TravelStream™ news feed for member mrsdp on TravelPod's free travel blogs service http://www.travelpod.com/syndication/rss/mrsdp en-us Copyright ©2009 TravelPod.com Sat, 25 Apr 2009 08:32:32 -0400 http://www.travelpod.com http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/mrsdp/1/1233148380/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/mrsdp/1/1233148380/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/mrsdp/1/1233148380/tpod.html Sat, 25 Apr 2009 08:32:32 -0400 David and Lois' 6-month honeymoon around the world!

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New York City, New York, United States

Hi everyone Well, we got to New York safely by train, pulling into the underground Penn Station. (David: It was an ok journey - but quite frankly, Virgin Rail is infinitely better.) I had NO idea what the hell was going on at all. New York was David's job so he planned everything out, including the Hotel so I had no idea where we were staying, what we were doing or anything.  We got to The Library Hotel which was absolutely fantastic, including the staff and it was just off of 42nd Street so was slap bang right in the middle of everything. Our room was fabulously sumptuous with lots of brown leather and mirrors. They'd given us a bottle of champagne and chocolates, a basket of FREE snacks and water and they'd handwritten a little "congratulations" note to us with very beautiful arty writing. (We later found out Igor on reception had done the arty handwritten note on behalf of the reception boys). We also had iPod docks, sky tv, squishy pillows, it was gorgeous and really quite reasonably priced. After a short post-train nap, we decided to take full advantage of the FREE early evening "wine and cheese hour" upstairs. On the top floor every evening you could go and sit in the Hotel library, wall to wall books, and sip wine and eat as much as you liked of the free cheese and snacks while reading one of their books. I nearly made myself sick with frequent platefuls of Camembert! David had to step in at one point and get all disciplinarian! The next day we were up really early for a full day's sightseeing. First of all, we walked round the corner to Grand Central Station. It was stunning. I was only mildly disappointed because the station wasn't in black and white nor did it have a ray of sun streaming through one of the massive windows illuminating the main foyer. David reminded me that it was 2008, not 1938 and that we were in real life and not a photograph. It really was a beautiful piece of architecture. This station is the largest in the world with 44 platforms!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Obviously though, apart from a throng of people rushing around, there are also bookshops, cafes, bars and retail shops (103 to be exact!) to amuse you while you wait for your train.  Next, we made our way to the Empire State building nearby. Getting to the top of the Empire State Building was ludicrous! First, we had to follow the roped off path (we were the only people there at 10am) that snaked round and round and round to the metal detector x-ray scanning machines with a hustle of bouncer-type security staff. Handbags went through x-ray, pockets emptied, belts off. Next, another roped off path snaking round and round and round to the cashier (remember, we were the only people there!) then we had to walk around the labyrinth of beautiful art deco corridors with more roped off paths snaking round and round and round which resulted in a further abundance of staff, all with walkie talkies commanding each other like it was a military operation! When we got to the top, there were more security men loitering about! The view was actually stunning. We could see right down Wall street and up to where the twin towers once stood. You could see all along the river where the infamous 747 recently came down and landed in the water. You could see right over to Central Park. You could see Broadway. You could see for miles and the sun's rays were breathing down through the little clouds and it was fantastic. The actual building is beautiful. All art deco inside with shiny mirrored surfaces and ornate columns and coloured window panes. Very glamorous.  After this, we walked over to Broadway. This was incredible. Standing amidst a blazing bonfire of theatre signs, logos, advertisements. Like Las Vegas. And yellow taxis zooming past your face. (David: And nowhere near as seedy as I remember it being.) Next we walked to the Rockerfeller Centre and the Top of the Rock. Again, we were met with more security x-ray machines where we had to take our belt off...empty pockets..... get visually scrutinised. But, it was amazing at the top of here. The view over Central Park was just stunning.  The sun streamed down but it was really freezing cold nevertheless. The whole building is leased out to commercial tenants. One of which is NBC studios. After we'd gone to the "Top of the Rock" as it's known, we decided to do a studio tour of NBC. The idea was great. Unfortunately, the two girls guiding our VERY small group of tourists around was not so great. The girls were scruffy in their uniform, dragged their high heels as they walked along and recited NBC factual information with zero enthusiasm in their intonation. We could have been on a concrete factory tour for all their excitement! Nevertheless, it was interesting. We got to see the inside of the Today programme as it was filmed and then we got to sit inside a mock up of a News studio where two of us got the chance to read the weather and the news. David did the weather with utter magnificence and sarcasm and everyone applauded him and laughed. That's my boy! As we were leaving this tour later on, a member of staff ran over to our small group and said to our group leader, "Hey! Would any of your group like some free tickets to see......" "YES! YES! WE WILL!!!" David and I shouted out and jumped up and down before even allowing her to finish her sentence! Everyone else in our group just stared on in frozen silence. And so we got free tickets to sit in on a recording of the Conan O'Brien show. I'd never even heard of him so was very disappointed the free tickets were not for something more exciting! Well, he looked vaguely familiar and was supposed to be a very funny chat show host, comedian, jack of all trades. He used to be a writer on The Simpsons too!! We had to queue for about an hour before we could go into the studio. Although our seats were at the back, we had a good view of the stage. The warm up guy was good and chatted to us audience before the show. One guy in the audience had been discharged from the army after getting injured. "oh? What you think of Obama, Man?" The warm up guy thought he was on to a winner here: Bush indirectly causing this guy to lose his leg, clearly some Hallelujah Amens were going to be coming his way if he mentioned Obama. Barely a whisper of response came forth from the soldier: "We'll see". He'd been injured in a war Bush has brought about and STILL supported him?  The next day, we decided to go to Ground Zero and The Statue of Liberty. As we got off of the subway, we were soon met with a massive empty space of cranes, fork lift trucks and flashing lights which was all walled in with wooden construction boards. "is that the site?!" I asked David. It was but you weren't able to see a thing. I wasn't being gruesome. I mean, I didn't want to try and spot a finger or an ear amidst the traffic jam of JCB's but I wanted to see THE Space. Where It Happened. Over the road from the WTC site was The WTC Tribute Visitor Centre. The building used to be the Liberty Deli and after the terrorist attacks, food was served from here to survivors or rescuers and then later on was used as a despatch point for gloves, tools, medical supplies as part of the rescue operation. So, in 2003, The WTC Tribute Visitor Centre was opened by the Families Association as a place where the world can come and remember, pay their respects, learn.  We had to pay to go in and then immediately you were led around this small museum with large photos of the devastating day, personal accounts, reflections, videos of the towers coming down, as well as salvaged pieces of the Towers within glass cases, victim's and survivors belongings salvaged from the rubble within glass cases as well as some of the walls completely smothered from ceiling to floor in photos and printouts of missing people and pleas for their return. The tears didn't take long to come forward. I found myself reading, watching, listening and then really crying. Hard. It was heart wrenching. Even David shed a tear or two. So many people missing, so many dead. It was absolutely awful. One man was sobbing at the wall of photos. What was his story? Did he have one? Another man got his female companion to take his photo while he stood next to a glass cabinet that contained salvaged bits from a firefighter - singed uniform, blackened personal documents, smoky hard hat. What was his story? Downstairs in the museum, there was a 'session' going on. Some survivors were talking to us crowd of visitors about their experiences. One man who thankfully lived to see this day now worked at the museum full-time as did another lady. A lot of the crowd was made up of Paramedics and police who had been there that day. There was quite a lot of anger, still, from people. There was a group of Marines in there - one of which was a survivor from the WTC. We found the constant back slapping and self congratulation a bit weird, but then there were a lot of emotions running through the room. One of the official 'personal story tellers' was this woman, this was her story: "My family used to live in upstate New York. My husband used to work in Manhattan. He was here in Manhattan on the day of the attack. About 20 blocks away. I saw the attacks on the TV and phoned him. He was ok. He couldn't see much, or really knew what was going on. My son was also in Brooklyn that day. He didn't see much either. I was just so glad to get them home that night." Cue nodding of heads and sympathy. Outside the Visitor Centre, I looked up at the façade of this beautiful historic gothic building and noticed the damage from the attacks. I was going to take a photo but then felt tactless. We then walked down the road parallel to Ground Zero. This led us to an enclosed walkway constructed from scaffolding and wooden boards which then led to the entrance of One World Financial Centre. This shiny marble clad floor with ceiling to floor windows overlooks Ground Zero building works. In front of the windows, a tour guide was about to lead a group on a Walking Tour of Ground Zero. These tour guides are survivors and include their own personal experiences of that day on the tour of which buildings were damaged, how badly and what the future plans are for the area. I wanted to go on the walking tour but David was less keen. It was an upsetting experience. He was clearly moved so I didn't push it. Walking around One World Financial Centre was weird. It had suffered damage too. It overlooked where the Towers once stood. There were people wandering around staring out of windows, crying, reflecting. Emotions were still very raw this much on.  Outside, we walked down to the river. There were apartment blocks lining the footpath. What on earth must these people have witnessed that morning, as they sipped their coffees and got dressed for work? The sounds, the smells, the terror from the attacks occurring beyond the windows of their safe homes.  We walked along in the rain. David took arty photos of rain puddles and I reflected on the fragility of life. You just never know when your time's up do you? It made me realise that you just need to do what you want. So long as you're not hurting or deceiving anyone, just be happy. People will always mock, scorn or moan at you but they have their own reasons for doing so. Those poor bastards had a million dreams but they were whipped away horrifically. Seize every opportunity. And don't be afraid of what people think of you. You can't please everyone all of the time.  Thank you for your time........ We eventually got to the ferry terminal where we could go over to the Statue of Liberty. Inside the riverside 'portacabin' was row after row after row of massive x-ray scanning conveyor belts. The doors were opened for us by two security guards. The plethora of hovering security men on the scanning belts were blunt, un-friendly and commanded us to remove jackets, jumpers, shoes, our belts, empty pockets, place bags on belt, walk through scanning machines without so much as a smile, friendly gesture or "have a nice day". We were glared at, examined and shown the door to the ferry waiting room. Charming. The "waiting area" for the ferry terminal was dire. The canvas marquee roof was leaking so raindrops plummeted down past our heads to puddles around our feet. We had to sit and wait on wet, freezing cold metal benches while the plastic windows flapped in and out with the gale force winds. It was bleak and freezing. What a welcome to The Statue of Liberty!!  However, the Statue of Liberty was incredible. It was fantastic to be there, standing underneath her. She was absolutely massive. Now, the next saga. To get into the Statue of Liberty involved yet more high security. Sigh. After the short walk through the plastic marquee corridor from the riverside gardens, we were met with more security scanning x-ray machines.."jacket off, sweater off, shoes off, belt off..empty your pockets...this way..." with again more warmth and friendliness than a smack round the head with a sack of bricks. We were again, stared at, scrutinized, body-scanned, moved on, watched, as we retrieved our belongings, replaced our coats, belts. Horrid. No need for that at all. If we got through the ferry security debacle without our shotguns, where are we going to find one now?? Under the bushes in these gardens??! And don't forget, without sounding arrogant, WE tourists pay YOUR wages. So give us a flipping smile for god's sakes, you're not in flaming Vietnam!!! (David: I asked one security guard if there was another way on the island other than the high security ferry we'd just been on. "No there wasn't, no way at all." Then why on earth do they feel the need for another security check? "Just in case some terrorist hasn't jet skied to your high security boat and thrown you a device." Well, yeah, that might happen. If say, I was Bruce Willis and the guy on the jet ski was Jackie sodding Chan - incidentally, what measures do you have in place for stopping some terrorist attempting a HALO jump from 60,000 feet with a stick of dynamite between his teeth? Luckily they still let me in.) Inside, the Statue of Lib was stunning and huge and echoey. I noticed on one plaque on the wall as we entered the ground floor foyer, that it said "as from September 11th no visitors are no longer allowed to access the crown of The Statue of Liberty." No reasons stated. Sigh. We walked through the museum looking at the history of it, old photos etc until we got to a gallery type room with wall to wall historic paintings. A security guard asked me if I was having a good day, if I was enjoying the visit. I said yes with hesitation but swiftly followed with "...but if this statue is seen as a symbol of Freedom why can you no longer access the crown?! There's not much freedom there!" I was then told that it was closed on September 11th due to security and health and safety reasons. I said "because of 911?" but this was firmly refuted. "absolutely not ma'am. Just a coincidence is all". Coincidence my hairy arse cheeks. America has a knee jerk reaction to everything that could be targeted by terrorists. I responded: after all the IRA attacks we've had in the UK, we just dusted ourselves down and got back on with life. After the tube bombings in London, we got back on the tube the next day and back on the buses. We can't let them win I said. THEY want us to be scared of THEM and you're playing right into their hands! This didn't go down well though AT ALL.  