BOSTON

Short and sweet and full of witchy fun!

My final stop in the US before heading back to Toronto and ultimately off to Mexico was Boston. I had very few expectations of Boston and i was pleasantly surprised. It had some great history and is a great size to walk around. I signed up for a couple of walking tours that were full of fun facts and warm cosy bars, all with an Irish influence, where the locals were friendly and the beer selection vast. 

I also had the perfect saturday morning. It was a bright blue day and was just warm enough to sit in the park with a large tea & cream cheese bagel and watch the skaters on the ice rink. With christmas just around the corner a brass band was playing seasonal songs and it was a very happy morning. 

I really wanted to take a day trip to Salem, mainly because one of my favourite films is Hocus Pocus, so on a cold and hungover day myself and a friend who was suffering far worse than i was took the train out of town. The tales of Salem seem to be a rather intricate tale of people being misunderstood, persecuted and unfortunately hung or imprisoned, it was all in all a sad story. I felt particularly bad for the one poor man who was pressed to death. We did find a lovely cafe with a scrabble board so i was happy!

Boston also has an excellent China town and it was right next door to my hostel so i managed to save some money on cheap dinners and excellent Pho's. All in all my days in Boston were happy ones and i even enjoyed my 5am wake up to catch a very long bus back to Toronto, the sunrise was a perfect pink and the streets were quiet as snow dusted the streets... a perfect morning. 

Final day in Toronto enjoying the cold at Christmas.

MAINE

THANKSGIVING!!! THANKSGIVING!!! THANKSGIVING!!!

Weeks of anticipation had been building for my first ever Thanksgiving experience. The setting was perfect with snowy woods, a huge kitchen perfect for family cooking and many pets to take on long walks. 

It was so nice to spend time with Pat, Kelly, Jon, Bill & Jay oh and the pets Marley, Casey & Sandy. On thanksgiving day we all had our cooking tasks and over several hours the might meal was made. We had the most amazing shrimp cocktail to start followed by the turkey roast and finished off with pumpkin pie. DELICIOUS! We had some excellent wine from Cupcake Vineyards and finished the day with a trip to the movies. 

My favourite part of the days around thanksgiving were the multitude of board and card games played... Cards Against Humanity, The Settlers of Catan, Rumy, Gin Rumy all kinds of rumy! So happy about all of these!

Second to my love of playing games is my love of dance, although i haven't been to a dance class in a while i figured my knowledge was still there so i was super happy to go swing dancing with Pat one evening. It was AMAZING! I did three classes back to back taking me to an ok understanding of the steps... all of which disappeared when it came to the social dance so i just threw all my effort into spinning. So much fun.

Maine is such a beautiful state and the drives we took were amazing, i also greatly enjoyed a trip to a state park to walk casey and they had the most amazing rocks including some volcanic rock that had been pushed up in a perfectly straight line through the existing rock. And the food was amazing, on top of the Thanksgiving feast i enjoyed some great beer, lobster mac & cheese, the best sushi i have eaten in a while and bacon dusted fries. 

After a week of enjoying all of Maine's offerings Jon & i headed back to Vermont for Kelly's belated birthday party. It was a great drive and we spent a lot of time talking about music and the joy of the mini cake; a common interest that we discovered in a tine tea shop one afternoon. We also squeezed in half of a college ice hockey game which was fast and cold... being in an ice hockey team would literally be my worst nightmare but it was fun to watch.

Thank you so much Phillips family for a truly brilliant time. 

SWIMMING POOLS OF THE WEST EAST PART 5

As i hadn't managed to find a suitable swimming venue in Montreal i was eager to hunt one down stateside. 

Unfortunately i havent been able to find a picture of the YMCA pool in Burlington, VT so words will have to suffice. 

As pools go this one was pretty standard but there were some delights to be had!

Firstly the YMCA have a steep daily rate of $20 which i was unwilling to pay so after much negotiation with the front desk they let me swim for the bargain rate of $5! WIN! 

Secondly there was only one other person swimming so i had a whole lane to myself, there is nothing worse than lane rage and i also take great pleasure in swimming in the middle of the lane. Other than this my swim was very un eventful but still greatly enjoyable and as i left the pool it started to snow. It made me smile. 

NO. OF POOLS: 1

LOCATION: Excellent central location 

INDOORS/OUTDOORS: Indoors

LENGTH: 1x 25

WOW FACTOR: 5/10

CHANGING FACILITIES: 5/10

BONUS: Price reduction

VERMONT

Crossing the border once more.

Filled with jubilation from Montreal i excitedly headed across the border and back into the States to meet up with my surrogate family members kicking off with my new cousin & international bestie Kelly. Kelly is the daughter of my mum's best friend Pat so by default we shall be international best friends... i'm not sure if she wants this but in my head its happening. 

Burlington, VT was the next stop on the tour and i was very excited to be picked up from the airport especially as the snow had fallen and the temperatures were dropping by the day. We spent the evening drinking many glasses of wine and watching the football American style! 

Vermont is a sweet city with a huge university and some amazing shops, cafes and bars to check out. Kelly gave me a whistle stop tour before work the next day and i had a great afternoon checking out the shops full of sweets, tea, hiking shoes, crafts and organic produce. I also sampled an oriental style bagel which sounds strange but was delicious... i love a peanut dipping sauce with any meal.

Day two was another snowy day and i took great pleasure in heading out in my new hiking shoes to find a swimming pool and visit my new favourite supermarket for some supplies. By the end of the day i felt very American with my many many layers, puffer jacket and a classic paper shopping bag to boot. This feeling was topped off by spending the night drinking with Kelly's boyfriend Jay at Kelly's work watching even more football. Turns out i am really good at picking the winner and i greatly enjoy a pumpkin ale. Winning all round.

On our final day we went to see the amazing Zach Deputy at Nectars for music, dancing and wings. Wings are the ultimate bar food in America and when i return i will be on a one woman mission to bring them to the UK. 

The next morning we hit the road for a the drive to Maine and Thanksgiving... obviously i was very excited! I also learned that Vermont give out free coffee at the service stations. They are stand up guys! 

MONTREAL

A magical land filled with treats and treasures.

Montreal was amazing, i was so excited to get a slightly different city with a different language and i am so glad that i spent a week there. It was the first place i had been that felt busy with options and activities. Despite the dropping temperatures there were plenty of people to chat to and visits to organise. 

I was so lucky to meet some excellent people and form a little touring group. Montreal has a huge Irish influence and we spent many a night in an Irish bar hunting down gigs and live bands. I love the architecture and culture of Montreal, it is the perfect blend of Europe and Canada, the food tour was a great chance to see both. Our newly formed group (the quad) headed out into the cold for food market treats, bagels with cream cheese and loxs and smoked meat sandwiches with sour cherry soda and pickles. It was DELICIOUS! 

We followed up our day of feasting with a trip to the Contemporary Art Museum for their free evening. I didn't have great expectation to be honest but they had an amazing exhibition which i really enjoyed and in fact it deserves a solo blogpost. So more on that later. 

Other Montreal highlights included our hostel cooking parties, climbing Mount Royal on an icy day and discovering a huge open fire at the top!, Sleemans Honey Beer, more live music, the botanical gardens & bio-dome and a christmas parade that ended in me overdosing on caffeine in many forms and franticly storming around the east of the city looking for food.  

I loved the city so much and really had a great time, before long it was time to leave and board a bus (that i had to run for as i was distracted by a muffin) to visit my surrogate cousin Kelly in Vermont.