Ottawa CLEE Weekend

Sunday Brunch

Spring has sprung in Canada and it's May already. Last Sunday, we were invited to share Sunday Brunch with the Bouvier Family. Bob is a friend and colleague of mine who has made me feel very welcome at Holy Cross. We met his wife Teresa, and large, friendly family whilst enjoying the most delicious and hospitable brunch. After we ate, Bob and Teresa took us for a walk around the area. Despite the mud, we walked for several kilometeres to reach a man made pond. Here we sat for a while to savour the view and soak up the sun before making our way back to the house to enjoy ice creams. John and I had to agree; it was an idyllic way to spend a Sunday.

April Adventures

Exploring Lemoine Point in Spring

The Carters visit Montreal

Since last weekend was a four day holiday, we decided to spend part of it visiting the city of Montreal, about 3 hours drive from Kingston. Making our way there early on Sunday morning, we quickly located our hotel before setting off to explore Old Montreal. This city is quite historic, having been settled by the French not long after Jacques Cartier sailed up the St Lawrence River to visit the area in 1535. The city saw its first permanent Europeans in 1642 and quickly established itself as a fur trading centre. Consequently, the old City of Montreal is very historic, and, like Quebec City, has a distinctly 17th century European feel to it. Having said this however, we found a unique blend of modern archtectural styles within the downtown area.

We walked around old Montreal for several hours on Sunday afternoon. Despite the frigid conditions, we enjoyed a fiesty performance by a fire juggler. The kids enjoyed this immensely and Nick was given a balloon poodle. After this, we explored the many souvineer shops found in the area. I finally succombed and pourchased my very own Canadian Toque. Mind you, this was a very handy way of helping to defeat the cold.

Mass for Easter Sunday was at the Notre Dame Basilica at 5.00pm. We made our way into the cathedral grateful for the warmth it provided. The interior of this vast building is amazingly gothic in its space and style! We enjoyed the service - totally in French - even if we didn't really completely understand what was being said.

We followed this vist with dinner at at three hundred year old pub before going back to our hotel. Unfortunately, the toilet in our bathroom flooded and water spilled over onto the carpet in the room. After frantically calling room service we were evacuated and resettled into a new room. This caused no end of amusement amongst the children.

The next day, we drove up to the Mont Royal Park lookout to take in some vistas of the city before visiting the site of the 1976 Montreal Olympic Games. Whilst here, we took the kids to the Biodome. This is a dome shaped construction housing a variety of ecosystems. We were able to walk through this and observe the various ecosystems at work. Nick really enjoyed the penguins and I've got to admit, they were pretty entertaining.

We enjoyed our visit to this city and really, in two days, only acquired a small taste. Bring on the summer so that we have time to explore at our leisure!

Cataraqui Conservation Area

March Madness

Finally, here are my calendar pages for the month of March. I have been a little busy marking end of term assessments and have been sidetracked from my real pursuits! As I look back over the past month, I realise how incedibly busy it was. We seemed to go from one major tourist event to another in quite rapid succession. No wonder we hit April absolutley exhausted!

Happy Easter to you all. We are going to go to Montreal for some of the Easter weekend. Stay tuned for lots of photos.

By the way, John finally received his Ontario College of Teacher's accreditation yesterday. He can now officially teach as a qualified substitute teacher within the Province of Ontario! Yipee.......

