New York, New York -

We walked through Central Park on a beautiful sunny day with people out walking, cycling, jogging, roller blading or taking a horse and carriage ride ($34 US for 30 minutes). Tim paid homage to John Lennon at the Strawberry Fields part of the park dedicated to his memory and a quick side trip to see the Dakota Building alongside the park where he was gunned down. Yoko Ono still resides there.

Lots of children were sailing toy motorboats and yachts on the lake as seen in "Stuart Little" and the ice rink was very crowded and looked quite beautiful and Christmasy.

We made sure while walking that we sampled some typical New York fare - hot dogs from a street vendor, pretzels and some New York cheesecake.

We walked down 5th Avenue and saw the Rockefeller Centre (picture above left), Chrysler Building, Empire State Building and Grand Central Station.

Today we head north to Connecticut as the weather is still good and very mild for late November. The only thing that takes some getting used to is that it is dark by about 4.30 p.m.

The 'other' Statue of Liberty

We had 4 nights in Secaucus, New Jersey which was 5 miles from New York city as to stay in the city itself was too expensive. We caught the bus directly into the city and it only took 2o minutes and as it was across a weekend the kids were free and an adult was $4.60 US return so very good value. We had a lovely view of the city skyline from our hotel room. The weather was sunny and quite warm at around 15 degrees so we were very fortunate. We wore our little feet and not so little feet down to stumps walking the sidewalks and seeing all the sights. Jonty was convinced in his over anxious way that his feet were in fact broken!



We took the free Staten Island ferry to and from Staten Island to get the views of the city and the Statue of Liberty rather than queue for two hours to go on the usual Circle Ferry trip. We saw Ground Zero and then shopped with the masses at Century 21, the huge discount department store where Tim managed to get two suits. After that we walked uptown to Times Square via the fabulous Macy's store Christmas windows. Their Christmas displays are renowned and include sound and large animated figures. Then on to the bright lights of Times Square. The only negative was on our first night at the hotel (which was a 4 star) a vandal took to several cars in the outside carpark including ours and our right rear light was broken. We are still able to drive as it works ok but it doesn't look pretty and is taped up with silver duct tape we borrowed off the hotel.

The White House, Washington D.C -

On Wednesday Steve our host took a day off work and drove us around some of the many other sights we hadn't explored on our own. First stop was Washington Zoo where we nipped in to see the Chinese Panda Bears (a first for the kids) and we then were lucky to catch the elephants getting bathed which was very entertaining. After that we saw the Washington Cathedral, Art Gallery, Iwo Jima Monument, Arlington Cemetery, the Pentagon and Debbie took our photo outside the White House (see above). We went out for our last night to a traditional diner for a meal. Thanks guys for giving us your home and time - it was much appreciated.

Smithsonian, Washington D.C -

The Smithsonian is the national collection of museums. There is the most popular Air and Space Museum which we went to, the Native Indian Museum, The Natural History Museum, The American History Museum and the Black American History Museum. All are free admission. Inside the Air and Space Museum we saw the V2 missiles from WWII, touched a piece of the moon, saw the spacesuits that the first men wore on the moon and the Kitty Hawk the canvas and timber plane of the Wright brothers.

The American History Museum was closed in September for renovation but the 'best of' were displayed in the Air and Space Museum saw we also saw President Lincoln's top hat he wore the night he was asassinated, Archie Bunker's armchair, the original R2D2 and CP30 from 'Star Wars' and Beau was pleased to see Judy Garland's original size 5 'ruby slippers' from 'The Wizard of Oz'. (see photo)

Washington Monument, Washington D.C -

We got our free timed ticket to go up the monument and once we had our bags scanned and cleared security we ascended the monument in the 72 second elevator ride. At the top you look out quite small windows down on to the Mall and across the city. The monument is 165m high.

WWII Memorial, Washington D. C -

This is the newest of the war memorials opened in 2004.

Vietnam War Memorial, Washington D.C -

This was erected in 1982 to represent the 58,000 Americans who died. The monument was designed by a then 21 year old archirectural student. All 58,000 names are etched into the stone.

Korean War Memorial, Washington D.C -

These larger than life soldiers are made of stainless steel. A very moving monument to the American soldiers who died.

