with guest appearance by Maria Wiberg in yellow.

Sunday  May 16th

The day started out very early, I had to get up at 4AM to get ready to leave for Penn Station in Manhattan by 5:30AM I was catching an Amtrak Train bound for Toronto Canada to start the Bad Girls 2004 tour. It never ceases to amaze me how NYC can feel so awesome. Penn Station is not far from the Empire State building, so I looked up like the tourists do. I arrived at the station and lugged my luggage inside and found the Amtrak waiting area. I waited with other bleary-eyed travelers for my train to be called for boarding. I got inside the train and one of the passengers helped me get my stuff in the overhead rack. Then I took a seat; there is no assigned seating on the train you can sit wherever you want. The train was not crowded and as we pulled out of Penn and took our journey northward, I noticed that there was more scenery on the left side of the train so I decided to switch seats. I loved looking at the lakes and farmland we were passing. Aside from watching the view from the window, I spent the 12-hour ride reading Susan Gable's book, "Whose Child." It was a good way to pass the time. I went to the cafe car to get something to eat and spoke to the worker for a while. I got to know a little about where he was from and about his work. Then I tried to doze off for a while. I am one of those people who have a hard time falling asleep in a moving vehicle. The time passed by pretty quickly. We made a stop in Albany, NY. We were able to get out to stretch our legs. As we got closer to the border the conductor passed out declaration forms you are required to fill out when crossing the border with Canada. One of the things you are not allowed to take with you is fruit or meats. One of the passengers had a bag of pears with them SO they were trying to get rid of them by giving them to other passengers. I was asked if I wanted some pears and I politely refused, aside from not being hungry I didn't want to get caught with fruit at the border (ha ha). You should have seen me force down my last banana as we landed in Detroit. I was definitely not hungry at the time, but I couldn't keep it for later either.

We got to the border at Niagara Falls earlier then scheduled so after customs came on we were allowed to get out of the train and stretch our legs again. It was great to finally be on Canadian soil. I went into the train station, I was hoping to find a currency exchange booth there but there was none to be found. After about 15 mins we went back on the train and were on our way to Toronto. We arrived at Union Station about 7:45pm. Originally Maria was supposed to meet me at the train station, but her direct flight from Sweden (via Amsterdam) got cancelled, so her new flight plan would take her through Minneapolis and she would arrive at 11PM that night. I was going to meet her at the airport. When I got off the train I was asked if I wanted a porter to help me with my luggage. One of the guys was nice enough not only to help me out of the train station and onto Front Street (which is in front of the station) but to escort me across the street and around the corner in front of the Royal York Hotel where I was going to take an express bus to the airport. The ride took about half an hour. I was talking to one of the airport bus ticket agents; she was just getting off duty when I bought the ticket for the bus. She was brought up in Toronto and told me how much the city has grown over the years. Too much building in my opinion. I arrived at the airport, terminal 2. Maria was due in on an Air Canada flight and I double checked if terminal 2 was where I needed to be. I got inside and checked with a worker to see where I had to wait. It was all the way at the end of the building. I kept checking the tote board to see when her flight was due in. It ended up coming in about 15 mins earlier. When I saw it had landed I waited, and waited. I knew Maria had to get her luggage and go through customs, but the minutes ticked away. I had to watch some annoying kids acting like the airport was a playground and the parents didn't try to stop them. Eventually security asked them not to let the kids run up the entrance ramp where the passengers come out.