After a heart-attack inducing number of stairs to as far up as we could go, we were met with another security guard reading his paper. We got chatting to the guard. He was really friendly and we exasperatedly related our experiences of the mad security x-ray machines down below and he gave a dozy half-nod and said "Some of us said it's a bit over the top but them's the rules". He told us that they do get a lot of daily terrorist threats on the statue. Most are hoaxes but one a few years ago was confirmed as genuine. Blog fans, listen up because THIS is DESPICABLE!!! He said that on this one day he turned up for work and he was the only security guard along with ONE other Police Officer. ALL of the other Security staff working at the statue, over 20 security staff and 30 Police, ALL called in sick that day because of the terrorist threat they had received!!!! (David: So there you have it. You want to blow up the statue of liberty? Well, call in a threat and then you can walk right in, because everyone will have run for the hills.)  The next day, we walked over to Radio City Music Hall for a tour of the famous theatre. When we went to the Rockerfeller Centre a few days ago, we got a combined ticket for both attractions. There was only 3 of us on the tour and we were shown around by this lovely friendly man in his pristine uniform. The theatre is absolutely exquisite from the moment we were led into the main foyer. The theatre was opened in 1932 but in 1979 due to the rising popularity of 'movie-houses' visitor numbers were dwindling rapidly so the theatre was subsequently closed down. A demolition order was put on it and it was ready to be turned into office space. However at the nth hour, a fierce protest and support erupted for the historic building to be saved and so the entire place was refurbished, identical to how it would have looked when it first opened in 1932. Thank god. The theatre is absolutely stunning with art deco décor, furnishings, textiles, seats, lighting, everything. It really is like stepping back in time. Beautiful. See this site for a full history of the theatre. http://www.radiocity.com/about/index.html Everyone and anyone has played here from Marilyn Monroe to Sammy Davis Jr to Ella Fitzgerald, BB King, Barry Mannilow and The Eurythmics. There are photos adorning the walls.  We had a fantastic tour, including walking onto the stage and looking out to all the seats. I felt like doing a tap dance there and then. If I could tap dance. Or even just dance. The auditorium is absolutely flaming massive. You feel like a tiny pin head on stage when faced with the sea of seats beyond you. We got to meet a Rockette backstage. The Rockettes are a group of dancing girls doing synchronised high kicks and dance in a chorus line while wearing the most beautiful outfits. They were formed in 1925. The Rockette we met was lovely, all smiles, long legs and red lipstick. It is a truly stunning building and I'm so glad it was saved from demolition.  Later, we went to the world famous FAO Schwarz toy store (as famous as Hamleys in London.)  I was very excited about coming here. This was where Tom Hanks famously played the 'floor piano' in the film Big. Originally opened in 1870, the name derives from its founder Fredrick August Otta Schwarz. I was expecting glamour, glitz, fun, BIG stuff, a heaven of childhood. I was really disappointed though. Yes, there were big cuddly dinosaurs at the top of the escalators and yes there were staff in aisles flying toys around your head and inviting you to try it (which we did - good fun!) and yes there was the fantastic Muppet Workshop where a man would make your own muppet that looked just like you....for the meagre price of $90. It was good fun place but actually Hamleys in London is far more energetic, exciting, interactive and much much bigger. FAO just didn't ooze with fun and excitement for me. Perhaps it was because we went to FAO during the week, maybe it was a different vibe at weekends..... (David: There was however a fantastic underground Apple store just outside. You entered by going into a vast glass cube above ground and going down a glass elevator.) We walked up 5th Avenue where FAO was and found ourselves surrounded by the Trump Tower, Playboy Mansions, Gucci, Yves Saint Laurent, Hermes, Versace. We went into the Trump Tower to have a look. David had been here before years ago. We only went to ground level and to the café in the basement. It was very gold! With an indoor waterfall and shiny floors and a Trump gift store where you could buy a mug! Quite interesting. Can't see Alan Sugar wanting his face on a mug! We took a wrong turning actually but as we were retracing our steps suddenly a police van roared up, stopped all the traffic, closed the road off and caused a massive traffic jam of waiting cars and buses. Behind him, waited a queue of flashing police cars ready to drive down the road. David and I stood and watched, excitedly. We were sure it could be Obama coming along, with that much security or maybe they were filming a scene or something. There must have been about 25 police cars all flashing their lights and cruising past us at about 5mph in one long line. However, there were no blacked out limos amidst them, no camera crews, no state flags flying, no waving celebrities or state politicians. Just a calvacade of police cars and then the road re-opened. Odd. And so New York resumed its journeys once more...... On our final day, as our flight was at night, we packed up, checked out and then walked....for miles........all around. We got to a massive building with a million flags flying, security and steel gates and tourists milling about. Turned out to be the UN headquarters. You could go in and have a tour. But first, of course, the security debacle. Belts off, shoes off, jackets off, bag inside, body scanned, move on. Sigh. (David: But this one was at least done with a bit of a smile, efficient but friendly and relaxed.) The building was vast with photos everywhere of past and present presidents and ministers. Unfortunately, we couldn't get on a tour soon enough so we just milled about. Next, we strolled to Central Park. It was indeed the size of China with little stone bridges over the river, meandering paths, tennis courts and football pitches. The ponds and lakes were completely frozen over still from the remnants of the snow. It was beautiful place. We managed to get some stunning photos as the sun was setting over New York. Quite appropriate as this was the end of our honeymoon. It was like the sun was going down and it was now the end of our adventure. It was getting really dark now and as we neared the main road out of the park, I suddenly grabbed David to stop him walking along the path. Before us, was a racoon!!!!!!!! Scamping about and then bolted up a tree!!! What a chance sighting! I had never seen one before. In the taxi to the airport, we were both very quiet. That was it. The end. 9 months of absolutely mental crackers adventure, culture, joy, fear, anger, education, laughter, tears, photos, blogs and airports galore!! Time to go home. It had been a truly amazing experience which we recommend to one and all. If you have, time, money and inclination. Do It! It changes you.  Love us xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
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Boston, Massachusetts, United States

Hi everyone Well, finally, we got to Boston and grabbed a cab to our Hotel we had pre-booked in Montreal. Hurrah!!! It was right next to Harvard......but right in the middle of a highway!! Not so Hurrah. But the views of Harvard from our bedroom window and the river below were magnificent.  As the Hotel was a hop and a leap from Harvard University, most of the guests, we figured out, were parents and grandparents of new students and the new students themselves. Why else would a snogging couple in their 20's wish to be situated in the middle of a highway? We had dinner in the Hotel restaurant and planned our 2 days of sightseeing. Sigh. We were so close to going home. We really didn't want to go home but we were running out of steam really. Up early the next day, to a room full of blinding sunshine. Lovely. We got all togged up in our Michelin man of hats, coats, gloves, scarves etc as it'd also been snowing here and decided to go and explore Harvard, one of the world's most famous and notable Universities. To get there was only a 15min walk across the bridge over the river. The river was just a long snaking expanse of iced up water surrounded by Sunday traffic roaring past it. You could just imagine Dickensian children skating up and down. Far too dangerous nowadays though...you might break a fingernail on the ice after all... Soon we got to the heart of Harvard's shops. Much like any other University City, there was a plethora of book shops, coffee bars, record shops, clothes shops etc. We went into a heaving starbucks and we people watched for a while. There were students, lecturers?? with heavy briefcases, parents catching up with their Harvard kids and nodding in all the right places, tourists like us gazing at the ceiling, floor, out the window, at maps. Definitely tourists!  Harvard was a fascinating place. A private University, it was originally founded in 1636 so is the oldest educational establishment in the US. Apparently, it was named Harvard after a Clergyman (called Harvard...funny that) donated his library of books to the University. There are approx 2,500 professors!! Harvard Library is believed to be the 4th largest library in the world after The British Library in UK. There are approx 15million volumes of books and 80 separate libraries at the University!!!!!! JFK, Roosevelt, Obama and Bush came to Harvard. (Bush??!) Jack Lemmon, Natalie Portman and Tommy Lee Jones came here too. As a result of all this history then, the architecture was lovely!! With big red brick buildings and tall glinting sash windows, cast iron ornate gates leading into tidy, pretty lawn and gravel gardens abundant with overhanging trees and cast iron benches collecting snow. Jogging along the river was also the popular form of exercise. Made me exhausted watching them all, like a flaming marathon!! We photographed squirrels nibbling nuts in the snow, photographed bicycles buried in the snow...photographed trees in campus courtyards smothered in snow.....snow was a big part of our day again! The next day, we decided to go on the Freedom Trail around Boston. Because Boston has such a rich colonial history, the Freedom Trail, over 2-3 hours, takes you around all the various notable buildings and landmarks that made Boston the City it is today. Quite a fascinating walk. I know my husband is absolutely flipping genius when it comes to navigating his way around a city/town he's never been to before: one look at a map and he's memorised every street, turn, roadsign and never fails in getting us to our destination perfectly. However, he failed to tell me he cheated on the Freedom Trail walk as in fact all we had to do was follow the red "Freedom Trail" line specially painted on the roads and pavements to guide you. Trying to impress me again, you see! Sigh! (David: There are criteria on how you're meant to navigate these days, are there? I might be ok at reading a map and figuring out where I am, but if someone is considerate enough to paint a dirty great red line through their streets I'll follow that. I call it the path of least resistance.) I won't detail every single site along the Trail as I will be writing a 16-page blog which some of you will probably not appreciate but some of the notable sites were Boston Common, where we started, which looked much like Hyde Park including a small gathering of bodies trying to resurrect Jesus through the medium of sound. They thought they'd done it and looked aghast when the ground rumbled beneath them but then David pointed out (to me) that it was just the subway. Oh, how we laughed at the Jesus-ites. This then led up to the Massachusettes State House built in 1798 which was beautiful. Benjamin Franklin statue - he was one of the founders of the USA. Quincy Market situated in Faneuil Hall Marketplace which was a stunning building. The area looked exactly like Covent Garden with cobbled streets and small shops and stalls. Faneuil Hall was built in 1824 and served as an indoor food marketplace. Today it is a plethora of fast food stalls from curries to Chinese to corn dogs to burgers to teas and coffees (David: Appropriate puns and references to history come free of charge with the tea.) Beautiful colonial building. The Old North Church was built in 1723 and inspired by Christopher Wren's buildings. Bells were rung here as a signal in 1775 for Paul Revere's midnight ride that preceeded battles in the American Revolution. Paul Revere was a messenger during the American Revolution. His midnight ride is famously symbolic with America, when he was instructed to ride from Boston to Lexington to warn of the British Army who were leading a march. The British Army were stationed in Boston when the ports were closed after the famous Boston Tea Party, and so our Army were under surveillance by Revere because of word that we were starting to move. (David: Can't help but be a bit cynical here, Reveres story sounds very much like the battle of Marathon story.) It was a great walk ending in Bunker Hill Monument commemorating the Bunker Hill Battle. There is a 221foot obelisk standing proud on a hill, accessed by a million steps. We were knackered by the end and walked back to the subway through little Boston streets with very expensive boutique shops and ladies who lunch in heels in the snow escorted by men in wax jackets and brogues. It was just like walking through Chelsea in London, quite frankly. Boston seemed like a really lovely place actually. Not only was the architecture colonially beautiful but it was a very friendly place with tons of history. Our next stop was New York. Our final destination home. Sob...sob...sob... Love, us xxxxxxxxxxxx
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Montreal, Quebec, Canada

