View Full Version : Confused in Canada (Linda's blogette)
I have decided to try a little blogette, despite being quite confused about what happened when. As we were all staying in different hotels/apartments, we all have different stories to tell, which is why I decided to add my bit. Although I am afraid it is a story of mistaken timings, panic attacks and lack of wine! Please bear with me.
I had booked my tickets with WestJet Gatwick-Toronto-Ottawa & return the same way. WestJet are a Canadian economy airline (so rather like EasyJet) - they used to just be in Canada but started their Gatwick-Toronto route about a year ago. When I booked my flights, I could not book my luggage as apparently that could only be done when you check in. I like to have everything sorted out well in advance so I was a little apprehensive.
I went to check in a couple of weeks before my flight (with EasyJet you can check in almost a month before your flight!) but it wouldn't let me - you can't check in until 24 hours before your flight. So I wouldn't be able to book my luggage until then. I immediately went into panic mode. My heart was racing nineteen to the dozen (my normal heart rate is only 52 so I really feel it when it races) and I thought I was about to have a heart attack! I phoned WestJet and the lady assured me that there would be plenty of room for my luggage. However I wasn't entirely convinced and didn't really calm down until I'd got my luggage on the flight at Gatwick. I thought of a load more questions so phoned them again - not all of the info I got was correct.
Anyway, when I finally got to Gatwick (hours too early, of course) there was no problem with my luggage, and the lady there told me that I would have to take my case off the carousel at Toronto and put it on the one for Ottawa (this was not what I had been told on the phone, but was correct). At Gatwick I had plenty of time for a Lebanese breakfast. The couple on the table next to me also said it was very nice. I thought they had Canadian accents and wondered if they would be on the same flight as me. I then went to the Accessorise shop and bought a nice tote bag (as I'd already bought a newspaper and two bottles of water for the journey) and went to the Swatch shop and bought a nice novely watch.
I did see the Canadian couple again at the gate as we were indeed on the same flight. The flight from Gatwick to Toronto was long but fine. I'd read my Telegraph, done all the puzzles, and read a novel and a half on my Kindle. At Toronto I did indeed have to collect my case, drag it round the corner and then lift it onto another conveyor belt. Then I had to go through security again - and they confiscated my second (unopened) water bottle, although they allowed my empty water bottle through!
On the flight to Ottawa, I was seated next to a lady who lived in Ottawa. I asked her if she could recommend any medium-priced restaurants, maybe Italian. She said that there were many restaurants near my hotel. She also said 'there are also a lot of bars - I wish there weren't, but there are' which made me wonder whether the bars in the area were not very nice. She also said that the WestJet macaroni cheese was to die for so I decided to order it for my return journey (on WestJet, if you want a hot meal, you have to order it in advance). She also told me about Winterlude and said I should go to the park near the canal to look at the ice sculptures.
On arrival at Ottawa, I got the 97 bus to my hotel (one of the reasons I had chosen this hotel was that the airport bus stopped just outside). It was quite late by then, so having settled into my room, I just went across the road to Subway to get something to eat.
In the morning I went to the 'Bibliotheque' cafe for breakfast. This was attached to and owned by the hotel, but open to all. Hotel residents got 10% discount. Then I went out sightseeing. My hotel was ideally placed for this (another reason why I'd chosen it). I walked across the road to the park where the Winterlude festival was being held. However it seemed that it was still being set up. So I asked someone and they said it would be open tomorrow (Friday). So I walked along the canal (frozen over, there were some skaters on it) up to the Parliament buildings. Then I crossed the canal and walked up to where the national art gallery is. I have no idea why there is an enormous model of a spider outside. The catholic cathedral is right opposite. I walked around another park there where I could look back to the parliament buldings. Then I went to the Byward market and had a walk around. There are so many restaurants and shops - rather like Covent Garden. There was a stall selling 'beaver tails' - I'd been told to try these, so I had one. The standard one is cinnamon and sugar. I asked for not too much sugar. It was delicious. I also had a 'hot apple cider' which was very welcome in the cold, but it is not cider at all. More on that later. I then walked all along past the parliament buldings until the Supreme Court, then made my way back to my hotel.
