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Well it has taken us some time to work with our photos. Our first attempt are some West Coast Panoramas.

I never had a cell phone.

Read the Columbia Spectator.

As you may have already noticed we are back in Adelaide. It is certainly good to see the green on Adelaide’s hills and to see an overgrown garden in its spring prime!

Since I last wrote, we continued our Bollywood theme for 2004 by seeing the Broadyway/Eastend musical Bombay Dreams which was full of Bollywood Glitz. The only thing missing was the final hour. I don’t know these Broadway Singers tire too easily.

We’ve got the Soundtrack for anyone who wants to listen to Bollywood inspired songs in Engish. It was quite unusual to be able to actually understand the songs. Many first release films don’t have subtitles for the songs. The live Indian music certainly got the audience going.

On the last day, in supreme gunzel style, celebrated the 100th aniversary of the New York Subway by visiting the NY Transit Museum in Brooklyn and had a guided tour for free! It was a buzz. We also saw the beautiful City Hall station which is normally closed to the public. If we had one more day, we would have been able to catch the Historic Subway cars operating throughout the system. Still, there is nothing like a NY Express Train!

To prove my credentials, we arrived in NY by train from Newark and departed via JFK also by subway! Lugging more than 35 kilos up and down subway steps is certainly a bigger work out than what I usually get.

We landed in San Diego and this time did not rely on a train to transport us and our luggage to the hotel. We used an airport shuttle (read bus on a ford truck chassis). We stayed at Pacific Beach, a beautiful surf beach where we could hear the waves lapping the shore all night long. It was a great place to calm down after the extreme bustle of New York.

We spent quite some time just walking or cycling the “boardwalk” *actually a concrete bath, with plenty of other cyclists, roller bladers and walkers.

In San Diego we caught public transport to Mexico, walked across the border and got accosted by many Mexicans selling all sorts of goods. I certainly enjoyed their good humour, even the guy who chased after me to remind me that I had promised to visit his restraunt on the way back to the US!! It is amazing how much difference there can be in a matter of 100s of metres. While the main drag caters for US tourists the side streets seem more authentic, as a sampler it certainly made me want to come back to Mexico and other parts of South America for more.

San Diego, especially represented by Pacific and Mission beaches, is a relaxed town and reminded me a lot of home. But their modern trolley continues to be extended and is well utilised perhaps Adelaide can learn from San Diego and Portland?

We caught the Amtrak Pacific Surfliner from San Diego to LAX (which is actually Union Station not the Airport). We congratulated ourselves on purchasing Business Class tickets to LAX, because this guaranteed a seat. From what we could gather the from the announcements in cattle class, the train had anywhere upto 300 standing passengers, and this ain’t a 5 minute ride, some would have standed for more than 2 hours! Quality Amtrak rail services eh?

Union Station is quite beautiful, we stayed across the road and enjoyed great mexican food at El Pueblo/Olvera Street certainly better than the franchised restaurant and any Mexican I’ve had here. We visited Universal City for the complete LA experience and drove down Sunset Boulevard on Halloween Night, there were plent of Adult tick or treaters ready for the big street party!

Well, I hope you have enjoyed reading this blog. Keep your eye out as we will be posting some of the better photographs here soon.

Ahhhhhh, New York is so invigorating especially after rural PEI.

We’re at EasyInternet in Time Square, I am hoping to pick up some tickets to a broadway production tonight! Hopefully they will be at the cheap booth.

We were also here last night, sometimes you wonder whether it is brighter during the night than it is during the day. You would also be pleased to know that Fox is using one of the giant display panels as a COUNTDOWN to the next series of the OC.

We saw Team America last night, South Park with wooden puppets a la Thunderbirds. It is really funny to see “models” of a place where you are seeing the film in the film.

We’ve been cheap and caught the Staten Island FREE! ferry and I’ve bought a new tie wardrobe from the Zagat Rate #1 Discount Store in New York.

It is complete gunzel time in New York they are celebrating the 100 years of the Subway.

The awards for irritating two Australian travllers go to:

1) BELL for its infuriating internet terminals – I feel a case of RSI coming on already.

2) LA – for being a krispy kreme donut. Where did the centre go?

3) Toilets – Dunny technology in Australia is far superior. Don’t ask me why.

4) Hibernating tourist operators in PEI and the Rockies. What’s up eh?

5) Pull when you ought to push!

Next time we’re going on the three day 5 city express. Arggh ask us more.

Nothinglike a good whinge while waiting for a connecting flight at the airport, eh?

bFN

Montreal is one of my favourite cities. But this time we didn’t get off to an auspicious start. Some old man with a bag decided that it would be a good idea to fall backwards on the escalator onto me. My poor right ankle (yes it is the same one) had to support my weight and his weight!! Thankfully, some quick thinking Viarail officials sorted out the situation and we went on our merry ways, with a slightly puffy ankle.

Montreal was interesting in the fall, you could sense all the activity was about to move indoors. The waterfront, very busy in summer and good fun, had all but shutdown as they prepared for ice and snow. Quite a contrast. Helen and I tried to navigate the underground city this time, but unlike Calgary Montreal does not have very good “wayfinding”.

PEI is a rural rolling landscape. I suspect it becomes a swarming tourist mecca in summer. The key is to try and find it in between, without the tourists but with some of the infrastructure operating having said that CBC1 PEI has been an invaluable source of information – so when you see some buffalo pictures you’ll know why!

Bye for now.

Helen has been busy. Look down over the old posts Helen has been adding some photos. We will probably add some more over the next day or so.

I know that it has looked like that Helen had left me somewhere without a computer… But it is not true, she is just very keen to let you know about libraries and all that stuff and I can’t get on the computer.

The last time I wrote we were in Banff, from there we drove into Calgary. It was a cold and rainy day. It is interesting how the weather can alter your general impression of the place. I found that on the first day I didn’t like Calgary too much. But the very next day we had some sunshine, and I liked it much more.

Our B&B had a great view of the City and the rockies in the background. Overnight they had become completely covered in snow. The day after we left Calgary received 10cm of snow. So far, we’ve been lucky with the weather.

In Calgary nearly all the public and private buildings are connected with the +15 (+15 feet in the air), a series of corridors and over-street walkways so you can stay warm by never setting foot on street.

We are now enjoying our stay with Canadian Kwakas. It is certainly a pleasure to stay with family as part of our holiday. We’ve enjoyed fall colour in and around Bowmanville. To keep the gunzel experience going we visited the York – Durham Railway – run earnestly by volunteers and had a ball! For those with a polish influence, the local Oshawa Polish Club has great perogies and cabbage roles, highly recommended.

As I write, I am watching the weather forecast, there appears to be a lot of snow…. But not here yet!!!!

What I enjoy most about the Canadian Rockies is the sense of massive change. Visiting glaciers and appreciating how much they change over the years, and even in one season, to sculpt the landscape. The 93, icefields parkway, is as the brochure describes it, the most beautiful road in the world, at least that I have seen. While we have photos it is impossible to do justice to what was before us.

This morning we flew through the Rockies in a helicopter. If you think they look amazing from the ground, a helicopter adds a completely different perspective to it. We had a short stop off, which was in the middle of nowhere and a short walk. It was a great pleasure to be on our own, only with the helicopter pilot.

It is certainly an improvement over the “popular spots” even if the off-season they ar crowded with noisy tour buses. I can understand the desire to hike for days to get away from it. Some how the helicopter just seems easier!

We visited Lake Louise, and while the lake is beautiful, I am not convinced the hotel was a particularly good idea. Not to worry, there are plenty of other lakes without hotels on.

We have an easy drive into Calgary tomorrow.