USA: 1am is a great time to fly...

Woo, 2 weeks done in the USA! I am now in the lovely city of Seattle, Washington, enjoying the remarkably good weather.

So, things that have happened in the last week.

Hablo un poco de Espanol...

Yeah, last Saturday was spent learning yet more Spanish. I am excusing myself for not doing much that day because my roommate managed to keep me awake until gone midnight with rustling around packing her bag. I was knackered on Saturday morning and pretty sure I was coming down with something.

So, yes, I spent all day learning Spanish and trying to get blog in order.

I also nearly fell into having the gun debate with one of the American guys who worked at the hostel. Fortunately, we both went "uhh, let's not have that conversation" and moved swiftly on. In my defence, I didn't set out to have the debate with him - he made some comment about how back home in Texas, folks shoot their guns in the air on New Year's Eve and I made a perfectly innocent comment that we don't have anything like that in the UK. At which point we realised where the conversation was heading and both did a swift subject change. Well done, us.

Wolves and tigers and bears, oh my!

I spent Sunday at the Alaska Zoo. It was lovely. The zoo is more of a sanctuary, taking in injured and orphaned animals from across Alaska and the US. That said, they do have a few animals that aren't rescues - the aforementioned tigers, for a start.

The zoo is mostly focussed, due to its nature as a sanctuary, on Alaskan fauna. I have to say, though, I think this alpaca was my favourite.

Alpaca just have such expressive, silly faces.

Urgh...

After thinking I was back on track with actually doing things and not sitting around all day,  I woke up on Monday feeling disgusting. It was absolutely pissing down, which didn't help, but as the day wore on, I was definitely coming down with something.

This of course meant that I spent yet another day doing bugger all aside from learning Spanish. Oh, and this might have been the day where I booked absolutely all of my transport and accommodation for the rest of my time in the US... maybe. I don't remember.

The one good thing about this day was having a long chat with one of the English guys at the hostel who is possibly interested in meeting up with me in Peru. That'd be nice.

ALL THE GLACIERS

My time in Alaska came to a glorious end, fortunately. Yep. My final day definitely made up for the many wasted days that came before. It started with an early walk to a public bus stop, where I did my best not to look like a petrified tourist. This was followed by, courtesy of me arriving way too early in the city centre, with a cuppa from a little cafe.

At this point, I discovered that the concept of a cuppa is somewhat lost on Americans. Maybe not all of them, but in the nearly 2 weeks I've now been here, the vast majority of my bought cuppas have been a styrofoam cup with a tea bag handed over separately...

Anyway, there was nothing wrong with the cuppa, not that I would have noticed because I was in desperate need of caffeine.

Then I boarded the Magic Bus. Yes, that was it's name. No idea why. Anyhoo, the Magic Bus, driven by former pilot Tim, was going to take me to the tiny town of Whittier on Prince William Sound. Along the way we stopped a couple of places. First at this little pull in to see if we could spot any beluga whales.

I think I might have seen a couple. Beluga are white, so even through the rain, they should have shown up reasonably well. And I'm pretty sure I saw a couple of white backs that weren't just rough water. Indeed, the water was pretty calm, hence why I'm fairly sure the white patches were whales. I would have liked a better view though.

After that we pulled in for a rest break, at which I successfully resisted the call of the delicious smelling bakery. On mentioning this to Tim, he offered to buy me a doughnut, which sorely tested my resistance. Still not sure how I managed to say no. Possibly because I was somewhat embarrassed by the idea of my sweet old bus driver buying me a doughnut...

Then a stop at a pretty glacial lake. I think it would probably be a gorgeous colour like the lakes in the Rockies - I could see a sort of blue tint - but the clouds were drowning it out.

Our final stop of the morning was at a little platform overlooking a river to see the salmon running/spawning. These salmon are up the river quite late in the season, I believe and you can see that they're well past their best. All of those salmon are probably dead by now.

After that, it was just a case of driving through the tunnel to Whittier. Only... well, the tunnel to Whittier is shared with the train. It only has a single lane. So, on the hour it opens to let traffic out of Whittier, often followed by a train. On the half hour, it opens in the other direction to let traffic into the town. Also often followed by the train.

Much to my disappointment, we didn't get followed by the train, but it was kinda cool driving on top of the rail tracks.

