Hotels and Things

30 July – Monday

Some degree of excitement last night with what appeared to be a drugs bust directly opposite the hotel. It ended up with 10 police and 3 police cars in attendance before 2 males and a female were handcuffed, searched and taken away. One of the men was very vocal and agitated, and the girl didn’t appear to want to be searched and wouldn’t spread her legs. The female officer searched her upper body in the street and removed a couple of small packages from her pocket and bra before taking her into Denny’s and then into the police car.

Whilst the hotel is perfectly okay and the street it is on is all hotels, restaurants and shops, there is a nightclub directly opposite which is extremely noisy from midnight to 5.00am as people stand outside smoking, talking, yelling, fighting, etc. The police seem to attend every night and the hotel here say they are sick of complaining, but nothing gets done. There also seem to be quite a few “ladies” working the block as well. However, the area isn’t seedy or feel unsafe.

Today we made use of the free shuttle to Hilo Hatties, not so much to go shopping here but so Leslie could visit the large hardware store opposite! On the return journey the shuttle dropped us off at the Aloha Towers, some lovely views of the harbour from the top of the tower and some really nice shops to look at without hordes of people.

Pearl Harbour

29 July – Sunday

In case anyone may have been worried, a man in the International Marketplace became ill and required medical assistance - not us!

Set out bright and early before it got too hot and to beat the crowds, arrived at the Arizona Memorial before 10.00am only to be told we would have to wait until 12.30pm to get in. As we have visited the Memorial previously, we decided to catch the next bus and continue to the market at Aloha Stadium. This was even hotter, so once we had bought our souvenir t-shirts, we returned to Waikiki.

Dior

28 July – Saturday

Another hot day but a bit windy – certainly made the surfers at the Waikiki Long Board Surfing Championships happy. It was the first time I have actually seen any waves remotely resembling surf at Waikiki. The mornings excitement was provided by a visit to the actual Dior shop for a bottle of perfume, actually a bit cheaper than at Macys! What a wonderful experience to be the only customer in a shop with two people to look after me! My bottle of perfume was placed in a lovely Dior carry bag, of course, with some free samples of perfume as well. When the poor girl realised I was carry a supermarket type plastic bag (complete with $5 souvenir teatowel!), she nearly had a fit and immediately gave me a large Dior carry bag to hide my cheap shopping! It also gave Les a heart attack when I walked into the hotel carrying TWO Dior bags!!!

Emergency medical assistance in the USA is a little different to Australia. In an emergency, the fire engine is dispatched (the great big fire engine, complete with very long ladder and man at the end to control it!) as the paramedics are attached to the fire departments. If the patients needs to be transported to hospital, then an ambulance is called. It does seem a bit strange to us.

This afternoon involved a visit to a Spa for a massage each –how quickly 90 minutes disappeared. This was followed by dinner and watching the sun set – not much cloud about so not as spectacular as some nights.

Shopoholics

27 July – Friday

A BIG shopping day today – Leslie is starting to think like a true shopper; not how much did it cost but how much did he save! We spent 2 ½ hours each way on TheBus to get to the Outlet Shopping Centre, and it was worth the hypothermia (one WILL be airconditioned on the bus!). It is unbelievable that designers like Ralph Lauren, Tommy Hiflinger, Oshkosh, etc can sell their stock so much cheaper than in the stores and soooo much cheaper than in Australia. We arrived back at our hotel with quite a few bags – Les does like shirts! We had dinner on the terrace of a different hotel tonight and I ended up with a gecko on my dinner place after he ran up my arm. The waitress said I was very brave not to scream.

Waikiki

26 July – Thursday

Another hot day in paradise! A quiet day with a walk along Waikiki Beach after breakfast, a short wander through the shops then to the Ala Moana Shopping Centre for a few hours. A big disappointment for Les when he discovered that Old Navy didn’t have any caps and the standard wasn’t as good as he remembered. The remainder of the Centre has gone far more upmarket than it was last time we visited. Dinner tonight was on a terrace on the edge of Waikiki Beach, with the moon shining through the palm trees on to the water.