Hi everyone Well, we got to Montreal eventually and had nowhere to stay. After a half hour standing at the stations information desk and quietly arguing between ourselves about whether to at least try the full on very pricey station hotel just to see what their prices were like as it was closest to us and we had no car after all or whether to just go straight to the tripadvisor top recommendation that is in fact just apartments and not actually a Hotel although it calls itself a Hotel, we decided to risk it and get a taxi and go to somewhere COMPLETELY different that we just plucked out of the stations Informative Hotel Finder brochure type affair. Sigh.  We got lucky. Phew! They had rooms. It was nice. It was a very central Hotel and we were both knackered from travelling so we stayed in our room and watched Obama's brilliant inauguration to the world with Michelle Obama beaming away with pride. It was great to watch. The next day we went for a wander. We decided to head for the old part of Montreal. It was snowing here too but not as heavily. However, it was just as cold, -20 with wind chill. Positively tropical compared to -30 of Quebec! To get to the old part, we had to walk through a bit of the modern new part. Montreal is a City, like any other city. Sorry to be so uncolourful about it. There was traffic zooming about. There were sky scrapers. There was a subway. Starbucks everywhere. A big Apple store. (David: Opposite a Starbucks... so free wifi was had by all, courtesy of Apple. Oh, and just to be a bit weird: strip clubs next to toy shops...) There were different districts that you had to get a taxi or subway to get to. It was a city through and through.  We eventually got to the old part however and it was beautiful. But in a very London kind of way. Like old Dickensian buildings with cobbled streets. Very different to Quebec City with its gothic architecture and ornate turrets. We were hungry so decided to go into the first café we came across. This proved to be absolutely wonderful! We were instantly greeted by an overwhelming wave of heat from within which was gorgeous. Then our ears were treated to a deafening stream of french music with staff hip-swinging along with trays balanced on their raised hands and laughing with each other across the room. The place was heaving to the rafters with French artefacts, sketchings, plastic onions swinging from the ceiling (really!), french loaves in big baskets, dusty bottles of red wine lined up behind the bar...great place. We were very warmly greeted by one of the waiters who went berserk when he learnt we were on honeymoon and typically said in a melodic french lilt "howz e bout some wine...my lovebirrrds to zelebrate ze 'appy occccasion?" didn't take me long to decide. And indeed the small carafe of red wine surely warmed up our cockles indeed! From then on we were nicknamed the lovebirds by our waiter and anyone entering the café from thereon soon knew who we were! Sigh! We both ordered a salad as that night we were due to go out for a big meal with friends. However, this soon proved to be a mistake. Our salads were MASSIVE. Like a main meal. After 30mins it looked liked we'd barely touched it and I really hope we didn't offend the waiter as his face was a painful contortion of shock when he came over to our table! We walked all through the old town and then back to our Hotel through the main centre. Montreal seemed like a very nice City but at the end of the day it was a City and I'm afraid I just can't really come up with anything magnificent to say about it. The old city was lovely, the choice of shops was good...erm......the streets were wide, erm.......well, look, we were only in Montreal for 2 days. 1 of those days we were to spend alone, the other day we would be staying at our friend's flat but while they were out to work we would also be free to go and sightsee etc. However, we were right at the end of our honeymoon. Sightseeing was not enticing us anymore. We were seriously running on empty now.  That night, we checked out of our Hotel and went to Trina and Ethan's flat with our suitcases. Ethan used to work with David. They were American, lived in Warwick in the UK for a while before moving to Montreal for work but also because they preferred Canada to USA. Trina was absolutely lovely and after sitting and Chatting and David catching up with her after so many years, we drove off to the Thai restaurant where we would meet Ethan after work and Ben and Hilary (Ben also worked with David, Hilary was from China). Everyone was so lovely and friendly and we had a fantastic Thai meal. Everyone was intrigued to see if it was as good as food we'd had in Thailand. It came close! Absolutely delicious. The restaurant was incredible. With mounted elephant statues, ornate columns and beautiful flowery artwork on the walls. However, the toilets were magnificent!!! They were decorated like a dark sensual chamber of luxuriousness. Outside the cubicles was an ornate mirror. Directly underneath was a long oblong grey slate sloping down towards a long oblong slate 'trough' sitting on top of a simple wooden bench. Beside the square trough was a silver handle (looked like a toilet flush handle!) I wondered where the taps and water were! After a few minutes of wondering, and out of curiosity, I swivelled the silver handle just to see what would happen and I got a shock when water trickled delicately out of somewhere beneath the mirror and onto the sloping slate and into the trough. It was beautiful and soothing and gentle like a trickling river and just the sort of thing we found when we were in Thailand.  Trina and Ethan put the sofa bed up for us in their flat. It was comfortable and we had a good sleep...well, actually, I had a great night's sleep, but I think David suffered as usual with my diagonal sleeping and duvet-hogging! The next day, both Trina and Ethan had to go off to work, we were free to stay in their flat or wander around some more. We decided we'd have a coffee first and then head out for a wander around. We had the coffee.........and.........we eventually headed out late in the afternoon. We had a gorgeous slovenly day in front of the tv. Daytime tv around the world is all the same....women on benefits or crack cocaine taking live DNA tests to see who the father to their teenage child is..while screaming obscenities at both the father, the show's host and the audience. (David: Or it'll be the binge drinking problem. Every country seems to think it's their problem and their problem alone. I suspect the phenomenon of media focus is the real issue. I even saw a report on the problem in New Zealand comparing them with the UK, and how the UK doesn't seem to have the problem!?! A bit like how we compare ourselves with the French. It's a funny old world.) Sigh. But we had no choice, we had to go out of the flat as the next day we were getting a bus to Boston and had to go to Montreal station in person to buy the ticket.  Montreal subway was easy to navigate so thankfully we got to the bus station, bought our ticket and went straight back to the flat. It was lovely not having to go sightseeing, not having to check into a Hotel, not having to go anywhere, do anything, see anyone. Bliss. Eventually, Trina and Ethan came home and they cooked us a delicious spag bol that we ate while slurping red wine and chatting about our travels. Afterwards, good ole Ethan got out his Rock Band Playstation game where you play in a rock band and karaoke along to songs. As part of the game you get plastic guitars and a drum kit!! And a microphone!! I was on bass guitar, david on 'normal' guitar, Trina singing and Ethan drumming. You have to look at the tv and follow the colours pertaining to different notes on the different instruments in order to play accurately! It's like a colour-by-number, 'simon says' type scheme. However, so simple you would think but I was an absolute cretin on guitar and often came last "letting the band down". Oh well. Ethan was a mad crazy Phil Collins on the drums!! I'm not sure he blinked once! Trina crooned away like a sultry star, David was his usual melodic great self. Trina and I swapped places at one point and I sang my heart out, it was great fun and a really great game to buy. The next day was our time to leave Montreal and head to Boston by bus. David and I left with Ethan and Trina on their way to work and Ethan gave us a lift to the station (David: It was great to catch up with them both, and see Ben) The bus was Greyhound and was really comfortable but it was packed. It was going to take us about 8hours including the border crossing between Canada and the USA. The border crossing was quite funny. Much like our entrance into Los Angeles, we got interrogated. "where you from.....when did you arrive.......how long are you staying.....where are you staying.....what is the purpose of your visit....when are you going back to the UK....what is your job....." and so it went on, short quick fire questions. Quite scary. No smile. No jokes. No nicety. (David: Well, Lois went first and answered all those questions... then he just said to me: "Same as her, then?", "Yes.", "ok, have a nice day.") Lois: I wish I'd gone first. I felt like a flaming prisoner!! It was good to get back to the comfort of our bus. Scary interrogation. So! Go forth to Boston, Driver!!! Love, us xxxx
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/mrsdp/1/1235008800/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/mrsdp/1/1235008800/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/mrsdp/1/1235008800/tpod.html Wed, 25 Feb 2009 20:03:53 -0500 David and Lois' 6-month honeymoon around the world!

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Quebec City, Quebec, Canada

Hi everyone Well, we dropped off our hire car and caught our train to Quebec. The journey, via Montreal, was smooth and fine. We were given meals and drinks and we had our i-pods and everything was really cosy. Although long. We got to Quebec at 9pm and Ashley came to meet us with Diane, his girlfriend and his beautiful daughter, Michelle, aged 6. She looks like a princess with long blonde hair and the biggest blue eyes ever. So adorable.  They live just outside the city centre in a really lovely quiet residential street with big tall threes but the snow was ridiculous!! It looked like their house had been snowed in!!! I'm not talking inches of snow here, I'm talking FEET of snow! Well, after 10mins, Diane went off to get her pyjamas on and when she did this I knew I'd love her! She obviously felt very comfortable with us which was fantastic! Ashley, David and I sat about drinking Baileys and catching up while I did some colouring in with Michelle! Very therapeutic!! The next day, Sunday, Diane set out such a wonderful breakfast!! Fruit, toast, croissants, cereals! It was like being in a Hotel. They were such lovely hosts and made us feel like old friends. Afterwards, Ashley opted to show us around Old Quebec City. I really wanted to see the old architecture. But first of all, before we ventured out in the car, we had to shovel the driveway!! Overnight, the snow had buried the car!!! So, David, Ashley, and Michelle with her tiny shovel, helped dig while I took photos! Michelle came into the City with us but Diane stayed at home. Unfortunately, the weather that day took a turn for the worse. It was a blizzard. You couldn't physically look up or your eyelashes would become stalagtites! It was beautiful but absolutely spine-chillingly sub-zero freezing. To be more precise, -30 including the wind chill. So, Quebec City is the capital of Quebec and is one of the oldest cities in North America. The predominant language is French. Unlike parts of France where, if you can't speak any French then locals get very irritable (although I've always tried to converse in France so I've not yet met an unfriendly French person), in Quebec everyone is just lovely and if you only speak English then they will smile and be friendly and teach you a few words of French, if you are willing to learn. French Canadians seemed very hospitable indeed.  The Quebec architecture is absolutely beautiful and charming and really feels like you are actually in France or at least a European City with small winding alley ways, stone buildings, big iron gates and ornate windows with shutters. It's quite gothic in places too. If you have seen the film, "Catch me if you can" with Leonardo Di Caprio, parts of it were filmed in the small square here outside the church. (David: The bit near the end where he's caught in his massive printing press room.) Quebec City is a bit like Canterbury in Kent or York as it has managed to retain the old City walls where most of the stunning architecture stands today. We walked into the Chateau Frontenac Hotel, to thaw our cheeks from the Arctic freeze outside. This is a stunning building sitting atop a hill with an ornate iron promenade down below where you can look out over the Saint Lawrence River. The Hotel was actually built for the Canadian Pacific Railway in 1893 as a means of attracting more 'high class' travellers to their trains! It stands tall and proud and inside it is opulent and sparkling and beautiful with chandeliers, marble and mirrors. It was also used in a Hitchcock film "I believe". (Never 'eard of it!)  We went for lunch at this restaurant/café in the centre that Ashley frequents. It was a typically French affair with checked tablecloths, wooden chairs, happy jingly french music and very smiley French speaking staff! It was warm and cosy, I had THE most incredible French onion soup with soggy bread and onions - OH GOD! - and we all had a 'bowl' of coffee!!!! You could swim in it! It was a fantastic atmosphere. I made some mickey mouse ears out of napkins for Michelle who took great delight in putting them on all of our heads and then wetting her knickers at the sight of it! Her favourite game was also "where's the scarf/hat?" which basically involved hiding the said article and then getting one of us to guess where she'd hidden it! Bless her. When you're 6 years old, sticking a scarf under your bum is a truly ingenious place for hiding a scarf..NO ONE will guess it is there!!  The walk through the City was fascinating. Quebec City completely grabbed David and I by the heart strings because of its beauty and history and architecture. More importantly though, we adored the snow. You just don't get snow like this in the UK. What we get in the UK is a heavy frost! The average snowfall in December is approx 30inches!! (about 3 foot approx). However, while we were there it was more like 5 foot - no exaggeration! Everything just looked so serenely exquisite. Like a magical Disney film. In summer in Quebec City, the average July temperature is approx 35!!! What a great place to live! In Quebec City the week end when we would be in Montreal, sadly, was going to be the Red Bull Crashed Ice Race. This is an ice skating race held in Quebec City every year where skaters have to compete with each other skating through Old Quebec City along elevated (built with scaffolding) iced slopes to include jumps, stairs and hairpin bends along the route. It looks lethal! Apparently, the average speed of a skater along this route is approx 60mph!! Go to www.redbullcrashedice.ca for more info and some incredible pictures!! So, while we walked around the City we witnessed the vast preparations for the elevated iced course with TV presenters practising their scripts from atop the slopes, firemen checking safety conditions, workmen hosing the ice down...really interesting. (David: Including the discovery that you can indeed make ramps and slopes out of ice. Helped, I'm sure by the utter coldness: heat is literally sucked away here in Quebec.) To complete our snowy trek, Ashley kindly took us to Dollorama - basically "the pound shop"! David and I had pashminas as scarves, useless large-knit Peruvian gloves - or no gloves AND no hat in David's case. It was Aladins Cave.  We got togged up like Michelin Men then went back home where I did more colouring in with Michelle and relaxing on the sofa in front of the tv. Blisssssssss. The next day, David and I headed out alone. Ashley had booked us onto a Dog Sledding activity!!!!!!!! I was hopping with excitement and couldn't get out of the door quick enough. Diane and Ashley offered us their car to borrow to get us to the dog sledding place, about 30mins away. It was so generous of them! We'd met Ashley, a random stranger, on the train journey through the Rockies, and he'd invited us into his home with his family, where we were given home cooked food, a comfortable bed, hot showers and now they were lending us their car!! They were so incredibly generous! David and I were very lucky. So, with our Sat Nav we got ourselves, eventually, to the Dog Sledding forest. I say eventually because the snow was coming down thick, the roads were an ice rink and all the salt on the roads resulted in the windscreen looking like you were peering through net curtains instead of glass!! The windscreen wipers were great..when the water wasn't frozen!  As soon as we got to "Aventure Inukshuk", the lady took one look at our summer anoraks and jeans, tutted at the stupid English people and threw us some mega ski-trousers, mega knee length Michelin-Man coats and yeti-sized ski boots to haul on. I couldn't wait for David to finish wrapping himself up, so I ran outside to where all the dogs were kept and I............WENT CRACKERS!!!! They were so GORGEOUS!!!! They are all chained up to their kennels because when they see people all they want to do is play, lick your face, be stroked, tickled, fondled, loved and walked so if they weren't tied up they'd go nuts and probably start fighting with each other. As soon as I walked over to the first one, he jumped straight up at me with his giant furry paws on my chest! I don't agree with all this vile dog-licking-your-face business but they were so excitable I might have let a little tongue slide over my cheeks on several occasions simply because I was too busy burying my face into their beautiful necks! (David: Oh, I see... I have to read it here first. You couldn't tell me to my face?) We were free to walk around the whole area hugging all the dogs before we were led to sleds.  