From there, it was just a case of getting onto the boat. Yup, time for a cruise - my first boat trip in quite a while (not counting canoeing and rafting in the Rockies). First things first, I had to find my table, which I turned out to be sharing with a family from Indiana. They were very welcoming, which was great.

And then off to see some glaciers! To begin with we couldn't see much - the rain was still coming down and there was heavy fog in the Sound. Did spot a few sea otters, but the cute fuzzballs moved too quickly for me to get any photos of them.

First photographed spot of the day was a group of Steller's Sea Lions on a rocky haul out.

Following a passage between an island and the mainland, we also spotted some bald eagles. More fuzzy photos...

And then, finally, we started seeing glaciers. Loads of them. I'm not sure we saw all 26 as advertised, but we saw a pretty decent number of them. First up, Harriman.

Followed by Surprise. I have no idea why it's called Surprise. It did have some pretty fucking huge icebergs.

And finally the trio of Cascade, Coxe and Barry.

After that, it was pretty much just a case of heading back to port. Of course, this being Alaska and the weather being seriously changeable, the sun decided to make an appearance as we were motoring home. So we saw another glacier or two.

Also, this beautiful waterfall.

Pretty good end to my time in Alaska, I'd say!

Although, that wasn't quite the end... after all, I had to get to Seattle. Which meant getting a flight, because the ferries are bloody expensive. So I had to get another bus on arrival back in Anchorage, this time to the airport.

And there I sat for a good two hours, because in a moment of genius I had decided it was a great idea to book a flight that left at 1am. I probably figured that meant I'd have, in effect, an extra day in Seattle. Never mind the fact that I find it nearly impossible to sleep on planes.

Or that I figured I couldn't check in for my flight until 2 hours before departure. And I turned up at the airport just after 8. So I dossed for a couple of hours, learning Spanish and reading, before I finally gave up and approached the ticket counter. To my utter joy I found that they were checking in my flight, so I pootled off through security (which required removal of jumper, belt and boots, ugh) and then went in search of somewhere else to doss for another couple of hours.

Oh, and there was also the fact that I hadn't eaten since about 1pm and it was at that point approaching 11pm. So I ended up in Maccie D's. I haven't had a proper "meal" as such in MacDonalds for a very long time, so chicken nuggets and chips was... interesting. I'm sure the portion sizes over here are bigger...

Anyways, after another hour or so at the airport, in which time I somehow snagged an exit row seat (woo, short legs and ALL THE LEG ROOM!), I finally got on the plane and proceeded to try to sleep.

Don't ask me how, but I succeeded! I took the lead of the girl across from me who settled down with her tray table pulled out, head and arms resting on it. I figured I'd try the same in the vague hope that I might catch a few minutes doze and woke up nearly 2 hours later. This is pretty amazing for me.

It is too early

Of course, that 2 hours was still only 2 hours. First stop at Seattle airport was a cafe where I drowned my fatigue in a massive cup of tea. Somehow I managed to then stumble out to the light rail station and get on a train to the city centre. I even managed to get off at the right stop, despite getting motion sick and having to force my eyes to stay open.

Obviously I was too early to check in to the hostel, but I did arrive in time to make the most of the free breakfast. More tea for me! I then made vague plans to head to the Seattle Art Museum until my room was available, figuring that the museum wouldn't require too much brain power and I could just look at the pretties.

Said plan got scrapped after I got talking to a fellow guest who invited me to join him for the day. Fair does. As long as it keeps me awake. So I toddled out with him in search of the first Starbucks.

Oh, yeah, I should mention that Seattle is the birthplace of Starbucks. Also; THEY ARE EVERYWHERE.

I had no idea where the place was, so just followed my new friend, which meant we ended up getting directions from a friendly guy at a glassblowing studio. Said friendly man also gave me a whole load of suggestions for places to check out in the city. Nice guy.

Anyways, we ended up at the Starbucks eventually. It's in Pike Place Market, an awesome public market near the waterfront. While my companion joined the hideously long queue to grab a coffee, I decided to support the local economy and grabbed a cuppa from a place a few doors down.

I have no idea how I was even awake at this point. Possibly my brain had pulled its magical trick where it gets so tired it wakes up again. Anyways, we spent some time wandering through the market and then made a stop at the lovely Rocky Mountain Chocolate shop just down the road where I had yet another cuppa and a big slab of gooey chocolate brownie.

