New Zealand

I know you are all dying to hear about the next instalment of my adventure, so I will see what I can tell you!  The flights all worked smoothly and I got lots of sleep, and sort of understand the mind boggling loosing a day of my life when crossing the date line!  I was really lucky and got a swim in the sea at Los Angeles in between flights which was super!


LA

 Although I have now been in New Zealand several days I feel like it is far too early to begin describing the country.  I arrived and was met by Christof (who has been here cycling about 1800 kilometres since arriving in October, and whom I met on the west coast of the USA) we put my bike back together, as it has to be dismantled to fly in a smallish box, and then cycled into Christchurch.  I really didn't see very much of Christchurch, but there were many earthquake damaged buildings and building sites.  The next day we left, cycling south towards Dunedin.  Most of the cycling has been on a main road - however this seems to be like a fairly wide and very straight A road with about a third of the traffic you would get in the UK.  There are a lot of trucks though, mostly triple decker two carriage long sheep trucks which smell, or two carriage milk trucks; mostly they don't give you much space, but mostly there has been a comfortable shoulder to ride in.  The towns so far, and I have got as far as Oamaru, seem small, and remarkably similar to some of the coastal towns in the UK.  In fact, the everything I have seen so far is very similar to the UK, certainly much more British than any of America - I can now buy crumpets and a huge variety of sweet biscuits all of which were unavailable in the USA.  Many of the houses look similar to British coastal places built in the middle of the century, and everything is on a smaller - more British scale.  Christof, who is Austrian says it is exactly like Britain - but I can see a lot of differences, and also think that it would feel less British if I had not been in America for six months.
It is full summer here although not very hot, the air is full of pollen and the birds are singing everywhere - I can't get over the birds they are so noisy all the time, and some really odd noises too (one sounds a bit like dial up Internet, another like a darlek!)  It is super, and feels so nice being able to hear so many - where are all the birds in America or the UK?  There are wildflowers in the banks, the farm land  - pretty much everything I have seen so far is farm land, is fertile and lush and filled with crops or calves.  Does New Zealand really produce all the lamb and beef and milk for the whole world - it feels like it here.


In the Park

 The last two days have been super as we have left the main road, yesterday to camp in a small town inland, which was really pretty, and we bought some of the best strawberries ever from a farm shop.  Today we followed the coast and have found sandy beaches, and turquoise waters, with skylarks singing on the other side.

I now have so many exciting plans, am looking forward to all of them - Naomi is flying out for three weeks of hopefully blissful hiking with me around Milford Sound, then in January, maybe cycling up the west coast of the south island, we shall see.


sunset on the beach




Lots of 'victorian' buildings




look a bit like Sussex?




There were lots of these silly rocks on the beach!




Well I think a detour might be in order....




Pretty coastline from the top of the steepest hill - yes I got off and walked, shame on me!




looking at the coastline near Dunedin, it was a super downhill.



Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year

As it feels Christmassy here - cold and a log fire and Christmas lights in New York and all the shops ready and festive I will say my Happy Christmasses here.  I suspect that being nice and summery in New Zealand will not have me feeling in the mood, and my Internet access may be a bit sketchy again.
I hope that all of you reading this have a marvellous Christmas break, and a really festive time of year.  I will be thinking of all of you and wishing you well from my tent on the other side of the world, (I hope).

Happy New Year -  hope that all of you have a great 2012 and all your dreams come true.  I hope that some of you may think about doing something similar to this - it was totally the best thing I have ever done, I have no regrets, and feel only slightly worried to have had what seems like well over my fair share of happiness this year.

Miss you all, and hope to see my British readers before 2012 is finished. (Unless I win a lot of money!)

Thank You America

Although I miss having seen everyone back home, I simply can't quite believe that I have been in America for six months.  I really have enjoyed every single moment of my time here.  I find it hard to believe on a daily basis just how happy I have been, and just how amazing it is that I am here and just how lucky I am to be here and doing and seeing and meeting all of the amazing people and places.  So much has happened, and many of my experiences are so varied that I don't think I can give any kind of summary.  I would just like to take the opportunity to say Thank you to America for a wonderful stay, and an even bigger Thank you to all of the many many kindnesses I have had both from friends, casual acquaintances and strangers.  If there is one thing I have learned on this trip it is how nice people are, how eager to help, and happy to give their kindness.  I have not met a single person who was not kind and generous - just occasionally a communication where I realise the other person is as rude as your typical English person.Thank you to all of my friends who have welcomed me with open arms.  Thank you to everyone who has welcomed me with open arms without being friends, or before they became friends.  I am just amazed at how nice you all are, and I feel very indebted, and I hope that one day I maybe able to start repaying some of the generosity shown to me. (And do ask to stay if you are ever near me!)

