Canada
Two intense years of college, travel and fun
The two years I spent in this huge country taught me about wonderful and open-minded people. I discovered local traditions, admired breathtaking landscapes, and traveled thousands of kilometers in the middle of nature. All this together with attending a local college
Below are some wonderful places that I have seen and that I suggest you visit:
Halifax
Halifax Game City, Point Pleasant Park, Hockey
The city of Halifax is the largest and most important in the Nova Scotia region and is home to Universities very important such as Saint Mary's (where I often went to study when I was in college) and Dalhousie which carried out important research and studies on the Tragedy of the Titanic, where the city of Halifax itself hosts a cemetery in the city centre.
Think that here the winter temperature, combined with the Atlantic winds, also drops 30 degrees below zero and the temperature perceived in the cold months, combined with humidity, makes it even reach -39!!
Despite the cold, the nature around offers forests with frozen lakes where you can have fun, walk the dog on the lake, and make snowmen.
At the time I lived in Sackville, a small village just outside Halifax, with a swimming pool, garden and private parking space. Being October, I would have celebrated my first Halloween in an Anglo-Saxon country with an American tradition.
The preparations for Halloween were nothing short of surprising: an indefinite variety of sweets, cakes with marshmallows, strange and colorful socks, many pumpkins to cut out while waiting for some child to ring the doorbell with the fateful phrase: °trick or treat?". This party is heartfelt as much as Christmas.
Even sport is an integral part of the city. Hockey rules it and the Halifax Moosehead's team (deer head) had earned first place becoming famous throughout Canada. This sport brings many people together and the funniest part is the fights on the pitch that are part of the sport itself. Without these, there would be no hockey! If you want to visit Canada and you have the time, don't miss this experience.
Point Pleasant Park is a park within the city that overlooks the sea. Here you can watch sunsets and feed the squirrels directly from your hands. In this park, in addition to enjoying nature and free-ranging animals, you can go to the gym in the equipped areas, run on the assigned routes, and go trekking and mountain biking.
Young Canadians are also very sporty!
Outside of Halifax, there is no shortage of places to visit such as my favorite Peggy's Cove and its historic lighthouse. In Canada, there are more than 160 historic lighthouses, many of which can be visited. Even whales can be seen from these lighthouses!
Built in 1915, this lighthouse is the most visited and photographed in all of Canada.
Finally, a curiosity: you may have wondered why I subtitled this city as Game City. Well, I didn't believe it either, but Halifax is the home of Gaming Colleges, or specializing in the creation and development of console games. I was told, but I can't confirm it, because I've hardly ever played Play Station or Xbox, that in many famous games, the word HALIFAX appears on a black background when you turn on a video game.
However, what I have been able to ascertain is that in the city there are numerous game bars or game room play, as I call them.
Mahone Bay and Lunenburg
The three churches and the colorful village on the port
Mahone Bay is a village on the harbor with all the colorful houses and is famous for the three churches with each its pointed tower that has become symbols and icons of postcards and photographs to represent Nova Scotia. The names of the churches are St James' Anglican; St John's Evangelical Lutheran and Trinity United.
This country is very famous for the production of wooden boats and canoes.
Another peculiarity is the typical Canadian chairs but in a giant version where you can take funny photos.
Founded in 1753, today Lunenburg is Unesco heritage as it has remained preserved and authentic as in ancient times. Here you can admire the best living example of British colonialism, where houses and churches are supported on their centuries-old wood rich in many colors.
Walking along the seafront means smelling the sea, fish, and the stories of old fishermen who face the sea every day.
Here you can enjoy the best ocean fish and magnificent lobsters! There is certainly no shortage of distilleries, restaurants, typical clubs and a large golf course just on the opposite side of the sea.
Montreal and Toronto
..and the Canadian film-city!
My coast-to-coast begins at the end of college and after graduation, with Spring Break, before returning to Italy.
Halifax is located on the east coast of Canada and I wanted to get to the longed-for city of Vancouver.
The first try was Montreal. Here the cold was unbearable and it is for this reason that the underground cities were born. These underground cities develop under the city and have the size of the city itself. I remember meeting people who told me they worked in a specific skyscraper and walked to another skyscraper far away from theirs without ever setting their noses outside. Below are restaurants, shopping malls, and subways and everything above is below too! In fact, in winter there were very few people on the street and very little traffic, you practically live underneath.
PS: it's hot underneath! Short sleeves and summer temperatures!
Toronto
When I landed in Toronto with an internal flight, I met a friend who lived there and whom I had met on the beach as an "au pair". Together we visit the city in general, some museums and we also walk here in the underground city.
We decide to make an unusual visit to the film district to take a picture of the Toronto skyline.
He tells me that Toronto (at the time it was 2012), had a thriving film market in expansion, especially for the production of very famous American films such as Spiderman. Indeed, every year they celebrate the Toronto Film Festival, where you can see all the movies believed to be in America but filmed in these skyscrapers.
