My Fu Fest odyssey started out with Vicky and Glenn coming to pick me up and we stopped off for lunch before we left Staten Island. We hit traffic on the Verrazano bridge and on the Belt parkway, which is no BIG surprise. We went to pick Maria at JFK airport. We looked through the crowd to see if we could spot her. There were so many people we were afraid we'd miss her. But there she was! Vicky gave her a red rose and we welcomed her to America. We took her to her hotel, we hit traffic again, there was an accident. We got her settled in and then we showed her which station Silk was on, which was vital! Then we took her out to dinner at Red Lobster. And after dinner we got Mariaback to the hotel in time to see most of Silk. Vicky and I went back to her place and we got to see some of silk. And I got a chance to drool over Vicky's picture book of Chris. And look through some zines and then we got on chat and I finally got a chance to talk on the late chat, I never get a chance to do that back home.

I took Maria into the city. We caught the 7:57 out of Ronkokama. We arrived in Penn Station at around 9:15. I said to her Welcome to NY! We decided to walk to the Empire State Building it was foggy at the top, so we couldn't see anything. We tried to take pictures between the fog, sometimes you could make out the traffic below. We went on an attraction called Skyride that they had at the Empire State Building. It was a ride with a screen in front and James Doohan, Scotty from Star Trek, was the narrator and we went on a wild ride through the city, crushing into Wall street and into the East River, it felt like we were on a star ship.

We then left the Empire State Building and Maria wanted to see Central Park, so we walked 25 blocks, loong city blocks, to the park. We made some stops along the way. We stopped at the New York Public library, and this library brat got her picture taken in front of one of the lions! Then we made a stop at St. Patricks Cathedral and we looked at the beautiful architecture it was gorgeous. I took some pictures, but I was told that your not supposed to take pictures during mass. We then stopped at Rockefeller Center and took pictures of Prometheus, the statue. Then we finally arrived at Central Park. We saw the horse-drawn carriages, but we decided not to go on a ride. Instead we found a place to sit and relax beside a pond. And we discussed Fu and Peter, Silk and Tom and then talked about the city. Then we decided to walk back, and find a place to eat. We made a stop at the plaza hotel first. It was gorgeous, although it cost a pretty penny to stay at the plaza.

We walked back down 5th ave and stopped at the New York Public Library, cause we made an appointment to use the computers there. We were hoping to get on chat from there, but no such luck. Turns out that the library didn't do some upgrades so we couldn't get on. So we got on e-mail and the BBS.

After the library we had dinner at a pizza place called Sbarros. Then we got back on the Long Island Railroad, we ended up getting stuck for a while in Jamaica station because a door wasn't closed. When we arrived in Ronkokoma we were very tired from our long trip, but we had a fun filled day.

We started our journey today,Vicky, Maria and I packed the mini-van and we were on our way! The weather was cloudy and it started to rain. We decided that we would stop over in the town of Corning. It was raining quite hard by the time we got to Corning so we didn't get a chance to look around, but we did get a chance to see the end of FU.

The ride up to Corning was spent getting to know each other. We discovered we had alot in common, besides our love of Fu and Chris. We got to learn a little about Maria's homeland, Sweden. I had told Maria that Corning is famous for a glass factory, I discovered that in Swedish, glass means ice cream. So Maria thought we were going to an ice cream factory! She was a little disappointed.

We started our sightseeing at the Corning Glass Factory. We saw how glass is blown. It was very interesting to see the glass being taken out of these hot ovens, over 1000 degrees. The man took these long rods that had the glass at the end and made a pitcher out of it. We were told that it takes 6 years as an apprentice to become a glass blower. We toured the rest of the museum, there were glass bottles and vases from long ago in history and from all over the world. There were glass paperweights that had all kinds of designs in them, from flowers to birds to lizards. We saw stained glass and a glass mosaic. It was just so interesting.

After the glass museum we went across a pedestrian bridge to Market Street, a major shopping area that had many shops where we browsed, we stopped to eat at a restaurant to eat, we ate outside. Maria had her first taste of American ice cream she ordered a cone with chocolate and cookie dough ice cream. She had never tasted cookie dough ice cream before, so she enjoyed it. We stopped at a drug store and she picked up some lip baum for a friend in Sweden. We stopped to get some snacks, potato chips and soda. Later in the evening, while watching Jeopardy, she mentioned that she wanted to try root beer. Well I had a bottle of root beer right in front of me at the drug store but she never mentioned to me she had wanted to try it then. So I asked her why didn't you tell me! Oh, well, I will make sure she gets to try some in the next few days.

