Canada - Ottawa to Montreal - 1st June to 5th June

Well after busy weekend with the party and the tree links Monday was ultimately only going to be a day of rest. I caught up on my blog and uploaded all the photos while catching up with Rachel and Will. I guess the best part was that it was raining for much of the day so it was a perfect time to sit back and relax. As the evening arrived I finalized all my stuff for Montreal and New York before heading to bed ready for the next day. I awoke early this morning to get prepared for a day out in the Museum of Civilization in Ottawa city centre. Chauffer driven to the venue Andrea dropped me off just outside the main entrance where I went off for the day exploring. As I entered the museum I walked through different exhibits telling of how Canadian life started out from the Aboriginals to the British Empire e to the Canadians of today. The displays were all laid out to be eye catching and interesting, I even took a stroll in to the land of mystical creatures which sent me back a few years. As the morning past I had concurred much of the museum although not in immense detail. I went outside to the back of the museum for lunch where I sat on the river's edge watching the world go by from active life of city goers on parliament hill to the ducks swimming down the fast flowing stream of water. The sun beamed down so was in no hurry to get back inside. After a few photos a meet with Alvin from the Chipmunks I headed back inside to complete the museum. The last stop was a life size town built back in the day; I walked through people's homes, local stores and a Ukrainian church giving me a real feel for the era that people once lived.

After exiting the small town I headed towards the IMAX theatre where I had a ticket to see 'Under the Sea' this was going to be a true IMAX experience in a cinema shaped like a dome with the screen wrapping all around and above. As I entered the cinema along with about 500 kids I picked my centre seat and pushed my chair back. As the movie started it real made me feel like I was back snorkeling under the crystal waters of Fiji although I soon snapped out of my dream with the kid behind kicking my chair. After being bombazzeled by the IMAX I headed out of the museum completely and started my walk in to town to catch the bus back. As I crossed Parliament hill I gazed up watching the policies pour out while a ground hog grappled through the grass outside. The ever burning flame pumped out heat as people sat chatting around it. As I crossed the road heading for the bus I detoured in to a coffee house for a muffin and a coffee for $2 before finally arriving at the station.

As I worked out my stop as the streets passed I hopped off the bus and took a slow stroll up the hill, book in hand I absorbed the afternoon sun before entering back in to the Emery's. As evening arrived we sat chatting about the day's events over pizza before settling down with a beer for 'Hockey night in Canada'. The next morning I awoke early to head to Montreal, Andrea dropped me at the station a little before 9.00 as I set off on the 2 hour bus journey. After a heavy session of reading we arrived just after 11.00 in the morning, blessed with hot weather once more I departed the station and started the walk to the city centre. My journey took me through a small music festival where local bands played there music and in to the Brooklyn of Montreal where graffiti was the colour of the street walls and every other person walked with a swagger. As I crossed through china town I noticed the cathedral that signified my arrival into the centre. As I checked in the information centre for my hostel I walked up the street eyeing up places to head and see. After dropping my bag off in the hostel and meeting my roommates, one slightly right wing American and a perfectly sane Swede I headed back out in to the city where I stopped for lunch in a small café where I chomped on a Panini and an iced coffee.

After regerated I made my way out on to St Catherine Street and went shopping in Simons once more, the credit card took another battering but the prices were too good to pass. After a period of shopping I started walking around the city, well the part I had not seen, I crossed though a university and strolled across the streets which rang in harmony, the whole place had an ambiance around it that filled the air and made the walk seem effortless, the old buildings rimmed with gothic culture speaking loudly about the history of the place. I stopped off in small green where I laid back in the afternoon sun and watched as the world passed by. As time started to pass I rose back to my feet and joined the rush hour pedestrians back to the hostel, passing more art galleries and locals homes as I went which ringed with European culture. Once my bag was dropped I headed out for dinner just for a change, I actually ended up in a American dinner where I was served a salmon wrap which settled me for a night relaxing in the hostel getting ready tomorrow.

After a night of rest I headed out early the next morning with the Swedish lad Thomas from the hostel. Our destination was the Biodome, the former home of the 1976 Olympic Games. After a quick breakfast in America's favorite restaurant, 'Mc Donald's' we caught the metro to there. As we arrived the buildings stood impressively over the station. The stadium now looking far inferior to that of the Birds nest, in its day must have spoken loudly with technology with its retracting roof, a strange one at that. After paying the fees we spent the next 2 hours around the biodome, an area with four sections of ecosystems from around the planet, from the tropical south to the freezing north of Antarctica the biodome places you in the environment with wildlife and dramatic temperature changes.

After ending with the Penguins we headed out and sat overlooking the park in the blazing sun before moving on to the Insectariums, another attraction that has a collection of over 100,000 insects from all over the world, as interesting as it was the novelty war off pretty quickly. After a morning of exploring we then headed to the Botanical gardens, the second largest in the world, with a collection of plants from many parts of the world, my favorite was the China gardens, maybe due to my love for Asia or maybe for its peaceful tranquility. Although that may have been the cause for my 1.5hr nap on a park bench. Obviously by this time Thomas had made his way back downtown, I on the other hand had decided to catch up with nature and slow the pace down in the gardens. As I awoke a lady smiled to me and said, "good morning, I passed you over an hour ago" laughing in a dazed motion I rose to my feet and headed back for the metro to head back downtown.

As I arrived back I walked down to the hostel to drop my bag off for the day, the evening would be more active than the previous with it being Hockey night in Canada one more. I set off with Thomas to the out to Crescent Street; the West Street of Montreal, packed with bars, clubs, and people the place screams fun. We headed for the Hard Rock café, probably a crap choice really but a decent enough stop for dinner, well the world's most basic burger comes to mind. After deciding instantly that we would not watch the hockey here I remembered a bar just down St Catherine Street called the Bistro????? That served freshly brewed beer from its own cellar. The decision could not have been any more rewarding as we parked ourselves up to the bar, introduced ourselves to Sebastian the bar tender and waited for the hockey. "Dam why did I not eat here" I shouted as dish after dish rolled out of the kitchen, each looking more scrumptious that the other. Thankfully though lady luck was on our side, upstairs a barrel stood with small brown bags, inside a mountain of monkey nuts, suddenly I was back in Egypt in the Bar that's floor is monkey nut shells. After picking up a bag or 3 we sat intently for 4 hours, drinking, chatting and watching the Pittsburgh kick Detroit's ass. A lad next to me spoke to me about his travels through working in hotel development in particular the new Freedom tower in New York which I would soon be seeing in its preliminary stages. As the night drew to a close we squared up the bill and headed home calling in for a slice of pizza on the way back the night had been well spent.

Back in the hostel, the time now gone 23.00 I started chatting lad from New York, oops, he spoke of his past troubles in the city and how life once was for him, to me I got the impression he was slightly mad, even more so when the conversation turned to knife crime, hell, note to self, don't bring up weapons with a New Yorker as he pulls his flick knife from his pocket stating it's for his own protection… and with that I curled in to a ball and went to sleep trying not to make anymore eye contact with the unit sleeping opposite me. As the sun rose the next morning I waisted no time in packing up my luggage and heading to the bus station, catching the metro along the way. As I waited for my journey back to Ottawa, coffee in hand I knew that my next adventure was only a few hours away, this one was in a Canadian Cottage.