There was a family joining us on the dog sledding trek through the snowy forest, so there would be 3 sleds in total. On every sled had to be one person on the back standing and operating the brakes and one person sitting in front and......er...........well...enjoying the experience! David agreed to do the braking while I sat and took pictures. There are no ropes to steer the dogs. The sled is steered by a simple mechanism called your body! Lean left, the dogs and the sled will go left, same for right. To stop you gently depress the metal bar until it comes to a stop and the dogs obey. On each sled had were 6 dogs. They were all attached to each other by body harnesses but they weren't restrictive, the dogs were free to do a pee/poo if the sleds came to a stop. (David: Or not come to a stop. Leaning to steer, like a giant skateboard for an Ice Queen, was a piece of cake compared to keeping a keen eye on all the dogs arses. Because, without warning they would start pooing, and you needed to hit the brakes instantly, else there'd be a pile-up. Luckily I have years of video game practice to thank for my lightening reflexes.) The harnesses did not dig into their bodies, they were eager to get going, were very receptive to our responses (we had to issue orders in French, "On y va!!" (let's go!), "Allez!" (Go!).  ...And we were off!! David was fantastic at steering the dogs. They knew the route off by heart anyway. Their little legs galloped through the soft fluffy snow like horses running a race on turf. It was absolutely fantastic. I sat taking photos in my Michelin man outfit and despite the ski-wear, the arctic wind turned my fingers blue as I sat screaming to the forest "woooooo! Go dogs! Go!" and while David leaned his body left and right and shouted out "Allez! Allez!" to donor, blitzen, Rudolph or whatever their names were. (David: Except the bits where I had to jump off if we came up to a slope and run along... at one point, I jumped off at a run and my legs went into the snow up to my knees... I have no clear idea of how I managed to get my feet back onto the 2 inch ski-runners... I should really have been dragged along behind.) They always put the feistiest dogs at the back of the sled and the laziest at the front. Every time the sled stopped for a photo opportunity or whatever, the dogs at the back, nearest me, would just go crazy with eagerness to get going. The 2 dogs at the front however were having a whale of a time jumping on each other's backs and messing about and the 2 dogs in the middle were placid and patient and kept looking over their shoulders as if to say to their howling companions at the back "guys! Guys! Be cool!" The scenery was absolutely exquisite. We rode along acres of narrow paths bordered by firs smothered in white fluffy snow, through vast barren fields blanketed in several feet of icy flakes and up small hills where David had to assist the dogs by jumping off the sled's runners at the back and run himself while also pushing the sled. (David: See, told you?) It was like being in Narnia, just stunning landscape with our beautiful huskies panting and pulling us along.  The whole dog-sled trek lasted about 1.5 hours. Afterwards, back at base camp, I thanked all the dogs and gave them a big tickle and hug before they were un-harnessed and returned to their kennels and the dogs were very happy and lickey-facey again! nice. I asked a member of staff how she chose which dogs to take out every day. I was told every dog is taken out for a run every day at different times so they are not chained up 24/7. They are fed regularly, watered regularly, properly monitored by vets and vaccinated and are clearly loved by the staff who give them tickles while issuing orders. Their coats are full and soft, their eyes are clear and bright. We saw no sign of neglect or abuse or limited freedom. I was absolutely buzzing after this. I almost cried when I had to leave! The dogs were so gorgeous and friendly, I wanted to take them all home. It's a fantastic organisation. You can also go on 2 & 3 day husky treks involving camping in forests for a very reasonable price actually. I will be doing this I think! Go to www.aventureinukshuk.qc.ca for more info! There were no bears around - hibernating season but during the summer when bears are rife the organisation offer wildlife spotting treks in the forest. Sounds great but don't fancy bumping into a bear hiding behind a tree really. I'll stick to winter husky treks I think.......... That night, after a swift light dinner, Ashley took David and I to the Ice Hotel nearby. I didn't even know there WAS one in Canada. I thought the only one was in Sweden somewhere. This ice hotel was absolutely incredible - temperature ranging from -3 to -5! and a fully working hotel in so far as you can sleep and drink there. There are regular rooms and then various individual themed rooms, themed by the creative ice carvings on the wall, from ice hockey players to celtic dragons that look like they should be in a Harry Potter film! Stunning work that must take hours to sculpt. There is beautiful soft lighting in each room of neon reds and blues and greens and animal furs on the beds to keep you warm! The whole place is literally built from ice blocks. The beds are a platform of ice blocks so don't expect a swallowing duck-filled mattress! But if you slept there they will provide you with proper sleeping bags as well as the animal furs to keep you warm. There are also small chairs in the rooms....made from ice and doors to each room are yards of fabric draped closed for privacy. There are toilets in the Ice Hotel and apparently these are heated - thank god! We were free to wander around, look in all the rooms and take photos. One room we went into was called the Arctic Spa and as well as a big bed and your own bar you get a small private outside area with your own Jacuzzi and hot tub. Nice. Like a proper Hotel, there is a bar where we had some drinks. You could even pay by credit card! Drinks are served in massive 'ice cubes' with the centre part removed for the liquid. I had a Baileys and it was tricky to drink because instinctively you want to put your lips on the edge of the 'vessel' to drink but because the ice cube is so thick and square and to stop it running down your chin, you have to kind of gently rest your lip on the thick edge but primarily just pour it into your mouth. Your bottom lip freezes in the process but the Baileys soon warms you up again. Weird sensation. Beside the bar is another room, like a 'lounge' area with ice benches, another bar and stunning neon lighting to make it look like a nightclub. There was also a big roaring fire within a glass box where you could stand and warm your hands. Just behind the bar was an ice slide!! You climb the ice stairs, sit down on the top of the slide and whooooooosh your way down an icy slope back down to the ground! David went on this and loved it! Ashley took photos and I watched the kids slide down and go back up, slide down and go back up giggling and guffawing away. There is also an ice chapel!!! The ceiling has been carved into a gothic arch. There is a platform at the end with an ice lectern and there are ice benches with animal fur blankets to sit on. It is so romantic and exquisite with pretty colourful lighting. Just fantastic and all the ice sculptures around make the place so visually exciting and magnificent. The ice Hotel is only open from January to March. Apparently, they then demolish the whole thing and re-build it from scratch for the following January. Sometimes with different themed rooms. (David: One observation I made, or rather, had confirmed, was that all the ice was dry. You run your hand over the surfaces and your hand remains dry. Which doesn't make it seem as cold, since you don't have a wet hand... normally, all that water shepherds the lovely warmth out of your body.) The next day we had to leave Quebec for Montreal to visit friends. We said our sad goodbyes and Diane dropped us into town to wander around for a bit before we caught our train. To put some time sense into this blog, today was Obama's inauguration. David and I wandered around Quebec old city some more. Today, was stunning blue sky. It was still snowing but no blizzard so we could look properly at buildings and vistas over the river without stalagtiting our eyeballs. Quebec is a small City but quaint and pretty and friendly with boutique shops, local restaurants, craft shops. Beautiful ornate street lamps. Pretty wreaths of ivy and berries adorn shop doors. Fairy lights glisten in boutique windows. People smile and say Bonjour to you as you pass by. Love it love it love it. Like a fairy City! (David: With a mile of scaffolding supporting a mad race track mad from ice... they're mad too... brilliant place.) We managed to see some of Obama's inauguration as we waited for our train but it was all in French and could only be heard through a tiny alarm clock radio that was wired up to the waiting room tv due to an electrical malfunction! Our train journey was only about 5 hours but it was a good one with more food and drinks served to us. I got my French and Spanish mixed up and accidentally said "si" to a crew member when she asked me if I was going to Montreal. I quickly corrected myself with "oui" but as a consequence she was convinced I was Spanish, even though we explained to her that we were in fact English but had spent a lot of time in South America which is why we still had Spanish in our head. No, in her mind, I was Spanish and so kept saying "si" to me from thereon! Sigh! Next stop: Montreal.  Love, us xxxxxxxxx
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Niagara Falls, Ontario, Canada

Hi everyone Well, Niagara Falls is only about 1.5 hours driving from Toronto. And obviously our first priority was to get somewhere to stay. While in our Toronto Hotel room and watching some tv at night, we saw many ads (many!! Every flaming 2mins!!) plugging various products and services. But then one night, this lone ad flashed up advertising 'The Fallsview Casino Hotel, Niagara Falls' and we never ever saw this ad ever again in 3 days. I said "we're staying there David. It's a sign". David, thankfully just went along with my loopiness as usual. (David: Why not? means I don't have to think about it.) On the road out of Toronto and towards Niagara, there were billboards by the highway advertising all sorts of products and educational services. But there was one sole billboard advertising the only Hotel in Niagara: The Fallsview Hotel, Niagara Falls. No other Hotel was advertised through these billboards. I knew it was a sign. (David: It was a billboard. But then billboard or sign... they're all the same really.) When we got to Niagara, we caught a glimpse at the bottom of a road, of the Tsunami of Niagara Falls smashing down to the river so we drove down to have a look. I was squealing in the car and deafening David with my excitement. It was absolutely magnificent (well, from what we could see in the car anyway!). Everything was smothered in deep white snow with icicles drooping under roofs and street signs swathed in icy snow, leafless trees stood frozen with their icicle arms outstretched begging for some warmth. It was all like a film set! It was early afternoon so following this brief drive alongside the river, David decided to play along with my 'it's a sign' theory regarding The Fallsview Casino Hotel and we drove up to at least ask about prices for 3 nights. (David: One selection theory is as good as any other...) My 'it's a sign' theory proved to be very accurate. We got a fantastic Queen-sized room on the 20th floor OVERLOOKING NIAGARA FALLS!!!!!!!!!!! Plus because it was our honeymoon the gorgeous Erin on reception slipped us 2 cards which would give us access to the Regency Club Lounge (where normally only VIPs can go!) on the 30th floor which had free non-alcoholic drinks and canapés ever day from 6-8pm, free continental breakfasts and free afternoon tea and cake. All of this we got for the price of a B & B in Brighton!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! The Hotel was huge with it's own small selection of retails shops, a massive Las Vegas type casino, a huge spa with Jacuzzi and pool, a big area with restaurants and coffee shops and a stonking car park (which we also got a discount on). HOW JAMMY ARE WE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! We dumped our bags, wrapped up like arctic explorers and power-walked outside to Niagara Falls to see the magnificent waterfall, this time more closely. My God! Is all I can say. If this blog had sound effects, all you would hear would be me squealing (again!) Niagara Falls is BEAUTIFUL!! Loud, roaring and terrifyingly turbulant!!!!!! We walked along the long promenade and just stared in wonder at the view. We had to change the camera battery twice for all the photos we took!  I didn't realise but there are actually two waterfalls: The Horseshoe Falls on the Canadian side and The American Falls on the USA side. I thought it was just one big waterfall called Niagara Falls.  The border between Canada and USA runs through Niagara Falls which is an umbrella name for both waterfalls. The American Falls looked just as magnificent but observation there seemed trickier with just an observation platform beside it. However, below the American waterfalls was the most incredible frozen water sculpted to the cliff face with lethal sized icicles. Stunning. Whereas the Horseshoe Falls on our side (Canadian side) had this long promenade you could walk along and look down into the river and the smashing Falls at the end of it. Also, on this side there was an attraction called the 'Behind The Falls Journey' which was basically a series of tunnels that ran right underneath Horseshoe Falls with three openings where you can first of all go out onto a platform and get right beside the thundering Falls (in the summer there is an additional platform below this which takes you out even closer to the bottom of the Horseshoe Falls and this is where you are given free rainmacs to wear. During the winter however, because this additional lower platform is completely snowed in and frozen over it's too dangerous to open to the public). Then the 2nd opening in these tunnels takes you out to right behind the waterfall itself but during the winter it's just a sheet of icicles at the tunnel as is the 3rd opening in the underground tunnel too. Because the 2nd and 3rd openings are completely iced up, it is eerily silent within the tunnels but we soon got talking to a guy from Yorkshire who told us that in summer the noise is absolutely deafening and you get soaked as obviously being behind the waterfall spray shoots in!  The tunnels are long and dimly lit and much like any metro tunnels connecting you to various platforms. Because you can't hear the whooshing water of the Falls though, it really is quite spooky down there.  Back 'up top' on the promenade, we saw some blinding rainbows which made your heart stop beating. So flaming stunning. And from our Hotel bedroom window?? Oh My God! We saw the sun set over the Falls, the sun rise over them and at night, they switch multicoloured lights on behind the water so it's a bit tacky and Las Vegas but the waterfalls did look spectacular.  There was snow, snow, snow everywhere all around and again it was freeeeeeeezzzzzzzzzzzing. -30 again. The trees by the Horseshoe falls were covered in snow and had icicles hanging from them. They looked like they were out of a Disney film set or something, they were just magical. You could imagine a Disney Ice Queen cackling from underneath. They were just surreal. The firs were sparkling white and standing proud on the other side of the river. And the river itself had icebergs floating along and joining together to form one big mass. It was all so serenely stunning and blindingly beautiful. To see Niagara Falls smothered in such white icy beauty was probably something far more memorable than just seeing it in saturated in sunshine. One day, we went out for a walk along the promenade again. It was so freeeeeeezing cold. After 30mins walking, my thighs started to feel really numb and 10mins later I was getting really alarmed when I prodded them and I really couldn't feel any sensation in my thighs whatsoever. I could walk fine, no problem but the fact that I no longer had any sensation in my thighs was slightly worrying. I prodded really flaming hard and didn't feel anything. Nothing. David and I decided to walk back to the Hotel to warm up. There was a slight hill back and then my asthma started really playing up and I was finding it impossible to breathe. I took 2 puffs of my ventolin (asthma inhaler) and then 2 more shortly afterwards and it just wasn't doing anything. I really couldn't breathe. The air was so freezing cold, it was quite scary. As soon as we got into the warm I started to 'thaw' out and I got pins and needles and felt really odd. It soon passed though as my body got used to it. I have never ever felt cold like that before and I hope to never again. Admittedly, David and I were only wearing jeans with nothing underneath them but we were wearing about 4 layers of jumpers and t-shirts under our coats but still, we didn't have floor length coats or thermals to keep us extra warm. Such a weird sensation.  