More Old Pictures! (Canada 2005)

I am recently looking for an easier way to post pictures... which should not be locked up in my main blog.
Maybe Picasa Web Albums could do the trick? Album after the link (click the picture).

Conference Trip - Alberta etc. 2005

Canada Diary Entry - Aug 27/28 (also Canada Checkout)

Today is a very long day. More or less, it is two days rolled into one.

(Oh, I apologize for today's different order of notifying people about the current status. Everything is mixed up :-) )

On Sat, Aug 27 at 07:00 I left the house on the way to the yet-unknown bus station (or say, the way was unknown), only to arrive at home in BT, Germany, at 15:00 the following day. Without time difference, this means I wore my black suede shoes (okay, make that "leather") about 26 hours without taking them off. In the plane, while I would have had time aplenty, unfortunately a lack of space made it impossible to get rid of them. Just as well as it was impossible to have a good sleep; this means I'm heading for a very long day today without rest, too. (I plan on readjusting my time lag within one day. This is a very ambitious idea - it is actually easier to go West than East in terms of adaptation. But this is because you can stand longer days better, as they usually occur on westbound trips. This means, my 48h day will go a long way in the right direction.)

I am already looking somewhat haggard upon arrival at the bus terminus in Montreal. This means, I just spent 7h in the bus, and still 19h to go:



This is the plane which will faithfully carry me back to the Old World:



Leaving Canada, looking down on Montreal:



Europe looking through the clouds, me looking down on Germany:



How does this Frankfurt view compare to, eh, Edmonton, eh:




And finally, this is the last shot that can be somehow reasonably linked to the now-ended Canada experience:




This is it.
No more.
So finally, in this place, I want to thank all the readers (who read all this stuff the last weeks? I will have to check the logs) and everybody in Canada who helped making this trip the second-best I ever had :-). It's been really a great time.

Canada Diary Entry - Aug 26

Update to yesterday: Actually, I didn't do nothing.
Instead, after doing nothing, we went to a (Chinese) restaurant, where I almost had fried frogs' legs. However, they were sold out.

Given that today is my last day in Canada, today's task can be reduced to the following exercise:


Exercise:
Find a valid transformation from the situation as depicted in (Exhibit A) into the situation shown in (Exhibit B). Available time: 12 hours.

Exhibit A:


Exhibit B:



Update:
Have been dining in a Polish restaurant, as a kind of thank-you to my hosts here - and to show them one from my own culture, without any intercultural communication issues on my side :-). Had some zurek and kopytka there... in Toronto.
But before, I saw something very strange along the street. I took a picture.



At first glance, this might be a satellite dish. But then... an unexpected conspiracy of unimaginable consequences rises its ugly head. Have a second look at exactly where the dish is oriented.
Right. At the upper level window. And well, what is the only thinkable reason?
Right again. Those guys are slowly frying their mother-in-law!

Another interesting thing I saw and wanted to show to you guys back at home. Look at the price tag... one Euro is about 1.45 Canadian dollars:



Then, finally, one last view back at Toronto vanishing in the dark:



Side note:
Starting from a discussion about raising kids, I got confronted with the question... "at what age should a mom start washing her son's penis? Is two okay, or four or five?"
My first reaction was... "the interesting question would be rather, when to stop?".

Canada Diary Entry - Aug 25

I did nothing today.

Canada Diary Entry - Aug 24

You wouldn't believe - today, we've been to Niagara!

(As a short story at the side, let's note that I thought for many years that Niagara is actually in Africa, somewhere near Victoria Lake or something... and that the famous daredevil-explorer Livingston has crossed the falls in a wooden barrel. This is because a childrens' illustrated lexikon showed something confusing.)
So, back to the story. Got up early, checked out the way on the map (very clever idea, since yesterday evening on the way to a Jazz bar in downtown I got severely lost on Toronto highways; but in the end this turned out to be useful, since I found a very nice Polish restaurant for Friday night this way) and got going.

So, these are the Canadian-side Horseshoe Falls (the bigger part of the Niagara Falls, the other being the American Falls) as seen from a small vessel which goes right into the mist under the falls:




Everybody here looks very peculiar:



After having seen the falls from above, below, and behind, a short trip further south along the border down to Fort Erie followed (a "historical site"; everything older than 100 years is one, but this seems to have been the site of a battle between the British (or Canadians) and the U.S. in the war of 1812).
BTW, one wouldn't believe this is the same river only a few kilometres upstream on the way to Fort Erie:



Fort Erie, without anybody to check tickets since it's supposed to be closed:



Niagara (the city) itself is a junk, since it's infested by cheap and cheapest stores of the most cheap kind, and tries to shape itself as a gambling and honeymooning place:



Finally, this crossed my way on the highway back to Toronto, or actually lay in the lake water, and it seems it hasn't been intentionally put there as a "shopping&dining" site:

Canada Diary Entry - Aug 23

Googling for the phrases
"polish restaurant" toronto,
and what do I get?