April Snow in Kingston

I took this photo of our back yard about five minutes ago. As you can see, it's covered in snow. It started snowing sometime early this morning and has continued throughout the day. I am now beginning to wonder whether or not Spring actually arrives in Canada! Last Saturday the temperature did manage to make it up to about 16 degrees and believe me, this felt positivvely tropical.
Winter is back I suspect, taking its fleetingly final gasps before (we hope) Spring hits us with a vengeance.
The weather is a huge topic of conversation around the staff room tables in Canadian schools! I have been asked about the weather many a time and how winters here compared to those at home. Really, there's no comparison but that's what we're here for. We have expereinced what it is like to live in snow, shovel snow, scrape freezing rain off the windscreens of our car, drive in raging blizzards at 90km per hour whilst barely flinching, jog in the snow and of course, play in the snow.
I have also been educated in the fine art of recognising the many and varied forms of snow.
In fact, did you know that:
-A blizzard is a long lasting snow storm with intense snowfall and unusually high winds?
-Freezing rain is rain which freezes on impact? This effectively coats all exposed surfaces with a layer of clear, shiny ice. A beautiful phenomena except if you need to scrape the windows of your car.
-Hoar frost refers to white crystals deposited on the ground and form when the air is moist and the surface is cold? This effectively makes every blade of grass, branch and leaf look almost like a fairy wonderland.
-Lake effect snow is produced when cold winds move across long expanses of warmer lake water, picking up water vapour which then freezes and is deposited on the lake shore?
-Blowing snow is snow on the ground being moved around by the wind?
-Corn snow is coarse, granular wet snow. This is the snow most commonly used by skiers when describing ideal spring skiing conditions. The corn is the result of the diurnal cycle of melting and refreezing.
-Packing snow is snow that is at or near melting point? This snow can be easily packed into snowballs and snow men and snow forts. The possibilities are endless.
-Powder is freshly fallen uncompacted snow? The density and moisture content of this type of snow can vary but skiers and snowboards seriously covet it.
-Slush is snow which partially melts upon reaching the ground to the point that it accumulates in puddles of partially frozen water? This effect can be rather unpleasant if you are jogging and accidently step the wrong way!
These are some of the types of snow I have learnt about since my arrival in Canada. Apparantly, the Inuit people have many more words to describe a multitude of variances.
It's been an experience so far and we have enjoyed experiencing a total climactic contrast.
Having said that, it's time to ditch the snow boots, toques and gloves and don shorts and t-shirts. Vale to Winter and bring on the Spring!

Life in Canada from John's perspective

Thought I’d finally contribute to the blog and let you know how things are going. We have been here nearly three months now, and have seen considerable change in the landscape now that the snow has melted. Kingston is a great place to live – small enough to find your way around in, big enough to have all the facilities we need. We have settled in well and have done a lot of things so far – lots of skiing, tobogganing, skating and seeing lots of sights. We have met quite a few people and everyone has been very welcoming. The kids have got themselves well involved in their schools, and are doing lots of extra things after school – in that respect, not much has changed from home in Narooma.
Veronica is enjoying her teaching and has been well accepted by the staff – in a school of 1300 students, she has only met a small number of students and staff, but it’s all been good so far. The house we are living in is small, but it is warm and a good base for us.
As for me, work is still proving elusive – I got a little frustrated towards the end of last term but right at the moment I don’t really care. I have a job each Thursday delivering newspapers for 8 hours, so at least I’m doing something. I’ve had four days of teaching (three as a French teacher!) and two days as a Teacher’s Aide (I enjoyed that!). I’m sure the teaching work will come – I am classed as ‘unqualified’ until my accreditation comes through and can only be employed as an emergency teacher. The accreditation process is very slow and frustrating but I can’t really do anything about it. Thanks again Linda for the reference.
We have just returned from a week in New York. In Canada they have a week off in March before going through until the end of June. Veronica and I have always wanted to go to New York and we enjoyed every minute of it. The highlight was seeing ‘Mama Mia’ on stage at Broadway, a fantastic production that all the family enjoyed. We did all the touristy things you do in New York – Times Square, Central Park, the Statue of Liberty, Ground Zero, riding the subway, etc. We stayed in a hotel in Queens, which was an experience in itself.
Veronica has done a great job on our blog up to date, and Max provided the text of our trip to NYC.
Everyone’s now back at school with a fourteen week term until the summer break. There are lots of lakes around Kingston and many people have holiday cottages on the lake for the summer break. At the moment we intend to go the Maritimes (East coast) during the two month break, but several people have offered us their cottage locally over the break.
Emily is dancing and enjoying a more professional and competitive dance studio than Narooma, and the boys are both swimming for the Ernestown Barracudas Swimming Club. They have just signed up to play soccer with the Cataraqui Clippers Soccer Club, and will be playing over summer. I have resumed my traditional role of driving them everywhere for their sports.
I hope everyone is well back in Australia. I can’t honestly say I am missing work and school, as this experience has been very positive so far.
As the weather gets warmer, more and more Canadians emerge from their houses to enjoy the outdoors. We have met more neighbours in the last week than we did in the first two months.
Anyway, all of you back to work – it’s time for me to go to bed as tomorrow I have to deliver 700 newspapers.

