I checked into the Intercontinental Montreal on 24th May – my last stop on this round the world trip.

Like other Canadian cities, Montreal is connected to a network of underground tunnels that connect office buildings, shopping malls and Metro stations to allow locals to stay underground during the harsh winters. I had the city before about 20 years ago but couldn’t remember much of it. Just as Quebec City reminded me of Luxembourg, Montreal brought Paris to mind with its Metro signs (and rubber wheeled trains)

I started off in the old City which dates back to 1642 – Montreal is celebrating its 375th anniversary this year.

I came across a lovely old hotel called Hostellerie Pierre Du Calvet (www.pierreducalvet.ca) which had much more character than my corporate hotel.

The City Hall (Hôtel de Ville) is not quite as old. The current building was completed in 1878 after the previous one burnt down.

Another building of note in the old City is the Notre Dame Basilica.

As you leave the old City towards the current City Centre, the buildings change again.

One old banking hall has been cleverly been converted by the Crew Collective (crew.co) – a new serviced office company who like their coffee (and architecture!)

The next day I headed out to Le Plateau – Mont Royal, a suburb north of the City Centre. It is mainly residential.

It is also home to L’Oratoire Saint-Joseph du Mont-Royal – a Catholic Basilica – the largest church in Canada (and 27th largest in the world).

 

The area also has some colourful shops.

and Schwartz’s – a popular Hebrew Deli, famous for its Montreal style, smoked meat.

I was lucky with the weather again and I headed out to one of the parks to catch up on my reading.

I took a picnic from one of the local Boulangeries.

and came across this little chap.

The following day, I went out to the Olympic Park. Unfortunately, the tower in the stadium is being renovated and I was unable to go up to the top.

The city is very impressive at night with many of the buildings illuminated.

There is also an impressive sound and light (and water) show running on one of the piers as part of the 375th anniversary celebrations. Everything is projected onto some stacked shipping containers on the far pier.

On my last night I went to see Volta, the new show from Cirque Du Soleil (www.cirquedusoleil.com/volta).

Montreal was the final stop on my round the world trip and I flew back to London on 28th June. In the 147 days I have been travelling, I clocked up the following stats:

• 42,918 miles flown on 32 flights with 10 airlines
• Plus 4,454 miles by car, 276 miles by train and 150 miles by ferry
• 72 nights in hotels, 62 nights in hostels, 7 nights with friends and 6 on overnight flights
• 1 serious disease (Dysentery) and 1 displaced crown
• 1 good time had

 

I flew into a very efficient Montreal airport on 21st May – I virtually jogged from the plane, through immigration and my bag was already waiting for me when I got to the carousel. I then took a short flight to Quebec City and checked in to the Fairmont Le Chateau Frontenac Hotel (www.fairmont.com/frontenac-quebec).

As a hotel enthusiast, I had been waiting for this one for a long time. It is one of the most photographed hotels in the world. It blew my hostel budget but it was worth it. A beautiful hotel with great service. I had a great view from my room.

French speaking Quebec City is the capital of Quebec Province in Canada. On first impressions, it reminded me very much of Luxembourg. This is the square outside the hotel.

This is the School of Architecture at Université Laval.

And Place Royal down in the old port.

One distinctive feature are its tin roofs.

It is the only walled City in left in North America and it is a UNESCO world heritage site.

It is located above the St Lawrence river.

Old Quebec city by the port has been restored and is connected to the walled City above by a 125 year old funicular railway.

Some buildings still require quite a lot of work.

Just outside the walled City is the Parliament building.

I visited the Governor General’s residence in the Citadel.

It is one of two official residences – the other being in Ottawa. The older part of the residence dates back to 1872.

The larger formal rooms were destroyed by fire in 1976 and reopened in 1984.

The residence looks out over the river.

Various gifts to the Governor General are on display, including this picture of the Queen and Prince Philip. Possibly not one of the best.

The Citadel is located in the Battlefields Park where the British won the Battle of Quebec against the French in 1759.

I also visited Café Félin Ma Langue aux Chats (www.malangueauxchats.ca).

The cats get more friendly when your food is served.

After 3 nights in Quebec City, I set off by train for Montreal.

 

 

This is going to be a relatively short post as I have spent a lot of time in New York before and so I will just cover what was new to me.

I flew into New York on 17th May. I stayed at Hotel Boutique at Grand Central (www.hotelboutiqueatgrandcentral.com) which is on Lexington Avenue near Grand Central. It has a roof terrace with good views.

It is also next to the Chrysler Building.

I have never stayed in this part of Manhattan before and only visited Grand Central once before.

