I woke to the sound of the river outside my window, peeked out and saw it was not only the river that was making the noise nut the rain ? However a bit if rain does not deter the hardy traveller, so after my smoked salmon and cream cheese bagel, I set off for my days sightseein. Suzie my host gave me different rainy day ideas, the first being a giant antique emporium. So off I drove and found it easily with the aid of my sat nav, my confidence in driving was growing, so much so that I had the radio on and even sang along ? The aforementioned emporium was indeed giant, and it was lovely strolling through, I particularly liked the old furniture, but thought it might be a bit tricky to fit ... read more

So yesterday it was "crackin the flags" and today "raining cats and dogs" ....... so not too happy ? Breakfast today was gammon, fried eggs, tomatoes, toast and again im stuffed. As it's piddling down one of the other guests asks if I wan tot go on a train ride through the Forrest that he volunteeres for. So off I trot taken by Barbera in her huge truck and I'm greeted by a conductor whos wearing the same uniform as Tom Hanks in Polar Expreas, so sweet, photo opportunity obviously. It's about 100 years old and been restored by the train enthusiast, who all give their time for free. I'm given my complimentary ticket and off we go. The journey takes an hour and is a pretty ride through the forrest, but that's about it, doesn't ... read more

So today is my last day in Toronto and I'm off or should I say up to the CN Tower. However before I can go I have to leave my suitcase in the coach station in another part of town, so that meant a LOT of lugging round a far too heavy suitcase ? Anyway ........ CN tower facts until 6 yrs ago the highest freestanding structure in the world, so now it's 2nd ..... second shmuckand ?. Its 1,814 tall and only 1.1 inch off being perfectly vertical, it's stuck by lightning about 75 times a year, and is one of the 7 modern wonders of the world. So up I go in a windowed lift (elevator) it travels at 15 mph and takes 58 seconds to get to the observation level, as told to ... read more

I spent last evening talking to a very nice young lad from Oz, he's travelling to 5 different countries in 2 weeks, sounded very frantic to me !today I woke up to a beautiful blue sky, my Roomie leftbefore breakfast so I had the room to myself .outside my window I could see that the river has risen again overnight, but the trains ate still running, so Ishould be ok for my trip tomorrow. Today was spent wandering around town, reading, in the sunhine and shade as I could feel my arms getting a tad pink ! Basicly I've been very lazy today. I've just had my evening meal here at the hostel, (the food is really good here). anyway, bit of an embarrassing episode. I usualy pay for my meal at reception and the lady ... read more

todaystarted with another fabulous breakfast from Timo and Alex. Then we skyped Joanne nd Nick, which was great. Then Timo drove us to Bacharach , which is the prettiest of towns. It's got small cobbled streets, with half wooden houes , shops and restaurants. I'm staying at a,HUGE castle that is 500 years old and really cool. I'm in a bunk room with only one other person which is brill,. my roomie is a Japanese girl called Mika, who seems friendly enough. I' So Alex, Timo and myself went for a walk around tbe town and had a spaghetti ice cream, which is ice cream , cream, then strawberry sauce on top with cream that looks like spaghetti on top ! Then it was time to say bye bye for two weeks until I see them ... read more