P.S. to the last entry

Well here we are at the airport at honolulu having had a great day on ‘Big island ‘ as it is called.  We flew into Hilo and then decided tomchange our flights and fly out of kona.  We got to visit the YWAM University of the Nations but missed Erin McArthur but it was good to see the base.  On our way now

92 Just to let you know where we are

It is October 24th at 7 am.  We are just leaving for the Honolulu airport on O’ahu island hawaii to catch a small plane to another island called Big Island.  This is the island where the YWAM base is but we are not able to work out a visit to the base as the airport is on the wrong side of the island.

However we are hoping to go and see the active volcano, hiring a rental car, driving from Hilo airport. Then we will return to Honolulu tonight to check in for our flight to Fiji.

We check in on Oct 24th, fly out 12.30 am on 25th and arrive 8 hours later on the 26th.  This means our wedding anniversery this year on the 25th October will be only a couple of hours before we cross the international dateline.

We will be staying at the Club Fiji resort from Oct 26 – 29th but we are not sure if they have internet connections so if we don’t reply to an email you will know why.

Love Warwick and Chris

91. San Francisco.

Monday 13^th October.

We were up early to be ready for the bus back to Calgary airport where we were to take the plane to Seattle then San Francisco. It was a good drive along excellent roads and we arrived at the airport in plenty of time. We went to the check in and found that in re- arranging our flights a mistake had been made in the reservation from Calgary to Seattle. What with the phone calls to other airlines, it took us over an hour to get past the check in counter. Just as well we were early.

Our flights to Seattle and then San Francisco were smooth with clear views of San Francisco Golden gate bridge as we came over the city. We had booked a room at the YWAM base in Ellis St in central San Francisco and they had recommended we take the Bay Area Rail Transport (BART) to Powell St Station and walk the remainder of the way. When we arrived at that station at about 10.00pm we asked a couple of Rail Police which way we needed to go. They decided that at that time of night and as we were obviously tourists it would be better if we had an escort and the two of them walked us along Ellis St to the YWAM Hostel. A distance of about 400 metres. (This was the second time we have had a police escort…but this time in very different circumstances.)

We were soon in our allocated room and pleased to get to bed.

 

Tuesday 14^th October.

After a false start as Chris had left her camera at the hostel, and as we returned we bought some food supplies for our room, we finally made it onto the SF cable car towards Fisherman’s Wharf. The weather was warmer than we had expected and we had shed our jerseys when we had returned to the hostel to pick up the camera.

At Lombard street we left the cable car to walk down the ‘Crookedest Street’ in San Francisco. There are eight hairpin turns on a 40 degree slope about 150 metres long. (Has been in used in some films, we remember). We then walked down to Fisherman’s Wharf area to see the sights. This included a boat trip to underneath the Golden Gate bridge and a cruise passed Alcatraz Island.

We later spent some time watching the many seals on floating platforms near Pier 39 and had a stroll through the shops on the wharf. We returned to the hostel via the cable car.

 

Wednesday 15^th October.

The YWAM base in San Francisco is in Ellis street and while close to Powell Street where the cable cars operate, the base is at the fringe of the area where the unemployed and homeless hang out. Across the road is the Glide Memorial Methodist Church that provides a soup kitchen twice a day for these unfortunate people who live on the streets in the area. The people start to queue for the meal at about 10.30 am and the queue increases to about 200 metres long nearer the lunch hour. We have been approached several times by people asking for ‘change’ to buy a beer.

The lobby area of the YWAM base is open certain hours of the day to provide a place for some of these people who come in off the street for a coffee and some fall asleep in the lounge chairs provided or play pool or even the piano. The YWAM staff do a wonderful job providing for those who come in.

We travelled again on another line of the cable car up Washington street to Nob Hill and near Grace Cathedral and then back down to Union square. Wandered into China Town which takes up quite a few blocks of San Francisco then back through Union Square to have a ‘shop’ in Macey’s department store. Union Square was being prepared for the women’s marathon that starts from that point on Sunday 19^th with several marquees erected.

We broke our walk to the hostel with a meal of samosa and a drink at the nearby New Delhi restaurant.

 

Thursday 16^th October.

We decided late in the day to visit Sausalito on the other side of the Golden Gate. First we went by tram to the San Francisco Port Terminal where we caught a ferry boat for Sausalito at 5.30 pm, with some of the commuters going home after work. The journey across the harbour took about 30 minutes and we arrived at Sausalito at about 6.00 pm.

