New Brunswick

It was the last week of May and my very last week to be in Canada. I was enjoying my Cambridge new home, but yet I had a plan where to spend the last days: New Brunswick, a province in the east from Québec and with an access to Atlantic through Bay of Fundy and Gulf of Saint Lawrence. I made some research and found those facts:

• A truly bilingual province, in the north prevail French, in the south English
• People are very friendly
• Capital is Fredericton, with 50ths ppl
• The whole NB has only 750ths people
• Air distance North-South is 320km
• The best place (together with Nova Scotia) for hitchhiking in Canada

My plan was following:
To go through Quebec province to the north of NB, hitchhike along St. John river to Fredericton, spend 2 nights there and then continue to Saint John. There is a scenic old highway, going in the valley along the river. From St John I'd fly back to Toronto.

The Trip part II - Ottawa & Montréal

When Nicolas left us on Tue 4th May, we went directly to Ottawa as planed, because we had our car for one more day. It takes about two hours of comfortable driving from Montréal. Ottawa is a very nice city lying on the southern banks of the Ottawa River, a major waterway forming the local boundary between the provinces of Ontario and Quebec. The city was chosen by Queen Victoria as a capital on December 31st 1857 as a compromise between Toronto and Montréal. It's a real bilingual city; about 80% of citizens under 25 are able to speak both languages.
We were staying in a great (little expensive, but yet the cheapest in the town) hostel Ottawa Backpackers. From the sights to be mention there is Parliament Hill, Major's Hill Park, Museum of Civilization and Rideau Canal (which when frozen creates officially the world's largest skating rink with its 7,8km length) and many governmental buildings and embassies. By an accident we also got inside the parliament and saw part of a political discussion :). In the evening we went to a karaoke bar with some really good singers! 

CA11 Ottawa 4.5.2010

Next morning we had to hurry up to be back in Montréal until noon to drop off our car in Thrifty office (but before to return GPS in Walmart :)). I think in total we made around 2500 km.
In Montréal we met Jean-Christophe, my friend who was studying in Prague 2 years ago. We were staying at his flat for 2 days. There is a great system of city bikes, which we were using very much! All you need to use Bixi is your credit card with a deposit of 250$, then is costs 5$ per 24hours and you have every 30mins of biking for free. First evening we also met some other ex-exchange Prague students in Bílý Kůň pub. The other day we were sightseeing around the well known places (Mont Royal hill, Olympic stadium, Port, etc.) That evening Canadians won over Penguins in a match in Bell Centre in the city, which was a huge holiday! :)
On Friday 7th in the morning we were leaving by Amtrack to Schenectady in New York.

CA12 Montréal 5.-6.5.2010

Québec trip!

During our Reading week in mid February we made a long awaited trip to Québec province. The Reading week is a study break for midterms. For us exchange students it means of course a week-long holiday :)

On Saturday 13. early morning Andy and me caught Greyhound bus to Toronto, where we changed to Megabus to Montréal. The journey takes 7 hours, fortunately there is a break in the middle to release legs and the bus is spacious enough.

Andy'd managed free accommodation through couchsurfing, so from the bus station we set out directly to Marilyn's place. On the way we passed by a Czech bar Bílý Kůň, which was also visited later that day (and the day after) :) It was my first time staying via couchsurfing and I got more than nicely excited, having already set up my own profile. That weekend we were staying at Marilyn's even in 4 people - together with Katariina and Akari, 2 girls doing their exchange in Windsor, the very south Canadian city just next to Detroit. In the evening we all went to a Portuguese restaurant. So amazing food! There was a couchsurfing meeting in one bar, which couldn't be missed and later already mentioned Bílý Kůň. It was such a great evening! I love Montréal!