Well, here I am in fabulous Las Vegas - there is a sign saying it is fabulous, just to let me know in case I wasn't sure.
Everything here is GIGANTIC! If the world ends and the aliens land and dig up Las Vegas, I think they will start theorising that there was some giant race living here... It just doesn't seem to be built on a human scale.
Anyway - the handy thing is that you really don't need to waste all that time and effort going anywhere else in the world, because everything is here! Yesterday I went on a gondola ride through the canals of Venice and ate dinner in a delightful Italian "outdoor" restaurant in "St Mark's square" - all in the Venetian casino - where Venice is indoors - with a painted blue sky. None of that inconvenient weather or flooding - or pigeons. My memory may be faulty, but I think St Marks was a little different - bigger and more buildings in Venice in Italy - but it is so much more convenient here.
Today we travelled to the Luxor and saw the sphinx - not the old one with the broken nose, but a nice, new, brightly painted one - and the great pyramid - made of glass and containing a hotel and casino rathter than the traditional tomb.
Unfortunately, Kathy seems to have picked up a bit of a tummy bug that has kept her confined to the hotel room for a lot of the day. Kate and I have been walking our feet (well, my feet anyway) off, though. the casinos are so huge, that walking from one to the next is a significant treck - in the 30 Plus heat, especially.
We tried out the Monorail today - it is great, really frequent and easy - as long as you are staying somewhere with a monorail stationand your destination. Unfortunately, Treasure Island, where we are staying, is not on the monorail. So we have to travel down to Harrah's to catch it.
We also tried "The Deuce" (American pronunciation being "The Dooce"). This is a very reasonably priced alternative to the Monorail that goes all along the strip for $2 one way. It has to travel so slowly though - because of the traffic and the number of stops...
It took us about 2 hours to travel via monorail, pedestrian bridges and various shuttle trams from the Luxor to our hotel. A trip from the outlet mall past the end of the strip to our hotel took around about an hour on the Deuce. So there is a lot of travelling time in Las Vegas.
On day three, Trina and I went for a flight over the Grand Canyon. The advertised time is 3 hours from hotel to hotel - as opposed to 11 hours for a tour on a bus. The bus picking us up from the hotel was late, and then our flight on the little plane was delayed - and we did have a nervous moment when we got on the plane and the back of one of the seats came off when the passenger put the headset on... but it was spectacular and just about the right amount of Grand Canyon for me.
I risked a whole $8 in the "slot machines" - but was never ahead at any point. That was enough gambling for me.
For me, there are only so many shops full of over the top things - chandeliers bigger than a room of my house, gigantic statues, jewellery watches and designer clothes - that I want to see. Althoug, I must say, FAO Schwarz was a highlight! What a selection of Hogwarts and Star Wars merchandise!
So - I think that was enough Las Vegas for me. I can't really understand how it is worthwhile for Las Vegas to exist - and they are busy building a new and bigger casino and hotel facility in the middle of the strip. I guess there must be a lot of people willing to bet more than $8.
Wednesday 3 September 2008
Sunday 31 August 2008
Montreal and Apres Montreal
For my second day in Montreal - given that I had a train booked out at 3:40 pm, I took the safe route of going on a bus tour so I could fit in the maximum sites in a minimum time.
First I wanted to mention breakfast in my hotel. Turned out that breakfast was included. I normally expect an included breakfast to be along the lines of a continental breakfast - but this one had two things that I hadn't seen before. One was an "assemble yourself" breakfast taco. There were soft tacos, scrambled eggs, ham slices and potato cubes in the warmer, and a cheese sauce dispenser and salsa to put over the top. The other thing they had was a waffle iron and a waffle mix dispenser - so you could mak your own waffles.
Anyway - moving on to the day...
The tour started at Notre dame. Of course, notre dame means our lady in French, so I guess its not so surprising that there are Notre Dame's in both Ottawa and Montreal. The one in Montreal, though , I'm not sure whether Our lady referred to is Mary - or Celine Dione. The Celine was married in the Montreal Notre Dame - and the tour guide was very impressed.
another highlight was the 1976 Olympic site. The stadium was not finished in time for the games - in fact it was finished 11 years after the games. The design was for a retractable roof - but that has been replaced with a permanent roof. And they don't really have big enough games to fill the 60,000 seats - so they have had to build a new, smaller stadium. And they have converted the Olympic velodrome into a "biodome" with a rainforest environment.
Anyway - the other stops on the tour were Mt Royal, the (rather small) mountain from which Montreal got its name and from which you can see views of the city. The thing I liked, though that there was a sledding slope towards the bottom of the hill - not something I am familiar with - but apparently 12 feet of snow fell in Montreal last winter, so it makes a bit more sense there. That and the fact that the lakes are all described as skating rinks...
Pictures
From Montreal I caught the train back to Kingston and Kathy and Kendall met me to drive to THE COTTAGE.
Those of you who have been following along from the beginning will realise that I had a brief vist to THE COTTAGE previously. The capital letters are to designate the importance that this structure has to Kerry - who cannot bear to be away from it for a single moment of his leisure time.
The cottage is by a lake, which is alleged to have 13 islands. Kerry has only been able to find 11. Kerry took me out for a paddle to one end of the lake in the canoe on the first afternoon. This morning I went for a paddle to the other end in the kayak. I was hoping to see some of the wildlife living around the lake on the morning paddle - there are sometime deer and beavers available for view - but the wildlife refused to cooperate. It is a long weekend here - so maybe they felt that they were also entitled to a holiday. Kerry did see a deer and two fawns munching on the lawn - but they unfortunately disappeared just before I arrived downstairs, So I only got to see the loons - of which there are several family groups and the rather large frog who has taken possession of the very small pond in the cottage lawn. Also a garter snake living under the side porch - and a hummingbird made a couple of calls in for nectar in the petunias over the back deck.
