Tuesday, August 21

Lion Safari Cambridge August 11th

Just south of Cambridge lies a Lion Safari tour, which was established in the late 1960s. The lion safari features several different parts with different types of animals, from Lions and Cheetahs to the Monkey section to the Antiloops and Giraffes. If the weather is good, this is a pleasant day out in the wild and the park also features a small water park where you can bring children to play around. There is also a small railway as well as a boat tour through a small lake with several islands laden with monkeys. All in all a day well spent. :)




Niagara Falls July 24th

An old time friend from Sweden came over to visit in July, so we took a day off and went down to Niagara Falls with him to see what people were talking about. The town itself was as expected a tourist trap, but the falls were surprisingly beautiful, wide, low but still not too expensive. The general feeling was good and the visit was a positive one, which was more than expected. We travelled out into the falls with the boat Maid in the Mist, but did not walk behind the falls as many visitors do. After a few hours and a quick lunch we travelled to Niagara on the Lake and took a walk in the small village and enjoyed the waterfront. Out in this region there are many small wineyards, but we did not stop to taste the local wine on this trip. Cant do all in one day...



Toronto Harbor July 12th

In order to get a Chinese VISA we had to go to the Chinese embassy of Toronto, and this chance could not be missed to take a stroll along the harbourside and to enjoy a sunny day. I have posted anything for some time but will try to make amends for this during the fall time.
After having eaten a pleasant lunch among the boats in the harbour, we took some pictures of both the coastal guard and a large sailing ship which was chartered by a company for a late lunch. The weather turned cloudy but eventually cleared up again without any downpour
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Sunday, May 6

Moving weekends

Most of present and past weekends were used either planning or moving our furniture and belongings from one apartment to another, so internet have on my behalf been forced to a temporary standstill. Here is at least one picture we took up at RIM Park in the north-eastern part of Waterloo on one of our pauses in the work. We have had smashing weather for 2 weeks now, and that is what my imagination provides me with right now.

Monday, April 23

Waterloo Park

Waterloo Park is a decent park in downtown Waterloo. The park boasts a mini-zoo, and for small children it is nice to see the small animals present even though you run out of animals rather quickly. We had fantastic weather during the weekend and up to 25 degrees, so not at all bad. Seasons went from winter, skipped spring and went straight for summer. Some thunderstorms followed in the sunny weathers wake, but at least the thunder and rain came on Monday during working hours. Depicted is a picture of the pond in Waterloo Park which the residents insists on calling a Lake, a small pond of about 2x2 m with a bench placed in front of it and finally Tindra on a lawn mover.



Sunday, April 15

Visit to Toronto

The plan was to visit Toronto already last weekend, on the 7th of April. But due to poor weather, the trip was postponed and this turned out to be an excellent choice. 2 friends of mine were visiting from London (the UK town) in the last week, and they spent 2 nights in Kitchener visiting us and some days out traveling, as most people are eager to see the Niagara Falls while over here.
Anyway, this Saturday we took the car to Toronto and walked the city streets for several hours. We visited Chinatown, we walked Bloor Street and had lunch on a Subway restaurant before walking by the University of Toronto (several of the faculties, but not all...). Among the one we saw were Geology, Art, Civil Engineering, Music, etc. We also walked by the Market Hall to check out the wares and eat a quick snack before heading over to the CN Tower on Front Street. The CN Tower is about 550 meters high with two lookout floors, we went up the lower floor as the queue to go to the top lookout was too long. The view was nice and it showed that Toronto is a mixed town, both with high-rises and skyscrapers lined up in a north-southly streak as well residential low areas to the west and east, all very close to the downtown area.

On the pictures below is a really slim building on Front Street with the CN Tower and TD Canada Skyscraper looming in the background. Second picture show the NHL Hall of Fame building, which unfortunately was closed when we walked by. Third picture show an average Canadian Hummer vehicle parked in front of a Hotel next to Union station where a wedding party were taking pictures. The fourth and last picture show the view from the CN Tower looking out to Northeast (apologies for not yet rotating the top picture).





