OK, I'm sick as a dog, but will try and catch up on this blog - it's been a while. So what has happened since the last post? here is a run down: the 3000km road trip with my parents (Montreal, Quebec City, Lake Placid, NYC, Niagara Falls, and Toronto); our trip to Greece (
Parga and Athens) for a wedding; my trip to DC; the Fall colours; Oasis concert; Thanksgiving; awards; snowboarding; snow; bus strike; samba; hockey finals; elections;
Halloween, potluck; and heaps more.
A couple of months back, my parents came over for a visit for about 10 days (they were actually away from home for well over a month - on the Rockies train trip from Vancouver to Calgary; visiting Anna in the UK; and taking a tour through parts of Europe). Once their Rockies train trip was over out West, they flew across Canada to us in the East. We had a full schedule for them.
It was great seeing my parents again, as it had been a while (and will be a while till I see them again). They spent the first couple of days in Ottawa, having a look around downtown and across the river in
Gatineau, Quebec. Sorry we didn't see a bear Mum and Dad.
On the Saturday we started the 3000km road trip. Montreal was the first stop. It was a great time to be in Old Montreal as they had the traditional summer markets - it was like going back in time as everyone was in period costume, some busking with ancient
instruments etc.
The next day it was off to Quebec City 3 hours down the road. We somehow managed to book accommodation
inside the wall , as the city was humming because of the 400
th Anniversary of the city. That night we watched an amazing show about the history of Quebec by Robert
Lepage - on the world's biggest projection screen - 600 metres by 30 metres - displayed on the silos in the port -
read and view pictures here .
After a day of getting amongst the Quebec celebrations, fireworks, buskers, silo film, and really good food, we headed further out east of Quebec City to
Le Massif , and
Baie-Saint-Paul
, then the 6.5 hour drive back to Montreal - where we spent 1 night at the
alternative backpackers , breakfast in a traditional French restaurant, and started the road trip to Lake Placid in the US of A.
At the border we had little issues - actually went through very quick and didn't need to wait in any queues - they must have liked New
Zealanders (but maybe the real reason were the
dipo passports). So from signs of 100
kmh to 65mph, we were in the US. The drive to Lake Placid took only a couple of hours. Lake Placid - home of the Winter Olympics in 1932, and 1980 - ended up being only a lunch stop, as we found out (when there) that you needed to spend a good week in to explore the area. Checked out the old ski jump from the road (cost about $15 to go in, the view wasn't too bad from the road, and it was free), before heading back onto State Highway I-87 towards New York city.
We stopped at a rest stop on the way for a fill up and some food before stopping at an outlet clothes mall (one of the biggest clothes outlets in North America) - what seemed like 2 hours later we left the mall for the Big Apple.
Early evening we drove into New York city, parked the car (at a 24hr parking place), and
headed to our home for 5 days - the
Broadway Hostel and Hotel on 101st, just of
Broadway. We had an awesome room, with
en suite, and flat screen
tv (not that we used it much), for about $60 each per night (at least I think it was about that much).
New York City, what can I say - I covered a lot in a previous post - but it was Mum and Dad's first time here, and they loved it. We did all the touristy stuff (some days Miriam and I did stuff we didn't do last time, while Mum and Dad
experienced the Empire State, ground zero, Times Square etc). One of the days as we were walking down near 5
th, I heard someone shout out 'Kiwi'. I turned around and right behind us were two guys that cam on the boys camping trip back in August (August 6 post below) in Canada. How about that eh - small world.
the night of my parents 40th, we had dinner in Little Italy NY. After dinner, while we were looking for the bar that was the 'hang out' on the Sopranos, we bumped into a limo driver. He said to me $40 and I'll take all 4 of you to Times Square in the stretched limo. 5 minutes later we were in the back of the limo on the way to Times Square.
Check the short clip here of Mum and Miriam getting out of the limo at Times Square.
After a full, eventful, and great 5 days in New york city, it was time to pick up the car and drive to Niagara Falls - a 7 (or so) hour drive. We stayed one night in Niagara, checked out the Falls, the mini
Las Vegas neon, and headed to
Niagara on the Lake, before Toronto.
