Monday, June 14, 2010

Vancouver


Latitude & Longitude: 49°15'N 123°10'W (1)
Population: 2, 116, 581 (2)
Population Density: 735.6 km² (2)
Landforms: Western Cordillera (3)
Climate: Pacific Maritime (3)
Ecozone: Pacific Maritime (3)
National Parks: Mount Revelstoke National Park (4)
Industries: mining, forestry, biotech, film, and software (5)

Day 1

My family and I are now in our final city for our trip and are looking forward to the destinations we have planned. Today we will be visiting Stanley Park, Prospect Point Lookout, and the Greater Vancouver Zoo. Stanley Park was the most relaxing place we’ve gone the whole vacation! My family and I rented bicycles and rode around the park for a long time. The views of the sea were gorgeous. Before we went to Stanley Park we had gone to the grocery store and picked up a few things to have a picnic at the park. (6) Our second adventure for the day was going to Prospect Point Lookout. It is in Stanley Park but in the far corner. We enjoyed dessert here; ice cream and homemade fudge! (7) Our next trip for the day was going to the Greater Vancouver Zoo. My grandparents were also in Vancouver visiting friends so we went to the zoo with them. It was fun. We saw many exotic birds, cats and reptiles. We saw four endangered species at the zoo; Oregon Spotted Frog, Pere David Deer, Scimitar-Horned Oryx, and the Siberian Tiger who the workers cared about very much. While there, we went on two train rides. The Safari Express Train and the Wilds Safari Bus Tour. I preferred the Wilds Safari Tour
because we actually got to go into the enclosure that the animals were in, as opposed to the other train ride which was just around the perimeter of the zoo. (8) My grandparents, their friends, and my family all went to eat dinner at the Mosaic Bar and Grille. (9) My grandparents’ friends recommended it and told us it’s fabulous! They were absolutely right. The service was great and so was the food!

Day 2

Today is our final day of the amazing trip we’ve been on and I find myself depressed! I had such a great time and I don’t want to leave yet. But I have to put that aside for now as we have a busy day ahead of us. Today our destinations include Grouse Mountain, Robson Square, and the Harbour Centre Tower. Grouse Mountain was our first stop on the list and it was beautiful. I’ve been saying that a lot but it truly is spectacular. I was happy to see that Grouse Mountain protects the wildlife that is around them; the grizzly bears and grey wolves. The view from the top of the mountain was quite the sight. You can see everything; the city to the entire mainland! Of course we were there on a cloudless day. (10) After sight seeing and snapping photographs we went to the Altitudes Bistro. I enjoyed their “famous Grouse Mountain nachos” which were really yummy. (11) After a great lunch we headed to Robson Square. Going to Robson Square was exciting because I watched all kinds of people on television parade around there during the Olympics! On the early morning shows they were always mentioning things that were going on in Robson Square. I obviously knew it wouldn’t be as busy but I was still looking forward to it a lot! Robson Square was really neat. Good architectural designs in the buildings and great stores like Lululemon! My mom and I did a little bit more shopping which was awesome! Our last place for the day was going to Harbour Centre Tower. We were going to go here during the day but we heard that it’s prettier at night; and of course it was! We had a guided tour where I learned that the tower was founded by Neil Armstrong in 1977. (12) So our trip was up and boy was that last look at Vancouver wonderful. I had a spectacular trip and want to do it all over again!

That’s it for now but don’t worry, I will be back home soon!





(3) Making Connections 9 textbook
(9) http://www.vancouverkiosk.ca/directory.php?name=Restaurants&categoryId=179
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Saturday, June 12, 2010

Edmonton



Latitude & Longitude: 53°30'N 113°30'W (1)
Population: 1, 034, 945 (2)
Population Density: 109.9 km² (2)
Landforms: Interior Plains(3)
Climate: Boreal (3)
Ecozone: Prairies (3)
National Parks: Elk Island National Park (4)
Industries: Oil, gas, agriculture and tourism. (5)

Day 1

Getting to Edmonton was our longest drive so far. It took us approximately 1 day 10 hrs to get from Sudbury to Edmonton yesterday. Today we were up for some walking around so we dedicated the whole day to going to the West Edmonton Mall. I was thrilled! I had been saving money ever since Christmas for this day! I was also happy to get out of the car. The mall is huge! It has a water park, an amusement park, every shopping store you can imagine, and great restaurants! My dad and brother quickly got tired of my mom and I shopping so we split up for most of the day. They went to the amusement park and the skating rink while we shopped. My mom and I were having quite the day with 10 shopping bags slung over our shoulders! At around 2:00 we all went to the water park to cool down. My brother and I immediately went on the “extreme” rides which were awesome! My favourite slide was the Tropical Typhoon which was this huge partially enclosed tube that had extremely strong water currents. When you got to the bottom you were in a pool of water which was difficult to get out of. It almost felt like a vacuum cleaner; sucking me in. (6) To end the day we went to the Old Spaghetti Factory that was in the mall as well! I got the Red Thai Curry Linguine with Chicken. (7) It was fantastic! You could practically live at the West Edmonton Mall if it was open all the time; it has everything!

