Fun and Games on North Hero Island, VT

Bike ride down to the beach











Kayaking!

Road trip to Vermont

For the next few days I'm going to be staying with some friends from BCN in a log cabin in Vermont, near the Canadian border. The motorway from Mystic, CT to Vermont was amazing, there are so many trees along the way, it's quite similar to the lake district but just bigger, a lot bigger! Here are some pictures of the trip.



This van was full of political stickers and American flags.








We stopped at a diner on the way to Vermont, it was like walking in to a film.


The log cabin in Vermont. It is amazing, right next to a huge lake and full of mosquitoes

DA BRONX

Ladies and Gentleman, the Bronx is burning.
Howard Cosell






Our walking tour of The Bronx started at the new Yankees stadium. While some of the kids on the tour were in the gift shop we stood outside and chatted to the builder that was in charge of pulling down the old stadium right in front, and he assured us that just before they started pulling it down he had gone into the changing rooms and seen the ghost of Joe di Maggio in there...

Also, we saw these two girls (clearly from the bronx) get mugged right in front of the stadium, the police tried to chase the guy that mugged them but they couldn't because the police man was too fat to run, that's America for you.







Just as we were walking past the court house in the bronx there was a load of New York Correctional vans that drove up with prisoners in them, I took my camera out and took this picture and the driver started honking the horn at me, "Young miss, no pictures allowed" Oops!




Our guide Ed in front of a 19th century house that was built by immigrants that originally lived on the lower east side of Manhattan, who when the subway was built started moving to The Bronx as a way of avoiding cramped housing and poor living conditions.



A surviving farmhouse also from the 19th Century. The Bronx at that time was farmland and was full of little barns like this.



Ain't no American flags here!


Grafiti in the bronx







Interesting policy the Bronx police have on guns here...

Harlem

I went on a walking tour of Harlem that was organised by the hostel I was staying at. Although Harlem has a bad reputation I can guarantee it is nowhere near as dangerous as people say it is, it just looks like a slightly poor neighbourhood, and there's hardly any white people on the street at all (people do tend to stare a bit) but I felt quite safe and would definately go back there.



Ed, our guide is a little man that lived in Harlem and the Bronx when he was younger. He's retired and he takes people from my hostel on tours of the suburbs. He's really cool!



This tree pattern on Malcom X avenue was made up of different coloured bricks.



Apparently in NY if you return a plastic bottle to a recycling point you can get 5 cents back, so there's people all over the city (especially in dodgy neighbourhoods collecting masses of plastic bottles and selling them on to plastic bottle merchants that then take them to recycling plants.




An ingenious solution to lack of parking space in NYC, just drive your car onto a ramp and stick it on top of someone else's...




Grafiti in Harlem in front of the Abbysinnian Baptist church where we heard the gospel choir sing, my goodness, that was a religious experience and a half! The service started off quite sedate, but by the end of it all the ladies in their white gloves and sunday best were bopping away to the music.

New York, New York

Yesterday, after a 9 hour flight, 3 films, having listened to Shakira's new album at least a hundred times and having eaten far too many of Swiss Air's free chocolates, I landed in New York. The weather wasn't exactly great (kind of reminded me of Cumbria actually) and my backpack was so heavy (I swear I will get rid of all unnecessary weight!!) that I didn't really take in any of the scenery, but my first impression of NYC is simply WOW!! it's huge! Here are a few pictures of my stroll around Central Park and of NY in general... (The bird in the picture is actually what Americans call a Robin?¿?)



Ayer,después de 9 horas de vuelo, 3 peliculas, haber escuchado el nuevo disco de Shakira como mínimo 100 veces y haber comido demasiadas chocolatinas gratis de Swiss Air, llegué a Nueva York. La verdad es que el tiempo no acompañaba demasiado, y con lo cargada que iba (juro que me voy a deshacer de todo el peso innecesario,porque cuando se lleva en la espalda se nota cada gramo) no me fijé demasiado en el recorrido hasta el hostal, pero la primera impresión de NYC es simplemente WOW!! es enorme!


Aquí van algunas fotos de mi paseo por Central Park y otras...

One more step along the world I go,
one more step along the world I go;
from the old things to the new
keep me traveling along with you:

And it's from the old I travel to the new;
keep me traveling along with you.

Round the corner of the world I turn,
more and more about the world I learn;
all the new things that I see
you'll be looking at along with me:

As I travel through the bad and good,
keep me traveling the way I should;
where I see no way to go
you'll be telling me the way, I know:

Give me courage when the world is rough,
keep me loving though the world is tough;
leap and sing in all I do,
keep me traveling along with you:

You are older than the world can be,
you are younger than the life in me;
ever old and ever new,
keep me traveling along with you:

Ready, steady, go.... Empieza el viaje!

It seems incredible, but tomorrow at 9.00 am my journey starts! First stop: New York. My plan is to spend about 3 months in the States and then on to Colombia, Peru and Argentina... From there only God knows where I'll be off to...

I'll be posting photos and random thoughts so that you can all follow my trip round America.



Aunque parezca increíble mañana a las 9.00 de la mañana empieza mi viaje!!! Primera parada: Nueva York. El plan es estar unos 3 meses en USA y de allí a Colombia, Perú y Argentina... de allí, solo Dios sabe donde iré...

Iré colgando fotos y pensamientos varios para que todos podáis seguir mis peripecias por América.