The TRAVEL Files - The Journal

With guest appearance of Maria Wiberg in yellow.

It all started when an Air France jet landed at Kennedy Airport on Weds June 21st, 2000. I had arrived about thirty minutes before my friend, Maria's, plane was due to land. She was arriving from her home in Sweden. It took time for the plane to land and then for her to go through customs. I was watching all the passengers passing through the arrival area. I finally spotted Maria and her gray monster (aka her suitcase) trudging out of the doors. After we hugged we loaded her stuff into my car and drove back to my home. We hung out for two days, Maria was helping me with my puter, it was giving me problems. Computer geek to the rescue! What's a poor geek to do when she couldn't see CP clearly? FIX FIX FIX!!!

On Fri we left my house and went to New Jersey to pick up our travel buddy, Laura. We rented a car, a Nissan Altima, and packed the trunk, which was like packing a sardine can. After some maneuvering we stuffed everything inside and took off. We decided not to make the long trip in one day and stayed over in the Finger Lakes area of upstate NY. Well, I for one was mighty surprised we actually DID get everything inside that trunk, hehe

The Finger Lakes are an area in the middle of NY State famous for their wineries and we saw plenty of them on the drive to our Bed and Breakfast in Watkins Glen. Idlwilde is a B & B built in 1892, the house was restored to it's original splendor by the current owners. The house has fourteen rooms in it, a bright and airy dining room and a beautiful wrap around porch. Our room was on the third floor, it was a bit of a hike dragging our luggage up three flights of stairs, but we made it!

After we settled in, we went out to get dinner, eating in a restaurant by the water. We sat outside and enjoyed the view, which was beautiful, you could see the lake winding through the mountains.

Our meal was rudely interrupted by a train passing by. We had to cover our ears against the noise of the squealing wheels, all the customers had stopped eating while the train passed. Our waitress wisely hid until the train passed and came back to take our orders. She told us that it was unusual for the train to come through at this hour.

The food was very good. And we ate and ate, until at least I could hardly move.Afterwards we went back to our B & B and talked about our plans for the next day and CP and FU (what else can you expect from three CP\Fu fans).

Maria also unpacked our fourth traveling companion, she had brought Master. A vampire doll I had given her one Halloween. He watched over us at night, while we slept. The adventures that happened to us because of my Master can be found in The Humor File.

The next day we decided to visit the wineries, we had selected to visit Swedish Hill. Since Maria is from Sweden this winery attracted our attention. We drove up to Seneca Lake. Our destination was Seneca Falls, we had to pass through that to get to Cayuga lake which is where Swedish Hill was located. We thought we'd stop and see the falls. We stopped at a visitors center in Seneca Falls and asked a worker about the falls. Our mouths dropped open when we found out there were no falls in Seneca Falls. We were a hundred years too late. The falls had been drained for some canals. We were told that we could have seen some falls in Watkins Glen, the town were staying in!

We continued on our way to Cayuga lake. Maria was driving, we were following the signs to Swedish Hill. One sign said '500 feet ahead' we were all laughing when Maria was counting 500 feet. Maria is not used to American measurement, in her country everything is in metrics. What a poor alien won't do to make these girls laugh, eh?

The views from that area are breath taking. It is very hilly and you can see the lake from practically every road you are on. And on some of them you need really good breaks, or you gonna end up in the drink.

We went into the winery, they had a tasting room, so we picked some wines we wanted to taste. There was a basket of crackers, to get the taste of each wine out of your mouth and a bucket to spit the wine into. And spit I did, maan I almost filled it by the time we were finished. First time EVER that I've spit out prefectly good wine, whine!

We each ended up buying a bottle of wine and I bought a T-shirt. Maria and I took a picture by the Swedish Hill sign outside. We went to another winery down the road, Knapp Winery, we decided to eat lunch in the restaurant on the grounds. I had crab cakes and Maria and Laura had a pasta dish.

On our way back to Watkins Glen we decided to stop in Ithaca. We stopped at the college there, it turns out that David Boreanaz attended the school. He is the star of the TV show, Angel. The campus is very nice, Maria and I took a few pictures by the fountain. After the college we stopped in Ithaca commons, an area with many places to shop and eat. And now I can HONESTLY say I've been to College, hehe.

