Coincidences

So far on this trip I have managed to encounter many fellow Brits but 3 of them have turned up twice: 1st there was Jack from Leeds who I spent time watching England v Portugal with in NY who later turned up in DC. Then came Darren from Glasgow who as well as being in Orlando was also in Buffalo when I was there. Finally for the Brits, a lad from Edinburgh who I met in Miami Beach on my first night in the US was also in Boston when I was there. This last one is even wierder in the fact that both times he was depressed as Greyhound had lost his luggage that day!

Then there was the evil twin from Trash 'n' Vauderville in New York who turned up on the quay in Provincetown when I stepped off the boat to Cape Cod from Boston.

As if that wasn't enough I have now been in hostel room 205 too many times. First 205 was in Quebec City, then I had the same room number in Toronto when I arrived this week. Then last night I got room 205 in Niagara Falls hostel and now I am back in Toronto in, yep you've guessed it, room 205. That's four hostels in a row (excluding the jail which had cells and not rooms!) where I've been in 205. Maybe word has got around that I'm getting on a bit and the old brain cells need looking after, so they've stopped me getting confused over rooms ;-)

How to deter backpackers

1. Set up a cruise company on Severn Sound in Georgian Bay.
2. Run cruises around the "30 000" islands in the Sound.
3. Get your cruise mentioned in Rough Guide and Lonely Planet.
4. Run morning cruise at 10:45 which is exactly the same time as the first bus arrives in town but 10 minutes walk from the harbour.
5. Run afternoon cruise to finish at 17:15 which is exactly the same time as the last bus leaves town and is still 10 minutes walk from the harbour.

Well done Georgian Bay cruises in Penetanguishene.

Spamalot

OK, have now moved on to Toronto but got bored with the city during daylight hours quite quickly. All too modern for my liking.
So, on passing a theatre just up the street from where I am staying and seeing that Eric Idle's musical Spamalot was on, I thought I'd see if I could get hold of a ticket. Well I did, and a cheap one too. Was queueing at the box office to see what they could offer when a lady with a spare stalls seat came and offered the spare for half price ($43 instead of 86). Bargain!
Just have to say that if you're a Python fan, then go and see it in London when it opens or whereever. If you're not a Python fan, (why not?) then go and see it anyway. Haven't laughed so much in a long time.


Just have one line to quote (that I suspect has been added to the script fairly recently):

Scene: King Arthur and his knights are being taunted by French soldiers from their castle ramparts.
French soldier (amongst all sorts of general abuse - you'll know what I mean if you've seen the Holy Grail) "And zen we will 'ead butt you (pause) in ze chest".

Get out of jail free (well for $50 anyway)

OK, so my stay in jail only lasted two nights. The hostel in Ottawa is situated in what used to be the Carleton County Jail. Apparently it's the location where the first public execution in Canada was carried out. Fortunately the only punishment for breaching the rules these days is to get yourself thrown out on the street.
Spent a day and a half exploring Ottawa. Most of this was spent around Parliament Hill. Came across another changing of the guard ceremony but this one didn't have a goat so I went on a tour of one of the Parliament buildings instead.

Go directly to jail, do not pass go, do not collect $200!

Now find myself in Ottawa jail. If you need to write, address correspondence to Cell 1, Level 6, HI Ottawa Jail, Nicholas Street, Ottawa.

Whales (again)

OK, back to the whales of the St Lawrence: did an early morning trip on a zodiac out from a little village called Tadoussac (which by the way has one of the best hostels I've come across so far: friendly staff, bar, live music, and a good crowd of guests). Day didn't look promisiing due to the rain and fog. Could hardly see 10 metres at times and for the first hour it was tricky to see anything except for a few seals that didn't move out of the way of the boat quite as quickly as any whales that may have been out there, and several harbour porpoises that gave us tantalising glimpses of them in the distance.

But then, one minke plucked up courage and swam right up to within a few metres of the boat before diving. This seemed to be the trigger for the day to improve. We managed to find a spot on the river where the fog wasn't so thick and soon were surrounded by belugas in all directions. At a guess there were at least 30 of them swimming in the same direction as the boat. May even have been over 50 but it was just so difficult to count them as they were surfacing all around us.

