Canada!

So once we had overcome our initial difficulty gaining entrance to Canada we set off with no plan, no internet, no phones and sketchy Tom Tom (our coverage ended when we left the US)....what could possibly go wrong?

It looked pretty bleak driving in, worst weather imaginable....but we weren't to be deterred, and we could NEVER go back to the border we came through again....

So we pressed on aiming for Montreal, the major city in French speaking Canada....

It was worth the drive under dark, cold skies....

Turns out, when the sun came up, that Montreal is this amazing artsy town that is like a little piece of Europe!

We went to this amazing French restaurant recommended by a friend and the kids (so proud) sat up and ate bone marrow spread on French bread with pickled vegetables, grasshoppers, steak tartare, guinea fowl, venison and other amazing French dishes (we told the waiter to surprise us) and loved all of it.

Then we jumped in the RV and headed down the historic French quarter - complete with cobbled streets and beautiful old buildings...amazing, it took me back to living in Paris one summer while I was at uni. If you didn't know you were in Canada.....

After much oohing and aahing we made our getaway from Montreal and hit the open road to see the countryside as we made our way to Toronto. I've never seen black trees like it, still devoid of leaves and waking up from winter, the trees are these eerie black outlines. Incredible.

After a night along the way and a lazy start we hit Toronto with no idea of what we wanted to see so we let Tom Tom show us the way....since our link to the world died at the US border - our US bought sim card for the iPad stopped working at the exact second we crossed the border! So we were flying blind. What a surprise! Toronto is  LOT like Melbourne and we not only loved it but could imagine ourselves living there. A great mix of artsy cool and urban chic it is cosmospolitan and very happening! It even has trams!

We didn't really want to leave but we needed to get on the road for Niagara Falls so we beat peak hour - which didn't really work out because there had been an accident so I got to re-live the hellish commute each day on the M5 in Sydney...100km and 3 hours later we hit the Canada side of Niagara Falls with serious cabin fever so we got out and had a look...it is VERY commercial in the nearest town but the Falls are relatively unspoilt, although they are surrounded by urban architecture on each side. We expected it to be like the grand canyon but it is actually in the middle of two towns!

Next we hit the US border and be-friended the customs officers who sent us to a hole in the wall restaurant in Buffalo, NY that is the home of buffalo wings! On recommendation we ordered the wings and a 'roast beef on weck' sandwich with a side of fries and a jug of beer. The wings come in different strengths: mild (hot), medium (very hot) and hot (very very hot) - that's how they are described in the menu. So the kids got mild, Glenn got medium and I got hot. Well, the chillies here musn't be as hot as back home because we managed to eat all the wings without losing the use of our tastebuds or flushing out our pores. It was very yum nonetheless. The roast beef on weck was so good! It is a roast beef roll on this special bread (weck) with horseradish and a dipping gravy. SOOOOOO good and very upstate NY!

Now we are doing laundry at a local laundromat before we go and find somewhere to call home for the night. Tomorrow we head toward Chicago because Saturday night we are catching up with friends at their lake house in Illinois, can't wait! It's hard to believe we have been gone almost 4 weeks, it has flown! We have done the calculations and figure Seattle is a bridge too far so we are aiming for San Francisco then we will drive down the coast to LA. We have driven 8000 kilometres so far and have another 5000 to go before we hand back The Sled!

Love to you all x