New Orleans

 New Orleans was mad but lovely. Our hotel was right in the middle of  Bourbon Street. Bourbon Street is like Gone With The Wind meets Ibiza. It is full of old buildings covered in neon signs and filled with people getting drunk at night - all night. All the local bars sell cocktails. Carl and I tried a Hurricane, which was okay, something blue in the Hard Rock Café (don't remember its name) and the Hand Grenade, which is very popular, very nice and very potent.
   But the rest of the French Quarter I fell in love with. Above is Decatur Street which is near to the Mississippi river. And Royal Street is also lovely with lots of little shops to poke about in.

 On our wedding anniversary we took a trip on the Steamboat Natchez. We had the jazz brunch tour which included an all-you-can-eat buffet. It was very pleasant in the air conditioned room, eating, drinking and listening to the jazz. We also did the two must-dos when you go to New Orleans. We visited Preservation Hall to listen to the jazz band. You are not allowed to take photos, so none of us took our cameras, knowing it would be crowded and hot inside, but the minute they let us in cameras and phones sprung into other people's hands and they were snapping away. They weren't allowed during the performance, but I was slightly miffed that I could have got some shots of the inside and didn't. I enjoyed the music though.

The other must-do is Café Du Monde. We queued for about 20 mins before getting seated. The menu is limited but people only come for the beignets and coffee. I drank my coffee, even though I don't normally, it was quite nice. But the beignets were lovely. A portion is three. I could only eat two of mine. They are warm and covered in icing sugar. Yum!

Shenandoah and The Blue Ridge Parkway

We left Washington on Monday, having picked up a hire car at the airport, and drove into Virginia to the Shenandoah National Park. It was very pretty with views of mountains all around. This was our accommodation on the first night, The Skyland Resort, quite basic but the view was good. It was very cold and wind though, and Caitlin didn't like the fact that there was no internet in the room.

 On Tuesday we drove down the Skyline Drive. If you look closely you can just about see the bear that walked across the road in front of us. We also encountered a turkey and several deer. When we left the park we drove straight on to the Blue Ridge Parkway, another long scenic road through the mountains, until we got to Lexington.

 We wanted to go the Drive-In Movie theatre but it was closed so we did a Ghost Tour instead. One and a half hours of walking round Lexington and stopping to listen to tales of ghost that had been seen including cats, dogs and Robert E Lee's horse. We also ventured into the cemetery where we saw the statue of Stonewall Jackson shake its head. It was entertaining, Ellie laughed lots.

 We drove across the state line into North Carolina - look, the line is actually marked on the road!

 This was my favourite place, the New River Inn and Cottages, Glendale Springs. The lady had messed up our booking when we got there and put someone else in the two bedroom cottage, so we got the three bedroom cottage instead. It was lovely and I really enjoyed sitting on the swingseat, drinking beer and reading my book in the sunshine. I would have liked to spend longer there. (I'm not sure this is the best picture though - its hard to tell when they're only little icons on a little computer)

Our wettest day was Thursday. We went to Grandfather Mountain and Linville Falls. This is Carl clambering over rocks to get a better photo. That's how high up we were. The Parkway is a lovely road, and after this we drove up even higher along mountain ridges and right into the clouds at 5500ft and more, but after hours of not being able to see further than about ten meters all around I was quite glad to get back down again.

New York and Washington

 On my camera this photo was slightly less dark. I may have to do stuff to it in photoshop. Anyway. This is us on our first night in New York on Top of the Rock with the Empire State Building in the background. We were all completely knackered but it was worth it for the views. Just after I took this there was loud whooping and cheering from the other end of the observation deck - someone had just proposed to his girlfriend - ah!

 The next day we went to the Statue of Liberty. They all went to the top and I stayed at here at the pedestal level, it was much safer. It was a very hot day. We saw the 9/11 memorial after that then crashed at the hotel for a bit before heading off to the Baseball Match.

 Baseball was fun, once I'd figured out the rules. The confusing bit was why the whole team didn't come out to bat. Then Caitlin explain that they only bat til three players are out. We were quite high up in the stadium and it got a bit windy. I had to buy Caitlin and Ellie t-shirts.

