Had a great flight from Vancouver to San Diego - amazing scenery - layer after layer of mountains - and so dry.....
Very warm day....
San Diego was interesting.... Lots of homeless people there - obviously the climate is better there if you must live on the streets - not much likelihood of freezing to death in Winter I guess.
We walked about, down to the waterfront where supposedly all the life is! Absolutely deserted - there was an enormous cruise ship in port, and even then there was not much evidence of life in the place. Many cafes and eating places in prime waterside positions closed, and evidently had been so for a l-o-n-g time.
Chris Carter lives in San Diego, so I had sent him a message on Facebook that we were to be in town, so he, his girlfriend Lauren, and Angie - his mother who happened to be in town!, came and took us out to dinner. Had a lovely meal, and it was good to catch up - funny that I never see Angie in Camberwell, but life is funny!
Arthur and I bought a day ticket on the local transport, and went out to Sea World. That was a good day, and made even better by the fact that the place was practically deserted, and we never had to queue for anything - evidently, it's like Disneyland in the "season", but not the day we were there. Saw some more Polar Bears, this time lying contentedly in the sun snoozing, not pacing up and down the ice and rocks looking for a feed. Strangely, we didn't feel these guys were having a hard life!! Belugas were there too, and as we hadn't seen them in the Arctic, it was nice to see them, even if somewhat less than ideally!! Anyway, by the time we did that, and ate nearby, we were glad we were living in the middle of the city.
Spent the next day shopping, and took the trolley (like our trams actually) out to the extent of the line, for a look see - very, very desert-like... Half way back to the downtown stopped at a huge shopping centre - rather like Chadstone without a roof... Spent up a little!
Yesterday, Chris and Lauren picked us up and took us up to the northern beaches for lunch, and to see Chris' house. We ate at a gorgeous restaurant, high up on a hill, overlooking the beach. Very nice houses in this neck of the woods, and up a little further in a suburb called La Jolla - pronounced La Hoya!!! The poor people do NOT live here. Had a lovely few hours with them, before they took us home. They're a happy couple, and there's not much evidence that Chris intends to return home to Oz any time soon!
Our hotel is opposite another shopping centre, so after Chris dropped us back in town, we tried to spend a bit more money - not all that successfully.
Last dinner - found a very noisy "joint" run by Kiwis, had a scratch meal, a few drinks, and headed for bed.
Caught the Amtrak train from San Diego to L.A. Great ride - almost all the way, the track runs right beside the beach. Shuttle to LAX....
Now sitting in the Qantas lounge at L.A.....
This is the LAST POST.
It's been an absolutely fantastic holiday, so much interesting, never-done-before stuff, mostly totally unforgettable, and a wonderful almost nine weeks. Be warned people, we will probably be boring unless you tell us to shut up!!
Dying to get home now, and help Kirsten plan her wedding - we've missed all the excitement so far; dying to see everyone also - we've missed you all.
Saw a photo of the other 'kids' - Schimma and Lucy at Anne and Wallace's - they looked pretty happy, will probably be a bit cheesed off when we bring them home!!
Hope you haven't been bored to tears by my raving, and thanks for sharing our holiday.
See you soon....
Ann and Arch
Monday, October 5, 2009
Monday, September 28, 2009
Knight Inlet - BEARS
Well, we've arrived back in Vancouver after our sojourn to Knight Inlet...
Drove from Victoria up to Campbell River on Thursday, and were delivered out to our Lodge at the mouth of Knight Inlet, via a float plane - amazing scenery..
The crew of the lodge were there to greet us - 8 on the plane, all newbies to the lodge. A lovely fresh crab welcome snack, and cheese and crackers awaited us. After we settled in, we were taken on a long walk around a track on the island - no bears on this island, so pretty safe..
Dinner around a large table for 10, very convivial, plenty of wine and food. Early to bed - early start..
