Just checking if anyone is still reading the round the world blog??
If you want to read more, we are off again later in the year to Oz so watch this space ...............
See you later
Oct 14, 2008
And in Summary ...
In conclusion, we have had a fantastic trip all the way round the world, around 32,000 miles, we have seen many of the worlds famous attractions, also many different aspects of life, some very luxurious, some much closer to the slums. We have met people from all walks of life and been pleasantly surprised at how many really nice people there are out there. In Australia we noticed that you only needed to stop and look up and someone would ask if you needed help ? In fact the only time we were surprised by peoples’ bad attitude was a couple of times in Niagara Falls but perhaps they were both having an off day. Apart from our first month in Perth, where it seemed like it rained every day, we have had exceptionally good weather, hardly a drop of rain and only in New Zealand and Boston have we had to put our coats on in the evening as it got chilly.
In the middle of all this, we had the time at Adam and Tj’s wedding in Daydream Island, meeting her family and spending time with ours in Brisbane too.
Amazingly apart from 1 airport, our check in and customs have been exceptionally smooth and quick with no hassle or bad experiences, with little or no queues, also our timings on and off trains (expect once in San Francisco) have been perfectly timed. We have hired 5 cars, 1 motorbike and 1 Campervan to get around, we have also ridden on planes, a helicopter, trains buses and boats and of course walked many miles. We have slept in 30 different beds since we left Spain, stayed in hotels, motels, hostels, apartments, houses and B & B. Bob has played 10 full rounds of golf and a ½ round in Perth when he was forced to give up in a rain storm. So he nearly managed 1 a week, Cairns, LA, Las Vegas and New York he missed playing due to timescales or the cost of golf there!
It has been really hard to keep up the diary for 103 days, often sitting in bed til 2am typing away, but I am so glad I have because we could not possibly remember everything we did but with the diary we have so many more memories to keep. We also hope that some of you managed to read some of it too and enjoyed some of the funnier moments with us. Along with this we have over 3,000 photos – just be glad I have only put a selection on the web for you !
Yes, we would do it again, but I don’t think Aunt Dorothy has any more money left !! See you all soon.
In the middle of all this, we had the time at Adam and Tj’s wedding in Daydream Island, meeting her family and spending time with ours in Brisbane too.
Amazingly apart from 1 airport, our check in and customs have been exceptionally smooth and quick with no hassle or bad experiences, with little or no queues, also our timings on and off trains (expect once in San Francisco) have been perfectly timed. We have hired 5 cars, 1 motorbike and 1 Campervan to get around, we have also ridden on planes, a helicopter, trains buses and boats and of course walked many miles. We have slept in 30 different beds since we left Spain, stayed in hotels, motels, hostels, apartments, houses and B & B. Bob has played 10 full rounds of golf and a ½ round in Perth when he was forced to give up in a rain storm. So he nearly managed 1 a week, Cairns, LA, Las Vegas and New York he missed playing due to timescales or the cost of golf there!
It has been really hard to keep up the diary for 103 days, often sitting in bed til 2am typing away, but I am so glad I have because we could not possibly remember everything we did but with the diary we have so many more memories to keep. We also hope that some of you managed to read some of it too and enjoyed some of the funnier moments with us. Along with this we have over 3,000 photos – just be glad I have only put a selection on the web for you !
Yes, we would do it again, but I don’t think Aunt Dorothy has any more money left !! See you all soon.
Oct 8, 2008
Week 15 October 7th to 10th Last days in Boston
Day 99 Tuesday 7th October
.JPG)
Hey, the massage worked it’s much better this morning, Bob dressed and went downstairs to put the washing in the launderette machine while I showered – back very quickly he said the lady who ran it had gone out and he didn’t know how to use the machine. We had breakfast and I went back down to the launderette and put the washing on while Bob tidied up and made some phone calls about booking golf for Thursday. When the washing was all done we set off for the North End of Boston and the Wharf. Although we had been round this area already on Saturday, it was so busy that we wanted to look at it more quietly. We walked up through the Theatre district and went down different streets to Saturdays visit, taking in the different styles of buildings – it’s a very mixed up area – architecturally. We ended up at the harbor and sat in the sunshine watching the boats and across the water we could see the planes coming into and out of Boston Logan Airport – we were amazed at the amount of traffic there was for a weekday. I had been looking for a new black belt for my new black jeans and found one in Macy’s where we got a visitors discount of about 15% - just for being on holiday – I wish more shops would take this idea up ! Bobs’ leg was aching now so we chickened out of walking home and got on the subway train to the supermarket 10 mins from the apartment so that we could pickup something for dinner on the way back. I think we have been spoilt eating out and not cooking, 6 days of cooking dinners here has been a struggle !!!! Time this evening to finish updating the blog to date and start to repack the bags for tomorrows last move to the Comfort Inn at Revere near the beach and airport.
Day 100 Wednesday 8th October
Do you ever have one of those mornings when you know you have loads to do but can’t get out of bed – well we had one of those this morning. We had to be out of the apartment by 12 and we were still in bed at 9am. Finally we stirred ourselves, showered and had breakfast. Bob popped out to the ATM for some cash and I started to clear the kitchen cupboards and wipe down to leave it tidy. Around 11am, still not finished packing, we thought about the cost of the taxi’s to take us to the hotel and for Bob to go to golf tomorrow and back again and realized it would probably be cheaper to hire a car for the last couple of days. We set about the huge pile of visitors guides and and internet and began to make phone calls – we couldn’t believe it, everyone was unanswered, out of service or truck hire only . By now I was getting worried that we would not be out in time so we gave up on that tack, finished the packing and ordered a taxi. Bob had barely put the phone down and the taxi driver was at the door ! Keeping in mind that we are 2 very high floors up with 5 pieces of luggage Bob had to almost run up and down the stairs with the bags while I carried the hand luggage bags down and the taxi driver just stood there ! no tip for him ! When we got in the taxi we told him where we wanted to go and he seemed to have trouble with English !! I had to tell him 5 times, “the Comfort Inn, Revere” before he said “what’s the address, there are lots of Comfort Inns, which one?” I repeated it again and said that we didn’t live here and he was supposed to know the Hotels – then the penny dropped and he said “oh – Comfort Inn in Revere” stupid man ! Slightly stressed we checked into the hotel, dropped the bags and went out for a walk. Winding our way down the streets to the beach and promenade. The houses here are more how I imagined Boston to be, wooden colonial with verandahs. However, we imagined the beach and promenade to be a bit livelier but in fact it was very quiet and somewhat grubby and tired in looks, however, the sun was shining so we strolled for a mile or so and stopped for lunch at a beachfront café (the only one that looked ok!). We watched the planes coming in and out of Boston Airport which was only about 3 miles away and were amazed at the frequency of them, as one passed over us there was another glimmering in the distance. Rested and fed we strolled back towards the hotel via a different route, passing a shopping centre, a greyhound track and the subway station before arriving back at the hotel. The hotel has a small but heated indoor pool so we went for a swim then, after a shower and change we went down to the restaurant for a meal which was really nice. It was a Mexican restaurant and Bob and I are not known for liking anything hot and spicy but the waiter was very helpful and kind and made some suggestions based on what we did like and how hungry we were. Bob had a chicken dish and I had a large starter of nachos. We finished the evening off with a Baileys in the room as we still had a quarter of a bottle left over from the apartment and a chat with Adam in Brisbane. He and TJ are off to Australia Zoo tomorrow for interviews to work there for 5 days – just as an experience, without pay. Apparently there are thousands of applications every year so they were lucky to even get an interview, if they get offered a job it could be with any animal in the zoo – hope they don’t get tigers or crocodiles or even worse – spiders !!!
Day 101 Thursday 9th October
Bob was up at 6.30 this morning to play his last game of golf on the trip, there is a course about 7 miles away, although there is one closer but when he phoned they said it was a members club and he would have to be invited by a member !!! Stuffy lot !!! He went down for breakfast and ordered a taxi and off he went. I in the meantime tried to get back to sleep but couldn’t so I watched the morning news and went down for breakfast around 8am – it was only continental breakfast but it was included in the room rate so one can’t complain. I read the morning paper in the reception area while I drank my coffee as it was a bit busy in the breakfast room then went back to the room to change into my swimsuit for a morning swim. I had the pool to myself which was lovely, although the windows look onto the lift area so everyone waiting for the lift looks into the pool – I kept my head down and continued with my lengths ! I spent the next hour, unpacking all the bags and repacking in some sort of order for travelling then went to the laundry to do the last bit of washing (I like to keep on top of it). Then checked my emails, did some research for a DVD drive and ipod charger and read my book til Bob got back. He arrived back with his tales of his round with 4 ladies. The sun had shone and he had had a fairly good round, scoring a birdie on one hole and stopped to have a drink with them before Frank, his taxi driver had come back to pick him up and bring back. It was such a lovely day that we decided to catch the train back into Boston, we were about 5 miles outside of the city in this hotel and there was nothing much to see or do around, except the beach, so we caught the train to Boyleston Street in the centre and had a ciabatta sandwich for lunch, then a walk round the shops, up and down narrow streets and came out opposite the cinema we had visited a couple of nights before. We went in to see what was on and saw that the film, Nights in Rodanthe with Richard Gere opened that night and as I have just read the book we decided to come back in an hour and 30 mins to get tickets for the afternoon performance. We noticed there seemed to be an awful lot of police around, they were on every corner and very visual – couldn’t see that anything particularly was happening though. We looked for another suitcase as we weren’t sure if we were within the weight limits for 3 bags and thought we might have to go to 4 bags, but Macy’s wanted over $200 for a medium sized bag. Before long we were back at the cinema and taking our seats for the performance. There was only about 10 people in there but 2 sitting a few rows behind us were making some strange sounds I am sure they weren’t watching the film ! but every time I turned round to look it was too dark to see ! Well, I sobbed my heart out, quietly, what a lovely film and Richard Gere doesn’t age much, Bob made fun of me crying but when I went to the loo to blow my nose there were 3 other girls in there doing the same ! We came out of the cinema to find it was dark but there was a train station opposite so we hopped on the train and were back at the hotel in a jiffy. Bob was hungry as he had had a long day and not had much for lunch but I couldn’t eat so he ordered a Mexican meal on room service and I helped him eat the salad and crisps.
Day 102 Friday 10th October
We went down for breakfast at 8am this morning, going back to the room straight afterwards and beginning the final packing. We logged onto the internet to see if we could checkin online which we did, then Lucy came online so we had a few mins chat to Dan who was excited that we would be there for breakfast tomorrow. With extended checkout until 12 o’clock we were able to go for a swim in the hotel pool and when we were showered and ready to go Bob took the luggage to reception and had it locked into the luggage room while I printed off the boarding passes and then we set off for the beach with our books. It was only 15 mins walk and it was so warm that we unzipped our trouser legs off and sat on the sand for an hour reading and trying not to take any notice of a couple having a very loud argument on the beach. Time to walk back and pick up our bags and the shuttle bus arrived to whizz us to the airport. Baggage dropped off, well within the allowance thank goodness, we went through customs very easily and after a quick walk round the duty free we found a Chinese for something to eat and settled down for an hour wait to board our last flight. As flights go, it was the worst – not impressed with British Airways, we were in row 50 of 55, the seating was cramped and it was so hot we had to resort to using the safety information card to fan us. The meal was ok but the breakfast was a dried up croissant and some jam and Butter with an orange juice ! We only got about an hour sleep in the 6hr flight and landed ahead of time at 5am Saturday morning. We were through customs very quickly but when we phoned the car hire company there was no reply – we waited 20 mins on the phone before someone answered and then we stood for another 20 mins outside waiting for the minibus to pick us up to collect the car. Finally on the road at 6.45am we drove a clear road all the way back to Coventry to have breakfast with the grandchildren at 8.30 to end our trip of a lifetime.
.JPG)
Hey, the massage worked it’s much better this morning, Bob dressed and went downstairs to put the washing in the launderette machine while I showered – back very quickly he said the lady who ran it had gone out and he didn’t know how to use the machine. We had breakfast and I went back down to the launderette and put the washing on while Bob tidied up and made some phone calls about booking golf for Thursday. When the washing was all done we set off for the North End of Boston and the Wharf. Although we had been round this area already on Saturday, it was so busy that we wanted to look at it more quietly. We walked up through the Theatre district and went down different streets to Saturdays visit, taking in the different styles of buildings – it’s a very mixed up area – architecturally. We ended up at the harbor and sat in the sunshine watching the boats and across the water we could see the planes coming into and out of Boston Logan Airport – we were amazed at the amount of traffic there was for a weekday. I had been looking for a new black belt for my new black jeans and found one in Macy’s where we got a visitors discount of about 15% - just for being on holiday – I wish more shops would take this idea up ! Bobs’ leg was aching now so we chickened out of walking home and got on the subway train to the supermarket 10 mins from the apartment so that we could pickup something for dinner on the way back. I think we have been spoilt eating out and not cooking, 6 days of cooking dinners here has been a struggle !!!! Time this evening to finish updating the blog to date and start to repack the bags for tomorrows last move to the Comfort Inn at Revere near the beach and airport.
Day 100 Wednesday 8th October
Do you ever have one of those mornings when you know you have loads to do but can’t get out of bed – well we had one of those this morning. We had to be out of the apartment by 12 and we were still in bed at 9am. Finally we stirred ourselves, showered and had breakfast. Bob popped out to the ATM for some cash and I started to clear the kitchen cupboards and wipe down to leave it tidy. Around 11am, still not finished packing, we thought about the cost of the taxi’s to take us to the hotel and for Bob to go to golf tomorrow and back again and realized it would probably be cheaper to hire a car for the last couple of days. We set about the huge pile of visitors guides and and internet and began to make phone calls – we couldn’t believe it, everyone was unanswered, out of service or truck hire only . By now I was getting worried that we would not be out in time so we gave up on that tack, finished the packing and ordered a taxi. Bob had barely put the phone down and the taxi driver was at the door ! Keeping in mind that we are 2 very high floors up with 5 pieces of luggage Bob had to almost run up and down the stairs with the bags while I carried the hand luggage bags down and the taxi driver just stood there ! no tip for him ! When we got in the taxi we told him where we wanted to go and he seemed to have trouble with English !! I had to tell him 5 times, “the Comfort Inn, Revere” before he said “what’s the address, there are lots of Comfort Inns, which one?” I repeated it again and said that we didn’t live here and he was supposed to know the Hotels – then the penny dropped and he said “oh – Comfort Inn in Revere” stupid man ! Slightly stressed we checked into the hotel, dropped the bags and went out for a walk. Winding our way down the streets to the beach and promenade. The houses here are more how I imagined Boston to be, wooden colonial with verandahs. However, we imagined the beach and promenade to be a bit livelier but in fact it was very quiet and somewhat grubby and tired in looks, however, the sun was shining so we strolled for a mile or so and stopped for lunch at a beachfront café (the only one that looked ok!). We watched the planes coming in and out of Boston Airport which was only about 3 miles away and were amazed at the frequency of them, as one passed over us there was another glimmering in the distance. Rested and fed we strolled back towards the hotel via a different route, passing a shopping centre, a greyhound track and the subway station before arriving back at the hotel. The hotel has a small but heated indoor pool so we went for a swim then, after a shower and change we went down to the restaurant for a meal which was really nice. It was a Mexican restaurant and Bob and I are not known for liking anything hot and spicy but the waiter was very helpful and kind and made some suggestions based on what we did like and how hungry we were. Bob had a chicken dish and I had a large starter of nachos. We finished the evening off with a Baileys in the room as we still had a quarter of a bottle left over from the apartment and a chat with Adam in Brisbane. He and TJ are off to Australia Zoo tomorrow for interviews to work there for 5 days – just as an experience, without pay. Apparently there are thousands of applications every year so they were lucky to even get an interview, if they get offered a job it could be with any animal in the zoo – hope they don’t get tigers or crocodiles or even worse – spiders !!!
