Monday, July 28, 2008

Home at last!!!

We made it! We are home after 10 days exploring some of the eastern provinces of our Country. I am glad I got to see that part of Canada, but I am so happy to be home, in the west where I love it! Funny how travelling like that can make you appreciate "home" wherever that might be. It's also funny the things you miss, I mean there are the usual things most people miss, family, friends, pets and sleeping in your own bed, but then there are the things you miss that give you a little insight into just who you are. In addition to missing my family, friends and Dirt Face, I missed running on my own favorite paths, the ones without dog poop. Would you believe that in Montreal no one cleaned up thier doggy doo? It was smeared all over the sidewalks, disgusting. In Toronto most people scooped the poop, tied the little plastic bag shut and hung it on the nearest conveniant fence. I saw parks where the entire perimeter fence was decorated with filled up doggy doo bags, ewwww! I now appreciate how clean and dog poop free Calgary is! I missed driving my jetta. Public Transit is a pretty cheap way to get around, but it is also a crowded and hot and kinda scary. We also recieved many dirty looks for having our huge luggage with us the majority of the time we rode the busses and subway. Our bags were too big for the aisles which made it difficult for people to get by which caused frustration, which made me feel uncomfortable. Marty was great at figuring out where we needed to get off, but some of the bus drivers were less than helpful and they would yell at us, making me feel like a kid getting into trouble!!! I missed baking, I know it is weird that I love to bake so much, but I do and I really missed being in the kitchen. Don't get me wrong, the breakfasts we were served at the B&B in Montreal were incredible, but at the hotel, we had to pay 13.75$ for cereal!!!!! I finally went to Superstore and bought a big box of Special K! I missed texting, man I didn't even think I texted that much, but whenever something funny would happen, I'd reach for my phone to text my friends and share the laugh, but I didn't even bring my phone!!!
We only got to see a small portion of each city, but here is my overview:
Montreal: loved the opportunity to speak french, even though I was kinda shy.
Dirty, ewww, like really dirty, the streets, the buildings, everything and the people were less friendly.
Too much smoking, everyone smoked and as far as I could tell, no one exercised!
Interesting culture, especially in "The Village" and fun night life.
Ottawa: loved how clean and crisp everything was.
Loved the parks, the water, the canals and the rivers were beautiful.
Active people everywhere, jogging, biking, walking!
Totally geared towards tourists, very friendly people and made us more aware of our canadian heritage! We left Ottawa feeling proud to be Canadian!
Toronto: We were actually in North York, so there were no Starbucks, or Tim Horton's in sight, no Mac's stores or even gas stations within walking distance....weird how now that I live in the city, that seems inconveniant!
Fairly friendly people, hockey hall of fame is a great family place and you gotta eat at Wayne Gretzky's, we did!!!

We had a great time on vacation and the wedding was a blast! I am happy to be home though, and I am chomping at the bit to get out and see Dirt, so I'm gonna run. I am still trying to figure out how to put more than one picture, small pictures on here. I tried to include a couple today of the hockey hall of fame!

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