Cottage photos
Kathy and I headed back to the main house this afternoon so that I could do a final wash and try to cram all my clothes back into my suitcase. Why oh why do I always pack so much?
First I wanted to mention breakfast in my hotel. Turned out that breakfast was included. I normally expect an included breakfast to be along the lines of a continental breakfast - but this one had two things that I hadn't seen before. One was an "assemble yourself" breakfast taco. There were soft tacos, scrambled eggs, ham slices and potato cubes in the warmer, and a cheese sauce dispenser and salsa to put over the top. The other thing they had was a waffle iron and a waffle mix dispenser - so you could mak your own waffles.
Anyway - moving on to the day...
The tour started at Notre dame. Of course, notre dame means our lady in French, so I guess its not so surprising that there are Notre Dame's in both Ottawa and Montreal. The one in Montreal, though , I'm not sure whether Our lady referred to is Mary - or Celine Dione. The Celine was married in the Montreal Notre Dame - and the tour guide was very impressed.
another highlight was the 1976 Olympic site. The stadium was not finished in time for the games - in fact it was finished 11 years after the games. The design was for a retractable roof - but that has been replaced with a permanent roof. And they don't really have big enough games to fill the 60,000 seats - so they have had to build a new, smaller stadium. And they have converted the Olympic velodrome into a "biodome" with a rainforest environment.
Anyway - the other stops on the tour were Mt Royal, the (rather small) mountain from which Montreal got its name and from which you can see views of the city. The thing I liked, though that there was a sledding slope towards the bottom of the hill - not something I am familiar with - but apparently 12 feet of snow fell in Montreal last winter, so it makes a bit more sense there. That and the fact that the lakes are all described as skating rinks...
Pictures
From Montreal I caught the train back to Kingston and Kathy and Kendall met me to drive to THE COTTAGE.
Those of you who have been following along from the beginning will realise that I had a brief vist to THE COTTAGE previously. The capital letters are to designate the importance that this structure has to Kerry - who cannot bear to be away from it for a single moment of his leisure time.
The cottage is by a lake, which is alleged to have 13 islands. Kerry has only been able to find 11. Kerry took me out for a paddle to one end of the lake in the canoe on the first afternoon. This morning I went for a paddle to the other end in the kayak. I was hoping to see some of the wildlife living around the lake on the morning paddle - there are sometime deer and beavers available for view - but the wildlife refused to cooperate. It is a long weekend here - so maybe they felt that they were also entitled to a holiday. Kerry did see a deer and two fawns munching on the lawn - but they unfortunately disappeared just before I arrived downstairs, So I only got to see the loons - of which there are several family groups and the rather large frog who has taken possession of the very small pond in the cottage lawn. Also a garter snake living under the side porch - and a hummingbird made a couple of calls in for nectar in the petunias over the back deck.
Cottage photos
Kathy and I headed back to the main house this afternoon so that I could do a final wash and try to cram all my clothes back into my suitcase. Why oh why do I always pack so much?
Thursday 28 August 2008
Montreal
The thing with cities is - just a couple of blocks can make a huge difference to what you think of the place.
Today I started in Ottawa. As I wasn't rolling out until the middle of the day, I made a lightening trip out to the museum of Civilisation. The Ottawa public transport site is excellent and gave me great directions about how to get a bus there. The only thing they didn't think to mention when they gave directions on how to walk from my hotel to the bus stop (which, to give them credit, they did), was that the bus stop was on the top floor of a shopping mall - I still don't quite understand how that works because the buses don't fly... anyway, that took me a bit of a while to find.
The museum was great - the Canada Hall - where you effectively walk through the history of Canada from the first visits of the vikings on was really interesting. Unfortunately - I spent too long there and had to rush the first people's hall - which also seemed really great.
The picture above is of the foyer area.
Then, I couldn't get out of the building without setting off an alarm - it is an interesting structure with no right angles - and I went to the wrong bus stop and missed the bus -
But I managed to catch my train to Montreal in the end - so all's well that ends well.
The hotel in Montreal is a little more out of the way - but the nice young man at the desk explained how I could catch the Metro into town to see the old quarter. I ended up in Chinatown - which looks just like Chinatown in any other city. Then I wandered in the wrong direction (maps don't work all that well when you start with a wrong assumption about where you are) and was just walking through anonymous skyscraper canyons. I was feeling very let down - as Ottawa had been such a positive experience.
I even found something that LOOKED like a tourist attraction - but couldn't find my way to the front door to find out what it was!
Of course - it all feels much more foreign here. As soon as you cross the border into Quebec on the train, the conducter makes all the announcements in French first and then English rather than the other way around as in Ontario. Everyone greets you with "Bonjour" then speaks to you in English (with various degrees of reluctance) when you answer "Hello".
Then I retraced my steps and actually found the old town and the waterfront and my whole perception of the place changed. The waterfront in particular has a great feel to it. I found a lovely place to have dinner out of doors in the summer sunshine, sipping on Sangria and watching the people walk by.
Today I started in Ottawa. As I wasn't rolling out until the middle of the day, I made a lightening trip out to the museum of Civilisation. The Ottawa public transport site is excellent and gave me great directions about how to get a bus there. The only thing they didn't think to mention when they gave directions on how to walk from my hotel to the bus stop (which, to give them credit, they did), was that the bus stop was on the top floor of a shopping mall - I still don't quite understand how that works because the buses don't fly... anyway, that took me a bit of a while to find.