Sunday, April 1

London upon Thames April 1st

Imagine traveling from Kitchener to London and walking down to Covent Garden, or strolling across the Thames on a Sunday afternoon. This is exactly what we did today, but as you may guess there is a town called London also in Canada. The town boasts a cathedral and several churches, a really nice downtown area and a mixture of food and cuisine. After spending a few hours in the town you begin to wonder if this is not the most beautiful and most walker friendly of the two London's. We came the day after Team Surprise from Landvetter again won the World Championships in synchronized skating. Anyway, we spent the day in London and traveled back to Kitchener only in the afternoon. I highly recommend a visit to London, if only to have a coffee or a lunch and a walk in the small but comfortable town of roughly 34o 000 residents. Pictures shows the Cathedral, Covent Garden Market, Art Museum and New Courthouse and the main Church, in that order.




Kitchener Temporary Accommodation

2007-03-31: On Saturday we drove to Guelph to see the town and to find out if the town was nice to walk in and if there was anything of interest accessible for a newcomer. In short, there was little of interest in the town and although it was possible to walk in certain areas, they were not very interesting or beautiful, at least as far as the downtown area is concerned (which is the thing that matters to us).

So instead of posting pictures of roads and concrete and the arboretum in Guelph, we will show some pictures from our temporary accommodation in Kitchener. The apartment is flashy and nicely furnished, but like most building here in Canada the builders did a poor job and no fancy furniture and all-covering carpets on the floor (ick!, the static electricity is killing me ) can cover all the crevices between wall / floor and between wall / wall. You would think it would be easy to carpet a floor, but the dividing lines have been placed in the middle of the room and doorways, directly visible to the eye. Newly built walls does not line up, and when the water pours from the bathtub into the receiving drain pipe, the water overflows and goes straight through the floor and down to the neighbor below. At least that was taken care of after only 9 days of nagging at the janitor to get a plummer, during which time we could not use the bath tub. Each day we were promised the plummer would come the next day. So in abstract, the grass is not greener on this side of the pool as far as housing goes, only dyed a bit different. Luckily we are only here a limited time.





Monday, March 26

Common working day

One of the many to-dos here in Canada involves getting the Health Insurance program up and running. We visited the OHIP office this morning to hand in the papers, well prepared. Once there I was told by the screener lady that the papers I had was inadequate, but as I had prepared it by the book I did not give in but took a number and got in the line. When asked to present my case, the lady behind the counter looked at my papers, thanked me for a well prepare case and started preparing all the paper work. All went well and I could go to work with one thing less on my mind. For the application of permanent residency I needed information to proove that I had funds to support us in Canada, so I dropped by the bank office at 17.15 and got the papers I needed. I love banks who are actually there for you, I wish Swedish banks would learn even the tiniest from the Canadian TD Canada Trust. Well at home we ate before heading to the swimming pool for a swim to unwind. Peace.

Sunday, March 25

Cambridge Town March -07

In the area are many small towns, most of them unknown to me. The closest one is Cambridge, and below are three pictures from Cambridge / Galt on a cloudy day. Had the weather been better it would have been more fun to document the town, but this will be left for some other day. First picture depicts the Cathedral, second picture shows the Grand River that flows through the town and divides it in two parts and the last picture shows the Post Office (pretty imposing office). Cambridge holds about 150 000 people, Kitchener about 210 000 people and Waterloo roughly 110 000 people (possibly excluding the students, as not all of them are 'residentials' in the area). In Sweden or even in Europe this would be in an area of possibly 6x10 (=60) km2, but here the area is vastly larger, roughly 9x35 (=315) km2 (numbers estimated from GoogleEarth). This can also easily be understood when you see the towns (incl. town centres) in Canada, as people live in villas in the towns while townspeople in Sweden and Europe generally live in apartments or high-rises.





Sunday, March 11

View from Apartment Window

The picture is taken from the balcony of our temporary location in Kitchener, Canada. The below street is a back alley street, leading nowhere, but far away in the distance you can spot the Kitchener city center and also where Waterloo begins.

Sunday, March 4

Cerdanya Februar 2007

Assorted pictures from the Valley of Cerdanya in the north of Spain/ in the south of France. The fortress and church is from Mont Lluis while the architectural detail is from Lles and the cemetary picture is from close to Prats.