Atlantic Time

Yes! We did it. Me, Vanessa, Ian and Robbie made it to Peggys Cove, Nova Scotia. This is a very small and pretty town right across the Atlantic Ocean. It's 45 km away from Halifax. This picture has a very special coast-to-coast meaning for Ian and Robbie who started the roadtrip from British-Columbia 18 days ealier, on July 4th.

For me, the roadtrip was shorter. I sarted from Toronto and stopped in Montréal, Québec City, Fredericton, Charlottetown and Halifax. We're in Moncton right now, on our way back.

Here are my highlights of the roadtrip so far.

First of all, Québec City is really nice! I only live two hours away from that city and I should definitely go more often there.

Halifax is really nice! Honestly, before that trip, I only knew the name of that city because we had to memorize the capital of each province in high school. Halifax is just a really good-looking place. There are a lot of trees in the streets, a few buildings downtown, two nice bridges that connect to another city called Dartmouth and a lot of parks. The biggest one is the Point Pleasant Park. Halifax is kind of a peninsula and that park is at the end of it. It's a very nice walk along the water. Here's a nice shot of Vanessa on a statue along that walk.



Another nice moment during that trip was when we crossed the Confederation Bridge to go on Prince Edward Island (that was before Halifax). This construction is just huge! It's 13 km long and it's also pretty high. Here's a picture I took with my camera on the car looking behind when we were on the bridge.


We went back on the continent the day after by taking a ferry that brought us in Nova Scotia (the ride is 1 hour 15 minutes long).

My last highlight would be the people in the Maritimes. They are just very welcoming and nice with us. Apparently they have an accent ... but who am I with my French accent??

We have such a large and diversified country. I'm really glad I had the chance to visit many different parts of it this year.

First stop Montreal

When I was in Toronto, I received an e-mail (sorry ... a facebook message) from Robbie. He asked to many of his "friends" if they want to join his roadtrip. I answered yes and here I am.

Quick refresh, Robbie was my Katimavik project leader in British-Columbia. I wrote a lot about him in my posts. Leaving him in April was by far the hardest moment in my Katimavik experience.

3 months later, he's back!! He left British-Columbia with his car two weeks ago and he's driving all across Canada to eventually hit Halifax and PEI. He's doing that with another project leader from British-Columbia, Ian. Some other people (all related to Katimavik) joined at some points.

This week, they stopped in Toronto for a big gathering. I was there, for sure. My roadtrip experience started in Toronto and I'll be a part of Eastbound (that's how they named the roadtrip) until the end!

Strangely, my first day of the roadtrip brought me back to home. I spent the week-end in Montreal. I saw my family again and I had some really great moments. My stepbrother has a band and they did a show on saturday night. I was there and it was awesome! On sunday, I chilled out a little bit at my grandmother's place then I met back Robbie and everyone downtown Montreal. Again, there were some new people from Katimavik I never met before. Again, it was nice!

I also met Jessica from my group! She came to visit us to the place we're staying in Montreal on Saint-Denis Street.

Here's a shot and a video of Robbie in the wonderful subway of Montreal.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oddI6JcnAQE

As you can already see, there's a lot of fun! I'm so happy to be with those guys. This is how the next two weeks of my life are going to be.

This morning, we are leaving for Québec City. Vanessa - another girl from my group - is waiting for us there.

Yours to discover

I would have never expect that ... but the end of Katimavik brought me in an incredible journey in Ontario.

When I went back home (that was exactly one week ago), I only stayed there for two days. That was long enough to see my family again. I was really happy to see them back!

Then, I was gone ... again. I met a friend, Marie-Michèle, from another Katimavik group (she also completed her program 3 days before) and we went for a roadtrip to Toronto. I have driven Montreal - Toronto many times before but that trip was definitely the best. We just stopped here and there, found some really nice spot along St. Lawrence River and even took the time to soak our feet in the water.

The drive seemed so fast. It was nice to have someone with me. We arrived in Toronto and went straight downtown to meet Reza, a friend from my group Katimavik. He showed us a really nice spot on the roof of his building. The view was just ... awesome. Take a look at this.

Reza brought us in the streets of his city. It was during the Pride Festival. Downtown Toronto was just wild! There, we met Anna, from Marie-Michèle's Katimavik group. We hung around for a while and just had a great night.

The next day, I brought Marie-Michèle in St. Catharines because she was starting a university summer program there. Before that, we visited Niagara Falls (it's just beside St. Catharines). It was my first time there and I'm really glad I finally saw these nice waterfalls!

On my side, I went back in Toronto. I spent some good times with my brother.

In Toronto, I saw my friend Tuula, from another Katimavik group. She showed me a very nice area of Toronto called The Beaches. Too bad that Lake Ontario is polluted. I would have like to swim so much! But still, this place was really nice to see!

Two days later, today, I drove from Toronto to London (London, Ontario ... Fake London as I like to say). My friend Meghan (from my Katimavik group) lives there. Nikki (another girl from my group) is also visiting here since the end of the program. We just had a great night. A part of that night was in Meghan's swimming pool ... it felt so good! For the rest, we visited downtown London where I heard a fake Big Ben and I saw the Fake Thames River. Even if it's fake, it is pretty nice!

The journey is not done! So far, I'm just glad that I can already see some good influences of Katimavik on my life!