I have been back for a couple of days in the UK, but I realize that I haven't written about my last day in Toronto, so here goes.

As my plane wasn't leaving until 23.30 we had the whole day to do things, which was nice. 
We left the house about 10 and took the car to Hamilton, a city not too far from Burlington. On the way we stopped at our local Tim Hortons for some donuts and a cuppa tea. I choose a dutchie and an apple fritter. 

We went primarily to Hamilton to see ReGenesis shooting locations. (By the way, I hope that everyone who has time enough on their hands to actually read this blog will become interested in the fantastic Canadian tv-series described by me. They are really worth it.)
Dundurn Castle was our first stop. The front of it was used as a Cuban hotel, but it was an interesting building to see any how. It also had very nice kitchen gardens, which were free to wander through.

We drove past Copps Coliseum, used in Due South and ended up in downtown Hamilton, where the City Hall was our main attraction. The exterior of it was used as the location for the Norbac Building in ReGen and was used frequently and very recognizable.
The City Hall was build in the 1960's and is currently being renovated, but we were able to get very close and take loads of picts. 

Two more locations were visited after the City Hall, one of which we entered illigally. Some employees were taking a smoke outside and had left the door open and we snuck in and took some quick picts...

The last location to find was at Hamilton's McMasters University, which is rather a maze. We had to pretent to pick someone up to be actually able to drive onto the campus and when we found the spot Michelle dropped me off to take some quick picts, while she turned the car around. 
It needs mentioning that as well as near the City Hall as at McMasters they were actually shooting a film or whatever, which proves again that Toronto and Hamilton are very popular spots as filmsets. 

After a lunch at a sandwhich place (I have forgotten the name) we went back home. I repacked my bags and watched some tv. Around 16.30 we left to go to the airport, but wanted to go to the Distillery District one more time for dinner. Due to some accidents and roadworks it took us a while to get downtown, but we made it. 
Those egg mayonaise sandwiches from the Brick Street Bakery are the best in the world, I swear.

Of course I couldn't leave the Distillery District without having had more gelato and this time I choose the mango flavour. Then it was time to drop me off at the airport. 

After a short night I arrived in the UK and was prepared to answer loads of difficult questions about why I had 44 Nero Wolfe books in my backpack. (I had bought them via Ebay and had them delivered to Michelle's house as that was the cheapest thing to do...) But customs was completely deserted, so I quickly walked through it unobserved. 
The train ride back to York was fine and I arrived back home at 16.00h.

It was my last full day in Toronto yesterday and we had a full schedule. We took the train downtown, but we first had a look around some shops in Burlington, so that I could get some more Corner Gas dvd's.
In downtown Toronto we took the subway and then a streetcar to the Spadina area, where Season three Consulate is situated. We walked past it last year, but this time I had the chance to have my picture taken at the door. Season three Consulate is particularly visible in the episode Asylum and they used as well the exterior as interior of the building. Unfortunately it wasn't open.

We stopped for lunch in a Vegetarian restaurant on Baldwin Street. Very good food, I will have to remember that place. From Baldwin Street we walked to Spadina and check out the El Mocombo Bar (where Fraser first learn what Americans are like) and a hotel, used in The  Mask.

Then we walked into an area called Kensington Market, which is not really a market, but loads of narrow streets with little shops of all kinds. Very nice. This area was used to film Twitch City (Canadian sitcom) and we found several locations that were used. Obviously the house where Curtis lives was very important. On the lower floor it has now a secondhand cd/dvd/book shop, so we went inside and had a look.
The corner where the cat-food-killer killed was also very recognisable.

We were not finished hunting for locations, so we took a streetcar and subway to the other side of town for the season two consulate and the street where Ray is hassled by a street vendor selling tickets to a hockey(?) game.

Around 16.00 we found ourselves at King Street East and decided to have something to eat at the Patrician Grill, the interior of which was used in two episode of Due South, Victoria's Secret and Some like it Red.
When we had finished eating we struck up a conversation with the owner, who told us about the filming. Nice guy.

