Tuesday 9th April Yay there’s sun! And finally my jet lag is over! But Miss Pinky I'm afraid at this point was still jet lagged. Both of us started the day a bit later than usual. We were very tired from day 3. I seemed to have had 10 hours sleep and had some paracetomol the night before because my hands were in pain and so I had a good nights sleep! :D This time I made breakfast. Toast, bacon (that had a lot of fat attached to it) and scrambled eggs. These were some of the items we had bought in Walmart. Then Miss Pinky decided to wake up really late, and then she decided she wanted fried bread rather than toast (luckily she came down in time before I made the toast for her!).
The night before we booked the free shuttle to take us to the station, but unfortunately the person in reception said it wasn’t booked... But we saw the girl book it! Anyway, we had to wait for a few minutes before we headed off. This time we purchased a 7-day pass which costs US $25 (approx. £16) per person. This time the machine was working!! We were at the Tourist Centre yesterday which is located in West End and just opposite the Court, and the person there said we could go to West Village which is like an area of boutiques and branded stores. It’s pretty easy to get to, but we weren’t given great directions to remember to get to the free tram. But Miss Pinky remembered that we had to go to St Paul. So we got off at St Paul Station as instructed but wasn’t sure on where to go next. So we asked a lady who was very helpful, and gave us good instructions on how to get there. She was correct as we saw the tram heading towards West Village! The tram is called M-Line Trolley and it is absolutely FREE to ride on!! First stop from St Paul is at Ross Avenue. It seems not only the tourists get this tram but also the local residents. :D Here's the Wiki page for you: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/McKinney_Avenue_Transit_Authority  |
| M-Line Trolley |
 |
| Inside the trolley |
 |
| Very simple steering gear |
 |
| Posters that look old! |
 |
| I swear they look old |
 |
| There's air-con on these trolleys! |
M-Line Trolley Service: http://www.mata.org/When we got to West Village, Miss Pinky and I decided to walk around for a bit before we hit the shops. So we spotted a school, lots of nice flats and a dead pigeon! ¬,¬"" |
| Nearby school in West Village |
 |
| Nice flats! |
 |
| Seriously... I don't know what possessed me to take a picture of this... It was a nice neighborhood until I saw this! |
We headed back afterwards towards the shopping area, and started to look around the shops. Went into GAP first, then a few boutique shops and a clothes shop that had a very chatty assistant... Not sure if Miss Pinky could compete with her! :) |
| West Village Sign :D |
After looking around and finding stuff, we decided to go for a drink. We had a look around, they even had a pub at the end of one street called Uptown Pub... But some of the places looked shut or probably not what we wanted to eat. In the end we took the M-Line Trolley, and went around a few streets / blocks, and decided we would check out a few more pubs, taverns and restaurants. We ended up in two pubs. The first one, the barman who I think is Irish, gave me a double vodka and 7-up... I was drunk after that!  |
| Forgot what pub this is called... The Idle Rich Pub |
Address: 2614 McKinney Ave, Dallas, TX, United States
Then we went to the opposite pub after that, which is called Blackfriar Pub. We were pub crawling around 2.45 pm!! I never do that! :D Both of us were extremely hungry, and I think we ordered way too much food than what we actually wanted. I have always wanted to try the Loaded Chips as I always see pictures on Instagram of them. I got that plus a pie. It didn’t look like a pie. A very odd pie actually!! The crust was put on top of a soupy-like chicken and mushroom filling. That’s not how you make pie!!! Seriously have a word Miss Pinky would say! :S I also had a weird mix of Guinness, coke and rum. I was seriously drunk by 4 pm! But was still conscious. |
| Blackfriar Pub |
 |
| Our drinks |
 |
| Loaded chips! I didn't finish it |
 |
| Didn't finish the chips... |
 |
| Odd Pie |
Miss Pinky had cheesy chips but she also wanted some mini chicken which apparently wasn’t ordered by accident in the end... Oh well... |
| So much cheese!!!!! |
Address: 2621 McKinney Ave Dallas, TX 75204, United StatesAfterwards, we took the M-Line Trolley again back to the last stop... We walked back towards West End Station instead of St Paul Station. Miss Pinky wanted to get my slightly drunken state out of the way... :) West End feels like a scary area, especially around the McDonald’s bit, but we were ok. I see these type of kids in London a lot (see picture in previous post).Got the train and the bus back to the Suites, and Miss Pinky decided she was still hungry and wanted to eat dinner. Wow. Miss Pinky was still hungry!! So both of us went back to reception. There was pasta and sweet bread. Miss Pinky had seconds too! Amazing. We were comparing British and American TV at this point. Some of the adverts you see on American TV is quite shocking. There’s a lot of medical advice... This also leads to the point of how and why do medical staff walk around in scrubs in the streets of Dallas? It amazes me a lot because in the UK you hardly see this, and I don't think it's allowed...
And finally Miss Pinky’s comment of the evening and after another long day out, she informed me that there was another shooting / stabbing in a Texas university... And also at this point I think Miss Pinky wanted to read my blogposts, which I am only posting up now. ¬_¬
End of Day 4.
p.s. The Americans were shocked at how the British reacted to Lady Margaret Thatcher’s death. They are appalled, and so am I, as she’s actually one of my idols of Britain even though she made all the wrong decisions during her time as prime minister. I respect her a lot! RIP Margaret Thatcher. By the way, I am not a supporter of the Conservative Party... I just like Margaret Thatcher :P
Day 5: http://asimplegeekylife.blogspot.co.uk/2013/04/dallas-texas-day-5-walking-around-inwood.html