Washington D.C -

We had 3 nights with ex Wellington family the Dawes in Bethesda, Maryland which is on the edge of D.C. Our first day we caught the metro train into The Mall and walked around the various monuments, the Smithsonian and went up the Washington Monument. The day was sunny with lovely blue skies but a cool 5 degrees so coats and gloves were necessary for the first time. Debbie our hostess did a fabulous job providing great home cooking for 10 of us around the table at night - no easy feat and much appreciated.

Mabry Mill, Virginia -

This is the most photographed site on the 469 mile Blue Ridge Parkway which we have been winding our way along for a few days. The road travels through fabulous scenery in both North Carolina and Virginia and connects the Great Smoky National Park with the Shenandoah National Park. It is a 2 lane highway and you can join and exit the road at many different points. We saw lots of wild deer, more than in any other national park we have visited.

Great Smoky Mountains National Park, Tennessee and North Carolina -

This is the most visited of America's National Parks and the only one that is free. It borders two states. We were lucky to catch a 'dusting' of snow on the fir trees. It was quite magical as we drove along listening to our Christmas songs CD!

Knoxville, Tennessee -

We called in on my 'oldest' friend Liz and her family (Liz and I went to school together in England aged 5). Liz kindly made Kennedy a cake for a belated celebration. Here are the kids with Liz's daughter Sophie aged 5.

Chevrolet 'Uplander'' -

Fortunately for us our Avis car we collected in L.A on 31 October required an oil change so we took it to the Nashville depot and they upgraded us to this minivan. It has 6 individual 'captain seats' and best of all an onboard DVD player which the kids can listen to with wireless headphones (included) and Tim and I can enjoy the peace and quiet from the back for a change.

Kennedy's 7th birthday dinner

Kennedy's 7th birthday -

We celebrated Kennedy's birthday on the 11th November by going out for a meal. Here she is in her birthday present - new outfit plus the hairclips and handbag.

A Kiwi from New Zealand on Elvis' grave

Elvis' grave, Graceland, Tennessee -

'Lisa Marie' Elvis' aeroplane, Graceland, Tennessee

Oklahoma City, Oklahoma; Little Rock, Arkansas; Memphis, Tennessee -

We have just been travelling across the Interstate 40 trying to head to the colder East and get that 'done' before we head south to some warmer weather. We had a night in each of the above places. We took time out to spend an afternoon at Graceland in Memphis, home to the late Elvis Presley. Though neither Tim or I are Elvis fans (indeed I don't own any Elvis CD nor have I seen any of his movies) Graceland is a 'must see' according to all the guide books. We weren't disappointed and it was a fascinating look behind this powerful, talented and successful man. We saw inside his mansion including the 1970's chic 'Jungle Room' with its green shagpile carpeted ceiling! We also saw all his trophys and gold record display which as you can imagine is enormous. Then to his automobile collection and his two aeroplanes including the 'Lisa Marie' named after his daughter. We also saw Elvis's garve and that of his family who are all buried in the grounds of Graceland (special permission was given). We were surprised to see a wee Kiwi ornament on one of the graves which a NZ fan had obviously placed there recently. The cost was expensive as you might expect at $30 US for an adult ($45 NZ) and $15 US ($23 NZ) for a child plus $6 US ($9 NZ) for parking but we all enjoyed it and are glad we went.

Amarillo, Texas -

We have had 2 nights here in a lovely hotel where we managed to get a suite so for the first time in a long time Mum and Dad get their own bedroom!
This is cowboy country in the 'Lone Star State', the 2nd largest state after Alaska. You can get a free 72 oz steak dinner here IF you can eat it (and all the sides) in under an hour! (We didn't try).
We have travelled on and off parts of the famous Route 66 which runs parallel to the freeway that replaced it.
We visited the whacky 'Cadillac Ranch' which consists of 10 battered cadillacs upended in a field in the middle of nowhere. Since 1974 when they first appeared they have sometimes been re-painted for a commercial or photo shoot. Jonty found some discarded aerosol paint cans and managed to squeeze enough paint out of one can to write his name on one of the cars until the next 'makeover'.

Santa Fe, New Mexico -

Chillies traditionally hanging from doorways and verandas.

Santa Fe, New Mexico -

Santa Fe was founded by Spanish missionaries in 1610 and here we visited the USA's oldest house, oldest church and oldest public building. The town is 7000 feet above sea level. We did a 2 hour walking tour of the old town on a balmy sunny day. The town averages 300 days of sunshine per year. Adobe architecture abounds both genuine and 'fake' and there are over 200 art galleries.

