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Published: September 6th 2010
October 15th, departure to Canada.
Flight from Brussels Airport to Montreal, and then stop over for Winnepeg.
Winnepeg is the capital of Manitoba. After a night in Winnepeg, the group will fly to Churchill. 1700 km up to the north. At the Hudson Bay (English explorers and colonists named Hudson Bay after Henry Hudson, who explored the bay in 1610 on his ship the Discovery).
Only in July and August there is no snow. We can reach Churchill by train (Hudson Bay railway) 1700 km long or by plane. There is no highway. Churchill has 980 inhabitants, and the polar bear tourism is the biggest activity, second name for Churchill = Polar Bear Capital of the World.
During one week we explore the tundra, we spot the bears, we will have dogsledging, a helicopter flight over the Hudson Bay and explore the region.
Arrived in Winnepeg with beautiful weather but a lot of wind. I met a french lady, she is going also tomorrow to Churchill. Tonight we will meet the rest of the group. The people are nice and helpful. I'm staying at the airport hotel, nice hotel and a big room.... it's a suite....
whauw.....
So till next message then.
First day at Churchill, after an early flight we came to Churchill, small airport but oh so nice. Like children we toke the schoolbus to do the touring around Churchill, we saw foxes, artic hare. In the afternoon, wind was coming up, and it feels like below 5.... brrrr. Tomorrow we will go with the tundra buggy and drive all day to spot the bears.
Something about the group ; we have 2 swiss people, 4 american, 1 belgian (me), 1 french lady and 7 british people. Nice group. We have to stick always together. and tonight there was no bear alarm......
See you ni-ext time
The first day with the bears. Wake up at 6 o'clock. Early breakfast and then we went to the Tundra Buggys for a whole day of Ice bear spotting. The first hour we've seen nothing but after that the bears were there. Big white wooly things..... just great to be a whole day between the ice bears. Tomorrow we go with a helicopter over the hudson bay and after that we we go dog sledging.... See you nex time...
Next day in
Churchill, on the programme a helicopter flight of 1 hour. I was sitting in front . Very nice, our Pilot Nathan was asking me to assist him for spotting animals, and quick I found a enormous Wapiti.... and 4 bears. We saw a wolf running (also nice to see). Although the weather was not so clear, we really saw a lot of animals, but from the helicopter it is not so easy to take pictures. But as one of our guides said 'you have to keep the pictures in mind, not on paper'. After that we went to the eskimo museum. After lunch we went to the dog kennel. A famous musher Dave Haley showed us the way of live of the mushers. We saw young ones.... oh so cute..... and the leaders, the teamleaders etc. After a hot chocomilk we came back to the hotel...... I'm anxious to know what we are doing tomorrow.....
Big surprise today, we will spot bears..... A whole day long, and we saw bears. Lazy ones, playing ones, and also bears standing up...... because they are curious...
After a long day of spotting bears, we have to day goodbye to some of
the group. It was a fine group, all different people, but one team. No small groups, everybody together. I never saw that.
Now we are going back to Winnipeg, all together for the last day. It was a late flight so we arrived in the hotel very late. A last drink together, and we all agree, we want to come back..... maybe... but there is so much to see in the world.....
A stay another day in Winnipeg, to see the manitoba museum. Very interesting. The city is not so touristic, and I walk just around to see the buildings, the nice spots.... and I took a bus to go back..... no knowing if I will arrive in the hotel, because we are situated in the neighborhood of the airport. But yes I took the good one, after 45 min I was back in the hotel....
Tomorrow I will fly to Toronto. In Toronto I hope to see my friends I met on a trip to Antarctica. Mary Jean and Barry are fine people. I will phone them when I arrive
After a flight to Toronto, with some delay due to washroom problems, I'm back in
Toronto. After 10 years a lot changed. Many works, and constructions in the city. But the CN tower is still there, the Skydome and the streets of Toronto.
In the afternoon, I took a walk to the Cn tower and the Skydome. I went to the top, and whauw what a view..... A lot of people came back from the Skydome, because the Daila Lama was coming. I just mist him (hmhm). But a lot of Nepalese people came to his hotel to support him... They were singing and dancing but we didn't see him at all.
Today I will meet Mary Jean and Barry. We will go for a walk in the city and have lunch together. I'm excited to see my friends again.
Till next time.
Sunday in Toronto. It's raining so the weather isn't fine. I decided to go walking and to find a church.... no catholic church. I went to an anglican church. Very beautiful inside...
Further on my walk I did the Hockey Hall of Fame. It's unbelieveble how hockey is famous in Canada. I spent a lot of time to see everything. There is even a belgian shirt of
hockey. In the ranking for 2009 they were 33 not so bad when you see how many teams there are.
The CN tower is in the mist. Lucky I did it already.
Tomorrow I'm going to Niagara Falls. The give rain for tomorrow so I hope that it will not be too bad.
So long !!!!
8 h 30 in the morning we leave Toronto with a small tour bus to Niagara Falls. The weather is fine, no rain. We arrived in Niagara Fall 90 min. later. As the Maid of the Mist isn't going out at this time of the year we must choise another tour. So we go for the "journey behind the falls". Nice but very wet. After that we go for lunch in a new restaurant not in the skylon tower. Just in front of the falls. Nice view during lunch. After lunch we went to the IMAX movie about the Niagara falls history. Around 3 we leave Niagara to go to the small village Niagara on the Lake. Always very nice. It's like we are in the 19th century again. After a small walk in the village and some pictures, we go
to a wine tastery. In fact it's a college where you can learn how to make the wine. After a short explanation let's do the tasting, first smell the look to the color of the wine and finally taste..... like real professionals.....
So we took the road to Toronto Downdown again..... and arrived around 8 o'clock in the hotel. Just good.
Tomorrow I leave Canada to go back to Belgium. Unfortunately...... all good things have an end.....
Hé Toronto Maple Leafs, or ice bears...... it was a nice experience.
What was the lesson about this trip.... warming up of the planete yes but... seasons can change..... we change too.
so long
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VANLERBERGHE Christian
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Hello Christîîne, On attend la suite avec impatience... comme toi d'ailleurs je présume, Christian