The Canada Experience..!

April - August 2006


Bonjour!

( That was ‘hello’ in French !)

As we embarked upon our first onsite trip (I was accompanied by my friend Preeti) .. our minds started to imagine.. our minds started painting a picture of ‘Toronto’- also called the city of imagination! Even more beautiful than we imagined and even more colorful than we painted, was Toronto!
One of the safest cities of the world and rated as one of the best cities to live in, Toronto means ‘a meeting place’ and it surely was a meeting place for people from all around the world. We were amazed to find such a wonderful blend of cultural diversity in peace and harmony..

Toronto is famous for housing the worlds tallest tower – the CN tower, alas how exciting it was to walk on the glass floor at 1815 feet. I still remember Preeti screaming as I pulled her on the glass!

One thing that comes to your mind when you think of Canada are the world’s famous Niagara falls. An hour and a half drive from Toronto are the majestic falls. The first sight of it sends a chill down your spine! We took a ride on the ‘maid of the mist’ to admire the falls more closely. They are truly natures marvel on earth. As we approached closer to the falls we were engulfed in the mellifluous mist and beauty of largest falls on earth!

Few minutes from Toronto are three islands Hanlan’s, Centre island and Ward’s island. A ferry takes you on the ride. It made our day as we rode bicycle’s after seven years! You can see people biking, running, skating, jogging and enjoying the summers to the fullest.

Our next destination is the province of Quebec. We visited Quebec city, Montreal, Kingston and thousand islands too!

Old Quebec city reminds you of the old European towns with cobble stone streets, musicians and stage artists performing on the roads, face painters and magicians charm you with their flair. We felt we were flown back in time surrounded by fairy tale characters. New Quebec city was incredibly beautiful, with an astounding architecture of every house we came across.

Montreal charmed us by the Notre Dame church. A mass was already in progress as we marveled at its lavish and beautiful interiors, stained glass windows, gold-tipped polychrome carvings, paintings, statues, and especially its lavish altarpiece.
Biodome De Montreal (Biodome Of Montreal) was a home for the entire ecosystem! We saw beavers and parrots and tiger sharks and penguins all under one roof!

Thousand Islands actually left us counting every island we passed by on our 2 hours ferry ride. These are a chain of islands that straddle the U.S.-Canada border in the Saint Lawrence River Julia Robert, Sharon Stone.. to name a few owned classy houses on each of the islands! We heard that the rich and famous came once a year to vacation on these islands.

Ottawa, the capital of canada has the parliament hill, house of common, canadian national museum, mint factory..etc. We were on time for the world famous tulip festival held every summer! Ottawa, portrays the true culture and tradition of canada.

Be it the colorful tulips or the wonderful mapel leaves, we will cherish the sweet memories of Toronto forever!

Salut !