The year 2000 was a busy year for us, especially with travelling. In February we went to the Quebec Winter Carnival (-30° Celsius), in May/June we flew to Arizona (+40° Celsius). So the best way to close such a year is with another vacation.

So we got ourselves flights with KLM to Montreal with return flights from Toronto for only EUR 450.00 per person. It was the first time we flew KLM, and we immediately joined the "Flying Dutchman" frequent flyer programme.

Our first impressions were excellent. Changing planes in Amsterdam was no hassle at all - compared with busy London Heathrow where you have to change terminals and go by bus through a poorly ventilated tunnel. The Amsterdam Airport is not too busy and crowded - neither with planes, nor with people.

We arrived at Montreal Dorval Airport at around 5.30pm local time. After a short delay at immigrations we headed to the AVIS desk to pick up our car. It took us a little longer than usual, because the rental agent was a trainee, so he had to ask his colleague very often while preparing the rental contract, and we had to pay extra attention to get all the things on our voucher included in the contract (insurance, additional driver, fuel option, etc.). But we got what we wanted, a brand new white Pontiac Grand Am with only 1600km on the odometer.

After a good night sleep and a hearty breakfast in an almost empty restaurant we first took pictures of the hotel and the snow covered surroundings and then headed for the first attraction - a tiny ferry that would take us across the Lake Champlain into Vermont. And what a ride that was! The heavy wind produced huge waves, which sometimes spilled large amounts of water across the cars on the open deck. Good thing we did as the locals did - we stayed in the car.

We then took the road south to Burlington and straight on towards Ferrisburgh, where we stopped at the Dakin Farm. We strolled through the crowded store, tasted samples of maple syrup, sausages, cheese and sweets. With a jar of honey/cinnamon spread and a jug of pure maple syrup we left the store and headed back north to Shelburne, where we paid the Vermont Teddy Bear Company a short visit. We did not take part in a factory tour. Just seeing the sales area is an attraction for itself. There you can buy not only teddy bears, but also all the accessories, from pants and dresses to sunglasses and tattoos. For lunch we went to Gillian's Restaurant, located just off the main road in Shelburne. There we could get the first taste of the excellent New England cuisine and it's most well known dish - the clam chowder. Stuffed with great food we walked a few metres down Falls Road to the Shelburne Country Store. This almost antique house is cramped full with Vermont food stuffs, gifts, jewellery, pottery, souvenirs and antiques. We spent quite a long time in there and both of us secretly bought Christmas presents for each other, and more openly also for our friends and relatives.

With a trunk yet full with more stuff we drove into Burlington and parked the car at the Bank Street parking garage, just a few steps off Church Street Marketplace Pedestrian Mall. This pedestrian zone by the way received the "Great American Main Street Award". We admired the beautiful Christmas lights, listened to musicians singing traditional Christmas tunes, and watched the snow ... melt away in the pouring rain! It started to rain the minute we got out of the parking building. At the Burlington Town Center - an indoor shopping mall just off the pedestrian zone - we bought more presents, most of them at "Bath and Body Works". They even have butter cookie shower gel! Of course we bought it.

Finally, at the end of an unpaved road through the woods, we found "our" bridge. We took pictures and video, drove across the bridge, and back to Waterbury. On the way we stopped at the Cold Hollow Cider Mill to get some hot apple cider and apple cider donuts. We spent quite some time in that shop, tasting local foods and buying some more stuff and Christmas presents.

Next stop was the Cabot Annex Store, where you get - by definition - the "best cheddar in the world". Half of this store is dedicated to farm produce, mainly cheese, in the other half they sell Green Mountain Chocolates. Lianne spent lots of time in the chocolate department, while Christian went through all the available samples of cheddar cheese, crackers and dipping sauces. Amongst other things we bought powdered cheddar cheese for use on air-popped popcorn.

Then we were off to the next attraction, Ben & Jerry's ice cream factory. We took part in a very interesting factory tour. As it was Sunday and production is off Sundays, we couldn't actually see ice cream being made, but we did get an idea of the visions these two guys (Ben and Jerry), and we learned, that from that Vermont location ice cream is shipped to the whole world - but unfortunately not to Austria. What we didn't know before was, that they had sold the company to Unilever just a short time ago.

