From Rocky to Prairie...

Wow – it’s October already. Which unfortunately means our hols are almost over, but before we get to that point, how about an update on what we’ve been doing since Tuesday? Wellll…

Wednesday? From Golden we drove into Yoho National Park, over the Rogers Pass, catching a good glimpse of major roadworks just outside Golden – looked like the first stages of putting in a new bridge over Kicking Horse Pass. We stopped at Natural Bridge (name says it all – the effect of rushing water and glacial silt has cut a natural bridge across the Kicking Horse River) and Emerald Lake (likewise – astonishingly greeny-blue with the mountains as perfect backdrop, not to mention a very cheeky squirrel who clearly read the signs about not feeding or harassing the wildlife backwards – it was doing everything it could to obtain a free lunch from some other tourists taking a stop at the lake). Stopped in Field, a little town on the way to Lake Louise, for our lunch at Truffle Pig’s Bistro – a very good pizza with bison striploin on it – yum! Then went up to Takkakaw Falls - the name means ‘magnificent’ in Cree Indian – and they were! The water fair explodes out of the rock, fed by the Daly Glacier. And it was in this ‘magnificent’ spot that I popped the question – and Mary said yes! So it was in a very happy frame of mind that we proceeded towards Banff, taking a stop at the Spiral Tunnels, the Canadian Pacific Railway’s solution to a 4 in 5 gradient! After negotiating Banff’s busy streets, most of which are named after local wildlife (Bear, Moose, Elk, Lynx etc) we eventually found the Alpine Centre Hostel where we were going to spend the night. Small but cosy room, shared bathroom down the hall. Had dinner at the hostel and got talking to a couple from Winnipeg, Lue and Roy who were in the area to go to a family wedding at Lake Louise. Nice folk and we’ll send them an email when we get back to Perth.

Thursday we set out relatively bright and early for the Icefields Parkway, but not before we took in Lake Louise and Moraine Lake. The former is picture postcard material – icy turquoise blue with the Victoria Glacier in the background. If we’d had more time we’d have walked up to the teahouse further up the lakeshore. Moraine Lake, on the other hand, is seriously rugged with a huge pile of rocks at one edge (which I climbed to the top of) and lots of peaks around it. After that we drove, give or take a couple of comfort breaks, all the way up the Icefields Parkway (views spectacular from end to end) to Jasper. Kept our eyes peeled for wildlife on the road – saw some elk and lots of bighorn sheep. Grabbed a coffee-to-go in the town and then headed on to Hinton, about 75km further out where we’d got a motel room for two nights. Not much to Hinton, it basically runs either side of Highway 16 which goes all the way to Edmonton. Got dinner at Boston Pizza (and again on Friday night) and then went to bed – it had been a long day!.

Friday we drove back almost all the way to Jasper – almost, because we were going to take a look at Maligne (pronounced Maleen) Canyon, Medicine Lake and Maligne Lake, which are all along the same road just before you get to Jasper itself. Lots of bighorns beside and (occasionally!) on the road – some defensive braking was required! Did a loop walk through Maligne Canyon (great waterfalls) and headed back to the teahouse in the hopes of finding some lunch. Alas no! There was also a largish tour party at the canyon and the guy behind the counter declined to serve the two of us before he’d dealt with them (despite the fact that we just wanted a sandwich each). This and the apparent lack of anyone else around to help out made us decide to go somewhere else! So we carried on up past Medicine Lake, which is interesting to see because of the underground sinkholes that often drain part of the water away from the lake and leave it looking half-dried out, and reached Maligne Lake in time for a long-awaited lunch. Again the service was not brilliant, but better than further back down the road – we decided to put it down to end-of-tourist-season fatigue… Had a quick walk and took more photos before we headed back towards Hinton for dinner and bed.

Yesterday we got on the road early again, and went back down the Icefields Parkway towards Banff, with our ultimate destination being Calgary. It was a long journey, but we took plenty of breaks – two lots of waterfalls (Athabasca and Sunwapta), the Athabasca Glacier (we stopped off at the Icefield Centre and I walked right up onto the glacier, which was an interesting experience to say the least!) and Bow Lake (almost as blue as Lake Louise!). The change from the Rockies to the prairies was fairly dramatic – the landscape flattens out after Banff and Canmore and is much less photogenic. Got to the Travelodge in Calgary’s Motel Village around 6.30ish and went for dinner at Red Lobster, just round the corner – very good food and excellent service (if only we’d had servers like that at Maligne Canyon!) Crawled into bed completely tired out. Had to put the aircon on during the night, so the earplugs went in – which also drowned out the worst of the traffic noise from outside.

