Last weekend we spent 3 days in the City of Bridges, Saskatoon. We had been there before, but never really stayed long or explored much of its downtown. Although the city is just slightly bigger than Regina, it has much more shops and entertainment concentrated in the downtown area (unlike Regina). It also has the South Saskatchewan River with several beautiful bridges and a well groomed network of trails along the river banks (Meewasin Valley), which looks more majestic than our (also gorgeous) Wascana Centre (lake and parks). All in all, where Regina has more of a town feel (which we love, don’t get me wrong), Saskatoon is a real city. So when we got tickets to see Heart on February 18th, we also booked 3 nights at the Park Town Hotel near the University bridge to finally check out Saskatoon’s downtown and trails for our only winter getaway this winter! And, the 18th was also our 3rd anniversary living in Canada!!
Friday February 18th
Despite snow earlier in the week, the roads were clear and we got to Saskatoon safe and sound around 2pm. We first checked out the Broadway Ave on the east side of the river, known for its alternative little shops and atmosphere. After a late lunch at the Broadway Cafe we drove to the Park Town Hotel to check in. We had booked a king executive room with river view, since they were only 10 bucks more than the regular ones (we payed a very decent $139 a night, CAA rates). Wow that was the best decision! The view is stunning, whereas the so called “city view” of the rooms on the other side of the hallway turned out to be a view on the high-rises surrounding the hotel on that side!! The rest of the room was also very nice, a comfy king size bed, nice and clean bathroom, big tv, desk with river view and a comfy chair.
Since we didn’t get hungry anymore, we chilled in the room for a bit before we took a cab to the downtown TCU Place (we could’ve walked 15 or 20 mins but decided against it in the cold for that one night). My all time favourite band Heart (Ann & Nancy Wilson, hits like Magic Man, Crazy On You, Barracuda, Alone etc) was playing so I was VERY excited to see them again! I had seen them once in 1990, but in a huge arena (Ahoy, Rotterdam) where I was miles away from the stage and the performance was too routinely. This time around I knew it wouldn’t be. Ann is 60 and I’m sure she’s only on stage to have fun by now. Plus their newer stuff is much better than the 80′s pop stuff and this show was also in a beautiful, relatively cosy, theatre.
Earlier that day we saw news articles that Heart’s buses were stuck in Manitoba overnight because the 1 had been closed because of a blizzard. Would they be on time???? When we got to the theatre we saw a lot of buses, so that looked good And they even started on time, at 8 the support act Carmen Townsend came on stage. Great pipes, but weird vocal lines – I guess miss Townsend is an acquired taste we didn’t acquire just yet. Then at 9pm it was time for my beloved HEART!!! It was amazing to hear and see them again, really see them this time (I also brought binoculars). The whole show (110 mins!!) was phenomenal and I couldn’t believe my hero of 35 years (my only hero in life besides my dad!) was right there in front of me, singing as incredible as always, if not better – and looking great too! It was an emotional gig for me and when she sang Alone (not even my favourite song, but Ann of course excels here) I had to really cry. Just. WOW. No “Love Alive” or “Mistral Wind” for me (you can’t have it all when they recorded so much since 1976), but I did love the setlist:
Cook with Fire
Heartless
What About Love
Straight On
Dog and Butterfly
These Dreams
Hey You
Even It Up / Gimme Shelter (The Rolling Stones cover)
Red Velvet Car
Desire Walks On Alone
WTF
Magic Man
Crazy on You
Barracuda
–
What is and What Should Never Be (Led Zeppelin cover)
Love Reign O’er Me (The Who cover)
–
Dreamboat Annie
(click HERE to see 2 more short clips of “Dog & Butterfly” and “Crazy On You” on our YouTube page!)
After that I wanted to drown my emotions in a big pint of Rickards Red at the Irish Pub at the hotel. We also wanted to get some food by then, but their kitchen was already closed and they had nothing but popcorn to offer… no thanks! We left after the one beer to order pizza from our hotel room.
