Saturday 31 March - Boston to NY
The moveout...
Spent over an hour in the local post office trying to ship my unneeded stuff back home. In the end, 1 large, clearly overweight box was spread out into 3 smaller ones. The result is that (hopefully) there´ll be 4 boxes arriving at Mum & Dad´s place within the next 6 weeks - 1 smaller one (a hard drive that contains the very valuable collection of tunes, which is probably the biggest at PP and needs to be copied onto my laptop when I get back to slow it down to more familiar speeds), which should be there in a fortnight or so, and 3 medium size ones full of clothes which might arrive as late as mid May. The 4 boxed cost me $US 170.
Said the goodbyes to Becky, Pete, Andrew & Jess, which had become our crew in the last 3 months (although Jess was only a late addition, in the last 2 weeks). Becky we´ll be catching up with in London with Jon later in April; Pete we´ll see in June when he comes down to see his beloved Kangaroos try to win their first game for the year; Andrew, Jess and Alice might be a little farther down the track.
As well as myself & Becky moving out, Jess Auriemma had been on secondment for the last 2 weeks, setting up a temporary abode in Becky´s place. She certainly livened the Oakwood apartments up - managing to break her arm in the short time. They could do a reality show purely on her life - much like Luke Carey, something unusual seems to happen to her every day.
Caught a 2:30 pm bus to NYC, to catch up with Libe and to start our journey from there. It was good to arrive in NYC during daylight hours - although I´d seen it a number of times, I wasn´t tired of seeing the Manhataan skyline just yet. I doubt anyone could get tired really.
The weather in this part of the country has really changed in the last week. Spring has certainly arrived. The boys from VCC were actually able to play golf today; their excitement was akin to having shared a container full of viagra.
Stayed at Amanda & Vincent´s house in the upper west side. Amanda is Libe´s cousin, an employee of Unicef, and is permanently based in NYC.
Saturday, March 31, 2007
Friday, March 30, 2007
Friday 30 March - Springfield to Boston
After a little sleep in, it was on a bus back from Springfield to Boston to wrap everything up at Vitale. The day was a rush really to ensure that I´d crossed all the t´s and dotted the i´s for leaving the firm, and for having everything organised for our trip.
Thanks to the organisation of Ryan Hurley, there were informal drinks held at The Harp in honour of myself & Becky. It was made a good night by the fact that so many of the people that we had worked with and gotten to know well were able to turn up. It was certainly hard to say goodbye to a lot of good people... hopefully I can fulfil my promise of keeping in touch with everyone. Hurley also got the 3 votes; Tim Ross was in contention, and so was Jess Auriemma (as usual). I was actually fairly reserved, what with having a huge day / weekend to come. The only downpoint of the night might have been an unprovoked spray I copped from a little Mexican bloke, obviously in possession of small man syndrome; anyway, it didn´t quite ruin in.
Better late than never, myself and the upcoming secondee to Melbourne, Jen Quinlan, were able to meet. Jen will be a great addition to PP - she´s going to have a ball. Abi had such a ball last year she might be back for a visit later this year. I´ve decided to keep up the tradition and pick Jen up from the airport when she arrives. It´s always good to see a friendly face in an unfamiliar place, just as we experienced when Ab was there at Boston Airport way back on 30 December (which actually just feels like yesterday).
After a little sleep in, it was on a bus back from Springfield to Boston to wrap everything up at Vitale. The day was a rush really to ensure that I´d crossed all the t´s and dotted the i´s for leaving the firm, and for having everything organised for our trip.
Thanks to the organisation of Ryan Hurley, there were informal drinks held at The Harp in honour of myself & Becky. It was made a good night by the fact that so many of the people that we had worked with and gotten to know well were able to turn up. It was certainly hard to say goodbye to a lot of good people... hopefully I can fulfil my promise of keeping in touch with everyone. Hurley also got the 3 votes; Tim Ross was in contention, and so was Jess Auriemma (as usual). I was actually fairly reserved, what with having a huge day / weekend to come. The only downpoint of the night might have been an unprovoked spray I copped from a little Mexican bloke, obviously in possession of small man syndrome; anyway, it didn´t quite ruin in.
Better late than never, myself and the upcoming secondee to Melbourne, Jen Quinlan, were able to meet. Jen will be a great addition to PP - she´s going to have a ball. Abi had such a ball last year she might be back for a visit later this year. I´ve decided to keep up the tradition and pick Jen up from the airport when she arrives. It´s always good to see a friendly face in an unfamiliar place, just as we experienced when Ab was there at Boston Airport way back on 30 December (which actually just feels like yesterday).
Thursday, March 29, 2007
Thursday 29 March - Springfield, MA
Ahh, the last day of work for 2 and a half months. Feels good. Also the last day at Springfield, so myself, Hotshot and Berga headed out for a few frothies at the Uni of Massachusetts in Amherst, a short 30 min drive from Springfield. This is the old stomping ground of Berga and of Ryan Hurley, thus we sought out what was the boys´ favorite buffalo wings & watering hole.
Hotshot drove home. He would have clearly been > 0.05 in Oz, however over here all you´ve got to do is keep the car straight and not arouse the suspicions of the fuzz, which Shot managed to do OK.