Oh my god, the fatigue. At this point, my brain pulled a big fat nope on me, decided it needed to sleep and ordered me back to the hostel. So I had to abandon my guide and head in search of bed.

Mm. Sleep is lovely when you're that tired. Unfortunately, I then woke up at about 7pm starving hungry and with no idea where to get food. I ended up at one of the many Starbucks nearby and downed yet another cuppa. And then straight back to bed. Hurrah.

Eating my way through Pike Place

Even through my sleep-deprived fog the previous day, I'd managed to notice the many food options at Pike Place Market. Which meant first stop the following day was back there for breakfast. I settled on Piroshky, which sells... well, piroshky. These are basically stuffed pastries from Eastern Europe - in the case of this store, Russia. Their potato and mushroom piroshky was delicious as well as being super filling.

Hunger satisfied, I toddled up the road a ways to the Seattle Art Museum that I'd meant to visit the previous day. They have a pretty cool collection that ranges from Renaissance to Native American to modern art. There's even a small gallery of Aboriginal Australian contemporary art. A few favourites include some awesome masks used by a clan local to the Pacific Northwest.

An amazing and sometimes bizarre range of masks and headresses from across Africa.

And of course, I saw some ancient Mesopotamian artefacts, so I have to include some cuneiform.

I have a weird fascination with cuneiform script. No idea why. It's not like I can read it.

After spending the morning in the museum, I popped to a cafe across the road to meet up with John, who I lived with for a while when I was at university. We spent a couple of hours catching up, which was nice, plus I got even more suggestions of thiings to do! I'm liking this whole "being able to talk to people" thing.

By the time I left John it was approaching 5pm. My piroshky had gone a long way down and I didn't really fancy cooking. So I made my way back to Pike Place Market and grabbed a pot of clam chowder to take away. Amazingly it stayed hot all the way back to the hostel and it was delicious. Yum.

And then I spent the evening chatting to another of my fellow guests. Definitely getting good at this.

All the geekery

Friday began with taking advantage of the free breakfast at the hostel again, where I was told by a Canadian lady that I'd gone about my US trip planning wrong and was going far out of my way... I'm not sure I agree with her, because I know there's logic behind why I'm going to the places I'm going in the order that I'm going to them, but I wasn't in the mood to argue over breakfast. And she was otherwise very nice.

Anyway, stuffed with free bagels, I went for a walk along 5th Ave and up to the EMP Museum which had been suggested by several people (John and the guy from the glassblowing studio for starters).

It's a pretty cool place. It was founded by Paul Allen, co-founder/creator of Microsoft and hosts an awesome array of geekery, from horror to sci-fi, fantasy to music. As a fan of most of those, I managed to spend most of the day there. I even enjoyed the horror film gallery, partly because the props in the collection are pretty awesome. I mean, they have the stake known as Mr Pointy from Buffy the Vampire Slayer. I love Buffy. This is cool.

In the fantasy area there are props from The Princess Bride and Lord of the Rings, which meant much squeeing from me because these are among my favourite films. Look, they have Inigo Montoya's sword, used to duel the Six-Fingered Man.

Also, Gimli's Axe, Sting and Anduril from Lord of the Rings. Bearing in mind these are all original props from the films, please attempt to understand why I was so in love with this place.

The sci-fi gallery was also amazing. A huge range of stuff in here, including lightsabers, costumes and this Dalek.

And then onto the music galleries, which focus on Jimi Hendrix and Nirvana, for the obvious reasons that they both originated from the area around Seattle. There's also this awesome sculpture made out of guitars and stuff.

Which leads nicely into a little gallery about the evolution of the electric guitar. Some pretty cool things in there for those with an interest. There's this early Gibson experiment.

I finished my visit to the EMP Museum with a trip into their current special exhibition which is all about Star Trek. Seriously, this place is amazing. Although, stumbling across Data's head in the floor was just a little bit creepy.

But again, they've got loads of original props and costumes. Oh, and a case of tribbles. They should probably do something about that...

Completely overdosed on glorious geekery, I headed back to Pike Place to grab something for tea. I ended up this time with delicious falafel. Om nom nom. And then I actually braved a supermarket and stocked up on supplies. And Tim Tams.

