Jojo September 29th, 2008
Toronto was what filled the whole day, obviously. We drove the 10 miles into town and parked right in the centre, which for two people is still cheaper than using public transportation (and I’d guess much less stressful). We emerged from the subterrain parking deck and saw the city at light we had only briefly looked at yesterday night. First we took the University Ave north, until we hit the (guess what) University of Toronto (“The U of T”). At least that’s what we thought when we tried to get into the big old building that looked like it was the universities administrative or main building. Only when we saw the armed guards in front of it when began to question our initial guess. It turned out that the building we saw was in fact the Legaslative Assembly of Ontario, where, lucky for us, the house was in session. We were told to take the side-entrance, where we had to surrender basically everything we carried, then took the elevator up, were security-screened and then led into the gallery where we sat down to observe the House. The bill they were discussing was, coincidentally, about the Ontario health system, specifically about the very urgent need for more doctors, which led to proposals (from the opposition) about relaxing immigration policies concerning the fact that qualified immigrants cannot easily work in their field of expertise when they arrive, but have to drive taxis instead, as one member of the House put it. After some time we left, but still it was very interesting and not at all boring (but I guess it can be if you had to sit there day in day out ;).
After missing it at the first try, we walked around the campus of the U-of-T and continued on Bloor St until it intersected with Yonge. There we took a right, heading straight for the harbor, and getting a better look at the stores and skyscrapers (and Dundas Square). We paid a visit to Eaton Centre before we arrived at Front St. Our guide pointed out the Flatiron building (shaped like a wedge, much like the Chrysler-building) but we didn’t find it a first until we discovered that it was completely covered into construction rigs (so no photos for you guys). Frustrated we went straight to the CN Tower, but didn’t go up, partly because of our fear of heights, partly because of the hefty price-tag (an elevator-ride is seldom worth $16 in my oppinion). We looked at the Quay and the musical garden (dreamt up by noone else than Yo-Yo Ma himself ;) before we started noticing our feet again and decided to head home.
Tomorrow we’ll probably pay a visit to the german capital of Ontario, Kitchener/Waterloo, and St. Jacobs.
Jojo September 28th, 2008
The last two days weren’t really that exciting, which is why I’m only designating one post for them.
On Saturday we left our little cabin, had breakfast at the harbor and then went on to Rockport. There we took a 1-hour boat-cruise around the Thousand Islands (yes, that’s were the salad-dressing got its name) which let’s you see some of the expensive houses put there by millionaires on both sides of the border. Getting the material there certainly is one big challenge, and I can’t begin to think about how they manage to get electricity and water supply to these houses. Unfortunately the boat was packed with asian tourist. Now, I don’t mind asians, they’re friendly and small, so they don’t block your view. But I can’t understand why they have to take a picture about every 20 seconds, and not just a picture of the beautiful castle, but nooo, it always has to have grandma in front of the original motive, occupying about 90% of the image frame…
Anyway, we drove until Kingston (along a very scenic shore-drive) where we visited the marine museum (and the icebreaker Alexander Henry).
On sunday we left for Toronto, again along the shore. Prince Edward County was especially beautiful, and worth a trip. We even had to take a ferry at Glenora, which is free and just takes about 5 minutes to get to the other shore. But even in the 10 minutes we waited some nice canadian people walked up to our car and we had chat. We picknicked in Cobourg and then took the highway into Toronto. After securing a room for the night we drove downtown and right through Dundas Square, which is as close as it gets to Times Square in NY (Toronto is often used for filming scenes which are set in the big apple, which didn’t surprise us). We walked around town for about 2 hours and watched the sun go down and the bright TV-screens and ads light up, which was really amazing. What we immediately noticed is how clean Toronto is, even in corners where you wouldn’t think so. Satisfied we returned to our (also clean and nice) motel, to embark into the city tomorrow morning.
Jojo September 26th, 2008
Today we left Montreal southbound, along Lake Ontario. We stopped at Upper Canada Village, which is a must-see if you’re in that region and also one of the best examples (I know of) of how American/Canadian museums differ from those known in Europe. The village is an accumulation of houses that you find in the 19th century along the banks of the St Lauren’s river. Because of numerous dams and canals which had to be built in order to generate electricy and provide safe passage for vessels which had to conquer some pretty scary looking rapids before that, a lot of small villages and settlements were flooded. So the government relocated about 6000 people and also managed to put some of their houses and churches on flatbed trucks. A few of the particularly pretty ones were driven to the site where the Upper Canada Village is today (and a few of them were reconstructed). This process started in the 1950s and is still continuing today.
