The last two weeks have been very busy and exciting. I passed my driver’s test on the 1st February. I am now the designated driver, as Duncan is no longer allowed to drive on his international license. Duncan had a presentation in Montreal on the 15th and Ant and Marg had gone to visit Ann in Halifax. This then led to us needing to cat sit our child at their house, and due to our lease starting on the 17th February, we decided it was the right time to bring our fur child home with us.
We left for Ottawa on Tuesday the 13th. We could only leave late afternoon, due to Duncan attending two business meetings. We managed to get out the city at 3:30 pm, hoping the traffic wouldn’t be too bad, however, the traffic was terrible. It took us 2 hours just get through Toronto. We had a lovely drive, trying to maintain the speed limit (there were ominous signs saying “speed monitoring by aircraft”. Apparently they use drones for this…). I thought that it would hurt driving so slow, but it makes you calm down and enjoy the drive. It’s still getting dark really early, so we couldn’t enjoy the scenery. We eventually arrived at 9:30 pm. Chika was very enthusiastic about seeing us and wouldn’t leave us alone.
Wednesday was a quiet day. Duncan had a lot of work to get through, so I went to visit the Gallery. Tara was away with her parents, so I visited James and chatted for a while. It’s nice being around other people as I don’t see many people other than Duncan and our friends we are living with. I then did some grocery shopping and got home mid-afternoon.
On Thursday Duncan had his presentation in Montreal. I decided it would be a good idea to explore Montreal on my own while he was busy. We left home at 5:30 am and got there by 9:30 am. He then had time to do his final preparations and I went off to do my thing. The weather was very miserable, so sadly you will not see many photos. I had a steady drizzle the whole morning. I walked from Midtown to old Montreal. The streets are cobbled, and I saw the beautiful old architectures of the surrounding buildings.
I had intended on seeing more of the city, however, the weather caused this plan to change. I wasn’t upset though. I prefer seeing new areas with Duncan, so it worked out well. I was also in a strange mindset. I didn’t feel like rushing around to many sites. I wanted to just amble around and absorb my surroundings. I had decided that my main goal was to see Notre-Dame Basilica. It was a 30minute walk there. When I arrived, I was told they only accept cash. They had two time slots for an English tour. I decided that it would be better to do the longer one for an hour since it was my main plan. I knew that there was an ATM a little way back and I had about 2 hours until I had to return. I sent Duncan a message telling him that I would be doing the tour, and if he finished in time he should join. I was a little peckish, so I went in search of a crepe house along the quaint little streets. There were many little shops with interesting bits and bobs. I walked down to the water briefly as old Montreal is on the St. Lawrence River. There was a lot of ice on the road, so I decided not to venture too far off my route. While having my delicious maple syrup crepe, Duncan told me he had just finished and would be able to make in time for the tour.
It is difficult to put in words how beautiful Notre-Dame Basilica is. It was completely constructed from wood and every detail was done by hand. The ceiling was covered in gold leaf stars. They had a problem with them being stolen, so they had to finish part of the deco by painting them on. The front of the church was originally one huge window; however, the congregation was blinded by the sun rising. Therefore, they decided to correct this by building what you see below. They have depicted the progression to heaven.
Montreal is mostly on an island between two rivers, the St. Lawrence River and the Rivière des Prairies. The second river is actually the Ottawa River that ends just before Montreal.
We were meant to drive back on Saturday morning but I was not in the correct mental space. They had not finished all the renovations in our rental unit and I knew that we would be arriving back to a mess. We also had not had time to go to Winterlude and we had been looking forward to it for a year. We decided to extend the car hire and go back a day later. We had a lovely day in Ottawa. We left home quite early, as Charlotte (Ant and Marg’s neighbor) asked if we wanted to go with her. We watched someone carve an owl out of a block of ice, as well as an amateur ice sculpting competition. The main sculptures were stunning but had seen better days. It was the last weekend of the festival and there was a warm snap the week before. They had a stage set up for the evening entertainment, however due to how child-friendly Canada is, they had musicians on stage performing entertainment for the children. There was also at least 4 other activities for children. It almost made me broody ;-P
Some of the professional sculptures:
Pictures of the amateur competition:
We went to try ice skating on The Rideau Canal Skateway. I was disappointed because it was full of holes and very bumpy, resulting in me taking a dive twice. Our feet were also not accustomed to the new skates, or balancing on the blade. We will try it again earlier in the season next winter. Hopefully, it will be more enjoyable. We then headed home for a nap before going out for dinner with Tara and James. We went to an awesome Asian restaurant called Kanata Noodle House.
More pictures from Winterlude:
The drive back to Toronto went well. We set off early and got in just before 2. This gave us time to move into our room downstairs and start settling in. We have been staying with our friends upstairs for the last two weeks, while they finished renovating our unit. They have not completed the kitchen or the bathroom. So we are only really sleeping downstairs but at least we are one step closer to having a stable home for the first time in months.