We started to walk along the tidy foreshore and felt it was a little like Oriental Parade. We decided we would continue our walk to the Golden Gate bridge and across it towards San Francisco. The distance did not look too far but after the first half hour when the road left the harbour side we went to a shop to seek directions. We had been heading in the correct direction and were advised we had another half hour before we got to the bridge. We pressed on up the hill on the side of a road without a footpath and finally arrived at the lookout point near the bridge after the sun had set.

Fortunately the weather was calm although a little gloomy at 7.00 pm as we started to walk the 3 kilometres over the bridge. That journey with a few stops to look at the lights of S.F. took another 45 minutes. We were not the only ones on the bridge in the dark at that hour as we passed many people and cyclists on the way. The commuter traffic was extremely heavy and the roar of the vehicles mingled with the vibrations of the bridge. We finally arrived at a bus terminal at Fort Point on the southern end of the bridge at 8.00 pm. We waited for 15 minutes for a bus that took us along the waterfront to Fort Mason and then another one to the Cable car terminal at Hyde St. We enjoyed yet another Cable Car ride and we were thankful we had purchased a 7 day pass on the cable cars and municipal transport. This time though there was maintenance on the cables and about half way along the trip we were off loaded and travelled the remainder of the journey by a shuttle bus.

Back at the hostel we had a welcome sit down with our feet up before going to bed.

 

Friday 17^th October.

We had a lazy day spent mostly at the YWAM hostel as we were a little on the weary side after our exercise of the previous day. Late in the afternoon we took a tram and then bus down to Marina Green where a display refugee village had been set up by the ‘Medicens sans Frontiers’ group and we were shown about by a doctor who had been involved in both Darfur and Vietnam. The aim was to show people a glimpse of what it was like to be a refugee.

The residential area we were in was near the waterfront and was very pretty with houses built in the Spanish style and all looking very neat and prosperous as were the pleasure boats in the Marina.

We started out for our return to the city in a bus that became very crowded, and had a hold up when one end of a sheet of metal protecting the moveable wheel chair ramp under the bus, dropped down on the road and could not be repaired. We were offloaded and had to wait for the next bus to the city. A few young larrikins were aboard and we were happy to depart that bus nearer the city and continue back to the hostel on the back platform of yet another cable car.

 

 

Saturday 18^th October.

Another relatively quiet day. We took a local bus to the Golden Gate Park but by the time we got there in late afternoon the wind was very brisk and cool so we decided after a short stay that we would return to the city. We did a quick trip to Westfield’s shopping centre, had a last ride on a cable car up Powell Street and returned to the hostel.Sunday 19^th October.

It was time to pack up again and leave for the airport on our 3 pm flight to Honolulu.

90 The Canadian Rockies

Wednesday 8th^th October.

We awoke to fresh overnight snow and looking out of the hotel window we saw about two inches of snow on the roofs of the nearby houses and cars outside our window. What a sight. After a slow start we again layered up with clothes and left the hotel to catch the bus to the Sulphur Mountain Gondola and as it climbed the lower slopes we could see the snow covering the ground between the fir trees. We were soon in the gondola swinging our way up the steep climb over the ‘Christmas’ tree like landscape.

The 7500 foot high mountain had a restaurant and viewing platform at the terminal with a 360 degree view around the Rockies. A wooden walkway covered in snow about 6 inches deep allowed us to cross to the summit of another peak, Mt Sanson 7667 feet about 400 yards away. We walked across in brilliant sunshine as did many other tourists. We met two Canadian sisters who with a bottle of champagne and two glasses were about to have a toast in memory of their mother who was an ‘adventurer’. We took some photos of the occasion on their cameras.

The day was clear and we could see for miles down to Banff and the valley beyond as well as the surrounding mountains. Just before we left to go down in the gondola we saw a couple with a young son 10.5 months old and the wee man was wearing an ‘All Black’ jersey. We started a conversation with the parents who were both Canadian but the child’s aunt had been living in NZ for 8 years and she had sent the jersey.

Before we took the bus back into Banff we visited the hot baths heated by a spring from the mountain.

Thursday 9^th October.

Our plan had been to spend some time in Banff to get our paper work completed and print our Blog. But the day dawned without a cloud in the sky though very coo and we decided we could not waste such a beautiful day inside so Chris arranged for a rental car to be picked up at 11.00 am and we checked out of the hotel and set off towards Lake Louise and then Jasper on the Icefields Parkway.

It took about an hour on Highway One to Lake Louise. We were treated to the wonderful sight of this pretty lake with fir trees down to the edge and the lake fed from a glacier in the distance. The Fairmont Resort was nearby but the tariff was a bit beyond our pocket. We spent some time at the lake before getting ourselves a coffee (not at the Fairmont) and driving to the start of the Icefields Parkway.