We left Corning and made our way across the border to Canada. We had a little trouble at the border. The border guard had asked us if we had anything to declare, and we said no. Then she asked us how many passports we had, two, Vicky and Maria had passports and I had my birth certificate. She then asked us where we were from, we told her Maria was from Sweden and Vicky and I were from NY. We then had to drive to the customs office. When we got inside Maria showed the officer there her passport and had it stamped, but when Vicky showed her passport the officer wanted to know why she didn't have a form with her passport and why it wasn't stamped. She told them she had never had it stamped and that she didn't know what form he was talking about. It turned out that the officer thought that Vicky was from Sweden!!!!!! He must have been blind or something not to have noticed that the passports were different, it clearly said that Vicky was from the US. I was worried that we would be stuck at the border. WHEW! We were finally in Canada and we then proceded to change out money to Canadian. They're money is nicer looking than ours and they also use coins for dollars and twonys (two dollar coins). I like that, once I got used to it. We drove to Stratford for see the Shakespeare play "The Winter's Tale" , with Kate Trotter and Wayne Best in the leads. Her performance was fantastic, She did such an excellent job. I always admire any actor who can handle Shakespeare. She handled it so well. There was one scene at the end that I was very impressed with. She had to pretend to a statue. She stood so still for so long that you would really think she was a statue.

Afterwards, she and Wayne Best stopped by our hotel's bar (Queen's Inn) for a drink after the performance. Mimi and I stopped at the ladies room, when we came into the room the only seats available were at the beginning of the room

I sat at the beginning of the room. I was listening to what Wayne Best was saying, he was quite funny Kate came in and guess where she sat?! Right next to me!!!!! I thought I'd be so nervous, but I wasn't. She was so warm and friendly that it felt like I was talking to a friend. I asked her what it was like working with DC. She said
She said he was very good to work with, he liked to crack the crew up by walking around naked on the set.

Kate was very warm and gracious. Geordie Johnson was going to stop by, but he was tired and had a long ride home.

On to Toronto. We got lost trying to find the hotel. We passed the exit and had to find our way back. It was funny, We took side roads to
avoid the traffic. Maria spotted the sign for the hotel and yelled "There it is!!!!"

The hotel "Valhalla", was very nice There was a reception in the evening. A chance for fans to meet each other and the stars. It was held in the
Scandia room. They had some sandwiches and snacks to eat. The actors from fu started to slowly come in. I got to talk to Sandey Grinn, T.J. on the show. I asked him
if he minded if I called him T.J. and he said not at all :-) He was so nice and funny, I had my picture taken with him. He loves diet coke and had one in his coat pocket.

Then I got to meet Rob Moses (master Khan), He was having such a great time that he hung around the longest after the celebs left. I asked him what it was like working on the show
He liked it but there was alot of time spent just waiting around. I asked him what he was doing now and he said he is in construction, that's what he was doing before fu. He is also trying to start a hot sauce company called lil mo. Then I got a chance to see Matt Trueman(Terry the bartender)
and get my picture taken with him, he is so good looking in person.

Then I saw Michael Rhodes, Donny Double D., I didn't say too much to him, I did have my picture taken with him. I say Janet Leigh Green, Annie, it was her first fu fest. She was amazed at the fan's interest in the show. I took her picture. I saw Nigel Bennett, I didn't talk with him. I saw Kim Chan enter the room, he was immediately surrounded by two women who would not stop talking to him. I finally got my chance to get my picture taken with him. He was very friendly. He is taller in person. Robert Nicholson, Blake, had an English accent, he was kind enough to allow me to take his picture.

I left the Party to go to the ladies room and when I came back into the room I noticed some one had come in behind me and I turned around and there, standing not more than a few feet from me, was David Carradine and Marina!!!!! I couldn't believe how close I was to him. He and Marina appeared to be lost, it was their first fu fest and they didn't know what to do. Sandey Grinn helped them out and they started to mingle. David appeared tired and it wasn't until much later that I found out that he and Marina had just flown in from China to be at fu fest. David was working on a documentary in China. I was so pleased to have my picture taken with him. I have to admit I was nervous going over to him. I still couldn't believe I actually met him.

Later Sandey Grinn started to play the piano, he was hilarious. He got David to do Rocky Dalton bit on the the piano. What a great time I had!!!!!Not only did I finally put the faces to the names on my friends, but got a chance to meet the stars of my fave show too!

The day started out with a dealer's room. There were some zines and photos that were on sale. I got Reflections 2 and a photo of Victoria Snow for her to sign later on. I also bought a raffle ticket for the raffle/auction that would be held later on. You could also buy a ticket to win a seat at David Carradine's table at the luncheon.