For lunch I went back to the Bibliotheque cafe. I was already seated when another lady was seated at the table next to me. It transpired that she was also here for the tennis. Her name was Helen; she wasn't a member of any of the fan clubs but travelled independently. At Ghent she had met some very nice Murraynators but had decided against joining their forum. I have hopes of her joining amff. Anyway, for the rest of the weekend we pretty much stuck together. It turned out that she had got a suite comprising of bedroom, living room and kitchen and had paid less than I had just for my room! She suggested that we needn't go to the cafe for breakfast, as we could shop for everything we needed, and eat in her kitchen. So in the afternoon we went shopping. We got all the things we needed for breakfast. The 'wine shop' was in a separate corner to the rest of the supermarket, and it was very small with not much choice. The lady serving told us that the 'dry white wine' was not really very dry, and said that the only one that she could say was at all dry was the Pinot Grigio. So we bought that.
Then, as we had both been told by several people that we 'absolutely must' go to Tim Horton's, we did. I was very surprised that the decor & furnishings were similar to MacDonalds or Subway - I had expected something a little more upmarket. It might be alright for those people who like sticky buns and 'coffee' that is more like a knickerbocker glory, but it was not my thing at all. I had my usual black coffee but it was rather weak. I had a cinnamon whorl - but it was not like our Danish ones, it was of a stodgy cake consistency and covered with a sticky sugary glaze.
It's starting to sound as if I didn't like Canada too much, but I did, I really did, so please read on!
On arrival in Canada I'd had the usual roaming text and was appalled at the charges, so had to use the phone as little as possible. I texted Hawkeye to ask him if we were all meeting up that evening (Thursday). Early in the evening he texted back to say that he was in a bar and where it was, so Helen and I walked over there. My fears about the bars were totally unfounded as it was very pleasant. The drinks were expensive, but I'd seen that in Norway so wasn't overly perturbed. After a while, Supergran joined us as well (she'd come by taxi although her hotel was only just round the corner from the bar). We spent a pleasant evening drinking and eating in the bar, and afterwards Helen and I walked Supergran back to her hotel.
Throughout the evening, I'd been checking my phone to see if I had a message from RoastLamb, but I didn't get any messages. She'd previously said that she would probably be too tired to go out Thursday night after driving up from Niagara, so I wasn't surprised. But the next morning I did get a text - apparently she'd sent me a text but I never got it. Hawkeye set up a Messenger group for us to keep in contact with each other, but I couldn't get it on my phone so could only see the messages when I used my Kindle at the hotel.
On Friday morning, Helen and I had breakfast in her room then went over to the park to see what was happening. Winterlude had now started. There was an ice sculpture competition going on - all the competitors had been given 2 hours to produce their sculptures. When we arrived there was about 15 minutes to go. Finally they were all stopped - some were clearly unfinished - and they said that the winner would be announced at 6pm (so we never found out who the winner was). It was quite impressive what they had managed to do in such a short time. I had a text from RoastLamb saying that they were going to the Parliament building, so Helen and I went up there too (only a few yards away) and met up with Fiona and Katie. They said that they wanted to go to a 'posh' burger restaurant for lunch, not too far from the tennis venue, so we agreed to meet them there.
Helen and I walked (not far) to the bus stop for the bus that would take us to the venue, but got off at the stop for the burger restaurant. We had a very nice meal there with Fiona and Katie. It was quite amazing how much choice you could have in a burger restaurant (although many years ago, when I was young, there was a similar restaurant in Earl's Court called the Hungry Years). Then we walked the rest of the way to the venue.
There is not much point in telling you all about the tennis as you all saw it. Roy, Hawkeye, Supergran and I were all sitting together in the third row immediately behind the umpire. Helen was about four rows behind us. RoastLamb and Katie were sitting elsewhere, as was Roy's friend John.
We weren't surprised that Dan won his match, but had hoped that Kyle would win his also. That wasn't to be, so the day finished at 1-1.
When we left, there were huge queues for the buses (which were free, by the way - for two hours before start of play and four hours after finish of play). So Helen and I decided to go somewhere to have a cup of tea or something and wait for the queues to go down. We walked quite a way as most places were full, then found a wholefood restaurant with empty seats. She had pancakes and I had a very nice soup. I also had a 'hot apple cider' and here I saw how it was made - they put a spoonful of some sort of powder in the glass, then topped up with hot water.
