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  • United States – Nevada – Las Vegas – White Castle

    When I visited White Castle in January 2017 they had been open for a couple of years in this prominent Las Vegas strip location. But their move here was significant, it’s not a west coast company and this was their first opening in a new state for nearly 60 years.

    I like White Castle and their products, they’re also one of the pioneering fast food companies in the United States and were crucial in the evolution of the hamburger. They sell sliders with customers getting four in a standard meal, along with the crinkle cut fries. Looking at the current prices across the United States, customers can get 20 sliders for $10, something which sounds tempting even as I type this….

    The usual United States policy of unlimited refills applies here to sodas.

    And the food, with everything being served in its own cardboard protective packaging, which isn’t perhaps ideal for the environment. The buns and burgers are quite soft, but the onion adds a little texture and the meat is flavoursome. The crinkle cut fries, which the restaurant proudly announces have been served like this for nearly 100 years, are crispy and appropriately salted (for my tastes anyway). The environment is clean and comfortable and there’s a reasonable amount of seating.

    The service was exceptional, with the staff members being engaging and friendly. I remember the server introducing herself, a ridiculous level of engagement for a fast food restaurant when compared even to mid level casual dining restaurants in the UK. Service was fast paced and I’m now making myself miss White Castle…..

  • United States – Los Angeles to Las Vegas – Megabus

    Earlier this week I booked a trip from Las Vegas to Los Angeles on Megabus which cost the grand sum of $1 for the journey, which takes just under six hours. It’s a trip I’ve taken a few times, and the photos in this post are from when I did the journey in January 2017.

    The journey starts at the Patsaouras Transit Plaza behind Union Station in Los Angeles and ends at the South Strip Transfer Terminal in Las Vegas. The coaches on this route are clean, modern, have power and are at an appropriate nicely chilled temperature. There is also wi-fi, although this inevitably starts to cut out in the more desert areas.

    Unfortunately the Megabus service in the UK is a distant second best to the service offered by the west coast US Megabus service. The staff operate a system where passengers can get there early and pick up a card with a number on it, which is the boarding order. This is an excellent idea as it means the passengers can go and find somewhere else to sit or get food rather than feeling the need to hover by the bus. There’s also the option on the web-site of buying a premium seat to board early (those passengers get a different card), but I didn’t feel the need to board that early.

    I do much prefer train journeys to bus journeys, but this is a glorious little bus trip, through the scenery of the California and Nevada deserts and mountains. For $1 it is of course exceptional value for money and it’s always a delight to arrive into Las Vegas.

  • United States – Missouri – St. Louis – One Day Three Nations

    Three Flags Day was when on 9 and 10 March 1804 Spain gave Louisiana to France, who then gave the entire territory to the United States. What became known as the Louisiana Purchase took place in St. Louis. The Spanish flag was taken down on 9 March, the French flag flew for one day and then the US flag was raised. Very symbolic.

    Above is the site of the ceremony to mark the near doubling of United States territory. It was certainly an incredible piece of negotiation, the intention had been to acquire New Orleans from the French for around $10 million and instead they got 530 million acres for $15 million. Bargain.

  • United States – Missouri – St. Louis – Gateway Arch

    I didn’t get chance to visit the observation deck as it was closed during the time that I was in St. Louis, but this is the tallest arch in the world and the structure with the most stainless steel. The arch was built between 1963 and 1965 but the whole structure looks much more modern to me, so there must have been a lot of innovation involved with the whole project.

    The arch is so large it isn’t the easiest to take photos off…. It stands 192 metres tall, which is only around 40 metres shorter than Canary Wharf. As well as being 192 metres tall, it’s also 192 metres wide, otherwise I guess it might fall down…..

    The arch and the Old Cathedral, the oldest building remaining on the waterfront.

    The arch in the morning as the sun was rising.

  • United States – Missouri – St. Louis – St. Louis Zoo

    Unfortunately the mists of time have rather made me forget much of this visit to St. Louis Zoo from two years ago, but judging by the number of photos I clearly had a marvellous time. I do recall it not being particularly busy during my visit in January 2017, but it was a clean environment.