The museum was great - the Canada Hall - where you effectively walk through the history of Canada from the first visits of the vikings on was really interesting. Unfortunately - I spent too long there and had to rush the first people's hall - which also seemed really great.
The picture above is of the foyer area.Then, I couldn't get out of the building without setting off an alarm - it is an interesting structure with no right angles - and I went to the wrong bus stop and missed the bus -
But I managed to catch my train to Montreal in the end - so all's well that ends well.
The hotel in Montreal is a little more out of the way - but the nice young man at the desk explained how I could catch the Metro into town to see the old quarter. I ended up in Chinatown - which looks just like Chinatown in any other city. Then I wandered in the wrong direction (maps don't work all that well when you start with a wrong assumption about where you are) and was just walking through anonymous skyscraper canyons. I was feeling very let down - as Ottawa had been such a positive experience.
I even found something that LOOKED like a tourist attraction - but couldn't find my way to the front door to find out what it was!
Of course - it all feels much more foreign here. As soon as you cross the border into Quebec on the train, the conducter makes all the announcements in French first and then English rather than the other way around as in Ontario. Everyone greets you with "Bonjour" then speaks to you in English (with various degrees of reluctance) when you answer "Hello".
Then I retraced my steps and actually found the old town and the waterfront and my whole perception of the place changed. The waterfront in particular has a great feel to it. I found a lovely place to have dinner out of doors in the summer sunshine, sipping on Sangria and watching the people walk by.
Wednesday 27 August 2008
Ottawa
Well - I am making up for the lack of posts by posting twice today - although I guess this one will also be sans pictures unless the line suddenly starts to cooperate...
I thought it was my duty as a tourist to do some more serious sightseeing - so I hopped on the train to Ottawa today. Ottawa is only 2 hours from Kingston by rail. I found out that you can also go by boat - but that takes 3 days because of the speed limits on the Rideau canal and the number of locks you have to negotiate. So train was definitely a better option.
In Ottawa, I hopped onto the local Greyline bus tour to find out what I should see.
They have two flavours of bus - an authentic old double decker bus and a trolley bus with hard wooden seats and no windows... The no windows is lovely for taking pictures, but when the bus gets a bit of speed up it is really windy and impossible (for me at least) to hear the commentary. So I hopped off at the aviation museum and spent 45 minutes visting the Lancaster and then hopped onto the next bus - the double decker.
Ottawa is a really pretty, open city. Lots of sculpture and majestic buildings and canals and rivers running through it. The Quebec border runs right through it - so, like Canberra, there is another city practically joined on but in another state (well, province to be technically correct). Gatineau (the other city) has the casino, but other than that, does look like a poor cousin. And because it is in Quebec, the signs are in French (with a little English translation) rather than in English then French. It also has horizontal traffic lights that it introduced as an aide to colourblind people - the red is a square and the amber is a triangle as well.
After circling the attractions on the bus tour, I decided, as a capital city resident, to tour the State Parliament buildings. These were built not all that long before our own Old Parliament house (the original buildings from the mid to late 1800s, other than the Library, burned down in 1917. The library was saved because it had iron doors which a quick thinking librarian closed against the fire) but are on a much grander scale.
(This is one of those places where the pictures would come in if I could upload them).
I also found out that the Canadian Senate is not elected - but appointed. It is not there to represent the provinces in the same way that the Australian Senate represents the States, rather the idea is that, because it is appointed, it is supposed to have representation for all of the different ethnic interests. Incidentally - another fact I learned is that caucus is a word from the Algonquin people.
I saw the house of commons (their words), senate, and went up the big clock tower at the front of the building (the peace tower built after the first world war) from which there are excellent views of the city (fortunately there is an elevator).
One more piece of trivia (boring? No - never) is that there is a cat refuge in the grounds of parliament house.
After the parliament house tour (which incidentally is EXCELLENT value - it's free), I was lucky enought to be passing as some boats were going through the 7 or 8 locks on the Rideau canal. Which was really interesting to watch.
So much for the wildlife tour - a beaver (the small furry mammal that inhabits Canada) was frolicking around on the side of the lock while the boats were going through. I have had a big day for wildlife I also saw a mother deer and two fauns on the drive to the station this morning in Kingston -lucky I paid for that wildlife tour in Banff.
Then I went to the Bytown museum - that was also free after 5. Not that it was worth a lot more - but there was also a free audio tour that took 45 minutes - so I have done 2 45 minute museums today! And just be grateful that I am not providing you with more history of Ottawa and the Rideau canal!
After that, a bit of a wander through the Bytown markets and dinner at the Canadian version of an Irish pub. There is a lovely lot of outdoor dining here - and the streets were full of people enjoying the dusk at 7pm.
Enough blogging for today!
I thought it was my duty as a tourist to do some more serious sightseeing - so I hopped on the train to Ottawa today. Ottawa is only 2 hours from Kingston by rail. I found out that you can also go by boat - but that takes 3 days because of the speed limits on the Rideau canal and the number of locks you have to negotiate. So train was definitely a better option.
In Ottawa, I hopped onto the local Greyline bus tour to find out what I should see.
They have two flavours of bus - an authentic old double decker bus and a trolley bus with hard wooden seats and no windows... The no windows is lovely for taking pictures, but when the bus gets a bit of speed up it is really windy and impossible (for me at least) to hear the commentary. So I hopped off at the aviation museum and spent 45 minutes visting the Lancaster and then hopped onto the next bus - the double decker.
Ottawa is a really pretty, open city. Lots of sculpture and majestic buildings and canals and rivers running through it. The Quebec border runs right through it - so, like Canberra, there is another city practically joined on but in another state (well, province to be technically correct). Gatineau (the other city) has the casino, but other than that, does look like a poor cousin. And because it is in Quebec, the signs are in French (with a little English translation) rather than in English then French. It also has horizontal traffic lights that it introduced as an aide to colourblind people - the red is a square and the amber is a triangle as well.
