Cheers Boston!

After a very early flight from Vegas, we arrived in Boston mid afternoon. I knew from previous Vegas trips that we would need something to do on our first night in Boston, otherwise we would all pass out very quickly. With this in mind, we decided to take in a Red Soxs baseball game on Friday night. A quick check-in at the hotel, where we were offered a half price upgrade to a better room that included access to a bar on our floor which served free snacks between 5 and 7 and a free breakfast. The cakes here were amazing!! We enjoyed a few beers here before we headed to Fenway Park.

The plan was to get foot long hotdogs, beer and foam fingers. This was followed with military precision.

After another baseball game where I really didn’t know what was going on and my 3^rd successive game where the home team lost, we all headed to a local bar to grab some fried food and a few more beers. The evening was a great success and stopped us all from pulling the rip cord very early on.

The next day we had booked ourselves on the trolley bus tour of Boston – you know the type – the tours round a city where you get a guide at the front telling you all about the stuff you are passing and you can hop off and hop on where ever you want to, to walk around. It is very touristy but the only way of seeing all the best parts of a city. We took a walk to the first stop and grabbed breakfast on the way. The street we walked down was lovely. Full of boutiques and antique shops. Really English. Really quaint. After a great breakfast, we hopped on the trolley and began our tour. Our guide was excellent and we learnt all about the history of Boston, the English invasion, the famous Tea Party, MIT and Harvard and more importantly, the Cheers bar. There is the replica bar, where we stopped and had a beer, and about 1 mile away is the actual place where all the outside shots were taken.

The replica bar was in a place called Quincy Market. This place was full of shops, bars, restaurants, street entertainers and a large market. It was a great place and really bustling.

We hopped back on the bus and continued our tour. Then we got told something that is truly genius. We had all noticed that there wasn’t much traffic about and wondered why. A few years ago, traffic was so bad in Boston that the powers that be decided to build a network of roads underground. This is a great idea. Anyone that wants to get from one side of Boston to the other now uses these tunnels meaning they don’t have to clog up the city centre. Screw the congestion charge, we could do with this in our major cities. It’s a great idea. The only trouble with this plan was that it is very expensive. Original budget for these tunnels were $3 billion, but it cost nearly four times that much.

A few more stops on the trolley and we were back where we started. It was a great tour and I can highly recommend it.

It was time to head back for a shower, so we took a walk through the park that was by our hotel. There were lots of wedding parties having picturesque photos, boats on the river and lots of little ducklings.

For dinner, we headed to Little Italy and after a few glasses of wine in a few bars, we were ready to eat. We dined in a lovely little Italian restaurant and were given a great table. A few more glasses of wine and lots of lovely food, we were all ready to hits the bars of Boston, so we headed a place that had a live band on and proceeded to get smashed. The band was great and the drinks flowed. A great night had by all and we were chucked out at 2am. Cazzie’s feet were hurting, so we taxied it back to the hotel, where she decided to do cartwheels in the corridor of the hotel at 2.30am which we were amazed that it woke no one up! Videos will appear later on YouTube!

The expected hangover greeted us the next day, so a fry-up was next on the agenda. After a walk around the shops and a trip to a couple more places such as the Boston Library, it was again tea time. There is a bar at the top of the Prudential tower that we wanted to go to which gives great views of Boston. As the weather was rubbish, the views were not so great, but the cocktails were! I think I won with my Tropical Splash.

Hunger was very much upon us, so after a great recommendation from our Concierge, it was time to go to Abe and Louie’s. We were told that this place is much better than Smith and Wollanskies. I was somewhat sceptical but as I always say, there’s nothing like local knowledge. I will be doing a separate post about our dining experience here. Enough said.

After our meal, we were all pretty much spent, so we retired to bed as Cazzie and I had to leave to 9am to catch our flight to Washington DC.

Boston is a terrific city. Full of culture and history with plenty to keep you occupied for 3 days.

See you in DC!

Love

Stuoobs

xxx

Viva Las Vegas

Let me start off by telling you something that you should already know. Las Vegas is the greatest city on Earth and I will argue this fact with anyone who wants to. This place has everything and lots of it. I not going to bang on anymore about how good it is – but if you only visit one other place in your life, make sure it is Vegas.

This was the 4^th time I have been here. Cazzie and I arrived from Houston on Sunday night and checked into the Bellagio. We wandered around to find something quick to eat before Paulie and Karen arrived from the UK.