Today we had a bit of a lie-in and caught the C-Train into downtown, then on out to the Zoo. Weather was rather mixed with rain and clouds but the place was worth a visit – gorillas, Siberian tigers, stump-tailed macaques, hippos, giraffes, meerkats (sharing an enclosure with porcupines!) and lots of other birds and beasties. Downtown seemed rather dead but I guess that’s because it was Sunday – we’ve been told it will be much more buzzy tomorrow. Another visit to Red Lobster tonight saw us both have steak (what else do you try in cattle country???), me with lobster tail, Mary with shrimp. Now just about ready to nod off, so will close here. Tomorrow we plan to go up the Calgary Tower, have a walk round downtown and maybe visit the Glenbow Museum as well if we’ve time, before we prepare for our flight home on Tuesday.

Rocky Mountain Way...

Good evening- this finds us in the heart of the Rockies, well and truly surrounded by mountains! We’re in Golden, about 70km from the entrance to Banff National Park and a bit less to Yoho National Park. Tonight is pizza night, so we’re picking up a take-out from Canadian 2 for 1 Pizza just down the street from our motel (which, strangely enough, is called Mary’s Motel – were we somehow destined to stop here, I wonder?!)

Yesterday we drove from Cache Creek to Sicamous, a little town east of Kamloops and stayed in the Monashee Motel just on the outskirts of town. From the French windows of our room we could see up into the peaks that ring the nearby Mount Revelstoke National Park. No high-speed internet, hence the double entry tonight. The drive to Sicamous was a hot one – the weather had warmed up again and we made sure we took plenty of water with us. On the way we stopped at a couple of park areas; at the first (Juniper Beach Provincial Park) we walked down to the water’s edge and spent quite a while watching the sockeye salmon migrating upstream. The river was pretty clear so it wasn’t too hard to see the fish (which were mostly definitely bright red!) and occasionally one jumped in the water as well. Very cool, very interesting. We also stopped at Steelhead Provincial Park and took pictures of Kamloops Lake. Kamloops itself is not much to write home about – it’s a resort city with casinos and other touristy stuff, but not far from it is the BC Wildlife Park, where reside a range of animals and birds, including two very elderly grizzlies, Shardik and Sheeba; Hamilton, a black bear cub who was rescued earlier this year, lots of noisy goats, a pair of burrowing owls and a young female badger kit who was most obliging when it came to taking pictures of her! Dinner was at Moose Mulligan’s, one of the local pubs in Sicamous, before we turned in for the night.

Today we headed for our first encounters with National Parks, with the fall colours coming in on the trees (all the larches were turning yellow). First stop was the Crazy Creek suspension bridge and waterfalls, a tourist attraction set up by the local Christian community on the site of a former logging town. Worth a visit – the boardwalk runs through the forest and the suspension bridge is suitably wobbly!

After purchasing a Parks pass we drove almost all the way up to the summit of the park’s main area, and caught the shuttle that goes up the last kilometre or so. Fantastic views all around the top across to the Mount itself and its numerous named and unnamed neighbouring peaks (including one called Mt Begbie – did Irvine Welsh take his inspiration for Trainspotting from that? Probably not!) Lots of grey jays flying around from tree top to tree top and the odd chipmunk and squirrel darting about. We did a couple of the shorter trail walks and then came back down again, but not before a rather large male moose rushed us from the bush at the side of the road. We kept pace with him for about a minute, or should I say that we kept slightly behind him just in case he took a dislike to us. He did turn his head towards us several times but obviously thought that we weren’t worth the hassle. Needless to say, thanks to Mary, we have a minute of video of the moose (from a safe distance) until he disappeared into the bushes again. Our next stop was the Giant Cedars Boardwalk, which basically does what it says on the tin – a walk up and around some of Mt Revelstoke National Park’s oldest trees. We then took a break in Canyon Hot Springs for soup and a sarnie before heading back onto Hwy #1. The weather was a little changeable as we got into Glacier National Park so we didn’t stop until we got to Golden, but the views were spectacular nonetheless, with a dusting of snow on many of the tops.

