Farewell Boston - It's been a blast.

So I decided not to write a blog last night, as I knew I would have some time to kill at the Airport.  I like to arrive a couple of hours early to get through security and allow for any time delays.  So I’m here at Boston Airport waiting for my flight to Vegas, via a layover in Chicago for about an hour or so.  Can’t wait to get there – Bright lights, big city, Bring it on!  Because of the time difference I should be arriving around midday local time, so my plan is to check in and go and take a few rides on the New York, New York Roller coaster, then cruise around the casino’s to check out the free shows they have outside.   Anyway, back to Boston.  It has been such a great city, I thoroughly recommend it to anybody planning on travelling through the states.   I woke up early, around 6.30am, and got myself ready for the day.  I then walked and took a subway to Fenway Park for the tour.  I arrived early for the 9am tour (Sunday morning remember) and there were about 30 people waiting in line for the store that sells the tours to open.  People kept streaming in and joining the queue and I would estimate there would have been 150 people by the time the store opened.   It was all good though, because they took two tour groups and everyone was able to get a ticket.  I was sweet, as I had brought one earlier.   It was a cool tour.  Fenway Park is the home of the Boston Red Sox and the oldest stadium in Baseball. 

 It has a great history, which makes the tour really worth doing.  Our tour guide was an expert on all things Red Sox.  The funny thing is that a lot of the tour is about how much they hate the Yankees, which cracked me up.  I learnt heaps of stuff about the stadium and the Sox.  The corporate boxes there cost $250 Thousand a year, and corporations have to take a 10 year lease.  So that’s 2.5 million over 10 years per box, and there are a lot of boxes.  They also have the highest outfield wall in America, dubbed the Green Monster, it’s pretty amazing.

The tour finished about 10am and I had to hurry down to get on a subway and mission across town to the Boston Common to meet Rob and Joan for a walking tour of the Freedom Trail starting at 10.30.  Fortunately my timing was perfect and I arrived just as the tour was starting. 

 It was lead by a guy all dressed up as an old British soldier, which was all a bit cheesy – as he was a little too into it -  but he knew his stuff and what was supposed to be an hour and a half tour ended up being about 2hours.    The Freedom Trail is a red (mostly brick) path through downtown Boston, Massachusetts that leads to 16 significant historic sites. It is a 2.5-mile walk from Boston Common to Bunker Hill Monument in Charlestown. Simple ground markers explaining events, graveyards, notable churches and other buildings, and a historic naval frigate are stops along the way. It details the history of America’s Revolution — and the events that led up to the historic break from Britain.  It was very interesting, even though I had limited knowledge of American history – I feel like I know a lot more now.

After the Freedom trail we took a taxi over to another exhibition, the Mapparium.  The Mapparium is a three-story tall glass globe of stained glass that is viewed from a 30-foot-long (9.1 m) bridge through its interior. It is a unique exhibit at the Christian Science Plaza.  It is pretty awesome, as it gives you a true representation of the size of different countries and their location on the planet, which you can’t get from looking at a flat (2D) map.  The acoustics are insane!  It’s really freaky because the voices of people bounce off the curvature of the glass and it’s like there are all these different voices flying around your ears – hard to explain, but it was a weird sensation.  After this we went and had a spot of lunch then did some more shopping.  I then returned to my accom to get my entire luggage packed and ready for the morning, before returning to meet Rob & Joan for a farewell dinner.   On the way back to them I went and brought myself a Jawbone Jambox Bluetooth speaker system.  My tech Guru friend Henny, showed me his one a month or two ago, and I was really impressed, the price was right so I had to grab myself one.  (Thanks Henny, you’re the man!! Love your gadget advice and recommendations.) I then had a lovely Thai dinner with R & J followed by a Ben & Jerry’s Ice-cream for dessert.  This is where I have to give a huge thanks to Rob & Joan, without them, this trip would have been much more difficult and probably a lot shorter.  It has been an absolute pleasure to be able to spend so much time with them, and I love them both very much.  They are LEGENDS!  They are off to Santiago and Easter Island now – and I wish them a safe journey, and hope they have a great time. 
I cruised back to my hostel, for final bag checks and watched a couple of movies on my laptop.  I had another terrible sleep last night, a combination of a shitty single bed and ratshit sheets, and a hot muggy evening with no air-con, so I’m feeling a little tired now.  All good though I will get some sleep on the plane and hit the ground in Vegas running.  I’m rolling solo again for the rest of my travels, and looking forward to some more good times before returning home.   Shout outs to all my budddies travelling vicariously with me through this blog – it’s been great having you on board.  Love to All.
NYD.