And finally a fin whale (second largest animal on the planet after the blue whale) surfaced about 10 metres from the boat. In fact it was so close that I had no chance of getting a photo before it dived again. The camera zoom had been on maximum all morning for the odd glimpse of a whale in the distance or even a beluga fairly close but to snap the fin whale needed the zoom taken off and by the time I'd done that, it was back under the surface again and dived.

You know how excited I got over a couple of humpbacks. Well that was nothing compared to this. Even thought about scrapping the trip to Ottawa to go straight back out on the next boat. But sense prevailed (I think, or maybe not) and I got the bus anyway. Will have to get back to the coast again though - whales have definetly been the trip highlight so far, and will take some beating.

Quebec City

Been on another whale watching trip. More details later. First some details on Québec (hey, look I found a keyboard with proper French characters on it!!!!). Hills! First time I have encountered hills on this trip. Lugging the back pack up to the hostel on Thursday night was not fun. Had a good day on Friday though (except for my Swisds Army Knife getting nicked!). Lots of stuff to explore and see in Québec City: old city walls, Citadelle, old town, even older town, old port, and lots more. All nice and compact though, so possible to walk around in a day. Also saw the changing of the guard ceremony at the Citadel. Will post photos of the goat later!

OK, here is the goat photo you've all been waiting for.

¨Bob¨

Seems that the continental army in the War of Independence were not too fussy about who they recruited: the book I am reading (or in fact have just finished) lists cases of 12 year old boys taking part in the war. Also one young lady enlisted herself in the army. So what name did she give herself? Yep, Robert.

So, ¨Bob¨.....

Wonder whether they had a Captain Darling too!

Got so excited about whales/Cheers that I forgot to post anything else about Boston.

Was there for four nights so outght to put something in here, so .....

Started off my walking the Freedom Trail. This links all the historic sites relating to Paul Revere, the Boston Massacre, and the start of the War of Independence. As a history buff I enjoyed it all - even bought a book abotu the war to read on my various train journeys. Most of the walk was in the old north part of Boston and all close together. The last part was a longer walk over the Ricer Charles to Bunker Hill and the USS Consitution. This was a bit more disappointing: the monument at Bunker Hill is closed for renovation and the USS Constitution is closed on Mondays (guess which day I visited on!). Another historical fact for you: did you know that the Battle of Bunker Hill wasn't fought on Bunker Hill at all but on neighbouring Breeds Hill. Apparently the commander of the British troops got it wrong when deploying his regiments!

Spent the rest of the day in downtown Boston around the quayside, visiting Cheers, and going to the top of the Prudential Centre for the panoramic views of Boston. Unfortunately it was a bit hazy (as most days seem to be in the US) so couldn't see as much as I would have liked. BUT at least the people at the entrance recognised the fact and charged a reduced fee. Did get a goodview of Fenway Park which is only just up the road.

After the whale watching trip (did I tell you I saw a pair of humpbacks?), took the ferry over to Provincetown on Cape Cod. Day was a bit disappointing. Weather was not the best but i did manage to spend a bit of time on the beach. Then had a very long walk/run to get back to the harbour in time for the ferry back. Provincetown has the worst maps in the world. I had two copies and both showed that the town was as big as the area of sand dunes bordering the beach to the north. However, the walk across town took 20 minutes and the walk across the dunes (even when on a road) took well over an hour. Think there might be a problem with the scale of the map or else they are deliberately trying to make Provincetown look bigger than it is. Did get back to the harbour in time but only by finding a friendly (off-duty) bus driver who gave me a lift when he drove down to the harbour to start his shift. Did give me time for a very nice banana smoothie (best so far) which made up a little bit for the rest of the day.

Anyway that about wraps it up for Boston (belatedly). As usual, photos to follow. Tried to upload some but at that point the PC I was using died!!!!

Finally escaped from the US and made it to Canada.

Amtrak tried to delay my escape by having the train arrive 3 1/2 hours late into Montreal but I'm here now. Nice to get somewhere a little bit colder. Last day in New York the temperature was somewhere around 37C. Fortunately here it is only 30!

Managed to find all the important things in Montreal within an hour: train station, hostel I booked to stay in, pizza take away, and Irish bar. Got to cover the essentials to make yourself feel at home!

Spent a couple of days exploring the city and surroundings. The Underground is an interesting concept. The guide says that the Canadians got fed up with cold winters and hot summers, so they built a level below ground that has a large number of shops, restaurants, etc. Apparently it extends for over 30 km. I did manage to cover a little bit of it but spent most of my time above ground exploring the history of the city. As well as that had a nice stroll (!) up Mont Royal to get the view over the city. Didn't actually see much 'cos the tress were a bit high but did find a nice lake up on the hill.

