Days 95 - 99 - Niagara Falls, Buffalo, New York & Home

Day 95 – Niagara Falls to New York
Up at a reasonable time, packed our bags, headed across the road to Dad’s Diner for a bargain breakfast and then cycled down the hill again to see the falls in daylight. Still there!
We cycled around for a while, stopping to take lots of photos. Once we felt we’d seen enough we headed back towards the hostel, checked out, did a bit of blogging and e-mailing and then headed over to trusty Dad’s Diner for lunch before once again experiencing the joys of Greyhound bus travel to Buffalo.

The bus was about 30 mins late but we had plenty of time. Crossed the border back in to the US, (there was a film crew at the border filming people going through immigration – who knows, perhaps we’ll be on TV) and then got the shuttle bus pretty much straight away to the airport.

Checked in, bit of food and whiled away the time watching/scrutinising some guy painting yellow lanes on the ground of the airplane parking bays outside. (Amazing what passes for fun when you’re bored!)

75 minute flight to New York, arrived at around 9, with a good view of Manhattan by night as we flew in. Eventually got our bags and got the Airtrain and subway to the city where we walked the 7 or 8 blocks to the hostel. Great location in the heart of the city with a good gym and a pool but tiny rooms and we had bunk-beds – how romantic!

Crashed out after a long days travelling.

D x

Day 96 – New York
Lazy start, I went to get us some tea from a Starbucks around the corner while M snoozed. I then proceeded to drop one of them all over the floor to the hotel lobby – luckily it was M’s so I was OK ;-)

Changed and breakfast at a café around the corner and then plans to wander up 5th Avenue to Central Park were altered by some guy called Pope Benedict!

He too was in town and they’d fenced off 5th Avenue for a procession so we detoured around it up into the park where we lazed around and people watched for a bit – beautiful sunshine and shorts weather – gorgeous!

Then back to the city, had a light lunch in a small café near the park and watched the Pope on TV – far easier than fighting the crowds. He was in a custom made Mercedes with a bullet proof glass box on the back which he sat in and waved – it was even called the Popemobile…. Brilliant!

Then finally got to wander through the crowds along 5th Avenue, passing the biggest 'cop' convention before stopping in at various shops, with hopes of buying M some new work wear – we both ended up buying underpants/knickers….. rock and roll!

Walked along Broadway, past Times Square all the way to Macy’s (largest department store in the world) by which time we’d both had enough so we bee-lined it back to the hotel, pleased to be out of the crowds.
Bit of down time and then it was off out for dinner. Luckily we were in a pretty good area for restaurants too and we stumbled across a nearby Indian restaurant.

Decided to give it a go as it was full of Indians and we weren’t disappointed although it wasn’t spicy enough for M!

Fairly early to bed after a long day of pounding the pavement.

D x

Day 97 – New York
Both up early and down to the pool for 30 lengths. Feeling refreshed and ready for more, we headed out, breakfast at our local café and then the subway north to the Guggenheim Museum. I was very disappointed as the building (which is very cool – a big white spiral basically) was covered in scaffolding for renovation work so you couldn’t see it plus there was some bizarre exhibition in the main gallery which consisted of cars being suspended from the ceiling with lots of flashing lights coming out of them so we simply grabbed a seat, did a bit more people watching (I think New York is the best for this – lots of strange folk) and then left and got the subway back towards Midtown.

Went to Bloomingdales, I bought a belt, and then on to some more shops where at last we had success and M got a few things for work too!

Yummy salad lunch at a nearby café and then we wandered back towards the hotel.

Sorted out and packed our bags ready for tomorrow’s final flight and then headed out for dinner.
Went to a great Japanese restaurant that we’d seen the night before and had probably the best meal of the trip so a fitting end to our world tour of restaurants!

Both tired we called it a night and retired to our luxurious bunk-beds!

