day 9 - Ad hoc

Just  a quick hello from the Apple store in Boston.

Arrived safe and well

Day – 8 Oliver

Good Morning Ladies and Gentlemen. Today we went to the Museum of Natural History and went to the planetarium and watched a film called Cosmic Collisions.

Then we walked through Central Park to make our way to MoMA – museum of modern art , which was pretty darn good. We saw many pieces by Picasso, Monet and Andy Warhol, as well as Zara Hadid. We also had lunch, of which mine consisted of calamari, shrimp, scallop, squid and salad, followed by a sundae with raspberry, blackberry ice cream and fruit, with a strawberry coulis.

Then we headed off to Times Square to the Hershey and M&M shops.

Finally, we took the subway back towards our hotel and had a massive pizza at Big Nicks – sitting at a table on the ‘sidewalk’, eating and watching the world go by.

Tomorrow we are off to Boston.

That’s all from me boys and girls – next instalment from me in three days time.

Day – 6 - New York

Posted by Phil

After the excitement of seeing a bit of Northern Virginia and our excellent run in the Leesburg 10k – we got up early to return the rented car and then off to Ronald Regan National Airport for our flight to New York. Whitney who kindly offered a lift to the airport – forgot to take her bike out of her car, so the 10 mile drive was eventful especially for Oliver, who had the full weight of his sister to deal contend with!

Unfortunately, our flight was delayed, including sitting on the runway awaiting approval to depart, as there were storms in New York, creating congestion in the air. Eventually we arrived at one pm and then had a yellow cab ride to our hotel on the upper west side, as we arrived the heavens opened again.

We took cover at a local restaurant called Nicks – it was an amazing place – with the largest menu I can ever remember seeing – the whole world is in that menu!

In the late afternoon we walked down to the Empire State Building taking the trip up to the 86th Floor to get stunning views over Manhattan in the night. The queuing to get to the top was almost as awesome as the views.

We also took in Columbus Circle and Times Square before heading back to the hotel having had an evening meal of Panini and lemonade on the go.

Oliver particularly liked the trips to Hershey and M&M worlds in Times Sq.

Day 4- oliver

Today dad and i ran the leesburg 10k after we finally found it (was driving to mennasee!) i found the race hard due to injury and weather but rewarding. i completed it in 57.42 coming in a mini second before dad (57.43). i was pleased to see i was 2nd in my year group.

after recovering from running we went to the shopping outlet in leesburg and brought two pairs of jeans and a under army top, and hannah buying her usual lot of clothes!( flip flops and jeans)

after a swift move back to the chrysler, we headed toward the great falls. with stunning views of the water falls and the river. finally heading back to the hotel to pack for our further adventures in New York

see you next time boys and girls!

Day 3 - Hannah

Right well I thought i'd make a first entry to the continuingly special trip. Today, what did we do? Well first of Oliver decided he would not run, he would instead proceed to irritate me to the fullest levels. The usual inane chatter and general annoying quality he has down to a tee being my brother!

After the hurrah with renting a car for the following day; we finally made it out of the hotel, proceeding to the Native American museum just across the way. I have to say it didn’t really grab me but the multimedia presentation at the start of the visit was definitely thought provoking. However the part I did take notice to the most was the music. It’s the sort of music you wouldn’t think of listening to normally but when you hear it, it makes you stop and think.

Next we made our way toward the Library of Congress, stopping to admire the beauty and scale of the botanic gardens. They are split into separate parts with an array of different species of plants from common to rare all holding there own element bringing the gardens together. However, the electric frog brought it all back down to earth! =]


The Library of Congress was interesting in the arcitecture and seeing the Guttenburg Bible in reality was definitely a great viewing for the lifetime and shows just how accurate the printing method was. The toilets were real nice! Aha

Finally the highlight of the day for me was the Newseum…yep you saw it right. It’s the museum of the history of news. From the recent back to the 15 hundreds. We didn’t get time to explore the whole museum but the parts we did see were really great. The most emotion and thought provoking exhibit was the 9/11 attacks in New York and Washington. The raw emotion the video brought out was evident. It was as if I were reliving it all over again. It brought back the memories of finding out in school and my best friend’s brief turmoil as her mum was supposed to be on one of the planes that hit the twin towers. The final part of the Newseum was the 4D IMAX show. It was about reporters throughout history and you were pretty much in the action.

Overall I had a great day, finishing with dinner at a tapas bar…

Day 2

I am writing this sitting in our room at 9 pm watching the start of the Beijing Olympics with Hannah and Oliver, marvelling at the amazing skill and beauty of the opening ceremony.

Our day today was spent looking at some amazing and beautiful things. The amazing at the Air and Space Museum where there is a complete history of flight from the Wright Brothers through to the space race, with some fantastic flying machines and flying experiences.

We then went to the Museum of Natural History and saw a wonderful photography of the oceans and of course the Hope diamond as well as lots of stuffed animals!

But the highlight of the day was the visit to the National Portrait Gallery where we saw all the presidents from Washington to Clinton and the space for George W. We also took advantage of a snack in the wonderful courtyard, with water features and air conditioning. As we were about to leave we happened upon a special experience of contemporary art, with some tremendous installation art.

We finished our day with dinner and then to the Olympic opening ceremony via NBC.

IT sorted... ready to post tomorrow!