Tomorrow? Off to Banff National Park, hopefully as far as Lake Louise, for more walking, photos and fresh air. The Icefields Parkway awaits…

Today in Cache Creek...

Playing catch-up again (oops!) Thursday we got up bright and early, had breakfast and walked up to the corner of Denman and Comox to wait for the Vancouver Whale Watch bus to pick us up. So we waited. And waited. AND waited. No sign of the bus. It got to about 10.15 local time and we thought we’d better give them a call to see if anything was up. Unfortunately, it was – due to the high winds forecast for where we would have gone to watch the whales, the tour operators couldn’t safely take folk out in their boats. As we were heading off on our road trip the next day, we couldn’t rebook for Saturday. A real bummer, but it’s something we can do should we come back again in the future.

So instead we caught the streetcar downtown and headed for Canada Place again, this time to catch the Seabus over to Lonsdale Quay in North Vancouver. $3.25 each for the streetcar and Seabus, one way – good value, we think. Lonsdale Quay has a smaller version of the Granville Island public market with extra shops, which were worth a look round. After fish and chips (halibut, no less!) and a bit more of a stroll, we caught the Seabus back and walked up Howe Street to the junction with Robson, had a look round in Chapters bookstore (no luck there for the book Helen was looking for), then walked further up Robson to catch the streetcar back to our hotel, via an ice-cream parlour called Mondo Gelato, which sold regular ice-cream, sorbets and soy ice-cream. We both partook of a few flavours, all of which were extremely yummy. Not sure about the green tea ice cream though!! Thursday night found us at a First Nations restaurant, the Lilliget Feast House, which we’d promised ourselves we’d visit before we came across here. We were not disappointed!

Friday we got on the road as soon as we could after breakfast (at Hilary’s Caffe Café again!) and headed west along Hwy #1 to Grouse Mountain. There we paid our money and took a cable car ride nearly to the top of the mountain. Great views of Vancouver and the surrounding countryside. Lots of chainsaw carvings. There was an enclosure with two orphan grizzly bears, but the must've been sheltering from the heat 'cos we couldn't see them at all. So we wandered around for a bit, had a 'dog. Once back down we got back into the car (a Chrysler Sebring Touring, for those who want to know) and started on our way to Chilliwack. Driving the outskirts of Vancouver was very very slow, but once we had travelled about 60KM things picked up and I was able to use cruise control (once I'd worked it out). Eventually turned off to Chilliwack and was able to find the Rainbow Motel with little difficulty. Checked in, had a sleep, did some photo things and then went for dinner at the Canton Garden Chinese eatery across the road. Good food, cheerful servers. Back to the Motel and to sleep.

Yesterday we started off by visiting a dog show! The Mt Cheam Canine Association (we reckon Cheam is pronounced Kee-um rather than the English version!) were holding their annual show which was open to the public. All sorts of dogs from Chihuahuas to Alaskan malamutes – the English bulldogs had already been shown by the time we got there, which Mary was naturally disappointed about – being preened and prepared. We watched a couple of finals – working dog puppies & shelties. After that we drove up to Bridal Falls Provincial Park to have a look at the eponymous falls, which are dinky compared to Niagara but still very picturesque. I walked right up to the foot of the falls to take photos – Mary was a bit wary of the climb so she went about halfway up. After that we drove to Harrison Hot Springs and had a stroll around in the terrific sunny weather. There had been a sand sculpture competition going and the sculptures were still up, so we had a look at them – unfortunately it was through the fence as they were charging C$8/person to get right up close and personal. But we got good pictures anyway. Once we’d had our fill – rather, once we had been burned to a crisp by the sun – we ambled back to Chilliwack, stopping at the Luckakuck Mall to buy a book for my sister. Once back, the laundry was done and then we went off to Friendly Mike’s Pub on Young Road. I had a steak dinner and Mary had pasta. All very good…apart from the fact that we were there on karaoke night!! Let’s just say that if you ever meet a grey, balding, older small Canadian gentleman called Ron who hails from Chilliwack and sings in karaoke contests, either run a fair distance or buy yourself some industrial ear protectors!! It was all I could do to stop laughing out loud.

