Paris, France

This apartment is centrally located in France in the 19th Arr, just a few minutes from the Porte de Pantin Metro Line 5.

The nearby canals are an added bonus to this part of Paris and there are several boat cruises departing from Bassin de la Villette, or you may be content with hiring a bike or walking along the canal banks.

Nearby Canal Saint Martin

The Louvre and Eiffel Tower are within walking distance ... as long as you like walking 8km :)
The best way to explore Paris is to buy a daily Metro pass as the trains are extremely efficient running every 4 minutes and even more frequent in peak hour.

There are so many places to see in Paris but your time will be reduced by the amount of time you spend waiting in a queue if you are wanting to visit any Museums or many other attractions.

Patricia has step by step instructions for you to follow from the airport to the apartment.
The first floor apartment is small, modern and in a quiet neighborhood.
The electric shutter blinds close out all light and you can easily find yourself sleeping in on the comfortable bed :)
For me this was an ideal apartment for my stay in Paris and I would love to come back for an extended period.
There are many places for you to eat just minutes from your doorstep if you prefer to eat out.

 Just a few minutes walk and you are at the Parc de la Villette where there is an amazing variety of arts and entertainment for children.

Carousel at Parc de la Vilette

Woodbridge, UK

Woodbridge is a coastal town in Suffolk UK and is approx 10 km East of Ipswich and 100 kms East of London.

Travel time is 70 mins from the Liverpool Station in London and the nearest international airport is Stansted about 60 km away.
If traveling by train then booking online is essential so that you can get a cheaper fare.
The normal ticket cost is £39 whereas the online ticket cost was only £9 during the non peak periods.
Tickets must be booked online at least 2 days before your travel then you collect the tickets at a machine at most of the bigger stations in London.
The town of Woodbridge is quite small and a car is not essential to get around.
The train to Ipswich runs every hour and costs £4.30

There are plenty of walks and cycle paths and walking around the town only takes an hour or two to see everything you would want to see within the town, but you can walk further :)
Wendy and Len have all the books on walks and cycle paths and I suspect they have done them all as they are both active walkers.
It is quite amazing how many pathways there are throughout the UK.
Woodbridge is on the tidal river Deben and a floodgate system prevents flooding in the town.
The mudflats at low tide provide an abundance of food for the local bird life and as a result it is a bird lovers paradise ... you will see many people birdwatching if the weather is fine.
There seems to be even more people out walking their dogs :)

Deben River at Woodbridge - Tidal Mill in distance

A lot of buildings in Woodbridge are heritage listed and the streets are so narrow that it is impossible to have two opposing cars passing each other and often one car has to pull over and stop to let the other pass.
I was in the bus traveling to Ipswich and the bus driver had to wait for about 10 minutes while a truck parked on the kerbside finished unloading and drove away before the bus could continue.
That convinced me that when I have to leave for the Stansted airport that I will take the train.

Sutton Hoo is a burial ship discovered in 1939 and was discovered on the opposite side of the Deben river from the town, it contained many Anglo Saxon artefacts of significant importance. While most of these treasures are now in the British Museum there is a visitors centre and replicas on the original site just a short distance from Woodbridge.

The Tide Mill is a local attraction that has now been converted to a museum for visitors.
The wooden waterwheel is still operational and drives the mill when the tide is right.
The prominent white buildings can be seen on the river Deben between the railway station and the yacht harbour (which used to be the dam for the Tidal Mill).

One thing that I have noticed about Woodbridge is that the more relaxed lifestyle than London.
Woodbridge is a dog friendly town and every second person seems to own one.
When visiting a local bar one evening there were 3 Labradors walking around.
The barman said he gets on better with the dogs than the people sometimes.
There is only one large sporting ground and it seemed to be packed when we were there and the array of facilities was quite impressive.
There is even a pool for model yachts that gets well used.
It was great to see all the kids and their yachts.

Kids racing their yachts

East Croydon, London

I spent the month of September 2015 in East Croydon.

The weather seemed to know of the change in seasons and promptly changed from the warmer Summer weather to the crisp Autumn weather.