When we left the wholefood restaurant, it took us quite some time to get a bus - because they were all sailing past us already full. There had been some talk of extra buses being laid on, but it seems that hadn't happened. Eventually we got a bus and went back to the hotel. We didn't need anything to eat as we'd had a big lunch and a small meal at the wholefood restaurant, so we just chilled in Helen's room with the Pinot Grigio and healthy raw carrots and hummus.
Saturday morning dawned and we had breakfast in Helen's room again. We'd already worked out what time we should get the bus to get to the venue not too early, not too late. So we set off at the appointed time.
When we got on the bus, we saw leaflets advertising the 'SNO-BUS'. This was operating at weekends only during Winterlude and went from Confederation Park (by our hotel, the one with the ice sculpture competition) to Dow Lake, stopping at the tennis venue! And it was also free! So we would use that in future as the bus stop was nearer to the hotel than the normal bus.
Then we started to realise that we would be about an hour too early and wondered how we had miscalculated. So when we got off the bus, we wandered around and went in the Lindt shop. I had no idea that they did all those different flavours of Lindor. Then we went in a cafe for coffee. We were sitting drinking our coffee when for some reason I don't know, I got my ticket out and looked at it. We weren't an hour to early at all, we had been correct originally - the tennis was due to start in 10 minutes! So we gulped back our coffee and went straight into the venue for the tennis.
This time I went and sat back in Helen's row as there were 4 empty seats there, and I would have plenty of room for waving my large flag. As you all know, the doubles was an absolutely brilliant match and could have gone either way, but thankfully we won it! So we finished the day at 2-1.
Really good read there Linda. Enjoying it. Lovely experience for you all.
Yes, thank you for doing a blog Linda. Looking forward to the next instalment, it's great to read all about the bits we didn't see and get the different perspectives from the 3 of you who have kindly written blogs.
Great read, Linda! Your memory obviously has returned. :phew:
patmoren
20-02-2017, 15:34
Thanks Linda, you obviously enjoyed your trip. No mention of the weather did you manage the cold OK?
Ah yes, I forgot to mention the weather! It was lovely :) cold and snowy :) I was nice and warm in all my cold weather gear, but I could feel the cold stinging my face. After I'd been walking around sightseeing on the Thursday, when I got back to my hotel room and looked in the mirror, my face was bright red! When I went to Slovakia I got several new broken veins on my face, but then I was out in it all day every day. I don't think I got any more this time, but I've got so many now that it wouldn't make much difference!
I also forgot to mention that the seats at the venue were the most comfortable I've found in all my years of attending tennis matches.
There are probably a lot of other things I've forgotten to mention too, that might come to me later . . .
My next post will be about our trip to Dow Lake on the Sno-Bus, but first I've got to see about travel to Rouen!
We'd decided to have our forum meal out on Saturday night. But there was time to do something else first, so Helen & I got on the Sno-Bus to Dow Lake. The bus followed the road alongside the canal, so we could see all the skaters on it. There were a large number of skaters, and also some pulling toboggans and some pushing fancy carriages that looked as though they ought to contain a Snow Queen. Helen said the only way I would get her onto the ice would be to push her along in one of those, but I don't know if they were available for hire!
When we got to Dow Lake we went into the restaurant building. There is a nice restaurant overlooking the lake. So we took seats and watched all the skaters on the lake. We had a cup of coffee and a Beaver Tail. There was plenty of choice on the menu, but of course I would be eating out later (Helen had decided against coming with us as she said she was a bit jetlagged and needed to catch up on her sleep). I thought to myself, what a lovely place this is for families, with so much to do out of doors. It must be great for kids growing up. I expect it is just as lovely in the summer - they probably have boating on the lake then. It was getting quite dark but it wasn't putting off the skaters. So we got back on the Sno-Bus which took us back past TD place to Confederation Park, the whole length of the canal. There were still plenty of skaters on it all the way. The park was busy then with lots of people, and music playing. Our hotel was only just over the road from there.
