There ARE angels!

As we wrote the last blog, we thought that our odyssey was almost over - but we'd forgotten to allow for the presence of angels ... what's an angel? ... it's a person who brings 'luck' and joy into our lives.

On Sunday, as we began the transformation from being travellers to living a normal life, we used our kitchenette to cook for the first time in three months - duck soup from our delightful meal of the previous night, and egg fried rice, also from leftovers. When we finally wandered through Vancouver's chilly Sunday-afternoon streets, everything fell into place. We had intended to go to the German-style Christmas Market, a block away, but the queues were so long that we changed our minds - thanks, angels ... next morning there were no queues, admission was $2 instead of $5, and we had a great experience before leaving town.

We wandered and shopped a little, sought out a music store to buy a CD containing Canadian singer Gordon Lightfoot's Railway Trilogy (or is that Railroad?), which a fellow-passenger had introduced us to, then realised we were only a block from the cinemas - we walked in to find that the session for Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows had started, literally, one minute before, with ads and previews ... as we sat down, the film started - someone was looking after us! Fully sated, and delighted with the movie, we set off through the dark streets (dark before 5pm - now it was nearly 7) to our hotel ...

Three blocks from 'home' we stopped outside the Orpheum Theatre to check our map, noting that there was a performance on that night, and commenting "Wouldn't it have been wonderful? to each other. We located our position, and as we turned to continue our walk, up popped a sprightly Chinese angel, dressed in black, saying "I have two complimentary tickets for tonight's performance of the Vancouver Academy's Youth Orchestra, and I can't use them - would you like them?" Yes, thank you, we would ... and we spent a wonderful evening listening to Mendelssohn, Chopin and Beethoven!

Our luck continued ... as we returned our hotel room keys, planning to wait an hour for a shuttle, the previous shuttle, running 5 minutes late, arrived, and as we were the only passengers, our Indian driver gave us a guided tour of Vancouver on the way to the airport. We NEARLY had a problem in Los Angeles, having been directed from the United airlines Vancouver-LAX flight (code-shared with Qantas) to the United flight to Sydney, instead of the Qantas flight which left from another terminal, but we flagged down a people-mover, driven by a large, very determined, black lady - having noted Frances' walking stick, she drove us to an elevator, left her wagon, took us down to the road to wait for a special bus (which she had called on her cell phone), handed us over to a driver, who drove us all around the many terminals of LAX airport and then passed us over to a little Chinese man with a wheelchair which just magically transported us through all the red tape - a VERY different scenario to the rudeness we'd experienced at LAX on our inward journey.

The main angels, though, were the ones we didn't see - our house-sitters, John and Vickie, had left our house sparkling (and everything in its right place!); our cat, Theodora, fat and happy; our car, collected from the Akers' house, back in the garage; our garden looking wonderful, and a cooked roast lamb dinner waiting in the refrigerator as an Aussie 'welcome home' ... and had disappeared to their new home on the Gold Coast. The house was full of flowers, some from John and Vickie, and Stephanie's wonderful arrangement of Australian flowers, designed to make us feel at home. Our mail contained wonderful things ... and we found all our emails!! And to top off a wonderful, wonderful trip, as we were reading our messages, an excited email arrived from our niece, Jess (whose frequent messages have lighted our way as we travelled, commenting on our blog and linking us with home) saying "I passed! I passed! I passed!" .... congratulations, Jess, and may your 4th year of Veterinary Science be as wonderful - even though you'll enjoy the surgical aspect much more than we would!

There ARE angels ... and we appreciate you all ... the friends who travelled with us in spirit, the ones who helped us along the way, the ones who fed and housed us, and made us feel so welcome in their countries and in their homes ... and all the ones we haven't mentioned. Thank you all for enriching our lives.

Winter wonderland

Thank you ... to whoever stage-managed the decoration of Canada for us ... we hugely appreciate your efforts in making the entire country like a giant Christmas card!

Here we are in Vancouver, after travelling on the train on Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday and Saturday ... and we loved it! We were preceded by (and in some cases accompanied by) snow wherever we went, and it was beautiful, incredibly beautiful. The pines, spruces, hemlocks looked as if they had icing (frosting) in thick layers on the end of every branch, all impurities were blanched out and covered over, and leafless plants stood black against a sparkling white background ... it was amazing. Add to this the fact that lakes and rivers were frequently totally frozen, occasionally partly frozen and reflecting the blue sky in parts - we could go on - and on - and on ....