Saturday February 19th
steam rising from the South Saskatchewan River, view from our hotel room
After a fabulous breakfast at the Four Seasons restaurant of the hotel, it was time to check out downtown. We walked south along the river trails in Kiwanis Memorial Park until we got to the Meewasin Valley Centre past the Broadway bridge. Very nice displays and a lot of info on Saskatoon’s history. We then went to the shops in the downtown streets as well as the Midtown Mall. We saw a few exhibitors from the Taboo Show (which was also at the TCU Place) walk around and ended up talking to one guy. Very nice and he gave us free tickets ($15 value each!). But we didn’t really plan to go and the next morning I gave them to hotel staff in case they’d get someone at their desk who’s interested in going.
downtown Saskatoon, the Delta Bessborough (hotel) in the background
After some shopping (got sandals on sale at the Ecco store, yay!) we ended up at The Real Greek for supper. This was exactly the type of restaurant I’ve been missing here in Canada! A real Greek restaurant with the blue and white picturesque, cosy decor! We do have a Greek restaurant in Regina with good food, but they are snobs IMHO, trying to be high-end and the decor too… no atmosphere (big rooms, not cosy, salmon pillars kind of decor), so we don’t like going there. This one was not cheap either, but we loved it!
Sunday February 20th
After the big Sunday Brunch at the hotel restaurant, we checked out tourist info to see where we could hike today. We ended up just crossing the University bridge and going north on that side for a bit. Along the way we decided to continue to the next bridge, the CPR Railway bridge, and to cross there again and come back on the west side, on Spadina. It was -20°C, but in the sun and without the wind, not even my cheeks got frozen! I can’t believe we walked 4.5 kms in that cold, it was great!
After some warming up we took the car to visit the Uptons in their new home in Hampton Village. Well, Brent, Jennifer and their kids Ella and Arden have already been living there for 3 years, but we hadn’t seen them since 2006 Great times, great meal (thanks!), great company!
Monday February 21th
Even long weekends end at some point… we drove home with a lot of blowing snow on the roads, but it was ok. We can look back at a fantastic weekend in the City of Bridges!
We’ve had so much snow so far (1 m / 3.3 ft thick on the roof) that we wanted to get it off the roof and away from the house a bit before it would (partially) melt and cause problems if it can’t get away.
We hebben zoveel sneeuw tot nog toe (1 m dik op het dak) dat we het op het dak en langs het huis weg wilden halen, voordat het (deels) kon smelten en problemen veroorzaken als het niet goed weg kan.
Time to add the last photos of 2010 to our gallery, that we still had on our computer and didn’t publish yet: Tijd om de laatste foto’s van 2010 toe te voegen aan onze albums, die we nog op de computer maar nog niet gepost hadden:
» photo album miscellaneous 2010 pics (119 pictures) – all sorts of pics from all of 2010 from home, on the road, animals, views etc that don’t have their own album! / allerlei foto’s van heel 2010 van thuis, onderweg, dieren, uitzichten enz. die geen eigen album hebben!
» photo album 06/24 North Portal, SK – US border (23 pictures) – after getting our permanent visas we drove to the nearest border where we could land as immigrants! / nadat we onze permanente visa kregen, reden we naar de dichtstbijzijnde grensovergang waar we als immigranten konden landen!
Note: our gallery still needs updates to match the new look of our site and to iron out some stuff from a software update – will be done soon! NB: onze gallery moet nog bijgewerkt worden zodat het er hetzelfde uitziet als de nieuwe look van onze site en om wat dingen te verbeteren na een software update – wordt binnenkort gedaan!
In the last days of 2010 we got the sad news that Milan, the son of our dear friends Anneke and Cordy (back in Holland), has passed away from a viral infection. We don’t know any more about it, but Milan has been multiple handicapped since birth with hard to control epileptic seizures and spasms day and night, despite heavy medications. Milan, you’ve been so brave for almost 6 years, now you can rest….. we wish his wonderful parents a lot of strength to deal with their loss! They will be in our thoughts, as always…
In de laatste dagen van 2010 bereikte ons nog het verdrietige nieuws, dat Milan, de zoon van onze lieve vrienden Anneke en Cordy (in Nederland), overleden is aan een virusinfectie. We weten er het fijne niet van, maar Milan was meervoudig gehandicapt sinds zijn geboorte en had een moeilijk instelbare epilepsie met dag en nacht aanvallen en spasmen ondanks zware medicatie. Milan, je bent bijna 6 jaar zo dapper geweest, nu mag je rusten….. we wensen zijn geweldige ouders heel veel sterkte met hun verlies! Ze zijn, zoals altijd, in onze gedachten…
2010 was again a pretty important year for us! Many camping trips, new additions to our family and finally our permanent residency status in June!
In the first part of the year we had our friend Mark from Lloydminster stay with us while he worked in Regina and were glued to the TV for two weeks when the 21st Winter Olympics in Vancouver were on. It was very special to be the hosting country, it made us very proud to be Canadian residents!!
