Atlanta was uninspiring but had some good moments - met a 3D graphic artist and chatted computers for a while. Also, when I ended up stuck in a bar for 4-5 hours waiting for the next greyhound bus, I met some guys and had a good drinking session that I had to drag myself away from to not miss the bus ! I slept good that night...

And awoke in New Orleans which is very nice although a little heavy on tourists and scam artists ! It's my first day, so I won't say much yet, other than I've found an internet cafe to upload my camera pictures (finally) which should all be in place in the next day or two.

Sidetracking for a second - movie news !

Over the few weeks, being alone many evenings, I have digested a few movies and feel obliged to point out that Terminator 3 and The League of Extrondiary Gentlemen are dire movies barely worth seeing for the effects. Of the two, Terminator 3 disappoints the most, as it looks back at the "man vs machine" and then "machine vs machine" previous movies and reguritates those idea badly, adding nothing new, leaving predicatble turgid filth.

Bad boys II was funny though, and possibly better than the first one - making it one to add to the "sequels better than the original" film list - so go see that if anything :)

Motels have turned out to be the answer - although not so hot for meeting people you can get a nice room to yourself for $40. Also not so good for getting out and abuot downtown at night - as you are really relying on buses to get you there and back.

Anyhow, Nashville was Country-tastic, and then I moved onto Memphis where my accomadation problems worsened - there were 100mph winds raging the previous day and most places were without electricity, or in some cases, walls. So 3-4 hours of wondering around I got to a bar at the edge of town around 10pm, made a few last calls and gave up. And at this point Steve, the guy next to me at the bar, overheard my plight and offered me a floor to crash on - which turned out to be a floor with an airbed + beer + a rooftop pool. Both very hospitable and nicer than the places I've been paying to stay, even without electricity. Shower in the morning was a bit cold though...

So I saw the sights yesterday - Graceland and Beale Street. Most other things were shut down or wrecked by the storm. Then I got an overnight bus to Atlanta, Georgia.

Today I'm quite tired - and bitten. It seems me 'n' Steve had wing-ed friends in Memphis, and I now have over 100 bug bites all over me - there are over 40 bites alone on the inside of one foot ! Needless to say I am in some for of tired - itchy - irritable state and not really feeling up for this travelling lark - that and all the places are starting to feel the same. I think I just need some good rest, although given the volume of the parrot in the hostel I found, that may not happen.

Ok - I've got to Nashville now - but facing a small problem - accomadation (for under $50) ! The only option is looking to be a bus in and out of town for 4-5 miles to get to a "Motel 6" - which is my entire daily budget just on accomadation. Given I can then spend the next day on a Greyhound bus (free accomdation) I guess this balances out - but it still kinda sucks.

Europe was littered with Hostels I seem to recall - is the US just not so hot for Hostelling ? Answers / useful URLs for finding non-HI hostels on an e-mail :)

St Louis was the change of scene I've been looking for - it's mid sized town with a big arch as it's main attraction, but the hostel is located just south of downtown in the French Quarter, Sulard. Initially sceptical, I bumped into a few drinking buddies and discovered Sulard has bars on most corners, all hosting some excellent Rythmn and Blues music, and serving fine long island ice teas !

The people playing are all local and superb muscians - and there is a really nice vibe going around, as they invite other musicians up to play bass for this song, and then play this other song as it's someone in the bars favorite. It was the tonic I needed from big city tourism, so I've decided to extend my stay for a couple of nights and party some more.

Thanks for all the mails, apologies for those I don't have time to reply to ! It's really nice to hear what's going on at home, so do keep me posted. Saturday night I should be on an overnight bus towards Nashville or Memphis - pushing onwards into the southern states !

Chicago was loverly, weather was perfect and has some of the best architecture I've seen - expect many tedious building / skyline pictures when I find a decent internet cafe ! I saw some really goot art and stuff in the museums, making use of free days - one museum (the natural history or "dinosaur" museum) had cancelled it's free day, but when I said that I had no money and went to leave, the security guy let me in for free, saying that he'd been in England a while ago and they let him into the museums in London for free, so he was simply returning the favour. I hadn't the heart to tell him they are free to everyone all the time :)

I spent some time with a guy from Liverpool, Rick, who made an excellent companion for wondering around, laughing at stupid american things and going up the Sears tower with, but a terrible drinking companion as it turned out he was only 19, and ID laws are very strict out here. In the end I brought a 6-pack of bud lites and we smuggled them into the hostel TV / common room and sneakily drunk them like 14 year old kids in the park with cider. Turns out drinking your own purchased alcohol anywhere in the US is illegal, except in your own home - which kinda sucks for cheap drinking - bars are expensive.

Anyhow, final day in Chicago passed quickly with some Krispy Kreme donunts (v. nice) and fireworks in the evening (sponsered by Pepsi !) and then an overnight bus trip took me into St Louis where I arrived and promptly slept 3 more hours in the bus terminal, waiting for the day to start and the hostel to be open.

So, one overnight Greyhound bus later, and I'm in Detroit - CITY OF ZOMBIES !!!

Ok, not quite, but it was a very "28 days later" feelign as I wondered around the downtown area. All the shops were shut and no-one was around (Ok - so it IS 10am Sunday) - but over half the buildings are shutdown permanantly / abandonded - cardboard / wood boarding up the windows. I should also add that the one and only Detroit Hostel shut down a while ago. Along with most non-alcohol serving industries, it seemed.

