I arrived in Charlottetown, the capital city of Prince Edward Island, in the afternoon about 3 pm.
To go to PEI - which is by the way the smallest province in Canada - you have to take the Confederation bridge, a 12 km bridge which links the island to New Brunswick. This is quite expensive : 43$ that you have to pay when you leave the province. But this is amazing and you don't have to pay for any other highway so that's not bad. Someone told me this is the longest bridge of that kind in North America. I don't know if it's true or not and i'm too lazy to google it...
So, when I arrived in Charlottetown, which is at 45 min by car from the bridge, I checked in at the hostel and I decided to visit the town during the rest of the day. It's a tiny town but it's nice. This is an important place in the history of Canada. If I remember this is the place were they signed the first paper which defined Canada as a country. But I'm not sure...
In short this is a nice place but there's not that much to see and I think that one afternoon to wander around in downtown was enough for me to get an idea of the town.
Honestly I liked it, it's just that it is not worth it to spend a lot of time there.
The HI hostel was nice too but I have to admit that I stayed in my room all the time, planning the next day of my trip, so I didn't meet anyone.
The next day I decided to spend the morning driving in PEI before heading to Nova Scotia. First I wanted to drive along the Central trail, a road which goes around the central part of the island but it looked a bit long for only one morning so finally I just went to Cavendish, a place famous because there is the house of the famous character Anne of Green Gables (book) near. I don't really care about Anne - who is probably the first reason why people go to PEI... - and I just entered in the national park to see the nothern coast with the red soil. It was really beautiful.
After that, I drove to the southern coast to Victoria. Nothing special, it was just to stop for a while.
By the way, I almost got a fine for speed limit excess in a scholar zone but the policeman understood that I was a poor tourist who was fighting with her GPS so he just asked me to be careful... Thanks Mr Policeman!
To make a not so long story shorter... I would just say that PEI is very nice. I really liked the red soil, it makes all the colours look very saturated and I love saturated colours....
May 27, 2011
May 25, 2011
Road Trip : Gaspé and the north of NB
As I said before, the second day I drove the rest of the coast in Gaspésie to go to New Brunswick. My first idea was spending one night in Percé and going to NB the next day, but when I got there I realized that except the Rocher Percé, there was nothing to see or do at this time of the year. There was no way I would spend a night there so I kept on driving for many hours and I stopped in an other motel, in Bathurst, NB, on the Bay of Chaleurs, when I wasn't able to drive anymore. 10 hours driving in one day... I think it's the maximum I can do.
It's not that I didn't want to spend a lot of my precious time in New Brunswick but ... in fact I didn't find any information about New Brunswick which makes me think about spending a couple of days there. So, from Bathurst I went directly to Prince Edward Island.
On the road I stopped in Bouctouche to see the dune which is a beautiful and super-protected site. It was a nice walk on the dune and a good idea I had to stop there when it wasn't raining anymore. There's at least one thing to see in NB.
The roads in Canada are quite nice but if you really want to see something interesting you have to get off the highways - same in France. The quality of the roads is not always good and you have to be very careful with some big holes but when you think about the length of the roads and the fact that you don't have to pay (except some short parts but it's only a few bucks) you just forgive it and keep your eyes opened!
The car I rented is an "economy-compact" which means, in North America, the size of a boat with a motor less powerful than the one of my Twingo... But it works so no worries!
I didn't drive that much this day, maybe only 4 or 5 hours - I know that for a country like France it sounds quite long but for Canada it's very short - and the weather wasn't as bad as the previous days so it was cool!
It's not that I didn't want to spend a lot of my precious time in New Brunswick but ... in fact I didn't find any information about New Brunswick which makes me think about spending a couple of days there. So, from Bathurst I went directly to Prince Edward Island.
On the road I stopped in Bouctouche to see the dune which is a beautiful and super-protected site. It was a nice walk on the dune and a good idea I had to stop there when it wasn't raining anymore. There's at least one thing to see in NB.
The roads in Canada are quite nice but if you really want to see something interesting you have to get off the highways - same in France. The quality of the roads is not always good and you have to be very careful with some big holes but when you think about the length of the roads and the fact that you don't have to pay (except some short parts but it's only a few bucks) you just forgive it and keep your eyes opened!
The car I rented is an "economy-compact" which means, in North America, the size of a boat with a motor less powerful than the one of my Twingo... But it works so no worries!
I didn't drive that much this day, maybe only 4 or 5 hours - I know that for a country like France it sounds quite long but for Canada it's very short - and the weather wasn't as bad as the previous days so it was cool!