This road to Jasper is 230 km long, well constructed with many long straights and capable of speeds above 100 kph. However as animals cross the road at various points the speed limit varies from 60 to 90 kph. and the mountains are on both sides of the road.. Our road map pointed out viewing points along the way and we were able to stop where and when we wished, to enjoy and photograph the majestic scenery. At a stop at Peyto Lake a local pointed out that we could drive closer if we took another side road and drove around the barrier placed across the road. We did this and found ourselves in a delightful view point looking down the lake and also across to another glacier. There are 25 glaciers of various sizes to be seen from the Parkway.

We finally arrived in Jasper at close to 7.00 pm, as the sun was setting and we stopped and watched a small group of Elk (like reindeer) cross the road just as we entered the town. We found a room at the Jasper Inn and settled in for the night. The expected temperature overnight was minus 6 degrees C.

Friday 10^th October.

Although we had thought we might spend some time at the hotel the day had dawned with clear skies and no wind. We cleaned the frost from the car windows, dressed warmly and headed out to see the nearby lakes. The first one was at the Jasper Fairmont hotel and the Jasper golf course. As we walked the 2 to 3 kilometres around this lake, we were favoured with many views reflected in the almost still waters that were pristinely clear. We saw chipmunks darting about but very little bird life.

At one bay we came across two men in scuba gear and from them ascertained the water was about 4 degrees. One fellow was training the other from what we could see. Further around the lake we came to the 14^th tee of the golf course and as we were pretending Chris was about to tee off across the arm of the lake a group of 4 golf carts arrived with 8 people and we watched the experts tee off across about 70 yards of water. They were taking photos and Chris offered to take their group photo. We completed our walk and marvelled at the wonderful setting for the golf course.

Fortunately prior to leaving the Fairmont we bought a pair of gloves for Warwick to wear as the temperature was close to freezing.

Later we visited two more lakes but by this time the breeze had commenced and the clouds started to come over making the air even colder. We did not venture far at either of these lakes but agreed they could not compare with the views at the first one. As we drove back towards Jasper we took some photos of the river and watched a goods train go through the town, it seemed to be about 2 kilometers long. After shopping in Jasper we were quite pleased to get back to the warmth of the hotel.

Saturday 11^th October.

It was again a cool morning. As we could not book our hotel for another night (we were told the other hotels in Jasper were full, it was Thanksgiving Day on Monday 13th and a long weekend) we decided to make the most of another fine day and drive back down the Icefields Parkway towards Banff. We agreed that we would try and see some of the sights we missed on the drive to Jasper. These included the Athabasca Falls and the Sunwapta Falls and also Horseshoe Lake. These were great to see especially with the ice formations on the rocks where the water was pouring over. The Horseshoe lake was still without a breeze to disturb the surface.

As we climbed towards the Sunwapta pass (2030m) we stopped at a rock face where the Tangle Creek was spilling over. This creek was almost frozen and a wonderful sight.

From that point it was only a kilometre to the Columbia Icefield. We stopped at the Icefield Centre to consider whether to go up to the top of the glacier by special bus. We decided against that trip but took our car to a carpark below the toe of the glacier where we could see people walking to the glacier. Although the sun was shining we were extremely cold as we walked up the icy path with the breeze blowing across the glacier towards us. The discomfort was worth it. We reached the toe of the glacier and stood alongside the huge lumps of ice that had fallen from the edge of the glacier and at one point could see under the glacier and many icicles.

On our return to the car we walked 200 metres to a nearby lake that was completely frozen over. The ice was several inches thick and like many before us we bowled rocks onto the ice and watched them skid for 50 to 70 metres depending on whether they missed the many rocks sitting on the surface. A bit like curling.

While we had a few more stops on the way to take photos of icy rivers and mountains (the car temperature gauge showed minus two degrees C outside) we made good time to Banff arriving as the sun was going down. We went back to the hotel we had been in previously but found, like Jasper the towns hotels were almost all booked out. Fortunately with the help of one hotel receptionist, we managed to get a room at the Ptarmigan Inn for our last two nights in Banff.

Sunday 12 th October.

The car had to be returned by 11.00am so we were on foot for the rest of our stay. The weather had changed and had become overcast and cold. One degree C at midday!! The shops were open so we went out to see if there were any bargains (no), had a hot lunch in a food hall and returned to the hotel to enjoy the warmth and prepare for our early departure next day.

At 6.30 pm we decided to find a church service to attend and picked the Banff Full Gospel Church and walked the few blocks from the hotel. On the way to the church we passed a young Elk that had wondered into the town, grazing on a front lawn. We arrived at the church at 7.00 to find the service started at 7.30 pm. We chatted to the pastor as we waited and listened to the small music group prepare for the service. About 25 people attended and we enjoyed the service led by a young Philippine fellow.