Got treated to another firework display. There is an international firework display competition going on and I happened to be there on one of the nights when they had a display. It was impressive - definetly better than 4th July display in NY. Also got to see the first set of Canadians dressing up to re-enact something from history. Seems to be a common thing - every where you go (even when I got on the bus from Montreal to Quebec City), you're bound to find at last a tenth of the locals n period dress for the benefit of us tourists.

Day 2 was mostly spent on the two islands in the St Lawrence: St Helene and Notre Dame which together form the Parc Jean Drapeau. Spent all morning in the biosphere looking at and doing all sorts of sciency things. If you ever go to Montreal with kids, this is highly recommended. After that I strolled across to the second island (where the Olympic rowing was held in 1976). Paused to look at a map to work out where abouts I was to find that if I took a step backwards I'd be standing on the Circuit Gilles Villeneuve (where the Canadian F1 Grand Prix is held).

So on to Quebec City.


P.S. the Yankees won on Monday night despite A-Rod having a nightmare at bat and in the field.

Water, water everywhere....

Spent two days on a very aquatic theme. Bought a two week Amtrak pass to travel between NY, DC, Philly, Boston, etc. Then found that I can't get a train to Montreal until Tuesday so had to find other things to do after Boston.
Firstly headed right back across New York to Buffalo and on to Niagara Falls. Had planned to visit the falls from Toronto but had a gap to fill, so why not? Spectacular views but very very touristy. Think Victoria Falls was more impressive, mainly because without all the commercial crap around them, they seemed more natural. Managed to sneak into Canada for a couple of hours to get a view of the Horseshoe Falls (best part of Niagara and on the Canadian side: only 10% of the water goes over the American Falls, the rest belongs to Canada!!!!).

Can also report back that Buffalo is not quite as dull as previously thought - managed to find one whole street full of clubs, bars, and restaurants.

Now back in New York for another 3 nights so having to find new things to do here. Headed over to Long Island and Fire Island on Sunday to join the rest of Manhattan (supposedly). Actually it wasn't too crowded and I spent a delightful few hours at Ocean Beach. Beautiful sand, warm water, crashing surf (not up to professional stds but best so far!), and it was hot and sunny too.

Spent today back in the city just catching up on a few things that I didn't get around to last time: Staten Island Ferry, Strawberry Fields in Central Park (even is overall I'm not that fond of NY, I adore Central Park), and tonight I'm off to see a Yankees game.

Whales (the animal not the country, stupid!)

Went on a whale watching trip from Boston Harbour this morning. Managed to see Minke and Fin whale spouts in the distance with v brief glimpses of the animals. Missing them was made more than made up by a mother and calf humpback pairing who stayed in the vicinity of the catamaran for almost 30 minutes until we had to leave them. Wow what a day!

Cheers from Boston.

Had to break the abstinence from alcohol when I came across the Bull & Finch bar (better known as the bar on which Cheers was based). Didn't see Sam Malone, Rebecca, or Norm but there was an old guy in there who could rival Cliff Claven in a competition for being dull

As you may have noticed, I've found a PC with a USB port so can (finally) upload some photos. Will go back through all the old stuff and gradually add some piccies to the boring text.

Declaration of American Independence, 1st public reading 8th July 1776.

So what day did I arrive on? Yep, 8th July 2006 - the 230th anniversary.
Had a full re-enactment laid on at lunchtime. Like DC, Philly is a place where the guides say you need to get out of bed early to get into the main attractions without having to queue for hours. so was at the visitor centre before 9 to pick up a ticket for a tour of Independence Hall. For those of you not clued up on US history, the Hall is where the Declaration of Independence was debated, written & agreed upon (4th July), 1st read (8th July), and signed (2nd August). Come on then, how many of you knew that the Declaration of Independence wasn't signed on 4th July. No, I didn't either until yesterday (also George Washington wasn't one of the signatories!!). US Constitution was also debated and agreed upon in the same room 11 years later. And Congress Hall next door was where Congress and the Senate both met whilst DC was built as the new US capital city. Wow, l0ts of learning done in one morning.