Our evening was concluded by a visit to the Rogers Centre, which is the home of the Toronto Blue Jays baseball team. It was not used as any location, but we just thought it a nice idea to see a game. The Blue Jays were playing the New York Yankees. The whole experience was somewhat surreal to me, as I am a cricket fan and not used to all the hullaballoo that goes around these sort of games. It was fun to watch, though. In the end the Blue Jays won with 2-1, after which we took the train back to Burlington.

Yesterday was Day Five of my stay in Toronto and was the first day we didn't go downtown. Instead we went to Niagara. First we visited the butterfly conservatory, which is situated in the botanical gardens. They have over 60 species of butterfly there. Truly remarkable. The gardens were beautiful as well.

On our way to the Falls we drove past the 'Head Quaters' of Souvenir City, which must be one of the tackiest places on the planet. We were fascinated and wandered around, often bursting into giggles, about the crap that was actually sold (and bought).

As we were early we had managed to escape the crowds, but no chance of that at the Falls. We parked the car near the Canadian Falls, as we had not seen that last year. The amount of water plunging over that cliff a breath taking. We walked up and down the Falls path for a while and then set off for Niagara on the Lake. Halfway along the way we had a picnic lunch under a shady tree, which was very pleasant.

Niagara on the Lake was full of tourists as well, but it was nice to walk the main street and see all the little shops. One was completely dedicated to stuff from the UK and it was surreal to walk in and see all these products that are completely common in an English supermarket.
As we were walking around a storm was brewing, but we managed to get to the Christmas shop and and ice cream shop called Cowes.

On the was back to Burlington we had a bit of the storm, but the heaviest of the stuff seemed to move to the side of us. It was definitely not as bad as on Thursday night.
Back home we had a meal and watched some dvd's. Then we hang around facebook and looked at all the very vague groups that have sprung up around famous people. Very funny.

For a change I went to bed early and wasn't woken by the recycling being collected at 6.30.

So we were right! The park was indeed the ReGenesis location we had been looking for and was one that I really wanted to find. It was a very pleasant park on the lake shore very close to the silo from Mounty on the Bounty.

Sunday we took the car into Toronto and parked near the silo. We walked around and took many pictures. Then Barb met us and together we drove to Cherry Road, which was featured in the car chase of Heaven & Earth and had a quick look at Cherry Beach, where the bus plunged into the water in The Duel.
We drove part of the highway from Burning Down the House (where Fraser crawls all over the car) and ended up at the church from The Deal, which was closed. But we might try and get into it today.

Michelle was quite convinced she had managed to find the crypt from Eclipse, it is called the Carmichael Crypt. St James' Cementary at the end of Parliament was the candidate, but we walked the whole of it and couldn't find it. That is to say, we cut across the grass at one point, so maybe the crypt was in that little bit we missed...

Then the three of us set of for the Distillery District, but we stumbled across a film shoot for a movie called The Bridge. It seemed they were shooting a car chase or something like that, because there were some cars without number plates and a police car going up and down the street. Barb said they had also been filming in her street some while before.

In the Distillery District I found the building that was used as David's apartment in Season 1 of ReGenesis. We went for some yummy gelato and had a drink.
Then it was time to make our way to Yonge Street, where George, a friend of Michelle and Barb, works for a radio station. Barb went to the station immediately, but Michelle and I did a bit of shopping in and around the Eaton Centre, which is an enormous shopping mall. I bought an Olympic t-shirt and two dvd's of Corner Gas (another one of those very good Canadian tv-programmes).

After the radio show Barb, Michelle, me and Lisa (who had also come to the Island the day before), went for supper at Fran's, where we had taken the forum girls to breakfast earlier in the week.
Then we made our way back to Burlington.