We were breakfasted and on our boat to go looking for bears by 7.30am. About an hour and a half later we arrived at a landing pad, in the middle of Knight Inlet. Were taken to land, and then transported via a vehicle to a salmon river to view bears. There are two elevated, secure viewing platforms, which are locked at ground level for protection!! When we arrived there was a bear sitting in the water, directly below us, fishing!! More bears came and went in the couple of hours we were there - hardly able to be bothered eating the fish they caught - mostly just biting out the belly, and eating the roe - they favoured female fish for the roe! Brilliant to see them, totally unbothered by us - I suspect most of the bears in this area have seen humans many a time, and couldn't really care less. Finally, all but one bear wandered off down the river, and so did we. Good day. On the way home we came across a "pod" of dolphins who accompanied us for about 20 minutes. Try to imagine 200 - 300 dolphins all careering about, diving in and out beside the boat, hurtling along, keeping up with us. It was amazing, and totally brilliant. The scenery en route to these little places is stunning, layer upon layer of mountains, inlets, islands by the dozen, and the weather is still beautiful; cool, but sunny. We are supplied with bright orange "survival suits" which we have to wear on the water, and we feel like outsize gorillas in them! The lodge supplies picnic lunch every day, and we eat wherever we feel like it - today it was on the "pad" in the middle of the water, but it won't always be thus!
There is a spa on the deck of the lodge, overlooking the inlet, so June and I felt obliged to jump in - her son David also joined us, and it was a nice spot for a drink or two before dinner.
The next day, we headed off to another place - "up river" to again look for bears - possibly! No luck, they were obviously busy.. Again, the scenery was magnificent, and the day started off very pleasant (weather wise), but got a bit windy later - rough in the boat going back to the lodge. Again we were accompanied back by this enormous pod of dolphins. This time, they seemed to split into two - one group was followed by the other about 10 minutes further along the way!
The other group of four went to the bears today and they had a mother and two cubs cavorting about below them for ages, she was rolling around in the grass directly below them, suckling the cubs, and playing with them. One of the girls had a video of the whole thing, and it was brilliant. They paid for their good luck with the bears by being out on the water coming home, when it became horribly rough, waves blowing up over the windscreen of the boat - and had to be rescued by a passing, much larger boat. Big excitement for them!
Our last day we went whale watching.... Not much but magnificent scenery to see for a couple of hours, and then an Orca appeared. She buzzed around us for about 30 minutes, and is apparently known to all the locals. It was brilliant to see her, and she put up with us following her for quite a while. It was a brilliant sunny day again, and very warm in the boat.
After a stop at a small village back on Vancouver Island, we headed out again. This time we ran into quite a few humpback whales. One humpback obligingly breached TWICE right beside out boat - we were delighted..... but sadly didn't get it on a camera! An hour or so later, there were many humpbacks wandering about, in close proximity, in this particular part of the harbour, and there seemed to be schools of small fish which they (and the gulls) were chasing. A very exciting afternoon, and we reluctantly left as we had to be back to the lodge to catch the seaplane back to Campbell River.
Also passed a rocky outcrop in the harbour which was draped in a whole heap of Sea Lions - totally unphased by our presence. Brilliant...
Sad to leave, but greeted our replacements who came in on the sea plane, and we went back to Campbell River. Stayed the night at a famous fishing lodge - Painter's Lodge. Joan's son David stayed for dinner with us, and then went home - he conveniently lives about 15 minutes away.
Said goodbye to Joan this morning, and flew down to Vancouver....
Really on the homeward leg now, and can't wait to get back. Three nights in Vancouver, then down to San Diego. Will probably post once more before we get back..
Cheers
Drove from Victoria up to Campbell River on Thursday, and were delivered out to our Lodge at the mouth of Knight Inlet, via a float plane - amazing scenery..
The crew of the lodge were there to greet us - 8 on the plane, all newbies to the lodge. A lovely fresh crab welcome snack, and cheese and crackers awaited us. After we settled in, we were taken on a long walk around a track on the island - no bears on this island, so pretty safe..
Dinner around a large table for 10, very convivial, plenty of wine and food. Early to bed - early start..
