Saturday 4th June 2022 Matilda had decided that, after our New York deli breakfast, she would sample her cheesecakes, so when we returned to the hotel, she sliced them both in half so that she could compare. Even though she had carried them round New York for several hours the day before, she was not disappointed: both were light, fluffy and flavoursome: special cheesecake indeed. The plain perhaps won by a whisker. We had previously investigated getting Covid tests as we needed to provide proof of a negative test, taken within the last 48 hours, together with our vaccination status before we would be allowed onboard. The hotel receptionist suggested we went to a nearby surgery, but here the GP receptionist quoted $220 each for them to run the tests. A very helpful gentleman who was sitting in the waiting room said we would be able to get it done at one of the many pop-up testing stations we had passed. We found that here the cost would be just $50 each. So, before starting the day, we went to have swabs professionally rotated around our nasal passages. We then wanted to check out the transport to the embarkation point […]

Friday 3rd June 2022 Robert had planned a route, taking in many of the long list which Matilda had compiled of places to visit, for our first full day of sightseeing in the Big Apple. First we planned to walk the High Line. On our way however, we came across Vessel in Hudson Yards which was not on the list and was an eye-catching surprise. It looks a bit like a 16 storey chunk of honeycomb and comprises 154 interconnecting flights of stairs with 2,500 individual steps and 80 landings. It is reminiscent of the optical illusions in one of MC Escher’s graphic architectural drawings. Vessel is designed to give people new perspectives and views of the city and each other as they climb. It opens at 10:00 so we were too early but added it to the list for future reference. A little further on we came to the entrance to the High Line. We wanted to walk this route on Friday as currently entrance is unrestricted on weekdays but visitors are required to book entry times at the weekend. Stretches of track remain amongst the lush planting and art installations. Originally, the New York Central Railroad built an elevated […]

Thursday 2nd June 2022 A short Amtrak ride from Philadelphia brought us back to our starting point in New York. Although we could not do so in Chicago because of the cloud cover, we continue to try and take Ruth Jewell’s advice and start our sightseeing by going up the city’s best observation point. So New York starts with the Empire State Building.  Having checked into our hotel, we found we could book tickets for half an hour hence and Matilda decreed we should go for the full experience and pay the extra to go up to the 102nd floor. Meandering barriers have been laid out to maximise the space marking out the queue to the lifts, presumably from a time, pre-Covid, when more people visited. Along the route, there is quite an extensive display about the construction of the building and its use as a filming location. King Kong obviously makes a regular appearance. . . . . . providing photo- and video-opportunities. But Matilda is unlikely to win any acting awards. Once up there, the views are obviously impressive looking down Manhattan towards Wall Street. . . . . . and north towards the iconic Chrysler Building. Our […]

Wednesday 1st June 2022 We set off for the Free Library of Philadelphia to join the 10:00 tour where there seemed to have been some confusion over timings – we were the only ones there and it later transpired that the guide was expecting it to take place in the afternoon. When our guide, who was described as a ‘very friendly’ man, had not appeared by 10:00 two very helpful ladies in the lobby went in search of him. Curtis first introduced himself and then went to check the sign outside advertising the times of the tours. He disappeared again to get his presentation aids, and took this opportunity to grab a little snack to keep him going as he had clearly not been expecting to run a tour that morning. It was well worth the wait. Some of the rooms are spacious and grand and the original furniture and display cabinets were made of steel and glass so that they would not provide any additional combustible material in the event of a fire. The Free Library of Philadelphia is organised by subject and in the Music Department you can borrow a wide range of instruments as well as books. […]

Monday 30th May and Tuesday 31st May 2022 Leaving Washington, we took the subway, which is extensive and has tracks on multiple levels. The subway took us to Washington Union Station. This is another great example of American railroad architecture, both inside [above] and out [below]. It also has sweeping staircases to rival those in the Rookery Building in Chicago. Our Amtrak service took us to the William H Gray III, 30th Street Amtrak Train Station, to give it its full title, in Philadelphia which is another imposing edifice. Having walked to our hotel and settled in we took a stroll and, curiously, Robert’s route seemed to lead straight to the Hard Rock Café. We then dropped in to Brü where, with a little help from the quizmaster who advised us not to gamble too many of our point score on the final question, we won the quiz. The prize turned out to be a voucher for $50 which came in very handy when it came to settling our tab. The next day we set out to discover the delights of Philadelphia. No visit to the City of Brotherly Love would be complete without seeing the J.F. Kennedy Plaza, better known as LOVE […]

