ottawaaaaa
So, yes, I've done it again - managed not to blog in far too long. So long in fact, that I'm getting requests (okay, mainly from Alice and my parents, but that's not the point).
Firstly, I'm going to apologise in advance if any of the spelling or punctuation in this post goes ary - that is, anymore than usual. I'm typing this post, rather rebelliously I admit, at school on a French (French Canadian, whatever) keyboard, and the keys for the punctuation are all over the place.
Okay, so from the title, and from the mass of Facebook photos and Instagrams, it's pretty easy to guess we hit Ottawa last weekend. It was pretty spontaneous - I was casually surfing Amigo Express, a car sharing website on Tuesday night last week, when I spotted a journey to Ottawa leaving at 3pm Friday afternoon, and a return journey 3pm Sunday. I mentioned it casually to Alice, thinking maybe it was something we could consider, but when we checked it out on Wednesday night and there were still two seats left in the car each way, we decided it was too good an opportunity to miss, and just booked it. We also ended up, after Trip Advisoring the hell out of several hotels (one of which looked promising until someone wrote about a rat in their room), we decided to throw caution to the wind and booked the historic Lord Elgin. Perfectly situated in the centre of town, literally a two minute walk from parliament, it was really too ideal.
Anyway, we haven't actually got there yet so I'll stop telling you about the Lord Elgin. Friday came, and with our backpacks filled to bursting, we waited around for Maurice, the guy who was driving us. However, Alice had a missed call and a voicemail from earlier that day, neither of which we could check because we didn't have any minutes. As 3pm snuck past us, and there was still no sign of Maurice - though, cruelly, there was an identical car to his - we began to worry that he'd cancelled, or changed his time, and perhaps, God forbid, there would be no Lord Elgin after all. Thankfully, he turned up at the garage just after 5 past 3, and we hopped in, ready for the trek to Ottawa. He even spoke a bit of English, which was a relief, but mostly he stayed silent as he tackled the 5 hour drive - whilst Alice and I napped, talked rubbish and napped some more. Despite a couple of issues with traffic jams and closed roads that familiarised me with some choice French swear words, we made it into Ottawa not much after 8. It was a really short walk to the hotel, a walk which I attempted to take longer by stopping in the middle of a bridge and insisting that we weren`t supposed to cross the river. Thankfully, a helpful Canadian stopped by and pointed out our hotel - it was indeed over the river and I bashfully accepted my terrible map reading. Anyway, we made it to the hotel, courtesy of this nice Canadian girl and also Alice`s correct reading of the map, and even managed to catch the last 15 minutes of Masterchef Junior - oh go on, judge me for that. I have no regrets. It had been a long journey and it was really too late to consider anything other than room service, which I managed to order over the phone - for anyone who knows me well enough, they'll know that I avoid phone conversations at all costs. I had a pretty wicked chicken & artichoke pizza which was smothered in far too much cheese, adding more fuel to Alice`s idea that I love cheese (I don't like cheese any more than any other person).
Saturday dawned - but not too early. After weeks of restless sleeps, the queen beds at the Lord Elgin were really too good to get out of and we managed to crawl to Tim Hortons (oh, Canada) for around half 11. From there, we tried desperately to seek out a tour bus, but were hopelessly unsuccesful - though we did manage to stumble upon Parliament. After booking a tour for the afternoon, we found ourselves, predictably, at the mall. I can't begin to explain how excellent it was to be back in a place that primarily spoke English. We indulged in froyo (frozen yoghurt) and smoothies, before heading back for our tour around parliament. I can almost hear the sighs of my friends - "she went to the capital and all she did was go look at parliament?!" - but it was a really great tour and a lot like our Houses of Parliament, but a lot better decorated, with an insanely cool library that looked exactly like it had fallen out of Hogwarts & Downton Abbey.
