Chicago in a Beanshell

I've got my blog timing all messed up, apologies. Accordingly Chicago is going to be condensed into one blog entry, as we've basically arrived and left since my last blog.

We had two full days in Chicago, and as we're now joining a coach tour and we did most of the obvious tourist things when we were there two years ago, we decided we wanted to be pretty lazy. So both days we didn't leave our hotel room till after 12!

The first day -  Friday - we started heading out for lunch at  Gino's Eastt, a deep dish pizza specialist. Deep dish pizza is like a pie filled with mozzarella cheese (and in our case sausage) and topped with tomato sauce.  They take about an hour to cook so we foolishly had appetizers.  Seriously portion sizes here are ridiculous. Aaron's appetizer was chicken tenders. They came out on a full size plate with at least two handfuls of French Fries. I had about 10 mozzarella sticks. I didn't finish them. Which is amazing.

After lunch, we rolled our way down to Navy Pier, a tourist spot we had missed last time. Last time we were in Chicago it was cold, foggy and a little wet, the weather was perfect this time so we could happily walk around and take great, pretty photos.  At Navy Pier - which is being redeveloped so a lot was closed but is a big marketplace and old style fun park area - we pretty much just wandered taking photos and being shocked that the endless water we were looking at was a lake, you could have sworn it was a sea.

We then headed back as we were again meeting friends for Japanese BBQ and a movie. Food was delicious and company fabulous. I tried edamame for the first time and liked it.

Then we went to the movies. It is so much cheaper than in Australia, it almost hurts. We saw Neighbors (Bad Neighbours in Australia). I wasn't a huge fan but it did have its moments.

Next day, was again lazy, and like the day before started with lunch at a spot that had been shown on Man vs Food. This time it was burgers at the Billy Goat Tavern. There's a famous old school Saturday Night Live based on the Cheezborger there. It was tasty.

Then we walked down to Cloud Gate, otherwise known as The Bean, or that giant reflective thing that people who go to Chicago pose in front of. Aaron had never heard of it, so we were treated to  his trademark underwhelmed face. We then spent nearly an hour staring at the Buckingham Fountain aka the fountain in the theme to Married With Children. (Please note that most of my staring was trying to work which angle would get me the most likes on Instagram....)

We've been super tired so we didn't do much else, just went out to dinner, at a chain restaurant called Grand Luxe Cafe. It was crazy busy, and the food felt rushed so it wasn't great. Although there was strawberry lemonade so I forgave everything very easily.

We're now in Scottsdale - adjacent to  Phoenix for two nights from which we embark on a Trafalgar  Coach tour. Our day has been spent getting here, doing laundry , going to a smokehouse for dinner  and taking  some photos of the Old Town area around the hotel.

Now it's time for a sleep. Hopefully I'll be back on blog schedule  from tomorrow.

Food Coma

Sorry this blog is a day late, yesterday was a busy and tiring one.

Since I last wrote to you, we've left New York City (*sobs*) and have arrived for a brief stay in Chicago.

So yesterday was our last full day in the Big Apple, and another chance to savour the delicious food choices of the city. New York embraces and revels in its multiculturalism (at least to my eye) which is very reflective in its food offerings. As part of our interest in food (and in maintaining my svelte figure) we had booked a Food Cart tour of the Financial District, with Turnstile Tours. It was by far away one of the things I was most looking forward to on our holiday and I was not disappointed at all.

The tour was to start just off Wall Street, so we got there about 90 minutes early, so we could wander around the area. Wandering around the lower part of Manhattan had been one of our favourite things we'd done on our first trip together to New York City. We ended up at the South Street Seaport, where we had never been before, and stared across at Brooklyn.

The food truck tour started at 12, and was possibly the best lunch ever. We stopped at 6 food trucks, and got samples (but generously sized samples).

The foodcarts were
- Veronica's Kitchen - jerk chicken, so well cooked the chicken slid off the bone. Aaron commented that it was probably the best savoury thing he'd eaten on the trip

- Adel's #1 Halal - best falafel I have ever had. It was so packed with herbs and cooked to crispy on the outside, and soft in the middle.

- Jianetto's Pizza - grandma style pizza. It was similar to the Sicilian at Spumoni Gardens on Tuesday,  but with a thinner crust.

- Souvlaki GR - chicken (or pork) souvlaki with the best Pita bread ever.

- Korilla BBQ - Mexican/Korean fusion. Korean beef and kimchi in Mexican tacos and burritos. Because I have some weird allergy towards corn tortillas and thus can't eat tacos, I was given a burrito here.