Farewell LAX

25 July – Wednesday

Farewell to Anaheim – the shuttle was even early! Check-in at LAX took over an hour. After having our bags weighed, and making a compulsory donation to American Airlines (we have learnt by now and only have one case overweight!) we had to take our cases to security screening. Because we had them locked, we were allowed to wait while they were x-rayed. That way, we could unlock them if necessary and not risk having our locks cut off. No problems. We haven’t had any problems with using American Airlines’ Admirals Club Lounges and just go to the departure lounge 30 minutes prior to the flight. Unfortunately, AA were having trouble with mechanical problems on a number of planes and kept delaying our flight by 30 minutes at a time – we eventually took off 2½ late.

I have had one worse flight (as far as fellow passengers are concerned) and that was from Bangkok to Melbourne. Again it was the same Mediterranean people causing the noise and being very annoying. It was a looong 5 hours!

We arrived in Honolulu to a beautiful, balmy evening – a very pleasant 25 degrees, and the taxi driver spoke English!

Universal Studios

24 July – Tuesday

Very hot very early and the day did not get off to a good start – the hotel forget to tell us the pick up for Universal Studios was at a different hotel! After some “discussion,” we were put in a taxi to be taken to the bus depot and the bus waited for us. Not happy, Jan!

Anyway, Universal Studios was great and the infrastructure for keeping people cool was tremendous. Not only were the queue areas under cover, there were also misting systems operating over the areas as well as throughout the whole complex. Large cooling mist fans were also scattered about and the outdoor stadium had sails overhead. The various shows were saw were all fantastic – Shrek, Terminator, Backdraft, Special Effects and the Studio Tour. Backdraft was very realistic in that we were shown some of the fire special effects – complete with very real fire and explosions. On the whole, we felt that the whole complex was really suitable for children under 10 – much to scary and realistic. Unfortunately, we again didn’t meet the height requirements for the Jurassic Park and Revenge of the Mummy rides!!! WaterWorld was an action packed show bases on the movie, lots of water, noise, explosions and stunts.

The Studio Tour around the front and back lots took us through the sound stages and the outdoor lots which have been used for many movies and television shows, including Pirates of the Caribbean, Psycho and Jaws (Jaws still rises in an attempt to eat tourists!). Filming was actually taking place on Wisteria Lane as we went past – Wisteria Lane actually only has ONE house! And no, we didn’t see any of the girls.

The day finished with a tour of Hollywood, a wander along Sunset Boulevard to look at the stars and Grauman’s Theatre, where the hand and footprints are in concrete. Then it was to Rodeo Drive and what a bummer, the shops were shut! The drive back along the freeway came to a halt when all the cars slowed to a crawl to look at a large fire in a warehouse and all the firemen up their long ladders with their hoses. Very dramatic and real, with lots of news helicopters hovering overhead.

Shamu

23 July – Monday

Seaworld at San Diego today – over 10 hours in all. At last we got to see some orcas, even if they were in captivity – also some pilot whales for the first time as well. Seaworld consists of various shows, plus water rides which ensure that all participants get very wet! We watched the orcas, dolphins, sealions and otter, plus a performance titled Cirque de Mer (human acrobats over water). They were all very good, especially the orcas – hard to believe that killer whales could be so gentle and look as though they were thoroughly enjoying themselves.

The weather was extremely hot, which was not helped by the complete lack of shade at Seaworld. Whilst the place has some very good shows, the infrastructure certainly hasn’t kept pace with the amount of people who attend. The individual stadiums would hold between two and four thousand people but there would only be two exits. The whole place was very, very crowded because people were just trying to move from stadium to stadium and there simply wasn’t enough room.

We passed through San Juan Capistrano on the way to San Diego but there were no swallows – they only appear in March and October. We also passed an nuclear power station and I was surprised at how small it was. San Diego is home to both a large naval base and a marine camp and today it was the turn of the US Navy planes to provide the aerial entertainment.

