Thursday, January 28, 2010

Nashville, Tennessee


To get to Nashville we had a real train run that took two days. On every journey the train stops at regular intervals to see to and water the animals, which is called a water stop. If the journey is over a certain length of time they stop long enough to let the animals off to get some exercise which also means the humans on the train can also get off for a few hours and run around as well. We had one of these water stop at Atlanta. You can't really do much as wandering away from the train too far would make you feel a bit nervous of being left behind, which has happened. For people on private cars it is nice to get off and see a different face and wander down to the pie car and stock up on snacks and things which we can't do normally.

Once again we were lucky and the arena was right downtown and downtown Nashville was pretty good. They call it the Music City and it is true music is everywhere in this place. You hear it from restaurants, bars, shops and even electricity boxes on the side of the street. You also see it everywhere even on the pavement. Tweedy went out one night with a friend who lives here whom he worked with in the UK. He isn't really into country music so had intentions of finding some blue grass to experience the Nashville thing but he ended up in an Irish Bar with an Irish band playing Celtic music. Once the band realised he came from Scotland there was even some Proclaimers thrown into the mix. Maybe not experiencing stereotypical Nashville but he had a good night and yes I was at home with Willow.





One day while Willow was at school and Tweedy was busy doing shows I walked to the Nashville Farmers Market which is close to The State Capitol. Considering it is January it wasn't bad there at all and I'm sure when more things are in season it would be a really nice big bustling farmers market. Right beside it there is also a flea market and an indoor market with places to eat and a couple of deli type things. I was quite excited to find an Indian/Asian supermarket there and stocked up on a few things that I haven't been able to find here.



Our last day was Sunday which is the norm here, though sometimes we stay somewhere a day extra. I went to the shops to pick up a few things before we left but Nashville seems to be closed on a Sunday during the day. I guess most people are recovering from Saturday night.

As we left Nashville there was a little flurry of snow, and even though we were leaving I don't think where we are heading is any warmer.

Wednesday, January 20, 2010

Miami FL



So the first train run of the year and we kind of missed it. We left Orlando at 9pm and arrived in Miami at 9am, so pretty much slept through it or it was too dark to see any of it. Still it was nice to be moving on the train again.

Miami was nice though not quite what I was expecting. It was cold, really, really cold, the coldest Florida has been since records began. Still warmer than the UK in the snow though.

The train yard was fairly nice as far as train yards go. It had grass instead of dust and stones, a real result. We had been told that the strip of water that runs beside the train was home to manatee and alligators. I was quite excited about seeing both though maybe not the gators from close range. After a few days though we found out that they had blocked the entrance so they couldn't get in. We did have quite a few Iguanas as neighbours though. The Iguanas didn't like the cold either apparently they freeze and fall out of trees.



The American Airlines Arena was situated Downtown which is great for us as we are often on the outskirts of town. Right across the road was The Bayside Mall which was OK but it didn't have many shops that interested us that much but you could go and listen to live music while having a Haagen Daz. The Mall was situated next to The Bayside Park which was quite nice and we went there a few times. Willow liked the play park and I liked the free wii fi.



We went to South beach when we first arrived in Miami but the weather wasn't beach weather. We did manage to get a good day there though, the day before we left. It is a shame we didn't manage to spend more time there but at least we did get one nice hot Miami day which gave you a feel of what it would be like there peak season. Ocean drive must be one of the best spots in the world for people watching even of peak. There are young and old trying to catch someone's (anyone's) eye on skate boards and skates. Some with large snakes draped over their shoulders and some doing remarkably good Peter Stingfellow impersonations. Some were just going from A to B as they flew down the middle of the road dodging the traffic.

Along Ocean drive there are also some amazing Art Deco buildings.



South beach also has Lincoln Road Mall which is a fairly big outdoor shopping area mainly filled with expensive boutiques and food places. It is also a great people watching spot. At the top end of the mall we also found a nice reasonably priced Chinese restaurant.

Public transport in Miami is pretty good. We had a bus that stopped as close to outside the train as you could get, without actually coming into the train yard. We could then either catch a couple of buses downtown or a bus and train (Metrorail) and some of these had built in free wifi, though it was incredibly slow. Once downtown there was a free metromover train that ran a loop. We used it a couple of times but usually once we were downtown we preferred to walk. Public transport was made a lot easier and cheaper with an easyticket that you prepay and just swipe as you get on.

