Travel Review 3

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Travel Review 3

Third Time's A Charm

by Jeremy Ruane

I arrived in Vancouver to discover the Ramada Downtown Hotel was one block away from the local church, and fifteen minutes' walk away from BC Place, where I soon arrived to take in the clash of Japan and Holland.

What a cracking game of football the final round of sixteen encounter turned out to be! A real pleasure for the purists, with possession football aplenty and technical quality of the highest order.

It was a shame there had to be a loser, but the reigning world champions weren't to be denied in the end, uncorking one of the great goals to ultimately end the hopes of a Dutch side for whom these Women's World Cup Finals were their first such event. Believe me, they won't be their last - a very impressive team.

The goal that did for them - WOW! There were only four players involved in this mesmerising move, but one of them was Mana Iwabuchi … this lass could cause a riot in a phone booth! Think Luis Suarez, without the temperament issues - she really is that good!

She sparked off the move, and made it stand out from so many other goals with her awareness of other team-mates' positions. She sold the Dutch a dummy par excellence to give Mizuho Sakaguchi the time and space from which she curled home a fitting winner to crown this fine advertisement for football, gender regardless.

Next day, it was time to go exploring Vancouver, and when you're on a tight timetable, you can't beat a hop-on, hop-off open-top bus tour which takes in all the key tourist spots. Great value for money, and photo opportunities aplenty!

I find the best way to do these tours is to stay on board the bus for the full tour, which gives you a chance to see all the sights, and pick out the ones which most interest you. Then, second time round, you can hop off, explore, then get the bus to your next location.

Part of the Vancouver trip took us past the luxury car sales yards … In the window of one exotic marque was a 2015 Aston Martin DB9 Carbon Edition Coupe, complete with James Bond decals. Bliss! Then I saw the price tag $CAN 258,750 … slightly out of my range, unfortunately … :-(

Stanley Park, in my mind, is the stretch of land separating the centre of the footballing universe, Anfield to the uninitiated, from the home of our noisy neighbours. Needless to say, I greatly enjoyed an excursion around Vancouver's version, particularly Prospect Point, where the sight of tankers and bulkers aplenty at anchor captivated my attention - you'll understand if you've worked 25 years in the maritime industry.

What better way to conclude a day's sightseeing - including the fascinating Steam Clock, a remarkable piece of machinery! - than dinner at the Top of Vancouver revolving restaurant, 550 feet above the city where a delicious halibut fillet was consumed and a gorgeous sunset witnessed.

June 25 saw me heading to the airport for a flying visit to Toronto, definitely a place I'll need to spend more time in if I ever come to Canada again. But this was no ordinary flight!

I had the good fortune to have an absolutely drop-dead-gorgeous babe sitting across the aisle from me. She was stunning! I've no idea who she is, and I've never seen her since, but by the time we'd landed in Toronto I'd quite literally penned a poem about her - the words just flowed from my fingertips onto my laptop! Talk about inspired!

By the time I landed in Toronto, and had made the train ride from the Holiday Inn Toronto International Airport to the city, an open-top bus tour was out of the question, as was a visit to the Hockey Hall of Fame - a must-do in this ice hockey-playing nation, but not for me this time round.

A harbour cruise was just what the doctor ordered, however, and allowed me, amongst other things, a close-up look of operations at Billy Bishop Toronto City Airport (below), as well as a glimpse (below right) of the shortest ferry trip in the world!

It takes just 90 seconds, and travels just 121 metres, but you get from Bathurst Street to the airport - or back - on a vehicular ferry, which

CN Tower alight at night

A stunning sunset in Toronto

Toronto's skyline, as seen from above it!

The name's Bond ...

The steam clock in downtown Vancouver

The stunning Notre Dame Basilica

operates every fifteen minutes. Remarkable!

Toronto has a spectacular skyline, with CN Tower its defining feature - and at 1,815 feet, 5 inches, so it should be! It's the third tallest building in the world, and its revolving restaurant is the highest viewing platform on the planet - where better than to tuck into a delicious serving of Pacific Ling Cod, see Toronto from above and witness another stunning sunset!

A mention, too, of the Union Pearson Express, the train which takes you from downtown Toronto to Pearson International Airport in 25 minutes - a great service, one which I thoroughly recommend.

My hotel was five minutes' drive from the airport, where I turned up next morning bound for Montreal. No sunset dinners for me on this particular evening. Instead, I was a first-hand witness to one of the all-time-great contests in the history of the FIFA Women's World Cup.

The quarter-final clash of Germany and France was billed as a not-to-be-missed encounter between the first- and third ranked women's footballing nations. It was everything it was made up to be, and then some - a quite magnificent encounter which went all the way and beyond, penalties being required to settle a fantastic contest - and even they were text-book executions from twelve yards.

Sadly, there had to be a loser, and the French were the team destined to depart prematurely - they didn't deserve to, such was their performance. But the Germans did what the Germans do so well, and onto the semi-finals Silvia Neid's charges marched.

The budget didn't stretch to making return trips to either Edmonton or Vancouver next day, so I watched the other quarter-finals on TV. Japan edged Oz (thank grief!), the USA saw off China and an English team growing in confidence by the match ended the hopes of the host nation in a very good contest. But I definitely attended the best quarter-final.

While in Montreal, I received the sad news that my oldest aunty had died. So when I headed to the Centre Bell Arena on the evening of June 28, I needed a bit of a pick-me-"Up! Up! Up! There's no way but up from here!"

Shania Twain provided me with, without question, one of the top three outstanding highlights of a working holiday in Canada which has been laden with them! An absolutely fantastic concert, and an artist I'm so pleased to have seen before she retires from performing live. All the hits were there, and there wasn't a dry eye in the house when she sang "From This Moment On" - a truly magnificent rendition.

I stayed on in Montreal because the first semi-final was scheduled to take place there. Time to see the sights on another open-top bus tour, and one stop in particular was top of the list.

While I also went to Mary Queen of the World Basilica and St. Patrick's Basilica on this particular day, I saved the best till last - Notre Dame Basilica is magnifique! The number of people you hear gasp in awe as they go through the door on their left then turn right …

On the final day of June, I enjoyed a lovely cruise around the confines of the port on the St. Lawrence River, and was fascinated to learn that it takes the best part of two-and-a-half days for a ship, after leaving the port, to reach the Atlantic Ocean.

After this, I came across a couple of wee gems - a magnificent Rolls Royce Phantom V from the early 1960s (below left), complete with white-wall tyres and wedding decorations, and a lovely little squirrel, who was having a wonderful time dashing up and down his tree into and out of the nearby rubbish bins.

There were no squirrels around where I was headed that evening, however, and no place for faint hearts, either. There never are when the USA and Germany meet in women's football, and particularly not when there's a place in the FIFA Women's World Cup Final at stake, a wrap-up of which will lead my next travel review, one of the highlights of which will be a trip across the border to meet the rellies!

2015