May 24, 2011
Road Trip in the East : Gaspésie
On the last morning in Québec, I went with Mario to the train station, as he was going to Montreal, before I went to the car rental company to pick-up my best friend for 11 days... a car!
Of course I couldn't print the voucher at the hostel and the company absolutely needed it so one of the guys just drove me to the public library to print it - now I got a member card of the library of Quebec, so useful...
Anyway, after a while and some effort I finally got the voucher and I could get the car. The guys of the company are very nice and they were just starring at me as if I were an alien when I told them that I was heading to the East coast, to Nova Scotia, for a bit more than one week and alone.... I wonder why they were so surprised....
So at about 11.30 am I was ready to go or almost... I decided to buy a GPS because for 11 days it wasn't worth it to rent one and it's useful when you don't have any idea of the direction you have to take. By the way, I just hate GPS and I know why...
First step of my disorganized plan was Gaspésie and a stop in Sainte-Anne-des-Monts for the first night. It took me something like 6 hours, if my memories are good, to get there without real stops. The weather was just bad : wind, pouring rain,... in short, not the best conditions to drive. When I arrived in Sainte-Anne, the place where I wanted to stay was closed for the season (I decided to not book anything in advance...) so I ended spending a lot for a night in a motel. Very comfortable but I'm used to youth hostel now and it's not the same mood. Sainte-Anne is nice, just very small.
I would say the same for the whole Gaspésie. The coast is very long, it took me the first and the second day of my road trip to go through it. This is very nice, a very special mood, but with a bad weather it's just spoiled... I stopped many times on the way to New Brunswick and at the end, everything just look the same to me, maybe just because of the rain... An other part of Canada to explore when the weather is good.
Of course I couldn't print the voucher at the hostel and the company absolutely needed it so one of the guys just drove me to the public library to print it - now I got a member card of the library of Quebec, so useful...
Anyway, after a while and some effort I finally got the voucher and I could get the car. The guys of the company are very nice and they were just starring at me as if I were an alien when I told them that I was heading to the East coast, to Nova Scotia, for a bit more than one week and alone.... I wonder why they were so surprised....
So at about 11.30 am I was ready to go or almost... I decided to buy a GPS because for 11 days it wasn't worth it to rent one and it's useful when you don't have any idea of the direction you have to take. By the way, I just hate GPS and I know why...
First step of my disorganized plan was Gaspésie and a stop in Sainte-Anne-des-Monts for the first night. It took me something like 6 hours, if my memories are good, to get there without real stops. The weather was just bad : wind, pouring rain,... in short, not the best conditions to drive. When I arrived in Sainte-Anne, the place where I wanted to stay was closed for the season (I decided to not book anything in advance...) so I ended spending a lot for a night in a motel. Very comfortable but I'm used to youth hostel now and it's not the same mood. Sainte-Anne is nice, just very small.
I would say the same for the whole Gaspésie. The coast is very long, it took me the first and the second day of my road trip to go through it. This is very nice, a very special mood, but with a bad weather it's just spoiled... I stopped many times on the way to New Brunswick and at the end, everything just look the same to me, maybe just because of the rain... An other part of Canada to explore when the weather is good.
May 16, 2011
Québec, a taste of France
Québec is a cute city, with the Upper and the Lower city, the medieval styled walls,... It's not that I don't like it, it's just that it reminded me home way too much... When you walked in Old Québec it's exactly like walking in any historical centre of a city in France. I swear, it's the same.
We arrived on Saturday afternoon by bus with a company called Orléans Express. Strangely, it sounds familiar... it's where I come from! The best thing was WiFi in the bus, but I was almost sleeping...
After the check-in at the hostel, we went for a walk and concluded quickly that it is small. In one or two hours you have time to walk around the whole old city.
At this time of the year it's very quiet - only old people everywhere - and the weather was so bad, cold, rainy, windy,... After the sunburns in Ottawa, it was really weird.
And I think you can enjoy the city better when the weather is sunny because it's all about landscapes and views of the city and the St. Lawrence river, which looks very dirty when it's cloudy.
On Sunday, the same. We wandered around, a bit more and with an other itinerary, and we did a bit of exercise because of the stairs everywhere in the city.
And even the food has a French taste... There are almost only French restaurant in Old Québec and you can find snails, foie gras and duck very easily. Honestly it was very good (and kinda fancy) and really French, not a "North American - French" taste.