It seemed like everyone was coming out EXCEPT Maria. I wasn't there, I was in Detroit waiting for my flight to Toronto. I had security check to make sure no one else was back there. The terminal was getting emptier by the minute, the only other person there besides me was a woman who was waiting for a friend to come in from Tampa, her flight was delayed 7 hours. I was wondering if Maria had missed her flight. Nope didn't miss it, I got rerouted to Detroit when the flight from Amsterdam to Minneapolis got cancelled. I decided to call the Bed and Breakfast in Stratford where we were staying to see if she left a message. I called the B&B on my cell phone as soon as I had found my gate in Detroit and had some time to relax. The flight was supposed to land around the same time my original flight was arriving, but on another terminal, so I had to make sure Linda stayed put and didn't start to wander, or I'd never find her.  Maria's flight from Amsterdam had been cancelled and she had to go on standby. They had told her she could fly out the next day on business class, she told them she had to leave that day cause I was waiting in Toronto for her. Maria had some time in Amsterdam so she met up with Ilana and her sister and they hung out. Ilana and Arwen had some drool pictures with them. The hour I had until I had to go stand in line to see if I got on the plane went fast. Finally she got on a flight that took her to Detroit then on to Toronto. She got in at midnight and then went to get the rental car and then went on a mission to find out where I was. The people at the rental agency told me ALL Air Canada flights was at Terminal 1, so I went there first to look for Linda. I also had to change cars, because they didn't have the model I had booked at Terminal 3 where I landed. Finally after looking through terminal 2 she found me and we went back to the rental office (at Terminal 1) to put me on as a second driver. The guy at the rental place was so nice. He saw how ragged we looked so he invited us to the back of the office for some coffee (tea for me) we chatted for a while, we found out he used to work for the airlines then got into rental cars. We finally left and got to the Bed and Breakfast in Stratford at 5AM.(I swear I was on auto pilot the last part of the drive. I had been on my way for over 27 hours, and awake for 30  hours.) Our hosts knew we were going to be very late so they told us they would have breakfast for us a little later. Ironically a movie called the "Terminal" has been released recently and it makes me feel after what we went through we could make our OWN movie about the airport terminal. I can definitely identify when I see the TV show "Airport" and the troubles people run into when traveling across the globe.

Monday May 17th

Maria and I slept pretty well, we got up a little late. LATE? When falling asleep around 6 AM, 9.30 is still TOO EARLY! Went downstairs for breakfast; our hosts had held breakfast for us. As it turned out we were the only guests in the B and B, the place was very nice. They had a nice living room area, very comfy and there was a TV and VCR. Later in the week, we were able to watch and tape the “Law and Order SVU” episode that Chris Potter guest starred on. After we ate we went back to our room to get more shuteye. After another two hours sleeping I finally started to feel like my regular happy self again!

One thing I noticed about the room was a set of doors that I, at first, thought was a closet turned out to be a bathroom. I never saw a bathroom have doors like this. I made a grand entrance into the room. Maria took video of me making my entrance. Later that day we took a drive to the small neighboring town of Shakespeare. We were hoping to eat in a place called "The Ten Shillings” but they were closed. (They SHOULD have been open, all signs said so. Must have been a secret Canadian holiday or something.) We went looking for a phone card for Maria's cell phone, she thought she could get one through the Canadian phone company, Rogers, but when we went to both a video store that supplied them and to a Rogers store they both said that their cards would only work on their phones. So we were out of luck. So much for assuming things work as they do at home. In Sweden we can buy phone cards for cell phones just like you can do regular phones. No registration needed, just put the card in the phone and call. It's never easy!

We went to Zehr's supermarket and picked up something to eat and brought it back to our B and B and ate on the porch.

Tuesday May 18th

Maria went to see Guys and Dolls today, it was an afternoon performance. My first play of the season, I was so excited! We had time to walk around Stratford and have lunch in Tangos, which is a coffeehouse; I had the roasted tomato soup. It was very good I wish I could get more. I must have had my mind elsewhere, I can't for my life remember what I ate, LOL!

Maria got ready for the play, while she was seeing the play I went across the way to a place called the Discovery centre. Our B and B hosts told us they had the Internet in the building and it could be used for free. I e-mailed my friends and family.

I went back to the theatre and met up with Maria and the other BAD GIRLS and we all went to the stage entrance and waited to see Scott. We spotted Geordie Johnson, he played in two fu eps "Sunday at the Hotel and Sunday at the museum with George” he looked so good and was kind enough to sign autographs and take pics. Scott came out a little while later and the other Bad Girls gave him some gifts, he was very happy to receive them. I took some pics of him; he looked very good and relaxed. He spoke with us for a few mins then had to leave.