Yes, Tim Tams. You can't get them in the UK as far as I'm aware and I thought you could only get them Down Under. Turns out they have them here and I couldn't resist. More deliciousness.

One more day in Seattle and then I'm getting on a bus to Yellowstone, via Salt Lake City.

Any tips on how to survive long distance bus travel?

Destination Realities: Canada

Sooo... I spent just over 2 months in Canada. It's a huge country. Really huge. With that in mind, how did my time there match up with my original plans?

I only really planned the beginning and very end of the trip, so here goes.

The Maritimes

1. Nova Scotia

Man, I had huge plans for Nova Scotia - Bay of Fundy, Lunenburg, Joggins... I only ended up spending about 5 days in the province, courtesy of ending up an a very short notice road trip with a fellow Brit I met on the first day. I did get to explore a bit of Halifax and I did see the Bay of Fundy and whales in it to boot. Didn't see much else of the province though.

2. Newfoundland

I would have loved to visit Newfoundland. However, while getting there would have been easy enough - ferry from Nova Scotia - getting around once I got there would have proved difficult and expensive. So Newfoundland will have to wait for now. I need someone who can drive...

3. New Brunswick

Not really part of my original plan, but I did end up spending a couple of days there. Admittedly, I spent that time mostly in the hostel (because it was raining) or in the station (because, woo, midnight train). Hmm...

4. Prince Edward Island

I'd not planned on visiting because I "didn't want to rush myself". Out of all of the maritime provinces, this is probably the place I felt least rushed. I spent nearly 3 days there, enjoying how quiet it was even despite the kitschy madness of Green Gables.

Quebec

5. Quebec City

I'd originally only planned on a week in Quebec province, but after rushing through the Maritimes in just over a week, I was ready to slow down. Which meant I ended up spending 4 days in beautiful Quebec City instead of the day or 2 I'd originally thought. As a result, I had much more time to go exploring the city's history. Great stuff.

6. Montreal

I spent 5 days in Montreal, the longest I'd stayed anywhere since I left Iceland. It would prove to be the beginning of a pattern - 4-5 day stays became my default as much as possible for the rest of my time in Canada. I'm glad I slowed down so much - Montreal had plenty to offer, even if it did rain some more.

7. Outdoorsy things

Yeah. I didn't end up doing any of those in Quebec. Getting caught outside in a torrential downpour doesn't count.

Ontario and the prairies

I didn't actually plan anything for this, really. I mostly just pootled through the big cities (Ottawa, Toronto) and revisited places from my previous trip (Kingston, Niagara, Hamilton). More on that in a bit.

As for the prairies, I hadn't really planned on anything there. I knew I wanted to take the train across from Toronto to Vancouver, but originally I was going to go non-stop. I decided 4 days on a train didn't sound like fun (says the girl who just booked a 51 hour bus journey), so I ended up stopping in Winnipeg and Edmonton and I'm very glad I did. Both cities just a little bit off the main tourist trail, but well worth visiting.

Vancouver and the Rockies

8. Vancouver Island

Yeah. That didn't happen. By the time I arrived in Vancouver I wasn't really in the mood for doing anything much. Despite breaking up my train journey, those nights trying to sleep on the train really seemed to screw with my brain.

9. Capilano Suspension Bridge

This did happen though. Success!!

10. Lake Louise

This also happened. It rained quite a bit and a big fucking bear scared the shit out of us at the campground, but we did see Lake Louise.

11. Burgess Shale

Didn't happen. We drove past it. And past the turn off for the Stanley Glacier trail, which runs past another outcrop of the same fossil-bearing shale. I made do with a few random museumm exhibits and the faint hope of spotting a fossil at Marble Canyon.

12. Riding, rafting, kayaking

Wow, I had all the outdoors things in mind for the Rockies. And we managed most of them (and more). Ziplining, canoeing, rafting, riding, bobsleigh (yes, bobsleigh). Plus a whole bunch of really nice walks. Success on that count.

13. Head-Smashed-In Buffalo Jump

This is a World Heritage Site south of Calgary and ultimately turned out to be just a bit too far out of the way. A shame, but it'll have to wait for another trip.