Some of the hits are...

KIVI o@ca.on.york.toronto.globe_and_mail 2004-10-20 published ... Often he would meet Mr. CIAMAGA at a Polish restaurant, where a week before his death he ...

Oliver, do you know the old Polish restaurant Mazurka on Prince-Arthur? ... In fact, the Toronto Board of Health estimates the number of premature deaths at ...

112932, Missisauga, Well established Polish Restaurant, going cheap for ...

I deem this to be a bit unsettling, if you wish to invite people to one of these.

Canada Diary Entry - Aug 22

Toronto Islands, a tourist and family trap in the area shown here, and a secluded living space in another, not visited area, and an airport and Toronto's only "clothing optional" beach (not visited) in a third area:




And a bit of Canadian museum advertising:

Canada Diary Entry - Aug 21

This is the cute small person we are taking care of, or actually AC does.



For brunch, we went to this Chinese dim sum restaurant (probably that's wrong, but well, I'm open for improvement suggestions). You get your food not by ordering, but calling out to the waiter just passing by with a small wagon full of steaming pots when he happens to be carrying something you'd like.




And finally, this is how a Canadian suburb housing area looks like when the sun is shining (actually it's shining most of the time):

Canada Diary Entry - Aug 20

Returned the car today in the morning. Had to fill it up at the last minute, so went to a station right next to the car rental and saw a the last moment the posted "Full Service". Having no idea what this meant, I collected my stuff in the car, and when I wanted to get out, a black came up to my car, and urged me to say "Fill it up". Incredible; I felt so colonialist.

Then got lost in metro in search for a brunch restaurant called "Eggspectations". Since there was an enormous lineup of people waiting for a table already, I went searching for buns and got lost again.





Saw a "shop-dine-tour" bus on street. You obviously cannot name a tourist site just tourist site here, it must be shopping&dining.



Then went looking for Greyhound Bus station for a bus to bring me to Montreal next Saturday. Since I bought the ticket seven days in advance, it cost me only 49$ instead of 98$. For the latter price, I could have had a convertible rented including gas.

Later, seen illegal DVD stores in Chinese (or Oriental) mall. This means, there are stores (not only booths) selling nothing but pirated DVD copies here. New films like Stealth (the worst film of the year), Fantastic Four, Blade Trinity etc etc. The prosecution fine for film piracy is about 200$ here (two hundred Canadian dollars, equal to about 140 EUR). Authorities closed down one shop here some time ago; but after paying the 200$, they reopened and are now available 24/7.

In the evening, we drove out of Toronto for BBQ at the friends' friends' place. The friends' friend's girlfriend's important dog (a small white dog I insulted by calling it "poodle" although it's a "bichon" or something) was at least as important as the friends' little kid. Furthermore, there was a large grill; not as large as the friends', but still wow. This friends' friend allegedly uses the grill even in winter ("I put on my jacket, fire up the grill, come back in, then just pull down the meat").
Referring to yesterday's thunderstorm, "yesterday was hell, we lost power twice", as seen on TV.
Besides, this guy said "you can't be logical & artistic at the same time, it's mutually exclusive". This means that he - since he's some kind of tech guy - cannot decorate his place in style.

Canada Diary Entry - Aug 19

The day started with rain.
Then, since it's been the final day of the Eastern-Canada trip, and it was supposed to be a long ride, it started out with a search for a Tim Horton's. (Probably nobody at home knows what this is: It's the best (which is Canadian slang for either "newest", "biggest", or "best-known") coffee shop around. This means, you find them everywhere, selling coffee and donuts.) This search turned out to be longer than anticipated; mostly because I got lost on the way back to the highway.

Visiting the "world-famous" 1000 islands was somewhat imposs due to weather conditions: Toronto weather was expected to be "very bad", and there was a weather warning for Western Ontario in effect, with actually a tornado touchdown somewhere west of Toronto. So, being trapped for one or two hours on a cruise boat seemed to be a bad idea.