We were breakfasted and on our boat to go looking for bears by 7.30am. About an hour and a half later we arrived at a landing pad, in the middle of Knight Inlet. Were taken to land, and then transported via a vehicle to a salmon river to view bears. There are two elevated, secure viewing platforms, which are locked at ground level for protection!! When we arrived there was a bear sitting in the water, directly below us, fishing!! More bears came and went in the couple of hours we were there - hardly able to be bothered eating the fish they caught - mostly just biting out the belly, and eating the roe - they favoured female fish for the roe! Brilliant to see them, totally unbothered by us - I suspect most of the bears in this area have seen humans many a time, and couldn't really care less. Finally, all but one bear wandered off down the river, and so did we. Good day. On the way home we came across a "pod" of dolphins who accompanied us for about 20 minutes. Try to imagine 200 - 300 dolphins all careering about, diving in and out beside the boat, hurtling along, keeping up with us. It was amazing, and totally brilliant. The scenery en route to these little places is stunning, layer upon layer of mountains, inlets, islands by the dozen, and the weather is still beautiful; cool, but sunny. We are supplied with bright orange "survival suits" which we have to wear on the water, and we feel like outsize gorillas in them! The lodge supplies picnic lunch every day, and we eat wherever we feel like it - today it was on the "pad" in the middle of the water, but it won't always be thus!
There is a spa on the deck of the lodge, overlooking the inlet, so June and I felt obliged to jump in - her son David also joined us, and it was a nice spot for a drink or two before dinner.
The next day, we headed off to another place - "up river" to again look for bears - possibly! No luck, they were obviously busy.. Again, the scenery was magnificent, and the day started off very pleasant (weather wise), but got a bit windy later - rough in the boat going back to the lodge. Again we were accompanied back by this enormous pod of dolphins. This time, they seemed to split into two - one group was followed by the other about 10 minutes further along the way!
The other group of four went to the bears today and they had a mother and two cubs cavorting about below them for ages, she was rolling around in the grass directly below them, suckling the cubs, and playing with them. One of the girls had a video of the whole thing, and it was brilliant. They paid for their good luck with the bears by being out on the water coming home, when it became horribly rough, waves blowing up over the windscreen of the boat - and had to be rescued by a passing, much larger boat. Big excitement for them!
Our last day we went whale watching.... Not much but magnificent scenery to see for a couple of hours, and then an Orca appeared. She buzzed around us for about 30 minutes, and is apparently known to all the locals. It was brilliant to see her, and she put up with us following her for quite a while. It was a brilliant sunny day again, and very warm in the boat.
After a stop at a small village back on Vancouver Island, we headed out again. This time we ran into quite a few humpback whales. One humpback obligingly breached TWICE right beside out boat - we were delighted..... but sadly didn't get it on a camera! An hour or so later, there were many humpbacks wandering about, in close proximity, in this particular part of the harbour, and there seemed to be schools of small fish which they (and the gulls) were chasing. A very exciting afternoon, and we reluctantly left as we had to be back to the lodge to catch the seaplane back to Campbell River.
Also passed a rocky outcrop in the harbour which was draped in a whole heap of Sea Lions - totally unphased by our presence. Brilliant...
Sad to leave, but greeted our replacements who came in on the sea plane, and we went back to Campbell River. Stayed the night at a famous fishing lodge - Painter's Lodge. Joan's son David stayed for dinner with us, and then went home - he conveniently lives about 15 minutes away.
Said goodbye to Joan this morning, and flew down to Vancouver....
Really on the homeward leg now, and can't wait to get back. Three nights in Vancouver, then down to San Diego. Will probably post once more before we get back..
Cheers
Wednesday, September 23, 2009
Victoria - Wednesday 23rd
Just got a photo from Anne and Wallace, their enormous Golden Retriever, Stumpy has taken up residence in one of our dogs' beds - how hilarious. He seems to be hanging all over it, but dead to the world. Good to know they are having a good time - the 'displaced' Leith dog was probably sleeping on Wallace's bed if the truth be known!!!
Victoria - Norman and Joan
Norman was waiting at the bus station for us, so he very kindly drove us home. Dying for a cup, and it was brilliant to catch up with he and Joan. Had SO much to tell them...
Poor old Norman was on rations prior to having one of "those" procedures, so we didn't play up, just had a quiet dinner.
Joan took Arthur and I walking around the area near where they live - lovely little beaches, rather pebbly, and wonderful views - over the water, past the Gulf Islands, and looking to the Olympic Mountain range in Washington State, USA. Brilliant weather again - low twenties. We have been so lucky. Had a nice lunch, and took care of the domestic chores - more washing!
Lovely dinner at home, and a couple of glasses of wine - Norman has been given the okay to drink a little again, so that was good.