Zzzzzzzzzzzzz

D x

Day 98 – New York to Somewhere over the Atlantic
Plans for an early morning swim (6 a.m) were pushed back to 9 as soon as we heard the alarm…. What were we thinking?
20 lengths today and then we checked out, stored our luggage and then had a quick breakfast before walking to the UN Building which was just a couple of blocks away. Went in, through all the security gates only to find that the next available tour wasn’t until 2 (too late for us) so we wandered around the lobby, looked at the exhibitions and then, yet again, did some more people watching, in particular the long line of indigenous people seeking registration. All sorts of people ranging from indigenous American Indians to what looked like Masai warriors – all very interesting.
Final stop off at a Starbucks (we had to really) and then got the subway and Airtrain back to the airport for our flight home - hooray!

Grumpiest woman of all time checked us in and then we had a pub lunch and took advantage of the Duty Free and M had a back and shoulder massage.

Once on board, we settled in for what would be a very, very long night….!

D x

Day 99 – London & Home!
And it was. A very long night. We flew through the night so I was keen to get as much sleep as possible so I was back on UK time. Whilst the flight left the terminal on time, we then sat on the runway behind 22 other planes for about 45 minutes.
Finally we were up in the air and we both sat back to watch a film.

Expecting dinner to be served almost as soon as the seatbelt sign went off, we were disappointed to find that it was almost 3 hours later before we were tucking in to our sweet and sour chicken.
We were the lucky ones though - the couple sat behind us had ordered a kosher meal but their request had not got through to the kitchen. They didn't get any food and to add insult to injury, the air steward bought them a bottle of champagne as compensation - being muslims they don't drink so they weren't best pleased!

I tried to shut my eyes to sleep but it wasn't happening. Our trays were finally cleared away, then tea & coffee was served. The lights were switched off so I thought I could get some sleep at last. But I was wrong! The duty free trolley was then wheeled out so the noise of everyone ordering their goodies kept me awake until the lights were turned back on.

I gave up. I did drift off for about 20 minutes just before we landed but I did not get the 7 hours undisturbed sleep I was hoping for. But we were home and as the plane touched down on the tarmac, we were both looking forward to seeing everyone and getting back to a 'normal' life.

We had arranged with Ben to pick us up from the airport and take us back to JC's so as we came through the final gate, we soon spotted him in the crowd. Then we noticed JC was there too! A lovely surprise.
As we were almost with them, a little head popped out from behind a group of people and I realised that it was Em! I was so excited and ran over to give her a big hug. Lots of hugs and smiles and a few tears and we were soon in the car to be taken back to JC's for cups of English tea and bacon butties. Bliss!

M x

Day 112 - Looking Back
We've been home for nearly 2 weeks now and tomorrow it's back to work!
We've sorted through all our photographs - over 1500 to start with but we've got it down to about 500 to show people!
We've decided that Uluru was the most 'incredible' place that we went to and we've recounted many tales of our adventures.

It was strange in the first few days being home. Whilst we were away I often thought about friends and family and it seemed strange not being with them for so long. Once we were back, it was as if we'd never been away. It felt the same as if we'd been gone for a week!

Now the travel seems a long time ago but we are still re-living moments of it every day as we recall funny incidents or amazing sights that we've seen.
We are both really pleased that we decided to do this trip. We have had the most amazing 99 days of our lives and have enjoyed every minute of it - well the majority anyway!
The memories will stay with us for ever and we will soon have our photographs printed off to look back on.

Tomorrow it's back to reality with work starting again. We are both looking forward to what the rest of the year has in store for us.

Watch this space...

M & D xx

Days 91 to 94 - Jasper, A Train, Toronto & Niagara Falls

Day 91 – Jasper to Edmonton
Up early and on the road back up North to Jasper. Heavy snow on the roads made driving quite tricky but Dave did a grand job of keeping all 4 wheels on the road!
We made it to Jasper with plenty of time to spare so headed to the internet café where we wrote the last blog.

Checked our bags on to the train then waited for a short while before we were shown to our seats. 2 each this time. Great!

There’s not much to say about the next 55 hours! We sat on a train, we had occasional stops where people got on and off, we looked out desparately for moose, bear or anything slightly exciting. We saw a muskrat, lots of deer and a few elk. Oh, and a bald eagle!

The scenery was stunning but whizzing along at high speed, we weren’t able to get any photos unfortunately.

