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lucy3119


91 Blog Entries
7 Trips
458 Photos

Trips:

Thailand 2009
Eurotrip 2008
Great British Adventures
New York 2010
Canada and a little USA 2012
Cambodia 2011
Sailing Croatia

Shorthand link:

http://blogabond.com/lucy3119




To the mountains!

Banff, Canada


With the truck packed with our camping equipment, we set off into the Mountains! First stop: Takakkaw Falls. These falls were a lot more spectacular than New York's Taughannock Falls...Rylan suggested we climb alongside the raging water and within seconds we were soaking wet. Lucky we had some super-attractive, bright yellow raincoats to wear!

We gradually dried off on the drive to Lake Louise. The bright blue, Crystal Clear Lake was beautiful, I admit, and I always knew it was going be touristy...but I wasn't quite prepared for the swarms of tourists in and around the lake. We decided not to linger there for long, heading off on our hike up to Lake Agnes Teahouse. Again, I was expecting the teahouse to be jammed to the rafters with tourists but we managed to grab a table with a lovely view of the lake and ordered delicious chai teas. We saw a 'staff wanted' ad on the wall and asked our server what it's like working there: during the week they stay in lodges near the isolated teahouse, which has no electricity, and must hike up and down the Mountain to bring in supplies/dispose of garbage. Sounds like one person's idea of heaven, another's idea of hell!

During the hike, I very nearly slipped off the edge of the Mountain - "ooh, that was close!", a passing stranger commented - and Rylan won the award for first injury of the trip when he fell flat on his face.

Our accommodation that night was...a cabin! Called Deltaform.



permalink written by  lucy3119 on August 13, 2012 from Banff, Canada
from the travel blog: Canada and a little USA 2012
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To Canada...again!

Calgary, Canada


I arrived in Calgary at 11am and met up with Rylan, who took me to Nosehill Park for views of downtown Calgary, before we headed back to his House to meet his parents and various overexcited animals. We then headed to downtown itself, where Rylan very helpfully couldn't think of a thing to see or do there. So, we bought some ice cream and walked along the River which was, unlike the Thames in London, beautiful, clear and bright blue. That's one of the many things that Canada definitely doesn't have a shortage of: water.

On the way home, Rylan got fed up of me making fun of his terrible driving of the standard-drive car he'd borrowed (of course, most Canadian cars are automatics) so as we entered his quiet neighbourhood he made me take the dRiver's seat. At which point I executed the smoothest gear changes I have ever managed in my life and was happily rubbing it in his face until we unexpectedly came to a 90 degree bend in the road and almost died.

For dinner, we barbequed some huge Calgary steaks and I got to catch up with Kira before Rylan and I headed off on our tour of the Rockies. As dinner ended, a thunderstorm of epic proportions hit Calgary. While the Canadians didn't seem particularly concerned by the lightning flashing relentlessly every second, I stood at the window like an English fool repeating "THIS IS INSANE!!" until gigantic hailstones began to fall from the sky.

Thunderstorm excitement wearing thin, we all watched Tim Minchin in what I like to call their 'home cinema' to finish off the day.

permalink written by  lucy3119 on August 12, 2012 from Calgary, Canada
from the travel blog: Canada and a little USA 2012
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The Boston Detour

Boston, United States


A spur of the moment decision had us heading to Boston before returning to New York, our guide booking us into a hotel where we would be sneakily sleeping 5 in a 2-person room.

It was up to us to decide where to go once we arrived in the city, so Charlie, Amanda and I took the subway to Harvard University where we sat and soaked up the Ivy League atmosphere and battled with tour groups for a photo with John Harvard himself.

Losing Amanda, Charlie and I sat outside on the street eating pizza and iced tea, before heading to Monument Park, hoping for great views over the city. Unfortunately, the torrential rain that had been following us around the US and Canada caught up with us again, and by the time we arrived at the park, the monument had been closed due to the weather. We stumbled upon Amanda again at this point and made our way back to our meeting place on the Ferry. As we waited for our guide to pick us up, a clock Tower nearby bizarrely started chiming 'God Save the Queen'.

