Blame Canada, blame Canada

It's true, I do blame Canada...... for one of the most amazing holidays we have ever had. If New York was crazy and hectic, then Canada (or more specifically Montreal) was the exact opposite.

The Canada part of our trip was primarily planned to visit my former boss at Alcan, Stefano, and his family. We hadn't seen them since they left Australia 3 years ago. Of course at the time we said "sure we'll visit", but have never actually got around to it until now. Thanks to SB and the troops we had a wonderful time experiencing all that Quebec and Montreal have to offer.

After a quite first day mostly recovering from the drive from NYC, I spent the next two days in the Rio Tinto Alcan office meeting my colleagues while Al and Miri amused themselves exploring parts of Montreal.

We shopped in Montreals famous underground shopping and ate their local cuisine (ie Poutine - chips, gravy and cheese). All of my high school French came flooding back to me as we negotiated our way around the city by ourselves. Allan soon learnt that I wasn't kidding when I said "you need to learn some basic French before we get to Montreal". Having said that everyone was very accommodating when they realised (which didn't take long) that we were not French speakers.

SB took us to Old Montreal (kind of the like The Rocks in Sydney but bigger and older) and on the weekend we all went to Quebec City.

Unlike NYC, Canadians appreciate good coffee (particularly SB) so we enjoyed a number of fine coffees in Canada. I would recommend Tim Hortons (coffee chain) for flavoured coffees and yummy doughnuts. Without a doubt thought, my favourite was Beaver Tail. A large flat doughtnut type thing with toppings like caramel or banana, or nutella (see pic below). It's one big piece of fat and sugar but boy did it taste good MMMMMMM!

They also have fantastic bagels. There was one place that open 24hrs. We drove past at 11pm and got a dozen bagels for breakfast the next morning. They made the car smell soooooo good.

Now it's time for "Canada - the best bits" in pictures

Miri falling in love with Stefano's dog, Benji

The leaves in Quebec City



Miri playing in the leavs in Quebec City

Our first Ice Hockey game (Montreal Canadiens v New Jersey Devils)

BEAVER TAIL!

Parental abuse

I have no idea where she gets it from but Miri has decided it's hilarious to kick Al in the butt while she's on the swing



Take a look for yourself.....

Empire State of Mind - New York (the Best Bits)

Our week in New York was crammed with so much stuff I thought I would just give you the highlights. I call it The Top Ten things to do in Holly's New York.

Eat a bagel at Esa Bagels on 53rd but skip the coffee no matter where you are
New Yorkers make great bagels (particularly the ones we had at Esa Bagel in midtown) but their coffee culture is about 10 years behind Australia. Remember those days when filtered or percolated coffee was popular? Well the US is still stuck in that timezone. They haven't moved on to the joy of espresso.

Go to the New York Public Library just to look at the building (and pretend you are starring in The Day After Tomorrow)
New York has many spectacular building but I think the Library was my favourite. Whilst others may be bigger (ie Empire State Building) and others may be more arty (ie The Guggenheim) there is nothing quite like the peaceful aura of a library.

Times Square during the day is just as interesting as at night
As crazy as it may appear in the movies, Times Square can be quite sedate during the day. If you want to experience the craziness, just go on a Friday night. We could barely move and poor Miri...all she saw was people's legs. The Toys R Us store is a must, check out the life sized ferris wheel and the giant Lego Empire State Building.

Eat a hot dog from a 'weaner cart' and a slice of pizza for 99c
Pizza in NY (I can't speak for the rest of the US) is soooooooo much better than here in Australia, and BIGGER! I could of eaten pizza everyday but there were so many other culinary delights to sample. AND for a great burger and an even better experience go to Bill's Bar and Burger under the Rockafeller Centre.

Shop, shop, shop till your drop
Macy's is a must (cute Calvin Klein baby outfits were 40% off), as is a peek at Victoria's Secret (not telling you what I bought there!) but the greatest bargains are to be had at Century 21 in NY's business district. You might have thought Wall St was just for the stockbrokers, well think again. Get your Guess jackets, DKNY Jeans and Harajuku t-shirts just around the corner like we did.

Let out your inner tourist
There is no denying it. Somehow when you are in a foreign country (even a western one) you still look like a tourist. So embrace that tourist-look and buy an I "heart" New York t-shirt (one for each member of the family), a Yankees baseball cap and hop on the open-topped bus for a tour of the city. It's better if it doesn't rain, but you'll get to see all the sights and hear some great commentary from the guides.

Forget Empire State, go Top of the Rock
Never have I had better travel advice from a friend. Needless to say we didn't take it and did both. Top of the Rock (Rockafeller Centre) has a better view, is better organised and less crowded. Empire State Building is disorganised, takes forever to get to the top and when you finally get there, the view is somewhat disappointing. We went up the Empire State at night. One side was closed because of the winds and it was so crowded we could barely move. If you managed to get to the edge you had to try and hold your camera between the pieces of wire fencing to take a picture.

Overspend at the M&Ms store
Go crazy chocolate style! Whether it's buying baby suits with the M&Ms characters on them or getting way too mmany pounds from the wall of coloured M&Ms, you really can't go wrong. Try a peanut butter M&M (my personal favourite) before indulging in the new pretzel M&M. And when you're finished eating you can apply your M&M lip balm.

Take a walk through Central Park
The most amazing park I have ever seen. For starters it's huge, some ridiculous number of hectares in the middle of one of the largest cities in the world. Apparently when they 'built' it they actually knocked down buildigns and reclaimed the space from the concrete jungle that is Manhattan. Way to go NYC! Try out one of the 17 different playgrounds, chase a squirrel or hire a bike and join the hundreds of others cycling round the park. Finish it off with a trip to the Central Park Zoo. But don't expect to see any of the characters from Madagascar.....they don't exist. :(

See a Broadway Show (or The Knicks - whichever takes your fancy)
Definately the highlight of the whole trip (well for me anyway) was seeing Promises, Promises on Broadway. Starring Sean Hayes (formerly of Will & Grace), it would have to be one of the most entertaining shows I have seen. I don't think I stopped smiling during the whole show or for hours afterwards. If Broadway doesn't take your fancy then take a leaf out of Al's book and catch a Knicks game at Maddison Square Garden (which is actually round). Al saw the Knicks play the Washington Wizards and in the breaks was able to do some celeb spotting including P Diddy and the guys from Good Charlotte.

So that's my top ten things to do in New York. If you think that's a lot, there was sooooooo much more I didn't even tell you about. Well, you'll just have to come round for a coffee to hear the rest.

Stay tuned for my round up of Canada and Maine.