We decided to treat ourselves to dinner as I for one couldn’t face another delicious pot noodle for dinner.
Due to the smallness of the dining car, we were joined by an elderly gentleman and a lady for dinner. The lady introduced herself as Karen, the gentleman as Happyness! At first we thought he was joking but he’s actually changed his name officially to Happy Ness Charron.
A very interesting character who spends his time writing inspirational books about his life, travelling round the country to book signings and speaking at prisons and to young people. He has a website which we’re sure to check out at some point! He’s had a tough life but come through it all and is now a very, very happy if slightly deaf and eccentric old man. He’s 73!

Back to our seats we tried to find the most comfortable positions for sleeping but however you tried it, there wasn’t enough room for legs, arms and being comfortable whilst horizontal. The only way for it was to sit up a bit. Not the most comfortable but not too bad.
M x

Day 92 – Edmonton to Winnipeg to Sioux Lookout
Not much different today. Another day of being on a train, reading, eating, stopping at a few stations and watching the world go by.
We decided to buy a pizza at one stop to have for dinner. We bumped into Happyness who urged us to join him for dinner again that evening. We explained that we had already bought the pizza as we were trying to save money.

Back on the train, we were both having a little snooze when who should appear but Happyness! He had reserved us seats for dinner with him and wouldn’t take no for an answer. What a lovely chap! Pizza would have to wait for lunch tomorrow!

Dinner was delicious, again, and we learnt more about Happyness’s life. He still didn’t learn much about us due to not really being able to hear us. He still thinks I’m called Mindy!

M x

Day 93 – Sioux Lookout to Toronto
Another almost full day on the train. We did get to get off the train at Capreol for about 30 minutes which was good – although I did feel like I had motion sickness! And we got to have pizza for lunch. Yum!

We finally arrived in Toronto, on time and collected our bags. The weather was good and really mild. We got a taxi up to our hotel (in the midst of renovation), checked in, showered (for the first time in 3 days, bliss!) then walked into the city to find dinner.
The place recommended in Lonely Planet looked awful so we made our own way to a Thai restaurant where we had a delicious meal. The waitress was Thai and we had a quick reminisce about our time there a few months ago – seems ages ago now!

M x

Day 94 – Toronto to Niagara Falls
Lazy start, taxi to station to drop bags off then walked down to the Harbour Front area. Cup of tea then we got a ferry over to Ward’s Island.

The sun was shining as we started our walk along the boardwalk alongside Lake Ontario. We saw a sign for a snake crossing and sure enough, there were snakes crossing. Lots of grass snakes.
We quickly moved on and enjoyed the warmth of the sun and the sound of seagulls – millions of them! Lunch at Rectory Café was a rip off but the only place to eat on the island – funny that!

We stopped on the other side of the island to take some great photos of the CN Tower (it is e-nor-mous!) before realising that we were going to have to wait for 3 hours to get the ferry back and there was absolutely nothing to do!

Fortunately there were 4 others in the same boat (ha ha!) so we got a river taxi back to the mainland.
Fruitless walk to try and find an internet café before we were yet again climbing aboard a train! This time fortunately only for a few hours to Niagara Falls.

We both snoozed which meant we were in Niagara before we could really get fed up of the train.
It was dead. There appeared to be no-one in Niagara at all. We bought greyhound tickets for our bus to Buffalo tomorrow then checked into the hostel.

Realising that the falls were illuminated until 10:00pm we hired bikes and cycled down to the edge of Bridal Falls and Horseshoe Falls. It was freezing! It was a fairly mild night but the spray off the water falls was so cold.
We could hear the roar of the water from a good mile away and the power of the falls was incredible. I admit they’re not as tall as we thought they would be, but very impressive none the less. With it being dark, it wasn’t possible to see them in all their glory but we got some good photos before cycling back to the town.

The restaurant that had been recommended in Lonely Planet had stopped serving food but the owner recommended another place just down the road – Nautica. Dave went in to confirm that they were serving food and came out to tell me that they weren’t but the owner had offered to make us Serbian sausages and salad. I was a bit dubious but hungry so we went in!

I admit, it was delicious. The sausages were 60% beef, 10% lamb and 30% veal. Yum! Even the salad was delicious and he served it with home made serbian bread. What a star!

Final cycle home then to a very welcome bed.

