Itinerary

Route map for my 2009 journey around North America

View/Download PDF of the map of my route, updated 23rd November 2009 (that way you can zoom in and out and move around to your heart’s content)

(Itinerary updated 23rd November 2009) This is the itinerary for my journey through North America; I have now booked all transport to take me back to New York and thence to London on 15th December.

I have also inserted brief notes on things I have done and seen on individual days so far. This is something else which I will inevitably fall behind in keeping up, but do come back often if you are interested in knowing what I have seen and when.

Texas and the Grand Canyon: 30th July–8th August

  • 30th July: flight, Sydney–Los Angeles–Austin
  • 30th July–3rd August: in Austin
    • 1st August: dealing with jet-lag, pounding the streets; Austin Museum of Art, Mexic-Arte museum
    • 2nd August: midday Mass in Austin cathedral; Lyndon Baines Johnson museum
    • 3rd August: Bob Bullock Texas History museum, Texas Capitol
  • 3rd August: train, Austin–San Antonio
  • 3rd–6th August: in San Antonio
    • 4th–5th August: San Antonio river walk, the Alamo, San Fernando cathedral
  • 6th August: train, San Antonio–Tucson (Arizona)
  • 7th August: flight, Tucson–Phoenix–Flagstaff; bus, Flagstaff–Grand Canyon Village
  • 7th–8th August: at Grand Canyon
  • 8th August: taxi, Grand Canyon–Flagstaff; flight, Flagstaff–Phoenix–Los Angeles

California and Denver: 8th–24th August

  • 8th–12th August: in Los Angeles
    • 9th August: 10am Mass in Los Angeles cathedral; walking through downtown L.A.
    • 10th August: to Santa Monica, walk south to Venice Beach
    • 11th August: day-trip by train to San Diego
  • 12th August: train, Los Angeles–Oakland; bus, Oakland–San Francisco
  • 12th–17th August: in San Francisco
    • 13th August: briefly around Union Square, briefly in the Golden Gate Park, to the Golden Gate Bridge, walking back downtown along the coast
    • 14th August: walking around San Francisco, including Chinatown, North Beach, Telegraph Hill, Coit Tower. Walk across the Golden Gate Bridge to the Marin Headlands and back
    • 15th August: cable car museum, shopping in downtown San Francisco around Union Square
    • 16th August: 7.30 a.m. Mass at the church of Notre Dame des Victoires; to Japanese Tea Garden, Alamo Square, and to Treasure Island and back
  • 17th August: flight, San Francisco–Los Angeles–Denver
  • 17th–21st August: in Denver visiting my sister Elizabeth
    • 18th August: to Colorado Springs, Manitou Springs, Manitou Cave Dwellings, and the Garden of the gods with Elizabeth
    • 19th August: shopping in Denver with and for Elizabeth, then to Camp St Malo with Elizabeth and Libby, hiking the JPII trail with Elizabeth
    • 20th August: hiking in Rocky Mountains National Park with Elizabeth when I sprain my ankle at Dream Lake; back to Denver
  • 21st–22nd August: train, Denver–Sacramento (including a couple of hours at Salt Lake City in the evening of 21st August)
  • 22nd–24th August: in Sacramento
  • 24th August: flight, Sacramento–Seattle–Anchorage

Alaska: 24th–29th August

  • 24th August: in Anchorage
  • 25th August: flight, Anchorage–Fairbanks; wandering around Fairbanks, including Ice Museum and Antique Automobile Museum
  • 26th August: train, Fairbanks–Denali Park
  • 27th August: train, Denali Park–Anchorage (excellent views of Mt McKinley along the way)
  • 28th August: train, Anchorage–Whittier and return; I am supposed to take a day-cruise on Prince William Sound but it is cancelled for abysmal weather
  • 29th August: flight, Anchorage–Seattle

Seattle: 29th August–3rd September

  • 29th August–3rd September: in Seattle
    • 30th August: 10 a.m. Mass in Seattle cathedral, afternoon walking around the U District getting some chores done.
    • 31st August: at Seattle Centre and the Space Needle, to Kerry Park at sunset
    • 1st September: Seattle Art Museum, Pike Place Market
    • 2nd September: Museum of Flight, Seattle
  • 3rd September: train, Seattle–Vancouver

