Days 6, 7 and 8: Halifax

Delta Hotel, Halifax, Nova Scotia

Hey... I guess I've been getting a little bit behind. So this is going to be a little short.

Day 6, we were driving the whole day. We stopped at a visitor's center on the way, and I bought a Nova Scotia sweater. We arrived in Halifax in the evening, and Gaby and I swam in the pool.



At the Citadel



Day 7, Gaby and I woke up really late again. Then, we walked over to this other fort, called the Citadel. It was really cool, and once again, very prison-like. We took a tour with this guy in period dress, kilt and all (they were from Scotland), and we got to see some really big cannons. We also visited the prison part of the fort, where they left soldiers who were "misbehaving badly" (words of the University student tour guide, not mine. So does it mean that they were not misbehaving, since they were't doing it very well? So they were behaving?).

Anyway, when the tour was over, we went for sushi, and then Gaby and I went back to the pool.

Day 8, so today, we went to the Maritime Museum of the Atlantic, which was really ineteresting. They was a whole exhibit on the sinking of the Titanic in 1912, and on the Halifax explosion, a devastating blast caused by the SS Mont-Blanc, a French cargo ship fully loaded with wartime explosives. It was very cool.

Then, we went on a sailboat, the SILVA, where we toured around Halifax and Dartmouth. It was really funny, because a bunch of passengers had decided to get dressed up as pirates. It was windy, and Mum explained to us every single part of the boat. It seemed like that, anyways.

We finally went for our lobster dinner. Actually, I was the only one who ordered the lobster, but everyone had a little bit of it. It was soooooooooo good. It was also our most expensive dinner yet. For dessert, we had something called "Chocolate". Yep, just Chocolate. It was a mixture of dark, milk, and white chocolate, and it was delicious. We also decided that the words pimento, momento, olive, pickle, and toothpaste, could not be said in an evil voice. We just did.

On the sailboat

Day 5: Passing into Canada

Holiday Inn, Saint John, New Brunswick

Gaby and Mum near Fort Knox

We're finally in Canada! That's right, we passed by a Tim Horton's, ate A&W, and may now speak in kilometers and Celsius, although we did anyways when we were in the USA.

We traveled ALL DAY today. There wasn't enough room on the ferry back to Portland, so we had to wait for the next one, at 10:45. Oh well. Except that Gaby was feeling cranky. When we finally boarded the boat, and Mum and I were sitting on the open windows eating ice cream while Gaby sulked in the car Mum said: "Isn't it ironic that Gaby is cranky because she stayed up all night watching Glee?"
That's right, Gaby is officially OBSESSED with Glee. She spent about half an hour in the pool at our hotel telling me who is with who, who broke up with who, and who got who pregnant. I guess I forgive her, for I am equally obsessed with Death Note, this AMAZING manga I'm reading on the Internet, I won't bore you with the details, but it's so good that instead of yelling out at Gaby to be quiet because it was so very interesting and absorbing, I yelled at her to be quiet because it was so very important. And to me, it is.
Anyways, after Gaby got over her lack of sleep, we had a really good time laughing and singing in the car for the 8-hour drive. The theme song to this trip is Payphone by Maroon 5; it keeps coming on on the radio and when my iPod is plugged into the car speakers on shuffle. It's so good, but it's getting to be so annoying. I remember on our last road trip, when we went to Tennessee in February '11, the theme song was Forget You by Cee-lo Green. Both "clean" and "unclean" versions were acceptable.

Mom hanging (falling?) off an old (OLD) soldier's bed

On the way to Saint John, we stopped at Fort Knox, Maine. It was really cool, and prison-like. I have this strange thing for prisons. Especially the run-down ones. Well, it was very AWESOME and dark, as well as very echo-y. I kept losing Gaby and Mum (purposefully?) and having to find them again. There was also an observatory (meaning, a bit tower to go up) where we could see... uh... water and forests and mountains and stuff. Which water? Which forests? Which mountains? And which stuff? you may ask, and I may respond that I have no idea.



Well, we have another day of traveling ahead of us tomorrow, that will last another 5 hours. But then we'll be in Halifax, so we'll be able to stay in one place for a few days. But I don't mind the traveling. I don't feel like I'm wasting my time when I'm not doing anything, as I do when we could be visiting places.

