USA Holiday 2005 & a few other places

Further to Andrea's update, here's more about our time in Paris.

On day 3 we decided to venture out and see a few of the landmarks. Our hotel is right next to Forum Les Halles which is the main metro hub in Paris so we were in touch with pretty much everywhere. Navigating the metro was another story! After quite a bit of research, I felt 75% percent confident I knew what I was doing. Armed with this information, I proceeded to drag Andrea (quite unwillingly) down to the subway station. It was packed! People darting here and there, signs in French, and a forewarned rumor that every second person on the subway system is a pickpocket! So needless to say, we were feeling a little uncomfortable! Andrea was not keen to see the project through and was getting more and more cranky by the second. I plowed on though, and purchased my 1.40 Euro ticket. Thank god the counter clerks spoke English! After Andrea purchased her ticket we were off through the automated gates. We were now presented with around 25 options of directions to head for various train routes! I knew which train I wanted to catch, but had neglected to memories what direction! With a quick scan of the metro map provided (and Andrea cursing me in the background) we were on our way.

The first destination was nice and easy as it was only one stop away! It didn't stop me from looking at 95 percent of the passengers though in an attempt to determine which one was the pickpocket! (Damn the person who told me that rumor!) A short time later we hopped off and looked for the nearest exit. It turns out 'sortie' must mean exit in French. So after another brief learning experience, we had escaped the subway and were headed up the stairs. I knew that if I wasn't greeted with the site of the Arc de Triumphe when we reached the road, Andrea's confidence in my subway abilities would be exhausted and we would soon be on a (very expensive) tour bus in no time. So I was quite nervous on the way up. But, to my overwhelming relief, vindication! There it stood, proudly, behind me, who was also standing proudly. After a few happy snaps we found an underpass that takes you over to the monument. For those not in the know, the Arc De Triumphe is a monument built to commemorate Nopolean's battle victories, and is also the site of many victory marches, ironically by both the French and Germans! Once underneath the monument we discovered it had an entry fee and decided we didn't really need to go up. So we kept walking through the tunnel to the Champs-Élysées on the other side.

The Arc De Triumphe

The Champs-Élysées is also another big tourist attraction in Paris which is a very long, wide and straight cobblestone road which is graced by the Arc De Triumphe and also the Louvre. It made me recall black and white footage of Hitler driving down the Champs-Élysées in a parade after conquering France. (I'm a history channel junkie!) We walked a fair way down to get the postcard shot of the road and arc together and after exhausting my happy snap finger, we headed back to the subway.

The Champs-Élysées

After purchasing another ticket, we were on another line for our trip to the Eiffel Tower. With my first navigational success, my confidence was brimming and were at the Trocadero station in no time. Once up at road level, we were greeted with the tip of the Eiffel Tower hiding behind some buildings. A short walk later and there she was in all her glory. We were still a fair distance away, up on a huge platform that seemed to be designed to take it all in. We went through the camera routines again, then decided to walk down to the tower. It turns out the summit of the tower was closed for maintenance and only the 1st and 2nd floors were open. As we were coming back for dinner on the first floor the next night, we decided to pass on the opportunity to go up. On the other side of the tower is a very long garden so we walked down to get some more shots. Andrea didn't enjoy the walk as she was worried about dog poo the whole time! Satisfied we had taken as many photo's as we could, we decided to head back to the hotel. Plus, it was frickin cold!

Andrea and I under the Effiel Tower

Back at Les Halles Andrea seemed obsessed about dog poo! She wanted me to check her shoes and then insisted on checking mine! To my utter disbelief (and her disgust), I had been stung! Somewhere, in my travels that day, I had managed to stand in dog crap! I thought to myself 'What in hell is going on?!!! Is this whole place made of poo?!' I didn't know wether to laugh or cry! Andrea on the other hand seemed to be fighting a nervous convulsion! Wow, she really doesn't like dog poo! For the rest of the afternoon she took a 2 meter berth of me. It was like I had the plague! I didn't mind, it was the most peace and quite I'd had for ages.....hahaha....