Among the things to see in Toronto are the CN Tower, Fort York in the heart of the city, the Hockey Hall of Fame, Eaton Center, and the nearby Niagara Falls.
Niagara Falls
when something BIG is said ...
We arrived here with a coach that allowed us to see a bit of the Canadian hinterland.
Even before the arrival, you could see the droplets of water suspended in the air from the waterfall.
I paid about $40 for the ticket and I'm a little puzzled by the American-style mega park they've built in this village that houses one of the most famous places in the world!
A sort of gigantic family amusement park that clashes with the enchanting and awe-inspiring beauty of the falls.
Leaving my personal opinion aside, I am pleasantly shocked when I see that the vegetation close to the water is completely frozen! A not uncommon vision if you come in winter, but if you think that most tourists come in summer...
I take lots of photos and I enjoy the water that flows and pours into the most total emptiness. I read a bit of history from the various signs that are around. They are not waterfalls particularly famous for their height but for their imposing mass of water transported by the Niagara River. Few people know that they are made up of three different waterfalls always coming from the same river...
A famous film was shot here in 1953 called Niagara, by the director Henry Hathaway and with Marilyn Monroe as the protagonist where many of the buildings and places taken from this film were preserved originally for the delight of tourists and enthusiasts. Curious and at times frightening the news that until the modern era the erosion of the waters consumed the waterfalls between 60 cm and 3 m per year. This phenomenon has been slowed down by diverting large masses of water for the production of electricity.
Vancouver and the suspension bridge
Between the sea and the mountains
The last stop was my golden Vancouver, in British Columbia. I also arrive here with a domestic flight of several hours, Canada being an immense nation. Arrived at the hotel I prepared to go out and walk around the neighborhoods. The city looks tidy and clean, lots of people running and cycling. I take a few buses perfectly on time and eat in some fast food (obviously I had to economize after a long time in this country).
I read some news on the internet and was informed that the problem with this city is booming. This is due to the presence of the sea on one side and the mountains on the other side that surround it; for this reason, we had to think about an expansion in height. The new buildings have many plans to remedy this reason.
Vancouver is also one of the cities with the best quality of life in Canada and in the world but at the same time also the most Dear.
After walking several kilometers, I get ready for the beach crossing the large garden of the British Columbia University (just like the great American universities).
Here I admire the sunset eating chips and beer and when I turn around I see the grandeur of the mountains overlooking the sea. I would love to be up there and see the sea under my feet...maybe one day..,
Totem Poles in Stanley Park, Vancouver
Vancouver also aims to have the primacy as the greenest city and I also understand this from the park in the city center, near the bridge that connects the two banks (it looks like the one in Brooklyn).. it seems to be inside a remote forest in who knows what part of the world! At the entrance to the park, there is one of the most visited and photographed attractions in Canada, the Totem Poles.
The collection of Totem Poles in Stanley Park began in the 1920s when the Vancouver Parks Board began buying them thinking that eventually they would build a replica First Nations village in Stanley Park. Some of these original totem poles were carved as early as the 1880s.
Inside the park, there are also other totems and each of them depicts something particular.
The suspension bridge, Capilano Suspension Bridge
Since 1889
Always thanks to the Internet I come across this attraction dated 1889 that offers fun and adventure. This park which looks more like a forest, offers the visit of a suspension bridge where you can cross the river below named Capilano, a walk suspended among the trees where a series of paths have been built at half the height of these trees, making the tourist enjoy a general panoramic view.
The suspension bridge has a length of 140m and a ground clearance of 70.
Unfortunately, here too, as in many places, many people died, not because the place was dangerous but because they did some stunt that ended very badly.
Around the park, you can admire the peaks of the Garibaldi Provincial Park mountains which is located near the most beautiful mountain range in the world!
Ticket cost about $60
Useful Tips:
Canada is huge. Moving with internal flights is a must if you don't have at least one month available. The food is mainly made up of hamburgers, sandwiches, and American-style chips but in the seaside towns, you can eat excellent fish, especially salmon or lobster that have lower prices than ours as they are fished locally.
The roads are in excellent condition, the only pity is the low limit even on the "highway" and traveling thousands and thousands of kilometers sometimes straight at a speed of 100/110 km/h is not the best.
Along the highways, you can find motels that rent out rooms at hourly rates to enjoy a rest after a long journey.
The currency is the Canadian Dollar and the exchange rate is favourable.
The average ticket price to get from Europe to Halifax remains between 450/550 euros depending on the season. I left after the summer and the ticket cost me 415 euros.
I could have seen many more things, but a fundamental stop not to be skipped is the Rocky Mountains (Google Photos), or the mountain range that starts from America and ends in Canada. Here are lodges on the lakes, canoes for fishing in the lakes with blue water and around huge forests. To me, they are one of the most beautiful attractions in the world that I hope to visit one day!
Itinerary on the map:
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