On the radio, I heard a documentary about an energy generating windmill to be built in Quebec. Yes, the kind of Windmuehlen creating energy all over Europe. Here, this means not building another windmill field, but rather *the* one/first windmill. Anyway, since this is Canada and everything must be either dining or shopping compatible, they said that it is possible this will become a major "tourist attraction". Cute, eh.

Finally, I got myself a compass. In Kingston, which turned out to be "one of Canada's best-kept secrets", according to the mayor's words in a tourist map guide. No wonder, I'd say, it kept its secret from me, too.
After getting lost so many times... I bought myself a massive brass compass. And it works.

Right after that, there was something on the street I can only call "tow crash". A very unusual way of towing away a car... hopefully, I can give you a picture of that later.

Here it is:



Kingston, town of churches - one street, five churches, *in a row*. All of different (Christian) congregation. And all are always burned, at least three times... and rebuilt. Canadians like to burn their churches, or maybe they treat it as some kind of divine test. Or maybe (that's my suspicion of a conspiracy of unimaginable consequences) the different congregations just keep putting fire to each other's houses of god.

Note: Toilets in Canada are always free, meaning you don't have to pay like in Germany. Never. And they are always rated at "1.0gpf". If you don't know what that means, there's a translation as "3.8lpf".

At night, there were lots of images of flooded Toronto on TV. Some million $ of damage, flooded streets, and the tornado actually left a trace of destruction you're usually only expecting from Florida.

Canada Diary Entry - Aug 18

Got a hotel room reserved in Ottawa yesterday, through Internet in the great Bibliotheque Nationale.
In the early morning hours, a car alarm system rang three times. Then, I fantasized about hearing Eastern German voices complaining on the corridor.

During breakfast, down from the condo behind the hotel's terrace, came Montreal's scary sneeze, five times... loud and massive. This mirrored Quebec's scary sneeze, which sent me jumping when I crossed an open window in Quebec's old city a few days before... the MW kind of sneeze, right next to one's unsuspecting ear.

Ottawa is part of Mall Land, meaning people go shopping&dining in malls here, contrasting to Quebec province, which looks just like Europe in not having malls, instead lots of pedestrian zone streets.

Ambled along the Ottawa river in the evening, until some loud bangs could be heard - not only changing of the guards in Parliament Hill, but also a parade celebrating 150 years of Ottawa being the capital of the Confederation of Canada.




Saw great "Spirit of Canada" light show being projected onto the Parliament building afterwards (MW: three beamers, about 2000sqm area (or, as Quebequois would count, about 20000 pi. ca.), and bright); then had very expensive Guiness in nearby bar.

Canada Diary Entry - Aug 17

09:40: Breakfast on the backyard terrace. Toast, coffee, marmalade, classical music on the radio, blue skies, shade under some trees... The birds are early today; usually they arrive at 10 o'clock.

"Yesterday" on the air. (...)

Upon a moment's reflection, I find it impressive to be in Nouvelle France. Just think of it - New France...

(This is only a part of today`s notes, but the rest is not... er... compiled yet. So please stand by until next time.)

Canada Diary Entry - Aug 16, 2nd part

Guess which one of the statues in the background is supposed to be St-Philippe:


Really finally: This is France.

Canada Diary Entry - Aug 16

09:10, still in bed:
- X? Are you working? Really? Or is your brain still empty?
- MW? Are you watering Overlord?
- TG? Have they taken your fingerprints?

Montreal downtown:


L`Oratoire de St-Joseph:



11:30:
Went to bibliotheque nationale, after looking at public Internet booth in Metro and getting a hint from a passerby, who directed the online-seeking to said library. There, an incredibly stunning sight: Lots of people, in a building that offered all kinds of media (books, audio CDs, DVDs, online), most in French, spanning over several stories, very modern, very expensive... children, teenagers, adults, seniors, all making use of the library's offers. I wonder where funding comes from... probably a kind of French-marketing coup of Quebec province. (Later, I found that Montreal has been nominated "capitale mondiale du livre" by the UNESCO.
Got a three-day ticket for Metro. Car is safely parked right in front of the hotel, for free. Pretty unusual and cool, eh.

Saw some "prying (!) images" at church shop.

Incredibly, here in Quebec, although Canada uses the metric system, lengths are given in "pouces", French for inch... pretty useless, eh.
Besides, in spite of their language fanatism, you can get "rosbif" at Subway.