Grand Central also has an excellent food market (www.grandcentralterminal.com/market) in one of the passages between the terminal and Lexington Avenue.

The main purpose of my visit was to catch up with people in New York. The first on my list was James Huayamave who has helped try to keep me fit since I first started coming to New York regularly in 2008.

I met up with a Traci and Nate, couple I hadn’t seen for some time, in the East Village. They recommended a restaurant called Feast (eatfeastnyc.com) which was excellent. I talked so much, I forgot to take a picture!

I noted that the MTA seem to have an interesting new problem more theatrical customers on the Subway!

I also visited Schroders’ new office in Bryant Square and caught up with my colleagues there.

Finally, I went to a couple of Shows. The first, The Play That Goes Wrong (www.theplaythatgoeswrong.com), is co-written by Henry Lewis, a fellow Questor from Ealing who I worked with on a couple of shows a long time ago. He is also in the cast. They appear to be doing well on Broadway, the theatre was pretty well sold out and they got a standing ovation.

Another friend took me to see Bandstand which is a new show by some of the people involved with Hamilton. It is a musical set in Swing clubs in 1945. Worth noting that we bought our tickets for Bandstand from the discount booth in Times Square (www.tdf.org/../TKTS-ticket-booths). I had never done this before as the queue looked horrendous. However, it moved really quickly and we got a 50% discount. If you have bought from them before, and have a ticket stub as evidence, they let you jump to the front and you don’t have to queue.

 

 

I drove to Tucson, Arizona on 14th May for a two day visit. I stayed in the Motel 6 at the airport. On the first day I headed towards the Mexican border to visit the Kitt Peak National Observatory (www.noao.edu/kpvc). Having failed to get up to the observatory in Hawaii, I came here instead.

Kitt Peak was chosen as the location for the first US national astronomical observatory in 1957. Today it is the largest observatory in the world by volume with 25 optical and 2 radio telescopes (but not by size, there are larger telescopes elsewhere). It is about 90 minutes drive south of Tucson and is located on land belonging to the Tohono O’odham Nation in the Sonoran desert.

It is accessed via 10 mile road that twists up 6,875 feet.

As it is a working observatory, there are astronomers asleep during the day so you have to keep quiet.

I visited 3 different telescopes. The first was the 2.1 metre telescope which was built in 1964 and is in high demand every night.

The second was the McMath-Pierce Solar Telescope.

Unlike all the other telescopes, it operates during the day as it is used to study the sun. The main lens sits on top of the tower and focuses down the 200 feet sloping tunnel to a mirror at the bottom.

My final visit was to the Mayall 4 metre telescope which was built in 1973. It is probably the most well known as it is the largest on the site and can seen from Tucson.

The following day I set off for the Pima Air & Space Museum (www.pimaair.org) next to the Davis-Monthan Air Force base on the outskirts of Tucson. The museum offers tours of the 309th Aerospace Maintenance and Regeneration Group (AMARG), more commonly known as the Boneyard, on the Air Force base. AMARG (www.dm.af.mil/../309-AMARG) is a 2,600 acre site housing 4,400 aircraft. The planes are being stored for future use, parts reclamation or decommissioning.

The army also stores spare equipment there as well.

Not all planes are military.

This location is ideal for such storage as the ground is hard (no tarmac required) and the air has very low humidity.

After touring the Air Force base, I had a look around the museum. It is one of the largest, non-government funded museums of its kind. It has over 300 historical aircraft in its 6 hangers and grounds. The museum was started in 1966 by the Air Base commander who realised that old aircraft in AMARG were being melted down for scrap without any being kept for future generations to see. Initially they placed them around the fence so the public could see them. It has now been extended to include commercial aircraft as well. Here are some examples:

Airforce One used by Presidents Kennedy and Johnson

An early Lockheed Constellation used by TWA.

The massive Convair B36 Peacemaker

and slightly smaller Boeing B-52.

This concluded my visit to Arizona and I returned to Phoenix airport to fly to New York.

 

I flew into Phoenix on 13th May. I had visited Arizona before but returned to tick off some specific things. In Phoenix, it was Frank Lloyd Wright – the American architect probably most well known as the architect of the Guggenheim Museum in New York. Lloyd Wright spent most of his working life in Chicago and at Taliesin (his country estate in Wisconsin). When he was 70, he was advised to spend the winter in warmer climates for health reasons. This led his to purchase some land just outside Scottsdale, Arizona. in 1933, assisted by his apprentices, he started construction in the desert and named it Taliesin West (franklloydwright.org/taliesin-west/).

