Hello world

Its the ryan again, You will be pleased to know that i am as good looking as ever, and kristy is doing ok. We are currently in athens and heading to mykonos (islland) later this arvo.

Since we spoke last we made our way ny train to scotland from london. Al (the donkey lover) walds hooked us up with some super expensive yet super crap seats to glasgow. I paied her back ny giving her the stink foot all night.

We were greeted in glasgow by her aunty loraine who was the best hostess we have ever had. She looked after us for the next few nights and spoit us rotten.

We visited endinboure and stirling caslte. And a weird underground tour.

We changed our flights and flew out of scotland to munich. We had a short yet great time there. A true bavarian meal with a massive snitto and beer. No joke the biggest snitto we have ever seen, literally 40cm long.

I was later kissed by a man with a spiky beard, i still enjoyed it. Went to the beer hall and drank a few litresa of the there finest brew and creashed for the night.

Flew to athens, and stayed in a cool hostel which has a roof top bar over looking the acropolis. Had dinner in the plaka and walked around the old olympic site.

Right now we have justr finished booking our ferry tickets to mykonos. Watched the changing of the guard in front of parliment.

We are going for a look around the acropolis now then jumping on the ferry leter this arvo

Sorry about grammer and spelling

by benno and kristy

London Monopoly Style with Walds

Hey Everyone. We are now in Lonodon, but firstly where we left off.........

After Paris we made our way to Brussells. Brussells probably wasnt the most exciting city in the world and there were lots of people who looked like they would mug you. We spent the afternoon wandering around looking at the architecture, along with sampling some fine Belgian chocolate which was very good! We also saw the Manekin Pis - a fountain statue of a naked little boy weeing. It was the smallest fountain we had ever seen.

The next day we left for Amsterdam. This place is certainly different! Drugs on offer every where you turn, which are totally legal, and of course the infamous red light district. The quality of the girls in the windows was surprisingly very high. Ryan was impressed. You arent supposed to take photos, but sniper Ward was all over it and got some. We went to the Heinekin Museum which was fun and we had some free beers and went to the Anne Frank house - where a young girl and her family hid from the Nazi's back in the 40's.

After Amsterdam, off to London where we met up with Al. Al took us to all the big sights - Buckingham Palace, Big Ben, London Bridge, etc. We met up with some of Al's friends and had dinner.

Today we done the monopoly tour. We walked through the streets of Mayfair, Oxford st, The Strand and heaps more.

Anyway, having an absolute ball, off to Scotland for 2 days. Gotta run. See you very soon!

Love Kristy and Ryanxox

Hey, It Benno doing the entry this time. So i wont let the truth get in the way of a good story.

We completed our trip in swiss with a few nights in Bern, which was expensive but nice. They have a magnificant river that runs thru the centre of town from Apls. Very Clean. While there we grabbed some bikes and did "Le Tour De Bern". Little did i know that kristy was more into freeslty then cruising, she imediatley took of down the road and lodged her front wheel in a tram track, Funny stuff, The bike went completaly vertical, with legs and arm flapping like a bat. A polite man checked that she was ok and handed back her luggage which was propelled several meters while i tryed to stay upright while laughing so hard. The ride was not all a loss for kristy as she got to see 2 blokes skinny dipping in the river, They were very neatly trimmed. Nice work boys.
A quicl 5hour train ride later we ended up in Heildelberg, Germany. Oldschool Germany but was cute.

From there we sailed to Paris which was on a smick train that travelled well over 300kph, It got us their in no time all. 3.5hrs actually.

Paris is Huge, much bigger then any other city we have negotiated to date. The metro and the dunlops got a work out. The Eifle tower is cool, much nicer then i expected. The temperature in Paris was cool so the the time spent at the lookout at the peak was limited. We had a massive blow up with this arrogant French dick, who stuffed up burning our photos to a cd and then overcharged me for a phone call i had made to dad. It took 3 translater 4 hours and 5 Beers to get it sorted out. What a wank.

We took some time out to explore the red light district of paris, where the moulin Rouge is located. I nearly died when a went for a 3 meter slide on a filthy stink patty left by a dog on the foot path, No joke i went flying. Then Kristy nearly coughed up a lung laughing me. Crazy Times. In true Benson Class i initiated Kristy to her first strip club. What a romantic man i am. Those bitches where ugly. Onemay have been a man, But kristy re assures me that there was suffucient proof of female anatomy.

