Vancouver and Kelowna

We decided to catch public transport to our family in North Vancouver.  After buying a compass cards we caught the train, ferry and bus to North Vancouver.  It is always an enjoyable trip - with a driverless train (if you can get a seat at the front - it is a bit like being on a roller coaster), seabus, (which runs every 15 minutes and takes about the same time to cross the harbour providing a great view) and then the bus that takes us up and down hills and through suburbs.  This time there was a traffic jam along the Grand Boulevard and the bus didn't move - so we asked the driver to let us off and we walked the last 2 or so kilometres. It was hot, but we had water and some shade and the walk probably did us some good though it didn't feel like it at the time.  

And then the next month was family time - and what a wonderful time it was - here are some highlights:

• Kelowna - its a four hour drive at the best of times but with three children it took a lot longer with a long stop at a playground for play and lunch and Nannie turning into a kid eating monster.  I got to know our little 7 month grandson well as I spent a good proportion of the time singing to him to distract him from the boredom of sitting in a car seat. Twinkle twinkle little star was a hit. The older two had their tablets - making car trips far more bearable for everyone.  At Kelowna we stayed at a hotel with a huge outdoor courtyard, pool and hot tub.  While there we visited a kangaroo park (felt a bit surreal in the northern hemisphere), cherry picking (more surreal since we do that for a month over Christmas in New Zealand), built sandcastles on the beach on the shores of Lake Okanagan and spent many hours swimming in the pool and sitting in the hot tub. 
• Walking, bike riding and scootering into the local forest - where we cooled off during many a warm day, or on our way to the local shopping centre for a scone and coffee (I have taken to decaf, caramel, iced lattes).  The kids have their favourite tree which is a rotting stump of a once grand pine (I think) and is home to slaters, snails and spiders.  Our grandson has created a home for some of the slaters and snails and was delighted one day to discover the snail has hatched some eggs (two weeks to hatch with a number of snails per egg - and we are all hoping they will - well most of us!).  When I cheekily asked him whether he was more excited about his birthday party the next day, or the possibility of having baby snails - he couldn't decide!
• Visiting major Vancouver attractions eg Science World, Maplewood Farm and the Aquarium.  I continue to be impressed with Science World, and wish that I could have learnt about science in a playful way when I was young.  
• Enjoying catching up with family friends Ambleside Beach - a long beach with a wide strip of grass and play grounds.  Unfortunately Canada seems to have the same issues of polluted beaches just like in New Zealand. 
• Sitting outside in the evening - relaxing over dinner - talking about our highs and lows (peaks and pits) of the day - and in particular hearing what the children thought of their day.  Just like when my kids were young we made up stories where we took turns to add a few sentences hence creating a master piece for the evening that always included a bear going up a mountain. We also played charades - acting out animals and occasionally making noises to give clues.  
• Going to restaurants to celebrate our arrival and birthdays and to say goodbye to grandparents.  Macaroni Cheese is a favourite amongst the kids and colouring in always passes the time well.  
• Enjoying a seven year olds birthday party - complete with water pistols, balloon making, face painting and magic - and a Nannie and Poppa inspired scavenger hunt.  It was a sunny and hot day, and the party was set up in the shade.  Some parents stayed and everyone enjoyed themselves - especially the party boy!
• Visiting the Kelowna and Langley aviation museums.  The museums seemed to cater reasonably well for kids with ride on planes and hopping into cockpits. Harry wandered around the planes, taking many photos and enjoying the opportunity of seeing some Canadian planes for the first time.

It is terribly hard to say goodbye.  There is an overwhelming desire not to leave and a wish that they lived closer  but also a feeling of  privilege that we can see them annually. A year seems a long time with little ones growing and changing all the time.  In the days before the internet living apart must have been so difficult.   

Fiji Air flew us home, and the trip was smooth and we felt safe.  The queue for the transit lounge was long - there were 11 flights leaving for Australia and New Zealand destinations that morning.  We spent over 30 minutes in the queue before someone took pity on "parents with young children" and "those with grey hair" and opened another desk. It's funny, though I enjoy the privilege of not waiting in queues I don't feel old and am grateful I can still stand for some

Houston

After a fairly lengthy electronic check in process the bag drop and passport check at the airport was reasonably quick for our flight to Houston. While waiting in the queue I spoke to a family who had been to New Zealand - four days in Wanaka shooting tahr!  They had just spent a week in South America shooting other wild life.  I should have realised that, that was an introduction to the Texan lifestyle. 