On the way back to the hotel Warwick informed Chris that he had read that a black bear had been found in a tree in that particular street on the Monday of the previous week and rangers had closed off the street to protect both residents and the bear. Chris did not break into a gallop but we did quicken the pace !

 

89. Calgary and Canadian Rockies

 

Sunday 5^th October. Today was a pack up day ready for the Bus and Ferry trip back to Vancouver Airport as Kate had a very early flight to Portland on Monday morning. Chris and Kate did some souvenir shopping while Warwick waited at the bus station with a book. It was again a good crossing to the mainland, very calm and clear though quite chilly outside.

We booked into a small motel near to the airport and then went for a short walk to take in some for the area, called at IHOP (the pancake one) and then tried to have an early night.

 

Monday 6^th October.

Our alarms went off at 4.30 am and we were on the the 5.00 am shuttle bus from the hotel to the airport for Kate’s flight at 7.20 am. We all went as Chris and Warwick had decided to fly to Calgary at 10.00am.

We had a great time with Kate had enjoyed her company for the six days and were sad to see her off on her plane. By now we are used to hanging around in airports so we were content to wait there for our flight to Calgary. We need to count up but we have made over 40 flights so far on this trip.

The plane took off in fine but cloudy weather and we landed in fine weather in Calgary’s ‘fall’ season. As we came in to land we could see the yellow of the autumn leaves on the trees, a pretty sight. We also caught some glimpses of the snow on the Rockies as we flew over. We found ourselves a Travelodge to stay in for the night and then walked to a nearby train/tram station and went into Calgary city about 20 minutes away. A young fellow on the train gave us directions about sights in Calgary city. We walked through the city and then along a beautiful river area and took many pictures, before going up the Calgary Tower for the views at sunset.

It was dark as we emerged from the tower. We had a meal in town and were served by a girl from New South Wales who had been travelling in South America. We returned by the tram that travels down the city streets and out to our hotel for a cold walk back to the hotel.

We contacted the airline and changed our itinery so that we flew to san Francisco from Calgary without returning to Vancouver.

Tuesday 7^th October.

We were preparing for what seemed to be a fine day when a major storm approached and we watched from the hotel room as dust blew up and then the wind and rain hit the hotel. The storm lasted about an hour and was quite spectacular and as it cleared we left for the airport in the hotel shuttle to get a bus to Banff. The two hour bus ride was through the plains area around Calgary and after an hour we started to get closer to the Rockies. What a sight as we approached Banff ! We were dropped off in Banff on the footpath outside some budget motels and we took a room at the first one we went into called The Red Carpet Inn.

The air was cool as it was 4.00 pm and the sun had left the town. We donned our warmer clothes, more layers actually, and went for a walk through the shops enjoying, much like the other tourists, the grand scenery looming over the town. We found a supermarket and bought a few things for a scratch meal in our room and our staple nibbles which are dried apricots, cheddar cheese (which is orange in Canada) and some fruit. We had a collection of brochures to read in preparation for our stay in the Rockies but we never really got around to looking at most of them, we just went out and filled the days with wonderful views of the snow capped mountains.

 

88. Portland and Vancouver

Monday 29^th September.

Our flight across USA, coast to coast, lasted about 6 hours and the plane was full. We had a little hassle at Newark airport as when we had changed to E-tickets in Heathrow, KLM had removed some of our paper tickets and Newark decided they wanted them. Anyway we managed to resolve that after a few moments of anxiety as we knew Kate would be waiting to meet us. It was a good flight and we had clear views of the land beneath. As we approached Portland we had a great aerial view of one of the volcanic peaks covered in snow.

 

We arrived to a warm welcome from Kate and her Canadian friends, Lisa and Grant Erikson and their two children Austin and Dylan. They dropped us off at our Oxford Suite Hotel and arranged to pick us up later for a meal at their home.

The weather was very warm, about 30 C, and we had a good evening out at the Eriksons lovely home in the countryside. Grant returned us all, (Kate included) to the hotel and arranged to pick us up at 6.45 am next day to deliver us to the rail station at Oregon City for our trip to Seattle.

Tuesday 30^th September.

Grant arrived and we were soon at the station. The air was brisk as we waited for the train. It was late but once on board (business class comfort) we settled down for the 4 hour trip north. For the first hour or so we were in a sea fog and did not see a lot of Puget sound but when that cleared we enjoyed the beautiful scenery into Seattle where we arrived at midday. We left our suitcases at the station and headed out into Seattle city to see the local sights and find ourselves some accommodation.