We went for a drive to Niagara on-the-lake one day. This is a beautiful small town of Niagara, surrounded by vineyards. The houses are absolutely stunning, clapperboard houses with huge front gardens and big front porches. In 1996, it was actually named as Prettiest Town in Canada and not surprisingly. There are endless bike and walking routes you can take. It is just so scenic and stunning. Even in snow. We went down to the lake to have a look (where Ontario lake meets Niagara River). It was stunning and smothered in icebergs! Well not like towering Titanic sized icebergs, more like ice cubes actually but you get the picture! There was snow everywhere and we walked around and the snow came up to our knees in some places. In fact as we were walking back down to the car, my foot suddenly disappeared in snow and I was up to my thigh!! The snow was so fluffy and soft. Useless for making snowmen. In England it is quite thick and mushy so perfect sculpting material but here it was just like baking powder, soft and fluffy. Only good to walk about in.    After Niagara on the lake, we went for lunch at The Flying Saucer Restaurant. It is literally what it is. A flying saucer diner!!! A big, round diner, red and black leather and silver metal inside with menus made of pretend 'Shock-Horror' UFO headline newspaper. The food was actually really good. Again, like Vegas Hotels, there was no consistency. All very well having a Flying Saucer Diner but the waitresses should be dressed in futuristic silver dresses or something instead of white aprons and black t-shirts! And the music should be mad future-space songs like David Bowie's "Major Tom" (even though it's not actually about space!) or Randi Crawford's 'One Day I'll Fly Away". There's just no imagination at all. "We've got the spacecraft diner....so sod the themes, now we've got the customer through the door". It was good fun anyway. (David: Maybe it started out like that in the 60s... but then cynicism and apathy kicked in, so this is all that's left.) So, we finally said a sad goodbye to Niagara and made our drive back to Toronto to catch our train to Quebec to meet up with Ashley and his family. We had a really long day ahead of us involving approx 9hours on a train! But we were excited about going to Quebec as it was supposed to be stunning! (David: Pah... 9 hours? I had an Ipod full of Top Gear and 24... bring it on!) Love, us xx
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Toronto, Ontario, Canada

Hi everyone Well, when we arrived in Toronto we had, as usual, nowhere to stay. Ashley recommended the Hotel opposite the Station. A particularly grand and beautiful Hotel where Tina Turner has stayed and lots of other celebs. Chandeliers, a firework of flowers in vases, sweeping staircases, highly polished mahogany everywhere.....however for $230 a night, we thanked the Reservations Desk and said "we'll think about it!" We frantically searched on our i-Pods for another Hotel nearby. There was another one opposite the station. It turned out to be fantastic and because it was our Honeymoon they upgraded us to a King room. There was a pub attached to the Hotel and because it was already 8pm by the time we got down there we just had a quick drink and nibbles and then went to sleep by 11pm. It was a fairly ordinary Canadian pub, nothing to report here! The next day, we went in search of refunds for our train ticket. Because our train from Vancouver to Toronto was over 4 hours late, we were entitled to a 50% discount from ViaRail!! (David: Bearing in mind that we'd got a winter deal already at 50% off... also, if the train had been 12 hours late we'd have got 100% back) After this, we went in search of the CN Tower, the world's tallest free-standing building. I got confused by this term 'free standing' but a member of staff there told us free-standing simply meant not supported by concrete posts or wires etc. (David: Not sure why they specify 'freestanding' either. It is the tallest building in the World. End of...) The brilliant aspect to Toronto is how the City has adapted it's surroundings to the harsh weather conditions. It was absolutely freeeeezzzzzing here and constantly snowing. Underneath Toronto is a subterranean world! a plethora of shops, like one big shopping mall accessed by a system of underground 'rat runs' and escalators. When the weather is atrocious you can shop to your heart's content underground! It's all brightly lit and tiled with a detailed map of how to get everywhere. It's genius! Which explains why the snowy streets above are so deserted. We just thought it was a lovely quiet City! To get to the CN Tower you can access it by another genius system: the Skywalk. This is another method of avoiding the arctic weather conditions outside. One long glass panelled walkway leads from the station all the way to the CN Tower by way of stairs, escalators and corridors. Approx 15min walk all in all. Whereas the locals were desperate to stay inside away from the frost-biting snow, David and I were revelling in the fluffy white stuff and couldn't wait to get back outside!  As we emerged from the Skywalk, David said "wow! Look at it!" I spun my head like an owl and said "what?!" and at the sight of a big concrete post to my side, I slowly raised my eyes to the sky and shouted "oh it's here!!" I didn't realise the CN Tower was right beside my foot! I thought the brown concrete was just some sort of offensive post!! Bearing in mind, the CN Tower stands in the middle of fairly unremarkable land...car parks all around, cafes...a busy highway! not like the Eiffel Tower in the middle of a beautiful park, or the tower in Kuala Lumpa right beside a tropical jungle... how was I supposed to know?!  The CN Tower was indeed incredible viewing. However, because the weather was so snowy and overcast, you could not see as far as you would have had the weather been Californian sunshine. Still, we got to see Ontario Lake which was like a filmset of Titanic with icebergs everywhere!!! Strangely, although Ontario Lake is right beside the City, hardly any locals ever actually go to the Lake or probably know it's even there! But it's beautiful! Also strangely, you would think such a beautiful lake would incite a plethora of cafes and bars to open up at the front where you could sit and sip wine in the summer or watch hunky water-skiers smash up the water in their speeds. No. The Lake is instead beside a mass of factories and commercial property with no nicety to it at all.  We had lunch looking out to the city below us. To be honest with you, it looked much like any other City we've visited but the snow gave it something magical as the skyscrapers reflected snow clouds in their windows. It took us 2 days to dredge up an itinerary for Toronto and Niagara Falls and whether we could fit in Chicago or whether we could fit in Quebec and then how would we get to New York and could we get to nearby Boston too and if so how? But eventually we had a plan. It was a good plan, even if we did waste a day in Toronto trying to do this.  However, Thifty, the car rental place, at Toronto Station soon screwed up our plans completely!! We decided to drive from Toronto down to Niagara Falls then up to Quebec, then down to Montreal where we would catch a bus or a train to Boston and then onto New York. We knew it would be a long drive......we've done the Outback in Oz after all....However, the lovely lady at Thrifty told us we would not be able to hire a car in Toronto and drop it in Montreal because Montreal driving laws insist on snow tyres or chains on all cars and Thrifty do not have any of these in Toronto. So it would not be possible for a Thrifty employee to drive the car back down to Toronto without these and getting pulled over. Plus, we were also told that to drive from Toronto to Quebec and then Montreal would be no less than about 15 hours driving time. Hmmmmmmmmm................... Right, after 30mins on a cold metal station bench, a strong coffee out of a paper cup and our i-pod calendar, plan B was established! We decided to hire a car still, but this time only from Toronto to Niagara Falls for a few days then back to Toronto where we would catch a train up to Quebec (involved catching 2 trains and a total of 9.5 hours travelling arriving late at night) to meet up with Ashley (who we met on the Canadian train journey) then, after 3 days in Quebec we would catch another train to Montreal (3 hours journey) to visit more friends. After 3 days here, we would catch a bus to Boston (approx 8 hours journey). After 2 days here we would catch a train to New York (approx 5 hours journey) and we would be in New York for a whopping 4 days before our return home to UK!! Did you get all that?? David: And we'd get the train tickets for completely free because they were giving us 50% credit for the transcontinental delay: a delay we enjoyed actually!! The price of the tickets in comfort class were way below the credit we had. (You don't get the excess back). So, for a small pittance we upgraded to first class... around £30.) We collected our Thrifty car the next day and began our drive down to Niagara Falls. How exciting!!! Niagara Falls baby! Yeah!!!!  Love, us xxxxxxxxxxx  
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Jasper, Alberta, Canada

Hi everyone Well, we got our train from Vancouver to Toronto. It was an experience is all I can say. We met some mad people. Smelly people. Lovely people. Funny people. Standby for comedy. So, our train was going to take us from Vancouver to Toronto via The Rockies, the famous beautiful mountain range running through Canada. This was something I have always wanted to see. Do you know, the highest peak is Mount Robson which stands at a mere 3,954metres!!! The smallest peak is Mount Joffre which stands at a minute 3,449metres. Pah! Practically a hill!!  The journey would take 4 nights and 5 days on the Transcanadian ViaRail sleeper train. Food and drink would be provided, films were shown on-board and there was an 'observation' compartment where you could watch the spiky snowy mountain peaks roll past. The horror of India's train journey was still fresh in our minds so for this reason we booked our own private 'room' on the train as opposed to a general cabin closed off with a curtain. Our room was great. It had a small toilet, sink and 2 bunk beds and right outside our cabin was a shared shower room. Everything was spotlessly clean and really cosy.  No sooner had we dumped our bags then we made the short walk to the back of the train to the 'lounge' area. Pretty soon, the room was full of people and we were all just one big happy family, laughing and joking and swapping life stories under the moon as the train rolled away out of Vancouver. There was a bar on board and we got handed free champagne to guzzle while we all got to know one another. Later on, some of us went up to the observation area, just a few stairs up from the lounge area. This was a glass ceiling-ed seating area with all-round visibility. There were no lights up here though, so sitting up here at night was like sitting under the stars, literally, magnificent. It seemed like a really fantastic train and we were really excited about what the next few days were going to bring us.  The only way I can think to describe the highly colourful people we met on that first night is to do a 'Character Analysis'. Character being the operative word here!  PAUL: this was the first guy we started talking to in the Lounge area. In his late 50's, very tall and thin, from California originally and travelling alone. Within 10minutes he had told us how much he loved train travel, how much he loved this train, how much he loved the food, how much he loved the staff, how much he loved the scenery, how often he'd taken this train ("so, what else do you do then, Paul?"), what other countries he'd travelled by train on.....! he also spends a lot of time going to and from Thailand several times a year which often results in him unfortunately being interrogated by US officials on his return home.  TEXAN HUSBAND & WIFE: they were a lovely couple in their late 60's?. The wife would have looked perfect within the pages of Country Life Magazine with her bouffant and pearls. They had thick Texas accents and were very polite. (David: The guy sounded and looked like Bush.) (Lois: but with white hair.) WINK & HUSBAND: they were also a lovely couple in their early 50's? Wink and I hit it off and chatted about our honeymoon. Wink's husband often took to wearing a bright red tartan blazer which went fabulously with his full head of white hair. Wink was very attentive and absorbed in everything you said with a deep penetrative stare.  HOWARD: Looking just like father Christmas with a belly full of pies, he sat and just told an endless stream of jokes no matter of creed, race, age. Funny, not so funny, sometimes tactless. He asked the Texans, "what do you call a man this tall in a 10-gallon hat?" (While pinching his fingers together and squinting.). We were all listening attentively, smirking at the anticipation of the punch-line....."A Texan who's been knocked down!" he blurted out. Some laughed, some didn't. The Texans laughed politely but then spent the next 20mins talking about Howard and laughing at him. This was a bit rude but then Howard's joke wasn't exactly tactful either (David: I question the use of the word 'joke' to refer to what he said... I don't actually get it... his equally tactless joke was a bit funnier though: "If a Texan couple get a divorce, are they still Brother and Sister?"). Howard also loved trains. He'd been on this train several times before! Several times being an understatement. Loved the staff, loved the food, loved the scenery....loved the staff...have I said that already? Loved the food. Loved the scenery. Loved the staff...Howard informed us he could speak fluent Hebrew, worked on a kibbutz when he was younger and was now married...which apparently didn't go down well with his family. After several more minutes we learnt Howard was married to Don and that they were both Jewish. (David: He was definitely making a name for himself as being the prime candidate for being murdered...) (Lois: murdered on the train...hence the title of this blog...) WEDDING ANNIVERSARY COUPLE: we didn't talk to them much. In their 50's? she had jet black curly hair and tassle boots and he looked like a mad scientist! They were celebrating 20 years of marriage and were also just really friendly and smiley. AUSTRALIAN SHEEP SHEARING COUPLE: this couple came into the lounge last. In their early 40's? big loud voices and big stories! We didn't get to chat to them much either but all I caught of the last bit of her conversation with several people was how she sheared sheep. (David: They spent much of the trip trying to spy 'critters', as they called the wildlife...) ASHLEY: we met Ashley late that night in the observation area. A lone traveller in his 40's? from Dundee originally but has also lived in NZ and now Quebec. We immediately hit it off with him and he bought us a drink to celebrate our honeymoon which was lovely of him. We all chatted until about 1am after everyone had gone to bed and the train was a gentle rocking tube of snoring. The next day, after a great night's sleep in our crisp cotton-sheet bunk beds, we went for breakfast. The food was plentiful and varied, like a 5* Hotel, with wonderful staff and breathtaking scenery as we ate at 8am. We were rocking through the Rockies with the train track completely surrounded by acres of sparkling white snow adorning trees, rooftops and fields. Absolutely stunning. All you could see around you were fir trees sprinkled with white dust and our silver train glinting in the blazing icy landscape.  