Montreal

I arrived in Montreal and had some problems finding the right way in the metro. Its not easy for tourists to orientate in this big city avec une géante ville souterraine. But I arrived at l'auberge de jeunesse and was surprised- It is really colourful and clean!:) Already at the reception desk the language mix was obvious. The Montrealians prefere to speak french (with strong accent quebecois bien sûr!), but they switch immeditaly to english if their interlocutor is not fluent...its just normal to change language in the middle of the sentence!I tried to speak as much french as possible, but because all the other tourists I met spoke better english than french and beacause i have spoken english for a month now, our conversations ended up in english...This evening the HI organised a bartour in Montreal. After 3 bars (with many barkeepers mixing panache the first time in their life) we went to a club where we stayed until it closed. We even needed the map to find our way back to the hostel...This was just the first of four loooong nights. A Montréal on sort tout les soirées, au minimum!

Montréal

Habitat 67

But there was time for some touristic activities comme la tour de vélo ou la visite d'un match de Hockey des Montréal Canadiens contre Boston. Me, who always pretended not to like this sport, became a Hockey fan myself! The stadium (Centre Bell) was almost full and even if it was a preseason game and the hometeam lost 2:4 the atmosphere was great. My first Hockey match was a good experience. I thought it is rough, but other swiss spectators told me that swiss Hockey is even taugher than this NHL game...

Tour de vélo - sur Norco Ladybike;)

Montreal Canadiens

The next day we went to a skateboard competition.The staff wanted us to take the V.I.P. Riders door. And after paying we were reminded again, that we could just watch, but not compete...;)

Montréal is a nice city, pas beau au premier coup d'oeil. Mais très intéressant, multiculturell et dynamique.
Je pars maintenant pour Montréal ou je vais rester six semaines. Après un mois en voyage je me réjouis de rester un peu plus long au même endroit...

Destination finale: Québec

Toronto and Niagara Falls

Coming from the Rocky Mountains I had a culture shock in Toronto. My fault was to start exploring town at the Dundas Square ( it's Canadas answer to the american Broadway). I was frightened by so many hurried people, so much traffic, noises and neon signs. But the worst were the hight skyscrapers built like walls on both sides of the streets.

culture shock

Sorry, but all these giant buildings and the CN Tower don't fit in my little camera!

I decided to escape of town and visit the Niagara Falls the next day. First we took the "Maid of the Mist", a boat full of blue coated tourists, which brought as as close as possible to the falls. It was impressive to feel the power of this flood of water. Niagara Falls town is unbeliefably ugly, most people compare it to Disneyland (I'll do that too, even if i have never been there...). Maybe a 12 years old child likes it. After this horrible tourist trap we explored the pretty and quiet village Niagara on the lake and ate Canadas best Icecream!

American Falls

Blue coated tourists and Horseshoe Fall (canadian falls)

Horseshoe Fall



Änneli almost in the States



Ugly City Niagara Falls

 

Niagara on the Lake

The next day I tried going for a jog in Toronto. But only interval training was possible-I think I crossed 50 traffic lights while running 4km...;-/ I did some sightseeing the next day and saw more beautiful and less overwhelming places in Toronto. I began to like this city. Especially the view from the Islands to Torontos Skyline was amazing. Unfortunately I have no pictures, because my camera had to get fixed (Maybe it became a little bit too wet at the Niagara falls...).

3690km by train: Jasper-Toronto

My time in the Canadien Rockies was definitely to short. I want to go back there for climbing, hiking, skiing...and to enjoy the almost antouched nature.  But I had to leave today to catch the Canadien (train from Vancouver to Toronto) in Jasper. I decided to take the train to see more of the country and because  it's more eco-friendly. That means over 3690km or 2 days and 3 nights in the train! The first day, when we crossed Saskatchewan and Manitoba with their endless grainfields, I was afraid to get bored. But I finally had time to sleep (in these very comfortable economyclass-seats;-/...), to read, write my travel journal and many postcards. I had interesting talks with other passengers, who all were extremely rich (first class) or rather poor (economy class), or extremely green or Mennonites..The next day the scenery became more interesting: beautyful forests, but not fully colored yet. In one or two weeks (when I'll be in Quebec...) Indian summer will colore the more southern forests, especially the maple trees...We had long stops in Winnipeg (where it rained so strong that we just sat in the internet coffee...) and in Horsepayne, where I ran  2times around the trainstation...;) The next morning the sun came out and we were happy to arrive in Toronto.



