Tadoussac

Judging by the weather, it looks like the summer of Matt is coming to an end. But the fall season is still to come, so I´m not coming home just yet. The deluge from the remnants of Hurricance Katrina arrived in the little village of Tadoussac last night at 6:30pm. I had just arrived back at the hostel from exploring the town when the downpour started. It lasted pretty much 24 hours with few breaks. Fortunately I resisted the idea of camping last night in favour of a solid roof over my head. Tadoussac is a small village at the mouth of the Saguenay fjord where it enters the St Laurence River. The combination of fresh and salt water creates a ideal environment for attracting small marine animals and therefore larger animals, then whales, and therefore tourists chasing them in boats. I never got to see any whales but I did spot a seal from the ferry. This morning I had arranged for an afternoon of kayaking but the weather had other plans. They were predicting a gale and the driving rain in combination with fog would have made seeing anything unlikely. Nevertheless the town had a few other things worth seeing including the scenic harbour and fjord, glacial sand dunes, the oldest wooden chapel in North America and an interesting museum on the fur trade complete with all the the different kinds of animal pelts that were once so sought after.

The drive up from Quebec City took a few hours and was very beautiful, and the weather was stunning as well. Stopped at some nice towns along the way. On the way back today, it was pouring continuously so it was completely different. I missed hearing the news today so I didn´t get a chance to fill up on gas when it was at the low price of 109.5 and so tomorrow I´ll have to pay at least 134.9 unless it´s gone up again. Maybe I´ll have to park the car and ride to Newfoundland from here! :)

Well it´s off to Montreal Thursday then should be in New Brunswick on Saturday night or Sunday. Thanks for everyone who sent emails in the last day or so, will have to respond to you later.

Montmorency Falls

Finally another picture!

What´s Up

Here is what I´ve been up to the past few days. On my first day I went with my aunt to the old city of Quebec. We walked through the Plains of Abraham, the Governer`s Promenade, Dufferin Terrace, Chateau Frontenac and through the old city. The weather was perfect for the past few days, not too hot or cold. The next day I went for a long bike ride from the suburb of Sillery along the river front pathway to the other end of the city. The Montmorency Falls were at the other end of my bike ride and I stopped there for lunch. The bike pathways were in excellent shape and were very popular that day. I may do some more bike riding again before I leave. Later on my uncle took me to meet his son whom I had never met. He lives on the south shore of the St Laurence with a great view of the Chaudiere River. Today was a spent on a trip north of the city to Jacques Cartier park which was very scenic and a nice spot to stay cool on a hot day. Tonight I seem to be developing a cold so will try to take it easy for a bit.

Québec

It was a bit of an adjustment for me to get used to being by myself again after Steve left. Luckily there were a few interesting people to talk to in the hostel. I was taking things a bit more easy for a few days without trying to see as much as possible in one day. Since it was so close, I went down a few blocks from the hostel to the waterfront of the old port. It was a busy Sunday and there were a lot of people moving about. I found a nice spot and read my book for a few hours. I planned to give my feet a rest that day but still ended up walking quite a long distance in the elusive hunt of an Irish pub allegedly near Stanley and Ste Catherine that Marty mentioned was worth checking out. Must have been somewhere else...... The next day my big accomplishment was to find the famous Schwart`s deli for a smoked meat sandwich­. Mmmmmmm. The first time I walked by the place there was a huge line-up and I thought I wouldn`t bother, but then I walked back half an hour later and there was room for me. Also checked out McGill University and saw the Movie Wedding Crashers which was good for quite a few laughs.

Today I left Montreal for Quebec City. I took the scenic highway 138 along the north shore of the St Laurence from Trois Rivieres to Quebec City. Soon after I arrived at my aunt`s house we went to visit my uncle Caps aunt Brigitte. Apparently, although I don`t remember this, I was there when I was 3 years old and emptied an entire bottle of shampoo all over their bathroom. Sorry about that! :) I finally after all of these years met my cousin Aude and she was kind enough to speak to me in English. We had a wonderful evening and I will see them again before I leave la Belle Province.
A bientot!
Matthew

Bonjour

It has been a whirlwind trip with Steve for the past week. We packed a lot in during that time and I think I need to relax tomorrow and recharge. The drive to Montreal took the most of Wednesday but we arrived in Montreal just in time for rush hour! :) We did not have to drive all over the place looking for a place to stay when we arrived here because the tourist centre at the border was able to find and reserve us a room. It made our life a lot easier and we stayed in a nice place very central just north of Vieux Montreal. I am now staying at a hostel very close by to that hotel. It has been a while since I last stayed in a hostel so it is bringing back memories of Europe. I just hope my car is safe where I left it. Some of the highlights of Montreal so far have been the live comedy show at the Comedy Nest. It is in the old Montreal Forum and we had front row seats to a really great show. Fortunately we were not bugged by the comedians although they had a golden opportunity. The same cannot be said for the poor girl sitting next to us. The comedian was making fun of her for being too slow getting the jokes. We also saw the old port area, the McCord Museum, Mont Royal and did a lot of walking. Steve will appreciate the fact that I did not drag him to the Canadian Railway Museum on the south shore as I spent most of the afternoon there.
Well I must sign off, my 20 minutes are up.
Matthew

The Falls

It's been nice to have Steve here with me the last few days. We had a couple nice days in Toronto seeing the Hockey Hall of Fame, Royal ONtario Museum, the Waterfront, Cabbagetown and more. Then we went on the short drive to Niagara Falls. The falls are pretty impressive, but the town itself is a bit of a tourist trap.