We saw thw Mona Lisa which is located in the Louvre. The was a much better attraction there though, A lady with a moustache!!!! She was awesome, it was groomed as well, neatly trimmed very french.

Off to Brussels Belgium. We were imdiately given some inncorrect informatiom byt the local train info guy, wo sent us and our luggage to the other side of belgium. Lucky i was well aware that the sun was on the wrong side of the train for us to be heading north. After Kriasty made a few enquires we were on our way again.

The Chocolate here is awesome, i have yet to sample the Beer and waffles but i am sure that they will be just as good.

Bent over and taking it like a pro (expensive)

Hi Everyone, cant remember where we left off, so here is an update.

Rome - Amazing architecture, very dirty city, pushy people.
Florence - Saw Michelangelos David statue, werent allowed to take photos, but done the sneaky. Went to Pisa and saw the leaning tower - very amazing.
Venice - Beautiful city overflowing with tourists. Cost us an absolute motza for everything (we are being bent over and we are taking it sweet).
Nice - Still very dirty, beautiful coastline. Went to Monaco - that place rocks! Saw the changing of the gaurd, heaps of Ferraris (Dale you would be jealous) and very big boats!
Zermatt (Swiss Alps) - Absolutely beautiful town. Stunning. Took gondola to the Matterhorn mountain range, went hiking and had some drinks on the side of a glacier.
Bern - Even more expensive than Venice. Pasta meals are about 22 bucks and a big mac meal 11 bucks. Very nice so far, although we only just arrived a few hours ago.
Gotta run - very expensive. Noogs hope you are happy we have updated the site!

See you guys in about 2 weeks! Love K & R

Adios Spain, Buongiorno Italy

Hi Everyone, just a quick hello and update on what we are up to over here. We are having a great time, and seeing so much, although we are also walking A LOT too - we think we have walked over 50km in 5 days! Our poor little legs are so tired, and it is very warm over here. By the end of the trip we will have calves of steel and tight bum muscles! :)

We spent our first 2 days in Madrid, which is a really nice city. Very small narrow streets and tiny cars too. Day 1 we went to the Kings Palace and went through 50 of the 2800 rooms. This place was incredible! We also went to an art museum and saw some works by Picasso. The rest of the day we just wandered the streets of the city.

Day 2 we saw the Real Madrid stadium, but didnt go in as it cost 15 Euro each. We saw the Crystal Palace in a park, went to some markets and later that afternoon a bull fight. Kristy didnt realised the bulls were actually killed at a bull fight until Ryan mentioned it just before we went. It was actually quite horrifying as they spear the bulls so many times. We watched 4.5 bulls die and seen enough.

Day 3 we caught the morning train to Valencia on the coast of Spain. Very nice little town. We walked the entire town in a couple of hours (and our legs feel like they are literally going to fall off!). Valencia is home to the Holy Grail, which we saw, as well as some pretty awesome buildings. The best way to see the city is to wander through the tiny alleys and admire the buildings which are just incredible. We spent the afternoon at the beach, which was littered with cigarette butts (everyone over here seems to smoke and they smoke anywhere and everywhere). It was good to see water though cause it is quite warm over here. After an afternoon siesta, we went and saw some really funky buildings down town that are home to an Imax theatre and an art museum.

Day 4 we caught the train to Barcelona, which is totally different to the previous 2 cities - a lot more touristy, busy and larger streets. We walked down Las Ramblas street where there are buskers everywhere and pet stalls selling everything from pigeons to turtles. There were some awesome markets there too and we had some yummy fresh prawns (which we havent eaten for over 6 months!). We walked down to the water, then through the old gothic allyways. After another siesta, we went walking looking at buildings by the famous architect Gaudi. His designs were quite advanced for his time and the buildings quite interesting. One is still in the process of being contructed. Gaudi is now dead and a lot of his designs were burnt and destroyed when he died, so the continuation of the building is based on another architects impressions of Gaudi. The photos we took dont really do the buildings justice. We spent the evening wandering the gothic quarter of Barcelona and down the fishing area for the traditional Spanish dish Paella.
We have had a real hit and miss with the food over here. A lot of places dont convert to English and the people dont speak English either. For example we ordered something called (along the lines of) turned around wheat of prawn, which happened to be a prawn and bean omlette and very delicious. Another thing we ordered looked like a chicken dish, we both tried it, then realised it was tripe! We didnt eat any more! I guess thats half the fun though!