Anyway it's a nice place, but it's not what I'm looking for in Canada!
We arrived on Saturday afternoon by bus with a company called Orléans Express. Strangely, it sounds familiar... it's where I come from! The best thing was WiFi in the bus, but I was almost sleeping...
After the check-in at the hostel, we went for a walk and concluded quickly that it is small. In one or two hours you have time to walk around the whole old city.
At this time of the year it's very quiet - only old people everywhere - and the weather was so bad, cold, rainy, windy,... After the sunburns in Ottawa, it was really weird.
And I think you can enjoy the city better when the weather is sunny because it's all about landscapes and views of the city and the St. Lawrence river, which looks very dirty when it's cloudy.
On Sunday, the same. We wandered around, a bit more and with an other itinerary, and we did a bit of exercise because of the stairs everywhere in the city.
And even the food has a French taste... There are almost only French restaurant in Old Québec and you can find snails, foie gras and duck very easily. Honestly it was very good (and kinda fancy) and really French, not a "North American - French" taste.
Anyway it's a nice place, but it's not what I'm looking for in Canada!
Ottawa, capital city
Ottawa has been chosen as a capital city because it was between Toronto and Montréal, between two cultures, and that's what you can see as soon as you arrive.
Mario, a Swiss friend met in Vancouver, decided to join me for a few days to Ottawa and Montréal. We met in Toronto and then caught the train to go to Ottawa. Okay, the train is more expensive than the bus, but I like it more... Our hostel, the Hi-Ottawa Jail Hostel, is a former prison and became a National Site of Canada a few years ago. You can sleep in a cell, in the prisoners' area or in a nice dormitory in the former hospital and offices. It's pretty cool actually.
On Thursday, we met Leonie and Laura to hang around in the city. We walked a bit, but not that much because the centre of Ottawa is quite small in fact. We crossed the bridge to Gatineau, in Québec, and we wanted to joke about being in two Provinces at the same time but there's no sign between Ontario and Québec... too sad... There was the Tulip festival, the weather was beautiful and all we needed was a fresh beer so we started our "pub crawl" before 4 pm... Hahaha...
In the afternoon we walked by the Legislative Buildings, the headquarters of the Canadian government, the main streets, Byward Market, many museums and I think that's almost all you can see in Downtown.
The next day, the two of us tried to find something else to do... We choose to visit the Legislative Buildings with a guided tour and it was very interesting to understand a bit more how it works...
Then, well, we still had some hours to kill so we went to the Canadian War Museum. Impressive and very detailed... but too long honestly!
Ottawa is a very nice city, a mix of cultures, the headquarters of the government, the place where a lot of people meet to demonstrate in the streets, in short a place to see. But I think one day is enough if you just want to discover the main spots (and if you don't start drinking as early as us the first day). Anyway, it was really cool. Thanks to Leonie, Laura and Mario.
Mario, a Swiss friend met in Vancouver, decided to join me for a few days to Ottawa and Montréal. We met in Toronto and then caught the train to go to Ottawa. Okay, the train is more expensive than the bus, but I like it more... Our hostel, the Hi-Ottawa Jail Hostel, is a former prison and became a National Site of Canada a few years ago. You can sleep in a cell, in the prisoners' area or in a nice dormitory in the former hospital and offices. It's pretty cool actually.
On Thursday, we met Leonie and Laura to hang around in the city. We walked a bit, but not that much because the centre of Ottawa is quite small in fact. We crossed the bridge to Gatineau, in Québec, and we wanted to joke about being in two Provinces at the same time but there's no sign between Ontario and Québec... too sad... There was the Tulip festival, the weather was beautiful and all we needed was a fresh beer so we started our "pub crawl" before 4 pm... Hahaha...
In the afternoon we walked by the Legislative Buildings, the headquarters of the Canadian government, the main streets, Byward Market, many museums and I think that's almost all you can see in Downtown.
The next day, the two of us tried to find something else to do... We choose to visit the Legislative Buildings with a guided tour and it was very interesting to understand a bit more how it works...
Then, well, we still had some hours to kill so we went to the Canadian War Museum. Impressive and very detailed... but too long honestly!
Ottawa is a very nice city, a mix of cultures, the headquarters of the government, the place where a lot of people meet to demonstrate in the streets, in short a place to see. But I think one day is enough if you just want to discover the main spots (and if you don't start drinking as early as us the first day). Anyway, it was really cool. Thanks to Leonie, Laura and Mario.
