I Love New York

Well, you should all be happy to know that I drove successfully from Charlottesville to New York! Today is Thanksgiving, and I have been spending the time with the Coles and some of the their friends. The food was fabulous, big big turkey and potatoes and lots of different pies.

The game Saturday was horrible, UVA lost terribly, it was not pretty to watch. Everyone got really bored, and we wanted to leave early like everyone else, but...we are the band, and so we had to stay and suffer.

I had rented out the car friday, and it was so strange the first drive, when everything is the opposite of what you think. It was automatic at least, so that took out the need to worry about the gear stick. Getting in the car saturday was much easier, and by the time I was a few hours down the interstate, I was a pro, making lane changes all over the place...

Driving around USA is soooo easy, all the highways have numbers, and the different sides are labeled also depending on which direction you are going. So the first road out of charlottesville is called 29 north, and eventually I ended up on 95 north which took me into New Jersey. On the way home I had to drive across a few states so I got onto 222 west to get there, and most of the time on 81 south to get home. Even me, with a horrible sense of direction like that was hard pressed to get lost. I did stop and ask for a few directions, but not many.

I travelled to New York with Hazel, a British girl I met at a few of the international functions. We go so well together, we have the same sense of humour, we have the same general taste in music, we even eat at the same pace. I think that I will be doing my hardest to keep in contact with her when I go home. I would like to travel to Britain one day, and visit her.

The trouble with the signs on the interstates is that they don't have 'progress' signs. Like we would expect to see a sign saying something like Nagambi - 20, Semour - 65, Melbourne - 200, over here if your exit isn't directly next, then it isn't listed anywhere. It makes it hard to know if you have gone too far, or how much farther you have to go. The few times I did stop, I still had a little way to go, but got nervous because I didn't know how much further, or if it wasn't mentioned anymore because I had passed it.

The hostel was called 'Jazz on the Park' and it was o.k, hard beds, and no curtains, but that was easily remidied. There were four beds in our room, but the other two beds were empty the whole time we were there. I think that most of the fourth floor that we stayed on was empty because we didn't hear much other noise. The no curtains I fixed with a little tape and some newspaper. I left it up on the window, wonder what the cleaners will think.

I saw Harry Potter twice. The films keep getting better, this one is amazing. Wont say anymore till everyone has had a chance to see it.

Phantom was even better than that. The guy who was the phantom just blew me away with his precision singing and the passion he put into every song. I was a little less impressed with Christine, she had a little too much vibrato, and some of the high notes were not quite high enough. She settled into it by the end though, and 'the point of no return' was fabulous. I wish I had the chance to see this a few times. I will make it point to do all that I can to get into it if it is done in Melbourne. Don't know if it will be again, but there is plenty of time to get ready for it on the off chance someone does it again.

We walked all over New York, I felt so comfortable in the city, travelling on the subway, finding my way out to Chinatown and to Times Square. I still haven't been up the Empire State, or the Statue of Liberty, but maybe later in life I would like to return there. Maybe one day I will get the chance to play there with an orchestra of some kind. I felt comfortable in New York like I feel comfortable in Melbourne. There is always something interesting to see and do, and I know my way around the majority of the city. I like people watching, the many different ways people express themselves.

We saw Shakira for a few seconds. We got off the subway at 42 street, times square, and the place was packed. It was pouring down rain, but there were people everywhere and something being projected up onto one of the buildings. I asked someone what was going on, and he looked at me funny and said that I was shakira up there, on a big stage above my head. She just finished a set then, and went in to get out of the rain. So it was only a split second look. Pity.

The drive home was easy. Hazel was staying for Thanksgiving with some people in Pensalvania, a British woman we met with the same international activities - Janet. Her husband, his parents live there and they were staying for the weekend. The drive home from there was very easy, get over to 81 south and stay on that all the way back to Charlottesville. It snowed all the way home till about 20 miles from Charlottesville. It was fascinating to me, watching it in the headlights. It looks like rain in the lights, but the windscreen never got wet, it was really light snow that just flew over the top of the car. When a little of it accumulated on the road, the wind from passing cars swirled it around and it looked like steam on the road. It piled up quickly on cars parked on the roadside, but not enough that the road was packed. Apparently there was a lot of snow, so I am glad that I decided to come home that night, and not the next morning. But the people that I dropped Hazel off with were really nice and I am sorry that I didn't get to meet them a little better.

So my adventure is over. I am not sure what else needs to be overcome here now that I have driven a great part of the east coast.