At Rest

22 July – Sunday

A quiet, rest day today as the last two were very long and the next two will be. We visited one of the local shopping plazas – turned out to be a Westfield, complete with toy kangaroos in the children’s play area! This evening we caught up with one of our Insight passengers, Sherry, met her husband and had dinner together. As I haven’t any photos from today, I will include one of Belle. Don’t we all wish…

Lights!

Saturday Continued

The evening was spent back at California Adventure to watch the after dark Electric Light Parade. The was absolutely fantastic – such a large number of floats completely covered in small lights. All the old favourites were there – Mickey and Minnie, Goofy, Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, Cinderella, Peter Pan and Captain Hook, Alice in Wonderland, lots of bugs, a dragon, circus train with Dumbo and, of course, the American Eagle. Following the parade, we just had to stay and watch the fireworks again!

Californian Adventure

21 July – Saturday

Another clear, hot day. Today was spent at the other Disneyland Park – Californian Adventure, which wasn’t nearly as busy. There were some wonder rides/shows, especially Monsters Inc, a 3D film of the Muppets and a very realistic 3D film of A Bug’s Life. Not inspect spraying, stink bug smells, fly spray, spider attacks and creepy crawlies runny over us!

By far the best show of the last two days was the Aladdin spectacular – a full stage production of the film. I have never really thought of the Genie as being gay! Another amazing show was an interactive “film” with the turtle from “Nemo.” Whilst it was obviously a computer generated scene with the turtle, Crush spoke to members of the audience and answered their questions, with appropriate facial expressions – incredible! There were also quite a few rides with height restrictions which we didn’t meet (especially when we knelt down!).

We also met a few Disney characters here as well – Mary Poppins, Cinderella, Woody, Cars and, of course, Mickey. Even though the weather is very hot and sunny, we are amazed at how few people wear hats – especially children and babies! Some of the littlies really seem to be feeling the sun.

The Magic Kingdom

20 July – Friday

Disneyland – all day from 8.30am to 10.00pm. We very quickly made the decision this morning we wouldn’t bother with the breakfast supplied by the motel but would eat elsewhere (the brightly coloured fruit loops helped with this decision!). We couldn’t believe how many people were at Disneyland so early, but at least we didn’t have to queue as long for a little while, however we had to queue for everything, even an icecream. At 7.45pm, the queue to see Nemo was still 1¾ hours long (we didn’t bother!).

Favourite rides early in the day were the Teacups and It’s a Small World, still just as wonderful 20 years later. Photo opportunities with Mickey and Goofy presented themselves before our “thrill” ride of the day on Thunder Mountain. Neither Les nor I really saw very much of the ride!!! As well as a trip on the Mark Twain, we also paddled an Indian canoe around the same river. The Haunted House, Pirates of the Caribbean, Winnie the Pooh, Jungle Ride and Star Tours were all visited before the Grand Parade and a rest sitting in the gutter.

I had some photos taken with some very beautiful princesses before watching the Aladdin show. The evening kicked off with a swing band and dancing (we watched) before some more rides now that the queues weren’t quite as long. Buzz Lightyear was great fun – we had laser guns to shoot at targets during the ride. One guess who achieved the highest score!!! The 3D screening of “Honey, I Shrunk the Audience” was a scream, quite literally. Very realistic, even to mice running over our feet, the floor shaking after we had been “shrunk” and the moisture spray when the dog sneezed.

The day finished with a spectacular fireworks display which lasted for more than 20 minutes. Tinkerbell even “flew” among the fireworks (that’s was the effect was) – a wonderful way to end the day.

LAX

19 July – Thursday

Departed a cold and wet Vancouver early this morning, flying with Alaskan Airlines to Los Angeles. We went through US Customs and Immigration before we left Vancouver, which certainly saved time on arrival. All visitors to the USA are now photographed and fingerprinted each time they enter the country – fortunately we stilled looked the same as we did when we arrived at Boston! Security varies from airport to airport – whilst we had to remove coats, jumpers and shoes, carriage of liquids and gels obviously wasn’t considered a problem. Anyway, it was a good flight, plenty of legroom and two runs with the drinks cart during the 3 hour flight. Anaheim is clear and hot, beautiful weather! Our motel is okay, not very far to walk to Disneyland, has a pool, spa and LAUNDRY. In fact, it is just around the corner from where we stayed in 1988 – that hotel is still there too.

