4. juni - Newark (Delaware) - Front Royal (Virginia) ; 206 miles

Etter en god natt i Delaware, bar det inn på I 95 sørover. Neste stat var Maryland og byen  Baltimore. 

Maryland, here we go

 På vei til Baltimore kjørte vi forbi  flere steder som har vært med på å forme Amerika til det landet vi alle har fått en form for forhold til. Jeg ramser i fleng: Bel Air.

"Now this is a story all about how, my life got twisted up-side-down..." (sitat:  en av Founding Fathers..?)

ooookei.... såh... hva om du bare tar av til høyre her...

Baltimore er inne på "top-ten crime rate"listen. Det merket vi pent lite til. Selvfølgelig har det sammenheng med når vi kom på dagen, rundt halv tolv, og det at område vi kom inn i bar preg av en rolig tirsdag formiddag.

Etter en liten vandring rundt i område hvor vi parkerte, samt en liten kaffitår (eller som Alec ville sagt, coffee-tour) hev vi oss i bilen for å besøke Washington DC. Tilfeldighetene ville det anderledes. På vei ut på I 95 utbryter Alec et høyt OI OI. "Der har vi jammen meg stadion til Baltimore Ravens. NFL laget jeg holder med! (Personlig holdt jeg på å bryte samtlige trafikkregler. Alec, sport og fan i samme setning er VIRKELIG ikke noe man hører hver dag).  Etter mye om og men klarte vi å få parkert i nærheten av station. Det skal nevnes at Baltomore Ravens faktisk vant Superbowl 2013.

Se, jeg peker.

Så stod Washington DC for tur. etter å fått parkert bilen i nærheten av Det hvite hus var det bare å hive seg rundt som turist.

The Second Division Memorial was originally constructed to memorialize the United States Army Second Division's dead from World War I. Since its construction, two additions have been made to honor the dead of World War II and the Korean conflict.

World War II Monument.

The Washington Monument var under restaurering.

                                                                                 

Lincoln Memorial. Bak statuen står det:

"IN THIS TEMPLE

  AS IN THE HEARTS OF THE PEOPLE
  FOR WHOM HE SAVED THE UNION
  THE MEMORY OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN
  IS ENSHRINED FOREVER."

Utsikten fra Lincoln Memorial mot Washington monument.

Her stod Martin Luther King under sin berømte "I have a dream" tale.

Etter disse mer klassiske monumentene tok vi turen gjennom parken. Vi fikk med oss monumenter fra Vietnamkrigen. Her ser vi halve "Vietnam Veteran Wall" til de falne amerikanerne.

"The Three Servicemen Statue" at the Vietnam Veterans Memorial captures a full range of emotions. Taken as a whole, the statue symbolizes the spirit of compromise and reconciliation.
(Sitat internett)

"O'Bama, where art thou"  (Det Hvite Hus der altså)

Etter en hektisk runde i Wahington tok vi veien Nord-Vest. (Eller som Alec så fint sa det: "Tja vi skal vel sånn ca så i lende," mens han peker vilkårlig rundt forbi). Easy, repliserte jeg og hev meg på 7'ern ut av byen. Turen gikk fra Maryland og inn i Virgina. Jo lenger vi kjørte jo finere ble landskapet. Virginia er et kjent vinområde, og etterhvert passerte vi flere store vingårder, med tilhørende palasser av noen hus.

En av Virginias vingårder.

Langs veien, mellom de flotte vingårdene.  Et lite boktips forresten. Ellen Crosby har skrevet et par lettfattelige krimbøker fra dette området. Vin og mysterier om hverandre. Merlot mordene og Chardonnay gåten finner du lett på antikvariat.net. Ellers har hun flere bøker på engelsk, for dem som føler seg vel så bevandret i det språket.

Vinrankene langs veien.

