Hi everyone, Vik here. The time since San Fran has gone soooo fast; can't believe we are in Montreal already with only 2 weeks to go! That being said we have packed in so much in the last 3 weeks, mainly thanks to the Gilmans :D (Chris' family)

So first stop on the Canada trip was Calgary, we stayed with Chris' family and got the whole bassent to ourselves..result. The first trip we made after getting there was out to HeadSmashedIn which is an old buffalo jump where the natives used to chase buffalo from so they fell to their death..it was more fun than it sounds. There were also teepees that you could camp in for the night which would have ben pretty cool to do. The next trip that day (we packed in quite a lot due to Rick having more energy than the 3 off us put together) was to fort MacCloid. This was museum on the grounds of an old fort, kinda falling apart but was funny to watch the serious look on Rach's face as chris kept telling her to watch the dodgy planks on the bridge..never seen anyone walk so slowly haha. One bad memory I have from the day was when Rick pointed out a rabbit bouncing across the road and as we turned to see it a car smacked straight into it :( not nice at all.

We had heard so many good things about Banff this was next on the cards. For those of you who don't know, Banff is a national park full of the mst beauitful lakes in the world surrounded by the Rockies. Lake Louise is breathtaking, as was the bargin hotel suite we managed to get for the same price as a hostel, so breathtaking in fact we scrapped dinner plans in favour of a dominos pizza to make the most of it! Another thing I loved in Banff were the gophers, I ended up with about 3 pictures of a lake and 20 of the gopher licking a cadburys wrapper, they are so cute its horrible seeing them squashed all over the road.

Drumheller-the dinosaur capital of the world was next on the agenda, it had the best natural history museum ever, perfect day out for a geek like me. There were so many cool things to look at as you will see when rach gets round to uploading her pictures. We also went to the reptile park owned by Chris' family, thy had lots of horrible spiders and snakes etc, the lizards were funny though. We were all brave and held the snake (see I am as brave as you mum :p) however I wasn't too keen when it started to tighten around my neck.

Next day the three of us along with Chris' cousin Christine went exploring Calgary. First we hit the zoo so we could see real life moose and bear, the bear was a lot cuter and less scary than i imagined..although I probably wouldn't say that if I was in the cage with it. Later we went up the Calgary tower and st on the glass floor...I have no idea how Chris managed to voluntarily throw himself from that hight on the bungy jump.

A couple of good nights out in the city, firstly we hit a Jazz club. Felt very upmarket compared to drinking cheap beer in a hostel room. Another night we found a good ol' english pub and caugh up with a friend we made in new zealand and my old friend lauren from essex (who now sounds canadian). We thoroughly enjoys Calgary and ended it by taking the family out for a meal at the cheesecake factory :p. Thanks again guys we appreciate it muchly.

Wow just looked at how much I have writen already..makes a change from the rushed 2 paragraphs we normally write eh.

Ok next stop is where we currently are..Montreal! You really couldn't get two places more diferent. Being here feels like you are in france, not only becuase of all the French-Canadians everywhere, but there are cobbled streets and endless cafes. They are also on different time schedule here..dinner is at 9 and people go to the pub AT MIDNIGHT..we can't keep up, I wan't to be tucked up in bed as everyone else is going out! Parents you will be pleased to hear we have been introduced to beer pong, drinking dominos and funneling..great stuff.

We have managed to fit in some culture along the way too; we have been to two cathedrals including The Notre Dame catherdal today which was immense. The cool thing about this city is that it has n underground city as it gets so cold here in the winter, you can walk right trough the city without seeing daylight.Has kind of been like being at Uni here staying with Chris' cousin James and his flatmate and mates who are always about, really enjoyable week.

The best event of the week without a doubt was the opening to the jazz festival, a free night with STEVIE WONDER!!! we got there early to get a decent view and i'm glad we did as it was ull 2 hours before the start and they stopped lettig people in. The gig was a tribute to Michael Jackson, Stevie Wonder dancing to MJ was awesome. Freaky weather that night too, it rained until he came on stage then held off right till the end of the gig just in time for us to get soaked walking home.

We hope you are all enjoying the heat wave at home! keep it there until we get back please :D

See you all soon

Vik xxx