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Travelogue:
Canada
November 2005
By
Roger W. Reini
By
date:
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Friday
November 18
Today was a regular work day, although things were a little slower than
usual because I was trying to wrap things up prior to starting my
vacation. At this point in the year, I had six days of vacation
left, and I had to use them by the end of the year or lose them.
I decided that I would take three of them around Thanksgiving, either
before or after; the other three I would take in December. It
turned out that my boss preferred me to take the time off before
Thanksgiving, so I could fill in for him the week after.
I didn’t stay too late tonight; in fact, I left a little early,
for things were slow. That let me get home around 4:15, where I
picked up my paper and collected my mail. Now I had submitted a
mail hold request via the Web, and I thought it was supposed to have
started today. That had me a bit irked. On the other hand,
the mail-order prescriptions I was expecting arrived in the mail today,
which pleased me. Perhaps the mail hold would start
tomorrow. If not, then I would only have four days’ worth
in the mailbox. I picked up my bags, loaded the car, and
set off.
The closest path to the Ambassador Bridge would have me head east on
Ford Road. But today, I felt like taking mainly freeways to the
bridge, so I went west on Ford Road to I-275 to I-96. Road
construction on 96 had recently ended, so I was driving on some new
roadway and enjoying the experience. I had no problems reaching
the bridge, but I did have problems reaching for the change to pay the
toll. Truck traffic going to Canada was pretty heavy; car traffic
was light. When stopped at the Customs booth, the inspector took
a long time writing and filling things out. I thought I was being
written up for a vehicle inspection, but I wasn’t; he eventually
said I could go on. It was well after 5 now, and the Ontario
tourist center was indeed closed. It was a good thing I had gone
there on Monday for a map and literature.
The Hampton Inn was a few kilometers ahead on the left. I had no
problem finding it and pulling into the parking lot. Thanks to
having enough points in my Hilton frequent stayer account,
tonight’s stay would not cost me anything. Neither would
Wednesday night’s stay. I checked in and brought my stuff
up to the fourth floor. My room looked out on busy Huron Church
Road. Across the street, a Holiday Inn. To the right, a
Beer Store, Dairy Queen, and Casey’s. I hadn’t been
to Casey’s for several years, and it was within walking distance,
so I walked there. It was a bit chilly; the temperature was just
above freezing. I enjoyed a bowl of French onion soup, some
garlic bread, a burger, and a sundae. The soup was quite hot,
almost too hot, but it was good. Then I walked back to the hotel,
but I didn’t go back to my room. No, I got into my car and
drove over to Devonshire Mall. It was definitely more crowded in
the parking lot than when I went on Monday. And it was more
crowded inside, too; lots of teens, as you might expect. I
entertained some thoughts of seeing the new Harry Potter movie, but I
decided against it. I could easily see it in Ottawa. I did
visit The Bay and get a new toque (winter hat), for the one I was using
was rather small. When I left, I got a bottle of Coke from one of
the vending machines at the entrance, but when it came out, it was
room-temperature warm! Normally, it would be cold, but this was
absolutely at room temperature. That irked me a bit, for I had
planned to drink it in the car. Now it would have to wait until I
got back to the hotel, which wasn’t that far away. I
listened to New Jersey and Montreal on XM. Back at the hotel, I
enjoyed that warm Coke with cold ice, and I watched The Weather Network
(Canada’s weather channel) for the forecast for Ottawa and the
401.
Top
Saturday
November 19
I didn’t get the greatest sleep last night; why, I don’t
know. The whistling window didn’t help, that’s for
sure. When I woke up for good, it was 7:45 AM and already
light. This was not a desirable situation, for I had wanted to
wake up earlier and get an early start. I figured on needing 10
hours to get to Ottawa, so I would now be arriving in Ottawa after
dark. That could no longer be helped. I still needed to
have breakfast, so I took advantage of the complimentary breakfast bar
in the lobby. It was virtually identical to breakfast bars at US
Hampton Inns, so it was quite familiar to me. I didn’t have
any hot items; I contented myself with some raisin bran, blueberry
yogurt, and a muffin.
By 8:45, I was on my way. The sky was clear and the sun was
bright, forcing me to put on my sunglasses. Traffic was OK as I
picked up the 401. There was a construction zone close to
Windsor, and there were a few more along the way. Most of the
time, I listened to either XM or Sirius, though I did put CBC Radio on
a couple of times. I stopped at the service centers as needed for
gas, drink and/or restroom. I didn’t have an official lunch
today, for I wanted to make good time. My energy today came
mainly from bottles of pop – not the healthiest lunch, I will
admit.