Day 2
Today was our last day in Edmonton! I was exhausted from walking around all day yesterday, but we still had four more destinations to go to. Sir Winston Churchill Square, the Art Gallery of Alberta, Strathcona Farmers Market, and Rutherford House. All the destinations promised to be good, so fingers crossed! Our first stop for the day was the Strathcona Farmers Market. Everything they sold was fresh and local. I was really excited about going there because I was tired of eating restaurant food everyday! We bought tons of fruits, vegetables, and bread and ate them for breakfast. I got extremely energized by the food and couldn’t wait to explore our other destinations. (8) Next we made our way to Rutherford House; the lovely house of Alberta’s first premier, Alexander C. Rutherford. They had people dressed up, re-enacting what life was like at the time. Although we were full from breakfast we decided to have tea and biscuits at the Arbour Restaurant anyways. I felt like I was in an old fashion movie sitting at the small little tables drinking tea and eating scones. (9) We were officially stuffed from eating so much and decided to skip “lunch”. The rest of the afternoon was spent looking through the Art Gallery of Alberta. Some of the exhibits were really neat and some were unfortunately boring. My brother, dad and I kept losing my mom because she always spent a long time looking at the paintings trying to analyse them. It was brutal! My favourite exhibit was “The Art of Warner Bros. Cartoons”. (10) I use to watch all of these cartoons and found it really neat and exciting. The colour and detail in these paintings were phenomenal. For dinner we headed to Ruth’s Chris Steakhouse where I got calamari and the stuffed chicken breast. (11) We then headed to Sir Winston Churchill Square where they were playing Iron Man 2 on a large screen set up outside. The screen was inflatable which I found humourous. (12) It was the end of the trip in Edmonton and tomorrow we would be off to Vancouver.

That’s it for now, but I’ll be sure to keep you posted when I get to Vancouver!







(2)http://www12.statcan.ca/census-recensement/2006/dp-pd/hlt/97-550/Index.cfm?TPL=P1C&Page=RETR&LANG=Eng&T=201&S=3&O=D&RPP=150
(3) Making Connections 9 textbook
(4)http://www.pc.gc.ca/progs/np-pn/carte-map_e.asp
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Sudbury


Latitude & Longitude: 46°30'N 80°58'W (1)
Population:158, 258 (2) Population Density: 46.8 km² (2)
Landforms: Canadian Shield (3)
Climate: Boreal (3)
Ecozone: Boreal Shield (3)
National Parks:Georgian Bay Islands National Park (4)
Industries: mining, government, business, social services, education, media, medicine and other professional services. (5)

Day 1

Yesterday was a travel day. It took my family and I nine hours to get from Montréal to Sudbury. We are staying at the Parker House Inn, which isn’t nearly as nice as Le Saint James but it will have to do! (6) Today our first destination was going to Science North. We spent a good solid 5 hours there. It was absolutely fabulous! The one thing I really liked about the museum was that you could touch almost anything. It wasn’t like other museums in the sense that they really wanted you to touch, learn, and observe everything there. My favourite part of the visit was the INCO Cavern which looks like an underground tunnel that actually leads you to the museum.(7) There was also a really neat Special Dinosaur Unearthed Exhibit that we explored.
(8)The rest of the night was spent finding dinner and going to the theatre. We went to Kelsey’s for dinner and then headed up to Theatre Cambrian to see West Side Story! (9)My brother and I had never seen West Side Story so we were pretty excited. I'm a dancer so I really enjoyed the show because there is a lot of dance in it. After the show we were quite tired and were excited for another day in Sudbury!