Well, as soon as we stepped out of the house on Thursday evening we noticed the storm that was brewing up in the direction we were suppose to go. But hoping it would not be as bad as it looked we dropped in at a pizza shop to buy some pizza and then drove to the tv-station. 
Arriving there it became clear that the storm would come right overhead. We ate the pizza slices inside and Michelle and her colleague James planned the shoot. Then we realised that we could hear the thunder inside the building and went into the parkinglot to check it out. 
They decided the storm was so massive that there was no point in even trying to film. So they called it off. 

On the way back home we gave James a lift to Hamilton (the next town down from Burlington). We went right thought the storm. It was enormous. With lightning on all four sides and pouring rain.
Back home we watched some Olympics and tried to upload my pict onto the computer, which didn't work.

The next morning we were meeting up with some of our friends of the Due South forum, who are in town for a convention. We left the house at 7 and took the train in. We met Addie, Caroline, Helen and Sharon at their hotel and took the subway to Fran's Place, a diner. It was very nice to meet the guys and talk over breakfast. They had to be back at the hotel for the convention registration, but we had a little time left after breakfast, so we walked to Old City Hall, around the corner from the diner. The exterior of Old City Hall was used in the pilot episode of Due South.

We dropped the girls off at the Subway and walked to the bank, for me to take out some much needed cash. Then we wandered back to Nathan Philips Square, which had much less people on it then the day before. The square is typically 1960's and is surrounded by a concrete elevated walkway. Walking along there it gave a whole new perspective of the square. 

Still full from breakfast we didn't need any luch, because we had a resevation for 'High Tea' at the Royal York Hotel at 14.30. We had some time to spare, so we took a streetcar (tram) to St James' Park. This park was used in three of my favourite tv-series, Due South, ReGenesis and Nero Wolfe. We had been to the park last year, but I wanted to go back, specially because of a scene in ReGen. 
By the way, the park is really nice even if you are not looking for locations...
We took another streetcar to the Royal York Hotel, which was built as a railway hotel and it is situated right opposite Union Station (the main railway station of Toronto). 

The High Tea was absolutely fabulous. I choose Egyptian chamomile tea and Michelle a special Earl Grey, of which we then drank unlimited amounds. The starter was a fruit cocktail and fresh crumpet with butter and honey. 
Then we were served 4 little sandwiches on a plate, of which I liked the mushroom and avocado one's best.
On the table was also placed a rack with delicious little cakes, the top one's of which were in the form two swans. Very cute.
Although all the cakes etc were small, it was very filling, but we did very well with polishing them off. 

At 16.00 a guided tour to the roof of the hotel was included. We were taken there by souschef Brian (very handsome...) who showed us around the organic herb garden on the roof. Amazing to see all these herbs on top of that roof, which is surrounded by skyscrapers. Looking south there was a beatiful view on the lake and Toronto Island. As it was clear we could even see the Niagara escarpment across the lake in the distance. Down below was Union Station.
The herb garden also houses three colonies of bees in hives. They polinate the roof garden and fly out all over Toronto. Fascinating.

After we had been taken back down to earth by Brian, we walked to the CBC building to meet up with Barb, one of Michelle's friends. I also bought a dvd of yet another Canadian tv series, to add to my growing collection. With Barb we took the subway to the other side of town to have a look in a shop for some more dvd's, but they didn't have the one's I was looking for. 

By then it was 18.30 and we were completely knackered. So we took the subway to Union Station and just caught the train back to Burlington. 
Back home we did some grocery shopping and then vegged in front of the TV. The 3rd episode of season 2 Torchwood was being broadcast. 

So it is now the morning of the 3rd day and we will set off soon to meet up with Barb and some more people for a picnic on Toronto Island. We're taking the car today, as we are bringing some vegetarian food.

 Wow, I never had such a relaxed flight as this time, when I flew from Birmingham to Toronto. This might have had something to do with that I was upgraded to business class, which is a really cool way to fly. Free newspapers and magazines, a welcome drink, two meters of leg room, nearly entirely reclining chairs. And don't forget, the first to get on the plane and the first one off. No standing forever in queues. Fantastic. If it was always like this I probably could get used to it, which, come to think of it, would be bad for the environment.