Every day you woke to a member of staff walking through the train shouting "1st/2nd call for breakfast, please make  your way to the dining car". After breakfast you were free to sit in the observation area, read in the lounge, snooze in your cabin or watch the on-board film in the 'viewing area' - this being simply a carriage with a load of seats and tables in. The lounge was also not quite swallowing sofas and poofs (have I spelt that right?!) but rather like a rest home with wipe-clean soft chairs in a horseshoe shape with little metallic stands to rest your drinks. The concept of the 'lounge' was fantastic. The comfort factor, however, not so good.  At lunch, everyone got to share tables. This was a great way of meeting new people and chatting and having a laugh. Again, the food really was beautiful. Lamb, chicken, beef, vegetables, soups, chocolate desserts, ice cream, coffees all served on linen table cloths with silvery cutlery and little table lamps. How decandent. It was often a loud, boisterous affair with, usually me, shouting out, "oooo!! There's a....a....." and someone from another table helping me out, "Elk!" Sadly, we saw no bears. I really wanted to see one but someone pointed out they were probably hibernating - of course!!!The afternoon was spent rather like after breakfast and then dinner was again delicious with cheese and crackers and wine and soft lighting and everyone having a laugh with everyone else. Much fun!! After dinner, was often the raucous time when everyone got drunk, lounged, played cards and children went mental before bedtime!  On our first day through the Rockies, we passed by a waterfall. This was, however, no longer a waterfall but a frozen ice sculpture of lethal blue stalagtite-like fangs to where water once cascaded towards a euphoric splash against rocks. It was absolutely breath-taking. Slightly marred however, by the stench from the two toddlers who had very dirty nappies!!! Change your children's nappies!!! Walking through the compartment where this family were sleeping resulted in a stench of urine and poo! Change Your Children's Nappies!!!!!!! Maybe they couldn't afford a lot of nappies though.... (David: Obviously, they'd spent all their money travelling in the first class carriages then!) I got chatting to the guy one night. He worked for a Homeless Charity in Montral which explains a lot: they probably really could not afford many nappies then. However, their children were really happy and fun.  Later on, the train stopped for 2 hours in Jasper while some passengers left us. Jasper was gorgeous. A small town smothered in snow up to the ankles with a stunning backdrop of icy blue mountain peaks standing ominously over the town. Ashley, David and I wandered about for 1 hour before we had to get back onto the train. We went into one shop where, while I posed in Elvis-type glasses, we got told off for taking photos! I threw snowballs at David, Ashley kicked snow at me and then David pushed me over into very deep snow!! It was fabulous!!! However, absolutely freeezzzzzzzzing! The temperature being -30!!! Yes minus 30!!! David and I had no hat, David had no gloves or scarf, I had gloves and a scarf, both had jeans and our walking shoes and anoraks!!! Anoraks for crying out loud!!! But we had about 4 layers on underneath though. It wasn't too bad once you got walking about.  One night, after dinner, David and I went into the bar for drinks and played the Catan card game. No sooner had we started then the 'regulars' wanted to come in and sit with us! Hence, a useless game of Catan followed for the rest of the night.  Paul (trainspotter Thai-lover) was there; Howard (father Christmas joker extraordinaire); Ashley and some other guy (postman) we had never met before. We all chatted, laughed, swapped life stories and had a very good night. We were getting to know everyone gradually and slowly everyone's personalities were coming out. Paul was never short of advice, a story, a friendly word, a smile - lovely guy (David: Think of David Letterman, but older and thinner.). Howard was the same, all he seemed to know were good (or bad!) jokes but again, never short on a friendly word or smile and really listened intently to everything you said, like he was genuinely interested (David: In fact he was just trying to think of his next joke, all of which we heard about 3 times each.) (Lois: ah, bless him!). Again, bedtime was not before 1am for any of us.  I was very surprised by this train journey. I really believed that it would be a breathtaking journey through the Canadian Rockies. However, it was only 1 day through the Rockies and the rest of the 5-day journey was through miles and miles of flat plain prairies. Absolutely stunning nevertheless. "Is that it?" I said to David??! 1 day was a fantastic taster though and a provocation to return and see The Rockies properly. (David: I did wave a map vaguely in front of Lois' face, but I think something fluffy went by at the time...) (Lois: cheeky bastard!......at least I SAW an Elk!) One night, we stopped in Winnipeg. The train stopped for 3 hours for refuelling and disembarkments. So, we were free to wander around briefly before continuing on our journey. Ashley, David and I got together and went off to the local Hotel bar for a drink. Ashley, bless him, was like our dad! He worried that we didn't have hats or that David didn't have gloves. Ashley meanwhile was all togged up like he was about to climb Ben Nevis! Admittedly, the snow outside was deep and still falling and your eyelashes turned into stalactites....  Fort Garry Hotel was built in 1913 as luxury accommodation for the train passengers. It is a beautiful Hotel full of elegance and decadence with a bar of twinkling crystal chandeliers, a pianist tickling the ivories and deep sumptuous armchairs. Famous guests have included Lawrence Olivier and King George VI and Queen Elizabeth in 1939. More famous though, is the resident ghost in room 202. Apparently, a woman hung herself in the wardrobe after she discovered her husband got killed in a car accident. This happened between 1911 and 1913 and the husband was one of the workers who helped to build the Hotel.  Anyway, us 3 walked into the Piano Bar, looking like frozen Arctic Explorers. We ordered drinks an sat down. Within 5mins, the Head waiter had thrown David's Guinness all over me and catapaulted my Gin clear across the table!!! He spluttered apologies profusely as I attempted to wipe the table down. Everyone drinking in the Bar stopped whatever they were doing and just stared at the mayhem. The pianist also froze, fingers suspended mid-air above his keys as he watched the pandemonium. The only noise now filling the elegant bar was the Head Waiter gushing, "I'm so sorry, I'm so sorry". I was absolutely saturated and now smelt like a brewery! We changed tables and I sarcastically thanked the Head Waiter for our free drinks before he'd even offered us some as compensation. He was so apologetic and very embarrassed and despite the utter chaos and the attention we got from other guests as I screamed at the tsunami of Guinness splashing over me, I just had to laugh. What else could I do? I wasn't wearing Armani, everything comes out in the wash. It was so bloody funny and the 3 of us just sat and cried with laughter. (David: We got two rounds for free.) You know the spooky thing though?? Apparently, the piano bar is also haunted with a mysterious man that sits at one of the tables and moves things around! As well as the female ghost of room 202 wandering around occasionally. I KNOW this had something to do with it. The Head Waiter told us in his apologetic speech that he's never spilled a drink over a customer ever!  One night, on the train at dinner, we got seated with a lone girl from New York. Blonde and probably in her early 20's? First of all she sat down opposite us and just kept sighing really loudly and exasperatedly every 2minutes. We smiled at her in a kind of sympathetic way. Was she scared of train travel?! After a million loud sighs directed at nothing then came the "Oh! Heavens!" muttered under her breath as she stared out of the window. It was bizarre. "So, where did you get on?" David asked, trying to break the ice. "Winnipeg". Ok. Well....that's that covered then. I then asked her where she was from, "New York". Good....good...another subject covered. Then, I asked her what the weather would be like in New York right now. Suddenly, she threw her head back in mock laughter but eventually apologised when I just looked at her, very confused. "Sorry, that's a very popular topic on this train. I don't do small talk! Oh, another favourable topic is "where did you get on? HOW many times have I heard THAT?" she raised her eyes up. David & I smirked and I said "well, it breaks the ice, you know, if people don't know each other...." She made it clear she didn't like Canada or the Canadians and couldn't wait to get off the train. She also told us how, on a recent trip to Ireland, she'd had an argument with an extremely drunk Norwegian guy who proceeded to ask her where she was from. I presumed to be friendly....as people do! "Where do you think I'm from?!!" she asked him and then she said to us "I mean, he must have known I was from New York!"  Howard (father Christmas Joker), Ashley, Paul (trainspotter) and I became the regulars in the bar every night. Not through pre-planning. We got to know Howard very well and I got to really like him. I thought his joke-telling was simply a way of ingratiating himself into a group or a method of socialising (David: He should check his material.). He seemed, to me, quite a shy and reserved man but he had depth and a hell of a history that I really wanted to get to get into! He used to be a counsellor for the Veterans Association and later, before he retired, worked in what he called a 'Psych' Hospital. He collects teddy bears and grew particularly animated about the 'bondage' teddy bear he had! Don, his partner, was the official trainspotting fan. I think what Don didn't know about trains probably wasn't worth knowing as he collected them too. Unfortunately, we never really got to know Don as he always sat in their cabin doing crossword puzzles but he always had a smile for you when you saw him and seemed very friendly. They had a cat called Groucho and lived just outside of Toronto in Oakville.  Living just outside of Toronto was what started 'the invitation'. A good name for a film. Howard invited us to stay with him and Don as he knew we were visiting Toronto for some time. They had recently moved into a spacious 5 bedroom house which sounded lovely! We thanked him profusely and said we would have a think as we weren't sure what our plans were yet. At the time of the invite, Howard, David, Ashley, Paul and I were sitting in the bar late into the night, all talking about travelling but mainly David and I sightseeing in Toronto. It was the most bizarre and comical experience ever! It seemed like Paul and Howard were competing with each other for our attention!!! Where Paul was quite confident and outspoken, Howard was very soft and emotive. The conversation kind of went like this: PAUL (whiney, but strong West Coast accent): actually, if you want to get to Montreal from Toronto you could get the train...it runs every day...it costs this much.....the scenery is really stunning and...HOWARD (also very strong accent): you know, we have a double bedroom you can stay in and you'll have complete privacy with your own bathroom...wouldn't that be nice? (smile)LOIS: gosh, it would Howard! thanks so much. We'll let you know.... PAUL: or you know what? You could get the train from Toronto up to Quebec...oh that's such a long way but my, it's beautiful, and then you could always......HOWARD: you know what else we have at our house?LOIS: what's that Howard?HOWARD: pot! (smile)LOIS: Pot?? (I just thought pots, you know, that you cook with...why is he telling me he's got pots? Doesn't everyone have pots?!)HOWARD: pot! Hash! LOIS: OH! POT!! Ooooo that sounds great! We'll definitely let you know once we know what we're doing. PAUL: I live in Nova Scotia...it's so beautiful up there.. are you going up there? You must it's stunning...there's a secret cove up there called Charlotte's Cove....it's just beautiful....did I tell you......HOWARD: you know, Don and I would cook you a lovely meal...with fine wines....we could play backgammon.....wouldn't that be nice? (smile)LOIS and DAVID: it really would Howard (geeez he's insistent!)PAUL: ..you know, there are some beautiful B & B's in Toronto....oh, you have to go to ......HOWARD: Paul...these guys are in the Silver and Blue section of ViaRail you think they're gonna want B & B?! these guys want style! Comfort! Listen, I bet you guys'd like to do some washing wouldn't you? You could do all the washing you like at our house...we have a drier too...(smile) And so it went on.........and on...........and on.............Howard was so very kind and inviting but relentless! We had visions of the film Misery flying through our head! Howard, being Cathy Bates! Paul was full of advice and stories. It was a battle who could win us over!! So unintentionally funny. Meanwhile, Ashley had also invited us over to stay with him if we went up to Quebec. Quebec was a must-do for me but our plan was so sketchy at present. Ashley was cool though. He suggested places he'd take us, the fun we could all have and then left it at that. Maybe HE was the mad man with the axe and not Howard! They say it's always the quiet ones..... The next day when we saw Howard, he continued pledging his case, and cornered me in the train corridor. David ran off ahead! "you know, I meant to also say, we have a study, where you can sit and read and check your emails if you want......"thanks so much Howard, I'll have a chat to David and we really will let you know" I said (a little exasperated). "You know we don't get many guests at our place, it would be so much fun, laughing, playing backgammon...."He was such a sweetie. But really like a dog with a bone! He gave us his card and didn't pass up the opportunity to remind us again of how much fun we'd have and of all the comfort and luxury. And so it went on some more....at lunch, as he and Don left, Howard said "I've spoken with Don about my invitation to you both and Don thinks it's a brilliant idea, we'd be just thrilled to have you both over to stay " (as if Don's acceptance would be the Final Persuader for us to stay with them). Don fixed a smile and just kept walking.... "Brilliant! thanks Howard, we will definitely email and let you know". Jeeeeeeeeeez!!!!  On our way to Toronto, our final destination, the train was severely delayed. We were supposed to get into Toronto at 09:30am but we didn't get in until 5pm!!!! Apparently, there had been some freight trains on the line delaying our journey so it was just stop, start all the way. The chef had to get imaginative in the kitchen as he'd obviously run out of ingredients so he rustled up some soup and ravioli for everyone which he must have found at the back of the cupboard. It was delicious! We wondered what he would have done for dinner had we been even more delayed!!! A lot of people missed their flights and connecting trains but the staff were absolutely wonderful and made a million phonecalls. Thankfully, we were free as a bird so it didn't matter to us how much longer we were on the train. We did get to see a fantastic sunset in Toronto though as we got into the station. It was really a fantastic journey. (David: It was great being on the train... I didn't want to leave. So the extra eight hours or so were very welcome.)  We loved the train journey. We made some lovely friends (and acquaintances), saw some stunning scenery and ate like royalty. We vowed to go on this train again in the future.  Love, us xxxxxxxxxx
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/mrsdp/1/1231185600/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/mrsdp/1/1231185600/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/mrsdp/1/1231185600/tpod.html Sat, 24 Jan 2009 23:05:01 -0500 David and Lois' 6-month honeymoon around the world!