West to East across Canada: 3rd September–early October

  • 3rd–11th September: in Vancouver
    • 4th September: wandering around Vancouver, to Canada Place, Museum of Vancouver
    • 5th September: heavy rain in Vancouver, day inside
    • 6th September: to 11 a.m. Mass at Vancouver cathedral, more wandering around the city
    • 7th September (Labour Day): to Vancouver Art Gallery, watching District 9 in the afternoon
    • 8th September: Gastown; Vancouver Police Heritage Museum; Chinatown: Dr Sun Yat-Sen Park & Dr Sun Yat-Sen Classical Chinese Garden; Yaletown
    • 9th September: looking in vain for a suitable winter coat; to the cinema in the afternoon to watch Inglourious Basterds
    • 10th September: Harbour Centre viewing deck, then walking around Stanley Park
  • 11th–12th September: train, Vancouver–Edmonton
  • 12th–14th September: in Edmonton
  • 14th–15th September: train, Edmonton–Winnipeg
  • 15th–17th September: in Winnipeg
    • 16th September: looking around Winnipeg, visit to the Manitoba Museum
    • 17th September: morning and early afternoon in Saint-Boniface
  • 17th September: flight, Winnipeg–Flin Flon–The Pas
  • 18th–19th September: train, The Pas–Churchill
  • 19th–22nd September: in Churchill
  • 22nd September: flight, Churchill–Winnipeg
  • 22nd–24th September: train, Winnipeg–Toronto
  • 24th–29th September: in Toronto
    • 25th September: CBC Centre museum, Fort York historical site, migraine in the afternoon
    • 26th September: St Lawrence Markets, Toronto waterfront
    • 27th September: midday Mass at Toronto cathedral, afternoon at the Art Gallery of Ontario
    • 28th September: train (Amtrak) to Niagara Falls; pouring with rain; camera breaks down; I get very wet; train back to Toronto in the evening
    • 29th September: my plans to go to the Royal Ontario Museum are thwarted when I realize that my camera simply will not work and so I have to spend the day trying to get to the Canon service centre in nearby Mississauga
  • 30th September: flight, Toronto–Halifax
  • 30th September–3rd October, in Halifax
    • 1st October: Halifax waterfront, Maritime Museum of the Atlantic, Halifax Art Gallery
    • 2nd October: Halifax cathedral, Halifax Citadel
  • 3rd October: flights, Halifax–Montreal–Quebec
  • 3rd–6th October: in Quebec
    • 4th October: 11 a.m. Mass at the Basilique de Notre-Dame, then trip to the Musée de Québec before going to the far end of the Plains of Abraham to see, by chance, a schoolboy American football game
    • 5th October: Parc de l’Artillérie, time in the old city and lower Quebec
    • 6th October: visiting the historic sites of the Plains of Abraham and the Quebec Citadel
  • 6th October: train, Quebec–Montreal
  • 6th–10th October: in Montreal
    • 7th October: train to Toronto to pick up camera from Canon service centre in Mississauga, flight back to Montreal that evening
    • 8th October: wandering around Montreal, including the cathedral of Marie-Reine-du-Monde and the bank of the St Lawrence river.
    • 9th October: trip to Mont Royal is cut short by heavy rain
  • 10th October: train, Montreal–Albany

South along the East coast: October–November

  • 10th–11th October: in Albany
  • 11th October: train, Albany–Boston
  • 11th–16th October: in Boston
    • 12th October (Columbus Day): walking around central Boston, migraine in the afternoon
    • 13th October: heavy rain, look at the old burying grounds (tours continuing despite the rain), then to Cambridge to look around some of the Harvard campus and the Arthur M. Sackler gallery (part of the Harvard Art Museum)
    • 14th October: walking the ‘freedom trail’ through Boston Common, the Massachusetts state house, the old south meeting-house, old state house, Faneuil hall, New England Holocaust Memorial, and Bunker Hill to see the USS Constitution
    • 15th October: train to Providence in the morning; trip to the Rhode Island state house, then wandering around the city of Providence, to the RISD Art Museum in the afternoon before taking the train back to Boston in the evening
  • 16th October: train, Boston–New York (train delayed and very crowded because soon after leaving Boston we have to stop to pick up the passengers of the train which had left an hour before us, whose train had broken down)
  • 16th–23rd October: in New York
    • 17th October: quiet day walking to lower Manhattan and back
    • 18th October: 11 a.m. Mass at St Patrick’s cathedral said by Archbishop Timothy Dolan, quiet afternoon
    • 19th October: visiting the U.N., then walking the Highline walking-route in lower Manhattan. To Rockefeller Center at sunset for views over Manhattan, then bus to Weehawk, NJ to take photos of the Manhattan skyline from the west, ferry back across the Hudson late at night
    • 20th October: walking across Central Park to get to the Upper East Side, try to go to the Whitney Museum (but it’s closed on Tuesdays), go to the Frick Collection in the afternoon
    • 21st October: to the Metropolitan Museum of Art for the whole day; walk across the Brooklyn Bridge from Manhattan in the evening to take photos from the other end
    • 22nd October: to the Cloisters for most of the day; then to Gantry Plaza Park in Long Island City to take photos in the evening
    • 23rd October: to the site of the World Trade Center, walking around downtown and lower Manhattan
  • 23rd October: train, New York–Princeton
  • 23rd–25th October: in Princeton, visiting my friend Leah
  • 25th October: trains, Princeton–Trenton–Philadelphia–Washington, D.C.
  • 25th–30th October: in Washington, D.C.
  • 30th October: train, Washington, D.C.–Philadelphia
  • 30th October–4th November: in Philadelphia
  • 4th November: train, Philadelphia–Raleigh
  • 4th–9th November: in Raleigh
  • 9th November: trains, Raleigh–Wilson–Savannah
  • 9th–12th November: in Savannah
  • 12th November: train, Savannah–Orlando
  • 12th–16th November: in Orlando
  • 16th November: train, Orlando–Miami
  • 16th–20th November: in Miami

Weekend in the Bahamas

  • 20th November: flight, Miami–Nassau
  • 20th–22nd November: in the Bahamas
  • 22nd November: flight, Nassau–Miami
  • 23rd November: flight, Miami–New Orleans

North through the mid-west: November–December

  • 23rd–28th November: in New Orleans
  • 28th November: train, New Orleans–Memphis
  • 28th November–2nd December: in Memphis
  • 2nd December: flight, Memphis–St Louis
  • 2nd–5th December: in St Louis
  • 5th December: train, St Louis–Chicago
  • 5th–11th December: in Chicago
  • 11th December: flight, Chicago–Newark (for New York)

To England for Christmas

  • 11th–15th December: in New York
  • 15th December: flight, New York–London

Thus will end my North-American odyssey.