Anyway, we purchased some lunch and Andrea headed off to the shops. I was banished with the stern instructions to do something about those shoes before she returned, which I promptly did. Oddly enough, I wasn't to keen to walk around with poo attached to me for the rest of the trip either.

So there it is. If you learn anything from this travel blog, the motto of this story is, 'Don't walk barefoot in Paris.'

Well – the arrival into France was nothing to get excited about. Quite frustrating actually. The airport has no clear signage anywhere to direct you to where various things are........no direction for tourists to tell them where shuttle buses etc are......People just didn't seem very friendly at all but it could be that I was just get frustrated with everything and thats how I was seeing the world...

The River Seine

I bought a phone card so that I could at least call a shuttle company up, only to be told on the phone that we had to make reservations in advance in order to get a shuttle. My question is what do people do that haven't pre arranged transport, and I'm sure we were not the only ones! Finally got through to a company that said we needed to walk to Terminal F. This is where the Shuttle service counters are and where we can organise some transport.....so off we walked with 2 large suitcases and a cabin bag each, from Terminal 2A to F....long story short – Three hours at the airport and we were finally on way to the apartment- yay – not before, of course, we picked up another 4 people and all their bags...took about another hour before we finally reached the apartment. So glad to be able to chill for a while.

Whilst checking into the apartment, Paul was patting himself down and going through all his bag pockets. Turns out that he left his wallet, (with all of his Paris money), in the Shuttle bus. Paul was fairly annoyed with himself. I just said to him that if he's lost it then not much we can do about it. We'll just have to manage. Paul called up the company and they said that they will have the driver have a look and will call us back in the room.

Our Apartment

Got into the room and it looked good. There was a small kitchen, fully equipped with pots and plates etc. We had a nice large bathroom, a small little balcony where the windows opened up and was a great view. The only downside was that the bed was a sofa bed, or rather a single roll out bed with a single sized sofa bed so we basically were sleeping on single roll out beds and as I am writing this from Singapore, I can tell you that I wasn't able to have a good nights sleep for the whole time I was in Paris and this goes for Paul too. Didn't sleep well at all but thats life.

In the meantime, Paul was sweating his little tight gushy off for the next 30 mins. Thank Goh we got a call and they were on their way to bring back Paul's wallet. Paul was so relieved...He wasn't fussed that it was going to cost him 10 euros for them to bring it back....

I think I have told people about this next bit but here it is again...The defining moment of the Paris leg of the trip for me....It changed my whole view of things.....So there we were waiting outside the lobby for the shuttle bus to come back with Paul's wallet. I was looking around, enjoying the Parisian style cafes and architecture when I thought of a scene from Sex and the City when SJP was in Paris and she stepped in dog doo........I thought initially nah....but just to check, I slowly lifted my foot from behind...”please please please don't let anything be on my shoes..ah crap”!...There it was...the one thing that I despise the most...the one reason why I get Paul to mow the back lawn.....Big fat stinking poo on my new skechers. Basically, this is grounds for throwing my shoes out but I needed these shoes and they were skechers! So after grossing, still grossing out by the way, and trying to cleanse my soles on the corner of the gutter, the wallet turned up.

Going on all that I saw, the French city must be very rich from collecting fines!

So as a result, the rest of the trip, I couldn't enjoy the buildings as I was walking around because wherever I walked, I was looking on the ground and dodging unnatural obstacles. The first two days was not much fun for me I have to admit and I was a little on the grumpy side too I think.....The overcast, cold and no colour anywhere thing helped my grumpy mood along too.

Paul and I located a supermache nearby and went grocery shopping. Since things were so expensive in Paris, (prices inflated for tourists), we decided to grab a few things for the time we were in Paris so we could save some money. We got Potatoes, pasta, pasta sauce, chips, bread, eggs, cheese etc....Paul decided to also get a bottle of Scotch too so all up, it all just came to under 20 euros, which is pretty good. That food pretty much lasted all trip. We ate pasta one night, had potato salad another and made chips too. It was good....