After circling the attractions on the bus tour, I decided, as a capital city resident, to tour the State Parliament buildings. These were built not all that long before our own Old Parliament house (the original buildings from the mid to late 1800s, other than the Library, burned down in 1917. The library was saved because it had iron doors which a quick thinking librarian closed against the fire) but are on a much grander scale.
(This is one of those places where the pictures would come in if I could upload them).
I also found out that the Canadian Senate is not elected - but appointed. It is not there to represent the provinces in the same way that the Australian Senate represents the States, rather the idea is that, because it is appointed, it is supposed to have representation for all of the different ethnic interests. Incidentally - another fact I learned is that caucus is a word from the Algonquin people.
I saw the house of commons (their words), senate, and went up the big clock tower at the front of the building (the peace tower built after the first world war) from which there are excellent views of the city (fortunately there is an elevator).
One more piece of trivia (boring? No - never) is that there is a cat refuge in the grounds of parliament house.
After the parliament house tour (which incidentally is EXCELLENT value - it's free), I was lucky enought to be passing as some boats were going through the 7 or 8 locks on the Rideau canal. Which was really interesting to watch.
So much for the wildlife tour - a beaver (the small furry mammal that inhabits Canada) was frolicking around on the side of the lock while the boats were going through. I have had a big day for wildlife I also saw a mother deer and two fauns on the drive to the station this morning in Kingston -lucky I paid for that wildlife tour in Banff.
Then I went to the Bytown museum - that was also free after 5. Not that it was worth a lot more - but there was also a free audio tour that took 45 minutes - so I have done 2 45 minute museums today! And just be grateful that I am not providing you with more history of Ottawa and the Rideau canal!
After that, a bit of a wander through the Bytown markets and dinner at the Canadian version of an Irish pub. There is a lovely lot of outdoor dining here - and the streets were full of people enjoying the dusk at 7pm.
Enough blogging for today!
Travels...
Well - time flies when you are travelling - and it seems that I haven't written for a week or so...
So - we spent the night in our wonderful suite and woke up to a foggy and drizzly morning.
Undeterred I went for a chilly walk around the lake - it was still beautiful.
There was a lot more walking you could do - BUT breakfast called. The hotel is huge - and Kathy had gotten pretty worn out by the walk to dinner the night before. So we decided to have breakfast in our suite. Which I wish I had taken a picture of. It arrived on a little trolley that converted into a table and was complete with cute little jars of jam and even peanut butter...
After that we drove to Calgary (well - Kathy drove. this wrong side of the road thing freaked me out). The only thing of note on the way was an annimal overpass. To stop the animals from being run over, they started out by building tunnels under the road. But it turned out that a lot of animals (particularly the big ones like elk and bear) weren't keen on the tunnels. So, instead they have started building these overpasses with vegetation on top so the animals can walk over the road. They have fences along the side of the road as well - to stop them from crossing in other places.
Turns out that Calgary has a really confusing street naming system. On the face of it - it SEEMS logical - the numbered avenues run east west and the numbered streeets run north south. BUT what they have failed to take into account is that there is a big river running through the grid system and also a railway line. So it does some stuff that seems a bit on the silly side to me - like you are driving along 9th street and the bridge crosses the river at an angle so the other side becomes 10th street. And they renumber from some point - so that there are 2 first streets. and then they randomly called one of the streets after someone and skipped a number... In spite of this we managed to find our hotel - which turned out to be really central.
I hopped on the tram - which was right outside the door - and made for the city centre where I managed to find the Devonian gardens - which are interesting because they are nearly all undercover. Calgary gets a bit too chilly for plants in the winter time.
The next day was really just a travelling day - drive to the airport, fly to Toronto, drive to the kathy and Kerry's lakeside cottage just out of Kingston. The highlight was that we got a nice new Air Canada plane which had a great in flight entertainment system. touch screens in the seat backs and the biggest range of movies and TV shows. I watched Kung Fu Panda (which I really enjoyed because I am a big baby) and a couple of Lifestyle TV shows.
Kerry left for the UK the next day and we headed back into town to their real house.
Kathy and I have mainly been just hanging out since then. I have been enjoying having access to a washing machine and sleeping in the same bed for several nights in a row. I have been grocery shopping and oohing and aahing at all the different things you get in the grocery stores here (it is crazy how interesting a grocery store in a different country can be!),
I have been to the giant pet store and been amazed at the range of haloween costumes for dogs (I was SO close to buying Gizmo a pirate outfit) and other amazing pet accessories. And I have been to Costco - where you can buy a big screen TV, a bed, a snowplough for your ATV, a washing machine, potatoes, meat, popcorn, books, toys, dogfood and ice cream all in the one store. It's very distracting.
Kathy's lovely friends, Elaine and Don and Sue and Ian, have also very kindly invited me to their homes. It is great to meet some of Kathy's friends. Both of them have lovely water features in their yards - I really need another pond! And I saw a cardinal and Elaine and Don's and hummingbirds at Sue and Ian's - as well as meeting the lovely dogs.
In a nod to the fact that I am a tourist, I went for a walk around Kingston and for a ferry ride around the 1000 Islands (of dressing fame). Kingston, as well as being the original capital of Canada (they had a lot of trouble deciding on a capital here - and Kingston, Toronto and Quebec all had a turn before they decided on Ottawa), is really close to the US border. The border runs right through the lake/seaway. And they had to divide up the 1000 (actually over 1800) islands so that the land area that went to the US and the land area that went to Canada was equal - they had a rule that the border wasn't allowed to go through the middle of any of the islands and had to be a certain distance from all the islands. Anyway - Canada ended up with more, littler islands and the US with fewer, bigger islands.
