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Our last week traveling has been exciting and we saw a lot. We took a bus from Montreal to Toronto on Wednesday and were greeted by Ashleigh's aunt and uncle. They took us out for dinner to a terrace overlooking the main square in downtown Toronto. The following two days Ashleigh and I explored their city of Burlington, which is only an hour away from Toronto along Lake Ontario. We went for many walks and at night we would go out with Ashleigh's aunt & uncle. One night we drove down to the pier by Lake Ontario, which was mistakenly built too high and is therefore useless for boats trying to dock. Another night we went on a hike along the Niagara escarpment. The view from the top was amazing and we could easily spot Toronto in the distance. The trail was nice and it felt great being in nature again. On Saturday the four of us went to Niagara Falls. The waterfalls are absolutely breathtaking and we picked a nice sunny day for our day trip. We walked along the falls and booked the tunnel tour. On the tour we descended down to the bottom of the falls and got up really close to the water falling down. We all got soaked of course, but we had some ponchos on. The tunnel then followed the falls to the center, where we stopped at a gap so we could hear and feel the power of the waterfalls. It was definitely the highlight of the falls. We had a picnic near the falls and BBQd hotdogs. On our way back we stopped along the gorge and at a town by the lake. The beach was beautiful, but the water wasn't recommended for swimming due to the pollution. After some ice cream we headed back to Burlington to meet Ashleigh's cousins for dinner. We met the rest of the family and enjoyed a few glasses of wine while playing cards. On Sunday we drove into the city to meet our friend Alisha in Toronto. We had lunch in liberty village, and then headed to the lakeshore where we would be staying with her parents. Their apartment is right by the water across from Toronto island and has amazing views. At night Ashleigh and I walked around the city, stopping at the Wayne Gretzky restaurant as well as the CN tower and the blue jays stadium. We then met Alisha at an improv show at a place called "The Second City". The show was hilarious and the acting was really good. The three of us had some drinks afterwards at a nearby pub and called it a night. On Monday we walked to the distillery district which is a unique area of Toronto. It's cobblestone streets are lined with art galleries and cool shops. We enjoyed lunch there and had a tea at a coffee shop. For dinner we stayed in, had a home cooked meal and some drinks while enjoying the good company. Tuesday marked our official last day of travel (at least for me) and before leaving for the airport, the three of us relaxed on the beach for a bit. Allisha dropped us off at the airport and our flight to Winnipeg went by fast. My whole family met us at the airport and we had a picnic at the Assiniboine park. It's hard to believe our travels have come to an end, but it has been an amazing few weeks exploring Canada. We are thankful to all family and friends who took us in along the way, making our across Canada journey an unforgettable part of our round the world trip. Darlene drove us to Ottawa to see Ashleigh's grandparents. It was only a two hour drive and the scenery was quite nice on the way. At night we all met up at Ashleigh's uncles house outside Ottawa, where I finally got to meet the whole extended family. They surprised us with an engagement party, a delicious BBQ and a cake. It was nice to meet everyone and we enjoyed our visit. The next day we drove to downtown Ottawa, where Ashleigh and I explored the city for the rest of the day. We stopped by the parliament hill first to get a tour, but they were all booked out. However, we did get tickets for the bell tower for the afternoon. We walked along the main road past some other government buildings and had lunch at Timmies. In the afternoon we got to go inside the parliament building. Security was tight, but there wasn't a long line up so we got up to the bell tower quickly. The view from up top is amazing and we were glad to have gotten up there. We spent some time wandering around the building and then headed out to the Rideau Canal. We walked past the many locks and took a break at another viewpoint from which we could see the parliament hill better. The rest of the day we just strolled around the streets stopping at all major sights. We also went inside the Canada Mint where the coins are made. Since traffic was terrible we decided to walk out of the core, so Ashleigh's aunt could pick us up easier. We found Stephen Harpers residence, but he didn't let us in for tea. We waited by his place for our ride and that was our eventful day exploring the capital. For the rest of the week we spent time with Ashleigh's grandparents, did some shopping and relaxed. We came back to Montreal for the long weekend and relaxed some more. Monday was a nice day so we had a pool day at uncle Ron's. Besides eating delicious food, and drinking cold beer our weekend was very relaxed. It has been a week now since we returned to Canada and time is flying by. We spent the week with Ashleigh's relatives and kept busy. Ashleigh's aunt took us to the Olympic stadium in Montreal as well as the Biodome, which was quite cool. Since the weather had been amazing we spend some time by the pool at uncle Ron's and would always enjoy some cold beers at night. All of us went on a full day tour of Montreal. We got a full view of the city from the top of Mount Royal and then wandered the cobblestone streets of Old Montreal. On the weekend we went out to watch the hockey game at a pub and we stopped by the fanzone, before the hockey game. It has been a good few days with plenty of delicious food and great company. We had an overnight flight to Montreal and we both passed out for a few hours during the flight, but didn't sleep very well. We arrived in the morning and Ashleigh's Uncle, Ron picked us up from the airport (after we had a timmies coffee). We went out for a big breakfast, stopped at Lisa's work and then finally got some much needed sleep. We woke up around 4pm and Lisa picked us up to go to Chatuageauy. Ron barbecued some chicken and we had a delicious balanced meal with some cold beers. We had some good conversations and it was great to see everyone again. We didn't last long and were back in bed around 9pm. After a long flight, multiple beers, delicious food and a few movies we landed safely in Vancouver, gaining a full day - It was still May 3rd. Our friend Jill picked us up around noon and we went to the Olympic flame in the city. It was a lot smaller than expected, but neat to see. We had a very healthy lunch and then went to Jill's apartment. It has incredible views of the city and the nearby mountains. We took their dog to the beach and flew a kite there. It was a very nice sunny day and it was weird being back in Canada. It felt like we had never left. Everyone was out and about, people were hanging out and the whole atmosphere was chill. It is nice to be back for sure! For dinner we had grilled cheese and soup, made