Meanwhile the rain turned from unbelievably heavy to just drizzle, so we decided to drive west on Highway 2 to Jonesville, to see the Jonesville Country Store, which was marked as yet another attraction in the local map. As we finally reached that place we didn't even stop, because this store didn't appear to be open - no parked cars, no sign of people. Plus we had seen enough (and prettier) country stores before. So we drove on to Burlington again and went shopping at a plaza south of the city centre. Lianne bought herself some stuff at The Dress Barn and TJ Maxx, then we went to a huge household products store.

Hungry from all that shopping we looked for the nearest Applebee's, where we then had an excellent dinner. The drive back to our hotel was a much faster one that the day before - no signs of rain, snow or ice.

At Montpelier we drove off the Interstate 89 in order to visit the 200 year old Morse Farm Sugar Works. They offer free maple syrup tasting at their country store and at the outdoor museum you can learn a few things about maple syrup making.

A couple of miles north of Boston we got off the Interstate 93 to get some gas and to change drivers. At the gas station Christian asked the cashier if he could use the washrooms. It took a long time for the guy to understand, what Christian wanted - because in the States they call them restrooms. Then came the answer "I don't have the key". Oh well, at least we could fill up the car. We then drove to the next fast food place, which happened to be a Dunkin' Donuts. While waiting for Christian to come out of the washrooms Lianne decided to grab some donuts and coffee. We ended up throwing the coffee in the garbage, it was horrible.

After a breakfast in the sitting area adjacent to the hotel lobby we got into the car and drove downtown. We decided to park the car at the garage at the New England Aquarium. From there we walked the State Street to Faneuil Hall. At this building the resistance against the British was organized. From there we walked along the Freedom Trail, a 2,5 mile walking tour of historic sites from the Colonial and Revolutionary Era. A red line painted on the sidewalks connects all sites. This day was bitterly cold, so we skipped the northern part of the Freedom Trail and went on to the Old State House. Built in 1713 it is the oldest public building in Boston. A couple of feet south we went by the Old South Meeting House, where the order for the Boston Tea Party was given. The next sight on our way was the King's Chapel, built in 1754. From the Boston Common, the oldest park in the country, we could already catch a glimpse of a wonderful Boston landmark - the State House. Unfortunately this building was being renovated at the time of our visit. All of the walls were covered, but at least we could admire the distinctive golden dome.

From there we took a detour through Beacon Hill, a beautiful residential area, which is one of the most desirable places in Boston to live, with 18^th century mansions, red brick sidewalks, flower boxes, gas street lanterns, stained glass windows and antique door knockers. Back at Beacon Street, which borders Boston Common, Lianne warmed up on an Eggnog-flavoured coffee from Starbucks. Then we went on in search of the famous Cheers pub.

On the way back to the harbour we stopped at the Hardrock Cafe. Lianne collects the special edition tees, so we bought one along with a sweater for Christian's brother. The harbour was quite a big disappointment, it was just a huge construction site. The Tea Party Ship was squeezed in between huge crane ships.

Our last item on our list of things to do and see was Legal Sea Foods, an excellent restaurant just across from the aquarium. We enjoyed every Cent of the US$ 86 we spent there. Their Clam Chowder was excellent, and so was the grilled arctic char and all the other stuff we ordered.

The drive south lead us through some beautiful landscapes, covered in light snow. As we reached New Haven, Connecticut, we decided to stop for lunch at the next Cracker Barrel. So we drove off the I-95 at Milford to have a home cooked meal. As always we were very satisfied with the quality of food and service.

After we entered New York State we drove north-west on I-287 and crossed the Tappan Zee Bridge. After a couple of miles on the Palisades Parkway we finally reached our hotel in Fort Lee. The Holiday Inn, in which we stayed the next three nights, is conveniently located at RT-4 just a few hundred feet away from the George Washington Bridge.

The Rockefeller Center is one highlight of sights to see at Christmas time. At the plaza leading to the skate rink there are dozens of white horn blowing angel statues, down at the ice people, mainly kids, skate in circles, watched by tons of other people and a huge decorated spruce tree.

