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Well, our American adventure is drawing to a close. It's hard to pick the best part. After leaving Boston, we made our way to Nantucket, the theme of Christine's favourite poem, "there once was a man from Nantucket" (the rest is too rude to reproduce here, look it up!) The trip down the coast of New Hampshire was incredible. Massive, beautiful homes overlooking the Atlantic all the way down. A lot for sale and we thought of buying one but the air was too salty. Caught a ferry to Nantucket and stayed there for a couple of nights. The epitome of the quiet fishing village with a permanent population of only 12,000. Rode bikes around the entire island in about a day. From there it was on to New Haven where we stayed at Yale University. Yale was incredible. Magnificent sandstone buildings with inner courtyards covered in trees for the students to just hang out and play (it is also where Rory from Gilmour Girls went to school - yes, I watched the show and I don't care who knows it) We did a walking tour that introduced us to all the significant landmarks (including an old statue whose foot the students rubbed for luck in their studies... I rubbed it too). We also now know that Yale students used to entertain themselves by throwing used pizza plates to one another. The name of the pizza company? Frisbee! I knew pizza was educational...
After Yale it was on to Princeton, New York where we had the pleasure of catching up with the Downe's. We had dinner and brunch with Stephanie, Greg, Toni and James and then Stephanie graciously gave us a tour of Princeton where she is doing her post-doctoral work. Needless to say all the Ivy League touring was quite motivational and has prompted me to get off my arse and do a some work on my own thesis, which had been on a little bit of a hiatus! From Princeton it was on to Washington DC where we stayed at Arlington for three nights, just the other side of the Potomac from the city centre. We spent two whole days there and saw the Air and Space Museum, the Natural History Museum and the American History Museum. All of it is free and paid for by the Smithsonian Institute and donations. Puts us to shame! They really know how to preserve what's important to them. The Apollo capsule is still my favourite exhibit - I remember it from when I was a kid. It is almost inconceivable that three men rode that thing into space with a thousand tonnes of rocket fuel strapped to their butts. Salute!

The second day in Washington we visited the Capitol Building and the Library of Congress (the place where I want to get buried) before strolling down Pennsylvania Ave to the White House. Christine was not that impressed with the White House and indicated that when she was leader of the free world (civilisation trembles at the thought) she would move into the house next door, which, I have to agree, was a lot nicer. In fact, I think Kirribilly house is nicer! Anyway, we then moved onto the Lincoln memorial and the Washington Monument. Love Lincoln's speech engraved on the wall - "freedom shall not perish from the earth" and again, made me a little embarrassed when I think of our politicians squabbling over who is more 'legitimate'. I doubt history will record their words...

The last five days we have spent at the New York Athletic Club on South Central Park, New York City. I personally loved the Natural History Museum, but Christine was creeped out by all the taxidermy on display. She is far more comfortable when they are human exhibits and not animals! We also finally got to visit the Statue of Liberty. Last time in New York we missed it and saw Statten Island Ferry Terminal instead. Not the same. Did not know that Eiffel (of Eiffel tower fame) actually designed the metal skeleton that holds the copper skin together, and the skin is only a couple of millimetres thick! Fascinating. A little more sombre was the World Trade Centre site. Last time we were here, 10 years ago, the towers were still standing. We had breakfast there and then 9 months later they were gone. It's difficult to convey the sense of absence at the site. A literal and metaphorical 'hole' in the middle of New York. The great news is they are rebuilding around a memorial garden and the design looks magnificent. Should be ready by the tenth anniversary next year.

We also took some advice from a guy Christine introduced herself too while we were eating dinner in Arlington, and caught a bus up to West Point to watch Army play North Texas University. There were fireworks, cannons, marching bands, cheerleaders, parachute displays, hall of fame presentations, charity donations and, oh yes, they squeezed in a game of football. 4 hours to play one game of football! And about 60 guys per team but only 11 on the field at once. Crazy, but fun. A little like our Macquarie uni footy at home... without the cheerleaders, fireworks, parachutists, spectators, stadium etc etc.


Our last day in New York was probably the best. Caught up with Francis and Roopa for breakfast in little India. Francis is a cousin of my friend Dunstan and Roopa is his lovely wife (Dunstan, how many cousins do you have?). We then went up to the Metropolitan Museum of Art for most of the afternoon. Exquisite paintings, suits of armour from the middle ages (guys then were really short but apparently very well endowed if you believe the size of the cod-pieces they wore) and an amazing collection of antique pistols and swords (for guys who knew they weren't well endowed and didn't like you saying so). All in all a brilliant time but now looking forward to our first European port of call Helsinki. Peace out ... Brad