The group of us decided to have dinner at an Italian place called Fellini's. I took pictures of the Bad Girls. I had the waiter take a shot of the group wearing our ‘BAD GIRLS’ bracelets. Then Maria and I went back to our B and B.

Wednesday May 19th

Today we decided to do some exploring before Maria had to be back for the afternoon performance of "Monte Cristo." We went to St Mary's, it was a very quaint town. We ate in what used to be a post office, and they had a buffet, which was very popular. Maria and I decided to skip it and ordered some stuff off the menu. I had my second (or was it third?) Fish & Chips on this trip. After lunch we walked around town and found a thrift store. Maria bought herself a pair of nice shoes and I bought a nice blouse.

We discovered an interesting bridge and a waterfall. Dont' forget the Library! I took your picture in front of it, remember!

We drove back to Stratford and Maria went to see the play. I wandered around town and bought myself a mood ring in a store called "Family and Company." I had been in there two years ago and gotten myself a mood ring but that one broke on me and I decided to replace it. The Bad Girls also got somewhat famous in that place in 2002; they randomly pick customers out and ask if they'd like to be on their website. And we ended up getting our pics placed on their website in some costumes they provided us.

I continued to wander around town and took a lot of pictures. I spotted some interesting buildings like a Tai Chi center, the YMCA where Scott Wentworth works out, a sign that said Buffy and the Studio theatre which did not have any plays planned in May.

Two places reminded me of two of my friends. Carman's is a photo shop that reminded me of my friend Carmen and Allen's Alley reminds me of another friend. The Alley is a shortcut to other shops on another street. I was trying to remember where the library was, I knew I was in the vicinity. I can't believe that you, the infamous library brat, forgot where the library was! Even I remember that. I asked a police officer, he wasn't sure he was new to town (he should only know he was talking to a BAD GIRL :-D) he was polite, very nice, but wasn't much help. I did end up finding it and went online. After the play Maria and I decided to check out a Chinese Buffet restaurant that was right outside of the downtown area, they had good food. Don't forget that we found you a nice BIG Cannon to RIDE as we were walking downtown after the play ;o)

Thursday May 20th

Maria and I took a drive out to a town called Goderich; it is toted as being the prettiest town in Canada. The middle of the town is octagonal instead of being square, and in the middle is the courthouse. I would not say it's the prettiest town but it was nice. We ate in a place called “Van Dely’s” then we walked around town.

I spotted a bank that had interesting murals on the side and an old train station. We took a drive down to the water and saw Lake Huron, it is so pretty. Then we took a drive up the hill to see the lighthouse and we saw a huge Canadian flag flying in front of a house and I thought gee this would be a nice place for a bed and breakfast and lo and behold there was a sign on the house that said it was a B and B. LOL, don't forget the BIG Cannon!  (How can I forget the BIG GUN, we always seem to spot them for some mysterious reason ;) The view from up there is breathtaking and there are places to sit down and look out. Maria had a play that day, she went to see "Anything Goes,” Cynthia Dale was in that one and Maria said it was very good. Yes, I had a great time at the musical, lots of good music and humor, very entertaining. Also a nice contrast to see Cynthia Dale from "Guys and Dolls" in a very different part.

We ate dinner in the Elizabethan Restaurant. They served the best "Fish & Chips" I've had in Canada!

Friday May 21st

This morning we arranged to meet up with a friend, who lives on Lake Erie. We had the B&B chef make us a special early breakfast. Linda had ordered cereal, but I got the best ham and cheese toast I've ever had! We drove out to see her house and had lunch.  She had to go to work so she couldn't stay too long with us. The trip there took us a little longer than we had thought. But we did have time for a short walk around the small community to see the cemetery, beach and small business street.

Our friend told us to go to Port Stanley, we took a drive and I didn't think it was too impressive. As we were walking along we spotted a perfume store and the owner and his wife were sitting outside. We were deciding if we were going to go in, the owner said we'd 'kick ourselves' if we didn't go in. SO we went in. It was a nice store but we didn't end up buying anything. I did pick up a gift for my friend Britt-Marie in another store, a bracelet with yellow smiley-faces. Cutest thing I've ever seen.