Day 2

Our second day in Sudbury consisted of going to Dynamic Earth, A.Y. Jackson Lookout, and Sudbury Downs. Dynamic Earth was extremely informative. There was an underground tour that brought you through mine shafts of different time periods so you really got a chance to appreciate how mining has changed over the past 100 years. (10) We also saw the “Big Nickel” which was neat but not as great as I thought. I learned that it was built in 1964 to show how much Sudbury contributed to nickel production. (11) The tour guides were enthusiastic and overall very kind. Our next adventure for the day was visiting the A.Y. Jackson Lookout. I was dying to see this because I had studied the Group of Seven’s artwork in class and knew a lot about them. We actually printed off the painting that A.Y. Jackson had painted of the site. The place that he painted was stunning.
It was even more beautiful in person. Our next and final destination was going to see the Sudbury Downs. (12) It began at 7:15pm and was really entertaining. My dad was the one who was excited about this and thoroughly enjoyed it. Overall we had a fantastic time in Sudbury.

That’s it for now, but I’ll be sure to keep you posted when I get to Edmonton!

(3) Making Connections 9 textbook
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Tuesday, June 8, 2010

Montréal


Latitude & Longitude: 47°14'N 84°39'W
Population: 3, 635, 571 (2)
Population Density: 853.6 km² (2)
Landforms: Great Lakes- St. Lawrence Lowlands (3)
Climate: Southeastern (3)
Ecozone: Mixedwood Plains (3)
National Parks: La Mauricie National Park (4)
Industries: aerospace, electronic goods, pharmaceuticals, printed goods, software engineering, telecommunications, textile and apparel manufacturing, tobacco, transportation, engineering, finance, higher education, and research and development.(5)



Day 1

My family and I arrived in Montréal fairly exhausted due to the 14 hour drive in the car all day! We immediately fell asleep, even though I really wanted to explore the city! Our hotel is called Le Saint James. (6) It reminds me of the common room in the Harry Potter books, cozy and authentic. Our first day in Montréal consisted of going to the Montréal Museum of Archaeology and History, Saint Joseph ’s Oratory, La Basilica Notre Dame, and St. Viateur Bagels. My brother was really excited about going to the Museum of Archaeology and History, so that ended up being our first destination for the day. My favourite part of the museum was the archaeological dig that you can tour underneath the building! The tour had the original brickwork from the house that use to stand in the same spot, graves of residents, and the sewer line of the city!(7) It was so neat. I would go back there in a heartbeat! The only disappointment I had about the museum was that you couldn’t take any photographs inside. Saint Joseph ’s Oratory was absolutely beautiful! The exterior had been gorgeously landscaped; the interior however wasn’t as nice as the outside but pretty nonetheless. It is located on top of a hill and gives you a stunning view of the rest of the city. It may have been more meaningful if I
was religious but still truly exceptional!(8) Le Basilica Notre Dame; another church, was completely opposite to the Saint Joseph ’s Oratory. As Le Basilica Notre Dame is located in a busier area, there isn’t any landscaping that could be described as phenomenal. However, the interior is exquisite; tall domed arch, lights, and an old captivating feel. Boy, were we tired from all of the walking around we did today, but we managed to make a trip to St. Viateur Bagels.(9) Our friends back home had told us that getting bagels in Montréal was a must. After the long day, we made it back to the hotel for a long rest.






Day 2

Today was the last day in Montréal. Everything that we’d done so far has been really great, so we were looking forward to having another exceptional day. We went to Olympic Park, Biosphere, Bonsecours Market, and Underground City! Olympic Park wasn’t as great as I expected it to be. Although the stadium is something you really need to see when you’re there, it really isn’t exciting at all. We went to see the tower at Olympic Park as well, but since the stadium wasn’t that great I wasn’t looking forward to it. I was surprised! It was really great. We were extremely lucky that the weather was clear so we could see the entire city! There was a platform at the top of the tower where you could poke your head out and look at the roof of the stadium. My mom refused to look out because she’s wary of heights, but everyone else enjoyed it. Our next destination was the Bonsecours Market. The building is absolutely stunning; 4 floors make up this building with tons of store to shop in! We found it extremely pricy, but made the most of it. I purchased an Aboriginal blue and black necklace, as well as specialty coffees and treats for the rest of my family! The best part of the Bonsecours Market was sitting at the authentic tables and taking in the Montréal atmosphere. Our next adventure was the Biosphere. It’s definitely a sight; the great geodesic dome surrounding the building within. I learned that it had been burned down in 1976, and then made into what it serves as today in 1995. The actual exhibits were ok. It seemed more directed to younger children which I was a little bit disappointed about but I still found the St. Lawrence River movie entertaining. Our final activity to do in Montréal was the Underground City. It is the largest underground complex in the world! I was most surprised at how well lit it was. I didn’t even feel like I was underground! They had tons of shops where we all picked up a few shirts and things. We spent the rest of the night exploring through the shops and looking for something to eat! Overall I was impressed with the stunning views that Montréal had to offer!



That’s it for now, but I’ll be sure to keep you posted when we get to Sudbury!


