Macswayround Blog - Wednesday, 03 December 2008

THIS IS NEW YORK CITY!!

OK – time for more about our “New York Experience”–just not sure where to begin - In the words of Jemma and Ben –“WOW! “

The sights, the power and the energy that is endlessly being generated throughout this city- were like nothing we have experienced before! “The city that never sleeps.” .....has never been so true....and the speed and dynamics of this city –we can only compare to a whirlwind! Every-one seems to be going about their business at a high pace –but unlike us, they seem to know where they are going!

Time Square was an amazing experience - a host of bright lights, music, illuminated TV screens and home to countless shops, stores, Broadway Theatres, the Arts and more........the illuminated screens and signs are aptly known as ‘Spectaculars’ with the largest of these sporting the title of ‘Jumbotrons’. Time Square is home to the World’s Largest Toy-store - which advertises itself as being at the “Heart of Times Square and the Crossroads of the world”. The store has a life sized animatronics T.Rex to greet you at the entrance and houses a 60 foot tall indoor operational Ferris wheel and also a two story life- sized Barbie House!

We saw the Naked Cowboy – now famous for his presence in Times Square –who has been entertaining the crowds for approximately 10 years. He has nothing more than a cowboy hat, briefs and a guitar to strum and sing along to! A sight to be seen indeed - and apparently he can be seen out in all weather’s – summer and winter alike!

We caught a glimpse of Wall Street and the New York Stock Exchange and got as close as you are able to get to it –as it now has permanent road blockades for extra security.

The Rockefeller Centre is named after the multi-millionaire – John. D. Rockefeller and includes 19 commercial building spanning some 19 acres. The enormous Christmas tree was just being decorated when we were there and was above a magical ice skating rink that Jemma found just too tempting! It reminded us all of a winter wonderland.

The Trumps Tower was exquisite and enormous too and lays claim to being the tallest residential building. Many famous names own luxury apartments here.

We took the trek up to the top of the very famous Empire State Building – and spent a while feeling on top of the world! What a feeling to be looking down over everything else! We were able to have a quick lesson on distances and perspective –as Ben had previously disbelieved us about this being taller than some of the other sky scrapers that we saw that were closer to us at the time!. When we were at the top (well as high as we were allowed at floor 86!) and out in the open –air Observatory, we could all see that this was the highest building! Today it remains one of the tallest buildings in the world with the very top of its art deco rising to 448.7 metres into the air! The 86^th floor was 320 metres high which was plenty high enough –thank-you! And Ben (again!) was even trying to climb higher still when he was on the outside deck – we are not quite sure why?!

We visited the United Nations Centre where they have a model of an enormous 6 Shooter Pistol with a knot tied in the end -as a symbol of peace. There are 192 countries who are members of the United Nations and their flags are all displayed in alphabetical order around the outside of the buildings.

We just had to take a stroll down Fifth Avenue and we took a look inside a famous sweetie shop while we were there! This street is said to be the most expensive street to shop in – in the world!!

Our ferry crossing out to Liberty Island was an adventure. We saw Ellis Island where some 12 million people came into the USA during the years between 1892 and 1954. The first views of the Statue of Liberty (for real!) in the distance- were overwhelming! The sheer size of the statue up close showed us how much power and significance she has, as the torch is held so high. The Statue is made from copper and has turned the green colour that we see today through the process of oxidisation.

We were very fortunate to meet John, the managing director of Topaz Tours (for sightseeing tours of New York City) -as his wealth of knowledge and experience within New York City seemed second to none! He was very entertaining as he shared many facts and figures and we would highly recommend enhancing your trip by joining in on one of the various tours that his company has to offer!

Although the speed of this city made us all dizzy as it was a world away from what is familiar to us- there was definitely a magical appeal and you couldn’t help but look some more and soak in every moment of the time. Each time we passed through the city, driving right through Manhattan, China Town and around the outskirts –the views seemed magnetic and time stood still as we were lost in the immensity of the Manhattan Skyline..............What an AWESOME experience!!

FACT-IODS!

*The Christmas tree at the Rockefeller Centre is now decorated with approximately 300,000 lights!

* New York City has an overall population of approximately 9.7 million people.

* The Brooklyn Borough of New York has a population of approximately 4 million people.

* The Queens Borough of New York has a population of approximately 2.5 million people.

* The Staten Island Borough of New York has a population of approximately 0.5 million people.

* The Manhattan Borough of New York has a population of approximately 1.6 million people.

* The Bronx Borough of New York has a population of approximately 1.1 million people.

* The oldest building in New York City was built in 1790.

