mybigadventures.com

Got up just in time for breakfast today and determinedly stood in the queue to make waffles. It was much quicker today and we managed to make a waffle each. Ben covered his in cream and chocolate sprinkles and I had a bit of cream with Cherry compote, and a small pot of syrup for dipping - quite successful! We didn’t burn the waffles and they didn’t stick! Result!

Spent quite a while packing up our stuff before loading it into the spacious car boot and heading off. We stopped off just down the road in Mariposa, as we wanted to take a couple of pictures - it looks quite Western in style, with lots of wood and overhanging balconies. Pretty cool!

The journey itself was fairly straightforward. It took about an hour to get out of Mariposa country and leave behind the winding mountain roads and then we hit the freeway. Long, long, straight roads with just fields for miles.

We stopped for some lunch at an out-of-town shopping centre in Tulare. We went to Denny’s and had quite a big lunch… Ben had a Philly sandwich - a steak and cheese melt with onions - and I had a hickory chicken sandwich, both served with a heap of fries. We both felt like we weren’t eating enough for our server, as she kept asking if we wanted anything else! Felt quite full, so went for a wander among the shops. Went in a few to check out the prices and compare them to prices back home. Went into Toys “R” Us and bought some Lego! A Lone Ranger set - pretty awesome given we haven’t even got the film yet back home. It was about $41.

Headed back to the car and went on our way. The journey was pretty straightforward, just long, and we had to stop twice for petrol. Decided to stop off again within an hour of LA, and stopped at Starbucks. Had a little chat with a trucker from Minnesota about cookies and went on. The stretch into LA itself was fairly horrific - a five lane interstate, with very heavy traffic. The Americans also seemed unable to give way, so moving lanes is interesting! It took about an hour to go about 10 miles! Ben was very relieved to get off it, as it made him quite nervous.

Found the hotel after a few wrong turns and got parked in the hotel car park, in the early evening. Checked in before recovering our stuff from the car. Because the hotel is in Little Tokyo, it has quite an oriental feel - possibly the poshest hotel room so far. Had a rest and then went for a wander around - ended up in Little Tokyo; looking around, we thought about getting something to eat, but everywhere seem to close just as we got there! In the end, we got some snacks from a mini-Mart and headed back to the hotel.

We investigated the Internet/Wi-Fi, but it was $10 per day, except in the lobby where it’s free. So instead we used the ‘business room’ downstairs for the use of the hotel guests, to plan for tomorrow. We also spent a little bit of time on the tablet in the lobby area. Went upstairs after and discovered our free Internet connection was still active! Get in!

We got started a little later today, having some leftover pizza by way of breakfast come lunch, before heading out a bit after 11. We decided to head for the old town in Toronto, with a plan to stop off at the St. Lawrence Market. As we walked into the old town district the first thing that became clear was that not many buildings looked particularly old, with lots of new looking glass strucures in place. The old bank of Montreal was particularly interesting as it has the old fascade but now forms the base of a large glass skyscraper. We had a walk through the St. Lawrence market but having already quite a big breakfast we weren't especially hungry for the variety of food on offer. Outide the market we walked over to the nearby post office, which was the first post office in Toronto dating back to 1834. There is a bit of a museum section which is free to visit on the inside, but it's also still a functioning post office so whilst we were there Dani bought Greg a birthday card and posted it! Having seen enough of the old town we were a bit short of a plan of what to do next, we settled on tea and a cake at Starbucks so we could use their WiFi to formulate a plan for the rest of the day. 

We had been toying with going up the CN tower for a view over Toronto, but given that the CN tower is one of the most iconic buildings in the skyline I wasn't especially sold on not getting it in any photos. After a bit of a browse of the Internet courtesy of Starbucks, we settled on a trip to Centre Island, one of the islands close to Toronto as it seemed to over a good view back of the Toronto skyline. The island is easy to get to with a number of water taxis available to take the trip or the main ferry which is just $10 each for a return ticket. The ferry only took 15 minutes or so, and from our position on the right side of the boat heading out, we had terrific views of the skyscrapers that make up the skyline. The main attraction on Centre island seems to be a childrens themepark which we weren't particularly interested in, we did however spot a bar with a baeer garden facing back towards the view... so that's where we headed. We ended up staying the rest of the afternoon having some drinks and then food with a perfect view back of Toronto. It was a great place to sit and watch the world go by with planes frequently taking off and landing in the nearby city airport and boats flitting about around the coastline. A weasel even popped by the beer garden at one point for a quick mosey about!  

It started to cool down around 8 and the ferries had become less frequent. Although I was hoping to get some night shots, we ended up catching the 8.45 ferry back to the mainland as we were starting to feel a bit cold and had an early start tomorrow for the trip to Montreal. Despite it not quite being darkl, the sun was just setting adding a nice bit of colour to the skyline. Back on the mainland we stopped of at the Nathan Philips Square, which we had been to on our first day, to take a look at the Toronto letters which are illuminated at night. It was dark by this point so the letters looked particularly impressive, changing colours every couple of minutes. I took some photos and then we headed back to the hotel to pack up ready for the train tomorrow.   

It's that time of year again - the one where all teachers get to breath a little easier and feel a bit more normal, that's right folks, the summer is almost here! We break up really early this year to enjoy one of the longest holidays I've had in my teaching career - nearly 7 weeks. The weather seems to have picked up and it actually feels like summer, well certainly as summery as Britain ever gets, let's hope it lasts into the break!

With just over a week to go until we depart on our Big Japanese adventure, I've spent some time checking the site, making sure everything is in tip top condition for updating whilst we're on our travels. I think everything works, but if you do spot any problems just add a comment below and I'll try and sort it out.

Keep your eye's peeled for the updates, they'll be some new albums appearing which I'll try and link into the blogs and I'll share a few bits on facebook, although I'm thinking I may start to reduce the number of photo's and things I actually share directly on the facebook platform. I hope you all, teachers and non-teachers alike, have a great summer whatever you might be up to! Enjoy!