Wednesday, Norman took us again to some lovely viewing spots, but unfortunately his eyes are playing up, so he had to take the afternoon to visit his eye specialist. Not good news - he's unable to come to Knight Inlet with us. What a shame - we have planned this for so many months.
Joan dropped Arthur and I in town, and we wandered around for a couple of hours - what a gorgeous small city Victoria is.. Brilliant little harbour, and float planes come and go all the time - once again perfect weather, so it was a pleasure to sit for a while and watch the entertainment. Arch and I picked up the rental car - a 4-wheel drive, ready to drive up to Campbell River in the morning, and on to Knight Inlet. Arch of course, negotiated the drive back to the house like a homing pigeon.
Have just packed our bags - limited to 20lbs each, and after our trekking, I'm an expert. You really CAN wear your clothes more than once, in fact many times more than that!!! Black is perfect, one thing looks exactly like another!!
Anyway, that's all for now, will post again when I can , probably back in Vancouver after the week-end. Hope the football is a good match, and we'll try to find out the results. Hope the Saints win!!
Cheers,
Ann and Arch
Poor old Norman was on rations prior to having one of "those" procedures, so we didn't play up, just had a quiet dinner.
Joan took Arthur and I walking around the area near where they live - lovely little beaches, rather pebbly, and wonderful views - over the water, past the Gulf Islands, and looking to the Olympic Mountain range in Washington State, USA. Brilliant weather again - low twenties. We have been so lucky. Had a nice lunch, and took care of the domestic chores - more washing!
Lovely dinner at home, and a couple of glasses of wine - Norman has been given the okay to drink a little again, so that was good.
Wednesday, Norman took us again to some lovely viewing spots, but unfortunately his eyes are playing up, so he had to take the afternoon to visit his eye specialist. Not good news - he's unable to come to Knight Inlet with us. What a shame - we have planned this for so many months.
Joan dropped Arthur and I in town, and we wandered around for a couple of hours - what a gorgeous small city Victoria is.. Brilliant little harbour, and float planes come and go all the time - once again perfect weather, so it was a pleasure to sit for a while and watch the entertainment. Arch and I picked up the rental car - a 4-wheel drive, ready to drive up to Campbell River in the morning, and on to Knight Inlet. Arch of course, negotiated the drive back to the house like a homing pigeon.
Have just packed our bags - limited to 20lbs each, and after our trekking, I'm an expert. You really CAN wear your clothes more than once, in fact many times more than that!!! Black is perfect, one thing looks exactly like another!!
Anyway, that's all for now, will post again when I can , probably back in Vancouver after the week-end. Hope the football is a good match, and we'll try to find out the results. Hope the Saints win!!
Cheers,
Ann and Arch
Train Toronto to Vancouver/Victoria
Annie had been selected to sleep on the top bunk!!! This was accessed via a very small, almost vertical ladder - with one handrail, anchored to the bunk, and the floor, and with about 15" of space between you and the dunny door!!
Had to go off down the passage for a shower - that was fun!
Breakfast was a free-for-all and I thought it was far too hard for me to attend - I was in a rather bad frame of mind! Arch did the right thing and brought me a piece of toast.
The scenery on the first day was very boring, the odd glimpse of lakes and rivers, but mostly we just went through millions of acres of Spruce Trees - many of them dead - which are not very attractive. We were delighted to note the many little dams the Beavers had constructed in little streams - we were lucky enough to actually see one at work last time we were in Canada, so were very proud of their (sometimes) mighty efforts. Were glad we'd brought reading material and Arch had an endless supply of Sudoku to do! Spent all day in the Observation Car just in case there was anything to see. Dinner was the late shift - 9pm, so had a few glasses of wine to help me sleep! It worked!!
Awoke at Winnipeg. Had a few hours stopover, so Arch and I walked for about two hours, all over the city. Rather a lifeless place, lots of closed shops, and considering it was mid Saturday morning - very dreary. Notable event - saw my first Dual Flush Toilet in North America - a Caroma too!!! Strangely enough, Winnipeg seemed to be a dual "Nationality" town too - on one side of the river street signs are in French (the ugliest side of town), and on the other, everything is in English. Bizarre. However, nobody expected us to speak French.