That's your educational fact for today.
Sorry there are no pictures - it's not letting me upload any today for some reason. Will try and retrofit them later.
So - we spent the night in our wonderful suite and woke up to a foggy and drizzly morning.
Undeterred I went for a chilly walk around the lake - it was still beautiful.
There was a lot more walking you could do - BUT breakfast called. The hotel is huge - and Kathy had gotten pretty worn out by the walk to dinner the night before. So we decided to have breakfast in our suite. Which I wish I had taken a picture of. It arrived on a little trolley that converted into a table and was complete with cute little jars of jam and even peanut butter...
After that we drove to Calgary (well - Kathy drove. this wrong side of the road thing freaked me out). The only thing of note on the way was an annimal overpass. To stop the animals from being run over, they started out by building tunnels under the road. But it turned out that a lot of animals (particularly the big ones like elk and bear) weren't keen on the tunnels. So, instead they have started building these overpasses with vegetation on top so the animals can walk over the road. They have fences along the side of the road as well - to stop them from crossing in other places.
Turns out that Calgary has a really confusing street naming system. On the face of it - it SEEMS logical - the numbered avenues run east west and the numbered streeets run north south. BUT what they have failed to take into account is that there is a big river running through the grid system and also a railway line. So it does some stuff that seems a bit on the silly side to me - like you are driving along 9th street and the bridge crosses the river at an angle so the other side becomes 10th street. And they renumber from some point - so that there are 2 first streets. and then they randomly called one of the streets after someone and skipped a number... In spite of this we managed to find our hotel - which turned out to be really central.
I hopped on the tram - which was right outside the door - and made for the city centre where I managed to find the Devonian gardens - which are interesting because they are nearly all undercover. Calgary gets a bit too chilly for plants in the winter time.
The next day was really just a travelling day - drive to the airport, fly to Toronto, drive to the kathy and Kerry's lakeside cottage just out of Kingston. The highlight was that we got a nice new Air Canada plane which had a great in flight entertainment system. touch screens in the seat backs and the biggest range of movies and TV shows. I watched Kung Fu Panda (which I really enjoyed because I am a big baby) and a couple of Lifestyle TV shows.
Kerry left for the UK the next day and we headed back into town to their real house.
Kathy and I have mainly been just hanging out since then. I have been enjoying having access to a washing machine and sleeping in the same bed for several nights in a row. I have been grocery shopping and oohing and aahing at all the different things you get in the grocery stores here (it is crazy how interesting a grocery store in a different country can be!),
I have been to the giant pet store and been amazed at the range of haloween costumes for dogs (I was SO close to buying Gizmo a pirate outfit) and other amazing pet accessories. And I have been to Costco - where you can buy a big screen TV, a bed, a snowplough for your ATV, a washing machine, potatoes, meat, popcorn, books, toys, dogfood and ice cream all in the one store. It's very distracting.
Kathy's lovely friends, Elaine and Don and Sue and Ian, have also very kindly invited me to their homes. It is great to meet some of Kathy's friends. Both of them have lovely water features in their yards - I really need another pond! And I saw a cardinal and Elaine and Don's and hummingbirds at Sue and Ian's - as well as meeting the lovely dogs.
In a nod to the fact that I am a tourist, I went for a walk around Kingston and for a ferry ride around the 1000 Islands (of dressing fame). Kingston, as well as being the original capital of Canada (they had a lot of trouble deciding on a capital here - and Kingston, Toronto and Quebec all had a turn before they decided on Ottawa), is really close to the US border. The border runs right through the lake/seaway. And they had to divide up the 1000 (actually over 1800) islands so that the land area that went to the US and the land area that went to Canada was equal - they had a rule that the border wasn't allowed to go through the middle of any of the islands and had to be a certain distance from all the islands. Anyway - Canada ended up with more, littler islands and the US with fewer, bigger islands.
That's your educational fact for today.
Sorry there are no pictures - it's not letting me upload any today for some reason. Will try and retrofit them later.
Wednesday 20 August 2008
How did we get this room?
Today we drove from Banff to Lake Louise - not very far really. And Kathy drove - I had this fear that I would turn on the wipers instead of the indicator and swerve the wrong way when changing lanes on the Trans Canada highway.
The weather decided to stop cooperating today and has been grey and rainy.
On the way, we stopped at Johnston's Canyon - there was a nice little walk along a mountain stream with a waterfall at the end. And I love waterfalls.
Then on to Lake Louise. I thought there was a TOWN - boy was I wrong. There is a little shopping mall - looks kind of like a cross between a roadside halt and the shops at Perisher...
The Chateau Lake Louise makes up for all that. First of all it is HUGE. Then - inside it looks like something out of Disneyland - except with better views.
Our room wasn't ready when we arrived - so we went to the lakeview lounge for a glass of wine and a plate of antipasto to pass the time.
There was a lady in formal dress playing a harp as background music.
Now we are in our room (did I say room? I meant suite) and we may never leave!!
I don't know how it has happened - but somehow they put us into this huge suite! Really, the smaller of the two (yes two) bedrooms is bigger than the hotel rooms we are used to. As well as that, we have a huge lounge room - with its own small bathroom. (In case we have guests, dahlings).
Then there is a bedroom with two single beds and its own bathroom.
And the main bedroom with a king sized bed - with a gigantic bathroom with a separate shower big enough for two and a spa bath.
Each bedroom has its own TV - as well as the TV in the lounge - and its own mini fridge.
We are loving it - and aiming to spend as much time as possible in the room!
