6/2/05 This morning as I was getting ready to go and explore the city my new roommate from Australia was telling me how easy it is for Canadians to get work visas in Australia. Well as the gears started tuning in my little brain I thought it might not be a bad idea to investigate my Canadian heritage and see what it would take to get a passport from the motherland. So needless to say I spent the day in immigration lines and 3 different agencies. The good news I can easily get a passport if I fill out two separate forms and send $200 to the Canadian government. As I get closer to Australia I might pursue this but for now I will ride this American thing out and see where it takes me. Well after a long day of standing in lines it was time to go meet some locals at a neighborhood pub. I found a great outdoor patio place called the Black Bull located on Queen Street. After 4 or so hours of chatting and people watching I figured I would grab some dinner at this great little restaurant called La Chatele I had seen by my hostel. The restaurant had an amazing menu and the service was some of the best I have ever had. When I was about to order the waiter asked me if wanted to hear about a couple items that weren’t on the menu but where delicacies for the area. I wasn’t expecting for him to tell me that there specialty was horse with a rosemary sauce. I grew up with horses and am kind of a sucker for horse movies so I think of them more as pets than livestock. Well after his assurance that it would be one of the best meals I have ever eaten I figured what the hell, oh and water better bring a bottle of wine. Needless to say he was right it was amazing, I am sure a large part of it was how it was prepared but it was as good as any steak I have had at Ruths Chris or top end steak house. Well little did I know the god of horses is a fickle god and would punish me later (read tomorrows edition). So as I finished my meal and bottle of wine, an all around great dining experience that I manage to stretch into 3 hours, it was a very cozy patio-restaurant so lots of chatting it up with the my neighbors (call it training for Europe and that is how I justified the $80 tab which was $30 more than my two day hotel bill - got to have priorities). After dinner I met some Irish girls in the lobby and after chatting it up with the two chubby lasses I lied and promised them I would meet them out later and off to bed I went. Today’s Specs Weather: Sunny 85F Distance: 0 miles, Toronto 6/3/05 This morning was spent packing up my stuff and doing my laundry. Once I got all my gear sorted and stowed at the front desk I decided to head to the beach and get some sun but as I was heading to the beach the weather wasn’t cooperating and became very overcast. So to make the best of situation I decided to grab some Mexican food at this little neighborhood restaurant with one of the cutest waitresses I have ever seen, good thing I am leaving in 8 hours. After a great lunch and several unsuccessful attempts of hitting on the waitress I decided it was a great day for a movie. I pulled the double movie technique catching Madagasgar and The Longest Yard. After the movies it was time to head to the airport and off to Ireland. Once at the airport I had to check my luggage, and I mean all my luggage since none of it could go with the bike. I finally made it to the kiosk, it was actually quite chaotic since there was a drunk soccer team on the flight and I was right in the middle of the lively/drunk group. The girl at the kiosk looks at my mound of aluminum luggage and one large soft bag and curtly informs me I have way too much stuff. She was about 25lbs overweight and fairly cute, my specialty, so I bust out my charm and flirtingly ask her if we could bend the rules a little. She was not in good spirits due to the Irish Soccer team cutting into her Friday night, her reply was I was in the wrong line for that and I am only allowed 20 Kilograms and anything over was $7/Kilogram . As I loaded up all my stuff I had about 65 Kilograms, shit where was my calculator 20-65 equaled -45 hey I might make money on this, wait no 65-20 was 45 now how much was it oh yeah $7 x 35 carry the 3, oh shit, heck with the math this wasn’t going to be cheap, alright back to the charm. What would my friend Dylan do, uhhhmm probably piss her off and say “Can’t” or “Won’t” drop the price, bad example, ok I am going to have to go this on my gut. Well I wore her down by playing into her misery and saying it is horrible that she has to work and she should be out drinking and dancing on this Friday night, then the quick follow up how we had something in common cause I was going to be stuck on the plane with this lot of drunk soccer players. As she cracked a smile I flashed her my pearly whites and she said in a completely new tone to hold on sec while she goes and talks to her manager to see if she can help me out. In less than 5 minutes later I was walking towards my plane only paying for 20 of the 45 kilograms of my luggage. After a couple quick phone calls to family I began to board the plane. So this is where the story gets good, I mean there are allot of good story tellers out there but I don’t think they could even make this shit up. So as I mentioned earlier about the fickle horse god his vengeance is swift. As I am walking down the isle to seat 18A I notice a short little guy sitting next to my seat. So I politely ask him if I can slide in, he slurrrrrssss “Ga AHHHEAADD” in a thick Irish accent at least that is what I think he said. Well needless to say my short drunk friend is an Irish Horse Jockey, what are the odds. So the good news it is only a six hour flight and he really likes to tell me how much better horses are than motorcycles as well as several other conversations ranging from how horse shoes are better and last longer than motorcycle tires to how he wants to ride a horse around the world to how a horse would be quicker in the quarter mile, well at least I think that is what he is telling me, drunk Irish men aren’t the easiest to understand you see. Then conversations would start all over again since he also has very short memory as well. I toyed with the idea of telling him how tasty his choice of transportation really is but better judgment prevailed as I am pretty sure he would have tried stuffing me out the window. Well I guess I will think twice about eating exotic animals in Africa I can only imagine what some lion tamer or snake charmer would do to me. Today’s Specs Weather: Cloudy 65F Distance: Toronto over the blue stuff to Dublin