A pre winter mishap ...

Winter in Canada has not quite arrived yet. The first official day of winter is 21 December 2009 which is next Monday. This concerns me some what because it is already colder than anything I have ever experienced. Forecasts for the coming days indicate maximum temps of -16 degrees. Minimum temps fall as low as -24. Oh lord.

However, Joep and I are embracing it. We invested in sturdy winter coats and it is more than manageable. I still walk to work every day and I even managed to get my Christmas shopping done and make it home in one piece through a snow storm on the weekend!! This is quite a feat for someone as accident prone as I am.

In addition to managing it, we also see the funny side of it. Last week the snow started for the first time. So when the snow storm hit on Wednesday morning, Joep decided he would walk me to the office. We rugged up nice and warm and set out. The wind was blowing a gale and there was a decent amount of snow coming down. Even the Canadian’s said it was a lot so it must be true! Within minutes of leaving the house we were both in hysterics laughing. As you probably saw on the polar bear photo’s, the hoods on our coats don’t allow for much peripheral vision meaning that you have to turn your whole body to be able to see either right or left. Having a chat is therefore quite difficult. Made even more difficult by the fact that every time you turn left or right you slip on the icy roads. It is also very entertaining. Our walk took a long time due to numerous laughing breaks. 

My walk to work is broken up by the Rideau shopping mall, which provides a nice warm break from the street for a few minutes. Whilst in this mall Joep decided to turn back and leave me to walk the rest of the way alone. I don’t blame him! I made it alive and the work day went on. The walk home was not as stressful because the storm had passed so I was left to wade through snow banks without the wind knocking me over. Plus the novelty of having snow banks to wade through kept me very excited!

HOWEVER – On Thursday morning things got more interesting. I had an early presentation at work which saw me leaving the house before 7am and therefore before the sun had risen. Joep didn’t offer to walk me to work this time!

As I left the front door I was amazed at the amount of snow that had fallen in 24 hours! It’s deceiving though because all the snow from the roads gets plowed to the sides of the roads so it seems like there is more than there is. Either way, as I reached the first crossing on my walk to work I had to climb up a snow bank to get onto the road. It was only a meter high however when I reached the top I lost my footing and slid down the other side to the road below. It was dark. No one saw me. So I gathered myself up and hit the road again.

I reached the mall without further incident and basked in the warmth for a few blissful minutes before exiting the mall on the other side and preparing to cross a relatively large, busy intersection. As I exited the mall I saw that the pedestrian light was about to go red and, being the impatient soul that I am, I decided to rush across the street. Alas, I had forgotten that I was wearing uggs and that the road was slick with ice and snow.

I was reminded of these facts very quickly.

I set one foot hastily onto the road and was about to dash across when I lost my footing. I slipped and slid with my arms waving in the air loudly proclaiming ‘WOOOAAAAAHHHH!’ for a meter or so until I was nicely positioned right in the middle of the traffic waiting to drive. Then, just as I reached a central point, both of my legs rose gracefully into the air and I fell with a not so graceful thud onto my butt in the middle of the intersection.

I was mortified. Which of course made me start laughing. Which then made it very difficult to stand up again. I tried to stand up a couple of times but my feet kept slipping out from under me and every time this happened I would laugh a bit harder than the time before. My ability to stand up was further impeded by the fact that I was wearing about 15 layers of clothing. I was like a pregnant woman trying to get out of an overstuffed armchair whilst holding a giant handbag with a laptop and a lot of pens in it all of which were rolling across the road. Eventually I had to roll myself around a bit in order to manoeuvre my legs under me before I could stand up. Disaster.

After an obscene amount of time I finally made it back onto my feet and sheepishly slid across the road. By this time, the light for the waiting traffic was well and truly green and changed to amber within seconds. I would like to give a huge shout out to all Canadian’s at this point in time. Not a single soul honked their horn at me. They all waited patiently without getting annoyed. I am very impressed and grateful because I was embarrassed enough without anyone drawing more attention to me. 

I think things could get pretty interesting here in Canada when winter hits for real … Canadian’s are hardcore. I am a very big fan of them AND of their hilarious snowy, unbelievably cold winters. For now.

A celebration of life in a city full of life!

Incredibly, it has been a year since our world was changed by a motorcycle and a chicken in the jungle of Cambodia. Time flies when you’re recovering! It has been a rough ride (no pun intended) but here we are, 1 year later, living life to the full in Canada and not letting ANYTHING stop us from enjoying ourselves!

Friday was the big day and let me say a big THANK YOU to those of you who remembered this day for us and sent through sweet messages and emails. It was touching to hear that we were on your minds and in your hearts once again, but this time for better reasons J

Joep and I decided a long time ago that we would mark this auspicious event by celebrating in style to show the powers that be that we are more than appreciative of the second chance they gave us! Alas, a big night out on Thursday night left us both feeling a bit worse for wear on Friday so instead of burning up the dance floor we snuggled in for a relaxing dinner and some reminiscing about the times that have been and how amazing it is that we’ve gotten through it. Wonderful!

Saturday morning we were 150% recovered and we hit the road for the town known for its nightlife … MONTREAL! It is just a stones throw away from Ottawa so we arrived well before lunch time and left our car at our hotel. We had decided to treat ourselves to a really nice hotel …. We were not disappointed. Hotel Gault in Montreal has been given a lot of very very good reviews. Not just for the style of the hotel (it is an 18 warehouse refurbished to be the ‘most glamorous of the boutique hotels in Montreal’) but also for the high level of service.