Day 4: Nothing Day

Peaks Island, Near Portland, Maine

Today was a nothing day. We did nothing.
Almost, anyway,

Mum actually got up before us. At 9. We got up at 12:30. And then we sat in bed and read/watched Glee (Gaby is now obsessed with Glee. She will finish season 1 in about 3 minutes.) until 2. And then we had breakfast.
We went down behind our hotel/cottage where there's a really nice pebble beach, and Gaby, still feeling photographer-y from the beach, decided we should make a music video. We filmed 3 takes of me singing Outsider, and they do look pretty cool. I just hope I wasn't too fast, because we didn't have the song in the background for me to follow along, and I tend to speed things up when I'm playing without a steady beat.
We relaxed for the entire day. For dinner, we decided to have a picnic on the beach, but we couldn't find a beach. So we went out back and unfurled the blanket on the grass, where we had pasta salad, cool ranch chips, and Stewart's. It was yummy.
We just came back from downstairs. We were playing ping-pong for a while. I'm actually not that bad at ping-pong, when we're practising, at least. It's once we start playing an actual game that I get really bad. So I lost. So I started playing piano. After that, Mum and I managed to add 4 pieces to a 500-piece puzzle that an earlier guest had begun but never finished.

Our little pebble beach where we filmed!

I'd like to make a comment on Peaks Island, since it's our last day, and we've been driving around quite a bit. I wouldn't be surprised if we've gone around the whole island. But one thing we have noticed is, EVERYONE HERE HAS A GOLF CART!!! I mean everyone. I guess it's just easier to get around without using as much gas, since the island is so small. But now Gaby and I really want a golf cart.
I suppose it's because there's such a small number of people living here that we feel like such tourists. This evening, when we were driving around looking for a beach, it seemed like every person we passed was staring at us strangely, as if to say: "Who are these people? We don't recognized them." I hate that feeling. I don't like telling someone when I'm a tourist, unless they're a tourist, as well. I want to walk around a place I'm visiting as if I lived there. Does that make any sense?

Tomorrow is a travelling day, and we're passing the border into Canada. 8 hours in a car! Good thing we have a lot of stops planned.

Day 3: A Danielle Day in Boston

Peaks Island, Near Portland, Maine


We're in a military base, right now.
Actually, we're on it.
But more about that later.



The Harvard logo



We left relatively early this morning (10:30), and drove to Boston. Mum had this idea about walking around the Harvard campus, but the trouble was, we had a hard time finding it. I mean, it's just so huge, and there are so many buildings and all, and we couldn't decide on which destination to select on Rilla. Harvard Medical School? University of Harvard? Harvard Quad? Apparently, they're not all the same thing. Gaby was complaining the whole way through (Sorry, Gabs), until we gave up and stopped at Starbucks for smoothies and lemonade. And she kept complaining after that, until she spotted an Urban Outfitters and begged to go. So after following the signs marked "P" for parking leading us in a circle about four times, we hopped out and decided we would stop at a) Urban Outfitters, or b) The Harvard book store (Gaby wanted a Harvard sweatshirt, as well, although she didn't want to see the actually campus...), whichever we would find first.

We found the book store.

While Gaby was looking at a book about the Periodic Table of the Elements (She has this thing where she likes science), I found the fiction section, and more importantly, the scripts/screenplays section. There, I found The Crucible by Arthur Miller, Pygmalion by George Bernard Shaw, just about all 37 Shakespeare plays, and the entire works of Gilbert and Sullivan. After finding this last one, I read through the entire Major General song, which goes pretty much like this:

I am the very model of a modern Major-General

I've information vegetable, animal, and mineral

I know the kings of England, and I quote the fights historical
From Marathon to Waterloo, in order categorical

I'm very well acquainted, too, with matters mathematical
I understand equations, both the simple and quadratical
About binomial theorem I'm teeming with a lot o' news
With many cheerful facts about the square of the hypotenuse

With many cheerful facts about the square of the hypotenuse
With many cheerful facts about the square of the hypotenuse
With many cheerful facts about the square of the hypotepotenuse

I'm very good at integral and differential calculus
I know the scientific names of beings animalculous
In short, in matters vegetable, animal, and mineral
I am the very model of a modern Major-General

That's just part of it, and I want to learn it by heart.

Anyway, all in all, Gaby bought her Elements book, I bought The Crucible and Pygmalion, and Mum got buttons and a really cool bag. (Two out of three of the buttons are mine, the Oscar Wilde and Shakespeare ones.)
We also went to a Harvard clothing store, where Gaby bought her sweatshirt, and I a T-shirt. Then, to Urban Outfitters. We didn't buy anything, there (And after all of Gaby's begging!.



Mum on the ferry to Peaks Island



After taking the last ferry in Portland, we arrived here, on Peaks Island. The Island is an old military base, and nothing like the cemented, symmetrical, underground, single prison-like building Gaby and I were expecting. It's filled with houses. Ordinary houses, and restaurants, and cafes, things one would find in any small village. It's quite cute, actually. Except that we're on a military base, surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean.