Ahh, the last day of work for 2 and a half months. Feels good. Also the last day at Springfield, so myself, Hotshot and Berga headed out for a few frothies at the Uni of Massachusetts in Amherst, a short 30 min drive from Springfield. This is the old stomping ground of Berga and of Ryan Hurley, thus we sought out what was the boys´ favorite buffalo wings & watering hole.
Hotshot drove home. He would have clearly been > 0.05 in Oz, however over here all you´ve got to do is keep the car straight and not arouse the suspicions of the fuzz, which Shot managed to do OK.
Wednesday, March 28, 2007
Wednesday 28 March - Springfield, MA
This is probably going to be the last blog from the US – because it’s all coming to an end. I’ll try to put up updates as regularly as possible, however we’re going to be fairly busy sightseeing, as the itinerary below suggests! As a result, it could be that I’ll just put up photos and exclude the commentary, although I’m using this a diary for myself & Libe as well, so I could surprise.
This is where the travels of Ryan Moore & Libe Melville will take them in the next two-and-a-half months:
- New York March 31
- Peru April 1 – 14 (tour which takes in Lima, the Sacred Valley, the Inca Trail, Machu Picchu, Cuzco and the Amazon jungle)
- Miami April 15 – 16
- San Fran April 17 – 20 (including tours of Alcatraz and Yosemite National Park)
- Las Vegas April 21 – 23 (including a tour of the Grand Canyon)
- NY April 24 (for a stopover)
- London April 25 – May 2 (which will include catching up with plenty of friends)
- Europe Tour May 3 – 16 (includes Paris, Lucerne (Switzerland), Pisa, Florence, Rome, Venice (Italy), Tyrol (Austria), Salzburg, Prague (Czech Republic))
- Berlin May 17 – 18
- Amsterdam May 19
- London May 20 – 21
- Egypt May 22 – 27 (including a tour of Cairo, Luxor and the Pyramids)
- Hong Kong May 28 – June 2 (hopefully including a night at the Happy Valley races)
- Geelong June 3 – June 11 (including some quality time on Mum & Dad’s couch in front of the Plasma)
Life over here has been good, although the last month has dragged on a bit – I’d attribute this to the fact that I’ve worked for pretty much the last 12 months without a break of any meaningful length, and that the novelty of work here had worn off and has become to feel like the normal routine. Still, I can’t complain too much about the opportunity we’ve been given. We’ve lived life without fear really, particularly financially, and will do so for the next 2.5 months (at least)! Looking back, it would have been a really poor decision in life not to undertake such an opportunity.
Sunday, March 25, 2007
Sunday 25 March - Boston
A quiet weekend, the last one in my temporary home town of Boston. Libe remained in her short-term abode of NYC too, thus there was one more weekend away from each other to go. Certainly looking forward to not being apart for such prolonged periods of time. Clearly, I couldn’t handle a job down the track where one of us would be required to be on the road for significant lengths of time and would create absences like the ones that we’ve been experiencing..
Saturday was spent watching the Australia v South Africa game. One of the advantages of being here at this time is that the Caribbean is in the same time zone as the eastern states of the US. Thus, today I was able to wake up at 9 and jump straight in front of the laptop for a full day of absorbing cricket.
Sunday I decided to step out and do a last little bit of sightseeing; to tick off the things in Boston I’d listed as ‘must do’s’ upon stepping out of Logan International Airport on 30th December but hadn’t yet done.
The Prudential Tower is Boston’s second largest building, but is home to its major observation deck (much like the Rialto is the second tallest building & our observatory). It was good to look out over the area that has been home for the last 3 months (which has gone so quickly it feels like 3 weeks), and to piece together the familiar sights like a big jigsaw puzzle. It’s not as breathtaking as the Empire State Building’s view, but it’s still pretty handy.
Fenway Park is home to the Boston Red Sox, the local Major League Baseball team. It’s much like Skilled Stadium is to the AFL. Fenway Park is probably too small for league standards, and for a city of 4.4 million people, at only 35,000 capacity (which has increased a few thousand in the last few years too). However, it’s old, quirky, full of history, and it might be the last bastion of ‘suburban’ baseball in the US (ie. away from the big stadium feel that you get with the MCG and the Dome when compared to Skilled). The hourly tour I went on was huge in numbers – probably 100 or so in the group – which probably reflects the aura that it carries. Well worth a look for anyone who passes through Boston.
A quiet weekend, the last one in my temporary home town of Boston. Libe remained in her short-term abode of NYC too, thus there was one more weekend away from each other to go. Certainly looking forward to not being apart for such prolonged periods of time. Clearly, I couldn’t handle a job down the track where one of us would be required to be on the road for significant lengths of time and would create absences like the ones that we’ve been experiencing..
Saturday was spent watching the Australia v South Africa game. One of the advantages of being here at this time is that the Caribbean is in the same time zone as the eastern states of the US. Thus, today I was able to wake up at 9 and jump straight in front of the laptop for a full day of absorbing cricket.