We had been a little concerned as to whether we would sleep on five nights sitting up (we Windolfs don't use sleepers, which can be small, uncomfortable, claustrophobic and which limit the view to one side of the train only) and we were thrilled with how comfortable the journey was. For much of it we were allocated a double seating area, with two sets of seats facing each other. Each seat had a folding section which matched the one opposite, making a continuous bed from one to the other ... can you picture us travelling through the night in an upholstered double bed, blankets and pillows provided, John snoring gently, sleeping for 8-9 hours a night, waking briefly once or twice? That's what we did! John's laughing at me, though, because in our comfortable suite at the Vancouver 'Rosedale on Robson' last night I half-woke, heard the hum of the air-conditioner, saw the half-light through the windows, and thought "Oh, we're having a long stop at THIS station"!!!

We're taking Vancouver very lightly - not madly visiting the tourist spots, but treating the city as the locals do - enjoying the wonderful Japanese cafes, shopping a little, maybe going to a movie this afternoon, watching a protest march and listening to the chants of "Free the Refugees ... Stop the De-por-tay-she-ons!", enjoying a group of young Chinese Salvation Army members playing carols with "jingle-bells" ... we feel really at home here!

Our journey home begins tomorrow - Monday here - and hopefully we'll arrive in Coolum in the middle of Wednesday afternoon. We fly from here to Los Angeles, then with Qantas from Los Angeles to Sydney, and then a domestic flight home, travelling to Coolum on our local shuttle bus. We've had a wonderful journey, but we're looking forward to getting home ... please can we bring some of this cool weather with us? Hopefully, we'll put a list of highlights on the blog in a few days time, just to sum up, and to thank you all for travelling along with us.

Dashing through the snow ...

Dashing through the snow
Sunny, cold Sunday
Watching the greatest tides
In the Fundy Bay ...

OK, so this isn't the greatest poetry - it wasn't even tuneful, as we sang our way through Nova Scotia - but it sums up today, our last in this wonderful Eastern province of Canada.

We drove from Prince Edward Island on Thursday, in the rain, travelling around the Sunrise trail, past pretty farms and interesting little fishing villages, to Dartmouth, twin city with the capital, Halifax, on the eastern side of the island. Our ATC hosts, Wendy & Frank, greeted us with salad, carrot & ginger soup, roast chicken and dessert, making us feel very welcome, as have all our wonderful ATC hosts.

Fortunately, by Friday the rain had disappeared, and so we set off to discover Halifax in chilly sunshine. First stop was the carillon which commemorates a HUGE explosion in Halifax in 1917, when two ships collided, setting off a load of nitro-glycerine ... still the largest explosion in the world other than those caused by atomic bombs. It totally destroyed the town, killed hundreds, was heard miles and miles away - incredible!

From there we went to the Titanic cemetery, where many of the bodies of people who died in the Titanic disaster in 1912 now lay ... they're still managing to put names with some of those who were killed, but have been unnamed until now.

The Citadel stands in the middle of Halifax, at the top of a hill - rather like Edinburgh, where the Tattoo is held. It's still used for ceremonial purposes, but the cannons are still ranged around the top - the citadel is said to have repulsed the French, the Dutch and the English at various times.

On Saturday we travelled eastwards along the Atlantic coast, to the hamlet of Murphy Cove, in honour of Frances' in-laws (John's sister, Caryll, is a Murphy) and John's (Hi to all the Coves!) This was totally different country to any we'd seen before, but really beaughtiful - lots of pine trees and rocks. On the way home it started to snow - huge flakes, but tyhey didn't settle. For dinner we went to a Baptist church dinner - awful food! - followed by a "Bluegrass gospel" group - hill-billy style music that was huge fun, and had everybody's toes tapping ... certainly a new experience!

