Buses by day and buses by night

Union Station

It’s back to the Big Bus tour today to see the remaining few sights we’ve not yet seen, so we walk to George Town and stop for a coffee in a lovely café with tempting pastries, yummy. Once on the bus we realise that today’s tour guide is a lady, however her delivery fails to endear us to her. We enjoy seeing Washington’s sights but after 10 minutes Dave’s already asking when we can get off, we both put up with the over the top commentary and “friends” as she calls them getting on and off but the final straw is the whooping up the passengers to wave to the Canadian embassy as we have Canadians onboard today. The headphones are rapidly pulled out and stowed and before Dave says anything I drag him off the bus.

The Capitol Building

Fortunately, Union Station is not too far, it has a tall arched ceiling embellished with 22carot gold leaf, impressive and everywhere is very clean. We move on to The Capitol, the botanical gardens and back to the bus tour. Thank goodness when the bus arrives it’s not the same tour guide but I must be getting tired as his use of “people” every third word really grates but I do enjoy seeing the Thomas Jefferson Memorial, the Korean war memorial and Martin Luther King’s memorial.

View from Washington DC to Arlington

To get back to Arlington we experience another first, the Washington Metro system and with a lot of help from a guard we manage to purchase some rechargeable tickets and go down to the platform. Fortunately, we can get any train from this station as long as we’re going in the right direction and it turns out we’re headed to Vienna! The escalator at Rosslyn is also an experience it is probably the longest I have ever seen and the steepest.

Vietnam War Memorial

Korean War Memorial

Our final trip here in Washington is the Night Bus Tour, so back into Washington, down the impossibly long escalator and hot foot it to The Willard Hotel to pick up the tour but we’re early. Dave treats us to a drink in the street side bar of the hotel and we sink into the luxuriously cushioned rocking chairs and sip cool drinks, sheer bliss. The bus arrives and we all board the bus, thank goodness, this guide is excellent, Sam has a good sense of humour, a wide knowledge base and no annoying sayings. The best part of the trip is undoubtedly the Lincoln Memorial and the nearby Vietnam and Korean War memorials. The latter is so realistic at nightfall that the figures look like they are just emerging from the trees on patrol. I expect them to speak at any moment. There’s just time for us to rush back to the hotel and fall into the onsite restaurant for a take away pizza, never has a pizza tasted so good.

Thomas Jefferson Memorial

The Lincoln Memorial at night

The Big Bus Tour and the Police

Old police cars

What a difference 12hours and a good night’s sleep makes! Not only are we fully refreshed and ready to go but it is sunny and warm outside. As we leave the hotel we pass through about 20 police officers, has there been an incident? No they’re all showing off their immaculate old police cars, it must be some sort of convention.

We’ve decided that for the next couple of days our mode of transport should be the Big Bus Hop On Hop Off tour. It has 3 routes here in Washington, so tickets are purchased on line and the email with bar code saved to my phone. Now, I’m a bit of a dinosaur with this technology so I’m not convinced I’ve managed to do the whole process correctly so I worry as we walk through Arlington, across Key Bridge and into George Town. The bus arrives and smiling George looks at my phone and prints off 2 tickets, the wonders of the internet and smart phones will never cease to amaze me!

The Lincoln Memorial

View from Lincoln Memorial to Washington Memorial

The tour takes us first to the Lincoln Memorial where we join the mothers’ day crowds to take pictures of Lincoln, the memorial, the reflecting pool, the WW II memorial, and the George Washington Memorial. At the bottom of the steps there’s a youth orchestra playing the 1812 Overture, it’s all very inspirational but as Dave wants to ask them to play Land of Hope and Glory next I move us swiftly on. The walk takes us to the south side of The White House and I am so relieved we’ve finally seen it as Dave has asked me every second question where the White House is! Back to the bus tour which winds its way past the Treasury, DuPont Circle, the area of AdamsMorgan, the national zoo (which is free to enter) and finally Woodley Park where we stop to get some refreshments at The Open City. There are a lot of family groups in the restaurant, I guess a lot of mothers are being treated to lunch today for Mothers’ Day.

We complete our tour with stops at the West wing of The White House, the world bank and Constitution Avenue. We pass a Secret Service man being taken for a walk by his alsatian, not so secret as it’s written on his jacket! We smile and comment to him that the dog is in charge of the walk, no reply, no flicker of acknowledgement, may be only the dog can hear anything! As we wait for the bus for the final section of our tour we hear the blare of police sirens coming closer, oh no, have the secret service ordered our arrest? No fortunately, it’s the old police cars doing a tour of the capital and announcing their presence. Our bus arrives and takes us past the Pentagon and Arlington Cemetery. The guide is very concerned that we get off here as there is only 1 more bus tonight, don’t worry we say we’ll walk from here, he looked shocked.