San Miguel Mission 1610

Canyon de Chelly National Monument, Arizona -

We visited this after Monument Valley. It is pronounced "d'shay". Navajo people still farm and live within the park which is a huge canyon with two rim drives you can do. Only the Navajo have access to the base of the canyon so you must observe it from the top and look down. We caught a magical sunset as we left.

Navajo Nation, Arizona -

The north eastern corner of Arizona is American Indian land or a 'reservation'. The Navajo people however prefer to call it the 'Navajo Nation' and this is how it appears on the maps. In a treaty in 1868 this land was given back to the American Indians and is now the largest reservation in the USA at 25,000 square miles. Though a lot of poverty is evident with the amount of pre-fab style trailer homes people live in etc the heritage is strong and every small town has Indian crafts and jewellry for sale. As white people we really stuck out and the only white people you see are tourists. I doubt there would be any white people permanently living here. While the Navajo drive their pick up trucks and have their McDonalds you feel like you are travelling through a foreign country. While everyone speaks English the Navajo language is still alive and strong and the supermarkets mark their prices in Navajo and English. The nation also is on a different time zone to the rest of the state. We had dinner tonight at a fast food restaurant and a young boy of about 12 came up to sell us Indian trinkets. The parks have Indian vendors at every viewpoint etc. A great cultural and learning experience for us all!

Monument Valley - Arizona/Utah

This morning we had our complimentary breakfast at the motel. This is the norm here at most motels and hotels so it's great for us as we have a big breakfast and then take some fruit or pastries with us for lunch so only have to buy dinner. For the first time today however I sampled what look like cooked, fried eggs but it was an imposter! They were 'liquid eggs' that I've seen in the supermarkets here. You pour them from a carton and somehow it makes fake eggs. Not to be recommended however.
We headed north to Monument Valley which straddles Arizona and Utah. Monument Valley is your classic Wild West landscape and indeed it was used for many early Western films and John Wayne movies. Also 'Lone Ranger' and 'Back to the Future 3' were filmed here. The park is on Navajo land so is not under the USA National Parks' umbrella therefore you pay $5 US per person to drive the 17 mile unsealed loop road throughout the park. The scenery was awesome and quite surreal as I hope you can see from the photo.

Grand Canyon, Arizona, U.S.A -

Grand Canyon, Arizona, U.S.A -

U.S.A - So here we are back in the U.S again for the final part of our sojourn. We will be here 3 months before returning to New Zealand at the end of January. We were pleasantly surprised on arrival to find the temperatures not as cool as we had thought. I am still managing to wear shorts every day since we left New Zealand on 4th June so not too bad! The temperature here is in the early 20's though cool at night and of course dark by 5.30 p.m.
We had negotiated a good deal with Avis in England in the days before we flew out so once again we have our Chevrolet Impala. We had 2 nights in the suburbs of L.A and then drove out east towards Arizona. We are delighted to have regular and free internet again so please email us with your news and how you like the blog and we will definately reply!
Today we went to the biggest of them all - the Grand Canyon National Park. We had a wonderful sunny day and walked the south rim trail for several kilometres. You park and ride the park shuttle and being November it was pleasantly under run with tourists. I had flown over the Grand Canyon before but not seen it at ground level and Tim and the children had never been. Tim found the 'drops' nerve wracking and fair enough considering up to 10 people fall over the edge each year to their deaths. There was a fascinating book in the giftshop of all the deaths that had occurred at the canyon! Unbelievably there have been many deaths even recently of people who drive their cars purposely over the edge 'Thelma and Louise' style. The drop is over 1 mile or 2.2 kms down.
Of course photographs cannot possibly capture the enormity of this wonder but I have posted a few for you any way. We saw deer and elk in the park and caught the sunset before heading home tired and weary.

Natural History Museum, London, England -

Posing by one of the many dinosaur skeletons at the museum.

Buckingham Palace, London, England -

London - We left Wiltshire and drove 2 hours back to London where we had booked the Holiday Inn in Earls Court for 3 nights. We still had the car but used the tube to get around. We fitted in the Natural History Museum (with its dinosaur skeletons), the Victoria & Albert Museum, Harrods, Harvey Nicholls, Trafalgar Square, the National Art Gallery, Hyde Park, Green Park, St James Park and Buckingham Palace (outside only).
We also did two more London walks, a night time ghost walk with our Shakespeare trained guide bursting into song for us as we toured and a Mayfair walk taking in how the other half live in London. Indeed we saw places for rent in Mayfair for 4500GBP ($13,000 NZ) per WEEK! We also saw the UK memorial to 9/11 in Grosvenor Square and one of Gordon Ramsay's restaurants 'Maze' which we were pleased to see included NZ wine on the menu. We popped into the Ritz but Tim was informed he had to wear a tie just to enter the lobby and if we wanted afternoon tea it was 35GBP ($105 NZ) per person!
We had some lovely meals with our London based Kiwi friend Michael including a belated birthday cake (homemade) for me at his place.
And so ended part two of our trip as we flew out of Heathrow for Los Angeles.