A Parisean Street

I think at this point, I was happy to just sit in the apartment all day until we left but there wasnt really a hell of a lot to do in the room as all the channels were in French, (obviously because we were in France), except the BBC news channel. Paul's and my routine for each night was pretty much make dinner and then set the Laptop up and watch King of Queens DVDs..that was fun. We managed to watch the whole 4th series while in Paris and a bit of the 1st season.

The first few days, other than me watching everywhere i stepped and making sure Paul did the same, we walked around to see what was around. There were quite a few good shops around, selling fairly good price shirts and stuff but because we were on a fairly tight budget, I was saving my money for a few attractions and travel.

We walked around and had a look to see where the Louvre was....within walking distance so that was a plus....despite my bad start in Paris, it did get better.

So Au revoir for now my petite pomme de terres!

The next diary entry will be about the Eiffle Tower, Louvre and Notre Dame.

Sorry People – This may be a long one!

Wow- seems like so long ago now.....In Florida, we didn't have any Internet so we were not able to do the updates as often as we have been doing. When we did have Internet through the phone line, we couldn't stay on longer than 20 min cos then we had to pay by the minute so this is the reason this update is almost a week overdue – better late than never!

Much to Paul's disgust, we had to get up at 7am to catch the hotel shuttle to Disney world. So we were off at 8am......on our way to the magical kingdom – yah! Well thats what we thought. We actually had to catch a monorail to a monorail which would then take us to the Magical Kingdom. What a magical first ride! So the shuttle actually took us to Epcot first and we decided we may as well stand in line here and get our tickets so we're ready to go when we get to Disney world.

Splash Mt in Disneyworld

We discussed between ourselves, because there was no one else to discuss it with obviously, what type of ticket we should get. Just the one park per day ticket or the ticket where you can go from park to park in a day which cost $40 more each, which would then come to about $185 each for 2 days! We felt a little under pressure as there were only 10 people ahead of us! (sarcasm). We decided to go with the park hopper option for the extra dollars.
So we were sitting on the monorail and then we hear that we could've upgraded our tickets to a hopper pass at any stage – its nice that they tell you that at the ticket booth – bastards!

Anyways – Got to Disney world and had to sit and watch the poxy welcome show at the front gates. I was just interested in getting on as many rides as early as we could to avoid long lines later....So in we got. Had a quick look at the map to get our bearings and off we went, to Frontier land! Splash mt was our first stop but unfortunately, they were having issues so it wasn't open yet. When you think about it, we probably should've just walked away. But no. We got our fast pass so that we could come back later and tempt our fate without having to wait in line! So we did the Big Thunder railroad (roller coaster) instead. No line at all. Paul was starting to annoy me a little as he was walking 2 metres behind me and not getting any faster......Paul wanted to look at the scenery around the park – How sweet - “WELL NOT TODAY SWEETHEART – WE GOT RIDES TO DO NOWWW”. I told him that we have all day to look at the scenery but first we are doing as many rides as we can before the vultures come in and start the hour long lines.

and these are the lines at the snow white ride!

People have told me that Disney world is bigger than Disneyland – its not true. They are exactly the same. Even the same set up. The only thing bigger is that Disney world has other theme parks.

Much to my surprise, Paul did all of the rides with me. He was very brave I thought. We were even going to do Splash Mt again later but just didn't get any time. We pretty much did everything- Haunted House, pirates of the Carribean, small world (boring), Swiss tree Robinson, Jungle Cruise, Space Mt (high speed roller coaster in pitch black), Tom Sawyers island, Tiki room and Snow Whites Scary Adventures, which I think Paul really loved, going by the look on his face, or was that a look of pain – couldn't quite tell the difference. Paul even joined in on a Country Bear Jamboree! We just happened to be in the wrong place at the wrong time....despite Paul's confessions and pleas that he really couldn't dance, (because we all thought he really could?), The country chic with the face cake on grabbed him and they were boot scootin' in no time at all....all on film and ready for all of your excited eyes to see! It did get a little embarrassing as fifth time round doing the same thing and Paul still couldn't get it right – He REALLY cant dance! Dont let me foget - we had the opportunity to walk through Minnie Mouses House which I think would be the highlight of the whole Disney experience for Paul!