Sunday I decided to step out and do a last little bit of sightseeing; to tick off the things in Boston I’d listed as ‘must do’s’ upon stepping out of Logan International Airport on 30th December but hadn’t yet done.
The Prudential Tower is Boston’s second largest building, but is home to its major observation deck (much like the Rialto is the second tallest building & our observatory). It was good to look out over the area that has been home for the last 3 months (which has gone so quickly it feels like 3 weeks), and to piece together the familiar sights like a big jigsaw puzzle. It’s not as breathtaking as the Empire State Building’s view, but it’s still pretty handy.
Fenway Park is home to the Boston Red Sox, the local Major League Baseball team. It’s much like Skilled Stadium is to the AFL. Fenway Park is probably too small for league standards, and for a city of 4.4 million people, at only 35,000 capacity (which has increased a few thousand in the last few years too). However, it’s old, quirky, full of history, and it might be the last bastion of ‘suburban’ baseball in the US (ie. away from the big stadium feel that you get with the MCG and the Dome when compared to Skilled). The hourly tour I went on was huge in numbers – probably 100 or so in the group – which probably reflects the aura that it carries. Well worth a look for anyone who passes through Boston.
Wednesday, March 21, 2007
The MassMutual Center in Springfield (which, incidentally, is the home of basketball, being the place where it was invented). Tonight's game is between Winona State Uni, a Minnesota based college, and the local Bentley Uni, a Boston college which provided the education of quite a number of Vitale employees. This game was a D2 (the third highest division in men's college basketball) quarter final, although a flaw in the finals system meant that these two teams were the best two in the division, having won a combined 57 games straight. The white shirts represented the Bentley fans, who far outnumbered the travelling Winona State Warriors fans. Which is understandable as it's a 24 hour drive from there to Springfield.
Tuesday, March 20, 2007
Tuesday 20 March – Boston
My 9th last day of work, with a two and a half months break afterwards. To put this in context, the next break that I have that will match this one for length could be my long service leave, and I haven’t yet clocked up 4 years at PP. Fair to say that I’m going to look back and (1) be grateful for it (2) given there’s going to be so achieved in that time, it might just be the best two months of my life. It’s also going to be a big step, because even though getting into and around the US was a big move, there’s no real culture shock. Surely setting foot in Lima, Peru on 1 April will be different.
Here’s an indication as to how TV dominates the organisation and scheduling of US sports. The annual NCAA tournament is being played at the moment to determine who is the best college basketball team in the States. The locals are pretty passionate about their college sports, particularly when the college they attended is involved. During these basketball games, which are beamed throughout the day and into prime time all over the country on one of the nation’s biggest free to air networks – CBS – there are a few TV timeouts. These timeouts aren’t called by the coaches, or the refs – a TV station employee informs the refs a timeout is needed to run some ads, so at the next stop in play the refs ensure the idiot box can run a couple of fee-earners for the next two minutes telling us, amongst other things, the virtues of using a cologne spray to improve a single man’s attraction to the opposite sex.
It is even worse in the NFL – there are approximately to 6 TV timeouts per game apparently, at two minutes each.
Just lately I’ve discovered that the people of New England (north eastern US) might have an accent. In particular, the word “room” is said much like Tony Greig would say it (think of Tone saying “giving himself a bit of room” and you might get the picture). For non-cricket followers – it is pronounced like “vroom vroom” is.
Last Friday, we left Springfield (which is an hour and a quarter from Boston) mid morning to ensure we beat the incoming snow storm that was working its way up the north eastern coast, which in hindsight was a very good idea. Schools closed early (they run from 8am to 2pm apparently here, with smaller lunch and recess times) and flights were cancelled, all before a single snowflake had hit the ground. The snow fell from just after lunchtime, and did it fall! Not even Ben Cousins’ public perception has had a bigger fall. Most of the people left work early (say between 1pm and 4pm) to ensure they didn’t leave too late and cop the brunt of it. Vitale actually have an official policy on snowstorms and blizzards which permits this very practice. The only thing that PP need an official policy on might be hand cream...
Unfortunately the fall created havoc with a few weekend travel plans. Libe and her mum Shirley, who planned to leave NY for Boston on a Greyhound bus at 7pm (or earlier), were delayed until the morning. Even worse, Becky’s hubby-in-waiting Jon had booked a flight from DC to Boston, which was cancelled (for the day) on Friday and then cancelled for good on Saturday, meaning he gets a ‘credit’ for a flight with that airline he’ll never take, at least not for a while anyway.
A lot of Jerry Seinfeld looks over here (the jeans with the sneakers). Being fair, Oz has got more than its fair share too, but if there ever was a place to promote a deal where the keen fashion seeker gets a pair of Napisan-white Nikes with their Levi Strauss’, this is it.
Monday, March 19, 2007
Sunday, March 18, 2007
Sunday 18 March – Springfield, MA
It wasn’t until today that I had my first drive in the US. We borrowed Pete’s car and headed up the coast for 30 mins to Salem. No dramas, apart from the massive red light I went through, the result of a brief loss of concentration while not agreeing with Libe on where we were heading through Salem. Had one of the Boys in Blue (actually, it’s all black clothes over here) seen it and pulled me over, I would have trotted out the ‘foreigner’ excuse for sure.