It had been a long day and we headed back to the B & B. By the time we got back it was time for dinner. We decided to eat in a local Italian restaurant. The place was small and we had to wait to eat. The food was very good, afterwards we took a walk around town and found the falls. They were in a state park by the side of the road. It looked like a gorge cut into the side of the mountain. If not for the fact that they had a red light on the bridge over the stream, we would never have known they were there, it was that narrow.There was a little stream leading up to a small fall. Water cascaded beneath a stone bridge. It was growing dark and we took as many pics as we could before heading back to the car and Idlwilde. We decided to check out a place we saw on a sign. It said Castel Grinsch. Laura thought it had something to do with castles, (and we all found out that Laura loves castles) imagine our surprise when we found out it was a German bar. I did keep telling them there's a difference between CASTEL and CASTLE, hehe.

We packed the car and headed North for the Canadian border, we crossed two bridges that connected Grand Island to the mainland. We could see Lake Ontario, it was beautiful, the water was so blue. After having driven several hours we finally made it across the border. We waited in line until it was our turn. The customs agent had a pad and pen out and asked us for our citizenship's, but Laura thought he said 'Soda and chips?'. We were laughing so hard the customs agent must have thought we were nuts. We pulled into the customs office so Maria could have her passport stamped. Laura and I went to get our money exchanged for Canadian dollars.

Another piece of comic relief was when we went to use the ladies room and Maria sneezed and her sunglasses fell off her face. Fell off my HEAD, I'm not Kermit you know, don't have them ON inside, hehe.

We left the customs office and headed for Stratford, which has a population of 28000. Good thing I was driving, the METRIC signs were confusing the ladies, hehe. I blew right through the trafficjam in Shakespeare, the 1 stoplight caused chaos in the opposite direction.

We arrived towards evening and we settled in at our B & B, the Bedy Bye. It was a Queen Anne style house. We were, once again, on the third floor, I don't know why they like to stick us on the top floor. LOL, I was there, that's why. Wherever I go, whatever hotel I'm in, I always get the room the farthest away from entrances or elevators, never fails.

We were hungry and Laura looked at the restaurant guide and found an Italian restaurant and bar called Pazzo, which I found out later means crazy (?) We each ordered pizza, we got a list of toppings to choose from. They had music playing on a jukebox, it added to the dining experience.

We decided to visit London, London Ontario that is! London is a nice size city with a population of 330,000. We decided to take a double decker bus tour. We were looking forward to this tour and boarded the bus at city hall. It was unfortunate that the tour guide either was bored or was inexperienced, it was the first tour of the season. It was very boring and not very informative. We didn't learn very much except we did find out why they call London the Forest city, it is surrounded by forests. I can say it was NOT a magical mystery tour and was not worth it. I think that it would be better to tour the city on your own. Wholehearthedly agree!!!

After the tour we drove around the city, we went to two places that was significant to Chris Potter. One was the Grand Theater, where he played in Biloxi Blues and it was where he was discovered. The Grand Theater had no performances going on during the summer so it would not compete with the Stratford festival.

We also took pics of the London Life building, where Chris worked with his father.

We decided to eat dinner and went to the Manchurian Gardens in London, it was a Chinese all you could eat buffet. I tried fried bananas, I never had them before, they were very good. Best onion rings I've ever had!

We stopped in a galleria, I was a bit surprised to learn it closed at 6pm on a Mon. There was one store that stayed open until 9pm, I was looking for a place to buy some T-shirts and Laura spotted this store. We also visited a mall just on the edge of town. Then we headed back to Stratford. It started to pour all the way back, the area was open farmland and all I could think about was tornadoes as I watched the dark clouds gather. I don't think they get tornadoes in this area of Canada. We arrived safe and sound at our B & B. Thank you, Laura, excellent driving!

Maria and I tried to get online using her laptop but unfortunately we were unable to due to the phone line at the B&B, so we found the local public library, which made me feel right at home since my access was by using my local library back home. Stressed the hell outta me, I still don't understand how you did it all those years at the libraray. I'm a spoiled geeky brat, I know, hehe.