The weather decided to stop cooperating today and has been grey and rainy.
On the way, we stopped at Johnston's Canyon - there was a nice little walk along a mountain stream with a waterfall at the end. And I love waterfalls.
Then on to Lake Louise. I thought there was a TOWN - boy was I wrong. There is a little shopping mall - looks kind of like a cross between a roadside halt and the shops at Perisher...
The Chateau Lake Louise makes up for all that. First of all it is HUGE. Then - inside it looks like something out of Disneyland - except with better views.
Our room wasn't ready when we arrived - so we went to the lakeview lounge for a glass of wine and a plate of antipasto to pass the time.
There was a lady in formal dress playing a harp as background music.
Now we are in our room (did I say room? I meant suite) and we may never leave!!
I don't know how it has happened - but somehow they put us into this huge suite! Really, the smaller of the two (yes two) bedrooms is bigger than the hotel rooms we are used to. As well as that, we have a huge lounge room - with its own small bathroom. (In case we have guests, dahlings).
Then there is a bedroom with two single beds and its own bathroom.
And the main bedroom with a king sized bed - with a gigantic bathroom with a separate shower big enough for two and a spa bath.
Each bedroom has its own TV - as well as the TV in the lounge - and its own mini fridge.
We are loving it - and aiming to spend as much time as possible in the room!
Tuesday 19 August 2008
Beautiful Banff
We spent today enjoying beautiful Banff.
It seems as though every street you walk along has a gigantic mountain at the end of it.
We picked up our rental car and i did some driving on the wrong side of the road. It is much more difficult than i remember - particularly things like parking areas where i just want to be on the other side. I have trouble sourting out which side the rear view mirror is on and keep looking at the side mirror instead - just because that is the way my eyes are used to going...
I made Kathy go on a gondola road to the top of a mountain with me. She was very brave.
You can find a picture of us in the gondola (for a limited time only) at www.banffphotography.com Look at the pictures for the Banff gondola for 19th august page 3.
the views from the top of the gondola - spectacular - what else would you expect.
We had lunch at Banff's spaghetti factory - even that had an amazing view.
Kathy had a rest and I took a big walk (driving on the wrong side of the road is just too scary). I also met our friends from the train who live in Duffy again - will I keep meeting them in Cooleman Court now as well - or is this just a thing that we have happening when we are both on the other side of the world?
I found some beautiful gardens - that look as though they should have a cascade running through them - well I guess not everyone can have something as good as my front garden. The annualshere look so terrific - I feel that planting them in Canberra is just cruel.
I walked on to the original Banff springs. Considerably further than I thought. 15 minutes the girls in the shop said. More like 1.5 hours... Some miners found the springs orginally by mistake and set out to make some money out of it. They built this big swimming baths that was apparently all the rage in about 1910.
In the end they couldn't decide who had what rights to it, so the government took it over from all of them and put in a National park around it.
Now, you can't even dip a finger in the water - because an endangered snail - about half a centimetre - lives only in the waters ot of Banff mineral springs.
Then brief trip back to our hotel (arriving just before the rain hit in earnest) before an evening wildlife tour (Kathy skipped this one too - she already sees as much Canadian wildlife as she is include to see). The story is that you sometimes see elk in the main street of Banff - but, clearly, they have had no shopping to do this week. I saw some elk on the wildlife tour - but the rest of the animals must have been doing their best to stay out of the rain - after all, why should they come out in the rain so a bunch of people can gawp of them.
I had better go now - as I am just about asleep with my eyes open.
Tomorrow - the next luxury stint at Lake Louise.
I
It seems as though every street you walk along has a gigantic mountain at the end of it.
We picked up our rental car and i did some driving on the wrong side of the road. It is much more difficult than i remember - particularly things like parking areas where i just want to be on the other side. I have trouble sourting out which side the rear view mirror is on and keep looking at the side mirror instead - just because that is the way my eyes are used to going...
I made Kathy go on a gondola road to the top of a mountain with me. She was very brave.
You can find a picture of us in the gondola (for a limited time only) at www.banffphotography.com Look at the pictures for the Banff gondola for 19th august page 3.
the views from the top of the gondola - spectacular - what else would you expect.
We had lunch at Banff's spaghetti factory - even that had an amazing view.
Kathy had a rest and I took a big walk (driving on the wrong side of the road is just too scary). I also met our friends from the train who live in Duffy again - will I keep meeting them in Cooleman Court now as well - or is this just a thing that we have happening when we are both on the other side of the world?
I found some beautiful gardens - that look as though they should have a cascade running through them - well I guess not everyone can have something as good as my front garden. The annualshere look so terrific - I feel that planting them in Canberra is just cruel.
I walked on to the original Banff springs. Considerably further than I thought. 15 minutes the girls in the shop said. More like 1.5 hours... Some miners found the springs orginally by mistake and set out to make some money out of it. They built this big swimming baths that was apparently all the rage in about 1910.
In the end they couldn't decide who had what rights to it, so the government took it over from all of them and put in a National park around it.
Now, you can't even dip a finger in the water - because an endangered snail - about half a centimetre - lives only in the waters ot of Banff mineral springs.
Then brief trip back to our hotel (arriving just before the rain hit in earnest) before an evening wildlife tour (Kathy skipped this one too - she already sees as much Canadian wildlife as she is include to see). The story is that you sometimes see elk in the main street of Banff - but, clearly, they have had no shopping to do this week. I saw some elk on the wildlife tour - but the rest of the animals must have been doing their best to stay out of the rain - after all, why should they come out in the rain so a bunch of people can gawp of them.
I had better go now - as I am just about asleep with my eyes open.
Tomorrow - the next luxury stint at Lake Louise.
