Mark & Gill

Great flight (I like Austrian Airlines) and tranfers and a nice hotel in the centre of the city. Good internet connection near-by as well so chance to catch-up! Enjoying iced coffee at 10.30pm to cool off.

A bus tour this afternoon gave us a good idea of the layout of Vienna – a lovely city, big contrast between the old city encircled by the Ringstrasse and the new, a more relaxed atmosphere here but it’s pumping tonight and we have been entertained in our room by a very good band over on the rooftop on the Albertine Museum.

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Paris is full of history – centuries of it and you can see this everywhere in the buildings especially. The newer cafes and hotels sit at the bottom of the old buildings and are all tightly packed together. Cafe seats generally face the street (rue) in rows and there you can watch the world go by. Good coffee!!

We have “done” the museums and monuments – first a tour via the hop-on/off bus and then closer up. We visited: –

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Whats hot

– our hotel nicely located walking distance to lots of eateries

– exploring all the main attractions on the open top hop on hop off bus

– being stopped in the street and asked for directions as if we were locals – half the time we know the answer!!

Whats not

– transfer at Frankfurt was tedious as was the wait for shuttle from airport to hotel

– hotel want 5 euro per hour for wireless internet!

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On Friday we left New York bound for Paris – on the way we overflew Boston (and the south of Ireland – Matt and Kat a few more days we’ll be there!). Flying over Boston reminded me of Denny Crane’s admonish to “live life big!” (Boston Legal) which to me summed up our experience of Canada and New York. Everything was big – the hospitality and welcomes, the mountains, the distances, the cars. The size and variety and sophistication of Manhattan, New Jersey, Philadelphia was a fantastic experience.

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We made it today to see a play on Broadway at the Lyceum Theatre (oldest theatre still active in NY) -play was “Inherit The Wind” starring Christopher Plummer and Brian Dennehy. Was great and we both really enjoyed the Broadway theatre experience including lunch at Sardi’s beforehand and drinks afterwards at The Alongquin- ambience!- a favoured haunt of literary lights and the theatre set. Jim was a superb host organising these experiences.

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No time for blogs the last few days!

Has been very exciting catching up with my host family from AFS days – I last saw them all in 1976 – and also we have enjoyed a BDO in Manhattan, and a visit to Philadelphia.

After 31 years it’s hard to describe the feeling of catching up with family! It’s been great! All the family are now living within about 2 hours of each other here in New Jersey and Philadelphia. As you can imagine a fair bit of talking, reminiscing and picture-taking. We all look a little different of course. While in Philadelphia we visited the Liberty Bell – symbol of the fight for freedom and a reminder that liberties gained can also be lost.

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An early start today- 4.30am to get to the airport for our flight to Newark. A wee delay as we were detained by customs as we left Canada but still time to enjoy the Maple Lounge and then the 1 1/2 hour flight.

Great to see Dawn, my host sister, again after 31 years and to meet her husband Jim. Lots of catching up on family news, photos and old friends.

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Fabulous day trip today to Niagara Falls. Mark started off with a helicopter ride over the whole area, then on to the viewing points and after a sumptuous lunch overlooking the falls on to the “Maid of the Mist” boat trip to the bottom of the falls – When they say you need a raincoat for this stage they mean it. We still got quite wet – incredible amount of wind and spray – like being in a rainstorm. Both the Horseshoe Falls (Canadian) and American Falls are very impressive – massive volumes of water falling over the drop – the difference between the two great lakes – Erie and Ontario. We took lots of photos which we will put up as soon as we can.

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Impressive dinner tonight – will be Mark’s new BBQ party piece next summer.

Dinner was cooked by a one-man show at our table – steaming onion volcano, fancy knife turning and chopping and all. Delicious and filling.

Comments

Comment by David Brown on 2007-06-07 20:00:57 -0700

Not often that I know much about food. But Tepanyaki is a favourite for me, so I will appreciate an invitation when you two are turning this on.

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Woke up to the exciting family news- another engagement! Congrats KC and Nick.

Farewelled Chris heading back to Whistler and work, while we flew on to Toronto. Has been great to spend time with Chris.

Bumpy-ish flight to Toronto. Lovely drive into the city beside Lake Ontario and park areas. Another nice room at the Fairmont Royal York with a view of the lake and port area. After drinks and hors d’oeuvres, we had a big early evening walk around some of the central city area, shopping malls, parks – tall buildings everywhere. Still sunny and warm at 8pm and we are off to dinner.

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