Salem is famous as a witch country, thus that was the theme of the sightseeing there. Its has a very famous story of witches being tried and punished (sometimes executed) in the 17th century – which was the basis for the movie ‘The Crucible’.
Other movies have been set in these areas – in particular, two real good films ‘The Departed’ and ‘Good Will Hunting’ have both been set in South Boston (aka Southie). Southie was actually my destination for the night. Libe and Shirl set off back to Boston (Libe for the final time) on the Greyhound Bus at 6, and I headed to Berga and Hurley’s place in Southie for a little St Patricks day celebration. Berga was already kicking with the wind, while Hurley had seen better days when I walked in. The night ended with a feed with the usual suspects at Bertucci’s, a sub-standard Italian restaurant (Pete, Alice, Andrew, Becky... very familiar names).
It wasn’t until today that I had my first drive in the US. We borrowed Pete’s car and headed up the coast for 30 mins to Salem. No dramas, apart from the massive red light I went through, the result of a brief loss of concentration while not agreeing with Libe on where we were heading through Salem. Had one of the Boys in Blue (actually, it’s all black clothes over here) seen it and pulled me over, I would have trotted out the ‘foreigner’ excuse for sure.
Salem is famous as a witch country, thus that was the theme of the sightseeing there. Its has a very famous story of witches being tried and punished (sometimes executed) in the 17th century – which was the basis for the movie ‘The Crucible’.
Other movies have been set in these areas – in particular, two real good films ‘The Departed’ and ‘Good Will Hunting’ have both been set in South Boston (aka Southie). Southie was actually my destination for the night. Libe and Shirl set off back to Boston (Libe for the final time) on the Greyhound Bus at 6, and I headed to Berga and Hurley’s place in Southie for a little St Patricks day celebration. Berga was already kicking with the wind, while Hurley had seen better days when I walked in. The night ended with a feed with the usual suspects at Bertucci’s, a sub-standard Italian restaurant (Pete, Alice, Andrew, Becky... very familiar names).
Saturday, March 17, 2007
Saturday 17 March – Boston
Libe and Shirl finally arrived around 1pm, which was a good result seeing the bus left NY just before 9. It was good to see both of them – Shirl in particular looks no different to when I first met her and Pete (Libe’s father).
It was a fairly quiet day, with Shirl heading off on a Trolley Tour of Boston while myself and Libe organised future travel plans. It was a bit more loud around our area though; St Patrick’s day was in full swing from a very early start, and the pubs around our area, which are predominantly Irish themed, were packed. One of the photos below will illustrate the demand for the most popular Irish pub in this area, the Black Rose. Tea was at a cafe / restaurant in the Back Bay area, before we bunkered down to get ready for some busy sightseeing on Sunday.
Libe and Shirl finally arrived around 1pm, which was a good result seeing the bus left NY just before 9. It was good to see both of them – Shirl in particular looks no different to when I first met her and Pete (Libe’s father).
It was a fairly quiet day, with Shirl heading off on a Trolley Tour of Boston while myself and Libe organised future travel plans. It was a bit more loud around our area though; St Patrick’s day was in full swing from a very early start, and the pubs around our area, which are predominantly Irish themed, were packed. One of the photos below will illustrate the demand for the most popular Irish pub in this area, the Black Rose. Tea was at a cafe / restaurant in the Back Bay area, before we bunkered down to get ready for some busy sightseeing on Sunday.
Friday, March 16, 2007
Sunday, March 11, 2007
Sunday 11 March - Niagara (Canada) / Buffalo / Boston
We’re yet to find a customs official that has smiled. I’m sure that the job interview for these positions must involve watching Borat and testing whether the candidate can refrain from smiling / laughing. Even Libe’s failed to get a laugh from him today, although it sure made me giggle. When asked where we were headed when driving through the customs gate heading from Niagara, Canada, to Niagara, USA, Libe provided the obvious response of “the US”. Although completely innocent, I wonder whether such a response has been taken to be overly sarcastic by an over-scrupulous officer in the past and resulted in someone getting denied entry. Anyway, suffice to say Ewing didn’t laugh, but he did let us through; he probably gets that response quite a few times a day.
Daylight savings kicked in overnight here. They’re extending the daylight savings period at both ends – it’s starting earlier in March, and finishing later in November. Correct me if I’m wrong, but I think that’s a couple of months longer than our period. I wasn’t until about 5:20pm that we remembered (more accurately, Libe remembered) that daylight savings had kicked in and it wasn’t 4:20 – which was very lucky as our shuttle to the Buffalo airport was booked to pick us up between 5:00 and 5:25. A quick cab ride back to the hotel found that our shuttle driver had patiently continued to wait for us, and we hadn’t poured our $$$ for the early booking down the drain.
Today was more exploration of the falls, particularly the Horseshoe ones. Most of the falls area was still frozen, making for quite a remarkable sight. The description of this is best left to the photos I think, so I’ll let them paint the picture.