This computer is a bit slow, so more later.

Ottawa Kingston Photos

From the top
Downtown Kingston
Soldier Competition at Fort Henry
Fort Henry looking towards Kingston
Mackenzie King Estate in Gatineau Park

Toronto

Museum of Civilization

Here's what I've been up to the past few days. On Monday and Tuesday I was at my aunt and uncle's place north of Ottawa on the Gatineau River. Went for a long bike ride pretty much all afternoon and almost melted it was so hot. Rode by Meech Lake, Old Chelsea and the Mackenzie King Estate. It was a bit too hot for my liking and I should have brought along my swimsuit. I must say if you ever go to Ottawa and only have time for one museum, it should be the Museum of Civilization. You could easily spend two days looking around in there. I probably didn't see a quarter of it but the Canada Hall was really good. There was also a temporary exhibit on Pompeii that was pretty interesting. Well Ottawa was a fun place for a week and a half and it was great to see all of my relatives, but I had to move on.

It was only a couple hours to Kingston and I toured the restored fort near the downtown called Fort Henry. It was built to protect Canada from American invasion in the 1800's, but it was fortunately never needed in battle. What is neat about it is that all of the staff are wearing period costumes and they put on a demonstration/contest at three in the afternoon. Some of the soldiers compete to see which team can fire off their cannon the quickest but they have to go through an elaborate ritual first. What is most impressive about the whole ordeal is that they were wearing dark woolen clothing and it was over 30 degrees out and humid. One of the guys was taken inside because he must have been suffering from heat stroke. In the evening I went to visit my cousin Steve and his wife who made me a great meal. Steve is definitely a master with the BBQ.

I've arrived in Toronto now and I'm staying at my cousin Vanessa's place for a couple days until Steve comes out from Vancouver.
Cheers, Matthew

Cooled Down

It is cooled down a bit in Ottawa the last 2 days making the heat more bearable. As well the humidity has gone down a bit. In the last few days I've seen a couple more museums; Science and Technology and I took a quick look at the Currency Museum which is in the Bank of Canada. The only major one left on my list is the Museum of Civilization. Last evening was perfect for a dip in the Gatineau River and a lovely BBQ at the Marshall house near Wakefield Quebec. There's always a lively discussion when you visit the Marshall family :) Yesterday I was able to take a few new pictures now that I have made a CD backup of my photos.

My Route

Here is a list of places and I've been so far and a tentative list of places I'm going to visit. The links are maps showing the routes I've taken. They will take you to Google Maps.

July 18th
Day 1 Coquitlam to Parson
Day 2 Parson to Calgary
Day 3 Calgary to Regina
Day 7 Regina to Dauphin and Dauphin to Riding Mtn
Day 8 Riding Mtn to Winnipeg
Day 9 Winnipeg to Thunder Bay
Day 10 Thunder Bay to Sault Ste Marie
Day 11 Sault Ste Marie to Sudbury
Day 12 Sudbury to North Bay
Day 13 North Bay to Temiscaming to Ottawa
Aug 10th Ottawa to Kingston
Aug 11th Kingston to Toronto
Aug 14-16 Toronto
Aug 16 Niagara Falls
Aug 17-22 Montreal
Aug 23-29 Quebec City
Aug 30-31 Quebec surroundings, maybe Saguenay, Tadousac
Sep 1-3 Montreal for Marty´s sister´s wedding party
Sep 3-5 New Brunswick
Sep 6 -9 PEI
Sep 10-25 Nova Scotia
Sep 26-Oct 7??? Newfoundland

More Ottawa

I've finally got some pictures to show you. They are from the first two and a half weeks from Kamloops to Ottawa. Unfortunately they don't have captions right now.

It has been a hot few days in Ottawa but I've been keeping busy. I went for a long bike ride on Tuesday and visited the aviation museum in the afternoon then rode over to my cousin Alex's house in the west part of Ottawa. We had a nice indian dinner with Fiona, Greg and Madeleine. Yesterday checked out the National Gallery with my uncle. I liked the permanent Canadian collection the best. There was large amount of Group of Seven paintings and many others that I recognized. Last night I played soccer with Alex and a large group of his friends. It was very hot, but at least we didn't have to warm up. :)

Pictures!

Nation's Capital

There is a new feature in my blog. Where is Matt? Click to the right to see where I am today on a map. I will try to keep it updated regularly. Also for those who are technically inclined you can subscribe to my blog as a RSS feed using something like My Yahoo using this address: http://matthewbuchanan.blogspot.com/atom.xml

Last night I went with my aunt and uncle to their cottage in Quebec on the Picanoc River. Apparently Pierre Trudeau liked to canoe down that river. I did a bit of canoeing and also floated/swam down the river and it was very refreshing way to cool off.

Tonight I saw a play in an Ottawa park put on by a Company of Fools. They did a rendition of Taming of the Shrew that was very good. Four actors did all the parts.