I was in the Toronto area around 1 o’clock, and traffic was
fairly heavy. I had entertained thoughts of stopping at the
Yorkdale mall and visiting the Indigo bookstore there, but there
wasn’t really any time. Also, traffic was heavy around the
mall, and the parking lot was extremely full. What’s more,
it was time for the Michigan-Ohio State game. I was rapidly
heading out of range of WJR, but Sirius was carrying the game, both
Michigan and Ohio State broadcasts. Of course, I listened to the
Michigan broadcast. Later on, I was able to listen to Michigan
State play Penn State on XM. So there I was, driving on the 401
in eastern Ontario, listening to NCAA college football on US satellite
radio. That tended to blunt the perceptions of being in a foreign
land, though whenever I saw a highway sign or a kilometrage (mileage)
sign, as well as the occasional sign for “Bridge to USA”, I
was reminded that I was indeed no longer in the US.
It was dark as I turned onto the 416 and traveled towards Ottawa.
I was beginning to get concerned about my gas, although I was sure I
had enough to make it there. Unlike the 401, there were no
service centers, nor were there that many stations near the
exits. I finally decided to exit in search of a gas
station. The signs guided me to one some 4 kilometers away, one
which put me on a scenic route to Ottawa. The scenic nature of it
was lost on me at night. Still, after I put some $20 or nearly 25
liters in the tank, I stayed on the route, which was Prince Of Wales
Drive. I was pretty sure I was going in the right direction,
although I was in no position to check my map to be sure. Then I
saw a sign for the 417, Ottawa’s main freeway. Yes, I was
traveling in the right direction, and there it was! My hotel lay
toward the east. But there was a problem: there was no
interchange, so I had to go straight. I was on Preston Street
passing through the Little Italy section of Ottawa. It seemed
interesting, but I had little time to contemplate its charms, for I was
trying to find my hotel.
Eventually, I found the right streets that took me into downtown and to
my hotel, the Novotel. I circled around the block until I found
the parking garage, pulled in and parked. Now I was confused, for
the only entrance I saw was for the “Le Suites” hotel,
which shared the building with the Novotel. Being unsure of where
I was going, but knowing I had to go up, I entered that door and ended
up in the Le Suites lobby. Perhaps I would stay there sometime,
but not tonight. I left and went around the building to the
Novotel entrance, where I checked in. My room was on the 9th
floor. It was a smoking room, although I had asked for a
non-smoking room. None were available for the room type I
had. I said I would accept it. Then I went back into the
parking garage, and I discovered that the Novotel parking was one level
down from where I parked. So I went back to my car and drove down
to the proper level, and then I unloaded my vehicle. Satellite
radio reception was very spotty down there, but I got enough of a
signal to hear the closing minutes of the Michigan State game.
Unfortunately, Penn State was beating us rather handily, meaning that
MSU would end up with another losing season and no bowl game.
Back in my room, I set up my Powerbook and tried to check e-mail.
There were no active wireless networks, but there was a wired network
port, so I plugged into there. I couldn’t get it to work,
though, nor were there any instructions in the room explaining how to
get it to work. Several calls to the front desk were necessary to
get it to work. It turned out that the wired service cost $9.95 a
night, although free wireless access was available in the lobby.
I preferred to have the wired access, though. A few more calls
later, along with a trip back down to the lobby, I was in
business. It seemed that my brand new network cable
wouldn’t work, but the hotel’s cable would. That
irked me, but I would have been really irked had I not been able to get
any Net access.
