Friday I'm in Toronto.

Good afternoon from the most Melbourne tasting coffee place I have found in recent memory. This city certainly reminds me of home in its love of food and coffee. On first meeting it was a little cold and gave the impression of just another anonymous cityscape, but I am discovering it's quirks. This is partly due to the help of my new friend Andrew, Toronto native but soon to be Melbourne convert, a friend of Kale's and tour guide of yesterday. We walked, ate, walked, drank coffee, drank more coffee, ate, drank beer, walked. Brilliant. Get ready Melbourne, we are going to show this one a good time. He arrives on the last weekend in October, so I trust you will all look after him until I get back.

Travels are progressing well. Detroit was a beautiful adventure, culminating in walks around cemeteries, amazing sandwiches and the opportunity to play the most beautiful organ I have ever had the pleasure of seeing. As John is a classical organist, he gave me a little demonstration and insight into his repertoire, and then let me have a go! I drudged up my old piano knowledge and made some noises that I like to think were not unpleasant, and rekindled my passion for playing all in the space of five minutes. Watch out world, you thought I was amateur at guitar? I can be even more amateur at piano. Sorry neighbours.

I left on Monday afternoon via my favourite Greyhound transport, arriving in Toronto late Monday night. As I have not planned ahead enough, I am at a hostel and not couchsurfing, which is ok because I am central, less fun because of the amount of ocka bogans populating the place. They have effectively made sure whatever homesickness I may have had an inkling of is now non-existent. I escape to generous superfriend Andrew's couch this evening, so things are looking up.

The Jealous Sound are playing tonight, so that will be a good show, and there is an all-night art festival which Katie (my friend from LA adventures) is coming into town for. Then off to Montreal on Sunday, Boston next week.

Hope you are all well. Send me emails and updates if you find yourself bored. Nice to chat to some of you recently, lets do it again soon huh? I have a collection of travel stories which I am trying to write up as we speak, so keep an eye out for those as well, I certainly have met some interesting folk on the road so far.

Miss y'all.

Rachel

Sunday morning in Detroit

Hello hello, internet-land, can you here me?

It has been a long time between posts, and my guess is that those who know me aren't all that surprised. I get a little caught up in things and forget to document, generally to my own detriment. But rest assured, gentle reader, that I am having the most incredible time and my brain can't quite fathom all that I have managed to fit in in the last six weeks.

I write you from Hamtramck, a small Polish community in the heart of Detroit. I am couchsurfing with John, a beautiful North Carolinan who moved up here four months ago. He is a classical pianist and organist who moved here for a change of pace, and because Detroit has a large number of very old organs! FACTS, I love them. He is a most hospitable tour guide and host and interesting to boot. He is an atheist, yet currently as we speak he is working as a church organist a little out of town, and is most likely the man most able to give you the run down on the church's acceptance policies, as he is also a proud gay man. We get on very well and I am looking forward to more hangs this afternoon.

Yesterday was amazing. I got to see all different sides of Detroit with a tour guide who only sometimes made up the facts, ha. There is a huge old abandoned factory called the Packer plant, situated in a neighbourhood where for every operational house there are 3 burnt out husks surrounding. Apparently the cops don't like people exploring it anymore, so we hid our car around the corner, found an opening and went inside. It was incredible eerie, with trash and debris scattered without pattern, graffiti lining the walls and stairwells to no where. Odd to think that those ripped up floorboards had lived so many lives, and seen so many different feet.

We ate incredible Polish food in this basement restaurant in Hamtramck for lunch, where I was mistaken for the waitress on multiple occasions, probably due to my odd dress sense and ridiculous pale skin.

John took me to an incredible rare book store that just had floors and floors of amazing books. I spent 20minutes reading about the feminist influence of local American Indian tribes on the early suffragettes of this country, but unfortunately as I have already amassed a ridiculously heavy collection of books, had to leave it behind.

I was fairly tired and weary from my week in Chicago (still! YOU GUYS.) so we left drinking for a night and went to an incredible old theatre called the Redwood. John volunteers there, playing piano and taking tickets, so we got into see Seahawks, an old Errol Flynn movie, for four dollars. Fuck this place is cheap. Beautiful community of passionate people, generally older, who love their theatre and want to preserve it for all. A small 18 year old prodigy organist played the theatre organ at intermission, and they had an MC who did 50s style advertisements for the local businesses. It was like stepping back in time.

So that is Detroit so far I guess. Up to Toronto next, then Montreal and then hooking back down through the Northeast into Boston, NYC, Philly and DC, before heading back to Chicago to drive down to Fest! I will try and write a full Chicago entry soon, but very briefly, I found a home away from home. I met and looked after Toby in Melbourne earlier this year, and he more than returned the favour, introducing me to all his friends, letting me sleep on the most comfortable couch in punk rock and making my time there all around incredible. His wife Katie is the most rockin' lady you could ever hope to meet, and works at the Gingerman (best bar in Chicago) which is right below their apartment. I spent my days wandering the city, and my nights in the company of new friends. Riot Fest was a blast, also thanks to Toby, and my fellow Jegette, Miss Daisy. This girl hung out with me everyday and didn't get sick of my face! Seriously, if any of you are reading this, there is always a place for you on my couch and for anyone who you vouch for. I miss you so much already Chicago, and I shall see you in about a month!

So you can see internet, that I am busy busy in my favourite pursuit, story collecting. I'll try and put up some photos as well so that you have an idea of my journey so far.

Much love,

Rachel