Mon 7th: Our last day with friends, and it feels like we've known Ted & Marilyn for a long time, especially as they will now be planning their trip to the UK next summer. I call Alamo and delay collection of our rental car, as it will be of no use in downtown Boston, and will in fact cost us money to park it.

Our touring with Ted & Marilyn is not complete however without the planned trip to Harvard, which we do for the morning. A visit to the Harvard National History Museum is an unexpected WOW, as we see an archive of "glass flowers" created in the late 1800s by a German family.......... They signed a contract to provide Harvard with an archive of 400 flowers and completed most of the work in five years, it is astounding. The quality of the work belies the simplicity of the tools that were at their disposal in Dresden in 18..., it is impossible to tell between these glass flowers and the real thing that might have been picked this morning, they have to be seen to be believed.

So just where will the people end up that graduate from Harvard Law School end up, I ask Ted; well Barack Obama was here in the 1980s, and look where he got to was the reply. We also see the statue of John Harvard, or so we think, until it is explained that the famous statue is also known as the Statue of Three Lies. John Harvard was not the founder of Harvard, he was in fact a benefactor, the statue is not of him, but a student that posed as him with the sculptor, and the year is incorrect. So just how many tourists will pick that out without a prompt from their guide.

A further stroll takes us through Harvard Yard, pronounced as if you were a Scouser, to the square containing the Harvard library, the second largest library in the US, and also where the famous graduation ceremony takes place every year; apparently it is always in the open air as it never rains on Graduation Day. A final coffee at Peets Coffee Shop and we say our farewells after which Ted transfers us down to The Constitution Inn, and we are not sure whether it is a YMCA hostel, or just a hotel, time will tell.

It turns out that the hotel is run by the YMCA as a non-profit-making organisation to help young men and women get back on their feet, especially those returning from the military after serving in Iraq or Afghanistan. It later transpires that it is also shelter for women in trouble. Lorna meets a lady in the laundry, now there's something new Dava, and she explains that she is staying here in respite and that they are allowed to stay here for two years, sometimes longer. They also run a gym which is the busiest I have seen, there must haver been in excess of 40 people last night, very popular.

We hop on a town tour with tickets for today and tomorrow; this includes a harbour tour, so we'll develop our knowledge of the former British colony before moving on. I leave Lorna to return to the hotel whilst I follow the Freedom Trail up to Breed's Hill where the bloodiest of the Independence War battles, was fought; perversely it was called the Battle of Bunker Hill. The small museum adjacent to the large monument is closed due to the Government Shutdown. After an hour of watching CNN on my return, my ears start to bleed as presenters, pundits and politicians from both sides bicker constantly, talk one another down, and generally behave like unsupervised children in a playground; there is  no end in sight, and it's affecting the little people, tourists included.

Dinner at Bistro, just down the road from the hotel is average, but saves a trip downtown.

Spend today: Coffee (card); town tour (card); dinner (card)

Sun 6th: Foul weather day in Cambridge and Boston; Ted and Marilyn run us out to Lexington & Concord and we both have to admit to being ashamed at our lack of historical knowledge, and in particular the American War of Independence. It is alleged that the first shot of the eight year war was fired on the common at Lexington, or it may have been on the North Bridge in Concord on April 19th 1775; the British Redcoats were faced down by 3,500 Minutemen, or colonial Patriots before the Declaration of Independence was signed in 1776.

We are disappointed that quite a few of the federal locations of interest are closed or unmanned due to the government shutdown; Marilyn thinks that all the congressmen and senators should at least forfeit their pay for the duration of the shutdown, we concur.

We can see that the colours are well into their autumnal turn and although the light is very flat a few reasonable shots are taken. We return to downtown Boston for lunch at an excellent but crowded seafood restaurant. Our "snack" comprises clam chowder, moules mariniere, lobster claws and some oysters. Remembering Dublin I avoid the oysters, but the rest slides down  agreeably, and OMG we've still to take Ted & Marilyn out this evening, will an appetite return in time.

