We took it easy in Toronto, spending some time just reading and people watching in Queens Park: sitting around in the warmth in shirtsleeves just makes us feel good.

Other good finds include Tim Horton’s (a chain of very good value coffee shops which are half-way to being cafes as well) and Second Vinyl where we spent a happy hour finding lots of second-hand jazz and classical CDs. The former are quite common around the city; the latter is at 10 Wellesley St West.

Urbana Coffee was also a rare find at 1033 Bay Street, having free wireless, friendly service, and fair trade coffee, unlike the Starbucks everywhere around.

Finally, we had a lovely meal listening to light jazz (and more Elton John!) at Le Saint Tropez in the Theatre district, as recommended by Trip Advisor.

We thought we should try some sushi at some point, and walked past Grand Ichiban Sushi at 345 Adelaide St West at a hungry point. We were impressed with the Bento that we had, and how it was presented. I don’t think we had really graduated to proper sushi with this - certainly everything was cooked - but it reminded us again how great miso soup is, and that we need to find the ingredients when we’re back home.

We then spent a long time in Lorne’s Coats - a store simply selling women’s coats, with lots of enthusiastic and helpful staff. Recommended, if that’s what you need - at 101 Spadina Ave.

Less good was discovering that the Ontario Art Gallery is shut for redevelopment - only after we’d walked there. Still, it will clearly look rather special on the outside when its ready in November. Bit late for us, though.

We’ve done at least 12 hours in the car so far, and without any CDs on us, we’ve listened to a lot of radio. We’ve listened to some rock, soft rock, country and Christian stations so far. UK artists get more of an airing than we were expecting, with Phil Collins/Genesis and Elton John particularly standing out. Remembering that there’s no such thing as US nation-wide radio stations (I think) we were surprised to almost always be able to find a Christian station somewhere on the dial. Shame that no Bruce Cockburn music was played yet, but at least a great Rich Mullins (RIP) track was

As predicted by everyone, the Falls at Niagara are amazing - they should be one of the wonders of the world. Also as predicted, the area has turned into rather a tacky resort, but most of it can be ignored easily. The place I reckon is good for the American psyche - with the views and falls themselves better on the Canadian side. Lots of photos, but here are just 1 of each of the falls …

We can confirm that Niagara-on-the-Lake is a great spot, very popular it seems with honeymooners. Lots of posh boutiques and restaurants. We stayed in the Kia-Ora B+B, which felt better than all the hotels we’ve used so far. Lovely decor, very friendly hostess, and a gourmet breakfast. 5 stars!

It also hosts Jet Boat Niagara, which takes people on boats up the Niagara River to near the Falls, over a number of rapids. Not as white knuckle as expected, but still good fun, complete with a few exhilarating fast 360-degree ‘Hamilton’ turns.

We’ve arrived in Toronto and decided we needed a relaxing day, so we just chilled. Only one interesting photo: the view from our hotel window, looking west over the university area …

Today we drove most of the way across Massachusetts from Fall River to Lenox. We knew we’d be a few weeks early for the best of the fall colours. aren’t yet at their height, but still many trees are turning, and its wonderful driving through tree-lined roads, enjoying the colours and the sunshine.

We made a great little find, detouring a few miles off Route 9 near Worcester to stop in Howe State Park, part of Spencer State Forest. The visitor place wasn’t open, but we just stopped next to a mini waterfall and had lunch listening to the stream and watching the leaves being to drop from the trees.

Loads of familiar place names in MA: Gloucester, Worcester, Oxford, Shrewsbury, Nottingham, Bedford, Cambridge, Plymouth, Bristol … I write this in Ware (where!) having stopped at a Friendlys for a drink. This was a throwback to a US family holiday 20+ years ago, where the only places we ate seemed to be Friendly’s.

After a long drive we landed up at Lenox, within walking distance of Tanglewood, the summer home of the Boston Pops Orchestra. (Also home to another great memory from a family holiday of old.) Shame we’re a few weeks too late to hear them. But the place we’re staying - the Apple Tree Inn - has some fantastic views over the surrounding hills.

After a really needed good night’s sleep, we headed quite late to Copley Square to Trinity Church, via Finagle a Bagel for breakfast. This is an Episcopal church, who use the Book of Common Prayer and take their high choral tradition seriously. (Several anthems in the service, plus an pre-lude outside the church, and a post-lude after they processed out at the end of the service.) A clear and appropriate sermon on forgiveness, and some spot on prayers, including for all the church leadership up to and including Rowan Williams. We couldn’t tell whether this was a church that sided more with the stated positions of Rowan Williams or their presiding bishop, Kathleen Schori.

