Geo: 51.5002, -0.126236The last 2 days have ben travelling and wandering. On Saturday we spent the morning getting repacked and checking out. After lunch we drove to Salem. This is a 45 minute drive from Boston and having taught The Crucible over the last few years I was keen to see the town. This is a great place although they play the Witch connection for all they can. Many of the shops etc are very kitschy!!However,we did visit two places I really wanted to see. One was the House of the Seven Gables, subject of Nathaniel Hawthorne's book and the other, the Memorial to the victims of the witch trials. The latter was next to the old cemetry and is a small glade with stone seats either side, each containing the name of one of the ... read more

Geo: 42.3585, -71.0596Today we went into the City of Boston, using the subway system which is very efficient. We emerged onto Tremont street and started to follow the Freedon Trail. This is marked by a redbrick line which continues along the footpath. Our first stop was the King's Church burial ground which contained graves from the late 1600s.From there we went to the Old South Meeting House. This was where the meeting was held that determined the strategy of the Boston Tea Party. It has been a centre of political and religious gatherings since the settlement of Boston. It was interesting to see the enclosed pews which could be rented by families by the year.From there it was not far to the Old State House. From the balcont of this building the Declaration of Independence was ... read more

Geo: 46.8266, -71.3024We took our time this morning. We had a great and inexpensive breakfast at the restaurant connected to our hotel. We retraced our steps from yesterday stopping to take some photos at interesting spots. Went into the church of Notre-Dame-Des-Victoires. Found an altar there dedicated to St Genevieve. Walked up to the Chateau Frontenac and investigated the archaelogical excavations of the former Chateau St Louis which had been the original Governor's residence.We then climbed the stairs, constituting the Governor's Promenade. This was built to commemorate the 350th anniversary. This climbs up the Hillface to the Plains of Abraham. Great views along the way. The Plains of Abraham was where Gen Woolfe attacked the French forces of Montcalm in 1759 and won the victory that established Canada as part of the British, rather than the ... read more

Geo: 45.5075, -73.5587Montreal is a fabulous city!! We have had a great day and a half here. We manged to stumble on a hotel on the coolest restaurant street in the city, Rue Crescent. this is similar to Rundle Street or Gouger Street but a very happening place. Yesterday we drove along the St Lawrence Seaway from Bowmanville through Kingston and on towards Montreal. We stopped in a small town called Brockville where we had a nice Chinese Lunch. This town had a great historic area, with a very attractive square that had been restored. We followed the river from there and stopped at a couple of Historic sites. The first was near Prescott where there was an historic fort, Fort William. Further on there was The Battle of the Windmill site. This was a battle ... read more

Geo: 43.9138, -78.6885I've not updated this for a couple of days because the computer was not connecting. Having had it looked at the irony was that the most upmarket hotel we have stayed in, The Hyatt in Buffalo, did not have a workable wireless connection. We are now in a small hotel in a backwater in Canada and we are connected!!!So now to the events of the last few days.We flew from Seattle to Buffalo on Wednesday. This was just a travelling day as it was a 5 hour flight to Chicago and then a 2 hour flight to Buffalo. We had to spend an extra 1 1/2 hours in Chicago airport waiting for our plane, so in the end we arrived in Buffalo at midnight as there was a 3 hour time shift.Thursday morning was ... read more