Circus life seems to have resumed as normal with a few parties already under the belt. It always seems so much easier if the weather is warmer.

There are all the usual 'tourist' things here like Jungle Island and a children's museums which were all close by but we didn't really bother with any of them. If we had I would have liked to have gone to the Everglades and gone alligator counting or down to Key West.

Sunday, January 17, 2010

Orlando take two

We flew back to the US just before New Year and had a bit of a rubbish flight. To say I am very disappointed in United Airlines is a complete understatement. Their customer service is terrible and I will go out of my way and pay more money to make sure they never have my custom again.

We arrived back (eventually) to Orlando. This was our second visit in less than a year. Not the actual show though as this time around it was just winter quarters. Last time we were here we didn't see much of Orlando itself though we did go to Disney. This time we skipped the parks and saw a bit more of the town itself. We weren't here long but still managed to hang out Down town and go to the park and caught buses here and there. Sometimes we caught buses and had no idea where we were.

Orlando is a good train yard to come back to. It has lots of shops near by including Target and Publix so at least we knew we would be able to top up on all the essentials. There are also regular buses pretty much right outside which takes you all over town. So we are eased in gently before we hit the train yards in the middle of nowhere.

One of the strangest things about being back is it seems like we have never been away. Where did the last month go to?

December UK

The circus ‘show’ stops for 5 weeks over December and into January so a large chunk of people have time off. Though quite a few people have to work right up to the last minute. To make the most of the time we decided to come home for Christmas.

The plan was to travel all over the place and catch up with friends and family which we did fairly well though it had to be worked around Willow who wanted to go back to school. Luckily Willows old school managed to squeeze her back into her old class for the 2 weeks and 2 days that school was open before it broke for the Christmas holiday. She loved being back at school and slotted in straight away like she had never been away. Her school friends seemed pleased to see her as well as teachers and staff. I though her last day at school may have been a bit tough but there was snow on the ground that seemed to distract her.

We had a bit of a busman’s holiday while we were home but mainly so we could catch up with friends who were on various Christmas Circuses. We saw Happys, Zippos and Lawsons though they all had Christmas feel names to them. I thought we would have fitted in a few pantos for the same reason, but most of the people we knew were performing a little bit too far away to travel to in the bad weather.

We managed to get up to London a few times and caught up with lots of friends, some that I hadn’t seen for ages. While we were there we went and saw Arturo Brachetti,s new show called Change which was great. I had seen one of his shows on DVD before and it was nice to see him live. We met him afterwards and he seemed really nice.



We also had a few trips to the Cotswolds to visit the Gifford’s mob and it felt very like home which is probably why the one trip turned into a few more. I would have liked to have stayed longer, or should that just be I would have liked to have stayed.

This year was the first Christmas that we have been home (well at my Mum and Dads) for quite a few years. It was also the first time Willow had ever been at her old school at Christmas. This is usually the time of year when we are off living somewhere else in the country as it is Panto time. My Mum and Dad are known to go a little bit over the top at Christmas. A little, ha that is such an understatement. They go completely over board and it was not toned down any just because we were staying. It was great staying at my old home, though I did worry that me and my mum may squabble just a wee bit but Christmas miracles we did not have one argument which was great. Tweedys Mum and Dad also came down from Scotland to spend Christmas with us so it was great to have most of the family together for once.

I also loved having my dog back, we have all missed her so much, especially Willow who has never known life without her. I did wonder if after a year my Mum’s temporary position as top dog would now be permanent but I didn’t need to worry as my position in the pack seemed to hold fast and was re-instated within 3 steps in the door.

There was a bit of snow while we were home, not too much just enough to make us wonder if Tweedys Mum and Dad would manage to get down and enough for a car to crash into our hire car on the M27, which was already our 2nd car. I think there is a saying never trust a clown with a car actually I don’t think there is but there should be.

I thought our time at home would have flown by so fast and I would have not wanted to go back to America. It was strange though, I loved being home, we crammed in so much but it was only the last few days that really flew by and even though I knew I would miss everyone I was quite happy to come back.

* Oh and I didn't take nearly enough photos while we were home *