Our walk around included a visit to Pike Street Farmers Market where the first Starbucks store in the world was established. A must for Kate as she worked for Star Bucks in NZ.

Seattle is a clean and tidy city and we made the most of the good weather. In the late afternoon we collected our bags and made our way to the nearby Silver Cloud Hotel, situated very near to the Baseball and Football stadiums. The stadiums appeared to have sliding roofs for the winter weather.

Wednesday 1^st October.

The hotel courtesy car returned us to the station for our 7.40 am train to Vancouver. Again a 4 hour trip, but comfortable on the top floor of a double deck carriage, normal class this time. It was a neat trip as we moved through many areas of market gardens and crops, coastal areas and in the foot hills of the mountains. We arrived in Vancouver and made our way by Taxi to the Ramada Inn.

We then set out to explore Vancouver. Kate was our navigator and did very well in directing us to the ferry across to north Vancouver and to Grouse Mountain. We had a cable car ride up 3000 feet in clear weather, had lunch and a walk around at the terminal. We watched a ‘Lumber jack display’ and took photos of a couple of full size Grizzly bears in a large compound. We were tempted to take a helicopter ride but the price per person turned out to be steeper than the mountains!

Wed returned to our hotel and Kate tried to make contact with her friends in Vancouver.

Thursday 2^nd October.

We awoke to light rain as we went to the information centre. As it was wet we decided to take the Sky train to North Westminster where we had a look at the harbour side, had lunch and returned into the city. The rain continued as we took a walk in Gastown, and saw the steam driven clock. It was not unlike a large Grandfather clock, on the pavement and with steam drifting out the top. The chimes were ‘Westminster’ but sounded like a train whistle!!

We returned to our hotel, watched the USA vice Presidential debate on TV, then went out and bought some Pizza for dinner, and the day was over.

Friday 3^rd October.

After a slow start in the morning we took a taxi to the Pacific central train station and caught a bus to Victoria on Vancouver Island. The journey took about 3 ½ hours and included a ride for over an hour to the ferry terminal then drive on to the ferry for the crossing. We went up to the passenger deck and had a meal during the hour and a quarter crossing. The sailing was so calm that it felt like we were still tied up at the dock with only the engines running. Once at Vancouver island there was another half hour drive to the city of Victoria.

While the weather was showery, there was no wind and we enjoyed the pretty scenery on the way in to the harbour and then along the road to town. Chris and Kate had organised a hotel on line and on arrival at the bus depot we were able to walk to the Embassy Inn about ten minutes away. This was past the Parliament building and the inner boat harbour.

Our apartment rooms were quite spacious. After settling in we walked up to the city centre along the waterfront, did some retail therapy by checking out some of the shops that were still open on late shopping night and went to the food hall in a department store for some tea. We lost Kate on the way up to the fourth floor food hall. She had gone ahead and Chris and Warwick were a couple of floors below looking for her. Chris went up and down the escalators a couple of times while Kate was waiting for us in the food hall!!

On first appearances Victoria was a pretty city with fine buildings and well looked after streets. On the way back to our hotel in the dark and the rain we arrived at the Parliament buildings to find them outlined in lights right up to the domed roof line. It was quite spectacular.

Kate made contact with a friend from YWAM and they arranged to meet on Saturday.

Saturday 4^th October.

It rained again. Kate went out with two friends from YWAM who had been on the DTS with her in Perth. Chris and Warwick decided that rather than visit the local gardens, the BC Victoria museum was the place to spend the day. We were surprised at the extremely high standard of the exhibits and spent a lot longer at the museum than expected.

When we came out of the building we found that the wind had increased to a decent blow as we made our way to do some shopping. We arrived back at the hotel to enjoy the warmth and to find that Kate had also enjoyed her day out with her friends. In the evening we decided to see the movie ‘Flash of Genius’ and walked to the cinema well wrapped up in our Kathmandu rain jackets. Wee enjoyed the film and did some food shopping at the Seven 11 on our way home.

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87 New York

Friday 26^th September.  

Before we had left Europe we had managed to get in touch with Chris’ cousin Pam who lives at Mt Tremper, a small village north of New York, . Pam took a day off work and arranged to meet us ‘under the clock’ at Grand Central Station New York. We left for the city early, again in the rain, to make sure we would be at the meeting point before Pam arrived. Pam’s daughter Tiffanie had used her email to make the arrangements.

