Ottawa and Niagara Falls

Ottawa

We travelled to Ottawa on Thursday through the lovely forest and farmlands so typical of this part of Canada. Ottawa is a lovely city – clean, easy to get around, and very friendly. The Parliament buildings are very impressive and feature many beautiful works of art reflecting Canada’s history. As with the other cities we visited here in eastern Canada Ottawa has many grand old churches and other buildings that one never tires of seeing. Ottawa also has the Canadian Museum of Civilisation, which traces human history from its beginnings.

It was very interesting to watch the operation of the locks that are used to move boats from the Ottawa River up to the Rideau Canal. The eight locks are hand operated using winches – a strange sight in this automated age we live in.

Toronto and Niagara Falls:

On Saturday we travelled to Toronto. On the way we stopped at Gananoque on the St Lawrence River and took a one hour “1000 islands cruise”. That particular section of the river is a popular summer holiday area and has around 1800 small islands many of which have at least one house, most of them obviously expensive. What a beautiful part of the world.

We took a day trip to Niagara Falls on Sunday. What an amazing experience! We were told that the amount of water flowing over the Falls could fill one million bathtubs per second. That is easy to believe when you see them. Our group boarded the Maid of the Mist which sails into the spray beneath the Canadian side of the Falls. When you board they give you a poncho, and boy do you need it! The boat sails into water that is churning like a washing machine, and the spray is drenching. Put that together with the roar of the water and you have one fantastic experience.

That night we had our tour farewell dinner in the revolving restaurant high up in the CN Tower – still the second highest man made structure in the world. The view from the restaurant is fabulous, encompassing the city and suburbs of Toronto and far out into Lake Ontario. It was really hard to say goodbye to everyone as they were a great fun loving group and we have made such good friends. But with any luck we might see some of them again in Australia.

We now have a few days in Toronto before taking the train to Vancouver on Thursday night. So no more blogging for a few days folks. We is buggared and intend to take some much needed R & R.

Quebec

Quebec:

On Tuesday we travelled to Quebec. The countryside is very pretty in summer, with lots of farmland and forest along the way. Quebec city is the only walled city in North America north of Mexico, and unlike Montreal its authorities have made a serious effort over time to preserve historic buildings. Le Chateau Frontenac and the Provincial Parliament building are especially impressive examples of classic French architecture. The old town has a very distinctive French feel about it. It reminds Phil of old Geneva and Ferney Voltaire in southern France. Our guide for the city tour was ideal, as he grew up in an old neighbourhood in the 1950s and 60s and was able to talk about the way in which the ethnic mix of families had changed over time.

That night went drove past the Montmorency Falls on the way to dinner. The falls are 30 metres higher than Niagara Falls so are very spectacular. At night the city lights them up in beautiful rainbow colours – a lovely idea. The dinner was in an old mill house that had been built in the 1700’s and still maintains the original stone walls both inside and out. The meal included the traditional maple sugar pie – it was sooo nice but no doubt contained a million calories – hence the long walk on Wednesday to balance the equation!!

Wednesday was a free day so we took a ferry across the St Laurence River and back, then another walk through the old town and up the funicular to the Chateau Frontenac. Phil saw the changing of the guard at the Citadel, which is an historic fort but still a functioning military base. But much walking up and down hills was involved in all this, so we returned to the hotel pretty well stuffed! Sue is not doing any more walking uphill!!! EVER!!! Ottawa and Toronto had better be very flat, or have lots of very cheap taxis.

Montreal and Quebec

Montreal:

We spent Sunday and Monday in Montreal and began our Globus tour of the historic cities of eastern Canada. Montreal has a nice feel to it. It’s older and more wealthy areas include many beautiful old buildings and cobbled streets. On Monday morning we visited the Notre-Dame Basilica, which is built of stone but is decorated with magnificent wood carvings that you would swear were made of stone.

One of the most memorable things about Montreal is the so called underground city. As Montreal can receive up to 4 metres of snow in winter there are 55 city buildings connected by an underground system of multi-level passages and shopping arcades. The system is linked to Central Station so that Metro commuters lucky enough to work in one of those buildings don’t have to step out in the snow to get to work. Good thinking! It is just like a great big Westfield Centre, but completely underground!!

Another memorable site is the stadium built for the 1976 Olympics.

Fifty-five per cent of people here speak French as their first language, so all signs are in French and only some are also in English. While we had been told to expect this it is strange, and rather exotic, to be in Canada rather than France but have everyone greet you with “bonjour” all the time.