After I had settled in, I ventured out for a brief exploration of the
Rideau Center, the shopping mall across the street. The entrance
was only a block away. As soon as I went inside, I saw a
restaurant that looked very familiar, although the name was not:
Richtree. The layout and the shape of the signs reminded me of
the Movenpick Marché and Marchelino restaurants in Toronto,
which I thought had closed. Back at the hotel, I would discover
that the Movenpick restaurants split from Movenpick and were renamed
Richtree. I had enjoyed them as Movenpick, and I’m sure I
would enjoy them as Richtree. Not only that, I learned that
Richtree had a location in Windsor, on Dougall south of Cabana. I
was quite pleased with that; I suddenly had another reason to visit
Windsor regularly, or so I thought. I made a note to check it out
when I went back there on Wednesday. The restaurant seemed rather
busy tonight, a little too busy for my liking, so I decided to eat
there another day. I ended up eating down in the hotel
restaurant, Café Nicole. Actually, I ate in the bar, for
the main restaurant room was closed off. There was a large
flat-screen TV behind the bar, and it was carrying Hockey Night In
Canada, tonight’s game featuring Ottawa and coming live from the
Corel Centre. I wouldn’t have been watching this game were
I back in Detroit, because Windsor and most of the country was watching
the Toronto game. I had entertained thoughts about going to
the Ottawa game, but I decided against it because I would be arriving
in town right around game time.
Top
Sunday November 20
Today, I planned to do “the tourist thing.” Monday
was not a good day to visit the museums, since they would be closed
that day. The weather looked decent enough, so Sunday it would
be. I started my day with a shower. The shower curtain was
hung on one of those bars that curved outward, giving one more room
inside the bathtub/shower area. I walked over to a
McDonald’s on Rideau Street, or Rue Rideau in French, or as the
bilingual streets signs put it, “rue Rideau street”.
The stretch of Rideau with the McDonald’s reminded me of streets
I’d seen in England. It must have been the building
construction and signage. Once at the McDonald’s, I ordered
a Sausage McGriddle sandwich, some hash browns, and an orange
juice. Many of the orders ahead of mine were delayed because the
eggs were taking a long time to be prepared; since I didn’t order
anything with egg, I wasn’t affected by this. After I
received my order, I sat down with a copy of the Ottawa Citizen and ate
my breakfast.
After going back to the hotel, freshening up, and gathering my cameras,
guidebook and map, I set off on my tour of Ottawa. I walked west
on Rideau, passing the main bus stops, the Rideau Centre (Centre
Rideau, signed Centre Rideau Centre), The Bay department store (it
traces its origins back to the founding of the Hudson’s Bay
Company in 1670) and Chapters, Canada’s answer to Borders.
The street sloped upward onto Parliament Hill. And then I saw
it: the Houses of Parliament, with the Peace Tower in the
middle. The symbol of Canadian government, just like the Houses
of Parliament in Britain or the US Capitol building. A majestic
building. I would visit the grounds, but not just yet, for first
I would view the Canadian War Memorial, which was across the street
from Parliament. It was built to commemorate the fallen of World
War I, though in later years its scope was broadened to encompass the
fallen of World War II and of Korea. In front of the memorial was
Canada’s Tomb of the Unknown Soldier. A week or so earlier,
this had been the site of the official Remembrance Day
observance. It may share the date with Veteran’s Day in the
US, but Remembrance Day is more akin to our Memorial Day.
I walked further down Rideau to the visitor center for Ottawa, which
was right across from Parliament. I went inside, picked up a few
items, visited the restroom, observed the 3D map of central Ottawa and
got my bearings. It showed the path of Confederation Boulevard, a
path linking many historically and culturally significant sites in
Ottawa and Gatineau, Quebec. I’d just picked up a map of
the boulevard, and it occurred to me that this would be a good path to
follow. And I would follow it, but not before touring the grounds
of Parliament.
Not too far from Rideau Street was the Confederation Flame, an eternal
flame lit to mark Canada’s centennial in 1967. It was
surrounded by a fountain that served as a wishing well. I felt
the urge to make a contribution and make a wish; with the two coins
that I contributed, I wished for world peace and for the Wings and
Senators to meet in the Stanley Cup finals. As I strolled the
grounds and heard the bell in the Peace Tower peal for 11
o’clock, I marveled at the accessibility of the grounds compared
to the US Capitol. Then again, the Capitol is more of a target
than Parliament.
The rear of the Parliament building overlooks the Ottawa River and
Gatineau, Quebec. I gazed out over this panorama, noticing stairs
to a riverbank walkway. I also noticed the Cat Condos, a refuge
for the stray cats that hang around Parliament Hill. A sign
explained that this was a completely privately funded operation, that
no government funds were used to feed the kitties or the squirrels or
raccoons who took advantage of the free food. I saw three cats
hanging around at various moments and got a couple pictures of one of
them before it ran off.