Day 5 we flew from Barcelona to Rome (via Zurich Switzerland which looks absolutely beatiful from the air. We flew over the Swiss Alps and the highest mountain in Europe, and there was still snow!). Rome is quite dirty and littered with cigarette buts and the buildings with grafiti, they dont seem to take as much pride in the appearance of the city like Madrid or Valencia. Still, the buildings here are incredible, some built BC! Its hard to belive that they are so old. We went to the Colloseum, Trevi fountain (the fountain with Neptune and the sea horses), Spanish Stairs and other ruins.

Day 6 we woke up fairly early and headed up to the Vatican, which is located in the worlds smallest country - Vatican City. Kristy got knocked back to enter cause her shoulders werent covered, but a really nice Canadian couple lent her a shawl and we managed to get in (very lucky). Vatican City, the Vatican Museums and the Sistine Chapel were all closed because the day before was a public holiday, so we could only enter St Peters Basilica, which was absolutely incredible. The detail in the place is unimagineable. This is also home to the famous dome created by none other than Michelangelo. We walked around the Cathedral with the Canadian people, then we walked around the entire country (which is 1sq KM) with them too. We said goodbye to them (and returned the shawl) and continued walking the streets past a castle, another place called something Argentina which was where Caeser was stabbed to death, to the Pantheon and through some markets. We had this awesome lunch - it was an egglpant and tomato pizza and probably the best pizza we have ever eaten and a roast pork sandwhich which was also one of the best sangas we had ever eaten - so so good! We spent the rest of the day wandering the streets (and having another siesta!), eating and drinking!

Real Madrid

Hey all. Just hanging uot in down town Madrid and having a blast. 33c here, but doesnt feel that hot. We barely had any sleep and have been awake for almost 2 days and are buggered, but charging on. The buildings here are awsome - mostly lowrise and narrow streets.
Today we walked the streets and saw some cool buildings, the Kings Royal Palace and down town.
Going to a bull fight - hopefully - will update this soon.

The End

Well, the end of our USA trip anyway. Our Euro trip is about to begin. We will try and put a couple of posts on while we are in Europe, although not sure how we will go with posting photos. Here is a summary of our time in the USA.

Number of days spent in USA:188

Number of Countries visited whilst in USA: 2 (America and Canada)

Number of states visited: 22 (including 2 Canadian states)

Total car miles travelled: 30,000 miles (or 48,000 km)

Flight miles (within the USA): 5,800 approx (or 9,300 km)

Our best memories: Although it is hard to look past our 3 stays in the delightful NY hotel, our favourite memories are:

1. Donuts on the Salt Lake in Utah

2. Vegas. Enough said.

3. Miami - wow!

4. Niagara Falls - that place is awesome

5. There are so many more to list, its impossible to write them all down.....

We hope everyone has enjoyed reading about our trip - stay tuned for Euro!

Suckers for Punishment!

Last Weekend in the USA - The Big Apple

Bruce and Judes had a great time while they were in Montreal, Canada, and managed to make it back in one piece Tuesday afternoon.

Wednesday was spent shopping til we dropped and grabbing some last minute bargains.

Thursday we made the trip down to Pittsburgh. We went up the incline and also to the market-y area called the strip. Once again the 'Bikini Man' was spotted (he was spotted when Ian and Brian went to Pittsburgh) - Kristy was very quick on the camera (like a sniper with the camera) and managed to capture him.

Bruce and Judy overlooking Pittsburgh

Nice bra - not sure whats going on there???

Friday morning Bruce, Judes and Kristy packed and prepared for our weekend trip in NYC, while Ryan worked until lunch time. All the accommodation was fully booked in New York for the weekend, unless we were prepared to pay over $700 plus tax for 2 nights, so it was back to our favourite hotel - The Carter! We had been prepping Bruce and Judes for what we might see in the hotel, although we don't think they fully believed us. Kristy showed them a website where other travellers review the hotel (http://www.tripadvisor.com/Hotel_Review-g60763-d93421-Reviews-Hotel_Carter-New_York_City_New_York.html - if anyone wants some interesting reading). Once they read the website, they believed every word we were saying.

