One of the most startling things moving to Canada from Europe, is the much maligned vacation allowance. In order to maximise the opportunity to see Canada, we decided to set of for a rather long road trip to Montreal for Thanksgiving. All of our Canadian colleagues have no issue driving long distances and see this as part of the norm- which is hugely different from my usual plans; as I would rather take a short plane trip easyjet style. Anyway, after work on the Friday, we filled up the Jeep, set the GPS and set of for Montreal. As we knew [View Full Entry]

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Once every year, Toronto city turns into a 24 hour art exhibit. This was the first time that I was here, and present in order to take part. There was over 300 artists displaying work, all over the city in random locations. It was amazing to see the city alive at night, with such a mix of people and cultures. CP24 reported that there were nearly 700,000 people out that night. The evening began at dusk and ran until dawn. We went down town about 10 and met up with some of our Canadian friends. We walked the city and [View Full Entry]

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Just 2 hours North of Toronto, is the winter resort of the Blue Mountain. After work one evening, we decided to travel North to Collingwood and stay at a friends weekend house. The weekend we chose was perfect, as the week prior had seen heavy snow, followed by warm temperatures that made it ideal for my first snowboarding trip. As a complete novice, I was able to hire all my equipment and luckily for me Elise was a top notch boarder, who gave me plenty of tips. After falling and learning how to get back up: within an hour I was [View Full Entry]

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After yesterdays scare monger from the met office, I am pleased to say the amount of snow was heavy- but not where near the scare stories. My friends at work are all now welcoming me to canada- and the worst is to come. Especially as I am a soft Englishman. I dont mind- I like the sun! Good thing is that I am planning my snowboarding trip in January now :) I am very pleased I have 4 wheel drive [View Full Entry]

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Only 1 hour away by plane = New York City. Last weekend was an awesome trip to NYC. My trip this time was less site seeing, and more checking out the different boroughs. Instead of staying in Manhatten itself, the hotels were in Brooklyn and New Jersey- I can recommend this to anyone travelling there. The PATH train and F subway line run all night and the hotel standards are way better and much cheaper in $. Most of the time was spent hanging around Soho, Grenwich Village, Smith Street, Tribeca and the meat packing district. Lots of window shopping [View Full Entry]

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After now living in Toronto for over 4 months, I thought all was well.... the stories about the snow seemed so far away. In the past 3 weeks snow has arrived. The first fall was a nightmare. All the talk of snow tyres etc- pah! who needs them.. ( I do !) After leaving Beach Volleyball- from indoor beach to outside antarctic- last week the snow drive was a nightmare. No problem. I got home. Today however was the first snow storm of the season. As you can see from my pictures the drive was a little tricky. The snow overnight [View Full Entry]

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As part of our long weekend, we drove to Niagara falls. We got a free room upgrade from the hotel and had a falls view of the actual horseshoe falls. By the time we got there and were ready to go out, it was pretty late. We walked across the strip and went to the R Lounge for drinks( lounge bar that overlooks the river and falls) and had some nice local wine and tapas ( Niagara does fantastic wine due to the climate of the area). After a few drinks in the local bars, we went late night gamlbling [View Full Entry]

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For thanksgiving weekend we took a roadtrip south to New York State, then down through Pennsylvannia to Algegheny Forest in the Jeep. Here we met up with friends and went wildwest camping. We actually stayed in a cowboy wagon and had campfires and beers. The weather was amazing for the weekend and over 25 and sunny in October, the trees and colours were fantastic as the fall colours are starting to come out. We visited a real local restaurant in the small town of Sigel, which was exactly as you can imagine from TV. The only veggie food was a side [View Full Entry]

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For one of my new friends birthdays we all went to Circa nightclub. This was a different way of travelling than we usually do in the UK- by stretch hummer. The club itself is huge and has escalators to each floor, with different types of music on each floor. I would recomment that if you are in Toronto , to check it out. Email them first to get on the get guest list ( saves time queing). It was a great night ! [View Full Entry]

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I have now been working here for a month and am really enjoying the Canadian life. Pictures paint a better picture. I have done lots of the tourist things in my spare time CNN Tower, Toronto Islands, Lawrence Street Market, Kensington Market, Yorkville, Eaton Centre, QSW and King Street. My new friends have also shown me the evening sights and I have enjoyed evening refreshments in Bathurst area, This is London and Yonge& Eglinton This weekend I off to Circa nightclub . I attach some pictures of my condo and also my new car ( yes it loves to drink Gas). [View Full Entry]

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