Today we set off in sunshine, which stayed with us all day, but we'd no sooner got out of town than the fields were covered in snow. As we travelled on, much of the roads had snow on them too - NOT easy driving! However, we persisted, and drove right around the Minas Basin, at the inland end of the Bay of Fundy, which is said to have the largest range of tides anywhere in the world - we were there to watch the high tide come rushing in, then around the other side we couldn't get over how low the tide was ... and it was only halfway out! We were thrilled to see this sight - have seen others in Wedtern Australia and Mont Michel, but this was the ultimate.

For those who've been looking every day or so for a new blog, this will be the last for a week ... tomorrow we return the Little Grey mouse to moncton, and catch the train for Vancouver ... we board on Monday afternoon, arrive (hopefully!) on Saturday morning. We're all set up with breakfasts and "things to spread" for evening meals, will buy lunches as we go - and if you're concerned, we'll wash daily and change clothes every day as we go, too. No beds for us, though - we sleep really well in our lay-back seats, and love having others around us. The train has the glass-top viewing cars we remember from advertisements in our childhood - we're rally looking forward to it! We'll be in contact before we fly out of Vancouver on 29 November.

We're with Anne, and Marilla, and Matthew too

Here we are on Prince Edward Island, a deligtful slice of Canada ... can an island be a "slice of"? We travelled eastwards from Montreal on a train called "The Ocean" (we almost looked for a ship!), and decided, as it gently rocked us to sleep in new, comfortable, warm carriages, that it was like we were setting off on another voyage. About 18 hours after embarking (nautical term again!) we arrived in Moncton, a large university town near the St Lawrence Gulf, and hired a cute-but-hopeless little grey Hyundai, and set off in the rain to the island.

To get to PEI you have to go over a bridge - a bridge that's nearly 8 miles (14 km) long! It's a toll bridge, but you don't pay a toll to get to the island ... only to come back! Are you old enough to recollect the song about the Boston MTA, where the fellow didn't have the extra nickel, and stayed on the subway for ever? ... This could be true of PEI, especially as the toll to return is $42.50 That's Canadian, but could be Australian or US, because they're all so similar at the moment!

Today we set off in the Little Grey Mouse around the central part of the island, and at midday found ourselves at Green Gables, the actual house where LM Montgomery set "Anne of Green Gables" (It actually belonged to her cousins, but she lived nearby). It was just as we thought it would be, and has been very tastefully furnished by the Canadian National Parks Service - Matthew's braces were on the bed, Marilla had been sewing a dress for Anne - and the Haunted Wood could be seen from Anne's window ... it was a wonderful visit.

Things could have been a let-down afterwards, but we continued along the North Shore to the Cove Head lighthouse, and Cove Head Bay ... just to honour our family as well as Anne's. PEI is a beautiful place - low rolling green hills, ploughed ready for winter, and next summer's potatoes, so that the green is interspersed with strips of wonderful red soil. It's warmer than we thought it would be, and most of the day was fine - just wish it had stayed that way until we left!

Bonjour!

Bonjour nos amis! ... even John has got into the spirit of Montreal! We arrived here last night, sad to leave the USA, where we've had a wonderful time, but keen to experience Canada ... and looking forward to heading home in two weeks, too!

The train journey from Albany NY, where we left the car (we'd driven 1600 miles - 2500 km on our New England odyssey) was unexpectedly wonderful. We travelled along the New York-Vermont border most of the way, firstly along the Champlain Canal, and then beside Lake Champlain, and Lake Placid ... and we mean BESIDE! The train lines were within a few metres of cliff edges and/or the lake edge for much of the way, the sun shone, there were still golden leaves, the fields were green - it was a glorious trip! The only thing which spoilt our joy was the Canadian Customs people - they were fine to us (we have fair skin, white hair, blue eyes) but they were truly abominable to those who were coloured, especially Dan, a Canadian citizen, formerly from the Ivory Coast, who sat opposite us. He was carrying a huge new book on computer science that he had written with two Harvard professors, but the "thugs" complained that he hadn't listed it on the gifts & purchases he was taking into Canada, and gave him a hell of a time, on and off the train, while we waited for 35 minute. We'd seen racist treatment like this last time we caught a train to Canada - apparently things are no better, and possibly worse!