 On Saturday we had brunch in Central Park and had a wander around. Then it rained a bit. So we visited the Marvel Station exhibition in Times Square. Times Square was my least favourite part of New York. It was too crowded and they are digging half of it up so all you can do is walk round the edges. Stupid people.

 Back in Times Square in the evening we met Jackie and Alan. They'd just arrived. We went for a drink and a bite to eat in a very nice Irish bar called The Mean Fiddler. It was all a bit surreal, but nice.

 Amtrack to Washington yesterday. We arrived at 12.30 and managed to see all the major sites in one day. We walked past the FBI building to the White House, couldn't get up to the black fence cos they were closing the sidewalk as we arrived so had to view it from the grass across the road. Then over to the Lincoln Memorial, stopping for a drink by one of the lakes. We walked down one side of the long rectangular Reflecting Pool and stopped for another rest. Then just beyond that was the WWII memorial where everyone sat with their feet in the water.

We did the same. After that we had our slot to go up to the top of the Washington Memorial. Great views and a bargain considering it was free apart from the $6 booking fee. We got about half a mile away from the Capitol Building before deciding we were too hot, hungry and fed up of walking to go any further, but we got some good photos of it.
   On the whole, although there is more to see and do in New York, Washington is my favourite so far. It's cleaner, spacier, fresher somehow.

I Survived a Teenage Birthday Party

Last weekend was Caitlin's birthday party. She managed to sneak one in under the request, 'Can I have a few friends round?' I should've been paying more attention. The next thing I knew a few friends had turned into ten seventeen year olds doing their own barbeque and sleeping in a tent in the garden. The 'No alcohol' rule ended with my green recycling box overflowing.

This is the aftermath. Only about four of them lasted the night in the tent despite the lovely weather. There are no photos of Caitlin - or none that she would send me anyway. We were banished inside shortly after eating. I got a bit of video but that was it.

Segovia, Spain

This is the city of Segovia in Spain, a one hour drive north west of Madrid. I spent a few days here the week before last. It is beautiful and not at all what I expected. My preconceptions were all based on Spain's Mediterranean coast full of British tourists in August. This was a pleasant surprise. 



 The city has a massive aqueduct through the centre and is the main tourist attraction. It is over 2000 years old and built by the Romans. I got too much sun on my head in Madrid the day before, hence the stupid hat. It was only 5Euros. And it was quite cold that day too.

 In between teaching assignments we had time for some day trips. This was me at Hoces Del Duraton. A beautiful canyon with lots of river bends. There were vultures flying overhead and a hermitage built right on the end of one of the cliffs. Of all the places I have been to on our Comenius trips this was my favourite. If I had to come back I would not be upset about it. Also - tapas is so much better in Spain than in England too! (And cheap.)

Things We Have Been Up To

 We all went down to Chudleigh, in South Devon, the other day, so Carl could use his Christmas present. He learnt how to fly a plane. We spent a lot of time watching the back of his head, but he had fun and it was a giggle when he crash-landed (twice!) Good job we couldn't actually feel it.

 After that it was Andrew's turn, then we all went for a picnic.

 Last Sunday, in an attempt to avoid Ellie turning into a hermit, we took the dog for a walk around Fremington Quay, followed, of course, by cake and a drink in the café. Alannah came along too.

Caitlin has been doing lots of revision. Good girl!

Bristol

We had a day out on Tuesday and went to Bristol to do some shopping. I was listening to Simon Mayo's 'three word Tuesday' section on the radio in the car home and wondered what mine would be. 'Excess IKEA overspend', I decided. Why is it when you go to IKEA you always come out with more than you intended to? I wanted 4 things. I bought 15! Still, I did get the last pair of curtains in the colour I wanted. Adrienne's room is nearly all finished. I just have to wait for next week for the carpet and 7th May for the bed (don't trust BedShed when they say they can deliver in 3-10 working days - they're lying).

After IKEA we stopped at Cribbs Causeway - whoever designed that road system really didn't like motorists. When we found the car park it was relatively empty, possibly because the road system had confused all the other motorists still trying to find it. We bought holiday clothes, had a cup of tea and a cake, then came home again. 'All shopped out' might have been another of my three word choices.