Saw the reason why the guides said get up early when I came back out of Independence Hall - the queue for the Liberty Bell stretched to the end of the street and beyond. Spent the rest of the day strolling around the city from INHP up to Fairmount Park, via City Hall and various other historic buidlings. Found a place that did the best lunch I have had so far in the US: Amazon Cafe served up a wonderfully healthy veggie sandwich and smoothie. Set me up nicely for the afternoon. One of the best thigns about DC and Philadelphia is that almost everything is free which as helped the budget a bit after the excesses of New York (and the purchase of a new camera - I just couldn't cope without being able to take photos!). Did spend a bit of cash on the Philadelphia Lights of Liberty show. This is a sort of Son et Lumiere depicting key events in the lead up to the War of Independence by projecting images onto the actual buidlings where the events took place 230 years ago and more. Did finally manage to get to see the Liberty Bell this morning. Meant another early start but I was almost at the front of the queue when the Centre opened at 9am. Not much too see really - spent less than 20 minutes in the exhibition but it is another thing ticked off the list. Wierdest moment was moving into a section of the display related to all sorts of stuff based on the Libery Bell. Music being piped through the speakers was Souza's Liberty Bell March. Will let you work out if you know the tune, but as a clue the hostel I stayed in had shown the Meaning of Life the evening before. And so on to Boston.

Escaped from New York (finally).

After two weeks of v high alcohol consumption and late nights it will be good to be able to live a bit more healthily again. Moved on to Washington DC for a short (too short!) visit and then on to Philadelphia, so have covered a lot of US history in the last four days.

The best thing about DC is that most of what you want to see is around the National Mall, and that is less than 2.5 miles from one end to the other. Did go on a Duck tour to get an overview of the city before started to explore. Tour was ok but not really sure why they bothered with the duck. Yes it took us on to the Potomac river but seemingly only to bypass a section of the highway. The only bit of Washington we saw from the water was the Reagan airport. Walking was far better. Managed to take in the length of the Mall from the Capitol to the Lincoln Memorial. Included stops at the House & Senate offices, a couple of Smithsonian museums (Air & Space: good; Natural History: dull), Jefferson Memorial, Washington Monument. Tried to get a tour of the Capitol but was too late to get a ticket.
Got up early on day 2 to try for a ticket to go up to the top of the Washington Memorial (500+ feet up) but missed out by less than ten people, so had to settle for the Old Post Office tower which is only half the height. Picked up the Metro later in the day to go up to the National Zoo and National Cathedral. Zoo is good - has pandas including a youngster just under one year old. Cathedral is almost finished. They've only been building it for close to a century and are just working on the car park now. Main structure of the building hasn't been finished for very long.
And so on to Philadelphia by Amtrak.

P.S. forgot to mention that I had a look around the outside of the White House. Didn't get arrested so all those emails I've sent Dubya obviously haven't got me added to the list of America's most wanted (or unwanted?).

Quick Prius update for Trish

Lots of them in New York, Washington DC, and Philadelphia. Even saw one New York yellow cab Prius. Bet that pisses Dubya off a bit!

More on New York:

Did quite a lot of general strolling around the city when the weather allowed: on the whole it was either too hot or too wet. The only times it wasn't hot and humid was when it was p*ssing down with rain (and it was still hot then). Struggled a bit with the contrast between temperatures of 30 C or more outside, and air conditioned buildings with the temperature turned down really low. Still haven't fully recovered from the resulting chill and have a lovely croaky voice at the moment.
Did the mandatory visit to Ground Zero on one of the strolls to the financial district. Also took in both the Brooklyn and Manhattan bridges (one walked, the other on the subway). Spent one afternoon out a Coney Island in Brooklyn - it was shut (or at least a hell of a lot quieter than expected). Apparently we picked the wrong day: if it rains at any point during the morning, then basically they don't bother opening the amusement park, bars, or anything else that relies on vourist income.

Back on the Hudson side of Manhattan, had a ride on The Beast speedboat. Wasn't as good as it was hyped - size of boat and the stillness of NY waters meant that even that though we sat right up front, the trip was failry smooth. Didn't even get wet although a lot of people behind us did (but that was only 'cos the nutter doing the commentary came out with a water pistol and the na bucket of water to douse people).