Vancouver

18 July – Wednesday

A cold, wet and miserable day in Vancouver. Started the day with a lovely pendant from Les and some nice emails before breakfast in the Irish Pub connected to this hotel. A big comedown from the hotel at Victoria – no strawberries, blueberries, pancakes, poached eggs or bacon. It was self serve cornflakes, muffins, toast, bagels and waffles. At least the coffee was in a mug, not a plastic cup!

As the weather was so bad, we decided to forego the delights of Grouse Mountain and settled for the hop on hop off bus tour, which was okay during the morning as the bus was covered in but the afternoon trip was on a half covered bus and we were in the open for quite a while – NOT PLEASANT!!! We spent most of the day at the Vancouver Aquarium, along with all the other tourists in Vancouver. However, we did get to stand in the rain for a fair while and watch the beluga whales (they smile just like dolphins!), the Pacific white-sided dolphins and the sea otters.

Vancouver hasn’t been one of our favourite places and, of course, the weather hasn’t helped. As well as some nice areas, there are lots of VERY sleazy and seedy areas where a lot of hotels (including ours) are. There is a “lady” with bright pink hair, a very short skirt and extremely high heels standing on the corner (I held Les’ hand very tightly as we walked past!), lots of peep shows (25 cents) adult video shops, tattoo shops and some very “interesting looking” people one doesn’t actually look at whilst passing.

Whales or Wails

16 July – Monday

Whale watching day – the least said about it the better! What a disappointment, nothing like the advertising which implied that orcas are resident in the area and these are what we go looking for. Once underway on a smallish boat, we are told there have been sightings of a humpback whale the last couple of days and this is what we will be looking for. Despite most of the 17 passengers wanting to see orcas, we spent over 2 hours looking for a small, solitary humpback whale who wasn’t very interested in entertaining boat loads of tourists. We have seen bigger whales, more of them and good displays of fluking at Ulverstone! Of course, what goes out to sea must return to land and fortunately it was fairly calm (someone doesn’t like boats and is not a good sailor!). The most exciting part of the day was watching the seaplanes land and take off. Breakfast was the BEST part!

Remainder of the day was spent shopping and someone is having a birthday soon. Les had a busy afternoon as he had to buy a new suitcase to replace the one that American Airlines tried their best to remove the handle.

Flowers and Ferries

15 July – Sunday

Started the day with breakfast, overlooking the harbour. Breakfast was even more impressive than dinner last night – does it get better than pancakes, maple syrup and fresh fruit? I certainly couldn’t manage toast!

The tourist events of the day began with a visit to a butterfly garden; certainly different butterflies to the ones we see in Australia, and some lovely orchids as well. Then it was to the Butchartd Gardens, a few acres of beautifully landscaped gardens which also utilise a disused quarry. Being summer, the flowers were in full bloom – truly spectacular. It was interesting to see the different way plants were used; geraniums and heliotrope (cherry pie) being used as bedding (or annual) plants in massed displays were quite different to what we would normally see in Australia.

After returning to Victoria, we went for a harbour cruise on one of the small harbour ferries. These would only hold 12 people at a squeeze and the captain kept up a commentary the whole time. We even saw some seaplanes take off, plus a seal.

Victoria

14 July – Saturday

Hope is surrounded by very close mountains and contains some outstanding chainsaw sculptures but apart from these, Hope just seems to be a nondescript, small town. The waitress last night committed the biggest faux pas when she asked us if we “used cutlery wherever it was we came from!” I think it came out the wrong way, or I hope it did.

Today we returned the car to Alamo in Vancouver – what a difference to Europcar!!! Very simple, no problems. Then it was off to Victoria on Vancouver Island using the bus and ferry service – 1 hour 35 minutes on the water, fortunately dead calm. A small thrill was being buzzed by a bald eagle whilst sailing between two islands. Whilst it was rather hazy, we were able to see the snow capped mountains behind Vancouver, as well as a large volcano shaped mountain to the south – I presume this may be Mt St Helens in Washington.