- Waffles and Dinges - OH MY GOD. Belgian Waffles smothered in cream and a sauce that was as if Anzac Biscuits had been melted. Similar colour and texture as Nutella, but actually tasty, unlike Nutella. (Controversial!). Waffles and Dinges was featured on Man vs Food.

The food was amazing. Genuinely amazing. The tour itself was also very informative. Example - there is currently a 20 year waiting list to get a food truck permit, and the list is so popular you have to win a raffle to even get on that! So anyone new has to find a permit owner willing to lease their permit out. This is a cost of around $20,000!

After the tour ended, we decided the day was beautiful and we should walk the 9km back to our hotel. Obviously we were completely food drunk to think that was a good idea. We did it, walking down Broadway, until we got to Madison Square Park where we swapped to 5th Avenue to avoid some of the crazy foot traffic that exists around Macy's. It took us about 2.5 hours with a few short breaks.

We didn't have a lot of time after we arrived back to the hotel before we had to go out for dinner on the way to see the new musical Bullets Over Broadway, based on the Woody Allen movie with Zach Braff in the John Cusack role.

It was okay. The songs were not at all memorable and the very end was so weird/disjointed that it's affected my memories of the show but parts of it were good. Very few of them featured Zach Braff though, unfortunately. He sang better than I expected but he was overacting you couldn't really see his character instead of a Woody Allen impersonator.

This morning we left NYC (I cried again) to travel to Chicago. Where the weather was perfect in NYC, it was in the 30s and very humid here. Apparently it's going to rain tomorrow which'll hopefully break the humidity.

We got to our hotel, checked in and discovered we had been upgraded to a one bedroom suite. Awesome - the lounge suite is so comfy, I'm wondering if the hotel would notice if I took it with me.

For dinner we joined friends in Chicago at RPM, which is a restaurant founded by Bill and Giuliana Rancic. The food was really tasty and served Italian tapas style - even the pasta was shared which with the conversation made the night a lot of fun. I have now also developed an obsession with Zucchini frites. We ate so much food, for a reasonably cheap price (not super cheap but when you realised how much we ate for the price it was definitely reasonable). So I'm in my second food coma in as many days.

No real plans until dinner and a movie with the same friends tomorrow, so we'll see how things play out. :)

A Quiet Day In The Chaos

I'm standing at the window of my hotel room, watching 7th Avenue all the way as it interested with Broadway and forms Times Square. The lights of the billboards and signs (and traffic) shining brightly, and thinking how very, very lucky I am in life. It's a mix between feeling very humbled and feeling completely joyous.

As I've mentioned before New York City seems to own a large part of my soul, and makes me emotional!

Today we had no plans, and in New York City where every corner leads you to a new sight or adventure, that can be a little overwhelming, as we really didn't know what to choose to do.

Our first move was a mistake. We went to the reasonably famous Carnegie Deli across the road from our hotel, for their huge sandwiches. The sandwiches were very, very expensive and while very well filled, the meat itself tasted horrible and was really fatty. So blergh. Don't go there.

Amazingly, sitting at the table next to us was a group who had been on our pizza tour yesterday. In a city as huge as this, the odds of that seemed so unlikely.

After feeling a bit down over lunch, we walked to somewhere we know we loved - the beautiful Bryant Park - home of the New York Public Library. (We didn't go in, as we've done it before,  but if you ever go, you have to go in - it's amazing.) The weather was perfect and we spent a few minutes just sitting there soaking it up. I also lamented the NFL store that had been there last time was gone.

After I spent time ogling my beloved Chrysler Building, we walked around the park and headed off to get Empire State Buildings photos too. Then in order to satisfy my cupcake craving (it's New York, it's compulsory!) we walked to Macy's to use their wifi so I could find a nearby Crumbs. This walk happened to go past a Sephora, and I do have to give credit to my very patient husband, who followed me around the perfume rollerball aisle without complaint.

Cupcake coordinates acquired, I was standing at a counter wondering if all of them was an acceptable answer when I was asked for my order. I settled on a cookie dough cupcake, because well...cookie dough. It was delicious.

Unfortunately, I've managed to really hurt my arm, nothing bad, but it feels deeply bruised or strained and it started aching so next trip was to a pharmacy for the American version of deep heat and then back to the hotel to apply.

After realising the restaurant we were going to go to dinner at was closed, we ended up deciding to follow the theme of the day and just walk until something took our fancy. Obviously we were easy to please as we got one block before choosing somewhere.

As it's Agents of Shield night, I had to get back! So it's a quiet night tonight as we have a busy day tomorrow.

Till next blog, take care!

Deliciousness By The Slice

I know you'd all be surprised to hear that when I discovered there was such a thing as a pizza tour available in New York City, that I was somewhat eager (read as absolutely desperate) to go on it. Today was the day - we went on a pizza tour of Brooklyn with A Slice of Brooklyn tours.