NYC Highlights

My New York trip cont....By max

18TH MARCH 2009
Today I got up at eight O’clock. We headed down to have some breakfast. After we headed to the underground railway. We got out at 42nd street and walked to the pier. We were going to go on this speed boat. It went to the Statue of lLberty and around it in thirty minutes. Of course it was closed until May.
We then hailed a cab and went to the NBC studio tour were they make Friends and Seinfeld. But it was booked out. It was terrible. So we decided to go to the Radio City Music Hall. We got a tour through the auditorium and stage and learnt a lot about it. They actually wanted to demolish it a while back but they saved it.
After the tour we went to Paley’s Museum of TV and Radio. It was a bunch of rooms with old and current TV shows you could watch. We watched The Twilight Zone, The Brady Bunch and Freaks and Geeks. We then went to the Library and we got to choose two shows we could watch. I chose the wrestling and Ed, Edd and Eddy. There were lots to choose from. We watched them and then headed to Broadway!
We watched Mama Mia. It is a story about a girl who is about to be married and invites three possible fathers to her wedding. They turn up and everything gets complicated and then the girl's mum eventually is the one who gets married. It was pretty good with an interesting story line. It had all the music from ABBA. I got back to the hotel at about eleven O’clock and a quick go on Facebook and an hour later at midnight I am in bed.
19TH MARCH 2009
This morning I woke up at eight thirty. I felt exhausted. I struggled out of bed and down to the breakfast area. I had a bagel and filled up a drink bottle with apple juice. After breakfast we set off to Central Park via the subway. We stopped at the world Disney store as it started to drip down rain.
We arrived at Central Park. We went to the zoo first. By now it had started raining hard. We got to go into a rainforest place were it was hot and humid. We went back outside and into the rain and saw the polar bears and some frogs. We saw other various animals and then went to see the sea lions get fed. They did tricks for us and it was cool.
We headed back off and saw the statue of Balto. It is a dog that travelled 650 miles with his dog sled team in minus 23 degrees Fahrenheit to deliver an antitoxin. I read about this when I was in Kindergarten and have wanted to see this statue ever since.
We then went to a carousel. Apparently it is a famous one. Dad said we also had to try hot dogs in Grand Central park so we got some.
It was still pouring rain so we headed to The Metropolitan Museum of Art. I wanted to go because it had a Egyptian mummy exhibit. It was really good. For lunch I had a chocolate chip cookie and a hot chocolate. Not much of a lunch but it doesn’t matter.
afterwards, we headed to Dylan’s Candy Store and got a free ice cream using our new York Passes. Dylan's is a three floor candy store. It is huge and has so many kinds of candy. You could probably get lost in that store.
We headed on over for dinner at a pizzeria. I ate a whole large pizza to myself I was that hungry. We decided to go home for an early night. The problem was that we couldn’t get a taxi. Ironically, all the four seaters wouldn’t take is in the light as opposed to willingly taking us in the dark. We finally got a seven seater and headed home. I watched Seinfeld and then two hours of Friends and went to bed.

20TH MARCH 2009
Today was our last day. We got a cab to the airport and waited for the plane. It was late so we took off an hour late. We were waiting on the plane longer than it was in the air. We landed at Syracuse and picked up our car and travelled home. Nick and I wanted to get home quickly. We got home at twenty to eight. We turned the TV on for the 500th episode of smack down, but it was moved to tomorrow morning for basketball. We had an early night and we were so tired after our week.

New York at Night

Exploring the Big Apple by Max carter

14TH MARCH 2009
Today after staying the night in Syracuse we got up early and headed to the airport. On the way we got a bit lost and our car lights stopped working. You could say mum and dad were more than a little stressed. We finally got there and parked our car. It was about ten past six in the morning. We went inside and went to the security check. Mum was wearing a bulky coat and got frisked. They thought she had a bomb or a gun or something dangerous. We got on the plane. It was the smallest plane I had ever been on. It was rocky and bumpy and my ears were popped. The flight made our voices go spacey. I started singing and this person looked at me. I was just thinking; "mind your own business". We landed in New York and took a cab to the hotel. It is called Days Inn.

The first thing we did was take an hour walk to Madame Tussaud’s Wax Museum. On the way there was a three story candy shop that made the Tilba Lolly shop look tiny. We each got a big lolly pop. It was called Dylan’s Candy Store. At the waxworks works there was George Bush and dad took a picture of me pretending to throw a shoe at him.