We were all set to go at about 8 pm and we headed over to Planet Hollywood Casino. Paulie and Karen grabbed a quick bite to eat while Cazzie and I played the tables. It was fairly clear that this wasn’t going to be a late one as jet-lag and Houston had caught up with us all. After a few gins on the blackjack table, we all called it quits.

So Monday was upon us and the weather was glorious. I have only ever been in Vegas during the winter and therefore never been able to take advantage of any of the wonderful pools that these 5 star hotels have. It was decided to eat at the poolside cafe before spending the next few hours soaking up the sun.

It was now time to get dinner and I have heard that the burgers at the Paris Hotel were the best you can get. I did have my doubts, but I needed to try them for myself. We rocked up to the Burger Brassiere and we were a tad disappointed that it was a sports bar. I was expecting more of a bistro type place. Anyway, we cracked on and ordered the Kobe Beef burger and I have to admit, it was great. I have had plenty of burgers in my time, but this was the best. And not only was this the best burger, we ordered a stack of onion rings, which were right up there too.

This is the beauty of Vegas – 4^th time here and the trip is never the same. In fact, I think the only constant during my 4 trips, apart from the gambling, is the Piano Bar At Times Square in New York New York. This is my fav place in Vegas. 2 duelling pianos, playing requests from the very drunk crowd, but in a way that everyone gets involved. Paulie and I, along with 8 other blokes, ended up in front of a lady on our knees, who was sat on top of the piano having requested “You’ve lost that lovin’ feeling”.

After a few Kamikazes and copious amounts of Vodka Cranberry, we were ready for bed.

Tuesday rolled round and the format was similar to Monday. Bit of breakfast by the pool (well, it was more like lunch by the time we had surfaced) and another sunbathing session. The next place on our list to eat the Bellagio Buffet, rated as the best on the strip. The queue for the buffet was about 70 deep, but I had managed to get us a free line jumping pass, so all 4 of us waltzed straight to the front of the queue, which must have really pissed everyone else off. The buffet itself was amazing. Crabs legs, huge shrimps, Elk, Prime Rib, Italian, Chinese and Indian. There was almost too much to choose from. The best part of this buffet were the desserts.

We all grabbed 2 / 3 each, put them in the centre of the table, took a bit from each one and decided upon our 1^st, 2^nd and 3^rd favourite. The results were

1 – Lemon Meringue pie

2 – Chocolate pudding

3 – Strawberry Tart

To be honest, there wasn’t much to choose between them as they were all amazing.

Paulie and I then jumped on the blackjack table while Cazzie and Karen took themselves off to one of the many bars in The Bellagio. Before we knew it we had been sat at the table for 6 hours, had 15 gins and the girls were very drunk! It was about 6 am before we finally called it quits. If my memory serves me correctly, we were the last 21 table still standing!

Wednesday was my birthday and I started it with a hangover. After opening my cards we again headed down to the pool for food and sunbathing. We had booked ourselves into the miX restaurant at The Hote1 (yes, it does end with a 1 not an L) at Mandalay Bay for this evening. It was right at the top of the hotel with fantastic views.

The meal was terrific as was the restaurant. A tad pricey, but hey, it was my birthday. We headed back to the Bellagio where we spent a few more hours and a few more gins on the blackjack table, finally getting to bed at about 3.30 am.

Our last day started like the others with food by the pool. I finished the book I was reading, I Hope They Serve Beer In Hell, which is very funny. Tonight we had tickets to see The Jersey Boys, the story of Frankie Vialli and the Four Seasons. This has been rated at the top show in Vegas and I can’t really argue with that fact. It was brilliant. Really well done and the guy that played Frankie was amazing. When you do go to Vegas next, see this show.

We ended up eating in the Venetian before heading back to the hotel. It was a concisions decision to make this a quiet night as we were up at 6am to catch our flight to Boston.

Again, another wonderful trip to Sin City. As mentioned earlier, it was yet another different Vegas experience. We didn’t really venture out that much. We had done the Grand Canyon, Shopping, walking to all the other Hotels and Casinos, so it was a more relax Vegas trip in the day time. This put us all on good form for the night time activities, not that you can really tell the difference between night and day when you are there.

