Yes, I have arrived in Syracuse. A little town that I passed heading for Niagara/Toronto. This morning I left Boston, the lobster city and this afternoon I finally discovered how the north/east/south/west principles work. :-p

This afternoon I also discovered that my car actually come equipped with cruise control. I was playing around with all the little buttons and handles on the steering wheel when suddenly the gas pedal disappeared. Driving the car is now simplified to steering and pressing the brake every now and then. The rest all goes automatically. I was already a lazy person, but this will now for sure get even worse.

A also got some gas this afternoon, because my car needed more energy to run the air-conditioning, the CD player and the cruise control. After getting the gas it became clear why the United States don’t mind to enforce their power in small oil rich countries… a full tank of gas cost me 20 dollars and for sure the tank I’ve got here holds much more fuel then the little Nissan I have at home.

Tomorrow I continue towards Niagara Falls and afterwards I’ll probably head over to Toronto.

I plan to stay in Boston for today and see what is going on and what are the things to do around here, although I’m not expecting a lot of action. Tomorrow I leave in direction of Canada to the the waterfalls. I think I’ll go the the Canadian side, because my Lonely Planet guide tells me this is the best place to be.

At first I wanted to pass by Washington and Philadelphia but I think I will scrap that idea. According to the news all the historical sites in Washington can only be viewed from a great distance because they are afraid of bombs. Even more, I’m not really looking forward to drive all the way back just to see these cities.

Yesterday morning I left New York. I found the correct highway without problem, but spend my first half hour driving in the wrong direction. After I turned around I spend 2.5 hours in a big traffic jam. All the traffic was being rerouted through some small town because of an accident.

Halfway round I stopped at a shopping mall to get some food and to have a look online, but internet access was not possible.

Afterwards I continued my drive towards Boston, where I arrived around 6 o clock. Strangely when I arrived almost everything was already closed. I got a cheap hotel with a nice view, an old factory building that now features a lot of girls working out. :-p The difference between Boston and New York could not be bigger. I have the feeling that I moved from heaven to some small little town.

Regarding the 4th of July… at night there were fireworks… and the entire city of New York went to the edge of a river to see the fireworks display, and it was grand. As a Dutch I cannot help myself and point out that they really shot a small fortune in the sky. Fireworks in the form of a smiley, or hearts, huge blasts covering the horizon, and 20 minutes of all out fireworks. In comparison the fireworks displays in Scheveningen is just amateurism and the fireworks after the carnival in Noordwijkerhout is just nothing.

One more thing about my car. Yesterday I drove I nice long distance, I think around 300 miles, and I discovered the kick-down! Combining the kick-down with some nice beats of stampa music makes driving an automatic car like a breeze.

Drugs are a lot less legal in America, compared to Holland, but even so, yesterday I was collecting some pictures and I was offered some hash brownies. Just now I was in the shop, buying a muffin and a cherry coke, and I saw a package of ephedra in a nice colorful box, right there where normally you expect impulse products like candy to be. Of course I bought them right away because how can you resist four pills for only $1.59.

It is strange that products that are even in our tolerant Holland on the list of illegal products can just be bought over the counter here in America. Even in a normal supermarket which is something you would not expect.

Yeah!!! Today is the day, the 4th of July. All Americans are celebrating today (and tomorrow) that Will Smith saved them from the evil aliens! It is still to early to notice anything of the street, but still… I am curious.

This morning I visited the Empire State Building. I arrived there pretty early, around nine thirty because again I woke up around four in the morning.

It was easy to find because you can see it in the sky from a few blocks away. Once you get in the line stars. After the first line you switch to the second line, and then you get the opportunity to buy a ticket. With my ticket I could go up to the second floor and stand again in another line. This line is for the check of your bags and to pass through the metal detectors. Finally you get to wait in the last line. You then enter in the lift, and that lift shoots you up to the 80th floor. On the 80th floor you get out and need to get in another lift that brings you all the way up.

Once on the top floor I have to admit it was worth the hassle. The view across New York is beautiful.

If there is one thing that is abundantly available in New York it is cops. On every corner of every street you can find a cop. Before every big or important building there is some person in a security outfit. If you want to park your car they will search your trunk and in some cases they check the bottom of your car with mirrors. In the metro it is swarming with cops and metro employees. When you enter a museum they check your bags and in every room you can expect to find security.

A safe situation, but it gave me a very strange feeling. Yesterday when I was heading to my car I was walking though a street where there was even a little sign, indicating that there was an atomic bomb shelter… This really gives you some food for though.

Yes, I did it. yesterday I visited a museum. I went to visit the Metropolitan Museum of Art, right next to Central Park. Of course I strolled through Central Park on my way there and during my first steps in the park I encountered a squirrel! That’s is a sight you don’t see very often, I thought. The animal was circling around me with about one meter of distance. I think it was looking for some food.

I made a few pictures of the squirrel and continued towards the museum and then it hit me. The entire park was full of those squirrels! I encountered hundreds of them. I spend some time viewing an amateur baseball match right there in the park, and then continued to the museum which I really enjoyed. Nice African masks, Knights armor a lot of statues and paintings.

Just went to get my car… a Chevrolet Cavalier, and of course it is an automatic with a nice CD player and air-conditioning. Not a small car, but here in America it is small, in fact, it is the smallest car they had.

After checking the car for damages I could take it out for a spin. I got in, started the car, en yes! On the background there was loud music. Some black rapper with a heavy beat. The previous driver had left the radio in such a way that it seemed like Herman had been driving the car.

The only bad thing is that I’m staying 3 more days here in New York, so I needed to park the car somewhere for the nice sum of 30$ a day :-(

Since this post the time is correct again. :-p The time indicated with each post until now was the time set on my PC at home. Now I’ve changed it to the local time here in America.

It is already my second day in New York. Again I woke up at 4 in the morning and what could I do… sleeping more was impossible because the city was calling. Calling with sirens of police cars, honking horns, noises from the hotel, and you name it. I just arranged to extend my stay a few days more until the 4th of July.

In the hotel, that is being operated by a lot of Chinese people, there was a manager listening to my request to stay a few more days… First there was a problem because I booked the room through an agency which resulted in a very look rate for the room. Finally we reached a deal where I could move to a smaller room for the same price and that I could get this room without paying taxes (???). I didn’t mind and went to get my stuff and move it to my new smaller room, but the room was already occupied… I returned to the manager and without looking gets me another key and another room. He yells a little at some concierge, and I went to move again. The resulting room proved to be even bigger that the original one. A bigger bed, a bigger couch and even a little table. I’m feeling lucky. :-p

This afternoon I’ll go and find the rental agency for my car and see if the car can remain parked for a few more days, because parking space in New York is very limited. Afterwards I’ll try and find a nice camera to make some digital shots.

It is really early, a quarter to 10 and I’m already online…. pffff.