There were nine floors of wax works like the hulk, The Rock, Ghandi, The pope, Barrack Obama, John Travolta, Pele, Wayne Gretzky and so many, many more. They were so life like you could turn around and look at them and take a while to figure out if it was a waxwork or a real person. After that we went on a tour bus. It went for hours and we got off at the Rockefeller Centre. We were going to on the NBC tour. It was at the NBC studio were they made Friends and Seinfeld. But it was over. We rode the rock to the top and saw the Empire State building. After that we went to the world Nintendo store. It was three stories high. We then went for dinner at Planet Hollywood. It was really nice. They had lots of movie props there. We walked out on Broadway and looked around afterwards. It was amazing. It was all lighted up and cool. We hailed a cab and went to the hotel. I watched TV to ten O’clock and then went to bed after a long and tiring day!

15TH MARCH 2009
Today I was awakened by our heater, It is really loud. I got up and watched Tom and Jerry. After, we went down to breakfast. For breakfast I had some muffins and bagels. After that, we headed to the underground subway. We got off at the wrong station and went back on. We got off at the World Trade Centre, the site of nine eleven. I got my picture taken with some fire fighters. We went to the bull. It is the symbol of the financial success. You kiss its arse and it is supposed to make you rich. It showed it’s testicles, so I got a picture kicking them. It was funny. After we went to the sports museum of America. I was looking forward to it but it was closed. So we headed to the docks and went to Liberty Island. It had the Statue of Liberty on it. We walked around and looked at it. We went to the gift shop and bought a statue of liberty hat. We then went to Ellis island. That was where the immigrants used to come. We went back on the ferry to NYC.

We then went to a bodies exhibition. It had all these dead bodies on display and explaining how the human body works. There were dead people and the men still had the penis intact. It was disgusting. Also the scrotum had rotted away so the testicles hung to the side. It was gross. They also chopped up the bodies and showed the different parts. Yuck. Nick was a bit scared. At the end you wrote a comment and Nick wrote “Yuck!”

After this tour, we caught a bus to the Empire State Building. There we rode to the top and looked over NYC. We also had a virtual tour. Our seats rocked and shook and everything. It was pretty cool. It was like being at the movies. After we went to dinner at this Italian buffet place. It cost seven dollars per pound. I had two pounds of food. I got to the table and Nick knocked my drink over all my food and mum. I had to eat my dinner soaked in lemonade. YUCK!!! We headed home in a taxi. We had to squeeze dad in the front and the four of us in the back. It was really tight. We got back and went to bed at ten O’clock. Everyone was tired and we went to sleep pretty quickly.

16TH MARCH 2009
Today I was woken up by dad at eight O’clock to the sound of Nick watching Pokémon. We went down to breakfast. I had some Danishes and muffins and bagels. After we headed to the underground subway. They smell like the sewer. We jumped and went to 41st street. We saw this guy being arrested for drugs or something. We went through a shopping mall and out into NYC.

We went to the museum of natural history. We had limited time so we only spent about two hours there. You may think that is a long time but this place was huge!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! It was four stories high and really long; at least over three hundred metres. There were dinosaurs and animals of all sorts. There were exhibits of how people used to live. It was pretty interesting! We had morning tea, then got back on the bus and then went to the Guggenheim museum. It was a museum of art. Some of the art was pretty crap. One was a stack of paper and another was a black sheet of paper. It was pretty weird. We then went to the cafe and got a smoothie and cookie. After we went and had dinner at an Irish restaurant. I had barbecued ribs. They were delicious. Then we went to Broadway and caught a bus for the night time tour of New York and Brooklyn. We saw the Brooklyn Bridge and all the New York sites. It was pretty good. We got home and went to bed at about ten thirty.

17TH MARCH 2009
Today I got up at 20 to eight. I watched some cartoons, got dressed and went downstairs for breakfast. First we were going to go to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. It was closed till Thursday so we will go then. After we walked around the shops. Mum bought an illegal handbag from a lady in a secret room in her shop. Then we walked around the corner and Emily and Mum had to get into the back of a boarded up van. Dad, Nick and I had to wait at the corner about twenty feet away. Dad wasn’t very happy about it and was a bit worried. Emily and mum eventually got out with Em carrying a Coach handbag. It turns out it probably was stolen and was possibly a genuine one. So that was a bit dodgy.