Anyway, it’s off to Boston. See you there

Love

Stuoobs

xxx

Houston - we have a drinking problem

One of the main reasons for this trip to the US was to visit Cazzie’s old flat mate, Kati. Kati moved to Houston about 18 months ago to work within the oil industry. All the major players are here, including Exxon Mobil, BP, and Shell. Houston is pretty much built around this with most people here working in or around the energy business.

We arrive after a 4 hour drive from Dallas, Kati picked us up from the car hire place and took us to her apartment. This place was really cool 3 bedrooms, 3 bathrooms, big living room, kitchen with all the mod cons and access to a pool. We were introduced to Bruno, her little puppy who peed everywhere with excitement every time he saw someone new.

There was no time to stop and admire the place though as we had tickets to the Houston Astros baseball game, so we jumped back in the car and headed to the Minute Maid Stadium. I was a little concerned about sitting in the 100 degree heat for 3 hours, but the stadium had a retractable roof, which was closed and the air conditioning was on. After loading up on foot long hot dogs with cheese and chilli and about 5 gallons of coke, we took our seats, which were right at the front. To be honest, I could have been sitting anywhere, as I had no idea what was going on. The American’s have a go at our cricket and say that it’s boring. But at least we get sixes, fours, runs and wickets. The score was 1-0 to the Astros after 9 innings each. Twenty20 is much more exciting and fun!

We decided to call it a day and left early to head back to the apartment. Quick shower and walked to the local bar called Kona for both happy hours. Happy hour started at 4 and went on until 7 and started again at 10 - what did they think was going to happen? There was Cazzie, Kati and myself and we were later joined by Kati part time lodger, Lorisa. Over the next 6 hours we racked up a $500 bar bill that included 20 JagerBombs, 8 Saki bombs, 4 Surfer on Acids and lots of beer, wine and gin. Lorissa’s husband, Joel turned up at about 11 o’clock having driven from this job in Dallas to find Lorisa in a complete and utter mess. He stayed for about an hour and then was forced to take her back to the hotel, where she proceeded to throw up all night! He wasn’t a happy chappy. The rest of us, which now included Kati’s flatmate Jocelyn, stayed at this bar until we were asked to leave. The bar had a really good vibe about it which may have been helped by the fact that the LA Lakers were playing Orlando Magic in the basketball finals. A cracking night had by all!

The next day we dragged our sorry asses out of bed and headed to Memorial Park with Bruno. As we were all feeling a little rough, we stopped my McDonalds for a breakie to take to the park. Memorial Park is where a lot of people go running, which I could not understand. I was breaking out into a sweat just standing there so I can only start to imaging how hot these people where. A lot of the guys were running without a top on, which Cazzie and Kati thoroughly enjoyed. What amused me though was the park had an outside workout area, with things like chin up bars, a press bench and a sit up thingy. All the “beautiful people” hang out here doing their work out so everyone can “admire” them. Cazzie and I were sat watching them, scoffing on our double sausage and egg McMuffin.

We only spent 1 hour in the park as the puppy nearly died of heat exhaustion. Next stop was the supermarket to stock up on food for the BBQ. This is the great thing about Kati’s flat – there is a gas BBQ by the pool that is free to use, and you don’t even have to clean up after you!! Kati, Lorisa, Cazzie and I settled in by the pool and proceeded to cook our fodder while having a few beers.

After a great afternoon dicking about in the pool, it was time to clean ourselves up and get ready to head out for a birthday party. One of Jocelyn’s friends came to pick us all up and drive us to Tipsy Clover, a cool Irish bar with outside drinking. After a few in there, we headed off to the Union Bar, where Cazzie and I decided it was time to dance like total idiots. This went on for about 2 hours and included pole dancing and 80’s classics. A lot of Kati’s friends were in attendance and we all ended up pretty smashed again.

Saturday morning was another hangover so the general consensus was to spend the day by the pool to try and get rid of it. A lot of American Football throwing took place and it pretty much did the trick of sorting us all out. This was a good thing as we were heading to a Hawaiian party that evening. The host had hired a frozen margarita making machine and bought 12 litres of Tequila to go with it. The party was a great success with a lot of time spent in the pool / hot tub. I think at the last count, 10 litres of tequila were drunk. Not a bad effort for 25 people.

