Flat Kelly's Lost Weeks in Canada...

After the lovely Elaine took Flat Kelly around the eastern part of Canada, she was sent on to Miss Rachael for the western part of Canada, and things got a little crazy... 

Along with losing her camera, Rachael also ended up with a virus on her computer, which is why this blog post took a little longer than the others. Read below for Rachael's account of their time together! 

Welcome to Canada Kelly! 

Sadly Flat Kelly came to me right in the middle of finals and job searching. Her first nights here she spent listening to me memorize poems from the romantic era and watching me pull an all nighter studying for a final on Canadian corrections. 

However once finals were over, Kelly and I hit the streets of east Vancouver for what was supposed to be dinner and drinks bit turned into me waking up with a mans phone number written on my jeans. 

Kelly soon became my close pal as we went from interview to interview. Our favourite was the seafood restaurant where the interview took place next to a tank of live crabs. We wanted to bring one home as a pet. 

We drank together. 

Did laundry together.

We drank together.

We ran from the cops. Twice. (No pictures of that one! Rachael is very talented, but that would have been a little difficult to pose for). Kelly even got to spend a little time in my rugby bag going to netball practice. I'm sorry if she smells like my feet. 

And FK's travel journal is there too!

Hands down the best outting was when I took Kelly to my Starbucks. The manager insisted that no photos were allowed to be taken and said that if I tried then I'd be asked to leave. And then one of her employees posed for a pic of Kelly while the guy with stretchers in his nose called me crazy. A man with a nose piercing that you could fit a straw through in each nostril called me crazy.  I also spent two hours in there with Kelly writing as we enjoyed our blended lemonade.

Ha! Take that, snooty manager. 

And that was Kelly's life with me. Well the life that I remember since I got black out drunk one might and wrote a letter to myself. I put that in the book.
All in all...Flat Kelly's life in the greater Vancouver area turned out nicely. And by nicely I mean that I didn't lose her or wind up in jail with her. 

And look, she learned how to play pool! Or billiards. Or whatever those Canadians call it... 

Thank you so very much, Rachael, for taking Flat Kelly all around Vancouver with you! It sounds like she had many, many adventures (some things that happen in Vancouver, however, must stay in Vancouver...) I love the pictures and it looks like a blast! Plus, the infamous Starbucks! Thank you, thank you! 

Trenton, Kingston, St. Jean Sur Richielieu, Quebec, Canada and Vermont, United States

Before Elaine sent Flat Kelly on to her next destination, they went on a road trip to Vermont! Hitting up several towns along the way, which brings Flat Kelly's total number of towns/cities visited to 12 - almost half of our goal! Too incredible! 

On the road to Vermont, FK visited the onRoute rest-stop (inclulding Tim Hortons) in Trenton, which is an Air Force town. 

She enjoyed Italian dinner at East Side Mario's in Kingston and the crazies in the picture are Cameron (my husband), Austin (son) and Lauren (daughter.)

Love how the family knows how to strike a pose! 

FK spent the night in St. Jean Sur Richielieu, Quebec, where she saw her first taste of French Canadian Separatists' graffiti - as mis-spelled version of "British Out", just outside the Holiday Inn.

Upon arriving at the Quebec/Vermont Canada/USA border, FK was very nervous about not having a passport but she fast-talked the border guard into letting her back into the USA.

Phew! That was a close one... 

Once in Vermont, FK confessed she didn't ski or snowboard and spent the weekend doing Apres Ski. She even attended Beerfest one evening and picked up some souvenirs, including a souvenir condom (unused, to be clear!)

Looks like paradise! 

 

 

FK was an excellent guest and travel companion.

And Elaine was a most excellent hostess! Thank you so much for all the wonderful adventures that you took Flat Kelly on - it was so much fun to go through all of these pictures! Red carpet premiers, two different countries, and tons of fun. Thank you, thank you, thank you! 

Where is Flat Kelly headed to next? Well, she will be having an extended stay in Canada... check back for more! 

Flat Kelly's Brush with the Red Carpet

Continued adventures with Elaine, where Flat Kelly got to live out one of Real Kelly's biggest fantasies and walked the red carpet... well, the best she could considering FK doesn't have legs. 

On another occasion, FK attended the second season kick-off event for Bomb Girls, a t.v. show about women who worked in the munitions factory during WW2. The town of Ajax came to be due to Defense Industries Limited (DIL) setting up shop and becoming a major contributor to the Allies war effort. It was staffed primarily by women and the town grew around it and from it. So FK became interested in the Bomb Girls series and attended the event. While Meg Tilly and Rosie O'Donnell (some of the actors on the show) weren't in attendance, she did meet some of the other actors and some real live original Bomb Girls who'd worked in the factory back in the day. FK also met some local firefighters who showed up after the popcorn machine set off the fire alarms. FK thought they were pretty hot. And, FK had her red carpet moment.

Flat Kelly on the red carpet! 

FK attended the event with Elaine and her friend Lainey, and they enjoyed a trip to Starbucks and a wander through Chapters (which is a lot like a Borders store.)  This was FK's second visit to a Canadian bookstore, but she had been kicked out of Coles the previous week for trying to take pictures (whoops! Flat Kelly didn't mean to get anyone in trouble...) 

Because you just can't go wrong with Starbucks! 