M x

Days 84 to 90 - Vancouver, Jasper, Calgary & Banff

Mum & Dad – when do you go to Cyprus?!

Day 84 – Vancouver
Up early for a run – Dave had to head back as his calf was hurting but I managed to make it round in the rain!
Back to the hostel for another yummy breakfast then out to Granville Street where we caught the sky train to the main station. Called in to collect our train tickets and canrail passes – very exciting! Then a bus up to UBC (University of British Columbia – or University of a Billion Chinese as Dave and his friends amusingly christened it!)
The plan was to go to the Museum of Anthropology but unfortunately as today was Monday, it was closed! Dave never did manage to get to go to it…
We grabbed some lunch and then headed to the library – hoping it would be warm and dry and have internet access. It was all of the above and I updated the Blog.

Bus back to downtown for the evening. I was beginning to feel pretty rough with a sore throat and beginning to ache all over. 84 days of feeling great, it was about time to get ill.
Dave very kindly walked down to get us a takeaway Chinese. It was too much effort to go out into the rain again!

We agreed that Vancouver hasn’t been seen at its best. We’ve not been able to do everything we’ve wanted to do just because the rain has left visibility so poor – I’ve not even seen some of the mountains. But it seems a very nice city and one which we should come back to one day…when it’s not raining!

M x

Day 85 – Vancouver to Jasper (ish)
No run today as my cold / cough had definitely set in. We packed up all our belongings and left them at the front desk. With 4 hours to kill before our train and the rain predictably falling, we made our way to an internet café. Dave had a sudden brainwave that the Liverpool Arsenal Champions League game was on so we did a quick search on the internet and found a pub down the road showing the game. Result!

We entered the pub (an Irish one!) to find a number of Liverpool fans sat at the bar with their red shirts on. We found a table in the corner, a pint of Guinness and sat back to enjoy the game.
Final result of 4-2 on the night and a great way to spend the morning – the first live football we’ve seen in the last 85 days (excluding the game in San Fran of course!)

Stopping off at the hostel to collect our bags and at the pharmacy to get medicine for me, we then caught the bus to the station to get our train.
We met a lovely man in the queue who seemed to be a seasoned traveller and could tell us the cost of water at each stop on the way, and burgers. Interesting!
As we were leaving the train at Jasper rather than continuing all the way across Canada, we were escorted into the first carriage and to our seats.



The seats were great with loads of leg room, a footrest and the ability to recline quite a way. Much more comfortable than the Greyhound bus!
Marlene and Sonny were our crew and they came round to bring us pillows, blankets, eye masks and a very small towel. Even Flopsy got an eye mask!
The train left bang on time and we were soon heading very slowly towards the Rockies, along the Fraser river.
Dinner consisted of a pot noodle and a sandwich. A film was being shown but as it was Star Trek we decided to read instead. Bingo was called off due to lack of numbers. We should have gone. We’d have won!

M x

Day 86 – Jasper
We awoke to beautiful mountain views. We’d both slept fairly well but I was aching as I opened my eyes. We had a couple of cups of tea, some granola and yoghurt for breakfast and both felt a lot better.
Unfortunately we missed seeing two moose swimming in the river but we’ll keep an eye out on the next stage of the journey.

Dave realized that we were running 2 hours late – it turns out it was due to unexpected freight trains during the night.
Crossing the trans Continental Divide into Alberta, we soon entered a very snowy Jasper along the Yellow Head Pass, passing Moose Lake which is the source of the Fraser River.

I was feeling quite poorly and dizzy so Dave went to collect the hire car, leaving me with the bags at the station.

Lunch at a local pub then we set off along Route 93, The Icefield Parkway to Saskatchewan Crossing.

A brief stop at the Athabasca Falls was absolutely beautiful with snow, ice and crystal clear waters. The paths were very icy and slippy!
We also stopped into the Icefields Centre to find out about a glacier tour for tomorrow.

We checked into our Motel at Saskatchewan Crossing and walked the 5 yards to the restaurant where we were handed a beef patty and told to cook it ourselves on a BBQ! Dave had Buffalo which he said was delicious – I didn’t like the strong taste!