In addition to being his winter home, it was also the winter home of his architecture school. Lloyd Wright spent all his winters there until his death in 1959. The architecture school continues and splits its year with winters in Taliesin West and summers in the original Taliesin.

We toured the whole complex and were allowed to take pictures all lver, except inside the draft studio.

Originally, there was no glass in any of the buildings and the roofs were just stretched canvas. His wife’s sleeping quarters have been restored.

He relented later and did install glass, but this was more to stop the wildlife coming in than for the weather. All the furniture in the complex is replicas of his original designs. This is his living room.

Everyone on the campus ate together in a communal dining room when the bell was rung.

One of his ideas was to use small doors and entry spaces to force people to squat down when entering a room in order that they would then stand up to appreciate the space in the room. This is the front door to his living quarters.

He loved films and included a cinema\theatre in the complex as well.

He also liked to include other memorabilia that he had acquired.

The buildings and gardens are maintained by his foundation and the school of Architecture is still based here during the winter months.

I also visited the Arizona Biltmore hotel in Phoenix. It is not a pure Lloyd Wright project but described as “as product of architect Albert Chase McArthur’s vision and Frank Lloyd Wrights inspired guidance”.

I had breakfast in the restaurant named after both architects.

It opened in 1929 and claims that every US President since Herbert Hoover has stayed here. I noted that they hadn’t included Mr Obama in the list so I’m not sure if this record has been broken or not. Trump has probably stayed here at some time as it has a golf course. Irving Berlin is also said to have penned “White Christmas” while lounging by the Catalina Pool.

Marilyn Monroe was also a regular and loved the pool. I loved the interiors.

Over the years, there has been much discussion about how much Lloyd Wright’s is actually responsible for. I could see some of his ideas all over the property but these could always have been placed here later.

After a whistle stop visit to Phoenix, I headed out to Tucson. I passed BioSphere II (www.biosphere2.org) on route but didn’t stop as I have visited before. It is worth a visit just for its amusing history. It was built in the late 1980’s with a view to hosting a year long closed system project i.e. where the inhabitants were completely isolated from the outside world. The year long project was halted after only a few weeks when the Biosphere proved unable to support life in the longer term and the 4 inhabitants fell out with each other. A second attempt also failed. Things weren’t improved by the making of the film Bio-Dome (www.imdb.com/title/tt0115683) starring Pauly Shaw and  Stephen Baldwin. The appalling film lampooned the what had happened and was also filmed at the BioSphere.

It is now part of the University of Arizona and being used for research. I note they are very vague about its early history on their website.

 

Arrived into San Antonio on 10th May and checked into a Motel 6. I noticed it looked very empty but didn’t initially think anything of it. Checked into my room, shut the door and I could hardly hear myself think! Being of the budget variety, these motels are often near major roads but they usually have pretty good sound proofing. This one didn’t and it was right next to an elevated highway. I lasted about 10 minutes in there and had to leave. They were very good and refunded me. I then had to find alternative accommodation at short notice. I found a good deal on a Wyndham hotel that was actually on the river. I blew my budget target but at least I could sleep.

I had first visited San Antonio about 20 years ago and remember the sub level river with its pretty walkways. I headed out of the hotel to see what had changed. It was just as before.

In the centre of the City there are restaurants along the way but the walkways actually extend about 3 miles outside the city in each direction.

It’s pretty at night too.

Being just over 100 miles from the border, there is a strong Mexican flavour to everything here – including the show at the Arneson open air theatre on the river walk.

Probably the most well known attraction in San Antonio is The Alamo.

Only the Alamo Chapel and parts of the compound wall are left today. Elsewhere in the City, there is more recent history with some of the architecture on Houston Street.

The Buckhorn Saloon and Museum (www.buckhornmuseum.com) is also on Houston Street. It was opened by Albert Friedrich in 1881. He found many of his early customers were cash poor and started accepting horns and antlers in return for beer and whiskey. The saloon has moved from its original location but its unusual collection has been kept. It now also includes the Texas Ranger Museum.

The Emily Morgan hotel at the top of Houston Street looks impressive but it was actually built as an office block in 1924 and not converted to a hotel until 1984.

North of the City centre, the old Pearl Brewery has been converted into a new neighbourhood with housing, restaurants and shops.

One of the most impressive conversions on the site is Hotel Emma (www.thehotelemma.com).

The hotel is named after Emma Koehler who was CEO of the brewery during the prohibition. She managed to keep all of the brewery staff employed by converting operations to dry cleaning and auto repairs.

I also visited the Japanese Tea Garden (saparksfoundation.org/japanese-tea-garden). It was originally created from an old rock quarry in 1901. It has a confusing sign welcoming you to the Chinese Tea Garden.