So even the flight was delayed by three hours, it wasn't a bad at all. The delay did of course mean I arrived much later in Toronto. By the time I had gone through customs etc. it was about 21.30h. Michelle picked me up to the airport and we drove the 45 minutes to Burlington. Her appartment block has its own ensuite guest rooms, which can be rented per night for a very reasonable price. 
After dumping my luggage in 'my' room we went to Michelle's appartment where I met her two lovely cats, Cleo (7) and Rukah (1).

After a night with litte sleep because of time differences, Michelle and I set of this morning by train for downtown Toronto. We dropped of a package at the CBC (Canadian Broadcasting Coorporation) building and then went into town looking for Due South and ReGenesis locations. 
We had already seen quite a few of them last year, but new one's keep popping up. 

We zigzaged our way through Toronto and in the afternoon, after eating a veggie burger and chips on Nathan Philpis Square, we were both so knackered that we decided to make our way back to Burlington. After arriving there at about 16.15h I tried to get some sleep, but couldn't. I have decided that I am actually too tired to sleep. 

Tonight Michelle and her colleague James have to do some filming (or shooting as it is called) for a doco they are doing about  local ghost stories. They have been working on this doco for a while and it will be interesting to see how shooting for television is done for real. 
Apparently it is not at all glamorous... 
Michelle is currently applying loads of make-up as she will be presenting. 
More about this tomorrow.

So... It's actually more than 4 weeks ago since I last posted something. I actually did do loads of stuff in those weeks and no, I had not forgotten about LiveJournal. I just didn't feel like posting.

Tomorrow I am flying to Toronto for a holiday that was planned about a year ago. I am looking forward to it very much. I will stay with my friend Michelle, who lives in Burlington and we're planning to do loads of fun stuff. We will be mostly hunting for locations used in the tv-series ReGenesis, Due South and Twitch City, which were all filmed in Toronto. Hopefully I will be able to recognise loads of things.

As I am not a fan of flying I am actually imagining  that the flight is not happening. I think I will just tell myself that I am in a bus or something...

At least I don't have to get up ridiculously early. My train goes at 09.15h and the flight's at 16.00h, Hopefully arriving in Toronto at 18.45h.

I never really wanted to become registered to Ebay, but last week I did. And immediately I started bidding on things and buying other things. 
Of course I have a good reason. I want to complete my collection of the Nero Wolfe Detective series before I return to the Netherlands. Simply because it is cheaper to have things shipped to my UK address from within the UK. 

But really quickly I started to notice other books than just the 14 I still need. So yesterday I bought an old 1951 paperback of Nero Wolfe with a fabulous drawing on the front from the States, which will cost £3.50 to ship. This was not what I had in mind. I just wanted to buy the 14 missing books from UK sellers... 

I guess the main mistake I made was checking the status of my bank account before logging onto Ebay. I should never have done that...

I am completely into tennis at the moment. I have always love watching it, but this time I watched every day of Wimbledon. 

So yesterday was the mens singles final. I really wanted Federer to win. He is such a nice guy. It would have been great if he had won and beaten Bjorg's 5 in a row winning streak. But it was not to be. 

Wow, what a final it was though. Unbelievable. Nadal and Federer were both equaly strong and focussed on winning. In the end it was just Nadal who was this little bit stronger. But Federer has nothing to be ashamed for. He is such a good player and I am not even in doubt that he will win Wimbledon again. I am sure he has the mental strenght to get through this loss. I am counting on him winning the Olympics and the US Open in August. 

But I did feel really sorry for him. He looked so sad at the ceremony. Don't be Roger! You are still my number one!

It's been so long since I wrote anything. Was I that busy that I couldn't post? No, not really. Then what did I do in those last 3 weeks? Actually, I can't really remember. They seem just to have past without me noticing it.