The scenery has really been amazing today. The mountains of the Rockies are covered in snow and the sky has been blue. We’re both really pleased we’ve come to Canada – and the rain’s stopped at last!!
M x

Day 87 – Jasper
Dave was up early to get us cups of tea from the restaurant whilst I snoozed. Quick showers and breakfast then back up the road to the Icefields Centre for the 11:30 glacier tour.
We joined 7 others on the bus up to the edge of the glacier then transferred on to the snowcoach to take us on to the glacier itself.
20 minutes walking around was absolutely beautiful. The ice was up to 1000ft thick and as blue as the sky. Amazing. The air was very cold and very thin and we were glad to be back on the bus to take us back to the centre.
A quick lunch then we headed back towards the motel to try and find a walk that was still open with all the snow. After a little snooze in the car, we found a walk at Bow Summit (the highest road point in the Rockies) that overlooked Peyto Lake.
The walk was beautiful – very snowy but with the sun shining. We saw only one other small group of people as we made our way up the hill to the viewing point then back down to the car park. The view of the lake was great – although it was all snowy, not beautiful and blue as we’d seen in photographs!
Back in the car we continued our drive to Lake Louise. The snow had started to fall as we made our way to the lake’s edge. People were skating and playing hockey and we were able to walk right onto the lake. Very weird! The visibility wasn’t great so we weren’t able to see the mountains at the end of the lake but it was good to see some snow fall.
We stopped off at a hostel in Lake Louise to go to Bill Peyto’s Café for dinner – I couldn’t face another burger! – then back to the hostel. Beautiful views of Crowfoot glacier on the way back and lots more snow!

M x

Day 88 – Jasper to Calgary to Banff
Up and out early to make our way to Calgary airport to pick up Dave’s friend Starky. Pick up at 12:30 then back to Banff via Subway for lunch. We checked in to the hostel (a private log cabin – lovely) then drove the short distance into the town.

Banff is pretty small so the walk around the town took about 10 minutes before the inevitable happened and we found ourselves in an Irish pub!

Dave took the car back to the hostel whilst Starky and I made sure we kept the table!

8 hours later, we made our way home. A really fun evening with lots of laughter and a little too much drinking!
M x

Day 89 – Banff
A very lazy start. I didn’t really want any breakfast so I let Dave and Starky walk into town whilst I snoozed a bit more.
The plan had been to ski but none of us were really feeling up to it so we agreed to get the gondola to the top of Sulphur Mountain for great views over the whole of Banff.

The weather was absolutely glorious, the sun shining, the sky blue and it was really warm.
We had a quick drink, threw a few snowballs then made our way back down to the car.
Deciding that we were all feeling a lot better, we walked down to the town to Wild Bill’s for dinner. We all ordered steaks with a couple of beers to wash it down.
On to play pool for an hour or so before we agreed that we were all too tired to carry on so made our way back up to the hostel for a bit of TV before bed.

M x

Day 90 – Banff to Calgary to Jasper
Up earlyish, Dave and Starky watched the Man U Arsenal game whilst I had a quick go on emails.
All packed up and ready to go, we set off on the journey to take Starky back to the airport.

We left him at departures then made our way to get a cup of tea. I’m pretty sure Starky doesn’t read the Blog (he told us as much) but thanks for coming up to see us both. We had a really great weekend.

Back in the car, we queued up to leave the car park through the ticket barriers. That’s when we met Bob Wilfur. Bob is the CEO and President of First Capital Management. He reversed straight into our car as he was getting impatient with having to wait in the queue. He told us he hadn’t seen us!
Fortunately the damage was very slight – a small hole in the bumper – and no-one was hurt. Just jolly annoying!
We got all his details, called the hire company to check what we had to do then spent the next few hours taking the car back to the hire place in the airport and getting a replacement car. Luckily Bob was really good about it all, accepting that it was totally his fault so all is covered by his insurance.

Back in the car we drove back up towards Jasper, stopping off for lunch on the way and at Lake Louise to get supplies.

Checked back in at The Crossing at Saskatchewan Crossing where we re-packed in preparation for the journey tomorrow…

M x

Days 77 to 83 - San Francisco to Vancouver

Today we are at UBC (the University where Dave spent a 6 month secondment). We’re able to use the library so I’m updating the blog. Unfortunately we don’t have the camera card with us so no photos at the moment – it’s raining and grey so we’ve not actually taken many photos anyway!