Big Ups Boston - You are a great city

Howdy everyone – I have a couple of days of Boston blogs to catch up one – so here we go.  Yesterday was a cool day, I met up with R & J in the morning and we grabbed some breakfast before heading out on a Trolley tour of the city for the day.  It was good fun, and a great way to see the local sights.  We stopped down on the waterfront and then went on a Ferry cruise.  Following the cruise, we went to a marketplace and looked around before having some lunch in the ‘Cheers’ replica bar.  It was actually really nice food and at a reasonable price which was good.  We then got back on the Trolleys and continued the circuit the tours go on.  It had been a beautiful sunny day, but as we were coming back into the city a massive storm blew through.  High winds, hail and thunder and lightning and an absolute downpour of rain – it was intense.   It didn’t last all that long, probably 20 – 30 minutes but it certainly had some power behind it.   I have posted some photos on Facebook of the carnage that it left in its trail.  Late afternoon I bid farewell to R & J and came back to the hostel to take a nap.  I awoke around 6pm and had a shower and decided to head out again.  I didn’t have much of a plan of what I would do so I just followed my feet for a bit – which I always find is a bit of fun.  I walked down to check out a summer movie night event in one of the parks.  They were playing ‘Rango’ so I only stayed for 10 minutes or so.  I then wandered up to the original bar that ‘Cheers’ was based around and took a couple of photos.  By this stage I was opposite Boston Common, (The big central park) so I took an evening stroll through there which was nice.  I thought I would go and find a movie theatre and see what was on.  Once I found one I discovered that I had just missed the start times of anything I wanted to see, so kept walking some more.  I noticed a queue outside a venue so I wandered up and asked what was on.  It was a comedy show for $20, so I thought I would check it out.  The comics were a mixed bag but one of the guys really stood out.  He was a crack up.  He was introduced as being one of the top 5 people rated by comedy central as one s to watch in the future.  After the show I went and introduced myself to him and complimented him on his performance.  He is going to try and get down to our side of the world for the Melbourne comedy festival, so he gave me his digits and said he would be in touch via Facebook, so we can try and get him over for the NZ festival as well.   After the show I went back to the Lir bar for a nightcap, before retiring back to my hostel for a few ZZZZ’s.

This morning I had great intentions to go and take a tour of Fenway Park.   I walked the 5 miles or so to get there, and then found out that there were no tours on today as there were two minor league games being held there – BUGGER.   I walked back into the city and met up with R & J at the Apple store, where Joan was having a 1 on 1 lesson.  I used their computers to try and find somewhere to watch the rugby.  I thought I had found a place but they were playing the Wales vs. Argentina game, followed by the Ireland vs. France match – and they were charging a $10 cover charge.  I ended up finding something online which looked promising so I led a search party (consisting of just myself so it wasn’t that much of a search party per say).  I went to Champions Bar in the Marriot Hotel and after a bit of mucking about and explaining what I wanted to watch, they managed to find it for me.  It is a crazy sports bar with at least 17 channels playing different sports on all of them.  I sent a text to Rob and let him know I had found a spot.  He came up and met me there.  As it was around breakfast time, they wouldn’t let us have the sound of the TV on – but using the Kiwi can do attitude, we managed to find some free Wi-Fi and stream a radio broadcast using the Tune in Radio App on the iPad.  Genius.  The game was a bit of a fizzer, but still fun to watch – and we had another kiwi by the name of Peter (from Wellington) join us at half time so that was cool too.  We had a spot of lunch there after the game and then Rob & joan decided they would go back to the hotel to get some rest.  I jumped on the subway and did a mission to the waterfront to watch the Redbull Cliff diving series.  It was cool.  Heaps of people were there and some amazing diving.  I initially tried to get into the Grandstand area underneath the divers, but was told it was too packed, so I walked around the building to the other side, and noticed a bunch of people using a small gap in the fence to get in there, so I followed them.  Once inside I walked up to the opposite gate to get a wristband so that I could buy alcohol. 