On first glance, it looks like I missed out on a lot of the things I originally planned or wanted to do. But I also did a lot more that I didn't intend. I took a road trip with someone I'd only just met and anyone who knows me will probably understand that that's quite a big deal for me. My time in Canada, while obviously amazing and great fun, also proved to me that I can deal with social situations and I can actually hold a conversation with people I don't know. It's lovely.

Now, things to bear in mind for anyone wanting to repeat the above. Because clearly everyone wants to take 2 months to travel Canada.

1. Canada is huge

Yes, I know this should be obvious, but it's worth mentioning. Getting around can take hours or even days unless you're going to focus on just a little bit of the country. A bus from the capital in Ottawa to Toronto takes about 3 hours. A train from Campbellton, New Brunswick to Quebec City takes 8 hours. And a train across from Vancouver to Toronto takes 4 days.

Yup. Huge. Maybe just focus on an area - Ontario around Toronto or Quebec & Montreal are probably good ideas.

2. Inter-city buses are pretty good

Greyhound's network runs from Ontario across to British Columbia. East of that connections are run by smaller provincial companies. Getting between the big cities is pretty easy and it's even possible to get a bus from Toronto out west to at least Calgary - I know, I met someone taking it. It took her 3 days.

3. Canadians really are friendly

I know it's a stereotype, but I've found it to be true. From the helpful attendant on the Toronto subway to the chap who parked the RV for us the first night we had it, the stereotype has held true and it's been absolutely lovely.

4. It's worth brushing up on French

I thought I would be all right in Quebec, Canada's French-speaking province - I learned a bit of French a very long time ago and I'd made sure to learn a couple of useful phrases like "I'm sorry, I don't understand." and "Do you speak English?". Oh, and I can say please, thank you, hello - all that malarkey.

However, in Quebec City at least, outside the tourist hub in the Old City, it's maybe worth knowing a little more. When I went to try poutine, the girl at the counter had to get her English speaking colleague to help because my French didn't stretch to understanding "eat in or take away?

That said, other Quebecois seemed quite amused by my appalling pronunciation of bonjour and were quite happy to talk to me in English.

5. Maple syrup

You have to try it. Proper maple syrup, not the stuff labelled "pancake syrup" or "original syrup". Maple syrup. Preferably with pancakes and bacon. Sausages are also acceptable. It shouldn't be so good.

Budget

Just to clarify: I've cut the last 2 weeks of my trip out of this because that was spent with my mother and sister and a lot of things had already been paid for.

Accommodation: worked out at less than £20 a night. I think this is pretty impressive given that I had to pay for a hotel for one night that cost me several times more than a hostel. Congratulations, me. Hostels in Canada range around the £15-£20 area, generally, with price spikes in Toronto over the summer, or so my hostel owner informed me. Out of the way places may also be more expensive - I paid $30 a night for a pretty basic place in Winnipeg, but it's the only hostel in the city.

AirBnB is pretty popular in Canada and some places you can find rooms cheaper than hostels. This is particularly good for places like Kingston, which have no hostels. At all.

Food: less than £5 a day. I'm pretty pleased with this considering I did treat myself to a couple of delicious brunches (looking at you, Original Pancake House...) and several trips to Tim Horton's. Fresh fruit and veg seems to be relatively expensive in Canada, but tinned goods are similarly priced to the UK. Plus, several of my hostels provided breakfast, which helped keep costs down.

Transport: less than £25 a day. This is hugely bumped up by the fact that in my first week I went halves on a car hire (at about $300 each) and then in August I took the train across the country which cost me nearly £500. Fortunately, the train had been budgetted for, although I loathed paying that much. If you don't take the train, transport can be done pretty cheap. A bus from Ottawa to Toronto costs about $20-25, and prices are similar between the other large cities in the east. City transit systems are pretty good - most will charge you about $3 for a single trip ticket.

Activities: about £5 a day. Obviously, this varied a lot. In Ottawa I bought a museum passport which covered all the big national museums and cost $45 (just over £30). Similarly, in Toronto I got a CityPass which covered the CN Tower, the Zoo, aquarium, Royal Ontario Museum and Casa Loma. Other costs mostly related to museum entry fees and the tourist trap that is Niagara Falls. Whale watching came in at a remarkably cheap $50 - that's £30 for a good 3 hours of sailing and a pod of fin whales right next to the boat.

