MIAMI.

I arrived in Miami yesterday afternoon at 6:00pm but it took almost 2 hours to get to my hostel- the Clayhostel at South Beach. It's because its Memorial day long weekend and everybody just wanted to party at the clubs and at the beach so the traffic was real slow.

Miami, "suu gei" thats Japanise for WOW! The weather is like in the Philippines, its warm and sticky, very sticky! Last night it the main street where packed with Black Americans - and jeez do they know how to party. But generally the main popullation here are from cuba and other South American countries so Spanish is the second if not the main language here. Somebody said 50% of the population are Hispanic.

Its nice to go for a swim in the ocean once again. The last time I went for a swim was in Hawaii. The beach here resembles the Gold Coast with tall apartment buildings linning the beach front.

Anyway I'll be here till Saturday so it will be time to relax and regroup. The 27 hours spent on the train from Washington was soon washed away from memory by the first warm atlantic wave.

WASHINGTON DC.

We'll I'm here at the capital of the greatest country in the world. Yesterday when I got here the first thing I tried to find was the White House. Did you know the Canadians set alight the original building and it was then painted white and hence it became the white house? Two Canadians have told me that so it must be true.




So to see the white house was fun. Seeing things that you always see on television is always fun. The Washington Monument and the Capitol Building where all in the same area.

The Lincoln Memorial and the Refelection Pool in front of it- its right there at the top step in the center where Martin Luther King Jr. gave his "I have a dream" speech with thousands of people in front of him. Forrest Gump was even there!



Inside the Lincoln Memorial at night.


The Iowa Jima Memorial.


By the way guys, all the National Museums here in DC are absolutely free! From the Air and Space Museum to the Museum of Natural History.

OFF TO WASHINGTON DC

I've been really taking it easy in Boston. Yesterday I just did a "Freedom Trail" Tour where a tour guide dresses up in 16th centrury Bostonian clothing and tells how the American Independence movement got started here in Boston.

The sore throat i've been having I think is due to my wishdom teeth comming up- its been slowing me down, so I havn't been able to see more of Boston than I wanted to. Also this afternoon it started to rain a little and along with the cooler weather its been a damper!

But tonight I will be catching a 9:50pm train to Washington DC. It gets there at 7:00am in the morning. I was going to stop for one more night in New York but it was hard to get a hostel room. The school break here has just started, so its going to be alot busier in all the touristy places.

BOSTON

I got here in Boston yesterday at about 8pm. It is about a 4 hour train trip from New York. At the moment I'm in the Massachusetts Institure of Technology (MIT) Engineering Library using there free internet. I'm trying to take it easy as i've caugt a slight sore throat, I just hope it doesn't develop into anything worse.

But I'm Glad to be in Boston. New York is just so big and busy and the people I found are generally less understanding of each other in comparisson to the people of the other cities I've been too. But thats only from my observations!

There are two famous Universities here in Boston, Harvard and MIT so there are alot of students around from all over. I might check out some of the Blues Clubs around here. The music scene here is suppose to be great after all its where Aerosmith came from.

NEW YORK, NEW YORK!

I got to New York on Saturday night at about 8:pm. New York is certainly the city that never sleeps! This afternoon I went to the Empire State building and stayed there till about 9:30PM. Its great to see the entire city in front and below you. Looking at where the twin towers of the World Trade Center used to stand, its hard to imagine that once those to towers stood there. Last night we took a walk down Broadway. All the giant screens that cover the buildings, the lights, the sounds the smell, the traffic and all the people walking around shopping at 1:00 o'clock in the morning... all combined to make New York live up to my expectations as the uncontested capital of the world.

Today I also walked down Wall Street and saw the New York Stock Exchange where the Dow Jones and the NASDAQ's live and play!

Tommorow I'll be going to the Statue of Liberty Island and checking out Central Park.

The Statue of Liberty.




42nd St. New York.




The night view from the Empire State Building. The bright area near the center of the photo is Time Sqaure.




"Ground Zero"- The sacred ground where the two twin towers of the World Trade Center once stood.

MONTREAL

I've been here in Montreal for 3 nights. I'm waiting at the central train station at the moment, waiting for my train departing at 9:50am to New York City. Its a 9 hour train trip.

Below is a picture of me at a look out at Mount Royal Park- a park designed by the same landscape architect who designed Central Park in New York. It has a great view of Montreal.


And this is an interesting angle of the 1976 Olympic Stadium. The tower is actually the tallest inclined tower in the world. It is set at almost 45 degrees. You can catch an elevator that goes up to the observatory on top. The tower itself supports a fiber glass fixed roof which was completed only recently so it didn't have a roof during the games.

QUEBEC

Now for my Quebec entry!. Yesterday I caught a 3:55PM train from Ottawa and I got here in Quebec at 9:00 O'clock. Thanks to Emilee and Karin I found my hostel but not after walking uphill with all my gear for what seems like an eternity!! Again to be continued when i have time..