Pam was right on time and it was a delight to see Chris and Pam meet up more than 30 years after their last time together. We took Pam to lunch in a restaurant in the Metro Life building next to Grand Central. Three and a half hours later we left the restaurant as the evening diners were coming in, and Chris and Pam were still chatting!! It was such a lovely time and enjoyed by all three of us. We saw Pam off on her return train trip to her home and then we walked up to Broadway to see if we could get cheap late sale tickets for one of the shows. We had thought of going to see Mama Mia but there was only standing room left and we decided against it. However we did enjoy the experience of being amongst the crowds going to the many live shows running on Broadway, before heading back to our hotel at Newark by bus.

Saturday 27^th September .  We went into Manhatten by bus, a journey of around one hour and aft4r visiting a computer shop we walked around new York again.

Sunday 28^th September. We headed in to New York on the train as we had heard that the streets could be blocked with traffic. The NY Firemen were doing a 5 mile ‘Tunnel to the Towers’ run through Manhattan in memory of 9/11.

We found a church on the internet and decided to see if we could find it. The name of the church was ‘The Journey’ and we felt this was appropriate for us on ‘our journey’. The service was held in the 7^th floor ballroom of the Manhattan Hotel about 200 meters from the NY Penn railway station. We arrived in the rain just as the service started and felt the message was meant for us. After a coffee and a snack with the mostly young people of the church we made our way back down to the street and took the underground down to Wall Street.

It was interesting to visit Wall Street with the current financial problems going on in USA. We mingled with the many others in the area and took the usual tourist photos.

We then walked to Ground Zero and found the observation area was closed due to the building work in progress. However, we went upstairs in a nearby Burger Bar and from there could see the activity (yes..on Sunday) behind the high construction fences built about the area. It was an awesome feeling to be near the place of such devastation that took place a few years back and it is hard to describe what we felt.

After chips and coffee from a lunch bar, the weather began to clear and we caught a metro train and then walked down to the waterfront. We saw number 1 Broadway and then found the ferry that went to Liberty Island to visit the Statue of Liberty and later to Ellis Island where the immigrants were processed in the early 1900’s.

 

The Statue was more impressive than either of us had imagined and we very much enjoyed the visit. Chris was very interested in the museum on Ellis island as her ancesters in the 1800’s came from Manchester and Ireland to America. They ended up in the Philadelphia area but may have entered America through New York. Some more research is needed and we left with some web sites that may give some more information.

Once we were back on Manhattan Island we boarded the underground train thinking we were heading ‘uptown’ but then realised we were under the Hudson river heading for Brooklyn. A change of trains at the next station helped us return to near Times Square.

By this time it was getting dark as we made our way to the Empire State Building and queued up for tickets to the top. There were long queues even at this time of day and when we reached the open balcony on the 86^th floor, the sun was well gone and the lights of NY were a spectacular sight. The light breeze was cool but along with many other locals and tourists (one a Sydney fellow who we had a chat with) we marvelled at the scene below. The building had been shrouded with clouds most of the day so it was good that we had decided to go up in the evening as we had a clear view of the city at night.

We returned to the second floor and had a simulated New York ‘Sky Ride” and then decided to have one last walk under the bright lights of Times Square and Broadway before taking the bus back to New Jersey. The weather was breaking again as we waited for the bus on 42^nd Street.

It had been a very full day finished late with packing our bags for the early start next day to Portland, Oregon to meet with Kate.

New York was somewhere that neither of us had known what to expect but we found it felt quite an exciting place to be. Times Square, particularly at night was an amazing place. At one stage when we were down in one of the metro stations, Chris said that it reminded her of ‘West Side Story’. We were glad that we came.

86. Paris

Monday. 22^nd September.

Whilst in London, Chris had arranged an appointment to see a ’tailbone’ specialist in Paris. We travelled across Paris on the Metro to find the Doctor’s rooms in the early evening.

Then we again took the Metro to the Arc de Triomphe where we arrived near sunset. We took photos and soaked up the atmosphere of the people rushing home from work, before we walked down Champs Elysee to the Place de la Concorde. It was a long way but was most enjoyable, seeing the bright shops and restaurants on the sidewalks. It took us over an hour and finally we had a coffee and something to eat at a coffee shop. We headed home by Metro, and this time we had to change trains a couple of times before arriving at Porte de Bagnolet station near our Hostel.

 

Tuesday 23 September. The doctor had organised an X-ray for Chris at a hospital on the island near Notre-Dam at 8.45 am. We Metro-ed in and the doctor discussed the x-rays with Chris and administered a couple of Cortizone injections to help her along the way. Notre-Dam, only a few yards away, was our next stop and we made a short tour inside this wonderful building. We then started on a walking tour of this part of Paris, calling into a couple of shops and as the temperature was quite cool, Chris bought a scarf and gloves.