May 11, 2011
Day-Tour : Niagara
On Tuesday, I booked a tour to go to Niagara Falls with a company called Toronto Zoom Tours. I think that you can choose the company you want to go there : they've all the same tour at almost the same price and I don't think one is better than the other.
I had to be at a hotel on Gerrard Street at 8:45 am to be picked up with some other people. Finally, the bus came at 9:30... great... While I was waiting I met Kon and his wife, a lovely couple from Vancouver and I spent the day with them.
First stop : Niagara Falls. It's beautiful, but not as big as it seems on the pictures. And yes... the Canadian Falls are more interesting than the American ones.
We took a tour on the Maid of the Mist, the famous boat which goes near the falls and it was just like having a cold shower. I think this is the only aim of this tour because, in fact, you can't see anything when you're near the falls. Anyway, it was funny at least and I kept the raincoat as a souvenir...
With Kon and his wife we went to the Hard Rock Café for lunch and at the end they didn't let me pay for my meal. It's so nice but I felt very embarrassed. Then we walked near the fall before meeting our guide to go to Niagara-on-the-Lake, the small town in Niagara National Park. It's a nice town but honestly there's nothing to do. At the end of the day, we stopped in a winery to taste some icewine. It was good but I've drunk better wines in my life...
Overall, it was a good day. I've seen some nice landscapes, I've met some very nice people and finally I can say to everybody that I've seen Niagara Falls!
I had to be at a hotel on Gerrard Street at 8:45 am to be picked up with some other people. Finally, the bus came at 9:30... great... While I was waiting I met Kon and his wife, a lovely couple from Vancouver and I spent the day with them.
First stop : Niagara Falls. It's beautiful, but not as big as it seems on the pictures. And yes... the Canadian Falls are more interesting than the American ones.
We took a tour on the Maid of the Mist, the famous boat which goes near the falls and it was just like having a cold shower. I think this is the only aim of this tour because, in fact, you can't see anything when you're near the falls. Anyway, it was funny at least and I kept the raincoat as a souvenir...
With Kon and his wife we went to the Hard Rock Café for lunch and at the end they didn't let me pay for my meal. It's so nice but I felt very embarrassed. Then we walked near the fall before meeting our guide to go to Niagara-on-the-Lake, the small town in Niagara National Park. It's a nice town but honestly there's nothing to do. At the end of the day, we stopped in a winery to taste some icewine. It was good but I've drunk better wines in my life...
Overall, it was a good day. I've seen some nice landscapes, I've met some very nice people and finally I can say to everybody that I've seen Niagara Falls!
Busy Toronto
I'm just leaving Toronto and the week I've spent there was amazing.
I wasn't expecting anything because I met many people who have different opinions of this city. First thing which was great : the weather! For 6 days, I only had sun, no rain at all and quite warm. So different from where I went before. I haven't done all the touristic spots like the CN Tower, I just walked a lot, mostly in the centre. I met Leonie, a German girl, the first night I was there and we spent 3 days discovering the city together. It was actually very nice to walk around with someone and we get on well so it was great.
I think I could write pages and pages about the reason why I liked Toronto so much but it's too long to write everything, that's why I'll just describe some places we went to.
The first day we just decided to follow an itinerary we've found in Lonely Planet after we went to Kensington Market. It was a nice walk in the city centre which allowed us to see the main buildings and some historical ones. I like the contrast between "old" and modern. I know they were inspired by European architecture and you can see it clearly, especially the Victorian style of the houses. We saw the Financial District, the Old City Hall, some churches and many other things.
The second day we went to Saint Lawrence Market, a very good place to buy fresh food to picnic on the waterfront, and then we visited the Distillerie District, a kind of arty area full of small shops and homemade stuffs. It was really beautiful and the chocolate shop smelled so good... It's like a giant museum : you can see many beautiful things that you can't afford... After that, we went to the ROM (Royal Ontario Museum). I love the building! They built a kind of very modern extension which comes up from the old building : it's like a mix of two eras. The museum was good too but now you can find almost the same kind of things everywhere...
The evening we just went to the roof of the hostel to meet everyone for a great BBQ! The view is amazing! This hostel (Planet Traveler) is honestly the best place I've ever stayed. It's modern, clean, the staff is very friendly, the breakfast is free, it uses alternative sources of energy such as solar panels, it's near everything you need,... in one word : great! And not more expensive than the others!
On Sunday, we just wandered around in the city centre, trying to go to some places we hadn't seen yet, and then we went to the AGO (Art Gallery of Ontario). Nothing really special. But the building of the School of Arts which is near is amazing!
