Is not the first thing I look for on a menu, but after four days in the states I am craving vitamins. I’m joined on my table in the hostel by a group of Greenpeace staff in town for training on settling up regional fundraising centres. They have been catered for and kindly offer me the spare food. Piles of carrots, salad, rice and a healthy helping of tofu curry later I feel like a new man. Vegetable Rights and Peas!
It isn’t widely known that Barack Obama is a surfer. He likes to catch a few waves whenever he goes back to see his family in Hawaii. I consider asking him if there is any chance of converting Iran into an indoor heated wave pool once he has finished with it, but don’t think he would be up for it so let it go.
Washington’s National Cathedral was only finished in the 1980s. At the tail end of construction a competition was held to design some gargoyles. One of the winning suggestions was to use Darth Vader’s head so they carved it out of limestone and installed it. Another space connection there is the piece of moon rock built into one of the stained glass windows.
http://www.nationalcathedral.org/about/darthVader.shtml
There are an awful lot of war memorials in DC. I check out the national shrine of Arlington National Cemetery.
If the effects of the night before hadn’t worn off already, visiting was certainly a sobering experience. The scale of the place is staggering and there are at least 25 additional residents every day. Tombstones as far the eye can see with a few major memorials such as the graves of JFK and his brother Bobby dotted in amongst them. I see five funerals with full military honours while I am there.
There is a letter from Mikhail Kalashnikov proudly displayed at the tomb of the Unknown Soldier which seems a little odd because his handiwork is probably responsible for half of those laid to rest in Arlington. 
By chance I stumble across the grave of the great Joe Louis former heavyweight champion of the world known as The Brown Bomber.
Later by the Lincoln Memorial where you will find the Korean War Memorial and the Vietnam War Memorial I think about how many lives were lost trying to conquer both countries, when I am just breezing through both later on my travels.
I am still not sober when we pull in to Union Station, and for some reason nobody wanted the seat next to me on the trip. Cab to the hostel to dump my bags and then enjoy being chauffeured around the US capitol by a tour company with narration to save me any effort at all.
Head downtown with a handful of others in a stretch limousine organised by the hostel. (I can’t help thinking what a wonderful surf bus it would make. There is no need for a roof rack even with longboards; however the lanes of Cornwall, North Wales and Devon might pose an issue for its turning circle.) Seats are far too comfy for me and I am struggling to stay awake by the time we arrive at club called Kiss and Fly. Think we have been sold duff tickets because the club is empty when we get inside, but happy to enjoy the free bubbly supplied with our tickets. Before I realise it the place is packed with well-heeled clientele and the DJ is throwing out some banging tunes. There I realise how well-heeled it is when I have to buy a drink and see that the first item on offer from the menu is a bottle of Bubbly for $3,000! Decide to boogie the night away with Marta, Angelica and Guillermo who I met at the hostel. Having a great night and thinking it can’t get much better when the management roll out 20 models in skimpy lingerie who take station on the podiums and along the bar. All of a sudden the blokes in the club seem distracted. I wonder why?
I’m quite pissed by the time we leave and enjoy a slice of pizza on the way home. Get stalked by rats on the subway that want some of my pizza for themselves, which is a bit unnerving. Crash out at 2.30 only to be woken at 5.03 by Rip Van Winkle who has been woken up by my alarm going for so long without having any effect on my inebriated state. Grab my gear, get out quickly and hail a cab to station where I fall asleep as soon as I sit down on the train to Washington.
And now I know why. This has been posted in the Cafe!
Thankfully my last night here is tonight
After a night having the dorm to myself there was a new bloke in there last night who I can only assume is Rip Van Winkle. he was asleep when I got back from downtown at 9pm and was still asleep when I left to type this up 12 hours later. Will prod him later to check he isn’t dead if he hasn’t moved when I get back.
I’m still adjusting from UK time so was up before dawn again, so decided to break out my trainers and go for a run around Central Park. It is a damp grey day here in the Big Apple but it was a lovely run which included a lap of the Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis Reservoir where I ran past the water tower which is the climax to Marathon Man. No Nazi war criminals, terrifying ental expriences, fortune in diamonds, or concealed blades in evidence though and judging by the looks I was getting from folk coming the other way I think I probably looked more like I was recreating a scene from another New York based movie. Godzilla.
Although I am planning on being away for a year my time is going to be fairly limited at every point along the route. I have to decide between Niagara Falls and Washington in the time I have left before moving on. The US capital wins because there will be more to see once I am there, the journey is 6 hours shorter, and I will definitely be seeing my share of water and waterfalls along this trip.
It is probably a good thing because I would only have wanted to try to surf it and I suspect that would have resembled Pooh Sticks on Steroids. ie which part of me or my board would they find first as opposed to which stick emerges quickest at the other side of the bridge.
Buy the tickets to Washington and then have a few beers with other travellers to warm up before my last night in the Big Apple
New York’s tree at the Rockefeller Centre is good but it isnt a patch on Trafalgar Square. Lots of festive trimming on offer here though. A bit disappointed not to have caught the Thanksgiving Day parade but it happened just before I arrived. Never mind.
The parade is sponsored by Macy’s which is the largest department store in the world and seemed like a good place to head for to do my Christmas shopping. After five hours and nearly losing the will to live I emmerged with a massive stack of parcels which I lugged over towards the Post Office.
It wasnt much fun at all dragging them through the hordes of frenzied teenage girls trying to get a glimpse of One Direction who were performing at Madison Square Garden, but I made up for it by convincing a sizable crowd that they were coming out the other door just by virtue of a British accent. The stampede I nearly created was quite impressive but clearly my queue to get inside the post office before the NYPD turned up. New York had the last laugh when I had to stump up over $100 to get the parcels on their way, completing a form of my whole life story for each one. The whole procedure took over an hour! You dont realise how good Royal Mail is until you see the alternative.