 I stayed there and had a drink and then decided that I would get a better view from the side of the wharf.  Where I was, was good, but you couldn’t tell when the guys were going to jump because I was under and behind the platform.  So I walked around to the side of the wharf.  I stayed there for a while and then noticed a bar a little further along.  They had a nice outdoor area with good views and TV’s rigged up showing the action and replays and stuff – so that looked like a bit of me.  I cruised up there and past a bunch of security at different posts along the way, and then made it to this awesome area.  I couldn’t understand why it was not busier, then I noticed everybody had black Redbull wristbands as well as the grey wristband that I had received earlier in the other place.  I watched the bar for a minute and noticed that nobody was paying for anything.  Ha ha classic, I had blagged my way into the Redbull hospo area, without even noticing or trying.  Turns out the cheap travel watch/wristband I have been wearing looked remarkably similar to the ones the other people were wearing – SCORE!  So I went up to the bar and got a beer – no cash changed hands, no questions asked.  I then chilled in there for the rest of the afternoon, keeping one hand in my pocket so just part of my black wristband was showing, and smashed back a few beers in the sun – quietly chuffed with myself.  

 I was frickin roasting though – so after watching a bunch of dives I decided I would walk back into the city and get out of the sun, then meet up with R & J at Macy’s as it was the final day of a sale.   I met them in the city and we did some shopping for a few hours – I picked up a few good scores.  Joan also brought a new big suitcase – So I got to borrow a duffle bag they have been using – which I really need now as I am all out of space – and this gives me a bit more breathing space to get some more goodies.   We then went and had some dinner at a Chinese place.  Now I am back home and going to have a bit of an early night (it’s 10pm local time) maybe watch a movie on the laptop, but take it easy after a couple of big nights out.   Tomorrow is my last day in Boston, I am going to go and take that tour of Fenway Park in the morning, then meet R & J and go and do the Freedom Trail walk.   So it should be another great day in a city that has really impressed me.  Take it easy everyone. Miz J

Oh yeah - one more thing, I was wearing my Eastbound and Down T-Shirt today, and it was classic, I got heaps of favourable comments from people all day. (Cheers Elwood)

Boston - Great first Impression.

So we all set alarms this morning at 5am, to leave Toronto and make our way to Boston.  We arrived here at about 10.30am (I swear I saw a whale from the plane on the way in)   R & J dropped me at my accom, and continued on to where they are staying.  I was way too early so stashed my bags out the back of the office and made my way down to their hotel.  Boston is pretty amazing, it’s so clean, and the side streets are lined with trees and stuff, it is truly a beautiful city.   Once I met back up with R & J, We wandered down the street to the Provincial centre and rocked a bit of lunch from the food court. We did a bit of research there on the free Wi-Fi to decide the best tour to go on.  We have settled on the old school trolley tour, which means we can have a couple of days of free transport around the city, to see the sights and decide on the things we would really like to see, I have upgraded so that I can do a tour of Fenway park – the home of the red socks.  I am embracing the tours of stadiums, as they just seem to hold so much history.   We then went around a few stores and Joan brought me an amazing suit as an early Christmas present.  It will need a bit of tailoring when I get back home but it is definitely pretty slick looking (ladiesJ).  Full credit to both Rob & Joan.   I also went to a half-price ticket booth and got a ticket to go and see the “Blue Man Group”

After shopping for a while I left R & J and came back to the hostel to check in.  It is pretty nice in the foyer and the chill out areas, but my room is like a hospital suite.  I have taken some photos but will save those for personal re-telling.   Any way’s accom is for sleeping……… right?? So I took the chance to go and see some more of Boston.  I ended up in the park in the city (after much walking around to make sure I knew where the theatre was).  The central park here is so beautiful,  I must have seen about 50 Squirrels.  I have been so keen to see squirrels, and it’s safe to say that Boston delivered.   If you have been following my blog, you will know that I took a lot of photos of Niagara Falls, well………..if you come round for a slide show on my return back to NZ – there will also be a lot of shots of fluffy rodents ha ha.