East Croydon has excellent transport links to London and the overground train runs express to Clapham Junction, Victoria and London Bridge so within 20 mins from East Croydon you can be in the heart of London and connected with the underground system.
East Croydon is halfway between London and Gatwick airport and the train also conveniently runs express to Gatwick airport.
If you arrive via Heathrow airport then there is a bus service linking to Heathrow but this takes about an hour to complete the trip but is the cheapest option at only £1.5 but I cannot remember if you need an Oyster card for this travel or if you can pay cash.
You will need to have an Oyster card for your stay in London as most transport does not accept cash.

Marion and Brian have a small apartment only 7 mins walk from the East Croydon station. There is a bus and tram line that can get you closer to their apartment but since it is so close you would walk unless you had unlimited daily travel tickets since travel in London can be expensive and there is no difference in price between the hour bus ride to Heathrow or a short 2 min ride.
There is a large development for the East Croydon station that is due to be completed in 2016 and this  will give Croydon exciting new look.

The local fox can be seen every so often from the apartment

If you have not been to London before you will need plenty of time to explore the city.
The masses of people may be overwhelming to you if you are not used to big cities especially during the weekend.
I found the last week of my stay that I was more active and the days seemed to go a lot quicker.
The main reason for that is that during the last week the weather was sunny every day and that encouraged me to travel into London and take more photos.
The first week I had cooler weather and was content to explore closer to Croydon rather than traveling into London Central.
The Main Street of Croydon is pedestrian access only and there is lots of entertainment and activities and the street always seemed to be busy.

Pedestrian Access Only - Croydon Shopping Strip

There is no TV in the apartment, the cooking facilities are basic, and it does not have a permanent lived in family home feeling about it, but this is London and most likely your reasons for this exchange is to see London and not to stay at home watching TV.
There are 3 levels and Marion and Brian's apartment is in the middle, up one small flight of stairs.
Like all apartment living you may hear noises and perhaps be woken from the activities of other residents. I had a couple of days where the neighbours came home late or were active early morning but this did not bother me, but it could be an issue for some house swappers if they have never lived in an apartment before. The noise was not excessive and overall the complex seemed to be very quite.
There is a small convenience store a few minutes walk but you would most likely do all your shopping in Croydon where there are plenty of stores for you to choose from.
The George is a nearby pub which serves good food that is cheap.

Having a beer with my Nephew at The George - a local pub

There is a "Surrey Street" fruit and vegetable market that operates six days days per week.
There are plenty of parks and places to walk nearby.

I liked Croydon and would have no problems with returning to this multicultural city.

Guebwiller, France

This is an interesting village of 12k population in the Alsace region in NE France near both Switzerland (Zurich) and Germany (Stuttgart) at the foot of the Vosges Mountains.
The closest International airport is the Basel-Mulhouse airport and from there is a regular train to Saint Louis then to Mulhouse or Colmar.
There is a bus route which links Mulhouse, Guebwiller, Colmar and Strasbourg as the train does not stop in Guebwiller.

Carine, Patrick and daughter Mina have a wonderful period home on the vineyard slopes overlooking the village. The view from their home is magnificent and you can see, and hear the bells, from both the Saint Leger and Notre-Dame churches below.

The village of Guebwiller seen from the balcony

On a clear day you can see the Bernese Alps... most likely in the early morning or evening

You may be lucky to see the Bernese Alps from the balcony

Bike riding and hiking trails are plentiful or for the less energetic perhaps a stroll around the village or a guided tour of the churches or many vineyards in the area is for you. Most of the tours start from the local tourist information center in the village just 5 mins walk from their home.
This is an all year round place to come to as there is plenty of skiing nearby, but for me I am happier with the summer months.
There are many smaller villages with historical importance less than 30 mins from away and they are worth spending time exploring and Basel in Switzerland is only a 40 min drive.

Colmar is 30 minutes drive or there is a regular bus service. If you are staying in Guebwiller a visit to Strassborg and Colmar are a must as they are so beautiful and there is just reason for so many tourists in the area.  One Malaysian person with far too much money has even recreated the Colmar village in Malaysia.

The beautiful village of nearby Colmar

My stay in this part of France has changed my perception of France and I would love to return for an extended time.
You can get by without being able to speak French, but I am sure it would be more enjoyable learning the basics.

