A bucket list completion

 Today is another one of those "never to be forgotten" days that we are lucky enough to have on many of our adventures.

"Our guy" Jaime picked us up about 0845 for our fun filled day. 

We started by going to the TeleferiQo (Sky tram) and we proceeded into the clouds about 3/4 of the way up the mountain. Quito is situated at 9350 feet to begin with and after getting off at the top we walked up to the very top which is at 13287 feet, While up there in the fog we took the opportunity to go on the swing set (which is the thing to do while there).

We get seniors discounts too (OK I am cheating by 4 days but close enough!)

Next we drove out of the city and stopped at a famous location which is an indigenous reserve located down inside an extremely fertile volcano floor (it last erupted 2000 years ago).

Next stop, THE EQUATOR,

There is the famous location of the equator (as designated a long time ago by the French scientists) and this has been built up as a large touristy area with many shops etc. and while we did go there (and took a few photos) we first went to the REAL EQUATOR which was determined (by modern GPS technology) to actual be located about 200 meters away

And here we are !!

The guide at this location was really good and she gave us a very good description of the indigenous peoples of the country and had many displays including something I have never seen before, a shrunken head of an approximately  12 year old boy from about 150 years ago. It is a little bigger than the size of my fist.

After several cool displays we went to the equator and after everyone had taken their photos...

we did little experiments exactly on the line that we really neat. Here is Caro trying to balance on egg on a nail. Neither of us could it (and neither could anyone else on our group). Of course the much practiced guide did it in a few seconds .

A VERY neat experience.

I have now completed what I call the fours corners (not really corners)

Firat I went with Dad to the  farthest north town in the world Longyearbyen(800 miles from the north pole).

Next Caro and I went went to Ushuaia Argentina (the farthest south town in the world) and this past year Caro and I were in Greenwich England and went to the 0 degree longitude line.

After returning to the city Jaime took us to the Jesus statue on the mountain near us.

Jaime is expensive (by our standards) at $160USD (cash only)  however he is so good and so wonderful that we have booked him for two days from now for an all day trip to Banos (the experiences with him are worth the cost)

I had (foolishly thought) that $1000 USD and credit cards would be sufficient for us on our trip but Jaime is getting a large portion of that (and we are just started)

When we returned to the hotel at about 4 PM I went "on line" to get tickets for our January 24th flight however I had an hour of aggravation with slow internet and a wonky airline website. Because our next two days are 10-12 hour tours we HAD to book today otherwise we would be booking on Monday for a next day flight which would be expensive. About 515 PM Caro went to the front desk and after chatting with the fellow there she got the name and location of a travel agency. Out the door we flew and we arrived 25 minutes later (rush hour traffic) at 545 PM with the agency due to close in 15 minutes. They were wonderful and got us set up for the Jan 24th flight however it took them an hour. We thanked them profusely and I note that they did charge us $90USD for their services but it took a huge load off our minds!

Upon our return we went to an area near here FULL of restaurants but we didn't see anything that grabbed us so we walked 5 or 6 blocks back to the place we went last night for another fabulous meal. While eating Caro noticed a religious procession at the church nearby. She went to watch (getting good video in the process) while I ate and watched her food grow cold!

Another great day!

First day in Quito

 Arrival, and immigration shortly thereafter, was extremely quick. Our driver Jaime was waiting. The hotel had asked me a couple of weeks ago if we needed a ride (at our expense, $30USD). This was the same price as a regular taxi however this fellow is a private guide/driver and was perfect for finding out information about the city.

It took an hour to get to the hotel San Francisco de Quito and they gave us our room right away.

After a quick breakfast we went to our room and had a two hour nap.

The historical part of this city is gorgeous and is typical of old cities that were begun by the Spanish. We walked for quite a while ending up at the Basilica before turning around and heading back down to our hotel area.

We noticed a three man group of guitars playing wonderful music. We decided to watch and listen for a while and because of that we lucked out and found a FABULOUS restaurant. A few meters from the group was a place called San Ignacio which had chairs and tables outside for eating and drinking. We ordered a beer (for me) and a glass of wine for Caro. We told the waitress Nazareth that we wanted only Ecuadorian drinks.

We were chased inside by a downpour but that was very lucky too!

We ended up having soup but more importantly the waitress told us the story of the building which was amazing. She got one of her fellow co-workers to show us the wine cellar and while down there he explained how the building had originally been built and told us interesting stories about what had happened there (it had a tunnel from the basement to a nearby church so folks needing protection could escape through the tunnel to the sanctuary of the church)

After leaving there we went back to our hotel room and after I bit I felt ill with chills and  a headache. Basically I laid in bed until 6 PM. when Caro and decided to go back to San Ignacio restaurant where Nazareth again served us. This place specializes in Ecuadorian food so naturally that is what we ate. It turns out this restaurant is very famous and government ministers come there (and apparently the president has as well). The food and service is awesome and we hit the jackpot!

Trying again

 We got another text in the middle of the night stating our new flight to Vancouver was delayed 25 minutes. This was no problem.

Lisa dropped us off at the airport (Thanks Lisa) with plenty of time to spare. We had been unable to check in on line so we thought we might have had issues at the airport however everything fine.

The flight to Vancouver went smoothly. The plane was only 2/3 full at best.

We had to check in with AeroMexico in Vancouver. Looks like Air Canada (yesterday) did us a favour by asking AeroMexico if they would accept us. AeroMexico is not a member of Star Alliance (which Air Canada is) so there must have been some "behind the scenes" discussion on how AeroMexico would be paid (as our ticket price stayed the same).

