it is time to pack and move back home leaving behind the new faces I got familiar with, I might not meet them again but if I do then it will surely bring a smile to my face. Canada, where I spent good 3 months is actually a country still in ice age (I am told the temperature can go down up to -30..crazy !). Canada is a real big country, 10 times bigger in size than India and India is 10 times higher in population. Canada was discovered about 500 years back infact the country is much younger than many of the beautiful temples back home (by home I mean India). For such a young country it is quite advanced when it comes to infrastructure and the standard of living offered to the citizens. Looks like basic education and Healthcare is available free of cost, that simply means the taxes paid are made better use of. Anyways let me take you through my little ride here..
Montreal, Paris of north America (really? atleast that is what the tourism sites claim), was the first city I visited in Canada. Like most big cities, Montreal also has 2 parts, one part of Montreal has the 18th century buildings, few cathedrals (Notre-dame being one of them), narrow cobblestone streets, street shows, horse-drawn carriage rides, bi-cycle or rather tri-cycle rides, etc and on the other side of Montréal we have an amazing skyline, most of the Multinationals have their office here, best hotels are available, night life is vibrant and can cater to all kinds of people. I had a chance to be there during one of the musical nites, the francofolies. I enjoyed the good music but crowd was wild, wild because their way of dancing was pushing or kicking each other (seriously, I am not exaggerating) and they were having fun doing that ! Anyways, I also visited the Olympic stadium, went up the observatory from where you have the full view of the city and also went into the biodome which has the four ecosystems depicted - tropical, laurentian, marine and the polar areas. My son had a good time there and I was happy to see the penguins for the first time. To keep my little one happy we also visited the drive-through safari and the granby zoo, it was the most boring thing I did in Canada:-)
I also went around to other nearby areas and Quebec city was the best of all. Hotel Château Frontenac ,the stone buildings, street shows, winding streets lined with shops and restaurants, they all make the city a wonderful place to visit. One of the weekends, me and family went to Mont Tremblant, the drive to the place was the best for me in Canada, really picturesque. There were too many views which could have been made into wallpapers. The place was again beautiful and gondola ride to the casino turned out good for me as I won few dollars at the casino. Incase I get a chance, I think I would like to spend another weekend at this place but will not have the maple candy on snow again ..too sweet for me
Just for the sake of experience, me and family went apple picking to one of the near-by apple farms, my son who is not yet 3 had picked all the apples. The first one he picked was yummmm and assuming he can pick the right apples we allowed him to pick the remaining but then no-one ate the apples other than me (they all were sour !)
Last but not the least, was my trip to Niagara, the view of the falls from the observatory (top view) or the boardwalk or from the boat ( the maid of the mist boat) were all exquisite, extraordinary, magnificent, splendid, outstanding, breathtaking or simply sexy ! Never saw anything of that sort ever and having seen such a view, I feel sorry for the Americans because though majority of the falls is in America the view is better from the Canadian side ! On our way to Niagara we had a stopover at the 1000 islands, we took a boat ride allowing us to see the various small islands. Some islands were so small that all it had was one small house and water all around. I wonder what will be their postal address ? Do postman actually go and deliver letters there? What if someday the water level goes up and the whole Island goes missing? will the address cease to exist ? Too complex for me till someone explains. Apart from 1000 islands, we spent some time at Toronto downtown and visited the CN tower which I never knew was one of the wonders of the world (sometimes in the 90's). We had a good time and the glass floor in this high rise tower was quite unique
So it was all work during weekdays and fun over the weekends. So though I initially did not enjoy being in Canada maybe because I was away from family after a long time and for a long time but the country now seems friendly and when people say Bonjour I know what to reply ...
Signing off.. oops flying off ..Babu S