We did take a trip ‘beneath’ the falls, which allows you to view them both from side-on, and from behind, although the view was restricted due to the ice and snow compiled. Viewing them from this angle certainly lets you appreciate the velocity and the amount of water which flows in this area. Being from a country which has suffered so much from drought in recent years makes the scene more awesome too I'm guessing. I hadn’t seen this much water running since Dad’s perfectly executed cannonball nearly emptied the pool up at Pop’s place going back a few years ago.
A little downstream from the falls are the whirlpool & the rapids, two areas where the way in which the river is structured creates another two spectacular natural attractions. Myself and Libe again both defied any fear of heights (after our excursion up to the top of the CN Tower on Saturday) and set out over the whirlpool and the rapids – once again, I’ll let the pictures tell the story.
The trip home involved another set of small planes for both of us – me an 18 row x 3 seat jet, Libe a 10 x 4 one. As expected, Libe was delayed significantly (as they say in the classics, these people would be late for their own funeral) and got home a lot later than planned, before splitting a cab from JFK to Manhattan with a girl who happened to date Dylan McLaren (the Lions now Blues footballer) a couple of years ago. She probably dumped him as soon as he told her he’d gone to Optus Oval. Can’t blame her really. Certainly a small world...
We’re yet to find a customs official that has smiled. I’m sure that the job interview for these positions must involve watching Borat and testing whether the candidate can refrain from smiling / laughing. Even Libe’s failed to get a laugh from him today, although it sure made me giggle. When asked where we were headed when driving through the customs gate heading from Niagara, Canada, to Niagara, USA, Libe provided the obvious response of “the US”. Although completely innocent, I wonder whether such a response has been taken to be overly sarcastic by an over-scrupulous officer in the past and resulted in someone getting denied entry. Anyway, suffice to say Ewing didn’t laugh, but he did let us through; he probably gets that response quite a few times a day.
Daylight savings kicked in overnight here. They’re extending the daylight savings period at both ends – it’s starting earlier in March, and finishing later in November. Correct me if I’m wrong, but I think that’s a couple of months longer than our period. I wasn’t until about 5:20pm that we remembered (more accurately, Libe remembered) that daylight savings had kicked in and it wasn’t 4:20 – which was very lucky as our shuttle to the Buffalo airport was booked to pick us up between 5:00 and 5:25. A quick cab ride back to the hotel found that our shuttle driver had patiently continued to wait for us, and we hadn’t poured our $$$ for the early booking down the drain.
Today was more exploration of the falls, particularly the Horseshoe ones. Most of the falls area was still frozen, making for quite a remarkable sight. The description of this is best left to the photos I think, so I’ll let them paint the picture.
We did take a trip ‘beneath’ the falls, which allows you to view them both from side-on, and from behind, although the view was restricted due to the ice and snow compiled. Viewing them from this angle certainly lets you appreciate the velocity and the amount of water which flows in this area. Being from a country which has suffered so much from drought in recent years makes the scene more awesome too I'm guessing. I hadn’t seen this much water running since Dad’s perfectly executed cannonball nearly emptied the pool up at Pop’s place going back a few years ago.
A little downstream from the falls are the whirlpool & the rapids, two areas where the way in which the river is structured creates another two spectacular natural attractions. Myself and Libe again both defied any fear of heights (after our excursion up to the top of the CN Tower on Saturday) and set out over the whirlpool and the rapids – once again, I’ll let the pictures tell the story.
The trip home involved another set of small planes for both of us – me an 18 row x 3 seat jet, Libe a 10 x 4 one. As expected, Libe was delayed significantly (as they say in the classics, these people would be late for their own funeral) and got home a lot later than planned, before splitting a cab from JFK to Manhattan with a girl who happened to date Dylan McLaren (the Lions now Blues footballer) a couple of years ago. She probably dumped him as soon as he told her he’d gone to Optus Oval. Can’t blame her really. Certainly a small world...
Behind the falls... in warmer times, this tunnel would not be blocked and you could walk outside, but it's still winter unfortunately. Still, the blinding white outside is the water.Given all you can hear is water falling, I defy anyone to have a dozen pots, not break the seal, stand here and see if they can hold on for an hour so. If successful... I defy them to have a dozen light pots.
The Niagara hotels are currently in a war to see who can offer the best view of the Falls, particularly the Horseshoe one. Oakes Hotel (the 2nd hotel from the right, with the L-shape) must have got in first as their location might be the best... we happened to score a 4th level room, with the views as shown above - well worthy of a Lleyton Hewitt-style "c'mon!".
Looking up the rapids which flow into the Whirlpool. For whitewater sports, rapids can be anywhere up to a level 5 severity. These are a level 7, hence no-one touches them, although a few fatally have. Much like consolidated cash flow spreadsheets really... doing them is fatal I reckon (hint hint to all my managers out there).
Saturday, March 10, 2007
Saturday 10 March – Toronto / Niagara Falls
In typical form, myself & Libe were late to start our sightseeing today, despite only having a day available to see Toronto – for me anyway; Libe had even less.
We at least got to look at the CN Tower, the tallest free-standing building in the world, and right next door to the Rogers Centre. The glass floor was of particular interest – it can certainly challenge your nerves walking on it when the ground is some 300m below. Unfortunately an ordinary day’s weather really did restrict our view out over the horizon; on a lovely clear day, like Friday was, the view would have been outstanding.