The Coast Victoria Harbourside Hotel is quite impressive and beautifully situated right on the harbour and complete with spa and indoor pool.

Farewell Jasper

13 July – Friday

Departed Jasper bright and early for the long drive to Hope, which will leave us a short drive into Vancouver on Saturday morning. The most amazing sight as we left – Jasper has two sets of traffic lights and the resident herd of elk were using the traffic lights to cross the road! Elk in the middle of the crossing, not in a hurry to go anywhere and cars everywhere. When tourists see any sort of an animal they just stop immediately to look and locals get frustrated and try to drive around. Another beautiful day, clear blue skies, no wind and hot again. Excitement early on with another black bear sighted close to the road. Unfortunately, he who was driving refused to stop, so there are no photos of a bear. Shortly afterwards, a moose strolled across the road in front of us, stopped in the middle of the road for a look, then wandered off into the forest. Once again, superb scenery, stunning mountains and a close look at Mt Robson, the highest mountain in the Rockies.

Lunch stop was at Kamloops in 39 degree heat before heading down through more mountains to Hope. What we thought was just a small town is actually famous as the setting for a number of movies, including Rambo, Shoot to Kill, Fire With Fire and K-2, to name a few.

Jasper

12 July – Thursday

A rest day today – I spent the morning wandering around the commercial district while Les “rested.” The weather is very hot (about 35 degrees) so we decided to give the Edith Cavell area a miss as there is no vegetation, only rock in this part of the Jasper National Park. Instead, we decided to visit the local “beach” at a nearby lake – water temperature is a mild 6 degrees, before driving to the Miette Hot Springs for another thermal soak. Whilst it was very hot, both in and out of the water, it was still a very enjoyable past time.

BIG BLACK BEARS!

11 July – Continued

Tonight it was the big bear hunt and we saw some BIG black bears. Strangely enough, we saw the first bear on the outskirts of the town – and it isn’t a very big town!!! Following the bear, we saw a herd of female elks with calves, then an osprey in its nest on top of a tree, then a bald eagle (how majestic he looked!), a litter of three coyote pups (how cute they looked, but the guide didn’t recommend getting out of the vehicle to get closer, something about their mum probably not liking it), a couple of mule tailed deer, some more elk, a male elk complete with rack and best of all – two black bears right beside the road!!! One of them was HUGE, even the guide said it was very big for a black bear. It has been the most wonderful evening.

Lake Maligne

11 July – Wednesday

Another glorious day in the Rocky Mountains, clear blue skies and hot! Today we headed for Lake Maligne, stopping on the way at Maligne Canyon, a 50 metre deep, narrow canyon with water thundering down it. There were many photo stops on the way to the lake, especially at the beautiful Medicine Lake. The scenery is so breathtaking it is impossible to describe. At Lake Maligne we boarded a boat for a cruise to the other end of this beautiful lake with its spectacular scenery. The cruise company boats are the only motorised craft allowed on the lake, apart from the warden (ranger) and the warden and his family are the only residents. Camping is permitted (allowing for the bears!) and campsites can only be reached by hiking or canoe. During winter the lake is covered by ice 3 metres thick with another 3 metres of snow on top! Once at the end of the lake, we were able to disembark to take photos of Spirit Island, seen on many postcards. Evidently we were very lucky with the weather, as the lake was glassy and it was so warm.

On the return journey to Jasper we encountered a small herd of mountain goats in the middle of the road – a large number of other cars we also stopped in the middle of the road, including quite a few tourists from Asia. Their small children were just running around amid all the cars and wild animals, with cameras being utilised at a very quick pace!

Tonight, we are going on a bear hunt!!!

Glaciers

10 July – Tuesday

Today it was MOUNTAINS – big mountains and lots of them. The scenery is just breathtaking – I never would have believed there could be so many glaciers in one small area. At one time we stopped the car and could see five! The roads are excellent, very wide and straight, although the signposting could be better. Lake Louise was not signposted at all and we had to do a bit of backtracking, but it was certainly worth the effort. The lake wasn’t as big as the impression we get from television, but very, very beautiful, and the people! So many of them!