So we headed to Times Square. This place actually looks better at nighttime because of all the huge electronic billboards. We particularly like the Nasdaq Building where stock tickers are projected on all of it's walls. As we needed urgent warming-up again we went into the next McDonald's to get some hot chocolate and have a short rest.

Next stop was at Soup Kitchen International. One of the most memorable episodes of the TV-comedy "Seinfeld" was the one about the eccentric soup guy and his famous words "No soup for you!". This small Manhattan takeout served as inspiration to this hilarious episode. And it is exactly as the show represented it. Al Yeganeh's (the real soup guy) rules of behaviour are posted on clearly visible signs: "The line must be kept moving - pick the soup you want - have your money ready - move to the extreme left after ordering". So we did as we were told and had a delicious Seafood and Corn Chowder soup, which we enjoyed on our way back to Broadway. Each soup comes with a bag of sides: bread, fresh fruit and even a chocolate. By the way, Al Yeganeh has top ratings for his excellent soup creations at the Zagat Restaurant Survey of New York.

The remaining late afternoon we spent shopping at the huge Warner Brothers store on Fifth Avenue, where we bought more presents, followed by dinner at the Brooklyn Diner on 57^th Street. This restaurant serves mainly homestyle comfort food. We were lucky to immediately get a table, half an hour later there was already a line-up in- and outside. Lianne ordered a 15-bite hot-dog, which was served with sauerkraut and fries. This thing was bigger that the plate it was served on and took quite a few bites more than its name suggested. Their desserts are huge, really huge, the Lemon Meringue was at least 20 centimetres in height. We decided on Boston Cream Pie instead, to split between the two of us.

On our way to Battery Park we went into a Au Bon Pain for lunch. We had soup and salad. Later at the ferry terminal the weather got worse. The clouds were hanging very deep and there was no chance of seeing the Statue of Liberty. It was way too foggy.

Our next stop was at 34^th street where we went into Macy's, but not for long. There were far too many people in the store and it was impossible to check out their stuff due to the constantly moving mass of people.

The remaining hours of the afternoon we spent slowly walking up back north and buying more Christmas presents along the way. Lianne bought amongst other things cocoa butter lip balm for her family in Canada - stuff they cannot find up there. After a stroll through Bloomingdale's we looked for a place where Christian could satisfy his craving for a Reuben Sandwich. We ended up at Ben Ash Delicatessen on 7th avenue above 53^rd Street. What we didn't know at the time of ordering was, that at Ben Ash you get 1.5 pound of meat in your sandwich, so we headed home with well filled doggy bags. That evening parking was a bit more expensive - US$ 27.00.

After checking out and packing the car we headed east on I-80, searching for a Cracker Barrel, where we could have breakfast. We ended up in Budd Lake, where we had a delicious warm breakfast - omelettes and pancakes - at a Perkins Family Restaurant. There we learned, that when you order Canadian Bacon in the States you just get slices of plain round sausage. After desperately searching the ramp onto the I-80 (exit 26 only takes you off the Interstate) we finally found the entrance, which is located back east at exit 27.

During these days we mainly spent our time with visiting family in Mississauga, Barrie, Belleville and Trenton. Most of the time we ate at home, with only a couple of exemptions. We took our niece to the Rainforest Cafe at Yorkdale Mall in Toronto, went to Red Lobster in Barrie (we love Red Lobster), and hat dinner at Tony Roma's in Mississauga. We also went to the Lonestar Cafe opposite the Square One shopping mall in Mississauga, but we were very disappointed. The interior and the furniture looked pretty worn down and the food was not worth the money we paid for it.

We left for the Toronto Airport in the early afternoon. At the check-in the lady from KLM told us, that they do not have seat reservations and gave us seats on opposite corners of the plane. We found that very strange, because we always make seat reservations at the time of booking. So we tried our luck at the gate - and there was already a line-up of people whose reservations were also lost. The guy before us didn't have any luck, he and his family couldn't sit together in the plane, because is was completely full. Then it was our turn. The lady at the desk looked at our tickets and said "Oh, you are frequent flyers. I'm going to give you two seats you are really going to like". We looked at the boarding passes and read "2A" and "5A" - what a service! In the plane we swapped seats with another passenger and had an excellent flight in business class in seats 2A and 2B.