(1) http://www.mapsofworld.com/lat_long/canada-lat-long.html
(2) http://www12.statcan.ca/census-recensement/2006/dp-pd/hlt/97-550/Index.cfm?TPL=P1C&Page=RETR&LANG=Eng&T=201&S=3&O=D&RPP=150
(3) Making Connections 9 textbook
(4) http://www.pc.gc.ca/progs/np-pn/carte-map_e.asp
(5)http://www.canadianimmigrant.ca/settlingincanada/montreal/article/3186
(6) http://www.hotellestjames.com/
(7) http://www.tripadvisor.com/ShowUserReviews-g155032-d155200-r50375278-Museum_of_Archaeology_and_History_Pointe_a_Calliere_Museum-Montreal_Quebec.html
(8) http://www.tripadvisor.com/ShowUserReviews-g155032-d155275-r35718048%20St_Joseph_s_Oratory_Oratoire_Saint_Joseph-Montreal_Quebec.html
(9) http://www.stviateurbagel.com/main/
(10) http://www.tripadvisor.com/ShowUserReviews-g155032-d155200-r50375278-Museum_of_Archaeology_and_History_Pointe_a_Calliere_Museum-Montreal_Quebec.html
(11) http://www.marchebonsecours.qc.ca/fr/plan.html
(11) http://www.igougo.com/attractions-reviews-b10216-Montreal-Bonsecours_Market.html
(12)http://travel.nytimes.com/travel/guides/north-america/canada/quebec/montreal/20267/la-biosphere/attraction-detail.html
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Monday, June 7, 2010

Halifax



Latitude & Longitude: 44°38'N 63°35'W (1)
Population: 372, 858 (2)
Population Density: 67.8 km² (2)
Landforms: Appalachians (3)
Climate: Atlantic Maritime (3)
Ecozone: Atlantic Maritime (3)
National Park: Kejimkujik National Park (4)
Industries: Agriculture, fishing, mining, forestry, natural gas extraction, and manufacturing. (5)



Day 1

My family and I are finally in Halifax after our 21 hour drive! (6)We’re staying at the Radisson Suite Hotel, which happens to be around the corner from our first destination. We went to The Wooden Monkey for lunch. It took us forever to find a place that everyone in my family liked. Let’s just say that my brother is a very picky eater! I ended up getting the Roast Chicken and Pesto Sandwich, it was delicious. (7) Finally we were on our way to what I was really looking forward to, The Maritime Museum of the Atlantic. It was absolutely fantastic! We were there for 3 hours exploring and learning. My favourite exhibit was the “Halifax Explosion” which was all about two ships that collided in the harbour on December 16, 1917. They had tons of photographs, artifacts, and models on it. (8) Our second trip for the day was visiting Murphy’s On the Water. We went on the Lobster’s & Lighthouse Tour which was really neat. We went past three different lighthouses and they even caught a lobster to teach us about the East Coast life. (9) Our final activity for the day was Privateers Wharf which we explored after dinner. They had many cute little shops. My mom even purchased a white and blue purse. It was a great day and I was really looking forward to the next!








Day 2

Our second day in Halifax was jam-packed and full of fun. Our first memorable destination for the day was going to Pier 21. Pier 21 is where immigrants coming from all over the world would be transported before making their way to other Canadian cities to live. The late 1940’s to early 1950’s was the busiest time for Pier 21 because of the many refugees coming into the country illegally. (10) It was truly an exceptional place. The tour guides told so many stories that broke my heart and put in prospective the lives that these people lived. It was very well displayed; I could have stayed there all day! Our next adventure for the day was going to Peggy’s Cove. It took us about 1 hour to get there, but boy was it worth it when we did. I can truthfully say that it is one of the most beautiful places I’ve ever been to. While there we saw St. John’s Anglican Church which was built in 1753! It is one of the oldest English origin churches in Canada. (11) At the church we met the organist, who my dad was very interested to talk to because he plays the organ as well. Her name was Barbara Butler and she was saying that they have many regular guests who come for Sunday services. She was extremely kind and even gave us a free tour. After another hour on the road we were back in Halifax and ready to hit our last place: The Waterfront. They have a restaurant there as well, so that’s where we ate dinner. I had Atlantic Smoked Salmon with a Tomato & Bocconcini salad. (12) As it was getting dark we walked along The Waterfront and took in the Atlantic Maritime air. I felt almost depressed as the sun was setting because I had such a great time and didn’t want to leave!

That’s it for now, but I’ll be sure to keep you posted when we get to Montreal!

(3) Making Connections 9 textbook

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