Gift of RA

I didn’t expect this to go into Part 3.  I also had to find pictures on the web for Niagara Falls because I wasn’t able to take any myself.  I just found a picture of the Patriarch of the Orthodox Armenian church – as opposed to the Catholic one.  Armenians are either Orthodox or Catholic.

This is him after his investiture in Jerusalem

If I remember correctly, we were  on the main street of Niagara Falls and then we turned to go down the hill to the falls.  You can see the falls on the U.S. side straight ahead.

If you remember the picture of the road along side the falls, there are sidewalks and a road – no stopping or parking on the road.  Both road and sidewalk were full of people and all around were park like areas.  At Christmas time they put up all kinds of light displays – I saw these on the web:

Every where we went, there were lighted displays all around.  They were not just Christmas themed, it was all kinds.  This only happens at Christmas and Raouf wanted us to see the light displays on the falls themselves.  It must not have been dark enough because we could see the falls quite well.  So we missed that but since I was so fascinated by the falls, I don’t feel I missed much.  Not sure I would ever be tired of looking at the falls.  I was amazed at how many people were out – maybe they didn’t think it was all that cold.

We needed to stop for gas and I think it was St. Catherine that we stopped.  Raouf as a cross hanging from his rear view mirror and the fellow at the next pump came over and warned him it was a very muslim town – that he could get beaten up if any of the muslims saw his cross.  We got gas and left, so there was no trouble.  It seems there are enclaves of groups all over the area. It was interesting when Sonia would say where we were at the moment was a particular group’s area.  Then again, Canada never advertised itself as a melting pot.

We sat up until midnight or so – that seemed to be how it went.  Sleep in around  8 or 9, go to bed late.  Very opposite of our usual routine.  Even now, I am still readjusting to home.  There was always things to talk about, we watched a couple of movies, and we enjoyed talking with Brahim and Jiries when they were around.

The night before we left, friends of Sonia came over for a visit.  She went to the German nuns school with Clovadis; not sure if Sonia also knew her husband or not.  We had a lovely time with them and of course the food came out – nuts first, then individual plates of fruit, then the cheesecake.  It happens any time we go to family or friends.

Tuesday Raouf went to buy “Jerusalem bagels” baked fresh and somewhat like kiake in Jerusalem.  It is bigger than the ones in Jerusalem but oh so good.  We also had one to take home with us – Eddie babysat it all the way home.

We had to get up very early Wednesday for our flight.  We were due to stop in Houston and then board a 737 for Seattle.  Eddie had arranged first class tickets with his miles – unfortunately Embraer first class isn’t all that much better than coach.  Neither of us slept well Tuesday night so it wasn’t all that difficult to get up around 4.  We checked our bags and a wheelchair was arranged for me – traveling is a lot harder than it used to be and especially since I have been out of breath so easily since the bronchitis.  However, going through security and customs is a lot easier and so is going to the gate.

Eddie had arranged for 1st class, though a small plane doesn’t quite have the same comfort and a regular plane.  However, it worked out quite well and we made it to Houston on time.  It was either stop in Chicago or Houston and both Eddie and I aren’t that enamored of Chicago.  We arrived only to find out flight was cancelled.  I figured that was the end of first class.  Seems all the rain and storms around the country have made travel much more difficult – even the pilots and flight attendants were having trouble making flights.  So they booked us as standby on another flight – miles away.  They have trams in Houston, so we were in one terminal and had to go to another one on the tram.  When we went to the concourse, we used the passenger cart to get to the gate – I did anyway, Eddie preferred to walk.

We had 3 or 4 hours to wait – as standby, there was no telling if we would actually get on the flight.  A while later they announced a new flight had been put on and all on standby were on that one.  Of course it was over the next concourse – thank goodness for the passenger cart!  So we were on the flight but it was delayed – the flight attendants hadn’t arrived yet.  When they came, we had to wait for the pilot to arrive, his flight was due in shortly.  Needless to say, we didn’t leave on time.

Since I figured first class was not an option, I had quite a surprise when we went on board – we had the real deal all the way!!

The seats were really plush and comfortable, lots of leg room

If you want, they also recline all the way to sleep.

This was a first for me – I wonder if I would have appreciated more if I had felt better.  Anyway, it was the best part of the flight home.  By the time we came home – once again we had a private car to take us home.  We were both very glad to be home at last.  We both slept quite well – we had started out 3 hours earlier.  that was our trip to Toronto for Christmas.

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