San Fran Baby Yeah!

We arrived in San Francisco absolutely shattered, and a tiny bit smellie!!!!! We checked into our hostel - the Green Tortoise - and fell asleep!!!! Later....after a shower we felt a bit revived, Mark was starving...so we headed out for food! We didn't go too far....a lovely Italian Jazz restaurant almost next door!!!! Live music too! San Francisco is full of music, there is a greay vibe, and although a bit dirty, there is an unmistakable energy here. We both instantly preferred it to Seattle....strange how that happens! After dinner we wandered down Jack Kerouac Street - apparently featured in So I Married An Axe Murderer! Mark pointed this out...even though it is me that loves this film!!!!! After that it was about time for bed!!!! Tuesday we ended up heading into the centre of town and getting our bearings...after finally sorting out my phone...we headed down to Fisherman's Warf and Pier 39. We took the tram! We went into the Boudin's Bakery Museum, and learnt a lot about breadmaking as well as the history of San Francisco! We did some tasting too!!!! Then it was on to the Cannery for drinks. Next we decided to take the Cable Car back into town....apparently the only one left in the world! (An Ozzy couple from Brisbane told us!). We travelled in style....hanging of the side! The breaks are wooden...and if you can picture the San Francisco streets - think of all those movies with car chases that go up and down HUGE hills - then you can imagine the thril! You could smell the burning wood!!!! We loved it! We passed the most crooked street, and Nob Hill - famous sites! We completely missed our stop as we were having so much fun...so then walked home through Union Square and Chinatown! Yesterday we continued the touring with a trip out to Alcatras! We had breakfast overlooking the water, then boarded the ferry across. It really is an isolated island, although full of quite a lot of tourists! We did the famous audio tour of the cells, which was really really good - it included ambient background noise and commentary from old inmates...we really learnt a lot. The island now is mostly inhabited with Sea Gulls! Apparently the only really accurate movie about the island is Escape From Alcatras! So watch that one! I didn't realise, but it was a military site before a federal prison, and familys and children lived on the island as well as the prisoners! Alcatras was named by the first Spanish settlers, and means Pelican...as these were the birds that used to inhabit the island. Great views of the city and of the Golden Gate Bridge. After getting the ferry back, we had lunch on Pier 39 - clam chouder in a soughdough bowl! The it was along to Beuna Vista for an Irish Coffee....apparently the first recreated in America! We then looked around Ghirardelli Square - named after the first San Franciscan chocolate company! We couldn't resist another go on the cable car, so jumped on it back into town - literally!!!! We then headed over to Haight Ashbury....famous site of the 60s big scene over here (apparently.....Mark said!). It was great actually...groovy little beautiques and shops, just the kind of place i love! We settle for mexican tapas for dinner in Cha Cha Cha, lovely! Then it was home to chill out before bed! And then today......the day we cycled the Golden Gate Bridge!!!!! We hired our bikes and set off....it was really really windy all the way along the water edge, until we reached the bridge, then it was up and across!!! It really is quite an amazing structure, and great views too!!!!! On the other side is a town called Sausalito - a mediteranian paradise just outside the city!!!! we stopped for fish and chips and ice cream, then caught the ferry back across the water! Bums tooooooo sore to cycle back!!!! We stopped for reviving drinks in Versouvias, the cool bar we had found on our first night at the end of Jack Kerouac Street - and then that brings us right up to now!!!! We also discovered a lovely little Italian Quater today that noone had mentioned!!!!! Tomorrow we leave for our 16 day tour around some of America...on the famous Green Tortoise sleeper bus....it is like a hippy bus, and the seats all turn into beds!!!! When not sleeping on the bus we will be camping!!! We are excited and also a little nervous about this tour!!!!! ;-) We'll see you on the other side......2nd July in LA!!!! xxx ps. apparently it is the end of Scotland!!!! Mark was not happy! pps. after our very hot ride yesterday.....i now have very interesting tan lines! Damm it!

Seattle!!! We're in America!

