Homeward Bound

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Woke up to the sound of a rain storm. A glance at my cellphone said it was 5AM. We were planning on watching the sun rise from the roof but the cloudy sky and the rain made me go back to sleep. Danielle wasn't surprised when we woke up a few hours later to start the day.

It took both of us to carry all the things Danielle and I purchased in the last 2 days. On our way out of the door we ran into a hostel employee at the front desk. We dropped off our key and I explained to her that our keys were switched with our neighbor. I had actually found this out last night when Danielle had gone to the bathroom and the door had opened with a confused but very attractive Asian lady who was trying to figure why her key did not work for her door. I of course went out to help her and we quickly figured out that the keys had been switched.

The hostel employee was apologetic and we checked out but when we asked for advise on a good hiking trail but she could not find one and her attempts to google search one was not impressive. I will point out thought that this was a hostel not a hotel so I could not expect the same service as a hotel concierge. On that note the only part of a hotel I prefer over a hostel is the concierge. They were always so knowledgeable.

Back to our trip. Danielle and I went to the Cleveland museum of art to start the day. The museum itself is free of charge but you do have to pay for parking. People in Cleveland say their art museum is one of the best in the world. It is not quite up to the louvre but it is very impressive considering Cleveland is a city of less than one million people.

The museum is full of statues from every continent in the world along with art from every major artists from the across the centuries. In the basement level there is even a section for art from the staff. The staff work was also impressive and very subjective.

Unlike most art museums they let you take pictures of the art work besides the modern art. They explained the modern art was still be reviewed by their legal department because either the artists were still alive or had not been dead for that long. The modern part of the museum had a lot interpretive art including these 2 metal rods that rang when touch them.

We ended up spending 4 hours in the museum and it was worth the time. Now it was time to head home to Canada. It was about 2:30PM so we should have been home by about 8:00PM. We made good time to start with but once again I had forgotten to switch my gps back to toll roads so we drove through New York's old state highways.

Danielle also wanted to eat at a restaurant that are only available in the states. We went looking for either an Olive Garden, Ponderosa Steak house or Cracker Barrel. According to the GPS the closest one was Ponderosa but when we finally got to the location the restaurant was no longer there, so very disappointed we settled on a nearby Applebees. I owed Danielle a dinner due to a bet I had made concerning Rob Ford but since she only wanted soup I told her I would buy another day.

So after dinner the last step until we reached home was the border. When we approached the border at Fort Erie I saw the sign flashing saying there would be a 2 hour wait at that border. I opted instead to drive to the Lewiston crossing. It took an hour to get the crossing and we ended up stopping at MacDonald's for some food and drinks. I was tired at this point and as I exited the car I accidentally locked Danielle in the car as I walked into MacDonald's (LOL sorry). I was at the door before I realized Danielle was not beside and was just now getting out of the car. As an apology I bought her the 20 chicken nuggets for $5 that she had been going on about.

It would be another 1.5 hour wait at the border before we could cross so it was probably better we had crossed at Fort Erie anyway. Border guard was nice enough and waved us through after a few questions. Once we were back on Canadian soil I gunned it for Danielle's place in Toronto. Being a good friend I helped carry Danielle's shopping bags back to her condo. I was exhausted by this point because it was past 11PM before I finally reached my home and after a quick post on facebook I passed out on my bed.

So that is the end of trip to Cleveland the Paris of Northern Ohio. It is a good place to visit and is in much better shape than its old reputation would suggest. So I will definitely recommend Cleveland to anyone who is looking for a nice place to visit.

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Photos

HMMMMM
I have very phallic feeling about this statue. It is actually a statue of a lion