Travelling to the 'old' country -Jasmine's Place

---

Laurie: We are having a rest day today after racing around again visiting people. But this time we didn't drive. We were driven everywhere by our friends. Toronto really is a big car city. I thought Sydney was very car dependent but Toronto has 12 lane highways and very few train or tram lines. It supposedly has the busiest highway in North America. It is very hard to get around without a car.

Anyway we have met with Rosalie, Judy and Irene, Jasmine's childhood friends. Then Milan Ondricht and the Ladies, Jasmine's dad's friends in Toronto, Mary and Irene Brymer. We also met Jasmine's mothers friend, Brenda and her family.

Then we met with Shirley and Ted and Ella, Laurie's relatives in St Catharines, and they showed us around Niagara Falls. Note that St Catharine's has two 'a's - a local politician put out promotion with the spelling wrong much to his disadvantage. Niagara Falls was amazing - saw it at night and then again in the morning but the wind was blowing onto the observation area and it poured with rain on us....

Yesterday we went with Judy, Jasmine's school friend to Jasmine's home town of Pefferlaw and her old house and schools. We met 'Grumpy Joe' who now owns the house, explained who were were and he asked if we were the family of the alcoholic and the Jehovah Witness!

A week was not enough time in Toronto so next time we promise to come for a month in summer and go up to the cottages by the lakes. Everybody in Toronto seems to have a cottage by a lake somewhere.

Jasmine: I have a different view of public transport in Toronto. We stayed some of the time downtown (King and Church) at the Youth Hostel and we could walk to the subway and get places. It was just that our friends thought we were mad for braving the cold and wanted to help out by driving....also they wanted to pack in time to see us. The train lines are not extensive and could connect better to Missasauga but hey, we had little time to really explore. We did find a way to get from the airport via subway and bus for $2.75 so that was a good deal.

It was so wonderful to re-connect with friends and we have all promised to stay in touch better - there that pledge is made in public!

---