The tour looks like it will be a lot of fun. Lisa, our tour director, is a very bright personality and extremely helpful. There are 42 people on the tour, including 10 Aussies. But as usual we have made friends with Americans first. Funny how that happens. We have teamed up with Chuck and Barb from Las Vegas and Al and Sandy from Michigan. We are all baby boomer world travellers so we have traded a lot of funny stories. We have found it strange having to ask for a fridge in most American/Canadian hotels. Some even try to charge you for them, but “no way Jose” is my mantra. So far it has worked, so we’ll see how it goes on this trip.

Boston quickie

More Boston:

We thought we had finished our Boston blog, but on Friday morning we walked several blocks to a Laundromat to find that it was located directly opposite historic North Boston Church. In April 1735 an American revolutionary placed two lamps in the steeple of this church to inform Paul Revere that the British army would attack the Continental army by water, not land. So while we were waiting for the washing to finish we visited the church and then walked a couple of blocks to Paul Revere’s house. The house is a grey-painted wooden two story house built in 1680 and is the only surviving building of its type in Boston. This was a real bonus as we thought we had run out of time to see these sights. Meant to be I guess. Tomorrow it is off to Montreal. Vive la Canada or something!!!!

Boston quickie

More Boston:

We thought we had finished our Boston blog, but on Friday morning we walked several blocks to a Laundromat to find that it was located directly opposite historic North Boston Church. In April 1735 an American revolutionary placed two lamps in the steeple of this church to inform Paul Revere that the British army would attack the Continental army by water, not land. So while we were waiting for the washing to finish we visited the church and then walked a couple of blocks to Paul Revere’s house. The house is a grey-painted wooden two story house built in 1680 and is the only surviving building of its type in Boston. This was a real bonus as we thought we had run out of time to see these sights. Meant to be I guess. Tomorrow it is off to Montreal. Vive la Canada or something!!!!

Boston

Boston:

The train trip from New York to Boston on Monday was very pleasant. In contrast to the trip from Washington to New York the scenery was much more rural and affluent, especially along the Connecticut and Rhode Island coasts which are dotted with beautiful wetlands and lovely seaside towns with many marinas. We went first class, not knowing what the difference was. Well we quickly learned that we would be waited on hand and foot, including snacks, drinks and a 2 course hot lunch. Talk about living the life of Riley!!!

Tuesday was hot so we contented ourselves with a trip to Harvard University. Harvard was founded in the 17th century and still has many very old and beautiful buildings. We did a walking tour run by students who wore T-shirts saying ‘HAHVAHD’, depicting the local pronunciation. As you might guess the tour was very entertaining. On the way back to the hotel we took a detour to the wharf area at Quincy, South Boston and took a ferry ride across the harbour. That was relaxing but the harbour is not very exciting.

On Wednesday we took a hop-on-hop-off bus tour around Boston and the adjoining city of Cambridge (where Harvard and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology [MIT] are located). Speaking of MIT, the local tour guides reckon that it stands for “Millionaires in Training”. They have a little ditty about MIT that is sung to the tune of the Mickey Mouse Club theme (for those old enough to remember that). It goes “M-I-T, P-H-D, M-O-N-E-Y”.

Most of the newer buildings outside the financial district seem to reflect the brick colonial style of architecture typical of old Boston. The wharf area has a feel something like The Rocks in Sydney, with the Quincy Market and lots of waterfront restaurants. Boston also has many sites relating to the American Revolutionary War, including three historic cemeteries right in the middle of the business district (Paul Revere is buried in one of them) and a monument to the Battle of Bunker Hill.

We especially liked Boston Common. It is a beautiful green space in the middle of town. We took a ride on one of the Swan Boats on the lagoon in the middle of the Common (photo above). The boats have carved swans on their sterns (and there are white swans in the lagoon) and are pedal powered – by strong young students. A very relaxing and delightful experience. Stop Press: special news for Jim and Cheryl: we saw squirrels, and didn’t photograph them! Amazing eh!

Today (Thursday) we caught the hop on bus once again. The drivers are so knowledgeable, and all have different stories to tell. Half way round the loop we hopped off and did the river cruise on the Charles River. We were able to see things from a different perspective eg how huge the campus of Harvard Uni really is. We saw Boston Uni too, and saw where they cram 1400 first year students into the dormitories in 3 huge residential blocks. We also saw some of the student accommodation for MIT, and were surprised to learn that it had formerly been the Hyatt Hotel!! Once we got back on land we had lunch, then continued back to the hotel. We just might do happy hour again tonight – boy is that sangria good!!