We hadn't booked a restaurant - we thought that as there were only a few of us we wouldn't need to. Hawkeye had told us to meet him at 8pm at the corner of Byward Market. So I duly set off, and arrived there pretty much at the right time. Hawkeye was waiting there. He said that SG would wait to hear what restaurant we were in and then get a taxi, but Roy & John should be on their way. We waited a while and then he got a message from Roy saying he was outside a particular bar - we looked there and there was no sign of him. :confused: After a bit, Roy turned up - he said he'd been early so gone for a drink. John wasn't coming. Then Hawkeye got out his list of restaurants that had been recommended by the LTA. We went to the medium-priced Italian but it was full and with a queue waiting. So we went to the expensive Italian. It was nearly full but they found room for us. We sat down and Hawkeye contacted SG to let her know where we were.
We were brought menus and glasses of water. That was something that impressed me in Ottawa - in all the restaurants they brought you water without being asked. They kept bringing refills, too. Unlike in the UK where they only bring it if asked as they want to sell more drinks. The waitress asked if we'd like to order any drinks - Hawkeye ordered a beer, Roy ordered an Irish coffee and I said I'd wait for Maureen to arrive as we'd probably share a bottle of wine. The waitress said she couldn't do an Irish coffee as they'd run out of 'Irish whisper' (or was it Irish Mist? Something like that, anyway). Roy said just put any whisky in it, so she was able to do it. I commented to Roy (rather rude of me, I suppose) that it was a strange drink to have before your meal. But he said that as he had a cold and sore throat, he didn't want to have a cold drink.
Then we looked at the menu. There were some very nice sounding dishes, albeit on the expensive side. But the wines! I couldn't believe it. Over here, a restaurant like that would have a selection of very fine wines. But these were the sort of wine you could get for a fiver in Tesco. And the prices! I think the cheapest bottle was around $50. By the time you've added on tax and a tip, that's close to $65. When SG arrived, we settled on a bottle of Pinot Grigio.
Maureen, Roy and I all chose the lobster cannelloni. It was delicious. It had a creamy sauce on it - not too heavy, very nice - and all around the edge of the plate were mussels in their shells. We all really enjoyed it. Hawkeye had a meaty pasta dish which he also said was good.
Afterwards, Hawkeye, SG and I all had a Limoncello but Roy asked for a cherry brandy. The waitress said they didn't do it - in fact by her confused look I don't think she'd ever heard of it. After quite some discussion between Roy and the waitress, with suggestions from the rest of us, he decided on a Southern Comfort (I think). When it came up, it definitely wasn't Southern Comfort as it was dark red. Perhaps it was cherry brandy after all? Roy was looking very dubious so I said I'd taste it and did. Ugh! It was that dreadful excuse for a drink known as Campari! Thank goodness I had the Limoncello to wash the taste away. However I said to Roy that as it tastes just like medicine it might do him some good, so he drank it. As far as I know he is still speaking to me.
It was a Drambuie that Roy asked for, but the point stands!
The Sno-Bus also went in the opposite direction, from Confederation Park to Gatineau Park. We'd have like to have gone there, too, but it only ran at weekends and we wouldn't have time with two matches to watch on the Sunday. I did, however, have time to go to church. I found that there was an Anglican church only a couple of blocks away from the hotel. I couldn't go to the main service at 10.30am but I could go to the early BCP service at 8.30am. So in the morning I walked down there. Although it was snowing outside it was very warm in the church. I wonder how they manage it. In my church it is always freezing cold and they say it's because the heat rises into the very high ceiling. Well, this was also a traditionally designed church with a very high ceiling. At home everybody keeps their coats on in church but here I had soon removed coat, hat, scarf, gloves, fleece, cardigan . . . the rest of the congregation must have been worried as to what would come off next!
They had a new vicar and this was his first service in the church (actually I think they called him something other than vicar, but it was the same sort of thing). He gave a very good sermon, if rather long. As this was the early service, there were of course only about 15 people there to hear it. At the end of the service, they all rushed to introduce themselves to him and his wife. Nobody spoke to me at all which I thought was very poor show. At our church we always make a point of welcoming visitors.
So then it was back to Helen's room for breakfast, then back through the park to the Sno-Bus to take us to the tennis.
Incidentally, I thought the bus services in Ottawa were fantastic. There were loads of routes and they all ran about every 15 minutes - so there was a continual stream of buses along the roads. They were cheap, too. Although we didn't have to pay for any of them as both the Sno-Bus and the other routes to the tennis were free.