The things I will miss most about America are:
The great customer service and friendliness of everyone I meet.  It has made me see England in a very different light, and I feel slightly embarrassed. People on the street are friendly - one elderly gentleman on a high street tugged his forelock to me!  Everyone says hello. When cycling everyone wants to know where you are going and where you have come from.  Many many people have wished me a welcome to America.  Everyone working in a shop will wish you a good day, even people on the subway in New York even will talk and smile occasionally.
Lemonade!  Normal American lemonade is delicious! it is not fizzy, and not not too sweet and absolutely delicious, I will have to make my own in future.
Huge whole food shops with delicious food, and bulk buy sections and fresh bakeries, British whole food shops just can't compare.
The totally amazing, beautiful and well run National Parks.


The things I learned about America:
Car indicators are red - most confusing.
Green men on pedestrian crossings are white - and the crossings themselves were not designed to be used.
General school education is better than in Britain - people I meet who are my counterparts are generally more knowledgeable and better educated than my British counterparts.  Also lots of extracurricular activities seem to be the norm - my American counterparts all played sports or joined clubs and organised social things - my British counterparts all spend hours in front of the TV so that the next day they could discuss the programmes at school.
You can't buy double cream, but they have other milk products not seen in the UK: half and half, and totally fat free milk, and yoghurt is often flavoured with vanilla - yuck!
America is a misleading term - the United States much more accurate to try to describe the variety and breadth of Americas geography, culture, and people (food and accents).

Things I will be glad to leave:
Inches, feet, yards, Fahrenheit etc...
Traffic systems that are impossible without a car - i.e. 6 lanes of fast moving traffic with the shop you want on the far side of the road and no pedestrian crossings.
Driving on the other side of the road - I find that hard and haven't got used to it.

New York

I am totally and utterly wowed by New York.  I hadn't expected to like it as much as I do at all!  I hadn't realised just how many times I have seen New York portrayed in films and media and consequently without knowing it I had a powerful idea of what New York ought to be - and it is just so much more.  It has exceeded my every expectation.  The traffic is horrendous and yes the taxis are yellow and yes they do seem to drive like mad people.  The buildings are HUGE!  I walked down past Wall Street - that was exciting, and the buildings just tower over you in such a way that makes you feel very small.  The Empire State building doesn't stand out as being any taller than anything else as a pedestrian - but you know, its the Empire State Building, so I went up - and it is just incredible! The view from the top is simply awesome. The other sky scrapers look like toys laid out below, and you get such a sense of how everything is crammed on to this tiny piece of land surrounded by water.  The old buildings really do have metal fire escapes with bits to pull down, just like in the films, and the vents in the ground really do steam, and the metro really is as clattery and noisy as in those films where some poor hero is in a tiny dingy flat and keeps getting woken up by them (Why are they so much worse than the tube?)  Every day I do something and I am just in awe of the fact I am really here - really experiencing it and that it is just so much like how I imagined it without even knowing it.

What have I done - it feels like everything!  I get back in the evenings and I am too tired to even get through the whole days activities in my paper journal, let alone do anything else!  I took the ferry to see the Statue of Liberty - that was cool, such an icon, and I really got to stand in front of it.  It really is there!  The view from the ferry - just like the bit in Monty Python, where the London Accountants become pirates and sail the building to Wall Street, to attack, with filing cabinet cannons the bright young things in high finance. 

I went to the museum about immigrants to New York on Ellis Island (the place where they all passed through) That was amazing, very interesting, and felt like the next chapter as it were, because I went to the same museum in Hamburg, only there it was all about the emigrating Europeans going to New York.  I saw some of the Macy's Day Parade as I arrived.  (Not fun trying to push laden bicycle through crowds).  I have wandered around Central Park which is beautiful, and smells like autumn leaves.  I enjoyed the Metropolitan Museum of Art - and hope to go back and even then I wont have done it justice.  I walked down Broadway and saw Billy Elliot at the Imperial Theatre.  I ate dinner in Little Italy outside on the street because it has been so warm, and strolled through China Town, Soho and Greenwich Village.  I walked down fifth avenue and window shopped - that was just wow upon wow!  Overnight, as if by magic, all the shops have got their Christmas things out, and the window displays are truly something to behold!  I went to the Toy Shop in 'Big' and saw the giant piano.  I wandered around Tiffany's and funnily enough only liked the necklaces in five figures and didn't care so much for those with only three!