We were on the road just before 2pm and arrived at about 9pm. We checked in and got our room key. We half expected there to be people in the room when we opened the door! Much to our surprise the room was vacant when we opened the door. The room didn't look too bad this time around (if you didn't look under the bed at the dust and rubbish) - no stains on the sheets or pillows, although there were only 2 pillows and 2 towels for 4 of us. Then, dad went in the bathroom and we heard him groan. We all ran in there to check it out. The bath had blue/green slime all around the tub, and under the soap holder thick black mould running down the tub. Half the tiles were also missing. The shower curtain was covered top to bottom in black mould - it looked like it hadn't been cleaned for years. We were all gagging and trying not to vomit.

The picture actually makes the bath look good compared to what it was

We got out of our room as quickly as possible and went strolling through Time Square. It absolutely hammered down rain for about 20 minutes. While we were out, we purchased a bottle of grime remover and sanitising spray. When we eventually worked up the courage to go back to our room, Ryan cleaned the shower with the spray and his thong! We also asked reception for more towels and pillows. He told us he could give us towels, but he ran out of pillows and the room to the pillows was locked anyway - he would try and get them to us later. Well, the pillows never came (SURPRISE!), so we had to use towels as pillows.

Yuk! Cleaning the shower with thong and spray

Saturday morning we caught the subway down to the ferry terminal, which goes past the Statue of Liberty (and over to New Jersey and back). We walked past the Bronze Bull, Wall St, Ground Zero, through Chinatown and on to Little Italy for lunch, which was delicious.

The Statue of Liberty in the background

We caught the subway back to Times Square and Bruce and Judy bought Broadway tickets to see Hairspray, while we bought tickets to Legally Blonde. We went back to the room for a nap, and then freshen up. While Judy was in the shower, there was a loud THUD! She came tearing out of the bathroom in her towel - the tap had fallen off! Then Kristy blew the light globe in the room (with blue sparks coming out of the switch) - we didn't even bother to ask for a new one.

We went shopping through Time Square, then went hunting for a bar. We found one and met up with a guy from Perth and another guy from Germany and had some drinks with them.

Cocktail o'clock

It was then time to see the Broadway performances - apparently Judge Judy was in the Legally Blonde audience. We all really enjoyed our shows. We grabbed a bite to eat, and walked through the streets browsing the shops, before retiring to our super comfy towel pillows.

Sunday was another busy day. We were very happy to be checking out of our hell hole hotel! We walked up Fifth Ave renowned for its expensive brand name shopping and for a look at Rockefeller Centre and through Trump Towers.

At Rockefeller Center

At the Trump bar in Trump Towers

It was then up to Central Park where we took a horse and carriage ride.

We grabbed a coffee (which Judes had fun ordering - the guy couldn't understand her and got cranky then gave us the total wrong order!), then went walking through Central Park through The Mall and over to Strawberry Fields (dedicated to John Lennon - it is located right near the place he was shot).

Bruce and Kristy by the pond in Central Park

Walking through The Mall in Central Park

Tribute to John Lennon @ Strawberry Fields

We caught a cab to Madison Square Gardens (NY entertainment venue), walked over to the Empire State Building and then caught another cab to Union Square for lunch.

NYPD!

We must have walked a 1000 miles over the weekend, well it felt like it anyways! It was then a cab ride back to our car and a 6.5 hour drive home. We finished off the day (and Bruce and Judy's last day with us) with a grill for dinner.

Niagara and Toronto

Saturday morn we headed up to Niagara falls. We started off on the American side. We had only seen the falls frozen before, so they looked totally different this time and very beautiful. There is so much water pumping over the falls and it is flowing so fast - it is incredible! Something like 183 billion litres flow over the falls per minute (in summer. 63 million in winter).

The top of the falls on the American side

Looking over the falls to Canada - there is a Maid of the Mist boat under the rainbow

After looking around for a while, we boarded the Maid of the Mist. This is about a 1/2 hour boat cruise that takes you right up to the falls, so that they are about no more than 20 meters away from us. We were bobbing around in the water for a few minutes getting soaked from the spray of the falls. It was a really great ride - we had a ball.

Judes had a bit of trouble getting her poncho on...

Part of the American Falls

On the Maid of the Mist up close with the falls - there is water spraying everywhere, hence the dots all over the lens when we took the photos. We were about 20m away from the falls here

Up close with the falls. The water below is extremely choppy - the boat ride took us right in to the rough water. Good times.

Bruce and Judes in front of the falls

We then drove over to the Canadian side. We were all hungry so we stopped off for some burgers at Hooters. We walked down to the falls and had a look around and grabbed some drinks while over looking the falls.

