The Canadian National Tower

With the exception of a meal in a plane, flying at an altitude of 10 km or more, today we consumed a wonderful dinner at the highest elevation.
Jan and I sat at a table for two, right by the windows in the revolving restaurant of the CN Tower.
The tower reaches a height of 553.33 meters  and the restaurant is at the 330 meter level.
The dinner was very good, but the view was extraordinary. The restaurant revolves around its axis in 72 minutes, so in little over an hour you have Toronto spread out below you. Seen from this level, even the tallest skyscrapers look puny by comparison, but the Lake still looks mighty big.
The tower was completed in 1976 and I remember watching the helicopter, as it brought the last antenna and deftly lowered it, so it could be bolted into place.
For 34 years it was the world's tallest freestanding building,  when in 2010 taller structures were erected in Dubai and other Arab Nations. The CN tower is, to this day, the tallest building in the western hemisphere.
Since I did not design or build it, I have no reason to be proud of it, but I am pleased that it stands in Toronto as a symbol of our City.
Jan was impressed and so was

Bertstravels

Buffalo, New York

From Toronto to Niagara Falls it's a drive of about 1.5 hours and from there to Buffalo in the State of New York it is another 30 to 45 minutes. Seeing such proximity it is surprising that in over 50 years of my life in Toronto I had never visited this City until day before yesterday.
Buffalo is situated on the eastern end of Lake Erie and as the second largest City in the State of New York, it houses just short of 260,000 inhabitants. It is famous for its interesting architecture and  its well developed waterfront, where sail- and motor boats of all possible sizes abound. The park areas invite you to relax and sit in the sun. Another claim to fame are the "Buffalo Chicken Wings".
Although Buffalo is not one of the most economically thriving cities it is absolutely clean and in all the time we walked about throughout the downtown area and then down to the waterfront, we saw one single solitary beggar.sitting on a park bench. He wore a striped T-shirt, short khaki pants and on his lap he supported a sign, saying: 
" I am broke! Can you help  me ?"
Buffalo has a large Afro-American population. The friendliness of the people we encountered, without exception, was real and cordial.
Although we were only there from about 10 AM to approximately 4 PM I can state unequivocally that Buffalo has more to offer than the Buffalo Sabers and the  Buffalo Bills.

Bertstravels
was impressed.

Some misunderstandings:

This Blog also has some German speaking readers. Some of them speak English very well, and some not quite as well. Therefore it sometimes leads to little misunderstandings. 
For Instance: I said that the German Victory in the final of the world Cup of Soccer, would be celebrated in Germany with greater newspaper coverage than the outbreak of WWIII. One of my faithful readers took this as a anti-German dig and threatened not to read this Blog any further.
The expression that something is probably more important than WWIII is certainly not meant as "Anti-German" but is simply a way to express the extreme importance of a happening.
It is interesting to note that the accusation of my being "Anti German" was immediately followed by a tirade against America....  which is, so help me, a total nonsensical non-sequitur. 
So, dear reader, if you happen to read this, please do not stop reading these entries, but continue to read them and complain to your heart"s content about them.

Bertstravels

This is pretty awful !

A bitch gave birth to several young ones on the side of the road!
A cop came and charged her with littering.

Does Bertstravels really have to sink so low ?

What a Game

Schweinsteiger went down in pain, up again, a short while later down again and so on for at least 4 or 5 times. This man must have bruises on his bruises. I imagine, though, that it was all worth it. Winning the World Cup in Soccer is not just an achievement... it is a great accomplishment and all my congratulations and best wishes go out to this incredible team. A coach must be a very happy camper when blessed with the bench strength the German team has.
I shall not write any more about this game, since more will be written in every news paper than about any other event. Particularly in Germany, this Victory would have outclassed the outbreak of WW III.

I will write later about other things .. so just wait a while

Bertstravels.

Meeting of "The Good Guys"

I had been looking forward to this evening. Our 'annual' meeting with the 'boys' (although by now they are all 'men') of Willowdale United. The soccer club which gave us all so much fun.
Unfortunately not everyone could make it: The Stevenato brothers, Paul and Bob (Hollywood and Fets) were away on a joint vacation with their respective families, Carlo Orrico underwent back surgery not too long ago and just started with Physiotherapy.
 But Steven Mitro (Mits) sat to my left and gave me some concern, since his tough manner of play, with elbows always threatening, was a constant reminder to behave myself. 
Frank Vessio ( Scio, #10, Captain of the team) still has not lost his suave self. A clever ball control and scoring touch were his hallmark.
Then came Ian Searl, "The Duke", a lovely midfielder, (Centerhalf) with great ball distribution and a deft feel for the game.
Nat Capitanio, always reliable in Midfield, and a great personality on and off the field. 
Joe Baker the great utility player any team needs. Joe played Goal, when needed, although small in body size, Joe was big in spirit and a tough defender. He also played in Midfield and scored a few goals up front.
Steven Reitter (does this name sound familiar? ). Many a time, Steven kept us in some touchy games with some diving saves, which Neuer would have been proud of.
Then, of course, the red headed Greek,  Gil Kokkinos. whose red has changed into grey. Hey, he is not the only one whose head covering  features a touch or more of Grey.  Gil always made me feel comfortable, since he was always a reliable performer. Gil was never flashy but without fail, there when needed.
If my description of this team sounds like a contender for the World Cup Final, ascribe this to my love for "The Good Guys". We shared some wonderful moments together, but also some disappointments: remember the 7:1 loss against Wacker Innsbruck ? These things also have to happen. Only then can you say: 
"This team always had Character."

Always a proud Coach:
Bertstravels.

p.s. I hope I have not forgotten anybody.

Good Guys get Sunshine

Sure, it rained, as we left Toronto. By the time we reached Kingston the sun shone brilliantly from an almost cloudless sky... on to Ottawa, where it was almost a little too hot for site-seeing and then to Algonquin Park.
Two days there was really too short. However, we got a little canoeing trip into our activity schedule,
At the halfway mark of which, I dumped my D300 plus lens into two feet of water. You can imagine that this favourite camera of mine (and the only one I have with me, is totally fried. I have had a few conversations with my Insurance adjuster and I will get my "insured value" paid out in full. He will in fact, issue a cheque within a day or so...
On our canoeing trip we saw two young (probably three years old) bull moose.
The Park is as beautiful as I remember it.
Greetings for now from

Bertstravels.