New York

We have only just got home from New York. What a Huge place, we went uptown, down town across town, around and around town, to the Brooklyn and even through Harlem(not that we walked there).
We managed to cover most of Manhattan island in the six days we had, i am sure there was places we did not go, but we can save them for next time.
We arrived in New York at 8am the first day and managed to walk from 48Th street down to 22ND and back up with a bit of wondering.
We went up the Rockefeller centre and looked at the view, we decided this over the empire state as you could see Central park.
We walked past most of the different Trump Towers and looked in Macy's and Went to Ground Zero.
We took the subway and got to see police rushing through the train and firefighters on the platform, whilst we all waited in the train.
We walked through Wall street with about 1000 other people(was the same most places we went)
We looked at the Statue of Liberty, and at a big air craft carrier.
We walked from Brooklyn back to Manhattan from the Brooklyn side.
Not to forget we went shopping and looked in many a shop.
Went to the fire fighters museum and walked through Central Park.

Like i said we did lots in our 6 days in New York, but there is so much more to see.

Forgot to mention, it was cold it snowed and it rained but we still enjoyed every minute of the trip

Meach lake seasons

The weather

In the last 10 days we have gone from nice weather in cuba to -20 here in Ottawa, as well as the cold weather we have had one of the bridges across the river close and it snow on the same day, 2.5 hours to get home from work that day.
We have also had the ottawa bus drivers go on strike indefinitly, so this has added to the traffic lately, luckly my shifts have ment i have avoided the major traffic jams. But not wilst at work trying to get to calls...

Cuba

What a long first day of our first official holiday in Canada. We woke at 5.30 am and got in the car and drove all the way to Toronto, with a stop for breakfast somewhere. In total the trip took 5 hours to get to the airport park that we used. Finally we got on the plane and headed on the way to Cuba arriving at about 6.45pm.
Arriving in Cuba we got through customs and out the door and found our bus to take the hotel we were staying in.

We arrived at the Sol Palmeras and checked in and found our room and decided to have a walk around and have a drink with some other people that we met on the bus that were also staying at the hotel, Robert and Pat from Beamsville and Lisa from St Catherine’s and also Xeumia from china.
We all met at the bar and talked and drunk until midnight before heading off to bed, the only thing that we did not really like was everyone smokes inside here.

The next day we all headed down to the pool and lay in the sun an read our books and drunk Mojito’s most of the day, in the afternoon we met up with the sunwing rep and found out about the tours we could do and also some info about Cuba and things to look out for, we booked a trip to Havana, with a look at a rum factory and also cigar factory. We then headed back out to the beach for the rest of the day.

We all decided to head onto veradero the next day to check out the markets and look around, the area around veradero was interesting, from the old cars to the houses that the people lived in. We looked in the markets before getting the bus back to the resort.
Sarah and I then headed out and went and looked at a cave and then decided to walk back down the beach, it was a bit further then we thought.

Havana

The next day we all met at the front of the resort for the tour of Havana, the drive on the bus took about 2 hours but the tour guide talked about the things that we went passed and explained about the Cuban and very day life. Everything from the hitching men to the two different currentices that the country uses.

We arrived in Havana and drove through the tunnel under the harbor and then along the harbor to the rum museum and did a tour. Was good but did not take very long, we then walked through the old area of the city past different buildings and parks before arriving at the place for lunch.
After lunch we got back on the bus and headed over to the cigar factory to look at how they are made. The building was 4 storeys and there was people doing different things for the making of the cigars. We then went to the shop next door and looked at people buying the cigars.
We then got back on the bus and drove through the new areas of town and looked that some of the bigger older houses that had been divided up so more people could live in them, lots of the houses are starting to look old and need lots of work, we then went to revolution square where Fidel Castro would give his speeches. We then drive along the water front before stopping at the parliament building that looks just like the US parliament building. There was guys there the would take your picture with old black and white cameras. We walked to the top of the stairs and took some pictures of the big brass statues.
The bus then headed back into town and we got free time to walk around and do what ever we wants, so we all headed to the only 5 star hotel that had the best mojito’s and also a bar on the roof so we could take some good pictures of the city, after that we all walked through the markets and got hassled for cheap cigars.
The trip back to the resort was good with a stop at a bar on the side of the road for a pina colada. Then back to the resort for dinner.


Trinidad Tour.