Day 101 Thursday 9th October
Bob was up at 6.30 this morning to play his last game of golf on the trip, there is a course about 7 miles away, although there is one closer but when he phoned they said it was a members club and he would have to be invited by a member !!! Stuffy lot !!! He went down for breakfast and ordered a taxi and off he went. I in the meantime tried to get back to sleep but couldn’t so I watched the morning news and went down for breakfast around 8am – it was only continental breakfast but it was included in the room rate so one can’t complain. I read the morning paper in the reception area while I drank my coffee as it was a bit busy in the breakfast room then went back to the room to change into my swimsuit for a morning swim. I had the pool to myself which was lovely, although the windows look onto the lift area so everyone waiting for the lift looks into the pool – I kept my head down and continued with my lengths ! I spent the next hour, unpacking all the bags and repacking in some sort of order for travelling then went to the laundry to do the last bit of washing (I like to keep on top of it). Then checked my emails, did some research for a DVD drive and ipod charger and read my book til Bob got back. He arrived back with his tales of his round with 4 ladies. The sun had shone and he had had a fairly good round, scoring a birdie on one hole and stopped to have a drink with them before Frank, his taxi driver had come back to pick him up and bring back. It was such a lovely day that we decided to catch the train back into Boston, we were about 5 miles outside of the city in this hotel and there was nothing much to see or do around, except the beach, so we caught the train to Boyleston Street in the centre and had a ciabatta sandwich for lunch, then a walk round the shops, up and down narrow streets and came out opposite the cinema we had visited a couple of nights before. We went in to see what was on and saw that the film, Nights in Rodanthe with Richard Gere opened that night and as I have just read the book we decided to come back in an hour and 30 mins to get tickets for the afternoon performance. We noticed there seemed to be an awful lot of police around, they were on every corner and very visual – couldn’t see that anything particularly was happening though. We looked for another suitcase as we weren’t sure if we were within the weight limits for 3 bags and thought we might have to go to 4 bags, but Macy’s wanted over $200 for a medium sized bag. Before long we were back at the cinema and taking our seats for the performance. There was only about 10 people in there but 2 sitting a few rows behind us were making some strange sounds I am sure they weren’t watching the film ! but every time I turned round to look it was too dark to see ! Well, I sobbed my heart out, quietly, what a lovely film and Richard Gere doesn’t age much, Bob made fun of me crying but when I went to the loo to blow my nose there were 3 other girls in there doing the same ! We came out of the cinema to find it was dark but there was a train station opposite so we hopped on the train and were back at the hotel in a jiffy. Bob was hungry as he had had a long day and not had much for lunch but I couldn’t eat so he ordered a Mexican meal on room service and I helped him eat the salad and crisps.
Day 102 Friday 10th October
We went down for breakfast at 8am this morning, going back to the room straight afterwards and beginning the final packing. We logged onto the internet to see if we could checkin online which we did, then Lucy came online so we had a few mins chat to Dan who was excited that we would be there for breakfast tomorrow. With extended checkout until 12 o’clock we were able to go for a swim in the hotel pool and when we were showered and ready to go Bob took the luggage to reception and had it locked into the luggage room while I printed off the boarding passes and then we set off for the beach with our books. It was only 15 mins walk and it was so warm that we unzipped our trouser legs off and sat on the sand for an hour reading and trying not to take any notice of a couple having a very loud argument on the beach. Time to walk back and pick up our bags and the shuttle bus arrived to whizz us to the airport. Baggage dropped off, well within the allowance thank goodness, we went through customs very easily and after a quick walk round the duty free we found a Chinese for something to eat and settled down for an hour wait to board our last flight. As flights go, it was the worst – not impressed with British Airways, we were in row 50 of 55, the seating was cramped and it was so hot we had to resort to using the safety information card to fan us. The meal was ok but the breakfast was a dried up croissant and some jam and Butter with an orange juice ! We only got about an hour sleep in the 6hr flight and landed ahead of time at 5am Saturday morning. We were through customs very quickly but when we phoned the car hire company there was no reply – we waited 20 mins on the phone before someone answered and then we stood for another 20 mins outside waiting for the minibus to pick us up to collect the car. Finally on the road at 6.45am we drove a clear road all the way back to Coventry to have breakfast with the grandchildren at 8.30 to end our trip of a lifetime.
Oct 4, 2008
Week 14 September 30th to October 6th New York and Boston
Day 92 Tuesday 30th September in New York
.JPG)
Adam had phoned last night around 8pm as we stood in Times Square looking at all the sparkly bill boards so I said we would talk on the webcam when he got home from work, that would be 7am tomorrow morning for us, so we set the alarm to be and showered for 7am so that we could get an early breakfast. We wanted to do the Empire State Building and we were told best time was morning, it opened at 8am so we went next door to Starbucks for a quick breakfast (cake and coffee) and joined the queue at 7.45am. The morning was warm, sunny and clear so we were hoping for a good view and we weren’t disappointed. We could see right across New York and filled the camera with photos and then the battery went flat ! Being only across the road from the hotel we nipped back for an hour to charge it, Bob had seen a 1hr film developing shop just down the road so he took our throw away camera with the Niagara film in it to them and then we spent the time studying all the leaflets and brochures we had, planning what to do and where to go. Around 11am, with the camera battery recharged, we called back to the film shop and picked up the photos then we got on the NY Sightseeing tour bus (blue one) the red one was a rival company, to do the downtown tour. We drove past some of the famous sites, 42nd street, Broadway and the theatres, Times Square, Little Italy, the Chinese quarter, down to Wall Street and the financial area and into the Harbour where we left the bus and boarded the ferry to the Statue of Liberty – I have never seen so many people on one boat , we were crammed in and as another boat passed it set up a bow wave that had us rocking and rolling over several degrees – nearly brought up breakfast -! Once underway it was ok and round the statue then off to Ellis Island where we got off. Here we saw where the immigrants were brought in the 1920’s who wanted to enter America, the way they were treated and housed while papers were issued – there were some horrifying stories. Another boat had arrived at the dock and there wasn’t a long queue so we hopped on and went back to Manhattan (the name apparently comes from the Indians who lived there originally, they called it Mahata which meant island of hills). It was around 5pm now and outside Wall Street, only minutes from the harbour, were hundreds of reporters waiting to see what had happened to the stock exchange that day. On the way back to the bus stop I slipped off a pavement and went sprawling, luckily nothing damaged only a bit of pride, a nice young policeman helped me up and we continued up the road passing ground zero where the Twin Towers had been. Building is in progress but they don’t think it will be completed until 2014. Back on the bus we continued the downtown tour finishing 1 stop before the one we started from and walked round the shops, stopping at Macy’s we realized we were hungry so we went to their restaurant and ate a lovely 3 course dinner with wine for a very reasonable cost. From here we took a slow walk back to the Hotel, our feet were aching from the days walking but we enjoyed every minute.
Day 93 Wednesday 1st October
With a 3 day bus pass we decided to do the uptown tour today, but firstly we wanted to be at the Marriot Hotel early as we hoped to get half price theatre tickets for tonight. Unfortunately when we arrived there were only tickets for 2pm performances available which would not fit in with our plans for the day so we decided to come back at 3pm when the office was opened for the evening performance tkts. Next we went into Toys R Us in Times Square as it’s the biggest one in the world and it has an 18ft ferris wheel in the centre of the shop. The stop for the uptown tour was 2 blocks away so we walked there and joined the short queue for the next bus. The tour was very different to the downtown tour as much of it was alongside Central Park and the area was much more residential rather than high rise office blocks. We saw Duke Ellington Street and his statue near where he used to live, the front doorway where John Lennon was shot and killed and up through Harlem which is a much nicer place than I imagined. Prices of property here is extortionate, around $4,000 a month rent for a 1 bedroom apartment!
Day 94 Thursday 2nd October
We didn’t have much to pack as we hadn’t unpacked, the hotel was definitely a short stay place with little luggage space as there was no wardrobe, just 3 coat hangers on the wall and 2 small drawers so we left most of our stuff in the suitcases. We showered and went out for breakfast next door. A short walk to digest breakfast then back to the Hotel to finish packing and have a read until it was time to leave at 11am. All checked out, we had the option to get a cab to the railway station but it was only about 12 mins walk – probably as quick as a cab with the amount of traffic around. So we set off pulling 3 suitcases now and wearing 2 rucksacks, arriving at Pennsylvania Station in plenty of time for our 12.03 departure. The journey was only 3.40 mins as it was a limited stop business train so we sat back and enjoyed the scenery. Most of the journey being along the coast we soon left the high rise buildings of New York in favour of the wooden colonial buildings along the coastline. Arriving ahead of time we exited the station and set off for Tremont Street where we were staying. When we arrived we were surprised to find that the apartment was on the top floor of a 4 storey old Victorian house. It is not of the best quality, definitely furnished for rental but it has its own loo, kitchen and bedroom so it will do for 6 days. We dropped the bags, signed the rental agreement and set off to find out where we were and to get some shopping in for meals for a couple of days. It took us 15 mins to walk to the local supermarket and shopping mall where we had a couple of hours walk round and then did the food shop. Walking back to the apartment at sometime after 7pm as it was just about dark, we could see inside some of the apartments and houses on the way – I love looking into windows to see how they have their rooms decorated.
Day 95 Friday 3rd October in Boston
I woke with a stiff back this morning, I think I pulled it attempting to pull the suitcase up the stairs, however, we had promised ourselves a bit of a rest here so we had a lazy breakfast, caught up with some blog and talked to Lucy on the webcam before going next door to the laundry to do some washing. At the other side of the house was a barbershop so Bob went in to get his haircut and finished around the same time as I was bringing the washing out so we went back to the apartment for some lunch then set off for a walk. We can’t believe how lovely the weather is and the forecast is good for the rest of the week too. We walked, stopping to look at anything that interested us, the streets are mostly clean, wide and quiet - such a change from New York. The houses are very Victorian with lots of ironwork on the fronts of them and mostly they are kept very tidy. We walked for about 4 hours, in which time we had checked out the 2 main Trolley Bus Companies for our tour tomorrow to orientate ourselves. Back to the apartment for dinner and a baileys on ice – we treated ourselves to a bottle so I could put my feet up and ease the back while we surfed the net and booked a hotel for the last 2 days here by the airport and a hire car from Heathrow.
Day 96 Saturday 4th October
This morning we had planned to spend the day riding the Trolley Bus round the city. However, I think I pulled my back on Thursday pulling the suitcase up the stairs to the front door of this house and yesterday evening I was in a bit of pain so I decided to take it easy. Fortunately the bed here is very comfortable and I had a good nights sleep so the back is a bit easier today. The first bus leaves the town at 9am so we made it for 9.30, bought the tickets off a very nice man who gave us “pensioner rates” and set off from stop no. 7. We stayed on enjoying the views and the commentary about the city, how it was originally only 1.8sq. miles in size and how most of the 48 sq miles of Boston now is built on landfill taken from the hills. We also saw lots of sights, the most gruesome was the house where the Boston Stranglers last victim was found. We came back round to stop no. 1 which is on the wharf. Here we visited Quincy Market, Faneuil Hall Marketplace and the harbour, where we found 2 mounted policemen on huge Clydesdale horses. We watched some Colonially dressed marching bandsmen entertaining the people. Today some of the streets were closed because it was the grand opening of a walkway called the Greenway, around the city. After a bit of shopping in the markets and some lunch we stopped at the ticket office for half price theatre tickets but there was nothing on that we fancied so we hopped back on the bus for two stops to no. 3 where the Naval Yards are. Here we climbed onto the USS Constitution, a very old ship they are continuing to renovate to its original glory . Also we went into the museum and then onto the much younger Destroyer ship from WW2 called the Cassin Young, named after a brave naval man. Finally, with my back starting to ache I sat in the sunshine and read the leaflets we had collected while Bob went into the Museum of Constitution which told the life story of the USS Constitution. Back on the bus we continued to stop no. 5 and visited the State House Museum which is one of the oldest buildings in Boston and where the Governor General lived and who only answered to the King. Also this was the place where the Boston Massacre occurred when the Bostonians rioted about the amount of taxes the English government were putting on them. The sun was shining and so we walked right through downtown Boston, past the park and right back to the shopping centre near our apartment so that we could pick up some food for dinner.
Day 97 Sunday 5th October
.JPG)
Even though the sun was shining it was Sunday morning so we had a leisurely breakfast and read the local paper that had been thrown at the front of the house in a plastic bag. Around midday, with trainers and coats on we set off for a walk to the Boston Common. There was a very good singer on the bandstand singing gospel songs and we stopped to listen for a few moments and also to see a park ranger on a horse who was also listening. The park was very busy with families enjoying the autumn day. Going up hill we exited the park on the other side into the Beacon Hill area which is one of the nicest areas of Boston. A very historic hilly area, the houses are Victorian, 3 and 4 storey terraces but very elegant and ornately decorated. We climbed up and down taking some photos where we found famous spots – the authoress Louisa May Alcotts’ house, the house where the Boston Stranglers’ last victim was found etc. stopping for coffee and a cake in the main street. Leaving the area we continued down one of the shopping streets and came across a hair salon open on Sunday and on a whim I went in to see if they could cut my hair. The owner said he could do it now so I couldn’t back out and sat for an hour while we chatted and he cut and cut until I said Stop ! $45 and about l lb of hair lighter we came back out into the afternoon air and I felt chilly. Must have been a “on a whim” day because we passed the Apple shop and went in, coming out 15 mins later with docking speakers for my ipod. Bob can’t get over how I spend so much on a Sunday afternoon walk to the park ??
Day 98 Monday 6th October
The weather man said it might rain today so we decided to take scarves and coats as we had decided to take the longest walk yet to Cambridge in the Harvard University area. We headed north towards the river and crossed the Longfellow bridge over it, arriving in East Cambridge about an hour and a half later.
We started to walk towards Harvard University, passing the MIT (Massachusetts Institute of Technology) which is a very strange shaped building but realized that it was going to be too far to walk all the way to the University Museum from here, especially as my ankle was twinging. We looked around the area and ended up buying some new jeans, a shirt and a handbag for me and some trainers for Bob for ridiculously cheap prices. We had planned to go to the cinema this evening as “The Duchess” starring Kiera Knightly was premiering here so we found a subway and with some tuition bought a 4$ ticket and hopped on a train towards home. We didn’t have any more than an hour before we had to leave to walk to the cinema so we stopped at the pizza parlour across the road which was recommended to us by the landlord and ordered a takeaway, resting my feet while we ate it. Bob had checked the paper and the 8.05 performance was the last one so we set off at just after 7pm and arrived at 7.40pm to find that the performance was at 7.05 and 9.35pm !!! I was not going to walk all the way back without seeing the film now so we bought tickets for the 9.35 performance and went round the corner for a drink in a bar. Around 8.30 the barman asked if we wanted another drink before he closed -What !!!!! We didn’t order another but we did stay until around 9pm when everyone had gone. Slowly we walked back to the cinema and waited for the 7.05 performance to finish before going in and settling into our seats. We enjoyed the film but when we came out it was 11.30pm and my ankle was still sore from earlier walking, also I didn’t fancy walking back in an area we weren’t sure about so we jumped into a taxi outside the cinema and were home in a jiffy. Bob massaged some oil into my ankle while I sipped a Baileys before bed hoping that it would be ok for tomorrows walk.