Part of the Horseshoe Falls looking from the Canadian side. This was also our view whilst sipping on a few cold bevies

Looking at the bottom of the falls and the bridge that links the USA and Canada

Family shot in front of the Falls

We then done the Journey Behind the Falls - this is a tunnel that goes behind the falls and you can look at the back of the falls. It was very average and not very exciting. So we left and drove another hour and a half to Toronto.

We stayed at the very swish Hilton Hotel. We went for a walk through the town and stopped at a bar called Philthy McNasties for some drinks and a couple of games of pool, then found a really nice Indian restaurant for dinner. If anyone wants to try a really nice shot, then try this: Blended mango with Kahluah - Yum!

We then stumbled across the Toronto comedy festival, and met some interesting characters roaming the street.

Shame the position didn't help Brucey win any games of pool!

Judes with the Comedy Fest Character

Ryan with a Comedy Fest Character

Kristy with another character

Sunday morning we walked down to Lake Ontario and went for a stroll - it was really pretty. We went past the CN Tower (the worlds tallest building) and had a quick look inside, then over to Chinatown and the Kensington Markets, which are very alternative - they sell everything from fresh produce to Jamaican clothes, to fairy outfits. There were also a few pirates roaming the streets!?

Bruce and Judes in front of the CN Tower

Down on Lake Ontario

Jamaican Fellas in Kensington Market

After a delicious lunch in Chinatown, we headed back to our car. Bruce and Judy headed up to Montreal for 2 nights and we returned home. On the way home we were stuck in a traffic jam for over one hour. It turns out that they were diverting the entire freeway at one particular exit. There were absolutely no detour instructions telling us where to go, but somehow we managed to do the best possible track to get back on the freeway! We then got stuck for about another 45 minutes trying to get back in to the USA.

Juice and Brudy Arrive

Wednesday arvo we drove to Cleveland to pick up Bruce and Judy from the airport. They came to our home to enjoy a turkey roast (the turkey never seems to end - we are still eating it!) They seemed to have bought the bad weather with them - just non stop drizzle.

Thursday Kristy took them shopping at the factory outlets, then around Erie for a look.

Friday Kristy drove them to see the Amish people in Ohio, about 3 hours from our house. Once we hit the country, the horse and buggies came thick and fast. After a quick browse through the Amish shops, it was time to turn around and head back home. We thought it was a good idea for Judes to get some practise behind the wheel, so after getting out of the busy town, Kristy pulled over, gave her some instructions, and let her take the wheel. Judes had been driving for (no exaggeration) less than 60 seconds, when she approached a horse and buggy at the crest of a hill. Kristy told her to move over, and that cars coming the other direction will allow for her to go over their side a little. Judes seemed to ignore these instructions and thought she would see how close she could possibly get to the horse and buggy without hitting them. By this stage Kristy was screaming all sorts of obscenities at Judes, telling her to move over - she missed them by the skin of her teeth! Very close call. It didn't take long for her to line up her second target. This time is was a very close call with a letterbox. We couldn't wait for her to reach a main road with wider lanes! The rest of the drive home was relatively stress free.

Lookout! Judes is on the road now!!

After picking up Ryan from work, we headed down to our fav freebie bar for drinks and the free buffet along with a couple of games of pool - Judes sunk her first ball ever! We then picked up a rental car for Bruce and Judes and went for a lap around Presque Isle to look for deer and watch the sun set. This time Bruce got to have a practise drive around town - although he was nervous, he was a speed racer and done pretty good. Although we didn't see any deer (because half of Erie was at Presque Isle), we did spot frogs, fire flies, rabbits and a skunk.

Sunset at Presque Isle

At the Lake Erie light house

Dew Tour - UNREAL!

Saturday we went to the Dew Tour in Cleveland, which is a combination of BMX, FMX (Motorcross) and skateboarding, and we had an awesome day!

The comp started at 1pm. Earlier that day we tried to buy tickets to the event from Ticketmaster at a local supermarket. What we thought were $15 tickets soon turned in to $78 for the 2 of us. We decided not to buy the tickets and wait til we get to the event to buy them. Good thing we did, cause we ended up getting them for $13 each!

The first thing we went and watched was the BMX preliminaries, which featured some Aussies which we cheered extra hard for. These guys were really good.

One of the pro bmx-ers

When that was about finished, we headed over to the skateboarding vert ramp, like a half pipe, to watch the finals. On the way, we got heaps of free stuff from all the sponsors, like food, drink, bags, etc.