We got the bus on Broadway and went to the police museum. It was really good and interesting. It had all information on past prisoners including Al “Scarface” Capone. They had a siren you could press and it was really loud. There were also video’s of nine eleven when the plane crashed. It was pretty sad.

After that, we took a bus to the seaport. We then looked around the seaport and took a few pictures and hopped back on the bus until we got to the docks. We were going to go on a speed boat but it was closed so we are going to go on it later. So we headed to the Intrepid museum. It was an old air craft carrier that was commissioned in nineteen forty three. There was a helicopter pilot simulator and it was cool. After we headed to a place called Mars 2112. It was a restaurant. You went into a lift which was a space ship simulator, then went into a room that was like mars. There were people dressed up as aliens. I got a 17 dollar meal which also got you a five dollar card at the arcade. I played some air hockey, lost my money on a pick up thing and played a motor bike racing game. After we went to Broadway and bought tickets to Mama Mia for tomorrow at eight O’clock we hailed a cab and went to the hotel. We went to bed at about ten thirty.

Exploring the Sugar Bush

Last Sunday, we drove up to Maberley to visit Bill & Jeannette Avery, a couple who spent last year on exchange in Australia. We met them at a party in Bateman's Bay and maintained contact. The Averys live about 95km fom Kingston and we arranged the visit a few weeks ago. Bill took us out to brunch at Wheeler's Maple Syrup Farm. This family run establishment is world famous and apparantly becomes very busy as March progresses and the maple syrup really starts to flow. We feasted on home made pancakes, maple sausages and lashings of maple syrup before exploring the farm. The Wheeler family have established a private museum on their property and here we looked at the old maple syrup making tools and learnt about how the local Aboriginal people tapped the syrup 600 years ago.

Emily and the boys enjoyed a romp in the playgound area and despite the mud, (melting snow is really VERY messy) braved the flying fox. We got to see maple trees up close with tubes attached to draw out the sap. The Wheelers make the syrup on their property and there are several large vats to boil down the sap. Apparantly it takes 40 litres of sap to make 1 litre of syrup.

The day was sunny and we even saw deer with their babies as the Averys took us on a tour of the local area. Their property backs onto a lake and they have their own cottage. This will be great in summer when we intend to return for another visit.

All in all, it was a pretty uniquely Canadian experience. We all love maple syrup!

Curling - That Great Canadian Tradition

Last Friday night, some of the Holy Cross staff organised a night of Curling. Having never even been inside a curling rink before, John and I decided to take advantage of the social opportunity. Luckily, Max was at a party that night so it was only Emily and Nick at home. This almost guarantees us an evening of peace. Some of the teachers, Pat and his wife Dianne, picked us up and we enjoyed their company on the way down town. The curling rink was at the Garrison and we were interested to see how it all worked. The best description is that it is a little like lawn bowls on ice. We were soon acquainted with the appropriate technique and began whizzing the rocks down to the other end like real professionals. John and I enjoyed our night out. Not only was the curling a unique Canadian experience but it was a great opportunity to socialise with some of the staff from Holy Cross.

Skiing At Calabogie

Here are some photos of our ski trip to Calabogie, a ski resort about two hours drive from Kingston. The day could not have been more perfect with clear blue skies and mild (comparatively anyway) temperatures. The boys got the opportunity to hone their snowboarding skills and Em and I had quite a few exhilerating runs. John even got in on the act with a few runs. We had a great time and want to return at least once more before the end of the season.

A Little Taste of Home

Thanks to Rita & Dom, we are enjoying a taste of good old Aussie vegemite. We love it!

Not Long Till Spring!

As I'm writing this blog, I'm looking out at a beautiful sunny day in Kingston. Yesterday was rain, rain and more rain, effectively washing away much of the remaining snow. What's here now are big snow drifts where the snow has been scooped away from roadways by snow ploughs. It gradually builds up over winter and freezes. It really doesn't disappear very easily. There are actually snow removal contractors here who can come around and remove the snow (for a fee of course). Even though today is very sunny, its deceptive as it is around -15 degrees at the moment. we still cant go outside without rugging up - gloves, scarves, beanies (touks) & jackets.

It's really hard to believe that we left Sydney exactly two months ago today. The time has raced by. During our time here so far we have explored a fair bit of Ontario and Quebec. Two February highlights were the winter carnival in Quebec City and a visit to Niagara Falls.

