TravelStream™ news feed for member helenbels on TravelPod's free travel blogs service http://www.travelpod.com/syndication/rss/helenbels en-us Copyright ©2009 TravelPod.com Sat, 22 Nov 2008 19:51:01 -0500 http://www.travelpod.com http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/helenbels/1/1227400500/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/helenbels/1/1227400500/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/helenbels/1/1227400500/tpod.html Sat, 22 Nov 2008 19:51:01 -0500 The Agrophobic's World Tour

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Monterey, California, United States

The drive back from Yosemite to Monterey was just as spectactular as the drive in from San Fran. Monterey itself is a small town on the Californian coast at the north end of the Big Sur. It used to be the biggest sardine canning town in America. Little factoid for you there. And it is very nicely preserved.

We arrived in the afternoon but the hostel we wanted to stay at shuts during the day so we killed a bit of time by grabbing some Mexican food at a place on the shore with the best view out to sea through huge windows and had a wander through the town for a while. Back at the hostel we got a private room to share as it worked out as cheap as a dorm - bonus. Beautiful hostel - really friendly and with huge squashy sofas in the lounge area - perfect for chilling out and getting rested before the drive down the coast the next day.

We had been told that Pebble Beach was worth a look so in the morning we set off up there - it is a private road around a very expensive looking residential area but the coastal sections of it offer amazing views out to sea and along the coast. Well worth the $5 entry fee. Done with that we set off on the drive down the coast.

The Big Sur is a swatch of land along the California coast where the Santa Lucia Mountains rise out of the Pacific Oceean creating some of the most dramatic coastal scenery to be had on the West coast. The drive is along Highway 1 which hugs to coast all the way though the Big Sur and then continues down the coast. There were plenty of lookout spots to stop at and was another day of seeing things that I can't begin to put into words. It was astounding. If you are in California, hire a car and do it. It is well worth the slightly hair-raising drive!
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Yosemite National Park, California, United States

So from here on in to LA I am roadtripping it - there is some amazing scenery in California and I don't want to miss anything by being in a train, or worse, a plane. I picked up the car from near Pier 39 and drive, terrified back to the hostel to collect my stuff (so tempting to Starsky and Hutch it over the big hills though!) and then terrified again to the nearest Best Buy to purchase a Sat Nav. So needing that. I know that it is cheating a bit, but as I am doing most of this alone, I can't navigate as well as drive down eight lan freeways. So "Tim" is now my guide.

I decided since it was too close to justify missing that I would drive across to Yosemite for a couple of days. There is a hostel just on the outskirts of the park, so it was do-able. Set off out of San Francisco and as soon as I was out of the city the scenery just got better and better. There was a point where I came over a little crest of a hill and there was the road stretching straight as a die off into the mountains in the horizon. Proper America roadtrip scenery.

Managed to find the hostel without too much trouble even though "Tim" thought that it was 9 miles further than it was. But I did get an extra 18 miles of twisty mountain roads which I was fairly happy with - it was great to drive again after so long. And be able to sing along to my iPod. Can't do that on a train without people thinking that you are a crazy.

The hostel itself was amazing. A group of wooden cabins out in the woods grouped around a central wooden lodge with an open fire and a bar. I was in one of the dorms but they do private cabins as well. In the dorm I bumped into Karen and Natalie who I had met briefly in San Francisco. Another travellery coincidence! Nice to ahve some friendly faces though and someone to have a drink with. Quick mention for Blue Moon - a Belgian blonde beer that was quite something.

Only having one whole day in the park and not having any suitable footwear (and being very out of shape and likely to die if I hiked) I decided to drive the park for the day. I can't even begin to put into words how beautiful Yosemite is. Even the photos are not going to do it justice. It is literally breathtaking. I can't count the times that I pulled the car over to step outside and just gaze at the view. There were tears in my eyes for most of the day.

I did do a little hike - I wanted to see some of the giant Sequoias that grow in the park so I went up to Tulemone Grove on Crane Flats and hiked down to the little glade of Sequoia that they have there. Only a mile down and a mile back but it drops 400ft in that mile and the hike back up was a little steep! Made me realise how unfit I am!

I went back to the lodge for the evening and had a few drinks with Natalie and Karen and since they had not set plans we decided that they should join me on the roadtrip so I have some company which is really great. Next stop Monterey.