I continued west on Rideau Street, which had become Wellington
Street. My route took me past the Bank of Canada, several
government buildings, and the Supreme Court of Canada before arriving
at the Portage Bridge (Pont Portage). If I crossed the bridge, I
would travel into Quebec. I would venture where I had never
ventured before, into a second province, and one that would almost seem
like another country. There are many in Quebec who would like it
to be another country. Today, though, it was still part of Canada
as I walked along the bridge. The signs marking the border
between the two provinces were very low-key compared to those found in
the States. They were nothing more than regular street signs in
black and white with “Ontario” and “Quebec” on
them. I wonder if that’s peculiar to the Ottawa area?
The route for Confederation Boulevard was well-marked in Ottawa, and it
continued to be so in Gatineau. I followed Rue Laurier to the
east, passing the Scott Papers plant, the city hall and a couple of
hotels before reaching the Canadian Museum of Civilization and its
associated IMAX theater. Now I wanted to visit this museum, but
not on an empty stomach, especially not when the restaurants on-site
closed at 2 (it was now noon). The restaurant had a $20 brunch
buffet, but I wasn’t in the mood for that, so I visited the
cafeteria in the lower level and got a sandwich, a bag of
ketchup-flavored potato chips (must be a Canadian thing, for I’d
never heard of that flavor before) and a drink. Suitably
fortified, I went inside the museum and partook of the cultural
nourishment.
The second level of the museum had a number of temporary
exhibitions. One dealt with the settlement of the western
provinces, one dealt with ‘60s style and design, and the third
dealt with the history of nursing in Canada, which spans nearly 400
years. After making a brief stop in the Canadian Postal Museum, I
went to the upper level and toured the main exhibit hall, which dealt
with Canadian history from 1000 AD to the present. History before
that time was covered in the First Nations exhibits in the lower
level. I think I spent an hour walking through the hall and
observing the various exhibits. Later, I visited the museum shop
but didn’t get anything there. Then it was time to resume
my walk, which took me back across the river into Ontario and Ottawa,
past the US Embassy, past a Shopper’s Drug Mart for some snacks
and drinks, and then back to my hotel.
Did having Detroit TV stations on Ottawa cable mean that the Lions game
would be on? Yes, it did. I watched Detroit play Dallas in
an exercise in futility, for the Lions lost. That result was all
too common these last few years. After the game, after I rested
for a bit, I walked over to the Chapters bookstore and looked around
for a bit. Chapters was very much like Borders or Barnes and
Noble in the US, but there were some differences. Naturally,
Canadian authors and artists were highlighted; as I entered, I saw a
sign announcing a book signing by the Canadian authors of the new Book
Of Lists. The prices were higher for just about everything.
Upstairs, there was a very large section devoted to books in
French. Now I didn’t get anything tonight except ideas for
future visits. But now, I left and wandered around the Bytown
Market, looking for places to have supper. Actually, I was
interested in one place in particular, the Hard Rock Café.
It wasn’t busy at all tonight, which was all right by me. I
sat in a corner with Alanis Morissette, in a manner of speaking; the
Ottawa native wasn’t there, but the sweater she wore in her video
for “Ironic” was, along with other pictures and memorabilia
of hers. I also noticed a pair of jeans worn by Shania Twain and
a guitar of Courtney Love’s as I enjoyed a bowl of chili and some
fajitas. The chili was good, the fajitas fair. Afterwards,
I went over to the merchandise shop and found a bright red sweatshirt,
which I bought and put on right there in the shop. I didn’t
want to carry any bags with my in the theater for fear I’d lose
them.
What’s this about a theater? That was my next stop of the
night, the theaters at the Rideau Centre. I went to see the new
Harry Potter film, Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire. I
didn’t get any popcorn or drinks, for I’d just had
supper. The theater was pretty full, but not close to selling
out, so I was able to find a seat and enjoy the film. It was a
long one (so was the book), and I had to pop out to the restroom a
couple of times. But it was good. By the time the movie
ended, I was hungry for something, so I went back to McDonald’s
for a late night snack, which I brought back to the hotel.
Top
Monday
November 21
This morning, I decided to have breakfast in the hotel
restaurant. Although they had a full menu, I felt like partaking
of their breakfast buffet, which was pretty full, itself. It was
also filling, with several types of bread or muffins, cold and hot
cereals, fruit and yogurt, and some hot items such as eggs, bacon,
sausage, and home fries. It was quite good, I thought. Back
in my room, I was finishing reading the paper when Housekeeping
called. I wasn’t ready for the maid to clean the room, so I
asked her to come back later. Now when I was ready to leave, I
secured my Powerbook to the desk, for there was no safe for it.