The bus picked us up in Union Square, a part of Manhattan we actually hadn't been before, but we quickly headed out of Manhattan, and into the Borough of Brooklyn for over four hours. (The theme song of Welcome Back Kotter was in my head the whole time, except for the bit when we saw where the opening of Saturday Night Fever was filmed, and I briefly found myself singing along to the BeeGees.)

The theme of the tour was a pizza tour but really the pizza was an excuse to visit Brooklyn and get a history of certain neighbourhoods, including a brief walk on the Coney Island boardwalk. I completely fell in love with Brooklyn. Brooklyn is the sort of place you always see on TV looking rundown or full of gangsters so it was surprising to see beautiful neighbourhoods with mansions or just spacious, pretty, well kept homes and so much greenery. Also so attractive about Brooklyn was the blend of ethnicity there, it felt like the whole world was in the neighbourhood. I'm just smitten.

Oh and did I mention there was pizza?! We tried two different kinds at two famous pizza joints - Grimaldi's and L&B Spumoni Gardens. Grimaldi's specialises in coal fuelled brick oven thin crust pizza and is situated just next to the Brooklyn Bridge. L&B's specialises in Sicilian pizza in the heart of Brooklyn. The pizza at L&B's is a square cut, double baked fluffy crust pizza where the cheese is underneath the tomato paste. I saw it on Man vs Food and didn't see how it would work but it does, it was delicious. So was Grimaldi's. Also cool with Grimaldi's is that there a big lines for it and we got to skip the line *evil laugh*. I probably preferred Grimaldi's but would eat both again.  As in, if someone would like to bring me a slice of either one I'm staying at....

After bring dropped back in a Union Square we started the 40 block trek back to the hotel (blocks are small here, so it was about an hour walk with traffic).  The walk took us down Broadway, past the Flatiron building - Aaron's favourite building in NYC, through the original Madison Square Garden and oh, how coinicidentally, it took us to Macy's. I saw the lost look in Aaron's eyes as he watched me run into the store shrieking in glee. Macy's did not disappoint. They were having a huge clearance sale, and it was a further 25% off on those items today.  *evil laughs again*. I was restrained and bought just three items, including another greatly reduced Ralph Lauren jumper. Honestly to be plus size and be able to buy designer items is just amazing, to be able to buy them for under $30 is beyond stunning.

We ended the evening at Ellen's Stardust Diner. It's a diner near Times Square featuring Broadway hopefuls as the wait staff and in between serving they perform songs. It's a lot of fun, the staff are excellent singers.

We're now back in the hotel room, somehow completely exhausted. Tomorrow is a completely free day, we're not sure where it'll lead us. So talk to you about it tomorrow night!!

It's Good To Be Home

Sorry for the delayed post. I just couldn't get a coherent thought together last night. In all honesty, it's not much more likely that this will make sense now.

Basically, my brain goes into hysteric New York City conniptions because I'm just so very, very happy to be here. People ask why and the answer is simple - squirrels... :p In all seriousness, it's actually hard to describe, it really is the vibe. Somehow I have a complete sense of belonging when I'm here.

We flew in yesterday afternoon, in a quick flight (scheduled as three hours - landed in much closer to two) from New Orleans. We flew over the city as we came in, I had a beautiful moment where the first city look I got was of the Chrysler Building. I have a crush on the Chrysler Building, I stop still when I see it. It's just beautiful architecture.

After checking in, we popped almost next door to grab a snack from a cafe we love called - Fluffy's. (Which prompted a discussion on how our beloved cat is - good news is as well as can be hoped for). It was raining a bit so we dawdled in our room until it was time for a dinner booking. We went to a Cuban place/chain called Havana Central. It was packed, and packed with New Yorkers which we found a good sign. The food was delicious, let's face it, a menu that features a cheese dip with chorizo, is a winner.

This morning, we got up and headed for anther booking at Serendipity 3, a very, very popular cafe  famous for three things - its frozen hot chocolate, its $1000 opulence sundae and because it featured heavily in the John Cusack/Kate Beckinsale film - Serendipity. Glad we booked for lunch, because when it opened at 11:30, the line was around 30 people/groups long of those who hadn't booked. Lunch was delicious and the Frozen Hot Chocolate was so tasty.

We decided to have a leisurely Sunday walk around Central Park which was just lovely (despite the reappearance of my grumpy legs towards the end of the wander.) We started in the Central Park Zoo, which is small but very well done. We also had our first celebrity sighting - Mick Jones from Foreigner, who was standing next to us at one point. I was too shy/polite to ask for a photo.