New York part 2

More New York:

On Saturday we took a cruise around Manhattan down the Hudson River and round into the East River. The boat took us under three of the biggest bridges that link Manhattan to Long Island, The Brooklyn Bridge, Manhattan Bridge and Williamsburg Bridge. When it opened in 1883 the Brooklyn Bridge was the longest suspension bridge in the world, and it is still a very impressive sight with its huge stone pylons. We also had great views of Hoboken and Jersey City – both in New Jersey across the Hudson – and Brooklyn. Perhaps the most memorable sight was the Freedom Tower under construction on the site of the former twin towers noting the big hole in the skyline where the World Trade Centre used to be.

That night we went to the Ambassador Theatre on West 49the Street to see ‘Chicago’. The production was fabulous, as you might expect. There is so much great theatre here in New York you could spend ages just going to shows and loving every minute of it.

Sunday we went to Yankee Stadium to see the Yankees play Tampa Bay. Being sporty people this was always going to be one of the highlights of our whole holiday, and it didn’t disappoint. We even managed to work out the NY Subway Metro ticketing system – probably the biggest challenge of the day!! The previous day Yankees short stop Derek Jeter had scored his 3000th hit – the first Yankee ever to do so. So the roar from the home crowd when he came out to bat was incredible. Just being there with the crowd and feeling the atmosphere was a terrific experience that we will always remember. It was interesting to note all the hype associated with the game – certainly very different to the Brumbies games!! We sang, clapped and stamped our feet just as well as any American (but the voices when we called out gave us away!!)

We are heading for Boston now, so will give you our impressions later. NY was very fast and “in your face”, and they say NY never sleeps. We will attest to that – sirens going at all hours of the day and night. Perhaps Boston will allow us some “down time”, as NY certainly didn’t. (One sad note for us was the passing away of Scooter our little black ball of fluff. She was 18 years old, and just seemed to die in her sleep. Jen and Pete kindly buried her up in the native garden. They were so thoughtful.)

New York

New York:

After saying goodbye to Jim and Cheryl (which was really hard - we have become such good friends), we had an uneventful train trip. We arrived in New York (photo above taken in Times Square) at Pennsylvania Station on Wednesday, 7 July. The train route was obviously established a long time ago as it took us through mostly urban areas all the way, and through some very ugly slums, especially in Baltimore. This was unexpected, and a bit of a shock. Maybe the recession here has something to do with the depressing scenes we saw, but it did appear that the poor state of these areas was of longstanding.

New York can only be described with words like vibrant, crazy, overwhelming, in-your-face etc. Our hotel is right next to the Theatre District just around the corner from the clock and ball in Times Square. What a location! It is just a short walk to many of the theatres hosting the best Broadway shows.

On Thursday we took a hop-on-hop-off bus tour of lower Manhattan, which covered everything from the poor lower east side to the Financial District. First stop was the Empire State Building (see photot above). The view from the observatory on the 86th floor is spectacular! The weather gods have continued to bless our trip and we saw this gigantic metropolis in bright sunshine. It just seems to go on forever. Our next stop was Ground Zero. The centrepiece of the redevelopment – the Freedom Tower – seems well advanced but it is not due to be completed until 2013. When it is all finished the site will no doubt be very moving, but right now it is all just a noisy building site. But the information centre nearby is well set up to tell the whole terrible story of 9/11. After that we walked to Battery Point. The bus driver told us it was a 10 minute walk, so we decided the walk would do us good. Wrong!!!! It was at least 45 minutes walking at Phil’s pace, and seemed to be bloody miles!!! Once we had got our breath back, it was through the security checks (again – I am over these!!) to catch the ferry to the Statue of Liberty and Ellis Island, which houses the immigration museum. These are very impressive sights and we got some pretty good photos.

That night we went to the Gershwin Theatre to see Wicked. If you have not seen it you must. It was one of the most fabulous shows we have ever seen! So far it has been the highlight of our time in this city, but of course you all know what lovers of live theatre we are. On Saturday we will be seeing Chicago too. When you are in one of the best places in the world for live shows you just have to indulge!

