Geo: 52.3667, 4.86643The weather today has been quite variable. It can change from sunshine to a downpour in 15 minutes. Today was not too bad except for the 15-20 minutes we spent huddled under some construction scaffolding.We had tickets for the Anne Frank House for 10 AM. It was about a half hour walk to get there. The attraction is very well done. Audio headsets fill you in on various areas if the house and you do access the room they hid in. The exterior has been redone so it doesn't look like what you would expect. We decided to for to Dam square and do a walking tour that we have on our phones. However that was preceded by a visit to the Royal Palace. The building was originally built as a city hall. It ... read more

Geo: 52.3673, 4.86606Arrived in Amsterdam at about 10:30 AM after a 9.5 hour flight from Vancouver. We are 9 hours ahead with no sleep on the flight. As I write this it is almost 7 AM Vancouver time / 4 PM Amsterdam time.We took a cab from the airport in order to meet the contact for the AirBnB we are staying at. We had arranged for a noon checking. We are staying in the Bellamystraat area which is one of the older districts. The canal at the end of Bellamystraat was built in 1412. As this area developed industrialization took place including two Diamond factories, a sawmill, an iron foundry, and a cocoa factory.After checking in we explored the neighbourhood for a few hours. There is a large shopping and light industry shopping centre located in ... read more

Geo: 45.4621, -73.827The trip back was for the most part along the Laurentian Highway which used to be the main highway prior to the various auto routes. Lots of smaller and larger towns as well as numerous strip malls.The conclusion is that Quebec spends a lot of money on the Auto routes but less on the secondary roads which are plagued with cracks and major potholes.Once back on Montreal Island I headed west on Gouin Blvd towards old stomping grounds. Found the apartment on Ramsay and the house on Grier (paid $14,200 in the early 1970's).If I remember correctly, Isle Bizard was primarily a farming area with a fairly sparse number of expensive waterfront homes. The east end of the island is now more heavily populated with high end waterfront and non-waterfront homes mostly built in ... read more

Geo: 45.8904, -74.156We had hoped to see the changing foliage on this trip. Unfortunately most people we talk to say it is 2 weeks later this year due to the better weather. This seems to be the case although we did see some changes today because we are further North and the night temperatures are cooler.Our plan was to avoid going through Montreal so we headed West to Hawkesbury in Ontario and then North into the Laurentians. We went through Morin Heights where a friend rented a cottage during the winter in my younger years. Sometimes there would be 12+ people sleeping on the floor on a Friday night. Everyone was up early the next day to hit the slopes. Saturday night was spaghetti, bread and wine.Our hotel is in Saint Sauveur. However the prediction is ... read more

Geo: 45.4034, -71.9047Our travels today took us firstly to Stowe Vermont and Smugglers Notch. In my younger days I skied at Stowe (very occasionally). As a teenager three of us actually climbed through Smugglers Notch. It was probably in October and when we reached the top it was snowing. Thankfully there was a crew doing maintenance on a transmission tower there and they drove us down the road which is now a 4 x 4 toll road.Just before the border is a town called Newport. It is located on Lake Memphramagog and is in cottage country. Unfortunately it seems the town has seen better days and attempts are being made to rejuvenate the downtown.Once over the border we did a quick stop in Lennoxville at Bishops University where I spent a single academic year. Much has ... read more