Bonjour from Quebec
We have definitely entered the French speaking part of Canada and also the coldest. There is snow absolutely everywhere. The countryside is completely white, with houses metres deep in snow and cars in some areas almost completely buried. We are so glad we made the decision to fly across Canada rather than drive. After leaving Niagara Falls on Thursday which in Sams' words is "the most amazing thing we've ever seen," we set off for Montreal, making it as far as Cornwall, Ontario's most eastern city located on the St. Lawrence River. The river is almost completely frozen as we saw driving to Montreal on Friday morning. It is an incredible sight to see so much water frozen into a solid mass, mind you with a maximum temp of -4C and getting down to -12 while we were in the car, it is understandable. What astounded us were the tyre tracks everywhere on the ice, with a local man informing us it is co mpletely safe to drive on at this time of year. We opted against this in our rented Chevrolet Suburban laden down with 6 large suitcases, substantial hand luggage and the 6 of us. Not sure that the travel insurance includes sinking damage of rental cars.
Many locals have stated it is sad we are seeing everything covered in snow but for us it is the icing on the cake. The boys take every opportunity to slide down even the smallest hill, throw snowballs and build snowman. Craig and I both had a good laugh as we stepped onto a beach on Vancouver Island wearing gloves, beanies, snow boots and several layers of clothing. A little different to what we wear to the beach at home or see for that matter as there was snow halfway down the sand.
Canadians and Americans alike have been extremely friendly and helpful. We are overwhelmed by the wonderful hospitality of our friends in Vancouver and now in Eastern Canada. Leah Constantini (a prac teacher who taught in Jordan's class last year) and her family made us so welcome and comfortable when we arrived in Toronto. Alex and Ben particularly enjoyed having a home base and being thoroughly spoiled by Leah , her lovely Mum, Loretta and Dad, Frank. We also plan to see Melissa Townsend a Canadian prac teacher who taught with Craig at Mountain Creek in 2007. It is wonderful to see some familiar faces throughout our travels as we are missing family and friends. Luckily taking the boys skiing helped them cope with not being there for the start of soccer season. To all of you back home, best wishes, we hope the sun starts shining again soon.
Love the Wockies
Isn't is weird that a landscape that is completely ice bound fails to have a professional hockey team worth their salt as we have here in Vancouver.
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