Much of the day was spent travelling to Canada.

I’m trying to remember when we left the hotel in New York. It must have been somewhere between 8-8.30am and already, I was struggling to keep awake. Leaving Manhattan, we spotted Woody Allen and his wife (his ex-wife’s adopted daughter….now that’s messed-up) walking along Madison Avenue.

I think it was somewhere around this time when we got our catchphrase for the trip- “Oh my gawd honey!”, which came courtesy of Adrian (he noted we shouldn’t use the British “god”, we should use the American version). Trust me, by the end of this trip, everyone on the bus used that phrase on several occasions.

As soon as you leave Manhattan, the landscape changes dramatically. The skyscrapers disappear from view and the roadside suddenly becomes flanked with grass. We followed the Hudson River Valley upstate, stopping every 2 hours for a break to use the toilets (which seem to be referred to as restrooms) and to grab some snacks.

After travelling for a few hours, we stopped in Albany, the capital of the state of New York. After having a brief tour of the city (which was very quiet, virtual deserted when compared with New York City), we got off the bus at the Empire State Plaza created by Governor Nelson Rockefeller.

The Plaza houses a mall underneath it with a food court which we got lunch from. Perhaps I’ve lived a rather sheltered life but I had never seen a food court like that before- so many choices. I ended up going for the rather unconventional choice of pizza and salad (do these even go together?). Instead of eating underground, we took it out into the outdoor section of the Plaza which is quite beautiful.

Initially, my mum and I sat by the edge of the pond with the fountains however, there was a little breeze and we ended up getting sprayed, so we moved to a bench. After eating lunch, I wandered round the pond, viewing the various sculptures and taking some pictures.

We discovered where all the people in Albany were- at some sort of protest.  I don’t really know what it was about but I had a feeling it had to do with the Police- along the lines of “who will protect out streets”.

We boarded the bus just before noon and set off on our way again. We made several stops along the way, including one just outside Syracuse. The scenery was beautiful, green, and full of deer. Unfortunately, I was a wee bit tired and dozed off for an hour, apparently missing some more pretty sights (…I don’t think I snored).

Another stop was made just outside Buffalo, home of the Goo Goo Dolls, as we were told it may take a while to get through Border Control and into Canada. As were were crossing the Bridge to get to Canada, we were told to look left. When we did, we noticed what looked like steam in the distance. It wasn’t: it was the spray generated from Niagara Falls. A big “oh my gawd honey!”.

On reaching the border, we had to wait behind a bus which was also full of tourists. The entire bus got turned away because one person on-board had lost the green card they received when entering the US. I bet that person was popular…

When our turn came, we all had to troop off the bus and into the office. One by one we were asked if we’d been to Canada before. I misheard and thought the guard asked “what was the purpose of my trip?”. Oops.

After passing through, we were officially in Canada!

Mood : calm   Music : Ice  by  The X-Files