Of course we did a lot of camping in the summer, even though there have been many extreme storms causing serious flooding (we got trapped in one while camping, which was quite scary). But the best camping trip was two weeks in beautiful British Columbia! It’s camper heaven with mountains, hills and lakes and we fell in love with the Okanagan. In some years we might move there if we can afford it, but no rush, Regina is still home
Another special trip was four days Las Vegas for Tim and Cortney’s wedding on 10-10-10. That was fantastic! We also enjoyed the craziness of the strip, the warm weather and the palm trees
But the most important news this year was that we got our permanent visas! So we are still Dutch, but if we want to, we can apply for Canadian Citizenship in a few years.
And last but not least we have some new extensions of our family: since June we’re taking care of a friend’s cat because of landlord issues. This adorable “rental” gets along with everybody and enjoyed the camping too! Then two months ago we also fell in love with a few kittens on a friends’ farm and we took two of them home. The others all play with them and take care of them. One big happy family!!!
Winter started early with some big dumps of snow in November, but our home is filled with much love and joy, so we’re ready for the holidays! Merry Xmas and all the best for 2011!!
photos left to right etc:
Conglomerate Cliffs in Cypress Hills Interprovincial Park, SK
deer in Moose Mountain Provincial Park, SK
Terrace campground in Cypress Hills Interprovincial Park, SK
Nico and Smokey in Duck Mountain Provincial Park, SK
Kelowna, BC
Fintry Provincial Park, BC
Nico on St. Patrick’s Day, Regina, SK
Duck Mountain Provincial Park, SK
Herald Provincial Park, BC (Shuswap Lake)
coyote near Cypress Hills Interprovincial Park, SK
Dutch Lake Resort, Clearwater, BC
Loch Leven, Cypress Hills Interprovincial Park, SK
Sheldon & Penny at home
Buffalo Pound, SK
Kelowna, BC
Gandalf at the Dutch Lake Resort, Clearwater, BC
our house in November
pronghorn antelope near Cypress Hills Interprovincial Park, SK
Helmcken Falls, Wells Gray Provincial Park, BC
Duck Mountain Provincial Park, SK
Duck Mountain Provincial Park, SK
Rider at the Manitou Beach campground, SK
Marlies with the view over Revelstoke, BC
Olympic merch
Tess in Douglas Provincial Park, SK
It was vet time again today. The two youngins are doing great, almost 3 months now (on the 28th). Penny’s weight went from 0.5 to 1.1 kg (go girl!) and Sheldon from 0.8 to 1.3 kg. Penny still has the slight heart murmur, but we don’t have to worry too much about that. The older cats take well care of them, esp. Rider thinks he (HE!) is their mom
Het was weer tijd voor de dierenarts vandaag. De jeugd doet het goed, ze zijn nu bijna 3 maanden (op de 28e). Penny’s gewicht is van 0,5 naar 1,1 kg gegaan (goed zo meissie!) en Sheldon’s van 0,8 naar 1,3 kg. Penny heeft wel nog de lichte hartruis, maar daarover hoefden we ons niet te veel zorgen te maken. De oudere katten zorgen goed voor ze, vooral Rider denkt dat hij (HIJ!) hun moeder is
our house today
In the meantime winter has arrived… we’ve already had lots of snow and cold temps for November! Average would be 14 cm for this month and we already had up to 36 cm on the 24th! Coldest day was -27°C earlier this week
Intussen is de winter al hier… we hebben al veel sneeuw en kou gehad voor november! Het gemiddelde voor deze maand is 14 cm en we hadden al 36 cm op de 24e! De koudste dag was -27°C eerder deze week
Tim and Cortney were getting married on 10/10/10 (October 10th, 2010) in Las Vegas, so we had to be there! Initially we didn’t like spending a lot of money on a city trip (after all, we prefer the outdoors), but after we booked, got a little travel guide and checked pics on google earth, we got more and more excited to see all the lights, hotels and entertainment for ourselves. We booked pretty late and although we wanted to go on Friday, it was cheaper to leave on Saturday so that’s what we did (and went home on Wednesday), even though it meant having to miss the stag and stagette parties. Most of the friends and family that came along stayed at the Flamingo, but when we tried to book it, the Saturday was full despite a group reservation. We chose to book the Super 8 around the corner (got a super cheap online deal too, less than US$170 for 4 nights!) which turned out to be a good choice. No crowds, long line ups, just a quiet, small hotel and a very clean room, and just one block from the strip!