Monday : first day "alone". I heard about the Contact Photography Festival in a magazine and it looked very interesting so I wanted to go to some places where you can see open exhibitions but I've just found one after having walked for more than one hour. I think it was the first days of the festival and everything was not ready. That's too bad because it really looked interesting!
In the afternoon I wasn't sure of what I wanted to do and I ended going to Casa Loma, a kind of castle built for man who wanted too much... It's just amazing to know that he could only live there for 10 years before being ruined because of it... Stupid guy! Anyway, it's a beautiful place with a nice view on the city!
Then I joined my two roommates, Chaulai and Brittany, for dinner. Chaulai shown us a restaurant of traditional food from Hong Kong and it was really good! She's very nice and we had a very good time talking about many things.
On Tuesday, I booked a tour with Toronto Zoom Tours to go to Niagara Falls.(See the post "Day-Tour : Niagara")
For my last morning I just walked around Chinatown and the University of Toronto before meeting Mario to go to Ottawa.
I loved Toronto. Not as much as Vancouver, which will definitely stays at the first place I think, but it's a very nice city to visit and spend some time. I don't think it's a place where I could live. It's too busy, too crowded. To me, it's like a place where European and North American cultures meets and this is definitely a place you have to see in your life!
I wasn't expecting anything because I met many people who have different opinions of this city. First thing which was great : the weather! For 6 days, I only had sun, no rain at all and quite warm. So different from where I went before. I haven't done all the touristic spots like the CN Tower, I just walked a lot, mostly in the centre. I met Leonie, a German girl, the first night I was there and we spent 3 days discovering the city together. It was actually very nice to walk around with someone and we get on well so it was great.
I think I could write pages and pages about the reason why I liked Toronto so much but it's too long to write everything, that's why I'll just describe some places we went to.
The first day we just decided to follow an itinerary we've found in Lonely Planet after we went to Kensington Market. It was a nice walk in the city centre which allowed us to see the main buildings and some historical ones. I like the contrast between "old" and modern. I know they were inspired by European architecture and you can see it clearly, especially the Victorian style of the houses. We saw the Financial District, the Old City Hall, some churches and many other things.
The second day we went to Saint Lawrence Market, a very good place to buy fresh food to picnic on the waterfront, and then we visited the Distillerie District, a kind of arty area full of small shops and homemade stuffs. It was really beautiful and the chocolate shop smelled so good... It's like a giant museum : you can see many beautiful things that you can't afford... After that, we went to the ROM (Royal Ontario Museum). I love the building! They built a kind of very modern extension which comes up from the old building : it's like a mix of two eras. The museum was good too but now you can find almost the same kind of things everywhere...
The evening we just went to the roof of the hostel to meet everyone for a great BBQ! The view is amazing! This hostel (Planet Traveler) is honestly the best place I've ever stayed. It's modern, clean, the staff is very friendly, the breakfast is free, it uses alternative sources of energy such as solar panels, it's near everything you need,... in one word : great! And not more expensive than the others!
On Sunday, we just wandered around in the city centre, trying to go to some places we hadn't seen yet, and then we went to the AGO (Art Gallery of Ontario). Nothing really special. But the building of the School of Arts which is near is amazing!
Monday : first day "alone". I heard about the Contact Photography Festival in a magazine and it looked very interesting so I wanted to go to some places where you can see open exhibitions but I've just found one after having walked for more than one hour. I think it was the first days of the festival and everything was not ready. That's too bad because it really looked interesting!
In the afternoon I wasn't sure of what I wanted to do and I ended going to Casa Loma, a kind of castle built for man who wanted too much... It's just amazing to know that he could only live there for 10 years before being ruined because of it... Stupid guy! Anyway, it's a beautiful place with a nice view on the city!
Then I joined my two roommates, Chaulai and Brittany, for dinner. Chaulai shown us a restaurant of traditional food from Hong Kong and it was really good! She's very nice and we had a very good time talking about many things.
On Tuesday, I booked a tour with Toronto Zoom Tours to go to Niagara Falls.(See the post "Day-Tour : Niagara")
For my last morning I just walked around Chinatown and the University of Toronto before meeting Mario to go to Ottawa.
I loved Toronto. Not as much as Vancouver, which will definitely stays at the first place I think, but it's a very nice city to visit and spend some time. I don't think it's a place where I could live. It's too busy, too crowded. To me, it's like a place where European and North American cultures meets and this is definitely a place you have to see in your life!
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