Three days to go and I am getting psyched!!

Thanks to the internet and facetime on my ipod, I do not have a huge telephone bill.  Peggy and I are burning up the computer lines though as we plan more and more of this trip. It is hard to believe it is getting so close.

We booked a visit to Buckingham Palace and a time for going up to the second level of the Eiffel Tower. We would have to book a month ahead to get to the top of the tower. Second level is fine for me. I have been scoping out restaurants around the area we are in and trying to match up tourist attractions so we do them in bunches. I have to find all my tour books as I packed them somewhere, but where?  I'm not sure anymore. I need a vacation from this vacation haha!

We are going into Palace overload. Buckingham Palace, Hampton Court, Kew Palace, Windsor Castle, Tower of London, Kensington Palace.  Walk past Clarence House maybe. Visit Westminster Abbey and Westminster Cathedral. Piccadilly Circle and Trafalgar Square here we come.  Of course before that we will be enjoying Paris. The Eiffel Tower, Sacre Coeur, Louvre, Arc de Triumphe, Notre Dame, and Versaille to hit the highlights.  We are also going to Vimy Ridge.

This is a really packed vacation.

Countdown: Four more days and we are off

It is looking like a mad dash is in the works for this week. I found the umbrella in case of rain, and sleep mask for the plane. The packing is almost done but I have to pull out and repack to make sure I have it all in. Still have to decide what I'm wearing and if I will buy a hat, and what goes in my oversize purse. I decided I will drive to Toronto and park there as the shuttle connections aren't good coming home.
I have been pulling information off the internet for each of the site we want to visit in Paris and next I have to do the same for London. Mostly the way to get there, a map of the site, hours of operation etc. Peggy has helped a lot by working out who is closed which days etc.
The house needs a good cleaning. I'm always afraid that if something happens while I'm away people will see my dirty house. I'm glad I have Friday afternoon off to get everything under control. Of course in the middle of all this I am going to Stratford for Shakespeare's The Merry Wives of Windsor on Thursday night and there is a reception at the hospital on Friday at noon. I am also going down to Toronto early to meet Peggy as her flight comes in away ahead of time. Knock on wood (rap, rap) I have a good drive down with no tow trucks involved.

I have the office trailer half packed (we are moving to a new jobsite while I am away) and the job relatively under control. We will move anything we don't need on Thursday.  No I'm not too busy --- No I'm not going crazy!!  Just a little.

Countdown to Paris and London.

In one week I will be leaving with my sister for Paris.  It is coming up so close I can't believe it is happening. 

In France we are visiting Vimy Ridge and Versaille as well as all the spots in Paris that we want to see. In England we have booked a day trip that includes Windsor Castle, Oxford University and Stonehenge at sunset. One of the men at work says it is the best time to go.  We will be reporting daily on what we are doing and how much fun we are having.

I graduated!!

I haven't posted lately so I will bring you uptodate.
The first weekend in June I drove to Toronto to catch a flight to Sudbury (free - used my airmiles).  Along the way I had a traffic accident and wrecked my car.  No ticket no injuries. The towtruck driver drove me to the airport and I just caught the flight.

This is Aline Chretien - wife of the former Prime Minister and Dominic Giroux , President of Laurentian University and of course me.
Picked up my gown that night and graduation was after lunch on Saturday. I wanted Carole who we met on the trip to Spain to come but her daughter picked that day to have a baby. Luckily the baby was born early and she and her husband Gerry joined us for dinner at a very nice restaurant.

The next day we went site seeing in Sudbury and saw the Big Nickel.

When I got back from Graduation I had to deal with the car accident. After the insurance company settled, I decided to buy a truck. 2008 Chevy Colorado. Only has 20,000 kilometers on it and it was a great buy. I am now a trucker.

Now that Graduation is over I have to concentrate on the trip to Paris and London that Peggy and I are taking later this year. We want to go to Vimy Ridge in France and Stonehenge in England. We have booked an apartment near the Bois de Vincenne in Paris and an inexpensive hotel in the heart of London.
Sandwiched in between Graduation and Paris are a couple of visits to Stratford (Twelfth Night, Camelot and the Merry Wives of Windsor) and the quarterfinals of the Canadian Open Tennis championship and a Legends tennis match with Jim Courier and Micheal Chang.

Day three - fashions and sightseeing

We started the day by missing the bus. Got tired of waiting and climbed the stairs to the elevated "subway". Only one stop from Bloomingdales. We walked in and all the designers had small outlets. Jimmy Choo wanted $198.00 to $243 for a keychain. We spoke to the clerk about off shore goods as the keychains were from Viet Nam. Beautiful wallets but they start at $128.00. A Coach coin purse was $56.00 - I'm not sure they are worth that much. We were given a spritz of eau de toilette by the store clerk. It was on special for $98.00. Colleen bought a Lady Gaga lipstick for an outrageous price but we are on holidays so we are supposed to spend money. Floor walkers everywhere - I didn't know they still had floor walkers. The Ladies Lounge (bathroom to the rest of the world) could be used for a reception anywhere else. We got pictures.

We headed across Lexington and Peggy said she had read something about Barney's so we went in and lo and behold Katie Holmes was there because of a new line of Holmes and Yang clothing. We had Champagne, petite fours, truffle potatoes and smoked salmon and look at all the clothes as if we would buy a sheer blouse for $236.00 or the top to go under for $148.00. I schmoozed while the others took pictures until somneone said no.  By then we had got all the pictures we needed.

We walked on to Central Park and saw the Plaza Hotel and the horse drawn carriages that take you round the park. Next it was off down 5th Avenue and check out all the famous name brands. We had lunch at the Trump Tower and then went to Tiffany's - enough bling to blind you.

Just down the street, after more window shopping, we visited St. Patricks Cathedral - beautiful Gothic architecture. Rockefeller Plaza is just across the way, so we watched people skating and went to Crabtree and Evelyn and then went up to the Top of the Rock. The Ascent from 3 to 67 is 43 seconds. They show slides on the ceiling to distract you.

Peggy had mapped out a quilt store so we went and while we were there we bought material and Colleen and I convinced her to make us pillows with taxicabs, subway maps and the Statue of Liberty on them.

We took the bus most of the day. It was easier then going up and down stairs to the subway. We went to Red Lobster for dinner. It was on Times Square. We took lots of pictures both before and after dinner and came home tired but happy.

New York City

Well I finally remembered my password so I could Blog.

On Saturday we had a great flight to New York. The line ups in Toronto were so long that they pulled me out of line 2 hours before my flight to try and get me through customs and security on time. I flunked the scan because of my money belt, but they let me into the country anyway.

Found the corner store has Smithwicks Irish beer so that is what I have been drinking. We wandered around Sunday looking for markets. Didn't find anything decent until afternoon.  The Chelsea Market was really nice and we found a flea market and I put my hand in to a bowl of jade items and pulled out a rooster.  How weird!

Visited the 911-museum Workshop - quite emotional. very small but packed with pictures and memorabilia. All day I kept looking at a small map and making Colleen and Peggy walk miles to the next place. I wore them out. We went to Filene's Basement and walked up to the Flatiron Building.

We were looking for a place to eat and found a place across from the Museum of Sex. It said it was healthy Ffod - Naturally Tasty was the name of the restaurant.  It had Healthy Hamburgers, Beer and we could have had Healthy Fries if we wanted them. I get the idea that they thought all food was healthy.

Today we went to the Statue of Liberty, Ellis Island and the 911 actual Site - which looks like any construction site now. We found the best view - not from the walkway but from the second floor of the World Financial Centre across the road. We froze on the boat going to the Statue and Peggy told off a crew making a Panasonic commercial because they made us move from the seats we picked and by then there weren't anymore seats inside. Liberty Island was not windy at all and we got some nice pictures of both the statue and the Orange County Chopper.

It was a good day!  Can't wait for tomorrow.

New York City - Here we come!

My sister Peggy and her daughter Colleen and I are going to New York City for March break. The countdown has started. It is only twenty-five days until we go. The last time I was in New York was when my older sister Frankie was a stewardess stationed there and living in Jackson Heights. I think that was about forty-eight years ago. I don’t remember much about it except riding the subway and going to the United Nations building. This will be just like it’s my first time there. I hope the weather is a bit warm while we are there as we don’t want to wear boots. We are staying out in Long Island City which is just across the Queensborough Bridge from Manhattan.


This is going to be quite the adventure. We are concentrating on Manhattan; we will have to look at the Bronx, Brooklyn, Staten Island etc. next time we go. So far we have booked the airline, the hotel, 911-workshop, The City Pass, Central Park Tour, Madame Tussaud’s and a New York Rangers hockey game. We also have on our list – Statue of Liberty, Ellis Island, the MOMA, Bloomingdales, Macy’s, St. Patrick’s Cathedral, the St. Patrick’s Day Parade, Top of the Rock and the Empire State building.

We have food discounts for three restaurants and we found the perfect take out / delivery place (approved by Guy Fieri on The Food Network) close to our hotel. Also on the list are the famous Katz Delicatessen and the Olive Garden in Times Square, so we should be enjoying food all week. I also want to try some street food if we get the chance and it is not too cold to walk and eat.

At the hotel we are going to try for a view of Manhattan and I am bringing two camera cards in case we run out of space on the first one. We are also taking GPS’s with us and my netbook. There is free Wi-Fi at the hotel and it is not as easy to find internet cafes in North America as it is in Europe. I think every day is going to be an adventure and I can hardly wait for it to start.