All the lakes are a beautiful milky blue or aqua colour, as are the rivers. Probably the highlight of the day was a trip onto a glacier in specially built buses. We actually drove out onto the middle of the glacier and could get out and walk around. One had to be careful, it was a little bit slippery but quite wet and it was easy to step through the ice into water.

The wildlife deserves a mention – today we have seen white tailed deer, a coyote (wow, what a thrill that was!), ground squirrels (these seem to have the same suicidal tendencies as possums), mountain goats, and tonight – an elk cow and calf right beside the road. The mozzies also deserve a special mention – they are more dangerous than the bears! They are absolutely ferocious – and there are so many of them. French perfume has been replaced by insect repellent!!!

Driving on the wrong side of the road is getting better, although we are still very wary. Les is still trying to remember which side of the car the steering wheel is – he got into it this morning and then discovered there was no steering wheel!

Rocky Mountain High

9 July – Monday

Departed a cold and wet Calgary after finally getting our hire car. Alamo seemed much more relaxed than Europcar – the man couldn’t understand why I wanted every scratch, chip, dent and mark recorded! First time in a left hand car for driver Les, who handled the change well and only strayed a couple of times. Calgary was much bigger than first impressions, with many new subdivisions to the west. The road crossed the prairie (so wide and open) before reaching the foothills of the Rockies, such immense mountains still with snow in places. I spotted a white tail deer as we drove into town. We found our accommodation in Banff without any dramas, left the car and walked to downtown. This town exists for tourism, both in summer in winter. It is such a beautiful town, so different to the dirtiness of Calgary, completely surrounded by mountains and with a snow fed river running through the town.

The afternoon’s first trip was to the Bow Falls just out of town, overlooked by the Fairmont Hotel (what a hotel!!!). Again, magnificent views of mountains and water. Then it was a gondola ride to the top of Sulphur Mountain for even more spectacular views (be prepared for photos!) Big horn sheep and golden ground squirrels provided photo opportunities for the tourists. To recuperate from the overload of mountain scenery, we spent some time languishing in the hot thermal pool on the mountain, while we enjoyed even more mountain scenery! As we were leaving, we spotted another deer sitting on the edge of the forest, only a short distance from where we were standing. Evidently we have to be careful of bears (grizzly and black), moose, elk, cougars, wolverines, mountain goats, big horn sheep and deer. Bushwalking is completely different in this country – possums wouldn’t be considered a worry at all.

Stampede

8 July – Sunday

Calgary – Stampede day! First port of call this morning was to Fort Calgary and a look at the history of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police in this area and the development of Calgary from the original fort. Then it was off to the Stampede and 12 solid hours of entertainment. It was HUGE – the nearest way to describe the grounds would be the Royal Easter Show plus Agfest plus plus plus and then probably 5 times as big! The amount of sideshows was unbelievable, considering they were mostly the same. There was also the worst extreme ride I have ever seen; Les and I both agreed neither of us wanted to go on it! We didn’t watch any rodeo events but spent the afternoon watching the World Championship Six Horse Hitch, which was just fantastic – complete with music supplied by the Calgary Philharmonic Orchestra for an hour and a half (wonder if Shan has ever considered playing for a horse show???; cattle penning with the most amazing horses and scatty heifers; stock dog (ie sheep dog) trials. The chuck wagon racing was thrilling, once we worked out what was going on but the concert afterwards was a little on the noisy side. A very full-on and enjoyable day.

Hello Canada

7 July – Saturday

Goodbye Boston, Hello Calgary. After a short $50 problem with overweight luggage, we had a long day travelling as we had to travel via Dallas/Fort Worth to get to Calgary. Again, American Airlines had plenty of leg room, even on their domestic flight. We have also been able to access the American Airlines Admirals Club Lounges without any trouble – so much different to British Airways! Dallas was SOOOO flat and large, very spread out but with lots of large freeways. After leaving the built up area, the countryside was all agricultural, with the circular irrigation systems making wonderful patterns across the landscape.