.JPG)
Adam had phoned last night around 8pm as we stood in Times Square looking at all the sparkly bill boards so I said we would talk on the webcam when he got home from work, that would be 7am tomorrow morning for us, so we set the alarm to be and showered for 7am so that we could get an early breakfast. We wanted to do the Empire State Building and we were told best time was morning, it opened at 8am so we went next door to Starbucks for a quick breakfast (cake and coffee) and joined the queue at 7.45am. The morning was warm, sunny and clear so we were hoping for a good view and we weren’t disappointed. We could see right across New York and filled the camera with photos and then the battery went flat ! Being only across the road from the hotel we nipped back for an hour to charge it, Bob had seen a 1hr film developing shop just down the road so he took our throw away camera with the Niagara film in it to them and then we spent the time studying all the leaflets and brochures we had, planning what to do and where to go. Around 11am, with the camera battery recharged, we called back to the film shop and picked up the photos then we got on the NY Sightseeing tour bus (blue one) the red one was a rival company, to do the downtown tour. We drove past some of the famous sites, 42nd street, Broadway and the theatres, Times Square, Little Italy, the Chinese quarter, down to Wall Street and the financial area and into the Harbour where we left the bus and boarded the ferry to the Statue of Liberty – I have never seen so many people on one boat , we were crammed in and as another boat passed it set up a bow wave that had us rocking and rolling over several degrees – nearly brought up breakfast -! Once underway it was ok and round the statue then off to Ellis Island where we got off. Here we saw where the immigrants were brought in the 1920’s who wanted to enter America, the way they were treated and housed while papers were issued – there were some horrifying stories. Another boat had arrived at the dock and there wasn’t a long queue so we hopped on and went back to Manhattan (the name apparently comes from the Indians who lived there originally, they called it Mahata which meant island of hills). It was around 5pm now and outside Wall Street, only minutes from the harbour, were hundreds of reporters waiting to see what had happened to the stock exchange that day. On the way back to the bus stop I slipped off a pavement and went sprawling, luckily nothing damaged only a bit of pride, a nice young policeman helped me up and we continued up the road passing ground zero where the Twin Towers had been. Building is in progress but they don’t think it will be completed until 2014. Back on the bus we continued the downtown tour finishing 1 stop before the one we started from and walked round the shops, stopping at Macy’s we realized we were hungry so we went to their restaurant and ate a lovely 3 course dinner with wine for a very reasonable cost. From here we took a slow walk back to the Hotel, our feet were aching from the days walking but we enjoyed every minute.
Day 93 Wednesday 1st October
With a 3 day bus pass we decided to do the uptown tour today, but firstly we wanted to be at the Marriot Hotel early as we hoped to get half price theatre tickets for tonight. Unfortunately when we arrived there were only tickets for 2pm performances available which would not fit in with our plans for the day so we decided to come back at 3pm when the office was opened for the evening performance tkts. Next we went into Toys R Us in Times Square as it’s the biggest one in the world and it has an 18ft ferris wheel in the centre of the shop. The stop for the uptown tour was 2 blocks away so we walked there and joined the short queue for the next bus. The tour was very different to the downtown tour as much of it was alongside Central Park and the area was much more residential rather than high rise office blocks. We saw Duke Ellington Street and his statue near where he used to live, the front doorway where John Lennon was shot and killed and up through Harlem which is a much nicer place than I imagined. Prices of property here is extortionate, around $4,000 a month rent for a 1 bedroom apartment!
Day 94 Thursday 2nd October
We didn’t have much to pack as we hadn’t unpacked, the hotel was definitely a short stay place with little luggage space as there was no wardrobe, just 3 coat hangers on the wall and 2 small drawers so we left most of our stuff in the suitcases. We showered and went out for breakfast next door. A short walk to digest breakfast then back to the Hotel to finish packing and have a read until it was time to leave at 11am. All checked out, we had the option to get a cab to the railway station but it was only about 12 mins walk – probably as quick as a cab with the amount of traffic around. So we set off pulling 3 suitcases now and wearing 2 rucksacks, arriving at Pennsylvania Station in plenty of time for our 12.03 departure. The journey was only 3.40 mins as it was a limited stop business train so we sat back and enjoyed the scenery. Most of the journey being along the coast we soon left the high rise buildings of New York in favour of the wooden colonial buildings along the coastline. Arriving ahead of time we exited the station and set off for Tremont Street where we were staying. When we arrived we were surprised to find that the apartment was on the top floor of a 4 storey old Victorian house. It is not of the best quality, definitely furnished for rental but it has its own loo, kitchen and bedroom so it will do for 6 days. We dropped the bags, signed the rental agreement and set off to find out where we were and to get some shopping in for meals for a couple of days. It took us 15 mins to walk to the local supermarket and shopping mall where we had a couple of hours walk round and then did the food shop. Walking back to the apartment at sometime after 7pm as it was just about dark, we could see inside some of the apartments and houses on the way – I love looking into windows to see how they have their rooms decorated.
Day 95 Friday 3rd October in Boston
I woke with a stiff back this morning, I think I pulled it attempting to pull the suitcase up the stairs, however, we had promised ourselves a bit of a rest here so we had a lazy breakfast, caught up with some blog and talked to Lucy on the webcam before going next door to the laundry to do some washing. At the other side of the house was a barbershop so Bob went in to get his haircut and finished around the same time as I was bringing the washing out so we went back to the apartment for some lunch then set off for a walk. We can’t believe how lovely the weather is and the forecast is good for the rest of the week too. We walked, stopping to look at anything that interested us, the streets are mostly clean, wide and quiet - such a change from New York. The houses are very Victorian with lots of ironwork on the fronts of them and mostly they are kept very tidy. We walked for about 4 hours, in which time we had checked out the 2 main Trolley Bus Companies for our tour tomorrow to orientate ourselves. Back to the apartment for dinner and a baileys on ice – we treated ourselves to a bottle so I could put my feet up and ease the back while we surfed the net and booked a hotel for the last 2 days here by the airport and a hire car from Heathrow.
Day 96 Saturday 4th October
This morning we had planned to spend the day riding the Trolley Bus round the city. However, I think I pulled my back on Thursday pulling the suitcase up the stairs to the front door of this house and yesterday evening I was in a bit of pain so I decided to take it easy. Fortunately the bed here is very comfortable and I had a good nights sleep so the back is a bit easier today. The first bus leaves the town at 9am so we made it for 9.30, bought the tickets off a very nice man who gave us “pensioner rates” and set off from stop no. 7. We stayed on enjoying the views and the commentary about the city, how it was originally only 1.8sq. miles in size and how most of the 48 sq miles of Boston now is built on landfill taken from the hills. We also saw lots of sights, the most gruesome was the house where the Boston Stranglers last victim was found. We came back round to stop no. 1 which is on the wharf. Here we visited Quincy Market, Faneuil Hall Marketplace and the harbour, where we found 2 mounted policemen on huge Clydesdale horses. We watched some Colonially dressed marching bandsmen entertaining the people. Today some of the streets were closed because it was the grand opening of a walkway called the Greenway, around the city. After a bit of shopping in the markets and some lunch we stopped at the ticket office for half price theatre tickets but there was nothing on that we fancied so we hopped back on the bus for two stops to no. 3 where the Naval Yards are. Here we climbed onto the USS Constitution, a very old ship they are continuing to renovate to its original glory . Also we went into the museum and then onto the much younger Destroyer ship from WW2 called the Cassin Young, named after a brave naval man. Finally, with my back starting to ache I sat in the sunshine and read the leaflets we had collected while Bob went into the Museum of Constitution which told the life story of the USS Constitution. Back on the bus we continued to stop no. 5 and visited the State House Museum which is one of the oldest buildings in Boston and where the Governor General lived and who only answered to the King. Also this was the place where the Boston Massacre occurred when the Bostonians rioted about the amount of taxes the English government were putting on them. The sun was shining and so we walked right through downtown Boston, past the park and right back to the shopping centre near our apartment so that we could pick up some food for dinner.
Day 97 Sunday 5th October
.JPG)
Even though the sun was shining it was Sunday morning so we had a leisurely breakfast and read the local paper that had been thrown at the front of the house in a plastic bag. Around midday, with trainers and coats on we set off for a walk to the Boston Common. There was a very good singer on the bandstand singing gospel songs and we stopped to listen for a few moments and also to see a park ranger on a horse who was also listening. The park was very busy with families enjoying the autumn day. Going up hill we exited the park on the other side into the Beacon Hill area which is one of the nicest areas of Boston. A very historic hilly area, the houses are Victorian, 3 and 4 storey terraces but very elegant and ornately decorated. We climbed up and down taking some photos where we found famous spots – the authoress Louisa May Alcotts’ house, the house where the Boston Stranglers’ last victim was found etc. stopping for coffee and a cake in the main street. Leaving the area we continued down one of the shopping streets and came across a hair salon open on Sunday and on a whim I went in to see if they could cut my hair. The owner said he could do it now so I couldn’t back out and sat for an hour while we chatted and he cut and cut until I said Stop ! $45 and about l lb of hair lighter we came back out into the afternoon air and I felt chilly. Must have been a “on a whim” day because we passed the Apple shop and went in, coming out 15 mins later with docking speakers for my ipod. Bob can’t get over how I spend so much on a Sunday afternoon walk to the park ??
Day 98 Monday 6th October
The weather man said it might rain today so we decided to take scarves and coats as we had decided to take the longest walk yet to Cambridge in the Harvard University area. We headed north towards the river and crossed the Longfellow bridge over it, arriving in East Cambridge about an hour and a half later.
We started to walk towards Harvard University, passing the MIT (Massachusetts Institute of Technology) which is a very strange shaped building but realized that it was going to be too far to walk all the way to the University Museum from here, especially as my ankle was twinging. We looked around the area and ended up buying some new jeans, a shirt and a handbag for me and some trainers for Bob for ridiculously cheap prices. We had planned to go to the cinema this evening as “The Duchess” starring Kiera Knightly was premiering here so we found a subway and with some tuition bought a 4$ ticket and hopped on a train towards home. We didn’t have any more than an hour before we had to leave to walk to the cinema so we stopped at the pizza parlour across the road which was recommended to us by the landlord and ordered a takeaway, resting my feet while we ate it. Bob had checked the paper and the 8.05 performance was the last one so we set off at just after 7pm and arrived at 7.40pm to find that the performance was at 7.05 and 9.35pm !!! I was not going to walk all the way back without seeing the film now so we bought tickets for the 9.35 performance and went round the corner for a drink in a bar. Around 8.30 the barman asked if we wanted another drink before he closed -What !!!!! We didn’t order another but we did stay until around 9pm when everyone had gone. Slowly we walked back to the cinema and waited for the 7.05 performance to finish before going in and settling into our seats. We enjoyed the film but when we came out it was 11.30pm and my ankle was still sore from earlier walking, also I didn’t fancy walking back in an area we weren’t sure about so we jumped into a taxi outside the cinema and were home in a jiffy. Bob massaged some oil into my ankle while I sipped a Baileys before bed hoping that it would be ok for tomorrows walk.
Sep 30, 2008
Week 13 September 23rd to 29th Toronto
Day 85 Tuesday 23rd September
After breakfast Bob went off to play golf and I spent some time chatting to Lucy and my Mum on the webcam, doing some washing as there was a laundry here and updating the blog and reading my book. When Bob came back we looked at B & B’s for Niagara and Hotels for Toronto but couldn’t make a decision as they were either too expensive or too far from where we wanted to be. Then the phone rang in the room and it was Kevin, our friend from our teen years who emigrated to Canada in 1990. He had got our telephone message to say we were in Oshawa where they lived and he invited us over around 6pm and he was taking us out for dinner as his wife, Gay was taking an exam this evening and wouldn’t be home til 8.30. So we had time for a swim and a sauna in the Hotel, showered and changed and set off with the directions from google maps to his house – 10 mins and we were there and he came out to greet us – the years dropped away and apart from being a bit rounder in the middle (as we all are) and some grey hair, he looked the same. We set off for a local Chinese buffet restaurant called the Mandarin where we could eat what we wanted. A long chat and several courses later we returned to Kevs house and met his 3 children who are still at home, who were delightful, Nicola 13, Daniel 17 and Kristina 22years. He also has a daughter who married 2 years ago and lives in Las Vegas with her husband. No grandchildren yet but I am sure there will be plenty when the time comes. Gay arrived home at 8.30 having finished a very difficult exam and we chatted over a glass or two of wine until 11pm when we reluctantly left them as they had to be up at 5.30am in the morning for work. We never thought we would see them again so it was so nice to catch up properly (the internet and email are ok but there is nothing like chatting face to face).
Day 86 Wednesday 24th September
We intended to get up early to say hello to Lucy as it was Charlie’s first birthday today and with the uk being 5 hrs ahead we had said around 1.30pm to Lucy. Well we overslept a bit so it was around 2pm when we got on line and web camed them at my Mums. I chatted for 20 mins or more to them all and Auntie Maureen was there too so that was a bonus. Then we said bye as we were off for breakfast and to check out of this hotel. All packed we drove the 187 klms to Niagara on the Lake as we had been told it was a much nicer place to stay and the Falls were only about 15 klms from here. Arriving lunchtime we parked in a side street for free as the meter wasn’t working and walked round the village. It was so pretty, flower baskets everywhere and Colonial houses all painted pale colours. The main street was something like a Cotswold village high street at its best with shops selling all sorts of expensive souveniers and clothing but so quaint. The weather was warm and sunny, the leaves on some of the trees were beginning to turn red and orange so it was a very beautiful place to be. We eventually found the tourist information office in the basement of the court building and picked a B & B about a kilometer from the village. We drove straight there and dropped off the luggage, then went back into the village for a walkround. From here we called into a winery for a tour – there are tons of them round here and this one was recommended to us. Jackson Trigg Winery is very modern and the lady who showed us round was the oldest employee, having been there for the whole 7 years that it had been open. She was so funny, and very knowledgeable about the way that each type of wine was looked after, picked, squashed, fermented, barreled and bottled. Then after the tour she proceeded to impart her way of sniffing, tasting and swallowing the stuff ! For all that – doing it properly – I still got squiffy and when we went back to our room to change I fell asleep on the bed. We awoke at 8.45 and although we had planned to go out to dinner, I couldn’t be bothered to change and I wasn’t that hungry really so Bob ran me a bath. It was one of those baths with the jets and the landlady had warned me about putting too much bubble bath in it as “jets make bubbles” she said. Of course they do – so why did I put the normal amount of bubble bath in it???? Must still be squiffy anyway you can see what happened if you look at the photos in the Toronto pictures. !!! We decided not to bother, Bob got the ipod working on the wireless internet and I looked for a hotel near Toronto for Sat and Sun night. Then we watched some tv, read my book and fell asleep.