*For 8 out of the last 9 years – New York has been named as the safest BIG CITY (with a population of over 1 Million!).

* During the time between 1892 and 1954 – some 12 million immigrants came into the USA through Ellis Island. Today the Island is a memorial to all who have made the nation their adopted home.

* New York City is home to the Largest Shopping Store in the world! – Macy’s has 9 floors of shopping heaven!

* New York has a larger Jewish population than Israel (We are led to believe).

*New York has more Irish residents than Dublin does (We are led to believe)

* The Empire State Building was completed in an amazing one year and 45 days!

* The Empire State Building has 102 floors (with public access up to floor 86!)

* The Empire State Building is arguably the most famous structure built by modern man and has dominated the New York City Skyline since 1931.

* The silhouette of the Empire State lit up by night can be seen from a distance of 80 miles all around it and during special celebrations it can be seen beaming coloured combinations of lights from the top 30 floors (with different colours depending on the occasion).

* The Statue of Liberty was a gift to the USA from France. It was assembled on Bedloe’s Island (one of the Island’s previous names) in 1886 and was declared a National Monument in 1924. The Island’s name changed again in 1956 from Bedloe’s to Liberty Island as we know today.

* We saw Ground Zero and all of the tributes to the fallen. Works have begun at the site for a new tower - called The Freedom Tower. This will stand some 426 feet taller than the Empire State building does today and it is thought will become the tallest building in the world (at a significant total for US independence being 1776 feet high).

*The USA declared its freedom and independence from England on July 4^th 1776.

* There are approximately 13,000 yellow cabs in New York City!!

*Thats all for now folks - as this list could easily go on forever!! Once again thankyou for your time. Pics to follow soon!

Wednesday, 03 December 2008 04:09:05 (GMT Standard Time, UTC+00:00)

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Heathrow to New York City!

MACSWAYROUND - DID continue and after a very comfortable and enjoyable stay in Lee- on- the –Solent, and after visiting The Spinnaker Tower for a view over Portsmouth (with a glass floor to walk across if you are brave enough!) –we packed up our bags and were taken to Heathrow airport. Thank-you once more, to Don, for his time and to both Don and Sandy for their kindliness and patience!

At Heathrow airport we were shown how to operate the E-Ticket machine as it has been a while since we have flown anywhere! This was excellent to save on the long “check in” queue. We had been given good advice to book a hotel to make sure we had a US address, as we would need to fill in the visa waiver forms on the plane-however we had no proof about the exact date we would be exiting the USA. It is no longer acceptable to just say that we will be leaving within the 3 month allowable time –we must be able to prove this and luckily a helpful assistant made us aware of this before we came to check in. It was lucky that we arrived at the airport in such good time, as it meant that to be allowed to catch our flight –we had 1 hour to book our tickets for when we move on from the USA!! Another lesson learnt along our way! We had to pay over the top for our tickets but our choices were limited if we were to catch our flight (and we now know that we will be flying from Los Angeles to Brisbane on February 3^rd 2009!!)

The flight to JFK in New York took approximately 8 hours with Virgin Atlantic and the time flew by surprisingly quickly! We were very well looked after with drinks, a main meal and snacks and the children were quite happy with their own personal TV screen built -in and free choice of viewing! (another new feature since we last flew!). It was a long flight for a first flying experience but they both loved the take off and view from high above the clouds!

We were able to see the Manhatten Skyline from our hotel-and have been continually amazed as we discover more of New York City! We have enjoyed listening to the ever famous and traditional words of the locals – “THIS IS NEW YORK CITY!”

More Photos and blog will follow shortly - thanks for your interest..............

Saturday, 29 November 2008 01:28:39 (GMT Standard Time, UTC+00:00)

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A Lisbon catch up and a couple of extra pics along the way........

We were in Lisbon!! Over the Roof Tops of Lisbon!

A sneeky look down a side street! The Electronic Buggy we used to

Sight See around Lisbon.

A Traditional View......... More Great Architecture. Sight Seeing in Lisbon-Praca do Comercio.

Phil's Close Shave experience...... Bye Bye Nessie - see you in USA !! Autumn colours in Spain.

Uncle Don & Aunty Sandy's house will

never be the same again!!

Sunday, 16 November 2008 13:13:07 (GMT Standard Time, UTC+00:00)

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Portugal times come to an end for now and Macswayround moves on................

We had an enjoyable (if only a little wet!) day in Lisbon – and had great fun exploring the sights in an automatic buggy! Phil’s new toy had a top speed of 25 miles per hour which was ample around the streets and we think that they are still a relatively new addition to the city-as we got a lot of strange and bemused looks along the way!