Friday, October 9th
We had an early morning flight out of Regina (6.46am), stopover in Denver (taking fingerprints and pics at customs was hardly any extra work) and after the second flight (both less than 2 hrs) we arrived in Las Vegas at 12.20pm local time. The flights were smooth, we loved the fast metro trains on both American airports and the US customs officer was the best (he even said bye in Dutch when we were done ). What also stood out were the slots at the Vegas airport… you could start your gambling trip right there!
We went to the Super 8 with their airport shuttle and got a nice, clean and cool room on the 2nd floor (2105). We chilled for a few hours and around 4 we decided to go have a look on the strip and see if we could find the Roths at their pool cabana. In the 7-eleven 2 doors down we grabbed a sandwich and saw our first Elvis! For a few bucks we could take some pics and as he had me kiss his cheek he turned his head and kissed me full on the lips, yikes!!!! Oh well… guess I was in Vegas!!!
At the Flamingo we found the friends leaving the pool and after some time in their rooms, we left for some first impressions on the strip and a buffet at Harrah’s, yum! We wanted to walk back to the hotel after that, but we walked an extra block past Paris and Planet Hollywood…. WOW! So cool to see all the lights, the people, the palm trees and all of that in about 22°C at night, heavenly!
Saturday, October 10th
Tim and Cortney’s wedding day!!! Like many others (I heard around 1500 couples, but can’t find it online) they decided to get married in Vegas on 10-10-10. Quite a few people tagged along (around 35) and they had bridesmaids, groomsmen, the whole shebang (even Lucca was wearing a little tux LOL)! After a quick breakfast at the hotel with 7-eleven sandwiches while getting ready, we went to the Viva Las Vegas wedding chapel (the same one where Elvis married his Priscilla) with Cortney, the bridesmaids and some more guests in the party-bus. Cortney looked so beautiful that I cried!! I had bought a dress for the occasion and got a lot of compliments too The ceremony in the Garden chapel was short but sweet, everybody looked gorgeous and I will never forget how they looked at each other! Yes… I cried again, ok?
As the wedding party went elsewhere for a photo shoot, the rest of us took a cab back to the Flamingo and then we gladly joined Grant who had to drive to the Luxor (the Egyptian themed hotel in the big pyramid). While he took care of his reservation, we walked around and had an ice cream. Around 5.30 we got to Smith & Wollensky (near the Hard Rock cafe) for the wedding dinner. Classy food, great time, great (touching) speeches. Afterwards we hung out with part of the group at the Flamingo. What a beautiful wedding day that was! I wish Tim and Cort many happy and healthy years together with Geneva and Luke!
the wedding party
Monday, October 11th
We didn’t want to join the Roths to Circus Circus on the north strip today, as we had tickets to the Lion King on the very south end of the strip that night. So for us it was time to explore the south strip that day, mind you we didn’t have a rental car, so we did it all on foot (and a few parts by monorail) that day.
We bought some Hard Rock cafe shirts and in MGM we first went to the lunch buffet as we hadn’t eaten yet. You may pay around 25 bucks for these good buffets, but there is so much gooooood stuff there! Highlight on this one was the smoked salmon for me. Since we had salmon and cream cheese sandwiches at Sophia and Murray’s house on our recent BC trip, I’ve had cravings for it! Also in the MGM was one of the highlights of the trip… the Lion Habitat. Every day they bring in 2 lions from a ranch out of town with trained lions (so they don’t live there) and there’s only a glass wall seperating you from the animals and their trainers in the habitat. It was amazing to see them like a foot away from you!!
We continued our trip over one of the many pedestrian bridges to the other side of the Boulevard, through New York New York and Excalibur. There we hopped on the free monorail to Mandalay Bay. We first picked up our Lion King tickets and got some merchandise, then walked about 20 mins (in the same hotel…) to the Shark Reef. We enjoyed the beautiful aquarium with sharks, rays, sawfish and much more. After we walked all the way back to the main lobby, we had a beer in a lounge where we could put our feet up for a bit (man, all the walking you do on the strip!). We were still full from the buffet, so we didn’t care for food yet! At 6.30 we went to the theatre for the Lion King show. Unfortunately photo’s weren’t allowed, but the show was great! We had the cheapest seats all the way in the back ($71) but the venue isn’t so big, so we could see it all very well (and we also brought binoculars). The show was very colourful, the sound was great as well as the performance of the cast. Loved it! After the show we took the monorail back to Excalibur, got a burger in a food court and stumbled back to our hotel.