Well shouldn't have worried, and after significant research we settle on a French restaurant, Acquitaine. The menu is excellent, and after some discussion about the pros and cons of the menu, I am reminded just how knowledgeable most of the waiters we have come across are. We have a bit of fun with him, complaining that the dessert menu appears to be missing "Spotted Dick". He hasn't heard of it, but keeps his response very professional, enquiring exactly what spotted dick might be, and whether is it a seasonal delicacy!!

It seems Ted really is up for the 2014 Prudential Ride London, and we start to talk about a visit to England, Rutland and London for the ride. Ted shows me his bike, just a few ounces of carbon fibre machinery, a snip at $4,500, so I know what I want for Christmas, Lorna. Ted seems OK with registering for a Make-a-Wish place, to ensure we ride with matching cycle gear.

Earlier in the day we had called into The Constitution Inn to pick up our New England itinerary, and I now have a picture in my head of the route we will take onward from Boston. Once again we have been royally looked after by our American hosts, and feel very privileged to have made such good friends.

Spend today: Lorna's watch (card); dinner (card)

Sat 5th: Breakfast with Judy and we say a sad farewell after a very busy few days in New York, thank you Judy for your wonderful hospitality, we really enjoyed it.

We chat with Mekhail, our Egyptian driver on the way back to La Guardia, explaining that it's better to calculate cost per mile rather than cost of gas, and he says that's the first time anyone had explained, he'd always thought it was so much cheaper to drive in the US.

The flight to Boston is memorable in that there are only eleven passengers and we get personal service from Ken & Devin the flight attendants, we have a good laugh. Ted is waiting to meet us at Boston, and we drive out to Cambridge, a charming town adjacent to Boston. It's great to meet up again and we sit for most of the afternoon swapping anecdotes and stories about our respective travels, and the state of our governments.

Ted and Marilyn comment that they have been waiting to repay us for the meal in Victoria Falls, and we don't comprehend, but remember that we had tried to hook up with them for a dinner cruise when we were there last year, but it didn't happen. We'd ended up with a boring Australian couple on a completely forgettable cruise on a dark Zambesi river. We have a quick tour round Cambridge which is famous for many things, but primarily that it hosts MIT (Massachusetts Institute of Technology), and Harvard.

The evening ends with a review of our respective photography exploits, and they are very complementary about our restoration and montage showcase.

Spend today: car to La Guardia (cash)

Fri 4th: It's 24/7 in NYC, and that's just us, or so it seems, not a minute to spare. A full island boat tour this morning, which is most enjoyable, and takes just under three hours. We take the metro down to 42nd Street and walk down to the Circle Line port on 11th & the Hudson River. It's a big boat and full of camera toting tourists, everything from the first digital camera, to a Chinese guy with a Canon 5D Mk. III, but the commentator continues to encourage people to sit down, and stand only to take their shots, and it works well I have to say, there's no visible camera rage.

The most photogenic spots are the Statue of Liberty, and across the water, the new Liberty tower, which now commands the southern end of Manhattan Island. I hadn't appreciated just how many bridges there are between Manhattan and the mainland. The obvious ones, the BMW, Brooklyn, Manhattan & Williamsburg, but many smaller, lower ones at the northern end of the island, and then the George Washington bridge across to New Jersey.

I ask Judy if there is still a paranoia in Manhattan regarding terrorism...most definitely yes is the response. Judy along with many other citizens of Manhattan have a bag packed ready to evacuate at a minutes notice. The bag containing all necessary items including passport, social security papers etc. Judy is very pleased there are so  many smaller bridges over the northern end of the island, as they are mostly deemed not to be terrorist targets.

Lunch and then an afternoon relaxing before setting off for our pre-show meal at Sardis, close to Broadway. Sardi's restaurant started in 1927, moving to its current location in 1947. It is famous for the many caricatures of actors and actresses around the walls, as well as a few Mayors of NYC; it's also the place where the Tony (theatre) Awards were first conceived. The place is packed and the food is good, but not quite as good as last night's. The Broadway area is heaving as we make our way to the Gershwin Theatre to see Wicked.