The finals featured some of the best skaters in the world, including the number one snow boarder and skate boarder in the world (and who we were going for) Shaun White, along with Bob Bernquist, Andy McDonald and Bucky Lasek. There was also a European skater whose last name was Ringstrom, but to us it looked like Ring Storm, so that was his name for the day, which we thought was really funny. The first round saw these top four skaters in the bottom 5, the second round all players, except Shaun White improved and moved up to the top 3 spots. The third and final round saw our man Shaun come through and clinch the win from Bucky with an awesome ride! This guy gets so much air and has so much skill, its amazing! It was a great comp.

Shauno getting some air!

Nice trick - it looks better when the picture is enlarged

Go Shaun!

While we were walking around, some guy heard our accents and we told him we were from Australia. He asked Ryan if he was into skateboarding or bikes. Ryan said skating, and the guy asked if he was famous! Ryan (much to his regret) said no. He loves the story though!

You wish you could afford that X Star!

Next up was the FMX, although this had mostly been called off due to the wind, however there were 4 or so riders still out there having a practise. These guys are freaks! The photos below show why!

WOW!

How good is that?

After this we watched some armature skate boarding - these kids were really good, and will probably be stars in a few years time.

Up and coming for sure

It was then home time for a nice grill and some drinks (after a quick look through the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame)!

We have some pretty good footage of Shaun and Bucky, along with some moto and bmx stuff if anyone wants us to send some files through.

Fastest, Tallest, Biggest!

We woke up early Sunday morning and drove 3 hours to Cedar Point, Ohio - a roller coaster and amusement park. The park has 17 roller coasters, including the worlds fastest, tallest and biggest roller coaster in the world - all rolled into one (The Dragster)!

An overall shot of the park - the tall ride you can see is the Dragster

We started off on a coaster called Mantis - one of the tallest and fastest stand up roller coasters in the world, sending us around 4 loops at about 60mph (nearly 97kph). It was a good ride to start off the day.

Next up was Mean Streak - one of the tallest and fastest wooden roller coasters in the world. With heights of 161 feet (50 meters), speeds of 65mph and almost a 1 mile track, it was a rough ride. Being all wood, it was rickety and threw us around big time. It done some damage to Ryan's shoulder and bruised Kristy's back and shin. We couldn't wait for this one to be over.

We hit a couple more coasters, working our courage up for the Dragster. As we got closer, we both got a little more nervous. Here are some facts about the Dragster:

Length: 2800 feet (853m)

Height: 420 feet (128m or 42 stories high)

Angle of lift: 90 degrees

Vertical drop: 400 feet (122m)

Angle of decent: 90 degrees

Launch Speed: 120mph in under 4 seconds (193kph)

Angle of twist on decent: 270 degrees

Drop speed: 120mph (193 kph)

This is the Dragster - you get at a 90 degree angle at 120mph up the LHS, go over the top, and come down at 120mph, at a 90 degree angle, twisting 270 degrees. All over in 16 seconds!

It was finally our turn, and the ride was really good, and no where near as bad as we thought it was going to be. Although we only had a lap belt holding us in, we felt very secure, and because you were going so fast, you didn't really have time to worry anyway! It was an awesome rush!

After a bite to eat, it was time to hit some water rides to cool down. We then lined up for the parks brand new ride - the Maverick. Maverick had only opened a matter of weeks before we arrived and we had to line up for 1.5 hours just to have a ride that lasted barely 2 minutes! Once again, we were locked in so tight and felt so secure that we were ready for anything. This ride topped all the other rides in the park - loops, twists, turns - it wasn't dull for one second! There was even a drop that actually inverted and was at an angle of 95 degrees sending us at speeds of 75mph! We absolutely loved it, and it has definitely cured Ryan's fear of roller coasters!

Click on the the link below to watch the actual ride! Its good.

http://maverick.cedarpoint.com/ride/video/?video_id=16

We went on one more coaster, then called it quits, leaving the park bruised and battered, but we still had a great time!

Bonjour!

Well, we have only about 4 weeks left in the USA and only a few more journeys to report back.
This weekend we drove 7.5 hours to Montreal, Canada. The drivers in this place are crazy! If you aren't doing 20km over the speed limit, then you will be left for dead! Approximately 67 percent of Montrealers speak French as a first language, and nearly 95% of the population speak French. We could have sworn we had just driven to France, not Canada.