It deserves every single one of these reviews and then some. Upon arrival we were welcomed into the hotel like we were old friends. The staff were so friendly and had no problem with the fact that we were early, they took our car and our luggage off our hands and gave us directions to a fantastic café for lunch as well as a short walking tour of the old town. Splendid! So off we headed for lunch. The café was amazing. People have told us time and time again that Montreal is exactly like a European city. This is true in some ways but the charm of Montreal is not in the fact that it is similar to European cities; the charm is in the people and the service. We were so pleased with our welcome at our hotel. We were once again pleasantly surprised by the service at lunch. Everyone speaks 100% French, 100% of the time. Joep and I don’t have more than a couple of words of French between us. In my experience as a native English speaker, this can lead to poor service and unfriendliness from all kinds of angles. In Montreal this was most definitely NOT the case! The staff will convert to English instantly and keep smiling the whole time. It is so welcoming!

After a delicious lunch (seriously delicious, not a scrap of food was left on our plates!) we headed off for our walking tour of Montreal’s old town. This then lead to a quick metro ride into the city centre which lead to a spot of shopping. The festive season has definitely begun! There were carolers and brass bands and lights and trees galore all over the city! It was hard not to get caught up in the thrill of it all! After a spot of shopping we stops for coffee and cakes (sticking to our plan of celebrating in style!) before heading back to the hotel.

We were NOT disappointed when we got up to our room. We had a big loft room with floor to ceiling windows on three sides. Glorious! I could have stayed there for a week! Alas we only had a couple of hours to rest up before it was cocktail hour and the night began!

We rugged up (it is well below zero most days now … in fact, this week there are days when the MAXIMUM temperature will be -13 degrees. Yikes!) and headed out for some pre dinner drinks. Bubbles were the order of the day and we tucked ourselves up at the bar of one of Montreal’s swanky establishments to start the night on a high! After a few drinks we made a move for the restaurant. We booked a table last week at Ferreira because we were warned in advance that it is very difficult to get a table at this highly recommended Portuguese fish restaurant. The restaurant was packed to the rafters so we were glad we booked!

Once we started eating we were even more pleased with our choice … my goodness. The service, once again, was incredible! Montrealer’s have this amazing ability to be welcoming and friendly without being fake or imposing. It is so refreshing! We had planned on eating dinner and then hitting up the club scene in Montreal however dinner was so wonderful that we stayed at our table for a very long time with only brief interruptions from friendly staff bringing us more delicious goodies. Whilst every course was great I have to say that the dessert was the highlight. We shared a plate of the chef’s favorite desserts. Before it was delivered to our table Joep imposed a ‘No Rules’ rule meaning that it would be all out war to get a decent amount of dessert. After 3 years together I am now more than able to fight for my food … it comes down to survival. And as we know better than most, the human instinct to survive is hard to fight!

Things got ugly for a short period of time there and at one point Joep lunged across the table to take food from my fork which I thought went against the rules but was very quickly reminded that the rule was that there are no rules. Fine. I took it back off his fork. I am surprised that neither of us got injured and that we didn’t get asked to leave. Thankfully the restaurant has a very hip atmosphere to go with its incredible food so we were not deemed too disruptive and allowed to stay.

Meal over we enjoyed a few more drinks at our table until we were contentedly fully and ready to retire for the evening. We then enjoyed a late night stroll through Montreal back to our hotel where we relaxed; completely content with our celebration and remembering with a lot of pride just how hard life was a year ago and just how far we have come.

Sunday morning we slept in before heading down for breakfast, which goes from 8am-2pm on Sunday’s. Yes. 2pm. Now THAT is Sunday brunch! After a long breakfast we headed up to Mont Royal, the ‘mountain’ that shadows Montreal and the place where Montreal was first declared to be French many years ago. History has it that the park was privately owned for many years before the guy who owned it chopped down a bunch of trees during a particularly cold winter (who could blame him!) which caused outrage amongst Montrealer’s. The city’s people then came together to purchase the land for $1 million back in 1875 … quite a big sum for back then! So now it is public land. We took advantage of this and spent a portion of our morning hiking up to the Maison Smith where there is an impressive look out.

After enjoying the sights and catching our breath up the top we strolled leisurely back to the car to head back to Ottawa. I cannot wait to go back again! Montreal is one of the best cities I have visited and I have visited quite a few cities in my time. The city itself is lovely and has a lot to offer but that is not what made me fall in love with it … it’s the people. They are amazing!

Shortly after leaving Montreal we were arriving in Ottawa and heading off to buy Christmas decorations and a Christmas tree! YES! A real live Christmas tree!

We spent the last few hours of our celebration weekend decorating our tree with our newly purchased decorations and busting out Christmas carols. It looks lovely but we will need the help of some little Australian children to get some decorations with a bit more flare on there … Raido, Niamhy, Beanie and Ky you better get busy!!

A year later and life just keeps getting better and better. We can’t ask for much more than this – And we won’t. The plan for the next 12 months is to keep doing what we do best … Laughing and living every second of every extra day we’ve got!