Then just kept wandering until we had to turn around or my legs went on strike. The park was busy but not so busy that you couldn't easily move around and enjoy the beautiful day. Some very pretty photos were taken. There were also squirrels.

Tonight was pizza slices and then we headed off to see my very favourite musical - Rock of Ages. It is just a ridiculously fun show. It's full of 80s hair rock songs and very, very funny. I've seen it four times, and we're seeing it again in Vegas. (Thankfully Aaron also loves it.)

This blogs are becoming a little factual rather than the witty notes, I tried to make them, sorry about that, it's the problem with writing them at almost midnight.

On that note, goodnight all, have a good Monday.

The Sun Sets On The Crescent City

Ah Bourbon Street, you crazy monkey. Who'd have thought you'd actually be more likeable on a Friday night?! Not likeable enough for me not to be back in the hotel room by 8:30pm but more likeable than before. 

That's actually been New Orleans in a nutshell for us, it has definitely grown on us as we've gone along. We commented today that we feel content with the place, like our feelings towards Philadelphia or Boston, we liked the place a lot but we've had enough time here. There's enough left that if we ended up back here we'd still have things to explore and would have a good time but we wouldn't schedule a return visit in the foreseeable future. (I liked New Orleans and Boston but love Philadelphia though.)

Today was quite a lazy day, as we decided that we really needed to catch up on sleep, which we very successfully did. A little too successfully perhaps as we didn't wake up until after 10... Oops. 

As I've mentioned it to everyone I've ever met, I have a Bachelor of Arts that featured an Honours Year in American Studies and I have a huge nerd love for American history. One of my major topics of interest is the American Civil War and New Orleans has a museum dedicated to the Confederate Army which is a perspective you don't often get so I wanted to visit it. We decided to try walking slowly in the direction of the museum and if we got there we got there. 

We made a detour on the way to the French Market for lunch, as I've come to a stunning and horrible realisation - you can have too much of a good Creole/Cajun food thing - and we both wanted something simple. Grilled cheese sandwiches sorted that out!

After realising that we were just near the start of a Streetcar line that would take us near where we wanted to go, we decided to cheat and catch that! (Unfortunately the streetcar was not called Desire). So we got to the museum quite easily. 

The greeter at the Confederate surprised me as he mentioned that Australians were easily the most common international visitors at the museum. Apparently we stay longer in the city. (Americans seem to not really get holidays, with people employed long term casual so leave is unpaid, based on the people we've spoken to (not necessarily a strong sample!) (A waitress tonight actually said that she's worked out that Americans think they have the greatest country in the role but every time she speaks to an Australian she realises that ours is much cooler. :))

The museum was small but impressive. It didn't really try and push a a South good, North bad agenda that reviews suggested it did. It was full of personal effects including those of Jefferson Davis, President of the Confederacy. 

A slow wander back to the French Quarter really reminded us that New Orleans is made up of so many varied different neighbourhoods with their different histories and identities in quite a small space (it's about the same size as Adelaide.)

Oh speaking of Adelaide - "props" to the American couple who seriously asked another Australian couple on the tour yesterday if we knew each other because we were both from the same place.  Uh yeah...

Dinner tonight was on Bourbon Street, in a restaurant called Channing Tatum's Saints and Sinners. Sadly Channing was not in attendance. 

Now we're back in the hotel, packing and prepping for our journey to New York City tomorrow!! (Oh god I'm excited. I feel like I'm going home!). Funny we've only been gone a week, and we still have a month to go but it feels like things are racing and there's a tinge of sadness that we're already two places down. Sadness replaced by the thought that NYC is almost here!

So goodbye from the Big Easy and I'll speak to you next from the Big Apple!

Plantations and Rainbow Connection

Any day you don't get eaten by an alligator is a good day, so today was a good day.

Today was near entirely dedicated to an Experience Cajun Country day tour. Which in hindsight is an oddly chosen name as the first two of three events/visits were about Creole culture (People born in the New Orleans, mostly of European or African descent, prior to the Civil War (ish)) and only the last bit was Cajun. (People from or descending from a French Settlement in Canada - where Nova Scotia is now.)

...The more you know...

Basically, it was a visit to two Creole plantations and then a boat ride on a bayou/swamp.

The two plantations - Laura and Oak Alley were obviously similar but also quite different. Laura was more a story of a family, and was a multicoloured home (painting your house in bright colours was a signal that you were a French speaking Creole. English speaking Anglo residents of New Orleans ans the area had homes painted all white. ) It was not really what springs to your mind when you think of plantation homes. The plantation is being lovingly restored by a family after years and years of neglect, and still processes sugar cane. It felt more real.