Anyone else been to Canada? Is there anything I've missed that you think should be included? Let me know!

Canada: Museums galore!

Bonjour! Although, really, I should be back to saying hello now, since I'm back in anglophone Canada. To be precise, I'm in Ottawa, Ontario, capital of the country. It is disgustingly gloriously warm and sunny. I also have no more problems with language barriers. Hurrah. Here's what I've been up to since last week.

I'm English! I'm used to it!

In stark contrast to the current weather here in Ottawa, my time in Montreal began with rain. Lots of rain. Rain which just didn't stop. For about 24 hours. It drizzled a bit in the morning and I thought, this is fine. It's just drizzle. I'll go to a museum for a bit until it dries up.

So I went to the Chateau Ramezay, which is one of the oldest surviving buildings in the city. Very interesting. They have the first registered car in Quebec, with the helpful reg number Q1. See - that's how you know it's the first.

I also overheard an excellent conversation between an English couple in which one had completely messed up his French. Or rather, misunderstood something relatively obvious. OK, so there's a little display about medicine in part of the museum and the game is to try to match the cure to the illness. One of the illnesses was epilepsy, another malady was menstrual cramps. Yeah.

The English chap had clearly muddled the two up and thought he was being super clever in telling his girlfriend that, to his amusement, a French term for period was "grand mal". "Haha," he says, "they call it the big bad." Technically, yes, I suppose that is what grand mal means. Unfortunately for him, grand mal is also a type of seizure. It had nothing to do with the woman on her period. I wondered if I should tell him, but he clearly thought he was being super smart and I was sort of enjoying smirking at his misunderstanding.

Random aside aside, the museum was great. Unfortunately, by the time I emerged from it, the rain hadn't stopped. In fact, it had got heavier. Fine, I thought. I'm English. I can deal with a bit of rain. So off I went, striding out into the downpour. This isn't so bad, I thought, just a bit more drizzle.

I wasn't in such a good mood by the time I made it to Pointe-a-Calliere. I was dripping. Actually dripping, to the point that there was a small puddle on the floor around my feet by the time I paid for my ticket.

Fortunately for me, Pointe-a-Calliere is a pretty big place. It's the museum of archaeology and history in Montreal and includes some exposed archaeology in the basement. Said exposed areas include the earliest cemetary in the city, dating back to the time of the first settlement there.

The museum also currently has an excellent exhibition of equestrian related things, courtesy of Hermes in Paris. Yes, that's Hermes who make the bags, but they began (and continue) as a saddler and as such have a huge collection of horsey things. Very cool.

And then, finally, it stopped raining. I had mostly dried off by then and I figured, instead of risking staying out and getting soaked again, I'd head back to the hostel. Woo. I live such a thrilling life.

What on earth is he doing to that goat?!

My second day in Montreal was dry, much to my relief. I spent a large part of it at the Musee des Beaux-Arts, at the suggestion of Renee who I met a couple of weeks back in Digby. They have the most amazing Pompeii exhibition on at the moment. Plenty of interesting bits, including this egg pan.

Yep, the Romans got there first. This rude statue, which was in a little room with a lot of other equally (and some even more) rude things.

Yeah, that was probably at the less rude end. There was a big statue in the middle of the room of Pan copulating with a goat. Yup. Romans.

Anyhoo, the exhibition also has some of the body casts. Pompeii has been on my bucket list for a while, but I figure seeing these guys will tide me over for now.

Although, it's probably not great that my first thought on seeing them was "holy crap, Weeping Angels!"

The museum also has a great section dedicated to African and Islamic art. They're not huge collections, but there were some beautiful pieces. Like this bowl from... Iran? I think?

I love the colours. And in the African section, this odd statue made by the Dogon people of Mali.

I see trees of green. Red roses too...

The next day was also beautifully sunny. I had initially planned on walking up Mont Royal and taking in the views of the city, but... I had a 3 day pass for the Metro and I figured I might as well make use of it. So instead I headed up to the Botanical Gardens.

The Gardens are right next to the 1976 Olympic Stadium, but I wasn't really interested in that. I figured I'd spend a few hours roaming the gardens and then head back to the city for some more exploration.

I ended up spending all day there. The gardens are huge and there was so much to see. First stop was the Insectarium which, yes, is like a miniature zoo for insects and other creepy crawlies. Spot the stick.