Renaud and Emilie from France and Karin from the Neatherland/Germany. We had a picnic dinner here downstream from a water fall - I forgot what it was called but its South of Quebec near Ste. Foy.

OTTAWA

Well just a quickone to say that I arrived in Ottawa two days ago and yesterday ( we'll this morning-its jsut past midnight now) they had a Victory in Europe 60th Anniversary Cebleration. Ottawa is the CAPITAL of Canada for those that dont know. Anyway as per usual i'll update this entry inthe future wheni have more time.






The Prime Minister of Canada Paul Martin.




Convicted criminal... guilty of taking a long holiday...not to be released until he finally decides to go back to work! lol This is actually my hostel room! The hostel is an old Jail House and is where they kept people who were later executed! It is said that this is one of the most haunted building in Canada and strange phenomenons have occured including cabinet draws being mysteriosly pulled out and falling into the ground. It is the only hostel whith its own guided haunted house tour! It was pretty creepy down at the basement at night where I did my laundry.

THE TRAVELLING LIFE.

Below is my attempt to take a picture of what i've brought with me on this trip. Laid out on a bed at a B&B place i've stayed at in Denver. Also i've forgot my toiletery bag.



And half an hour later i'm ready to go! As you can see I have a Kathmandu backpack and a smaller daypack which I carry in front of me. Also I have another black carry bag where I put my running shoe and my walking sleepers. I think I can walk up to 5km with all these gear(roughly 25kilos all up!). The majority of the weight is from my two guide books one for America and one for Europe. If anyone is interested in paying for the postage i'll be happy to send you my Let's Go America guide before I go to Europe. Also I have a 20D Canon Digital SLR and Video cam + all the chargers and power adaptors.



On my way from Denver to Chicago I splurge out and got my self a sleeper cabin on the Amtrak Superliner Train. Its a private roomette with two bunks. It cost as much as a good hotel but it was worth it! All meals are also included. The train line between San Francisco (Emeryville) and Chicago has the coolest name its called the "California Zephyr". I'm holding the timetable.



By day the bottom bunk folds up to day time seating for two. It would have been good to have someone to talk to though on the way to Chicago.

TORONTO

I got here this evening at 7:45PM. I'll be here for 3 nights so again I was able to do some grocery shopping and eat healthy and cheaply again!

The CNN Tower.




How bizzare...this man glued and covered his car with 2 cent coins and gave it a clear finish. What is more is inside he has stucked thousands of little plastic figurines anywhere he can.


The view from the CNN Tower where I spent the whole afternoon until it was dark to take this photo.

NIAGRA FALLS - ONTARIO CANADA

I arrived here in Buffalo New York State at 7am this morning after catching a 7:55pm train from Chicago last night. I caught a bus from the rail station to Downtown Buffalo - where it went through a ran down suburban area. It was an interesting experience as it contrasted with what neighbourhoods i've seen so far. From downtown I caught a bus to cross the border to Niagra Falls Ontario. I got here at about 11:30am and am staying at yet another HI hostel near the train and bus depot.

The weather is quite cold and overcast. I walked about 25 minuts to get to the falls. There is actually two of them close by, but what most people would have seen oon tele or pictures is the Canadian Horse Shoe Falls. I've taken dozens of pictures but as with the pics from Chicago I cannot upload it to my web site as yet since the internet computers i have been using doesn't allow me to.

Anyway I'm beginning to miss the beaches of Newcastle and the warm lovely weather of Australia. But I guess it must be getting cold over there by now.

But anyway I got to go i've 20 seconds left.



This is the American Falls (on the American side of the river). To the right is the Canadian Horseshoe falls.




Overlooking the Horseshoe falls and the Maid of the Mist.



This bridge is the link to America. The water from the falls comes from 4 of the Great Lakes, immediately from Lake Erie and flowing into Lake Ontario.



A constant mist rises up constanly over the falls. Actually the mist is more like rain for the passengers of the Maid of the Mist who are provided with rain ponchos.



The roar of the falls and the massive flow of water is best experience on the Maid.



The mist rises high over the falls.



Aboard the Maid with my goretex rain jacket.

CHICAGO-THE WINDY CITY.

What a surprise! This city is awesome, its clean, its big, its by the water (Lake Michigan) and its full of character and history! I'm going to stay here for another night. I 'm suppose to leave tommorow evening but there is just so much to do here. If u've got the blues then this place will make you feel better: )



The Chicago Metropolis!


Looks familiar? - Yeh, its from the movie.





This little fellow I came across at a park next to the Chicago Arts Museum.



This fountain was featured in an American comedy sitcom can anyone tell me what it is? I'll give you a clue- its shown at the credits of each episode. Anyway its name is Buckingham Fountain. Just behind the red building is offcourse the Sears tower - the building with the highest occupiable floor on Earth and the tallest if you count the antena tower! The observation deck from memory is on the 103rd floor! - thats over 400m high.