On Friday we took a bus tour around upper Manhattan to see Central Park, many museums and Harlem. We always thought of Manhattan in terms of the Financial District and its many new skyscrapers. But the whole island has revealed a diversity we did not expect. Places like Chinatown, the lower east side and Harlem are very eye opening, with so many old buildings that we no doubt quite tall for their time and in various states of repair. Very many have rickety looking old fire escapes clinging to their walls. By way of contrast the old mansions on 5th Avenue that line East Central Park are beautiful buildings. We were even shown the exact spot where John Lennon had been gunned down, and his wife, Yoko, still lives in their apartment on the top floor of the apartment building. Tonight we are meeting up with Regina and Tom, friends we made on our Globus tour. They live about an hour from NY, and are coming in to catch up over dinner. Should be great fun!! By the way – hope you in Canberra are enjoying your wicked weather – it has been about 30 degrees here for the last week. Oh dear!!!

Washington the next part

Manassas; monuments, Air and Space Museum; 4th of July; Mount Vernon:

On Friday Jim and Phil visited the sites of the First and Second Battles of Manassas (also known as Bull Run). Once again seeing the battlefield terrain told a story that cannot be appreciated just from reading books and looking at maps. There is something eerie about walking through green fields in bright sunlight knowing that they were scenes of carnage 150 years ago. As the National Park Service has placed artillery pieces as near as they can determine to their actual location during the battles it is not hard to ‘see’ men fighting and dying in droves. A fascinating but sobering experience. Sue and Cheryl did the grocery shopping at Cosco. Can’t wait till they come to Canberra – they sell everything from TVs and fridges to jewellery to books and groceries. There were so many free tastings that we really didn’t need lunch!!

After a quiet Saturday of much needed rest we attended church again on Sunday then headed off to the Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum. The collection is amazing! It includes numerous aircraft of all kinds ranging from very early flying machines to modern war and commercial planes and space craft. Especially interesting were the space shuttle Enterprise (truly enormous), a Concorde, and the Enola Gay – the plane that dropped the atomic bomb on Hiroshima. It is still a matter of wonder to Phil that so much metal can be propelled into flight. The past shows how far our technology has come, but also how we have used it for both good and ill. Trust the Smithsonian to do a great job.

Later in the day we visited the Washington Monument with tickets purchased on line some days ago to go to the top at 8.30 pm. On arriving we found that there was no way of accessing the inside of the Monument. A trip to the visitor centre – some distance away – revealed that the Monument had been closed for the next few days for security reasons (Sunday was 3 July). So why did they sell tickets for today, and why was there no sign at the Monument to say it was closed? Trust Security to stuff up! But it’s sort of comforting to know that this sort of thing happens in countries other than Australia. We got some great shots there anyway. On a lighter note we did some really good eating that day. They certainly know how to cook seafood! The Blue Crab Fritters and Crab Cakes are on Phil’s list of must have again foods.

Monday was 4th of July so we started the day with a trip to Leesburg, Virginia to see the parade. This was a much better idea than going into Washington, which we saw the previous night was shaping up to be a nightmare of traffic jams and masses of people milling in hot streets and parks. The parade in Leesburg opened with a fife and drum band that was terrific. (They have toured Europe and played at official ceremonies over there.) What followed was a very fun parade of Americana, including cars (a whole string of Corvettes for example), trucks belonging to volunteer organisations like fire fighters, and lots of politicians and their supporters. Lots of kids participated, and lots of candy was tossed to them, explaining why they we so thick on the ground at the edge of the parade.

We expected to see the usual “ vote x for State Senator” etc, but “vote x for the School Board”? So who doesn’t have to be elected? All the Democrats came first, then others representing community services etc followed, then came the Republicans – presumably beyond pistol range of the Democrats (Heh! Heh!). These people really know how to celebrate. We went to visit Jim’s son and his family. Misty had cooked us a traditional 4th of July spread complete with hamburgers, hot dogs salad and baked beans. We also had home-made blueberry pie with blueberries that had been picked the day before. We were an immediate hit with the 2 children (as much for novelty value!!), Alex who is 8, and Julie (otherwise known as The Princess) who will be 6 in October. Jim Snr had bought a few fireworks, and they had great fun letting them off. From there we went to the Leesburg “oval” where they had a great band playing before the traditional fireworks that went off at 9.30pm. All in all it was a great 4th July, and we became honorary Americans for the day.