Not sure this was intended to be one of my highlights, but I am blown away. The story/musical is loosely based on The Wizard of Oz, but it's pretty current, very witty, highly professional and the stage production is absolutely magnificent, I enjoy it very much. The theatre is fairly new and enormous, perhaps holding between 1,500 & 2,000 people, and it's full. We're five rows from the front, a little different from Lionel Ritchie, great seats. The black spot are toilets, just three for the ladies means it takes the queue over half an hour to complete, leaving many to find their way back to their seats after the start of the second half, disturbing others, ditto the mens', three toilets for maybe 700-1,000 unbelievable!

The day ends with wine and good chat back on the 29th floor, a fitting end to our whistle stop visit to New York, very in keeping with the city itself.

Spend today: checked luggage to Boston (card); 

Thurs 3rd: "It's OK, I'm here but I'm undercover, don't mention it to anyone else; this is the conversation I have with the lady in the ticket booth at the Metro as we buy a ticket to go down to a Ground Zero walking tour. She is so well hidden, with the sun shining on the window, I can only just see her with my hands shielding my eyes and face pressed against the re-inforced glass, and speaking through a special amplifier. At least she has a sense of humour which we both enjoy, as I purchase an "eight ride" ticket.

It's been a while since we rode a Metro anywhere, including the tube in London, and a couple of beggars remind us that "you never know whatcha gonna get". The first, to my European eyes is possibly Romanian, maybe Asian, but most likely Latino, and carrying a small baby. She carries a sign saying she is homeless, starving and needs money for food, but given that she is not far short of obese, and pregnant suggests she may be being economical with the truth. Next a shifty looking young black guy looks to see if he's got the right train, or so I think, but before you can say "Hold On, I'm Coming" he's in the carriage and singing to us, perhaps he's looking for Simon Cowell; begging is still alive and well in NYC.

On our journey back on the tube, I notice a large black lady of middling years, reading intently, and oblivious of the crush around her. I notice a few disconnected word on a page, ooooooh, aaaaaah, breast, sore, panting but I can't see the title of the book. She has no expression on her face, and is a most unlikely reader of such literature, but underneath who knows what is stirring. Eventually with Lorna's help we see the cover, Durty South Grind is not a book I've heard of, but it could be the next 50 Shades of Grey, and may be just what metro travellers need to recover from their daily grind.

The Ground Zero tour is very well done by Tony, a guy who was working in an adjacent building on the fateful day. He has around 20 people on his three hour tour, and at $35 a pop, it seems like a good work. He is very animated and tells the story of the Wall Street area very well, as well as the story of St. Paul's Church, the rebuilding of the area and ultimately the Ground Zero Memorial. I find it difficult when he tries to describe in some detail what the immediate aftermath of the toppling of the towers was like. I think he sets himself an impossible task here given the cataclysmic event; I don't think any words can possibly convey the full horror of what happened.

We are amazed that St. Paul's Church survived with not so much as a broken window, and then acted as a respite centre for all those involved in search and rescue operations afterward. When we first visited in 2002, the church was covered in flowers, messages, photographs and memorabilia of all those people missing, as was most of the area around GZ. That's all gone now, and the area is a construction site, and will be for a few more years yet. A new transportation hub is being built, but is two years late and $1.5B overspent, but two new skyscrapers are reaching completion, and they look magnificent, a testimony to the resilience of New York, the USA, and the human spirit. The taller, the new Liberty Tower, is 1,776 feet high complete with the radio tower, 1776 being the date of American Independence.

The site of the original towers is now a memorial garden, and the exact footprint of the towers are deep square holes with water cascading down each of the four walls into a further centre square hole. Around the two squares engraved in brass are the names of all the people who lost their lives, either working in the tower, or helping to rescue and recover people and bodies. Many of the people who died have never been identified, and no DNA was ever found due to the intense fires that burned for over 90 days after 9/11. Although crowded today, it is a very peaceful and reflective place, and a fitting memorial to all. Perhaps a visit in another ten years time will see the whole area completed, I hope so.