At the luncheon each table had a star from the show sitting with the fans. Matt Trueman sat at our table, was so friendly and talked a little about the show. He said the stuff that was used as beer tasted so bad that the actors spit it out after the shot was done. He talked a little about himself. He has some dogs, labs,that have puppies. He has a place around the city and a country place too. In the country he can let the dogs run around.

David and Marina showed up late, I think they were trying to catch up on some much needed sleep. Mimi Hoerner and Alicia Brooker won the seat at DC's table. I can't remember if Mimi was able to say anything to him. She was nervous.

After the luncheon there was a question/answer panel. Fans got a chance to ask questions. Victoria Snow showed up, she wasn't at the reception. She was so funny, she loves to crack jokes. One of the main questions was directed at Michael Sloan, everyone wants to know if there is going to be a movie. He said there will be a movie and hopefully it will be shot in the spring. But all the fans have got to write to Warner Bros to get them moving on giving Michael the green light to start. David was talking about his documentary that he was doing in China, this was his first time in China. He visited the shaolin temple. He was also talking about his film American Reel that was completed. And he also talked about working with Chris Potter and how they decided that he was the one for the part of Peter. It was the same thing he wrote in his book, Endless Highway. Chris was at the audition and after he finished he walked outside. David said he was the best actor they had seen, they didn't know at the time how athletic Chris was until he started working on the show and he picked up Kung Fu very quickly. Michael said they would talk to Chris' agent, and David said what are you talking about he's sitting right outside. Michael said that wasn't how it's done, and David said well I'm going to tell him he got the part. He took Chris out to his ranch and put him on one of his horses and during that afternoon David and Chris became friends.

After the q and a there was an autograph/photo session. I got everyone's autograph. David signed my copy of his book.

The raffle and auction was held. There were pictures and scripts and a copy of the Toronto Sun tv guide with Chris potter's pic on it. Maria Wiberg won that one, she was so excited she held it above her head and began to scream yeah!!!!!!

I ended up getting a script from Lacquered Box.

We also were shown a screening of Sunday at the Museum with George. Michael Sloan was telling us the problems they had filming it and all the special effects that had to be added later. It took a long time to add the fighting scene at the beginning and the laser bars that were guarding the sacophocus.

We went on locations tour, it was outside the city of Toronto. We saw the town where Temple was filmed, it is smaller in person than how it appears in the episode. We went to eat at Guild inn, where Shaolin Treasure was shot. I took plenty of pics of that place. There was a beautiful view overlooking a cliff of Lake Ontario. It was gorgeous. I was disappointed that we didn't get a chance to see Chinatown. We saw the field where the plane in Circle of Light crashed. And we got a chance to take a picture of the church that was in The sacred chalice of I Ching. The only thing is we were only able to take it from a distance, they didn't take us over there to take a close-up shot.

Maria and I went into to Toronto on our own locations tour Kara Kivioja was our tour guide. We went to Chinatown, I didn't ask for Caine, and we saw the spot where the last scene in Force of Habit was shot, where Peter is walking to a tunnel while eatting a hotdog. And then I saw Peter's apt. There were two buildings that looked alike, so I took pics of both. We saw Caine's Kwoon, they painted over the painting that was on the front but you could see it under the paint. We also saw the spot where Peter and Kermit find Caine wandering in Chinatown Murder Mystery. We took pics of Chinatown. We found the alley where flying Fists of Fury was shot, which is Maria's fave ep. It was soooo small.

We went back to Toronto to finish our locations tour, Alicia Brooker was with us. We saw the precinct, the building was so different in person, and we saw Caine's apt it was at the back of the building and we could see that someone was living there, there were plants on the balcony.

Alicia showed us Toronto's underground city, shops all underground. We met up with Monica Sztybel at the BCE center in downtown toronto. Gowan was doing a concert there for Canada Day. I had never heard his music before, he was very good.

Aspects of the Soul and Quake were filmed at the bce center. I took pics of the place.

We left Toronto to go to Niiagara falls.

We arrived in Niagara and saw the falls today. I was here 20 years ago, the falls were even more beautiful than I had remembered. I got a shot of the place where Caine and Peter walked down the steps towards the falls in the manhunt ep. We went down to the tunnels behind the falls. The footage for the scene where Peter is struggling with Sheldon was taken there.

We took a ride on the maid of the mist. We had ponchos, and boy did we ever need them. My hair was soaked after that. It was awesome, you could feel the power of the falls, we got so close to them. It was so much fun.

Tomorrow we are going to visit a winery.