All of the museums in the area were closed today, so I decided to drive
around town and visit a few locations. I got set up with an
in/out pass for my parking, and I headed towards the 417 freeway.
The 417 was nowhere near as large or as busy as the 401 in Toronto, and
that was all right by me. My first stop of the day was the
Chapters in west Ottawa, at the Pinemont shopping center. This
location did not carry the large selection of French books that the
downtown store carried, but as I don’t read French, I
didn’t miss it.
There was an Ikea furniture next door to the Chapters. I went in
here for a little while; I even had lunch in the restaurant
inside. The Swedish meatballs were very good; no doubt
they’ll be just as good at the new Ikea being built back home in
Canton Township. It’ll be easier buying furniture there,
too, which is why all I got from the Ottawa store were ideas.
Next, I went to the nearby Bayshore shopping mall and got a new pair of
blue jeans from Zeller’s (Canada’s version of
Target). The ones I brought with me were a little too big.
Now where would I go next? How about Gatineau, this time by
car? I rode down the Ottawa River Parkway, a nice scenic highway
west of town that stayed fairly close to the riverbank. The
scenery would have been nicer had this been a different season, I must
admit. After riding along for a while listening to Canada 360 on
XM (one of the new Canadian channels it started in order to operate in
Canada), I turned onto the Champlain Bridge (or would that be the Pont
Champlain?) and entered Gatineau, Quebec. Once again, it became
quite apparent that I was in a foreign land. Not only were the
road signs exclusively in French, as I’d noticed before, the
traffic lights were different. Red lights were indicated by two
diamond-shaped red lights, one on either end of the bulb fixture.
And right-turn-on-red was not permitted at any intersection. But
one could not escape the presence of Wal-Mart in Quebec, for my driving
took me past a shopping center that had one. As I had to visit
the restroom, I thought I’d stop in that Wal-Mart. Inside,
it was just like a regular Wal-Mart, although the bilingual signs had
French in larger letters than English. I didn’t get
anything here except a drink from the vending machine outside. I
didn’t visit any of the other stores in the shopping center,
either – a Moores clothing store, Loblaws grocery store, Rona
home center, the movie theater, or any other place. No, I got
back onto Highway 148 and took that across town.
My destination was Les Promenades de l’Outaouais, the regional
shopping mall in the area. To get there from where I was, I had
to take a couple of autoroutes (that’s French for freeway).
The sign for the autoroutes looks very much like an American Interstate
sign. The direction signs were all in French, but they were
understandable enough to me. It helped that directions in French
(nord, sud, est, ouest) were similar to those in English (north, south,
east, west). I found myself taking the exit for Highway 148 and
arriving in short order at Les Promenades. From the outside, it
and the surrounding area looked like a typical North American shopping
area. As I walked around inside, I noticed only a couple of
instances where people were speaking in English. There was a
bookstore (Librairie Renaud-Bray) there, and I went inside for a short
time, but I couldn’t appreciate their selection, for it was all
in French. I went inside the Metro grocery store that was
attached to the mall. Seeing this setup reminded me of when
Devonshire Mall in Windsor used to have the Miracle Food Mart grocery
store. That went away several years ago, and its space was taken
over by the Chapters bookstore. The Miracle Mart itself is gone,
too; more stores took over its location, and Zellers built a new store
there. But I digress. Back to Metro: one thing I
noticed was that it had beer and wine. This is not unusual in
Michigan, but it’s unheard of in Ontario, for the only stores
that carry alcohol are owned by the provincial government – The
Beer Store and the LCBO store. I also noticed machines for
processing returned beverage bottles, so I presume that Quebec has a
bottle return law similar to Michigan’s.
When I left, I noticed a Best Buy across the street. Now with my
network cable acting up on me, I thought it best to look for a new
one. The store looked to be brand new. Inside, it was
indistinguishable from any Best Buy in the US or Ontario, except for
the price cards being in French. I found a network cable and
proceeded to buy it. For some reason, my debit card transaction
had a hard time going through, but it eventually did. “It works
in Ontario,” I told the clerk. By this time, it was getting
somewhat dark outside, and I thought it best to return to the
hotel. Getting there wasn’t too difficult, for one of the
Gatineau autoroutes crossed over into Ottawa and dumped you onto main
streets. I found my way back to hotel, but when I went into the
parking garage, I had a difficult time parking. The only spot
that was available was one that required me to “thread the
needle,” as it were – make small precision movements to fit
the car into the spot without bumping the neighboring car, the pillar
or the walls. I made it, though it was a bit of a squeeze getting
out of the car, for the pillar was very close.