Our arrival in Calgary coincided with another three international flights, so immigration was a bit slow. However, after clearing customs we were greeted by a cowboy band – the airport was really buzzing with Stampede volunteers helping direct the crowds. The Ramada Hotel Downtown is very nice and it would appear we wont have any trouble finding our way to the Stampede Grounds.

Pilgrims

6 July – Friday

Our hotel is situated in the theatre district of Boston (the Wang Theatre is directly opposite) and the theatre next door to the hotel are featuring Riverdance, so we decided to attend last night’s performance. Whilst we were very high up (looking down on the chandelier!) we did have a very good view and were quite close to the stage. The show was just so good (bit of American there), not just the Irish dancing/tapping, but also included some ballet, flamenco, classic singing and music.

The day started with someone discovering he had lost all his shorts! Thinks they might be in Paris! So someone had to wear long trousers in today’s heat and go shopping later in the day. Our travels today took us to Plymouth, home of the Plymouth Rock and the Mayflower II (a replica of the original Mayflower). Set in a beautiful bay, Plymouth Rock is simply a large rock about 2 metres by 1 metre sitting on the sand with a large portico over it, protected by the National Parks Service. We also visited a place called Plimoth Plantation, a recreated Pilgrim village and Indian village, with actors playing the parts of Pilgrams in 1620 (always speak in character) and Indians talking about the way of life at the time. It was great to talk to the Pilgrams, especially one fellow who did not draw breath, he even handled our homeland of Terra Australis Incognito without batting an eyelid!

Bewitched

5 July – Thursday

Previous evening was spent on a harbour cruise to watch the Independence Day fireworks and of course, it rained! We actually watched two different lots of fireworks, one down the harbour and then the major ones at Boston. It was incredible to sit in the middle of the harbour and watch all the fireworks in the distance, as every town has their own display. I would have to say the major ones we watched were the most spectacular I have seen. Of course, the colours of red, white and blue dominated and it is the first time I have actually seen shapes like smiley faces and five pointed stars made with fireworks.

Today was a bus tour to Salem, the town famous for the 17th Century witch trials. On the way we called into Marblehead, the birthplace of the American Navy and the current home of some fairly well-to-do citizens. All the housing in the area is of weatherboard and a similar style, even the new houses. It is the type of housing portrayed on so many television programmes.

Salem was the city where “Bewitched” was filmed and there is a statue of Elizabeth Montgomery, but not in the old part of town, as she is not considered a proper witch. The witch theme is a tad overdone, however, we did go through the main witch museum where we heard about the witch trials. We were also told about famous witches in history, literature and movies and whilst the witches from "The Wizard of Oz" were talked about, no mention was made of Harry Potter! Perhaps because he is English???

Schools are on holiday here and summer camps are very popular – with the parents most likely, so instead of school groups we encountered camp groups! Salem was also the busiest port in America for about 25 years after independence.

Yankee Doodle Dandee

4 July – Wednesday

The flight with American Airlines went well, taking off from Heathrow during a spectacular thunderstorm and landing at Boston at 8.00pm local time. We had an incredible amount of leg room, although the movies were definitely not up to the Qantas standard. The service and food were also good. I would definitely rate AA as being much better than British Airways.

Independence Day in Boston – the Americans do patriotism very well! Started the day like true Americans and went to the flag raising ceremony, complete with fife band, then followed the parade to the Granary Cemetery to lay wreaths on the graves of Samuel Adams, John Hancock and a couple of others, then on to Faneuill Hall for the reading of the Declaration of Independence. The crowds weren’t huge and it was possible to get up close to the action – in all, it just had a really great “feel.” Afterwards, it was the hop on, hop off bus tour, a wander through Quincey Market among the buskers before a walk to the Boston Common and a ride on the swan boats. The whole city has an incredible holiday feeling to it and the majority of people are wearing their red, white and blue. We even found the grave for Mother Goose! To make the day even better – THE SUN IS SHINING!!!

Tonight we have a harbour cruise planned to watch the fireworks. The Boston Pops conduct a free concert, with fireworks, alongside the Charles River, but we would have had to be there about 9.00am this morning and just sit about all day on the grass waiting for the concert to commence at 7.00pm.