We had a play that evening to go to, "Midsummer Night's Dream” The play was awesome, and the choreography was fantastic. It was like watching cirque de soleil in some ways, it was comical. One of the lead actors, Thom Marriott, was hysterical. He reminded me of John Lithgow in his appearance and acting. After the play we went to a pub called "Down the Street", many of the actors stop there after their performances for a drink. Sure enough the Bad Girls spotted Thom Marriott sitting at a table next to ours. Before we left we stopped by and told him we enjoyed his performance, he was very nice and appreciative. And it was in a smoke free environment! I love the new non smoking law in Canada!

Saturday May 22nd

Maria and I saw two plays, "Guys and Dolls" in the afternoon and "the Scottish Play" in the evening. "Guys" was fantastic. Scott Wentworth played Skye Masterson so brilliantly. I liked Cynthia Dale she has a fantastic voice and Scott sure knows how to sing. (too bad we couldn't have had Kermit singing too) It was one of those plays I could have seen a few times. This was my second time, and I still had a wonderful time. There's so much going on on stage. I saw a lot that I missed the first time when I had a seat at the opposite side of the stage.

Alicia and her friend Joan were in the theatre and we met up with them and went out to dinner. We ate at a restaurant called the Falstaff. While we ate it started to get nasty outside and a thunderstorm blew in. The lights kept flickering while we were there but never went out. As soon as we left the restaurant the sky opened up, Maria went to get the car and Alicia; Joan and I waited outside the restaurant. Went? I had not ran that fast in years. Anything to avoid getting hit by lightning, it was scary. As we stood there the power went out in the entire town. I ran into the car and Alicia and Joan went back to their hotel. Maria and I drove back to our B and B and I asked our hosts what we should do, we had tickets to see the evening play. They gave us an extra large umbrella and told us to get over there. Which meant another scary walk in between lightning strikes and heavy rain, scary.

The festival theatre has a backup generator and they told us to go to the theatre and see what they decided to do. We did get over there and took our seats. Dripping wet. My feet were wet up to my knees, LOL. The stage manager came out and as he was about to make an announcement the lights came back on. I'll never forget the image of him saying "As you can see...", gesturing towards the ceiling and the absent light, and the the light CAME BACK that very instant, as if by magic. The whole theatre applauded, I bet he never had received applause before. He told us they would try to put on the play, but if the power went out again they would try to finish wherever they left off and not do the second act. Luckily the power stayed on. But I thought it was ironic for this to happen during the "Scottish Play" since this play is notorious for being plagued with bad luck. One of my favorite actors, Graham Abbey, played Macbeth. I thought he did very well, and his shirt being opened during the play wasn't bad on the eyes either. After the play we were still wet and cold, so we didn't stay to meet him this time, we went directly back to our B&B.

Sunday May 23rd

We packed our things and reluctantly left Stratford for Toronto. We drove to Toronto, between Stratford and Toronto there is miles of farmland. We were on the 401; it takes you right into Toronto. Well, technically we turned off on the 427 south to get to the Gardiner Expressway and the Spadina exit.  We had time before the rental car had to be returned so we drove around town and ended up at the Toronto Film Studios where Wild Card is being made. There was a security guard and I got out to take a pic. He told me that I needed to get off the property cause I was not allowed to take pics on the property but could take a pic across the street. SO I did. I did ask him if he knew where Wild Card was filming but he didn't seem to know anything. Maria and I hoped we would be able to stumble across the location on our own.

We drove to the Canadiana, a hostel. I had never stayed in a hostel. It is less money then a Hotel and not many amenities. I slept in a bunk bed (the bottom bunk) and Maria had the other bed in the room. The weather was cool and in order to open the window you had to climb into the top bunk to open the window. As you can see Maria is holding up the ceiling. I was so proud that I could get up there at all! Last year (before I lost 30 kilos) it had been pretty darn impossible. I had been forced to sleep on the floor because of it.