Today we’re in Cache Creek, a few hundred miles north- east of Vancouver. Mostly been driving today, with the occasional stop for food, photos, stretch our legs – oh, and a journey there and back on the Hell’s Gate Airtram, which takes you across the Fraser River and gives a bird’s eye view of the Canadian Pacific and Canadian Northern Railways – which mostly seem to carry freight, and lots of it! The countryside has changed as we’ve driven east and north, from green fields and mountainous, wooded valleys, to dry desert and scrub. Great strata exposed on the rock faces on either side of the highway – we took quite a lot of pictures. Checked into the Best Value Desert Inn here in Cache Creek for a night – dinner at a place nearby – and we’ll be turning in shortly as we’ve got another long drive ahead of us tomorrow – possibly to Kamloops or Golden Arm – final decision to be made in the morning.

Vancouver so far...

Sunday we had an early start. Got the bus to the airport – that journey wasn’t great, but the driver got us there and dropped us off at the right terminal. Flight not so good – quite a bit of turbulence. Food had to be paid for – bummer!! We eventually arrived in Vancouver airport just after 1400 PST (on time), not too bad considering that we were about 30 minutes late in leaving Toronto. We then got a bus to the Best Western Sands hotel, on English Bay near Stanley Park. We were on the bus for over an hour. If we’d had to stay on there any longer with some rather irritating fellow(!) travellers we would’ve gone mad!!! The hotel was very clean, comfortable and quiet. The view from our windows wasn’t great – looking out onto the back parking lot. But we could see the Coast Mountains between the blocks behind us so that was some compensation. Sunday evening we went for dinner at the Swagat Indian Restaurant. It was an all-you-can-eat for C$10.95. Good food. We went for a walk after that, down the front on English Bay. Saw Pepe le Pew, alive and well, rooting around looking for something to eat. We managed to stay upwind and not alarm the wee beastie. Got back to the hotel and went to sleep.

Monday we got breakfast at Starbucks, before walking up to Stanley Park and explored some of its 980- plus acres. Very leafy and the autumn colours are starting to come in, so very picturesque as well. Lots of boats in the marina. Quite a few black squirrels hopping about too. Next we went into the Vancouver Aquarium – home to all sorts of creatures, including curious hermit crabs, scarlet ibis (one was brooding and feeding two chicks), giant catfish, Pacific white-sided dolphins, sea otters, a great horned owl, a red-tailed hawk and, last but certainly not least, four beluga whales!! The Aquarium holds various shows to tell visitors about some of their animals and we were around to see the belugas call and leap (not very far, they’re not built for major agility!), the two birds of prey presented (both had been injured in road accidents so they were unable to return to the wild), and the dolphins jump, headbutt a basketball and show us how good their protective camouflage is! Much fun was had, and we felt lucky to have the chance to see the belugas up close. After a wee rest back at the hotel we walked up Davie Street to a Mongolian BBQ place. Very basically, you queue up, fill your bowl with raw veg and fine slivers of frozen meat, douse your selection with your choice of sauce(s) then wait for the cook to toss the ingredients onto an enormous hotplate and flash-cook them and the sauce in under a minute. By the time you get back to your table there’s hot soup and steamed rice to go with your dish of goodies…yum yum.

Tuesday we went off to Granville Island - the quickest way to reach the island is via the little ferryboats that run between it and the rest of the mainland. Just a shortish walk from the hotel, along English Bay, past the giant Inukshuk (First Nations sculpture) and a bit of beach set aside for dog walkers – we had to smile at a bulldog playing in the surf with its owners! Got the boat across to the island and had a look around the famous public market which sells everything from fresh, organic vegetables and fruit to bread and cakes, fish, meat, flowers and plants and crafts. Had a bagel each with smoked meat and tried to avoid the hungry, persistent gulls and pigeons, then caught the boat over to the Maritime Museum. There we visited the St Roch, the Royal Canadian Mounted Police ship which was first to traverse the Northwest Passage from both directions and circumnavigate North America. Although some of the other exhibits were a bit dated, the display on St Roch was very interesting and well worth a visit – the ship has been in dry dock since the late 1960s and was restored to its current state by volunteers, as was the 1960s research submersible that was on display outside the museum. Somewhat weary and footsore, we limped across the street to the Soho Bar and Grill (a sports bar) for dinner and had a salutary reminder of the larger portion sizes over here – we should have gone for the small plate of Nachos!!!!!