This weekend we thought we would get some preparation in for Europe, and stay in a backpackers hostel, on recommendation from Luis who had stayed at this particular hostel before. Friday night we checked in and were shown to our fluro aqua and purple room. We walked to a road full of bars and cafes and hung around there for a while, before calling it a night.

No, it wasn't a dead body in our room!

Saturday morning we woke up excited - Luis had told us the hostel had a Hawaiian owner who cooked up a storm for brekkie. Kristy was picturing bacon and eggs with some pineapple cooked on a grill. We went downstairs and saw a box of cornflakes. Ryan went to ask the hostel manager which milk we should use while Kristy got the crockery and cutlery ready (there was still no Hawaiian man to be seen). The hostel manager told Ryan that there was in fact no milk for any cereal, that the only food they provide for (the included) breakfast was bread, butter and jam. Nice one Luis! To make matters worse, Kristy had the flu and it decided to hit the hardest that day! The good thing about the hostel was they let us use their bikes for free. Everyone in Montreal cycles - the infrastructure for this is excellent. After our toast, we set out for a cycle around the city. Our first stop was the Olympic Stadium built for the 1976 Olympics.

Riding around Montreal - This was before Ryan popped his tyre!

In front of the Olympic Stadium


And the winner is......

We continued cycling, but by this stage Kristy's nose would not stop running and she could barely see from the water pouring out of her eyes. When we found a chemist she almost cried with joy. It took about 10 minutes to locate cold and flu tablets as all the packaging was in French, then another 5 minutes to work out that if you turned the package over, the other side was in English! We also had to get air for Ryan's rear tyre, which he popped riding down the stairs at the Olympic stadium.

We rode over a huge bridge with awesome views to a little island which had the Biosphere, not sure what its purpose really is though.

Ryno at the Biosphere

We continued riding until we reached the historic downtown area and Old Port. The area was filled with cobblestone streets and old buildings, lots of cafes and live entertainment. It was a really nice area and the atmosphere was great. We stopped here for lunch.

We rode back to our hotel. We think in total we rode about 15km's. We freshened up, had some drinks at the hostel, then caught the Metro downtown to the Comedy Festival. The festival has 2 elements - indoor and outdoor. The indoor shows you need to buy tickets for, but the outdoor events are free. We decided to stick with the outdoor events. Despite the fact that it was raining, there were thousands of people out and about. There were strange large headed characters walking the streets, heaps of live entertainment and stacks of bars. We just wandered through the streets for a few hours. We think a lot of the outdoor comedy had been postponed due to the weather. When we got back to the hostel Ryan stayed up talking to other backpackers (including an Aussie) and Kristy went to bed.

Kristy in the streets with one of the characters walking around. This is where the Comedy Festival was held.

Despite the fact that almost everything was written in French, we could read this sign!

Sunday, we enjoyed more toast, checked out and caught the metro down to the Old Port area again. We walked through the cobbled streets and around the wharf, had some lunch in a nice cafe, caught the subway back to our car and headed off.

One of the old buildings down near the Old Port

Kristy at the port

On the way home, we went for a small detour through the Thousand Islands, where Thousand Island Dressing comes from.

Any of the Thousand Islands that were big enough, had houses built on them

We had to go through customs when entering back in to the USA. Way back when we arrived in the USA, Kristy had a special form stapled in her passport to say she was in the country as a visitor for 6 months (Ryan didn't need one as he is here on exchange). She had to rip this form out of her passport and send it to the US Consulate so it could be extended by one week, as it expired one week prior to us leaving the country for Europe. When the form was sent in, the Consulate issued a receipt to say that they had received the form. We rang the consulate before leaving for Montreal and they told us Kristy wouldn't have her new updated form prior to leaving for Europe (taking over 4 months for them to process the form), but should be OK to cross the boarder into Canada, as long as we had the receipt as proof of sending in the form. So, we are going through customs and the form obviously wasn't in Kristy's passport, but we had the receipt with us. Of course the officer wasn't convinced, so we had to go inside the customs office and wait while they investigated. This actually turned out to be a good move as they issued Kristy with a new form then and there on the spot for $6 and we were out of there within 20 minutes (as opposed to the $200 fee sending the form in to the Consulate and over a 4 month wait). They were also the nicest customs officers we had seen.

In summary, Montreal was beautiful and we are definitely ready to go to Euro now!