Saturday 2nd July 2011

Sat in Trudeau Airport Montreal, waiting to board our flight home, which lands at Heathrow at some ungodly hour of tomorrow morning. Montreal is hot and steamy; we have spent our final day orienteering our way around the 33km of malls; all undercover and linked by a series of underground walkways (also had the advantage of keeping us out of the heat). We had enjoyed the Canada Day celebrations; sitting on the roof terrace of our hotel to watch the fireworks, which lit up the St. Lawrence river. We have enjoyed our visit to this part of Canada and we feel experienced a diverse range of all there is to offer. The blog will now lie dormant for a little while - thank you for reading it!!

Friday 1st July 2011

We left a hot & sunny Ottawa yesterday afternoon as the royals touched down. We had spent an hour or so relaxing by the canal and watching the preparations at the War Memorial for the visit - T.V. crews in their multitude, the barricades going up and some very well armed policemen around - I don't know WHAT they thought they were going to do! Canada trains are spacious and comfortable - booking in was a little like preparing for flight, checking in baggage, queuing to get on the platform, designated seats (yes you get to sit down if you travel by train over here!) and very good value. Our own operators take note.We quickly had an indication that we were in French Canadian territory; with French certainly taking precedence. About 2-3hours to Montreal; the central station making Birmingham New Street look well lit and roomy. We are staying in an Auberge in the Old Port of the city; very characterful - almost out Frenches the French if you know what I mean. It is converted from a 19th century warehouse and is amazing; a gloriously camp manager, a bellboy, a window seat on which you could while away some time watching the bustle in the cobbled street below, a walk in shower that nearly takes your skin off and a huge brass bed - I had to use a compass to get out.We joined the promenade of people taking an evening stroll and had a really good meal at a little French bistro - oh the joys of a Table d'hote (not too many choices....) Montreal is a more compact city than Toronto and has fewer eye catching buildings but is easy to explore on foot. This moring, we joined the crowds (today is Canada Day, a public holiday) and took the ferry over to the Islands in the centre of the St. Lawrence River to escape the heat. On Ile. Notre-Dame,is the Grand-prix circuit and we walked this, along with hordes of cyclists and in-line skaters. The 1976 Olympic rowing arena is also on the island; looking derelict, almost post-apocalyptic with weeds growing among the deserted 1970's concrete stands, rusting roof supports open to the sky and vacant TV screens. Tonight we eat at the hotel and will hopefully get a good view of the Canada Day fireworks from the rooftop terrasse.

Wednesday 29th June 2011

'The Ballad of Ottawa Gaol' - no we haven't knocked the hat off a Mountie, we are staying in our own 2-bed cell, in the Youth Hostel at Ottawa which is the former prison. Complete with barred door, and iron bed posts it is very authentic but we are expecting to be let out for good behaviour tomorrow. Ottawa is very foot friendly and very European feeling and the YH is right in the centre of things. It is close to the By Ward market whose cafes, produce and flower stalls and bistros give it a very European ambience. We arrived in very hot humid conditions and soon were downing a beer at the Irish bar (next to the Scottish bar, which would you believe sells Wychwood beer) - nice to see the Celtic fringe thriving in Canada. We had the most enormous thunder storm in the evening, which at lease made sightseeing a little more comfortable today. The whole city is in pre-festivity mode; ready for the Canada Day celebrations on Friday and the arrival of William & Kate - the newlyweds had asked we join them for a pint at the Earl of Sussex pub, but our schedule being what it is.. We did the Confederation Boulevard tour today - walk around the key sights. We had a fascinating tour of the parliament building; a gothic echo of Westminster with a certain French je-ne-sais-quois. This included an elevator ride to the viewing platform at the top of their Big Ben equivalent and a visit to the library, which was stunning. We spent most of the day at the Canada Civilisation museum, which was an absorbing collections of exhibitions detailing Canada's history, both in terms of modern settlers and their own aboriginal peoples, and thoroughly recommended. We also enjoyed seeing the staircase of locks on the Rideau canal. Tomorrow we take the train to Montreal for the final stage of our trip - don't know where the days have gone!