After we checked in we drove the rental car back to the airport and dropped it off. I'm starting to learn how to get around this city by now. Didn't get lost once finding the hostel ot the studio. We took a bus back into town.

There is a lot of filming being done in Toronto and you never know when you will come across something being filmed. We were at a church and spotted what looked like a white blanket on the street and a truck filled with melting ice and a huge fan. They had finished filming a scene for a movie (I believe it might be "Assault on Precinct 13") We spoke to the guys who were in charge of the truck, they told us about the movie. They said it starred Laurence Fishburn and Samuel L. Jackson, they mentioned they work on a lot of film sets. I took a closer look at the 'snow' and discovered it was styrofoam pieces, when it's blown with the fan it looks like a snowstorm. Isn't movie magic wonderful? Will sure be interesting to see how real this snow will look in the movie. Look for it in American theaters in January 2005.

For dinner we went to a favorite restaurant of ours, "Marche” in the BCE Place building (it is where a few Fu eps were filmed. Including "Sing Wah” and "Quake."

Monday May 24th

We went to the Eaton Centre mall, it’s a very nice place. Lots of stores. There was this sculpture of birds I took and after I developed it I realized it looked like the birds were attacking the people (like out of a Hitchcock movie.)

Maria and I took a walk and came across a Stag Shop; we wandered inside and looked around. Down the block from that shop was a place called the "Condom Shack” I thought it was funny. We came across another area where there was filming being done. I asked someone who was in this film and they mentioned Eugene Levy (from American Pie pics) I believe this movie is called "The Man" and may be the one with Samuel L Jackson instead of the other movie. One of the crew came over and asked us if we were background. I told her we COULD be background if she wanted, but we were told to stand across the street. When the scene was being shot they were driving a car down the street. After the shot was done one of the crew came over and told us we were being reflected in the window glass so we were told to either go around the corner or leave the area. Well Maria and I became famous as background "Reflections in the Glass” it was fun for that moment anyway.

For dinner we went to a Chinese restaurant in Chinatown called the Happy Seven. We stopped by Caine's Kwoon. I got a Buddha (I get one every time I go to Toronto) and a T-shirt. I had spotted one that said "Canada Eh?" But it was not in my size. But I was determined to find one.

Tuesday May 25th

We went back to the church to see the filming of "Assault on Precinct 13." This time we saw a scene being filmed. There was a screen by the entranceway and two actors were running into the church with guns in their hands and you could hear gunshots. They kept shooting this scene a few times. We couldn't see anything else and decided to move on. As we walked along we spotted a truck with a trailer behind it; they were shooting a scene inside the trailer.

We saw a local station's studio and it had a truck on the outside of the building.

We saw some fu sites too, like the old and new City Halls and Caine's Kwoon.

We went down to see the distillery "Gooderham and Worts" that was used in a few Fu eps.

That evening we ate in a pub called "Friar and Firk." We decided to see a movie after dinner. "Van Helsing” I had seen it before and thought Maria would enjoy seeing it too. We saw it at the Paramount theatre, the theatres are all on the second floor and from up there you can take in the view of the city from out some of the windows. We had spotted another filming location for the show on lifetime 1-800 missing, but we couldn't see much since they were filming in an alleyway. I was most excited to see that they were filming in the same building where "The Raven" from Forever Knight used to be. From the theatre windows you could see a huge light (I guess they call it a boom) and tell they were doing filming in that alley but you really couldn't see much cause of the buildings.

Maria and I went to see the movie and we both loved it. It stars Hugh Jackman as Van Helsing who is a vampire hunter.  It also had Richard Roxburgh as the sexiest "Dracula" I've ever seen. Yum! This movie has the feel of the old time movies that starred "Bela Lugosi and Boris Karloff and Lon Chaney"

Wednesday May 26th

We were wandering around by the waterfront. The weather was just not in our favor; we thought about going to the Toronto islands but never did get there. With dark skies and threatening rain it just wasn't very tempting to go out on the water. We did wander over to Peter's apt building (he wasn't home darn it!) We had lunch in a place at the base of the building called "Harbour Bar and Grill” They had good food. As we wandered around we spotted a place called "Allan's Gardens” I saw one of the most unusual garden, the flowers were growing out of TV set frames they used to border the plants. What an interesting way to recycle old TV sets. We ended up taking a cab back to our hostel. All that walking was beginning to take its toll on my feet.

