When I decided that I was going on vacation, I didn't quite know what I was getting into. My friends and I discussed what we were going to do and it slowly evolved into what we called "The Bad Girls Tour." The group consisted of myself, Maria, her friend Britt-Marie, Amy, Chris, Bevie, Barb and Gini.

My day started early, I woke up at 4:30AM to finish packing for my trip to Canada. I had to take an express bus into the Manhattan, which would have been alot easier if I hadn't been lugging around two pieces of luggage that weighed a ton.

When we went over the Verrazano Bridge it was my first real look at the city skyline. It was a very sobering experience to see that big empty space where the Twin Towers had once stood. We went through Brooklyn to the Battery tunnel. We traveled up 6th Ave and I got a very close up look at ground zero. I felt a myriad of feelings, sad, amazed and hopeful.

I finally arrived at Penn Station and went to the Amtrak waiting area to wait for them to tell me when my train was boarding. I lugged my luggage down an escalator and onto the train. I managed to find an area on the floor to put my two pieces, it would have been hard to get it up onto the luggage racks, which were above the seats. I took the first available seat, next to a nice lady. Unfortunately the seat was facing backwards and I ended up traveling that way.

The train pulled out on time and we were on our way Northward to Canada. I was very excited. The train ride was going to be 12 hours long and I had to find ways to amuse myself. The lady I was sitting next to was very nice, she was from Tucson Arizona and informed me she was visiting relatives and friends in New York City. She was going home and found out the fare was cheaper flying out of Canada. So she took Amtrak up to Toronto and then was staying over night in a hostel and then going to take a flight out the next day.

The scenery outside was beautiful, we passed a lot of farms and lakes. The train made some stops along the way, Albany was one of the major cities we stopped for several minutes to restock the train with food. The train had a café car where you could go to buy snacks, hot dogs, danish and coffee and soda. There was also an area where you could sit down to eat. I visited that area a few times. It felt weird when you walked from one train car to another cause of the movement. Also you had to press a button to open the doors and gain access to another car.

The train car we were on was kept very cold, so I ended up having to go into my luggage and get out a pair of denim pants and my jacket and change.

Just before we got to the border we were give declaration papers to fill out, basically they asked your name and address and how long you were staying in Canada and if you had anything to declare like food or liquor.

Then we were told to take out our passports. I don't have one and was told that I didn't need one to go across the border. All I needed was my birth certificate. The American guards came on first and when I showed them my certificate I was asked where I was born and I gave them the info. Then a drug sniffing dog came on and checked us all out. Then we passed across the border and the Canadian guards came on and did the same things. One asked me how long I was staying in Canada and if I knew anyone there. Which I have quite a number of friends over there. Then after what felt like forever we were allowed to pass. Three hours later we arrived in Toronto at Union Square Station, I was so happy to finally be getting off that train. I had arranged to have Maria and Britt-Marie meet me at the station. They had arrived the day before and were staying in the Sheraton hotel by the airport. They picked up their rental car just before they came to pick me up at the station.

I have traveled with Maria two times before, but had never met Britt-Marie before but we had spoken a few times on the phone and I had seen her picture. We had arranged that if they could find a parking place by the station they would come in and meet me, otherwise I was to stand outside on Front Street in front of the station. I was so tired and now that I was off the freezer train, I started to feel the heat. As I stood there waiting there was a line-up of taxi cabs and all the drivers zeroed in on me, maybe it was the two pieces of luggage I was hauling. They all ask me if I wanted a ride, of course I told them I was waiting for friends to pick me up. I didn't know what car they were driving, so I started to walk around a little, but didn't want to move too far from the area. I figured they would find me eventually. It wasn't too long before I spotted Britt-Marie in the crowd. We recognized each other right away and we hugged. She told me Maria was waiting for u s in the car and she showed me where she was parked. She helped me with my luggage and told me to get in the front seat so I could get reacquainted with Maria. The car was a Ford Taurus, a very nice car. Had an interesting feature on the rear-view mirror. A compass that showed you which direction you were traveling in.

It was so exciting to be with my friends and Maria took me on a drive up Spadina to see Chinatown. We drove right past Caine's kwoon.

It was late and we decided to find a place to eat. We ended up by the harbor, we had to find a place to park the car. We walked to an area where there were restaurants. We had a choice to eat in or outside. We chose to eat outside, we had to wait a while to be waited on. It seemed that the area we were eating in was closed. But the waiter was nice and he accommodated us. While we were sitting there it started to thunder and lightening we had to run inside when the sky opened up. There was these huge doors to the restaurant that looked like garage doors and they closed them to ward off the rain. I felt bad for the waiter because he had to go back out in the downpour and collect some plates from the tables. He caught Maria's eye when he came back inside, his shirt was soaked and sticking to his body. He was very good looking, but we think he was gay.

