| Thursday 17 February, and Doug Essinger-Hileman kindly meets me at Pittsburgh airport and takes me to stay with Lois in Morgantown, WV. Up and out bright and early, we're off to Apple Annie's for breakfast with these people: (clockwise from foremost) Marian Van Til, Ed Cassidy, Doug Essinger-Hileman, Sandy Hileman-Essinger, and Lois. |
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After breakfast we continued our tour of the region at Friendship Hill, the home of Albert Gallantine (sp?). I have to say that my honeymoon with the weather died this day, as it rained most of the time. Then to Fort Necessity, where George Washington fought a battle with the French and Indians . . . and lost. Then up the hill to the Mt Washington Tavern, an historic pioneer roadside inn. Then Marian, Ed and I headed home with Doug and Sandy in Masontown. |
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Next day, the Museum of Natural History in Pittsburgh - wonderful stuff, T Rex's bones and a huge array of animals. Then the Science Centre (which has a really-truly submarine), then the Westin William Penn Hotel to dump gear and change, then off to the Grand Concourse for dinner with Lois, Doug and Sandy.
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| The last event of the evening was to take
the 'incline' to the top of the bluffs and look down on the lights of
Pittsburgh - just gorgeous. Pity about the really crap photos I
took. Lois took some photos too, but as they're mostly of me (and
I'm no oil painting) I'll spare you the pain.
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As a treat, here's a shot of Lois, Doug and Sandy at the top of the cliff.
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Sunday 20 February, I land at Washington-Dulles without a clue; I've been on the road and up in the air for nearly a month and it's getting to me: I've totally lost the plot. In a daze I find an airport hotel that will come and get me - they do so, I do a heap of washing, watch some telly, and eventually call Peter Theune who arranges to come and get me next day. Note to self: Dulles is in the middle of nowhere, far from anything you want to see or do. Pick another airport next time! |
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Saviour Pete finds me the following day, we take a meandering trip home to Pasadena MD, seeing the Capitol, Lincoln and Jefferson memorials, a tour of the FDR memorial, Annapolis and a 1700s tavern for lunch. We decide I should stay a little longer than the two or three days originally planned, as there's so much to see and do. How could I refuse? A quick phone call to London to ensure Matty isn't waiting for me at Heathrow in vain, and it's all sorted.
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| Next day we check out USS Constellation in
Baltimore - lovely old thing. We arrive a little late to go on
board for a tour, but we get there later in the week, and tour to our
heart's content. I bought the most fabulous souvenir after that
tour - a nightlight with a mother-of-pearl shade and a gold anchor upon
it. All I have to do now is find an electrician to change the
plug, and the mount for the globe.
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Off to the National Cathedral in Washington DC proper. Now there's an impressive building, with some wonderful stories to tell. Once again I took a lot of pictures, but not many of them are presentable. Here's one of a stained glass window. We arranged (in advance) to have afternoon tea high, high up in the cathedral - the views from up there are spectacular. |
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| Here's the Cathedral touring party, seated outside the Herb Cottage shop thingy: (l to r) Paul, Anna, Peter and me. |
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| Thursday 24 February found Paul and I at
Goddard Space Flight Centre and the Smithsonian Air and Space
Museum. Big day for big toys! In this picture, Glamorous
Glennis (she who broke the sound barrier with Chuck Yeager on board) is
the red one at rear.
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Next stop - London. Matty met me at Heathrow, and together we somehow got Big Red - and everything else - back to Hampstead by tube and bus. I went job-hunting in London for two weeks before I ran out of money, gave up on finding a computer job, and moved to Willian (nr Letchworth, Herts) and a pub job at the Three Horseshoes (I was a shoo-in for the job, being Australian, and with previous experience).
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| Being only about half an hour from London
by the fast train, I sometimes popped down for the odd big occasion -
here celebrating Rachel's birthday in a pub in Clapham. Featuring (l to r) Paul (Paulie), Fiona (Fifi), Matthew (Matty), Rachel and me. Paulie, Matty, Rachel and I are all ex-APRA people - and there are more of us in London who didn't make it to this knees-up. |
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Also in London, Jim and Zelda came to town as part of their big European trip - see Jim's POB pages. Jordi had also recently arrived from Spain - another lissun from abroad working in London.
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| First we met Jim and Zelda at their hotel
off Kensington High Street, then they took us to lunch. This
picture has (l to r) Jordi, Zelda, me and Jim.
The second picture is of Jordi and Zelda, planning the Kleins' assault on Spain. Lunch was at a nearby restaurant, which had lovely food and a very large (and loud) parrot in a cage. Here's Jim with the restaurant manager. All these photos taken by Jim Klein. |
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Not long after this, Jim and Zelda had a party in their hotel suite - a Gathering of course! Zelda excelled herself in producing "Roast Beef of Old England" in a hotel kitchenette which was under-sized and under-equipped. These pictures: Zelda and I; Zelda, me and Jordi.
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| Someone - I forget who - brought along the
3-D edition of Sports Illustrated, which had the lads amused for hours.
These pictures: Kevin Danks; John Drouot; Jim and John |
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