For supper tonight, I would visit the Richtree at the Rideau
Centre. I had been to its sister restaurants in Toronto back when
the chain was still called Movenpick. This location appeared to
be smaller than the one in Toronto’s BCE Place, but it still had
plenty to choose from. One change from back then: instead
of carrying around a piece of paper that served as your order slip, you
were now given a card that was swiped at every station. My first
stop was the salad bar for a Caesar salad that was very good.
Next came two pieces of bruschetta. The man working the station
had a bit of difficulty recording my order; one of the managers had to
help him out. The main course tonight was rosti and sausage,
rosti being somewhat like hash browns that aren’t browned too
much. I wanted to have some spring rolls, but they were out, so I
tried the shrimp rolls instead, and they were pretty good. To
wash it all down, I alternated between water and a bottle of
Barq’s root beer. Interesting combination of food there,
but it was good.
As you might imagine, I was pretty full after that meal, so I walked
around the Rideau Center for a while. I spent some time in Sears,
which struck me as being fancier than a typical American Sears
store. That was true even before Sears bought the Eaton’s
chain. I think this store had been an Eaton’s before
becoming a Sears. Later, I went over to The Bay via the walkways,
one of which had been transformed into Christmas Street or Rue
Noel. It boggled my mind somewhat to see a sign noting that The
Bay had been established May 2, 1670, referring to when the
Hudson’s Bay Company received its fur trading charter.
I stopped at the Chapters bookstore for a bit and found a book on
Canadian rail travel called, surprisingly enough, “Trans-Canada
Rail Guide.” For some time, I’ve contemplated
traveling across Canada by rail. I’ve done it twice across
the US so far. By this time, my stomach had settled enough for me
to consider having some dessert. I went to the Dairy Queen inside
the Rideau Center for a large milkshake, then went back to the hotel
for the night. I turned on a hockey game and started work on the
monthly newsletter I edit for the Baha’is in the Detroit
area. At some point during the game, I hear about an incident at
the Red Wings game: one of the Detroit players, Jiri Fischer,
collapsed while on the bench and was taken to the hospital after
suffering an irregular heartbeat and possible cardiac arrest. The
game was suspended at that point; nobody felt like continuing with the
game, a perfectly understandable reaction.
Top
Tuesday
November 22
At the start of my last full day in Ottawa, I got up, showered, got
dressed, then went downstairs for another go at the breakfast
buffet. The paper had a major story about the Jiri Fischer
incident. Now my plan for today was to visit the Canadian War
Museum. I had planned to walk there, but when I stepped outside,
it was rather cold and quite breezy. I didn’t feel like
walking in that, so I went back inside and down to the parking garage,
and I drove over to the museum.
The Canadian War Museum had recently moved to this facility, which had
just been dedicated in May. It was indeed an impressive facility,
with plenty of heated underground parking. I went inside, paid my
admission, and started my tour. Up first was the special
exhibition on wartime propaganda, with a strong focus on World War I
and World War II. Not only was the Allied propaganda on display,
the Axis propaganda was there as well. There was nastiness on
both sides there. Then it was on to the main exhibition, which
covered war in Canada from Indian times to the present. One hall
focused on conflicts through the late 19th Century, including the
French and Indian War, the American Revolution, the War of 1812.
Another hall focused on the Boer War and World War I; a third focused
on World War II, and a fourth covered Korea and modern peacekeeping
efforts. For an American, it was interesting to note the
additional emphasis given to the War of 1812 and World War I. The
War of 1812 isn’t regarded as that major of a conflict by most
Americans, and we were only in WWI for parts of two years versus the
four years that Canada was involved. A sobering thought:
back when I was a kid, the WWI veterans were old men. Now, with
the passage of time, they have nearly all passed away.
