Canada - The Emery's, Ottawa and Montreal - 23rd May to 27th May

The plane barely got to cruising level before we were making our decent into Ottawa International Airport and as the wheels touched down I placed my book in my bag and made my way to immigration. It felt weird not having Rachel there beside me but I found my way well enough. The lady at customs vigorously questioned me about my reasons for visiting Canada, even more so than when entering America which was surprising, but after being allowed to enter the country I collected my bag and strode into Canada. On the barrier outside arrivals Andrea stood waiting, along with a handful of other people. The time was 23.14 and the weather cool, the Canadian adventure had begun but this time I would have inside help. Once we arrived at the Emery's I was greeted by Scott who handed me a beer, the scene was set and after a quick chat we all hit the sack ready for a month of adventure.

The following day I awoke feeling drowsy. I clambered out of bed and slid open the door expecting to be greeted by all the family but as I cleared my eyes I caught sight of the clock on the oven - it was 6.30 in the morning - clearly my sleeping pattern was all over the place. As I wandered back to bed I laid wide eyed, unable to regain my sleep, although it was not long before everyone woke and headed down stairs. As we sat eating breakfast I met the girls again and we discussed things to do and places to see, it was the weekend so the fun would start today, I went for a walk with "Skimpy", Stimpy, Scott and Katrin to Starbucks to pick up some coffee beans before heading back to heaven - the final day of the Premier League. I had not watched a game since Thailand but today I would sit back and watch the last game of the season. Scott's brother came over to enjoy the game, 'a Chelsea fan', we watched United and Hull before switching to the Chelsea game. It was like a fix that I had been waiting for for a life time and today I would feel revived from a deprived season. After the game I headed in to Ottawa Town with Andrea and the girls. They took me round a few sights and invited me to join them with a beaver tail, a deep fried slice of doughnut covered in whatever you want. I went for lemon and sugar, I think I'll introduce it to the UK as it really is that good. We then strolled around the Parliament Building and through a few more sights in the area before we spotted a Mounty posing for photos. With no hesitation I jumped up for a photo, with my arm around the lady in red Andrea took the snap. As the day wore on we made our way back to the house, the jet lag was still affecting me so I was feeling pretty tired. Andrea worked her magic with the photo of the Mounty leaving Canada reeling. Come evening I got to know everyone a little better as I exchanged stories from my travels and the guys spoke of things that we should do while I was here. After a great dinner of salmon we headed back inside and Scott introduced me to the world of Ice Hockey, 'it kicks ass.'

On the morning of the 25th I awoke not at 6.30 but around 10.00, my sleeping pattern clearly still recovering from the travel. Andrea was shocked that I had not woken earlier with the girls going to school and Scott grinding his coffee before work. Once ready Andrea and I headed into one of Ottawa's malls. She showed me a few places around the local area where I could shop and tried to help me replace my valuable Raben's, that came so abruptly to their end in New Zealand but unfortunately it appears they are not sold this side of the Pacific. We stopped off for lunch at a small Vietnamese restaurant; the food took me back to Asia once more as I told Andrea stories of the food we had tried there. It was good that Andrea was off work as it helped us get to know each other. It may have seemed like I had just gate crashed into their world as we did not really know each other too well but very quickly I could tell things were going to be great, we got on well and could relate to things. Not only that Canadian's, especially Andrea, are so laid back its untrue which fits my world perfectly. After lunch we headed back to the car, happy with the free parking we drove around a little before heading back home to meet the girls from school. The afternoon passed quickly, Scott arrived back from work and before I knew it we were off out to watch Juliet play her first game of Ultimate Frisbee. Well, we watched for a bit before Scott and me jumped up and started playing ourselves, it was the only way we could keep warm, especially me coming from Fiji. Having watched them practice we both picked up the moves well, we even thought about starting our own team…

As the night wore on and the temperature dropped we headed back to the house. Juliet was exhausted and we were all hungry so after a quick bite to eat we relaxed before heading to bed for sleep, well that was what I hoped but tonight I could not sleep which was no fun at all - dam jet lag! The next day started early, Andrea and I got ready and we jumped in the car and were away, our destination was Montreal Quebec. Viva le France, I said as we headed down, "I didn't really" but that was where we were heading, Quebec is the French side of Canada where English is second to them. The journey took us around 2 hours but it gave us time to find out more about each other, then Andrea slipped in the conversation about a trip to New York, a place I had to visit at some point in my life. I had come to terms with the fact that it was unlikley to happen on this trip but it would seem that with a gentle bit of persuading from my cousin I may be wrong. As we arrived in Montreal the traffic built up like in any city. We parked up and hit the High Street, shopping again, I thought the girls at home will be going mad. But the fashion is far too good to shy away from here, especially in Montreal, now that's one thing the French do get right. After looking around for a bit our belly's grumbled and we headed for some vegetarian cuisine, one of Andrea's favourites.