Today we checked out of the Best Western and into the Sylvia Hotel for two nights, just down the street. This is a hotel in a heritage building, which began life as an apartment block in the 1920s and 30s. Breakfast was at Hilary’s Café on Denman Street (where we went yesterday as well!) before we caught the streetcar down to Canada Place, where we were going to pick up the rental car at the Pan Pacific Hotel. Had a wander around downtown, including a short walk into Gastown (named for ‘Gassy’ Jack Leighton, who helped establish the district in the 1860s by setting up a bar for the timber mill workers and was apparently a very talkative fellow, hence the nickname!) where we picked up some souvenirs and took photos of Gassy Jack’s statue and of the lovely old Steam Clock, which marks every quarter-hour with toots from its paddlesteamer whistles! A brief pause for lunch at the Steamworks pub/restaurant/microbrewery before we collected the car around 3.45 – a gold Chrysler Sebring – and gingerly made our way back to the Sylvia while I familiarised myself with driving, Canadian-style! Dinner tonight was at Maria’s Taverna on Denman before we came back to blog and download the latest set of photos. Weather has been pretty bad (rain almost all day) so we’re hoping for better tomorrow when we go whale-watching…

Toronto - Final Day...

We've only gone and done it, gone up the tallest freestanding building in the world. Hauled out backsides up the CN Tower this morning. 'Tis rather tall as you can probably imagine - 1581ft to be exact. We took the elevator to the observation deck and had a look around there...and, incidentally, down aswell!! Then went to the glass floor - slightly dizzy, but we've got pics to prove that we have done it. Also went to the Lookout deck aswel - outside, but with netting/grid over all the openings. Finally, we hit the Skypod - that's the bit about 300ft above the main desk. Hits about 1471 ft. Wow - great views from there.

Got down and took the TTC subway and street car to College/Crawford where we met up with Mary's forum friend Wendy. Classy lady, considering all that she has been through recently. Had a good long chat about everything and had pizza and beer and cake. Scrummy.

Blisters(!) not withstanding we came back to the hotel and did laundry, then went out to Fran's for dinner. When Heather and family come to Toronto they will have to go there aswell. See if they can get Mary as their server.

Ah well, things to do 'cos flight to take from Toronto to Vancouver tomorrow. So will let you know how it goes. CU all.

Toronto - Days 3 & 4...

Sorry I didn't post last night - severe lack of sleep and quite a bit of pain meant that I really wasn't up to it. But here goes...

Yesterday we went to Toronto Zoo. Our first go on the TTC subway and bus system - not too bad, and it might even be possible for the Glasgow team to come across here to race and beat the subway. If you don't know what I mean by that then by all means ask.

Anyhow, back to the zoo. Not too bad if I might say so myself. Lions & tigers and bears - oh my!! Two kinds of tigers in fact - Sumatran and Siberian. One type of bear and one type of lion, though two genders of each. Snakes, fish, lizards...orangutans, one of who had an inordinate fascination for digital cameras. Also clouded leopards and snow leopards.

And the pain thing - well, a lot of walking has done wonders for blisters on my feet. Little toes to be exact. 5-6 hours of walking round a zoo will do that to a guy.

Today we have been to Niagara Falls. Great driver and guide from King Tours. And the falls are rather impressive, both the Bridal Falls (with the Veil Falls) and the Horseshoe Falls. That's the Falls. The city of Niagara Falls, on the other hand, is like a mini Las Vegas. You like that kind of thing then the place is for you. If not, then you probably can't wait to get away from the place.

We couldn't stop in Niagara on the Lake due to time constraints and a no-drop-off policy. If we wanted to go there we would've needed to be dropped off out-of-town and taken a shuttle bus in, which would've taken quite a chunk out of the day. So that was skipped to allow us more time at the Falls. We also stopped off at a Winery and had a tasting, of both red and white wines. And for a wee bit more, we tried the Icewine. Oh boy - that was something else. Sweet, hints of peach and apple and a viscosity kinda like a liqueur.

Back to Toronto to rest our weary feet. To dinner at Golden Griddle and then back to the hotel, to write this up. Time for bed shortly, 'cos gotta get up to see the CN Tower and to meet up with the mysterious Wendy. More about that later.

Toronto - Day 2...

Got up. Had breakfast at usual place. Then took a walk along Yonge Street to Bloor Street West at Queens Park. Went down there to the Ontario Parliament Building. From there went along College Street then down Spadina Avenue to Dundas Street West. Along there to McCaul Street and into the Art Gallery of Ontario. Paid entrance and went and saw the Henry Moore Sculpture collection there. Then the rest of McCaul Street to Queen Street West and along there to Yonge Street and into the Eaton Centre. Through there and back up to the Hotel on Carlton Street. Mary slept for a wee while and then we went to dinner at Fran's Restaurant, back to Hotel for drinks and then to bed. Tomorrow it's the Toronto Zoo, weather permitting.