So I was kind of getting the fear - I walked out of downtown up towards the "cultural center", which turned out to be about 2-3 miles along a long straight main road, flanked by shutdown buildings and a few remaining party haunts. Eninem was due to play that night, and I had a feeling that any minute I'd hear a growing roar, and in the distance, thousands of slim shady fans would comgin piling ove rthe horizon line, tanked on gin and juice and turn this way-too-quiet urban scene into a sprawling melee. Ok - I was tired and a little over-dramatic at this point - but I jsut needed to sum up my frame of mind for the record :)

So early afternoon I got back onto the greyhound and went over to Chicago where I am now. More on Chicago another time - but briefly, this is looking to be one of the best cities so far !

It's my last hour in Toronto - and indeed Canada - what better way than to spend my remaining Candaian currency that on the 'net ! (the answer is of course drinking beer - but I havn't got _that_ much Canadian cash left)

Toronto got better as time went on. I saw all there was to see of the CN tower - tallest building the world - so they say. I also met up with Laura tonight for food 'n beer and saw a few of the cooler side streets I had missed to my general patrol. One of the problems of big cities will always be that the real core and heart of what makes a place kick is often hard to get to - I think it took me 3-4 months to really get into London. The other problem is you need to certain level of cash too - another resource that is a little scarcer these days !

Oh, I also almost lost my passport here ! Left it under my pillow, changed rooms in the morning, and then around 8pm had this moment of horror when I realised what I'd done - fortunatley no-one had been near my old bed, so it was still there. Before anyone says anything - yeah, yeah, I know. Just let it go... let it go...

Anyhow, in a hour I am heading out to Chicago - it's a 12 hour coach trip. It's kinda a drag, as I wanted to see Detroit, and I had someone to meet whilst I was out there, but there are NO hostels in Detroit ! I could stop off for the day, but then I'll be running on 5 hours sleep and have to leave after 6-7 hours to get to Chicago (and a bed) for the night.

Better head on down that Greyhound terminal - and bag a loverly double seat for sleepage.

This post is coming to you North-side ! I am currently in Canada. "But how ?" I hear you ask - well, let me tell you.

From Washington I headed via Pittsburgh, which was a nice bite-sized city to take in, especially as it was a Monday, and everything is closed in Pittsburgh on Monday !... well, not everything, but all the modern art / museum stuff is, and there are only so many shots of the "neo-gothic" PPG building you can take.

So next I crused on up towards Buffalo, and during the trip was informed that Buffalo is no fun at all by a fellow traveller, Laura - who has been travelling way longer than me (I'm such an ameteur !) So we stayed on the bus chatting until Niagra falls, Ontario, where I jumped off and stayed 2 days to look at big waterfalls and generally go Oooh and Aaaah.

In Niagra, I hung around with Pete and Elin, a top class Dutch couple I met there, and we saw the falls by day (boat trip !) and night (pretty colours) and drunk some beers. All good stuff. But then, despite Niagras claim of having over 50 other things to do - all of them tourist traps to the last - I decided to head North into Tornoto, where I current find myself blogging.

No real news from Toronto yet - I am on day two but the weather has been rainy again, so I have put off going up the CN Tower ; "Oh look, it's a cloudy day for miles around !" ; until the weather clears up a little. The city itself has lots of intersting little districts (little korea is nice) which was good for food and probably fun to live near, but not really that exciting to be a tourist in.

Some good art was found in the ARO museum - and hopefully more in the Royal Ontraio Museum which is free on Fridays !... Because I should actually be out drinking beer, of course, but I'm a little skint and alone right here right now.

Next stop - Detroit - then onto Chicago.

Washington (DC) - seven bargain-tastic days chez John have been good fun. There has been tours of the cooler suberbs of DC, as well as the obligatory tour of large impressive buildings that you see on the movies (shortly before the aliens / terrorists / tenacious children blow them up). Also took a day to explore the Smithsonian Museums, as they are all free here, and get a bit of culture on. Modern art seems to be gripping my interest most of all at the moment - but then again I didn't get a chance to do the postal museum, so I'll never know which is best...

Independance day was nice and chilled. Lots of people hit the mall to drink, eat and play Volleyball. However, not a lot seemed to happen until the evening when the fireworks started - then 20 mins of blinding lights and booms (these were good fireworks !) - after which everyone clapped.... and went home ! It just felt like there should of been something more going on - 100,000 people all gatherd in one place to celebrate independance from some oppresive little island, you just think they would have more entertainment things to do.

Next stop : Pittsburgh on the way up to Toronto, via Niagra falls / Buffalo. After this it's internet cafes for web access - not broadband in my mates house ! So e-mails and blog updates may slow down a little.

Photos of my trip have been split into two albums. Firstly pictures of my travels, and secondly pictures of art and museums, to keep them seperate. Apparantly, you need to sign-up to view the photos - sorry about that - but it is worth it, honest !

Coming soon - pictures of mo travels ! Curteousy of the new digital camera I have ordered.
I'll be uploading pictures to my digital album, which currently has some photos taken over 2002 by my old camera - you can get there via the link on the left.

[edit] Found the camera for a bargin-tastic 35 dollars less than I was about to pay on-line in Office Depot, a sort of US version of Staples. Very unexpected and excedingly bargin-tastic. Photos to follow when I get John to hold still long enough :)