The man who own our hotel-that-looks-like-a-cottage (Everything looks like a cottage, here: restaurants, stores, bicycle renting places...) is about a thousand years old (84, actually), and although we share a bathroom and cafeteria with the other non-existent tourists, it's nothing like a military base.

After he showed us around and explained the detailed history of about every chair and picture in the house, we went out for dinner (seafood, yum!) and watched the sunset and a little boy putting out lobster-traps/net-thingys in the water. Can't wait to eat some lobster, we haven't eaten any, yet...

Mom announces that since this was a Danielle Day at Harvard, tomorrow should be a Gaby Day at the beach (I'm fine with that, as long as I have my book! I'm reading The Life and Times of the Wicked Witch of the West, aka Wicked.).

Day 2: First Taste of Salt

Hilton Hotel, Providence, Rhode Island



Yep, we're still here.

We went to the beach, today! Gaby says it was the busiest beach she had ever seen, but she's obviously never been to any busy beaches before. All she wanted to do was go in the water (Can you believe it? We're at the beach and she wants to go in the water?), but I just wanted to relax and read. But I went in anyway. The strange thing is, Gaby's usually the wimpy one with water, but this time, while she jumped right in, my head was only submerged after a long string of: "COLDCOLDCOLDCOLDCOLDCOLDCOLDCOLDCOLDCOLD!" But we don't have to mention that, do we?

The worst part is, Mom says that the water is only going to get colder as we move our way northward on the East coast. Brrrrrrrrrrr.

We also went for a walk waaaaaayyyyy out to this jutting-out piece of land, with a little cottage resting on the very edge. We almost went to go knock on the door to ask if we could exchange our hotel room for one night in the cottage. But we didn't. Sadly.



The cottage in South Shore Beach, Little Compton, Rhode Island



Gaby was feeling artsy today, and took a picture of almost EVERYTHING that was even remotely nice-looking. I'm sure we'll have a few good shots. Especially ones with me in them (While Gaby was playing photographer, I was playing supermodel. She actually gave some really good directions).

We just came back from dinner at The Capital Grille, just about the most expensive steakhouse ever. I had seafood: Crab and lobster stuffed shrimp. Although I was wary of the whole seafood-stuffed-with-seafood concept, it was delicious. And expensive. Gaby and Mom shared a steak. Equally expensive. All and all, although it was super (I won't add the -duper--Mom's been bothering me because she says that super is sufficient as an adverb, we don't need the -duper) good, it was expensive.

An update on Rilla's name: We still haven't decided yet, although Mom is now suggesting Elaine...

P.S. Salt water tastes so good...

Day 1: Meet Rilla/Ellie/Ella/Holly

Hilton Hotel, Providence, Rhode Island.

First day on our inter-state inter-country trip. After leaving Dad and Connie's this morning at 9-ish (meaning 9:30 in Mom-speak) and a few hours of driving later, I had already managed to get us lost. Stupid Google Maps. And what rule states that the passenger in the front seat must be navigator? Well, despite my unawareness of my tacit duties, I am still the scapegoat for us having driven through Philadelphia instead of around it. Anyway, Mum got fed up and is now the proud owner of a GPS.

Rilla/Ellie/Ella/Holly (But it's actually Rilla)

Yeah, we're still trying to name her. Gaby wants Holly, because the first street on which we drove directed by her was Holly Street, but Mom wants the name to be the opposite of "Danielle" because apparently, " 'Danielle' is a really bad navigator," and thus she chose Ellie or Ella (Elleinad is Danielle backwards). And I want Rilla, a tribute to Anne of Green Gables' daughter. All this results in a big confusion of names whenever it becomes necessary to yell at the GPS.

Unfortunately, this happened very frequently directly following Mom's declaration that "buying the GPS was so worth it." Right when we entered the lovely town of Providence, Mum missed a turn to the left because she thought that "50 ft" meant "Not yet" on the GPS. She found out later that 500 ft=Not yet, that 200ft=Very soon, that 100 ft=Right now, and that 50 ft=RIGHT NOW LIKE TURN RIGHT THIS SECOND!!! Anyway, after Rilla's quick "recalculating", she suggested we make a U-turn. I guess Mom missed the memo about that, too. Except that I was clearly telling her she should keep turning:
"Turn. Tuuuuuurn. TURN. TUUURN!! TURNTURNTURNTURNTURN YOU FAAAAAAIIIIIILLLL!!!"
At last, something she cannot blame me for.

