Canada - Ottawa & Montreal

4th September 2008 (U.S. Time)

Woke up super early and headed for the cruise around Thousand Islands.

The Thousand Islands is the name of an archipelago of islands that straddle the U.S.-Canada border in the Saint Lawrence River as it emerges from the northeast corner of Lake Ontario. (wiki)

- Along the way on the coach.. sunrise :) -

There was complementary breakfast on board the cruise..

Basically these islands are owned by rich ppl..and they built their summer houses on it.. no one stays here during winter cause apparently the lake would freeze up..

so the richer you are.. the bigger the land you buy

or else your house could end up like this.. cannot even see the land.. the house appears to be floating on water.. One of the major landmark of this place is the Boldt Castle, built by some hotelier in 1900.. but left abandoned after his wife died in 1904.. this place was bought over by the authorities 73 years later and is under went restoration to become a tourist attraction.. couldn't take a nice picture of it cause the upper deck of the boat was just too crowded..

After that we headed to see the Parliment Buildings of Canada in Ottawa (capital of Canada)..

-The Library of Parliment-

-The Centennial Flame-

A fountain with a symbolic flame located at the pathway leading to the centre block of the parliment buildings. It was lit to officially kick off the Canadian Centennial celebrations in 1967. The coat of arms for each of the provinces and territories of Canada (at the time of 1967) surrounds the flame with water running under them to signfy unity.

-The coat of arms for each of the provinces and territories of Canada -

-Views from the grounds of the Parliment Buildings-
Think the river seen here is Rideau Canal.. not very sure :p

-Fat cats on the grounds of the parliment buildings.. they are stray cats yet so fat!-
- Random photo :p -
Our lunch was settled by eating hotdogs at a roadside stall just outside the parliment buildings compound.. Actually we were kind of force to eat it by our tour guide cause he did not give us any alternative places to go.. dunno whether he got earn commision from the seller cause the 2 of them were like buddies and he even help the hotdog seller to take orders and sell water.

Past by Rideau Canal on the way to Montreal..

Upon reaching Montreal, we first visited Saint Joseph's Oratory, which is the largest church in Canada. It was built by Brother André who was linked to many cases of miracle healings in the early 90's, where people who were crippled or had illness were healed. He built the church and dedicated it to Saint Joseph who he credits for these healings.

Inside the church, there are thousands of clutches hanging on the walls and they were put there by people who were crippled but was healed by Brother André. Brother André's body and heart (separated) are 'buried' within the church.




After that we went off to visit the Montreal Olympic Stadium, where the 1976 Summer Olympics was held. The Montreal Games was the most expensive in Olympic History until China came along~



We went up to the slanted tower of the Olympic Stadium to see the skyline of Montreal..

Now the sport complexes are mainly used by the public.. but they are not very popular though..

After that we headed to Chinatown for dinner.. but we went pass the Notre Dame de Bon Secours Chapel. Was suppose to stop there for us to take some photos but the tour guide was saying that the place was not very safe. A few days ago, one of the tour group stopped there and their luggages were stolen from the luaggage compartment of the coach.

-So here's a photo i took from the coach-

And Montreal's Chinatown..

Travelled a little towards Quebec City, which would be the place we wld be visiting tmr, and stayed at Hotel Des Seigneurs for the night :)