I have been looking forward to my stay in New York for months. I decided to splurge and had booked into a four star hotel in the Theatre District.
There's always that nervous moment when you arrive at your hotel. You've been given your room key and as you slide it into the lock and open the door, to inhale slightly hoping you like what you see on the other side of the door.
I LOVE my room. I have a king sized bed with two pillows, cable TV, a bath tub, iron, hair dryer, a proper sized towel (actually 4 proper sized towels) and all the other standard amenities. There's nothing here that's better than what you would expect for a hotel of this class, but since I've been in hostels for over three months, I am in pure heaven. A room to myself, no waiting for the bathroom, no snoring roommates to ruin my sleep.
I have been looking forward to the next five days for weeks : meals at Per Se, Eleven Madison Park, Momofuku, tickets to four Broadway shows and a visit to one of my favourite cities in the entire world. This is gonna be good.........
Showing posts with label united states. Show all posts
Showing posts with label united states. Show all posts
Tuesday, 30 August 2011
Hurricane Irene
Hurricane Irene may go down in the history books as "much ado about nothing" as the media buildup turned out to be much greater than the actual storm for most of the US East Coast*. For me, however, Hurricane Irene was at times terrifying and potential costly as travel plans were ruined.
I was staying in just north of central DC in Takoma, almost near Maryland. We were advised that our area was safe and that the storm will miss us, we might just get some rain.
In fact, we were at the centre of a ferocious lightning storm. One bolt struck so close to the hostel, items fell off shelves and the room flashed red, causing everyone to panic thinking the hostel was on fire. The windows were shaking and rattled with such force that we were convinced the glass would shatter at any minute.
In the morning, the electricity was out, fallen trees littered the neighbourhood and power lines were down across the street.
I was meant to take the train on Sunday morning up to New York but it was cancelled. Upon calling my NY hotel to advise that I was stranded, I was told "sorry, but you have a non-refundable booking and you will be paying for the room regardless of when you get here".
On Sunday, Takoma was without power but luckily the metro was running so we headed into town so we could find food and I charged my phone at the Smithsonian.
The hostel exterior; not much to do without electricity
My train was rebooked for Monday night but that was cancelled again. Fortunately for me, I had also booked a bus for Monday as a backup plan and that service was running allowing me to get out of DC. The same could not be said for the dozens of people in the stand-by line trying to get out of DC to NY as every bus was full.
Upon arriving in NY, I was amused to see that some entrepreneurial folks already had "I survived Hurricane Irene" t-shirts and badges for sale. Even more pleasing was that the very nice man at the front desk of my hotel decided to waive the charge for Sunday night (when I was stranded in DC). So in a way, with respect to my trip, things worked out for the best.
* For New York City only. Of course, the damage has been huge in other areas coupled with a tragic loss of life.
I was staying in just north of central DC in Takoma, almost near Maryland. We were advised that our area was safe and that the storm will miss us, we might just get some rain.
In fact, we were at the centre of a ferocious lightning storm. One bolt struck so close to the hostel, items fell off shelves and the room flashed red, causing everyone to panic thinking the hostel was on fire. The windows were shaking and rattled with such force that we were convinced the glass would shatter at any minute.
In the morning, the electricity was out, fallen trees littered the neighbourhood and power lines were down across the street.
I was meant to take the train on Sunday morning up to New York but it was cancelled. Upon calling my NY hotel to advise that I was stranded, I was told "sorry, but you have a non-refundable booking and you will be paying for the room regardless of when you get here".
On Sunday, Takoma was without power but luckily the metro was running so we headed into town so we could find food and I charged my phone at the Smithsonian.
The hostel exterior; not much to do without electricity
My train was rebooked for Monday night but that was cancelled again. Fortunately for me, I had also booked a bus for Monday as a backup plan and that service was running allowing me to get out of DC. The same could not be said for the dozens of people in the stand-by line trying to get out of DC to NY as every bus was full.
Upon arriving in NY, I was amused to see that some entrepreneurial folks already had "I survived Hurricane Irene" t-shirts and badges for sale. Even more pleasing was that the very nice man at the front desk of my hotel decided to waive the charge for Sunday night (when I was stranded in DC). So in a way, with respect to my trip, things worked out for the best.