When I went back to the hotel and to my room, there was a sign on the
door. The maid was still inside cleaning it. I didn’t
think I should go in, for I would disturb her or frighten her. So
I went over to the Rideau Centre and to Chapters for a bit, just
looking to waste some time. By the time I returned, the maid was
gone, so I could enter my room without provoking an incident. Now
I was feeling a little sore and rather weary, so I decided to stay in
and rest up for a bit. I was also feeling somewhat down, for a
DVD set I had thought would be available today was nowhere to be
found. The first season of Tracey Takes On had been scheduled to
come out today, but several online sites said it was no longer
available for ordering. One had said it had been discontinued
– canceled, really, for one cannot discontinue something that had
never been released. Having looked forward to this for several
months, I was quite disappointed.
When suppertime rolled around, I thought I would eat somewhere in the
Bytown Market. There were plenty of restaurants there, but for
some reason, none of them seemed very appealing to me. I
didn’t want to go back to the Hard Rock Café. But I
did end up going back to the Richtree Marché, for I knew I could
get something different there. The salad and bruschetta were the
same as last night, but this time I got a New York strip steak cooked
to order. Once again, everything was very good. This time,
I even got some dessert (a chocolate cake). Then it was time to
start packing up, for I wanted to get an early start tomorrow.
The weather forecast called for snow, especially for the area from
London to Windsor.
I did have some time to see where the swimming pool was, although I
wouldn’t actually use the facility. It was on the fifth
floor, and it and the other facilities (an exercise room and sauna)
were shared with Les Suites hotel next door. Due to hotel
renovations, it wasn’t possible to go to the fifth floor
directly. No, I had to go to the fourth floor, follow the signs
to one of the stairs, go up to the fifth floor, then follow more signs
to the pool area. The facility seemed decent enough.
Perhaps I would use it on a future visit. But I wouldn’t
use it tonight. Back at the hotel room, I watched some hockey for
a while (the Ottawa game in English, the Montreal game in French
– not that I understood any of the French) and the Weather
Network for a while.
Top
Wednesday
November 23
I woke up around 6:20 or so, not outrageously early. For a
regular day, it would be rather late for me, but not while on
vacation. I wanted to get an early start for the long drive to
Windsor, and if there was going to be snow, it would be an even longer
drive. Now I’d done most of my packing Tuesday night, so I
didn’t have to pack up that much. I did a final e-mail
check and packed up the Powerbook, making sure to keep the network
cable out, for it belonged to the hotel. I took my medicine,
brushed my teeth, and finished packing. I took most of my stuff
down to my car, then came back for the rest, went to the lobby to check
out, then went to my car. As I pulled out of the garage for the
last time, it was 7:25 AM.
Traffic was heavy on the 417 heading eastbound and on the 416 heading
northbound. The sky was broken overcast. For a while, I
listened to AM 800 CJAD out of Montreal, but that faded out as the sun
rose. There was a bit of snow on the 416 as I neared the 401, but
that ended up being the last of the snow for several hours. In
fact, the skies cleared out as I drove southwest. That allowed me
to make good time. I stopped at the first service area on the 401
to fill up the gas tank. Driving was smooth as I headed toward
Toronto. I got nervous at one point, though, when I was being
followed by an OPP officer. I was keeping well under the speed
limit, but so was he. I got the feeling he was waiting for me to
commit any infraction and nail me for it. Being an
out-of-province and out-of-country driver, I might not be willing to
fight a ticket in court. Fortunately, he pulled off at the next
exit, and I could relax. And around noon, I found myself in the
Toronto area, where traffic was heavy but smooth. Any congestion
was on the other side of the roadway, where there was
construction. It was quite heavy around Dufferin and Allen, but I
didn’t really care, for I was going the other way.
At this point, I was feeling somewhat hungry. My left leg was
also bothering me a bit, for my wallet was putting some pressure on my
nerves. It was time for a rest stop, and I decided to take it at
the Yorkdale shopping center. I got off the freeway and found my
way to the north parking lot, which was rather full. Once inside,
I walked around to see what had changed from my last visit several
years ago. The biggest change was that the former location of
Eaton’s had been remodeled into many new stores, none of which
particularly appealed to me. A store that did appeal to me was
the Apple Store, which wasn’t very far from Casey’s.
It wasn’t much different from Apple Stores in the US. I
knew the Apple systems here would be networked, so I used one to check
my e-mail. One of the messages had some good news: that Tracey
Takes On DVD set had not been canceled at all but had merely been
delayed to the day after Christmas. I visited the food court for
lunch, thinking I would have some pizza, but the pizza didn’t
look that appealing to me. Nor, for that matter, did anything
else. All I ended up getting for lunch was a bottle of pop from a
newsstand/convenience store.