The White House

Washington Memorial

Big Bus Tours

Iwo Jima Memorial

Arlington

It’s raining heavily when we wake up this morning, not good for a drive to Washington DC. So I’m feeling very anxious about the journey as we set off, the pavements are awash with water and some parts of the road are flooding. The journey doesn’t get any easier as we get onto the interstate, in fact the windscreen wipers are struggling to keep up, then suddenly we see a tidal wave of water heading towards us. It’s only by cool driving that Dave doesn’t hit anything as we wait for a few tense seconds for the windscreen to clear. Gradually as we head further south the rain stops and by the time we reach Washington it’s dry.

Washington DC from Arlington Cemetary

Our room isn’t quite ready so we walk to Arlington Cemetery past the Marine Corps memorial (Iwo Jima memorial) and the Netherlands bell tower memorial. The sight of all the white gravestones in straight lines is very moving, Dave says it ticks all his OCD boxes! It’s a long walk to the Tomb of The Unknown Soldier but we reach it with 5 minutes to spare before the next changing of the guard. The ceremony is very precise and performed with great reverence and when requested by the soldier with the bayonet on his gun everyone stands up to honour the unknown. There’s also a wreath laying ceremony by school children accompanied by the last post, very atmospheric.

Changing the guard at Tomb of the Unknown Soldier

Arlington Cemetary

JF Kennedy Memorial - The Eternal Flame

On the way, back we pause at the JFK memorial of The Eternal Flame before passing miles of graves on our walk back to the hotel. At last we can check into the Best Western IWO Jima and discover that the room is in fact a suite!!! After having luxuriated in a bath, drank several cups of coffee and lost Dave several times around the suite it’s time to search for a restaurant tonight. The route takes past a taco van that has definitely not moved in years as it’s up on bricks but still doing a trade. Several false starts and wrong turns later we stumble into Tulepo Honey, form the outside it looks empty but actually it is nearly full and buzzing. The young man serving us persuades us to have the chicken deal and yes, it is good, pear and cheese salad to start, a whole jointed chicken, potatoes and green beans to follow and pecan pie to finish. However, the chicken does remind us of Kentucky fried chicken!

The Philadelphia Walking Tour

Elfred's Alley

First job this morning sort out the cases as it’s upsetting my need for order that I can’t find anything and I agree to do as Dave suggests and pick out enough clothes for 4 days and pack these and essentials for both of us into one case. I hope this works.

The Liberty Bell

Today we’re off to see old Philadelphia, first stop The Liberty Bell and at 10am already the queue is out the building. We shuffle along to reach security and an airport style scanning and search we’re admitted to the hall to see the nationally important cracked bell. It’s a struggle to get near enough for a photo but I persevere and succeed. After this we walk past Benjamin Franklin’s grave to Betsy Ross’s house where the first American flag was made but it is mobbed with school children visiting so we don’t linger. The next stop of Elfred’s Alley, the oldest surviving area of Philli and definitely our favourite tourist stop, quaint houses on narrow cobblestones streets adorned with American flags and flowers. But there’s no stopping on this tour, on to the impressive Irish Memorial, Penn Landing, views of the Benjamin Franklin Bridge before winding our way back through the streets to Reading Terminal Market. As we wait to cross one street a small grey squirrel joins us, waiting patiently on the sidewalk until the traffic lights change in our favour. He then crosses the road slowly and looking left and right before scooting up the nearest tree!

The river f

rom Penn Landing

The Irish Memorial

Jazz in Reading Terminal Market

We both love visiting markets they’re always exciting vibrant places, but Reading Terminal Market is on another level. There are stalls selling every conceivable type of food, meat, fish, fruit, vegetables, curry, Italian, pastries, bread, chocolate, the list goes on and on. And in the middle of the market, a 4 piece band playing jazz while people eat their lunch purchased from the surrounding stalls. And for us, a sandwich purchased at Hatville’s, a family business that goes back decades, which is so stuffed with thin sliced corned beef, the bread struggles to contain it! It is delicious. And while we eat the cabaret in front of us keeps us entertained, meats continually sliced on the machines, a dance performed by the manager replenishing the many meats being sliced and for sale, not to mention the lady making the sandwiches. There’s no measurements here only the size of her handfuls of meat onto the bread and she has big hands! Suitably refreshed and all senses on overload from the markets noise, smells and sights we exit back onto the main streets.

I must mention the street people that seem to be everywhere, all with humongous suitcases presumably filled with their possessions. Life on the streets is tough but this is still a consumer society and in some way they have purchased! There are people asleep in doorways, shop doorways and even over the grids that emit hot steam from the subways to the streets above. Americas consumer society and land of the free appears to be passing these citizens by.

Next stop, Rittenhouse Square, which is reached by passing increasingly prosperous looking properties until we emerge onto one of the original Philadelphia Squares. It’s large and tree lined with a lovely park in the centre and today a craft market all the way round the outside, jewellery, pottery, pictures, clothes all hand made. We’re now exhausted, Dave complains he started the day measuring 6’2” and is now only 5’9”! I think he’s exaggerating but a beer soon has him in a happy mood again.

