So, New York City was really good, albeit just an evening and
overnight. The tour proper starts now.
From New York, we were to travel to
Washington DC, via Philadelphia.
This required the first of the early starts, which takes the form
of a very early ‘Wake Up’ call, followed by a queue for the bathroom and then get
the cases outside the room door before a certain time, normally around 6:30am!
This is the life that we would become accustomed to over the next two weeks. It
is hard work, but ultimately rewarding.
This leg of the journey was to be a transfer section where we
would be mixed with other passengers who’d been on the first section of the
tour, (which we didn’t do), which started in Canada.
Once at Washington, we
would split into two coaches, so that the differing nationalities could be
separated. Ostensibly our coach would be English speaking, whilst the other
coach would be mixture of Dutch and other non-English speakers. Not including
the Aussies!
Our transfer guide on the coach, who we had met on the first day,
was Edith. Edith is a small German lady. Edith is “speaking likes these and is
telling us all about zee American history on zee way to the Philadelphia. Vare
vee vill be makings zee stop for zee lunch and look at zee sights, ya? OK?”
Philadelphia was really
nice. Edith did the tour guide thing to perfection, showing us all the sights
whilst travelling around on the coach, giving us all the information and
history we needed to know.
We stopped off and took a look at the Liberty Bell and the
Independence Hall, where both the Declaration of Independence and the United
States Constitution were debated and adopted. After this we took time out for
our first American lunch and what better to have than a burger and a hotdog?
Back to our Edith.
Edith is a little feisty and ran a tight ship. We were instructed
that; “every-vone needs to be back on zee bus by zee 1pm sharp!”
“Any-vone not back at zee bus by 1pm , vill be shot!” She
squawked, as she raised her arm in a Nazi salute and clicked her heels together.
Of course I’m joking; she didn’t shoot anybody for being late! She
did shoot a couple, just because they were Australian!
I’m joking! They were from New Zealand.
(Please note, I am really joking, everybody almost without
exception, on the tour were brilliant, friendly and delightful people to be
with. We’ll meet the exceptions later!)
In Philadelphia, we took some time out to see the Museum of Art, or
as it is known to the majority of tourists; the Rocky Steps, as this is where
Sylvester Stallone ran and stood during one of the Rocky films. Not sure which
one. Rocky 36 or something.
Anyhow, you get a wonderful view of Philadelphia and it’s a
tourist honey trap. We discovered this, when an overly friendly chap came up
and said; “Hey guys! Welcome to Philly. It sure is great to have you here! Say,
let me take your picture”.
At which he took Mrs Dave’s camera and started ushering us
together. I thought that’s it! That camera’s gone!
But no, he took some pictures, swapped to my camera, took some
more. Took Little Miss Dave’s camera, took some more photo’s, each time handing
the camera back and saying; “Hey, yea, it’s great to have you in Philly. We’ll
get some good shots for you”.
I thought, how charming, how very friendly. He finished up and
said; “Well guys I hope you have a great time in Philly, thanks for coming, you
have a nice day now”.
Brilliant I thought! How delightful. I shook his hand and he
looked me in the eye and said; “Of course, I do accept tips, you know? 10 bucks
is normal, but whatever you have. Enjoy Philly!!”
I could see this ending with me being stabbed in the face! So, Mrs
Dave pulled out $10 and we said thanks very much and did a runner.
Actually, it was more than OK, he was just some guy who hangs
around a tourist spot and makes some cash, he was harmless, but you never know.
Lesson learnt. Oh and by the way, the photos were pretty good.
So from Philadelphia it was onto Washington DC and what was to be
the best hotel of the lot, very plush, ornate, chandeliers, lovely pool, and a
real treat. Unfortunately, Mrs Dave caused a bit of a scene at the lifts as
soon as we’d arrived. We were waiting patiently, at the group of lifts and as a
set of doors opened, some people who had just arrived, walked straight in! Now,
as we all know the English love queuing, but we hate queue jumpers! Well, Mrs
Dave didn’t hold back; “how rude! We’ve been waiting here and they just push
passed!” One American woman, clearly from the South looked and said something in
a marvellous Southern drawl, I didn’t catch it, but a few words were exchanged.
