Mama Mia- we're in AMERICA !!!!!!

Below is a quick update done from the home of our friend Bettina in Tallahassee, Florida. Unfortunately the tablet would not allow us to upload photos directly as we went along. After this post we most likely wont be able to update the blog until we are back in Australia in mid January. We are all well and have had no problems at all so far. We are heading south east from here down to Cape Canaveral and the Florida Everglades then on to Cuba and Costa Rica.

Sally has been regularly updating via facebook. If you want to keep up with us via FB feel free to send a friend request to Sally.

Walking out of Shakespeare Gardens for the last time had us all in tears. It just didn't seem possible we would not walk in the door at number 10 again.

Our last night in London, in settling out accommodation in Pimlico was memorable. Sally's  colleagues and staff put on a farewell for her that was a bit of an eye opener for Mark and the kids. Not only were all the staff there, having provided in one form or another a magnificent array of cakes and savouries, but also produced a fabulous wall of photo-shopped photos showing Sally in the company of an amazing variety of London celebrities and VIPs.

working late ...?

High Commissioner Mike Rann.

This much for me !!!!!

They had also created a hard back book of personal messages and memories of their time working with her. There was even more - in what had become a tradition, they all got together to sing a farewell song. It was a moving indication of the regard in which she is held.

After the function finished, rather than head back to our hotel to be miserable, Sally decided that we should see if we could get tickets for 'Mama Mia' and finish London on a high note. So that is what we did, getting very good seats for £20 each. It was a fun night and a fitting way for us to go out - 'doing stuff' rather than sitting around.

Our departure from London the next day was also a little bit typical of us - a tad harrried with a degree of risk of not making it on time. Before leaving though we went for one last wander along the Thames. By pure chance we found ourselves walking in front of the MI 6 building, the one that is blown up in the latest James Bond movie. Back in early 2011, just a few weeks after arriving, we had walked along the Thames for the first time right here. On our last day one of our good friends in the street had given us some cup cakes to see us through the departure. We ended up finishing them by the river.

  

We did make it and after a long, almost 8 hour, flight to JFK we arrived at around 8 pm their time. By the time we got to the hotel at 10 pm we had ridden the New York subway, asked New York cops for directions, walked past various iconic landmarks including Macy's, the Empire State Building, Maddison Square gardens, 5th Avenue, Park Avenue and more.

We had booked into a hotel which had a bit of a view.

There was heaps to see in New York which thankfully William had already seen on his school trip there in April 2013 and was able to guide us around.

World Trade Centre memorial.

A statue commemorating the immigrants
 who landed at Ells island.

We were there in time for Veteran's day which is the US equivalent of Remembrance day in Australia or the UK. It was quite different to what we expected though - far more of a festive parade style complete with bikers, advertising and costume characters. Much to our surprise there was no pausing at 11 am for a minute's silence.

The kids went skating in central park  - see the red and purple jackets in the middle of the picture.

Museum of natural history.

Looks like everything is bigger in the big apple.

We were able to meet up with a long time Eldridge family friend. In 1976 Sally's family travelled to Indonesia from the UK to meet up with her dad who had been working there for 6 months. within a day of arriving her brother Chris was near death with what ended up being meningitis. Gabriel Zatlin, an American doctor stationed in Jakarta, correctly diagnosed the condition and very literally saved Chris' life. the Eldridges have kept in touch ever since and occasionally had the opportunity to catch up, as we did.  Zatlin recalled when we met him for dinner,  "I heard the angels' wings over Chris' head'. That is how close he was to dying.

After five days in NY we flew up to Syracuse to be met by Sally's Uncle Dick who drove us back to his place in Kingston, 2.5 hours away. We had a good time with Uncle Dick but unfortunately missed seeing Aunty Joan who was away when we arrived. Will made his intergalactically renowned chocolate cake as a way of saying thankyou to Joan who left behind a fabulous pork pie for us to have for dinner one night. We also enjoyed a typical Canadian past time of hot-tubbing in zero degree temperatures.

