Christmas holidays (21st of December to 3 rd of January)

Vive les vacances !!!

The 21 st of december :

Travel by train from Kitchener to Montreal (from 9 am to 5 pm) to arrive in Montreal and join the gang (Anouk, Mairon, Alice, Virginie, Sara, Bastien and Marc) at our youth hostel (l'auberge alternative). It is terrible, we have to speak french at the reception !

Sara reading her canadian flag
The 22 nd of December :

We had our last breakfast all together with Sara who was going back to France ... and then had a walk at the mont royal (big hill offering a great view of Montreal). After cooking a great meal at the auberge alternative, we joined Paul and Adelaide at the "deux pierrot " and spent there an amazing evening (an incredible pub crowded of raging quebecquois dancing and singing)

Le Mont Royal

Paul and Adelaide

Would you like to live here ?
A famous architect did it The biosphere



At the "deux Pierrot" in Old Montreal

The 23 rd of december :

A bit tired from the last evening, we didn't start the day very early and we decided to visit " the second Montreal " underground. After watching a movie (the pursuit of happiness), we had a big pizza dinner at Paul's cousin's.

The 24 th of December :

We visited the port and the Old Montreal in that sunny morning. Then all the afternoon was spent cooking at Paul's cousin for christmas eve dinner.

Here is the menu :

- Starter (Brit) or appetizer (US) : Toasts with salmon, foie gras and tarama many vegetable quiches and shrimps (crevettes)

- Foie gras on toasted pain d'épice (try it !)

- gigot d'agneau with gratin de squash

- some REAL cheese (the best of the meal I think)

- a buche de Noel Hmmm !!!

Thanks Anouk
Bastien the cook
"Paul, make as if you were working for the picture", "OK"

Behind Paul is his cousin Antoine

The 25 th of December :

Alice, Bastien and Virginie left us to go to the states. Anouk, Mairon, Rainman (a german from the hostel) and I went visiting the islands of Montreal. We saw the casino, the racing circuit and the biosphere (international exposition of 1967). Then we visited china town in Montreal (the chinese neighbourhood).

The racing circuit
The 26 th of December :

Mairon, Anouk and I left Montreal to Quebec by bus. It was snowing so much, the road was covered with snow but it is not a problem for canadian drivers. In the afternoon, we joined our hostel in Quebec and started visiting the old city.

The 27 th of December :

Walk in Quebec city and in the "plaines d’Abraham" (many people are skiing almost in the city, there are tracks everywhere). After a fresh picnic, we visited an exposition of Inuit art with carvings (sculptures) showing Inuit’s everyday life.

The 28 th of December :

Walk in Quebec around the citadelle with Marc, Claire and Gunter (and of course Anouk and Mairon). In the afternoon, completely frozen (especially Anouk), we decided to drink a hot chocolate in a warm place where we were introduced to" playing spoons" in quebequois songs. We were also introduced to quebecquois dances, a good way to warm up. Then after visiting quickly the civilization museum about the natives and their current social problems, we cooked a good dinner at Marc’s hostel.

The 29 th of December :

It is the last day in quebec city ... the sun was shining... we decided to have a walk in a park near Quebec (domaine des Maizerets) where we discovered an amazing ice field. Then we took the bus to go to the chutes de Montmorency (83 meter high waterfalls that is to say 30 m more than the niagara falls). At that moment of the year, those waterfalls are partly frozen what makes them so beautiful. Then, we came back to that civilization museum before taking our bus coming back to Montreal. We arrived late in Montreal in the same hostel but in a different bedroom that time : “the big blue” where we took the 3 last beds left among the 20 ones.

The 30 th of December :

We did a bit of shopping in the morning and then we watched a quebecquois movie in the afternoon “CONGORAMA”, great movie. Then we cooked our dinner at the hostel as usual and left to have a drink in a pub in Old Montreal.

The 31 st of December :

Walking along the port, then visit of the Biodome in the Olympic park. The Biodome is a kind of museum where we discover the tropical forest, the lorentienne forest (forest around the saint Laurent : we could see some real loutres), and the antartic region with real manchots and pinguins (their natural environment is recreated as close as possible to the original one). After visiting the olympic park which took place in 1974, and then visiting Mc Gill university, we came back to the auberge alternative where some other suiss people joined us. Around 11 pm, we joined the Jacques Cartier square very crowded with a quebecquois music band and we attended the fireworks at 12 am.

L'auberge alternative
The olympic park
Behind me the velodrome



The 1 st of January:

We left Montreal early in the morning to go to Ottawa (the capital). Ottawa is a perfectly bilingual city (everything everywhere is translated in the two languages). We got there around 1 pm, left our luggages at our hostel “backpackers” (very babacool atmosphere) and went visiting the museum of the civilization (three stars in my guide out of 3 , I understand why) with many Inuit sculptures, native costumes ... and many HUGE totem poles. Then we walked in the city, it was really not cold and came back cooking in our hostel.

The 2 nd of January :

We had our breakfast at the sun on the hill of the parliament and then had a guided visit of the parlement. In the afternoon, Mairon left to come back to waterloo. I stayed with Anouk : we enjoyed a wonderful sunset and walked along that famous canal where we can normally skate (natural ice field of 8 km long) when the canal is frozen.

The 3 rd of January :

It is the last day in Ottawa : We started again the day with a breakfast at the sun and then went to visit the art museum with Canadian, American, Indian and Inuit art. That museum was really great ! We walked again and again in the city before taking our train back to Waterloo.

Mairon and a native

Our hostel in Ottawa

I loved Ottawa ... I want to come back there when the canal is frozen to skate...