So here it is, the very 1st e-letter to friends and family chronicling the meanderings and exploits of our trip to Mexico and beyond. We'll try and send an e-ramble every month or so, and as this is for family as well as friends, it will be an edited version, leaving out things like drunken hi-jinx, breaking federal laws and spending time with the wrong people in the wrong part of town, doing the wrong type of things.
New York City
View from the Brooklyn Bridge
Got to New York City on 2nd February on a beautiful crisp winters day. About 2 feet of snow, but the city still going about its business. In a nutshell, we blitzed the whole town - Manhattan, Brooklyn, South Bronx and Harlem - Empire State, Times Square, Chinatown (great noodle soup). Best bits were jogging in Central Park in the snow, ice skating next to 5th Avenue (like in Woody Allen Movies) and the fantastic Egyptian collection at the Met Museum (even better than the stuff they've got in Egypt, also good pop memorabilia museum, shame on Sheffield). Dakota building where Lennon got shot and Strawberry Fields, across from it in the park. Nearly got to Ricki Lake (GO RICKI, GO RICKI), but just to much to see and do.
Ice Skating in Central Park
Stayed in NYC for 4 nights and hung out with Chris's good mate from Belfast Roger, now some kind of high-powered yuppie executive in Manhattan, living in a groovy apartment in the East Village. Went drinking in dozens of Irish bars and a great Texan bar, the Rodeo, just so that Tony could feel at home. And saw some great modern jazz at The Bitter End in Soho.
On the last day in NYC headed to the famous Yankee Stadium in the South Bronx - SB not as scary as it sounds, and checked out surreal sunsets on Coney Island snow-covered beach, paying homage to Van Morrison. Then, courtesy of Tony's Dad gorged ourselves on oysters and champagne at Grand Central "like licking phlegm off a turtle" - Chris. A big night out in the East Village, chosen in preference to a meal at the world first S and M restaurant, and we were up not so bright and early for the flight to Miami.
More Free Stuff in an Irish PubA couple of thoughts on NYC. the subway is crazy, locals asked us for directions. Does anyone know how to use the system? We got showered with freebies all the time in bars - left NYC with 5 new t-shirts, 2 sports bags and a baseball cap. A good result. Finally despite the enduring image, the place is actually safe. The seediness and sense of danger is sadly gone. Still plenty of nutters though.
To pass the time we established a few challenges for each other in our time away. Some can't be repeated here, but here's a couple:
- Tony to grow ponytail and get a "six pack"
- Chris to barter everything he owns by the time of return to UK. No giveaways, no accidental losses, all bartered for other items.
Florida
Miami South BeachLike the end of "Midnight Cowboy", with Jon Voight and Dustin Hoffman, but instead we took the plane - On down to sunny Miami Beach, nursing major hangover. As all things in the US, Miami Beach is not just a little stretch of sand with a few donkeys and a stall selling ice-cream and "kiss me Quick" sun-hats, but an enormous neighborhood of hotels, condos, Art Deco buildings, canals, marinas, and bays stretching about 20 miles. Bloody hell! We settled on groovy South Beach with all the (other) beautiful people. The place drowns in its own "fabulousness" and the movie industry was in town with the film festival. stayed in historic Clay Hotel (scene of Al Capones gambling syndicate), and then moved to Banana Bungalow - pool, bar, games, kayaks, all the stuff. Top stuff included canoeing the local canals, rollerblading on the beachfront, visit to a gun club to shoot 38 revolvers and 45s, watching filming of a pop video on the beach, and endless photo shoots up and down the streets. Also to fund the whole exercise, one morning we both made 1500 pound before breakfast by flogging internet shares - the rest of the day was spent gloating. Met some really nice folks at the hostel and of course had one or two beers.
Next hired a car and headed up the east coast and then to Orlando. The hostel Chris stayed in before was apparently replaced by a coffee shop. Bugger! Big drunken night out at Church Street Station, and next day down to Cocoa beach, and at 12.40pm eastern time, witnessed the space shuttle Endeavor blasting off. Which was nice. A quick tour of Kennedy (big rockets and alligators) then down to Fort Lauderdale - famous for spring break fraternity parties. Big night at the pubs and clubs in the river walk area. (Tony didn't get back till 11am, said something about "hot-tubs"). Also accepting that he may only be able to grow a ponytail from the back of his head, Tony let Chris shave his head into a mohican. Now looks a bit like a cross between Vanilla Ice and Travis Bickle from Taxi Driver "you lookin´at me". Lots of jobs in FL for foreigners working on all the yachts and boats registered under foreign flags - all of them are actually, in order to exploit cheap labour. Next drove to Florida City (one street, NOT a city) stopping off at Palm Beach and the Police Museum in Miami - photos with Robocop, and sitting in Electric Chair. Quality entertainment. Florida city is on the edge of the Everglades, and we stayed in what amounted to a hippy commune. Drove and biked the Park, really beautiful, and Tony saw a panther or something. Went canoeing at dusk around the mangroves with a 12 pack of Bud, saw a manatee and chased a dolphin around the bay. Beery night out at the Last Chance Saloon - it really exists !
Then onto the Key Largo and finally Key West, a really pretty town and the southernmost part of the US. Tony did his open water diving course and Chris spoodled around diving, snorkeling and chilling out. Time now to brush up on our Spanish as next step is Mexico. Hola, arriba, gracias, etcetera.
(PS We have conceived a great new web-based idea which will make us both dot-com billionaires. It's called wiblet.com. Chris is doing the business plan, and Tony the clever stuff. It's a java-based personalised dynamic statistic banner generator tool. It might just work).
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