Day 87 Thursday 25th September
We were awake fairly early this morning, probably because we had had an early night and the bed was so comfy that we both slept very well. We headed down to the dining room for breakfast where the landlady, Janice was busy in the kitchen. The two other people staying were Brian and Alice from believe it or not, Oshawa, where our friends Kevin and Gay lived. They were retired and on a short 5 day holiday in Niagara. We ate a very nice breakfast of porridge, then bacon, omelette (with pears in it) and fresh fruit cocktail. It must have been 10.30 before we - sorry Bob – stopped talking. Brian and Alice were off to Queenston heights for the day and we were off to Niagara Falls. We stopped at the floral clock on the way and realized that we had forgotten to charge the battery of the camera !! Nevermind I had read that it was a good idea to buy a throwaway camera for the falls so that you didn’t get your digital wet so that’s what we decided to do. We drove the 13 klms to the butterfly farm where we parked the car and jumped on a People Mover Bus which runs up and down alongside the river stopping at all the attractions. The lady in the office where we bought 2 passes to do 4 of the most popular attractions was very funny and told us which was the best way round to do things to save getting caukght up in queues. She could have saved her breath because there were no queues. It was a beautiful day, 24 ˚ sunny and the best day so far in Canada. Our first stop was the walk behind the falls, we dropped some 100 ft in a lift where we were given a yellow poncho to wear, then walked along the tunnels until we came out alongside the falls where we got a bit wet trying to get closer as the waters raged past us, further along in another tunnel behind the falls all we could see was millions of gallons splashing past us. Leaving here, outside we stood on the walkway overlooking both the American and Canada Falls the power was amazing and the spray was so powerful it could still reach us some 50 yds back. Back on the bus we went on to the maid of the mist – a boat ride into the base of the falls. We were kitted out with a blue poncho this time and walked to the dock. A boat was just returning and everyone getting off was very wet so we were prepared. Fortunately there were only a few people getting on our boat so there was plenty of room to move up and down the boat to get the best views. It was as the Americans say “awesome”. Everyone had said it was a bit of disappointment but we both were mesmerized by the falls and their noise and power. When we were at the base, the boat had the engines roaring forward just to stay still. We were soon back on land and needed something to eat so we picked up a slice of pizza and sat in the sunshine waiting for my trousers to dry out. We had looked at the obligatory photos taken at each site but we thought that 2 photos for 25$ was a bit expensive and when I asked if I could just buy 1 photo I was told it was a package – stupid really as many people didn’t bother to buy – if they had given us this option many more would have bought I am sure. Never mind we had our trusty throw away camera ! The next stop was the whirlpool rapids walk alongside the river. We joined a short queue to get in the lift to decend 230 ft in 30 seconds but we were horrified at the abruptness of the woman who ran the lift – one couple were split up and she wouldn’t allow them to change so the husband went down and she had to wait for the next lift. This was the 2nd time today that we had come across a rude Canadian. The first one was the 2nd bus driver who was so grumpy – perhaps he had piles and was in pain sitting down all day ???? Anyway, the walk on the boardwalk along the side of the rapids was fascinating the water twisted and turned back and forth round the rocks. We read on one of the plaques that the only person to survive going over the falls accidentally was a 7 year old boy dressed only in trunks and a basic survival flotation jacket who had fallen from a boat and been swept along and over the falls in 1960 – amazingly he was unhurt. Next stop was the Aero where we had a look at the crossing over the gorge but it was extra to pay and to be honest it didn’t look worth 20$ each so we had an ice cream instead ! – we had had enough thrills for one day. Our last bus journey was back to the Butterfly Farm where we wandered round looking at thousands of them flying around – big ones, small ones, all colours and patterns. We saw the pupae of different butterflies and one was just emerging, but seemed in no hurry so we didn’t wait to see it fly. Time to leave and back at the B & B we showered and while Bob wrote up his diary I had a siesta before getting ready to go out for dinner at a local restaurant. After dinner we drove back into the village centre and got out to walk off dinner but we were surprised that the first wine bar we came to said they were just closing, it was just after 9pm! This was worse than Perth ! We walked on a bit further and found the Angel Inn which was an English pub where we had Baileys on ice before heading for home.
.JPG)
Day 88 Friday 26th September
I had asked Bob not to talk for so long this morning at breakfast so that we could get away fairly early – no chance. At 10.30 we got away from the table and I went upstairs to finish packing while Bob paid the bill. As we left there was an enormous lorry outside unloading the belongings of an English couple who were moving in the house next door. We had around 150 klms to drive to Sue and Larrys in Dorchester. We made really good time and stopped for fuel where we were amazed at the price of 1.11 per litre (that’s about 60p !) On the way we saw a dead skunk and a dead raccoon by the side of the road – thought that was more interesting than cats and dogs ! We arrived in Dorchester too early so we stopped for coffee at Tim Holdens (a famous coffee chain where everyone in Canada goes) in the centre of the village and then we enjoyed the sunshine and read our books until 3pm when we drove to Sues. She was coming across the road to her house when we pulled onto the drive – she hadn’t changed at all. We sat in the sunshine in the garden and chatted while the children she childminded were picked up and her husband Larry and daughter Hollie arrived home. Before it got dark they drove us around their area and into London, their nearest town and we stopped off at Montana, a restaurant very much like the Hogs Breath Café, for dinner. We returned home and sat chatting about past lives, people and differences between Canada, uk and Spain until 1.30am when my eyes would not stay open any longer.
Day 89 Saturday 27th September
Eventhough we had gone to bed late we were up and having breakfast in Sues kitchen at 9am and sadly we left at around 10am. Just as we were at the front door Logan, Sue and Larry’s son, phoned to say he wanted to see us, Sue thought he was working Saturday morning so hadn’t invited him over earlier. Unfortunately we had a lot of miles to do and only 2 days in Toronto before we left for New York so we were unable to wait to see him – perhaps next time. We headed East and soon found the expressway and peeled away the miles before we reached the hotel in the town of Missisagua about 10 klms outside of Toronto. Hotels in the city centre cost a fortune and we are watching the pennies now, but the hotel was 4* and very comfortable and we had the car to hop onto the expressway only 200 yds away. We unpacked drove into Toronto to look round for the afternoon and found a huge shopping centre where we bought an extra suitcase as there is no way now that we can keep to 22kgs each in the two we have. Our allowance for the last 2 flights is 2 cases each of 22kgs ! We ate out in town and before returning to the Hotel we found (BBW) the biggest bookshop in the world which actually had 3 or the 4 books I have been looking for so I bought 2. At the Hotel we found that they were setting up barriers right outside for the Toronto Marathon in the morning which had its 12 miles turning point on our road junction.
Day 90 Sunday 28th September
Its Bobs birthday – 55 today and looking forward to an increase in the pension ! We ate a hearty breakfast before setting off into Toronto trying to avoid the traffic and road closures for the Marathon. Not an easy thing to do – we ended up driving 3 junctions past the centre of Toronto on the expressway, coming off in a side road and crawling through the back streets to park about a mile from the CN Tower. It was however, a beautiful morning, the sun shone and the walk did us good. We arrived and purchased the tickets and went up in the lift – the CN tower is the highest in the world at 1,465 ft . The view was fantastic and we took lots of photos. Bob stood and lay on the glass floor at the top and took some photos – somehow I just couldn’t walk on it but I did put one foot on it ! We headed back to the carpark, stopping to cheer on the runners on the way and drove out of Toronto to an outlet park which we had called into last night and found it was just shutting. We were disappointed though, not much here to right home about so we continued on to another one some miles away and luckily it was open til 6pm, we finally found cases for our ipods, we tried to book a dinner and show at a medieval castle but last performance was at 4pm on a Sunday. Back at the Hotel we had dinner in the restaurant and a drink at the bar before returning to pack for tomorrows flight to New York.
Day 91 Monday 29th September in New York
We decided to leave the Hotel at 8.30am to give us 15 mins to get to the car hire place and drop it off, then to the airport which would take about 20 mins, leaving us plenty of time to check in at the airport for our 11.30 flight – wrong – we left the hotel, headed for the car rental place and stopped to fill up with fuel, having driven into the petrol station from the highway, we exited the other side onto another highway !!! It took me 10 mins to realize that we were on the wrong road ! We turned round and drove back down the road for 10 mins to pick up the right road then as we came near to the Car Rental we missed the turn and had to go round again. Almost an hour later we had dropped the car off and left the keys in a letterbox as nobody was in the office and were standing outside a hotel waiting for a free shuttle bus which we had just missed. Another 20 mins later we asked the hotel receptionist to check again where the shuttle was and apparently there was heavy traffic and he was delayed another 10 mins. Nothing for it but to hail a taxi and ask him to drive fast to the airport. We arrived and got through, check in, passport control and customs and were sitting in departures 50 mins before the flight was due out, amazed at how quickly and smoothly it had happened. Phew ! We were amazed again that although we had flown from Canada to America we were not asked for passports and had not customs checks on our way in. We took a taxi from the airport to 5th Avenue where out Hotel was and the driver scared us – Bob had to open the window as he blasted down the streets, beeping his horn and pushing people out of the way, when we finally got to the Hotel we didn’t give him a tip we were traumatized ! The Hotel was the 373 because that was the number 5th Avenue where it was. It was only a small shop front wide and hardly seen between a Starbucks café and another restaurant but it was brand new and chic and only about £120 a night which was very cheap for the area. The room was tiny, barely bigger than the bathroom in the last one, but it had free internet, a flat screen tv, an ipod docking station and was smack in the centre of Manhattan, 50 metres across the road from the Empire State Building. Once unpacked we set off to explore, it was only about 3pm and we wanted to get tickets for the hop on hop off open top tour buses to see the sights and for transport around, we also wanted to find out where the train station was and sort out our tickets for Thursdays move to Boston. We walked north towards Times Square and 42nd street to get the bus tickets, then back south to Pennsylvania Railway Station and bought the train tickets, We stopped off at the Hotel to freshen up and then set off again, walking back up to Times Square to pick up the bus for the Night Tour which would show us the sights of the bridges, the Hudson river and across to Brooklyn. We arrived back in Times Square around 10pm and saw 2 mounted policemen standing at the side of the road. Bob went over to talk to them and we got our photos took with them. They said we could visit their stables on 37th and west which we said we would do in the next couple of days. Heading back towards 5th avenue we stopped for a late dinner in Heartlands Brewery just round the corner from the Hotel.
.JPG)
After breakfast Bob went off to play golf and I spent some time chatting to Lucy and my Mum on the webcam, doing some washing as there was a laundry here and updating the blog and reading my book. When Bob came back we looked at B & B’s for Niagara and Hotels for Toronto but couldn’t make a decision as they were either too expensive or too far from where we wanted to be. Then the phone rang in the room and it was Kevin, our friend from our teen years who emigrated to Canada in 1990. He had got our telephone message to say we were in Oshawa where they lived and he invited us over around 6pm and he was taking us out for dinner as his wife, Gay was taking an exam this evening and wouldn’t be home til 8.30. So we had time for a swim and a sauna in the Hotel, showered and changed and set off with the directions from google maps to his house – 10 mins and we were there and he came out to greet us – the years dropped away and apart from being a bit rounder in the middle (as we all are) and some grey hair, he looked the same. We set off for a local Chinese buffet restaurant called the Mandarin where we could eat what we wanted. A long chat and several courses later we returned to Kevs house and met his 3 children who are still at home, who were delightful, Nicola 13, Daniel 17 and Kristina 22years. He also has a daughter who married 2 years ago and lives in Las Vegas with her husband. No grandchildren yet but I am sure there will be plenty when the time comes. Gay arrived home at 8.30 having finished a very difficult exam and we chatted over a glass or two of wine until 11pm when we reluctantly left them as they had to be up at 5.30am in the morning for work. We never thought we would see them again so it was so nice to catch up properly (the internet and email are ok but there is nothing like chatting face to face).
Day 86 Wednesday 24th September
We intended to get up early to say hello to Lucy as it was Charlie’s first birthday today and with the uk being 5 hrs ahead we had said around 1.30pm to Lucy. Well we overslept a bit so it was around 2pm when we got on line and web camed them at my Mums. I chatted for 20 mins or more to them all and Auntie Maureen was there too so that was a bonus. Then we said bye as we were off for breakfast and to check out of this hotel. All packed we drove the 187 klms to Niagara on the Lake as we had been told it was a much nicer place to stay and the Falls were only about 15 klms from here. Arriving lunchtime we parked in a side street for free as the meter wasn’t working and walked round the village. It was so pretty, flower baskets everywhere and Colonial houses all painted pale colours. The main street was something like a Cotswold village high street at its best with shops selling all sorts of expensive souveniers and clothing but so quaint. The weather was warm and sunny, the leaves on some of the trees were beginning to turn red and orange so it was a very beautiful place to be. We eventually found the tourist information office in the basement of the court building and picked a B & B about a kilometer from the village. We drove straight there and dropped off the luggage, then went back into the village for a walkround. From here we called into a winery for a tour – there are tons of them round here and this one was recommended to us. Jackson Trigg Winery is very modern and the lady who showed us round was the oldest employee, having been there for the whole 7 years that it had been open. She was so funny, and very knowledgeable about the way that each type of wine was looked after, picked, squashed, fermented, barreled and bottled. Then after the tour she proceeded to impart her way of sniffing, tasting and swallowing the stuff ! For all that – doing it properly – I still got squiffy and when we went back to our room to change I fell asleep on the bed. We awoke at 8.45 and although we had planned to go out to dinner, I couldn’t be bothered to change and I wasn’t that hungry really so Bob ran me a bath. It was one of those baths with the jets and the landlady had warned me about putting too much bubble bath in it as “jets make bubbles” she said. Of course they do – so why did I put the normal amount of bubble bath in it???? Must still be squiffy anyway you can see what happened if you look at the photos in the Toronto pictures. !!! We decided not to bother, Bob got the ipod working on the wireless internet and I looked for a hotel near Toronto for Sat and Sun night. Then we watched some tv, read my book and fell asleep.