Hello and gday from America! So, last thursday saw us leaving Vancouver.....it was a bit grey, and early in the morning...so we were ok...it was sad to leave, but we both feel like we'll be back...for sure! We arrived in Seattle to mroe grey skies....but soon got ourselves settled into the hotel (a gorgeous 1920s building), then headed out into town. Seattle seems to be a city that is trying to be like Vancouver (its very close neighbour...only 3 hours across the border), but not quite getting it right! Or maybe we are biased! We found the Tourist Info, decided what we'd like to do, and headed off to find the bus out to see Cirque Du Soleil! We had deliberately booked this for our first night as we thought it would help us adjust!!!! It was amazing.....at times breathtaking...really breathtaking....i am not sure how the acrobats do some of the things they do. The show we saw was Varekai. It was a great way to start our trip...and if you haven't seen cirque du soleil.....any of the shows, then i recommend it! Friday was Mark's birthday, so we set about exploring! We found the perfect cafe for breakfast..the 5 Point Cafe.....and it was bacon, eggs, sausage and pancakes for him! Then on to the Space Needle - (which i think had quite good odds in the Aukland casino...do you remember Stokoe??!!). We went up to the top, adn enjoyed the panaramic views of the city and the bay! You could even go outside! After the Space Needle we went on a Duck Tour! It is an old WW2 vehical, that drives on land and then is a boat in water. It took us on a tour of the city, both from the road and the lake. Seattle is like Vancouver in that it is surrounded by water everywhere! We invested in 'quackers' and quacked our way around the city! (much to Mark's embarressment!) The driver accidently lost his ducks out the front window (which opened!) and when he leant out to get them he cracked the windscreen....this made for a rather eventful ride!!!! All in all we learnt a lot about the city though and it was a good way to get our bearings! When we returned from that we headed down to the waterfront for Mark's birthday tea....we ate in a lovely seafood restaurant called Anthony's, and enjoyed the sun setting and the moon rising! On the way home we popped into the Crocodile Club....the Croc...for a few drinks...apparently one of the original Seattle music venues. A great birthday for Mark. Saturday we continued exploring the city....we found a great crumpet place for breakfast, then visited Pioneer Square, then went to see some glassblowing - apparently which Seattle is famous for!!! Then it was on to the Science Fiction Museum....which was ace!!! (oh dear....perhaps we are sci-fi fans!!!!! ;-)), and the Experience Music Project...a huge museum dedicated to music, particularly west coast...including the grunge scene, and much more. We also got a chance to record some stuff and learn instruments....i tried the drums! Hmmmmm - don't worry Chris...you're safe! Mark tried mixing, drums and keyboards i think! We also got to do our own concert infront of millions of fans! After that we headed over to Fremont - another area of the city for dinner....a nice, and extremely filling Indian! Sunday was my birthday....and after a breakfast of Crepes, we spent the day looking round the famous Farmers Market...soooo many stalls, so much going on...and amazing flowers.....you can see the ones Mark bought me....well, he would have done if we weren't traveling!!!! (that's what he said!!!!) We also saw the very FIRST Starbucks (be proud Nicola!!!!)....the very original site, in the middle of the market, opened in 1912! There was music and street performers everywhere, the sun was shining and it was a great atmosphere! There was also a Giant Shoe Museum!!! Well.....not a giant shoe museum...as in a huge museum full of shoes...which i was very excited about...but a Giant Shoe museum....a museum for giant shoes!!!! hehehehe Then it was off to the bus station to start our 19 hour, overnight, bus trip to San Francisco! That was an experience!!!! Actually it wasn't too bad.....just some very interesting people watching!!!!! See you in San Francisco!!!! xxxx p.s. spot the STF TShirt Challenge!! xx

Travel Plans (the final assault)

Hello, It is I, monsieur Brownlie! Here are our plans for our trip once we leave Vancouver! We get the Greyhound to Seattle 1st thing on Thursday 8th. This should take about 3 hours I think. Thu night we are going to Cirque de Soleil's Varakai! Sunday 11th we leave Seattle and go to San Francisco! This will take a full day, on a bus. Nightmare! We then have booked a 16 day trip leaving on the 16th from San Fran with Green Tortoise on their National Parks trip! Have a look at the links above. I think it looks amazing and we can't wait. It's a bit different from the Trek America, Souther Sun, trip I have done previously and Tortoise has a slightly different ethos about it so it should be good. It does cover a lot of the latter part of the Trek America trip (from the Grand Canyon to L.A.) but I have wanted to see all that stuff again and show Faye the amazing scenery. And to show that America has it's good points too! It finishes up in L.A. on the 2nd July in Santa Monica (sweet) and we will have some time there to go to Disneyland and Universal Studios before flying to Toronto on 6th July. We have a few days their and then fly to Gatwick on 9th July (the same w/e as T In The Park!). And then, that evening we fly to Shannon (which will now be the 10th July) and head to Tipperary for the week (yes, it's a long way, isn't it! Soz, Caroline I couldn't resist! I'm soooo funny. And original too!!!) for Caroline and Louis's wedding. We then fly back to Ipswich on the 17th July, our official return date to the UK. Phew-eeeeee! Then we shall both sleep for a week. For sure!