Did manage to get absolutely drenched one evening. Decided to go ice skating down on one of the piers on the Hudson. Had a ten minute walk through a storm only to find that ice skating sessions are only open to the public for just over an hour at lunchtime (and not even on every day of the week!). Why advertise ice skating if opening times are that limited?Spent next to last day out of the city. Took a trip on the NJ Tranist down the Jersey coast to a couple of beaches. First was Manasquan which was ok. Beahc was good, had some good waves coming in but the water temperature was cold (v cold: 58 F apparently). Probably even colder than the other side of the Atlantic in South Africa in their winter and this is the US summer. Moved up the coast about five miles to Belmar to find the water there was a lot warmer. Why such a difference in such a short distance? Don't ask me - I haven't a clue. Anyway spent the whole afternoon on the beach and in the sea. Topped up the Florida tan very nicely.

Final day in NY was 4th July. Had a final wander around the East Village, and final breakfast at Dojos. Did the mandatory choice of catching the 4 July fireworks over the East River. Good display for 30 minutes but v crowded.





Now moved on to Washington DC. Still haven't located a PC where I can hook up a USB cable from a camera. In fact don't even have my camera with me now. It decided during the firework display that it would work in video mode only, and by the next morning it had given up completly. Had to make an emergency final stop down on Union Square to drop it in for repairs, only to find that they need to send it to Olympus in NY State. Won't even get a quote for a week and a half and then it could be another two weeks b4 I get it back. :-((
Have now started investigating purchase/hire of replacement. Can't travel around the US without something to record what I see: The old brain cells are a bit past it now!

New York, New York, New York, ....

Now been here for two weeks and am defintely ready to move on. Sent Laura off in a taxi to the airport this morning, so now I'm free to go off and explore. Have to hang around for the East River firework display this evening though. Hope the weather is better than they were forecasting this morning: don't want to get drenched before I have to pack and move on to DC in the morning.

Anyway I can hear all my avid readers (well Chris anyway!) shouting "that's in the future, what about the last two weeks in NY?".

Well in two weeks as you can imagine I've covered pretty much all of the standard tourist things. Managed to book a cheap hotel on the Bowery (almost right opposite CBGBs). Had the smallest twin rooms I've ever seen -two small beds against the "end" walls separated by a gap of no more than a metre. But it was cheap (for New York) and enabled us to stay in the Big Apple for two weeks on the back of the refunds from the can'd Blondie tickets. Spent day 1 afternoon on the 3-hour Circle Line Cruise around Manhattan Island. This gives a good view of all the Manhattan sights from the water. Guy doing the commentary was cool - lots of info packed into his talk but light enough to keep anyone from getting bored. Next thing was the obvious one of finding good places to eat, and more importantly good places to drink. Great result on both counts, and both on one single street: St Marks Place in the East Village. Dojo Restaraunt for cheap but plentiful food, and Bull McCabe's for alcohol, pool, darts, and a good crowd of people. Think we probably managed to visit them almost every day in the two week stint and got to know quite a lot of the regulars. Even managed to get invited to a cook-out in the back yard one day. Even managed to get a good run of pool going one evening taking on all comers until Jae stepped up. Think I only managed to beat him a couple of times (partly due to me playing stupid shots, but mostly 'cos he is a better player than me). Now that cookout day was a long one - weather was miserable (I'd planned to do the Empire State building that morning but the cloud was so low, I couldn't even see it), so after a lunchtime breakfast at Dojo's (breakfast hasn't happened before 12 at any time during the last two weeks 'cos we seem to have been on a timetable that runs from late morning, to early morning) we hit the Irish bar for a few drinks hoping for the weather to improve. Well it didn't improve much and then there was the barbecue in the evening, and then more pool and drinks, and a terrible headache the following day.Anyway enough of that. Back to tourist stuff. Did finally get to go up the Empire State on another day. Had to queue for an hour and a half but the view is pretty spectacular from up there. Amazing how tiny some of the buildings looked. Even the ones that looked big when viewed from ground level are just so small in comparison to the Empire State. Covered quite a lot of Central Park over several days including one day of walking right down from Harlem in the North to Midtown Manhattan (via a very nice but noisy open air pool).

Visited two zoos and an aquarium (Bronx and Central Park zoos, and NY Aquarium @ Coney Island). Bronx is a very large zoo - if anyone ever visits, plan to get there early. I didn't make it until after 11am and didn't have time to get around the whole place. Jungle Forest exhibit is good - lots of well-designed mixed enclosures with tapir, gibbons, langurs, mynahs, and other forest species. Congo Forest section is also good but crowded (maybe that was due to the very young baby gorilla!).