Toronto - Day 1...

Got up. Had breakfast at the Golden Griddle across the street - all you can eat for C$8.99 plus tax. Then worked our way down Yonge Street, stopping to admire the various shops (!) and architecture. Went down as far as the Hockey Hall of Fame, then along the street, past Union Station and almost to the CN Tower. We then took a Hippo Tour around the city and the harbour. Yea for amphibious buses and big splashes as they enter the water.

After coming back went to a pub across from the Hippo Tour place (20% discount if you show them your ticket) - had a steak wrap...with salad. Then continued on our merry way, up University Avenue and across to Nathan Philips Square, in front of the City Hall and next to the Old City Hall. Saw the black squirrels. Went into the Eaton Centre, got a few things and took pictures of the geese.

Back to hotel, let our feet cool down, went out for a pizza slice, back to bar at hotel for a beer and then to bed...or nearly, 'cos I'm writing this.

Oh Canada...

Have at last arrived...well, several hours ago but we've just been trying to chill since coming off the place. Staying in the Days Inn Conference Centre Downtown, 16th floor. Looking out the back onto other apartment buildings.

Flight was...well, as flights are. Interesting bit started with an announcement over the cabin tannoy: "For those of you on the right of the aircraft, if you look out the windows you'll see a bunch of icebergs." We were passing above 60 degrees, and the tip of Greenland. Got some good pics of the coats, glaciers and 'bergs. Might post some of them later.

Bus trip into town wasn't too bad, pretty uneventful to be honest. Drove past the tourist traps - Rogers Center, CN Tower, etc. Lake Ontario looked a little choppy, but inviting. Saw a barque berthed on the front as we passed a gap - white hull, multi-masted, olde-stylee. Driver went out of his way to drop us off at the hotel 'cos we weren't actually on his route.

Hotel got a little problematic 'cos our room wasn't ready when we arrived. So we dropped off the luggae and wandered around part of the Eaton Centre for a while. Rather large and rather confusing, trying to find your way around. Was looking for a phone charger adaptor, to allow a large-barrel Nokia 6600 charger to be used in a narrow-barreled Nokia N70. No such luck - either have to buy a narrow-barrel charger or just swap the SIMs around as needed.

Got back to the hotel, got checked in and Mary got a message from someone that she corresponds with on a 'net board. Mary has phoned Wendy (who has asked us out to dinner) so we're just waiting for a callback to say when we're going to meet, though I do not know if it'll be tonight. Been going since...well, didn't sleep the night of 10-11 September, so been going for a long time. Running on adrenaline which I guess will run out shortly, given the amount of (corrected) typos I'm making. Think we'll give it until maybe 2100 local time (0200 UK) and then crash.

Gotta go now. CU all later

On the way...

Well, it's 10/09/2006 and we're in the Express by Holiday Inn at Glasgow Airport. Clean, simple rooms which is all we need - a place to eat & kip. Only 250m from the airport terminal.

Flight leaves tomorrow morning at 0815, bound for Toronto, Canada. BAA being what it is, that means getting to the airport at 0515 to check-in and go through security. Bags are all weighed and there's only one bit of hand luggage as per the paranoid regulation according to HM Gov. One bag, two bags, who cares? Just makes it more difficult for the average Joe to take what he wants where he wants. As far as I can see there are no similar regs in other countries, so I guess I can bring back more that I have taken out.

Arrives Toronto at 1030 EST. Say 1-1/2 hours to clear immigration and customs, then into Toronto on the Airporter Express. Drops us at the Delta Chelsea Hotel, and it's only a block or so the the Days Inn Conference Downtown on Carlton Street. Just relax for a wee while and then hit the streets. Take in a wee bit of art and pop along to the Eaton Centre to pick up a Rogers Wireless SIM card for our phone.

Oh well, time on this terminal is running out. I'd go onto the laptop but whilst I can get a wireless connection I cannot get an IP address - sound familiar to anyone? So, unelss it's sorted itself out I'll blog somemore tomorrow afternoon/evening/night, depending on your geographical location and point of view.