Stonehenge, Wiltshire, England -

Old Wardour Castle, Wiltshire, England -

ENGLAND - We knew we were back in England as the temperature upon exiting the Eurotunnel was 12 degrees. We had been so lucky in Europe with 6 weeks of fine weather and temperatures always in the 20's. We drove the 3 hours to the village of Swallowcliffe, near Salisbury, Wiltshire where we stayed with Tim's Kiwi cousin David and his family for 4 nights. We had a lovely relaxing time with them and caught up on phonecalls, emails and washing. We also managed to fit in Stonehenge, Stourhead Gardens and Old Wardour Castle. While it was cold we only had 1 day of rain.

Riquewihr, France

FRANCE - Now it was time to cross back through France to Calais where we had a night before experiencing the Eurotunnel back to Folkestone, England.
The crossing is about 30 minutes and the train only allows cars i.e no solo passenegers or trucks. You drive your car on to the train straight from the boarding drive. The train is 2 levels and you park in single file. Doors are closed between carriages and while you can get out of your car there is less than a metre either side of your vehicle so people tend to remain in their car.
En route to Calais we stopped at a charming town called Riquewihr with its cobbled streets and quaint shops.

Basel, Switzerland-

This is a car/boat and a convertable at that. We saw it 'drive' into the river as we stood along the banks of the Rhine.

Basel, Switzerland -

Traditional Swiss meal of Raclette (oven is on the table) at Evelyne's parents' house.

Left to right:

Evelyne, Evelyne's Mum, Evelyne's Dad, her sister Cordelia, Beau, Jonty and Marcel, Evelyne's boyfriend.

Basel, Switzerland

We went to Basel to visit Evelyne, one of our international students who lived with us in November 2005. It was great to see her again and she kindly loaned us her 2 bedroom apartment for 2 nights and she went and stayed with her boyfriend Marcel.
Switzerland is very unique in that they have 3 national languages: French, Swiss-German and Italian so most Swiss are bilingual. All official documentation is in 3 languages and in addition a lot of the 5 million population speak English.
As we were in Basel on a Sunday Evelyne and Marcel took us on a walking tour of the city. We had great weather yet again and enjoyed eating roasted chestnuts from a street vendor. We went to 'Three Corners' in the city where you can see Switzerland, France and Germany all in the same vicinity. While there we also saw a convertable car/boat 'drive' into the Rhine River which we were standing beside (see photo).
On Sunday night Evelyne drove us to her parents where we had a lovely family meal of traditional Swiss Raclette. For those of you who don't know about Raclette, you have little ovens about the size of a large dinner plate placed on the table. Each person has their own little triangular non stick pan about the size of your palm and you put a piece of cheese in it plus you could add onion, bacon, mushroom, gherkin and then you put your pan in the oven and melt everything and then when it's all gooey and yummy you scrape it on to new baby potatoes on your plate and eat it. Delicious and the kids loved doing their own 'cooking'. Though Evelyne's parents don't speak English, Evelyne and Marcel did and her brother and sister were also there and they spoke English too. We had a great evening and after stocking up on some Swiss chocolate it was time to move north.

Bern, Switzerland

Bern, Switzerland -

View from Francie and Alex's apartment.

Below:

Celine, Francie, Alex and lizard!

SWITZERLAND - We left our Tuscan villa a day early to visit with our Swiss friends we had met in Spain a few weeks earlier. We drove north for about 7 hours and reached Bern, the Swiss capital. We stayed with our hosts Alex and Francie and their two teenagers Simon and Celine. Francie and Alex are a similar age to us. Francie is a nurse and Alex a lawyer. They live on the top floor (4th) of an inner city apartment which they share with their two pet Australian lizards which live in a huge 1 metre glass tank in their lounge and are fed on a diet of live crickets! Alex cooked us a wonderful traditional Swiss fondue meal which even the kids enjoyed. The next morning Francie walked us around her home town showing us all the sights. Alex and Francie also bought our tent off us so that made our luggage a little lighter and it was nice to know it had gone to a good home. We had a lovely lunch outside at one of the city cafes and and then drove our shortest journey to date of 1 hour north to Basel.