Quebec City is a beautiful city and we revelled in the extreme cold and the ice activities available during Carnival time.

In contrast, Niagara falls has its own form of beauty. The falls themselves were spectacular. We tried to ignore the "theme park" feeling of the town as we walked around. Mind you, the kids wanted to explore all these attractions. Maybe during summer when we return - and we will return.

February is over and our calendar was full. We are staying pretty close to home for the next couple of weeks as everyone is a little run down. The kids have been sick over the last week and are all pretty much over winter. spring is in the air and March break is only a couple of weeks away. Stayed tuned for our adventures in new York City over this time!

The Freezer is cold. By Emily=)

Well I can say that it's very cold over here and I will never ever complain about another winter's day at Carroll College when it is 3 degrees. After experiencing absolute extremes (-27) I can say the people in Australia do not know what cold is. Maybe in places like Tassie, it could get down past zero but definately not in the Eurobodalla Shire. Though I am content to lie on a beach for several hours sunbaking and then suffer in the effects of sunburn but here you can get SNOWBURN!!!!!=O Isn't it amazing? The sun reflects of the snow and burns your skin. Also you can get snowblind because of the glare. I can't be outside for more than five minutes without getting sore eyes. When I ski I have to wear proper ski goggles because otehrwise you can go blind.

I like it the best when it snows because it is so pretty. The town looks like a christmas card. You know those old fashioned santa's workshops with snow everywhere. They look like that. Especially in Quebec in the quaint old streets with the original buildings.

Quebec. how can I begin to explain. It is a romantic, picturesque city on St Lawrence's River. The city is walled and still holds most of its original buildings. The Chateau De Frontenac was amazing. It was so big!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I couldn't believe that the structure could have been built when it did. Especially considering when it was built, technology was not as advanced. It was built in 1893.
I liked Quebec. It was cold but cool...

Niagara Falls was great too! The falls were huge. I'm only fifteen and I've already been to Vanautu, Fiji, America and Canada. Niagara Falls was breathtaking and so big that it didn't even fit in a whole photo!!!!

So whats next for me????? Well we are going skiing at Calaboogie!!!!!!!!!!!! YAY!I love skiing. I really like it cos I can do it and do it well. Not being modest or anything but it is so fun just to bomb down the slope but its cold when your hood falls off.

LOL

Anyway this is Emily writing stuff that you already know and have read.
I'm living in the freezer.
Out me back into the refrigerator! Its much warmer!

Bye bye for now
Tata au revouir, See you then

OOH! Btw, we got cable and we are enjoying watching shows

Niagara Falls

Family Day Weekend

Monday February 16th has been designated as a family day in the Province of Ontario so we decided to take a trip down to Niagara Falls for the weekend. This is one place both John & I have always wanted to visit so we really looked forward to the weekend. I decided to combine the trip to Niagara with a visit to John Menzo and his partner, Maurizio. John taught for a year at Carroll College about five years ago and proved to be good value. It was wonderful to be able to contact him again and organise a visit. We made our way to Guelph, (approximately 3 hours West of Kingston) late on Saturday afternoon after the kids finished their various commitments. The evening was great. It seemed like we took up where we left off five years ago. John and Maurizio showed us through their fantastic house and plied us with red wine and dinner. The kids really loved Zoe, the chocolate Labrador. I guess she reminded them of Cozmo in a way. The next morning, John took us on a brief tour of Guelph. We saw where the Knights lived for a year as well as John’s school. He showed us a great covered wooden bridge, the university and the birthplace of John McCrae. Guelph seems like a very neat university town. We parted with promises to return in the summer and explore the surrounding countryside and its various attractions.

Quebec City

Our weekend in Quebec City was an adventure not to be missed.After leaving Kingston at the ungodly hour of 2am we arrived in the city around 8am that morning. Our first stop was the st Anne De Beaupre basilica folowed by a visit to the Montmorency Falls. We arrived at our Hotel (the Hilton) around lunch time for a quick snack before heading off to explore the city and experience Carnivale. After layering up (it was about -30 outside) we headed to the site of the main carnivale attractions - The Plains of Abraham. actually, this is quite an historic site, It was here in 1759 that the British defeated the French ensuring Canada's predominance as an Anglicised nation. feelings about this are still raw 250 years after the event with some animosity between modern day Quebcois and English speaking Canadians evident.