We at least got to say a quick final goodbye to Kevie, who was battling after a late night and a early morning start taking training. However long it takes us to catch up with him next, it will be too long.
The trip to Niagara was via the Greyhound Bus (as per usual for us).
Niagara is a little like Atlantic City, in that apart from the tourist areas, it’s really not an attractive city. There is a lot more at Niagara to do however. It has a lot of hotels, a lot of neon lights and plenty of fun/amusement-type buildings. It also has a couple of particular small water features, although these are no ordinary backyard birdbaths...
Our hotel room directly overlooked the falls, which was a great result – despite that fact that it was foggy on Saturday night, and we were looking into the sun on Sunday morning, so it was not quite so easy to see them.
The larger Horseshoe Falls, also known as the Canadian falls, are lit up at night to create a spectacular scene after dark. The smaller American falls, which are amazing in their own right but are completely overshadowed by the Horseshoe ones, aren’t afforded the same attention. If I wasn’t such a tightarse I might have had some great photos of this, but my digital camera bought a couple of years ago in Perth doesn’t really put the blokes taking the footy pics for the Addy in any danger.
Our final stop for the night was a couple of drinks at TGI Fridays. Towards the end of our stay, they fired up the Karaoke. Unbeknown to us, the singers’ voice and the music is broadcast outside the restaurant; fair to say those living within earshot would be happy that I didn’t take to the stage to belt out a number, but they didn’t have any Johnny Farnham, so they weren’t subjected to hearing my lack of ability.
Interestingly, Niagara, which is on the Canadian side of the border, takes both USD and CAD – on a couple of occasions, we paid in one currency and received change in another. The exchange rate is about 1 USD = 1.1 CAD, so it’s not too hard to work out.
Still yet to find any cordial over here. And if you ask for a lemonade, you’ll get a puzzled look – it’s just ‘Sprite’.
Another thing in common with AC is the Rainforest Cafe, a restaurant fully decked out in jungle themes, such as vines on the walls & roof and robotic gorillas, elephants, snakes (etc).
In typical form, myself & Libe were late to start our sightseeing today, despite only having a day available to see Toronto – for me anyway; Libe had even less.
We at least got to look at the CN Tower, the tallest free-standing building in the world, and right next door to the Rogers Centre. The glass floor was of particular interest – it can certainly challenge your nerves walking on it when the ground is some 300m below. Unfortunately an ordinary day’s weather really did restrict our view out over the horizon; on a lovely clear day, like Friday was, the view would have been outstanding.
We at least got to say a quick final goodbye to Kevie, who was battling after a late night and a early morning start taking training. However long it takes us to catch up with him next, it will be too long.
The trip to Niagara was via the Greyhound Bus (as per usual for us).
Niagara is a little like Atlantic City, in that apart from the tourist areas, it’s really not an attractive city. There is a lot more at Niagara to do however. It has a lot of hotels, a lot of neon lights and plenty of fun/amusement-type buildings. It also has a couple of particular small water features, although these are no ordinary backyard birdbaths...
Our hotel room directly overlooked the falls, which was a great result – despite that fact that it was foggy on Saturday night, and we were looking into the sun on Sunday morning, so it was not quite so easy to see them.
The larger Horseshoe Falls, also known as the Canadian falls, are lit up at night to create a spectacular scene after dark. The smaller American falls, which are amazing in their own right but are completely overshadowed by the Horseshoe ones, aren’t afforded the same attention. If I wasn’t such a tightarse I might have had some great photos of this, but my digital camera bought a couple of years ago in Perth doesn’t really put the blokes taking the footy pics for the Addy in any danger.
Our final stop for the night was a couple of drinks at TGI Fridays. Towards the end of our stay, they fired up the Karaoke. Unbeknown to us, the singers’ voice and the music is broadcast outside the restaurant; fair to say those living within earshot would be happy that I didn’t take to the stage to belt out a number, but they didn’t have any Johnny Farnham, so they weren’t subjected to hearing my lack of ability.
Interestingly, Niagara, which is on the Canadian side of the border, takes both USD and CAD – on a couple of occasions, we paid in one currency and received change in another. The exchange rate is about 1 USD = 1.1 CAD, so it’s not too hard to work out.
Still yet to find any cordial over here. And if you ask for a lemonade, you’ll get a puzzled look – it’s just ‘Sprite’.
Another thing in common with AC is the Rainforest Cafe, a restaurant fully decked out in jungle themes, such as vines on the walls & roof and robotic gorillas, elephants, snakes (etc).
Looking down on the Rogers Centre, with its multiple roofs clearly visible. This is the kind of view that Gary Snr had when taking that speccie over Gary Pert at the MCG in 1994. Although Pert has since moved on to be GM at Triple M, being Gary Snr's stepladder is still the best thing he's done, particularly the most broadcast / published.I'd also liken it to Leigh Colbert's mark in the semi-final at Adelaide in 1997, however I'd rather not go there, given it's still too traumatic for me to discuss Grant Vernon's brief blind spell.