We made it through security and to the gate just as they started loading the flight to Mexico City. They took their time loading so ,as it turns out, we had 20 minutes to spare.

The flight to Mexico was good with Caro and I having three seats to share between us. Immigration was worrying slow (so much so that I thought we would miss the next flight). However after 20 minutes more immigration people were on hand to process us.

The flight to Quito was only a quarter full. We left at 1230 AM and arrived at 6 AM (a one hour time change as we went from central to eastern time zone).

Caro didn't sleep at all and I managed to get a (suspected) total of two hours of very lousy catnaps.

South America-here we come

 Didn't even make it to the airport. Air Canada texted in the middle of the night concerning freezing rain warning in Toronto. Our Toronto,Bogota,Quito flight was in trouble!

As it turned out our original plane had mechanical issues and was three hours delayed getting to Toronto and landed 1/2 hour after the Bogota flight took off. It didn't matter as we contacted Air Canada to  change our plans. There was no possibility for flights the next day on our original routing so we asked if we could be booked through  Mexico City and we got lucky.

We were only delayed one day.

Back Home

 We went out for breakfast this morning. Our hotel did not provide breakfast unlike the first London hotel we stayed at.

We walked up to Victoria station with our bags after hotel check-out and our timing for the train to Gatwick was great! We used our Oyster cards to enter the station at 0952 and were on a train at 0954.

After arriving at the airport by 1030 we did a quick check with Westjet people on where to go (we had previously checked-in for our flight) before going to security screening. The security people did not like that Caro had two little clear bags with shampoos etc in them. Only allowed one!!  So Caro called me over to the inspection station (I was already through without issue) where the fellow took some stuff from Caro and gave them to me with the end result was (from a couple perspective).....nothing! We were carrying EXACTLY the same stuff between the two of us.

SIGH!- oh well. Rules are rules and the security guy has a family to support (and the hold up didn't impact any further part of our trip as we had allowed plenty of time before our flight).

Our trip to Toronto was smooth with both of us watching the on-board entertainment, reading (Caro), or listening to podcasts (me).

Immigration, customs and having to clear security again in Toronto was time consuming but smooth and it wasn't long after arrival at the gate that they began loading the plane to Edmonton. I think that in future, a minimum of 2.5 hours will be required for entry in Canada at Toronto (we had only two hours for this connection). The airport is physically so big that it just takes time to get around and having to re-do security would make things really tight if something goes wrong anywhere along the way. 

We landed in Edmonton a bit late (about 2045 hours). Lisa was there top pick us up. Thanks Lisa!

Overall a wonderful trip. At this point both Caro and I are in agreement that London and Edinburgh are part of the "been there,done that" portion of our travels.

Wednesday -part two

Caro's exciting day!

After separating from me Caro headed up to Buckingham Palace to see the changing of the guards. She got a good spot right at the gate of the Palace.

After the main troop had arrived a couple cars came down the road to enter the Palace. Caro got a view of the car with King Charles in it. Things happened so quickly and unexpectedly that she didn't get a photo!

The guards' band played for quite a while (popular and older music).

After everyone had left the palace a series of horse drawn carriages arrived with dignitaries of some sort ( perhaps members of the new cabinet?)

Caro had a ticket to see "Wicked". She used birthday gift money from Vanessa and Nathan and was she ever excited to tell me about her experience!

After we were both back together we went out for our last supper here.

A little bit of souvenir shopping later and we returned to our hotel.

Wednesday in London-part one

Roger's day.

We started off the day sleeping in a bit before we walked to a local fancy coffee/breakfast snack location.  Caro enjoyed her cappuccino while I ordered English breakfast tea.  Amazingly the British don't know how to make tea as they put milk in it. Yuck !!!!!  LOL.

After walking out to Hyde park we separated to do our own thing. 

I walked through the park and then caught the Tube to Trafalgar Square at which point I went into the National Gallery to look at paintings.

I saw many, many paintings and some of my favourites are shown below

Rembrandt-self portrait

Another by Rembrandt. The expression on the old lady's face is remarkable!

Next a Vermeer 

Then a very famous painting by Pissarro

Next a painting by Francisco de Goya of the "rumoured" father of one of our illegitimately born grandmothers, The Duke of Wellington.

A painting I loved by an artist I have never heard of Jacques-Louise David,

Just a wonderful mother and daughter painting.

A the Spanish court painter in the mid 1650's was Velazquez. This is an extremely well known painting of the Spanish King Philip 4th.

The final painting from the National Gallery is an unfinished one by

Le Nain Brothers. Amazing detail in the faces!

After almost three hours in the gallery I walked a km or two to the museum in the home of the late Sir John Soane.  Kept exactly the way it was at his 1837 death ( at his request), there are no labels on anything and even with a guide book I purchased I didn't get as much out of it as I wanted however there are numerous Roman artifacts (and lots of many other things- the place is packed to the rafters with all the things he procured in his lifetime)

The most important thing he had was an absolutely magnificent sarcophagus of Seti the first of Egypt (1300 BC).

Although the photo doesn't show it very well the sarcophagus is covered inside and out with hieroglyphic. OMG 

As it was only about 3:30  when I finished there I still had more time for a second visit in two days to the British museum so off I went!

I saw many things there in the hour I was inside.The photo below is actual artwork from the walls of tomb of Nebamun (1350 BC in Egypt)

I then took the Tube back to the hotel and waited for Caro and when she  arrived later was vibrating with excitement!!