I really must get back to this as the memories are fading fast! But I've been extremely busy at work all week and feeling quite knackered.
The Sno-Bus was definitely the best way to get to TD place as it took us virtually door to door. We had another exciting day of tennis ahead of us. I really thought that Dan would win his match; even when he was two sets down I was sure he would come back to win, and when he won the next set I was even more sure. I was sure right up until the last point had been played. Tiebreak in the last set, it could so easily have gone Dan's way, but unfortunately it didn't. So we were 2-2 and relying on Kyle. I would have thought he could beat Shapovalov but he hadn't played all that well on Friday so now I was worried. I even started to wonder who we were likely to get in the play-offs in September.
Thankfully, Kyle played well today. He won both the first sets, then when he got the break in the third it seemed certain - and indeed it was, due to the strange event that happened next. Well, you have all seen it but Helen & I didn't see what had happened due to people in front of us. I said, what's happened, has the umpire been taken ill? Helen said, I think he must have been hit by a ball, but I didn't see it. We couldn't work out what was going on. Then when it was announced that the match was defaulted we were so surprised. Of course after that break of serve the outcome was pretty certain anyway - that's why Shapovalov had his moment of frustration - but it was a shame that the tie ended that way rather than the match being played out. Although of course, it had to be a default as per the rules.
Helen and I went round to see Fiona and Katie. Fiona suggested going to a nearby Indian restaurant. Judging by Friday night, I thought it was highly unlikely that we'd get in and we'd have to walk for ages to find somewhere open. I'd lost sight of the others now, but thought it would be best to see where we ended up then let them know where we were. Anyway, to my surprise there was plenty of room in the Indian (although of course it was earlier than Friday, so probably a lot of people weren't ready to eat yet). I texted Hawkeye to tell him. He said that he & SG were in a bar watching the Superbowl (or it may have been some other sporting event that I know nothing about), and that he wanted to watch the match and SG was thinking of getting a taxi to the players' hotel.
Anyway, the four of us had a nice meal in the Indian restaurant. Then Fiona said, would we like to go back to their apartment for a cup of tea? So that is what we did. It was a fair walk - if SG had been with us, she would have had to take a taxi. They had got a very nice apartment; I believe they got it through Airbnb. So we had a cup of tea and a nice chat. Eventually I was feeling quite tired so Helen & I made our way back to the bus stop and returned to our hotel. She would be starting her journey home tomorrow afternoon but would have time to do some sightseeing with me in the morning (I wasn't going back till Tuesday).
I would have liked to go on the Sno-Bus in the opposite direction to Gatineau Park, but it only ran at weekends. My next choice would have been to go to the National Art Gallery (the one with the enormous spider outside) but on looking it up, found that it was closed on Mondays. So we decided to go to the Bytown museum. This was just up the road by the canal. It turned out to be very interesting. Bytown was the original name of the settlement that was eventually to become Ottawa. I had assumed it was called that because it was 'by the river' or something, but it was named after it's founder, Lieutenant-Colonel John By. He had been put in charge of building a canal linking the Ottawa River to Dow Lake, and then on, lake to lake, until reaching the sea. This was to be an alternate route to the sea as the British were afraid that the Americans might block the St Lawrence River.
The canal was a huge success and the whole length of it can still be navigated today. There are many locks, including the famous series of locks at the entrance to the canal (right by the Bytown museum) which raise the water level by I forget how much, but it is a lot.
Bytown first built up in the area where Byward Market now is - this was where the workers lived and was apparently quite a rough area. The 'posh' area built up on the other side of the canal where the parliament buildings now are.
We spent most of the morning at the museum as it was so interesting, until it was time for Helen to go back to the hotel, collect her things and depart.
Then I went to have a look around the Rideau Centre, a huge shopping mall. I looked at shoes, boots and hats but the prices were extortionate so I didn't buy anything. Then I went back across the canal to City Hall where they have an exhibition of modern art. Well, I obviously do not understand modern art. There were two separate exhibitions. One had a few photos of stones and large paintings that appeared to be of nothing at all, just white with one or two lines. Presumably they were meant to be inspired by the photos. The other had pictures mainly of Spiderman - these were meant to be a fusion of native culture and pop culture. There was also a film playing of a man handcuffed to a railing and being tortured by a young woman. It was meant to be a 'response to rape'. I hurried out as I don't like that sort of thing.
