Canada – A vast land of extraordinary beauty

… you may need a few months vacation time to see it all..

I was born in Montreal. Montreal, situated in the bilingual province of Quebec, is a lovely city with a very European flavour. Montreal has everything you could ever want for a great city break, including …

… superb fashion shopping, French cuisine, outdoor cafes and great discos that are open to the wee hours of the morning. Don’t forget to try the famous Ben’s smoked meat restaurant located in St. Catherine’s street, the main shopping street in downtown Montreal.

The Laurentian Mountains are also situated in Quebec. This part of Quebec has quite breathing landscape as well as fabulous skiing in the winter.

My Father’s side of the family originated from the Eastern Provinces of Canada,…

… New Brunswick to be specific.

The eastern provinces. Newfoundland, Nova Scotia and New Brunswick are very rugged with a jagged rocky coastline and …

… some really pretty fishing villages.

The sea here is abundant with fish and lobster, so if seafood is your fancy ...

… you can really feast in the Eastern Provinces on seafood cuisine..

Colin and I also lived in Kanata just a few kilometres west of Ottawa, Ontario the Capital City of Canada …

… where the Parliament Buildings are located.

Ontario, Ottawa, Kanata, Marilyn making snow angels with her German Shepherd, Kuma.	Ontario, Ottawa, Kanata, Colin walking our German Shepherd Kuma in the snow.

Ontario has many beautiful areas including … …

… the majestic Niagara Falls and Blue Mountain, where the skiing is great in the winter. There is also a beautiful beach area close to Blue Mountain called Wasaga Beach, just a few kilometres from Collingwood, Ontario.

Ontario, Niagara Falla, Marilyn admiring the view.	Ontario, Niagara Falls, mist rising from the majestic falls.

Quebec, Colin with his first Northern Pike caught on the opening day of the pike season.	Quebec, unloading the float plane that took Colin and his fishing friends to the lodge.

Colin and I met in Toronto …

… where you can visit the CN Tower (if you can handle the heights) and if you want to catch a ball game you can see baseball at the Sky Dome. We were lucky to see the first game at the opening of this amazing stadium with a moving roof.

The famous Algonquin Park, is located in the northern region of Ontario. It is located off Highway 11, roughly two hours drive from Toronto, Ontario. This is where you can …

… explore the wilderness of this vast park filled with forest, lakes and an abundance of wildlife, including bears, wolves and moose, just to name a few.. There are several camp sites and if you are a hiking or canoeist enthusiast then this is the place to explore the vast number of trails and lakes

Alberta boasts the beautiful Rocky Mountains with stunning turquoise glacier lakes.

If you enjoy skiing …

Banff has wonderful skiing as does Whistler Mountain in Vancouver.

If you are interested in rodeos then one of the places to visit is Calgary, Alberta.

Colin and I have also lived on the Western Coast of Canada. We loved living in British Columbia, where in my eyes, you have the best of both worlds. That is …

…the Sea and the magnificent views of the mountain ranges.

It is well worth a visit to Lake Okanagan,in the Okanagan Valley, Kelowna, the main wine growing region of Canada. We took my mother and Mike there on a wine tasting tour. The wine we preferred was the ice wine which is made from frozen grapes. I must say …

… we were quite tipsy by the end of the day.

British Columbia, Kelowna, Marilyn and Colin visiting a vineyard close to Lake Okanagan.	British Columbia, Kelwona, my mum and Colin relaxing during a visit to a winery close to Lake Okanagan.

The views of British Columbia are absolutely stunning. This part of Canada is known for its milder winter climate.

When we moved from Kanata, Ontario to Vancouver, British Columbia we drove across Canada. We had our German Shepherd, Kuma with us and fortunately we found many hotels/motels that would allow animals in the rooms.

After 5 days of driving we finally arrived in British Columbia and we stayed at a motel in Tsawwassen. While we were there part of the very first episode of the X-Files was filmed in this hotel.

We used to walk our dog along the beach of Boundary Bay. This is a birdwatchers dream location. This bay is on the migratory path for many species of birds. You will see many bald headed eagles, owls, kingfishers and many species of ducks in this area.

You can take a very scenic ferry ride from Tsawwassen, south of the Vancouver Airport to Swartz Bay, Vancouver Island where Victoria is located … …

… the capital city of British Columbia.

Victoria is a lovely city with quite an English feel.. One of our visits was in the month of May and were lucky enough to enjoy the big bands that were playing all around the streets and harbour promenade.

British Columbia, marching bands parading through the streets of Victoria.	British Columbia, Victoria Parliment buildings with my mum watching the band practice

British Columbia, a scenic view of Victoria harbour and the Parliment buildings.	British Columbia, many tourists along the Victoria harbour promenade with the Parliment buildings in the background.

British Columbia, relaxing in the beautiful gardens of Victoria, Vancouver Island.	British Columbia, views of some of the garden features in Victoria, Vancouver Island.

The ferry to Vancouver Island intertwines through a variety of small islands including Salt Spring Island, where some famous Canadian Artists live, including …

… Robert Bateman, who paints the wildlife of Canada. My favourite painting is the Gray Wolf.

You may even be lucky enough to see a killer whale (Orca).

British Columbia, Marilyn on the Tsawwassen ferry going to visit Victoria on Vancouver Island.	British Columbia, ferry route through the islands on the way to Swartz Bay, Vancouver Island.

… because when we travelled to Vancouver from the east coast by vehicle, our trip-tic route often met up with and followed the Via Rail Canada train route. I never knew how incredibly beautiful my own country was until we took this trip.

People that I have spoken with who have experienced this train ride have thoroughly enjoyed it and can’t say enough great things about it. I’ve been told that the sleeping units are comfortable and the food is good too.

The Vancouver Winter Olympic Games were held in British Columbia this year …

… and they were a great success, Colin and I spent many hours watching the various sports on our TV. My favourite was figure skating but because of the time difference I could only watch the highlights the next morning.

We really enjoyed the hockey match between Canada and the USA.When we lived in Kanata, we used to have access to season tickets for the Montreal Canadiens and the Toronto Maple Leafs so we watched many live games.

Winter visitors to the Vancouver region will now have access to some excellent sporting facilities that were built or up-graded for these games.

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This work by Colin & Marilyn Maddison is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 2.0 UK: England & Wales License.