A closer view of the glass floor. When I noticed these little cracks in the floor, I started to curse the massive American feeds that are put on every night (mind you, I'd spent most of the previous week having $20 filet mignons on a client, so it was hard to resist). Rest assured, they were there already.
Libe's always been a beacon of light in times of darkness...There were these mirrors on the ceiling. They obviously should work somehow, it's just that two high-flying Melbourne accountants couldn't work it out due to a lack of creative thinking (hence why we're accountants!). We screwed this one up better than the Poms and their Ashes defence.
This is not Studio 54 actually, despite the pink lighting... just a picture taken in front of the huge lights that illuminate the falls at night. No truth to the rumour that the lights are there not to provide sightseeing opportunities, but to stop Barwon Water from taking a filling a few bucketloads, taking them back to Geelong and in the process doubling the town's water storages.
Friday, March 9, 2007
Friday 9 March – Boston to Toronto
The firm and the managers on the jobs I’m currently on were good enough to give me the day off, which in hindsight was really much appreciated as I wouldn’t have been able to fit Toronto and Niagara into the same weekend. Allison Egbert in particular was very accommodating, which I’m sure I’ll appreciate for many years to come given either of these two places would have remained on my life’s sightseeing to-do list, and normally they are so far away from Australia.
Despite it being March, we’ve had some freezing days during the week. Spring doesn’t officially start until March 21 – actually, all seasons begin 21 days after the start of the Australian seasons, and, obviously, are in a different timeline. And when you cop freezing days like these, you can understand why. Fair to say the brass monkey is a gelding by now.
US-based airlines use smaller planes for domestic flights than the Australian airlines. However, they do fly more regularly, and to a much greater number of destinations. Given the low number of flight accidents, I think this means that their safety record is pretty much as good as it can get. The flight I was on to Toronto with Air Canada was only approximately 33% full. They didn’t miss me with the price though – as I wasn’t sure when I could fly to Toronto, I booked early in the past week, thus the cheapest flight I could get for the (only) 1 hour 45 min flight was $420 AUD.
The flight made for some great sightseeing – almost worth the exorbitant price alone. The states of Massachusetts and New York, and two of the Great Lakes in Lake Erie and Lake Ontario are still either frozen or under a blanket of snow, so the white world was just enthralling all the way.
Libe arrived later than me, although she was able to get on an earlier flight than she’d booked, which is actually very easy to do over here it seems. All we’ve had to do is to march up to the counter, either at the check-in or at the gate, and ask if they can change our planes. For her to get into Toronto early in the evening was a great result.
We stayed with Kevie Albrecht, who did a secondment to Australia in August to October 2006 and I got to know really well. You’d go a long way to find a better bloke than Kevie (to be exact, we went 16,318.44 km – as the crow flies – from Geelong to Toronto to catch up with him, but it was certainly worth it). One of the few regrets I’ve got on this trip – apart from not having been betting 5 credits per line when the big free spins came up down in Atlantic City – was not taking a photo with Kevie with us at some point during the weekend. I’ve still got some photos of him when he came to our bad taste house party a few months ago back at 72 Canterbury, however Kevie was that tanned then (after travelling the east coast of Oz) he almost looks like a different person.
Once I’d got to Canada, I headed straight for the Smith Nixon office (PP and Vitale’s Baker Tilly network affiliate in Toronto) to catch up with Kevie. Also caught up with Blair Zaritsky, an ex-PP secondee, who myself and Sammy J (Whatmore) happened to see Jet with at Festival Hall a couple of years ago. Good to catch up with good people like him... even better than he remembered me immediately. Blair’s a manager at SN and seems to be going good for himself. Even if he has to share a manager’s office with another manager, which might seem a little odd, although the offices are an OK size.
After a quick tour of the inner Toronto CBD, I headed off for a little wandering. Took a tour of the Rogers Centre, formerly known as the Skydome, home to a Geelong Footy Club exhibition match many years ago – I haven’t clarified this with Pa, but I think it was against Melbourne in 1989. Having been to the Skydome now, I’d love to know / see if there’s any footage of the game... would certainly be interesting to see. The Skydome is home to the Toronto Blue Jays (Major League Baseball), the Toronto Argonauts (Canadian Football), and numerous other events such as concerts, public gatherings etc. It has an amazing retractable roof, which separates into 4 pieces and are mechanically stacked on top of each other at one end of the stadium when those at the top want the sun shining on the field. It has a full Astroturf (synthetic) turf, which I’m pretty sure existed when the Cats played there. It has a hotel in the arena – a large number of the rooms of this hotel have windows which look directly onto the playing surface. It also has a Hard Rock Cafe and three other restaurants / bars looking directly onto it. Fair to say, it is quite a remarkable stadium.
Kevie might have the most comfortable couches in I’ve seen. Although the effort of me & Libe of pushing the beds together might have seemed a little odd, we both had a cracking nights sleep. Must keep in mind for any future visitors Kevie...