Monday 27th June 2011

Yesterday we went on a bear hunt - it was a lovely day & we weren't scared. We went into the deep dark wood; lots of squishy mud - we couldn't go round it, we couldn't go over it, we had to go through it. Dirty boots! Lots of lakes and deep dense forest. We saw - a chipmunk, a wild turkey and lots of midges. We didn't see many people and certainly no bears...Today was a lazy day, enjoying our final day at the Domain. We sat by the lake, enjoying the sun. Food has been excellent throughout but our fellow guests are an eclectic lot - a troll, Yoko Ono and a Bostonian whose voice is a loud as he is ignorant. We are amused by their inability to chose wine & their fear of mismatching with the food - we just chose what we like and drink it! Which, you may say, is pretty standard behaviour. Tomorrow is a driving day - off to Ottawa and a stay in a Youth Hostel; variety is the spice of life....

Saturday 25th June 2011

We left the city behind us yesterday afternoon and, after picking up a hire car, headed north on the freeway to the Haliburton Highlands. The Canadians call this cottage country & we certainly passed lots of real estate with lakeside frontage - there are more lakes than you can swing a trout at - tucked in amid the pine forests which extend as far as the eye can see; once you are past Barrie (big bad) and onto single lane carriageway. We stopped for coffee and a blueberry bagel on the way at Tim Hortons, which are coffee and bakery outlets which are everywhere & very good - imagine a Canadian version of Costa (but with no Flat Whites; nowhere is perfect!). We are staying for four nights at the Domain de Killien, a lodge 15km from the nearest town, set on the shore of a lake in the middle of 5,000 acres of forest. Jacuzzi baths in the room and a lakeside view. Dinner is included in the room rate and if night one is anything to go by, we will not be losing weight. Eggs benedict for breakfast this morning as well! Unfortunately, the weather isn't matching the perfect location - rain for both Friday and today and humid as well, which brought the mozzies out in force! You will recall their particular appetite for Paul in NZ - well Canadian ones like him just as much. We managed a walk this afternoon but have invested in super-strength repellant.We also visited a wolf sanctuary, just in time for lunch for the inhabitants and watched as the creatures made short work of a deer; venison burger anyone? A fascinating educational display gave us an insight into the lives and capability of these creatures. Paul has facebooked feeding time; so I'm going for the view from our room window at the lodge - rather nice isn't it?

Thursday 23rd June 2011

Chill-out day in cottage country. Today was so relaxing. Having been woken by a thunderstorm in the night, the day dawned sunny and bright. We walked along the beach for a couple of hours, wading through the lake water when the beach ran out. Lunch at the cottage, then unfortunately plans to enjoy the sun were curtailed by the weather gods. We sat at the picture windows watching the weather patterns sweep across the lake and the ever changing sky and water. After dinner, back to the city to overnight before we head up north. Many thanks to Monica & Joe for their hospitality, the guided tours, the wonderful meal locations and their company. It has really made the first part of our Canadian visit unforgettable.

Wednesday 22nd June 2011

Monica spent her birthday giving us the grand tour of the Niagara region - with a definite liquid theme for the day. We left the Toronto area in rain and the grey weather followed us down to the vineyards which sit in the fertile bowl between Lake Ontario and the escarpment to the East. More liquid - of an infinitely more interesting kind - followed two wine tours. The first at Jackson-Triggs, where we tasted the best Pinot Noir in a long time and at Pelliteri, who specialse in Ice Wine. To show we were paying attention, ice wine is made from grapes that are left on the vine until the first frosts; three nights at 8degC or lower has them ready for harvest. The temperatures mean a concentrated grape juice, which is much sweeter than table wine, altough not quite as sweet as European dessert wines. I rather liked the less traditional version ,which was a little sharper to the palate. Suitably fortified, we headed off to Niagara Falls. A fury of water and spray from the huge volume of water plunging over the cataract, whilst the tourist boats below eddyed around in the mist, looking like sticks tossed in a storm. We had lunch at a bar overlooking the falls (and the Canadian, Horseshoe Falls, are definitely the most spectacular of the two), occasionally dampened by the spray. We took a ride on the 'Maid of the Mist' tourist boat to the foot of the falls, taking a communal shower with hordes of similarly blue pack-a-mac clad speactators. You really do get wet and to be at the foot of this boiling, roaring force of water is breathtaking.
We spent the night at Monica's cottage on the shore of Lake Erie, wonderful views across to the USA. We ate Yellow Perch from the lake at a local fish restaurant - still not quite used to the portion sizes...then wine around a fire on the terrace of the cottage with stars overhead and the sound of the waves rippling on the shore. Perfect..