Sunday 28th May 2022 Robert realised that Washington adjoins two other states and that by doing a little extra travelling during the day we could add these onto our US state map on the beenApp. First we took the Metro to Alexandria Old Town in Virginia. King Street leads straight down to the harbour. This is quite like parts of Boston and is reminiscent of an English town with graceful Georgian properties and tree lined streets. Down by the harbour there are several Art Deco buildings which have been given a new lease of life. This torpedo factory is now serving the community as an art centre. As public transport was running a holiday service there were some long gaps between connections. Therefore, in order for us to achieve our footfall in another state, we ordered an Über to take us over the Woodrow Wilson Memorial Bridge across the Potomac River to National Harbor in Maryland where. . . . . . The Awakening – a 72-foot statue by J. Seward Johnson Jr. of a giant – lies buried in the sand, struggling to free himself. From National Harbor, we then took a boat trip on the Potomac River. This […]

Friday 26th and Saturday 27th May 2022 Robert had not realised when he was planning this trip that we would be in Washington for the Memorial Day weekend. In fact, this proved to be a mixed blessing. The city was busy with visiting families but there were also activities and celebrations afoot along the National Mall and a stage had been set up in front of the US Capitol. The many food and ice cream trucks ruined the views slightly. Setting off to walk along the Mall to see some of the sights we first encountered the Eisenhower Monument which opened in 2020 and so has had relatively few visitors. A helpful gentleman started telling us how neglected it was and where the best place was to take photos. We were a little reluctant to engage with him in case he was trying to sell us something but when we realised he was one of the Memorial Day weekend volunteers, we relaxed. At one end of the Mall, the US Capitol has a distinctive yet familiar outline. Part way along, the 555 foot Washington Monument towers over the city. It was some time in the planning. The idea to erect […]

Thursday 25th May 2022 Today was going to be a day exploring some of the work of Frank Lloyd Wright. After the Great Chicago Fire in 1871, a temporary building was constructed around a large masonry water tank that had survived the fire on the site now occupied by The Rookery. Following a campaign by a British MP large numbers of books were donated to the city to replace its lost library, including 6,000 from Queen Victoria herself. As Chicago had not previously had one, space had to be found for this new facility and the water tank was converted into the city’s first public library: the top of the tank was made into a skylight, and bookshelves made to line the curved walls. City Hall also operated from another part of this building which was nicknamed “The Rookery”, partly because of the number of crows and pigeons that roosted there, and partly because of the corrupt politicians it housed. It was close to the fire department which kept horses there ready to pull the fire engines and so the birds may have been attracted to the grain which was used as feed. The Rookery Building which replaced this temporary […]

Wednesday 25th May 2022 We had originally hoped to start the day by going up the Willis Tower but the weather had different plans. The forecast did not indicate much improvement for tomorrow so we will need to save this for a return visit. As Chicago is a major railway intersection, and Robert is planning more transcontinental train trips here we will hopefully return. Instead we decided to see the city from lower down and booked an Architecture Boat Tour along the Chicago River. Our tour guide said that he had found the perfect job as he never stopped talking. He was certainly very knowledgeable and the tour proved to be most informative. Here is just a small selection of the things we learned, not all of which have accompanying photographs. The white glazed terracotta tiles on the Wrigley Building, which we admired on our first fleeting visit to Chicago, are fire resistant but will not stand up to power washing so have to be hand cleaned by people suspended from the building. The curvaceous Marina Towers complex [seen in the video below right] was built in 1968 at a time when not many people lived by the river so the […]

Monday 23rd and Tuesday 24th May 2022 Our hotel is opposite the famous Peabody Hotel which opened there in 1925. Jefferson Davis, the former President of the Confederacy had lived in the original 1869 building. By far the most famous residents now are the Peabody Ducks who march through the lobby daily at 11:00 to swim in the fountain – more of them later. We walked across the road to see if there were any restrictions on the number of people who could come to see the waddling procession and Matilda was pleased to find out that all are welcome. As an added bonus the ducks were still swimming in the fountain as they remain there until 17:00. We planned to return for the 11:00 duck parade the next day. We then set off to see some of the sights of Memphis, one of the most famous of which is Beale Street [see Selfie of the day] which is known as the Home of the Blues. Metal quavers on the pavement here celebrate famous musicians and Matilda obviously chose this one to photograph. Robert would have you believe that he took this photo to show the typical style of architecture […]

Monday 23rd May 2022 We had originally planned to make our own way to Graceland when we docked but the house is about nine miles south of the centre of Memphis and so we felt it was too far to walk there and back. By booking on the disembarkation tour from the American Queen we found we could have our luggage delivered to the hotel opposite ours and get transport out to Graceland and back. The other advantage was that people on the tour from the boat were to be allowed into Graceland earlier than the general public. Unfortunately, there had been some confusion over the number of guides needed for coaches and our driver spent sometime trying to sort this out. We did manage to bypass the introductory video and eventually, although we were not let in early, we were some of the very first visitors of the day. The social distancing notices were obviously specially commissioned. The address of the property is 3764 Elvis Presley Boulevard also known as Route 51. Visitors are given a pair of headphones and an iPad so that they can listen to the commentary at their own pace. A minibus takes visitors from the […]