Anyway, after the tour we were at a bit of a loss. The cinema was suggested, we found a cinema, it was closed. China Town & Little Italy were suggested, but it was a bit of a walk - and then the heavens opened. And they really did open - thunder and lightening, the whole shabang. Running hopelessly through the streets of Ottawa in a storm, clutching an umbrella and hoping endlessly that I wouldn`t get struck by lightening with my umbrella, we tried to find somewhere to eat. Most of the places closed ridiculously early, and we're still not sure why. It was a fairly traumatic experience - the one redeeming factor being that I spotted highlights of the Newcastle - Liverpool game on through some random window. We eventually found a Subway where I thoroughly confused the guy with my pronunciation of tomato, before we dashed home to the L.E. to eat. It was only 5pm, but the weather was too horrific to even consider going out again. We bought chocolate, we bought Starbucks, but we were still incredibly bored. Alice took to building a fort out of spare pillows and blankets before hiding in the cupboard, whilst I dossed about before doing some weird kind of spins jumping onto the bed. It was a bit of a sugar high, I admit. Even though we'd been leaping about for hours and building forts and the like, we still couldn't sleep so we ended up talking crap for hours until far too late.
Sunday morning - half 9 alarms came as a bit of a shock. Starbucks for breakfast before we went down to board the Amphibus. You know the type - looks just like a regular bus until all of a sudden it decides to drive into the river and manages to stay afloat (most of the time, though the one in London did sink). We didn't sink though, so it was alright. It was really good, the tour guide was really well informed and took us round some of the cool sites in the city, as well as a nice sail out onto the river. It was a really surreal moment for me as we drove into the river, just before the bus started to float properly and the water lapped up onto the windscreen, I did think, oh crap, we're gonna sink. But all was well, and it was definitely a trip worth doing. We still had a little time to fill in after the Amphibus, so we tried to visit the church which is famous and supposed to be really beautiful. Predictably, we walked straight into the middle of mass, and had to sheepishly back out. Another plan foiled. We ended up at the National Art Gallery, which was surprisingly interesting and it had some really beautiful pieces of art. In the Canadian section, there were loads of paintings and works done by international artists who had moved over to Quebec. I managed to spot one from Berwick, one from Durham, and dozens from the rest of Britain. It was a really nice link to home, and much appreciated. However, we happened upon the modern art section. Without wishing to cause offence, what an absolute load of crap. One artwork was a piece of black cord going from the corner of the room to the other. There is absolutely no skill in this and no meaning. I really wish artists would get over themselves and accept that, no matter how eloquently put the description of the piece is, it is not an accurate depiction of the great struggle to find oneself and the true meaning of life in an increasingly hedonistic world - it is a piece of cord, get over yourself and learn to draw. Rant over.
So yes, it was a fully cultured weekend, and we even managed to find Maurice at the end of it. The journey home was slightly shorter, though on the way back we had a third passenger in the car. Ignorant as it sounds, I still don't know his name - I slept quite a lot, which Alice decided would be hilariously to film (admittedly the video of my head dropping is canny funny), and then I spent far too long laughing at her impression of Maurice's head bobbing along to his African driving tunes - which were, surprisingly, both fun and helpful in going to sleep.
So that was Ottawa, it was wicked. Maybe when I get home I'll edit this post and stick some photos in. We also made our first trip to the cinema last week - Gravity in 3D. And also in English, too much effort to concentrate on things flying out of the screen as well as a foreign language. I thought it was a really good film, though it was a bit of an emotional rollercoaster, and at some points I genuinely wondered if anything else could go wrong for poor Sandra Bullock. It's proper edge of your seat cinema though, and 3D really does enhance it - I ducked out of the way of spaceship debris several times.
Anyway, I may or may not have a class arriving in 11 minutes. It's all a bit up in the air, my class didn't show up this morning, and then afterwards the teacher I'm working with (final day today) gave me a thanks and see you next year speech, telling me he'd told the kids they won't see me until next year. Bit confusing, as I'm still supposed to see them today... but I have no complaints about getting paid for sitting on Snapchat. I'll leave it here, as once again this has become a bit of an essay, but hopefully I'll manage to blog more regularly and therefore keep things a little shorter.
arrivederci x
Firstly, I'm going to apologise in advance if any of the spelling or punctuation in this post goes ary - that is, anymore than usual. I'm typing this post, rather rebelliously I admit, at school on a French (French Canadian, whatever) keyboard, and the keys for the punctuation are all over the place.