It was on the way to see Zatlin that we walked across the Brooklyn Bridge and found the Museum on Eldridge Street. Eldridge street used to be in the Jewish quarter of NY. The museum on Eldridge street is a former Synagogue. The area is now very much in Chinatown.

Looking back to New York from the bridge.

Dick also took us to a local fort where the kids met some new friends.














We also caught up with Dick's son, Ed - Sally's cousin, and his family in Toronto.

Ed took us to a favourite of his when he was a tad younger for breakfast - 'Sneeky Dees'. We had a big breakfast

Niagara Falls was a two hour bus ride away. The falls were impressive - the town was tacky.

We flew on to Chicago to visit Tracy and his family. Mark met them in London at Will's lower school and became good friends - sharing the pain of escorting kids to and from school. They left about a year before we did and the morning trip to school each day just wasn't the same. It was great to see them again.

We spent a day walking parts of Chicago.

The Bean.

A life bust of Anna Pavlova, the inspiration of so many of our desserts.

Apart from galleries, museums and sculpture, Chicago is of course famous for the Blues Brothers movie with the Mayor Daley Plaza being where the brothers were finally captured trying to pay the Cook County assessor's office the tax bill owed by the orphanage where they grew up. We made a visit!

 November 21st had us arrive in Washington to see the sights.

The contents of Lincoln's pockets.

Arlington cemetery was huge.

It held the graves of the famous......

The Northern Civil War general Sheridan
is a possible relation to Mark
through his maternal side.

JFK.

and not so famous.

Slaves owned by the Arlington plantation.

We went to the Smithsonian museum or air and space and saw some amazing originals including the restored original Wright brothers' plane and the Apollo 11 module that took the first men to land on the moon.

We also caught up with Wendy and her family. We met Wendy in Damascus when mark was teaching English at the American language centre in Damascus. We had kept in touch ever since but had not actually seen each other since 1992. Wendy had a daughter, whom she named Leila (our other name of choice) just a few months after we had Aisha. Wendy sent baby Aisha her first ever books while we were still in Jakarta in 1999.

We went to George Washington's house, Mount Vernon, and saw his tomb and, most importantly, his famous teeth - which were not made of wood but of ivory, human tooth and hippo tooth.

Continuing with his purely academic interest in beer bottle labels, Mark found a few that would have stood out in his UK collection. These US ones were slightly less subtle than their counterparts across the pond.

We looked forward to heading further south to New Orleans where there was the promise of warmer weather. By the time we arrived though there was a big cold front that had moved down. To our surprise we had to keep our winter jackets and long Johns on for most of our visit there. Our first day in 'Norlans', as the local pronounce it, was on Thanksgiving day and it was pretty quiet.

We met up with Sally's long time American friend Maureen and her family. We were booked into the Sheraton on Canal street, which gave us a little bit of luxury and was ideally located for wandering about he place by foot and by trolley car.

 

Bourbon street.

 We had one of the best meals in Norlnas at the 'Made from the heart cafe'.

As we were leaving one of the local identities turned up for a late meal. MJ and Mark swapped style points. MJ, a very very elegant and refined gentleman, said he was taking notes.......

Stimulants of all kinds abound in the city, usually though with good humour to go along.

Norlans is an amazing place and not a little bizarre. We wandered all over, drove to the 9th ward where the levees broke in 2005 during hurricane Katrina and went on a real steam powered paddle steamer as well as having a picnic in the swamp...as you do.

Supervising Will and Simon in the Sheraton pool....
 from the 21st floor..

A house showing the rescuers' markings
on the front door.

A local high school closed down
since Katrina.

In the swamps.

We also went to a fabulous Dixie Land jazz performance at the Preservation Hall.

Lining up to get in.

Talking to one of the musicians after.

One of the shops across the road from the hall.

Our entire stay in new Orleans was organised by Sally's friend Maureen. As a result of her hard work we had a great time in a memorable city.  Thanks Maureen !!

Now in Florida we have had the chance to take off our winter woollies and get into some summer clothes and even find some sandy beaches. We have had a great time in Tallahassee. Thanks to Bettina and her family for having us and also allowing Mark to commandeer the computer to do this post.