mybigadventures.com

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!

Woke up early again. Ben put some photos on Facebook while I snoozed for a bit. Then we got up, to face the world. Went across the street from breakfast, to a patisserie/cafe type place for breakfast - called Dolce Amore. We had their signature bagel: scrambled eggs, bacon, cheese, tomato and avocado, with a mango and strawberry garnish. It was very tasty - about $8 each - with a glass of fresh orange juice.

From here, we went to catch the tram on California Street (the day pass was $14 each). We got off at Powell to catch a connecting tram. Wandered around a little, to find the right tram stop and then waited. But, when they arrived, the trams were so full we couldn’t get on. Waited a bit, watching as a few packed trams went past, then decided to walk along the route, intent on catching one as we walked. We passed along ‘Taylor Street’ and looked in a bike rental place. Ended up walking all the way to Fisherman’s Wharf, as trams seemed few and far between.

When we arrived at the Wharf, we walked along to Ghirardelli Square, which we had missed on our tour of San Fran, yesterday. Went to the Ghirardelli chocolate shop for an ice cream - Ben had mint-choc chip, and II had chocolate and butter pecan, both with a chocolate dipped waffle cone. It was a little confusing ordering them - we had completely missed the menus as we came in, so we had no idea what they sold!

We sat on some steps, people-watching and scoffing. It was cooler today, although the sun tried to make an appearance. Walked along the path to a pier, and walked out along it. Stopped to take pictures of a catamaran (part of the America Cup) which was sailing around the Bay. It leaned over dramatically, virtually lifting out of the water! Which, for such a huge boat, was quite a feat. While we watched, a flock of what appeared to be pelicans flew past. We also saw a seal, wiggling around in the water. Stood and watched for a while and then headed back along the walls. Pretty good for sightseeing!

We were ultimately headed to Alcatraz, but we stopped off for a drink on the way at ‘Jacks Cannery Bar’ . We both had a beer and sat people-watching for a while. From here, we got a tram, having walked a good distance along the wharf, and headed towards the Ferry Building stop. While travelling, we thought we would stop off at the cable car museum, as the trams around here are amazing, so stopped to have a look.. A little disappointed to find it was only a room with memorabilia in - part museum, part shop. We bought a nice poster of a cable car at night, then headed out. We thought we’d look inside the Ferry Building, and it turned out to be a host of little boutique shops, mainly selling food. Had a little look around and then headed to Alcatraz.

It had dropped colder, so we stopped in the Alcatraz cafe for a cup of tea. We waited till about six - our boarding time - and were surprised to see a lot of people already queueing. Seemed odd, but showed our tickets and joined the line. Had an obligatory photo taken, in front of an image of Alcatraz, which you could buy later for ‘only’ $22. Got aboard the boat and set sail. The fog had crept in, so the coastline looked quite eerie.

The Rock’ itself is huge and home to lots of different birds, some of them rare. We had a bit of a tour up to the prison, with a guide, then it was an audio guide inside. Had a good look around all the cells in the different sections, taking a few pictures of Brugges (on tour) - he did a lot of posing just inside the cell bars. It is all starting to decay, but gives a good indication of how grim it was. I was too cold to stay outside long, but Ben took lots of pictures of the Bay in the twilight. It looked really good, with the fog looming over. We had to rush a bit to get the return ferry, but made it and headed back to shore.

We tried to get a tram, but they just drove past as they were packed, so we ended up walking all the way down Battery Street, until we reached California Street. Got the tram from there - the day ticket is worth it, just for the uphill stretch! Got back to the hotel and phoned a pizza delivery place - Ben had quite a chat with them, working out their menu! We ended up with a massive pizza - we had ordered ‘medium’! We tried (and failed) to eat it all. They even sent paper plates for us. As we had only arrived at the hotel at about 10 PM, we fell asleep soon after the pizza!

It was a bit of an early start with alarms set for 6.30 to make sure we were up and ready for our 8.35 train. We had more or less packed everything up last night, so were ready in plenty of time and checked out of the hotel at about 7.30. The train station is only a short ride on the metro from the hotel, and although we initially got on the train going in the wrong direction, we arrived at union station in good time at about 7.50. We had planned to get some breakfast at the station but despite feeling like we had plenty of time, when we looked where the train was leaving from, we were suprised to find everyone already lined up ready to go. We joined the line and two members of staff worked their way along the line checking tickets and weighing suitcases on a portable weighing machine, and then we started filing on to the platform and straight on to the train. Feeling a bit hungry, we ended up getting food from the onboard selection, it wasn't too overpriced in the end so was OK. The train was comfortable with free Wifi and having downloaded some things to watch on my phone the journey went pretty quickly. 

We arrived in Montreal at about 2.30 which was a little later than scheduled after some delays along the route. After using the WiFi at the station Starbucks, we quickly found our hotel, it was only about a 6 minute walk away. We were able to check in straight away at our hotel which was about an hour earlier than check-in was supposed to be. The room is nice and this time includes a fridge so we'll get some drinks to fill it. With it being a bit earlier, we headed out to explore. We had walk down past the Notre Dame Basilica and towards the water front where the old port is now host to lots of small shops, food vans and some activities including a zip wire, big wheel and boats on the river. We continued wandering, dropping in a the Marche Bonsecours which contains a number of boutique shops.

Feeling a bit tired we headed back to the hotel for a break before tea. I've managed to pickup a cold so was feeling a bit rubbish. We headed out to tea at about 8, going to Il Focolaio, a pizza restaurant close by. The restaurant was really busy and we had a short wait for the table, but once seated service was pretty quick. The pizza was really nice and very filling, I had a ham and mushroom pizza and Dani had a Pollo Nostro pizza which had chicken and pesto on it. Back at the hotel, we caught up on the journal and I updated the blog a bit before bed time. I've nearly had all the cold and flu tablets we brought with us, so might have to have a look for a pharmacy tomorrow!