To Orlando and beyond!!!

So we made it to Orlando in one piece and met Sophie's family who had the Gods on their side and managed to make it to America. They came on pretty much the first long haul flight allowed from Heathrow after the ash cloud. Any worries on Sophie's behalf as to whether Izzy would remember her were quickly dispelled after a tired little girl came running full pelt to greet Auntie Sophie after not seeing her for 8 months.

Sophie's other niece Holly on the other hand had changed dramatically becoming more like a little girl than the baby we had left in England. Our first morning was spent in awe when we asked Holly questions, she could reply! 'Should we put the TV on?' - Holly; 'Da!'

The next three weeks our mission was to get Holly to say both of our names, which was accomplished to the point where she could chant 'Cara, cara, cara' in a Northern accent - get in! Though the rest of the southern contingent didn't really appreciate this!

We had an amazing villa, with a pool, four bedrooms and Dan and Lisa were even treated to an en suite with a walk in wardrobe.

Our days at Disney were in constant search for characters; Izzy acquired a autograph book which was completely filled at the end of our trip by all the big five; Minnie, Mickey, Goofy, Donald and Pluto, newer characters from Toy Story and even a few sacrilege Universal characters; Dora the Explorer and Scooby Doo.

I'd been to Orlando parks not too many years ago and it was even more fun from a kids perspective. By having our own child swap program everyone was able to do what they wanted.

Universal Studios held more of the bigger rides and was a bit more appealing to us bigger kids; one day me and Sophie smashed 16 roller coasters. We even got a sneak peek at Hogwarts which on a 40 degree hot and sunny day to seeing snowy castle high on a hill does seem a bit strange, but unluckily for us the opening date is in June (Spring 2010, yeah right!) So we weren't able to sip Butterbeers in Hogsmead or get to ride broomsticks, but when we visited the parks it was very quiet we never had to wait more than 10 mins for a ride and I guess when Hogwarts does opening up the population of Universal Studios will increased dramatically.

And onto Washington;
After a brief stop in Atlanta, Georgia (yep we count that as another state visited!) We landed in Washington DC (the District of Columbia) a city steeped in American history. We saw the Lincoln memorial, Washington monument, the actual place where Martin Luther King Jr gave his ‘I have a dream speech,’ and where the first black president was sworn in. In the Lincoln memorial we recognised the first line on a tablet; ‘four score and seven years ago, our forefathers…’ by its reference from Kindergarten Cop – this is a major theme from our visit to Dc and NYC; trying to match places to films.

On our manhunt to see Barak Obama, or Bob as we liked to call him was fraught with disaster, firstly we confused the Whitehouse for the Capitol Building. Also every senator has a six police bike escort (complete will cell phone disabling technology) so we couldn’t even look out for his car, plus he wasn’t hanging out in his garden with his dog, so we had no chance! We did eventually found him in Madame Tussauds and Sophie got straight on the famous red phone and gave his what for!

Onto another state and we hit NYC, we did all iconic touristy activities such as crossing the Brooklyn bridge, stuck our heads up the Wall Street Bull’s butt, ate a slice of pizza the size of your head like the locals (rolling it up is the key!) We visited the Rockefeller centre and journeyed to the ‘Top of the Rock’ and saw the five districts of NYC from a birds eye perspective. The size of central park is astonishing it spans 80 blocks, we tried to cover it by bike but we were met by an aids march and forced to travel the wrong way down the one way biking system (sacrilege!) Plenty of ‘hey lady, get outta my way’ banter.

Unfortunately the horse and carriage ride around Central Park wasn’t within our budget but we visited the Home Alone 2 sights (see reoccurring theme); the world renowned Plaza Hotel and the (not so) snowy bridge in the park.

Bad news for us again the NY Knicks had finished playing this season (and also aren’t the greatest team in the world as Joey from friends would have you believe, they haven’t won since 1991!) Instead we saw a WNBA team play at Madison Square Garden. A lot of fun, although not too much as the beers were $9 each, (we had only paid $15 to see the game!) We managed to get courtside (after the match) and stand beside the players who are as huge as their 7’ male counterparts. If you see the picture of me next to the famous Chinese MBA star Yao Ming at Madam Tussauds who is 7 ft 6 in, you’ll get an idea for the size!

NYC was like no other city we have visited this trip, around every corner was a famous landmark we recognised. They cram so much into this city that even the car parks are four stories high – I don’t mean a multi-story they actually have contraptions which raise cards in a car park over each other maximising space.

It’s a small world after all… we met an American earlier in our trip in Laos (he was at the time teaching in Bangkok,) who now is living in Philadelphia, (very tenuous link hey, but a very cool guy!) Brian hooked us up with a NYC pass which gave us free entry into 50 city attractions so we had one extremely active day; We started with the statue of liberty; after a 90 minute wait at security and a police escort boat complete with machine guns we gazed up at ‘lady liberty’ in her entire glory. Tourists are now able to go up into the crown, but these tickets are harder to acquire than a yellow cab in the rain. After a brief jaunt with the statue we headed onto Ellis Island. This was the first stop for many millions of immigrants who came into the US. There were harrowing stories about the few who were let into the country, those who were sent to quarantine and the unlucky ones who were deported back even after months and months at sea. One of the pictures I took was of the graffiti of poems and messages to loved ones from aliens who were held on Ellis Island, written in many different languages.

Times Square is iconic for where the ball drops on New Years Eve and has great shopping, as Sophie’s credit card will testify. Its nearest comparison is Piccadilly circus but I hope our photos will do it justice because it poos from a great height all over that!

I cannot say enough thanks to Brian Magoolaghan (a distant relative but we don’t discriminate against the H!) He opened up his home (on the upper east side no less) to two disheveled (probably smelly) strangers and I believe that we have left life long friends. Not only did he give us food and shelter he gave us a great insight into how the locals see NYC. We mastered the metro in a day, learnt about avenues and streets, ate a great steak and giant shrimps and were shown a great night on the town, New Yoyk stylee.

Not only did Brian put up with our nomad ways but his housemate (Brandon Chase – most American name ever) managed to survive with us in the house for a week while we was (trying) to sleep during the day.

The Magoolaghan hospitality didn’t end there, we headed out east to Long Island to meet the Boziwick family branch. Again, having never met us we were graciously accepted into Caitlin and Stew’s home and we were shown a great night out. On that weekend we went to a birthday party of a sprightly young man aged 90, in the weekend holiday location of the Hamptons. We weren’t disappointed by the sizes of the boats and houses – the movies don’t lie! The Boziwick’s were happy to take us under their wings and let us join in the festivities, we had a great meal and speeches moved everyone to tears. Some were tears of laughter after a elderly lady explained how she had know the birthday boy for 86 years and she and her friend used to go down to the park to pick up boys, namely Mr Boziwick – how times haven’t changed! A nice touch I noted was in the carpark it was like the Thunderbirds – Boz 1 through to 5 were all present registrations on the cars.

Thanks to everyone who made our east coast adventure so amazing, the next blog contains our final round up including our times in Boston, San Diego, Mexico and finally LA.

Cheers Cara and Sophie x x