Thursday May 27th

It was the last day Maria and I would be together.  For once the weather was nice, so we had breakfast outside for a change. She was returning home and I was supposed to return home but decided to stay a few more days and stay with a friend who lives in Toronto.

Maria's plane did not leave until later in the afternoon so we spent our last few hours together wandering around Chinatown. Maria wanted to get some lemon chicken in a restaurant called the Goldstone Noodle restaurant. My favorite restaurant in Chinatown, been there every time I've been in Toronto. Its a very simple place, no fancy table cloth or china, though always packed with people. It's the only Chinese restaurant that serves tea in glasses. We went back to the hostel and got our things. Maria was catching an express bus back to the airport. It picked her up on the corner of Peter St and King St. I took a streetcar that picked me up on King St and took me directly to my friend's place. She lives outside of the downtown area. I got there and deposited my stuff in her living room and just plopped down and relaxed. It was nice to be in my friend's place.

Compared to my adventurous trip TO Canada, my trip home was blissfully uneventful. No running between flights, I even had time to get a donut and coffee before my flight at the Amsterdam terminal. I was home early Friday afternoon, Göteborg local time. Then I went to sleep until late and blew all my good intentions of getting back into my normal timezone immediately, LOL.

Friday May 28th

I was watching some TV, I saw Top Cops, there were a lot of actors from FU on this show. When I originally saw the show it was before KFTLC so it wasn't until after I saw FU that I realized Chris Potter was on a few of those eps. Luckily a friend recorded those eps so I could see them. The shows I saw at my friend's house were not the eps with Chris, unfortunately. But I did see Detective Chin in it and Jack Wong was in some eps too.

I decided to go into the downtown area again, looking for orange cones. Maria had told me she spotted some cones in Peter's apt building area so naturally I went down there to see, but there were no cones. I did see some orange cones by King St and University. I saw two police cars and an ambulance all saying NY on the side. I was on the streetcar when I spotted it so it was too late for me to get off. I went back to the church where Maria and I had previously saw them filming "Assault on Precinct 13” I wanted to see what the inside looked like. They had finished filming there so anyone could enter. It was a pretty big church and very nice inside. When I see the movie I will be looking for the scenes they filmed inside the church. I then went to Chinatown looking for that elusive "Canada Eh" T-shirt. I was tired by this time so I took a streetcar back to the apartment. That evening I took some of my friend's fu tapes and viewed two eps I no longer have at home. "Illusion and Reunion."

Saturday May 29th

I woke up late and when I turned on the TV I was lucky to catch David's "Bound for Glory" movie that was playing. I had never seen this movie before. It tells of the life of Singer Woodie Guthrie. I think David did a great job.

My watch battery died on me so I had to go out to get another. I was at a dollar store and they had a package that had several batteries in it so I purchased that. I had never seen them sell it like that back home. I decided to walk around the area. There are plenty of stores to shop in. I was on Dundas and Roncevalles Streets. I was in one store and finally found the elusive "Canada Eh" T-shirt so I bought it. I found a library but could not use the computers cause they were all booked. I picked up two postcards and wrote them out while I was at the library. When I went back to my friend's apartment I tried to get onto Potterpals from her computer but couldn’t. I went to AIM and chatted with Amy and Sweet, they had met Scott Wentworth who stopped at their B and B in Stratford for breakfast. AW, we missed  him!

Sunday May 30th

I got up early, finished packing and left my friend's apartment, took the King St street car to Bay St and walked over to the Union Station to catch the Amtrak back to NY. As I got into that area I noticed Orange cones everywhere (figures on the day I am leaving I finally find a bunch of them.) I later learned they were filming an Acura commercial in that area. All in all this was a very nice trip. I recommend Canada to anyone who wants to visit. OH YEAH!

Pictures copyright Linda Schwartz and Maria Wiberg 2004