Re-boarded the train just before lunch and headed off across the Prairies. This was actually wonderful. Reminded us of the Mallee/Wimmera in full harvest time. Very late over here this year, but they're hard at it now. Huge paddocks of enormous bales of hay waiting for collection, and rather short stumpy wheat crops being headed. Many small towns along the railway line - again just like the Mallee I guess. For the first time we saw actual farm animals - some nice fat cattle - mostly beef I think, although we did see one dairy farm. No other wildlife of course.....
This train stops and starts a lot too - we have to give way to freight trains, and they are plentiful and long - I reckon up to 1.5 kms long.... Single track most of the way, with passing sidings occasionally.
Sunday - arrived in Jasper. Pretty much as remembered, some new shops. Jasper is in the beginnings of the Rockies, and we knew from that point the scenery was going to get brilliant. Raced everybody back onto the train after our Jasper stop - we were determined to get a seat in the Observation Carriage. What a lovely afternoon-evening. The mountains are magnificent, and the lakes and rivers plentiful. We saw Mount Robson, covered in snow, but also with a little cloud right on top. What a nice day.... Didn't leave our post until dinner, by which time it was nearly dark anyway.
It was a standing joke amongst those passengers who knew us, that we haven't seen any wildlife in Canada. There was a shout over the intercom that there was a mother bear with her cub on one side of the train - Arthur saw them, but I missed out of course!! Waiting for Knight Inlet..
Arrived in Vancouver without incident, and of course whilst waiting for our bus tickets onto Victoria, Arthur had an altercation in the queue with one chappie who pushed in!!! He turned out to be on our bus too, and they smiled sweetly at each other!!
Had to go off down the passage for a shower - that was fun!
Breakfast was a free-for-all and I thought it was far too hard for me to attend - I was in a rather bad frame of mind! Arch did the right thing and brought me a piece of toast.
The scenery on the first day was very boring, the odd glimpse of lakes and rivers, but mostly we just went through millions of acres of Spruce Trees - many of them dead - which are not very attractive. We were delighted to note the many little dams the Beavers had constructed in little streams - we were lucky enough to actually see one at work last time we were in Canada, so were very proud of their (sometimes) mighty efforts. Were glad we'd brought reading material and Arch had an endless supply of Sudoku to do! Spent all day in the Observation Car just in case there was anything to see. Dinner was the late shift - 9pm, so had a few glasses of wine to help me sleep! It worked!!
Awoke at Winnipeg. Had a few hours stopover, so Arch and I walked for about two hours, all over the city. Rather a lifeless place, lots of closed shops, and considering it was mid Saturday morning - very dreary. Notable event - saw my first Dual Flush Toilet in North America - a Caroma too!!! Strangely enough, Winnipeg seemed to be a dual "Nationality" town too - on one side of the river street signs are in French (the ugliest side of town), and on the other, everything is in English. Bizarre. However, nobody expected us to speak French.
Re-boarded the train just before lunch and headed off across the Prairies. This was actually wonderful. Reminded us of the Mallee/Wimmera in full harvest time. Very late over here this year, but they're hard at it now. Huge paddocks of enormous bales of hay waiting for collection, and rather short stumpy wheat crops being headed. Many small towns along the railway line - again just like the Mallee I guess. For the first time we saw actual farm animals - some nice fat cattle - mostly beef I think, although we did see one dairy farm. No other wildlife of course.....
This train stops and starts a lot too - we have to give way to freight trains, and they are plentiful and long - I reckon up to 1.5 kms long.... Single track most of the way, with passing sidings occasionally.
Sunday - arrived in Jasper. Pretty much as remembered, some new shops. Jasper is in the beginnings of the Rockies, and we knew from that point the scenery was going to get brilliant. Raced everybody back onto the train after our Jasper stop - we were determined to get a seat in the Observation Carriage. What a lovely afternoon-evening. The mountains are magnificent, and the lakes and rivers plentiful. We saw Mount Robson, covered in snow, but also with a little cloud right on top. What a nice day.... Didn't leave our post until dinner, by which time it was nearly dark anyway.
It was a standing joke amongst those passengers who knew us, that we haven't seen any wildlife in Canada. There was a shout over the intercom that there was a mother bear with her cub on one side of the train - Arthur saw them, but I missed out of course!! Waiting for Knight Inlet..
