As I mentioned in the Egypt installment, I was quite sick on our last day in Cairo, and our 12 hour flight to New York (JFK) was undertaken with its fair share of trepidation. The three movies (Forbidden Kingdom, C+; X Files: I want to believe, F; and Hancock, B-) helped pass the time, and apart from one visit to the toilet after the 'evening' meal didn't agree with my tender innards, the flight was survived. I began to feel a bit drained as we waited 1.5hrs at JFK customs, and was none-to-pleased when we got to the front of the line and were told we needed green forms instead of white ones (thanks Egyptair), but in the end we were allowed into the greatest nation on earth.

Outside the terminal it was snowing. That morning it was probably 24° in Cairo, so it took quite a bit of adjusting that first day. We caught a shuttle to downtown Manhattan and there were a couple from Perth on board who had never seen snow before.

The next morning the snow had let up and we walked around upper Manhattan. Our hostel was on 31st St, near the Empire State Building, so that was our first photo. Then we made our way towards Times Square, past the Rockerfeller Centre. Marisa really wanted to see a Broadway show that night, but being a Monday there were only three big shows playing and no matinees, so the TKTs booth for half-price tickets didn't open until 3pm. To kill time we went to the NBA store. A place like that would have been heaven for me as a Kings merchandise starved teenager, but the fact that I would be seeing the Sacramento Kings play live in a couple of days lessened the purchase impulse. I did pose next to a Lego Kevin Garnett though.

We then went into Central Park which was stunning in white. There were a surprising number of squirrels about and active, which added to the coolness. We spent a good couple of hours just wandering around, checking out the frozen ponds, Strawberry Fields and the Dakota Building, before it was time to head back to Time Square and line up for some cheap(er) tickets. When we got there just before 3pm, the line was maybe 200ppl long, and to make it interesting, it had just started to snow again. In the end it took about 45mins-1hr to get to the tellers, and it fortunate that it was only once we'd secured our tickets to Avenue Q at 8pm that evening that we started to feel chilled. Thankfully there Time Square information centre was nearby with free internet and heaters on full blast.

After a nap at our hotel, we made our way back to Broadway for the show that evening. Avenue Q is kind of like a grown-up Sesame Street, where puppets (and monsters) live alongside humans, all facing the same dilemmas: finding an apartment, finding your purpose, finding love... It was hilarious, and the musical numbers went some way to sating Marisa's jones for a 'broadway musical'.

The next day we caught the subway downtown. We got off near the Brooklyn Bridge and decided it'd be cool to walk across. Which it was. Next we had to find a square where they were playing Obama's inauguration on big screens, and we managed to kill two birds with one stone on Wall Street. We watched history being made (there were a lot of emotional people around, of all races) in front of the NY Stock Exchange. Pretty cool. But absolutely freezing!!

We then caught the Staten Island ferry, which is free and goes past the Statue of Liberty. Again, it was freezing outside (large parts of the Hudson and East Rivers were frozen... so glad we weren't on the plane that crash there a couple of days previous), but it had to be braved for the photos.

We had a late lunch in Chinatown, then it was back to the hotel for another nap. Laugh all you want, but the combination of cold, kilometres covered and my lingering tummy bug really takes it out of you.

In the evening we went up the Empire State Building. It was pricey ($20US each) but there were no queues and we could spend as much time up the top as we liked, unencumbered... and it's one of those things you've just got to do. And it was spectacular. It hadn't snowed all day, and by the time we were up there, I think the skies were perfectly clear, which meant visibility was outstanding. It also meant it was beyond cold. But we were prepared for that, and rugged up accordingly (I think Marisa's layers went something like: polyprop, t-shirt, icebreaker, icebreaker, polar fleece, woolen jumper, raincoat, winter coat, scarf & beanie). Some of the other people up there hadn't taken such precautions (Australians, mostly) and as a result couldn't stay outside long enough to appreciate the view (though the view from the otherside of the glass is pretty good too).

So that was New York. We would have like a bit more time, perhaps to check out some of the museums (dinosaurs at the National History Museum!!), but Boston was calling.

The bus ride to Boston took about 4 hours, and it raced by as they played a movie (National Treasure 2, surprisingly engaging). Boston, being that little bit further north, was that little bit colder, but like New York, was now in the midst of a fine spell, though the snow remained piled on the roadsides. As we booked our accommodation in Boston late, our options were limited. We ended up staying in Everett, which was a tube ride and a bus ride away from the centre. It was kinda nice being out of the hubbub for a bit, and our dinner at a fair dinkum Massachusetts bar ('Why on earth would you come to Massachusetts in the middle of winter?'... 'You're going to Canada next? Are you crazy?') was big and hearty.