The village is a living museum, that means that you can’t only walk through the streets and look into all of the fully furnished houses, but also that there are actors employed which wear the era’s clothes and go about their daily business. For example there is a broom-maker who makes all the village’s brooms, there is a blacksmith and a saw-mill where all the wood needed for the village is cut into the right shape. Of course these people don’t talk exactly the way it was back then or pretend that we’re not actually living in 2008, but it’s still nice enough to see them around town and visiting one another.
After a very nice day there we drove one for a few miles and managed to get a nice cabin where we’ll spend the night.
Jojo September 21st, 2008
Today we rose early and didn’t waste too much time before taking off. We had to leave Acadia National Park, unfortunately, and headed straight for Bangor. At Bangor we took the I-95 towards Waterville where we switched onto Route 201 North. The lady at the information center in Freeport told us to take this part of the trip early, as it is hunting season right now and wildlife might cross the road. Now, a badger isn’t that big a danger to a car like ours, but a moose, that’s quite a different story. Also she warned us that the area around the 201 would be remote. Well, she was right ;) We got through quite fast though, and had nice weather most of the time. I, again, am missing the words to describe the sheer beauty that is the Maine landscape (the indian summer got more visible up north by the way). Katrin was driving today so I had the chance to take some really good pictures. After cities like Moscow and Jackman we crossed over into Canada. The weather, which had been somewhat foggy, moist and cold up until the border immediately changed to warm and sunny. The roads also got better. After driving through some of Quebec (and stopping once at a really crowded Tim Horton’s) I am inclined to make the following observation: While Maine claims to be “The way life should be” (which is right in most aspects in my opinion), Canada is “The way the US should be”. This means cleaner roads, less ads along the roads, better tended houses and front-lawns and way, way less fast-food stores.
In the afternoon we arrived in Quebec (the city), where we first visited the tourist information center which was really nice and where an employee helped us find a cheap motel close to public-bus service into centre-ville. We even went there for about two hours and I can’t wait to spend the whole of tomorrow there.
Jojo September 19th, 2008
Today we left Portland early, not wanting to see the city itself but rather visit Freeport early. In Freeport we first paid a visit to the Visitor Information Center where we chatted with two nice ladies who not only told us what to do in the city but also where we should stay when we went up to Acadia National Park. After that we started our little shopping tour, with the first waypoint of course being the L.L. Bean flagship store. You can sign up for tours too, but unfortunately they are offered only on weekends, so I didn’t get the chance to participate in the clay-shooting trip. Afterwards we looked at the shops around Main Street and managed to get some really nice bargains (think of stuff which is already cheaper in dollars than it is in euros in Germany, then take into account that the dollar has a lower value than the euro and finally consider the 30% discount on most of the items ;). When we were done in the city we went back to our car, which was parked next to the Freeport Community Center where they have cheap coffee and free internet (didn’t have enough time to write an article though).
At around half past one we left Freeport, since we had made a reservation at the Edenbrook Motel in Bar Harbor for two nights (and this is a place I can recommend without hesitation: cheap ($55/night), clean, big rooms, close to downtown, family-run). We arrived in Bar Harbor earlier than anticipated (didn’t visit the Desert of Maine). The lady at the check-inn explained to us that on Desert Mountain Island (the island Acadia National Park is on) there are free shuttle-busses, so we took one which took us to Bar Harbor. Bar Harbor itself is two things: a town with a very high density of motels/hotels and also a town with a lot of seafood restaurants. We walked around town until we found something not that expensive and had a nice burger with french fries (my 0.3 Budweiser cost almost half as much as the meal). Coming out of the restaurant we immediately realized that we were farther up north as it felt quite cold.
Jojo September 18th, 2008
Today we left Boston, as predicted, and headed for Salem. The drive there was short and pleasent, and we found a parking space directly opposite the visitor’s center. Salem, borrowing from the Freedom Trail, has its own red path which leads visitors through the city, although it is somewhat chaotic, often branching of in two different directions where it clearly should be going straight and not having many information points. At the end of the self-guided tour (which was still nice, although we got pretty sick of all the dozens of witch-museums/stores/nail-studios etc) we decided to visit the Salem Witch Museum.