Next we visited the Louvre and Glass Pyramid. We did not venture into either and then we went by the metro to the Eiffel Tower. The weather was clear as we waited in the long queue to buy tickets. We met two Kiwi couples from Manurewa and Warwick was able to let them know that Auckland no longer held the Ranfurly Shield!! Now in Wellington. We made it to the top of the Tower and the wonderful views over Paris. It was quite clear and good for photos.

Later we went for a walk in the gardens as we made our way to the Metro to take us the Air France office to confirm our seats. We were told to return the next day as seats were only allocated 24 hours before a flight.

 

Wednesday 24 September.

The morning was spent trying to organise some accommodation in New York and trying to buy two small nuts and bolts to do some repairs to the wheels on the suitcase we had bought in Budapest. After calling on several shops and car and scooter repair shops we finally came across an old typewriter repair shop. The owner produced a large tray of parts and we were successful in finding deep down in the tray, two nuts and bolts the correct size and were able to secure the wheel frame to the suitcase. Our bags have been battered a bit on the many flights we have taken, over 40 so far.

We returned to Air France to try and reserve two exit seats for the long flight to New York. This was unsuccessful so we turned our attention again to sightseeing around this exciting city. We visited a large shop called Galleries Lafayette, near the Paris Opera House, where we had some lunch before returning to the Hostel to pack ready for the early start next day.

Thursday 25^th September. We had arranged a taxi from the hostel to the Charles de Gaulle airport where we arrived in good time for our flight to New York. Once again we tried for exit seats but still not possible. We arrived at Newark International airport and were soon at the nearby Holiday Inn where we had booked a room. We made the most of an early night to try and counteract any possible jetlag.

 

85. Amsterdam

 

Friday 19^th September

We arrived in Amsterdam to be met by Melanie who had come over from London to spend our last weekend in Europe with us. We took the train to Central station and then a tram to our Tulip Inn hotel. It was very good and Melanie enjoyed her room with the king-size bed.

Saturday. 20^th September.

We had decided to see the sites of Amsterdam on foot. The weather was great as we enjoyed the early morning walk to the tram stop about 10 minutes from our hotel, and the ride into the centre of the city. We alighted the tram and found a restaurant to have breakfast before commencing our wander alongside canals and through the delightful streets of old Amsterdam. It was such a pleasant walk but we had to be ever watchful as the hundreds of cyclists pedalled along the streets dodging in and out of the pedestrians.

Melanie navigated us to the flower market alongside a canal and we enjoyed the site of many colours and varieties of flowers for sale along with numerous stalls of tulip and other bulbs. We were too late to enjoy the spring tulip blooms. Our whole day was spent wandering, although we did find time to sit in glorious sunshine at a canal side restaurant for a drink and some food and also take a canal trip of 90 minutes.

As evening arrived we headed for Tram 17 and the ride out to our Tulip Inn Hotel. No sooner were we on board, the tram took off then stopped with a crunch that sent people flying into each other. After a minute we realised that a pedestrian had been hit and was lying on the pavement with a leg caught between the skirt of the tram and the kerbing. Everyone left the tram and stood on the roadside as people tried to extricate the pedestrian. Two ambulances and three fire engines arrived in a matter of minutes and the combined forces managed to free the man who surprisingly was able to stand up almost unaided with no visible damage.

By this time we were sitting back in the tram and after a delay of almost an hour the tram started up and all the passengers were allowed a free trip to our destination.

 

Sunday. 21^st September.

With Melanie we had a scratch breakfast in our room before completing packing our bags and walking down to the tram stop trundling our suitcases behind us. At the Central Station we placed the bags in two lockers and took the train out to Haarlem an old town outside Amsterdam and near the coast. The train ride was about 15 minutes and once at Haarlem we started walking through the picturesque streets to the main square, passing the Corrie Ten Boom jewellers shop museum on the way. (Corrie ten Boom’s family sheltered Jews in a secret room in this shop during W.W. 2.)

The town square was surrounded by open air cafes and we settled ourselves down for a coffee and early lunch. It seemed to be a special day as a stage was set up and a group was preparing to provide some music, while other people were setting up stalls etc. The weather was fine as we decided to walk some of the local ‘pedestrian’ streets that we found quaint and lovely to be in. Melanie decided to visit a museum of historical Haarlem while Chris and Warwick walked about the town and met up again with Melanie near the square where we all sat and enjoyed an ice cream.