On our full day in Boston it was clear skies again. We followed the Freedom Trail, which is a red line on the footpath around Boston about 2 miles long which takes you past important sites from early Boston, like Paul Revere's house and the Bunker Hill monument. As a city, Marisa and I both really liked Boston: it felt "liveable", as opposed to NYC which I imagine would become a bit much after a while.

The next day we caught the bus to Niagara Falls. On paper, it was a 12 hour bus ride, but it was more like a string of shorter rides thought Mass. and upstate NY, which twenty minute breaks every so often when new passengers we collected. Our route went something like: Boston, Worcester, Albany, Utica, Syracuse, Rochester, Buffalo, border crossing at Fort Eire, then Niagara Falls. We arrived around 8pm, and after finding our hostel (a bit of a hassle as there were three Huron Streets to chose from), we set out to see the falls at night. They weren't lit up as the guy at the hostel had suggested, but they were still spectacular. Doubly amazing because we were just about the only people there.

When we returned the next morning, the extent of the freeze was more apparent, and if anything, the falls were more spectacular. Watching the chunks of ice slide over the top of the horseshoe falls just metres away from where we stood was something else.

In the afternoon we caught the bus to Hamilton (about an 1.5hrs away) where we stayed with out friends from Wellington, Nick and Lucy. It seems to be a theme of this trip that whenever we stay with friends, we play video games: with Nick and Lucy it was the Wii.

For dinner we went to an all you can eat sushi place. It was like we had died and gone to heaven. Quite a few restaurants around the Toronto region offer all you can eat sushi: quite how they can make any money out of it, and where they get their fish from, I dunno, but we weren't complaining.

The next day the four of us caught the bus to Toronto because it was time to watch the Sacramento Kings play the Toronto Raptors at the Air Canada Centre. Our seats were in the third (top) tier, but at centre court, so the view was pretty good. As Nick spent a year at Davis University near Sacramento, he supported the Kings too, and the boys kept the game close in the first half. It was a bit awkward being the only Kings fans around, though there wasn't a lot to cheer about in the second half as the Raptors pulled away and ended up winning 113-97. Still, that was one of my boyhood dreams fulfilled. Now I just have to see them win a game...

After the game Nick and Lucy went back to Hamilton, and Meze and I crashed at a cheap hostel in Chinatown as we had an early start the next morning to catch the bus to Montreal.

In all it took about 6.5 hours to get to Montreal, but it felt a world away: going from English-speaking Ontario to French-speaking Quebec. As Montreal was the farthest North we would be going, we'd primed ourselves that this would be the coldest place on our trip, but it didn't feel much colder than anywhere else we'd been in North America, though the high on our first full day in Montreal was about -12 C. We still walked around town, checking out the old town (a bit underwhelming), and the underground passages of the RESO (aka underground city). We tried poutine (french fries topped with curds and gravy) which is a Quebecoise delicacy (and a heart attack in a punnet).

The next day it snowed for the first time in a week for us. And it really snowed. The roads had disappeared and the footpaths were covered with about 10 centimetres of powder, which made for slow progress. We caught the metro over to the Olypmic Park (site of 1976 summer games). The velodrome has been converted into a biodome, housing four different environments (tropics, boreal, artic, antarctic). Highlights: seeing hummingbirds up close in the tropical zone (maybe we'll see them in the wild on one of our future legs???), the lynx (lynxes??). Sadly, the beaver was sleeping while we were there, and so were the porcupines. But it was a good way to keep entertained and out of the snow.

After our third night in Montreal, we were pleased to be heading back to Toronto, as our bed at the hostel had bed bugs. It was the first time we've encountered them on our travels, and hopefully the last.

Our accommodation for our second go round in Toronto was about as far removed from the bug-ridden mattress on the floor of Chez Jean Auberge. We have been put up the last two nights by Natalie and Cory, a couple we met on our tour through Egypt. They live in a four storey town house near the shore of Lake Ontario (but just a tram ride along Queen Street to downtown Toronto). It's been great to just relax here and recharge for our next tour(s) which will be all go.

Last night we went to dinner with more people from our Egypt tour (Jennifer, Daniella and Kennaway), then game back here and played Rock Band on the Wii (see what I was saying about video games...).

Tonight, Jen has outdone everyone and secured us tickets to see the ice hockey (Maple Leafs vs Pittsburgh Penguins). Super excited about that!

We've been very lucky these last few days, and hopefully we'll get the chance to repay all these favours if and when they come to NZ on holiday.

Next stop: Central America.