home again

We arrived back home last weekend after three weeks' holiday on the East Coast of the US.  With the rush of school starting again, and not quite knowing what to say about our trip, this post has taken a while to write.  Alex was running the Boston Marathon and we had decided to take a longer trip during the school holidays and visit Washington D.C. and New York (both are cities that I had been wanting to visit for a long time).  Of course, Boston didn't quite turn out the way we had planned.  Both of us are fine.  Alex had finished the marathon and were back in our hotel room in Cambridge (just across the river from Boston) when the explosions occurred.  We didn't see anything or hear anything, in fact the first we heard of the explosions was via Facebook from my cousin in New Zealand!  However, as you can imagine, it did put a big damper on what was otherwise an amazing day.  The locals really get into supporting the marathon, going out to cheer on the runners, whether they know them or not.  Alex even had strangers winding down car windows to yell "Congratulations!" to him when we were making our way back to the hotel afterwards.   We didn't manage to see as much of Boston as we'd hoped, as much of the city centre was closed off the day after the bombings, but we both really liked what we managed to see before the marathon and would love to go back some day and visit again.  It certainly puts a new perspective on front page world events when you happen to be caught up in the middle of one!  Especially when they are usually happening so far from NZ.  We felt very lucky to have escaped the worst of it and very loved by all the friends and family who got in touch to see how we were.
After all the excitement of Boston, we travelled to Washington D.C. by train and a week later to New York, both of which were amazing.  I really enjoyed Washington, especially the National Mall, a wide 3km-long strip of green space down the middle of the city lined with museums and monuments.  And New York, though as busy, noisy and dirty as I expected, didn't let me down in the wow-factor stakes.  We took about 400 photos (a LOT of them are of yummy vegan food we ate!), so I won't bore you with endless photos of famous monuments and buildings, but thought I'd just share a few of my favourites with you.

Self portrait in the hotel bathroom with my supporters sign - just before I caught the metro out to watch Alex along the marathon course.

 Happy to be finished

 Knitting and reading on the train to Washington D.C.

Self-portrait in front of the U.S. Capitol  We have a tradition of taking selfies in front of famous buildings and have a whole series of them now :)

 Cherry Blossoms in front of the U.S. Capitol, Washington D.C.

 At the Lincoln Memorial.  The steps I'm standing on are where Martin Luther King Jr gave his "I have a dream" speech.  You might also recognise it from Forrest Gump :)

 Gorgeous garden at Mount Vernon, George and Martha Washington's farm

 Statue of Liberty!

 Brooklyn Bridge

 New York skyline from the top of the Rockefeller Center.  In this photo I was trying hard to not look too freaked out by how high up we are! 

 Sneaky photo inside Purl Soho - so much fabric and yarny goodness!

 Gorgeous ceiling painted with constellations inside Grand Central Station, New York

 My favourite New York skyscraper, the Chrysler Building

 Mood Fabrics!  I am a big Project Runway fan and I walked around with a big grin on my face as I recognised parts of the store from the show!  I even met Swatch the Boston Terrier :)