Paul getting some dance lessons

We did a lot of walking so after many photos and much filming, at odd times during the day, we took a break and ate at one of the many overpriced food stations.....Paul and I opted for the Hot dog with fries combo. Yummo but Disney World had a way of only giving you enough to eat to satisfy you for the moment and then an hour later you were hungry again. Weird.

We were so ready to go home but we still had the end of night fireworks finale to go. We waited at our spot from 8pm. The show was at 9pm. The area gradually started filling up and people gradually started annoying me....anyways – the show was really good. Paul and I both enjoyed it. At the back of my mind I was thinking about fighting the herds of people to get out of the place and to the monorail. We had to get back to our shuttle drop off point by 9.45pm and when the show finished, it was 9.20pm! Those of you who have been to the Disney's, know what Im talking about when I say there were thousands of people streaming out of this place. I was hoping that they all drove, cos we really needed to get on that monorail. Paul worked his magic and weaved in and out of the crowd, ( I think it was more to do with the fact he doesn't like waiting in lines so it was that final bit of straw).

We managed to get through all the turtle walking people to the monorail...and off we went....after getting of the 2nd monorail to Epcot, it was 9.43 I think....We thought we would be too late but we ran all the way from the rail to the drop off point and we managed to catch our shuttle just in time....so relived cos we were both so tired.......we were even more tired thinking that we would have to do the same thing again tomorrow! When we got back to the room, my feet were so sore...I think I have bunyans on my bunyans!

Asia

So basically same story for the 2nd day – got dropped off at Epcot by the Shuttle but this time, we only had to catch the Disney Animal Kingdom bus. Our advice to anyone trying to pick what theme parks to go to – you have to see Animal Kingdom. Its covered in trees and nature and animals and sounds....Africa and Asia, they have done a fantastic job in recreating these places, down to things laying on the side of the road and the music in the background.....we really loved this place, especially the Asia world. We went on a cool River Rapids ride which was in a circular raft and you floated along water. Was heaps of fun. We also did the Jungle Trek as well. Africa had a Safari where they actually have real African animals. You travel around in an open aired safari truck that takes you through a savanna with elephants, giraffes, hippos, rhinos etc...all those sorts of animals. When I went went on it, I thought they would all be fake animals like at the Magic Kingdom...It was very good. In fact, their enclosures were so cool, if I were an animal I'd be choosing Disney over a zoo!

Disney has its Cinderella Castle in the middle of the park. Animal Kingdom had the Tree of Life. This huge big tree had animals carved into the trunks and branches and underneath was a theatre where you see the 4D movie, “Its tough being a bug”. This was a pretty cool movie......We got sprayed with bug juice, we smelt Bug farts, got stung by killer bees - Shanear, and the coolest was at the end, when they announced that the bugs were to exit the theatre first, and then all of a sudden, you feel this movement under your butt on the seat. It honestly felt like bugs were moving around under there...pretty cool!

It was a good day had at the animal kingdom. We would have loved to have spent more time there, but since we paid the extra and got the park hopper ticket, we were determined to do all the parks we could and get value for our money!

Next stop – Epcot centre. We went straight to the world showcase, where different countries were recreated and where you could buy souvenirs and taste the food of that country. Pretty cool. Also pretty cool if you were running a double life and you had to tell your partner that you went overseas for the weekend! Easily backed up with a few photos in front of some of the countries sites....but you would have to make sure you used cash only. The credit card would show you still in the states of course...anyways where was I?