In accordance with Canadian space wasting, there are no turning rear wheels on shopping carts in supermarkets, forcing you to handle the cart with a non-holonomic control law, contrary to European standards.
Besides, you get double plastic bags for each two or three pieces of merchandise, meaning you leave the shop with about five to six double-walled plastic bags for a medium-sized shopping tour.

Finally, there are no pedestrian traffic lights on many Montreal crossings, only car traffic lights which double as pedestrian ones.

Canada Diary Entry - Aug 15

Today, the Quebec visit comes to a close and now Montr閍l comes into view.
First, a trip to the Chutes de Montmorency: Waterfalls some 10min northeast of Quebec, complete with cablecar and 30m more height than the Niagara Falls. Nice view over the St Laurence river, and refreshing water spray from the falls.




Had lunch at a cozy little waterfront restaurant on the 蝜e d'Orl閍ns, an island just off the waterfall and off Quebec, complete with strawberry field, a bison park, churches, strawberry-selling farmers, artists galleries (everywhere in Quebec province), and surprisingly, no Asian tourists around. For the first time in about 2.5 weeks, no Asian face to be seen. I feel a bit deplaced, after all these places I've been to here.



This morning, I cut out a piece of MW's valuable polarizing filter and am now using it in front of my camera lens. Furthermore, I'm running around looking at everything through this plastic piece; must be looking quite stupid. But anyway, the effect is great (cf. pictures).
Then en route to Montreal; driving at speeds around 100km/h is mind-numbingly boring. You think your brains rot instantly after one hour.
In Montreal, checked in at a very cozy (one-star) hotel with great colors (white doorframes, green walls, dark-red staircase), brick walls inside, and original paintings on the walls. Only the air conditioner had to be cleaned on site.
Yesterday, my telephone card ran out of credit, so now I am completely cut off communications. But well... it is a change. And I need a bit of no-communication time right now. Thanks for understanding...
However, now (22:00) I will probably leave the room and go looking for wireless internet access in a bar down the street.

Canada Diary Entry - Aug 14

There are much less Canadian flags in Quebec than anywhere else - less than in Toronto, much less than in Edmonton. Instead, there's the white-on-blue cross of Quebec flying.
While service staff in so-called "Central Canada" or Alberta is very forthcoming, very friendly, Quebec is very different... people are nice, but not friendly. They don't say "hello, how's your day" and stuff
Tried to decode some weird Inuitutquktukwuqtuqtug script at an Inuit statue at Parliament Hill in Quebec. Right next to it, a very small French-Canadian assembl閑s nationales cooperation tree can be seen.
Though I couldn't understand it before, the separatist movement in Quebec becomes clear when seeing it... being French at heart, they are Northern Americans as well, and finally royal-british-Canadians as well, since the Queen is still their sovereign. No wonder they feel not at home.
For lunch, going to a very nice-looking Tunisian restaurant failed, and two waiters tried to explain some French mumble-jumble about why the cuisine est ferm? Then went to Japanese restaurant: Eating on a Tatami mat without shoes, and without sake (the Japanese owner tried to explain why to me in French). Feet started hurting after 20 minutes of kneeling... but surprisingly, it still went quite well. Another first-timer.
Finally, I had to notice that Quebec is basically Paris without Renaults and Citroens.





Final Note: Of course, I am not telling you all this stuff about "wow, this place is great" and "how incredibly nice people are here", because this is - of course - implicit. Therefore, here you'll only find what is *out of the ordinary*...

Canada Diary Entry - Aug 13

Got up in a flurry of clothes&general packing. Then been expedited to car rental, got a nice Chrysler ("intermediate, 4drs, a/c or similar") there. Highway is very relaxed since everybody goes at same speed, thus no stressful rear view mirror checks req. On the way to Quebec City.



2nd Tim Horton's visit this morning. Coffee's the word of the day.
I know now why there's a speed limit to 100km/h on highways. They are long, boring, and narrower than Autobahnen in Germany, meaning that any slight lapse in concentration leads to immediate veering off the street.
Bought gasoline in Quebec, in French, without problems.
Montreal immediately convinced me by being suffused with radio stations with mixed French-Spanish moderation and music.
"Fiat Panis" - motto of the UNO FAO Food and Agriculture Organization, as stated at the Chateau de Frontenac hotel wall.
In Quebec, just to make it clear that they are in fact different from everybody around, you have to turn doorknobs and water taps exactly the other way round. This means at first you cannot open doors, and turning off water always first results in a very loud splash before you manage shutdown.