Day 197 - A Nice and Easy Day Out

Douglas and Alison went about their day as we both snoozed away for another sleep-in. We then sat outside in the shade and read for a while before the sun fought away the shadows and became too much.

We set off at about 12:30 and made our way to Elora where we parked up to go and wander. This was a nice little village though we had soon seen the majority of it. We had a look at the supports of the old bridge that still remain in the river; we also could see the big mill from this viewpoint.

We then went and had lunch with Alison’s daughter and her two girls before making our way down the road where we all got some ice-cream J Alison’s daughter then left to drop off one of the girls and pick up their two dogs before she would come back to Elora and meet us again. Whilst this was happening the four of us wandered along the cliffs of the gorge, looking down at the rather sad looking river below. After a bit of time here we made our way over to a bench where we sat to wait for the others to return. During this time we saw a black squirrel which neither of us two have ever seen before.

We followed the others in the car to a walking track in Bloomingdale where we all got out and took the dogs for a walk around the waters here. We felt a few lone drops of rain and all got our hopes up for a well needed downpour but this was not to be… yet at least as the forecast is for rain to come overnight.

After saying our goodbyes we went back to the house and then all had ourselves some quiet time. Everyone but Danny had a sleep during this time; Corrie winning the prize for longest sleep! Another great tea was had and then followed with a good desert – that rare luxury we’re not familiar with on our travels. After this we spent the last few hours of the day relaxing some more and awaiting the rain.

Day 196 - Market and Mennonites

We got up and had breakfast, a rarity for our travels, before getting set to head off for some exploring of the local area. Our first stop of the day was at St Jacobs Farmers’ Market where we entered one of the buildings to have a look at the goods on offer. We were greeted with a plethora of culinary delights on the ground floor and so slowly made our way along the stalls, learning a little about maple syrup along the way, before we went upstairs to peruse some of the arts and craft stalls there.

Back outside we went around the building and then thought it’s be fun to go and check out one of the cattle auctions. Inside we got ourselves seated and waited for the bidding to commence. We then all saw the strangest looking cow enter the display pen… it was a horse! The bidding was fast and furious, with all four of us struggling to make out just one word of what was tumbling out of the auctioneer’s mouth. We sat as still as statues so as not to accidentally leave with a herd of horses and witnessed several more of these high speed events before leaving.

En route back to the car we strolled through the fruit and veg section of the market where a couple more purchases were made.

Next stop of the day was at St Jacobs village where we had our lunch. During the short wait for the table we both went for a quick walk along the street to check out a few of the little shops here. Lunch was good and we all left satisfied to pop next door but one for a look inside the Mennonite museum here. This was pretty interesting as neither of us two had heard of the Mennonites before and so it was good to learn a little about these people who lead a very simple and relatively care free life. This place was quite relevant too as there are many Mennonite people living in the area, many of which were at the market trading goods. 

On the way back to the house we stopped off briefly at the west Monrose covered bridge where Corrie got to snapping for 5 or so minutes.

After being back for about 20 minutes Alison’s daughter-in-law nipped in for a visit with her two kids. After a little while they left and we then got to arrange what the plan for tea was. Tonight we decided to go with one of the 6 pre-selected meals Douglas and Alison had picked from a kind of self-serve and instructed meal making place! It sounds strange but you pick a meal and then a leaflet guides you through what ingredients to gather and how to mix them all together. When you get the packs home you just have to freeze them until it’s time to cook them. Tonight we went with the marinated chicken breasts which were delicious and D & A prepared them with some rice, broccoli and quinoa. This was delicious and even better when finished off with some brownies, ice-cream and berries. We also introduced D & A to the trick of heating the brownie in the microwave to get it all gooey first… yum!

Then it was time to chill, with Corrie nipping out for a second night of photographing the Himalayan Dandelions, before bed.

Day 195 - Chill-out Day

We both enjoyed a lie-in this morning in the nice comfy bed before slowly making our way downstairs. Nothing was planned for the day on our request as we wanted to have an easy and chilled out day of leisure.