Day 87 Thursday 25th September
We were awake fairly early this morning, probably because we had had an early night and the bed was so comfy that we both slept very well. We headed down to the dining room for breakfast where the landlady, Janice was busy in the kitchen. The two other people staying were Brian and Alice from believe it or not, Oshawa, where our friends Kevin and Gay lived. They were retired and on a short 5 day holiday in Niagara. We ate a very nice breakfast of porridge, then bacon, omelette (with pears in it) and fresh fruit cocktail. It must have been 10.30 before we - sorry Bob – stopped talking. Brian and Alice were off to Queenston heights for the day and we were off to Niagara Falls. We stopped at the floral clock on the way and realized that we had forgotten to charge the battery of the camera !! Nevermind I had read that it was a good idea to buy a throwaway camera for the falls so that you didn’t get your digital wet so that’s what we decided to do. We drove the 13 klms to the butterfly farm where we parked the car and jumped on a People Mover Bus which runs up and down alongside the river stopping at all the attractions. The lady in the office where we bought 2 passes to do 4 of the most popular attractions was very funny and told us which was the best way round to do things to save getting caukght up in queues. She could have saved her breath because there were no queues. It was a beautiful day, 24 ˚ sunny and the best day so far in Canada. Our first stop was the walk behind the falls, we dropped some 100 ft in a lift where we were given a yellow poncho to wear, then walked along the tunnels until we came out alongside the falls where we got a bit wet trying to get closer as the waters raged past us, further along in another tunnel behind the falls all we could see was millions of gallons splashing past us. Leaving here, outside we stood on the walkway overlooking both the American and Canada Falls the power was amazing and the spray was so powerful it could still reach us some 50 yds back. Back on the bus we went on to the maid of the mist – a boat ride into the base of the falls. We were kitted out with a blue poncho this time and walked to the dock. A boat was just returning and everyone getting off was very wet so we were prepared. Fortunately there were only a few people getting on our boat so there was plenty of room to move up and down the boat to get the best views. It was as the Americans say “awesome”. Everyone had said it was a bit of disappointment but we both were mesmerized by the falls and their noise and power. When we were at the base, the boat had the engines roaring forward just to stay still. We were soon back on land and needed something to eat so we picked up a slice of pizza and sat in the sunshine waiting for my trousers to dry out. We had looked at the obligatory photos taken at each site but we thought that 2 photos for 25$ was a bit expensive and when I asked if I could just buy 1 photo I was told it was a package – stupid really as many people didn’t bother to buy – if they had given us this option many more would have bought I am sure. Never mind we had our trusty throw away camera ! The next stop was the whirlpool rapids walk alongside the river. We joined a short queue to get in the lift to decend 230 ft in 30 seconds but we were horrified at the abruptness of the woman who ran the lift – one couple were split up and she wouldn’t allow them to change so the husband went down and she had to wait for the next lift. This was the 2nd time today that we had come across a rude Canadian. The first one was the 2nd bus driver who was so grumpy – perhaps he had piles and was in pain sitting down all day ???? Anyway, the walk on the boardwalk along the side of the rapids was fascinating the water twisted and turned back and forth round the rocks. We read on one of the plaques that the only person to survive going over the falls accidentally was a 7 year old boy dressed only in trunks and a basic survival flotation jacket who had fallen from a boat and been swept along and over the falls in 1960 – amazingly he was unhurt. Next stop was the Aero where we had a look at the crossing over the gorge but it was extra to pay and to be honest it didn’t look worth 20$ each so we had an ice cream instead ! – we had had enough thrills for one day. Our last bus journey was back to the Butterfly Farm where we wandered round looking at thousands of them flying around – big ones, small ones, all colours and patterns. We saw the pupae of different butterflies and one was just emerging, but seemed in no hurry so we didn’t wait to see it fly. Time to leave and back at the B & B we showered and while Bob wrote up his diary I had a siesta before getting ready to go out for dinner at a local restaurant. After dinner we drove back into the village centre and got out to walk off dinner but we were surprised that the first wine bar we came to said they were just closing, it was just after 9pm! This was worse than Perth ! We walked on a bit further and found the Angel Inn which was an English pub where we had Baileys on ice before heading for home.
.JPG)
Day 88 Friday 26th September
I had asked Bob not to talk for so long this morning at breakfast so that we could get away fairly early – no chance. At 10.30 we got away from the table and I went upstairs to finish packing while Bob paid the bill. As we left there was an enormous lorry outside unloading the belongings of an English couple who were moving in the house next door. We had around 150 klms to drive to Sue and Larrys in Dorchester. We made really good time and stopped for fuel where we were amazed at the price of 1.11 per litre (that’s about 60p !) On the way we saw a dead skunk and a dead raccoon by the side of the road – thought that was more interesting than cats and dogs ! We arrived in Dorchester too early so we stopped for coffee at Tim Holdens (a famous coffee chain where everyone in Canada goes) in the centre of the village and then we enjoyed the sunshine and read our books until 3pm when we drove to Sues. She was coming across the road to her house when we pulled onto the drive – she hadn’t changed at all. We sat in the sunshine in the garden and chatted while the children she childminded were picked up and her husband Larry and daughter Hollie arrived home. Before it got dark they drove us around their area and into London, their nearest town and we stopped off at Montana, a restaurant very much like the Hogs Breath Café, for dinner. We returned home and sat chatting about past lives, people and differences between Canada, uk and Spain until 1.30am when my eyes would not stay open any longer.
Day 89 Saturday 27th September
Eventhough we had gone to bed late we were up and having breakfast in Sues kitchen at 9am and sadly we left at around 10am. Just as we were at the front door Logan, Sue and Larry’s son, phoned to say he wanted to see us, Sue thought he was working Saturday morning so hadn’t invited him over earlier. Unfortunately we had a lot of miles to do and only 2 days in Toronto before we left for New York so we were unable to wait to see him – perhaps next time. We headed East and soon found the expressway and peeled away the miles before we reached the hotel in the town of Missisagua about 10 klms outside of Toronto. Hotels in the city centre cost a fortune and we are watching the pennies now, but the hotel was 4* and very comfortable and we had the car to hop onto the expressway only 200 yds away. We unpacked drove into Toronto to look round for the afternoon and found a huge shopping centre where we bought an extra suitcase as there is no way now that we can keep to 22kgs each in the two we have. Our allowance for the last 2 flights is 2 cases each of 22kgs ! We ate out in town and before returning to the Hotel we found (BBW) the biggest bookshop in the world which actually had 3 or the 4 books I have been looking for so I bought 2. At the Hotel we found that they were setting up barriers right outside for the Toronto Marathon in the morning which had its 12 miles turning point on our road junction.
Day 90 Sunday 28th September
Its Bobs birthday – 55 today and looking forward to an increase in the pension ! We ate a hearty breakfast before setting off into Toronto trying to avoid the traffic and road closures for the Marathon. Not an easy thing to do – we ended up driving 3 junctions past the centre of Toronto on the expressway, coming off in a side road and crawling through the back streets to park about a mile from the CN Tower. It was however, a beautiful morning, the sun shone and the walk did us good. We arrived and purchased the tickets and went up in the lift – the CN tower is the highest in the world at 1,465 ft . The view was fantastic and we took lots of photos. Bob stood and lay on the glass floor at the top and took some photos – somehow I just couldn’t walk on it but I did put one foot on it ! We headed back to the carpark, stopping to cheer on the runners on the way and drove out of Toronto to an outlet park which we had called into last night and found it was just shutting. We were disappointed though, not much here to right home about so we continued on to another one some miles away and luckily it was open til 6pm, we finally found cases for our ipods, we tried to book a dinner and show at a medieval castle but last performance was at 4pm on a Sunday. Back at the Hotel we had dinner in the restaurant and a drink at the bar before returning to pack for tomorrows flight to New York.
Day 91 Monday 29th September in New York
We decided to leave the Hotel at 8.30am to give us 15 mins to get to the car hire place and drop it off, then to the airport which would take about 20 mins, leaving us plenty of time to check in at the airport for our 11.30 flight – wrong – we left the hotel, headed for the car rental place and stopped to fill up with fuel, having driven into the petrol station from the highway, we exited the other side onto another highway !!! It took me 10 mins to realize that we were on the wrong road ! We turned round and drove back down the road for 10 mins to pick up the right road then as we came near to the Car Rental we missed the turn and had to go round again. Almost an hour later we had dropped the car off and left the keys in a letterbox as nobody was in the office and were standing outside a hotel waiting for a free shuttle bus which we had just missed. Another 20 mins later we asked the hotel receptionist to check again where the shuttle was and apparently there was heavy traffic and he was delayed another 10 mins. Nothing for it but to hail a taxi and ask him to drive fast to the airport. We arrived and got through, check in, passport control and customs and were sitting in departures 50 mins before the flight was due out, amazed at how quickly and smoothly it had happened. Phew ! We were amazed again that although we had flown from Canada to America we were not asked for passports and had not customs checks on our way in. We took a taxi from the airport to 5th Avenue where out Hotel was and the driver scared us – Bob had to open the window as he blasted down the streets, beeping his horn and pushing people out of the way, when we finally got to the Hotel we didn’t give him a tip we were traumatized ! The Hotel was the 373 because that was the number 5th Avenue where it was. It was only a small shop front wide and hardly seen between a Starbucks café and another restaurant but it was brand new and chic and only about £120 a night which was very cheap for the area. The room was tiny, barely bigger than the bathroom in the last one, but it had free internet, a flat screen tv, an ipod docking station and was smack in the centre of Manhattan, 50 metres across the road from the Empire State Building. Once unpacked we set off to explore, it was only about 3pm and we wanted to get tickets for the hop on hop off open top tour buses to see the sights and for transport around, we also wanted to find out where the train station was and sort out our tickets for Thursdays move to Boston. We walked north towards Times Square and 42nd street to get the bus tickets, then back south to Pennsylvania Railway Station and bought the train tickets, We stopped off at the Hotel to freshen up and then set off again, walking back up to Times Square to pick up the bus for the Night Tour which would show us the sights of the bridges, the Hudson river and across to Brooklyn. We arrived back in Times Square around 10pm and saw 2 mounted policemen standing at the side of the road. Bob went over to talk to them and we got our photos took with them. They said we could visit their stables on 37th and west which we said we would do in the next couple of days. Heading back towards 5th avenue we stopped for a late dinner in Heartlands Brewery just round the corner from the Hotel.
.JPG)
Sep 23, 2008
Week 12 September 16th to 22nd SF and Vegas
Day 78 Tuesday 16th September
I vaguely remembered Bob getting up at 5.30am and leaving for golf but I soon went back to a deep sleep and didn’t stir until 9am. I had a shower, breakfast and sorted my clothes washing then sat out the front of the house with Pops reading my book while he read the paper. Then I spent an hour catching up with a bit of writing up this diary. Bob arrived back from golf just after 12 noon and Inderjit came home too for lunch. After Bob had a quick shower and a sandwich she dropped us both back at the train station to go back to San Francisco for the Alcatraz trip. This time we were going to try the CAL train to Millbrae (1 stop before SF )then the BART train to the Wharf. The CAL train was fine but the BART train dropped us at Pier 1 – we needed pier 33 so we had to walk about a mile to the pier, good job we had plenty of time. We asked if we could go on an earlier trip but they were all full so to kill half an hour we stopped at a bar for a drink. Very soon we were on our way across the river to the Island, it was only 15 mins before we were getting off and stopping to listen to a quick verbal guided tour by a Ranger then we headed for the cellblock at the top of the rock. Inside the guard house we were given a set of headphones and audio tape, the tape told us which way to turn, where to stop and what to look at as it explained life in Alcatraz. We just had time to look in the gift shop (not that we wanted handcuffs, pieces of rock or a tee shirt with Alcatraz on it) before we were back on the boat and steaming across the water back to pier 33. We only had 10 mins before the BART train left Pier 1 and with the absence of a bus or tram that wasn’t full to the brim we started to walk but soon realized we weren’t going to make it so we slowed the walk. 20 mins later at the station our day ticket wouldn’t work in the machine so we queued for 10 mins to be told they had been de-magnetiszed and that we shouldn’t put them next to our mobiles. They had been in Bobs pocket all day and he wasn’t carrying a mobile so she said she would give us a voucher to use the train, this took another 10 mins, by which time we had missed the next train. Annoyed we phoned Inderjit to tell her that we would be late and to eat without us while we waited for the next train. When we arrived at Millbrae we found there was another 35 mins to the next CAL train so by the time we reached Sunnyvale it was 8.45pm (some 3hrs 30mins journey) , Inderjit was waiting for us and as we were hungry we stopped to pick up Fajitas and rice to take home. When we got there Inderjits brother was there again so we sat and chatted while we ate and at nearly midnight he went home and we went to bed.
Day 79 Wednesday 17th September
Up and out early again, firstly to go and buy some presents for Inderjit and Paul as they had been such wonderful hosts. We came from different cultures, so it was especially nice that they had made us so welcome so we wanted to say thanks. Paul had said that they wanted to buy a picture frame for a photo of Adam and Tj at the wedding so we found a lovely one with red round the edge for them, also we bought them a digital picture frame and downloaded all our photos of the wedding onto it so that they could all enjoy it. Bob wanted a new reading book so we found a big bookstore called Barnes and Noble where we could browse books and magazines and have a Starbucks Coffee and snack too. Unfortunately the 4 books on my list I want to read were not stocked (obviously Americans read different authors to the British) so we left for home. We had planned to leave at 3pm to go to their other home in Livingstone some 2 hrs south east , hoping that this would help to break up the long journey by car to Las Vegas tomorrow. They were both delighted with their presents and said that it had been good to spend some time together and learn some of each others cultures. Inderjit had wanted to come with us to Livingstone and at the last minute Paul decided he would come too so we all set off in 2 cars at 3pm and travelled through SF and heavy traffic arriving at 5pm. Their “other”house was enormous, and beautifully furnished, brand new and apparently it was the show house and they bought it with everything in it at a knock down price they couldn’t say no to. It was a designer house with everything including all the carpets, beds, furniture, silk flowers and even ornaments. They have cousins who live in Livingstone and have visited many times and like the area so their idea is to retire here as it’s a very small town where everyone knows everyone. When we arrived the Spanish lady next door came to say hello, and an Indian family down the road stopped by, in the street are Portugues, Spanish, Mexican, and Indian – very multicultural and very friendly. After they had showed us round we called into one of the cousins houses and dropped Pops off while Inderjit, Paul, Bob and I went for an Indian meal. We suggested this as they had been eating “English” food during our stay for us so I had a korma and bob a chicken tikka with lots of other bits and pieces. We enjoyed it very much, expect one thing that was too hot for us. Returning to pick up Pop we returned to their house and Inderjit and Paul went to see another cousin and her daughter, 10 mins later they were back with them as they wanted to meet “Adams parents” too, so we chatted to them for a few minutes before Inderjit and Paul said goodbye. They gave us a key to the house which they said we could keep so that if ever we wanted to use it we were welcome too as we were now part of the family. We realized when they had gone about 9pm that there was no TV so we decided to shower and get ready for bed as we had set the alarm for 5.30am – Vegas was still 8 or 9hrs drive away.
Day 80 Thursday 18th September
We had planned the journey on a map as well as having Tom Tom but we didn’t quite trust it, (I keep calling it Tom Tom but it was actually a Garmin ) the trip was about 600 klms across to Yosemite National Park which had the most amazing scenery, out the other side towards the Nevada boarder into the desert, then right down highway 95 into Las Vegas. For the most part it was boring, miles and miles of nothing. We took some pictures of the lakes which were so clear and the mountains so beautiful and after a stop for lunch we arrived in Vegas at 4pm. We had barely got in the door of the hotel when someone asked us if we wanted dinner and show tickets for tonight ! We queued for 15 mins to check in and finally flopped in the room. A couple of hours later, after a nap and a shower we came out into the hot hum id heat and noise of Vegas. We walked up the strip until our feet ached, checking out the Excalibur, New York, and Bellagio Hotels and a few casinos and shops then we caught the metro back to the Luxor.
Day 81 Friday 19th September
This morning we decided to go out for breakfast so we set off in the car towards the outlet retail park south of the strip. This is a huge shopping mall with 150 stores where we had breakfast in an Italian restaurant and browsed the shops. When we were tired we got back in the car to go to a big electrical store close by called Frys. In here we found ipods at 199$ which is about half the price in the uk and 30 $ cheaper than the Apple shop so we bought 2 (so that we don’t argue over them). We stopped at a golf shop on the way back to the hotel. I switched on my computer to download the apple software for the ipods and it didn’t work, so I tried again – still nothing. Bob went off for a swim and to read his book by the pool while I spent the rest of the afternoon trying to get some information, I tried the hotel internet company – no reply, so I went down to the business centre to see if they could help but it’s a different company. I texted and phoned Adam, text Lucy trying to find the address of an Acer dealer in Las Vegas – nobody replied. I was upset now thinking I had lost all my photos on the computer. After dinner in the buffet restaurant we went out for a walk to digest a huge meal and stopped at a ticket shop for flights to the grand canyon as Bob wanted to go. I did the trip 6 years ago so he booked to go on his own on Sunday morning.
