welcome to canada

okie! so we're all safely back in TO after doing a bit of travelling over the weekend. for rach, sarah, luke and i, we did a three-day tour of eastern canada which included ottawa, montreal, quebec city and kingston. =) so we kinda chose a "bad" weekend to go seeing that eastern canada was hit by one of the worst snow storms that it's seen in 25 years. LOL. just our luck huh? it got reeeeally bad when we were driving from montreal to quebec - it was snowing and blowing so much that you really couldn't see further than maybe 3 or 4 foot ahead! insane! plus, being out in the blowing snow really hurt my skin - it stung like anything! but luckily, we got to the hotel okie, and thank God that everyone on the tour was safe. it's just so sad that there were over 400 accidents by noon that day (sunday) and than quite a few people were killed on the side of the road - one lady was hit by a snowplough truck when she pulled her car over to wipe her windscreen! crazy!

but anyhow, we were stuck on the bus for most of the time. and even though we saw some pretty spectacular sights, i think the highlight of our trip was still our tour guide. =p

so i'm pretty sure that only rach, luke and sarah will get what i mean when i say this, but really, this tour guide was seriously a one of a kind. not only did he collect his tip on the FIRST day of the tour (within the first 2 hours actually), but he actually only whipped out about five facts throughout the whole 3 days. despite his complete lack of candor and his constant bigotry, he would talk throughout the day at completely random times - even though people were obviously sleeping! the funniest thing yet though, was that every single time he turned on his microphone to talk, you would hear this loud *SIGH*, from EVERYONE on the bus... and yet he STILL didn't get the hint, so he carried on talking each time for at least half an hour! he would go on and on about random things. OH! and he kept over-using the phrase "more or less". hahah. like even in instances when it TOTALLY didn't apply, he would still use it! i.e. he once said, "you know, more or less the restauarant there may be open, but we don't know". then this spanish guy sitting behind us said pretty loudly, "hey charlie, what do you mean? the restaurants only gonna be half open?" hahah. okay so it might be a had-to-be-there moment, but still.. it was just rockishly funny. =p oh.. and he used to live in the "wockies"... rather than the "rockies".. hahha. but yeah, here's an example. i really do hope you find it funny, but also empathetic because we had to sit through 3 straight days of it! hahah. =p here's his rant/spin on montreal strip clubs:


video: you can look but no touch



and then, here are just some photos that we took along the way. the scenery was soooo beautiful! i'm really gonna miss the snow hey - even though it is damn miserable being out there IN it. =p



the bus logo for the chogie tour company we went with


luke trying to "have his way" with a statue at parliament hill in ottawa


rach and i NOT making snow angels on a snow hill in ottawa


a snapshot of me successfully dozing off during one of charlie's rants
can i just say, i am SO glad that i brought my pillow. hahah. =p


beacuse of the storm, we were pretty much stuck in the hotel
i think this a pretty classic picture of the both of us, don't cha think? hehe.


the restaurant we had dinner at - the only restaurant open on grand allez.
it was literally 20 steps from our hotel... we had to front the snow storm, cover our faces and run like penguins to get there. hahah.


the chateau frontenac in quebec city - beeeeauuttiful!


look at that snow!!


just to demonstrate just how much it snowed overnight in quebec...


sarah, me, rach and luke picturizing at a toilet stop along the way from quebec to kingston



so beautiful hey! the whole experience is made even more special by the fact that i got to see ottawa, montreal and quebec in the "summertime"... or at least during fall when there wasn't so much snow all around and when the weather was actually okay to wear a t-shirt in! i really miss that weather hey. =p

but yes. it was an awesome three-days with or without charlie. hahahahah. but either way, it's definately an experience that i won't forget anytime soon!