New York, New York

3 November 2001

Here we are in the Big Apple. It's as big, bold and brassy as it ever was. September 11 has changed it though. There are American flags on nearly every building and car and the city is a little more sedate and polite that it was. The bookstores are still the best, the coffee is awesome as ever and we are enjoying the fruitful delights of 200+ Cable TV channels at Anthony and Kates (Buffy, MASH, movies, the World Series final ...)

We caught up with my old pal Chelsea in Albany, New York (about 2 hours north of Manhatten) and met lots of new and interesting people there. We played with some horses and watched Barrell Racers training, saw stock car workshops and saw our first big screen movie in months ("From Hell" - 2 Stars).

It was time to leave Europe with it getting colder and wetter there but the changing leaves there and here in the USA are beautiful. A brief stay in Spain saw our tent ankle deep in water from a thunderstorm requiring a move at 4am. We visited Andorra and then back to France for some walks in the Pyrénées Mountains, 13,000 yr old cave paintings, the Chateaux of the Loire Valley and finally the D-Day Beaches, Museums and graveyards were all very amazing and moving.

Tomorrow we go to Central Park to watch the New York Marathon then it's off to Dallas, LA and San Francisco before hitting Sydney and Cairns by 1 December! We'll be spending my 37th birthday (10 Nov) with my Aunt Margaret in Dallas and Keith and Pauline in LA. Only a month to go! Hasn't it flown!