Then I had a wander through the trees and found a beautiful little clearing with some nice warm rocks to sit on. I spent a while enjoying the quiet and while I was there, this little guy joined me.

He seemed to be quite content to warm himself in the sun while I farted about with the camera trying to get something approaching a decent shot. Unfortunately, as I got up to leave, a little bird swooped on him. I think I saw him fluttering away and the bird took up a perch nearby, apparently not eating anything. I hope.

I was evidently in the mood for a lazy day, because a few minutes walk further through the gardens, I found a pond and spent another 20 minutes or so soaking up the sun before my knees felt like they were burning through my trousers and I moved.

After that, I wandered the arboretum and found some beautiful trees, like this pine of some sort which looks just like those Christmas trees with the fake snow.

On the other side of the garden, I found the tiniest little poison garden. A friend gifted me a book about poisonous plants a few years ago, so I thought this was fascinating. Fortunately, I am sane enough to know not to touch and moved on to the most amazing veggie garden. I want a garden like this.

Made me miss my veggie patch.

Only the greenhouses left after that. Highlight was probably these beautiful penjing trees. Penjing is the Chinese form of bonsai and actually predates that Japanese art.

Pretty good day all round. Plus, no sunburn courtesy of slathering myself in factor 30. I'm getting good at this.

Tourist Central

My final day in Montreal began with a trip to Notre Dame Basilica. I might not be religious, but I find churches fascinating and this one... wow. We don't really have churches this brightly decorated in the UK (y'know, what with it being mostly Anglican etc).

I spent a good hour or so in there, mostly just sitting and watching other people. It was very good for people watching.

After the relatively tranquility of the church, I braved Rue St Paul, otherwise known as Tourist Central (at least to me...). Quaint little cobbled streets, crammed with cafes and tat souvenir shops.

Not entirely to my liking. So I headed out to the Old Port complex, which also had little to keep me interested, but at least there were green spaces. And the river, of course.

Then I managed to be very organised and spent the evening booking accommodation and transport for the next few legs of my trip. This means I've managed to get a nice little AirBnB room booked in the small city of Kingston, because said city does not appear to have a single hostel. This is great because I now get to have a room to myself, even if it is only for a couple of nights.

I'm English. I don't do warm.

The next morning it was time to get back on a bus and head to Ottawa, capital of Canada (as I'm pretty sure I mentioned above...). My bus days seem to be becoming somewhat regular and also seem to leave me lethargic once I get to my new destination, which means I did nothing once I got to Ottawa.

This may have been at least partly due to the heat. I'd thought it was warm in Montreal. On stepping off the bus in Ottawa it was like stepping into a sauna.  Urgh. This was not helped by the relatively short walk to the bus stop to get to my hostel. The bus driver fulfilled the stereotype of "friendly Canadian" and helpfully told me a) when to get off the bus and b) directions to the road the hostel was on from the bus stop. Lovely chap.

Unfortunately, as soon as I stepped off the bus in downtown Ottawa, the heavens opened. And I mean, opened. It was a 5 minute walk at most to the hostel and by the time I got there I was dripping worse than the incident in Montreal. Water had got into one of my bags, so my favourite book (the only one I brought with me) now has slightly squiffy pages.

Land of Dinosaurs and Obnoxious Children

On the plus side, I'm lucking out with hostels so far and aside from not providing breakfast, this one is great. Yesterday, it being so very warm still and not wanting to get drenched again, I spent a large part of the day in the Canadian Museum of Nature. I am a massive science geek. This is well established. Surrounded by dinosaurs, stuffed critters and assorted madness, it should have been bliss.

And it was, save for the hordes of screaming children. I'm sure every single holiday club in the city must have brought their kids to that museum yesterday. Fine, when they're actually engaging with the exhibits. Not when they're just running around getting under my feet and generally being obnoxious.

I know. I'm being grumpy and unreasonable, but I like to enjoy my museums with a bit more peace. I found said peace in the Earth Gallery because small children have no interest (it seems) in rocks. I, on the other hand, do. Especially when they look like this.

Or this.

Or when they glow in the dark like this glorious lump.

