Blogs from Canada, North America - page 16

We’re up at the crack of dawn to bid our tearful farewells to Emma and Michael as they head off to the airport to catch their flight back to Alberta. Today we’re supposed to be heading to Europe - San Sebastián in northern Spain via Lisbon. Well that was the plan, but I wake up in a cold sweat in more ways than one. My throat feels like I’ve swallowed a cupful of razor blades. It couldn’t be the dreaded virus surely, could it? I’ve been jabbed so often my arm feels like a pin cushion, and anyway I’ve had the disease already, only about four months ago. I Google the stats. It seems that somewhere around 3% of people in Toronto who currently have the virus have had it before, and getting yourself jabbed over ... read more

So it’s a big day today, a bus trip to the mighty Niagara Falls. And we know this because at last count we’ve received 19 reminders from the tour company, via email and text, and I think I might have even seen a carrier pigeon lurking outside the window earlier this morning. I suppose it’s just vaguely possible that you might forget that you’d booked a tour to one of the world’s great natural wonders, but surely only if it had been a really bad day in the amnesia ward. Our guide introduces himself as John, and he tells us he came to visit Toronto from London back in 1969 and never went home. The trip takes us round the east side of Lake Ontario, which probably isn’t all that overly exciting, mostly flat with lots ... read more

Calgary, Alberta, 3 juillet Après ces deux années où l'exploration était quelque peu limitée géographiquement, il est bon de parcourir à nouveau les vastes étendues du continent. Plus d'une décennie plus tard, je retrouve avec grand bonheur les paysages magnifiques de l'Ouest canadien. C'est par la route, en empruntant en partie le côté américain de la frontière, que nous gagnâmes la métropole albertaine, Calgary. Ces 4 500 kilomètres de route (en cinq petits jours, bonne moyenne!) nous menèrent d'abord aux sources du fleuve Saint-Laurent que sont les Grands Lacs, puis aux immenses plaines du Dakota du Nord et du Montana et finalement aux contreforts des Rocheuses. En chemin, nous fîmes halte au parc National Theodore Roosevelt, dans les "badlands" du Dakota du Nord. L'ancien président des États-Unis (1901-1909) y avait un ranch et y a développé ... read more

Our shoddy but eye-wateringly expensive freeway-side apartment didn’t magically improve overnight. We learned during the small hours that Toronto freeway drivers are very fond of honking their horns and doing burnouts, and that the traffic on “our“ freeway is as heavy at 4am here as it is at peak hour anywhere in the rest of the world, or so it seemed. This may of course have something to do with the cardboard taped over the windows next to our bed not being a particularly effective noise barrier. … and as I lay awake watching the advertising signs flashing blindingly through the gaps in our near non-existent blinds and curtains, I began to wonder why these get left on late at night when everyone should be asleep. Oh wait on, of course, they’re not asleep, they’re all ... read more

We continued North-East to reach one of my highlight: Forillon National park. It's a peninsula at the end of the Gaspesian peninsula. A mix of ocean, forest, cold streams and beautiful landscapes. The most beautiful spot in the park is for me, the Bon-Ami Cape. It's dramatic because of its topography and at the same time beautiful for its blue and green ocean waters. The park has a wide range of hiking trails ranging from very easy and interpreted, to the rough and long with only limited shelters. Park have also many beaches whether with sand or pebbles. One sector harbors old historic buildings from 19th century showing small village life of that era. Other sector contains a distinctive taiga section, normally only see far in the North. Roads are well maintained. A good place for ... read more