We had selected our seats a long time ago for the ten hour flight, but a number of sports teams had decided to sit around us.  They were mainly adults, and reasonably well behaved except they kept standing in the aisle next to us and talking to their mates.  The seat belt signs came on - and the turbulence began.  A number of sportee people continued to stand and chat to the cabin staff (who either knew them or wanted to get to know them), while holding on to seats.  The bumps continued for a while, with no signs of them sitting down or buckling up!   

We also noted there was no requirement to lift the window shades during take off and landing.  On the plus side the meal was pretty good for airline food.  

Our shuttle was on time (an early 6.15 am start for the driver who was obviously a morning person).  Two sleepy eyed travellers arrived at their hotel.  For the first time we had booked the hotel for the night before so we could have a few hours sleep before hitting the big city.  The hotel had everything we needed, towels, toilet rolls, hot water, tea bags, milk and a bed - things we had missed at times during our holiday.  Our expectations were low.

Then we hit the streets in 37 degrees - finding the shade when ever we could, and exploring the underground tunnels and sky walks built specifically for the locals to escape the high temperatures.  We found an amazing deli for lunch and enjoyed a wrap and a banana and took back strawberries, blue berries and cereal for breakfast.  Summer fruits - yum.

The rest of the afternoon was spent in the rooftop swimming pool looking at the high rise around us. Not a bad start to the next phase of our holiday. 

I am not sure if it was the heat, or tiredness but Houston didn't seem to grab us.   Wandering around the very wide streets (almost devoid of cars and people on a weekday afternoon), we looked for the historical centre.  Unfortunately, it looked as though the local ancestors did not try and preserve the centre in one place, as the old buildings were scattered between more modern and taller buildings.  The architecture of some of the modern buildings was pretty impressive.   There didn't seem to be many restaurants or cafes lining the streets and eventually we settled for an air conditioned and fairly empty food hall which was open late into the evening.  There was some interesting street art and a tree lined muddy river known as Buffalo Bayou which was once the major trading route to the sea but now felt a bit lonely and unsafe to walk around in the early evening. 

The next morning was sunny and just as hot and with high hopes we climbed on to the bus for our city tour - 80 minutes to see the sights - we surely must have missed some of them the day before.  We saw some more street art, baseball, football and rodeo stadiums and interesting architecture.  Buffalo bayou still looked lonely and the parks looked to be places for those with no where else to go.  Streets still had little traffic, there were plenty of car parks about and people were scarce. 

While waiting for the bus trip to start we met a local Texan who had hopped on his motor bike in June with the intention  of  visiting every country court house in the State -  259 of them (I think).  Wondering if he had a legal background (though a heavy, tall and bearded man isn't the typical lawyer look), I asked him "why?"  He said that the court house is usually the oldest building in each county and architecturally very interesting.  I wondered if we should do a similar trip in New Zealand.  

While we waited the confronting Texan culture was again evident with seats covered in hide, and an enormous and majestic horned steer head looking over us - all I can hope is he died naturally. 

We had booked a tour around the town centre and to the space centre.  Commentary on the city tour was in English (in South America the commentary was available in a number of languages and we were told that in Houston 145 different languages are spoken).  On the ride to the space centre - the driver was silent - clearly a drive rather than a guided tour.  Maybe there was nothing to say, the road was flat, we passed a number of suburbs and advertising for injury lawyers - one even described himself as "very appealing" which gave me the impression his cases might not be successful the first time.

I think my expectations of the space centre may have been raised by our visit to Pearl Harbour (yes we were impressed by what was offered there).  At the space centre we had two tram rides around the centre - we passed a number of grey one or two storey buildings.  We were told what was in them, and what we could not see, whetting the appetite but not fulfilling it.  We did stop at the training centre where there were a number of mock ups/simulations for astronaut training.  I wasn't entirely sure what I was looking at most of the time,  so some information boards or commentary would have been helpful.   The highlight was a walk through a replica of the shuttle and 747, and finding some toys ones for the grandkids.

On the drive back I began to wonder what makes a city a place where tourists want to go back to, which of course isn't the same thing as a great place for locals to live.  I concluded that a city is made by people, for people. People provide the history, the current lifestyle (ie the cafes, restaurants, night life and sights), where most natural wonders are seen outside the cities.  So, cities without much "life" due to say extreme seasonal weather (too hot or cold) may not be seen as vibrant tourist destinations.  Food for thought.  I am sure Google would offer a thousand more reasons.