Day 82 Saturday 20th September
This morning after finding a retailer of Acer computers nearby we got up early and went to speak to them. They would have charged us 60$ just to check it but the guy said he had never seen one so small so he was reluctant to look at it and charge us as he wasn’t certain he could come up with a solution. Accepting that the computer was not going to be fixed we drove to another retail outlet at the north of the strip for breakfast. Here we found a ticket office selling half price tickets for shows for this evening. We joined the queue planning to book to see David Copperfield the magician but a tv screen showing previews of the shows showed one of Penn and Teller, also magicians and we changed our minds and booked to see them. Cheered up now with a show to look forward to tonight, we got back to the car and drove to the Rio Hotel on the otherside of the motorway just off the strip to exchange our vouchers for tickets at the box office, as we were told that we could not reserve our seats until we had got the tickets. Tickets in hand and seats booked we drove back to the strip and parked in the Mirage car park (all the hotels have free parking so you just drive into any of them ) and continued down the strip to the Treasure Island Hotel, Venetian Hotel, the Paris and back into Caesars Palace Forum shops where Bob, bless him, continuing to try to cheer me up treated me to a new jacket to wear – oh and then he treated himself to 2 new windproof golfing tops ! To be fair, I had 2 as well as they worked out at around £10 each - the expensive ones were buy 1 get 1 free and the cheaper ones were half the price of the sale price even though they were already half price! Loaded up with stuff we went back to the hotel for a quick shower and to get ready for an early dinner so that we could be back at the Rio for 8pm for the show. Whilst Bob was showering I phoned Adam and again and told him about the computer and he suggested taking the battery out and putting it back in – amazingly the computer worked !!!!!!!!!!! Apparently he said that it was a “smart battery” and it thought it was not charged ??????? So I was very happy now with the computer working I downloaded the software for the ipod but that had an error on it so I gave up and got ready for the show. The show started with an hour of music from a jazz pianist which was very pleasant to listen to whilst I read the souvenir programme. Then Penn and Teller came on and had us in fits of laughter and on the edge of our seats with anticipation – a fantastic show which ended around 10.30 and then they came out into the lobby to sign autographs – we got both signatures on the programme and a photo each (although Bobs is a bit fuzzy).
Day 83 Sunday 21st September
This morning Bob went off on his trip to the grand canyon, leaving at 6.30am from the room he arrived at the front of the hotel in good time for the pickup which was late ! They drove to Boulder City Airport and got in a brand new cesnar airplane with only 5 passengers, Bob got the seat next to the pilot who was very chatty and explained all the workings of the plane and all the sites as they flew over the Hoover Dam, Lake Mead and onto the Canyon where they alighted and got in a helicopter to go down to the Colorado river for a boat cruise, again, jammy sod, Bob got the seat next to the pilot so had a birds eye view of the canyon. (Around this time I would be getting out of bed !) After the boat trip, back in the helicopter to rise 4000 ft out of the canyon where they were taken by coach to the place where they had a barbecue meal and given time to relax and walk around with a time to be back at the coach. Bob, not wearing a watch or a Lyn on his arm didn’t realize the time and missed the coach back to the plane – luckily he managed to catch a lift from another coach and arrived at the plane which was waiting for him. The trip back to Boulder was uneventful and he arrived back at the Hotel late at around 2pm. I had been waiting outside the front of the Hotel to meet him from 1pm til 1.40pm and gave up then and went back to the room. As this was our last day we decided to go and pickup a book from the bookshop and then Bob went for a read by the pool while I caught up with the blog again and read my book inside – the temperature was over 90˚ and too hot for me – also I didn’t want to compete with all those bronzed Californian bodies laying round the pool. After dinner we went out for a last walk up the strip – we must have walked miles this last few days but I must say that Vegas was much more seedy than I remember, there are a couple of hotels missing since my last visit but there is a huge new one almost built about half way up the strip. I also don’t remember there being so many ticket touts on the street and in the Hotels especially the ones offering entrance to men’s clubs, there was a large amount of litter in the streets, most of it flyers with naked ladies on them that these touts were handing out. More amazingly they kept offering them to Bob even though we were holding hands !!! The casinos again became a blur, each one virtually the same but we still got lost in most of the hotels trying to find our way out. We watched several people getting excited over gaming machines and on poker, roulette and other tables we also saw the sadness in the eyes of those who had just lost a lot of money , so it seems that there are huge highs and deep lows of this town. Bob loves it and would come again – I on the other hand, have seen it twice, got the tee shirt and not bothered about coming back.
Day 84 Monday 22nd September
We woke to drilling noises outside around 7.30am so we got up and packed the bags, I had checked the airline for baggage allowance and it seemed that we could take 2 bags each of 50lbs each so we decided to call in the outlet centre on the way to the airport and pick up another bag as I was concerned that our bags would be overweight. We checked out easily on the tv and loaded stuff into the car. At the outlet centre we realized that they didn’t open til 10am and we had to check in then so we continued to the rental car drop off and onto the airport hoping to get breakfast and a bag there. No such luck, there were no bag shops in departures so we put our bags on the scales and thankfully we were just under. We continued to the departure lounge after a very quick and easy entrance through customs to find that there were no bag shops here and only a pizza hut and Mcdonalds for breakfast. Bob had a burger and chips and I got a pot of fresh fruit, expecting to have lunch on the plane. The flight was called ontime and we boarded having 3 seats between us so plenty of room, however, there was no lunch included so we were faced with dry rolls and ham for $6 each. We were hungry so had one each and settled down to read and to update the blog a bit more on the computer as the tv was pay to view too ! We landed 4 hrs later in Toronto some 3hrs forward in time so it was now nearly 8pm. Having eventually found where to get the shuttle to the car rental company we waited for half an hour before he arrived . He was a nice man and told us what to do in Toronto and where to go and how to get to our hotel, so we picked up the car and set off some 50klms east to Oshowa. We arrived after being stuck in a traffic jam at 10.15pm and dropping the luggage in the car went straight to the bar for something to eat. We sat for an hour chatting to the barmaid and some of the locals getting the low down on Niagara before retiring to bed at midnight even though it was only 9pm in our body clock.
I vaguely remembered Bob getting up at 5.30am and leaving for golf but I soon went back to a deep sleep and didn’t stir until 9am. I had a shower, breakfast and sorted my clothes washing then sat out the front of the house with Pops reading my book while he read the paper. Then I spent an hour catching up with a bit of writing up this diary. Bob arrived back from golf just after 12 noon and Inderjit came home too for lunch. After Bob had a quick shower and a sandwich she dropped us both back at the train station to go back to San Francisco for the Alcatraz trip. This time we were going to try the CAL train to Millbrae (1 stop before SF )then the BART train to the Wharf. The CAL train was fine but the BART train dropped us at Pier 1 – we needed pier 33 so we had to walk about a mile to the pier, good job we had plenty of time. We asked if we could go on an earlier trip but they were all full so to kill half an hour we stopped at a bar for a drink. Very soon we were on our way across the river to the Island, it was only 15 mins before we were getting off and stopping to listen to a quick verbal guided tour by a Ranger then we headed for the cellblock at the top of the rock. Inside the guard house we were given a set of headphones and audio tape, the tape told us which way to turn, where to stop and what to look at as it explained life in Alcatraz. We just had time to look in the gift shop (not that we wanted handcuffs, pieces of rock or a tee shirt with Alcatraz on it) before we were back on the boat and steaming across the water back to pier 33. We only had 10 mins before the BART train left Pier 1 and with the absence of a bus or tram that wasn’t full to the brim we started to walk but soon realized we weren’t going to make it so we slowed the walk. 20 mins later at the station our day ticket wouldn’t work in the machine so we queued for 10 mins to be told they had been de-magnetiszed and that we shouldn’t put them next to our mobiles. They had been in Bobs pocket all day and he wasn’t carrying a mobile so she said she would give us a voucher to use the train, this took another 10 mins, by which time we had missed the next train. Annoyed we phoned Inderjit to tell her that we would be late and to eat without us while we waited for the next train. When we arrived at Millbrae we found there was another 35 mins to the next CAL train so by the time we reached Sunnyvale it was 8.45pm (some 3hrs 30mins journey) , Inderjit was waiting for us and as we were hungry we stopped to pick up Fajitas and rice to take home. When we got there Inderjits brother was there again so we sat and chatted while we ate and at nearly midnight he went home and we went to bed.
Day 79 Wednesday 17th September
Up and out early again, firstly to go and buy some presents for Inderjit and Paul as they had been such wonderful hosts. We came from different cultures, so it was especially nice that they had made us so welcome so we wanted to say thanks. Paul had said that they wanted to buy a picture frame for a photo of Adam and Tj at the wedding so we found a lovely one with red round the edge for them, also we bought them a digital picture frame and downloaded all our photos of the wedding onto it so that they could all enjoy it. Bob wanted a new reading book so we found a big bookstore called Barnes and Noble where we could browse books and magazines and have a Starbucks Coffee and snack too. Unfortunately the 4 books on my list I want to read were not stocked (obviously Americans read different authors to the British) so we left for home. We had planned to leave at 3pm to go to their other home in Livingstone some 2 hrs south east , hoping that this would help to break up the long journey by car to Las Vegas tomorrow. They were both delighted with their presents and said that it had been good to spend some time together and learn some of each others cultures. Inderjit had wanted to come with us to Livingstone and at the last minute Paul decided he would come too so we all set off in 2 cars at 3pm and travelled through SF and heavy traffic arriving at 5pm. Their “other”house was enormous, and beautifully furnished, brand new and apparently it was the show house and they bought it with everything in it at a knock down price they couldn’t say no to. It was a designer house with everything including all the carpets, beds, furniture, silk flowers and even ornaments. They have cousins who live in Livingstone and have visited many times and like the area so their idea is to retire here as it’s a very small town where everyone knows everyone. When we arrived the Spanish lady next door came to say hello, and an Indian family down the road stopped by, in the street are Portugues, Spanish, Mexican, and Indian – very multicultural and very friendly. After they had showed us round we called into one of the cousins houses and dropped Pops off while Inderjit, Paul, Bob and I went for an Indian meal. We suggested this as they had been eating “English” food during our stay for us so I had a korma and bob a chicken tikka with lots of other bits and pieces. We enjoyed it very much, expect one thing that was too hot for us. Returning to pick up Pop we returned to their house and Inderjit and Paul went to see another cousin and her daughter, 10 mins later they were back with them as they wanted to meet “Adams parents” too, so we chatted to them for a few minutes before Inderjit and Paul said goodbye. They gave us a key to the house which they said we could keep so that if ever we wanted to use it we were welcome too as we were now part of the family. We realized when they had gone about 9pm that there was no TV so we decided to shower and get ready for bed as we had set the alarm for 5.30am – Vegas was still 8 or 9hrs drive away.
Day 80 Thursday 18th September
We had planned the journey on a map as well as having Tom Tom but we didn’t quite trust it, (I keep calling it Tom Tom but it was actually a Garmin ) the trip was about 600 klms across to Yosemite National Park which had the most amazing scenery, out the other side towards the Nevada boarder into the desert, then right down highway 95 into Las Vegas. For the most part it was boring, miles and miles of nothing. We took some pictures of the lakes which were so clear and the mountains so beautiful and after a stop for lunch we arrived in Vegas at 4pm. We had barely got in the door of the hotel when someone asked us if we wanted dinner and show tickets for tonight ! We queued for 15 mins to check in and finally flopped in the room. A couple of hours later, after a nap and a shower we came out into the hot hum id heat and noise of Vegas. We walked up the strip until our feet ached, checking out the Excalibur, New York, and Bellagio Hotels and a few casinos and shops then we caught the metro back to the Luxor.
Day 81 Friday 19th September
This morning we decided to go out for breakfast so we set off in the car towards the outlet retail park south of the strip. This is a huge shopping mall with 150 stores where we had breakfast in an Italian restaurant and browsed the shops. When we were tired we got back in the car to go to a big electrical store close by called Frys. In here we found ipods at 199$ which is about half the price in the uk and 30 $ cheaper than the Apple shop so we bought 2 (so that we don’t argue over them). We stopped at a golf shop on the way back to the hotel. I switched on my computer to download the apple software for the ipods and it didn’t work, so I tried again – still nothing. Bob went off for a swim and to read his book by the pool while I spent the rest of the afternoon trying to get some information, I tried the hotel internet company – no reply, so I went down to the business centre to see if they could help but it’s a different company. I texted and phoned Adam, text Lucy trying to find the address of an Acer dealer in Las Vegas – nobody replied. I was upset now thinking I had lost all my photos on the computer. After dinner in the buffet restaurant we went out for a walk to digest a huge meal and stopped at a ticket shop for flights to the grand canyon as Bob wanted to go. I did the trip 6 years ago so he booked to go on his own on Sunday morning.
Day 82 Saturday 20th September
This morning after finding a retailer of Acer computers nearby we got up early and went to speak to them. They would have charged us 60$ just to check it but the guy said he had never seen one so small so he was reluctant to look at it and charge us as he wasn’t certain he could come up with a solution. Accepting that the computer was not going to be fixed we drove to another retail outlet at the north of the strip for breakfast. Here we found a ticket office selling half price tickets for shows for this evening. We joined the queue planning to book to see David Copperfield the magician but a tv screen showing previews of the shows showed one of Penn and Teller, also magicians and we changed our minds and booked to see them. Cheered up now with a show to look forward to tonight, we got back to the car and drove to the Rio Hotel on the otherside of the motorway just off the strip to exchange our vouchers for tickets at the box office, as we were told that we could not reserve our seats until we had got the tickets. Tickets in hand and seats booked we drove back to the strip and parked in the Mirage car park (all the hotels have free parking so you just drive into any of them ) and continued down the strip to the Treasure Island Hotel, Venetian Hotel, the Paris and back into Caesars Palace Forum shops where Bob, bless him, continuing to try to cheer me up treated me to a new jacket to wear – oh and then he treated himself to 2 new windproof golfing tops ! To be fair, I had 2 as well as they worked out at around £10 each - the expensive ones were buy 1 get 1 free and the cheaper ones were half the price of the sale price even though they were already half price! Loaded up with stuff we went back to the hotel for a quick shower and to get ready for an early dinner so that we could be back at the Rio for 8pm for the show. Whilst Bob was showering I phoned Adam and again and told him about the computer and he suggested taking the battery out and putting it back in – amazingly the computer worked !!!!!!!!!!! Apparently he said that it was a “smart battery” and it thought it was not charged ??????? So I was very happy now with the computer working I downloaded the software for the ipod but that had an error on it so I gave up and got ready for the show. The show started with an hour of music from a jazz pianist which was very pleasant to listen to whilst I read the souvenir programme. Then Penn and Teller came on and had us in fits of laughter and on the edge of our seats with anticipation – a fantastic show which ended around 10.30 and then they came out into the lobby to sign autographs – we got both signatures on the programme and a photo each (although Bobs is a bit fuzzy).
