Montreal

Our next stop was the city of Montreal.
We arrived at lunch time -

Where Phil & I had lunch (sitting outside, of course!)

We then had a city tour of Montreal, visiting the Notre Dame Basilica  -

Here we were fortunate to be able to hear the magnificent organ being played -

We continued our tour, ending with a scenic stop of the city-

We were given free time after this, so we headed of and explored the 'underground city' of Montreal.

Below the streets of Montreal, there are hundreds of shops, all linked together, so that in the winter, you don't have to go above ground. If you are not careful here, you can easily get lost!



Quebec City

The first city of our  tour was Quebec. We passed through the Franconia Notch area first,

Then through Vermont, where we had lunch -

before arriving at Quebec City.

The view from our room was fantastic -

The next morning we had a city tour, then we had free time to wander the city -

The "old city" of Quebec

The finnucular going up from the old city.                   Inside the Notre Dame Cathedral in Quebec City.

For our dinner outing, we stopped at the Montmorency Falls -

before going to our meal at restaurant on Ile d'Orleans (an island in the St Lawrence River.)

Boston - the start of our next tour!

Our first night in Boston we went to the restaurant attached to our hotel, which had a lovely pub area (reminisant of "Cheers") -

We had a delightful meal here (and went back the next night, we enjoyed it so much!)

In the morning we did a city tour and harbour cruise of Boston - unfortunately is was a rainy day -

but we consoled ourselves afterwards by visiting both the Modern Bakery (where we had cannollis and coffee)

and then Mike's Bakery! (where we got some take-away cannollis!!) -

Yummy!!!

Our last days in New Hampshire........

On the last Sunday with Di & Andy we did a river cruise at Portsmouth. We were fortunate that it was a lovely day.

After our cruise we then went to a place called Stonewall Kitchens where you can test taste their products before buying - there was some very yummy stuff! We then took some pictures outside of the shop -

We then went out for dinner in Portsmouth - what a lovely way to finish our stay with Di & Andy! (who looked after us wonderfully - made sure we got out and saw the sights!) We will miss them terribly - we will have to save up and come visit again! Thank you Di & Andy!! xxxx

The next afternoon we moved into Boston.

Back on line!

Hi everyone!
Unfortunately the only free access we have had to the internet meant we had to sit in the lobby of the hotels - and some of those lobbies have had only a few chairs, are extremely busy and are very noisy - so I have waited until now to do some updates!

New Hampshire - Budweiser

Well, I am up to date!
Today we went to the Budweiser Beer factory, where we had a tour (and a sampling of a couple of the beers!)

We then went down to the stables, where their famous Clydsedales are housed.
What beautiful animals!

New Hampshire - Salem & Boston

One of our days, we caught the train into Salem and walked around the town for a while. It is a lovely place, and we enjoyed visiting it again.

On another day, Andy took us into Boston, to see the old sailing ship, USS Constitution.
As we lined up for the 1/2 hr tour, we were approached by one of the sailor guides, asking if we were interested in a 1 hr tour, going to areas not normally open to the public, - of course we said yes, and so had a personalized tour with only the 3 of us!

USS Constitution                                                             Us, on deck

The Cannons                                                                        The Helm

Our Guide

New Hampshire - Castle in the Clouds



One of the many places that we went to was Castle in the Sky.
This was once a home owned by a very rich guy - but he invested in the wrong things & lost all his money.
The setting for this place is quite beautiful with the most magnificent views - part of the estate is used for weddings at times.
Some days the area is overcast & literally is in the Clouds.

The view of the surrounding area

The Castle in the Clouds

New Hampshire

Well, we are having a wonderful time in New Hampshire.
Di and Andy try and make sure that we do something everyday - and boy, have we done that!
We have covered a lot of territory!
Some of our adventures -

A BBQ at Di & Andy's friends' place, watching the sun go down over the lake, followed by some fireworks.

Pumpkins!                                                                         Rockport, Mass.

Phil & I at Hampton's Seafood Festival (me wearing my lobster hat)         Ogunquit, NH

California Adventure

After our day out in Hollywood (etc.) we were dropped off outside the California Adventure part of Disneyland.
We did a few attractions here - The Monsters Inc. ride,

   a 3D "A Day in the Life of a Bug" (very good), and Ariel's undersea adventure.
We then looked around the rest of the lot, while waiting for the water and fireworks display.
This was wonderful!

We then went back to the hotel to start packing, ready for our flight to Boston.

Hello out there!

If you are reading my blogs, just put one comment on there - I haven't heard from anyone for a while!
Love Meredith

Los Angeles and Hurrah for Hollywood!

Our last day in Anaheim, we did a city tour of Los Angeles and Hollywood - visiting Mann's Chinese Theatre to see the hand/foot prints of the stars, as well as the sidewalk stars -

We toured some of the famous areas/streets, before stopping for lunch near CBS studios - alas, we didn't see any personalities!
After lunch we headed down to Santa Monica beach for a few hours.
It is quite a lovely area -