Whale Watching!!! We saw Orcas!

Today we did the last touristy part of our time in Vancouver...we returned for our second attempt at whale watching! and it was soooo worth it.....it was a long boat ride, but then we caught up with JPod..including Granny...the 95 year old matriarch of the group! They were amazing...so huge, even from the 100' distance we had to keep! So graceful, just swimming through the sea! We even got a display of breeching and tail slapping! Awesome! A great way to end our time here. xxx

Where does it all come from?!!

FOUR boxes of stuff to send home...not to mention what we have given to charity...and of course what we will be carrying! Where does it all come from! (p.s I spent ages putting lovely arrows and signs on the boxes, along with 'Fragile'...i was quite proud!...when we got to the post office the woman laughed...she said noone ever reads them, (which is what Mark said!), and in fact they were quite embarrassing!!!!! Then she covered them with stickers! She was lucky she was nice, otherwise i could have been very upset!!!!....makes me wonder though...Alison - do you think the postman ever read those nice notes we used to write on the back of letters for him??!!!!) Thanks to Crocodile for the boxes!! xx

Leaving Do's!!

Hehehe, leaving places can actually be good fun....especially when you get to go out for lots of leaving do's!! Saturday we went out with Kate and Blake....to The Brewery for drinks, then Alpha for sushi! It was an excellent night, filled with lots of beer and far far too much sushi! I think we ate everything on the menu! Even the Natto - well, only i tried that! It is fermenting beans....basically a slimey bean paste that tastes like yeast, and took me right back to biology lessons!!!! One taste was enough!!! The dynamite and california rolls were amazing however....as was everything else! All in all a top night....which left us rolling home!!!! (But that was ok, as it was only across the road from our apartment!!!) A bientot Kate and Blake....thanks for helping to make our time here so special...see you soon when you are in the UK!!! Next was Monday night with Aaron and Sara...the beer and food crawl of downtown Vancouver! We started at 6pm in the Railway pub...for beer! Then on to Gastown for Sushi - just a nibble mind!!! Then to the Steamworks for more beer...although i had a silver cloud, which in turn inspired us to invent 'the bakewell tart' - watch out for it in a bar near you soon!!! (can you guess what it is made of??!!). The we walked around the sea wall - showing Aaron and Sara places they had never seen before! Then on to Robson Street to Hons for chinese, and further on for Ice-cream!!! Woweee - my bellie!!!! An excellent night! We shall miss you guys very much....but we shall be back - for sure!!!!! Today saw two leaving dos...a coffee this morning with Ishbel, Calum and Katie.....including a race, which Calum won....its great being 3andhalf!!!!! Then a visit to Chris' new apartment this evening - where we officially had the second BBQ since she moved in!!! mmmmmmmmm Then beer in the park (hidden in coffee mugs as you can't drink in public places here!!!!). Chris - you have taught me soooo much, special friends make a real difference, and are always there, no matter how far away! Lots of love xxx Lots of love to all the special people we have met here!! xxxx

Time to leave Vancouver!

wow, it is nearly here, the time for us to move on again and leave Vancouver. It has come round very fast! We have spent the last few days sorting out the rest of our trip, and have some great things planned....we leave for Seattle on thursday 8th June (next week!!), then head on to San Francisco. From there we do a 16 day tour (with a group, on a bus - that has beds!!!) around Yellowstone, Grand Canyon, Monument Valley, Las Vegas and LA...amongst other places. Then it is LA, and then Toronto! All very exciting! We decided not to go to Alaska after all as we don't have that much money left, or time, and we wanted to travel light and send home a lot of our winter clothes!!!! Alaska will wait until a dedicated trip in the future, or next time we are in Canada - as we'll definitely be back! It is hard to describe how it feels to be leaving here.....excited at traveling again, and all we have planned.....excited also to be heading home.....fulfilled at having achieved all we wanted to and gained a life here in Vancouver....sad to be leaving such an amazing city.....but blessed to have had so many fantastic memories....lucky to have experienced all we have.....and above all, like Vancouver is a part of us, and we are a part of Vancouver. I'm not sure we have changed from living here, but we have certainly grown. Our time here shall never be forgotten. xx

No more work for me!!!