I
Monday 18 August 2008
Rocky Mountaineer day two
Another early start today - on the bus at 6:30 to be back at the station and underway by 7. But as we don't even have to take our bags down to the lobby, and we know we will be served a delicious breakfast on the train - it is not as much of a hardship as you might think.
Again - immaculate organisation, beautiful food and perfect service.
The morning started with our friendly bus driver taking us to the station. Then onto the train - with assistance being arranged so Kathy didn't have to climb the steps. Souvenirs we had ordered from the catalogue yesterday were sitting ready for us to find on our seats this morning - like a little present.
We were first sitting for breakfast today (meaning we missed out on the consolation coffee and pastry) - so it was virtually straight down to the dining room. This morning I had the Poached eggs served over Montreal smoked meat (kind of like pastrami) an a fluffy pastry (I would have called it a crumpet) accented with chipotle hollandaise. The egg was perfectly poached and it was all delicious.
The countryside beside the train obligingly provided some variety - going from the arid, 10" (25cm) rain per annum country around Kamloops to lush, tree covered mountains, brilliant blue rivers and enough litte cascades and rocky mountain streams to please even a stream nut like me.
I stupidly let the battery run out on my camera - so i have to wait for Kathy's photos.
The pitiful photos I took really don't do it justice - there are beautiful blue mountains off into the distance that don't appear in my photos. The train and photo buffs spend the day downstairs in the open air area to get the best snaps.
We saw eagles fishing for their breakfast (I was too slow to get a photograph) and osprey.
We went past lakes where you can rent a 4 storey houseboat that sleeps 24 - and has a waterslide from the top down into the water.
After a mid morning drink (just in case we were fading away) lunch. Entree (appetiser in Canadian) was a Spinach salad with candied pecans and pears. For main, I had the Pacific wild coho salmon marinated in honey, soy and ginger with nugget potatoes scented with a wild berry tarragon vinaigrette and Kathy had Alberta beef shortribs slow cooked with red wine and spices with horseradish whipped potatoes. All served with Canadian wine. Dessert was a little brownie and a charlotte with apricot coulis and chopped strawberries. Delicious.
The food on this train is better than anything i have eaten on anything that moved - including revolving restaurants. In fact - better than the food in a LOT of stationary restaurants.
Kathy spotted a bear heading down towards the river.
The train was gradually climbing and the mountains becoming taller and closer. I don't know how we can call those big hills in Australia mountains. These are seriously tall - majestic is the word that comes to mind.
Most of the way is either beside the huge lakes or beautiful glacial streams - which are a spectacular greeny-blue colour due to the "rock flour" or ground up rock that is carried from the glacier. Lots of rapids where people can do white water rafting.
Another thing about travelling on the train - people love to wave at you. We would go through little villages of holiday cottages where the whole family would be standing on the deck waving as we went past - almost like being royalty.
In the afternoon, one of our fellow travellers, an Italian Australian, treated us to some opera - Nessum Dorma (I have probably got that wrong). It was amazing - he just stood up and sang into the microphone with no accompaniement. And it sounded pretty good to me at least - none of that straining for the high notes that you sometimes hear from an amateur singer.
Another thing I forgot to mention about our fellow guests - yesterday we were sitting across from a couple at our lunch table. We asked the standard questions about where they were from - and where were they from? Duffy. I tell you - Canberra - there is just no escaping it!
The last wildlife sighting of the day was some mountain goats sitting under a road bridge to keep cool - did I mention that it was 32 degrees Celsius in Banff today? Not what i was expecting from a cool alpine holiday.
Other highlights were stony creek bridge - over a huge drop on one side and past a waterfall on the other side (how on earth did they build it?) and the spiral tunnels. these were built in the early 20th century. The grad was too steep - so they built loop shaped tunnels into two adjacet mountains - with the exit of each 52 ft above the entrance to make it a smaller slope for the engines. Pretty amazing!
Finally our train journey had to come to an end. It is going to be pretty tough having to drive ourselves places. And I guess there will be no more 3 course meal with wine at lunch...
Tonight we are staying at the Fox hotel in Banff. I was worried, because it wasn't one that the Rocky Mountaineer people seemed to approve of - they don't send your bags there (you have to transport them yourself from the station) or provide a bus service to it. But it turns out to be a lovely new hotel with a pretty decor. The only disadvantage? Being a winter resort, it has no cooling. we are having to make do with a fan and an open window tonight - and it is pretty warm in here!
Again - immaculate organisation, beautiful food and perfect service.
The morning started with our friendly bus driver taking us to the station. Then onto the train - with assistance being arranged so Kathy didn't have to climb the steps. Souvenirs we had ordered from the catalogue yesterday were sitting ready for us to find on our seats this morning - like a little present.
We were first sitting for breakfast today (meaning we missed out on the consolation coffee and pastry) - so it was virtually straight down to the dining room. This morning I had the Poached eggs served over Montreal smoked meat (kind of like pastrami) an a fluffy pastry (I would have called it a crumpet) accented with chipotle hollandaise. The egg was perfectly poached and it was all delicious.
The countryside beside the train obligingly provided some variety - going from the arid, 10" (25cm) rain per annum country around Kamloops to lush, tree covered mountains, brilliant blue rivers and enough litte cascades and rocky mountain streams to please even a stream nut like me.
I stupidly let the battery run out on my camera - so i have to wait for Kathy's photos.
The pitiful photos I took really don't do it justice - there are beautiful blue mountains off into the distance that don't appear in my photos. The train and photo buffs spend the day downstairs in the open air area to get the best snaps.
We saw eagles fishing for their breakfast (I was too slow to get a photograph) and osprey.