The buggy came kitted out with a satellite navigation system and a verbal guided tour system for the specific route that we chose and we could access ‘pedestrian only’ areas if we waited for the post in the centre of the road to lower itself out of our way!

We took the very narrow, cobbled and windy backstreets of the ‘old Lisbon’ and found some beautiful little places that we would never have found either on foot or with Nessie!

As a special treat on the day before his birthday both Phil and Ben took the Portuguese barber shop experience! Phil went for the full package – hair cut, bead trim and shave with the good ‘ole cut throat razor! Phil says this is definitely the closest shave he has ever had! Ben had the shortest hair he has ever had too – and looks like a different boy now – even with a number 4 all over!

Phil celebrated his 40^th birthday on November 5^th and our family tradition of a firework party was put on hold for this year. In previous years our celebrations have grown and grown, and last year we had approximately 175 people in our garden! There is always a donation bucket raising money for (of course) the Devon Air Ambulance. So if any of you out there have been meaning to donate for us and have not quite got around to it yet – what a good time this would be! EVERY PENNY COUNTS!!

We found an enormous shopping centre just outside Lisbon, to spend the birthday day (after breakfast in bed!)

The children were then amazed to be able to have only cake, ice-cream and jelly for tea – as a very special treat!

Later in the evening we used the remainder of the sparklers as these were the only fireworks in sight around here! Phil was then able to enjoy a sample of his all time favourite whisky – Glenmorangie. He had bought this bottle in Inverness back in June this year – especially for this special occasion and managed to save it for the day too!!

As ever- on the journey of Macswayround – so far – we have enjoyed the luxury of no deadlines, no pressure, no bookings.....we have an idea of our route but this has already varied along the way many times!

As the shipping company still continue to have no idea of a sail date-even having quoted for the route and taken our payment details......we were in a dilemma. How long do we ‘wait’ in the sand and mainly sunshine of Portugal for our boat to come in?!

Phil ‘s birthday provided the mile stone that we were after and following uncountable ,unproductive emails and telephone calls we decided to take other action to get us back on the move.

Flexibility is the name of the game and so we found ourselves saying an emotional farewell to Sesimbra and motoring out of Portugal. We had befriended many many cats during our time here and three young kittens who had arrived on our doorstep a few days before. Everyone was devastated when one got squashed under the wheels of Nessie as we left .........the jokes that were created the day before such as ‘what goes meow crunch?’ – were not funny anymore.

We drove back through Portugal and into Spain. We camped at Salamanca-and found a camp that we have previously enjoyed - Camping Regio, and then came into France. We stayed near Leon at the Le Galan Castets des Landes and then near Poitiers at Le Futuriste Camp. This whole area has been developed with a futuristic theme and has a theme park (Futuroscope) with many space age activities and prehistoric attractions......the information leaflet was jam packed. We will keep this idea up our sleeve for another visit!

Lastly we reached Argentan and stayed at Camping Du Val De Braize, just south of Le Havre.

We took the ferry from Le Harve to Portsmouth!! YES-you read correctly.....not an anticipated route -but it does mean that we have completed a loop of Europe during the first ‘leg’ of Macswayround!! We found an English Shipping company (contacted by mobile as we drove through Portugal!)who gave us a sailing date immediately (Southampton to New York) and a quote that was unbelievably and substantially lower than our previous route! It is obviously not always the case that the shortest distance covered is going to be the best option!

After landing in Portsmouth we have been very fortunate to be able to stay with Phil’s cousin, Don and his wife, Sandy. They have been extremely hospitable and provided us with an amenable base to organise ourselves once more and to arrange the next stage of our travels. We are so grateful to them as we have turned their home and life completely upside down!

It has been very strange as this has been our first stay out of Nessie since we left home in July! We delivered Nessie to Southampton docks where she will need to be for a few days before she is taken away! See you next in USA -Nessie!! She will sail on the ship named Don Juan and leaves on Wednesday (19^th Nov).

We have booked a flight to New York (from Heathrow) and will give the children their first flying experience! Everyone is very excited – after a re-charge –the next part of our adventures will continue........Nessie is organised, our flight is arranged and a Hotel is booked for our first few days in New York!!

MACSWAYROUND CONTINUES!!...............................

Wild life Hit:

* A Green Woodpecker in France!

Sunday, 16 November 2008 12:46:58 (GMT Standard Time, UTC+00:00)

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A poet and didn't know it ....................

WAITING FOR OUR BOAT TO COME IN

Oh- for a boat,

To be a float,

And sail away to USA,

We’ve had a great stay,

At Sesimbra Bay!!