I then wandered back through the city to a bar called ‘Lir’.  We found out earlier in the day that they may be playing the All Blacks Vs. South Africa game on Saturday morning, and I decided that I had better do some research and make sure that was true, ( lock it in).  So I stayed there for a few beers and a couple of ‘Old Fashions’ (free poured Makers Mark and $7 a pop – Gravy.)   I then made my way up to the theatre to watch the ‘Blue Man Group’.  It was a great show, really well done; however, when you are spoiled for shows, (as I have been) you become a bit critical.  Give Sam Wills (The Boy with tape on his face) a budget, and effects like they have, and you will get a much better show. Anyway, when I go to these shows by myself I like to meet my neighbours – so here they are;

Don’t get me wrong, it is definitely entertaining, but I’m glad I paid half price.  It ends up being a dance party for the audience, which is pretty cool.  It got out at before 10pm, so I decided I should go back to the ‘Lir’ for a last night cap.  By the time I got back, the place was popping off.  I sat at the bar and had a couple of beers and Makers or two, before wandering back home.

And here I am, I have managed plenty of walking, so my internal GPS unit is in synch.  Tomorrow we are doing a trolley tour, I have Fenway Park booked in to do at my leisure, and on Saturday there is a Red bull Cliff diving comp, going down on the waterfront.   All in all, my first impressions of Boston are very good.  There is a nice vibe in the city, and the traffic is mellow as.  Looking forward to watching the AB’s smash South Africa, while I smash some bacon and eggs in my face on Saturday morning.   Sorry if this blog is a little bit of a  ramble, but it’s just one of those nights.  Stay Well Whanau, Love you all. Miz x x

Final Day in Canada, Its been a blast.

Cool day in Toronto today or the T-dot as the locals sometimes call it. I think that is because the abbreviation for Toronto is T.O.  This morning Rob and I went off on a mission, we got distracted by a store on the way and I brought another hoodie, so I went back to the apartment to drop it off, rather than carry it around town.  We then caught a subway down to the waterfront.  We were going to catch a ferry over to Toronto Island Park,  but when we got there, there were about 500 people waiting so we decided against that and wander the waterfront instead.  We then came across a small boat service doing an hour tour of the harbour, and had an option to drop you off on the island on the way, so we decided we would do that instead.  It was cool, I enjoy a good boat trip. 

Toronto Island is cool; it’s really pretty with heaps of gardens and stuff, and an old carnival park.  When we got over to the island we wanted some lunch.  There were a couple of crappy places to get food by the amusement rides, but we decided to do a half hour walk to the nicer place that the captain of the boat recommended.  Rob and I joked around that it was probably half an hour for a fat American, but the joke was on us – cause it was actually a half hour walk.  It was worth it though as the lunch was really good.   Rob had some Calamari and I had a pulled pork sandwich.  The island had great views back towards the city, apparently it was really popular in the 1920’s because Canada didn’t have the prohibition laws that the States did at that time, so heaps of Americans would go over to get pissed.  They used to have hotels and even a baseball stadium, but got rid of lots of stuff and made it into a park.  The baseball stadium was the first place that Babe Ruth ever hit a home run, as a 19 year old rookie pitcher, which is pretty out of it.