Yosemite is quite the most beautiful place I have seen. I am hoping to come back some time and really spend some time exploring the park. I hope that the photos will do it some justice.
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/helenbels/1/1225232460/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/helenbels/1/1225232460/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/helenbels/1/1225232460/tpod.html Fri, 21 Nov 2008 23:27:59 -0500 The Agrophobic's World Tour

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Churchill, Manitoba, Canada

So remember from the last entry that I had joked to Martin that there had been some disaster and that was why there was no-one in the centre of Winnipeg? Imagine our surprise when we were out to get dinner and were passed by fifty people dressed as zombies.... wierd huh?

So I had another day in Winnipeg to waste before going up to Churchill and I met James checking out of the hostel who had to wait until the evening to join his tour group before flying up to Churcill (cheater ;-)) so we wandered around Winnipeg again trying to find something to do. We did go to the Legislative Building which was mildly diverting for a while. In the end we wandered back to the hostel to meet Martyn (different Martyn than the Martin from yesterday, he wasn't coming to Churchill - there are not enough names to go around this entry - there will be another James lates, just to confuse things) and walked James to hist swanky hotel before Martyn and I headed to the train station for the epic journey.

Long train journeys teach you patience. It is funny that you don't mind so much if there is a 2 hour delay when you are going to be on the train for 40 hours. We managed the journey okay - ate in the dining car to pass the time a little and Martyn taught me a card game called Shit Head that I am very good at. That whiled away a few more hours. The train up to Churchill is great as nearly everyone on the train is going up there to see the bears so everyone had something in common and was really chatty and nice.

When we got to Churchill is was freezing rain - no snow... booo. Martyn walked to his hotel and I grabbed a taxi with a lady called Susan that we had met on the train. She was amazing - seventy years old and doing to the trip up to Churchill on her own and then going to Rankin Inlet up in the Artic Circle and on to Yellowknife. Brilliant lady.

I have never been so happy to see a bed and a shower as I was that night. Sleeping horizontal is becoming a luxury at the moment with all these train rides. Blue Sky Bed and Sled is amazing and it anyone makes the journey up to Churchill I can thoroughly recommend them for both accomadation and dog sledding. That night I went out to meet Martyn for something to eat and we walked back to our hotels as they were only a street away from each talking really loudly in case we came across a bear and scared it! It is a scary walk home anyway! I sprinted up my street much to the amusement of a guy smoking outside his house.

To be continued otherwise this entry is going to be the longest in the world....
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/helenbels/1/1225234260/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/helenbels/1/1225234260/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/helenbels/1/1225234260/tpod.html Fri, 21 Nov 2008 23:27:28 -0500 The Agrophobic's World Tour

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Churchill, Manitoba, Canada

So we got up at 6.30am for breakfast before the bus came to pick us up to take us to the Tundra Buggy. Susan and I and another couple from the B+B, Ceclia and Mike. Had some of Granma's (the mother of Jenafor, the lady who owns the hotel) wholewheat pancakes with cowberry syrup and sausages to prepare us for the long day ahead in the Buggy and then piled into the bus for the half an hour journey out onto the edge of the Tundra.

Met up with Martyn in the bus so we were all on the Buggy together. We had been warned that there had been a late thaw, so the bears came in off the ice later in Spring so there was a chance that we might not see any. We had met up with James the night before who had already been out on a buggy and seen four bears so we had our hopes up. Within 15 minutes of being out on the Tundra we had seen our first bear. A bit far away but definately there - a real live, out in the wild polar bear. I couldn's stop grinning it was just so amazing. And then they just kept coming - by the end of the day we had had 16 sightings. I think that they were different bears but we might have rounded round on a couple twice. When we stopped for lunch one walked right in front of the Tundra Buggy - spectacular. As well as the bears we also saw a bunch of ptarmigans, which are like white partridges and a coupld of snowy owls as well.

We trooped back into town on a high and piled into Gypsy's Bakery for some local fare - I had roast caribou which was delicious - and a bottle of wine before retiring.

The next day Ceila, Mike and I watched Granma make bread and baked goodies for a while before heading off to get our passports stamped at the post office. They have a stamp with a polar bear on it and it makes a lovely souvenier. Also went to the little museum at the train station and watch an old BBC documentary narrated by David Attenborough about the intertwining lives of the humans and the polar bears in Churchill which was really interesting. There is a police force totally dedicated to keeping the bears out of the town. They drive around the town and if a bear is spotted coming over the river, they head out to encourage it away using cracker shells, which and just noise producers. If the bear comes back or becomes a nusiance, they will tranquillize it and take it to polar bear prison, where they keep the bears away from human interaction until the ice refreezes so that they can take them back out. They aren't fed as they made the mistake of doing that the first year and it just encouraged the bears into town, looking for a free meal at the prison.