 

It is thought this was introduced during World War II when the original Japanese owners were evicted due to anti Japanese sentiment and it was taken over by a Chinese American family. Today, it is maintained by the San Antonio Parks Foundation.

In addition to the Alamo, there are 4 other missions in the San Antonio area. The missions were introduced in the 18th century by the Spanish Catholic church to spread the faith amongst native Americans and are now a UNESCO world heritage site (whc.unesco.org/../1466). I drove out to the San Jose Mission 6 miles south of the City.

One part of the City has worked hard to maintain its historic architecture. The King William Association (www.ourkwa.org) was formed in 1967 to try and preserve the Victorian residential architecture in the area. This includes large and small houses. I focused on the big ones!

My final destination was Barney Smith’s Toilet Seat Art Museum (www.facebook.com/SATXTSAM). The collection was started by Barney Smith’s father and he has continued it (both were plumbers). Barney is now 96 years old.

His collection is just under 1,400 toilet seats and he asks visitors to sign his seats. I signed one of the British ones.

 

I arrived in Austin, Texas late on 9th May. I booked into a Motel 6 by the airport. I used to stay in these motels when I first visited the USA in the early 90s. They are a national chain and are generally the cheapest motel you can get with a reasonable room (without resorting to the very run down motels with damp and smelly rooms). The only downside is that their clientele can be a little bit colourful. I have previously encountered full on fights in the car park with base ball bats, blood and vast number of police arriving too late, loud marital strife and over consumption of alcohol! 20 years on, not much has changed but they are still a good option if plan to arrive late, leave early and you are just need somewhere to sleep.

The following day, I had an early breakfast and made my way into downtown Austin to have a look around. I started on 6th Street which is the heart of the nightlife area. Austin has a reputation for good live music.

There are also quite a few tourist shops selling all sorts of music related stuff, including pyjamas.

I returned to 6th Street that evening (I forgot my camera) and caught 3 different bands who were very good for a Tuesday night.

Next I came to The Driskill Hotel which is the oldest hotel in Austin that is still operating – it has been open since 1886.

Walking up Congress, I was pleased to see they have retained a couple of old theatres.

Austin is the state capital of Texas and I was heading for the Texas State Capitol. It is the third building to serve as the Capital. This one was completed in 1888 after the second one had burnt down. The state was hard up for cash at the time and so they changed the state constitution to allow the sale of land to purchase the new building. It was one of the largest barter transactions recorded and the builders were paid with 3 million acres of land in the north of the state.

The has an impressive central rotunda.

The walls on all 4 floors of the rotunda feature portraits of everyone who has been either President of the Republic or Governor of Texas. Including this recent Governor.

Both houses were in session when I visited. The Senate were going through some rather boring administrative procedures so I didn’t stay very long their visitor gallery.

The House of Representatives were debating the provision of specialist free medical treatments to Veterans and it had just been pointed out that bill had been worded to include associated services that had not seen active service – many were unhappy with this.

I noted that they wore their Stetsons inside the building (but not in either chamber).

After leaving the Capitol Building, I continued walking around the downtown area and came across one of the original moonlight towers.

After an increase in night time crime, 31 of these towers were installed in 1895. Most have now been replaced by modern street lights but a few remain.

Like many Cities these days, Austin considers itself a foodie destination. Here are a couple of places that I tried.

I also came across some interesting independent shops such as this great record shop (waterloorecords.com).

Talking of shops, Austin is where the Whole Food Markets chain started. The original shop has been replaced with a massive store that even has yoga sessions.

I also tried to find some more unusual things and I visited the Hope Outdoor Gallery (hopecampaign.org/…hope-outdoor-gallery)

Whilst looking for the more peculiar sites, I tried to visit the Cathedral of Junk. Unfortunately the installation in a back garden has become so popular that the neighbours have started to complain and it was closed to visitors when I got there. I was just able to get a glimpse of the installation through the garden gate.

After a whistle-stop tour of Austin, I headed south west to San Antonio.

 

 

 

I drove up to Vancouver from Seattle early on 6th May in order to make the Richmond Olympic Parkrun. Richmond is a suburb just south of Vancouver. The course runs along the Fraser river.

I managed to knock a minute off my time from the previous week in San Francisco.

Thanks to Monica and Brandon for their encouragement.

After a long post run coffee session in Tim Hortons, I set off to Vancouver and checked into the Ambassador Hotel, a hostel in the entertainment area of downtown Vancouver.

I spent most of my first day in Stanley Park watching the Vancouver marathon. There are great views of the City from the park.