Yup. Geekery ahoy! I also discovered, to my glee, that the special exhibition on the top floor was nearly deserted. Possibly because it was an extra $10 to get in, but I can deal with that when there are interesting dinosaurs galore and I have the place nearly to myself. This one had a mouth that looks like a vacuum cleaner. Don't ask why. Apparently it might have eaten low growing things. I'd say grass, but grass came after the dinos.

And this is Giganotosaurus, T rex's bigger, badder South American distant cousin. Oh, and me, because I'm told there are not enough photos of me being included in these things.

Having complained about the children on the lower floors, I made the most of them not being on this one and had great fun collecting all the stamps for the kids' "Dino Challenge" activity. Because I am cool like that and have no shame when it comes to museum activities even when security are giving me funny looks as I gleefully stamp my card yet again...

Ahem. Moving on.

It still being dry once I'd eaten, I decided to make the most of the National Gallery's late (and free) opening on Thursday evenings. This meant I got about an hour and a half browsing the galleries, which was great, plus it was a lot quieter than the museum earlier in the day. Some really gorgeous pieces, including a few Canalettos.

I love Canaletto. I don't really know why. There's just something about the way his work looks so... real, I suppose. I spotted that one from the other end of the gallery, peeping through the little archway. Then, to keep my sister happy, I went in search of some Pre-Raphaelites. I nearly walked past this one, before something in my brain went "I've seen that redhead before."

It's a Rossetti, who seems to have just painted the some redhead over and over again. I'm not sure which of his muses this one is supposed to be. My sister might be able to tell you. I think I was more amused that an artist named Dante had painted a scene from Dante's Divine Comedy.

[Google tells me the model is Jane Morris, by the way]

And then I found this bust of Nietzsche, which made me laugh purely for the ridiculously huge mustache.

Finally, outside the Gallery is this sculpture of a giant spider. I remember this from the last time I visited Ottawa nearly a decade ago. Still sort of creepy now.

I had considered walking back up to Parliament Hill for the light show, but the heavens opened once again and we got hit by an insane lightning storm. I tried and failed to take any photos of this. Well done me.

Did he just faint?

I did, however, make it to Parliament Hill this morning, where I got to watch the Changing of the Guard ceremony. Of course, this is something that happens in the UK as well, but hey, I'm a tourist and it's fun to watch.

I'm not sure it was as fun for the guards themselves in those heavy uniforms and ridiculous hats. Especially the young lad who had been second from left before I took this photo.

You might be able to see there's a gap in the front rank there. That's because the poor guy second from left fainted during the inspection. I saw him fumble with his rifle a minute before and then he just pitched face forward onto the grass. Poor bugger.

Anyway, having fulfilled my duty as a tourist and an English one at that to go and watch some weird English tradition being continued in Canada, I headed across the river and back into Quebec to visit the Canadian Museum of History. Another place I visited on my first trip here, although it was called the Museum of Civilisation then.

It's still amazing. This is the Grand Hall, which is pretty much the first place you go once you get in.

Totem poles galore. The museum presents a history of Aboriginal Canada, which stretches back thousands of years. I was intrigued to find that some of the West Coast cultures made use of nephrite jade tools, a similar material to the pounamu used by the Maori in New Zealand.

Oh, and I had lunch overlooking the river, just before it chucked it down with rain again.

Glad I spent most of the day inside again! Having piled my brain full of random facts about Aboriginal Canada, I moved on to the special exhibitions. Three of these on at the moment. The first is about carriages. I'm pretty sure I've seen Sherlock Holmes using one of these.

That is of course, the best Holmes, Jeremy Brett. Moving on. The second is about the gold rush in British Columbia in the mid 1800s. Some beautiful artefacts from other gold-mining areas, including this gorgeous, well made necklace of cast frogs from central America.

The detail on it is amazing. According to the scales on the way out, I would be worth over $2,000,000 if I was made of gold. Ah well.

And finally, an exhibition about Napoleon and his relationship with Paris. Some interesting drawings, none of which came out very well in my photos.

I resisted the urge to go in the Children's Museum, partly because it was pretty much only kids in there and apparently I do have some shame and partly because it was only about an hour until closing and I didn't fancy rushing it.

Well, I think that's everything up to date now. I have a couple more days in Ottawa and then I'm heading to Toronto via Kingston.

Someone point me in the direction of interesting Torontonian things.