After lunch we went on the travelling walk, heads down we wandered around the city, checking out the old buildings, the statutes and the port. My tour guide even spoke a little French so I could not go wrong. The weather was warm and fresh, a gentle breeze pushed through the air with enough force to lift the flags from there poles. Andrea spoke of her youth when she was here and she explained how to get around the city, as I was likely to pop back in by myself. As time wore on we headed back to the car, I pulled out my wallet to pay for the parking only until Andrea scanned the ticket… $14 "WHAT" I shouted, Andrea was like, "its fine". Fine, man I could only imagine if my Dad was here and oh yeah get this, as we were walking we even found a parking metre next to a bike, "you have to pay to park your pushbike, go green, it costs more, the slogan I envisioned above it." Anyway we jumped in the car and started the drive around the city. We went up to Mt Royal, where a cemetery the size of a 1000 football fields covers the majority of it and to a view point which overlooks the city. The views were amazing on this clear day, we could see the port, downtown and the Olympic Stadium. We even watched a couple of women pose for photos with a man made out of cardboard, ha typical French I thought. As we drove back down the other side we stopped at some road works before being flagged through by a dozy beast who had spent her day waving to all the passes by, although this time her waving nearly ended in tragedy as a steam roller nearly flattened us. I leant across and shouted, "That's it just wave us through sweetheart". Andrea exploded into laughter as the Englishman came out of me. After our near death experience we called in at a hugely impressive building where a photo just had to be taken. Then the traveler came out in Andrea as she dropped me off and did a u-turn in the parking lot to avoid paying while I snapped a few shots. With a quick high-five we were away, learning each others qualities well.

The journey home was slower with us hitting some rush hour traffic, we maneuvered our way through the heaps of commuters well before arriving back to more Ice hockey and Pizza and chips. A fitting end to a day of fun and laughter and more to the point another clean set of clothes purchased. As the rain fell on the windows above my head the following day we headed out early once more for breakfast with Katrin at Pil's Diner. A true American style diner, with the sofa's setting the scene from a 70's flick and the pictures around the wall even more so. As we joked over breakfast the waitress had a joke of her own, picking my accent instantly she asked, "you from Australia?", I laughed and corrected her only to set her off on a whirl wind of a joke about the Royal Family. Although I did laugh at the punch line I feel it was more her forced English accent that made me chuckle the most. After breakfast we headed to the supermarket where I gave Andrea a hand with the shopping. I laughed again as I saw the selection of cereals she had picked up although I would have to get up early to see how Scott puts his cereal medley together. After that we quickly darted home which gave me enough time to catch up with family back home before heading out to the pub!

Today was the Champion's League final and we would be spending most of the day at the pub enjoying the atmosphere. The pub was called The Georgetown; it was a true English pub but in Canada. We grabbed a table and held down the fort, in a blink of an eye the place was packed out with an array of colours as supporters from both sides rammed in. Andrea and I ordered our lunch and we were later joined by Scott, his brother and one of his friends. The Vietnamese curry I had was good but not as good as my 'Shanty' yep that's right a lager shandy is referred to as a shanty. The waitress looked at me as if I were from another planet as she tried to figure out my order which brought a few laughs. As the game got closer I placed each order with speech marks much to the joy of the waitress. The songs started singing and we started to absorb the atmosphere. I thought of Bradley at the game in Rome and could only imagine what he was going through. As the game got underway we all went through the emotions and Andrea started to understand the passion that comes with football. The beers flowed, the abuse was screamed and the celebrations were muted. After the game ended we squared up the bill and made our way out as the Barcelona fans danced around the pub. The sport would not stop there however as the evening arrived with more beer and hockey, I sat in anticipation of a fight like a true beginner to the world of Ice Hockey. As we all headed for bed after an enjoyable day I got to work on the research for New York, that's right in a true spur of he moment I was booking a trip to the big apple.