We went past lakes where you can rent a 4 storey houseboat that sleeps 24 - and has a waterslide from the top down into the water.
After a mid morning drink (just in case we were fading away) lunch. Entree (appetiser in Canadian) was a Spinach salad with candied pecans and pears. For main, I had the Pacific wild coho salmon marinated in honey, soy and ginger with nugget potatoes scented with a wild berry tarragon vinaigrette and Kathy had Alberta beef shortribs slow cooked with red wine and spices with horseradish whipped potatoes. All served with Canadian wine. Dessert was a little brownie and a charlotte with apricot coulis and chopped strawberries. Delicious.
The food on this train is better than anything i have eaten on anything that moved - including revolving restaurants. In fact - better than the food in a LOT of stationary restaurants.
Kathy spotted a bear heading down towards the river.
The train was gradually climbing and the mountains becoming taller and closer. I don't know how we can call those big hills in Australia mountains. These are seriously tall - majestic is the word that comes to mind.
Most of the way is either beside the huge lakes or beautiful glacial streams - which are a spectacular greeny-blue colour due to the "rock flour" or ground up rock that is carried from the glacier. Lots of rapids where people can do white water rafting.
Another thing about travelling on the train - people love to wave at you. We would go through little villages of holiday cottages where the whole family would be standing on the deck waving as we went past - almost like being royalty.
In the afternoon, one of our fellow travellers, an Italian Australian, treated us to some opera - Nessum Dorma (I have probably got that wrong). It was amazing - he just stood up and sang into the microphone with no accompaniement. And it sounded pretty good to me at least - none of that straining for the high notes that you sometimes hear from an amateur singer.
Another thing I forgot to mention about our fellow guests - yesterday we were sitting across from a couple at our lunch table. We asked the standard questions about where they were from - and where were they from? Duffy. I tell you - Canberra - there is just no escaping it!
The last wildlife sighting of the day was some mountain goats sitting under a road bridge to keep cool - did I mention that it was 32 degrees Celsius in Banff today? Not what i was expecting from a cool alpine holiday.
Other highlights were stony creek bridge - over a huge drop on one side and past a waterfall on the other side (how on earth did they build it?) and the spiral tunnels. these were built in the early 20th century. The grad was too steep - so they built loop shaped tunnels into two adjacet mountains - with the exit of each 52 ft above the entrance to make it a smaller slope for the engines. Pretty amazing!
Finally our train journey had to come to an end. It is going to be pretty tough having to drive ourselves places. And I guess there will be no more 3 course meal with wine at lunch...
Tonight we are staying at the Fox hotel in Banff. I was worried, because it wasn't one that the Rocky Mountaineer people seemed to approve of - they don't send your bags there (you have to transport them yourself from the station) or provide a bus service to it. But it turns out to be a lovely new hotel with a pretty decor. The only disadvantage? Being a winter resort, it has no cooling. we are having to make do with a fan and an open window tonight - and it is pretty warm in here!
Sunday 17 August 2008
Rocky Mountain railroad
Tonight I am writing from Kamloops (where?)
I flew into Vancouver yesterday - a very long day. 3 planes - 4 times through airport security - Immigration exiting Sydney, entering the US and entering Canada -a 13 hour flight sitting in the centre seat of the central seating block of a 747...
So, after vowing never to leave Australia again, one day into the Rocky Mountaineer and I am already planning my next trip.
We knew we were in the right place when, after a very early start (the train leaves at 7:30), the first thing that happened was that we were given champagne and orange juice to toast the journey...
The carriage is really comfortable, the staff terrific and knowledgable and the food is magnificent. You sit upstairs in a double decker carriage with a glass roof - which means you get a great view of the mountains. Meals are downstairs in a lovely restaurant. All the meals are superb - it is such a treat. A delicious omelette with fresh asparagus, mushrooms and potatoes for me for breakfast, Kathy chose the poached eggs with smoked salmon. Then a glass of wine before lunch and a scrumptious 3 course lunch.
The scenery just rolls past the windows.
Today has been a real contrast, from lush green around Vancouver to semi arid close to Kamloops. Not at all what I was expecting -it was almost as though we were travelling through a desert.
and just about the whole way, we are right beside the beautiful river. It really is the only way to travel.
And then, tonight, we are transported to the hotel - our bags are already in the room. And they pick them up from the room tomorrow - I don't even have to drag it down to the lobby!
The only way to travel...
I flew into Vancouver yesterday - a very long day. 3 planes - 4 times through airport security - Immigration exiting Sydney, entering the US and entering Canada -a 13 hour flight sitting in the centre seat of the central seating block of a 747...
So, after vowing never to leave Australia again, one day into the Rocky Mountaineer and I am already planning my next trip.
We knew we were in the right place when, after a very early start (the train leaves at 7:30), the first thing that happened was that we were given champagne and orange juice to toast the journey...
The carriage is really comfortable, the staff terrific and knowledgable and the food is magnificent. You sit upstairs in a double decker carriage with a glass roof - which means you get a great view of the mountains. Meals are downstairs in a lovely restaurant. All the meals are superb - it is such a treat. A delicious omelette with fresh asparagus, mushrooms and potatoes for me for breakfast, Kathy chose the poached eggs with smoked salmon. Then a glass of wine before lunch and a scrumptious 3 course lunch.
The scenery just rolls past the windows.
Today has been a real contrast, from lush green around Vancouver to semi arid close to Kamloops. Not at all what I was expecting -it was almost as though we were travelling through a desert.
and just about the whole way, we are right beside the beautiful river. It really is the only way to travel.
And then, tonight, we are transported to the hotel - our bags are already in the room. And they pick them up from the room tomorrow - I don't even have to drag it down to the lobby!
The only way to travel...
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