I have no memory of what I did for lunch. I think I must have gone back to the Biblioteque Cafe. It would have been quite late for lunch by then, but I'm sure I must have had something. Then I returned to my room and found that a takeaway menu had been put under the door. I had been wondering about going to the nearby Nando's for dinner but then thought I might as well get a takeaway. I texted Hawkeye to see if he was interested in going out for dinner (he was the only other one who hadn't gone home today) but he wasn't, so I decided I would have the takeaway. I thought I would go back to the wine shop to get wine to go with it. So back I went, to the little wine shop in the corner of the supermarket. I would have got some nuts as well, but I would have had to go into the main supermarket to a different till for that. The wine shop only sold wine, the supermarket sold everything except wine.
It reminded me of when I and my family visited my brother and his family in Queensland, Australia, some years ago. I did some shopping in the local supermarket and looked for wine as I wanted to buy a couple of bottles to take back to their place. I was told that the supermarket didn't sell wine, but there was a bottle shop next door. So on leaving the supermarket I saw that there was indeed a separate shop selling wine, so I went in and bought a couple of bottles. When I got back to my brother's house and presented them with the wine, they were quite shocked. It seems that decent people there don't go in 'bottle shops'. I'm sure it's different in places like Sydney & Melbourne, but that's how it was in a provincial town in Queensland. Then I recalled that the previous night, I'd commented to Fiona that there didn't seem to be much of a wine drinking culture in Canada. She said that there was in some places, but it wasnt as bad as in the UK. So similar outlook to the lady on the plane. Perhaps people seeing me go in the wine shop in Ottawa thought I was a disreputable person! :lol:
After wandering around some more, I went to Starbucks to have a coffee and read the newspapers (sorry, Canadians, but it's so much nicer than Tim Horton's!).
Then I went back to my hotel, to the room with the computers and printers, to check in for tomorrow's flight and book my luggage onto it (because as I explained at the beginning, you can only do that 24 hours before your flight).
By now it was early evening so I opened my wine and perused the takeaway menu. I had a very unhealthy but tasty meal which was conveniently delivered direct to my room.
The next morning I got up late as I would have a very long day and a half ahead of me. I had a leisurely breakfast in the cafe again, then packed and checked out. Strolled across to the bus stop which was right outside the hotel and was soon at the airport. I was of course quite early so I stopped for a coffee before checking my bag. Hawkeye then arrived - he must have caught the bus after mine - so we both checked our luggage, went through security and went to the bar (of course!). He had a beer and I asked what wines they had. The waiter said they had Sauvignon Blanc so I asked if it was Chilean or New Zealand. He said, neither, it is our own Niagara wine. So I had that and it was very nice. I wonder why I hadn't seen it anywhere else. I suppose I hadn't noticed it because I wasn't looking for it. Strangely, he brought me a glass of water as well.
We saw other people getting food so we decided we might as well have lunch. We asked for the menu. I ordered tacos but Hawkeye decided to try the speciality of Canada, which was on every menu everywhere (well, OK, not in the posh Italian) - poutine. This, I had been told, was chips, 'cheese curd' - whatever that is - and gravy. Well, chips with cheese, OK, chips with gravy, just about OK, but with both? It sounds disgusting. Anyway he ate it and said it was OK. His flight was an hour before mine so he then had to dash off to his gate. I only realised after he'd gone, I'd intended to buy him a drink (it was his birthday) but when we got the bill we each paid for our own. So, Ronnie, I'm really sorry and I still owe you a drink.
patmoren
24-02-2017, 11:44
I have no memory of what I did for lunch. I think I must have gone back to the Biblioteque Cafe. It would have been quite late for lunch by then, but I'm sure I must have had something. Then I returned to my room and found that a takeaway menu had been put under the door. I had been wondering about going to the nearby Nando's for dinner but then thought I might as well get a takeaway. I texted Hawkeye to see if he was interested in going out for dinner (he was the only other one who hadn't gone home today) but he wasn't, so I decided I would have the takeaway. I thought I would go back to the wine shop to get wine to go with it. So back I went, to the little wine shop in the corner of the supermarket. I would have got some nuts as well, but I would have had to go into the main supermarket to a different till for that. The wine shop only sold wine, the supermarket sold everything except wine.