Paul in Germany drinking a German Beer

Paul in the UK drinking an english beer

Each Country we went to, Paul and I searched for the souvenir penny stretchers. I think we managed to get a souvenir Penny from each place.....I also found Pooh Bear and Tigger in UK country so I patiently waited in line with all the 5 yos. Had to pretend that the ugly little big headed babies were cute and laugh at their cuteness a few times. I found I even had to put my foot infront of a kid that was getting excited and trying to push in...there would be no getting in front of me! So I got my photo finally and I thought that it may turn out ok because it was indoors and a controlled environment but I dont think my arse was leaning in that direction somehow!

Epcot was good – had lunch in China – which will later come back to haunt me as I didn't feel well at all that night and i put it down to the crap Chinese food. Just because you yell an order to a cook in Chinese, doesn't make the food any more authentic than getting it from Panda Express!

me and a monkey from animal kingdom

Our plan now, was to go to MGM Studios. Have a look around and see the Fantasmic show at 7pm and then get back to Epcot to have a final look around and see their Fireworks show at 9pm.

First show we went to at MGM was a 3D Muppet show....fairly tacky and didn't really think was that good....unfortunately, we didn't get anytime to see anything else cos we had to get a seat for the fireworks show so we don't have much of an impression of the Studios but we can at least say we have been here!

So – back to Epcot we went, with the other herds of people that had the same idea! We walked around a bit more before realising that we were both so tired and sore that fireworks were fireworks and we just sat anywhere.

So happy just to get back to the hotel room and take my shoes off.....we still had to repack all our bags and make sure everything was ready to go in the morning....So long Florida, or so we thought....It was a bit of a tense wait actually. We checked in and i was able to get emergency aisle seating all the way to France....Security screening was quick...didn't get the secondary screening. So it was just all too good to be true......about 30 min before we were due to board, they tell us that the plane is having hydraulic problems and that they don't know how long it will take to fix. There also may be a chance, we may miss our connecting flight from Chicago to Paris....NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO........so we were given the choice of swapping to a Miami flight, which would mean that we wouldn't get emergency aisle seating and we may be sitting apart but we would definitely get to Paris. The other option was to take our chances on the broken plane getting fixed......we had a window of an hour to decide so we just waited and thank Goh we did. So we managed to leave Florida 1.5 hrs later than expected so when we got to Chicago, instead of 2 hrs waiting, we had 40 min, which worked out to be more than enough time.

Goodbye USA. Hello French Land! (or as I like to now say – Worlds capital of dog poo everywhere!)

After an initial quiet day in Orlando, we scheduled a shuttle bus to visit the NASA space center around 45 miles to the east. It was a little more expensive than I anticipated and ended up costing $85 dollars each. Andrea and I have purchased an 8 pack of assorted cereals and decided to make it interesting by running a lucky dip competition each day to see who gets what. So far I am not going so well. Frosty Flakes! Andrea got Fruit Loops. So after a quick breakfast we were required at the hotel lobby by 7.30am. Our shuttle arrived and promptly drove us around to another 4 hotels to pick up other passengers. With the shuttle full, I was looking forward to finally heading towards our destination. Alas, we were taken to a shopping center car park and informed to wait for another bus! Around 15 minutes later a big tour bus arrived with Astronaughts painted along the side.

So finally we were on our way. Turns out our bus driver, Moma Bear (Yes, that's what she calls herself.) was a bit of a chatterbox. As the drive to Cape Canaveral was scheduled to take 45 minutes I decided to take a snooze. When we arrived at 10:00 am we were greeted by the Kennedy Hall Of Fame. It's basically a small building on the outer edge of the center. We were informed the bus would be leaving for the main complex at 11.30. With that in mind we proceeded to dawdle around. It had space suits, lunar modules and other space relics to keep us interested for a while. In the back was a room full of plaques for all the astronaughts and the mission they were on. Andrea attempted to land a shuttle on a flight simulator but only managed to ditch in the sea around 200 meters short of the runway. On the way out I purchased a set of mini badges of the Apollo missions.