Day 83 Sunday 21st September
This morning Bob went off on his trip to the grand canyon, leaving at 6.30am from the room he arrived at the front of the hotel in good time for the pickup which was late ! They drove to Boulder City Airport and got in a brand new cesnar airplane with only 5 passengers, Bob got the seat next to the pilot who was very chatty and explained all the workings of the plane and all the sites as they flew over the Hoover Dam, Lake Mead and onto the Canyon where they alighted and got in a helicopter to go down to the Colorado river for a boat cruise, again, jammy sod, Bob got the seat next to the pilot so had a birds eye view of the canyon. (Around this time I would be getting out of bed !) After the boat trip, back in the helicopter to rise 4000 ft out of the canyon where they were taken by coach to the place where they had a barbecue meal and given time to relax and walk around with a time to be back at the coach. Bob, not wearing a watch or a Lyn on his arm didn’t realize the time and missed the coach back to the plane – luckily he managed to catch a lift from another coach and arrived at the plane which was waiting for him. The trip back to Boulder was uneventful and he arrived back at the Hotel late at around 2pm. I had been waiting outside the front of the Hotel to meet him from 1pm til 1.40pm and gave up then and went back to the room. As this was our last day we decided to go and pickup a book from the bookshop and then Bob went for a read by the pool while I caught up with the blog again and read my book inside – the temperature was over 90˚ and too hot for me – also I didn’t want to compete with all those bronzed Californian bodies laying round the pool. After dinner we went out for a last walk up the strip – we must have walked miles this last few days but I must say that Vegas was much more seedy than I remember, there are a couple of hotels missing since my last visit but there is a huge new one almost built about half way up the strip. I also don’t remember there being so many ticket touts on the street and in the Hotels especially the ones offering entrance to men’s clubs, there was a large amount of litter in the streets, most of it flyers with naked ladies on them that these touts were handing out. More amazingly they kept offering them to Bob even though we were holding hands !!! The casinos again became a blur, each one virtually the same but we still got lost in most of the hotels trying to find our way out. We watched several people getting excited over gaming machines and on poker, roulette and other tables we also saw the sadness in the eyes of those who had just lost a lot of money , so it seems that there are huge highs and deep lows of this town. Bob loves it and would come again – I on the other hand, have seen it twice, got the tee shirt and not bothered about coming back.
Day 84 Monday 22nd September
We woke to drilling noises outside around 7.30am so we got up and packed the bags, I had checked the airline for baggage allowance and it seemed that we could take 2 bags each of 50lbs each so we decided to call in the outlet centre on the way to the airport and pick up another bag as I was concerned that our bags would be overweight. We checked out easily on the tv and loaded stuff into the car. At the outlet centre we realized that they didn’t open til 10am and we had to check in then so we continued to the rental car drop off and onto the airport hoping to get breakfast and a bag there. No such luck, there were no bag shops in departures so we put our bags on the scales and thankfully we were just under. We continued to the departure lounge after a very quick and easy entrance through customs to find that there were no bag shops here and only a pizza hut and Mcdonalds for breakfast. Bob had a burger and chips and I got a pot of fresh fruit, expecting to have lunch on the plane. The flight was called ontime and we boarded having 3 seats between us so plenty of room, however, there was no lunch included so we were faced with dry rolls and ham for $6 each. We were hungry so had one each and settled down to read and to update the blog a bit more on the computer as the tv was pay to view too ! We landed 4 hrs later in Toronto some 3hrs forward in time so it was now nearly 8pm. Having eventually found where to get the shuttle to the car rental company we waited for half an hour before he arrived . He was a nice man and told us what to do in Toronto and where to go and how to get to our hotel, so we picked up the car and set off some 50klms east to Oshowa. We arrived after being stuck in a traffic jam at 10.15pm and dropping the luggage in the car went straight to the bar for something to eat. We sat for an hour chatting to the barmaid and some of the locals getting the low down on Niagara before retiring to bed at midnight even though it was only 9pm in our body clock.
Sep 10, 2008
Week 11 September 9th to September 15th -LA to San Francisco
Day 71 Tuesday 9th September Fiji to LA
We had to vacate our room by 11am this morning, the car had to be back by 7pm but our flight wasn’t until 10pm tonight so some planning had to go into the packing as we had a 10 hr flight ahead of us. We started to pack but got hungry so stopped for a big breakfast to keep us going and went back to finish the packing afterwards. We managed to check out without fainting at the bill and spent half an hour on the internet to print off the confirmation for the car we had booked last night, to pick up in LA. The Scott family we had met at the Hotel, Karen Marie, Richard and their 2 boys arrived in the reception, ready to leave for the airport to go home to Wellington NZ so we said our farewells. We arranged for our luggage to be collected from the room and stored while we went for a last walk on the beach. We asked for snorkels and masks and after some discussion we were allowed them even thought the tide was low and they didn’t usually hand them out until it was higher!! We set off along the beach and found a quiet spot some 150 yds along where we couldn’t see or hear anyone – heaven. The snorkeling was excellent in fact we saw so many large and colourful fishes and a hermit crab – much bigger than we had seen on Schooner Island. After an hour relaxing we walked back to get some lunch and a swim in the pool but the children seemed particularly noisy today so we went for a shower and called a golf buggy to take us up to the sanctuary of the Bebe Spa bar where we had a long cold drink and a cookie and soaked up the fantastic views until it was time to leave for the airport. It took about 1.5 hrs to get to Nadi and hand over the car to the rental company – Bob was ages in the office – apparently arguing of $26 he said they had overcharged him. Check in was fairly straight forward – the luggage weight was still at 22kg each but our hand luggage is getting heavier and heavier – we have to parcel up some clothes in LA and send them back to the UK so that I can go shopping !! A quick look round the departures lounge proved that they didn’t have much to offer – not even a good book for me to read so we bought a drink and sat and waited for the flight to be called. Our plane was an Air Pacific 747 Jumbo with tv’s in every seat so we could choose a film unfortunately we had seen most of them so we watched some of the new Indian Jones again, had a supper snack and settled down to sleep for our 10 hr flight. 3 hrs before we landed we were woken for breakfast which was the most disgusting blob I have ever seen! And I like plane food normally. We landed in LA at 1pm local time 9hrs earlier than we had left Fiji, to find that I had lost my jacket !!! luckily there was nothing in it but I think it must have slipped from my bag when I was busy trying to maneuver onto the plane and I hadn’t noticed at the time. Oh well – more shopping??? We picked the car up from just outside the airport, one of those funny old fashioned shaped Chrysler cars and set off with our Garmin (TomTom) navigator to find a hotel. About 3 miles outside of Downtown LA we found the Wilshire Hotel and having remembered seeing it on the web when we were looking for a Hotel, we stopped to ask if they had a room and their tariff – we were surprised to find that they offered it to us at less than the internet so we booked in. We went for a walk to get our bearings, picked up loads of leaflets on what to do in LA and had dinner in an Italian restaurant just down the road. On the way back to the hotel we found out where to go tomorrow to get the metro to Universal City and the Studios.
Day 72 Wednesday 10th September in LA
We woke to realize that it was already 8.15 and we had planned to get up early to be out by 9pm as Universal Studios opened at 10am and we wanted to be there early to buy the tickets. Oh well, a quick shower and we were out of the hotel and on the metro. We arrived in plenty of time for the opening and didn’t have to queue long for the tickets but we were disappointed that no restaurants opened until 11am and we had dashed out without breakfast so we decided to ride some of the rides while it was quiet to pass the time. We started with Bart Simpson, a simulator ride around Simpsons town – a bit rough and tummy turning so glad breakfast wasn’t in there ! The second one was the Jurassic Park boat ride through dinosaur land, there was no queue for this so we climbed onto the boat which we had to ourselves then realized why it wasn’t so popular – we floated through waterfalls, got squirted with jets of water and the grand finale was a big dipper drop into a lake !!! Oh well the sun was shining so we would dry quickly ! Still not quite 11am so we decided to risk the Mummy ride which was a roller coaster but it was in almost pitch darkness, mummies and scary things jumped out at you when you passed and we were turned upside down then shot backwards – I really was glad I hadn’t had breakfast now and needed a g & t when I got off ! Time to eat and then some more sedate entertainment in3d and 4d cinemas, shopping and an hours trip round the backlots of the studios was very interesting. After a late lunch we did the Terminator and a show of film animals and their trainers before heading for the exit. We had intended to go into downtown LA for the evening but our feet were aching so we took the metro back to the Hotel and watched some tv before being rudely interrupted by another guest at the hotel trying to get into our room – apparently he had been given our room as well so had a key for it too. (awaiting response from the Hotel manager regarding this as the reception could only say “oh sorry” when we told them what had happened !).
Day 73 Thursday 11th September
Bob was like a cat on a hot tin roof this morning as we had hired a Harley Davidson motor bike for the day. We set off from the Hotel at 9am and drove with the unhelpful aid of the Tom Tom Navigator that took us the long way round to the office on the other side of Los Angeles near to the airport. We chose our jackets and helmets and setoff for the coast with a full tank of fuel. It took a while for Bob to get used to it, it was very big and heavy and I had to get used to sitting on the back of a bike again as it has been some 6 years since our last ride on one. But by the time we were leaving the city we were cruising – everyone looked at us and smiled – bet they were wishing they were us !! As we neared the coast the houses got bigger and nicer and we saw Pepperdine University where only a few days before we had seen on the TV that they had put a flag in the ground for every service man killed in Afghanistan – what a sight! On we went to Santa Monica, by now I had got the hang of balancing on the bike and I had my camera in my hand ready to take photos. The views were wonderful, the hills to our right with huge mansions perched on ledges high up and to the right golden sandy beaches. We stopped for coffee in a Starbucks in Santa Monica in a shopping plaza (they call them Malls everywhere else but here it was posh !) we noticed the flower shop had a sign saying “no paparazzi” . Apparently John Cleese has a house in the hills and its for sale but we didn’t see it – there were however, lots of houses for sale – obviously the economic climate is affecting the rich and famous too ?? We motored on to Malibu Beach and pass it along the coast until there was nothing to see so we turned round and went back to what looked like a nice bit of beach and stopped. We took off our trousers and jackets and put on our shorts and went for a walk on the beach, then lay on the sand for a siesta. Later, stopping at a bar to buy some water we suddenly heard a commotion outside and looked to see a man with the biggest telephoto lense you have ever seen, crouching down on the floor outside the door shooting off reels of film, another man in a car drove up and at the same time a 3rd man arrived on a motorized skateboard with another large lense camera. We realized they were photographing a man running along the beach and before we could blink it was all over and they had all disappeared. I asked the girl in the bar who they were photographing – Matthew Mcnaughie I was told – is he famous I asked? Apparently he was and had been in the film Sahara. We shrugged and walked back to the bike to start heading back to LA as it was nearly 5pm by now. Bob was really enjoying riding the bike, it was easy riding on the coast road but he had to concentrate more when we neared the city because it was much busier but we arrived back at the hotel safely and raced to the bathroom to get a shower and rest our weary backs and legs before going out for dinner.
Day 74 Friday 12th September
We had to have the bike back by 11am but we wanted to go to downtown LA too so we set off at just before 9am to return the bike and pick up the car. All paperwork sorted we drove back to the Hotel to finish packing and checkout. We had a planned route into LA and then along Sunset Boulevard and Hollywood Boulevard and Beverley Hills as we headed north towards San Francisco but after several “ok lets turn around” we gave up. We didn’t much like LA by car, it was grubby and dark and the buildings blocked out most of the light, the roads were congested at every turn and the only bits that we found that were ok were Hollywood – but that was only a couple of streets. So we were heading north by 2.45pm on the I.5 Highway – only about 400 miles to go ! The scenery changed as we drove, some very mountainous and some very flat, mid way there were lots of cattle – in fact thousands of cattle and it smelt awful. We decided we didn’t like ‘miles’ – kilometers go much faster !! We stopped for a drink and something to eat at a garage and were hit by 35 degrees of heat as we stepped out of the car – LA had been around 18 degrees but we were in the valley and apparently its always hot there. We trundled on, through one horse towns, and a couple of two horse towns before we saw the lights of San Jose but by now it was pitch dark and we missed a couple of turns because TomTom didn’t speak up soon enough so we did a few backtracks. I was getting very tired and ready to just stop where we were when we realized we weren’t that far away so we kept going and finally found our destination - Paul and Inderjits house in Sunnyvale California at almost 9pm. They welcomed us with open arms with a drink, a smile and a big comfy bed to fall into after a 6 hr+ journey.
Day 75 Saturday 13th September in San Francisco
Being Saturday Paul and Inderjit had the day off work but Inderjits father lives with them so to save him being on his own all day, Paul stayed with him to play cards etc. and Inderjit took us into San Francisco for an orientation trip. 1st stop was the Golden Gate bridge – very crowded and impossible to park so we left Inderjit in a no parking zone in the car whilst Bob and I ran round and took some photos. I must say it was disappointing to see it was a dull red – I expected it to at least sparkle if not gold ! On to Lombard Street which has the crooked street – so steep and bendy we zigzagged down at 5 mph – amazing but I wouldn’t like to live there with so many tourist click clicking their cameras. Apparently not many people do live there, most are rented out for tourist now. At the bottom of this street we turned towards Fishermans Wharf where we left the car (at the harbor front) with the keys in it , with an attendant, in the middle of street carpark. We then walked along the front to the famous Pier 39 which had lots of shops and restaurants, where we stopped for lunch at the Eagle Restaurant. We walked off lunch in and out of the many unusual shops and stopping to see the sea lions basking in the sunshine on their own platforms in the harbor. Some of the cheeky ones tried to lie on the boat jetties but a man was walking up and down pushing them off, the noise was deafening and the smell – bad . Moving on we exited the pier and walked the length of the harbor to where the cable car trams go up the steep streets of San Francisco (like on the TV). We plan to come back on Monday to see Alcatraz which is visible across the water and take a trip on the cable car, hopefully it will be quieter then. The day had gone by so quickly but on the way home we stopped at a local phone shop to buy a sim card for my phone – over an hour later we emerged with a sim card that didn’t work – but should do in the next half hour ! I told him we would be back early next morning if it didn’t. Paul had cooked fish for us all for dinner so we picked up some salad to go with it and arrived back tired but happy. We checked my mobile phone and finally it had accepted the sim and was working.
Day 76 Sunday 14th September
Once again Paul and Pops stayed at home while Inderjit took us out for all American breakfast – Bob had pancakes and maple syrup and I had coffee and blueberry cake. Next stop was a local golf course to book Bob some golf before he had withdrawal symptoms, but on the way we saw a huge electrical store called Frys so we called in. It was enormous but they didn’t had any ipods (sold out) and the battery I wanted for my camera they didn’t do, but they did have a disc drive for my computer – I will think about that though – don’t want to carry too much luggage as we still have New York to do. At the golf course Bob was told to be at the course for 6.30am Tuesday and they would fit him in with another group – obviously popular course. I saw 2 golf head covers of Nemo (the fish) and picked them up to buy them for Bob but when I went to pay Inderjit jumped in and bought them – it was very kind of her. Inderjits work was close by so she drove there to show us and to print off a couple of confirmations I had put on my memory stick. She works right by Google Headquarters, Yahoo and Microsoft Offices. From here we drove back home to pick up Paul and Pops and we all went to a shopping Mall where there was a JC Penny and Macy’s stores. It was so cheap we went shopping – tops and trousers for Daniel and Charlie, golf trousers and a shirt for Bob and trousers for me. Inderjit had a 20% discount voucher and a store card which gave further discounts so she insisted on putting them all on her card to get the best price we wanted to pay but she wouldn’t let us. Tired from all that shopping we went home for a cup of tea and put our feet up before going out for dinner to a eat all you want healthy restaurant that did the biggest salad bar you have ever seen along with pizza and soup. I couldn’t eat a pudding although Bob managed a small one.
