Took the long anticipated train journey on the West Highland line from Glasgow’s Queen Street Station which was bustling at 8.20 am on an grey Wednesday morning. The journey took in a range of beautiful scenery dominated by lochs of all sizes usually with tall bare hills as a backdrop. We were glad we took this mode to reach the highland town of Fort William. With Geoff not feeling 100% and managing some frequent “through the eye of a needle” performances we took to strolling along the High Street mall looking at trekking gear shops and other warm clothing retailers [View Full Entry]

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Our major excursion on Sunday was a trip to the top of the tallest man-made structure in the world - the CN Tower. Won't bore you with the details but the tallest observation deck is way up there. Pat & Geoff took the lift to the first level - in a lift with glass walls that ran up the outside of the tower travelling at 22kph - then we waited in line to travel up a further 100 m to the tallest observation point the Sky Pod (marked on the photo) Great view, but Geoff's balance was skewed and vertigo [View Full Entry]

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Untitled Geoff Burt On our second day in Toronto we took the plunge and hired a car to drive north. Driving on the "wrong" side of the road took a deal of concentration, with Pat doing some exquisite white knuckle work on her seat. David would be interested to know that we had a Pontiac Impala - sorry silver Pontiac Impala. After battling the Toronto suburban traffic we headed north on National Highway 1 - called Highway 400 in this part of the world - and stopped in a town/city called Barrie for a coffee etc. We [View Full Entry]

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Our main reason for stopping over in Toronto was to take a trip to see the Niagara Falls and we weren't disappointed. Picked up at our B&B by a 14 passenger van about 9.00 am we made an hour and a half trip to a winery then stopped at the old historic town of Niagara On The Lake. The van took an anti-clockwise route around the western end of Lake Ontario on a fairly busy highway to get to NOL. After a half hour wander around Niagara On The Lake we drove on the the Falls. Very impressive! Took the [View Full Entry]

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Said goodbye to Ange early and to Andy and Alain at the airport. Tough security at the LA airport with everyone removing shoes belts etc. Found a network for the computer but ran out of time to subscribe before we were called to board. Less than impressed by our first encounter with Air Canada. An international flight lasting 4 hours and 45 minutes leaving LA at 12.15 pm and we had to pay for food. A grumpy taxi driver finally got us to our B&B and we were welcomed by the "boys" Frank & Tan. Tomorrow we take a tour [View Full Entry]

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Untitled Geoff Burt Wandered around the local area the other day. Posted several items back home that we don't need to lug around the rest of the world. After a nice Singapore style meal at a local shopping area - Farmers Market - Geoff lashed out and bought a new Apple laptop - the last of the big purchases for the duration. This morning (Saturday, April 28) after a free brunch by the complex swimming pool we watched Alain & Ange enjoy the water. He really loves splashing around in the pool. Took a short video wh [View Full Entry]

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G'day We've done quite a lot since the last blog entry. On Tuesday, (yes I know we've told you about stuff since then) we visited a contact who was recommended to me in Melbourne. Brian Studwell is the USA representative for Henselite - lawn bowls manuafacturer. They are probably the top of the market worldwide, and make all their bowls in Melbourne. Just before he played in a social game. Geoff got and gave information about bowls in both countries. Yesterday (Thursday) we attended our second TV recording. Yes, we were at the actual recording of the Jimmy Kimmel's show [View Full Entry]

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Today we took to the hills in the morning - Mt Lee specifically. Oh, yes you probably know that the famous Hollywood sign is on Mt Lee, but Andy tells us that you can't actually get near the sign. A bit of a drive onto the nearby lookouts or overlooks. The first one on Mulholland Drive gave a view out over Los Angeles. In the foreground was the open-air Hollywood Bowl but the distance view was quite disappointing due the thick smog - no wind. The second lookout looked back to the east into the San Fernando Valley. Andy informed [View Full Entry]

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Sunday in LA and time to visit the park and ride the swings and slide down the plastic slides. Alain had fun too! Last night at the park was interesting if not enthralling. That was until the extra innnings when the Dodgers and Pittsburgh Pirates were 3 all. The Dodgers managed to get two walks and load the bases. (Like the ball talk?) Russell Martin (I'm sure you know him) hit the ball close to the right foul line and over the fence to get the Dodgey lot 4 runs - 7-4 win. Alain was very good - interested in the [View Full Entry]

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After getting out of bed late we breakfasted and headed for Downtown. Grandson Alain loves to press the lift buttons (sorry elevator) and really gets a kick out of the glass walled ones. After being shown the multi-storied buildings in the Downtown area we stopped at the Empress Pavilion in Chinatown for Dim Sum (sometimes known as Yum Cha) very good except for the long wait for a highchair - not for Geoff. Food was nearly as good as the Natural Garden in Trafalgar but the staff were no where near as nice. Later on Beverly Boulevard Pat refused the [View Full Entry]

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