Tuesday, October 12th
The last full day, so we wanted to check out the Premium Outlet Mall and later on part of the central strip like the Mirage, Treasure Island and the Venetian. We asked the hotel for a cab and they phoned this driver, Starr. What a wonderful woman! This was not a cab ride, this was the Starr Experience This lively and entertaining woman told us lots about Vegas on the way to the mall, she also does mini tours and such. In the mall we bought shoes (a.o. my boots in black at the Ecco store!!) and a watch for Nico and new bands for mine at the Fossil store, but didn’t have enough time to look for clothes much (it was already 4.30pm). Starr picked us up again and for Nico’s oncoming birthday she showed us around in the downtown part with the Golden Nugget, drive through wedding chapels and the famous Fremont Street
We chilled in the hotel for a bit, tried to get in touch with the Roths (we heard later on that Tim’s phone had been swimming ), then hunger drove us back to the strip again. We started at the Bellagio to watch the fountain show, then through the gardens of Caesars Palace to end up at the buffet in the Mirage (unfortunately we were too late for the Secret Garden with Roy and Siegfried’s tigers and Dolphin Habitat in the Mirage ) The buffet was terrific though! We got out just in time to see the hourly ‘eruption’ of the volcano in front of the hotel. After that we tried to catch a glimpse of the Sirens of TI show at Treasure Island. It was so busy we hardly saw a thing and what I did see (pretty women in lingerie dancing on a ship) was pretty retarded as it didn’t have a thing to do with pirates or sirens… but oh well that’s Vegas. After 10 minutes we crossed the street to get to the Venetian. I was very curious to see the Grand Canal with the blue skies and (fake) daylight! That did look great, although after a while I couldn’t wait to get outside again – too fake after all? Or maybe we were just getting tired. Our feet were hurting and we stumbled back to the Flamingo. We didn’t have the energy anymore to try and catch a ride up in the Eiffel tower at the Paris hotel, so we decided to sit at the $2 draft bar outside the Flamingo to watch people and take in the atmosphere of the strip for the last time!
Wednesday, October 13th
After sleeping in and packing, we took the 11.30am shuttle back to the airport, so we’d have plenty of time to get something to eat. After checking in (which was chaotic as we apparently still had to check in on kiosks in the airport despite online check in) we sat down in a food court for a while. Our flights back were again smooth and in Denver we didn’t even have to leave the pier we were on. We arrived in Regina around 9.30 where our neighbour Alison picked us up. Time to sober up from good times, warm vacation weather (around 30°C during the day) and palm trees! 4 days were too short of course… hopefully we manage to go back one day!
We’ve been so busy since we got back from BC, that I couldn’t keep up with the updates!
PR Card
We both have our Permanent Resident Cards now (I got it in August, Nico had to send in new pics and got it in October)! We need this card to get back into the country after travelling abroad and it’s of course a lovely document showing that we really belong here now
Vegas baby!!
For Tim and Cortney’s wedding on 10/10/10 we went to Las Vegas for 4 days. We had a blast checking out the strip and its colourful hotels and attractions, enjoyed the warm vacation weather and the wedding was just beautiful! I just put the photos online, but still have to write down our adventures and upload movies to YouTube. So stay tuned for a separate Vegas post very soon!!
Visit to Fred and Jackie in Glenbain and WELCOME TO PENNY AND SHELDON!!!!!!!!!
We spent a great weekend with our friends Fred and Jackie on their farm in Glenbain near Gravelbourg. We enjoyed their company, the peace and quiet, their house and yard, their animals and they took such good care of us!! And to top it all off…. we adopted two of their kittens!!!!! We named them Penny and Sheldon, after two characters of the hilarious TV sitcom ‘The Big Bang Theory’ that we love so much!
Other than that life is good, although the winter has just arrived… it’s been snowing all day with very strong winds!
Finally, the photos are online! You’ll find 5 albums in the following category: Eindelijk, de foto’s zijn online! Er zijn 5 albums in de volgende categorie:
A sad day in TV history. I just watched the final episode of As The World Turns after being on the air for 54 years! Impossible to understand how crappy soaps like the Bold can exist and this one can’t. It had been my favourite TV show for 20 yrs (5 days/week) and I will miss it a lot
Een verdrietige dag in de TV geschiedenis. Ik heb net de laatste aflevering gekeken van As The World Turns na 54 jaar op de buis te zijn geweest! Onmogelijk te begrijpen hoe slechte soaps als de Bold kunnen bestaan en deze niet. Het is 20 jaar mijn favoriete TV programma geweest (5 dagen per week) en ik zal het erg missen
We are Nico and Marlies Wobben and in February 2008 we moved from the Netherlands to Regina, Saskatchewan, Canada! Nico is an RN at the General Hospital and I (Marlies) work from home, as an administrator at Canada Life and for my own web design business Feel The Fire. And we have 6 cats!