Day 77 Monday 15th September
With everyone going to work, expect Pops of course as he is 89 on October 28th he told me, this was the first day we would be on our own in San Francisco. Inderjit had been very informative during our weekend travelling around so we had a good idea of where we were going plus a map of the town and Tom Tom so we should be ok. We planned with Paul and Inderjit to go by CALtrain at 8am, (Inderjit dropped us at the station) which took us to 4th and King Street where we would catch a bus to Wharf 33 to go to Alcatraz. Unfortunately all good plans don’t always go well as when we arrived at 9.15am at the Wharf we found that there were no tickets for that day left so we booked for tomorrow at 3.55pm after Bob had played golf. Changing plans we walked to Pier 39 and had breakfast and took another look at the shops. Back along the harbor front we bought tickets for the Cable Car Tram and waited in line for our turn. Bob stood on the outside step and I got a seat inside so Bob took some video and photos as we trundled up and down the streets with the driver ringing his bell. We arrived at Union Square (downtown San Francisco) where we alighted and spent some 2 or 3 hours window shopping and sightseeing and we bought a Guinness Book of Records for Pops as he liked to read and collect information . The afternoon sun was lovely and warm and we sat for a while watching the world go by before heading for the bus stop to go back to the train station. The no. 30 or 45 wasn’t around so we consulted the map and decided to walk the 4 blocks, arriving at the station the same time as the bus. The train arrived to take us back to Sunnyvale where Inderjit and Paul lived and 45 mins later we stepped off the train and the evening sunshine was so nice and being rested while travelling we decided to walk back to the house. We set off (in the wrong direction) and after another 45 mins phoned Paul to say Help can you pick us up we are lost! We gave Pops the present and he thought it was wonderful and asked Paul if he could get a copy tomorrow for him, at first not realizing that it was a present, he was delighted. We were tired after our day but Indejits brother called in to say hello so we sat and chatted with him. With Bob having to get up for golf at 5.30 am tomorrow, we went to bed early.
We had to vacate our room by 11am this morning, the car had to be back by 7pm but our flight wasn’t until 10pm tonight so some planning had to go into the packing as we had a 10 hr flight ahead of us. We started to pack but got hungry so stopped for a big breakfast to keep us going and went back to finish the packing afterwards. We managed to check out without fainting at the bill and spent half an hour on the internet to print off the confirmation for the car we had booked last night, to pick up in LA. The Scott family we had met at the Hotel, Karen Marie, Richard and their 2 boys arrived in the reception, ready to leave for the airport to go home to Wellington NZ so we said our farewells. We arranged for our luggage to be collected from the room and stored while we went for a last walk on the beach. We asked for snorkels and masks and after some discussion we were allowed them even thought the tide was low and they didn’t usually hand them out until it was higher!! We set off along the beach and found a quiet spot some 150 yds along where we couldn’t see or hear anyone – heaven. The snorkeling was excellent in fact we saw so many large and colourful fishes and a hermit crab – much bigger than we had seen on Schooner Island. After an hour relaxing we walked back to get some lunch and a swim in the pool but the children seemed particularly noisy today so we went for a shower and called a golf buggy to take us up to the sanctuary of the Bebe Spa bar where we had a long cold drink and a cookie and soaked up the fantastic views until it was time to leave for the airport. It took about 1.5 hrs to get to Nadi and hand over the car to the rental company – Bob was ages in the office – apparently arguing of $26 he said they had overcharged him. Check in was fairly straight forward – the luggage weight was still at 22kg each but our hand luggage is getting heavier and heavier – we have to parcel up some clothes in LA and send them back to the UK so that I can go shopping !! A quick look round the departures lounge proved that they didn’t have much to offer – not even a good book for me to read so we bought a drink and sat and waited for the flight to be called. Our plane was an Air Pacific 747 Jumbo with tv’s in every seat so we could choose a film unfortunately we had seen most of them so we watched some of the new Indian Jones again, had a supper snack and settled down to sleep for our 10 hr flight. 3 hrs before we landed we were woken for breakfast which was the most disgusting blob I have ever seen! And I like plane food normally. We landed in LA at 1pm local time 9hrs earlier than we had left Fiji, to find that I had lost my jacket !!! luckily there was nothing in it but I think it must have slipped from my bag when I was busy trying to maneuver onto the plane and I hadn’t noticed at the time. Oh well – more shopping??? We picked the car up from just outside the airport, one of those funny old fashioned shaped Chrysler cars and set off with our Garmin (TomTom) navigator to find a hotel. About 3 miles outside of Downtown LA we found the Wilshire Hotel and having remembered seeing it on the web when we were looking for a Hotel, we stopped to ask if they had a room and their tariff – we were surprised to find that they offered it to us at less than the internet so we booked in. We went for a walk to get our bearings, picked up loads of leaflets on what to do in LA and had dinner in an Italian restaurant just down the road. On the way back to the hotel we found out where to go tomorrow to get the metro to Universal City and the Studios.
Day 72 Wednesday 10th September in LA
We woke to realize that it was already 8.15 and we had planned to get up early to be out by 9pm as Universal Studios opened at 10am and we wanted to be there early to buy the tickets. Oh well, a quick shower and we were out of the hotel and on the metro. We arrived in plenty of time for the opening and didn’t have to queue long for the tickets but we were disappointed that no restaurants opened until 11am and we had dashed out without breakfast so we decided to ride some of the rides while it was quiet to pass the time. We started with Bart Simpson, a simulator ride around Simpsons town – a bit rough and tummy turning so glad breakfast wasn’t in there ! The second one was the Jurassic Park boat ride through dinosaur land, there was no queue for this so we climbed onto the boat which we had to ourselves then realized why it wasn’t so popular – we floated through waterfalls, got squirted with jets of water and the grand finale was a big dipper drop into a lake !!! Oh well the sun was shining so we would dry quickly ! Still not quite 11am so we decided to risk the Mummy ride which was a roller coaster but it was in almost pitch darkness, mummies and scary things jumped out at you when you passed and we were turned upside down then shot backwards – I really was glad I hadn’t had breakfast now and needed a g & t when I got off ! Time to eat and then some more sedate entertainment in3d and 4d cinemas, shopping and an hours trip round the backlots of the studios was very interesting. After a late lunch we did the Terminator and a show of film animals and their trainers before heading for the exit. We had intended to go into downtown LA for the evening but our feet were aching so we took the metro back to the Hotel and watched some tv before being rudely interrupted by another guest at the hotel trying to get into our room – apparently he had been given our room as well so had a key for it too. (awaiting response from the Hotel manager regarding this as the reception could only say “oh sorry” when we told them what had happened !).
Day 73 Thursday 11th September
Bob was like a cat on a hot tin roof this morning as we had hired a Harley Davidson motor bike for the day. We set off from the Hotel at 9am and drove with the unhelpful aid of the Tom Tom Navigator that took us the long way round to the office on the other side of Los Angeles near to the airport. We chose our jackets and helmets and setoff for the coast with a full tank of fuel. It took a while for Bob to get used to it, it was very big and heavy and I had to get used to sitting on the back of a bike again as it has been some 6 years since our last ride on one. But by the time we were leaving the city we were cruising – everyone looked at us and smiled – bet they were wishing they were us !! As we neared the coast the houses got bigger and nicer and we saw Pepperdine University where only a few days before we had seen on the TV that they had put a flag in the ground for every service man killed in Afghanistan – what a sight! On we went to Santa Monica, by now I had got the hang of balancing on the bike and I had my camera in my hand ready to take photos. The views were wonderful, the hills to our right with huge mansions perched on ledges high up and to the right golden sandy beaches. We stopped for coffee in a Starbucks in Santa Monica in a shopping plaza (they call them Malls everywhere else but here it was posh !) we noticed the flower shop had a sign saying “no paparazzi” . Apparently John Cleese has a house in the hills and its for sale but we didn’t see it – there were however, lots of houses for sale – obviously the economic climate is affecting the rich and famous too ?? We motored on to Malibu Beach and pass it along the coast until there was nothing to see so we turned round and went back to what looked like a nice bit of beach and stopped. We took off our trousers and jackets and put on our shorts and went for a walk on the beach, then lay on the sand for a siesta. Later, stopping at a bar to buy some water we suddenly heard a commotion outside and looked to see a man with the biggest telephoto lense you have ever seen, crouching down on the floor outside the door shooting off reels of film, another man in a car drove up and at the same time a 3rd man arrived on a motorized skateboard with another large lense camera. We realized they were photographing a man running along the beach and before we could blink it was all over and they had all disappeared. I asked the girl in the bar who they were photographing – Matthew Mcnaughie I was told – is he famous I asked? Apparently he was and had been in the film Sahara. We shrugged and walked back to the bike to start heading back to LA as it was nearly 5pm by now. Bob was really enjoying riding the bike, it was easy riding on the coast road but he had to concentrate more when we neared the city because it was much busier but we arrived back at the hotel safely and raced to the bathroom to get a shower and rest our weary backs and legs before going out for dinner.
Day 74 Friday 12th September
We had to have the bike back by 11am but we wanted to go to downtown LA too so we set off at just before 9am to return the bike and pick up the car. All paperwork sorted we drove back to the Hotel to finish packing and checkout. We had a planned route into LA and then along Sunset Boulevard and Hollywood Boulevard and Beverley Hills as we headed north towards San Francisco but after several “ok lets turn around” we gave up. We didn’t much like LA by car, it was grubby and dark and the buildings blocked out most of the light, the roads were congested at every turn and the only bits that we found that were ok were Hollywood – but that was only a couple of streets. So we were heading north by 2.45pm on the I.5 Highway – only about 400 miles to go ! The scenery changed as we drove, some very mountainous and some very flat, mid way there were lots of cattle – in fact thousands of cattle and it smelt awful. We decided we didn’t like ‘miles’ – kilometers go much faster !! We stopped for a drink and something to eat at a garage and were hit by 35 degrees of heat as we stepped out of the car – LA had been around 18 degrees but we were in the valley and apparently its always hot there. We trundled on, through one horse towns, and a couple of two horse towns before we saw the lights of San Jose but by now it was pitch dark and we missed a couple of turns because TomTom didn’t speak up soon enough so we did a few backtracks. I was getting very tired and ready to just stop where we were when we realized we weren’t that far away so we kept going and finally found our destination - Paul and Inderjits house in Sunnyvale California at almost 9pm. They welcomed us with open arms with a drink, a smile and a big comfy bed to fall into after a 6 hr+ journey.
Day 75 Saturday 13th September in San Francisco
Being Saturday Paul and Inderjit had the day off work but Inderjits father lives with them so to save him being on his own all day, Paul stayed with him to play cards etc. and Inderjit took us into San Francisco for an orientation trip. 1st stop was the Golden Gate bridge – very crowded and impossible to park so we left Inderjit in a no parking zone in the car whilst Bob and I ran round and took some photos. I must say it was disappointing to see it was a dull red – I expected it to at least sparkle if not gold ! On to Lombard Street which has the crooked street – so steep and bendy we zigzagged down at 5 mph – amazing but I wouldn’t like to live there with so many tourist click clicking their cameras. Apparently not many people do live there, most are rented out for tourist now. At the bottom of this street we turned towards Fishermans Wharf where we left the car (at the harbor front) with the keys in it , with an attendant, in the middle of street carpark. We then walked along the front to the famous Pier 39 which had lots of shops and restaurants, where we stopped for lunch at the Eagle Restaurant. We walked off lunch in and out of the many unusual shops and stopping to see the sea lions basking in the sunshine on their own platforms in the harbor. Some of the cheeky ones tried to lie on the boat jetties but a man was walking up and down pushing them off, the noise was deafening and the smell – bad . Moving on we exited the pier and walked the length of the harbor to where the cable car trams go up the steep streets of San Francisco (like on the TV). We plan to come back on Monday to see Alcatraz which is visible across the water and take a trip on the cable car, hopefully it will be quieter then. The day had gone by so quickly but on the way home we stopped at a local phone shop to buy a sim card for my phone – over an hour later we emerged with a sim card that didn’t work – but should do in the next half hour ! I told him we would be back early next morning if it didn’t. Paul had cooked fish for us all for dinner so we picked up some salad to go with it and arrived back tired but happy. We checked my mobile phone and finally it had accepted the sim and was working.
Day 76 Sunday 14th September
Once again Paul and Pops stayed at home while Inderjit took us out for all American breakfast – Bob had pancakes and maple syrup and I had coffee and blueberry cake. Next stop was a local golf course to book Bob some golf before he had withdrawal symptoms, but on the way we saw a huge electrical store called Frys so we called in. It was enormous but they didn’t had any ipods (sold out) and the battery I wanted for my camera they didn’t do, but they did have a disc drive for my computer – I will think about that though – don’t want to carry too much luggage as we still have New York to do. At the golf course Bob was told to be at the course for 6.30am Tuesday and they would fit him in with another group – obviously popular course. I saw 2 golf head covers of Nemo (the fish) and picked them up to buy them for Bob but when I went to pay Inderjit jumped in and bought them – it was very kind of her. Inderjits work was close by so she drove there to show us and to print off a couple of confirmations I had put on my memory stick. She works right by Google Headquarters, Yahoo and Microsoft Offices. From here we drove back home to pick up Paul and Pops and we all went to a shopping Mall where there was a JC Penny and Macy’s stores. It was so cheap we went shopping – tops and trousers for Daniel and Charlie, golf trousers and a shirt for Bob and trousers for me. Inderjit had a 20% discount voucher and a store card which gave further discounts so she insisted on putting them all on her card to get the best price we wanted to pay but she wouldn’t let us. Tired from all that shopping we went home for a cup of tea and put our feet up before going out for dinner to a eat all you want healthy restaurant that did the biggest salad bar you have ever seen along with pizza and soup. I couldn’t eat a pudding although Bob managed a small one.
Day 77 Monday 15th September
With everyone going to work, expect Pops of course as he is 89 on October 28th he told me, this was the first day we would be on our own in San Francisco. Inderjit had been very informative during our weekend travelling around so we had a good idea of where we were going plus a map of the town and Tom Tom so we should be ok. We planned with Paul and Inderjit to go by CALtrain at 8am, (Inderjit dropped us at the station) which took us to 4th and King Street where we would catch a bus to Wharf 33 to go to Alcatraz. Unfortunately all good plans don’t always go well as when we arrived at 9.15am at the Wharf we found that there were no tickets for that day left so we booked for tomorrow at 3.55pm after Bob had played golf. Changing plans we walked to Pier 39 and had breakfast and took another look at the shops. Back along the harbor front we bought tickets for the Cable Car Tram and waited in line for our turn. Bob stood on the outside step and I got a seat inside so Bob took some video and photos as we trundled up and down the streets with the driver ringing his bell. We arrived at Union Square (downtown San Francisco) where we alighted and spent some 2 or 3 hours window shopping and sightseeing and we bought a Guinness Book of Records for Pops as he liked to read and collect information . The afternoon sun was lovely and warm and we sat for a while watching the world go by before heading for the bus stop to go back to the train station. The no. 30 or 45 wasn’t around so we consulted the map and decided to walk the 4 blocks, arriving at the station the same time as the bus. The train arrived to take us back to Sunnyvale where Inderjit and Paul lived and 45 mins later we stepped off the train and the evening sunshine was so nice and being rested while travelling we decided to walk back to the house. We set off (in the wrong direction) and after another 45 mins phoned Paul to say Help can you pick us up we are lost! We gave Pops the present and he thought it was wonderful and asked Paul if he could get a copy tomorrow for him, at first not realizing that it was a present, he was delighted. We were tired after our day but Indejits brother called in to say hello so we sat and chatted with him. With Bob having to get up for golf at 5.30 am tomorrow, we went to bed early.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