We jumped back on the ferry to head back as Joan had another 1 on 1 session at Apple, and Rob wanted to go along as well.  Once back on the mainland we passed the Air Canada Centre, so I inquired about how much the tour was.  I decided I would go on it while R & J had the 1 on 1.  It turns out that I am really glad that I did.  The Air Canada Centre is the home of the Toronto Maple Leafs (Ice Hockey Team) and the Toronto Raptors (NBA Basketball team), they also have concerts there and Britney Spears and Nicki Minaj played the night before.   It was a great tour, behind the scenes.  They had a big statue out the front that has spotlights that light up the sky, its is decorated with stars and the guy said that it is stars rather than maple leafs because the owners of the Maple Leafs brought a constellation and named it the “Maple Leaf Constellation’”  - I know??? Who buys stars right? And who gets the money from said purchase.  Well apparently you can, www.nameastarlive.com. Here is what the website says; Starting at $19.95, Name A Star Live is a wonderful, unique gift that people everywhere for Father's Day. Everyone loves having a star named† after them. It's a meaningful and symbolic gift - perfect for Fathers Day, a graduation, a birthday, anniversary, baby shower, thanks to a client or top employee, or just a fun & touching way to say "you're special."  Sounds like a crock of shit to me, and reminds me of the story of the guy in New York, that sold heaps of bridges and shit to people, and more than once.  Anyway, I got to stand at centre court of an NBA team stadium, which to me was pretty special.   I also learnt that every team in the NBA has to get a new floor/court every four years, to make sure they are up to scratch.  The Raptors are updating theirs for the upcoming season.  We were also shown a video of how they change the stadium from an Ice Hockey venue to a Basketball venue and then concerts; it’s pretty amazing and takes about 8 hours between each change over.  Another buzzy fact is that people can buy a license to one of the season ticket seats.  It costs $82 thousand dollars to secure it and that is before you pay for any of the actual tickets.  The $82 thousand means you get first option on any tickets going for games or concerts; the waiting list to secure these seats is twenty years.  The money that must go through the place is incredible.  We were told about the different prices for seats around the stadium, corporate boxes and executive suites – it is all totally insane.  The Maple Leafs haven’t won a Stanley Cup for forty years or something, but games have been sold out for ages – as they are such a popular team (which makes sense as Toronto is the biggest city in Canada).

After the tour I took a subway back to the apartment and met up with Rob and Joan.  We had a nice home cooked meal here, and packed up our luggage and cleaned up and stuff as we have an early start in the morning.  We have a taxi coming to pick us up at 6.15am for our flight to Boston, and arrive in Boston at 10.30am.  So Canada has been great fun, but it’s back to the US of A for me.  Yeeehaaa!

Toronto, or if your a local 'Toronna'

Well, it’s been a few days between posts. (Apologies to those who have been travelling vicariously through these blogs, time to get back on board).  So.... On Monday (15th August) we packed up our things and left the cottage at Lake Erie.  We then drove up to Toronto, (Stopping for a break in London on the way).  We arrived in Toronto in the mid-afternoon, and dropped of our bags at the accom, as the room wasn't quite ready yet, then went to drop off the rental car.  We then went and found the Apple store, as Joan had a '1 on 1' training session booked for 4pm.  We found that no problem, and let me tell you, it's no wonder that Apple has more money than the USA.  I have been to the Apple stores in each city I Have visited, and they are all popping off – it’s insane.

Rob and I left Joan for her lesson and went back to the hotel to move all our bags in and stuff.   I made contact with a friend of man called Nathan.  I arranged to meet him on a street corner in the city at 6.30pm.  Nathan is a DJ that Kyla and I recorded a song with about 4-5 years ago.  We never met him, but sent audio tracks over the internet and came up with a breaks tune (it was in the days of MySpace and just before Facebook.).  So I went and met him and he took me to a local spot for some dinner and a few beers.  It was cool to meet him, it’s kind of like meeting a pen pal I guess.  We had a good chat about the differences between our two countries and what we had been up to over the last few years.  He then took me to another bar in town, which was a cool little spot down a side street, so it was nice having some local knowledge or I would never have found those places.   I then walked him to his subway stop, and wandered home.  I had a bit of a thirst on by then, so I stopped in at a little Irish pub just around the corner from the accom.  I like going into bars and just watching people, you get a good feel of a place by doing that I have discovered.  There were a couple of games on the telly, so I tried to follow them a bit, and then headed back to get some sleep.  The following morning we got up early as Rob and I wanted to go up the CN Tower, but had read on trip advisor that there can be long queues.  We got there just after 9am, so we ended up being one of the first people up there for the day.   It was pretty cool, great way to check out the size of the city and give yourself  a bit of orientation.

Rob and I brought a package deal so after checking out the view we got to go and see a 3D short movie about surfing in Tahiti featuring Kelly Slater.   It was pretty awesome.  The 3D in those things are way better than at the movies, and it was crystal clear, so looked pretty cool.