Tonight we’re going to walk along Spruce Street to a Cypriot Restaurant, we discover it’s a “Bring Your Own Bottle” restaurant and so supply the necessary item. Gorgeous Greek kebabs, salad, hummus and rice all eaten in a vibrant Greek atmosphere. And afterwards a drink at Fergies to end the tour of Philli as we started, unfortunately the “Live Band Karaoke” is not of good quality so we make a swift early exit.

From "incoming" to Philadelphia

Well even the generator couldn’t keep us awake last night, so refreshed we’re ready for action. First stop, Enterprise car rentals, this involves 2 mini bus transfers, the first back to JFK and the second a short 2-minute ride to Enterprise. As the bus sets off the driver gets on the walkie talkie to say “ 2 incoming”, I’ve never felt like a scud missile before! Now, the bit that Dave likes, negotiating a reduction on the price of our car hire and choosing the car. Deal agreed, he selects a black Dodge, Journey, leather seats, sat nav, seventh heaven for Dave. All starry eyed we set of for Philadelphia, hit traffic on the Beltway but an enjoyable drive all the same over several impressive bridges, especially The Verrazano Bridge.

At last the outskirts of Philadelphia and we discover our hotel is on a one-way street with very strict parking laws and must move the car quickly before it gets a ticket and $75 fine. The room in the Alexander Inn couldn’t be more different to last night, it’s in a boutique, old hotel and the room is quite art deco old fashioned in design and much smaller but lovely.

Guitar at Hard Rock Cafe

We’re eager to start exploring, first stop a photo opportunity of The Hard Rock Cafe's enormous guitar and after that, food and a beer. More by accident we end up at Fergie’s Pub, one I’d marked as promising during my research and we’re not disappointed. Suitably refreshed the afternoons sightseeing starts with Reading Terminal Market, City Hall, the Basilica of St’s Peter & Paul followed by the Rodin Museum, the Rocky Statue and the Art Museum. All the buildings are an eclectic mix of old and very modern glass positioned next to each other. Dave’s not impressed I’ve managed to fit in another church on a music tour, but we both enjoy the architecture, paintings and stained glass. The Rodin museum is beautiful with famous statues such as The Thinker and The Three Shades outside all set in tranquil gardens planted with purple and white alliums and purple tulips around a water pool. We pose on the steps of the Art Museum ala Rocky before heading back to the hotel.

Well it’s amazing what a couple of hours’ rest can do! We have no idea where we will eat tonight so we set off to wander and choose, eventually deciding on a French bistro restaurant! (very like Café Rouge in the UK). Lovely hanger steak and frites with red wine. For a final drink we stumble into Frankie Bradleys enticed by the promise of “live music upstairs guys” but on asking we realise that the music is Middle Eastern belly dance! Not quite the screaming guitars or soft American Rock we visualised. Retreating downstairs to the bar for a drink we realise what an eclectic bar we’re in. it seems to have been decorated by several people all with wildly different tastes, babes in sparkly scanty bikinis and erotica, Christmas trees, medieval coats of arms, wall art of sekonda watches, traditional deer antlers and varied lampshades from fringed shades to art deco. This place is surely at the centre of a time warp!

The Thinker!

The Three Shades

Rocky Statue

Philadelphia from The Art Museum steps

Starting The Blues Tour

In The Flying Horse

Our long-planned trip to America to experience “The Blues” starts today. I have changed my mind on what combination of clothes to take far too many times but at last it’s all packed and well under weight, amazing. The train journey down to Gatwick is smooth

 with no hiccups and I enjoy watching the beautiful green countryside as it passes the train windows. Checking in for our flight at Gatwick Airport seems to be completely DIY, let’s hope the cases obey the rules and make the correct flight. Now for security, never Dave’s favourite bit of travelling but necessary and as usual I have to be searched, apparently, I have

Goodbye UK

something suspicious on top of my head! Our wait in the terminal is made all the more pleasant by a pint in The Flying Horse. Soon it’s time to board and we’re quite excited to be turning left through the plane door instead of right. The new Dreamliner is lovely, comfy seats no one in front of us and windows that black themselves out!

We wave London and the UK goodbye and 6 ½ hours later watch the iconic skyline of New York come closer and closer as we come in to land at John F Kennedy airport. The journey through immigration is surprisingly friendly and smooth, no questions about the Egyptian stamp in our passports which I have been anticipating. The Howard Johnson Hotel is welcoming and certainly better than the hotel we stayed at last time we travelled to New York. In the corridor on the way to our room we pass a young man crouched down on the floor, he looks tall I think. Then he starts standing up and honestly, he just keeps getting taller, Dave’s head is at his waist, he must be the tallest person I have ever seen. They sure do make them big over here!

The only bad point about this whole day is the generator that’s powering the lights for roadworks that is running very loudly outside our window and it looks set to go all night.

Hello New York

Farewell Cairo

 It’s time to leave, Rob and Maria have left early this morning and now Dave and I are saying our goodbyes over lunch in the food court of Al Rehab. The last few days have been filled with amazing sights and experiences.

Without Tom’s local knowledge we certainly couldn’t have fitted so much in or seen so much of this fascinating city, thanks for a great Cairo experience Tom.