferred a hostel any day of the week. I was only there for 2 nights and both nights I locked myself in my room an hour before dark and just walked around in town during the day time. There was a very unreliable but entertaining public bus that connected me hourly with downtown Savannah. I seemed to always been the only white person on the bus and stood out like a neon light but everyone on the bus was so funny it was like a comedy show. Without a doubt each time I caught the bus I had 2 or 3 African American people listening to their music with their headphones in but dancing and singing out loud on the bus without a hint of shyness. Everyone seems to be very polite down in country Georgia and everyone is always saying ‘t
hanks mam ya’ll have a nice day now’. All I could think about being in Savannah was how much everyone talked like Forest Gump and that being one of my favourite movies made me just want to talk to everyone. I ended up finding out that Savannah is where all the bench scenes in the movie were filmed. My first day was very hot and tiring in Savannah and it didn’t really grow on me all that much. On my second day in Savannah I met up with an Irish brother and sister, Louise and Kian and walked around with them all day. We had a really nice day walking everywhere at I really started to notice how beautiful the town actually is. Savannah is the most haunted city in USA and up to 75% of the buildings are haunted. Savannah has a very bloody and disease ridden history and many battles have been fought in the town center in the past 300 years. The tow
n centre has many of the original old building still standing and being lived in haunted by ghosts. It’s a very green town with lots of sweeping ghostly trees covering the streets and spooky old haunted cemeteries. One of the other great things about this town was the $1 pints they have in some of the bars which is a deal I haven’t heard of in years. I don’t think many Australians come through Savannah and my Accent seemed to stand out like I couldn’t believe. The barman like my accent so much for $1 I ended up getting 2 beers and half his meal and he refused even a tip from me. I also went to get a banana smoothie and the girl gave me 4 different kinds of smoothies for the price of 1 just because of the accent. On Wednesday night I left Savannah for Miami, Fl
orida on another dodgy overnight greyhound bus ride. I left my bags at the bus station all day as I walked around in Savannah for my last day and saw the last of the sites. When I got back to the greyhound I was told they accidentally put my bags including my laptop and bus tickets on a bus to Miami 5 hours earlier. Knowing how dodgy greyhound is I had a fairly anxious night wondering if I would ever see my bags again. I was lucky once I arrived that I got my bags back and I’ve been in Miami Beach for the past 4 days having a ball. I’ll write more about that next time.
Woodsy
Labels: amish, bachelor pad, forest gump, georgia, ghetto, ghost, greyhound, lancaster, miami, new york, philadelphia, savannah, washington dc
ey were filming either a movie or a TV show up there. The director told us to be quiet and take no flash photography. Half way through one of the shoots I pull out my camera for a cheeky photo and the flash goes off and lights up the actors faces. Highly embarrassed I side step and duck away and the lady standing next to me was told off with her camera still in hand. Dan and I couldn't believe I took the photo with the flash on and after that I was too scared to pull out my camera again. We watched the sunset or what was left of it, then came back down at night. On Tuesday Christine, Dan, and I headed to 
B. Unfortunately later on the in afternoon a storm kicked in forcing the local Amish farmers to stay indoors but while the sun was out we saw them everywhere. We felt a bit odd trying to take photos of them especially after we forced a young boy to hide behind the wheel of his buggy as Dan and I snapped away. After that we went to an Amish market and drove around the farms before doing an Amish house tour. The tour was really interesting and we learned all about the people and their beliefs and it really spun me out how different they live. When we got back to 
tradition to back either one or the other. We had the original 'Pats' and had to order it by saying "Can I have a wit whiz" otherwise they don't serve you as a tradition…weird. Before it got dark Dan and I ran up and down the Rocky stairs before having an early night after our big day. We left Philly on Thursday for 
ell. After that bit of action we said our farewells to Christine and jumped on another dodgy ghetto greyhound bus. Once we arrived in DC we immediately liked it much better than Killadelphia and when we finally arrived at Matt's house we really fell in love with the place. Matt lives in the bachelor pad of all bachelor pads in DC in a really nice area too. Once we got settled in we were given a beer and the grand tour of his huge mansion. After that I jumped in the shower and couldn't even find it because there were so many rooms I got lost straight away. Dan and I had a cozy room in the basement to ourselves and it was perfect to prepare for the 3 huge nights of partying we had ahead of us. We soon met Matty's mates who were are all top blokes as well and headed of to this rocking bar to party the night away. Dan and I were a bit dazed the next day after such a massive night out and at 5pm finally did our first touristy thing for the day and went to the spy museum. The spy museum was reall
y awesome but we felt so guilty about not seeing anything else that we power walked to the White House and around all the monuments before it got dark. Our second night out in DC ended up being almost as big as our first night and we went to some more great bars. On Saturday Matt took us to the Pentagon and 
had brilliant few days hanging with Matty and his mates and really got to soak up some American college party culture being at the house. It was sad to leave but had to be done as I took my overnight bus to 
h but I would have preferred a hostel any day of the week. I was only there for 2 nights and both nights I locked myself in my room an hour before dark and just walked around in town during the day time. There was a very unreliable but entertaining public bus that connected me hourly with downtown 
hanks mam ya’ll have a nice day now’. All I could think about being in 
n centre has many of the original old building still standing and being lived in haunted by ghosts. It’s a very green town with lots of sweeping ghostly trees covering the streets and spooky old haunted cemeteries. One of the other great things about this town was the $1 pints they have in some of the bars which is a deal I haven’t heard of in years. I don’t think many Australians come through 