    Anyway, what do exist are a lot of photos, and here are some of them…..

  • United States – Missouri – St. Louis – Boathouse

    Between my visits to St. Louis Zoo and the Missouri History museum I decided that an interesting food option was the Boathouse restaurant. The zoo, museum and restaurant, amongst much else, are all located within the Forest Park which is towards the west of the city.

    Visiting in January inevitably meant that there wasn’t a chance to sit outside in the warm gazing over the lake, but instead it meant sitting inside near to the fire.

    And here is the wood burning fire….

    The food was fish and chips, and as usual the Americans do this rather well. The meal is, or at least was since I was there back in 2017, one of the specialities of the restaurant and although the presentation isn’t particularly noteworthy, it tasted of a decent quality. There was a crispiness to the batter and the portion size of tartare sauce was sufficiently generous.

    The reviews of this location on-line are a bit mixed, although it’s towards the better end of reviews overall for the city, but it was a warm and comfortable place to stay for a while. Service was attentive and polite, with the restaurant being busier than I had expected in January.

  • Malta – Southern Region – Birżebbuġa – Għar Dalam

    Located just to the north of Birżebbuġa is this prehistoric cave which is where the first evidence of human life on Malta is recorded, dating back nearly 7,500 years.

    The skeleton of a brown bear, one of the many animals which died in the cave.

    Part of the museum collection of the bones and other remains which were found at the site. There is a real focus on quantity, which isn’t unusual for the time, rather than displaying the most important pieces, but it looks quite impressive when entering the room.

    The museum has rather started to heap things up now, although I doubt that these displays have changed much in many years. I quite like the heritage of the displays in many ways, although the museum does perhaps need a little bit of an update.

    When they excavated the caves they found a series of different layers of bones and detritus, this is the deer bone layer dating to the period of 13,000 to 18,000 years ago.

    After the museum visit is the walk down to the cave, which I managed to time beautifully between two school groups. It’s very lovely that school groups come to look at historic sites, but I prefer them to do it just before I arrive and just after I leave.

    Views of the countryside whilst walking down to the caves.

    The entrance to the caves, fenced off to prevent vandalism which has unfortunately been a problem at this site in the past.

    An example of the different layers which were found at the site.

    The walkway, looking back towards the entrance.

    Views inside the cave.

    Visitors are limited as to how far they can go in case they stand on a woodlouse.

    This is the hippopotamus layer and these were on the islands until around 10,000 years ago. There’s also evidence of dwarf elephants which are when larger animals become smaller when in a confined area, such as Malta, because there wouldn’t otherwise be enough food available for them.

    Overall, a fascinating site, although more information panels at the site might have been useful to ascertain exactly what some features were. I had my Heritage Malta pass, but the entrance was only a few euros, worth it to imagine humans occupying these caves so many thousands of years ago.

  • Turin – National Automobile Museum – Lancia Aprilia

    Dating to 1948, this car was produced by Lancia and was designed with the assistance of a wind tunnel. The car was made between 1937 and 1949, so this is one of the later versions of the model. Lancia was later taken over by Fiat and I note that in an auction a car similar to this was listed at over £30,000. That seems a lot of money to me for an old car, but then again I’m not a car collector.

  • Turin – Echo by Marc Didou

    I was fortunate to be able to take a photo of this without people in front of it, it’s a popular location for people to take photos of themselves and friends. It’s a 3D sculpture by the French sculptor Marc Didou and it does stand out in its location near the Palazzo Nuovo.

  • Norwich – Fatso’s

    It’s many years since Fatso’s left Norwich city centre, when they closed their Prince of Wales Road location. This was then turned into Lost, a nightclub, and then more recently it has become Popworld, not somewhere that I am particularly engaged with….

    Anyway, the chain is back in the city, on the site that was previously Artorio’s, although I think that the owners are the same. I might visit at some point when it opens, just to check if it’s as I remember….