In Toronto, Mum and Dad caught up with an old friend from NZ, and later we took
them to an Irish pub for dinner - just down the road from our
accommodation on Church Street. The Church Street area is the gay area of Toronto, and that night we experienced our first gay Irish Pub!
The next morning we woke up to the sound of water. The hot water cylinder exploded during the night (well leaked more than exploded) at the B&B we stayed at - water was all over the place. The owners, a young couple who had only been in the B&B business a few months, were called (they, I guess, didn't live there - or it was a busy period and they gave up their bed for clients?!) and told about the water leakage. They were very distraught, as they had a full house
again that night and no water! We left them - took Mum and Dad to the
CN Tower (we didn't end up getting charged for the
accommodation, which was good).
So we dropped Mum and Dad off near the
CN Tower, and said our good-byes - that was the end of the road (except for our drive back to Ottawa) - it was a great trip - we managed to get in quite a bit in the 10 or so days - sad to see them go.
Check out the photos here.
The next big trip was to
Greece for a friend's wedding. I'll write about this in a new post soon.
Photos are here.
Okay some quick notes on other happenings:
Work - Miriam went on a trip to the UK and elsewhere for a few days - that is all I can say! I went on work trip to Washington DC in October - had a tour of some of the State Department, met with some
colleagues who work in the same area as me, had a tour through the Canadian Embassy (impressive), visited the
Smithsonian, and stayed in a nice area - Georgetown (bloody expensive for dinner - at least work was paying I guess!). Also I was given an award from my boss - the Ambassador - for some good work (and $500) - cheers mate!
Halloween - We dressed up in costume and went to
Halloween Party. Miriam went as a vampire - covered in white paint and red dye as blood tears. I went as
Fred Dagg (it was bloody cold in the stubbies and singlet - -5c that night - but the winter boots did the trick!).
Photos are here (with the Oasis pics).
Thanksgiving - We had a huge Turkey for Canadian Thanksgiving at the beginning of November - thanks Martin.
Oasis - We went to an Oasis concert here in Ottawa - it was good, but they are past their prime. Check out this video of them in concert in Toronto a few days later -
someone jumps on stage and attacks Noel!
Other photos here.
Fall Colours - Check out some of these pics of
Fall colours in Gatineau Park, Quebec - September
Winter Colours - Check out some of these pics of
Winter colours in Gatineau Park - November.
Potluck - We had a potluck at ours - good food and music. Like any potluck, you end up with a lot of left overs - wine, beer, and food! -
photos .
Samba - We have been learning samba - although I missed the first 5 weeks, so I'm a bit behind (can't do the knee thing after the bounce, ball, heel, heel - the knee thing is meant happen after the second heel). Our
teacher is a friend of ours here in Ottawa - we will be able to practice at his birthday party this Sunday.
Snow and Bus Strike,
Canada Post Strike - The perfect storm! A few days ago we had our first big snow storm - over 35cm in a day or so. Also, the day of the storm
OC Transport (Ottawa's public transport network) went on strike -
read about it here ,
video here. Many people stayed at home that day, but the strike is still on. It is chaos out there -
traffic jams everywhere - police on every major intersection trying to control the traffic with little success - there were reports of people waiting over 2 hours just to get out of parking buildings! To make matters worse, Canada Post have been on strike here in Ottawa for a few weeks. Picketers are blocking the entrance to car parks near Miriam's work - and the picketers are getting abusive. Miriam wasn't allowed through until she showed her ID, explained she didn't work at Canada Post, and said that she was a New
Zealander!
Elections - I have a new boss, as of January 09 - good to see
Obama win; Helen Clark had a good run, hope John Keys doesn't f**k things up too much;
Oh Canada, what a mess - read here.
Hockey Finals - Yep, our (social) team made the hockey finals - the Final is next Tuesday - Dec 16
th - Go the Warriors!!
Christmas parties - It is that time of year, Christmas parties coming out our ears - although I have been sick the last few days so I missed the big cocktail party at the Ambassador's residence - would have been good to see inside (was outside it for
July 4).
Here is a video of the Ambassador on the Rick Mercer Report (it shows the residence).
Well that is about it - I might go and have a hot lemon drink.
Quebec City for Christmas, and a cottage near a lake (where you have to cross country ski to get to it) with friends for New Years.
If I don't write again before then - Happy Christmas and have a great New Years.
