Canada 2009

Day 1:- London/Ottawa

Checking in Terminal 5 which was a breeze compared to my previous Heathrow experiences.BA flight was excellent - way beyond my expectations. Drive to Ottawa was smooth and started the next day very late. The only thing we did in Ottawa was to eat our Lunch and Early Dinner in Taco Bell and enjoyed some retail therapy.Afternoon was spent browsing and shopping in Bed Bath and Beyond/Walmart/Tommy Hilfiger/Espirit. Then we headed towards Downtown Ottawa and clicked pictures of the Canadian Parliament and the nearby areas. Drove to Montreal - a two hour drive from Ottawa.

Day 2:-Montreal

I bought some baby stuff today - bibs/hooded bath towels and baby suits. It was an overwhelming experience to see baby stores and to decide what to buy and what not to buy. Took a stroll around the Downtown area-and had lunch in a french style cafe. Had the worst dinner of American style pizzas. Had to throw most of it.

Day 3:- Montreal/Quebec City

On our way to Quebec- we stopped at a shopping mall to have lunch. It was amazing to see that nobody speaks or understands English. Quebec city is beautiful- very unlike the typical North American Cities. Our Hotel room is excellent and very comfortable -complete with Flat Screen Television, a Jacuzzi Bath ,DVD player etc. All and all a very contemporary room.

Day 4:- Quebec City

We started our day by setting out to have a quick bite before we do the sightseeing around the town.We both had a grilled vegetable sandwich with a bowl of soup. Then we walked straight on to see the line of shops which adorned the town centre. First Stop - The Parliament of Quebec City followed by Citadelle and then the most seen attraction of the city- Chateau Frontenac.

We must have finished walking the entire city in about 2-3 hrs and then we were famished again - so we had a Pain Au Chocolat with coffee and Marble cake. Drove outside the city to see The Montmorency Falls which are higher than Niagara Falls but much smaller .

Day 5:- West Quebec

Today we drove towards Baie Sainte Paul and took breathtaking views from the mountains.Also saw a half frozen lake which was rock solid when we threw a stone to see how solid the snow is. While returning we stopped at Sainte Anne Church - the biggest pilgrimage place in North America.

Day 6:-Back to Montreal

Today was our last full day in Canada and we were going back to Montreal. We took the historic route " Le Chemin Du Roy" to Montreal instead of the usual Motorway. The drive was very stress free as the route was virtually empty. The route goes along the St Lawrence River and passed through quaint little villages which had Churches,Ancestral homes,Rectories and Mills. We stopped at a village called Trois-Rivieres and saw Sanctuaire Notre-Dame-Du-Cap -established in the mid 19Th century.It is one of the most important pilgrimage locations in North America.

Reached Montreal late in the evening and went straight to see the Olympique Park and La Biosphere.

After living in Canada for 6 days and not eaten Indian food at all - we were craving for some nice Indian meal - so we drove to an Indian Place "Pushp" which served vegetarian food. We had a Thali each of comprising of Chole,Palak Paneer and a mix vegetable served with rice, rotis and salad.For dessert we had a burfi and besan laddoos

Day 7:-Last Day

We started our day very late - around noon and saw Notre Deme Of Montreal - only few steps away from our hotel.

Then had a quick bite of Vegetable Panini's and Tomato Soup.Saw the historic Nelson Statue and the Bensecours Market. Checked out of the Hotel and went for a drive to see the Indian Area for our lunch but unfortunately didn't like any place and therefore went straight to the same place again as last night. Had Rotis/ Rice/Daal Makhni/Daal Tadka/ Baigan Bartha- took a take away of Barfis/Ladoos. Sat in the restaurant for a while and counting just minutes when our last trip just as a couple would come to an end.