In the afternoon I headed out to go on my dog sledding run. Gerald and Jenafor keep nineteen dogs out at their dog camp. They are all husky cross breeds and you can tell how well cared for they are just by their reaction Gerald and Jenafor when they walk into the camp. As there was no snow we were on a cart with wheels, but to be honest when you are being dragged around rugged countryside by eight very eager dogd, it really doesn't matter if you are on snow or ground. It was exhilarating - just great fun. We also got to do two miles instead of the usual one as the dogs were running fast that day. Brilliant stuff. We also got to feed some wild Grey Jays that flew in to take bits of food from our hands out on the porch. After the sledding we hung around in James's tent (Second James - James works for Gerald and Jenafor at the camp - sleeping out there in case the camp is attacked by wolves or bears, who sometimes see the dogs as snacks on leads. He hasn't had an encounter with any yet though) which is more of a small house with a canvas roof, with a couple of the dogs and chat to Gerald about Mushing over hot chocolate and bannock.

It was my last night and the others were staying on for a couple of days so we went back to Gypsys for some dinner (pickerel this time which is a fish found in the local area - bit like sea bass, very tasty) and some drinks, including some rather firey Portugese brandy. Lovely end to a fantastic trip.

Except the trip wasn't quite over - got back on the train and about an hour out of town we spotted the Northern Lights. The most beautiful thing I have ever seen. They were across the back of the train in a huge arch flickering grren and white. Moving all the time. The train engineer opened the tops of the doors between the carriages so that we could lean out and watch them. One of the most outstanding things that I have ever seen. Really was the icing on the cake of a brilliant trip.
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Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada

My last uber-train journey in Canada ended up in Vancouver. I have never been so glad to get off a train in my life. So very glad that I decided to fly to San Francisco instead of the 22 hour train ride I was planning. I will return and see Oregon one day, but on this trip I will be viewing it from about.

After hauling my backpack across the city I had to wait for a couple of hours to check in - booo. But as I was sitting in the lobby in walks Martin from Winnipeg. So it was nice to see a friendly face in a new city!

Vancouver is a lovely city - surrounded by water on three sides with mountains as a backdrop - very pretty. I only had two days there so I had to squash in as much as possible.

On the first day I took the boat (little more than a bathtub with a motor - terrifying) to Granville Island and had a walk around the market there which was a very pleasant way to start the day. Then I did something foolish and hired rollerblades to skate around Stanley Park. Note to remember: Rollerblading is not like riding a bike. Just because you could do it when you were twelve, does not mean that you can do it when you are twenty-seven. It was like Bambi learning to walk. I managed to wobble about a mile and a half round the harbour path with people giggling at me all the way before I packed it in and went to the Aquarium, which was a much more fun way to spend the afternoon than defying death on wheels. The have beluga whales there and the most ace sea otthers I have ever seen.

Went out that evening with some of the guys from the youth hostel and had the most amazing sandwich in the world - turkey and gravy on toast. Sounds awful, tasted of heaven. And then went out searching for skunks as someone had seen them near the hostel - didn't see any though.

The next day I spent the morning hanging around in the youth hostel chatting and then had a very rainy walk through Gastown and Chinatown to the GM stadium where I took a picture of myself flicking the Vs to the Canucks for Lee. Then headed over to Katy and Graham (friends from a forum I frequent who moved to Vancouver three years ago) who fed me a lovely meal and we had a catch up over a couple of beers. Very pleasant way to end my trip to Vancouver.
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/helenbels/1/1226255280/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/helenbels/1/1226255280/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/helenbels/1/1226255280/tpod.html Fri, 21 Nov 2008 23:26:02 -0500 The Agrophobic's World Tour

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Seattle, Washington, United States

I have got a city behind and I am very sorry for that - will try to catch up now that my washing is on.

Spent four days in Seattle which was perhaps a day too long - especially sa it started bucketing it down with rain on my last day! But I still had a blast there.

I arrived at the hostel on 31st October and was informed that there was a fancy dress party that evening. One thrift store and $25 later, I was furnished with a Canadian Curler's costume. Complete with ridiculous furry hat that I will be wearing all winter when I get back home. There was also free beer which was a great ice-breaker when coming into a new hostel!