Waterloo-Kitchener, Ontario, Canada

After a 12 hour overnight bus ride from Montreal I was met at the Kitchener bus stop by Sylvia and Ray and then driven 10 minutes back to their home in the nearby University city called Waterloo.
Sylvia and Ray (Audrey and Murphy) only stayed for a couple of hours for a quick chat with coffee and cakes before they set off to their holiday cottage 4 hours away.
The setting for their house is in a quiet neighborhood backing on to Sugarpine Park, a large park with plenty of tall Maple trees which make an effective wind break for the sheltered back yard.
Unfortunately there were no bears or wild animals in the park as the park is too small with too many people walking their dogs.
You can hear the woodpeckers in the evenings and there are a few brown and black squirrels but not very friendly, too many dogs in the area perhaps.

Kitchener and Waterloo town centers are within walking distance of each other. They have made attempts at amalgamating the councils in the past but those attempts have failed. Obviously logic did not enter those discussions. The area is often referred to as Kitchener-Waterloo and has a combined population approaching 400k.

Niagara Falls is less than 2 hours drive from Waterloo.
Ray has a GPS in his car and I doubt that the drive would be as easy if you did not have a GPS as there were a few changes in roads. I was also lucky in that most of the traffic seemed to be going in the opposite direction to me.
Once at the falls you have the option of seeing the falls from the Canadian or USA side.

Niagara Falls from the USA side 

I had a quick drive around on the Canadian side and once I realized that the parking was bad I decided to drive across the border as it is always greener on the other side as the saying goes.
I was lucky to find a park within easy walking distance of the falls and once I saw that the sun was behind me so that I would not be taking photos into the sun then I knew I made the right decision to go to the USA side. I also decided to walk back across the bridge to take some photos and also to experience what it is like for pedestrian access crossing the border.
The border crossing both in the car and on foot into the USA was easy and only took a few minutes.
The border crossing back into Canada by car was a lot longer as a result of more people being stopped and checked for duty free shopping since a lot of things are cheaper in the USA.
More of the falls can be seen from the Canadian side of the falls and if I was to visit the falls again I would want to see the Canadian side.

Cambridge is a small town 30 kms away and during my stay there was a Folk Festival.  It started on Friday evening and ended dramatically on Sunday evening during a big storm. It was not cold and all Sunday I was in shorts but at about 9 pm the outside venues were transferred indoors and 30 mins later the sever rain came.

Cambridge Folk Festival

Toronto is only 1.5 hours away and well worth exploring. It has a wonderful lake shore and I spent and enjoyable day here.

Toronto Lake Side

Music:  With all music in my system, initially from the Fun Festival in Montreal, then the following week the Folk Festival in Cambridge, and with the Blues Festival in Kitchener next week I was keen to hear some good old fashioned Country Music.

We'll sort of Country Music ... Blue Grass band they called themselves, perhaps the Country will have to wait until I return to the USA.

Ray and Sylvia recommended the Commercial Tavern in Maryhill as that is where they often go on a Thursday (open stage) night. But I was not quite into the Thursday night "open stage" entertainment where the patrons get to join in and sing along. I will plead that I still had a stuffy nose which is the reason my singing would not be appropriate, but in reality there would always be an excuse for not singing along...  It's my funny accent or more importantly my lack of ability!

The entertainment was good and well worth the 17 km I had to travel.

Even though I have mention Kitchener, Cambridge, Waterloo and now Maryhill, they are all very close and no more than 30 mins apart.

Ontario:  When touring around the countryside it can be seen that Ontario and Ottawa are very fertile productive farming land and ideal for all the crops in the area. The one thing that I do not see here, that I would see in NZ, is all the large water systems sucking the river dry.

The Grand river is reasonable big in this part of Ontario but it also long and it would not survive if irrigation was not controlled.

Canada is a vast country that varies greatly with each region. 

It's been good to visit the Eastern provinces and to see the extra complexities to manage them compared to Australia which is not too dissimilar in size (area).

I now just need a reason to visit Saskatchewan and Manitoba to almost complete the picture.  I doubt that I will ever get to the Yukon or Northwest Territories and New Foundland but would not rule it out as I do like adventures. 

I have future trips planned to Canada and so I need to resist the urge to see everything at once. I enjoyed the side trip to Nova Scotia and the quick stay in Quebec and would love to return to both but first would need to work on my French for Quebec.