Sarah and I also decided to do another trip over night to Trinidad, the trip was called the Rambo tour, we drove from the resort to Cienfuegos and looked around the town centre before carrying on to Trinidad where we walked around the old area of the city and stopped in a bar and had a drink and listened to some music. The streets were amazing there were rocks for the roads with the bigger rocks being the centre line.
From Trinidad we headed up into the mountains and into fog, before arriving at the hotel for the night.
The next day we all got into big Russian 4x4 trucks and headed off on the Rambo bit of the tour, we drove along dirt tracks and then got off the truck and walked though the bush with a guide that explained things to us as we walked, the day was not the best but we had a good time, the weather meant that we could not walk down the river as there was to much water but it was still a good walk. We stopped for lunch and had chicken and rice, it was really good even with all the rain. We then got back on the bus and headed for Santa Clara and the Che Guevara memorial, we where all a bit wet but dried out and enjoyed things.
It was a good two days but the second day was long, but it was good to see areas of the country other than the resort.

Coming soon our adventures in Cuba!!!!!

Remembrance Day in Ottawa

Just Niagara Falls

Here for your viewing pleasure is lots of pictures of Niagara Falls

Around Lake Ontario

On 2ND of November we set out to drive around Lake Ontario. After finishing work at lunch time we headed off for a long drive to Toronto. The drive take 5 hours and not allot to look at. We stayed in a hotel we found on wotif but with the hassle we had we think we would have been better to listen to Andrew.
The next morning we walked into the city centre and looked at the Eton Centre before heading back to the hotel and getting our gear, we had planned to go up the CN Tower but the weather was not the best so decided to leave that.
We drove north and went to the Bass Pro Shop, it was huge, you could buy anything from a fish hook to the boat, and also lots of hunting gear.
From there we headed over to Kitchener and to a city of Guelph and stayed with Ian King and his family, Ian is on an exchange from Palmerston North. It was nice to talk to people that sounded like us so a good night was had by all.
In the Morning we sat around a talked until about 11am and then headed off for Niagara on the Lake, a nice little town where the Niagara river enters lake Ontario. We stopped for lunch here and walked the shops before following the Niagara river up to the falls.
We drove passed the falls and decided to go to the information centre to find somewhere to stay, and got a room in the Ramada Hotel overlooking the falls for $88 so we figured that was good. We headed for the hotel and them walked down to the falls and spent the rest of the afternoon and well into the evening looking at the falls and then waiting for the lights to come on. What an amazing sight the falls were, as the the rest of Niagara it was a bit tacky with touristy things to do.
The next morning we carried on following the river all the way to lake Erie and then crossed into America.
Here was where the fun started we got onto the highway and discovered it was a toll road, so we tried to figure out a way of avoiding this but managed to get lost instead, so we got onto the road and carried on to Syracuse, but ended up driving to Water town for the night but not before stopping at Waterloo, which is the place to shop, well that's what we had heard, but we found it no cheaper than Canada.
The stay in Water town was alright the place we stayed was cheap and not take nice but most places were booked up because of a large group of troupes coming home.
The next day we again looked in some shops and even a pet store just to see if you really can buy snakes? Well yes you can, Also found another hunting shop and looked in that, Americans and their guns!!!!
From Water town we drove to where the St Lawrence starts and drove along it looking at the small communities along the shores, some of them reminded me of the small beach communities at home. We stopped for lunch in a small town called Clayton and discovered that most things close over the winter. We then carried on to Alexandria Bay and looked across at Boldt Castle, Something to do in the summer we figured.
After that we carried on to Ogdensburg where we crossed the St Lawrence and headed back home.. Wonder which lake we can go to next time?

First Snow

On the night of the 28th October city was to expect snow, and i got to work a night for a guy at station 13. It started to snow about 6pm and snowed all night, we had a couple of calls in the night and the city looked amazing with the snow starting to cover the ground, and it made it really cold when you got out of the fire engine.
The next morning i got to drive home in the the snow, did I mention i had not got the snow tires on the car yet!!!
The drive home was not as bad as i thought it was going to be, all the roads in Ottawa had been plowed, it the was the roads as i got nearer to home that were fun, with our street not been plowed and only a couple of cars having driven on it. I got home safely and did not hit anything, which was good and also had to organise to get the snow tires onto the car. We had a good time wondering in the snow around the house and even got strange looks from the neighbours.

Halloween

The Wednesday night before Halloween we met Matt and Andrea at a place called The Works, it was a burger place but not like anything we had been to, you ordered the type of meat you wanted in the burger chicken, beef or elk. The type of bun and then the extras from the menu, this was no easy task being that there was about 60 different extras to choice from. Once Sarah and I got our heads around this and ordered things were sweet, After dinner we all jumped into Matt's car and headed to Saunders Farm, Haunted that is. They do it every year, we were going to go the Saturday before but the weather was not that good, rain. Not this time we had snow on the ground instead. We all had a good time not that we found it to scary, but we think it was the cold.
On Halloween night I got to work and was hoping to see all the child's dressed up but instead had a house fire at number 13???? so missed most of the night, but at least i finally get to go to a house fire, even if it was with 50 other firefighters.