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Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada

Hi everyone Well, now in Vancouver, we grabbed a cab outside the station and went to our first recommended Hotel. Online, the prices looked reasonable. It was central and fairly modern. However, the receptionist didn't hesitate to tell us that a double ensuite room would cost us $250 per night!!! Per night???!!!! We questioned her 'walk in' rate and explained the very low internet price we had seen. She insisted the rooms were $250 and this was the rack rate. She was obviously trying to rip us off, so we said goodbye and walked out (David: Clearly that trick doesn't work everywhere.) Now we had to hail another cab and go to our 2nd recommendation. Little did we know this was only around the corner but this Hotel was a fraction of the first Hotel's cost and they were all very welcoming and friendly. Our Hotel was situated right in the middle of the City and our room was on the 28th floor so the views were absolutely fantastic. The next day we decided to walk around Stanley Park, so named after Lord Stanley who, in 1888 was the Governor General of Canada. This park is a massive 1000 acres big and 10% bigger than Central Park in New York! With a big lake beside the sky-scrapers and a harbour with seagulls and bobbing boats, frozen streams with hungry ducks, little stone bridges, a dense forest of trees and a regular stream of joggers panting along the lakeside paths. The park looked extra pretty because of the snow. It was bleak in winter but you can imagine it in Summer being absolutely gorgeous and springing to life with flowers, sunshine and sparkling drinks consumed by the lake. It's a real retreat. One lone Chinese man sat on a snow-laden bench just calmly watching the world go past and many excitable dogs yanked their owners along the treacherously icy paths. Lonely Planet recommends a plethora of activities in Stanley Park from a Carriage ride through the park...but....that's only available March-Oct....well, there's always the beautiful Lost Lagoon Nature House...no....that's only open May-Sep.....well, we could go on the miniature railway for a laugh?......no, that's only open May-Aug...! OK OK OK !! surely the children's Farmyard is  open??? Nope..also only open May-Sep!!! Vancouver is bleak in winter.... We walked and walked and walked some more beside the lake and soon we got to the Totem Pole area where a mass of them stood proud. Originating from North America and often made of cedar wood which is a natural resource found within the local forests, totem poles are fascinating objects. I love the American-Indians and their totem poles are not just a bit of wood covered in weirdness!! but instead depict family history, myths and legends and important events of the time. I don't believe there are any rules on how they are decorated or how they are carved. Each one is so individual and representative of each tribe or family. These totem poles were beautiful and even more so surrounded by the snow.  In the middle of the ocean sits a statue called 'Girl in a Wetsuit'. It is supposed to be a copy of Copenhagen's Little Mermaid but because the park were not able to obtain a licence to put a copy of her here, Stanley Park erected an alternative version of her - in a wetsuit!!! She is beautiful and sits meditatively looking out towards Lions Gate Bridge.....with seagulls on her head! Talking of Lions Gate Bridge, this is another wonderful attraction in the park, built in 1937. A massive steel suspension bridge over the river, with its supportive 'legs' buried deep within the dense forest beside the river. The height is approx 100metres and the main length is approx 470metres, where traffic rolls along - apparently 60,000 cars pass along it daily!!? We strolled through the winding forest paths and watched black bushy squirrels scramble about in the snow and at the top of the forest hill we found ourselves at Prospect Point Lookout.  This was a stunning area on top of the hill where you could look out to the ocean and surrounding land.  The next day, was a Post Office day. We had to post our final parcel back home, full of souvenir brochures and tat, basically! Then, as the weather was so freezing cold and so bleak we went to the cinema to see Benjamin Button - ABSOLUTELY BRILLIANT FILM!!! Afterwards something very creepy happened to me. I went to the cinema toilets. I was the only one in there. While I was washing my hands, I saw in the mirror a long tall shadow suddenly emerge behind me and I thought "where did they come from?!" and spun round expecting to see someone behind me. But there was no-one. But just a tall dark shadow gliding past my eyes in front of the cubicles and then it vanished. My heart stopped. I rinsed my hands in a zillisecond and legged it to David waiting for me outside and I told him what had happened while I desperately tried to stop myself bursting into tears. It was the weirdest thing ever. I will never forget it. David, bless him, tried to explain it away as some electrical / visionary eye-defect / mind-playing-tricks experience. I wasn't convinced. I knew I had seen a spirit. Whether you believe in ghosts or spirits or not. What I saw was NOT a faulty wired lightbulb! (David: My best three theories were either: an insect walking in front of a lightbulb casting a long shadow; a dodgy contact lens; or a ghost!) Vancouver was wonderful. Unfortunately though, because of the freezing cold weather, a lot of attractions were unavailable. So, we walked around the streets, went shopping and walked everywhere. A City is a City is a City is a City wherever you go. There are skyscrapers. There are taxis zipping everywhere. There are bus queues. There are people rushing home after work. There are flashing "Walk Now" signs. There are homeless people fast asleep with polystyrene cups outside shops. The people were very friendly and cars were extremely considerate of pedestrians. There were also Starbucks on every corner!! Not an exaggeration - how many Starbucks do people need?? And there was noise. 24/7. (David: I also watched an episode of the latest Top Gear at this time, the one where they go over the Golden Gate Bridge. Jeremy Clarkson said exactly the same thing as me when seeing it: "It's a bit like the Humber Bridge, but smaller". So, there you are... if you want to see the Golden Gate Bridge on the cheap go to Hull and bung on some red tinted glasses.) On our final night, we caught the train to Toronto. It was to be a 4-night-5-day journey through the Canadian Rockies and on across the wastes of Canada, on a sleeper train. It would be really good fun and something I have always wanted to see and do.  Love us xxx  
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Seattle, Washington, United States

Hi everyone Well, we left 'The White House' in pouring rain and 'got back on the road again'. The drive to Seattle was only a couple of hours away and fairly uneventful. No police cars. No burst tyres. Just rain. And freezing cold weather. When we arrived in Seattle, as it was New Years Day, understandably the City was like a complete ghost town. Seattle-ians must have either been surrendering to the pain and glugging hair-of-the-dog or moaning and rocking with their head in their hands in darkened rooms. We drove around for a while to get our bearings and then parked outside a Hotel which was very cheap and central. Then a member of staff casually asked us if 'that' was our car outside. It was. Yes, he gathered...did we know it was a one way street?? Er..................Nope..... We had driven down it the wrong way!!! Lucky, Seattle was a ghost town that day then. Hopefully all Seattle police were moaning and rocking back and forth too! (David: Here's a thing: We initially checked into the Hotel for two nights, for around $120 a night or so. But then needed to extend it later on. But, I'd noticed on the internet that they had rooms going for $50. So, remembering a story Ken had told us, I went to reception and asked to extend our stay. They said, sure. I said: 'and that's at the same internet rate isn't it'. She said: 'Er... it'll be the same rate as you checked in with. I said: 'Yes, $50 isn't it?' She checked, she said no it was 120 dollars. I said: 'oh...?'. She said: 'But I can change it, don't worry. There, $50 a night.'Odd that. Usually we've been given the absolute best price by walking in. We've learnt not to take that for granted in North America now.) That night, the Hotel recommended a local pizza restaurant. It was peeing it down. And the restaurant was closed...as was every other restaurant in the City too!! It was about 9pm and freeeeeezing cold and the whole City was dead and locked up. We walked for miles until we got down to the harbour where all the boats and seafood cafes are. This was also a morgue of life. But finally we discovered good old fish and chips from the one and only place that was cashing in on the extinct City. (David: I resisted the temptation to answer the little American boy that asked his mum: 'Why are they called chips when they're fries?') The next day, our priority was to return the hire car. We didn't really need one in Seattle and we had already decided to get the train from Seattle to Vancouver in a few days time, for our explorations of Canada. We eventually found the local Thrifty car hire place, down at the harbour somewhere.....we must have driven up and down the very long, busy harbour road a million times. EVENTUALLY, we found the local Thrifty, tucked away right at the back of a small waste-ground car park. However, the office was locked up and deserted with a yellowing, curling sign saying they had moved three months ago and were now near the airport, an hour's drive away!!! We had no choice. So, back in the car we got. However, on the way, we found on the navigator another Thrifty branch closer than the airport, so we went there. We pulled in, parked up, got all our paperwork out. No, sorry, we couldn't return the car to them as they were only a very small branch of Thrifty so we really did have to go to the airport branch to return it. Sigh! However, right next door to Thrifty was a Denny's Diner. David and I had never been to a Denny's before and we were both very hungry, so....   ....After we had eaten at Denny's, there was a fairly unanimous decision that we would never go to another Denny's ever again. Although, waitresses re-filled coffee cups in a very subdued, hushed dining atmosphere with quiet background music which made for a very warm, cosy atmosphere, the food...was.....well, how can I put this eloquently.........Crap. Eventually, we got to the airport Thrifty branch. This was actually located about 45mins away from the centre of Seattle and situated in the middle of several highways so to get to the airport for a taxi would have been much like walking alongside the M25 to get to Heathrow. Also, a taxi back to our Hotel would be the price of approx one night's stay at our Hotel!! We ummed and erred with the lovely Thrifty lady who offered several suggestions and we explained, exasperatedly, that Thrifty, back in LA, had confirmed we could return the car to the harbour branch but surely Thrifty knew the branch had been closed for three months?? and if so why didn't they tell us? I muttered that I would be writing Thrifty a letter asking for a taxi refund. Eventually, the lovely Thrifty lady said "ok, listen, you know what?? I'm actually off in about 5minutes, I could give you a lift back...?" We didn't need to think twice and thanked her profusely as we climbed into the back of her 4x4. 'Hope' was so kind, pointing out Seattle attractions along the way, things to do in the City and showing an interest in our blogs and our travels. She saved our bacon! We got back to our Hotel at about 6pm!! We had spent the whole day driving round and round in circles returning a flaming hire car. However, we had probably seen more of Seattle than we anticipated.  The next day was Saturday. As we were catching our train to Vancouver on Monday, I decided we absolutely needed to go to the laundrette as I now had no clean knickers and no clean tops to wear!!! It was either shopping or washing. I know which one I preferred!! There was a laundrette 'up the road' from us so we hauled our rammed rucksack 'up the road'. After a 30min hike up hilly streets, we finally got to the laundrette which was actually really cosy with a tv, arcade games etc. A few bag ladies and scary old men with wild hair and no teeth but otherwise ok.  By the time we finished doing our duties here, it was around 2pm. So we dumped our washing off and walked around the town. Hmm....well, on New Years Day when we arrived, it was a ghost town and today, Saturday it was also a ghost town! Some of the shops were closed and the streets were barely busy. Bizarre. What do people DO in Seattle? Obviously the week ends are sacred stay in bed/stay at home time. We headed for the main train station to try and sort out our journey to Vancouver on Monday. By the time we had done this it was about 4pm and by now, almost every shop had shut up for the week end!? What we did find open though was the famous Pike Street market. This was a great place. A buzzing, heaving area of stalls and shops selling everything you could possibly want in life, including a fantastic fish stall where you could sample some tuna, a cheese stall, coffee shops, coin shops, stamp shops (for the avid collectors!) and an incredible magic shop rammed with lots of vintage magic equipment and accessories and an Elvis Fortune-Telling booth!! Stall holders shouted, customers haggled, it was a really fun place.  The next day was Sunday and we were meeting David's cousin, Tish and Adam. I'll let David take over here as it's complex but interesting. (David: Oh yeah, right. Yeah. So. Tish is my Cousin and Adam is her husband. There.) Lois: Sigh! ok, I'll explain then! we got the ferry from Seattle over to Bainbridge Island, just 30mins away. Tish and Adam met us at the ferry terminal and immediately took us for lunch at Nola's cafe!! (sorry we didn't take any photos Nola!). It was a great little place and our brunch of Eggs benedict was absolutely delicious. David and Tish did most of the talking as they had lots to chat about, it was a good introduction to tish and adam though, they were a really lovely couple. (David: It was great to meet them both... we oddly had a lot in common.)After this, they took us back to their house. Tish is a landscape gardener so you can imagine, her garden was a haven of flora and fauna. It was a bit weather beaten from the tempestuous storms and heavyweight snow but it was really lovely. We also met their mad-as-a-march-hare dog who was just absolutely gorgeous and completely bonkers!! We all took him out for a walk to a nearby beach. On the way Tish and Adam drove us around the island a little. Bainbridge is a great place. Seattle is only 30mins away and here you have forests, beaches, stunning vistas, winding country roads, deer, it's just an idyllic place to live, so so pretty (David: Except the deer devour the tastiest garden plants). On the beach, the dog went crackers chasing waves, really funny. David and Adam swapped notes: Adam works for a company contracted by Disney amongst other so much talk was had about graphics, computer games etc. After this, they took us to their favourite bakers where they sold scrumptious cakes all freshly made. The smell on entering was enough to start the dribbling!! it was heaving in there so we sat outside and scoffed our cakes while we chatted some more. As we did, so the snow started coming down, really pretty. Finally, we had to say our goodbyes and get the ferry back to Seattle. We had had such a great day meeting them and wandering around. We were also incredibly lucky with the weather all day: freezing cold but very sunny. On the ferry back to seattle, the clouds closed in and the snow fell, heavily. We did warn Tish and Adam about our fondness for inciting freak weather conditions and so we kept true to our word, as that night, the Seattle streets became smothered in a blanket of fluffy white flakes..... (David: As an update, Tish has informed us that we appear to have left even crazier weather conditions in our wake...) So, by the time we finished with Tish and Adam, it was late and we were quite drained so we went round the corner to the local pizza place which was actually great fun, really lively and fantastic food.  The next day Monday, was our day to travel to Vancouver. We actually decided to go by bus instead. (David: No we didn't. There were 5 'trains' per day to Vancouver. Except that all bar the first one was at 6 in the morning and they were all busses run by the train company. So it was less of a decision and more of a forced necessity to get the bus.) Lois: so.....we decided to get the bus then!?! We COULD have got up at 6am...we used to get up at 4am regularly in Peru!!! The bus was great. A smooth drive with a short stop at the border to visit customs. Customs were not as bad as when we arrived in LA but we still got interrogated somewhat as to our 'intentions' of visiting Canada.  Finally, after about 4 hours, we arrived in Vancouver, to heavy snow. All we had to do now was find a room...... Love us xx  