The carnivale itself was alot of fun. the kids were able to slide down hills using air fill tire like toboggans and experience ice slides. As a family we made our way over to the ride known as the Torpedo. This prooved to be a 30 second adrenalin charged experience where we hurtled down a rather steep slope whilst seated inside a large rubber raft. We all screamed and hooted but agreed that it was worth the experience.

After recuperating in our hotel room (read that as returned to room to warm up, we ventured out again and made our way to the old sector of the town. Quebec City is a walled city established about 400 years ago, so walking the streets seemed like a trip back in time to 17th century Europe. Outside the Chateau Frontenac, there was a giant ice slide. Feeling up to the challenge, we hired two sleds and made the arduous climb to the top. The ride was brief yet exhilerating. I think I even heard Nick swearing as we thundered down to the bottom of the slide!We found a small Italian restaurant for dinner. Here we were given the opportunity to employ our rather dodgy French - little success but we had a lot of fun trying!

The kids were keen to explore the shops and hunt down coveted souvineers.

The following morning saw us board our bus and travel to the ice hotel. This structure is unique in North america and is made completely of ice and snow. Guests can stay overnight as there are 36 suites of varying themes. A highlight was a visit to the ice bar. here I was able to purchase a shot of baileys in a glass made completely from ice. Feeling magnaminous, I let all the kids have a taste so they could understand the expereince.

Emily made some taffy. this consists of a type of maple syrup toffe that is poured hot into the snow and as it cools, is rolled up to be eaten.

Once we returned to the city, we went downtown to catch the ferry across the St Lawrence River. This was an expereince in itself as the ferry was actually an ice breaker and we were able to hear the ice crackle and snap as it ploughed its way across the river.

To get home, we had to ride the Funiculaire to the top before taking our weary legs back to our hotel room.

In the evening John was ill so after dinner, Em, Max and I went out again for a walk. We went back to carnivale where the kids once again rode the tubes. We also walked around the upper and lower cities. In some ways, I think this may have been ahighlight. The weather had warmed considerably (ONLY -4) and the atmosphere in the city was spirited and relaxed.

It was with reluctance that we boarded our bus home early on the following morning. quebce City is a place to be visited. I would really love to revisit there in the summer on our way out to the Maritimes.

We Visit The Ice Hotel

Quebec City Winter Carnival Weekend

On Friday Feb 6th, we got ourselves out of bed very early (try 2am!) to board the bus for the CLEE Weekend in Quebec City. We had hosted Anne & Rod Casey, some Australians from Victoria living in Verona for dinner and they accompanied us to the bus. After driving all night, our first stop was breakfast at a very old and quaint restaurant. Here we had our first taste of maple butter. Its surprising how well it goes with bacon and eggs. Our next stop was the stunning Sainte-Anne-De-Beaupre Basilica. The site of the Church dates back to the 1600's and Sainte Anne as the mother of Jesus is venerated here. There have been reported miracles as evidenced by crutches and other parapernalia discarded by those who have claimed to have been healed by her. We spent some time admiring the beautiful mosiacs, altars and statues found inside this church. We attempted to take a few photos outside but the windchill factor was extraordinary. My big mistake was not wearing a beanie and my nose and ears were almost frozen by the time we got back on the bus.

After this, we located the well known Montmorency falls, the site of our next stop. These falls are quite spectacular; even more so because it is currently winter. The water at the bottom of the falls freezes as it hits the waters of the St Lawrence River creating a spectacular mound of snow and ice. Braving the cold, (ONLY -30 give or take a few degrees) we took a walk over the suspension bridge above the falls. From here we could see all the way across the river into the City of Quebec itself. After a brief stop for souvineers and purchasing carnivale effigies we were once again back on the bus and headed for our accommodation at the Hilton Hotel in the centre of Quebec City.

January in Canada

Our calendar is really important. It provides us with a ruuning record of much of our daily life whilst we are here.

Cross Country Skiing

Last Sunday whilst it was a balmy (by Kingstonian standards anyway) 3 degrees, John & I took Em & Nick to Lemoine Conservation Area to try Cross Country Skiing. The conservation area is a short drive from our home and runs along the edge of Lake Ontario.

We are enjoying all types of Winter sports whilst we are here. In one weekend, the kids went toboganning, skating and cross country skiing; Things they could never really do at home! That's what we are here for.