Okay, so from the title, and from the mass of Facebook photos and Instagrams, it's pretty easy to guess we hit Ottawa last weekend. It was pretty spontaneous - I was casually surfing Amigo Express, a car sharing website on Tuesday night last week, when I spotted a journey to Ottawa leaving at 3pm Friday afternoon, and a return journey 3pm Sunday. I mentioned it casually to Alice, thinking maybe it was something we could consider, but when we checked it out on Wednesday night and there were still two seats left in the car each way, we decided it was too good an opportunity to miss, and just booked it. We also ended up, after Trip Advisoring the hell out of several hotels (one of which looked promising until someone wrote about a rat in their room), we decided to throw caution to the wind and booked the historic Lord Elgin. Perfectly situated in the centre of town, literally a two minute walk from parliament, it was really too ideal.
Anyway, we haven't actually got there yet so I'll stop telling you about the Lord Elgin. Friday came, and with our backpacks filled to bursting, we waited around for Maurice, the guy who was driving us. However, Alice had a missed call and a voicemail from earlier that day, neither of which we could check because we didn't have any minutes. As 3pm snuck past us, and there was still no sign of Maurice - though, cruelly, there was an identical car to his - we began to worry that he'd cancelled, or changed his time, and perhaps, God forbid, there would be no Lord Elgin after all. Thankfully, he turned up at the garage just after 5 past 3, and we hopped in, ready for the trek to Ottawa. He even spoke a bit of English, which was a relief, but mostly he stayed silent as he tackled the 5 hour drive - whilst Alice and I napped, talked rubbish and napped some more. Despite a couple of issues with traffic jams and closed roads that familiarised me with some choice French swear words, we made it into Ottawa not much after 8. It was a really short walk to the hotel, a walk which I attempted to take longer by stopping in the middle of a bridge and insisting that we weren`t supposed to cross the river. Thankfully, a helpful Canadian stopped by and pointed out our hotel - it was indeed over the river and I bashfully accepted my terrible map reading. Anyway, we made it to the hotel, courtesy of this nice Canadian girl and also Alice`s correct reading of the map, and even managed to catch the last 15 minutes of Masterchef Junior - oh go on, judge me for that. I have no regrets. It had been a long journey and it was really too late to consider anything other than room service, which I managed to order over the phone - for anyone who knows me well enough, they'll know that I avoid phone conversations at all costs. I had a pretty wicked chicken & artichoke pizza which was smothered in far too much cheese, adding more fuel to Alice`s idea that I love cheese (I don't like cheese any more than any other person).
Saturday dawned - but not too early. After weeks of restless sleeps, the queen beds at the Lord Elgin were really too good to get out of and we managed to crawl to Tim Hortons (oh, Canada) for around half 11. From there, we tried desperately to seek out a tour bus, but were hopelessly unsuccesful - though we did manage to stumble upon Parliament. After booking a tour for the afternoon, we found ourselves, predictably, at the mall. I can't begin to explain how excellent it was to be back in a place that primarily spoke English. We indulged in froyo (frozen yoghurt) and smoothies, before heading back for our tour around parliament. I can almost hear the sighs of my friends - "she went to the capital and all she did was go look at parliament?!" - but it was a really great tour and a lot like our Houses of Parliament, but a lot better decorated, with an insanely cool library that looked exactly like it had fallen out of Hogwarts & Downton Abbey.
