First three days in London....

Well the first three days have been...... interesting. I won't go into details at the moment but it's certainly not been what I expected... I don't really know what I expected but today was a great day! I did a tour of Buckingham Palace... so lavish... so incredible! Even had my picture taken with the queen... NBD! haha... will post pictures soon since, I can't get my computer on the internet at the hostel (which was REALLY generous about it's amenities on the internet... I DO NOT suggest this place to anyone planning on coming here)... once I'm no longer here, I'll let you know the details about the place so you can avoid it.

I find that the best times in London are when you're just wandering around... sitting in Trafalgar Square eating lunch in the sun (yes, we actually had SUN today... so nice!)... or wandering the back streets or some of the many gardens (I walked St. John Gardens today) and it was so lovely! Matt Perkins would have loved it... so many types of birds!

Tomorrow I'm hoping to get to the Tate Modern as I haven't really been to any galleries yet and I hear its INCREDIBLE... today was, kind of, my first day of sightseeing (don't ask, it's part of that "interesting" aspect of the last two days, by the way... "interesting" is a nice way of putting it).But such is life.. time to look to the coming a days and what fun lies there :)

Well, I apologize for the lack of photos... who are we kidding? The pictures are the best part! I'll try to get some up tomorrow from an internet cafe.

Love you all.. Chat soon

El

Too Long...

Wow... it's been a bit too long since my last post... to catch you up.. here's what I've been up to... 


> A wonderful trip up to Muskoka Lake with my Meg and Travis (my wonderful sister and bro-in-law). We drank, sat in the hot tub and played some rowdy games of scrabble. 

Me, sitting on the dock at Muskoka

> Took the train to Oshawa where, my terrific friend, Heather picked me up and took me on a beautiful trip through some Ontario farmland. Great drive! 

Farm in Ontario Prince Edward Country

>Spent a night at Heathers house in Napanee before we headed to Ottawa for a whirl-wind tour of the sights. Saw some amazing places! My favorite? It's a toss up... 


a). My FAVE artist is a tie between Salvador Dali and Gustav Klimpt.. neither of which I had actually seen any real-life works of... while touring Canada's National Art Gallery I saw original pieces from BOTH artists... in a very real sense, it was surreal! No pun intended :)

Walkway in Ottawa's National Art Gallery; 

Style: Modern; Built: 1986 - 1988; Architect: Moshe Safdi

b). Walking into this gorgeous church in Ottawa and being blown away by, possibly, the most beautifully coloured church I've ever been in! See picture below... it was astounding! 

Church in Ottawa

>Returned to Napanee where we drove into Kingston for a lovely tour, guided by Heather, through Queens University Campus and the heart of Kingston's downtown district. A lot of limestone buildings give the area real charm and character!

Old Victorian, Limestone House in Kingston

>Had a wonderful evening of dinner and wine with Heathers family on their gorgeous farm of 55 acres, 30 cows, 6 chickens, 1 lama, 1 donkey, 1 horse, 1 dog and 3 lovely family members! Thank you for the warm welcome. Unfortunately, I don't have a picture of my visit there :(


AND Here I am... it's been a crazy week but such a blast. I head back to Toronto tomorrow for a weekend full of sister/brotherly love, rollercoasters, dancing, shopping and maybe even some baseball! Then its off on my red-eye flight to London Monday night... 


....Feels a bit weird, a bit like I've had my vacation and now, shouldn't I be heading home? But I'm not, onwards I go... ugh, I miss Victoria and everyone in it already!!!


Love and miss all of you!
xo

The Falls

Meg and I visited Niagara Falls today! It was SOOO amazing... here I am before getting aboard the
Maid of the Mist (you may have heard of it, NBD)....

Meg and I on the "Maid" pre-drench....

Those are the "American Falls" behind us in the above photo (over the border) and below are the "Canadian Falls"....

Day One - Explored T.Dot.

View from Meg and Trav's Balcony... nice hey?? Wait until I post one of 

of the sunrise... not great for sleeping but its beautiful!

Wow... full day of exploring! Did A LOT of walking today... but it was great. It was a gorgeous day, pretty gusty, but fantastic! For those of you that don't read my other blog... I spent part of my day lounging on a great faux-beach at Lake Ontario's edge not far from Meg and Trav's place! 

So I may have actually fallen asleep here briefly but who can resist? It was 

SO quiet (except for the sound of seagulls.... I know you understand that Dad!)

Yes, Yes... I did do some shopping today but I won't bore you too much with the new shirt I got.... except that it has great lace shoulders and is a soft off-white colour... from H&M :). I love it!

There's still a lot of emotions from leaving home yesterday. It's never easy, sitting in a plane watching your comfort blanket disappear from sight. Meg and Travis kept me laughing last night though and we drank a better part of a LARGE bottle of wine... helps anyone sleep after a long day! It's so nice to see them both :)

This will be a great adventure and, in the end, a life changing experience. Even if I do already miss you all terribly, I'm looking forward to what's to come... Canada's Wonderland here I come! 

Love you

xoxo

El.