Douglas and Alison nipped out to the shops and so we opted to stay and sunbathe! We firstly put a large load of washing on and then set about making up for Miami’s poor tanning days. This was nice and we soon picked up on the little chipmunk using D & A’s fence and garden edge as a highway for its travels.

After D & A returned and we’d lounged around and chatted some more it was time to get some food. Tea was barbequed chicken and steak with boiled potatoes, green beans, and corn on the cob. This was delish and the meats were cooked to perfection – hats off to Douglas!

As we were both relaxing some more in the living room Alison informed us that the flowers were blooming outside. It was night and so you may wonder what flowers do this at night as well as how patient we must be to watch this happen. Well these flowers are Himalayan Dandelions and only flower at night and the blooming process from bud to flower is complete in about 5 minutes once it starts. The flowers are then withered by the next day; a very strange but fascinating thing and so Corrie remained here for the duration of the 18 flowerings with her camera!

Day 194 - Checking in With Douglas and Alison

Lots of public transport again today as we checked out of the hotel and made the short 20 minute walk to the station. From here we waited until it was time to board the train to Toronto. We got on and settled in for the 6 hour trip. Thankfully we were prepared with books and food and with the complementary wi-fi we didn’t really get bored along the route.

We arrived at Toronto Union Station slightly later than expected but soon met up with Douglas and Alison (Danny’s godparents) who we’d be staying with for the next 10 or so days. We then hopped onto a subway train which took us to a mall where the car was parked. Then it was an hour long car journey to take us into Kitchener, to the lovely home of Douglas and Alison.

The subway train with no doors between carriages. Slightly strange being able to see all the way down the train on straight sections of track.

After a tour of the house and the emptying of our backpacks into our room we then all caught up a bit with one another’s lives before getting some tea. This was a chilli, baked potato and some salad each, which was the first proper meal we’d had in a while and was well received.

It is such a nice relief to be in one place for more than a few days where we can: relax, recharge, clean all our clothes, and make ourselves at home. We’re both looking forward to a lie-in tomorrow and a long day of relaxing with the possibility of some sunbathing too.

Day 193 - A Day in Old Montreal

We were up relatively early so as we could plan our day. We had heard off a few people than if in Montreal a must do is a visit to the old historic part of town. We had thought we’d have to catch a bus and figure out how to get to this part of town and so decided to Google Map it. You can imagine our relief when the old town popped up just a 20 minute walk from our hotel.

Our busy day then became a very leisurely day walking around the historic section of Montreal. This scenic walk in the sun also included a walk to the old port where we sat and relaxed for a while. We didn’t really do much other than stroll around this section of town until we decided it was time to head back, stopping to pick up some tea and some snacks for tomorrow’s train journey.

Tea tonight was a whole cooked chicken which we shared and put into a baguette which we carved up to give us some simple sandwiches.

After tea we had some time to shower and pack before our last sleep in a hotel room for a couple of weeks.

The small part of Montreal that we’ve seen was nice though we were both shocked at how French this City is. We knew it is a French-Canadian part of the country but were shocked at the extent of the French-ness! All the signs in the city are in French only it would seem which caused us a little confusion on a couple of occasions. Still, it’s a nice place to visit and we’d probably spend some more time here if we visited again.

Day 192 - Corrie, the Chicken, and Canada

After a relatively nice, yet short, night’s sleep in the newly cooled room we were up and off to walk to the train station where we arrived at about 07:30. Here we got on the free train service to South Station where we then switched over to a bus service that we caught to the airport terminal. Due to our overly punctual arrival at the airport we then had quite a long wait for the plane that would take us to Montreal, Canada.

The plane was only small, seating about 100 or so passengers, but made its very quick 50 minute flight to Montreal with no problems whatsoever (thankfully.) It was here at the airport however that we were to have fun and games as we waited in the queue for immigration. The lady at the booth started questioning the two of us over our immigration cards and circled the fact that we’d be in Canada for about 30 days. She then asked us if we had any food stuffs with us to which Danny informed the lady he had some Ritz crackers (which should be fine.) Corrie then informed the lady that she had a tin of chicken in her main case to which the police lady instantly pointed to the unchecked “Meats” box on Corrie’s form and asked Corrie if the Chicken was a meat (tut tut Corrie!) Corrie must have developed a strong relationship with this can of chicken as she had held onto it since the end of our San Francisco to Las Vegas tour despite Danny’s best efforts to have her just bin it.