Oak Alley was the grand home you expect out of a movie like Gone With The Wind. Although also Creole, it was painted white to fit in, and the front is framed by a half mile (I think) of oak trees. It was absolutely stunning. It made me want to run around in a hoop skirt, and corset yelling for Rhett and Ashley. It was certainly the more commercial of the two places, and has featured in movies like Interview With A Vampire and Beyonce's Déjà Vue video.

What is obviously noticeable in both properties are slave cottages. I took photos like the tourist I am, and oddly I think thinking about them went in my can't process basket, so I just saw it as a piece of history.  No matter even with physical evidence in front of me, I couldn't believe that slavery occurred. That humans treated humans with that cruelty as if it should be completely normal. I think I just switched off. Thinking back now, I feel more nauseous.

Both plantations are definitely worth a visit though for the history and they are beautiful. Oak Alley is the sort of place that makes you gasp from the pretty.

After that we drove into "Cajun country" and got on a little barge style boat and went for an hour bayou cruise, looking at the scenery and throwing marshmallows at alligators. Seriously. When an alligator swam up, it would get a treat or two by the captain.  When the first one swam towards us, I went into mini meltdown and was frozen to my seat while everyone else stood up to get a better look. After I realised the alligators were way more interested in candy than Courtney, I joined in and started willing them closer so I could photograph them!

The bayou was also a pretty peaceful ride, although the petrol fumes from the boat were quite strong, so maybe I was just passing out.

This was a day I'd been really looking forward to, because it would be completely new experiences and it was really good. I didn't much like the overall guide (although all the guides at the locations were excellent) but I'd definitely recommend both experiences.

Oh and the day ended with a really cute waiter at Hard Rock Cafe, who got an extra percent on his tip just for that reason. I am dreadfully shallow at times!

Last full day in NOLA tomorrow. It'll be a lazy one as we make sleep catch up a priority!

A New Attitude to New Orleans

This blog is disjointed because I originally fell asleep writing it, (it's a worry that it may be so dull even I couldn't stand it) and I'm restarting it at 4:30 in the morning. Aaron and I have developed this lovely pattern of jet lag where we can't seem to sleep at the same time. He can't sleep at all till about 3:30am, at which point I seem to wake up and lie awake for hours while he instantly goes to sleep.

Okay, I did call a dislike for New Orleans too early. Bourbon Street is still a wretched hive of scum and villainy but walking around more revealed much prettier places that felt safer, even just a street away. It was also a lovely spring day which made things seem much brighter.

A city bus tour this afternoon proved that the history and pretty is also continued in other parts of the city. The Audabon and Garden Districts are gorgeous, filled with varied style antebellum (pre-Civil War) houses and evergreen trees. Also away from the French Quarter was the huge but not creatively named City Park. It looks a great place to explore, with all different pockets from football stadiums to  mini golf to kids playgrounds and the museum of art.

Also included was a brief stop at one of the cemeteries. The cemeteries in New Orleans are above ground due to water levels, so every grave is it's own family mausoleum. They are known as the Cities of the Dead as they are laid out in streets. It makes for great photos but feels very strange.

After the tour ended on Canal Street, and my first ever visit to an Arby's - which was actually yummy, we visited the Voodoo Museum near our hotel.  It's a very small museum, but I found it genuinely interesting. My knowledge of voodoo is limited to dolls and James Bond films so it was interesting to see it's origins and learn more about the religion behind it. I hadn't realised it was actually intended to work alongside Catholicism for example.

Then a trip to Cafe du Monde. The first and most famous coffee stand/cafe in New Orleans. Famous for its Cafe Au Lait (half coffee and half milk) and beignets (French doughnuts). Obviously I didn't partake in the coffee (blergh) but did manage to force down a beignet.... or three and the kilogram of icing sugar they are coated in. We asked if we should share and was told some did, some didn't so we we ended up getting a share each. Turns out you get a lot for $2.42 and in theory we could have shared one serve. I say I theory because I'm quite sure Aaron and I would have probably had to divorce after the inevitable fight over the third one. They are that good. Similar to churros in texture but softer.

We did a quick wander around the French Marker after, I'm debating buying some of the spices here, just debating whether customs will approve.

Speaking of spices, food is delicious in New Orleans. It's spicy without being too hot, and if you prefer it hotter, there are hot sauces everywhere. We've been trying to eat as many classics as we can. Tonight's dinner was chicken and andouille sausage gumbo (a chunky soup served with rice) and po boy sandwiches. Aaron had a sausage one, and me a beef. I was beaten by the po boy as it was so big. Gumbo especially is so good. We haven't even had a proper dessert here yet because the mains (btw for a reason I don't know - mains are called entrees in the US, as opposed to Australia where what we call an entree is a starter here) is so warm and satisfying.