by Jill and Bill fried up some prawns he had caught earlier. We relaxed at night and watched a hockey game, before we had to return to the airport for our connecting flight. It is so nice to be back and we enjoyed Vancouver, our first stop thanks to our friends Jill & Bill. Today was "The Day", and even though it seemed just like any other travel day, it is special. Today we are going to Canada :) After a good sleep (we don't seem to lose sleep before long travel days anymore, even though this one is our travel day back to Canada), we woke up and had a small breakfast. We said our goodbye to Kelly and will see her on perhaps another continent. We walked one last time with our backpacks (which are very light at this point) to the metro and started the three hour journey to the airport. All went smoothly at the airport and we are looking forward to a flight with entertainment and meal service on the new Dreamliner once more :) It is hard to believe, it's been over thirteen months since we first started this incredible journey. Our past year has been filled with good memories, we have seen amazing places, met kind people whom we now call our friends and have learned a lot. Traveling became our lifestyle, we got used to waking up in completely different places frequently and getting around new spots became second nature. It is difficult to summarize a years worth of traveling, trying to pinpoint our favorite country or moment. We are thankful to those that have been part of our journey, whether on the road with us or from far away in thoughts. It is the people that made our travels exciting and who will be in our memories forever. Even though we are going on our final flight to Canada, we are not yet done traveling. Follow us on our exciting trip through Canada! There are yet more memories to be made and people to meet & places to see. Where one journey ends, another begins! See you today Canada! We didn't do much in the morning, just went to the supermarket and tried all the free samples there, before heading back for lunch. In the afternoon we walked along the river to a nice area and then got ready to go out. We met up with some of the other guys and then took the metro to Itaewon, a funky area for expats. It felt like we were in a completely different country, western restaurants and pubs were lined up and mostly expats were walking around. We had some Greek food for dinner and then went to an Irish pub for some good draft beer. We played drinking games at the pub and had a lot of laughs. Ashleigh and I left around 11pm to catch the last train back to Suji, arriving just before 1am. Goodnight Seoul! Today we decided to go hiking instead of running around the city all day, and so we started our long metro journey around 9am arriving near Bukhansan National Park after 11am. When exiting the station we thought we were on an advanced base camp of a high altitude mountain. Basically all Korean hikers were decked out in full climbing gear, only missing an ice axe or crampons perhaps. It was a funny sight considering it was nearly thirty degrees outside and the highest peak in the park didn't even reach a thousand meters. We followed the colorful crowd with the brand name clothing and full backpacks (we tried guessing what they could possibly have in a full 60 liter backpack, but could not come up with a good guess). The road passed by tons of hiking stores, all major brands were represented. One could basically show up in underwear, and by the time they reach the park entrance be fully decked out in climbing gear, ready for K2. We got to the gate and talked to the park staff, who seemed to be very happy to help and practice their English. We got enough info on a trail that we liked and then we started the hike up towards Dobongsan Peak. Since it was a holiday, the trail was quite packed with the serious hiking crowd. We had lunch in the shade and then stopped by a beautiful temple to drink the magical water, which apparently added a hundred years to our lifetime. The trail got pretty steep after the temple and we had to go up some steps while trying to avoid the mass of other hikers. We made it to the top of Dobongsan Peak (740m) a couple hours later and were welcomed by an amazing view of Seoul. Even though the smog was hanging over the city, we could see a good part of it. High rise apartments are stacked everywhere. We sat down on a rock to admire the view for a while. A group of hikers came up asking us something in Korean. I assumed they wanted me to take a picture or have one taken with us, but that was not the case. In a very rude gesture they basically told us to move from our spot, so they could take a picture of themselves right there. I told them that was not going to happen and they moved on. A couple minutes later the same scenario happened again. We found it strange, but got over it and started our descent. We made a wrong turn on the way down, so we had to backtrack a bit, but we found an alternative route down which was a lot less crowded. The trail was nice and shaded, we arrived at the bottom after a good workout, ready to go back to our place. After a long metro ride back we went straight to our new favorite restaurant and had a big dinner, before giving our legs a break for the day. After a nice breakfast we started the long trip into Seoul, which took over an hour from Suji. Our first stop was at the Gwanghwamun Square, which has a bunch of statues. We found a spot by the Microsoft building for lunch, before going into the Gyeongbokgung Palace complex. It's basically like the forbidden city in Beijing, a massive compound of buildings. We walked around for a while, took a break by a nice garden and then had enough. We continued east passing through the Bukchon Hanok village, which is a maze of very unique traditional houses. There are many craft shops, cafes and museums hidden in the streets. We got lost on purpose, but headed east in a general direction until we got to another palace. We decided not to go in, after spending so much time at the first one and instead made our way back to a metro station through another cool neighborhood. We got back to our town in time for dinner, but it took us a while to find a place. There are many pubs in this area, but most menus were not in English and had no pictures making it difficult for us to settle, especially since most staff knew almost no English either. However, we spotted a restaurant in a side alley with the first translated menu and delicious looking pictures of fried rice. The price was perfect and so we sat down. They cooked the food right on our table, and we helped ourselves to salads. After being in SE so long where everything has a price, we weren't quite sure what our bill would come out to. We enjoyed our fried rice with chicken and octopus and then went up to pay. It really did only cost us as much as advertised and the many salads and soups were part of the price. We left satisfied and will be back for sure. At night we went to CU, like a 7 Eleven where we joined the group and had some drinks while playing games. |
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November 2022
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