In Canada I found a few wonderful sources of music and information about music:
Exclaim! – I ran into Exclaim! while walking on the street in Vancouver. It was just caught in the corner of my eye, as one of a group of newspaper vending points. A free music newspaper is something to enjoy! I hardly knew any of the artists that were mentioned in it, but I took down some notes of names to check out. There is also a very impressive reviews section which is a great source for information on new music.
The Edge – The Edge (102.1 FM in Toronto) wasn’t totally new to me. I stumbled on the station’s website a long time ago, while I was working on a radio project. Then, the major attractions were the transcripts of The Ongoing History of New Music, but when we looked for something to listen to on the radio around Toronto, we ended up on 102.1. It was also quite exiting to walk down Yonge St. and see the station itself. The Ongoing History is a show that should be listened to by any music lover, and the website offers a stream of past shows, and transcripts of even more shows. This is what I’m listening to while writing these words.
There are some things that cannot be described. Even a picture, worth a thousand words doesn’t always do justice to beauty. They take it out of context and only show a fraction of it.
The main point of the introduction is to say that I will not be able to write about The Rockies in a way that will give a true indication to what we saw. Even all the pictures we took there will not be enough. It was all just amazing. So amazing, that I would consider it to be the highlight of our trip. I regret the fact that we were there early in our journey, because after The Rockies I had a lot of disappointments.
On the day we got off The Rockies was quite depressing. Spending a few days in pure nature and then moving to an area in which the human damage is clearly visible makes you think. The weather was miserable, which didn’t help. To make it all even worse, that morning I called my mum, who felt the need to inform me of some bureaucratic problems with my former bank account that were not dealt with, despite my request. I also called the friend who was flat-sitting my place, and was told that despite asking her she did not call the washing machine technicians, and my flat is falling apart. All these were news I did not want to know while on holiday.
If there was one place in Canada I would definitely want to see again, it would be the Rockies. I saw only saw the tip of the mountain, and there is so much more I want to see.
For a budget concious traveller, junk food is often the only valid meal option. For a vegetarian traveller, the option narrows down even more to pizza, and if luck has anything to do with it, a veggie burger with a side or oily chips.
In Canada, for some reason, vegetables are the expensive choice. In some places, where the choice existed, we went to salad buffets, where the payment is by weight. This means you either pay up with your money or with your health. We tried to find a compromise whenever we could, but still, weight was gained resulting in the need for hard work back at home.
I gained a few kilos while travelling in Canada. The latest check at the gym gives and estimate of four, give or take a few grams. This is mostly do to a dangerous combination of junk food and lack of exercise. Now that I’m back at home I need to work these off. I’ve already been at the gym a few times, and I am doing the best I can to keep up. After all, I bought some new training shoes in Canada, and they should be shown off, no?
Cities around the world have a tag line. A slogan that used in all PR materials, and likely to be displayed on car license plates or stickers. I don’t know what Toronto’s motto is, but it should probably be something in the line of: “Move along, nothing here to see!”
While looking for a memory card for my camera, we ran into some interesting characters. First, I knew exactly what I was looking for (512MB Olympus xD card, which is problematic because such small capacity is no longer produced, but it’s the most my good old camera can handle). There were only few stores that had the card in stock, and they charged way too much for it, probably knowing that they are in demand.
One shop assistant did try to help us by looking at a compatibility chart. I already knew what it had to say, but the assistant, in his robotic voice, insisted on telling us:
NOT compatible! Do NOT upgrade! Do NOT buy this card!
Before we started our holiday E. kept talking about an Italian restaurant he ate in with a friend a few years ago. He didn’t’ remember its name or exact location, only that there was an amazing view of downtown Vancouver.
On our first evening in Vancouver we tried our luck and found the place. All I can say is that the Penne Gorgonzola was delicious, and the view is what you see here.
Just to make sure it is not forgotten again, I’ll mention that the restaurant’s name is Quattro, and we were at the one on Lonsdale Avenue.
An important thing we learned about Canada is that coffee is not the local forté. Starbucks is probably the best you can get around there, and may I remind you that it is the same chain that went bust in Israel for serving overpriced low-quality coffee. In other places there is the North American filtered thing that is considered fresh if it was made less than two hours ago, or a local kind of espresso-based drink made of over-burnt beans that give it a horrible bitter taste.
Our moment of happiness came when we found an instant coffee we could live with in one of the supermarkets. We also learnt to spot a Starbucks from a distance, which is not difficult, considering the fact that they can be found in almost every street corner. We have a theory about that too. We think that they also exist in areas that Starbucks considers a good neighbourhood. All the rest have Tim Horton’s.
I would say that the only thing common to Canada and coffee is the letter C.
Every city in Canada that respects itself as at least a minor tourist attraction has a stomping (pronounced in the German form: shtom-ping). A stomping is a made-up word that describes what used to be a TV tower that rises above other city buildings. Stompings have a round top section containing at least one observation deck and an overpriced revolving (or, should I say, revolting?) restaurant. The locals seem to be very proud of their stompings for some reason, though I think that in most cases they add to the city skyline, rather than offer any interesting view. Maybe it’s better for a local who’s happy to see his house from up above.
In most of those cases, the Lonely Planet offers a much cheaper alternative, often related to a bar at the top of some other tall building. However, we decided to go to the Toronto Stomping (also known as CN Tower) on our last day in Canada, just to revive our belief that we were not missing anything.