It reminded me of when I and my family visited my brother and his family in Queensland, Australia, some years ago. I did some shopping in the local supermarket and looked for wine as I wanted to buy a couple of bottles to take back to their place. I was told that the supermarket didn't sell wine, but there was a bottle shop next door. So on leaving the supermarket I saw that there was indeed a separate shop selling wine, so I went in and bought a couple of bottles. When I got back to my brother's house and presented them with the wine, they were quite shocked. It seems that decent people there don't go in 'bottle shops'. I'm sure it's different in places like Sydney & Melbourne, but that's how it was in a provincial town in Queensland. Then I recalled that the previous night, I'd commented to Fiona that there didn't seem to be much of a wine drinking culture in Canada. She said that there was in some places, but it wasnt as bad as in the UK. So similar outlook to the lady on the plane. Perhaps people seeing me go in the wine shop in Ottawa thought I was a disreputable person! :lol:
Definitely Linda!!
I had a look round the shops, bought some more souvenirs (I'd already bought stuff in two souvenir shops in Ottawa) and went to my gate. After a while they announced a delay. Then on the board the gate number for my flight changed. The man at the gate said the board was wrong and we were still going from this gate. However our plane eventually landed at the other gate so we all had to dash over there. Once we got on the plane they had to spend some time de-icing it before we took off; however there was enough time between my flights for this not to be a problem.
The problems came at Toronto. It wouldn't have been so bad if they had been honest with us from the start - we could all see the plane waiting there, and they kept telling us that we would soon be boarding, once the pilots had finished "carrying out their tests". Then after about an hour they revised the departure time to an hour and a half late, saying that they'd had to check something in the engine but it was all OK now and we'd soon be boarding. Then later they said they were waiting for the mechanics to sign off what they'd done, and put the flight time back a bit more again. So all this time we thought we would be boarding at any moment (they even told us to have our documents ready to save time once we started boarding) so nobody dared to venture far. (The shops & restaurants were a very long way away at the opposite end of the terminal.) It was a full plane (nearly 300 people) and there were many families with young children. The kids were fed up - some started a game of football, others were grizzling. At midnight they gave us a new departure time of 01:10 and gave us meal vouchers (as it was now 3 hours from the original departure time of 21:00 so they were legally obliged to) and told us we could spend them in any of the restaurants in the terminal. So we all traipsed the long distance to the restaurants only to find, unsurprisingly, that they were all shut except for Tim Horton's. So we all got in a queue. It took ages. They only had 2 staff on and one was obviously a trainee. I finally got a sandwich at 12:50 and started to walk back, only to hear the announcement calling the last people for boarding. Some people were still queueing so had to go back without having got anything to eat. By the time everyone got back, we finally took off at 01:30 (four and a half hours late). The pilot told us what the problem had been - on landing, one of the engines hadn't been running correctly so it had to be recalibrated. This took time because the mechanics have to open it up to do it, then they have to test it, then repeat & repeat until it is right. If only they had told us this at the outset.
Oh, and the macaroni cheese which I had ordered due to the recommendation was not very nice after all.
So, to sum up.
I did really like Canada and would like to go back again for longer some day, and travel around more. It's a pity I couldn't do that on this trip but I was already really behind at work before the trip. The people were all very friendly (except, strangely, the ones in church!). The general surroundings were very pleasant. It seems a very healthy place, with families spending a lot of time outdoors. Although they do seem to like their tea and cakes - I wonder that they aren't all as big as houses! I suppose they do plenty of exercise, and don't drink as much wine as we do!
It was a pity that there weren't more forumites there, and that we were all staying in different places. Before arriving, I'd assumed that as SG was the only one in a hotel with a bar, we'd all meet up there every night, but she never suggested it. Now I've read her blog, I know why - she'd met a couple of Toy Boys and didn't want to share them with Helen and me! :lol:
But I still managed to socialise with the others which was nice. And it was great to meet up with Fiona again after all these years (we previously met at Wimbledon 2009) and to meet her lovely daughter Katie.