Once back on the bus, we were informed that the main complex took their security very seriously and it was no lie! While being screened we were required to prove any electronic devices actually switched on and all our bags were thoroughly searched. Our first stop was the complex tour bus. This took us around the NASA facility, to an observatory where you could look out over all the current, and old launch pads, and then on to the Saturn V complex. On the way we saw one of the transport crawlers slowly making it's way past us. Their were a heaps of news camera's and such filming it. The day we left we discovered NASA were launching a rocket to release a Pluto orbiter. Damn! We went the wrong day!! Actually, it turned out the launch was delayed because of poor weather conditions so it wasn't so bad. The tour also drives past the vehicle assembly building which is the largest one story building in the world and is where the shuttles get loaded onto it's fuel tanks and finally onto the crawlers.

One of the current launch pads.

The Saturn V complex was amazing. It started with a mission control simulation of the Apollo 11 launch with the actual consoles used! It was so good I got goose bumps when it was closing in on lift off!! They hyped it up a lot though with dramatic background music and such. Afterwards, we were ushered off too the another building to be greeted by a monstrous Saturn V Rocket. These things are seriously huge! Although it was lying down, when standing it is apparently 36 story's tall. One of the tail rocket boosters would fit 3 of me alone. I was completely awe struck! The complex also has a cutting of a moon rock which you can touch. Just outside the Saturn V complex is where the public viewing area is for watching shuttle launches and such.

The bum of a Saturn V rocket.

After the tour, we realized we only had a couple of hours to check out the rest of the complex. We managed to squeeze in 1 of the 2 3D Imax movies they were screening, which was very good. It was narrated by Tom Hanks and had some amusing outtakes on the pessimist's view that the moon landings were staged. Eg. Neil Armstrong falling off the lunar module ladder and them having to cut and run 'Take 2'.... Birdman, you would have appreciated that one....

Our last stop was to enter the Explorer, a life size model of the space shuttle. On they way back to the bus we ran a quick detour via a huge memorial dedicated to all the astronaughts that have lost their lives.

Underneath the Explorer Space Shuttle.

All in all it was a great day but we needed more time. We could have sacrificed the Hall Of Fame in the morning or at least spent less time there but unfortunately our tour provider had dictated our time windows to us. Oh well, we saw most of it anyway....

By the time we got back to the hotel it was 7.00 pm. A very long day and we were both completely shagged.

Well here I sit in Le Guardia airport with nothing else to do but write an update. A great way to kill two hours eh? I guess it's better than sitting up till 2 am to do it! Anyway, time for you guys to hear all about the excitement of our last two days in New York.

On Monday we tried to score some tickets to the Letterman show. We had already won tickets but couldn't answer the mandatory trivia question required to collect them. We were given the alternative of signing up personally at the Ed Sullivan theater on Tuesday morning where a trivia question wasn't required. So there we were Tuesday morning patiently lined up for our second chance. Anyway, to cut a long story short, we spent an hour at the theater and eventually they didn't call us, so we lucked out again. My advice to Australian's traveling to N.Y and looking to attend this show? Either study up on the show before you arrive, or don't bother wasting your time. It is better spent on sightseeing. That said, Andrea and I didn't take that advice and proceeded to laze around the hotel for the rest of the morning. Later that afternoon we decided to wander down the road and check out Madison Square Garden. A couple of scalpers approached us for tickets and Andrea did her best Moulder (X Files) impression trying to keep it on the 'down low' to talk to them about the price of Ice Hockey tickets. It was very amusing as she was trying to be more secretive than the scalper!! The tickets were waaay out of our price bracket so we passed on the opportunity. We took a few photo's of the outside and the lobby of the gardens and that was about it. Odd how they call it the Gardens when there isn't a tree in sight? Anyways, on the way back to the hotel I purchased another suitcase as Andrea is really pushing her weight limits on her luggage. As penance, she was required to wheel the bag from 33rd street back to our hotel on 48th. No, I didn't feel guilty......hehehehe. In the evening we had another wander around time square to appreciate the night lights. It really does 'go off' every night around that area. Andrea pursued a dedicated hunt for an Annie's pretzel, but the stores location was evading her. Very frustrating considering she had already purchased one a couple days earlier. Eventually we got our bearings and found the damn thing. To wash it down she also got some Burger King. (I still call it Hungry Jacks...) I grabbed a six pack of Becks and some Thai take out, and was happy as a pig in...................well you know what...............As you can guess by the in depth review of our (disgustingly unhealthy) dietary habits,.......all in all, it was a pretty quite day. To make up for it (and missing Letterman) we purchased some online Knicks vs Mavericks tickets at Madison Square Gardens for Wednesday.