Our first hockey game

On the 17 of October we got to go to our first hockey game with Matt and Andrea(Mikes cousin and partner). We meet at their place and had junk food friday brfore heading off to the game at scotia bank place, There were so many people there, it was amazing.
The game was good and we are starting to understand it more now, and was so much better than watching it on the tv, The Senetors played the Phoenix Coyotes and we got to see their head coach Wayne Gretzky.
The Senetors won by 6 points so everyone with a ticket to the game got a free piece of pizza from a shop called pizza pizza.
We had a good time and hope to get to another game at some stage.

Mackenzie King Estate

On Thursday we decided to head back in to Gatineau Park and go and look at Pink Lake and also Mackenzie King Estate.
The Estate being the better of the two, The Area was owned by the prime minister of Canada in the early 1900 and on his death given to the people of Canada. The area was amazing and the colours of the trees made it more worthwhile. We walked around and looked at the houses and down to a waterfall(not much water but). There was also ruins of old buildings from Ottawa city that had been saved and moved and rebuild to create different areas.
I guess the pictures we took speak for themselves.

Wakefield

The other Week we decided to take a drive up to Wakefield as everyone said it would be very nice with the autumn colours coming out and they where right, We also had lunch at a cafe above the store. Will be another place to go back to later.

Lake Meech Gatineau Park, Changing of the seasons

Cirque du Soleil

On 8 October we went to see Corteo. It was amazing you have to go and see it!!!

The War Museum

Will it's been over a month since we started looking at the war museum but we finished it today, in total it has taken use 6 hours to wonder through the museum and look at things. Not to bad really. Well we only have 8 more museums to go so that will keep us busy.

Pitures of Quebec City

Quebec City

WE headed to Quebec city on the 26Th September for 6 days, we headed out of Ottawa and followed the 417 up through Montreal and on to Quebec City, the roads are not the most exciting with being only able to see tree.
We arrived in Quebec at about 3.30 after a 5 hour drive and headed into the old city for a look as was to early to head o our B&B where we were staying. We parked near the Fairmount hotel and walked along the boardwalk below the Citerdale and then back around and back to the car, the view from the boardwalk over the river and Levi across the river was amazing, you could understand why they build the fort here in the first place.
We then headed back to the B&B and meet the owners, we were shown to our room, very nice cosy room for the week. We talked the the couple that ran it about places to go for dinner and they suggested to go down the road to Cartia street as it had lots of good food places, so we walked down the road and found somewhere for dinner.
The next day we got up and had the most amazing breakfast and talked and figured out what to do for the day in the old city.
We decided to head to the lower old city along the water front and see how we went from there. We parked the car and walked into the lower city.
The area was amazing all the old buildings and the narrow streets with little shops and cafes, we walked though all the little streets and looked in all the shops and then decided to head over to the markets as had been told that it was a good place to see, on the way there we passed the area set up to celebrate the 400 years of Quebec city. The markets were nice and very busy, there was anything from fruit veges and alcohol and jewellery on sale, not that we brought anything.
We left the markets and found a trail of green dots on the footpath and Sarah remembered getting a booklet on this, it was a guided trail so we decided to follow it backwards and head into the upper area of the old city. It passed some very nice old buildings and went up lots of stairs.
Once in the old city again we just wondered the streets looking at the building and shops, we decided to stop for lunch in a little place and got some origin Quebec food not, nachos, was cheap and filling so that was good.
We then walked around the Chateau Frontenac, we headed in to the main lobby, the place was huge, and i pity the poor guy that had to polish all the brass everywhere, we booked a tour of the Chateau but had to wait two hours so we headed out and wondered the city some more.
The tour of the Chateau was Really worthwhile, the girl that took it was dressed like in the twenty's and talked about life in that time, the tour went from the lobby up to one of the rooms and we got to see how the different areas of the chateau had been added over time. We also went into the room where Churchill and Roosevelt planned the D-day landing.
After the tour we headed back down to the lower area and had dinner and then headed back to the B&B to sleep..

Day 2 in Quebec City.