The Green Tortoise was great - first time that I have ventured out of the HI Hostel network and it was worth it. Bit of a dodgy area but right by Pike Place Market which was great for people watching. The bunks were the best I ahve stayed in with six inch deep mattresses and little curtains all the way round and a reading light, so you could tuck yourself into you own little world at night. Unfortunately it was also in a really noisy area so the earplugs were neccessary!

Seattle does win at having the best museum in America. It is two museums in one building - the first is a Science Fiction museum full of Star Trek costumes and robots. Lots of robots - brilliant. And then the other museum is a Music museum. But it is interactive so you get to play with the instruments! I learned to play the bass line from a Troggs song and was pretty much happy for the rest of the day.

Also went to the first Starbucks - for those who don't know, Starbucks began in Seattle and boy do these guys like their coffee - there is a cafe on every corner. The coffee from the first Starbucks was lovely - it tastes better at the source.

And of course, I went up the Space Needle - great views of Puget Sound and to the aquarium (I seem to be be doing an aquarium tour of the States - I like the fishes) which is great and they have brilliant sea otters.

After spending most of my journey so far on the train, I treated myself to a flight to San Francisco - $81 with Virgin America - bargain of the year. The flight was on time, smooth and the insides of the planes are fantastic. Black leather seats, screens in the back of the headrests, I would fly with them again for sure.

Am in San Fran now and will add that entry in a little while - I have to go and ride a cable car.
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/helenbels/1/1225857720/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/helenbels/1/1225857720/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/helenbels/1/1225857720/tpod.html Fri, 21 Nov 2008 23:24:54 -0500 The Agrophobic's World Tour

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San Francisco, California, United States

Okay - so it took me a little while to get round to updating the blog - I am very sorry but the next few entries will explain why and hopefully I will be forgiven.

So - San Francisco. I stayed there for six days and could happily have stayed longer. It is an amazing city.

I flew in on the 4th - big day for America. Election day. I was rather surprised that the hostel wasn't doing anything for it - I expected an election party and we would all watch it on the telly. The apathy was a bit odd to be honest. So I plonked myself in front of the internet to watch it unfold. As Ohio went blue and the netwoks called it, I thought "What am I going inside a hostel on a day like this?" so I strode off out into an unfamiliar city to be a part of history being made. It was amazing - San Fran is a democratic city anyway, so it was a good place to be but the atmosphere was electric. There were people singing in the streets and I got hi-fived all the way down the street. It was such an amazing thing to be a part of. It was kind of hilarious seeing all the miserable Republicans walking around as well. Heheh - losers.

So after that, I had to do something fairly astounding to maintain San Fran's appeal so I went to Alcatraz. It is amazign and I would thoroughly recommend visiting it if you are ever in the area. The audio tour is extremely informative and well made. It is absolutely freezing out there though so take a jumper.

It has been a while so I can't remember the order that I did things, but this is the jist.

One day the weather was lovely so I took a bus to the beach. It dropped me off at the top end so I kicked off my shoes and rolled my jeans up to my knees and wandered through the surf before settling into a sand dune and reading a book about surfing that my freind Steve recommended. Pretty much a perfect day. Treid to walk though the Golden Gate Park on the way back but that place is huge so I gave up halfway along and jumped on the bus back.

Another day I went up to Antioch (nearly two hours on the BART - eesh) to meet Steve from Advanced Graphics, who we distribute for and Mary-Ellen from Aeronet who ships us our cargo. They took me out for a lovely lunch - complete with pirate ship sailing past and I got to see the Bay Area hub of Advanced Graphics. Steve then drove me back into the city and we did a little touristy stuff. Drove down Lombard Street which is the twistiest street in the world and then we went up Coit Tower and got a great view of the fog rolling into the bay past the Golden Gate bridge. Then dinner at Bubba Gump shrimp - thank you for a great day guys!

I also spent a couple of afternoons down at Pier 39 - saw the sealions that live in the harbour there and sat around enjoying the sea air for a while. I also rode the cable car a coupld of times which was great fun. You can stand on the running board hanging on for dear life at the side, which of course, I did. And in my head I was running Eddie Izzard's Alcatraz routine all the way down.

Met some great people in San Fran - bumped into a few people from the hostel in Seattle which was wierd and then there was a stream of great girls in our dorm.

Even though I spent a while there, there is still so much that I didn't get to do - will definately be returning to San Francisco.
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/helenbels/1/1224368820/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/helenbels/1/1224368820/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/helenbels/1/1224368820/tpod.html Sat, 18 Oct 2008 19:01:32 -0400 The Agrophobic's World Tour

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Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada

So I am now in Winnipeg but more on that later.