The shuttle company picked us on time again (another early morning) and the flight was pretty non eventful (window shades still not up, but more respect for safety belt signs).  We have noticed before, and it is still evident the priority given to military at airports in the USA "we appreciate your service" at airports.

Buenos Aires

We left Bariloche in the dark and spent a long time queuing at the airport. 

We had managed to squash all our belongings into two bags under 15 kgs while others in the tour had much heavier bags and some got charged extra, while others didn't -  I think it depended on whether the person on the counter was a morning person or not - a tad unfair I thought.

It was an uneventful flight and after finding our rooms we went for a long walk before stopping for a late lunch.  The restaurant offered traditional food including an omelette with fried grated potato - it was quite tasty but I am looking forward to being able to eat fresh salads again. 

At a glance Buenos Aires belies it's fairly recent turbulent economic time. The centre is busy - with lovely architecture if you look above the shops. There are a number of people trying to coax you into their cafes and restaurants and a surprising number trying to get you to exchange US dollars for the local currency - our guide said don't do it as you will probably get counterfeit back and/or a poor rate. I now understand why we were told to bring US dollars - it is a better rate to exchange notes (if you know where to go) than getting money from an ATM machine where you might be charged up to 50% of the transaction in fees.  The ATMs are not holes in the wall like at home, but usually in a little cafe or corner shop or even a petrol station and so not available 24/7. 

The last night of our tour was spent at a tango evening - a very well done chronological journey through the life of the tango which started as a dance for two men fighting for the same girl!

Then we were on our own (no more being looked after by a tour guide) and with some of our new tour friends we boarded a Hop on Hop off bus the next morning.  It was a bit of a rigmarole finding it, as there were many places selling tickets but no where near the bus route.  We eventually hopped on a bus only to find they only accepted cash on board.  The driver did a full circle of the "square" to drop us back off at the kiosk where we paid and waited patiently for 30 minutes for the next bus. 

Buenos Aires is full of old buildings (even a few art deco) intermingled with new ones, some well cared for and others not so well cared.  It was hard to take photos as most of the architectural delights were scattered and higher than the power lines.  

La Boca was our first stop and after taking a few wrong turns and a very long wait for a coffee and apple strudel we found the vibrant, colourful, entertaining, football mad artisan suburb.  We were tempted to buy some of the colourful artwork but it wouldn't be ideal to squash it inside our bag.  

The drive back to the centre led us past some familiar streets which housed theatres, parks and the obelisk.  Our second stop was the Recalito Cemetery - one of those amazing places - a little village all on its own.  However, at this one we could peer in the windows and see coffins stacked on shelves, some old and derelict others prestine and polished.   I kind of felt envious that here families housed generations of ancestors - you would know where you would end up - with future descendants being obliged to keep up the maintenance on the shrines!!

Some sported special little prayer rooms, and were lovingly looked after, while others gave the impression the families had come to an abrupt ending or just didn't care - broken glass, deteriorating exterior walls and inside stairs and coffins showing their age. Evita's mausoleum was sign posted and covered in flowers - we didn't stay long as there were a number of respectful (and tearful) mourners standing outside.

There was time for an icecream before we said goodbye to our fellow travellers.  Scooping ice-cream is an Argentinian art - and I was mesmerised for the full five 5 minutes it took to scoop the ice-cream and then lovingly and artistically smooth it with a plastic spoon.  The queue grew as we watched the master piece form (and there were five of us - each wanting 2 scoops!).

For dinner we went to a cafe around the corner and ate bagels and sandwiches - we had a little coat stand beside the table, and only young men waiting on the tables in blue and white striped aprons over their clothes.  Quite the place!!

The last day we went for a walk along the River Plate. I had a free history lesson about the role the river played in World War 2 and the scuttling of the boat Graf Spey by its German captain. The waters lapped onto the shores just like the sea.  Looking at a map it was hard to tell when the river finished and the sea began. I guess one way was to taste the muddy water but neither of us were game for that.  Sign posts told us we could see a variety of birds, skins, snakes and furry rodents but we only saw the two legged locals out for their Sunday morning run or walk.  

On the way back to the hotel to collect our bags we were stopped by the "rotating" bridge - one boat went out and another came in.  We found another Argentinian pasta place where only men served their customers. 

We were flying United, which required the hassle of online check-in of hold and cabin luggage.  It took a while to enter all the details the night before but at the airport it was a breeze.  We reflected once again how the electronic age has made everything far more complicated for the traveller - we are looking forward to deleting airline and hotel apps from our phones at the end of the holiday.