I have registered on Ebay and bought some Nero Wolfe books. 
I went shopping and bought trousers and a pair of trainers. 
I have been watching a lot of tennis lately (my conclusion is that Federer is really hot...).
My book is now at the printers. We still haven't got a date for the booklaunch, but hopefully something will be settled on soon. 
I had a virus and was ill in bed for three days (the result of which was that I watched even more tennis...)
I packed a load of boxes with stuff I don't need until October. My parents will take them back to the Netherlands. 

My parents will be standing on my doorstep any minute. They are staying until Tuesday. The weather forecast is really bad, which is good in a way, because I suddenly realised that it is the final episode of Dr Who tonight and tomorrow is the final of the mens single and it would be really cool to see Federer beat Nadal...

The problem with being very busy means that after it stops being busy you become realy lazy. At least I do... 
The last two days I have done absolutely nothing. Thank goodness for daytime tv and the tennis on BBC2. I never cared much for Diagnosis Murder, but yesterday David Marciano had a guest role. Always great to see him in something else then Due South. And no... I am still not going to the convention, even though he's is going to be there. ;-)
Normally I wake up early, but today I roled out of bed at noon. That is so unlike me, but I just felt like staying in bed.
I am even refusing to do shopping and am checking out all the dark corners of my fridge and cupboards to find food, just to avoid going to Sainsbury's. (I have concluded I can sing it out till Monday!!)

So this afternoon I will probably hang around facebook for a while, then check out the tennis on tv and if that doesn't fancy me I will watch the two last episodes of Dr Who again. I still have them on tape. 

I think it's great being lazy every now and then. I know that next week will be busier again, so I'd better enjoy it while it lasts...

That's twice so far today I have been soaked to the skin, and it's not going to be the last time, as I will have to go out again...

I had to go to the hospital to see the rheumatologist today. It was pouring down when I cycled there. 
The doctor was nice. She doesn't seem to think it is something really serious. Probably just something that I have to learn to live with, which is what I have been doing for the last 13 years anyway. I had a another bloodtest (the results of the test the GP did had disappeared...) and several x-rays. 
I will have to go back in a couple of weeks time.

When I came out of the hospital my hair and waterproofs had dried, but it was still pouring, so everything became soaked again. 

Finally finished the editing last night. I now only have to tie up some lose end. Then the manuscript can go to the proofreader.

Blasted internet! It's too addictive. I was suppose to do loads of (very urgent) editing on my book, but I got caught on the net. Specially now that I can receive it at home again, the temptation can be too much...

Spend nearly the whole afternoon surfing. Not good. At frist my excuse was that I was waiting for my washing to finish, but that is 2 hours ago. I'd better switch off the computer and take the washing out of the machine and hang it up...

My Dutch friends arrived yesterday and my mother gave them the ReGenesis season 2 dvd to give to me. I have been waiting for so long to see more of ReGenesis and now I finally can! 
Obviously I have to show my friends around (after all, they are here to see me...), but I wouldn't mind starting a ReGenesis marathon right now...

The cover of the dvd is really cool. It has a see-through liquid inside a plastic cover with a little bit of a red liquid mixed in as well. It swirls around when I move the dvd. I imagine they are a virus trying to escape... 
I heard it freaked my mother out a bit when it arrived in the post... 

I just love this series. It is so well done. And filmed in Toronto, so I recognise loads of things. I think there will be some ReGenesis location hunting going on this summer, as well as Due South. :-)

It's crasy busy at the moment. Am just finishing of the last things for the new book. Then the editing and proofreading can start.
I did get a terrific preface written by someone, which is really cool.

Unfortunately I haven't got internet at home again. Very annoying. But I have noticed that I can easily do without it for 4 days. Which is a bit weird, because when I do have internet at home I often log on several times a day.  

My oldest friend is coming to visit tomorrow with her husband. They have never been to York before and they thought it best to visit before I go back...
Anyway, it means that I have to clean my room. The basic hoovering I did 2 months ago has long been forgotten. Actually, it seems that I only do the cleaning when people are coming for a visit...