On Tuesday we went to Mount Vernon, historic home of George Washington. The mansion and the whole estate are very impressive. Considerable effort has been put into maintaining as much as possible of the original buildings and furnishings, or providing appropriate replicas. The house was luxurious by any standards, but especially those of the 18th century. It was a bit grim to see the slave quarters, but to his credit Washington came to have serious doubts about slavery and in his will instructed his wife to free them all. We learned much about the great man.

Tomorrow (Wed) we leave Jim and Cheryl to travel to New York. It will be sad saying goodbye as we have become very close friends over the last few weeks. They have been truly wonderful hosts, and have kept us going to ensure we leave Washington having made the best use possible of our time there.

Washington

Washington, Antietam, Amish Country and Gettysburg:

On Sunday we attended Jim and Cheryl’s church and had the pleasure of meeting their friends and enjoying the service. They are even more laid back than our friends at Wesley so we fitted right in. The Minister has attempted to avoid us exotic foreigners via the poor excuse of an emergency gall bladder operation, but we will catch him next Sunday. There is no escape!

We then visited the Lincoln Memorial and the World War 2 and Vietnam Memorials. The Americans certainly know how to build memorials. The WW2 memorial is a noble celebration of the sacrifice of Americans during the war. The picture above shows Phil and Jim at the Alabama section of the memorial. By way of contrast the Vietnam Memorial is simply a wall listing the names of all the soldiers who were killed – all 50,000 – and leaves you dumbstruck. Each memorial seems very appropriate to the circumstances of the conflicts.

We ended the day by seeing a comedy at the Kennedy Centre titled “Shear Madness”. It is a murder mystery set in a hair salon and uses improvisation driven by audience participation. The play has been running for over 30 years and it is easy to see why. We’d love to see it come to Canberra. By the way, we saw the best T-shirt: “Never underestimate the power of stupid people in large groups”. A good summary of politics in both countries really …

Monday was set aside for Phil to see the Civil War battlefield at Antietam Creek, Pennsylvania, and for Sue to go to Amish country.

Sue and Cheryl, along with Maria and Susan, spent the day in Amish Country. We visited Lancaster (that has become very commercialised), Intercourse (where I had to have a photo taken) and Strasburg. It was such an eye opener to see the people ploughing fields using horses and donkeys and to pull their equipment through the fields to harvest crops. The girls all wore bonnets and long skirts. The roads have a special lane for their horses and sulkies, and we saw many of those. We enjoyed lunch at a traditional Amish restaurant, where I tried the local sausage, and was given Shoo Fly Pie. I am not sure what the ingredients are, but boy is it delicious!! From there we browsed the local shops, and bought a few local items. We had a great day, and it was wonderful to share the day with such great friends.

Antietam is the site of the bloodiest day’s fighting in American history – 23,000 casualties. Given Phil’s lifelong interest in Civil War history it would have been exciting enough just to be there. But Jim, who is very well read on the history of the War, had arranged for two of his friends to come as well – Art Grant and Jim Peak. Art also came to Gettysburg with us the following day. Jim Peak’s comments on aspects of the Antietam battle were very knowledgeable, and I must mention that he very kindly presented us with a framed collection of Civil War stamps as a gift. We were very touched by this lovely gesture.

What made both days so special was that Art (pictured above with Jim), who took the role of battlefield guide, has lectured at West Point and other institutions on Civil War history and was able to give the most detailed and fascinating accounts of the actions that took place at each point they visited. Jim made lots of very insightful comments that prompted much discussion of key aspects of each battle. It must be said in relation to both Antietam and Gettysburg that seeing the terrain and knowing what we know about events it is very hard to understand some of the decisions that commanders made that led to such slaughter. When he gets home Phil is going to re-read his books on both battles in the light of many new insights.

On Tuesday, Sue, Cheryl and Maria spent a very fruitful day at the Premium Outlet centre. Sue kindly propped up the US economy once again by spending a good part of her $1,000 bingo winnings!! The clothes there were ridiculously cheap (and fitted so well!!) and the kitchen gadgets store was amazing. Everybody bought something, but Sue bought the most!! Did I mention that shoes here are cheap too?? Bought 2 pairs of those too!! Cheryl and Maria were wonderful advisors on the local stores that I had not heard of before, especially Williams-Sonoma.

After two such busy days we had a very quiet day on Wednesday. I had my nails done and also a pedicure. Later in the day we drove to Leesburg and looked at an Art Gallery before doing a bit of shopping and coming home for an early night.