Dinner at Bistro Cassis is far and away the best meal of the trip so far, Cocquilles St. Jacques followed by Au Chocolat; I think Lorna and Judy enjoyed their meal also. Afterward a stroll down upper Broadway, a brief stop in an enormous Apple store and a quick look at the Lincoln Centre, we walk home to W 66th Street. I am surprised by the amount of rubbish lying by the side of most of the roads in the area, but Judy assures us that it will be collected overnight. My other surprise is the large number of buildings that are scaffolded, apparently for their five yearly inspection

Spend today: Lorna's Florida car hire (card); MaW Prudential Ride application (other card); Full island cruise tomorrow (card); dinner at Bistro Cassis (card)

Wed 2nd: A very smooth transfer from Memphis to New York, and we arrive around midnight at Judy's, just off Central Park, and on the 29th floor of a large apartment block, but more of that later.

Tuesday started with another pick-up from Blues City Tours, and a drop off at the National Civil Rights Museum. The first thing we notice is that the place is under refurbishment, and there is a one-woman protest in place outside. She is complaining that the $27M being spent would be better on a shelter for the homeless, rather than keep the violence and negativity alive through the museum.

Yet again the museum is very well done and we assimilate the history of African-Americans in the country, from notably a Supreme Court case in 1857 where a black slave lost his case for freedom when it was declared that a black man had no rights. Dred Scott had claimed his freedom when his owner moved from a slave state to a non-slave state. In 1861 the civil war started with one of the main issues being slavery, the south (Confederates) where slavery existed confronting the north (Union) where slavery did not at Fort Sumpter in North Carolina. The war was won by the union and in 1868, the 14th Amendment of the Constitution declared that all persons born or naturalised in the United States shall be citizens and enjoy full rights and protections under the law, so far so good.

In 1870 the 15th Amendment states that all citizens have the right to vote regardless of race or colour, however in practice many black people found it impossible to register to vote, whilst under threat of violence or loss of employment if they persisted. In 1896, the Supreme Court rules "separate but equal", a ruling that dictates race relations for the next 64 turbulent years with whites and blacks effectively segregated until the year 1968. The exhibits go on to explain the rise of the civil rights movements in the southern states of Alabama, Mississippi etc, and in particular the Southern Christian Leadership Council, SCLC, of which Dr. Martin Luther King was a prominent leader. His visit to Memphis in April 1968, is traced alongside the journey of his assassin James Earl Ray, and the fateful day of 4th April.

The museum is in and around the building from which Ray shot Dr. King, and you can visit the bathroom where the shooting took place, and then cross Mulberry Road to the Lorraine Motel, room 306, where Martin Luther King was staying.

We then follow the capture of Ray a month later by the Metropolitan Police in London. He is tried in the US, and eventually changes his plea to guilty to avoid the death penalty, receiving a 99 years life sentence. He dies in prison in 1998 having served 30 years. What is notable is that there is never any explanation of his motive, only the comparison of different conspiracy theories, that are never proven.

I found the museum very thought provoking, it's very easy to understand the unalienable rights of all men and women to be treated equally, but of course it all moves onto human rights, gay rights, etc. Lorna & I have a deep conversation about the pros and cons of gay marriage, and wearing of the full burqa..........at the end deciding it's a pretty complex issue, and very difficult to resolve without predujice. One thought, given the christian church background of so many of the black people striving for equal rights would be their stance on the gay question. As advocates of equal rights regarding race, would they have been, are they as keen advocates for equal rights regarding gender and sexuality?

After this the day consists of travelling, of which the most stressful is returning the rental car. First the location has moved, and then we are overcharged by $100 or so, but manage to negotiate back $70 of that as we have returned the car after the 10.00am deadline. Flights via Washington to New York are very smooth, and a cab has us in downtown Manhattan within $30, or 20 minutes. Judy's apartment in on the 29th floor, and the night-time view over Central Park is breathtaking.


Spend today: lunch @ Frank Grisanti's (card)

Tues 1st: Blues City Tours, a little shambolic, but they get there in the end. Today we have the Stax tour to complete, and a visit to Graceland, and so we're collected at 9am sharp, and after another pick-up even farther out of town, we reach the downtown ticket office by 10am. We agree to do Graceland first, and then Stax, but wait a further 30 minutes before anything happens.