Fortunately, we had decided to stay above the station, at the wonderful Fairmont Queen Elizabeth, so we had immediate comfort when we disembarked - we'd paid basement rates from Australia for "Montreal's best hotel" . Today we travelled all round town on the local bus, and we plan to spend the afternoon underground ... most of the shops are underground, linked by tunnels, so that business doesn't stop in the long snowy months. First, though, we plan to EAT - everything is so wonderfully French that we just can't help ourselves. Our bodies are in Montreal, at the moment our hearts, like those of a lot of Canadians, are in Paris. Au revoir!

11/11 ... 49 .... 50

We've done it! Yesterday we braved Veterans Day holiday traffic to drive through Rhode Island into Connecticut, our 5oth US state!

To make the day even more special, we travelled from Hingham, just south of Boston, along the Atlantic coast (huge waves, some splashing almost to the top of a tall lighthouse!) to Plymouth, remembering veterans of all wars (not just the US) as we drove. We viewed the Plymouth Rock and the reproduction of the Mayflower ... and the most kitsch souvenir shop we have EVER seen, anywhere in the world! (Just wait until you see the photograph of John in a plush Thanksgiving Turkey shaped hat!!!)


Leaving the coast we drove past cranberry bogs to northern Rhode Island, which was notable for two features ... (A) we travelled 33 miles (55 km) in total from one side to the other of Rhode Island ... (B) we decided to have a "weiner" for lunch - picture a skinless frankfurter in a roll, covered with mustard, raw onion pieces, and chewy 'sloppy joe' style minced steak - NOT a culinary delight to be repeated!

Connecticut was a pleasure to arrive in - better roads, much more scenic, less crowded - and the sun shone for the first day in a week. We arrived at our ATC hosts', Pete and Ann's, house at East Hampton just as the sun was beginning to set over Lake Potosauc, directly across the narrow country road in front of the house, and it was a beautiful sight - awakening to the sight through our bedroom window of the sun shining on the lake this morning was equally beautiful. John spent the day talking with Peter, reading the papers, raking leaves while Frances went to a Ladies' lunch at which Ann & Peter's daughter, Sue, was the guest speaker - and she was brilliant. Tomorrow we move on, but we feel 'complete', having achieved our goal in such a pleasant fashion, and (almost) ready to move on to Canada by train on Sunday.

Busy in Boston

This morning we're on the verge of completing our aim of visiting 50 states - later today we plan to drive through #49, Rhode Island, on our way to #50, Connecticut.

In the meantime, however, we are enjoying wonderful Massachusets! We're staying with Affordable Travel Club members Bob and Carol at Hingham, a delightful town on a bay near Boston, and yesterday it was Boston that we went to see ... and did we ever see it! The weather was extremely cold - 40F (about 5C) - and windy, but the misty rain of the last few days had stopped, so we hung onto our hats and headed for the ferry, for the 30 minute journey to Boston - a great way to miss the traffic.

Once there we bought tickets for the Old Town Trolley and set off around the town for nearly two hours, looking at the sights from the trolley. Once we had an overview, however, we then began to use the trolley's on-off facility ... we started with King's Chapel, the oldest Episcopalian (Anglican) church in the New World, because we'd seen a sign announcing a half-hour midday service - beautiful music and an interesting talk by a blind black minister, accompanied by his dog. Over the next hour and a half we visited the King's graveyard (resting place of the first woman to set foot on the country with the pilgrims) and the Granary graveyard, where we saw the markers for Paul Revere, Samuel Adams, Benjamin Franklin's parents ... and Mother Goose! ... and had "Mac'n cheese" for lunch ... and John used the Ladies rest rooms at the prestigious Parker House hotel! (The mens facilities were locked, so we sneaked him in). We wandered through the old town, visited the old State House museum, where we saw some tea rescued from the boots of one of the Boston Tea Party perpetrators on the day of the incident, and the balcony where Queen Elizabeth finally accepted the Declaration of Independence ... in 1976, not 1776.

Another stop was in the Boston Gardens, near the Boston Common, but more formal, with a central pool and beautiful trees, where first we saw the wonderful bronze sculptures of Robert Mcloskey's ducklings (from the book 'Make Way for Ducklings"), then met Mr Devlin, an old man who was feeding squirrels nuts, with whom we had a great conversation.

We loved Boston! This is a city that we would enjoy returning to. State #48 has been a delight.