For our final dinner of the trip we visited an all-American restaurant which served us portions big enough to feed four men rather than one: I swear I had at least half a turkey piled up on my plate. To recover from the meat sweats Charlie, Lewis and I wandered around the city, soaking up the pretty lights and live music.



permalink written by  lucy3119 on August 10, 2012 from Boston, United States
from the travel blog: Canada and a little USA 2012
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Lobster special

Boston, United States


Despite a foggy start to the day we hit the beach, with only Katie, Katy and Lorna being brave enough to swim in the freezing Atlantic. They weren't out there for long before a crab attack drove them back to shore.

Later on, we headed to the campsite's pool to warm up, and decided to start practicing for the 2016 Olympics with a highly professional synchronised swimming routine that involved doing the YMCA.

While most of the group hung around the campsite in the afternoon, Charlie and I took the free shuttle bus into Bar Harbor, where we accidentally bought the largest and most delicious ice-creams known to man, and barely managed to eat half of them before admitting defeat.

We sat on a green overlooking the bay for a while before heading back to meet our group for a typical Maine dinner: lobster! Some members of our group bought lobster for the first time ("when in Maine...") but hadn't quite realised what they were in for: Lorna's disgusted face as she dissected her lobster was priceless!

That night, as we slept soundly in our tents, we were interrupted by a huge crash. Scared to investigate, imagining a bear prowling around our tents, we waited until morning to inspect the carnage: all our food had been eaten during the night by raccoons.



permalink written by  lucy3119 on August 9, 2012 from Boston, United States
from the travel blog: Canada and a little USA 2012
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To New England

Boston, United States


A day mostly of travelling back across the border to the USA, and onwards to Maine, New England. We stopped for lunch on the beautiful Banks of a River. We sat with our feet in the water for a while and then headed back up the Banks for lunch. Imagine our Surprise when we discovered that, within minutes of us moving, the water level had risen by about 4 or 5 feet, submerging the rocks we had been sitting on. With the help of a sign we figured out that the River was linked to a hydroelectric dam...but it was still a bizarre experience!

We arrived at our campsite in Acadia National Park and spent the evening around the campfire bonding over some beer, wine and card games.


permalink written by  lucy3119 on August 8, 2012 from Boston, United States
from the travel blog: Canada and a little USA 2012
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When in France...

Quebec, Canada


Quebec is by far my favourite Canadian city. The old city is beautiful, atmospheric and cultural and, as usual, the locals were really friendly.

We began with a visit to the Citadelle to watch the changing of the guards, a 40-minute long process involving soldiers in English-style red uniforms, a marching band and a goat with golden horns.

We wandered around parliament, the Chateau Frontenac, and quirky streets complete with giant murals. On the search for some good poutine (a local dish of fries covered in gravy and cheese curds) we asked an off-duty local tour guide who led us to a restaurant apparently frequented by the locals. We weren't disappointed: despite not usually liking fries with cheese OR fries with gravy, I ate every bit of my delicious poutine.



Charlie and I, separated from the group, stumbled upon a glassware shop where you could watch live glass blowing, and then settled down at a cafe in a beautiful courtyard opposite the cathedral. We made bets on how long it would be before we spotted another member of our group and, sure enough, Ross soon wandered by and joined us for a drink. We wandered around a bit more, stopping to watch street musicians and artists.

Earlier in the day Charlie, Amanda and I had visited the Morrin Centre, an ex-jail that now houses a beautiful library. There, we met a man who referred to himself as 'The Ben' and informed us that if we returned at 5pm, we could join a tour that would give us the chance to be prisoners: "we WILL treat you like prisoners". How could we refuse?
We arrived for our tour and were forced to line up outside, in handcuffs, before being led to the 'medical room', where we were examined and given a 'tonic'. We then proceeded to the cells.