Arrived in Vancouver without incident, and of course whilst waiting for our bus tickets onto Victoria, Arthur had an altercation in the queue with one chappie who pushed in!!! He turned out to be on our bus too, and they smiled sweetly at each other!!
Toronto to Victoria
Well, the haircut didn't actually eventuate!! The nice little Francophone girl managed to do the colour, but couldn't actually work out how to cut my hair it seemed, she snipped a few of the ends off, but just fluffed around... It was all getting too hard, and I was beginning to worry about what she would do as she had such a poor grasp of English that I just let it go.... At least the colour was done!! Thank god I have made an appointment for the day after I get home!
Had one last walk around Montreal, and had to kill a few hours before we got on the train to Toronto at 3.40pm. The train ride was memorable..... The train stopped and started, stopped and started, and then "hurtled" along at about 5kms per hour for an hour or so, stopped again, and we finally got into Toronto about 2 1/2 hours late...... Definitely not happy Jan....
We decided to take an early morning trip out to Niagara Falls, but decided so late that we had actually missed the bus. The hotel sent a driver to take us to meet the bus - good service!! There are many wineries on the way, to stopped for a "wine tasting" at one - were given one teaspoon full of wine which had been bottled yesterday, or possibly two days before!! Evil tasting stuff... Noticed an "Australian" wine for sale in the shop - "South Australian wine, bottled in Canada, from imported and local grapes"!!! Omigod - can't imagine what it actually was..
Next stop was a small airfield, where Arch and I took a helicopter flight over the falls. Brilliant.. Arthur won the lottery big time, and had the seat up front with the pilot. His view was spectacular - glass bottom in the chopper, and unrestricted views for 180 degrees... Short flight, but well worth doing.
The American falls and the Niagara Falls are both magnificent. The weather was again stunning - about 25 degrees, and absolutely gorgeous. Took a ride in the "Maid of the Mist" which is the little boat which takes you to the face of the falls - clad in shiny blue raincoats. Good thing to do indeed.... Spent some time walking right along the cliff to the edge of the falls, and took photo's of the water from the top going over the edge... Tee hee..... good fun.
The Totonto Film Festival is on, so the city is positively buzzing. Found a nice Chinese Restaurant for dinner, great foood. On the way home saw an Asian fella busking in the street, actually heard him first - the distinctive sound of a didgeridoo!!! The instruments were man-made versions, one had a really long gentle curve, with a flared end, but they sounded wonderful. I'm sure most of the crowd had no idea what the noise was.. He was self-accompanied by a guitar and a drum - excellent.
Arranged to meet Jim Bell, a friend of Robin and Ian Munro, for lunch. Took us to a really novel restaurant - lots of totally different meal options, choose whatever you like, they zap your card, and then you pay at the end. Lovely fresh produce, and it was good food.
It's also a relief to be in an English speaking city - absolutely nobody speaks to you in French as a first option! Caught a ferry over to a small island off the main city - Totonto Island, a lovely summer playground for the locals. Acres of beautifully manicured lawns, an ornamental lake, a "luna park" type thing, and hundreds of Canada Geese. They have large shallow swimming pools for the kids, and a nice sandy beach created on the lake. This is right on Lake Ontario, so there are also enormous ships in port.
U2 was also in town today, and there was a "Game" (ice hockey) on, so there were thousands of people around, again.
Our apartment had a washing machine and drier, so did ALL the washing!! Have finally worked out how to use the ubiquitous coffee machine which is in every apartment.
Went to the CN tower for a look-see. What an amazing view - this has recently been re-designated the tallest freestanding tower in the world!! Spent an hour or so there, taking endless photo's. After this, we walked to the other side of town to a market, where we had lunch. Not a patch on our Victoria Market, but the locals think it's a good place to go - grabbed lunch here.
Had a few more hours to fill in before catching the train, so turned into Mall Rats... Sat watching the world by in a shopping mall. We also discovered there is an almost entire city built underground in Toronto. Absolutely amazing, and the entrances to these underground malls are really well disguised, and you enter almost by accident. Everything under there - restaurants, shops, McDonalds, etc..
Finally got to the station - we'd been sent on one of these underground trails by our hotel, but without the kindness of a stranger, who showed us the correct way, we would possibly still be down there!!