We then went on a ‘motion ride’, like the one at Te Papa that moves around while you look at the screen and squirts water at you and stuff.  It was pretty hard case, but the animation on the screen let it down a bit.  The other funny thing was that both these extra things in the package deal – had nothing to do with Canada – which we thought was a little odd, but we had fun.

After checking out the CN Tower we went and looked at the St Lawrence Market place.  Over 120 specialty merchants and vendors await you at Toronto's premier market* at Front and Jarvis Streets. In the centre of the historic Old Town Toronto, close to the hub of today's downtown, sit three buildings that have served as Toronto's social centre, City Hall and market place throughout the City's history.  It was really interesting to look at all the different food, and the different smells are amazing too.  Following this we took a streetcar a couple of blocks and then looked through a few shops as I am looking to buy a new suit.  It seems that the deals and sales are much better in the USA, so we are going to have a look when we are in Boston.  I think I am going to have to bite the bullet and buy another suitcase as well.  As I would rather do that and be able to buy things without having to worry about how I will get stuff home.  Anyway after lunch we came back to where we are staying, and I had a Sauna and a swim in the pool, then took an afternoon nap. 

In the evening I took a couple of Subways and met Nathan again out in a suburb that he lives in.  He showed me around the neighbourhood a bit and then we went back to his place for a few beers.  He has a nice studio setup at his place so we compared music and stuff for a while.  He also showed me a BBC documentary on Planet Earth, he had a few of them in a series, and the way they have filmed them is incredible.  We were watching them on Blue Ray on a big TV – so they look great.  I would be interested to check out some more in the series.   He then walked me to the Subway, and I cruised back into town.  The subway system is cool, it’s like New York, but a lot cleaner and there are only two lines basically, so extremely easy to navigate.   I stopped in the city to get some dinner on the way home, and walked down the main street to check out the shops and people out at 11.30pm on a Tuesday night.   So that’s been it over the last couple of days.  Rob and I are going to go and check out the waterfront area today – and then see where the day takes us.  Tomorrow we have an early start (about 5am) as we fly to Boston quite early.  Still having the greatest trip ever, and looking forward to the sights ahead.  Oh, by the way, the snow back in New Zealand has featured on the news in Canada for the last two nights in a row.  So we are all thinking of you – part of me is sorry I missed it, but I have to admit, it is a very, very small part of me J Stay Well Everyone – Love Ya. Miz.

Oh, One more thing, I took some photos with big animals ha ha;

Ribs To Die For

Today we did some more chilling and hanging aboot (That’s Canadian for about).  Joan went with her sister in law and nieces to the USA to look for a wedding dress, and Rob and I returned some things to stores for various reasons and went searching for unsecured internet connections.   Late in the afternoon, Joan’s brother Jim picked us up and drove us to the ‘Tunnel Bar-B-Que’ to meet the others for dinner.   The BBQ is in Windsor, which is on the Detroit River and the bridge to the USA is the busiest boarding crossing for traffic in the world.   There is also a tunnel across to Detroit and the restaurant sits above said tunnel.

Now I was told that the ribs were amazing, and boy oh boy they sure were!!  I wish I could have smell or taste a vision in this blog because I am lost for words to describe them.  They were the best ribs I have ever tasted and I chowed down on them big time.  The restaurant has been famous for them since they opened in 1947.   We had dinner with Joan’s family, her brother Jim, his wife Janine, and their two daughters Jill and Jennifer (They have a dog called Justice, their previous two dogs were called Judge & Jury).  Are you noticing a theme here??  Jennifer’s fiancé Kyle also joined us for dinner.   We then drove back to the cottage via Jim’s house to pick up our rental car.  On the way back to the cottage Joan asked if I have been having a good time and whether I was bored or not – as they have been ‘dragging me all over Ontario”.  I can honestly say I have not been bored at all, it’s been great seeing the places that Joan grew up and the friends she made while living here, putting names to faces and all that sort of stuff.   It’s also been cool spending some quality time with Rob & Joan rather than just a couple of days here or there.  The other thing is that it has been a nice bit of respite between New York and my travels ahead in Toronto, Boston, Las Vegas and LA, but after saying all that, I don’t think I could do another week here. J

