* I've said goodbye to New York but before that I squeezed in a few more things. On Saturday it was a beautiful spring day and I walked across the Brooklyn Bridge and explored Brooklyn a little. It was so warm (well, for over here at this time of year anyway) that I had to take off my gloves, scarf and coat! Then I met up with Nicole who I met at New York Church International last Sunday. She showed me around Union Square and Greenwhich Village - it was lovely to hang out with her.

Of course I just had to see another Broadway show and this time it was Grey Gardens: http://www.greygardensthemusical.com/ a brilliant show about the cousin and aunt of Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis. It really was one of those shows that stands up as a piece of theatre and also happened to be a beautiful musical.

On my last day in New York I went to church at the Brooklyn Tabernacle - they have an amazing choir. The whole service was great: joyful worship, great singing and one of those messages that just seems to be aimed right at you specifically. I really related to the pastor asking if we were tired of being stirred by a talk/sermon but not changed - definitely something to work on.

I also went to the Statue of Liberty and Ellis Island. I was really glad to go the the statue and go up to the observation deck but for me the Ellis Island Immigration Museum was really special. It was amazing to be in the place where so many people arrived with dreams and hopes for a new life. The audio guide was great as you could listen to commentry from immigrants who came through Ellis Island on their way to America.
"And now for something completely different!" On Sunday night I went to 'Spamalot', the Monty Python musical. It was so funny including such Monty Python greats as The Knights Who Say 'Ni!', the Fisch Schlapping Dance, 'Always Look On The Bright Side of Life' and heaps of musical theatre injokes. It was so hilarious!

On Monday I flew to Toronto where Katie picked me up. What is normally a 2 hour drive south to London, Ontario took 4 hours because of a number of road closures and accidents - lots of wind and snow (well, mostly snow being blown off the ground). Katie did a great job as we followed an amazingly friendly truck driver who showed us a bit of a detour around the problems.

It is so great to be here: Mike and Katie are so lovely and lots of fun. It's great to be able to put my bags down in one place for a while. And they really know how to do winter here. Right now as I type this it's -13c (but the weather forecasts always say what it feels like (due to the windchill factor) and right now it 'feels like' -19c). More to come soon as I explore London.

If you want to see anymore New York pix, here's an updated link: http://picasaweb.google.com/bec.kimpton/NewYorkCity