Actually one other tidbit about New Orleans is that we are the only Australians I've noticed here, in fact we are basically the only non-American accent. It's clearly a popular place to visit for Americans, but international guests come at other times of the year.

Today when it's officially wake up time, we're off on a plantation and swamp tour. I plan on channeling my best Scarlett O'Hara at the plantation.

Trying to go back to sleep now. Take care!

The Big Sleazy

Had I written this blog a few hours earlier, it would have been a lot different, but having watched the latest episode of Agents of Shield and having a stomach full of jambalaya I'm much more content.

The day started well, as well any can that involves a visit to the hell dimension that is LAX. Tip, always add at least half an hour to your expected time there. The queues are horrendous. What wasn't horrendous was the flight to New Orleans. My only previous experience with Delta involved three days of chasing up my suitcase so expectations weren't high however they were excellent, very personable, funny and the service was great. In a three hour flight we had two full complimentary drink services (you had to buy alcohol) and almost all you can eat pretzels/peanuts and/or cookies. You could choose a combo or just one. The cookies. Oh my goodness the cookies. They are these cinnamon golden syrup biscotti dreams. I may have secured a supply for the next few days. 

Anyhow, so we arrived at New Orleans. Holy humidity Batman. There are actual tornado warnings for counties not far away from New Orleans, so it's to be expected and if that's the worst thing that's great, but ugh. I have no tolerance for humidity. None. 

The hotel is lovely, the room is petite but nicely furnished, and free wifi. Hurrah. 

However, we're not sold on location. It is right on Bourbon Street. The party street of New Orleans. (Our room is thankfully on other side of the hotel.) Yet unlike somewhere like Vegas which is also party all day and night yet still clean and safe feeling, Bourbon during the day is a trashy wasteland. Straggling people wandering around drinking, or beggars. Now I am a conservative, prudish, sheltered mid thirties princess so I may be overlooking the fun but I really don't think it would appeal to many people as we saw it this afternoon.

We did stop for a late lunch at Willie's Chicken Shack, as we felt fried chicken was a good place to start for our Southern food journey. It was good. 

We walked in the other direction and found other streets in the French Quarter that were more pleasant and walked down to see the banks of the Mississippi. Unfortunately while there we ran into a beggar, who poured liquid over Aaron's shoes (sneakers!) and started trying to shine them, while telling us it was going to cost $10 for a shoe shine. I hate confrontation and was feeling jumpy so basically threw $2 at him and we scurried off. At that point Aaron and I decided to just hide out in the hotel as we were feeling really flat. 

... Hang on... Wiping Delta cookie crumbs from the table...

After hiding in our hotel, while I watched Food Network and Agents Of Shield, we decided to brave the streets again and head out for a late dinner (our stomachs are still on LA time...and full of cookie). We ended up at a great Creole/Cajun restaurant called the Original Pierre Masperos. The building it is in was built in 1788, and had been used as a pirate hideout by the Lafitte Brothers and used by them to discuss the plans for the Battle of New Orleans with Andrew Jackson in the 1812 War. We had super delicious blackened jambalaya with grilled chicken. Delicious.

Oddly,  the area felt safer and nicer at night as there were more people around and the party atmosphere seemed appropriate. It was also still hot so we could wander a little (where there was light and people!) So we are feeling more positive about New Orleans now. It's still unlikely to be a place I end up really liking but I'm not sitting on the hotel bed feeling sad anymore.

Tomorrow we have a city tour and I'm going on a hunt for beignets. :)

LA, You're A-Ok

It was our final full day in LA today, and it was a good one.

LA gets quite a bad reputation, and yes it's more obviously grimy than other cities but it really does have some real things to love about it and we found a new one today. The Warner Bros Studio Tour.

I'd been previously a little reluctant to go on a studio tour (Universal doesn't count for me for some reason) but I wanted something to do today that was easy and reasonably quick. I've never had the desire to drive past celebrity houses, unless Bradley Cooper wants to invite me in and speak French to me) so this studio tour fit the bill.

Reading reviews of the tour, there was a heavy mention a lot of shows that I wasn't interested in - Pretty Little Liars, Hart of Dixie etc so I wasn't expecting a huge amount but there was a lot of things of my era (a clearly ancient era, as earlier demonstrated by while waiting for the tour pick up, we got caught in a mini mob scene over a former Disney star turned singer - Austin someone or rather and we had no idea who he was). I may have squealed at the sight of the morgue from Pushing Daisies and props from the Veronica Mars movie.

(Meh, I'm trying to add a photo here and it's refusing to play nice. So just imagine me standing with Veronica Mars stuff - see Facebook for actual photo.)

Sorry, I'm watching The Blacklist while typing this so I'm being easily distracted. So what is Tom up to?!