Also of Lions Gate Bridge from Prospect Point at the northern point of the park.

Granville Island, just south of downtown, is a very bright and vivid part of the City with lots of restaurants, a farmers market and several theatres.

I thought I had found a long lost relative when I saw this shop.

However, when I went into the shop I found that they just sold brooms.

The local wildlife obviously do well from the farmers market judging on the size of their families.

The oldest part of the City is known as Gastown. It is named after the owner of the first saloon (“Gassy” Jack Deighton). Its most famous landmark is the steam powered clock. It was built in 1977 to cover a steam grate and stop the homeless people sleeping over the spot in the cold weather!

Just west of Gastown is Coal Harbour, one of the newest parts of the city. It has been developed over the old ship yards and includes the new Cruise Ship Port. Over a million people a year now take cruises to Alaska from Vancouver.

When I was there they were going through the life boat drill with the passengers.

Like most of the City, the residential areas are mixed into the business areas.

The new harbour is also home to the busy sea plane centre.

Although Vancouver is a big City, the views of the mountains always remind you that it is in a quite remote part of the world.

Although I was staying in a hostel, I still had to check out the better hotels in town. The Fairmont Hotel, known as the Castle in the City, (www.fairmont.com/hotel-vancouver) is probably the City’s best known hotel.

My favourite was The Sylvia Hotel (www.sylviahotel.com) which opened in 1913. Errol Flynn was a regular here in the 1950s and he is rumoured to have died here in 1959.

The hotel looks out over English Bay.

Most of the theatres near my hostel were built around the same time. Many have now been converted to clubs and bars but they have retained their facias and have some great neon signage.

I spent my last day in Kitsilano. This is a pretty, beachside neighbourhood that was the City’s hippy hangout in the 1960s.

Today it is more hipster and the coffee shops are being replaced by some serious tea shops.

It has a great beach.

I enjoyed my short visit to Vancouver but only had time to see the City centre.  I hope to return sometime to explore further afield.

After my night in Portland I drove up the interstate into Washington State and on to Seattle. Prior to this trip, I had never been north of California and I have always wanted to visit Seattle. It is located on the shores of the Puget Sound and is best viewed from the water.

The best homes look out over the Sound or even float on it.

Gas Works Park, on Lake Union, contains the remnants of the sole remaining coal gasification plant in the USA. It used to burn coal to produce gas for use in the City’s street lights. It was in operation up until 1956.

On my way out to the park I went past a piece of the Berlin wall!

The city is big on public art such as this installation in one of the control towers on a draw bridge.

And these outside the Gates Foundation visitor centre (made out of concrete).

Opened in 1907, Pike Place Market is one of the oldest farmers markets in the USA.

It is also the location of the first ever Starbucks which opened in 1971.

Don’t bother joining the permanent queue outside, there are now 25 other Starbucks within a mile of this one.

There are also some pleasant surprises such as the Pike Place Community Garden based on a balcony behind the market.

I took a ride on the Monorail that was installed for the 1962 Seattle World’s Fair. Apparently Elvis rode it once.

It takes you out to the Seattle Centre which has been built on the location of the Fair. It is now the home to several museums and tourist attractions. The Space Needle was kept from the Fair. I didn’t go up it as it was rather cloudy.

The following day I drove north to the suburb of Everett to visit the Boeing factory. You are not allowed to take cameras inside the factory. It is hard to comprehend the size of the factory (it is the largest building in the world covering 90 acres). To try and put it into context, one of the 6 bays of the building has space to build 6 747s with plenty of space around them.

Outside, they have their own airport with space to test all the planes due for delivery.

Sometimes they are so busy, they need to hire in planes from their competition to fly in components from other factories around the USA.

 

 

 

 

I continued my road trip from San Francisco through Oregon. I carried on driving up the coast and was surprised to come across huge sand dunes.

And some quite impressive sand buggies.

I turned inland to take the alternative scenic route to Eugene through farming country.

I stayed overnight in Eugene, the second largest city in the state. It is a University City with a hippie background. One of its claims to fame is that the City and surrounding area were the location for the 1978 film National Lampoon’s Animal House.

The following day, I set off early and drove for a while before stopping off for breakfast at a small roadside café.

It was owned and run by a local lady that wasn’t afraid to take the law into her own hands.

I followed the McKenzie river out to the Mount Washington wilderness area.

On the journey I came across snow, fire and some very long straight roads.

The McKenzie river is very full with all the melted snow.

I drove around a lovely lake that was created by the Detroit Dam.

After a day in the mountains, I headed to Portland to meet up with Richard and Katie Topping who I used to work with at Text 100.