Wednesday arrived and soon made up for the lack of activity with a flurry. With no plans in the morning we had a nice sleep in till around mid day. We picked up our tickets for the Lion King and ducked across the road for some lunch before the show. The Lion King goes for a little over 2 ½ hours and I have to say I was spell bound for every minute. WOW! What a show! I couldn't tell if they were really singing or if I was listening to a recording it sounded that good. Andrea even admitted to getting a little overwhelmed when the show began. I don't blame her, it really is quite an experience! The New Amsterdam theater that hosts the performance is a picturesque building. It has ornate trimmings on all the walls and terraces and polished marble floors. It really adds to the whole experience. The most amazing part is how the characters occasionally enter the stage through the crowd. It initially freaked me out to turn around and see a great big elephant walking by me!! I could go on and on about the show, so to save you all the burden, I'll leave it there. The only down side was that there were a lot of children attending the midday performance, and they got a bit noisy talking and crying and such. Apart from that, we both thoroughly enjoyed the event.

The Amsterdam Theater

By the time the show was over, we only had time for a quick rest at the hotel before we were due to walk down to Madison Square for the Knicks game. When we got there the arena was a hive of activity and the signs were looking ominous for a long wait to collect our tickets. I spied an electronic ATM looking device that turned out to be a machine that printed your tickets if you purchased online. Bonus! So in no time we had our tickets and ducked across the road to 'another' fast food joint to have some dinner before the game. At the stadium, the seat numbers are allocated to each individual and with four levels of seating, we had a little trouble finding our way to our area. Eventually we got there and I was pleasantly surprised with the view. I was concerned that the players were going to look like little ants from all the rumors I've heard about the budget tickets at these events, but we were closer than I had envisioned. Initially we had a row to ourselves, but as the stadium filled, we were up and down letting people past. Unfortunately the seats are impossible to remain seated in, while letting anyone else through, so it was turning out to be a royal pain in the ass. When to game started, Andrea spotted a whole stand virtually unused, so we and some other intrepid spectators decided to relocate. This proved to be a good move in more ways than one!!

Madison Square Gardens

For the first quarter the Knicks went about tearing the Mavericks to shreds, scoring a record high for the season in a quarter. Andrea and I were having a little trouble getting into the game at that stage. An official was spying us off and we were concerned we were going to get asked to move from where we were sitting. It turned out he wanted Andrea to participate in a mid quarter challenge later on in the game! I was a little concerned as we had just viewed one of the challenges, and the participant got booed off the court for missing his shots! Andrea on the other hand was keen as mustard, and signed the legal waiver without even reading anything on the document. She was right though. Really, how could you knock back the opportunity to stand in the middle of Madison Square Gardens in front of 20 odd thousand people? So we were told to be at gate 65 with 7 minutes on the clock of the 3rd quarter. Cool. No Worries Mate. After he left we started to worry if we had interpreted his directions correctly! Is that, 7 minutes into the 3rd quarter, 7 minutes left on the 3rd quarter, or 7 minutes before the 3rd quarter! Oh man! As time progressed Andrea started to look more an more tense. I was teasing her that she was pooping herself, but she was only concerned that she may miss the opportunity! To cover all bases, she went to the waiting point with 7 minutes to spare before the 3rd quarter. Turns out it wasn't the time for the challenge so she returned. At the start of the 3rd quarter she decided to duck off to the loo. So I'm waiting, and waiting, and waiting, watching the clock tick down thinking where the hell is she?!! I was getting somewhat frantic so I collected her gear for the potential mad rush to gate 65. Finally she appeared so we got on our way. Turns out she had been doing laps of the premises looking for the loo. She must have passed around 3 during that time! Anyway. We met our official, and waited on another contestant he had selected. Soon after we were ushered into the players tunnels to await further directions for the competition.