View from the Empire State Building

I am sure some of you are reading this and thinking, what? Our Jenny, the country bumpkin, and I am, I admit, surprised that I am enjoying it this much!  My reason for coming to New York in the first place was slightly random, in true Jenny style: I wished to see Picasso's Les Demoiselles d'Avignon.
http://www.moma.org/collection/object.php?object_id=79766

I had studied it ten years ago, and despite the fact I don't particularly like the picture (I wouldn't want it on my wall at home) I was totally fascinated.  I love Picasso's pictures (not the very cubist ones though) and enjoy the way they challenge me, I always feel that if I were just a bit cleverer I would get them, like I am on the threshold of understanding, and have a tantalising glimpse but never full comprehension.  I enjoy the way that they are both ugly and beautiful at the same time, perfect and wrong - they are so contradictory, at least the abstracts are.  His realistic works I like because they have such a profound sense of emotion.  Anyway, enough of my waffle.  Les Demoselles was great!  I stood and I stared for maybe half an hour!  It completely exceeded my expectations, its huge, bold, striking, life size, and textured in ways that one just cant comprehend without seeing the work in the flesh.  Thank you Picasso, for bringing me to New York, and not letting me down!  (Just got to go to Spain now!)

I have done so much more that this, but there is only so much you want to read I guess, so I will leave off now! (I am disobeying all writing for the Internet rules already!)

They have wooden escalators in Macy's - the worlds biggest store!

In and around Washington DC

Some photos for you all to enjoy!

 We went to Annapolis, which I have wanted to see since reading Cynthia Voigts description of it in Dicey's Song - unfortunately I don't think I got the effect she described as it was freezing cold and rainy! The historic downtown was very pretty, and had the smallest houses and the most crooked streets that I have seen in the States.  It was interesting I thought in that the shops either seemed to be catering to wealthy holiday sailing people, or to the Naval College people with not much in between!

 This was my favourite painting in the Washington Art Gallery - I love it!

 This is the house that Mr Grape Nuts daughter lived in - I was super excited (being a life long grape nuts fan!) The house was super, and believe it or not I had an almost argument with the security man at the front door: I insisted on taking off my cycling shoes which had metal cleats in the bottom so as to not damage the marble and wooden floors - he said it wasn't necessary.  Oh, how different to my last job!  The house had all sorts of goodies inside, Faberge eggs, paintings, and super interior decoration - the Americans really seem to do a good job on their manor houses, compared to the crumbling comfortless piles in Britain, much more comfortable I think (although I think I prefer the cold English version more.)  There was also a totally super collection of wedding related dresses on display which I enjoyed!

This was my very yummy apple and cranberry grape nut crumble!  Interestingly, I have now tasted all the other cereals made by Post, which aren't available in Britain - and Grape Nuts are the best!

In the last few weeks I have also been to the zoo - the elephants were grand, the pandas amazing, and the gorilla picked his nose and ate it (had he copied a child visitor once?) - The American History Museum where I most enjoyed the First Ladies Dress Collection, and delighted in a trip to buy presents at the whole foods market.  When I leave America I will really miss the amazing whole foods shops (amongst many other things).

Visiting Baltimore

I took the train to Baltimore for two days which was super - I travelled so light, just one handbag - such a joy after all the bags and bike etc of the last few months.  I felt as though I was travelling light too - a new city, a harbour, three art galleries, and just me to please with the sun shining, it was delicious!  Upon my arrival I had a huge lunch at an Indian restaurant, my first Indian in months, and then strolled down to the harbour.  The harbour was beautiful, surrounded by generally ugly 1960's buildings and yet the total image was interesting and attractive.

I strolled into a rather dated and small shopping mall, which had a central covered courtyard filled with the most amazing sound.  I rounded the corner to find a well built man singing his heart out whilst he worked.  He was clearly enjoying the acoustics the space provided but he was awesome!  He was also cutting fudge, which seemed very out of keeping with both his looks and the sound he made.  It made me smile.

I continued to the American Visionary Art Gallery, which I really enjoyed.  The art was fun, interactive and I really enjoyed learning about Visionary Art which I found fascinating. (JL, if you are reading this pass on my thanks to RL- I remember talking to him about Visionary art back in January)  I especially enjoyed a video on Art Cars!

The Youth Hostel was a pleasure, a beautiful old building with marble fire places, friendly staff friendly guests and clean facilities.

The next day I visited the Walters Art Museum - which has to have had the best written signage and interpretation I have seen - I took more than 20 photos of signs!  They had a super collection from all over, and including some very rare and interesting things which I had not seen the like of before despite hours in museums and galleries.  I really enjoyed it.  In the afternoon I went to the Baltimore museum of art - primarily for an exhibition which included Durer prints and prints by Picasso.  By that time I was rather museumed out!