Anyway, after the tour we were at a bit of a loss. The cinema was suggested, we found a cinema, it was closed. China Town & Little Italy were suggested, but it was a bit of a walk - and then the heavens opened. And they really did open - thunder and lightening, the whole shabang. Running hopelessly through the streets of Ottawa in a storm, clutching an umbrella and hoping endlessly that I wouldn`t get struck by lightening with my umbrella, we tried to find somewhere to eat. Most of the places closed ridiculously early, and we're still not sure why. It was a fairly traumatic experience - the one redeeming factor being that I spotted highlights of the Newcastle - Liverpool game on through some random window. We eventually found a Subway where I thoroughly confused the guy with my pronunciation of tomato, before we dashed home to the L.E. to eat. It was only 5pm, but the weather was too horrific to even consider going out again. We bought chocolate, we bought Starbucks, but we were still incredibly bored. Alice took to building a fort out of spare pillows and blankets before hiding in the cupboard, whilst I dossed about before doing some weird kind of spins jumping onto the bed. It was a bit of a sugar high, I admit. Even though we'd been leaping about for hours and building forts and the like, we still couldn't sleep so we ended up talking crap for hours until far too late.
Sunday morning - half 9 alarms came as a bit of a shock. Starbucks for breakfast before we went down to board the Amphibus. You know the type - looks just like a regular bus until all of a sudden it decides to drive into the river and manages to stay afloat (most of the time, though the one in London did sink). We didn't sink though, so it was alright. It was really good, the tour guide was really well informed and took us round some of the cool sites in the city, as well as a nice sail out onto the river. It was a really surreal moment for me as we drove into the river, just before the bus started to float properly and the water lapped up onto the windscreen, I did think, oh crap, we're gonna sink. But all was well, and it was definitely a trip worth doing. We still had a little time to fill in after the Amphibus, so we tried to visit the church which is famous and supposed to be really beautiful. Predictably, we walked straight into the middle of mass, and had to sheepishly back out. Another plan foiled. We ended up at the National Art Gallery, which was surprisingly interesting and it had some really beautiful pieces of art. In the Canadian section, there were loads of paintings and works done by international artists who had moved over to Quebec. I managed to spot one from Berwick, one from Durham, and dozens from the rest of Britain. It was a really nice link to home, and much appreciated. However, we happened upon the modern art section. Without wishing to cause offence, what an absolute load of crap. One artwork was a piece of black cord going from the corner of the room to the other. There is absolutely no skill in this and no meaning. I really wish artists would get over themselves and accept that, no matter how eloquently put the description of the piece is, it is not an accurate depiction of the great struggle to find oneself and the true meaning of life in an increasingly hedonistic world - it is a piece of cord, get over yourself and learn to draw. Rant over.
So yes, it was a fully cultured weekend, and we even managed to find Maurice at the end of it. The journey home was slightly shorter, though on the way back we had a third passenger in the car. Ignorant as it sounds, I still don't know his name - I slept quite a lot, which Alice decided would be hilariously to film (admittedly the video of my head dropping is canny funny), and then I spent far too long laughing at her impression of Maurice's head bobbing along to his African driving tunes - which were, surprisingly, both fun and helpful in going to sleep.
So that was Ottawa, it was wicked. Maybe when I get home I'll edit this post and stick some photos in. We also made our first trip to the cinema last week - Gravity in 3D. And also in English, too much effort to concentrate on things flying out of the screen as well as a foreign language. I thought it was a really good film, though it was a bit of an emotional rollercoaster, and at some points I genuinely wondered if anything else could go wrong for poor Sandra Bullock. It's proper edge of your seat cinema though, and 3D really does enhance it - I ducked out of the way of spaceship debris several times.
Anyway, I may or may not have a class arriving in 11 minutes. It's all a bit up in the air, my class didn't show up this morning, and then afterwards the teacher I'm working with (final day today) gave me a thanks and see you next year speech, telling me he'd told the kids they won't see me until next year. Bit confusing, as I'm still supposed to see them today... but I have no complaints about getting paid for sitting on Snapchat. I'll leave it here, as once again this has become a bit of an essay, but hopefully I'll manage to blog more regularly and therefore keep things a little shorter.
arrivederci x
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