After Salem we drove around Cape Ann, which is said to be of similar beauty like Cape Cod (I will tell you if that’s correct when we get to Cape Cod ourselves). This was definitely the best part of road we saw today, and with a speed limits of about 25-35 and virtually zero traffic we crawled around the peninsula and took everything in. After Cape Ann we continued heading north, with the intended destination of Portland, ME. We took Route 1, avoiding the I-95 and its turnpike-section in NH and Maine (we weren’t in a rush, and although Route 1 isn’t the prettiest, it was still nicer than taking the Interstate). We stopped when we saw the Kittery Trading Post, an outlet store very similar to L.L. Bean’s (although an employee assured me that the service in Kittery was way better). We got some nice things which were on sale, browsed their enormous inventory and had a look at some of the thousands of rifles and shotguns they had in store. Having gone through our first outlet-shopping-spree (Freeport is closing in too), we decided that we wouldn’t stop until we reached Portland and managed to get a room for the night.
So, now we are at the Motel 6 in Portland, quite tired, again, and without Internet this time, which is why you’ll be reading this post at some future point ;)
Jojo September 17th, 2008
After seeing so much of downtown Boston yesterday, today was completely dedicated to Cambridge (north-west of Boston) and it’s two renowned academic institutions, the MIT and Harvard. We took the red line to Kendall and then walked along Memorial Dr until we hit Massachusetts Ave. There we took a right and ended up right in front of MITs main building, where we passed the time checking out a few of the adjacent buildings. At 11am our tour started, which was led by a very nice undergrad, who talked really really fast and didn’t seem to have a problem doing so while walking backwards for quite some distance. Needless to say, the tour was excellent, especially all the little anecdotes and insider-information which gave you a view on campus life and overall atmosphere from a student’s perspective. It was also nice that the campus was alive with people, things like the Infinite Corridor wouldn’t have the effect that made them so popular without it’s students. We finished the tour back at the main building and, having walked our fair share already, Katrin and I headed to the MIT museum before getting a bite to eat nearby.
After that we took the bus to Harvard Square, and, although still Cambridge, and although it still did feel very different from Boston itself, you immediately sense a shift in people and especially architecture once you step off the bus. We decided against taking another tour and instead just toured the campus ourselves (I dare say I didn’t really see that much ivy). Harvard Yard, the part of Harvard one knows from TV and photographs has an enchanting and timeless atmosphere to it, with it’s old red brick buildings and the huge trees which keep out the sun and cool the whole square. But stepping through one of the gates you’re in the middle of traffic again, which is a bit disappointing in my opinion.
Tiring as it may have been, this day was even better than yesterday and an experience I wouldn’t have wanted to miss. All the facilities and extra-curricular activities that these universities offer (and demand) made us feel pretty jealous too ;) Tomorrow we’ll be leaving Boston to go to Salem and probably make it as far as Portland, ME, where we intend to spend the night.
Katrin September 16th, 2008
Yes, we have arrived. The check-in at DUS was a no-brainer and we were through the bag-drop and security amazingly fast. The flight to Heathrow was on time and quick. In Heathrow we just had to go down one level to get a bus connecting us to Terminal 4. The bus-ride (with only 2 other occupants) was almost longer than the flight to London itself (or so it seemed) and we saw quite a lot of Heathrow. After that we boarded our flight to Boston, which left on time and even managed to gain a few minutes in the process. Unfortunately a woman about 4 rows in front of us managed to poop herself during the last 1 1/2 hours and the smell from there on was almost unbearable for everyone in Economy Class. All the stewards/stewardesses diverted their complete attention to cleaning up the lady and the mess she left behind (they even took apart her seat), and when we finally landed in Boston we had to wait for the paramedics to come in and wheel her out (since when is soiling yourself a medical emergency?). Anyway, after that we had a nice chat with the people from border control, had our fingerprints taken and a photograph made and were finally able to claim our bags.
We then took the shuttle to the Alamo office where the only lady at the counter told us that the car we had booked would be way too small for our luggage (2 people, 2 bags). She kindly offered to upgrade us for a mere $15/day, which we refused. When we got outside the people giving out the cards told us that our size (tiny) wasn’t available anymore, so we got upgraded (free of charge) to a nice sportscar (4 doors, woot!) with a spoiler. Expect photos tomorrow ;)
Now we’re in our Queen-Size bed and it goes without saying, quite tired. We’ll keep you posted.