Once again our morning started with an amazing breakfast, and then we headed out walking to La Citadelle, we walked through the Plains of Abraham this is where the French lost to the British in 1759, and also lost control of the city. It was a fogy day but still a nice walk. We arrived just in time for an English tour so headed off on a tour of La Citadelle, it was a good tour that talked of the history of the fort, we headed up to one of the old canons and looked out over the river and also looked in the museums that where there. The odd thing is that the fort is still used by Canadian troops still. We then decided to do a tour of the Governor Generals house as it was also in the fort and was free. The house was amazing and very nice inside, the odd things was the girl that shadowed the tour the whole and the fact you could see she had a gun in the back of her jacket, but beyond that is was a good tour.
We headed back into the old city and looked around more, we found a maple syrup shop that had some of the history of how maple syrup was collected and processed that was enlightening, did not know it took 40 litres of sap to make 1 litre of syrup.
We then headed for Parliament buildings but discovered the toured did not run on the weekends never mind, we went back to the wall around the city and looked at the museum about the walls of the city, by now we had walked allot so slowly heard back to our B&B for a good sleep.

Day 3 in Quebec City.

Today we got back in the car and drove as out feet were still sore from yesterday. Today we headed out of the city and headed north to Sainte-Anne-De-Beaupre, a big church, we had read about it in one of the books we had, so decided to go look, the Church was huge and almost in the middle of nowhere, it was sort of interesting but not as nice as Notre Dame in Montreal, After about an hour of wondering around we headed further out to Canyon Ste-Anne. It cost $11 to wonder along the tracks and look at the narrow canyon with bridges crossing it with different view points, it was good but not $11 each good. We then carried on to have a look at Mount Ste-Anne parc which is a ski area in the winter, we figured we might get some good pictures of the autumn colours but was cloudy and we had to pay $4 to park the car, we decided was not worth it, if it had been a nice day it would have been good.
We heaed back to Quebec and headed for Montmorency falls, first we headed to the top and parked behind some shops and walked to the bridge at the top of the falls and joined all the other people taking pictures of the top of the waterfall, next we went down the bottom and found a little back street to park as the car park here cost $10, yes you get to pay for everything here, we parked the car and i walked to the falls and took some pictures before walking back to the car.
Next We went to Ile D'Orleans a big island in the middle of the St Laurence river.
We drove around the whole island and stopped at different spots and tried things like cider and chocolate, the island was very nice and a nice drive around, but again would have been nice if the weather was good. You could keep going back to the island and trying different things, I guess is a bit like Matakana at home.
We then headed back into Quebec city and drove around the edge of the river below the city, it had been done up for the celebration of the 400 years of the city and looked very nice. We then had dinner and went back to the B&B for some sleep.

Day 4 in Quebec City.
today we decided to have an easy day so headed out and looked at the big Shopping malls in the city, was quiet good we parked and looked in one and then you walk across a small road and you are in the next and so on. We wondered around until our feet started to hurt again and then decided to go and look at the Aquarium, It was good as there was hardly anyone there, we got in at just the right time to see them feed the fish in the big tank and then wondered a bit more before the Seal show and then the Walruses show, there where 2 polar bears also but they only wanted to sleep i guess they found it hot. We also found a big lobster and took his picture as we weren't aloud to take him home for dinner!
We then headed back into the old city and managed to find a free car park and went and brought some post cars since we had not got any the other day.
We headed back to Cartia street and found another place for dinner before headed back to our B&B.

The next day was head home time, so we left our B&B and headed out of the city and crossed the river and followed the old road back towards Montreal just for something different and we thought it might be more interesting, we went back thought Montreal and then finally back home, to unpack and get ready for work and also plan our next adventure next month.

Ottawa, the last two weeks

Since we have come back from Montreal we have been busy doing not much, we have been out for a roller blade and bike ride, and looked in shops for winter clothes.
I have been working at Stations 51 and 13 for the long shift(what a stupid idea that is) Sunday of the 24 hour shift the station i was at 51 and had 14 calls for the day, and the station i am normally at had 34 calls!! I have still not been to a fire but am meeting lots of people. Today i ever got to go into a big room where we were told that anything we saw in the room stays in the room.
And not the mention we got to go for a tour of the Cirque Du Soleil tents and set up yesterday.
Sarah is still looking for a job, has applied for some but is still waiting to hear back.
The weather is starting to change with the days being cooler and the nights starting to get down to around 4 degrees, but not much rain which is good, the leaves on the trees are starting to change as we move towards autumn which is really neat to see for us.

Last week end we headed out to a small town called Carp and looked at the Diefenbunker, it is a cold war nuclear bunker build for the prime minister of Canada in the event of a nuclear war back in the 60-70 when every one was worried about it. It was an interesting place to visit, different that is for sure, the bunker was build and used up to the mid 1990s as a secure listening post after the cold war finished, the tour took you though the different levels and showed you the kind of things and equipment that they would have used to survive for what they thought would be about 30 days, dreamers.....
After the bunker we headed to Mike's mums for dinner with his younger sister and boyfriend also coming so got to meet some more of the family.