Farewell to England

3 July - Tuesday

The sun was actually shining this morning, periodically anyway, and as we had a few hours to fill in, decided on a 20 miles drive to Henley-on-Thames. First disaster of the day - the Henley Regatta starts tomorrow and everyone who wasn't at Wimbledon was heading to Henley! Took an hour and a half to drive the 20 miles, so returned via the motorway. Next disaster was returning the car to Europcar. We will NEVER NEVER NEVER use Europcar again. After all the problems we had in Edinburgh, Heathrow was even worse. There were two scuff marks (would you believe???) on the wheels and they wanted us to pay them 600 pounds in damages!!! Lots of discussions took place, stomach acid and plood pressures increased and we eventually had to pay them $55. Would never ever recommend them to anyone ever!

Checked in at Heathrow without event, although it took over half an hour to just get through security. Following the recent terrorism events, security is much tighter and the police presence is incredible. Police everywhere, carrying sub-machine guns, and not being at all discreet about standing over and watching people who they consider may be suspicious looking. We have no worries about all the security procedures, although one does feel a bit uncomfortable in crowds.

Our lasting impressions of the United Kingdom: rain, roundabouts, rain, hedges, rain, hanging baskets, rain, beautiful flowers -both garden and wild, rain, toilets which don't flush and rain!

A Royal Experience

2 July - Monday

Today was spent at Windsor, particularly at Windsor Castle. This was magnificent and we were able to go into all the State Rooms which are used by the royal family on a regular basis for official functions. The rooms which were destroyed by fire in 1992 have all be rebuilt and/or restored to their former glory. The paintings on display in the rooms were just breathtaking - Rembrandt, Rubens, Van Dyke, Holbein and Da Vince, to name a few. It was also wonderful to stand in St George's Chapel, which we see on television every Christmas. Unfortunately, the Queen was not in residence.

Following the visit to Windsor Castle, it was a cruise on the Thames (fortunately it stopped raining for this) and then a walk along Eton High Stret to Eton College. One thing we will remember about Windsor is the parting - it cost us more than 10 pounds for 5 hours!

Fete Accompli

1 July - Sunday

Rained heavily during the night and still raining when we departed Cornwall. Drove via Darmoor moors - all misty and gloomy with some unusual rock formations and the famour Darmoor ponies. We also drove part Darmoor prison. A few days previously we had been told that the little villages in Dorset were the prettiest in the country - all chocolate box villages, so we decided to drive throug the narrow lanes and find a few of these villages. The roads got narrower, the hedges got higher, the tension rose and there were a few discussions about navigation skills! However, we ded und up where I had planned, although we didn't find any of the pretty villages.

As we were going through the village of Frampton, noticed that the Village Fete had just started, so stopped for a look. It was just like the television shows - coconut shies (Les tried and failed!), tombola, jumble sales and afternoon tea. What we know as Devonshire teas are called cream teas here. The weather had cleared by the time we had driven through the New Forest and reached Windsor and our B & B, at a small village only a couple of miles from Windsor - very English with cricket being played on the village green even. The area around Windsor does seem a very pleasant place to live and Ascot is just down the road too.

Lands End

30 June – Saturday

The worst day of our trip, weatherwise. Thick fog all day, rain all day, wind and quite cool. We decided very quickly to give all the picturesque fishing villages a miss – bit hard to see in the weather. Ditto to the Eden Project – too wet to walk about outside in the rain, even with raincoats! Therefore, our first stop was at St Ives, a fishing village/town. The tide was out (as it is wherever we go!) but the harbour did have sand. The coast must have amazing tides, because the water obviously comes right into the seawall along the edge of the roadway. Then it was the “scenic” route through the fog via many old Cornish mining villages and farms to Lands End, which is quite tacky with a large amusement centre built right on the point. It was blowing a gale and hailing, so it was a quick photo stop and back into the car and off to Penzance. Again, we didn’t even stop here as the weather was so unpleasant. By this time the traffic was really building up and we travelled rather slowly back to our accommodation.