* For New York City only. Of course, the damage has been huge in other areas coupled with a tragic loss of life.
Wing Supreme, Takoma Park
With Hurricane Irene quickly closing in, I decided to quickly grab some dinner before bunkering down. A few hundred metres from my hostel, was Wing Supreme selling, well, wings and other assorted sides.
The numerous wing options
They had a huge range of wings available together with shrimp, chicken fingers and other fried foods. I asked the staff to select two flavours of wings for me and left my order in their hands. The result: Caribbean jerk (delicious) and teri-que, a mix of bbq and teriyaki that was too sweet for me.
Caribbean jerk
Teri-que
The numerous wing options
They had a huge range of wings available together with shrimp, chicken fingers and other fried foods. I asked the staff to select two flavours of wings for me and left my order in their hands. The result: Caribbean jerk (delicious) and teri-que, a mix of bbq and teriyaki that was too sweet for me.
Caribbean jerk
Teri-que
The interior Wing Supreme is spartan with a few wooden booths; you wouldn't go there for the ambiance. However, the staff were overwhelmingly friendly and I spent over a hour in the restaurant talking to them about Australia, wings and learning their recipe of collard greens.
Five Guys Burgers, Washington
Five Guys is a chain of restaurants serving that all-American of foods: burgers and fries. Based on the signs on the wall, it has won every award and recommendation available so when I walked past, I decided to drop in for a light snack.
The main reason I was attracted to Five Guys was that you are able to list which toppings you want on your burger and it is custom made to order (no pre-made burgers sitting in warmers here). I ordered the smallest burger they had and although I initially declined to order fries, they looked great so I succumbed and ordered the smallest size they had.
The burger itself looked less than appealing but was in fact very tasty. I prefer my burger buns a little crustier but it really tasted like a good homemade burger. You could see that the patty was hand formed and not the smooth-rubbery discs you get a other chains.
I know it doesn't look at all appealing, but it was delicious.
Some crustier bread and it would have been just like homemade.
My meal at Five Guys reminded me of the golden rule of eating in the US which I had forgotten: "the portion sizes are huge". When I received my fries, I took them back to the counter to advise that I had only ordered one small serve, not the family size but alas, this was the small size.
The "small" serve of fries
Did the meal satisfy? Yes. Do I need to return? No.
Washington DC
After an uneventful flight from London, and another interrogation by immigration, I made it to Washington DC. This marks my 6th visit to the United States since 2001 but my first to DC and now, I wonder why I didn’t come sooner. In short, I fell in love with DC and could easily move here.
Like Australia’s capital city, Canberra, Washington DC was designed. It's a planned city, rather than one that grew organically. As a result, the streets are easily laid out in a grid system and it is very walkable and easy to find your way around.
I arrived in DC on Thursday afternoon, before Saturday’s hurricane (more on that later). I spent Friday at the “Newseum”, Smithsonian Museum of American History and walking around the key landmarks and monuments (White House, Capitol, Washington Monument, Vietnam War Memorial, World War II Memorial and Lincoln Monument and also fit in a visit to Crossfit Balance for some long overdue exercise.
US Capitol Building
The National Mall
Outside Julia Child's kitchen in the Museum of American History
Exhausted after my first Crossfit workout in six weeks
The Washington momument
World War II memorial at sunset
On Saturday morning, I visited the Smithsonian Air & Space Museum and Natural History Museum before rushing back to shelter in the hostel was as Hurricane Irene approached.
After the hurricane, I was able to visit the Martin Luther King Jr memorial that was due to be dedicated on Sunday but was postponed because of the hurricane, as well as hit some shops and finish off my Smithsonian visits.
The "yet to be formally dedicated" memorial to Martin Luther King Jr
View of the Jefferson Memorial from the Martin Luther King Jr Memorial
As a backpacker, Washington is a delight – all public museums and buildings are free to enter with only a few private museums charging admission. The Smithsonian museums were the best museums I have visited anywhere, ever and you could easily spend a week in DC working your way through each of the separate buildings. My stay in DC was highly eventful due to Hurricane Irene but I know that next time I return to the east coast of the US, Washington must be on the itinerary.
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