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Portland, Oregon, United States

Hi everyone Well, the drive to Portland was not that long. (David: Yeah... for you. You slept the whole 8 hour drive from Eureka to Portland... sheesh!) Lois: oh....did I?? Well, it was busy. There was traffic everywhere which was making us a bit uneasy. It was the night before New Years Eve. The only accommodation we had for certain for tonight was the car!! Portland was far bigger and busier than we had envisaged. The main city was comprised of skyscrapers and glinting glass and it looked really lovely.  The day wore on and our brake lights went on, then off, then on, then off, then on again for miles as we snaked along the highway into the city. As it was now around 5pm we decided to head straight for a Lonely Planet recommendation. It was outside of the City Centre but had a definite quirky madness appeal which we just had to try. We could always go someplace else for New Years Eve since it was only New Years Eve, eve. We got to the Hotel. It was in a quiet residential area but a really pretty one with lots of trees and gorgeous 'clapper-board' houses (David: They're the ones with the flip top roofs...) all with festive trees and lights adorning them. The Hotel car park was rammed. We had problems getting a space. Again, not a good sign. However, we managed to convince ourselves that maybe this was because the general public can go to the Hotel for drinks etc even if you were not overnight so perhaps all these cars were not necessarily an indication of guest numbers.  The Hotel we had chosen was called The Kennedy School. It was literally an old School!!!!!!! And had been converted into a Hotel in 1997. The beautiful old 1-storey building was a school from 1915 until the end of the School year in 1974-75 when there just wasn't enough pupils to keep it open and not enough funds to maintain it. The place is absolutely and totally wonderful and I fell in love with it the moment we walked in. Go to www.kennedyschool.com to see for yourself. Basically, imagine walking into an old college you went to....It really reminded me of my old VI form college when I was 16. There were long corridors with numerous rooms going off them. Big lights. Wooden doors. Blackboards dotted about. Wooden flooring. School memorabilia. It even smelled of school. It had that mustiness crossed with a disinfectant smell. It was seriously like going back in time. The place was heaving with people and most were wheeling suitcases behind them. It was so weird! Suitcases on school premises?! We went straight to the 'School Office' a.k.a Reception which was all wooden desks and old phones! We were told the place was fully booked. Flipping 'eck. Back on the road then. Oh! But hold on! They had one room left after all!!! How lucky have we been on this honeymoon!!!  Our room was off of a long corridor. All the rooms off of the long corridors all used to be the original classrooms. Now they are guest bedrooms!!! Our room was in the Girls Play Court! David was thrilled about this! (David: Hurrah!) Sadly, there were no girls in gymslips though. (David: Boo!) The 'classroom' had been divided into two different guest rooms. Our room was large and sadly very soul-less. There was an old 1930's wardrobe and an old creaky (but very comfortable) bed both of which you may find at your granny's house. There were two blackboards on the wall (which we made full use of during our stay!!) and the bathroom was big but it was like a hospital bathroom with a disabled friendly shower and that grey speckly lino on the floor that you often get in all hospitals. Shame. Not much imagination put into the room. But then how much imagination is there in a classroom, I suppose.... (David: gymslips!) As soon as we dumped our bags, we made our way promptly to the School Auditorium which is now the Hotel Cinema!! There are big squishy velvet sofas, armchairs, tables and chairs in front of the screen. The Cinema seats 300 people and if you order food or drink from the bar just outside the Cinema, someone will come and bring it out to your seat. Excellent!! You don't get this kind of service at The Odeon!!!! It is just like a School Auditorium too. Where the massive screen was sat the stage and on all the walls hung old memorabilia and black and white photos of the School. And it was free to residents...We got swallowed up on the big sofa, drinking beer and watching "Zack and Miri make a Porno". This was such a funny film about a couple of roommates who are so hard up they resort to making a porno to earn their millions. Naturally, it's a disasterous idea!! Brilliant film. (David: Even funnier when all the puritan members of the audience realised the premise of the film about 20 minutes in... and walked out in disgust. Maybe they thought it was a film about two friends running a Pawn shop...) Afterwards, we went to some of the many on-site bars in the Hotel. One bar was the size of a broom cupboard, no joke but it was absolutely fantastic!! This was the Honours Bar which was decorated very middle eastern with very dim lights and candles and exotic rugs and curtains. This was a smoke-free window-less bar but there is another bar called The Detention Bar where you can smoke and it really is like walking into an ashtray! It stank!!! We didn't go in there!! But next we walked through the corridors and went to The Boiler Room Bar. It really was the old School Boiler Room and is absolutely incredible!! Upstairs you can play pool, cards etc but if you go downstairs it's all tables and chairs and stools around the bar. We sat at the bar and just people watched, mesmerised at our surroundings. The railings for the staircase and balcony are made out of old plumbing pipes that have all been connected in weird, twisting patterns and used as a kind of decorative panel. So imaginative. (David told me not to throw away the old pipes when we were doing our house up!!! But would I listen?!) (David: I loved the décor... very Heath Robinson crazy.) You may think me mad but we walked from one bar to another while holding onto our beers and this felt really odd. I felt really naughty! I was back at school and drinking alcohol on the premises!!! Despite the fact that they've turned the place into a Hotel it really hasn't got that 'commerical' alien aspect to it. The Kennedy School is run by the McMenamin brothers who formed a company renovating old properties and turning them into bars, Hotels and music venues. Their style seems to be to keep the décor as true to its original purpose as possible. So, thankfully, at The Kennedy School, there is no awful flowery carpet throughout or plush furnishings. Everything is as you would expect it to be in a school basically: minimal and simple! The only things that were missing were the desks!  They also had a 'Soaking pool which is outdoors but is heated and as we looked out of the window, the pool was heaving with people late at night and the steam rose from the water into the freezing night air. The pool is situated in the courtyard and surrounded by exotic trees and plants. This is apparently where the old Teacher's lounge used to be. That night, I wrote on the blackboard, in our room, a list of what would happen to naughty boys who would not go to sleep!!! It was great writing on a blackboard again. What's all this flaming whiteboard nonsense that we have in schools today? Where are the old wooden desks and chalk tricks for the teachers? You can't play tricks with whiteboard pens! When I was at school (being 'one of the naughty ones') we used to hurriedly thump the blackboard rubber onto the chair before our French teacher used to come in. She'd immediately sit down and then return to the staff room with a chalky white bottom. Hours of hilarity we got from that!! We also, one day, all deftly co-ordinated a 'bang-your-desk-lid' plan-of-attack during an incredibly dull geography lesson. Every 2 minutes someone would have to bang their wooden desk lid loudly until it turned into some rhythmical piece of music. Some of us got detention for that....sigh! such fun, fun, fun.... (David: I think we need to review the purpose of school before we have any kids to send there. Hmm... but, I'm not saying I wasn't naughty at school... I just didn't get caught.) The next day, we had a walk around the School before we left. As it was quite early in the morning, there weren't many people around. It was like everyone was in class! We went to Reception to see if they had ANY vacancies at all for that night, New Year's Eve. But they were fully booked. I was so sad because for the New Year's Eve party it was going to be one massive dance hall party with a DJ and old school music!!  Anyway, so now our priority was to find somewhere to stay for New Years Eve. Sigh! We drove around the city looking at nice Hotels but you could have been anywhere in the world, they were all the same! Finally, we went to another Lonely Planet Recommendation. It was called The White House. And it really was like The White House. See photos!! It was a B & B in the middle of a very residential area and it stuck out like a sore thumb! The surrounding houses in the neighbourhood were just normal clapperboard houses. We loved it. There was a sign on the door however, saying that they were closed today for tours and to call instead. This wasn't a good sign. Maybe they weren't having anyone to stay tonight? We rang the bell anyway. This guy, Matt, that answered was very surprised by our enquiry but he invited us in and showed us a room we could take for peanuts because it was New Years Eve. Woohoo! It was lovely! Our bed was massive and about 3 foot up from the floor with a big squishy mattress! In the bathroom were Molten Brown toiletries too. We'll take it, thanks! Phew! Another lucky break!!! The place was a plethora of antique furniture, china, paintings, ornaments....it was like a museum! There were also 3 flags flying outside. One was a USA flag. One was a Canadian flag. And the other was a skull and crossbones pirate flag. Oooook.  We spent the rest of the afternoon at the post office!! We had to post more stuff back home and this consisted of 3 boxes of books, CD's, summer clothes which we boxed up and brown-taped on the Post Office floor. As usual, I made a complete tit of myself in public and everyone laughed at me.....at the clerk's desk, we had to fill out some airmail forms. David got handed a biro but I'd lost my pen we used earlier!! I looked in my bag, on the floor, in my pockets, in David's pockets, it was nowhere!! Some people in the queue were staring at me and smiling and two black girls were mysteriously giggling and then looking away. I was really frustrated - where did I put my flaming pen?! David kept saying to me "Lois! Focus! Sign the forms!" but I just wanted to find my pen. Then, while bending down and scanning the floor for the 10th time, my pen fell at my feet!!! I instantly said out loud, to no-one, "hey! Where'd that come from?! David! I've found my pen!" and suddenly the queue of people erupted into fits of laughter and saying I'd made their day!! I was so confused!! Until I remembered....I'd put the pen behind my ear!!!!  That night was New Years' Eve!!!!!!!!!! Woohoo!!! It was piddling with rain outside and as we got ready in our little room we had The Twilight Zone on tv. It was great!! The B & B was nowhere near the City and didn't have any funky bars or restaurants nearby. If we wanted a wild night out we would have had to get a taxi 20mins away into the City. So, we decided to stay local. We went out for a gorgeous Thai meal nearby, sitting by the window watching the raindrops plummet down the glass. Outside, the streets were absolutely deserted. You'd think for a New Years Eve, there would be lots of traffic, hooting, people running under umbrellas and laughing. But nothing. It was like a Sunday night. While we were in the restaurant, there were several people coming in collecting take aways and the restaurant started closing up at 9pm!!!! Nearby, there was one 'pub' that Matt at the B & B recommended but I think this was a 'last straw' suggestion when we questioned him on local New Years Eve drinking places. He pulled a bit of a face. We were so stuffed with food and so cold and now slowly getting drenched while we decided what to do or where to go.  Eventually, we decided to........go back to the B & B, get into bed, turn out all the lights and watch The Twilight Zone on tv in the dark. It was a 24-hour marathon run of all the Twilight Zone episodes. Hurrah! So we went to a local liquor store, grabbed 4 strawberry daiquiris, a couple of beers and we snuggled up in bed and switched channels at midnight to watch the countdown in New York. It was a perfect New Years Eve. Really cosy. Who needs noisy bars and expensive beers?? The next day, we left for Seattle, only 2 hours drive away. We'd barely seen Portland at all but it was only meant to be a stopping/halfway point anyway. We'd stayed in two really mad, wonderful places, that was good enough for us.  Love, us xxx
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