På grensen til West-Virginia begynte behovet for bensin og mat å bli passe prekært. Så rett etter Hillsboro (ja det finnes langs 9'ern helt nord i Virginia), fylte vi bensin og filk tips om noen helt amazing burgere reft rundt neste sving. Vi tok henne på ordet og svingte inn på 'Torlone's'. Bestilte burgere og tok en blås inne. (Det var noen år sia sist!). Anyway, burgerne viste seg å være et stykke kjøtt på ei loffskive. Amazing..? Tja... Mette ble vi ihvertfall og vi krysset grensen til denne utsikten.

I West-Virginia var vi innom Charlestown for en litem stopp for å finne ut av hvor vi skulle videre for å sove. Vi hev oss på 340 ut av byen, og etter vel en halvtime forlot vi West-Virginia til fordel for Virginia. Vi endte opp i Front Royal. Søvnig sted. Etter å ha vært innom et dyrt hotell og en seriemorder av en motell-eier (det er virkelig ikke kødd!), slo vi oss til ro på et fantastisk rom.

Etter et par kalde på den lokale pizza-pub-sportsbar-hawaii-surfe-tavernaen, sovnet vi på det koselige Høgg-og-fanteri-lukt, skjeggstubber-på-badet motellet.

When in the course of human events... NYC – Newark, DE 158 miles / 254 km

When in the Course of human events, it becomes necessary for two guys to blog about the really cool stuff which have connected them even more to their awesome trip, and to assume among the powers of the earth, the humble and awarding station to which the Laws of Nature and of Nature's God entitle them, a decent respect to the opinions of mankind requires that they should declare the causes which impel them to blog.

We the Guys of the Epic Road Trip, in Order to form a more perfect Trip, woke up in NYC on monday June 3rd and were ready to get back on the road – this time going further south. We stopped somewhere in New Jersey and had a "Traffic Jammer" for breakfast (which could have jammed us both to sleep, but thankfully Dan was able to keep his eyes open.. He was driving...), and then we headed for Pennsylvania. Philly is actually a really nice city and we were excited to hear more about its history and learn more about American history in general.

Ok, so not all areas are as pretty..

After parking the car somewhere close to the main attractions we went up to the welcome center and spent probably the better part of an hour in the gift shop. Yes, the gift shop.. I've never felt more like a tourist in my life... "Oh, look at this Dan! They have a shot glass with George Washingtons face – isn't that awesome!?!?!" No, Robin.. No it's not..... Then we had to decide whether to get the fake-parchment-almost-true-copy of the Declaration of Independence or to get the mouse mat with a list of all the American presidents, and then we had to decide whether to get book on Ben Franklin or on colonial Christmas cooking. I humbly thank whatever power that convinced us not to get any of it! (Actually I'm lying... I bought a small book containing both the declaration of independence and the constitution.. Shhhh...)

Dan – The bringer of peace

Anyways, we decided that that was enough touristy behaviour for today, so off we went – with our camera and pamphlets ready – to see the Liberty Bell. Then we saw it, and moved on. 













Time to see one of the most historical buildings in the US. This is where both the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution were signed. 

The sign outside said "No more tickets available" (yay...) but we figured we'd at least see the back yard (yay.....) and take a picture of a ranger (ya.. I'm not even gonna....). The rangers were all really nice though and let those of us without tickets also join the tour – which ended up being really interesting. It was pretty obvious that the ranger giving the tour had probably given the same tour 439 times earlier that day and that tour nr 440 was the straw to almost break his back, but he lead us patiently through the history of the building, the history of these important documents and even gave us some interesting trivia on some of the big guys. I do recommend taking this tour if you're close to Philadelphia – it only takes about half an hour and you do learn alot. Not to mention you get to be in the room where so many important people have stood before you. 

This is not a photograph

One Ring to rule them all...

"Kor e' alle helter hen..?"

It was getting late again and we decided to save DC for the next day. Our original plan was to drive into Maryland and crash there for the night, but then we realized that we hadn't really planned a visit to Delaware. So we whipped out our Lonely Planet trip book and found that they recommended a small town not far from where we were called New Castle. So that's where we went! And boy are we glad we did. It was really small, and we would never have found it had it not been for Lonely Planet and TomTom GPS. We suddenly found ourselves surrounded by old, brick buildings, green gardens and US, Swedish and Dutch flags waving from every lamp post. 