All of this took about an hour, and then it was back onto the
401. The snow held off until I got to Middlesex County and
London. Then it began to fall, lightly at first, then more
heavily as I went westward. I passed the interchange for the 402,
which would take me to Sarnia and Port Huron. On previous trips
to Toronto, I’d usually take the 402 back to Michigan, but not
today, for I had hotel reservations in Windsor. I started
listening to the news/talk stations – WJR, WWJ, and CKLW –
for weather and traffic updates. Along the way, I learned that
Canada was considered to be very well prepared for a flu pandemic, more
so than the US.
By 5 PM, I was in the Windsor area, exiting the 401 at Dougall
Avenue. The left lane was snow-covered, the right lane mostly
clear. It wasn’t long before I found “Q”, a
novel gas station and convenience store concept that was the Windsor
home to a Richtree restaurant. Unfortunately, when I went inside,
I saw that this Richtree was oriented mainly to takeout foods.
There were a couple of tables there, and there appeared to be a decent
selection of food, but it was nothing like the setups in Toronto or
Ottawa. I suspected I wouldn’t be crossing the border
frequently to eat here, not because of the quality of the food but
because of the setup. I ended up getting a bottle of Sprite and
sipping on it as I drove up Dougall to E. C. Row and then back to the
Hampton Inn.
My room was number 524, one floor up from last Friday’s
room. My view was the same: the Holiday Inn across the
street. The weather was worse: it was continuing to
snow. What did I want to do for supper? I wasn’t sure
that I wanted to drive any place. It turned out that the hotel
had $3 off coupons for Casey’s, so that’s where I ended up
going. And what’s more, I had the same meal as last
Friday. Then it was back to the hotel to stay in and rest for the
night. If it had not been cold and snowy, I might have gone back
to Devonshire or over to the Best Buy on Walker. Back in my room,
the network cable that was not working in Ottawa was still not working
in Windsor, so it went into the trash while I broke out the cable that
I got in Gatineau. That worked just fine.
Top
Thursday
November 24
I woke up for good around 7:15, which was not a problem because I
didn’t have to leave immediately. I could take my time
getting ready, and that was exactly what I did. I went downstairs
and enjoyed breakfast in the lobby while reading a Windsor Star.
I had some Cheerios, but I also had a waffle and some muffins.
The plastic forks were too flimsy to use to cut the waffle, so I had to
get a knife (also plastic, but sturdy enough to function). CNN
Headline News was playing on the TV’s in the lobby and/or eating
area, but I paid little attention to it, for I was reading the
paper. After I finished my breakfast, I took a look at the pool
facilities, but I decided not to take advantage of them today. I
had a swimsuit, but it was a few years old and several sizes too large.
There were no indications that today was a holiday. That was
because it wasn’t a holiday, not in Canada. Canadian
Thanksgiving had been several weeks earlier, on the same date as
Columbus Day. So today was a regular day for Canadians, and that
meant I could do some Christmas shopping once I checked out of the
hotel. While I got everything ready in my room for my
departure, I was watching Channel 4 and its coverage of the
Thanksgiving parade. Around 10, I checked out, got into the car,
put on WJR for its radio coverage of the parade, and drove over to the
Devonshire area.
First stop: Toys R Us and a present for my nephew Brandon.
Second stop: Chapters at Devonshire for presents for my aunt and
uncle. Third stop: one of the newsstands in the mall for a
bottle of Coke, as the vending machines at the entrance were not
working. Then it was out to the car for the drive to the
Ambassador Bridge and the USA. I had my money ready for the toll
booth, which was now on the American side. There weren’t
many cars crossing into the US; not that many trucks, either. I
was bringing back C$300 of merchandise after a stay of longer than 48
hours, so no duty payments for me. I cleared Customs, then paid
the toll and got onto I-75. I thought I might catch some of the
parade as I passed underneath Woodward Avenue. However, I
encountered a major backup, so I decided to take the Lodge
instead. Why was there a backup, I wondered. A few seconds
later, I figured it out: it was Ford Field traffic for the Lion
game. I didn’t need to get caught up in that, so I’d
made a good call by getting on the Lodge, and I headed up to Warren and
Thanksgiving dinner.
Back
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©2005
R. W. Reini.
All
rights reserved.
Written
by Roger Reini
RevisedApril 20, 2008
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