We returned to the train station ( we calculated there were about 1000 bicycles under cover at the station, and many more stacked nearby) for Central, picked up our luggage from the locker and took the train to Schiphol airport for our flights to Paris (and London for Melanie). We had a slight concern as Melanie was directed to one passport control and ourselves to another before we could say ‘Goodbye’ to her. But after having our passports stamped we ‘bucked the system’ and returned to use the same entrance as Melanie and were able to enjoy a coffee with her before heading to our side of the Terminal through a second passport stamp, for our boarding gate.

A good flight, however on arriving in Paris we experienced another unusual adventure for our journey. All arriving passengers to the terminal were delayed for about an hour and a half just before the baggage carousels to let the local bomb squad demolish a suspicious back pack that had been left alongside a carousel. We heard the small explosion and arrived at the carousel to see the staff cleaning up the mess from the shattered back pack!!

We collected our bags without too much trouble amongst the several hundred people who had been delayed along with ourselves. Due to the long delay we decided to catch a taxi to our Youth Hostel accommodation and after a quick 30 minute trip and Euro 45 lighter, we settled into our simple but comfortable room at the hostel.

 

 

 

 

84. Copenhagen

 

Tuesday. 16^th September.

From Melanie’s apartment we took a cab to Golders Green and then a bus to Stansted airport for our early afternoon flight to Copenhagen. It was an uneventful journey and after a ride on the Metro (completely automated and no driver or guard) from the airport to near the centre of the city we took a cab out to a warm welcome from Maureen and husband BB at his apartment in a block of units occupied by retired ship’s captains. BB’s apartment has only one bedroom and we were settled into a guests bedroom on the ground floor where a 75^th birthday party in the community room was just completing.

Maureen had only arrived from Australia about 4 hours before us and with BB had been downstairs enjoying the birthday celebrations. BB then welcomed us all in the ‘traditional’ Danish way with the opening of a bottle of champagne and cookies filled with almond icing. We had a ‘noisy’ time as we all tried to catch up with each other. We had not seen BB since late 1999 and Maureen only once since then. Regrettably BB is ill with cancer and while this was diagnosed about 6 years ago he has had chemo and radio therapy and is fighting on.

Wednesday. 17^th September.

After our breakfast in the communal kitchen downstairs we had a ‘medicinal’ Gammel Danske with BB before we left by local bus for the centre of Copenhagen city. After a coffee at the Information office we walked about the city, visiting the Jewish museum and other sites. We then saw people going in and out of a building, followed suit and found ourselves in an Expo for share investors being held in the unique old Stock Exchange building. We did not invest but did enjoy the chocolates being handed out to people at each of the exhibitions!

Later we took a canal tour around many of the old areas of Copenhagen, enjoying the sites of old vessels tied up at the sides of the canals and the variety of buildings behind., Many were old warehouses turned into either upmarket hotels or residential apartments.

Grey clouds threatened rain later in the day as we headed for our bus to take us back to see BB and Maureen. More chatter before we took our tired bodies off to bed.

Thursday. 18^th September.

Maureen had informed us that their lap top was not working at all and we also could not get our laptop online. This was a challenge for Chris and with some help from Maureen as to what cable was attached to what, Chris managed to get their lap top cleared of some old files, working again and with contact to the internet. It was good to have a quiet day with no sightseeing. This time allowed Warwick to hear BB recount his shipping experiences from the early 1950’s when he was a seaman on freighters, then on to Navigation school and getting his Masters ticket and finally the many sail training ships he had captained over the later years. BB has been awarded honours by the Danish Queen and has a remarkable record on both Danish and Norwegian ‘tall ships’.

BB is very skilled with ropes and decorative knots as can be expected from someone who has spent his life on sailing ships training young sailors. He now spends quite a bit of his day making ‘rope’ things and before we left presented us with a rope decorated bottle opener and small shot glasses (one for Melanie) with a Turk’s head rope design about the base.

Friday. 19^th September.

We took the opportunity in the morning to again see the sights of Copenhagen and after a coffee at Nye Haven a traditional meeting place for locals and tourists we walked through the gardens and part of the city we did not see on Wednesday. Then after a lunch with BB and Maureen we said our farewell to BB and headed for the bus and Metro for the airport. Maureen came along with us for the ride and to farewell us at the airport. We had a leisurely coffee with Maureen and headed for the departure gate with only a few minutes to spare. BUT unknown to us our gate was at the last possible part of the terminal (seemed like a kilometre) and we found ourselves rushing along to reach the gate in time. We arrived as the last of the passengers were boarding…..again!!

We arrived in Amsterdam to be met by Melanie who had come over from London to spend our last weekend in Europe with us. We took the train to Central station and then a tram to our Tulip Inn hotel. It was very good and Melanie enjoyed her room with the king-size bed.