On the drive back to the cottage we also talked about the electrical storm, and how it has been a shame I didn’t get to catch one.  There was a clear sky and a great big full moon out.   I took a picture of it;

About an hour or so later, our wishes came true and an amazing storm passed by on the lake.   Sheet and forked lightning like I have never seen before, it was incredible.  We turned off the lights in the house and sat in the front room watching it for a while.   I took some video footage, but it was pretty hard to capture as you never know where the next strike will hit, and just have to try your luck.  I edited it into a little video, which I will post on Facebook.  We then all retired to bed.  I was having a patchy sleep and awoke at around 4am to heaps of flashing in my room.  I looked out and another storm had developed across the lake, and this one was incredible too as it was far away and the lightning was coming down to the ground, as well as being a different colour from a distance.  I got up and watched it for an hour or so.  It is pretty mesmerising and I can sort of understand why people chase storms – although that’s on another level all together.  I also took some video footage of that storm too. (On Facebook)

Today we are going out on Jim’s boat.  It is overcast here today, (after the storms) but the lake is flat which is good.  We are then going out for dinner again with the family.  We are all packed up and ready to go so we can leave for Toronto first thing in the morning, I am looking forward to checking it out and also meeting this DJ friend of mine called Nathan Beers, whom Kylie and I did a track with (‘Heading on a mission’) many years ago over the internet, and neither of us ever met him.  We are hopefully going to try and record a track while I am there.

So that’s all from me for now, my next blog will be from Toronto.  Stay well one and all.  Much Love, Mizzle.

PS:  I see the big issues over in NZ at the moment are the government inquiry into the price of milk and an issue with Adidas overpricing the All Blacks jerseys – ah I miss you NZ. J

Lazy Days in Canada

So it’s been a really nice relaxing time by the lake over the last couple of days.  Rob and I went to check out the site of Uncle Tom’s Cabin.

 In the 1830s, the Reverend Josiah Henson and other abolitionists sought ways to provide refugees from slavery with the education and skills they needed to become self-sufficient in Upper Canada.  Harriet Beecher Stowe, the author of Uncle Tom’s cabin used Josiah Henson’s memoirs (1849) as reference material for her novel.  He did a number of trips on the Underground Railroad, which is not a railroad, nor is it underground.  They were called conductors, and showed black slaves a safe passage through to Canada, by using sympathetic people along the way to hide them.   It’s a pretty amazing story – and the place certainly had an interesting ‘feel’ to it.

We then drove over to Port Lambton which is on the St Clair river on the Canadian side.  Across the other side of the river (which looks almost like spitting distance) is the USA.  We had dinner with some old neighbours of Joan’s who were lovely people.   They served up so much food for dinner, and I ate a T-bone steak that looked bigger than my head.  It has to be one of the biggest steaks I have ever seen, over here though it is considered to be small.   After dinner some other friends popped over.  One of these people had been carjacked about a month earlier in Detroit by gunpoint,  he was selling his Jag convertible to a guy, and on the second day of negotiation the guy pulled a gun on him while driving and told him to throw his cell phone out the window, then left him on the side of the freeway.   There are a few more details to the story, but will save them to tell in person, on my return home – but it was certainly a reminder to stay smart while over here.  Everyone is so nice and polite, but like anywhere, there will be people who try to take advantage. 

Otherwise we have had a couple of lovely lunches and dinners with a variety of local people that Joan knows which has been really cool.  One guy we had dinner with last night (Gary and his wife Linda) was sidesplittingly funny.  It’s neat listening to stories and peoples accents.

So I would like to mention a few things about this part of Canada.  Its FLAT, like a pancake, the local joke around here is that there is one hill, and that’s the rubbish dump.   Which is why they talk about the ‘big sky’ in Canada.   It looks amazing, as it is not broken up by hills or anything.  It’s a strange feeling, standing in a spot and turning around, and being able to see flat land as far as the eye can see.  One guy I spoke to said your dog could run away from home, and you would see still be able to see it walking away three days later – ha ha.   Also it’s true that Canadian people are very polite.  Tonight we are going to a place called the Tunnel Bar-B-Que, which apparently has the best ribs “On the planet’ according to locals. So I am looking forward to that.

Much Love.  Miz