P.S. In case you were curious and all, we did arrive safely at the hotel, although 8 minutes later than Rilla had predicted.

P.P.S. If you have any suggestions for GPS names, please feel free to comment (Sorry, Lola, from the movie RV, has already been taken).

London Metropolis: Day 10 & 11 – Days of Plays (Just one day, actually, but it sounded better with the rhyme)

5 Belgrade Road, Hampton, England

The Globe theatre

          Last day. The only days after this are travel days. I’m really sad that this trip is almost over, but I’m also kind of glad to be heading home. It’s going to be nice to get back into the routine of school and, ugh, homework.  Maybe it won’t be that nice… But for right now, I have another day to tell of!

          Well, since we didn’t go to the Globe yesterday, we rushed to get there today. Only, London, finally living up to its reputation, decided that it was a good day to rain and pour as if actual buckets were being dumped over our heads by some very rude, very sarcastic god. Thor? Ganymede? Tlaloc? I hate you all. (As I’ve just discovered, there’s a whole website about rain gods from different cultures, so maybe I shouldn’t be so mean to them, after all…: http://www.whiterosesgarden.com/Grimoire/GRIM_elements/Water_grimoire/WT_deities/WT_deities_of_Rain.htm) In conclusion, it took us about 3 times longer than it should have to reach the theatre, if you count the getting lost and getting wet. But let me tell you, once we got there, it was so worth it.

          After buying the tickets for the tour, we dropped into the museum for the half an hour we had to wait for the tour to commence. It was super interesting; there were things about his life and the London he lived in, and then costumes and special effects used in Shakespeare’s Globe. I loved it; I could’ve stayed there so much longer, which is why I returned after the tour. We met by the big fake oat tree at noon and were led outside. The guide explained to us that we had to be very quiet upon entering the actual theatre, as they were rehearsing The Merry Wives of Windsor—in Swahili. You see, they’re doing this thing right now for the month of April (Shakespeare’s month—birth and death month) where they are performing all 37 plays in 37 different languages by 37 different theatre companies. 37—it’s like the Shakespeare magic number.

          We crept in as quietly as we could and sat down on the wooden benches high up in the balcony. We watched the performance for about half an hour, I think—it seemed so much shorter, though. It was so great, really interesting. Although they were speaking in a completely foreign language, one could still somewhat tell what was going on. That was how amazing the actors were. It was just hilarious. One thing that did surprise me was the harshness of the director, however; they were going on in about two hours, so I can understand…

          When we were ushered out, we went to the gift shop. I think I could’ve bought everything in that store, but I had to settle on a Much Ado About Nothing bag, Quoting Shakespeare poster and a Macbeth eraser: “Out damn spot, out I say!” I know, I have one already, but it’s all faded…

Matilda the Musical

          After having more smoked salmon for lunch in the cafeteria, we gave up and took a taxi to the theatre, just in time to see… *drum roll* Matilda! It was the best thing I’ve ever seen. Seriously, one of my favorite musicals of all time. The kids were all amazing, the choreography was amazing and really creative, the songs amazing and super catchy (I bought the CD on iTunes and have been listening to them on repeat—they’ve been stuck in my head all day, but I don’t care, because they’re all AMAZING!!!) and it was just generally amazing. Really, I recommend it to anyone who goes to London. I’ve heard that it was coming to Broadway, so if you’re ever in New York, go see it. Do it as a favour to me, and to yourself.

          Anyways, we went home. The next morning, we had to say goodbye to everyone. I had the opportunity of meeting Mark the night before, which I never had done. I was really surprised with the things in common with the boys—Callum was reading Eragon and Will played guitar—except for the whole British accent thing. It was just so great to see them—all of them.

          Well, we took the train back to Paris and took a taxi to the hotel room. The taxi driver was really nice. From what I could hear, Grandma was doing much bonding from the backseat. Arriving at the hotel, we immediately left again to eat lunch, as I was starving. For dinner, we went out to an Italian place—Sicilian, Grandma told me.

          The next morning, we went downstairs to wait for the taxi driver from yesterday. I guess Grandma really liked him. A dog was sitting in the lobby, and his name was Stan. Right away, I fell in love with him. We played and I pet him until the driver arrived—I was very sad to leave him.

          The flight seemed really quick, so that was okay. And the trip was over. Just like that. Done. Already. I can’t believe how fast it went, and now I’m settling back into school.

          I really enjoyed Paris, and seeing all of the chateaux in Tours, but I think my favorite was the Play Day. Our last full non-traveling day. Matilda was just the best thing I’d ever seen, and the Globe was amazing. I guess that’s all. Okay, then. Bye-bye.