Thanks for the comments Em & M – Smashball is played with two wooden bats (a bit bigger than table tennis bats) with a ball like a squash ball. I’m not sure if there are actual rules but we were basically trying to knock it backwards and forwards to each other as many times as possible. Good hey?!

So, here’s what we’ve been up to…

Day 77 – San Francisco
Ben & Madeline set off to Starbucks first thing to do some work. Dave and I walked to some sports shops and office shops to try and get a fleece for Dave and some filofax stationery for me. Dave decided against a fleece even though we did find some lovely ones that were really reasonably priced.
Filofax isn’t a brand that the US recognise – we certainly couldn’t find anything suitable so I’ll just have to wait until we’re home.

The sun was shining and it was seriously warm. We bought a Starbucks and sat on a bench enjoying the weather.
Finally deciding that we were hungry, we strolled through the city to Market & 3rd to meet Ben and Madeline for lunch.
Soup, sandwich and ice-cream later we left Ben to head back to Starbucks, Madeline to go home to do some work and for us to go and do some shopping. Plan was to buy a dress suitable for Ben & Madeline’s wedding that I could leave with them to save me having to carry one over in July. As seemed to be the theme for the day, I didn’t buy anything. So, we went back to Starbucks to collect Ben then walked back to the flat.

Ben & Madeline rustled up some dinner whilst we sat in front of The Bachelor to see who he would be sending home tonight. If I lived here I’d spend my whole time watching programmes like it!

M x

Day 78 – San Francisco
Today was our 2 year anniversary!

Ben was up early to go to Yoga before work. I think Madeline and I telling him the night before that he probably wouldn’t make it pushed him to go! It turns out he was the only one there for the start and only one other person turned up! It was at 6:30am…

Madeline had work so we saw her briefly before we left for the day. We got a MUNI down to Embarcadero then we did only our second run of the trip. Our plan had been to run regularly. I’m not sure what happened to that!
We made our way back to the flat via the Urban Market to buy yoghurt for breakfast then spent the rest of the morning writing emails, sorting out our Canada trip, showering and having breakfast.

We decided to go out for lunch to celebrate our anniversary so wandered back into the city and found a nice Japanese restaurant. The food was good but the tempura not the best.
Having had our fill, we walked down to the cinema where we watched ‘21’, the film about the students from MIT who take Vegas by storm by counting cards. Really good film (not sure if it’s out at home yet). Also saw a trailer for the ‘Sex And The City’ movie – very excited to see it!

Back to the flat via Urban Market to buy some pink champagne – decided it was time to celebrate Ben & Madeline’s engagement and our 2 year anniversary. Also found out when we got home that a research paper that Ben had written has been chosen to be included in a conference in Vienna so lots to celebrate.
We had planned to cook for B&M but decided on a take away instead – lovely Chinese.

A bit of TV whilst D finished off planning our Canada trip then we all headed to bed.

M x

Day 79 – San Francisco and beyond
We had a bit of a lie in today as nothing really planned. Madeline had to go to school so we said our goodbyes as we were due to leave at 3:00pm. Dave and I went for our second run – this time at the gym where B&M are members. It’s so much hotter running on a treadmill!

Back at the flat we had breakfast, packed, showered, reviewed our finances and spent a bit of time with Ben. He made us fried egg sandwiches for lunch (yum) before we had to say goodbye and get our taxi to the bus station.

We’ve had a lovely time with Ben & Madeline – thank you both so much for being great hosts and for organising the road trip. It’s been awesome.

We picked up our tickets for the Greyhound bus, checked our luggage then waited for the bus to arrive. Once on the bus, I set to finishing off ‘Atonement’ which I’ve finally managed to get round to reading properly. Not much really happening on the bus. We stopped at Sacramento where we changed buses and bought a sandwich for dinner. I managed to get us the ‘wheelchair’ seats so there was lots of leg room. 8 ½ hours of reading and I finished my book before we decided it was time to sleep.

A kindly gentleman was talking very loudly but finally stopped when told to by the bus driver. I slept. I think Dave did too for a bit.