I spent the last week and a bit in Toronto. Which is a fantastic city. The downtown is small enough to walk round (which is did a lot) and it has eveything that you might need for a rejuviating stay after a rather hectic tramp round the NE cities of The States.

I stayed at the HI Hostel - which seems to be a bit of a developing theme on this trip, but they are cheap and well located and reliable. Which was great - lots on and a cafe on site.

So I have taken in what Toronto has to offer - up the CN tower and larked about on the glass floor for a while. Fantastic views from the top. Went across to the islands which are made up of beautiful parkands and beaches and just spent an afternoon wandering around there taking photos and admiring the colours of the trees. I have timed this journey up the East Coast and into Canada at the right time. When people say how spectular the trees are when they change colours in the autumn they are spot on - it is amazing.

Also in Toronto is my friend Julie (hey Julie!) who took me along to a Marlies game. They are the farm team for the Toronto ice hockey team The Maple Leafs. It was ridiculous fun. There was violence the encouraging of violence with the souting of "Hit him in the face!" mostly from us but also from the uber-violent 9 year olds behind us who were brilliant fun - dressed head to toe in Marlies colours and screaming like maniacs. The team lost but it went down to penalties and was a cracking night. Julie also got me out to her parents house where they fed me with wonderful food and made me really welcome. Ta to the Freeman clan. xx

Whilst in the area I also went down to Niagara for the day - amazing, spectacular, breathtaking, other superlatives. I did the Journey Behind the Falls - which was good but was little more that a platform at the foot of the Canadian horseshoe and a coupld of holes that peeked out behind the falls. I then wrestled with myself for a good half an hour whether I was going to pick up the courage to go on the Maid of the Mist. I don't like boats or water or the idea of being in a boat anywhere near that volume of falling water but I thought that I should, since I was there and wasn't likely to be back anytime soon.

So I did. And I am so glad that I did. It was probably the most exhilarating thing that I have ever done. They putter you gently down the river until you are pointing towards the middle of the Canadian Horseshoe and then drive you to the middle bit of the horseshoe and gun the engines to keep the boat in place for about ten minutes in the middle of the mist. It is soaking. I have never been so drenched. To paraphrase The Simpsons "The pac-a-macs, they do nothing!" Luckily I was a Girl Guide so I had thought to bring along a change of clothes and, blimey, did I need it! Brilliant stuff though, I would thoroughly recommend it.

So Toronto and its brilliance behind me I headed off out West to Winnipeg on the train. Thirty hours or so, but it wasn't too bad at all. Very spacious - much more comfortable than the bus and I was able to sleep a little. Read a lot, looked out the window at the amazing tree colours and ate a whole tube of Pringles. Treated myself to breakfast in the dining car and had pancakes with bacon and maple syrup. Perfect.

Now in Winnipeg and have been walking around with a new friend Martin who I met looking lost on the way to the hostel and we have been looking for something nice and interesting to say about Winnipeg. I have managed to come up with "It is clean". I am sure that there are many interesting things in Winnipeg and if anyone from Winnipeg would like to tell me what they are I would be very pleased to learn them. In actual fact, it was a little creepy - we walked all over today, which is a Saturday afternoon and there was no-one around. There are 600,000 people living in the area and I think that we saw twelve all day. I am sure that there has been some nuclear disaster no-one has told us abut and the town has been evacuated. But it does have a good second hand book shop where I picked up a handful of Christopher Moore and Doug Coupland books to fill in the big journey up to Churchill tomorrow. Also I had my first double-double (coffee with two cream, two sugars) at a Tim Hortons today and I now feel like a proper Canadian. I am looking forward to some colder weather as Canada so far has been rather warm. I demand snow.

I'm not sure if there is any internet connection up in Churchill so I may disappear for a week - so keep your fingers crossed that I haven't been eaten by a polar bear.
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Toronto, Ontario, Canada

I am now in chilly Toronto. Which Julie has assured me has warmed up. Which is quite terrifying - I'm going to need a bigger coat. ;-) It is a loevly city though - from what I have seen. Clean and friendly.

Things I have learned #1:
Do not assume that you will be able to sleep on an overnight Megabus journey from New York to Toronto.

Possibly the most uncomfortable I have been in a while. I got an hours sleep in a 12 hour journey. Having The Flight of the Conchords to watch on my mp3 player saved me from insanity. (Thank you Sandra and Adam)

Also, wearing flipflops on a journey to the Great White North is possibly not a great idea. My toes were cold. Luckily the lovely people of the HI Hostel in Toronto let me check in early so I could get a few hours kips before heading off to explore the city a bit.