Wij zijn Nico en Marlies Wobben en in februari 2008 zijn we verhuisd van Nederland naar Regina, Saskatchewan, Canada! Nico is verpleegkundige in het General Hospital en ik (Marlies) werk thuis als administrator bij Canada Life en voor mijn eigen web design bedrijf Feel The Fire. En we hebben 6 katten!
Despite snow earlier in the week, the roads were clear and we got to Saskatoon safe and sound around 2pm. We first checked out the Broadway Ave on the east side of the river, known for its alternative little shops and atmosphere. After a late lunch at the Broadway Cafe we drove to the Park Town Hotel to check in. We had booked a king executive room with river view, since they were only 10 bucks more than the regular ones (we payed a very decent $139 a night, CAA rates). Wow that was the best decision! The view is stunning, whereas the so called “city view” of the rooms on the other side of the hallway turned out to be a view on the high-rises surrounding the hotel on that side!! The rest of the room was also very nice, a comfy king size bed, nice and clean bathroom, big tv, desk with river view 
and a comfy chair.
And they even started on time, at 8 the support act Carmen Townsend came on stage. Great pipes, but weird vocal lines – I guess miss Townsend is an acquired taste we didn’t acquire just yet. Then at 9pm it was time for my beloved HEART!!! It was amazing to hear and see them again, really see them this time (I also brought binoculars). The whole show (110 mins!!) was phenomenal and I couldn’t believe my hero of 35 years (my only hero in life besides my dad!) was right there in front of me, singing as incredible as always, if not better – and looking great too! It was an emotional gig for me and when she sang Alone (not even my favourite song, but Ann of course excels here) I had to really cry. Just. WOW. No “Love Alive” or “Mistral Wind” for me (you can’t have it all when they recorded so much since 1976), but I did love the setlist:
Cook with Fire
Alone
After a fabulous breakfast at the Four Seasons restaurant of the hotel, it was time to check out downtown. We walked south along the river trails in Kiwanis Memorial Park until we got to the Meewasin Valley Centre past the Broadway bridge. Very nice displays and a lot of info on Saskatoon’s history. We then went to the shops in the downtown streets as well as the Midtown Mall. We saw a few exhibitors from the Taboo Show (which was also at the TCU Place) walk around and ended up talking to one guy. Very nice and he gave us free tickets ($15 value each!). But we didn’t really plan to go and the next morning I gave them to hotel staff in case they’d get someone at their desk who’s interested in going.
After some shopping (got sandals on sale at the Ecco store, yay!) we ended up at The Real Greek for supper. This was exactly the type of restaurant I’ve been missing here in Canada! A real Greek restaurant with the blue and white picturesque, cosy decor! We do have a Greek restaurant in Regina with good food, but they are snobs IMHO, trying to be high-end and the decor too… no atmosphere (big rooms, not cosy, salmon pillars kind of decor), so we don’t like going there. This one was not cheap either, but we loved it!
After the big Sunday Brunch at the hotel restaurant, we checked out tourist info to see where we could hike today. We ended up just crossing the University bridge and going north on that side for a bit. Along the way we decided to continue to the next bridge, the CPR Railway bridge, and to cross there again and come back on the west side, on Spadina. It was -20°C, but in the sun and without the wind, not even my cheeks got frozen! I can’t believe we walked 4.5 kms in that cold, it was great!
) The buffet was terrific though! We got out just in time to see the hourly ‘eruption’ of the volcano in front of the hotel. After that we tried to catch a glimpse of the Sirens of TI show at Treasure Island. It was so busy we hardly saw a thing and what I did see (pretty women in lingerie dancing on a ship) was pretty retarded as it didn’t have a thing to do with pirates or sirens… but oh well that’s Vegas. After 10 minutes we crossed the street to get to the Venetian. I was very curious to see the Grand Canal with the blue skies and (fake) daylight! That did look great, although after a while I couldn’t wait to get outside again – too fake after all? Or maybe we were just getting tired. Our feet were hurting and we stumbled back to the Flamingo. We didn’t have the energy anymore to try and catch a ride up in the Eiffel tower at the Paris hotel, so we decided to sit at the $2 draft bar outside the Flamingo to watch people and take in the atmosphere of the strip for the last time!
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