The Graceland tour is excellent; it includes a visit to the 13 acre mansion that Elvis bought for around $100,00 at the age of just 22, and lived in with his parents and grandmother until he died aged 42 in December 1977. We discern three main phases to Elvis's career, firstly as the new rock 'n' roll sensation, then moving onto Hollywood and making over 20 films, before regenerating his singing career, primarily in Las Vegas. As a 21 year old, and already five years into his career, he made his first appearances in Las Vegas to a cool reception, and it was 13 years later before he returned to sensational reviews. Maybe it was the intensity of his time performing in Las Vegas that brought on ill-health and a dependence on prescription drugs, but he died of a heart attack in 1977. Having initially been buried at a local cemetery, he is now interred at Graceland along with his parents and is grandmother.

As well as the mansion there is a section displaying all his cars, a section devoted to the pivotal year (for America) of 1968, his two aircraft, a section covering his time in Hawaii, and the story of his early years in his home town of Tupelo. Elvis was a very charitable guy, and on top of his penchant for buying people Cadillacs at the drop of a hat, he gave money to many charities, and monies from the Elvis Presley Corporation which owns and runs Graceland still support a range of charities in and around the Memphis area.

Lunch, nearly on the hoof, is ice cream, and having asked for two scoops each we quickly reduce it to one scoop on seeing the size of the scoop. We spend well over three hours at Graceland, and are happy to be collected, as we are both humming "Blue Suede Shoes" continuously.

Now onto 962 McLemore Street, Soulsville USA and the Stax museum. Originated around 1960, Stax went broke in 1974, having struggled on after 1968 and the assassination of MLK. It appears the the great rapport of both black and white musicians up to 1968, changed as black consciousness increased following that period. Stax originated as Satellite Records around 1960, formed by Jim Stewart. When Jim wanted to develop on from Satellite he sought funds from his older sister Estelle Axton, and the two ran the company until its demise in 1974. The collaboration generated the name Stax, but it appears that Estelle was the driving force, and because it provided opportunities for musicians across the racial divide, it completely escaped the looting and vandalism that followed the assassination. MLK was assassinated at the Lorraine Hotel, very close to the Stax Studios, and one of the few places at the time that both black and white musicians could relax after a hard day at the studios.

Stax developed a review type show with many artists on the bill, and this was very successful in the US, but to the surprise of almost everyone, it was also a great hit in Europe. The review toured Europe in 1967, with shows in a number of European countries. I thought it was in 1970 I had seen the Stax-Volt tour at Finsbury, but as it turns out that Otis Redding was killed in an air crash in December 1967, it must have been the 1967 tour earlier in the year that I saw. It was compered by the great Emperor Roscoe, and the bill included Otis Redding, Sam & Dave, Arthur Conley, Eddie Floyd, Booker T & The MGs, Carla Thomas and the Bar-Kays, what a line up. I was 18 at the time, and I'm still wondering who I would have gone with, maybe Peter Gale, someone I lost touch with a long while ago, but we were definitely soul fans at the time, and much more Stax oriented than Motown.

The story doesn't stop there however. Yesterday our lady driver introduces herself as Duchess, and in discussion we learn that her father, Archie Love is a current member of the Bar-Kays, reformed after four of the original six were killed in the air crash along with Otis Redding. Last night Lorna googles Archie Love, and he is indeed the lead singer with the Bar-Kays, and it also transpires that he sings with his daughter Duchess. Never one to  miss and opportunity, Lorna raises this with Duchess this morning when she is again our driver. She admits to being a part-time singer, so Lorna asks her to sing a song, which she happily proceeds to do, choosing "A Change is  Gonna Come", singing while she is driving. Lorna asks why she is driving a bus, and she explains that singing jobs can be patchy and she has three children to feed, which seems entirely reasonable to us, but she has a fantastic soul voice, so maybe Simon Cowell should prick up his ears. To hear click The Duchess

All in all, another fascinating day, with one more museum to visit tomorrow, the Civil Rights Museum. The day finishes very pleasantly with a second meal at Frank Grisanti's next door at the Embassy Suites.

Spend today: Tours (card), Stax entry (card); cash withdrawal (card); dinner (card); US Airways, checked baggage (card)