A "Short" Letter to You

It´s been over a week now since my last post about the trip. It has it´s reasons, though, as I have been very busy travelling. I have been so many places this last week, that I´m almost having trouble keeping track of which ones I´ve been to, and which not. Let´s start where I left off last time, with Baltimore. We arrived in the afternoon on Monday, and met with a relative in the outskirts of the city, at his place. It had been quite some time since we last met him, so it felt only natural that we stayed there until sometime in the evening, at which point we decided it was probably a good idea to check in at the hotel in the city. You have no idea how good it felt when I finally got to the hotel room, and found a nice, comfortable bed waiting for the veeery tired me. The others seemed to appreciate it too, as a matter of fact.

Baltimore Harbor

The next day began with "breakfast" (can´t say I´m particularly fond of the American one..) and a walk in the nearby area of the hotel. We ended up going to a place called Fell´s Point (no idea if it´s an important place, or why.. xD) and back, also getting a fine tour of the harbor. We then got together with our relative again, and ate lunch at a nearby diner he knew about. He then drove us out to a somewhat historical site; Fort McHenry. In 1814 the British had decided to launch an attack on Baltimore by land. However, they were in need of having their navy in place too, if the attack was to happen. The only thing standing between the British navy and the city, was Fort McHenry. Long story short: the British tried taking the fort by sea, failed, and then retreated, leaving the city alone. The events that happened here also inspired a guy named Francis Scott Key, to write the first draft lyrics of what would become the national anthem of the United States.

By the way, did I forget to mention that our relative drives like a madman, bears the same name I do, and is soon-to-be 88 years old...? Ooh well, now you know. Funny guy that one, and an interesting breed between Norwegian and American. He´s also quite the lady´s charmer, and I bet that´s how he got to show us a great view of Baltimore from high up in an off-limits apartment!

Well, enough of Baltimore! We´ve also spent a day in Washington D.C., visiting many famous places like the Lincoln Memorial, the Washington Monument, the White House (not entered, just seen it!) and a couple of museums on top of that. Walked the entire time..

In the evening we did something even more exciting than visiting big buildings. (However absurd that may sound. What´s more fun than big buildings??) Well, we went to a hockey-match and I would say that was reeeeally cool!!

We have also been driving a great deal from here to there, and quite a lot of our time in the states has been spent on the road. An example of that, could be when we were driving for the border to Canada, which took like 5-6 hours or so. After getting into Canada we soon got to the hotel and settled in. It tasted really good with some Chinese food then, after a long time without much food.

Later that evening we went to see the Niagara Falls by night, since they have some fancy lighting of the falls come dark. It was cold, cool and colorful.
We came back the next day to see the Falls in daylight, and they were still awesome to watch! There´s a lot of mist there, so it can be difficult to see it all, but what you see can really be breathtaking. Absolutely recommend it for everybody, though I think it might be even better in the summertime.

So, visiting Canada and Niagara is what I have been doing this weekend. Right now, I´m sitting in the bed at the hotel room we are currently at, drinking Pepsi and writing all this stuff. Although I´ve only been here like half a day, I must say that New York is indeed a noisy city, with lots of people and traffic! I´m a little curious as to what we are gonna experience these next few days, and to find out if this city really is the Big Apple, as they say it is.
Tomorrow is St. Patrick´s Day, so I bet it´s gonna be a lot of fun to see and watch, but that is gonna be AFTER I finally wake up from what I hope will be a loooong nights sleep!

Best of wishes from Me
to You