Saint John, New Brunswick, Canada

Grand Bay is approx 10 km NW of Saint John and my first house swap destination on my retirement.
The house is located on the bank of the Saint John river and is in a rural setting although there is plenty of development in the neighborhood and a bank and shopping facilities are within walking distance (if you like walking).
There is plenty of outdoor equipment available and if you want to have a round of golf go fishing or cross country skiing then it is all there for you to use, you have plenty of choices.
There is bound to be something to do that suits your ideal holiday.
For me I was into relaxing, going on a few local walks, enjoying the scenery and taking photos with my new camera and then learning how to process the photos with new software.

The Saint John river is large and is joined by the Kennebecasis river nearby to form a large bay before squeezing out past the famous Reversing Falls in Saint John. The 15 m tidal difference results in very turbulent water at each change of tide as is a major tourist attraction.
There are many colorful people statues at various locations around the city and plenty of visitors stopping to take photos.

Saint John's people statues

I arrived in July (summer) and the days are great compared to Melbourne's winter but the evenings are still cool so warm clothing still needs to be packed.
I did not bring much clothing but Mary and Phil have plenty of extra of everything in case you have forgotten to pack something.
Mary has prepared a comprehensive information pack on everything that you would want to know and there is plenty of things to do even for kids of all ages as this is a grandchild's paradise.
Mary's sister lives next door so there is plenty of help available if needed.

Halifax in Nova Scotia is a 3 hour drive from Saint John.
This was my longest drive from Saint John and other destinations were completed as a day's outing.
It is worth a detour to visit the 13 km Confederation Bridge to Prince Edward Island (PEI) but if you wish to continue across the bridge a $45 toll is levied for all cars for the round trip.

Toll Bridge linking New Brunswick to Prince Edward Island

The South Shores of Nova Scotia are less than an hour from Halifax and were my main destination and the highlight of my 3 day trip.
The many sheltered bays make for some stunning picturesque views.

Beautiful reflections in Nova Scotia

Many families were swimming and making use of the sunshine and white sand beaches around Chester and if only the water was a bit warmer I may have gone in further than to my knees.
My visit was during the school holiday's and so the beaches were busier than normal.
Fishing is a major industry and fish is on every menu and lobster rolls are common.
I spent my 2 nights in Truro as this town was smaller and more to my liking than Halifax.
I made an attempt to drive downtown Halifax on a Friday afternoon and gave up after being stuck in traffic for about an hour and out of frustration turned around and left the city to everyone else that knew where they were going.
I enjoyed the Saturday entertainment in Truro's Victoria Park as part of Canada's Park day and this atmosphere was more to my liking than the bustle of Halifax.
The Salmon river is only 5 mins from the city center and is worth a visit to see the Tidal Bore where the incoming tide surges downstream in the form of a wave.
Tourism is a major part of Nova Scotia and there are plenty of choices to keep yourself busy.
Nova Scotia is a place I would like to come back to and have more time to explore.

Fundy Trail, Deer Island, St George, Saint Andrews and Saint Martins are all interesting places to visit and in easy reach for a days drive.
With all the Saints in the area I was half expecting to have seen a real saint at some stage?
The 20 min free ferry crossing to Deer Island is a pleasant scenic trip although I did not see a lot of tourist attractions on drive around the Island.
Irving Nature Park and Rockwood Park are both close to Saint John city and provide plenty of walking trails to explore.

The French, British, Irish and Loyalist are all key words in the rich history of New Brunswick's settlement and I won't try to explain or understand it as history has never been my strong point.
The Maritimes (New Brunswick, Nova Scotia and PEI) are definitely worth a visit and I am lucky to have had the chance to briefly visit 2 of the 3 provinces.
It seems strange that Nova Scotia and PEI are not amalgamated into one province with New Brunswick, as the areas are sparsely populated with little economy to support all the additional administration costs, but this appears to be due to historical reasons rather than logical reasons.
Most tourist know of Vancouver, Whistler and Banff on the west coast of Canada and although the Maritimes have not any similar stand out tourist attractions the area is still well worth visiting.

Winter would be too cold for me to visit most of Canada as I would not survive and like others in the animal kingdom I would need to migrate to somewhere warmer.
Parts of the Saint John river freeze solid enough for skating in Winter so how could I survive when a frost on the car windscreen in the morning in Melbourne 3 times in a year is bad enough for me.
Many Canadian home owners flee to Florida or Mexico in winter, much like some in Melbourne go to Queensland, but now that seems such a weak comparison as we don't have such extreme winters that Canada has in Australia and NZ.