So this week saw my last day at work in Crocodile Baby Store! There have been many changes over the last few weeks, and in a way it is the right time to leave...but also sad! I have enjoyed my time there a lot, and met some lovely people! Last night we had a celebratory night out, for me, and for Christiane, who is also leaving. We went to a Brazilian restaurant - Exotico - and sampled some of typically Brazilian food and drink! It was a lovely, loud! (i brought party blowers...and we invited children!) night out, and me and Chris were very pleased that everyone made it, it meant a lot. Me and Chris did SPICE style awards for everyone, and we had great fun!!! They were all spot on! Moose and Tskijji came too, as they had been to work a few times, and would miss their games of hide and seek!!! If any of them read this, then i would like to thank them for all the special memories of my time at Crocodile Baby Store! (And i hope they like the pictures!!!!) In the big picture, it is Alex, Shauna, Patti, Melissa, Evelyne, Goca, Chris, Gerry, Me, Tskijji, Moose, Cristina, Anita, Leena, Daphne, Luc, Leah and Megan. JP (who wasn't really there), took the picture! xxx

Souvenir of Canada

We went to see Douglas Coupland's Souvenir of Canada the other night; we felt we should!! It was ace, a very interesting docufilm, about his experiences being Canadian, what it is to be Canadian, and his builing of Canada House - a house he filled with works of art and sculpture that were 'Canadian'. I wondered if we'd understand it, and some bits were a little too Canadian fo us, but most of it we did, and i realised just how much Canada, especially Vancouver is now a part of us, and always will be. It also made me want to find out what it means to be British, English, East Anglican, from Ipswich. It is nice to have a sense of what it is that makes you who you are. I left the cinema feeling strangely patriotic! xx

Sasquatch Music Festival!

Last weekend was Sasquatch Music Festival, a 3 day festival taking place in The Gorge, Washington State. I was working Friday and Saturday, so we drove down saturday night after i finished work, spent the night in Seattle, then on to The Gorge on Sunday for the day's music! In all it is about a 7 hour drive south of Vancouver, into the USA. It was our first time driving since we had been in New Zealand, so we were a little nervous, but we soon got back into it, especially in America, where everything is in MPH!!! We were a bit worried about the weather as most of the drive down saturday, and starting sunday was very very wet! I even made us stop to buy wellies.....after our Glastonbury experience i knew they'd be useful! As we neared the Gorge though, the sun began to shine, and the day was absolutely awesome!!! We made it to the site around midday, and set about putting our tent up! Aaron and Sara had lent it to us for the night! It was a good job however that Mark had also bought one, as Aaron and Sara had neglected to lend us any pegs!!!!! hehehe We got the tent up quite quickly, surprisingly! and headed in to the festival! The venue was amazing, breath-taking, a natural ampitheatre, with the stage positioned with the gorge as the back drop, i have never been to a more spectacular venue! The next St Augustines Festival has something to live up to! We saw many bands, including: Nada Surf, Arctic Monkeys, Ben Lee, Rocky Volotato, Matisyahu, Queens of the Stoneage, Clap Your Hands, Death Cab for Cutie and Beck. All were fab, all had great shows....but i think our faves were Nada Surf, Arctic Monkeys and Ben Lee...... By the time the show ended we were shattered, and headed back to our tent to sleep! The night was full of the sound of people around us partying on and some crazy Canadians cheering for their hockey team...but we did get a bit of sleep! Monday we woke with the sun, got sorted and started the drive back to Vancouver. It was an amazing weekend, and felt like so much longer than 1 day!!!!! What a venue! It was an excellent way to spend our anniversary.....saturday was our 5th!!!! xxx