It's genuinely interesting to see the creativity that goes into film masking, especially the vision of the designers who can think how to revise sets from one thing to another.

We got to see the soundstage that Two Broke Girls is filmed in and saw the main sets. It's funny to see how small they are. Aaron was most disappointed that he didn't get to see Kat Dennings. That was the only part of the tour we couldn't take photos of. We could take photos in another set though, the set of Central Perk from Friends. Did you know that the actor who played Gunther was only ever intended as an extra, but they needed someone who could use the coffee machine for a scene and he could. The rest is side character history.

Oh and because it's me, I had to pose with Daffy Duck and Bugs Bunny statues on the way out.

After refreshing in the hotel, we then went to Morton's in Beverly Hills (except it's not actually in Beverly Hills as far as I can tell).  We had the best ever dining experience there a few years ago and hoped to repeat it. And oh my goodness, the food was so good. The best mashed potatoes and the fillet steak was cooked to perfection. It was the real hero of the dish.

So an early start tomorrow morning, as we fly from LA to New Orleans, a place we haven't seen before which I'm hoping to really love.

Ooh Alda and Spader in a tense scene together, fabulous.

Off to bed to get up for that flight. Night!!

Sugar High.

Today's guest bloggers were going to be my legs, however after spending 6 hours walking around LA (noting how unfit I am) my legs have sulked off to the corner, just glaring at me. The only words they seem to be capable of aren't repeatable so I've cancelled their appearance.

Our hotel is about a 20 minute easy walk to the Grove LA and the Farmer's Market. The Grove has a Cheesecake Factory. The strawberry lemonade at the Cheesecake Factory is very possibly my very favourite thing in the world. So us heading to the Grove at some point on this visit was a foregone conclusion. We got to the Grove (fancy shopping mall - often featured on TMZ!) about 11:15, thought it was a little early for lunch and so had the very difficult task of hovering in the giant Barnes and Noble bookstore next door.

Oh Barnes and Noble. I love you, I could spend forever in you.

After half an hour, we went next door, we were very quickly seated on the balcony (weather is gorgeous here). If you've seen the photos on my Facebook, please note our mains (meatloaf and shepherd's pie) were the SMALLER lunch size. The portions are insane. Also insane was the Oreo Exreme Dream Cheesecake I attempted for dessert. It beat me, but be assured I put up a big fight. It was heaven in a spoonful.

After browsing around more and a visit to the Farmer's Market we decide to walk another 15 minutes to the La Brea Tar Pits and LACMA (LA something something Art). Some excellent photo opportunities to be had. There's something amazing about palaeontology work happening in the middle of LA.

We slowly strolled back to the hotel after that, slowly because my legs had begun their campaign of hatred against me.

Tonight we've just grabbed a pizza and brought it back to the hotel, as I hadn't watched HGTV in about 8 hours and I was missing watching people browse property on shoestring budgets with huge wish lists.

Really, today was all sugar. And frankly, I'm okay with that.

G'day LA

Hello from California :)

I started drafting this blog on the plane, but reading back, and considering I was realising we weren't even halfway when I started the draft, it's fuelled with grumpy thoughts so I've scrapped it.

So long story/flight long. The flight was okay. It's over 14 hours it's pretty much what you imagine what it was like.

Today has been dedicated to food and sleep! Oh and a little shopping.

We had early check in at our hotel - the Sofitel - which I've decided is probably my favourite ever hotel - which was great for a refresh. This room has the best shower - one of those giant showerheads that hangs from the ceiling.

Then we celebrated our arrival with lunch at Johnny Rockets. For those unaware, it's a chain of 50s style burger joints. It's really fun, and sets my America pop culture meter off. I had a Philly Cheesesteak, Aaron a burger and we both had floats (spiders as Australians may know them.) The floats were huge!

After that we went to the Beverly Center to browse the shops. By browse,  I mean Aaron was left in my dust trail as I ran towards Sephora, while giggling like a maniac. After Sephora (I was restrained and only bought something I actually needed), I mysteriously ended up in Macy's. I wasn't going to buy anything but there was a clearance rack and a Ralph Lauren jumper reduced from $109 to $36. I'm sure anyone would agree purchasing it was the only logical option.

After a nap, we went wandering around another shopping centre that had Target and Old Navy etc (no purchases) and then went to a nearby PF Chang's for dinner. That was a good choice, it was fresh and light but a great portion size so we had a good dinner.

Now, back in the hotel obsessively watching HGTV. No real plans for tomorrow. I suspect the Cheesecake Factory will feature.

