Rocky Mountains

I'm really achy and tired. Walked over 15km since arriving in Banff in the Rocky Mountains yesterday, and a lot of those metres have been vertical ones. View definitely worth it once at the top.

Flew into Calgary late Monday night, but didn't get to the hostel until after midnight. The hostel check in said they would wait up, but they hadn't :(

So drove around Calgary and took some photos to say I'd been there and kept driving towards Banff. Didn't get too far until too tired (after 2am) and slept on the side of the road (and it's friggin cold once the car heater is off).

The sun woke me up and looking out the car windows ..... I'm in the middle of huge mountains! Snow tipped, pine covered mountains! And they just got closer and closer.

Stopped into Lake Minnewanka (pronounced Mini-wonka ;) on the way to Banff and that early in the morning their was Elk and other smaller deer. So the lack of sleep was worth it.

Banff from Sulphur Mountain (yes, I hiked all the way up):

In Quebec now within the very touristy old walled city. Much preferred Montreal.


Other stuff from Montreal:

Amazing amount of boutique shops, especially clothes, in Montreal. There was a whole series of shopping centres along the main street (usually 2 to 3 levels underground, and the same above), all connected underground, so you don't even have to brave the freezing weather in winter.

The undergound walkways are also extensive around the metro stations. Sometimes after getting off the train it can be hard to find an exit that will GET ME TO THE SURFACE!
















All the houses had stairs to the front door (though not always this impressive), maybe to avoid snow drifts in winter?

Public transportation















Bums playing Stratego
















These guys are more common than rats.














A more uncommon beggar.

Montreal

Arrived in Montreal yesterday afternoon, and wandered around the streets near the hostel to get dinner. Something I actually hadn't expected (and in retrospect should have) was how French it is. Street front dining, bicycles attached to posts everywhere, people wandering around with toy dogs, no english on street signs or menus (though most people do speak it well).
The contrast between Montreal and Toronto six hours away constantly amazes me.

Niagara

Had an awesome time in Niagara Falls, mostly due to the really helpful people working at the hostel. I highly recommend the jet boat up Niagara River, splashing through the 2m high standing waves in the narrower parts of the river. The pressure of the last wave of water coming down on me hurt my eyeballs for 5 min. Dave took aboard his water proof digital SLR and took some great photos, this is my favorite (it's not me in the photo):

Hi from Canada

I did the required "I'm in the USA, I'm in Canada. I'm in the USA, I'm in Canada" as I walked across the bridge over the Niagara River between the two counties.

It has finally cooled down from a horribly humid 35 degrees (Celsius), and rained instead. But it didn't matter because I was already soaked from Niagara Falls.

New York exceeded my expectations. Lots of tall buildings, lots of people, lots of yellow taxis, New York diners, and an extensive subway system. Some subway stations had 3 or more levels underground, and rickety trains. My one regret is I wasn't there long enough to do a tour of abandoned sections.

The morning I left New York for Buffalo, my alarm didn't work but luckily Dave woke up half an hour before the train left. In that time we managed to get changed, pack up, catch the subway and arrived just in time. I still can't believe we made it.

Off to Toronto tomorrow, then Montreal.

The picture is from the Empire State Building. The green patch in the background is Central Park, and my hostel was near the top, left corner of it.

LA

In LA! Probably won't actually leave Hollywood for the two days I'm staying here.

Took 2 1/2 hours to get out the friggin LAX airport! At the very first traffic lights saw a McDonalds and a Hummer.

Went out last night to Sunset Blvd, listened to live rock/country (well, it was just rock but the accent made it sound countryish). It was awesome. Made me feel like I really was in the US of A!

Other observations:
Hollywood - touristy but fun
Madame Tussauds - creepy
Star spotting - Justin Timberlake

View out the hostel window as I'm posting this:











The Kodak theatre is where the Academy Awards are hosted.

(Something failed with the photo upload. Will put up a better one when I can)

I'm alive!

Going to resurrect this blog to tell everyone how good being in Canada is :) Leaving on the 26th August - two weeks to go!

Hopefully I will have time to post. As you can see below, I wasn't very successful when I went to Europe two years ago. I'll try though.

If you happen to be looking through the older posts below and get to the one about a new blog .... don't bother. It is dead, very dead.