Niagra Falls - We Found a Moose!

We've heard that if you're going to see Niagara Falls, then you must view it from the Canadian side. Now, we were told this by a Canadian, but, I feel it was a justified statement. I'm not too sure what I was expecting but it was breathe taking. We starred in amazement at it for a while and when you're stood at the part where the water drops off the end its strangely beautiful. We went to the gift shop and there was loads of great Niagara/Canada memorabilia - most of which was perfect for my good friend Helen who is a Moose collector!! There were moose's everywhere!! Now, I don't want to make Helen out to sound like a crazy lady who has a weird obsession with moose's....but someone bought her a moose cuddly toy one day and it's stemmed from there....so we had a bit of fun with all the moose toys for her benefit (resulting in the pic of Paige and I above!). Moving swiftly on, I decided to take a picture of a nice rose (don't you agree that it's nice?) and then we decided to drive over to Niagara on the Lake which was a really pretty town not too far from the falls. It was very quaint and we walked down by the lake and just took in the view. You could see the skyline of Toronto in the far off distance which was pretty cool. It was like looking out into the last scene of The Trueman Show as the view just seemed to end where the sky met the sea. It was really bizarre and looked so fake! We chilled out there for a while before heading back to Toronto for our last night out on the tiles! So we proceeded to have a few too many and collapsed in the early hours. It's safe to say that the day we left Andy in Toronto we were too hungover to move but had to undertake our mammoth journey to Chicago regardless......

We Made it to Canada!

So Paige and I embarked on our 12 hour train mission to Toronto from New York. Being totally truthful, it wasn't as bad as we thought it was going to be and time went by really quickly. Obviously there were some annoying people sat near us i.e. young children but we managed to survive the sound of computer games and a couple of Italian men who had their headphones in, whilst playing computer games AND having a very loud conversation all at the same time!! And people say men can't multitask! We made it to Toronto by 8pm where our good friend Andy was waiting to meet us as we are staying with him for our time in Canada. Andy lives in Cabbagetown which I think is the best area name ever. We had a low key first night as we were knackered from the train journey so the following day we went down to the waterfront (which I kept calling the sea but Andy assures me it's a lake). The weather was glorious and there were loads of people out in their boats because of it. In the evening we went to see a Toronto band called Young Empires and they were really great. The venue was cool and they put on a great show. After a few glasses of wine followed by a few smirnoff ices (they had no cider so I panic ordered!), we went to a place called Sneaky Dees where they serve the best nachos ever! The ones pictured above were called the Kind Nachos and they were exactly what our alcohol soaked bodies needed! Was a great introduction into Toronto life!

Lord of the Penguins

We went down to the waterfront to go to the aquarium in Boston as they had loads and loads of penguins 'on display'. Paige was beside herself with excitement over this as she spent 3 months looking after penguins in South Africa last year so she was looking forward to being reunited with her feathered friends. I will admit that they were very cute but the smell wasn't so great! I can see why Paige loved working with them though, some of them, especially the rockhopper ones had great personalities! Very cheeky. The aquarium also had tropical fish, a giant turtle, sharks and jellyfish - to name but a few! We then saw some seals being trained which was very sweet. We had a bit of fun in the gift shop (as you can see above) then pottered about before heading over to Haaaaaarvard to see where Paige's Dad went to school. It was really beautiful around there and you could just sense the intelligence in the air! We had a little guide book to Boston and it told us about The Comedy Studio in Harvard so we went along. The comedians were really funny and some of them had been on Comedy Central, The Letterman Show and on Ellen De...Ellen Degener....you know Ellen's show! The following day we wanted to go and see what a Boston beach was like so that we did but there was no sunshine whatsoever! So we lay on the beach fully clothed! But it was very relaxing anyway. As it was our last night we were trying to come up with a plan for the evening so we headed back to Boston Common. We struck luck as they were showing a free production of Othello so we sat and watched and it was pretty good. The actors were amazing and there was a great atmosphere in the common. It rounded off the end of our time in Boston brilliantly.

Cheers to the Freedom Trail

Now, we had a big old list of places that Paige's parents had given us that they said we should visit (they used to live there years ago, hence it being where Paige was born and all) and I must say they came up trumps! It was a glorious day of sunshine so we headed off on the Freedom Trail so we could go and see all of the sights that we could possibly want to see. I even set foot inside a couple of church's which is unheard of for me but they were beautiful and one of them had the oldest pulpit in America! So there you go. As we were wondering along the red line through Boston, we hit a street which sounded familiar to Paige as she said the 'Cheers' bar was on there. So we took a little detour down a big hill (I didn't like the thought of going back up it in the heat - took me back to the days of San Fran!) and stumbled across it. Was pretty cool to be there and I wanted to buy some memorabilia for the folks but it was all a bit naff really! We then got back on the Freedom Trail until we hit Faneuil Hall which had a great buzz. We pottered around the market and found a massive piece of macaroni (as you do!) and Paige was extremely pleased as she's a huge fan (she is in the mac pic above - see if you can spot her!). We then found some cookies the size of our faces (literally) so all in all we were pretty glad we'd stopped there! We were then commandeered by some old bloke dressed up funny until he kindly told us that his name was Benjamin Franklin! What are the chances of bumping into him in Boston eh! So we got to chatting and it turns out he lives on the same street that Paige's Mum lives on in London so I think it was fate that the two of them were brought together like this! I had to cement this chance encounter with a photo (which cost me $2 but I figured he was saving up to get back to London) and was pretty pleased that we'd bumped into him. After a LOT more walking (I'm not complaining, I just wanted to emphasise that we'd walked a really long way that day!) we came to the U.S.S Constitution which is the oldest working Navy ship in the world to still be...er....working! So some very nice, jolly sailor gave us a grand tour and we got to see what life was like for the Navy guys back then, scurvy and all! I thought I could give Johnny Depp a good run for his money at the wheel!