(I'm having trouble posting things on Facebook so hopefully this works. )

I blame Jackson Browne

The story goes that Jackson Browne had written a song but had got stuck and it wouldn't be completed in time for his next album, so he showed his neighbour who loved how it started, and offered to some more lyrics. Jackson Browne was so impressed, that he gave his neighbour song writing credit and gave it to his band to perform. His neighbour was Glenn Frey of the Eagles and the song was Take It Easy. The line that Jackson had got stuck on was "I was standing on a corner of Winslow, Arizona"... and since Take it Easy was released, Eagles fans such as myself, have seen Winslow as a bit of a Mecca.

As I've mentioned in my previous blog entry, it was the thing I was most looking forward to seeing along Route 66. As a student of American cultural history, with a thesis on car culture behind me, Route 66 was something I needed to cross of my bucket list before we buy a new house this year and commit to a much bigger mortgage, ceasing the international travel, that's almost become part of who I am. The whole upcoming US trip revolved around going on a Route 66 tour through Cosmos Tours.

Monday, we got the news the tour had been cancelled. I was/am completely shattered by it. This trip meant a lot to me, for many reasons, but the main one, was while it sounds odd, I felt like this tour was going to "complete" me, well at least in a for now sense and also because the tour was smack bang in the middle, so many changes would have involved lost money or compromising existing plans. With the confusion over the holiday and the very early stress of thinking about selling our house combined, I had a bit of a meltdown yesterday and the holiday was nearly cancelled.

Then, after a blurted vent on Facebook, some accompanying wide advice both online and off, Aaron and I started thinking about the gaps and what we could do. By the end of the night, we had a new plan, and we were genuinely happy and looking forward to the holiday.

Plans actually changed again this morning, when my mother referred us to this Trafalgar Tour Colourful Trails of the Southwest she found, which fits into our plans perfectly and looks really quite amazing. Monument Valley was the other place on my most want to see list and it's on this tour.

As you can see from the map, it covers a lot of natural wonder places, which Aaron and I love. It also lets us see Phoenix which was on our list of places to fill the gap. So if this tour is still available when my travel agent returns from a conference next week, this will be going in.

It won't let me feel like I'm part of Eagles history, but it's going to be great, and Winslow will be there, giving me a dream to keep going back to when I'm trying to learn how to save money!

2014 - A Huge Year With A Less Huge Me?

2014 is here, and that's as good as time as any to start my blog again. It's also a good chance to see if I can stand doing lots of typing on the iPad. (Current guess is no.)

I've missed blogging, so I'm looking forward to starting again and I think it's going to be useful because I'm expecting 2014 to be a pretty big year. This year will feature another series of trip updates as we're back off to the USA for 5 weeks, and we're looking at buying a new house. Exciting! (And in regards to the house completely overwhelming and terrifying too.)

I feel like I'm also having an epiphany of sorts at the moment. I haven't made any New Year's Resolutions but around the start of the year, in complete coincidence - although possibly heavily influenced by complete festive overdoing - I seem to have just fallen into a pattern of looking after myself more. (I say this as I sit slumped on the couch, watching hours of episodes of Say Yes To The Dress).  I don't feel like this is a conscious attempt at weight loss, thought that would be a nice by product, just as if I've realised I deserve better than the sluggish, uncomfortable, unfit person I am. I feel like it's never clicked that way before. I'm far from doing anything drastic - chocolate, coca cola, cookies and cheese are permanent friends of mine, but I'm getting my thyroid medication finally right, I'm drinking a lot more water, cutting down on takeaway and I've even started waking earlier to use my treadmill. (I know, you couldn't be more shocked than me.) It's just feeling like a natural progression.

Anyhoo, that's boring. I'm going to NEW YORK CITY again. It'll be interesting to see it after seeing Paris, which was always my fantasy city. I think I'm going to love it as much as before - Paris will be more beautiful, but NYC will always feel more like a home.

This trip to the US is intended on being a bit of a last hurrah, as we cut down on travelling to be sensible audits with a bigger mortgage, so it's covering the one thing I felt I still needed to get out of my system - Route 66,  a "Greatest Hits" of places we've already been and loved - NYC, Vegas, Chicago and LA/Anaheim/ Disneyland, and a surprise visit to New Orleans which we added after we had a spare space.

My love for Americana, especially my interest in the 50s, car culture and diners (heh heh), has meant that Route 66 has felt like somewhere I've needed to see sooner rather than later, so we're doing a tour. We picked the tour based on the "promise" that they stopped at Winslow, Arizona so I could stand on a corner with this guy.

Taken from TripAdvisor

(Eagles fans shout out!)

So all things seem quite good. I finished 2013 feeling completely stressed, sad and flat, and it's nice that a lot of those feelings seem to have stayed back there.

Here's to 2014. Hope it's great for you.