After we left the library we took a walk around town and did some shopping, we had lunch at a French fry place called Boomers. Susan, the housekeeper at the B&B was part owner, along with her sister and future brother-in-law, she recommended we try it. Laura and I had a big cup of fries and garlic mayo. Maria had fish and chips. Susan was the most friendly person and was very helpful to us. She also worked at the local theater as an usher.

We continued our shopping adventure, and saw T-shirts, mugs and visited so many quaint shops. We ate dinner at Boars Head, a pub at the Queens Inn, a hotel Maria and I had stayed at 2 years ago when we visited Stratford to see Kate Trotter in the Winter's Tale.

We each had burgers, they were very big and Laura and I were a bit surprised when Maria ate hers with a knife and fork. I've never eaten it that way. Oh, you messy Americans! I wasn't the one walking away with food all over my dress, haha.

After dinner we drove around for a while then decided to stop for ice cream. There was a coffee place that also sold ice cream. They roasted their own coffee and made their own ice cream. Oh the wonderful fragrance of freshly roasted coffee, yummmm!

Maria had something called moosetracks, it was chocolate ice cream with peanut brittle and caramel. I had a caramel ice cream and Laura had mint chocolate chip. Yes, I did stay away from the coffee.

There were places to sit out in back, but they were filled so we took a seat outside in front of the coffee shop, they had a table set up in front. We were enjoying our ice cream when we heard a horn tooting, we looked around and it turned out to be Susan, the housekeeper. She was with her boyfriend when she spotted us. She said hello to us. We were laughing, this was indeed a small town. SAID hello? LOL, she was waving and yelling all over the street.

We headed back to the hotel. Laura read some fan fic, Maria took the laptop out and was working on a Forever Knight story, and I was writing an entry to this journal. Good work, Linda!

Today we were going to see the first of three plays we had tickets for. Medea. The show started in the evening, so we had all day to relax and enjoy the town.

We took a tour of the warehouse, where they store all the costumes and props used in the plays. The place is huge. At one point, during the tour, we were allowed to try on costumes that had been set aside for that purpose. Maria tried on a Royal Coat, it made her look like a Queen. Maria picked out a costume she thought I'd look good in. We were not allowed to touch the props or the costumes in the rest of the warehouse. It was a very fascinating tour. All the costumes are catalogued in a computer so they can always find costume needed for each play, no matter what time period the play is set in. We were able to take a closer look at the props, I took a pic of Maria in front of a coffin (one that vampire uses?)(Me, sleeping in a coffin? NEVER!) and she took a picture of me admiring my new friend. The props are not on the computer, but they can always find a chair or any prop they need or make one up.

After the warehouse tour Maria and I went to the library and Laura went on a shopping trip.

Then at 2pm we took a double decker bus tour of Stratford, this one was so different then the London tour. This was very informative and we learned a lot about Stratford. And in this bus we could actually BREATHE!

Stratford is well known for the theatres, but the three of us learned a little known fact about this town. We had picked up some pamphlets from the visitors center. One of them was about the history of Stratford. One day when Laura was driving, Maria took the pamphlet out and was reading it aloud. One piece of information that drew our attention was that during the thirties Stratford had a very serious strike that broke out between the furniture workers and chicken pluckers, it got so bad that the army had to be called in, they brought tanks to end that chicken pluckers strike very quickly! We were laughing so hard, we were crying. I'm still amazed that Laura managed to keep the car on the road during those laughattacks!

After the tour we stopped at a pizza place to have dinner and then went back to the B&B to get ready for the play.

MEDEA This was a very intense and powerful play. It was a Greek Tragedy written by Euripedes. It tells about a woman who is so jealous over her lover’s betrayal of their love that she kills their two sons.

Medea is played brilliantly by Seana McKenna and Jason is played by Scott Wentworth, aka Kermit Griffin. Kate Trotter, aka Captain Simms, played the second woman of Corinth.

Scott was so intense, I was so moved from his performance. Laura said she hated his character before he even appeared on stage. He and Seana played wonderfully together. After the final act all I could say was wow. Maria, Laura and I went to the back stage door and waited for the actors to come out. Kate and her daughter came out and graciously signed autographs and posed for pictures. I got a picture of Scott and Seana.

All the actors were fantastic. This is one evening I will never forget. AMEN!