On the Hunt for Sabrina the Teenage Witch!

Here are my wise words which you must take with you if you ever visit Boston - you MUST get the ferry and go over to Salem! It is very quaint and they totally love their witch history but who can blame them! After a sound sleep in our lovely four poster bed, we went on the hunt for some witches. We started off at the Witch Dungeon Museum where they reenact a witch trial from the 16 hundreds. We sat in an old court room and were told the story of a woman who was accused of witchcraft which was pretty cool. They then take you down into the dungeon to show you the conditions that those accused would have stayed in. It's safe to say they were very small, dark, damp and creepy! Paige was not a fan of being in the dungeons....but she did touch a big piece of wood which is said to bring you luck if you touch it. It was part of the original court house back in the day. Anywho, they had all these manikins that set the scene for how the accused would have lived (one guy was being pressed to death by stones as he would not confess to being a witch) and the last scene was a load of people hanging from the ceiling! Just what one wants to see at 11am!! The second witch museum we went to told of the story of the first woman accused of witchcraft and they had laid out 15 scenes of the story (with the same creepy manikins!). I won't spoil the story for you so you'll have to go and check it out for yourself. The last museum on our tour was the Pirate Museum! Now, we had no idea that Salem was famous for pirates but the museum has assured me that they are! The tour guide we had was hilarious (and looked very much like a pirate) and told us some great gruesome tales! Paige then dressed as a pirate as she was feeling all mischievous after too much grog and we headed back over to Boston to check into another hostel. But to sum up, Salem is awesome and well worth a visit!

Good Paige Hunting!

For those of you that don't know, Boston is the place in which Paige's life began. So we did what any two young adventurers would do and went on the hunt for the hospital she was born in. After a nice long walk in the heat we came across it and it was really quite exciting knowing that this was the very place that Paige's existance started - especially as she hadn't been in Boston since she was six months old. We went inside and found the old maternity ward but didn't go right in side there for obvious reasons but it was really cool to think that her parents had been there not too many years ago (that bits to make Paige feel better about the age she's turning in December!) welcoming her into the world. After that we went back to our hostel and headed to the ferry port to go to Salem. Now, for those of you that have been on a ferry with Paige know that she doesn't have the best sea legs so I did feel bad that this was the second ferry we've been on this trip (it would be three in total by the time we'd gotten back to Boston from Salem) but she was a trooper and survived the journey without any vomitting incidents. Lucky me! Biggest bitch was dragging our suitcases on and off the subway and up all the stairs and then onto the ferry but we made it just about! Oh and I also cheered up when I saw the Barbie yahct pictured above! Salem was absolutely beautiful. If you're in Boston ever I'd definitley recommend getting the ferry over there. Even if just for the day. We got to the pretty B&B we were staying in which was right on the main square. We arrived on a good day as there was a big cycling event going on around the square so it was all shut down to traffic. We had a good spot on the finish line and watched these fit men cycle round and round and round. The commentator was great and we learnt a lot about cycling races that day. There were three races in total and the last one of the day was for all the pro's. There was this one guy, Luke someone (I will look up his name at some point) who is going to be in the Tour de France and will be challenging Mark Cavendish for the win (Royce - I hope you're impressed with that knowledge there!). The race had us on the edge of our seats, it was really exciting and I've decided that cycling is my new favourite sport! Well, my favourite spectator sport! The thighs on those guys (see pics above!). The rest of our evening was pretty quiet as we wanted to get up refreshed to fight off all the witches and pirates that faced us the following day......

Philly Without the Rocky Steps!

I was very impressed that I managed to travel from NYC to Philly for $8!! I got on another Bolt Bus and it's just so cheap. I arrived at Berwyn just outside Philly where we were staying with Paige's Uncle. His home was absolutely beautiful and was in a beautiful setting. We never wanted to leave. We hung out with her cute cousin's before they went off for a week with their Grandparents so that was really cool. We did some of the touristy stuff like going to see the Liberty Bell (I vaguely understand what that was all about....but the bell was a lot smaller than I was anticipating!) and headed over to Independence Hall. It was pretty cool thinking that we were in the same room that they signed the Declaration of Independence in. We had a really old lady as our 'tour guide' and she was hilarious. She really didn't know much! She spoke about one guy but she couldn't remember his name and was like 'You know the guy, the one from Kentucky?'! It was very insightful! Throughout our 5 days in Philly we also went to the King of Prussia Mall which was massive. I promise I didn't buy anything....promise....well....maybe a few things.....but it would have been rude not to right?! We didn't run up the Rocky steps as neither of us had seen the films and it was on the other side of town so we couldn't be bothered!! We were tired from all the shopping....We did go to see Toy Story 3 though and I definitely had a little tear in my eye at the end. Great film. We also baked the night away and made brownies and a delicious carrot cake!! Mmmm! Unfortunately we had to leave it behind (after eating a few slices of course) but at least Paige's family get to enjoy our gastronomic delights!