It was good to meet Helen; it was nice to have someone else in my hotel to hang around with. I suggested to her that she join the forum, but she's had a look at it now and was totally fazed by all the different threads. She'd assumed it would be like a Facebook page with just one thread. So she's not going to join but will see us at other DCs. She's already booked her travel & accommodation for Rouen and now just needs to get a ticket!
And finally it's always great to cheer for our boys and to get a win!
As Linda is first to finish, I'll hijack her blog with a few photos. If you have me on Facebook you'll have seen these, but not everyone is that unlucky!
Outside the venue.
http://i7.photobucket.com/albums/y297/arabest/TDPlace_zpsdcblu2xh.jpg
Rideau Falls, where the Rideau joins the Ottawa.
http://i7.photobucket.com/albums/y297/arabest/falls_zps25f8mzsp.jpg
A panorama of the view from the Alexandra bridge.
http://i7.photobucket.com/albums/y297/arabest/gatineau_zpsyab3kfww.jpg
Skaters on the Rideau canal.
http://i7.photobucket.com/albums/y297/arabest/rideau_zpsxkdgdy8a.jpg
Byward Market.
http://i7.photobucket.com/albums/y297/arabest/byward_zpsg9guxjgm.jpg
It was cold...
http://i7.photobucket.com/albums/y297/arabest/itwascold_zpsvco0zfkr.jpg
Canadian Parliament building.
http://i7.photobucket.com/albums/y297/arabest/parliament_zps01dp3sdb.jpg
supergran
24-02-2017, 13:34
Great blog Linda, very interesting. You saw and did such a lot. About socialising I did suggest visiting you with my gift of wine but to be honest didn't really see you after matches except for Saturday. You would have been very welcome at the Marriott but you didn't suggest it either so presumed you and Helen were doing your own thing.
Thank you for your very entertaining blog Linda. I really enjoyed reading it. I almost felt I had been there! Well done! :thanks:
Super pics Hawkeye! Thank you for those too. Real C'mas card scenes....so pretty.
Thanks Linda, thoroughly enjoyed hearing your take on Ottawa and you do seem to have packed in a lot during your short stay. Great photos, Hawkeyes, making me shiver looking at all that snow and ice!
RoastLamb
24-02-2017, 17:14
Great blog!!! You did miss out one tiny minuscule detail though. After dinner we walked up Banks St and had gelato before going back to mine. Sorry you had such a crappy flight home!
themass15
24-02-2017, 17:28
I am enjoying reading all the blogs. Sounds like you all had the most fantastic time, apart from some of the travelling!
goldfish
24-02-2017, 17:32
Very interesting Linda - enjoyed the extra details.
supergran
24-02-2017, 18:00
Great photos Hawkeye. Thanks.
Great blog!!! You did miss out one tiny minuscule detail though. After dinner we walked up Banks St and had gelato before going back to mine. Sorry you had such a crappy flight home!
Blimey, I'd completely forgotten the gelato! I told you my memory was going!
Really Great Blog Linda !! Glad you had such a good time :)
Did you try any ice-wine ?
( and YES some of us Canadians do love our wine ):wino:
JAMES4578
25-02-2017, 13:49
Glad you had a marvellous time Linda and entertaining blog, you did remember quite a lot!
Thanks Linda - good to read about your adventures!
Oh and thanks Hawkeye for the snowy pics!
goldfish
26-02-2017, 08:49
Thanks for sharing your trip with us - great to know that you had such a good time.
lovetennis
26-02-2017, 09:19
Enjoyed you blog Linda, thanks for writing it. Sounds like a great trip for everyone
RoastLamb
26-02-2017, 15:42
Really Great Blog Linda !! Glad you had such a good time :)
Did you try any ice-wine ?
( and YES some of us Canadians do love our wine ):wino:
Darn!!! Totally forgot to suggest it to Linda and Helen!
Thanks for the blog Linda. I enjoyed reading it.
Thanks for the blog Linda. It's interesting to read everyones adventures and I know it takes a while to get it all written down.
Thanks for the pictures Hawkeye. Brrrrrr
jackie55
27-02-2017, 19:00
Thanks Linda for your blog really enjoyed reading about your trip to Canada:thumbup:
Thank you for your blog Linda, I really enjoyed reading it. Sounds like you had a good trip, other than the horrible trip home. Sounds like you did fit in some site seeing around the tennis.
Hawkeye, thanks for the pictures they are great.
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