USA-vacation part 1
Might as well start before I forget the first week. :p
We left Sola for Amsterdam at around noon, monday 14th. After staying four hours in Amsterdam and confirming that Vincent Vega was right (they do serve mayonnaise with french fries in Holland), the eight-hour flight to JFK airport started. It was quite OK, they had Nickelback, Nightwish, Fall Out Boy and more good music on the plane, and I read quite a bit as well. The airport was much as expected, and we met a very rude security man. Jumped in a cab (most of our pack got a limo, I was one of the unlucky ones), and got to the hotel around 9 PM local time (around 3 AM-ish Norwegian time or something). Tired, we went to sleep. The hotel was pretty ok, and very central (55th street and 7th avenue).
The first day in New York, I, my mother and my brother went to check out the Metropolitian Art Museum, while all the others decided to see the Empire State Building. There was lots of very nice art, and we didn't spend much enough time for it to become boring. After that, we walked to Central Park, saw squirrels and chilled with some drinks at the Great Lawn. Central Park was awesome. Later, we met up with the others and decided to go down to Little Italy to have lunch. There, we discovered that not everything in America is big, as the portions was kind of small (we later decided that Little Italy doesn't count, though, as it's both "little" and "Italy"). Then, I walked alone around Chinatown quite a bit, but didn't find anything of interest (lots of bootleg anime, and wallscrolls that didn't fit in my baggage >_<). On my way back, though, I decided to stop at Times Square and walk from there. Times Square itself was pretty amazing, but on my way back, I found the most awesome store ever: Virgin Megastore. I'd previously been in one of those in Sydney, where I was amazed by the size. This one was approximately three times larger, boasting the largest DVD collection in the world. The anime section alone cost me almost an hour and $300. ^^
The next day, we jumped on a cruise-thingy, saw the Statue of Liberty and visited the Ellis Island Immigration Museum. Afterwards, it was back to the Virgin Megastore, another hour and another $250-ish in mostly anime. In the evening, we went to see a broadway musical called "In the Heights". It was amazing, and I had to buy the CD and a T-shirt.
The day we left New York came, and I would rather have stayed there for a week more. :( The train to Washington DC took three hours, and I read Animal Farm, which was great, though, a little too much like 1984. The hotel in DC was ok.
The day we spent in DC was probably the hottest so far, even the cab drivers complained about the heat. We decided to hop on a "jump-on, jump-off" tour bus. We saw The White House (which was just as expected, really) and the Washington Monument (which was pretty huge), and somehow I ended up with my mom and my sister, walking a really long distance before deciding to take a taxi back to the hotel.
The train from DC to Savannah took 11 hours. That was pretty awesome, I really needed all the reading. The hotel in Savannah was really nice.
Our day in Savannah mostly consisted of watching TV, as there weren't much shopping or swimming opportunities. It was quite ok, really.
Yesterday was another day of travelling, first a train from Savannah to Orlando, Florida, then bus from Orlando to Tampa, then taxi to the airport, where we picked up our rental cars and drove to our condos. It's pretty big and has a DVD player, washing machine and dishwasher, TV in every room and two bathrooms. It's also right on the beach and has a nice pool. I believe the two weeks we'll spend here can turn out to be quite pleasant. :)
We left Sola for Amsterdam at around noon, monday 14th. After staying four hours in Amsterdam and confirming that Vincent Vega was right (they do serve mayonnaise with french fries in Holland), the eight-hour flight to JFK airport started. It was quite OK, they had Nickelback, Nightwish, Fall Out Boy and more good music on the plane, and I read quite a bit as well. The airport was much as expected, and we met a very rude security man. Jumped in a cab (most of our pack got a limo, I was one of the unlucky ones), and got to the hotel around 9 PM local time (around 3 AM-ish Norwegian time or something). Tired, we went to sleep. The hotel was pretty ok, and very central (55th street and 7th avenue).
The first day in New York, I, my mother and my brother went to check out the Metropolitian Art Museum, while all the others decided to see the Empire State Building. There was lots of very nice art, and we didn't spend much enough time for it to become boring. After that, we walked to Central Park, saw squirrels and chilled with some drinks at the Great Lawn. Central Park was awesome. Later, we met up with the others and decided to go down to Little Italy to have lunch. There, we discovered that not everything in America is big, as the portions was kind of small (we later decided that Little Italy doesn't count, though, as it's both "little" and "Italy"). Then, I walked alone around Chinatown quite a bit, but didn't find anything of interest (lots of bootleg anime, and wallscrolls that didn't fit in my baggage >_<). On my way back, though, I decided to stop at Times Square and walk from there. Times Square itself was pretty amazing, but on my way back, I found the most awesome store ever: Virgin Megastore. I'd previously been in one of those in Sydney, where I was amazed by the size. This one was approximately three times larger, boasting the largest DVD collection in the world. The anime section alone cost me almost an hour and $300. ^^
The next day, we jumped on a cruise-thingy, saw the Statue of Liberty and visited the Ellis Island Immigration Museum. Afterwards, it was back to the Virgin Megastore, another hour and another $250-ish in mostly anime. In the evening, we went to see a broadway musical called "In the Heights". It was amazing, and I had to buy the CD and a T-shirt.
The day we left New York came, and I would rather have stayed there for a week more. :( The train to Washington DC took three hours, and I read Animal Farm, which was great, though, a little too much like 1984. The hotel in DC was ok.
The day we spent in DC was probably the hottest so far, even the cab drivers complained about the heat. We decided to hop on a "jump-on, jump-off" tour bus. We saw The White House (which was just as expected, really) and the Washington Monument (which was pretty huge), and somehow I ended up with my mom and my sister, walking a really long distance before deciding to take a taxi back to the hotel.
The train from DC to Savannah took 11 hours. That was pretty awesome, I really needed all the reading. The hotel in Savannah was really nice.
Our day in Savannah mostly consisted of watching TV, as there weren't much shopping or swimming opportunities. It was quite ok, really.
Yesterday was another day of travelling, first a train from Savannah to Orlando, Florida, then bus from Orlando to Tampa, then taxi to the airport, where we picked up our rental cars and drove to our condos. It's pretty big and has a DVD player, washing machine and dishwasher, TV in every room and two bathrooms. It's also right on the beach and has a nice pool. I believe the two weeks we'll spend here can turn out to be quite pleasant. :)