Canadian girl out and aboot

So I'm back. It was a whirlwind trip, and I'm a bit tired.

I won't tell you how B* did on Jeopardy!, but I will tell you about the trip and the taping. You'll be able to watch him yourself on July 14th, but that's all I'm going to say.

I'll continue onward to Friday-

B* took the shuttle to the Sony Picture studios, and we (B*Mom, B*dad, his friends Ray and Michelle, Michelle's sister Sharron and I) in cars, arriving at the studios at 11:00. We checked in with security, and were given yellow id bracelets and red stickers marking us as contesant guests). We were not allowed to bring cameras or cell phones onto the lot. A security guard escorted us to the washroom, which was located near the filming of Spidey 3 but there were no Tobey or Kirsten sightings.

Finally at 11:30, they let us onto the lot where we sat in the very small studio and watched Jeopardy! tapings with the other contestant guests, production guests and people on studio tours who were sitting in on the show. We were greeted by voice-over man Jonny Gilbert, and got to chat with Alex Trebek in between takes. You have to be absolutely quiet during play, but are encouraged to applaud when contestants do well. Alex is quite chatty and rather fun, and has two very young kids. Contestants also get their pictures taken with Alex during the commercial break.

When the day was over, we went back to the hotel and B* washed ten pounds of makeup off of his face. Then we went to dinner at "The Warehouse", which is an old school seafood restaurant that was created in the 1960s near Santa Monica. It was used as a location in "Meet the Parents 2". B* had already warned me that the end of the day would involve libations, and so he and I imbibed cocktails, falling into bed by midnight.

Saturday- B*mom had made arrangements with B*'s cousin who took us to Hollywood Boulevard where we saw Grauman's Chinese theatre, the walk of Fame (why does Kenny Loggins have a star?) the Wax Museum, the Kodak Theatre (very cool with tacky elephants) and various other Hollywoody sites. I was surprised to note that many movie stars have small hands and feet. I took pictures of my feet inside Johnny Depp's because he was wearing Doc Martens just like me. We went to the Hollywood Entertainment Museum, which was okay, but could not be compared to something like the Science Fiction Museum. We got to see sets from the X-files, Cheers (somewhat interesting) and Star Trek, along with various other pieces of Hollywood memorabilia. I did learn a few things, so it wasn't a complete waste.

B*'s cousin took us to the beach and pier at Santa Monica, which is a gorgeous white sand beach. I loved the architecture and Spanish influence in L.A. From there, we went to Little Taipei to meet up with more B* relatives for a meal of Chinese Islamic food, which was kind of interesting. The food was a bit different than anything else I'd ever tried and included a flat bread with onions, and jellyfish which was chewy and pickly.

Sunday- We slept in, and then flew home. I have some things to do before I start my first full week at my new job

We're now in New York. After dim sum, which we sort of missed, we took the bus to New York City. We actually took the Fung Wah Bus , which travels from Boston's Chinatown to New York's for only 15$! You can buy tickets on the platform in Boston and it's just a regular Greyhound. We checked into the Cosmo, pausing to view City Hall on the way. Then it was off to Manhattan, where we dropped off B*'s friend Alex and went for dinner with his sister, her husband and their baby. We then jumped back on the Subway and toured Times Square, which I found to be a bit of an assault on the senses. So far I find New York smelly and dirty, but ultimately intriguing and fascinating. We only have two days, so tomorrow we are meeting up with friends and are going to hit some of the major tourist attractions.

***
Somewhere in all this activity, I have caught a bit of a cold and my throat is very sore.

I must admit that I feel somewhat guilty writing about my trip when 1000s of people are dying. I have been following the news, and it does make me feel sick and disgusted. I plan to donate to some of the relief efforts when I get back home.
***

Yesterday B* and I went to the Mary Baker Eddy Center for the Betterment of Humanity, mostly to visit the Maparium, which is a large globe. You stand on the inside of the globe and listen to a brief presentation of how the world looked in 1935, and the importance of ideas. We then turned the museum, which is a homage to Mary Baker Eddy, who founded Christian Science and the Christian Science Monitor. I didn't know anything about her before, but she was an interesting lady and helped develop the mind/body connection in medicine.

After this, we walked the freedom trail, which shows various monuments and areas of interest in America's history. I really liked the graveyards along the trail, and managed to add more knowledge to my meagre understanding of US history. After this, we went on a Boston Duck tour, which I really enjoyed. Lunch was Boston Clam Chowda (yum) and dinner was a seafood salad. I feel that I've been a good tourist.

I love learning about history by being in a location and Boston has been really great for that. I have noticed that people are not as polite as I am used to, and that people tend to yell a lot more.

Today is the day of the actual wedding. All of the high school gang (not my high school gang) has converged for the wedding, which is interesting. I have met both of the grooms, and the family of one of the grooms. The wedding today sounds like it will be both fun and tasteful. I'm looking forward to it.

Well, we arrived in Boston yesterday. On the way to the plane, I glimpsed a random celebrity. In fact, I was checking in my luggage and going through security right next to her. I was trying to get B* to look at her, by widening my eyes and gesturing with my head. Finally I had to whisper about her to him, but he still didn't believe me.

I was standing next to a woman about my height, with red hair in a pony tail. She was wearing a black sweatshirt, black jeans, white converse and had chipped black nail polish on. I recognized her from her wide set blue-green eyes. B* didn't believe me, so I approached her and asked her if she was Shirley Manson. She said that she was, and I told her I enjoyed her work. She thanked me, and we went on our separate ways. She has quite a thick Scottish accent.

Our flight was uneventful, except for the really bad sweet rice that I had, and the fact that we got to watch "Mr. and Mrs. Smith", which sucked as much as I expected it to.

We travelled into the city and arrived at Harvard, which made me think of [Bad username or site: @ livejournal.com] and Good Will Hunting. Then B*'s friend picked us up and we spent the night at his place. I love the New England architecture and the brick streets, but find it really muggy here. The weather was much nicer today.