North America 2009

The deeper you go into the state of Québec, the less English they speak and the more French. In Québec City, it’s pretty much only French, which gave me a chance to practice my 20 year old school knowledge. It’s a neat little town, full of cobble stone paved alleys, 18:th century architecture and loads of small eateries and pubs. The olde city is surrounded by a great wall, giving it a slightly European medieval feel. As the sun shone down and the open air restaurants called with their cool beers, it felt doubly annoying that the Québecian ATM:s seem to reject my VISA card. Fortunately, walking and looking is free, as is taking photos, so I enjoyed the Gibraltar of America, as Charles Dickens dubbed the city, to its fullest.

Leaving Ontario, we set forth for the french speaking parts of Oh Canada. Straight over the border to Quebec lies Montréal, the host of the 1976 summer olympics. The river flows quickly at points and with the assistance of a specifically designed jet boat, we challanged and conquered the grade 4 and 5 rapids.

The combination of Montréal’s bustling nightlife, the ongoing festival Jusqua pour Rire, and the fact that we all had nice clean beds to stumble into afterwards led to a night of barcrawling and clubhopping. It was good fun, as was the restaurant we patronized the second night:
O Noir, a theme restaurant whose theme is exactly what it says on the tin. Where the blind literary lead the (temporarily) blind. The place is completely void of the tiniest shimmer of light, leaving it pitch black. You can’t see your hand in front of you, much less the food you’re eating. As the other senses enhance, you get an insight (infeel? inhear?) as to what it’s like to be blind. A must have experience!

In between the cities of Toronto and Ottawa lies Algonquin Provincial Park. It’s a landscape full of forests, lakes and mountains and it’s big time scenic. For those who aren’t from Norway or Sweden, that is. There are also beavers, bear, moose and heaps of chipmunks running around, and about two gazillion mosquitos. After a mostly cloudy day on which we went for a hike, the weather gods smiled upon us and gave us a nice, sunny day for our canoe trip, which was a rewarding experience. One of the more lasting memories from Algonquin, though, would be the staff at Portage Canoe. Friendly and nice and not hard on the eyes.

The land of maple syrup, mounties and lacrosse was now ready for exploring. Toronto, with its magnificent view from the CN Tower, was first on the agenda. It’s a decent enough city, and it has a bit of a nightlife, which was utilised. It also has the Hockey Hall of Fame, but unfortunately it was closing within five minutes when I arrived, so the $15 it cost didn’t feel like good value.

Although smaller, Ottawa is the capitol, and a very nice one at that. Byward market is a place to wander and wonder for quite some time, and the official buildings, such as the Parliament, have an almost European feel to them, partly because of the British Empire-ish guards watching the place.

And just outside of Ottawa there lies an old quarry, which now serves as the location for Canadas highest bungy jump. I got slightly wet.