Luckily another lift arrived and I started dragging our cases in, and ushered
Mrs Dave to follow. Unfortunately, the woman who was “discussing” the lift
situation with Mrs Dave stood outside the lift waiting. Mrs Dave said to her
“well, are you getting in or what?”
“Only if it’s not going to cause you any inconvenience”, came the
sarcastic American response. Needless to say the lift was extremely quiet on
the way up. We eventually got to our room, after 3 hours of negotiation with
the UN, Kofi Anan and Barack Obama.
Good times!
(You will note that although most of what I say is factual, I do
exaggerate a bit! Carry on).
The first night in Washington, was taken up with an optional
excursion into the city to include a meal at a restaurant. This was a popular
choice with the coach and a fair number of us ventured out after a quick wash
and brush up, giving us all a chance to wear that outfit that we packed for
special occasions. Or in Mrs Dave’s case, several outfits, just in case!!
Anyway, off we went with Edith pointing out the sights on the way
to the restaurant. The restaurant was busy, and our party shuffled through to a
back room where three or four large tables were arranged for us. Now, we’d only
just met, so there was some uncertain shuffling to find a nice seat. I don’t
really do this communal eating thing, trying to make chit chat etc, for one I’m
really quite shy and secondly, in a busy, noisy room I find it difficult to
hear a conversation in front of me, so for most of the night, I hid behind my
solitary glass of wine. In retrospect, this was not a good thing, as the three
other ladies who shared our table were really lovely, once we got to know them
better, later into the holiday. (You know who you are).
After the meal, Edith took us on the coach for some quick
sightseeing of Washington at night, which was really stunning, seeing all the
monuments, memorials and buildings lit up in the darkness. We stopped at the
John F Kennedy Centre for Performing Arts, where you could go up on the roof
for free and get stunning views of Washington DC.
The next day the tours of Washington continued, this time with a
dedicated Tour Guide, who took us around all of the monuments and memorials,
discussing at length and with great knowledge the history of each one. The most
poignant, moving and visually stunning stop was at the Arlington National
Cemetery. A massive military cemetery, that although being a place of sadness,
was beautiful, well kept and respected by all. Very worthy of a visit.
We could have stayed in Washington, to look around the Smithsonian
museums, but didn’t think we could do them justice in the time, so instead we
opted to go back to the hotel and a chance to sample the swimming pool.
Now, as I mentioned, our hotel was rather large. And it was
hosting, at the time of our visit, a Gospel Choir convention, so there were
lots of people around, singing and dressed to impress. When myself and Little
Miss Dave had completed our swimming session, we strolled back to the lifts to
go up to our room. We were joined at the lifts by a contingent of big, black
American ladies, who were clearly there for the convention. They were reminiscent
of the housekeeper in the Tom and Jerry cartoons, well, their voices anyway.
They were clearly affected by the heat, as it was extremely hot in Washington
and as we all waited for a lift to arrive, all we could hear was (and please
provide your own Southern accent as you read these);
“Sweet Mother of Mercy! It’s hot!”
“Sweet Jesus, Mary and Joseph, it’s swelteringly hot!”
“Sweet baby Jesus and the orphans. It’s like a barbecue with
Beelzebub here!”
“You’m right there Sister. Uh huh!” “Oh yea, praise dee Lord, you’re
right!”
“Sweet child of mine it’s hot! Oh yes, baby it’s hot!”
“It’s as hot as hell and twice as sticky!” “Amen, to that Sister!”
“Praise the Lord! Sweets for my sweet and shhhiiiiittt! It’s hot!”
You get the picture.
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