We now need to make our way,

And sail Nessie across the pond,

Oh – how we wish for a magic wand!!

Portugal has – as ever – been ace,

But now our world trip must touch base,

And continue on its way,

To let us fight another day – Please!!

Wednesday, 29 October 2008 15:13:48 (GMT Standard Time, UTC+00:00)

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Portugal - Part 2..............

The Lagoon.......................

Get Ready-Jump!

Caught in the Waves.............

"I've got the whole moon in my hands!"

JAWS!

"Keep back from the Edge Ben!"

Red Snappers!

Inside the Glass Bottom Boat............

More Rocks!

A Colourful Fishing Boat!

Sesimbra Friends- Salvadore and Angelina.

Canadian friends - Monir, Lisa and the gang!

Geoff & Kath-Fellow GB travellers!

Box Weighing Ceremony!

Sesimbra beach in flight.

Wednesday, 29 October 2008 15:09:18 (GMT Standard Time, UTC+00:00)

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Portugal - part 2..............

We have continued to have an enjoyable stay in Sesimbra and have almost become ‘locals around the town and campsite!’ It is amusing to see the confused expressions of the regular campers (who arrive late on a Friday night to their permanent pitches-for every weekend) and do not understand why we are still here?! Word has spread about what we are doing and where we are going next......Everything is so very laid back here in Portugal – which is one of the things we love about the country but there is no rushing anybody –and when you have something a bit urgent to arrange it makes things quite difficult...................

We are still making final arrangements for the shipping of Nessie and our belongings (separately) to the USA and we have boxed everything apart from the bare minimum into 33 boxes of varying shapes and sizes! We have had to give the weight and dimensions of every box, including a detailed itemised list and wait on the booking clearance – something we were aware of before we left- but were unable to arrange in detail as we did not know how many boxes we would have at this stage. Phil still maintains that the girls have 10 boxes of clothes against the boys 2 boxes......but we beg to differ! Phil even had to set up a weighing station at the branch of a big tree, using a small set of scales and a chain to hang individual boxes from!

As the weather is still being very kind to us we have had many a day at the local beach and we had a great time at the Albufeira Lagoon-perfectly safe for the children to swim and just around the corner the mighty waves roared.........we watched experienced surfers who were actually running into the water from the shore and surfing out to sea as well as back in again!

The panoramic views from the lighthouse at the most easterly side of Portugal were simply breathtaking and the lighthouse is now centre to a small community of people who live in the cottages surrounding it, with a wall to enclose it. The children were interested in the Homing Pigeons that were living at the lighthouse and a nearby shepherd as he tended to his flock of sheep.

Phil and the children have enjoyed some fishing with homemade bamboo rods and we also took a trip on the Aquarama Glass bottom boat out of the harbour. This was very entertaining and the glass gave the impression that we were only centimetres from the sea bed – although we were reassured that we were at least three and a half metres from the base at all times! We saw many fish of all shapes and sizes.

We have met many more friendly people around the camp and have enjoyed the relaxed atmosphere. Our neighbours who arrive back each weekend – Salvador and Angelina have been very helpful to us and have even offered to come to the port and help with the arrangements and the speaking Portuguese part – which could be extremely useful!

We have also met a Canadian couple who are travelling Europe–Munir and Lisa and we will hopefully meet again when we reach Canada next year!

We were also grateful to fellow GB travellers – Geoff and Kath who also have a Mercedes Geist motor home and have showed us a trick or two to do with our satellite dish which helps us to receive even more English channels !

On Tuesday 21^st October- we hit the first 100 days of our trip and we had a family party to celebrate! We had BBQ sardines, party games, music, dancing and a triple jump competition! When it was dark we lit the night sky with colourful sparklers too!

Phil managed to have an incident in the local public library – yes we did say library! As you may or may not know this is not the place you will often find Phil! We took a trip there as the internet connection back at camp was having a blip and we needed to check our emails. Phil was carrying the laptop bag (again not a Phil thing!) Shortly after entering the library reception Phil swung around and the computer bag knocked an exhibition piece of pottery clean off its low stand and everyone stood in silence, hands over mouths, as it smashed into lots of tiny pieces. Woops- wrong time, wrong place – an unfortunate accident and it was nothing to do with the children on this occasion! Phil asked if anyone spoke English and left his details while they contacted the artist. A few days later we have had a meeting with the artist and our travel insurance will hopefully come to our rescue as the value of the piece has been set at an amazing 1,500 – BIG WOOPS. This amount was dropped in the space of 10 minutes by 500 if paid today – NO – probably not ! You obviously have to have an appreciation of this sort of art and it is very difficult to put a value on such pieces. We did not see the creation prior to the ‘accident’ but Ben has since described it as a model of a dinosaur’s foot? We have put the matter into the hands of our insurance and are waiting to hear the outcome.