We finished eating and had dessert and coffee and waited until the rain let up. Unfortunately it started pouring again just as we were making our way back to the parking lot. We tried to duck under every overhanging that we could find. By the time we got back to the car we were drenched. We were laughing, it was all part of the vacation experience.

We drove out of the parking lot and towards the hotel. One thing about driving in Toronto, the road signs can be very confusing. We could see our hotel but finding the right turn off was another thing. After a few turns here and there we managed to find the parking lot.

We each changed out of our wet clothes and then spent the rest of the evening looking at pictures Maria had taken on her digital camera. Maria had her laptop with her and had downloaded the pictures to it.

After a while we decided to turn in.

Today we went to breakfast at a restaurant in the hotel, there was some kind of a mix-up. B-M had been told there would be a breakfast buffet until 11AM instead it ended at 9:30AM. She proceeded to the front desk and came back with a voucher. I had not exchanged my currency yet and when I paid for my breakfast with an American bill the waitress gave me a dirty look. She had to take it, but it meant having to figure out the exchange rate. After Breakfast we went back to the room to check out, we would be heading for Stratford.

We had to make one stop before we left, at the local Ikea store. Maria and Britt-Marie wanted to see if it was different from the one back home. I took some pictures of the two Swedes by the Ikea sign in Toronto.

Then we made our way to Stratford. The weather wasn't being very nice, on our way there the sky opened up. It seemed that whenever we were traveling it would pour.

By the time we got to Stratford the weather cleared up. We decided to stop for dinner. We parked the car and walked around for a while. We saw this really nice looking gate, it almost seemed to be a welcoming symbol, I took out my camera and took some pictures of my friends. We started walking up the street and looked over some restaurants until we settled on a Chinese/Canadian place called "Genes". I had a breaded chicken dish, Maria had Thai noodles and B-M had shrimp. The food was quite good.

After dinner we drove around and then headed for our accommodations.

I was staying with Amy, Chris and Bevie at a bed and breakfast called the Queen and Albert, the reason it was called that was the place was situation on the corner of Queen Street and Albert Street.

Maria and B-M were staying at an inn called "Bentleys", it also had a bar and grill.

They dropped me off, each room had a name. Bevie and I were in the London room and Amy and Chris were in the Paris room. Amy and Bevie had gone out for dinner and Chris had not arrived from England yet. Her flight was delayed due to a bad thunderstorm that hit, the flight was directed to Montreal instead. She finally arrived about 11PM. We hugged and chatted a while before turning in.

We started our day with breakfast, which started at 9AM. Our innkeeper, Andrew, who was a nice gentleman and a great cook. He had to accommodate our dietary requirements. I don't like eggs, Chris is a vegetarian and Amy can't have dairy. Andrew did a great job coming up with original ideas.

After breakfast we went into town to go shopping. Stratford has some nice, quaint shops and the people are so nice. We went into a toy store, Amy was looking around for something for her son, Gabe. I found a nice mood ring, I had bought one two years previously in another shop but it never worked very well. This one worked very well. One of the girls who worked in the shop asked us if we wanted to appear on their website. We agreed and she showed us a chest filled with costumes and asked that we pick out something and put it on. I picked out a princess outfit and she took our picture on a digital camera and we are now immortalized online.

We had arranged to meet Maria, Barb and Gini at the grill in the inn Maria and B-M were staying in.

We sat in the restaurant and waited for them to show up, I was the only one in our group who knew what they looked like. Barb and Gini came in and then Maria showed up a few minutes later . We had a great time laughing and getting to know each other over lunch. After lunch we went shopping again. There were several shops we wanted to check out.

We took a group shot of us in front of the memorial park.

In the evening we were scheduled to see "Romeo and Juliet". Before the play Maria, myself, Gini and Barb went to a restaurant Barb recommended called the Swiss Chalet for dinner. It was a chicken and ribs place. We were informed they didn't have rotisserie chicken, they had run out and we'd have to wait a while for it. At first we decided to wait for it, then we were offered grilled chicken instead. So we had that.

We got ready for the play. Scott Wentworth was playing Capulet and Wayne Best (Shaolin Christmas) was playing Mercutio. Romeo was played by a very good actor, Graham Abbey. I had seen him two years ago in "Three Musketeers."

One thing that struck me with the production of this play was the tight, tights the men wore. That just added to the light-heartedness of this production. The acting was fantastic.

After the play we went to the stage door to wait for the actors to come out. Scott didn't exit the theatre from there and we were disappointed, but we did find out, from a security guard who was wondering why we were hanging around the parking lot after everyone else had left, we should have left word we were there. We would make sure we would not make that mistake at the next play.

Graham Abbey did come out and was so nice, he signed autographs and we took pictures with him. He asked us where we were all from. He seemed so pleased we came to see him. He got on a bike and rode home.

We went back to our B&B and talked for a while and then crashed.