Ah.. Brick...

The book recommended eating at Jessop's Tavern – a small restaurant where the servers are all in colonial costumes and the food is prepared likewise (although they do have wifi..).

Dan got Fish and chips and I got Shepherd's pie – Dan finished his, I ate probably half... And it wasn't because it didn't taste good, cause this food was awesome! It was just soooo much. You know the point where your body just can't take any more food, but you can't stop eating because it's so amazing? You'll definitely reach that point at Jessop's Tavern. Also they brew their own beer, which apparently is really good. Again, I was driving... 

We stuffed our faces to the point where no more stuffing could be stuffed and were ready to turn in for the night. We'd been on priceline.com while at the tavern (using the colonial wifi) and found a good deal at a Howard Johnson not far away. Checked in, got some beer and some cigarettes, blogged for a couple of hours and then settled in to our beds for a night in Newark, Delaware. 

New York state of mind – 30/05–03/06

It was nice knowing when we woke up on Thursday, that the only driving we would do today would be to the hotel on Manhattan - and after staying at motels for the last three nights this was something we were looking forward to. We left Jasmine's apt in Queens and followed the GPS' somewhat confusing directions into town. 

When we finally hit Manhattan it was busy as ever and even though I've been pretty much all over the island I've never driven there, so this was definitely a new experience. It was fun going down streets where I've walked so many times and for once not being the annoying pedestrian - now just getting annoyed... We parked the car close to the hotel, checked in and happily embraced the fact that we would be walking for a couple of days. 

When Jasmine had to leave for work shortly after we'd checked in, Dan and I decided to walk around for a bit and get a bite to eat. I'd been craving a Chipotle burrito ever since we entered the states, so by this point it just had to happen. A couple of beers at the Knife later didn't make life any worse.

Later on we picked up Jasmine from work at the met room and I finally got to meet her coworkers that I'd only heard about for over a year. They were all lovely people and welcomed Dan and myself with open arms. We ended the night at The Bulls Head on 3rd Ave and 23rd St, where they have live music every Thursday. Jim Roberti (on guitar and vocals) and his drummer serves up whatever song the audience requests, be it from "Happy birthday" to Mumford and Sons to Lady Gaga - or anything else. It's not that crowded, it has two bars and the prices are ok. Definitely a place to check out if you're in NYC on Thursdays.

I spent most of my Friday at school, meeting up with teachers and friends and just enjoying the feeling of "being back" for a couple of hours. Dan and Jasmine spent their day walking around the Village and we all met up for lunch sometime in the afternoon. 

I'd texted most of my NY-friends and invited them to come hang out at the Knife on Friday night, so after a few Coco Chanels at the Bristol Lounge with Jon Michael I met up with Dan and Jazz again there.

We had a great night (until Jasmine had one too many, but that's a different story...) and I got to see some of my closest friends again and even some I haven't seen since I graduated.

On Saturday we woke up pretty tired. And this is the point where I should talk about the hotel... We stayed at the Eurostars Wall Street Hotel. We found it on hotels.com and it looked like a nice place for an ok NY price. Which I guess it was. The rooms were big, the service was good, it was clean, had a nice location had some class to it. The beds however, were horrible... It was like sleeping on a pile of bricks and all of us walked around town stretching our necks and shoulders, we had pack pain and I had a pretty bad headache after the first night. It made me realize that even though the place looks nice, if the bed's so bad you never fully rest, it's totally not worth it. If you ever decide to stay there, ask if they can provide you with an air mattress - cause believe me, you'll be better off.