Overall Houston is like Dallas, not a touristy place, but having access to a local person, such as Kati, turns it into a fantastic place to go. All the right bars, restaurants, pools, parks and parties are all there without having to put in any effort at all. Kati was a terrific hostess and we would definitely go back there if allowed!

Now it's off to Vegas Baby

Stuoobs xxx

Thunderstorms, Cowboys and ex-Presidents

So we eventually arrived in Dallas after a very long day’s travelling. We must have been awake for over 24 hours. I now have a new respect for Jack Bauer. We went to pick up our car, and after a very long, confusing conversation with the stupid woman at the car hire place who tried to convince me that the exchange rate was 4 dollars to the pound, we were on our way to the hotel. Needless to say, we went straight to bed.

As expected, we woke up very early and decided to go and get ourselves the best breakfast Dallas had to offer. So after a brief chat to the concierge, we headed out to a place called Breadwinners. To get there we were told to travel on the free trolley bus and all we had to do was tell the driver where we were going and he’d drop us off. A bit odd I thought, but who was I to argue. We walked around the corner and there it was – this very old, rickety, electric powered tram. We hopped on, told the driver where we were going and placed ourselves on the wooden seats. It was like we had been sent back 100 years.

After a fab breakfast, we wandered around Dallas without any real idea where we were going. We did know what we wanted to go and see the 6^th Floor Museum and learn all about where, why and how President John F. Kennedy was assassinated as well as all the 100’s of conspiracy theories that accompany it. This was my own personal highlight in Dallas. It was fascinating. We learnt all about the reason why there was growing unease about JFK’s policies. All to do with the African Americans being given equally rights, the problems the USA were having with CUBA and the threat that the Cold War was going to heat up. The day before the President and his wife arrived in Dallas, a group of

wealthy businessmen paid for an advert in the Dallas Press to attack all of his policies and decisions. There was also a threat from a group of extremists that surfaced and the Secret Service were very worried about the trip that the President was making.

The trip seemed to pass without much incident until the drive through the streets of Dallas. There were videos played showing the route that was taken and you could hear the reporters saying that the threat that was thought to have existed was a false one. Seconds later you can hear shots fired and panic ensued. JFK was rushed to the local hospital where he was pronounced dead.

The 6^th Floor of this museum is where Lee Harvey Oswald was positioned when he shot the President. From the window you can see a white cross marked on the road to highlight the point where JFK was shot. It was a very weird feeling to see this and one I can’t really describe.

It took about 90 minutes to see everything in the museum, and it could have taken 3 times as long if you took the time to read everything. It was fascinating and if you are ever in Dallas, this is something you must do.

After a quick picture on the grassy knoll, we headed to the Aquarium. This is much better than Melbourne Aquarium.

Dallas isn’t really a touristy place, so we did struggle to find other things to occupy us. There is a good bar scene, but this only really gets going on the weekends. We did manage to eat at my new favourite restaurant in the world.

On the Wednesday, we took a drive to Fort Worth, which is about 40 miles west of Dallas. The strap line for Fort Worth is “Where Cowboys and Culture exist” and they are not wrong. We spent the afternoon looking at real life cowboys, riding on their horse fully equipped with huge Stetsons, chaps and spurs all speaking in the accent that you would expect them to. There are no hello’s or hiya’s here, just “Howdy y’all”

There are loads of shops where you can kit yourself out like a cowboy – not like Michael J Fox in Back to the Future III, but with all the proper gear. You can pay $1,000 for real leather cowboy boots that are custom made for you, saddles for your horse and totally authentic cowboy shirts. I was tempted to buy a shirt, but decided that it would only really come out for fancy dress parties.

We stayed for the cattle drive through the streets before heading back to Dallas.

Our last night in Dallas was a bit of a nightmare, as the whole of the state of Dallas was under a tornado threat. We did not get a very good night’s sleep as there was an almighty thunderstorm that lasted for 12 hours. Sheet and fork lightening with the loudest thunder you have ever heard. Car alarms were being set off, buildings were shaking and there was a huge amount of flooding. Biggest storm I have ever been in. We woke the next day to find that most of the routes in and out of Dallas were either flooded or blocked by jack-knifed 18 wheelers. Luckily our route to Houston was unaffected.

Would I go back to Dallas? No. It isn’t a place for tourists. Did I enjoy it? Very much so. If you do ever find yourself in Dallas, you will not be disappointed.

See you in Houston

Stuoobs

xxxx