Alberta- forests, lakes, mountains and rain...



Saskatchewan & Manitoba -endless grain fields and still raining...

Ontario - boreal forest and no more rain:)

Canadien Rockies II: Rampert Creek-Jasper

The next day it was raining again and our van didn't start. We had to wait until our guide came back from Lake Luise with another Van. We spent the day reading and playing Tichu. Hihi Austrilians can't say "chchhchch", therefore its very cute when they announce a TICHU... We finally left Rampert Creek at 4 pm instead of 9 am and it was still raining:-(. If we had known that before, we had started the sauna... We went directly to Jasper for groceryshopping and then to the HI Edith Cavell, another wilderness hostel without electricity or warm water. Entering the dormroom we had a chock: inside it was as cold as outside, that means 2 degrees! We immediately lighted a fire...After a winterlike barbecue we finally slept in a warm dormroom.
 But the next morning wasn't really motivating. It was snowing very wet and the fog was so thick that we coudn't even see Mount Edith Cavell, which is a wall in front of the hostel (as we were told). Nevertheless we decided to hike up to the Angel Glacier. As we arrived higher the wet snowflakes turned into beautiful big snow stars and suddenly we stood in front of a grey lake with ice floes in it. We tought beeing at the North Pole!

Angel Glacier

On our way back to Jasper we stopped at the Maligne Canyon. It's up to 52 meters deep and the fauna is amazing.

Just a few minutes away was the Horseshoelake. We only met two fishermen. We wondered if they both wanted to sit in that small boat..?;-)

Horseshoe Lake

Before heading to the Hostel we hiked up to Old Fort point and enjoyed the view over Jasper and the Valley. Finally it cleared and we took off one of five layers...

This night we spent at the HI Jasper, which is 7km out of town. Its a comportable HI, and we looked so forward for the hot shower!:) After this long day with so many impressions we were tired enough to sleep well, even in the 30 bed dormroom.
Only half of the Moosetravelgroup left the next morning. The others decided to jump off the bus and stay for a few days in Jasper. So they joined me hiking up Whistlers Mountain (has nothing to do with the skiresort, whistlers are cute hamsterlike animals sounding like squeezy bathroomtoys...). We walked up over tree hours in the fog. Alone i would have been afraid to meet a bear..Instead of meating a bear we lost the trail in the scree (=Geröllhalde). But the sun came out at the perfect moment, so we could see, that we stood just 15 meters next to the big trail;)...Suddenly we were higher than the cloud cover and could hardly stop watching the wonderful panaroma. A few steps after the tramway station the bottom was covered with snow so that the tramwaytourists coudn't come higher;).... We hiked further up, motivated by the beautyful view over endless white mountains, turqouise lakes and rivers and the town of Jasper. Wow!

Sleeping horses...

First snowangel of the season 10/11

Inukshuk

Canadian Rockies: Banff-Rampert Creek

Before leaving Banff we bought groceries and warm clothes, beacause it was icecold and raining and we wouln't be in civilication the next four days... Our first stop was at Lake Louise. Even at this cloudy day, the lake was deep blue. We had to share the view with many tourists. As we hiked up to Mirrorlake and Lake Agnes we left them behind us. From above the blue of the lake was even more spectacular! At the teahouse next to Lake Agnes it began to snow...but better snow than rain. We didn't warm up in the horrible Fairmonth Hotel (not the place to be with muddy jeans and hiking boots...) but in the little Coffee in Lake Luise downtown, constisting of two petrol stations, a bakery and a coffee!

Lake Agnes

left to right: Lake Luise, Lake Mirror, Änneli

 After a few hours on the most beautiful street (built just for the commonwelth, that canadians and tourist can enjoy nature... with large boarders to watch wildlife) we arrived at Mistaya Canyon. It cleared and we could finally see the breathtaking mountains surrounding us. Breathing this fresh air while admiring the blue of the river in contrast to the green of the foerst and the white mountains was unforgettable. And there were no tourists at all!

Mistaya Canyon

 Late we arrived at the Wilderness Hostel Ramper Creek. A beautiyful accomodation without fluent water or electricity, but with sauna and next to a climbing spot. Next to the campfire we forgot the winterlike temperatures and couldn't stop watching the stars till late after midnight.

D Fortsetzig mues warte bis i imne Starbucks ä schnäueri Internetverbindig finde...