Just a minute’s walk away we then went for lunch at Skipjack’s, where we’d earlier spied they had a Jazz Brunch on. A lovely seafood meal followed, listening to a local group playing some laid-back standards, with attentive service from Thomas Braxton, our waiter. I mention him because he’s a part-time actor, with has two movie appearances that IMDB knows about. He ought to be able to get work as a Will Smith double; probably less satisfying, but better paying.

We’re still managing to make this a Starbucks-free vacation. But we’re amazed at the number of people of all ages carrying their Starbucks take outs around the streets, and even into other (fast food) restaurants to consume there. There’s a cultural difference.

After a very late night, we had a much more leisurely start to the day, heading to Panificio in Beacon for a wonderful brunch, including a mug of Earl Grey tea for Martha, who’d given up hope of having any on the holiday.

We then headed to Quincy Market. Very similar to Covent Garden in London, with its mixture of established shops, temporary stalls, food shops, and entertainers working the crowds milling around.

Later we went on a “The Heart of the Freedom Trail” tour, starting at Faneuil Hall, run by Boston by Foot. Interesting stuff, covering US/British history in the 1600-1700s. It followed only part of the famous Freedom Trail “red line”, so there was actually very little walking, and much standing around whilst we listened to our knowledgeable guide, so that made us more footsore. This called for coffees and a rest at the handily-placed big Borders near by.

We visited the Crocs store and saw that they now sell rather more than just the clogs and sandals - they have a few lace-up mens shoes, but still with the “strangely comfortable” rubberised footbed, as Martha describes them.

We’ve passed a few Wagamamma restaurants on our travels, but never tried one. So back to Quincy Market where there was one. The “cho han” dish was excellent, with the miso soup the perfect accompaniment. I must work out what it’s made of. The dining experience did have some novelties - our order got chalked onto the table between us, and the dishes got served without any attempt to make them arrive at the same time for all the diners.

It’s a grand place, we decided after walking about 8 miles round parts of it today. The old redbrick paved streets in Beacon; the grass, the lake, and the trees in the Common and Gardens, the mixture of old and modern in the city centre … and that you can get a good coffee without having to stoop to Starbucks. (Though indeed the temptation is there about every 3 blocks.)

Realising that weather might not hold, I got the will-power together to start the day with a 3-mile run along the River Basin. I got a boost when I got down to the lobby and found a table set out to help runners with slices or orange, bottles of water, little guides to the local routes, and flannels to mop down afterwards. It’s clearly a big pastime, with small or large gardens most of the way along the river — I must have seen about 100 other runners during that time. Sadly I passed very few of them!

After an excellent breakfast in the hotel, we then walked to the Prudential Center via some old churches. One was the New Old Boston Church (really), which we were excited to find had a weekly Jazz Service - but unfortunately not a night we’re around. We had lunch at Souper Salad, and then sat enjoying the weekly organ recital at Trinity Church on Copley Square. The Pru shops themselves weren’t of great interest: too pricey. (The exchange rate isn’t making things cheap, unfortunately.)

Diner landed up being in the hotel’s restaurant. The waiter appeared to be a real foodie, and we weren’t able to match his enthusiasm for the specials on offer, but we just took this as entertaining not intimidating. More importantly we had a great time with Brian and Liz, with the party breaking up several hours later than their babysitter was apparently expecting.

We admired art in various galleries in Tenby, St.David’s and Narberth. I particularly liked Gary Llewellyn’s shorescape photographs, and the fused glass work of Steve Robinson and Liza Burk at the Narberth Gallery.

But the best was found at the Little Wedlock Gallery at the home of Anne & Malcolm Gregson. We landed up spending an hour there, including having coffee with them, and chatting about her paintings. We bough a few prints, which we hope to get framed. We much admired the Sea Fantasy original but we don’t have a 1m x 1.5m space to hang it. We felt quite a lot of her art was spiritual — perhaps why we like it? — for example seeing The Creation in the Sea Fantasy. It seems others agree as some has been used on various Christian book covers. Anne doesn’t seem to have that in mind as she created them, partly because the paintings have something of a life of their own as she creates them.

On the last full day, as our car had its rear springs replaced, we had a couple of happy hours over lunch in The Creative Cafe in Narberth. As we walked in, Martha’s face lit up in real joy … she saw a combined tea-pot-for-one-with-cup just waiting to be painted. The rest of us also painted various pieces of pottery. I can’t post any pictures of those here, as it might give away what certain readers might be receiving as presents, but here’s how Martha decorated the teapot …