Friday 20th to Monday 23rd May 2022 The hop-on-hop-off tour for the day was to Vicksburg but since we could see the first stop from the boat we decided to walk straight there. This time we seemed to avoid the crowds by being the only people who were choosing to visit the Old Depot Museum. To give the building it’s full title, the Yazoo and Mississippi Valley Railway Depot was built in 1907 at a cost of $60,715. At that time it was the busiest railway station in the state and 22 passenger and freight trains passed through every day. Now it is a museum housing model railways and railway artefacts as well as a diorama of the Siege of Vicksburg. Inside we were welcomed by a fellow rail enthusiast who may not have had many visitors for some time and who took us through to the exhibits. He had two hand held devices which Matilda thought initially were to count visitors but in fact he turned each model railway on remotely as we walked round the room so that we always had trains in motion to attract our attention. The exhibits included maritime models and we were surprised to […]

Wednesday 18th and Thursday 19th May 2022 Yesterday morning had been taken up with laundry but on Wednesday we booked places on the daily ‘hop-on-hop-off’ coach. This takes passengers into the closest town for sightseeing and you are provided with a map of the stops and the local places of interest. Our destination was Point Coupée, which is apparently one of the oldest settlements along the Mississippi River. As we boarded the coach staff, presumably from the local tourist office, handed out environmentally friendly reusable bags branded with the town’s name in the hope that people would spend some of their tourist bucks here. The name Point Coupée is derived from its position on an oxbow curve and means, unsurprisingly, ‘the point of the cut off’ in French. Someone at a garage/petrol station, now closed, clearly was a Pixar fan with a sense of humour. The lake which was created here by the oxbow when the course of the river changed is called False River and there were some attractive lakeside properties, many with their own little jetties. The stops on the hop-on-hop-off coach were not very far apart and we walked between them rather than waiting for another bus, […]

Tuesday 17th May 2022 One of our top priorities on our first full day on the American Queen was to get some laundry done. Since we have found hotel laundry services to be expensive everywhere except India so far, we had found out in advance when we would be able to do washing for ourselves during this trip. We then worked out approximately how many pairs of trousers/shorts and tops we would need to reach these keys points and by packing sufficient underwear accordingly [and with Robert kindly putting a pair of shoes and one of Matilda’s toiletry bag in his suitcase] Matilda could manage with a cabin luggage sized bag. Making a ‘guesstimate’ about the size of the machines, Matilda had divided the dirty washing into a light and a dark load before we went to bed. When we woke quite early, she swiftly went up to put a load on, realised both machines were free and went to get the ’dark’ wash to put in too. She had just done this when another woman appeared and was clearly disgruntled that both machines were in use. If Matilda had been a little more awake she would have dissembled and […]

Monday 16th May 2022 The American Queen is said to be the largest river steamboat ever built. Completed in 1995, she is a six-storey recreation of a classic Mississippi riverboat. At 418 feet (127 m) long, 89 feet (27 m) wide and with 222 state rooms she can accommodate 436 guests and a crew of 160. Having settled in, there was little to do other than familiarise ourselves with the layout. Going up stream along the Mississippi River, one side of the boat is bathed in sunshine whilst the other is in shade. A champagne reception was provided on the fore deck as we were leaving New Orleans. Later, a slightly delayed safety drill covered the sound of the alarm signal and the crew checking we could put on our life jackets and stand outside our cabin but did not tell us where we should muster in case of an emergency. This was helpfully printed on our personalised room keys. On our deck the cabins were named after states and we had been allocated New jersey. Currently this is the only state which Robert has visited which Matilda hasn’t, as he is fond of pointing out. She hopes to remedy this later in the […]

Sunday 15th and Monday 16th May 2022 Our first stop on Sunday morning was to be Coterie, the place where we were recommended to have breakfast. We both opted for Eggs Benedict and were not disappointed [see Dish of the day]. We were required to have proof of an independently verified negative Covid test before we would be allowed onto the American Queen for our Mississippi River paddle steamer cruise. The easiest option was to take advantage of the testing service organised by the cruise company which meant we had to present ourselves at the Hilton Riverside Hotel at any time between 14:00 and 18:30. We also needed to transfer our luggage as this would be our hotel for the night before we sailed [or paddled] but we would still have the morning to see some more of New Orleans. We had walked the length of Bourbon Street and Royal Street several times and Robert decided it would be a good idea to walk the side-streets methodically, so we did not miss anything out. These are some of the things we found. This pedestrianised street which was particularly lovely and uncharacteristically quiet. The buildings on Royal Street did seem to […]