Canada Travelogue

Day 1- Woke up early as there was excitement and apprehension for the long haul flight!!.A was reading some very bad reviews about the flight so we were prepared for the worst ie flight delayed by 5-8 hrs or maybe 24 hrs.My brother in law M and his wife R dropped us to the Gatwick Airport.Check in and Security went in smoothly.Did some browsing around and shopped for Magazines and newspapers,cereal bars/ sandwiches and coke to pass time in the flight.

Our Flight was delayed by 1 Hr which was expected and so we were not disappointed and passed time by reading newspaper.Finally the flight took off successfully for Calgary. We had some very low expectations or should say no expectations from the flight so it came as a surprise when the crew turned out to be very helpful and caring.A watched 27 dresses in the flight and i finished reading my magazine and the book "O Canada " which are short essays on Cities of Canada. I completed reading about Edmonton / Vancouver/Banff( places i were visiting ).The flight recovered its journey time and landed only 20 mts late of its actual arrival time.

We were received by our cousins S and A along with their friend M.We headed towards an Indian Eating Place called as "Namskar".There we ordered Dal Tadka,Malai Kofta, Paneer Makhani and some bread.It was our first Indian Meal in Canada.and instantly we started comparing it with the food which we used to get in Houston which is not so impressive as compared to the Indian Food which we are used to eating in London.

Finally we started our journey towards Edmonton which was a 3 hour drive. I slept most of the way and reached home around 8 in the evening.
Had pleasantries exchanged followed by dinner with again some paneer,Aloo Gobhi and Rotis.Off to bed around 12 pm and could not sleep the whole night and kept tossing and turning to pass the night.

Day 2- Was up early and all ready for the day by 8 in the morning.A and i decided to go for a walk. As expected there is hardly any life on the roads.. very different to what we are used to in London where roads are full of walking people.
Then we headed towards our shopping and started with our very old favourite Walmart.There i bought my favourite brand of Cereals and A bought some Jeans.
Then we went to Winners where A bought Office shirts and i bought a skirt.



A favourite store is Tommy Hilfiger where he again shopped for some casuals and i did the same.



Thereafter we browsed London Drugs for a camera and laptop. I was not sure whether we should be buying a laptop but A insisted that we need a new one and he was eying for the new Sony Vaio laptop.



In the evening we dined in an Indian Restaurant "Haveli". The food was OK but not great.

Day 3- First half of the day was spent in watching the Body Worlds Exhibition in the TELUS World of Science. It was an amazing and one of a kind exhibition of 200 authentic human organs, systems and whole body displays.The process is called Plastination,through which bodily fluids and fat have been extracted from the specimens and replaced, through vacuum forced impregnation, with reactive resins and polymers. The result is thus we can see inside the human body, learn how it works and how it can be affected by disease and lifestyle choices.



Second half of the day was spent in West Edmonton Mall which is World's largest entertainment and shopping centre featuring over 800 stores and services,9 World class attractions and 100 eating establishments.We again shopped from GAP/Tommy Hilfiger and Banana Republic.

The picture below is of the glittering glass dome of Ice Palace- The Ice Rink




Santa Maria - is an exact replica of Columbus'ship.It was built in Vancouver and is hand carved and painted.


This is the World's largest Indoor Wave Pool door with tropical temperature, more than 20different water activities , miles of water slides,bungee jumping etc.


Day 4 -We started for Banff around 11 am. It rained heavily during the journey. Stopped for lunch at Earls where i had wok fried noodles and seared vegetables tossed with spicy ginger soy sauce topped with peanuts.Reached Canmore around 3 pm. Checked in at our apartment and then headed towards Banff National Park.We walked along the High Street and browsed shops for souvenirs.

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We booked our table for dinner at "Masala"and then proceeded towards Sulphur Mountains which can be reached only through Gondola ride.An 8 minute Gondola ride gave us a 360 panoramic view of the Bow Valley and Rocky Mountains. There is a unique complex of gift shops, restaurants and a spectacular roof top observations at the summit.There is a 1 km long elevated board walk that leads to a Cosmic Ray Station and the historic Sanson's Peak Meteorological Station.The views experienced were breathtaking and cannot be captured on a camera.