Tomorrow I am meeting my friend Julie for s wander round the city. Looking forward to that muchly. Tonight I am going to be an old lady and get an early night to recover from the epic travelling. The hostel here has a cafe and I believe that spaghetti is on the menu for tonight which is a bit of a godsend and means that I don't have to worry about going food shopping for a day or two.

I am trying not to think about the 3 day train journey I have to do (twice) in two weeks time. Trains are more comfy than busses right?
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Washington DC, District of Columbia, United States

I have been in Washington since Thursday evening. Another Megabus journey brought me here and dropped me off just down the street from my hostel, which was handy. Still a long walk with 15 kg on your back though. You really feel those slight inclines.

Anyway - staying at the HI Hostel again - they are fine. rather instiutional but as far as I have experienced the staff are helpful and pleasant and everything is mostly clean.
Washington is a great City. Wide streets which are gleaming and clean and all of the Smithsonian museums are free. Which is amazing and very handy for a poor traveler!
On Friday I took a walk downtown to the Washington Monument which is much bigger than you would imagine it - really dominates the city. Also walked past the Whitehouse, which is an oddity - it is just there, on the street. I expected it to be set back more. I'm sure that you wouldn't get half a foot inside the compund before you got shot though, however open it all looks!

Met Craig (my friend who lives in DC) for a massive sandwich (American food does not seem to come in anything smaller than massive) and a walk round a garden at the back of the Smithsonian Castle. Which was delightful - a real hidden gem. Then with Craig back off to work, I went to the National Archives and queued for an inordinate amount of time to see the Constitution and the Bill of Rights. Which were..... old. To be honest, they didn't stir much emotion in me, but I suppose that it might be different if it was the building blocks of your country.
I then bought an icecream and settled down by the fountain in the Sculpture Garden for a relax in the sun, my half eaten icecream in my hand beside me on the bench. And that is when the drama started. They must feed the squirrels in that garden because this rather bold fellow marched up the bench to me and before I could react he had mistaken my finger for my last bit of icecrem cone and clamped on.Yes, I was bitten by a squirrel and the swine drew blood.

I don't think too much of this and wander off to the Museum of Natural History - they have a great minerals department and I took way too many close up photos of rock formations. It was nerdvana. So I start thinking that maybe squirrels mouths aren't that clean and I pop to a pharmacy to buy some antispetic and tell the tale to the pharmacist who tells me that it could be rabid and I need to see a doctor sharpish. Cue three hours in Washington University Hospital Emergency Department while they try to figure out what to do with me. Fun. It was like being in a really boring and long episode of ER.

Turns out that rabies in squirrels is very rare and there has never been a case of tranmission to humans in the States so they figured that I was safe. This decision cost me $360! And then a further $70 for the antibiotics to ward off any other nasties. American healthcare is not a good thing.

So with the horrifying attack behind me, Saturday was Craig's birthday so we met for breakfast before heading off to the zoo. Which was incredible fun. Four hours and at least four mile later we had seen all that the zoo had to offer (including pandas and a close up encounter with an Orag-u-tan) and we headed off for dinner at Old Ebbits Grill. We shared the most amazing cheeseboard to start and then I had hickory smoked ribs with cornbread and green beans and Craig has chicken and veg fettucine with goats cheese - it was the most amazing meal I have had in a while.

Then a stroll round the Washington Monument and the Second World War Museum and then off back to the White House to give Dubya the finger. There is photographic evidence of this. Brillant day all round.

Today, I took in as many museums as I could fit in. The International Spy Museum which was much fun but as the only one I paid for felt a bit pricy at $18. It was big and comprehensive though, so I suppose I shouldn't grumble! I then bought a hotdog and wandered over to the Botanical Gardens and took way too many photos in their jungle conservatory. The orchids were spectacular though. I then popped into the Hirschbourne which is a modern art museum and I admired and mocked their exhibits in equal measure. Their shop was the best though - they had bags made out of old film posters - I really had to hold myself back on that one. No room in the backpack for souveniers yet. And I finished the day at the Freer Gallery which has the most amazing collection of Asian Art. Their ancient Chinese paintings are just breathtaking.

Leaving in the morning for my epic journey to Toronto and leaving The States for a month. DC has been excellent and I didn't do half of the things that I wanted to so I will have to come back one day.
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