San Gimignano, Tuscany, Italy -

Even though it was late October and 'off ' season you can still see how popular this town was on a beautiful sunny day.

Below:

A typical Tuscan countryside scene.

Volterra, Italy -

Our closest town to where we stayed and where we had our car 'mishaps'. Note all the TV dishes which don't really fit in with the medieval town look.

Siena Shop front, Italy

In our week in Tuscany we visited Volterra, San Gimignano, Siena and Pisa. Though Tim and I had climbed the leaning tower before of course the children hadn't. Tim wasn't keen (in case it collapsed while we were in it!) but after persuading him we told the children I would take them up. However when we arrived we found children under 8 weren't allowed up at all so that ruled Kennedy out and those under 12 (Jonty) had to hold an adult's hand the entire way. Worse however was that the admission cost was 15E per person ($30 NZ) with no reduction at all for children. Faced with an overall cost for 3 of us of $90 NZ we decided to give it a miss and made do with photos of it from the bottom instead.

We all loved the Italian gelato and usually had one cone each a day. We also sampled the local wines and cheeses and of course pasta and pizza.

The drivers in Italy were some of the scariest we have encountered. They tend not to indicate, overtake in very dangerous circumstances and drive very very fast. Despite all that we were safe on the road but ended up having two minor accidents in two days. The first was in an underground carpark and the side panel of the passenger door got scraped rather badly (a case of too tight a car park and too big a car) and the next day Tim reversed into a tree breaking the rear brake light. He did however do a super job of glueing the many broken bits of red and clear plastic back together! That same day we got a 35E ($70NZ) parking ticket. We're not sure why as we can't read Italian but we have temporarily discarded it....

ITALY -

We now faced a 1500kms drive to Tuscany so we left our villa in Spain a day early and drove back to the south of France and spent a night in Arles, Provence. Then we drove via Nice and Monte Carlo into Italy, through Genoa to Tuscany. Our villa this time (another last minute internet booking) was near the town of Volterra. It was a new villa again 3 bedrooms and 3 bathrooms plus our own pool. The villa was on a farm and was lovely and quiet with a wonderful outlook over the olive groves and grapevines to the famous undulating and picturesque Tuscan countryside. This villa was $660 NZ for a week.

SPAIN -

We drove on to Spain and checked into our next mobile home at Salou near Tarragona. I had booked this one, a 2 bedroom on a 4 star campsite through the internet for 102 GBP or $300 NZ for a week so this one was a real bargain. It was because it was a last minute deal as the camp was due to close the following week for the season. The site had 2 huge pool complexes, a bakery, supermarket etc. We were a 5 minute walk to Salou beach where the good weather allowed us to swim in the sea. A highlight in Salou was the great people we met who 'camped' alongside us. There was a Scottish family with 3 kids on one side of us and a Swiss family with 2 teenagers on the other side who spoke perfect English. The Swiss family were adamant that we go and visit with them in Switzerland on our way back to England so we did (more on that later).

Tim and I had spent 6 weeks in Spain in 1987 camping and had fond memories. The country is much poorer than its neighbouring countries and the introduction of the Euro currency has made things more expensive than ever before for the tourist. The country has beautiful beaches and coastline but sadly they are not as well looked after as they should be. The number of foreigners living in Spain is huge due to the great weather and relatively cheap housing compared to the rest of Europe.

We went to Spain for the sea, beaches and sun and that is what we got so we were happy. After our first week in Spain we drove further south near Alicante and stayed at the beach resort of Javea where we had booked a last minute deal on a villa for 225 GBP or $660 NZ for 7 nights. We had our own 3 bedroom, 3 bathroom villa with our own private pool and garden. (see photo at top right).

In 1987 I celebrated my birthday with Tim camping in Benidorm so it seemed fitting that we celebrated my birthday again this year in the same place. Benidorm is the number one beach resort in Europe. It is like a huge Surfers Paradise I guess you could say. We went out for lunch there and it was a lovely day.

After our fortnight in Spain we had to head to our next destination - Tuscany, Italy.

St Cirq Lapopie, France

Another medieval town. No cars are allowed within the town unless you are a resident.