View from hotel

Anyways, on Saturday we were also tired from the late night, and Jasmine was so tired after her drink number one-too-many that she pretty much had to stay in bed all day. Dan and I went out and got some breakfast and then headed for mid-town where we were meeting a friend of mine from Norway who was in town with her acting class. We stopped by Guitar Center so Dan could drool on some guitars and slowly walked over to the Chelsea Theatre on 23rd and 8th. I say slowly, cause we were both tired, dehydrated and man, was it hot... Moving fast in that heat really isn't an option. 

Martine, who I was meeting, and her friend Jonathan got lost so we ended up waiting for them for over an hour and when they finally got there Dan was so tied he had to back to the hotel and nap. Martine, Jonathan and I however walked down to the Village so I could take them on a tour I'd spontaneously planned ;o) We started in W 4th street, by 12th St and walked down to Perry. On the way there we passed my favorite restaurant, The Place, and Gallery Sand that has the name of our hometown on the door. Picture time! Turning right on Perry we walked over to Hudson to my favorite cafe, Panini Mucho Gusto, and grabbed a coffee. We saw the White Horse Tavern and I tried to tell some of its history - and I failed miserably... But who cares, they didn't know who Dylan Thomas was anyway ;o) We continued walking down W 4th and over to Jones St. Martine and I posed as a Bob Dylan album cover before we headed into the East Village. Studying musical theatre I thought it'd be fun for them to see Life Cafe where Jonathan Larsson wrote RENT, but they renovated the whole place. It's still fun to go there though - its still kinda historical. We ended the tour with a beer in Alphabet City.

By this time Jasmine had stumbled out of bed and she, Dan and I met at Shake Shack in Madison Square Park for a taste of the best burger in town. Jazz left early for work and after we, the guys, had swallowed our burgers whole we also headed for the Metropolitan Room, where we were seeing Hedda Lettuce, The Queen of Green. Nuff said... 










The room was crowded and the AC wasn't working correctly, but despite all of this Hedda riffed and raffed everyone in the first row and sang like it was nobody's business - showing that she is, in fact, The Queen of Green. If you want a good laugh and can take a vulgar word every now and then, you should definitely catch her show while in town.

As if one drag queen wasn't enough for the night, we met up with Martine and her class later for the midnight screening of The Rocky Horror Picture Show at the Chelsea Theatre. For those of you who've been there you all know what the volunteering virgins have to go through, and this time there were 3 swedes and 1 from Iceland volunteering - all from Martines class. None of the other people even had a chance, and Jonathan ended up winning the whole thing.. And then him and Maria stole the whole show for a moment. I don't think the hosts could possibly imagine a better start to the evening!

The screening was fun, and there's always something fascinating in seeing the movie acted out while the movie is actually playing, but I have to admit I didn't enjoy it as much as the last time I was there. The audience participation ended up just being cast participation and there was way - WAY - too much participation going on. When the yelling back to the screen becomes so much that you can no longer hear the lines, it loses it's value. I understand how when you've seen the movie 500 times you feel the need to come up with something new, because it must be boring yelling the same stuff over and over again, but for those seeing this for the first time the original stuff is actually enough. It's like when doing a theatre production, you don't start changing the lines or the blocking just because you're tired of doing the same thing over and over again. I see how this is different, but they should really pay more attention to what the audience want to experience and not what they, the cast, think is funny. 

So that's my rant about that....

Sunday breakfast was bought at Penn Station and eaten on the LIRR going to Port Washington. We were visiting Jasmine's hometown and today was Harbor fest. It was a lovely day spent by the water and in this cute little town. 

We bought some tourist stuff, watched some dancing, listened to some music and enjoyed the cool of a local coffee shop before heading back to Manhattan and dinner at The Place. 

...hmmm is it bright enough...

Later on we met up with Sheila and Andrew for a few drinks at El Cid on 19th and 8th, where the happy hour seemed to be just as happy for the servers as it was for us. We had great time with lots of laughter, making fun of actors and acting school and some wonderful philosophical stories performed in an all natural Norwegian accent by Dan Rui Christiansen. 

Just as we were leaving for the hotel the rain started pouring - as if it had just waited for our stay to end (o: