Minor Mishap # 12

They lost our luggage... again. Both the backpacks stayed in LAX on our way home, while we continued on to Brisbane. Of course it really did have to happen. The last flight of our entire world trip needed to be marked by something special.

Moral of the story: ALWAYS pick up your luggage and re-check when transferring through USA especially when traveling either to or from Canada.

l
R
x
and Judy

Checking out the Vancouver Scene

We had planned to spend some downtime in Vancouver before going home, so took it easy just doing one touristy thing a day.

Our first day was spent exploring the streets down to Canada Place (near the harbour), where we discovered a tourist information booth. After asking many questions we were thoroughly prepared for our sightseeing. We continued along, stopping for coffee at Starbucks and finally seeing the movie "Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull".

The second day was a full day visit to The University of British Columbia (UBC). Here, we checked out the Chemistry building, which was the nicest one I've seen - heritage style and made of grey sandstone. After lunch we viewed the Museum of Earth and Ocean Sciences - which had a fantastic display of minerals, crystals and fossils, and a very interesting account of earthquakes and the way tsunamis are formed. Vancouver Island is moving towards the mainland as fast as fingernails grow! We moved on to walk down 390 steps to the beach, only stumbling upon a couple of nudists... In the evening we visited the Museum of Anthropology, where we had a tour and learned a bit about First Nations people. The totem (or rather "story") poles were exceptional.

The next day we took it fairly easy, visiting more of the harbour area around Canada Place and the Convention Centre. In the afternoon we decided to catch Kung Fu Panda - very worthwhile.

View to Stanley Park from the harbourfront

On the fourth day we took the seabus across to Lonsdale Quay/North Vancouver and then the bus (normal road-type) up to Lynn Canyon Park. We walked across the suspension bridge (48 m) and then explored the park. We spent some lazy-afternoon-time at the Twin Falls, letting the evaporating water cool us down from the 34 deg C day. Fortunately we didn't see any bears.

The next day was another easy one, spent reading and using the internet (free for anyone!) in the Public Library. The building was nicely Colosseum-esque.

Our final full day was spent roaming around Stanley Park - the park northwest of the city. It seemed to be a very popular place. There were beaches, a water park, an aquarium, tennis courts, artists corner and various picnic spots. It was fun, and a bit nerve-wracking, watching seaplanes take off in the harbour. We also saw some traditionally painted totem poles near Brockton Point. It was a lovely place to complete our Vancouver visit.

Brockton Point Lighthouse in Stanley Park

l
R
x
and Judy

New York - Old Favourite

We dropped off the car at JFK and took the train in to Penn Station. We could only afford to stay in a budget hotel, but were pleasantly surprised by the view - the best view in NY to date. We settled our luggage, then walked the one block required to get to Times Square. Decided to catch a show - and went to the box office to get tickets to Mary Poppins. It was produced by Disney, so set and costumes were absolutely fantastic.

The following day we walked through Central Park up to the Metropolitan Museum of Art, and spent the whole day frolicking in there. We had lunch/dinner in the usual lower floor cafeteria as a mid-excursion break. As usual we couldn't fit in the entire exhibition.

The next morning, after speaking to the Concierge at our hotel about directions for Balthazar and receiving "Oh, you'll never get in there. They have a 3 week waiting list." comments, we hopped on the Subway down to SoHo. It turned out there was only a 30 minute wait for walk-ins. We left our names and crossed the street to look in the MoMA (Museum of Modern Art) shop to pass the time. We sat down to a delicious brunch of eggs benedict and hazelnut waffles with berry compote. More browsing of the MoMA shop followed lunch (there are just too many funky things in there!). We then made our way to 34th street to do a bit of window-shopping at Macy's. A quick rest back at our hotel had us ready for the Marriott Marquis - a rotating cocktail lounge with views over Times Square and the city.

Our last day was spent at Bloomingdales in order to go to the Forty Carrots Restaurant. The decor in the cafe had changed to a hip and slightly disturbing bright-white and neon-green, but they still made the same awesome vegetable soup and frozen yoghurt. We spent the last moments of our time in a previously unexplored part of Central Park, as rain gently drizzled on the nearby lake.

l
R
x
and Judy

Maryland Madness

Disclaimer: We can neither confirm nor deny that we went crazy in Maryland. We shirk all culpability in the events that transpired.

We picked the rental car up from JFK Airport and hopped on the New Jersey Turnpike and traveled down to the I95 to get to Glen Burnie, a little suburb south of Baltimore. The trip took 6 hours (we finally found a good radio station to sing along to in Baltimore County). We were very excited about re-visiting all the areas we frequented when Mum and Dad lived in Annapolis.

The first day we performed some reconnaissance at Arundel Mills (outlet shopping) in order to determine the path of least resistance (for later in the week). We also saw The Dark Knight at the Egyptian Temple-esque theatre.

The following day we caught up with long-time friend Helen Mary, at Columbia Mall. The Apple Store here was not as nice as the one in Toronto.

The third day we went to the Baltimore Harbour and took a water taxi out to Fells Point. We also visited the Maryland Science Museum to see Body Worlds 2 - a display of plasticised bodies and organs showing various anatomy. At some points I felt a great need to intently read the posters (as opposed to looking at the displays). Mum was having a great time - which was suprising seeing as she doesn't like horror movies.

Annapolis Harbour was a must the next day in order to go to the best sushi place in the world. I am not understating it. We spent a good hour indulging at Yin Yankee. Everything was just as delicious as we remembered. Then off to Westfield Annapolis - which has doubled in size in the last 3 years! After a brief bout of shopping at the mall we stopped off at Best Buy - the only place to get electrical equipment (found a good replacement for my pink-photo taking camera). We finished off the day having a lovely home cooked meal with Helen Mary (baked chicken and fresh vegies yum!) followed by brownies (grahlaglagl).

Woohoo!

The final day before we left was the epitomy of mall madness. We spent 6 hours shopping at Arundel Mills. We refueled in the middle with half an hour for lunch. The day was completed by seeing Hancock at the cinemas. We climbed into bed sated and euphoric.

Mwhuhahahaha!

l
R
x
and Judy