M x

Day 80 – Canada border & Vancouver
We both woke up many times through the night. It was a bit cold and there were a number of stops where people got on and off. We finally woke properly at 7:00am.

A brief stop in Portland where we had some breakfast then back on to the bus for the journey to Seattle. I listened to the Podcasts that I’d downloaded to my iPod at Ben’s and Dave slept.

Arriving at Seattle, we changed buses and I popped to Starbucks to get us some sandwiches for lunch.
Back on the bus we had a little excitement as we arrived at the Canadian border! We got to get off the bus, have our luggage checked and our passport stamped then we had to get back on the bus again. So exciting!

Another hour or so and we finally arrived in Vancouver. 25 hours of travelling by bus with the strangest people. I was glad to be getting off the bus and into a taxi to take us to the hostel.

Checked in, showered to warm up and then off out for tapas. It was cold but not raining. I knew we should have stayed in sunnier climates!
The tapas was delicious at a place called Bin 941 and the local beer that we sampled was also pretty good.
Both feeling the affects of a poor night’s sleep on the bus, we headed back to the hostel and were both soon sound asleep.

M x

Day 81 – Vancouver
UP at 8:00am for a run along English Bay. It was raining and cold. Back at the hostel we had a yummy breakfast, showered then headed out for the day.

We had a walk up to the Pacific Center shopping mall where we did a bit of shopping then caught the Sky Train to Main Street on a ‘Vibram 5 Fingers’ search – the ‘Vibram 5 Fingers’ are trainers where each of the toes are separated, a bit like a glove.
We discovered that we were on the wrong Main Street but that there was another place close by. Arriving there we found that they had only a limited selection and not really what I was looking for. I bought some standard walking shoes instead that are water proof as my feet were soaked from the little walking we’d done that morning.

Stopped at an Indian restaurant for lunch where they had a special lunchtime deal with very good food.

We finally headed back to the hostel to drop our bags off then caught the ferry across to Granville Island. We booked onto the Granville Island Brewery tour, had a quick walk around the market then back to the brewery to be told all about how to make beer. We also got to sample some of the local brews which were quite good.
Ferry back to the hostel where we both had a little cat nap before we went out for dinner. We had Japanese which wasn’t that great and I wasn’t really hungry.



Back to the hostel we read for a bit before falling asleep.

M x

Day 82 – Vancouver
Another run, breakfast, showers then out into a slightly less rainy but still cold day.
We walked down Howe Street to Canada Place where we wandered around the harbour area – we saw a sea plane coming into land which was pretty cool!
Stopped in for a Starbucks to warm us both up then on into Gas Town which was the centre of Vancouver until it was hit by fires, now a touristy area with a big steam powered clock.

We did a bit of window shopping and had lunch then waited for the steam clock to ‘steam’ at 1:15. I discovered that it was no longer powered by steam and the 1:15 performance wasn’t that great but at least we can say we’ve done it!
We walked out of the city to a bike hire place where we picked up bikes for a ride around the headland and Stanley Park. I was excited to see a black squirrel scampering along a tree’s branch but even more excited when we saw seals swimming around in the bay!
We also saw ‘Harper’s Island’ being filmed but neither of us has heard of it!

After dropping the bikes off, we walked back to the hostel, had a bit of a snooze then went for dinner at a Greek restaurant that had been recommended. There was a massive queue outside but neither this nor the rain deterred us from waiting in line.
The food was really good and reasonably priced. Dave was chatted up by the male waiter from Columbia who ‘Loves the English accent’!

True to recent form, we went back to the hostel, read for a bit and fell asleep.

M x

Day 83 – Vancouver
Walked to ‘Chapters’ first thing to buy some books – a 55 hour train journey coming up and I’ve finished all the books we have with us!
The heavens opened as we were inside so we decided we needed an indoor activity. Just across the road was the Art Gallery so we paid our entrance fee and spent a very pleasant morning walking round looking at the artwork and films that were on display.
Lunch at the gallery then more time spent looking at the photographic collections. We finally left around 4:30pm for the hostel then out for dinner – an Indian meal which was really good.
Back for… you guessed it, reading then bed.

M x