Madison Pub is on the same street as Kevie, and might be the best pub I’ve been to, and that does include the Sir Charles Hotham Hotel too. Although we got there late, with only 30 minutes to go, they had one of the most original ideas I’ve seen. ‘The Maddy’ appears to be two rather large houses joined together , with most of their rooms maintained in terms of structure. One of the bars – it has a number of different ones – has a solo piano player playing covers. Tonight’s bloke played a version of With or Without You that brought the house down. Would love to see a place like this in Melbourne, but I certainly haven’t found one yet.
The firm and the managers on the jobs I’m currently on were good enough to give me the day off, which in hindsight was really much appreciated as I wouldn’t have been able to fit Toronto and Niagara into the same weekend. Allison Egbert in particular was very accommodating, which I’m sure I’ll appreciate for many years to come given either of these two places would have remained on my life’s sightseeing to-do list, and normally they are so far away from Australia.
Despite it being March, we’ve had some freezing days during the week. Spring doesn’t officially start until March 21 – actually, all seasons begin 21 days after the start of the Australian seasons, and, obviously, are in a different timeline. And when you cop freezing days like these, you can understand why. Fair to say the brass monkey is a gelding by now.
US-based airlines use smaller planes for domestic flights than the Australian airlines. However, they do fly more regularly, and to a much greater number of destinations. Given the low number of flight accidents, I think this means that their safety record is pretty much as good as it can get. The flight I was on to Toronto with Air Canada was only approximately 33% full. They didn’t miss me with the price though – as I wasn’t sure when I could fly to Toronto, I booked early in the past week, thus the cheapest flight I could get for the (only) 1 hour 45 min flight was $420 AUD.
The flight made for some great sightseeing – almost worth the exorbitant price alone. The states of Massachusetts and New York, and two of the Great Lakes in Lake Erie and Lake Ontario are still either frozen or under a blanket of snow, so the white world was just enthralling all the way.
Libe arrived later than me, although she was able to get on an earlier flight than she’d booked, which is actually very easy to do over here it seems. All we’ve had to do is to march up to the counter, either at the check-in or at the gate, and ask if they can change our planes. For her to get into Toronto early in the evening was a great result.
We stayed with Kevie Albrecht, who did a secondment to Australia in August to October 2006 and I got to know really well. You’d go a long way to find a better bloke than Kevie (to be exact, we went 16,318.44 km – as the crow flies – from Geelong to Toronto to catch up with him, but it was certainly worth it). One of the few regrets I’ve got on this trip – apart from not having been betting 5 credits per line when the big free spins came up down in Atlantic City – was not taking a photo with Kevie with us at some point during the weekend. I’ve still got some photos of him when he came to our bad taste house party a few months ago back at 72 Canterbury, however Kevie was that tanned then (after travelling the east coast of Oz) he almost looks like a different person.
Once I’d got to Canada, I headed straight for the Smith Nixon office (PP and Vitale’s Baker Tilly network affiliate in Toronto) to catch up with Kevie. Also caught up with Blair Zaritsky, an ex-PP secondee, who myself and Sammy J (Whatmore) happened to see Jet with at Festival Hall a couple of years ago. Good to catch up with good people like him... even better than he remembered me immediately. Blair’s a manager at SN and seems to be going good for himself. Even if he has to share a manager’s office with another manager, which might seem a little odd, although the offices are an OK size.
After a quick tour of the inner Toronto CBD, I headed off for a little wandering. Took a tour of the Rogers Centre, formerly known as the Skydome, home to a Geelong Footy Club exhibition match many years ago – I haven’t clarified this with Pa, but I think it was against Melbourne in 1989. Having been to the Skydome now, I’d love to know / see if there’s any footage of the game... would certainly be interesting to see. The Skydome is home to the Toronto Blue Jays (Major League Baseball), the Toronto Argonauts (Canadian Football), and numerous other events such as concerts, public gatherings etc. It has an amazing retractable roof, which separates into 4 pieces and are mechanically stacked on top of each other at one end of the stadium when those at the top want the sun shining on the field. It has a full Astroturf (synthetic) turf, which I’m pretty sure existed when the Cats played there. It has a hotel in the arena – a large number of the rooms of this hotel have windows which look directly onto the playing surface. It also has a Hard Rock Cafe and three other restaurants / bars looking directly onto it. Fair to say, it is quite a remarkable stadium.
Kevie might have the most comfortable couches in I’ve seen. Although the effort of me & Libe of pushing the beds together might have seemed a little odd, we both had a cracking nights sleep. Must keep in mind for any future visitors Kevie...
Madison Pub is on the same street as Kevie, and might be the best pub I’ve been to, and that does include the Sir Charles Hotham Hotel too. Although we got there late, with only 30 minutes to go, they had one of the most original ideas I’ve seen. ‘The Maddy’ appears to be two rather large houses joined together , with most of their rooms maintained in terms of structure. One of the bars – it has a number of different ones – has a solo piano player playing covers. Tonight’s bloke played a version of With or Without You that brought the house down. Would love to see a place like this in Melbourne, but I certainly haven’t found one yet.
The very cool view out the smallish Air Canada flight over the north-western part of New York state. The extent of the snow coverage is clear, and an awesome sight. That's one of the great lakes in the top right hand corner of the pic - I think Lake Erie. Views like this made the very-exxy flight price a little harder to swallow.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)