We had not been told to pack a small bag to take on the train!!! We had to unpack a couple of days' clothes in the passageway, to take into our miniscule carriage.... Omigod - nearly died of shock when we discovered the size of the dog box we were to sleep in for four nights. (If you're reading this Catherine - be very glad it was not possible to ring you at that time!!)
Didn't sleep more than an hour that night....
Had one last walk around Montreal, and had to kill a few hours before we got on the train to Toronto at 3.40pm. The train ride was memorable..... The train stopped and started, stopped and started, and then "hurtled" along at about 5kms per hour for an hour or so, stopped again, and we finally got into Toronto about 2 1/2 hours late...... Definitely not happy Jan....
We decided to take an early morning trip out to Niagara Falls, but decided so late that we had actually missed the bus. The hotel sent a driver to take us to meet the bus - good service!! There are many wineries on the way, to stopped for a "wine tasting" at one - were given one teaspoon full of wine which had been bottled yesterday, or possibly two days before!! Evil tasting stuff... Noticed an "Australian" wine for sale in the shop - "South Australian wine, bottled in Canada, from imported and local grapes"!!! Omigod - can't imagine what it actually was..
Next stop was a small airfield, where Arch and I took a helicopter flight over the falls. Brilliant.. Arthur won the lottery big time, and had the seat up front with the pilot. His view was spectacular - glass bottom in the chopper, and unrestricted views for 180 degrees... Short flight, but well worth doing.
The American falls and the Niagara Falls are both magnificent. The weather was again stunning - about 25 degrees, and absolutely gorgeous. Took a ride in the "Maid of the Mist" which is the little boat which takes you to the face of the falls - clad in shiny blue raincoats. Good thing to do indeed.... Spent some time walking right along the cliff to the edge of the falls, and took photo's of the water from the top going over the edge... Tee hee..... good fun.
The Totonto Film Festival is on, so the city is positively buzzing. Found a nice Chinese Restaurant for dinner, great foood. On the way home saw an Asian fella busking in the street, actually heard him first - the distinctive sound of a didgeridoo!!! The instruments were man-made versions, one had a really long gentle curve, with a flared end, but they sounded wonderful. I'm sure most of the crowd had no idea what the noise was.. He was self-accompanied by a guitar and a drum - excellent.
Arranged to meet Jim Bell, a friend of Robin and Ian Munro, for lunch. Took us to a really novel restaurant - lots of totally different meal options, choose whatever you like, they zap your card, and then you pay at the end. Lovely fresh produce, and it was good food.
It's also a relief to be in an English speaking city - absolutely nobody speaks to you in French as a first option! Caught a ferry over to a small island off the main city - Totonto Island, a lovely summer playground for the locals. Acres of beautifully manicured lawns, an ornamental lake, a "luna park" type thing, and hundreds of Canada Geese. They have large shallow swimming pools for the kids, and a nice sandy beach created on the lake. This is right on Lake Ontario, so there are also enormous ships in port.
U2 was also in town today, and there was a "Game" (ice hockey) on, so there were thousands of people around, again.
Our apartment had a washing machine and drier, so did ALL the washing!! Have finally worked out how to use the ubiquitous coffee machine which is in every apartment.
Went to the CN tower for a look-see. What an amazing view - this has recently been re-designated the tallest freestanding tower in the world!! Spent an hour or so there, taking endless photo's. After this, we walked to the other side of town to a market, where we had lunch. Not a patch on our Victoria Market, but the locals think it's a good place to go - grabbed lunch here.
Had a few more hours to fill in before catching the train, so turned into Mall Rats... Sat watching the world by in a shopping mall. We also discovered there is an almost entire city built underground in Toronto. Absolutely amazing, and the entrances to these underground malls are really well disguised, and you enter almost by accident. Everything under there - restaurants, shops, McDonalds, etc..
Finally got to the station - we'd been sent on one of these underground trails by our hotel, but without the kindness of a stranger, who showed us the correct way, we would possibly still be down there!!
We had not been told to pack a small bag to take on the train!!! We had to unpack a couple of days' clothes in the passageway, to take into our miniscule carriage.... Omigod - nearly died of shock when we discovered the size of the dog box we were to sleep in for four nights. (If you're reading this Catherine - be very glad it was not possible to ring you at that time!!)
Didn't sleep more than an hour that night....
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