WILDLIFE HIT:

· Tawny Owl very close by each night.

· White Lizard – about 8 inches long crawling across the toilet ceiling!

FACTOID:

· The male shower block has just been kitted out with shower heads ( not just a pipe out of the wall) and the shower head has been fitted with Hemp....a method not often used in UK (Phil thinks).

Monday, 27 October 2008 19:49:56 (GMT Standard Time, UTC+00:00)

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Portugal times...........

A Traditional Sight in Portugal.

Sesimbra Bay.

'What's the problem officer?'

Somebody forgot the plug!

'I'm not getting very far!'

'Nor am I!'

SAY CHEESE!

'Mind the balconies Nessie!'

Sesimbra Castle.

A Lovely Bit of Masonary!

'Sometimes I sits and thinks and sometimes I just sits.'

Monday, 27 October 2008 19:46:34 (GMT Standard Time, UTC+00:00)

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Portugese Times.........................

Sorry for the delay in writing - time flies around here!!

Our next trek was to be the longest until we get to the United States! We travelled into Portugal and rested at Orbitur Camp in Evora (approximately 100 miles from Lisbon). Here the staff were obliging and the sun shone on us once more. I even tried out that fig oil concoction I was sold in Croatia! The children used the swimming pool (as they were getting withdrawal symptoms!) and Jemma, in particular, practiced many different swimming strokes and her diving!

After clearing up some dodgy stomach bug (thank-you to those fellow English travellers who kindly revamped our medicine cupboard for us!) -we continued our travels towards Lisbon and found Camping Forte do Cavalo at Sesimbra, about 20 miles away from Setubal (2^nd October 2008). We took what might be referred to as the direct route – right through the town centre! As the roads continued to narrow and the porches and balconies overhung the cobbled street - we found ourselves zigzagging along and thought that maybe we shouldn’t be there....until a very helpful local stopped us and said “do you need some information about the camping site?!” Yes please and thank-you very much! We took a walk down those roads later and couldn’t believe that Nessie had been there!

The camping site was at the top of the hill overlooking the harbour and beach and the views were beautiful. The harbour area has a very rugged and scenic coastline. As the name suggests it has an ancient Forte just next door. The play area has provided many big trees which just have to be climbed by Jemma and Ben! They have spent many a happy hour looking across at the views from a height!

With just a short journey to the bottom of the hill a perfect beach was to be found – much quieter now as it is out of the summer season but still blessed with glorious weather. We have visited on many occasions so far – and enjoyed creating sand castles with bridges and moats that hold water through to sand sculptures of kayaks! I was even enjoying a quiet time reading my book one day when I was very rudely disturbed by a most peculiar looking dog –wagging its tail at me – very scary – bless it! (take a look at the photo added soon - and everything will become clear!)

We drove along to see Setubal -to get a sense of direction around the town. We understand that the American shipping company that we have been in contact with over the last few months, sail freight from Setubal to Baltimore...........more on this to follow.......(we did find an Indian takeaway although we have all agreed that it wasn’t a patch on the Bay of Bengal!)

Sesimbra is a quaint and picturesque traditional fishing town –in the heart of the Costa Azul. It is increasingly making its mark as a tourist resort with everything you need and a few luxuries too – all within easy reach. Each day we leave the camp to explore something new and at the bottom of the hill there are always many fishermen sorting out there lines across the road! We pass through the harbour with a row of fish huts......Ben calls this row his sweet shop and we have barbequed a wide range of fish (and a rabbit!) in the last couple of weeks, including Red Snappers, Dorado, sardines, and horse mackerel . There are many wild/stray cats everywhere and they have been extra interested in what we are cooking! We have eaten at a restaurant in the town and tried monk fish in a fish stew, and lemon sole, also Paella and pizza at the camping restaurant.

The children are busy with more maps and routings. Ben is still planning the world trip that he would like to do when he is a grown up (his own words!) and Jemma is reading an animal tracks and signs book and planning how to track animals when we reach the USA!

We have visited the castle in Sesimbra which was in very good condition considering that it is dated back to 1040 . We assume that this preservation has much to do with the climate – compared to that of a UK building!

More news of Sesimbra and our adventures to follow shortly...............

Friday, 17 October 2008 20:55:19 (GMT Daylight Time, UTC+01:00)

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Some Spain Pictures..........