After the tour, we thought "when in France..." and went for crepes at a great little creperie.

The torrential rain caught up with us again just as we were headed to a a free Cirque du Soleil performance under an underpass. After much deliberation we decided to stick it out and I'm glad we did: despite a completely bizarre and disturbing concept the performers themselves were amazing, with their gravity- and death-defying acrobatics.

permalink written by  lucy3119 on August 7, 2012 from Quebec, Canada
from the travel blog: Canada and a little USA 2012
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Everything's breakfast in Tennessee

Quebec, Canada


As we were packing up the van ready to head to Quebec, a man approached us, informed us that "everything's breakfast in Tennessee", and asked us if we were selling beer.

Back to camping again in Quebec after two comparatively luxurious nights in a hostel. We arrived late afternoon in time for a ghost tour of the old town lead by a Liverpudlian girl dressed as a Victorian man. The highlight of the tour was being allowed into the Notre Dame cathedral at night, sitting on the pews in the dark listening to ghostly tales. It was lovely seeing Quebec all lit up, particularly the Chateau Frontenac on the hill.



permalink written by  lucy3119 on August 6, 2012 from Quebec, Canada
from the travel blog: Canada and a little USA 2012
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Pirates of Montreal

Montreal, Canada


Our day of sightseeing in Montreal. Most of the group went for some jet boating while Ross and I went to see what we could find around the harbour. We ended up stumbling upon an art exhibition of work by indigenous Canadians, as well as a pirate-themed restaurant that we thought looked like fun: we tipped off the rest of the group and we ended up booking a table for the evening.

We were hit by torrential rain but decided to carry on sightseeing regardless; luckily, the sun soon came out and we wandered the very French and atmospheric streets of Montreal, eating ice cream and watching a street performer climb a ladder made of knives while offending passers-by. We also tried maple lemonade served in classic American red plastic cups.

In the evening we returned to our pirate restaurant, which turned out to be a great find - not only was the food fantastic, we also had a pirate musician playing sea shanties and Irish folk music on the fiddle and banjo (with audience participation) and posed in the stocks with our pirate host.



permalink written by  lucy3119 on August 5, 2012 from Montreal, Canada
from the travel blog: Canada and a little USA 2012
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Dinner in the dark

Montreal, Canada


We arrived in Montreal late afternoon and checked into our hostel (a welcome change from camping on mats for a week!) With no time for sightseeing we headed to O. Noir, a restaurant where you eat in complete, pitch darkness with only the blind waiters to help guide you. It was one of the most bizarre and interesting experiences I've ever had. We all had a few moments of panic as we were led into the blackened room and sat down, but we soon adjusted as the food and wine arrived. Eating was bizarre: we had to use our fingers to feel around our plates and often lifted our Forks to our mouths to find that there wasn't actually anything on them. Ross even started chewing on his napkin at one point. We all ordered the mystery starter, and had to guess what it was based on the taste before our waiter revealed it afterwards. Definitely a memorable meal!

After the meal, somebody decided karaoke would be a good idea...we ended up at Pang Pang's, a true Chinese-style karaoke place with our own room. Such a hilarious night...



permalink written by  lucy3119 on August 4, 2012 from Montreal, Canada
from the travel blog: Canada and a little USA 2012
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Surprising Ottawa

Ottawa, Canada


I have to admit, I wasn't expecting much of Ottawa. As the capital city, I envisioned something like Toronto but bigger and greyer. Turns out we were all wrong: Ottawa has a much smaller population than Toronto and the city centre is beautiful. We arrived to the sound of live music, and everywhere we went, there was some kind of performance or cultural activity going on. While some of the group went shopping after our visit to parliament, Charlie, Ross and I wandered down to the canal and watched boats moving through the locks towards the main lake. We wandered through the cultural quarter of the city and discovered a quiet and very French courtyard where we relaxed for a while.



permalink written by  lucy3119 on August 3, 2012 from Ottawa, Canada
from the travel blog: Canada and a little USA 2012
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