The station with a fun male/female statue

The Visionary Art Gallery

Staying with Susan

I have been very fortunate to have had such a super welcome from Susan and her family, and have really enjoyed the last couple of weeks staying with her.  Despite only a tenuous link I was welcomed with open arms, and have had a fantastic time.  It has been so nice for me to relax and be part of a family, and to spend time just doing silly things like going to the park, and games of mailman (which always seems to involve flying to Oregon to visit the grandparents) watching many many episodes of 'signing-time', (I can now do all sorts of animals, and other useful words in American Sign language!) cooking and eating good food and reading good books.  I have been so lucky to have got to know Susan, Tom and the children a bit, and feel very privileged to have done so.  I also feel I have learned a lot from my time here.  Susan and Tom have done everything to make my stay with them a good one - Thank you so much!

Susan is also writing a blog: bonsaisue.blogspot.com if you are interested in more of their adventures.

I have also done quite a lot of sightseeing, both in Washington and Baltimore, see other posts.

Washington DC

Washington appears to be a beautiful city, with very little of the hustle and bustle of most cities.  I have cycled in from Susan's twice and the bicycle route is mostly a very pretty cycle path along the river.  Once in Washington there is a huge park area known as the mall dotted with enormous and ridiculously grand monuments, and buildings.  There are statues all over the place, and one can cycle right past the white house which seems very small and domestic compared to the overt grandeur surrounding it.  It is very exciting to be here, and one evening in the car we were passed by a huge convoy of official vehicles about 15 of them, was it Obama going for a visit?!

Looking towards The Mall

View from the cycle path

The Mall

 

 
The trees are all in their fantastic autumn colours, and it has been sunny nearly every day.  Staying with Susan has been fantastic, so nice to be 'part of a family' and get to play with the children every day, I am really enjoying it.  I am very lucky to be here and feel really privileged to have been welcomed so well.

The Outer Banks and other pictures

This is out of sequence, but I thought I would share some more photographs with you.

Ferry ride to Ocracoke

Ferry ride to Ocracoke

Ferry ride to Ocracoke

The outer banks - this was it for almost two days, 90 miles and a head wind!

If some one can tell me why I would love to know!

Inland again, north of Kitty Hawk

Dawn from my tent

There are lots of churches (and some rather obscure denominations too)

Richmond

Ocracoke to Richmond Cycling

I am back on my lonesome on my bicycle, and over the last few days have cycled from Ocracoke (where Blackbeard allegedly buried his treasure, although I am sceptical as the water table is so high) all the way to Richmond.  I have had the help of several people, and have met some brilliant warm showers hosts, a huge thank you to Jim and Vicki for all their help, taking me shopping etc, and to my hosts here in Richmond Alan and Lois who are welcoming enough to have me for a second day whilst I do some chores!
The route has been fabulous, the outer banks, bleak boring and far too windswept to be pleasurable but interesting none the less, and in land the route has been marvellous.  Tiny little roads with almost no traffic passing through farmland for miles on end.  Cotton fields still full of their bright white cotton puffs stretching to the horizon, soybeans and peanuts too.  Many of the farmhouses have been beautiful wooden things, with porches and sadly many of them falling down into ruins.  In one field there was just one stark brick chimney stretching to the sky, a reminder that a family once lived there and tilled the soil.  Travelling by bicycle is so beautiful and leisurely and one can really notice the little details, a frog hoping from out of the way of my wheel, a huge grey blue heron rising up in clumsy yet majestic flight from the stream, a bob cat crossing the road ahead of me and leaping like a lion with such grace and power over the hedge.  (I think this is why I like the Miyazaki films so much, they seem to capture these details).

The weather has been mixed, some days hot and sunny, others freezing cold, it was about 2'C yesterday morning and getting started was so hard, Saturday was so wet and windy I hid in my tent all day and enjoyed reading the Never ending Story which I hadn't read before. (Thanks Marco for the recommendation).  Everyday has been windy though which I have found hard work, my knees are a bit cranky because I am not very good at downshifting for the wind.
As I journeyed towards Richmond, going via Jamestown America's history has really become apparent, every road is covered with markers telling me of some important or trivial historic event which happened, and I have travelled passed plantations, and battlefields which has also been fascinating.  Some of the houses have the careworn appearance of the genuinely old, and many proudly date back to the 1600's.  Richmond itself has derelict early 'Victorian' industrial buildings near the railway - just like many of Britain's towns, although now I am staying in a beautiful 1920's regency house!

Thank you Alan and Lois!

I am finding travelling alone hard this time though, at the start of my trip I relished it to begin with, then after travelling with Steve, Christof, Eric and Marco and others for a couple of weeks, cycling alone now seems very lonely, and this time of year there aren't many cyclists out and about touring.  The days seem very long alone, and even pedalling I am slower, less motivated and just a bit bored on those sections where there is not much to see.  I am beginning to talk to myself more and soon will need locking up with the crazies!  However the weather is getting colder and with reports of snow further north I don't know how far I will get on my bicycle.