After the walk we were so famished that we rushed towards Banff Town Center for our dinner at Masala.After a very lavish dinner of Paneer Tikka Sizzler/Daal Makhani/Paneer Butter Masala/ Biryani / Garlic Naan we decided to watch "Get Smart".



Day 5-The plan of the day was to visit Lake Louise.Unfortunately it started raining halfway to our journey and never stopped.We hardly spent any time in Lake Louise and took only 3-4 pictures and rushed to be in the car.Thereafter we decided that as there is nothing much to do in Lake Louise we should start our journey back home.








We stopped at Calgary to watch "Jaane Tu Jaane Na" as this was one movie i wanted to watch in London and could not due to time constraints.Reached Edmonton in the evening
at 7 pm.


Day 6- Today was the last day in Edmonton and we were frantically trying to finish our last minute shopping and checking baggage weight as i was worried that we have gone overboard with shopping.A took notes about Vancouver and Victoria for must places to visit.Took driving directions as we were taking a car rental in Vancouver.

Day 7- Reached Vancouver around 12 pm and headed straight to see Capilano Suspension Bridge.Got stuck in a traffic jam which seemed like ages.As soon as we reached Capilano we had quick bite to eat of sandwiches and chips. Suspension Bridge was beautiful. At first i was a bit skeptical to walk but soon started to enjoy the wobbly bridge.We did a quick walkaround the area and did Treetop walk as well. Soon we both got bored of it and decided to go to Stanley Park.





Stanley park was quite similar to Hyde Park in London. It overlooks Downtown Vancouver, famous for its half a million trees and 200 km of trails and roads in the park.It was so bright and sunny that we had to gobble up two bars of Haigen Daz and a bottle of coke.After the walk in the park we decided to check in at Hotel Vancouver.







Hotel Vancouver took 11 years to build because construction was stopped for five years during the Great Depression.It was started by the Canadian National Railway but was finally completed jointly with the Canadian Pacific Railway.It was opened in 1939 in time for the Royal visit of King George VI and Queen Elizabeth.





Rested for a while and then decided to explore downtown by foot.We had a Crepe filled with spinach and feta cheese and A had with mushrooms and cheese.We again shopped at Sears / HMV and our old favourite Tommy Hilfiger.The street was so lively and buzzing with activity even at 11 at night that it was hard to imagine that it was actually going to be midnight pretty soon.We had dinner in one of the cafes which is open for 24 hrs. It had a mix of everything from Mediterrean salads to indian samosas to chinese spring rolls and variety of pizzas/pastas and indian curries with rice.
I had a bowl of chickpea salad with mushroom panini. In the end i had to leave the panini sandwich for the next day.We retired to our room around midnight and slept late till 8 the next morning.

Day 8 -Today was the day to visit Victoria for which we took BC Ferries.It was a one and half hour journey which was quite scenic as there were little islands which came by as we were approaching Victoria.



As soon as we landed in Victoria we drove towards Butchart Gardens.These gardens are 55 acres of amazing floral display which change according to the seasons.We throughly enjoyed the walk and took a lot of pics but i think digital pictures cannot do justice as to what your eyes have seen.





After that we parked our car in the downtown of Victoria and walked along the sea. There we decided to do a Sea Plane ride which will be for 30 mts and would take us around the city. It was a good experience except that the ride was a bit bumpy in the landing but rest was great.



After this we had a quick bite in one of the shopping malls and rushed to catch our ferry to Vancouver which we missed and had to wait an hour to catch the next one.




Day 9 -The day finally came to head back to London.We had to return to Calgary and from there had to fly to London.As suspected our flight was late by 2 hrs so we killed our time by watching "Dev" starring Amitabh Bachaan, Kareena Kapoor and Fardeen Khan on our brand new laptop.
Landed at London Gatwick by 2 pm and reached our sweet home by 6 pm and that brings to an end to our very interesting and nice vacation to an end.