Andrea and her fellow competitor.

The competition consisted of various mats on the court where you could shoot from. Each mat was an airline ticket to a particular location. Obviously the further away the mat, the better the location. Directly underneath the hoop was a flight to Toronto, with the hardest mat (way beyond a 3 pointer) offering a flight to Tokyo. Once a shot was completed, you could go on to other mats to try and win that flight within a 30 second total period. The official suggested it was best to secure at least a flight to Toronto and then move on. He gave Andrea the run down on where to stand and all the other marketing guff.

It was about this stage when the Knicks City Dancers came running into the tunnel after completing a set. Oh my god! My eyes were popping out of my head! One of them (I think it was Alexis) noticed my trance like gaze, turned to me and said hi. I tried to reply, but it was either the fear of my tongue rolling out onto the floor in front of everyone, or the fact that I am potentially the most un-cool guy in the world, but I just froze, smirked at her, and then looked down to stare at my feet........Because, they were obviously more interesting.......ergh,.....It's times like these I wish I could uppercut myself.....

Anyways, Andrea was called out and I was soon standing at the edge of the court ready to frantically photograph her. I was really nervous and I wasn't even doing anything!! After a brief introduction she was off. She proceeded as instructed and went for the easy shot first. She missed and then ran downtown to have a shot. Downtown? I'm thinking, why would she go all the way out there and you haven't even hit the easy shot yet. Turns out she misinterpreted the instructions and thought she could only shoot once at each location. The person collecting the rebounds must have yelled out to her to come back while she was attempting another shot and she ran back. She proceeded to miss another three times, but they must have been close as the crowd let out the collective sighs of ooh's and aah's. Andrea later told me she thought she was getting booed but I don't think she was. With time running thin she nailed the layup and a huge roar erupted from the crowd. She was dashing back out to the 3 pointer just as time ran out. All in all, a pretty good effort.

Andrea receives one last on court briefing.

The other dude who was selected had spent most of his time talking smack and generally letting everyone know how well he was going to go. Initially he looked like he was going to live up to his word. After knocking over the lay up his very first shot, he immediately ran down town and blazed away. A few of his shot must have got close as the crowd were once again getting animated, but after his time was up, he

During the course of the match, the TV network had spied out a few of the famous people at the game and we saw the Trumpster (Your Fired!) and John McEnroe's. Andrea decided to do a little star hunting of her own while on court and reckons she saw Kim Cantrell in the front row as well. So not only did she get to shoot hoops in front of a huge crowd, but a somewhat famous one as well!!

Once it was all over we were hustled back into the tunnel where both contestants were presented with a Knicks gift pack, and a promise that the flight is in the mail. The only bad point about the whole experience was we missed virtually a whole quarter. By the time we were back at our seats, the Mavericks had made a massive comeback and by the end of the match it was a tied game. By this stage the stadium was going off, as the locals tried to gee up their team. The atmosphere was electric! Eventually the Knicks got up in over time but it was a very exciting game. As the crowd dissipated Andrea and I hung back to get some more shots of the stadium until we were eventually asked to move on.

Due to the size of this update, it has been completed over several days and other adventures have happened since. Stand by for our second day in Orlando, where we explored the NASA Kennedy space center.