Lazy Day

MP3 track of the day - The Importance of being Idle - Oasis

Weather: Sunny and warm, a little windy

So a Conservative government (with a little Lib Dem mixed in). Well, as friends at work would tell you, I'm not bias towards any party however ... WELL DONE DAVID CAMERON come on!

Anyway Well last night didn't go quite as I planned; I was talking, and watching rubbish American TV, with two other English blokes until 11:00pm (who seem really nice), so I skipped tea and went to bed.

There were only two things left that I wanted to do today; the falls and walk through downtown. I arrived at the falls and they weren't quite what I expected; the falls (as you can see from pics on my Flickr account) are man-made and really not all that (especially after Niagara). Still the park, and view, were quite nice so I stayed for a little while. Finally I went downtown and had a walk around there; again not really allot to see.

At about mid day I found myself with little to do; Ottawa is a great place to chill but there isn't allot going on. I wish Ottawa was further within my travels, when I was a bit more tired, because it makes a great relaxing city. You have to keep reminding yourself that you are in a capital city (and the capital city of the second largest country in the world) because Derby feels busier; however this is Ottawa's attraction, it's just a lovely relaxing place and I love it.

After having something to eat I quickly went around the Ottawa market (usual tat with some lovely flowers) located at Byward market. The only way I can describe the Byward market area is that it looks a bit like a wild wild west town, just a little more modern (for a photo click here).

I'm now back at my hostel; I'm on the balcony that's attached to my dorm (first time I've ever had a balcony with a dorm before) just watching the world go by. I plan to do a little reading and sleeping before have tea at the stake house (didn't do too well with food yesterday, so I have to make it up today).

While there isn't much doing on I thought I would talk about how I feel the first week has gone (very quickly would be a good description). Money wise, I've spend around £47.00 per day. It's a little too high, but it's also a little too early to tell with the money situation as things seem to be getting cheaper the further I move way from Toronto:

• Hostel stay in Toronto £20.00 without breakfast


• Hostel stay in Ottawa £16.00 without breakfast


• Hostel stay in Montreal £12.00 with breakfast

It also looks like I'll be moving around by Greyhound most of the time. The train (my preferred choice) is so expensive compared to the bus and, because I'm an HI member, I get a discount on the Greyhound services. So for example Toronto to Ottawa:

• Train $105.00 - 5 hours


• Coach $50.33 - 6 hours

No competition really. Speaking of money I got my info for my Alaskan trip emailed to me today (got to love the internet ... the most useful, and time consuming, communication tool of the 21st century) and there are additional charges I didn't know about; for example taking a shower on a campsite can cost $2/£3 (£1.25/£2) per day, so 14 days is £28.00. It's custom to tip the guide $5.00 (£3.75 per day) if they are good (£52.50). I'm sorry but I've paid for this trip already, why should I have to trip the the guide who works for the tour provider ... the tour provider should pay him more! It's so annoying; I don't mind paying the extra £50 for 2 weeks but why didn't they say that at the beginning (or add an additional £50 onto the price ... could be tax reasons I suppose?) because I haven't budgeted for it and I certainly am not going to pay that amount on principle.

Finally I thought I would quickly mention the positives and negatives of Canada. The positives is everyone is friendly and very, very polite. The country is beautiful and there is lots to see ... it's also fairy cheap too. The bad parts is that everyone is very polite, which can get very annoying. The other thing is the word Awesome ... "That's really awesome", "this is awesome", "she awesome", "that toilet is awesome". If I hear that word again I'll go mad! I've also decided that the UK is the worlds best country for comedy ... here they don't understand irony, and their sense of humour is so cringey ... not dry at all. Bring Black Adder over from Blighty and make it a compulsory subject at school. Any finally, Canada's official language is English ... so I wish they spoke English. No that's not a sidewalk, no that is not a 'buck' and they are definitely not pants!

Anyway that's it from me today; don't think I'll be posting tomorrow. My bus from here to Montreal doesn't leave until 5:00pm and so I'll be lounging around here until 3:00pm and getting to my Montreal hostel at 8pm, so not a lot happening tomorrow.

Toodle Pip