As for things to come, we are off to Quebec City on Friday for 6 days and hoping to see lots, also trying to decide where we want to go for holidays over the next year.....
But you will have to keep reading to find out where we are planning on going.

Montreal

We figured we had better write about Montreal before we did the next big trip.
Well it has been almost a month since we went to Montreal but here are the highlights.
On the 8Th Sept we drove north to Montreal, and stopped in to meet Kathy's aunt Jacqueline who had offered to let us stay with her. we then dropped off our bags at her apartment and headed into the city.
The first thing we notices was the driving, it was almost indescribable, no in dictating and random lane changing, luckily we had been warned.
We went to the info centre in town and then looked around. It was big.
We decided that as town was busy we went for a drive and headed to Mount Royal and drove around the Cimetiere Notre-Dame-Des for a bit and got lost people from the Titanic where bury here. Then we went and looked at St Joseph Oratory, the place was Hugh, it went up the side of the hill and as you headed into it you got further up the hill. Then back to Jacquelines place for dinner and to talk about New Zealand as she was heading there for January.
The 9Th was a rainy day so we decided to head into the city and go and look at the under ground city, the first thing we did was get lost...
After we figured things out we wondered around for over halve the day under the streets of Montreal looking at shops.
We then decided to head over to La Ronde the adventure park but was only open on the weekends but the rides all looked good, we also looked at the site of the 1967 world expo, and managed to get lost and end up at the casino not that we spent any money.
Next we headed over to the stadium from the Olympics in 1976 i think, the stadium was strange looking but we did not do the tour as was not really our thing.
The 10th the weather was nice so we headed into the city to wall around the area known as old Montreal. We found the info centre in the old city a brought a walking tour map and headed on our Merry way looking at the old buildings and everything else there was to see.
The area was amazing and some of the buildings were old, one next to Notre-Dame Basilica was build in the late 1600.
The church was very nice inside, not being big church people was decided to look in anyway and were glad we did, the inside of the church was very colourful, and the front was amazing to see.
We then headed down to the water front to look before meeting Elizabeth and Robert, friends of Kathy's for drinks and dinner.
We plan on doing some more trips to Montreal and looking around more and look at things near the city as well, Jacqueline said we were more than welcome anytime so we figured we will have to take her up on that offer.

Montreal

Work for Fraser

I start on shift on Thursday night at Station 13 for my three nights, i started on the ladder but was changed to the pump about 30 minutes later, we had dinner and i got the hang of things.
Then i got a bucket of water tipped on me. I had been told about this, so figured it would come sooner or later.
The calls soon started and in total we had about 10 calls between 7pm and 12am mostly med calls and mostly homeless drunks, with the odd false alarm thrown in.
Friday night similar thing we had about 8 calls and again med calls this time no false alarms just med calls, the guys are really helpfully with the med calls and helping me get up to speed and it helps that the pump driver was a paramedic before he joined the fire service. and yes they tried to get me with water again but saw it coming this time so avoided that.
Saturday night and we are into the same things but started with a VSA(vital signs absent), this was different from home as i guess here the paramedics have to be seen to do as much as they can, which meant us doing CPR for about 40 minutes, and them doing their thing.

Good things i have found about work already, learning new things, driving through the Byward Markets at night on the weekend(all the good night spots), and the fact that where ever you go the humor is just the same, remembering to close your window when you drive past another fire engine, and don't stand out the front of the station unless you want a bucket of water on you.

Monday 1st Labour Day

Monday 1st Labor Day.
Today we decided to get out and see some

of the city in a different way, we pumped

up the tires on mike and Kathy’s bikes

and put them on the back of the car and

headed to the Alexandra bridge parked

the car and rode the biked along the

Rideau Canal.

We rode up the eastern side of the canal

all the way to hogs back falls and then

back down to the first lock where we

crossed over to the other side and headed

back to the river.
The whole canal was nice to ride along, it

was flat all the way up and back down and

being a holiday lots of people were doing

the same thing.
Once back to the Ottawa river we rode

along the track below parliament buildings

up to the bridge crossed over and then

headed back down to the Alexandra bridge

and back to the car.
We had prefect day and even managed to

get sun burnt.

And as for the picture of the purple people with the couch, well it has been frosh week here for the uni student.

We also court up with Frances and John, Frasers aunty and uncle from Christ church they were doing a tour though the US and canada, so we meet them at the museum of civilisation and walked around and talked before they headed of to Montreal. It was good to see them.

The other big news i almost forgot

we went and brought roller blades,

shock horror, exercise..........