Maybe one day Real Kelly's books will be on those shelves! 

Ajax & Whitby, Ontario, Canada

More adventures with Elaine!

FK enjoyed her stay at the Smith residence in Ajax, Ontario, a 'burbs town just outside Toronto, on the shores of Lake Ontario. 

FK checked out one of the many nearby beaches within walking distance, and spent plenty of time eating and drinking (two things that Flat Kelly knows how to do best!) 

She also bonded with the family cat, Coco. 

FK was an excellent guest and pitched in to clear dishes, prepare meals, load the dishwasher, and help "finish up" wine.

House chores are worth it if you follow up the day with wine! 

FK tried French Canadian maple sugar pie but wasn't too sure about it. 

Hmm... real Kelly will have to try it sometime to make a final decision! 

FK enjoyed a sushi lunch at Sushi Mountain in Whitby (another 'burb town in Durham) with the Smith family.

Cheer up, Flat Kelly! I'm sure the sushi was delicious! 

Toronto, Ontario, Canada

Little international traveler that she is, Flat Kelly made the big leap back across the Atlantic from the Netherlands to Canada! For the first leg of her Canadian tour, she stayed with Elaine who was an absolute peach and took her on a wonderful tour and to many different cities. Read below for Elaine's account of their time spent together!

Flat Kelly had a whirlwind tour of Toronto, the Durham region (the 'burbs east of Toronto), and went on a road-trip to ski in Smugglers' Notch Vermont over Easter, which resulted in brief stops across eastern Ontario and Quebec.

For the Toronto piece, FK commuted to downtown with me, Elaine, and some of my girlfriends who regularly take the same GO Train as me in the mornings. 

Kelly and her host, Elaine

Before figuring out how to take proper pictures with FK in the foreground, we captured some shots of her on the train and sitting in the Reception area of my office. 

She later dined at Mercatto restaurant with Elaine and a well-known partner from one of the Bay Street (that's Canada's version of Wall Street) law firms. 

FK also took in exterior views of the CN Tower and the Royal Bank tower, the gorgeous gold office building. 

FK's last GO Train ride allowed her to see a picture of one of the hot new Toronto Blue Jays baseball players. 

Flat Kelly does love hot baseball players!

Wait for the next post to see where Elaine took Flat Kelly next! 

Loon op Zand & Eindhoven, Netherlands

Read below for Flat Kelly's continued adventures in the Netherlands with Saskia! 

After a busy and cold sunday, the rest of the week was more easy going. During weekdays we went to school in Eindhoven to study physiotherapy. On our way from the central station to my school building, we passed this work of art. It's a huge set of bowling pins, called Flying Pins. It's the biggest public piece of art in Eindhoven and catches your eye immediately.

Living in Loon op Zand, it takes about an hour and a half every day to get to Eindhoven. To get there, we took the train from Tilburg. Tilburg's central station has an impressive roof which seems to be floating over the tracks.

As you might notice from the pictures: yes, it got a lot warmer after we've been to the Efteling. Within a week, temperature flew from -2 degrees to an unbelievable 15 degrees! And then back to -2 within another week... Welcome to Dutch weather! Apart from the typical weather, it also seems that Dutch people have a typical way of transportation. Bikes are everywhere. People bike everywhere. Everyone owns a bike.

This is were Flat Kelly was staying over at her time in the Netherlands. In our garden, lovely flowers started opening up as this day was the first day that felt like it was spring.

Loon op Zand is a little village in the south of the Netherlands, and as most villages do, it comes with it's own church. As it got colder again, we found a new hat for Flat Kelly.

At the end of the week, we wanted to do something exciting after a week full of school, so we went to the cinema to see The Silver Linings Playbook.

(Real Life Kelly is a little jealous that Flat Kelly got to see this - it looks great!) 

Flat Kelly liked to play hide-and-seek in the huge cardboard displays, so good luck finding her.

During the two weeks she was here, she like to be funny with books. Even though she loves Jennifer Lawrence, she wanted to be on the cover with Bradley Cooper. And she thought she'd finish the cover of the City of Bones.

Even though they say a picture says more than a thousand words, some parts could not be captured on camera. Photographing at school was very difficult as we were busy studying and learning new stuff and at work we weren't really capable of taking a camera around, as we were busy working. Oh hey, we forgot to talk about that! Flat Kelly came to work as well. On Saturdays, we were working at a local butchershop and as you might imagine, I kept Flat Kelly safe and sound in my bag, as I didn't want to get her all dirty. On Tuesday nights and Sundays, Flat Kelly got really excited as we went to a guys soccer team. We were helping out massaging and taping them before the trainings on Tuesdays and matches on Sundays. Unfortunately, we didn't see them win yet. Would have been fun to capture Flat Kelly with half-naked guys on the treatment benches, not too sure if the guys would have liked that as well...

Unfortunately, these two weeks flew by and Flat Kelly is now on to her next destination. She will be missed and I'm sure she'll have a great time everywhere she's visiting next. Thanks Kelly for letting me have her over! :)

No, Saskia, thank YOU for taking her! It looks like Flat Kelly had an amazing time and I love, love, LOVE the pictures. You're fantastic and I really appreciate it :)

Where's Flat Kelly off too next? Saskia put her in the post March 11th... stay tuned!