We were then sent through to the immigration room where we each were given a ticket and then had to sit and wait for our numbers to be called. This was a long process and time passed so slowly until Corrie was up. 5 minutes into her conversation with the officer here and they decided to bring Danny into the talk as well. After a thorough grilling about our plans and accommodation etc we were finally released to go and claim our luggage which sat all alone on the conveyor belt patiently awaiting our arrival.

Customs weren’t done with us yet and we were then routed into a room where we had to explain and then show what the food we were carrying was. It was funny to see the officer’s face as she picked up and examined Corrie’s precious tinned cargo and exclaimed: “This is chicken?”

Next we got on the bus that took us on the long ride to the area where we could find our hotel and, after checking in, we went straight out to get some Canadian dollars and some food. Corrie got some cooked pasta put into a couple of plastic pots whist Danny found a cheap sandwich for his tea. Back at the hotel we quickly devoured these and then proceeded to eat some Ritz crackers along with the infamous chicken in a tin – which happened to taste a lot like tuna.

Both drained from the day and feeling even more tired for eating we soon drifted off for an early night to prepare our bodies for a long day tomorrow.

Day 191 - Fenway Fun

After another night of very little sleep we both made a half-hearted attempt to get up only to both crash back out in bed and awake at lunch time! Disgruntled we’d now slept in we both quickly dressed and went to explore, though before we left Danny repositioned the fans. He propped open the old fashioned slide-up window with a brick and his umbrella and then put both fans side by side in the open window in an experiment to see if they would bring in any cooler air from outside. We left them on a slow speed setting as we went out.

A 30 minute or so walk brought us to “America’s Most Beloved Ballpark” and we stopped a minute or two to get our bearings and take in the place. The stadium is the oldest Major League Baseball stadium currently in use and is one of the best known sports venues in the states. Due to its small seating capacity and massive fan base this place has sold out every home game since May 15^th 2003! We walked around the whole stadium which brought us back around to the ticket office for future games and tours. We didn’t want to queue for a couple of hours to get a ticket later on for the game but we thought we’d do the next best thing and get a tour. We agreed that if the tours were sold out then we’d just grin and bear it to get a ticket for tonight’s match. All the tours bar one were sold out and so we went with that one. This tour happened to be the “Batters’ Practice Tour” and cost a few dollars more than the standard ones L Oh well.

At 16:00 we gathered with a large crowd of others and got our wristbands before making our way through a little security check to get into the park itself. Our guide gave us some history of the place as we went and then we all had our photos taken by the field before heading on over to the oldest seats in the ground in the grandstand section. We got some more history of the stadium and its players before we were then allowed to go and spend time watching the pre-match practice of the Sox’s pitchers, batters and fielders from the seats atop the famous Green Monster. The monster’s wall is completely covered in dents from countless balls that have head its way. The wall was basically set up to prevent balls heading in this direction from breaking businesses windows outside the stadium but more importantly to stop freeloaders watching the game from their apartments! We all spent the rest of the time up here as we watched the practicing down below. A few of the batters sent multiple balls our way and a few lucky members of the group managed to catch them. Most of the group were big fans and had brought along their gloves to help them catch a ball but one young lad caught a screamer bare handed; he was rubbing and shaking his hands for some time afterwards!

It was all over too soon and we were back on the streets that were now beginning to swell with the night’s spectators and street vendors. The rising atmosphere got us in the mood to watch a game though the smells of all the foods was even more tempting. Instead we walked back towards the hotel, grabbing a couple of sandwiches for the very reasonable sum of $6 from the local Dunkin’ Doughnuts.

We were both hugely relieved when we opened the door to the room and were greeted with a perfectly cool room. Danny was impressed with himself and so there the fans will remain for the night.

After our tea we tried to sort some of the plans for tomorrow as we have a lot of public transport to get to finally reach our destination in Montreal, Canada.