Tadoussac

We are now back from our three day camping adventure in Saguenay National Park. We camped in a rainstorm, it rained the last two days we were there, but we still managed to have a wonderful time. We stayed in beautiful Hutopia tents which were spacious and contained comfortable beds.

Our Rabaska Boat activity was cancelled because of the bad weather so we had a guided hiking tour instead where we learned the history of the landscape in the park. The last ice age moulded the park into the tall cliffs and fjords we see today. The cliffs were so steep that even the most professional mountain climbers take up to three days to climb the cliffs.

On our last day in Tadoussac, we went whale watching where we saw a humpback whale and three minky whales. We tried to see some beluga whales but they were busy hunting for food under the water.

We are now just about to leave Quebec City for Montreal, our final destination.

See you soon!

The EOTR Crew

Quebec City

Quebec City has been described as "the most beautiful city" by the students. Here we have been surrounded by many different art forms. Everywhere we turn we see galleries, sculptures, monuments and street performances.

Yesterday we took a tour of the city and ended up staying in the Holy Trinity Church to watch an English Change Ringing demonstration where we learned about the ringing of cathedral bells. It is a very hard form of ringing as the ringers have to work together to ring for sometimes longer than three hours.

In the afternoon we visited an art expo where there were hundreds of artisans from all over quebec selling their handcrafted creations. In the evening we caught a Cirque de Soleil acrobatic performance.

Last night we were awoken to a fire two buildings down from our hostel. Fire engines, fire fighters and police were outside our hostel as they hooked up their hoses to the fire hydrant in order to put out the fire. The streets surrounding our hostel was caution taped off as well. The fire was finally put out at 2am.

We all lived to tell the tale but there is never a dull moment here with English on the Road.

We will be camping for the next couple of days in Saguenay Provincial Park so there will be no updates for a while! See you when we return.

Katherine and the crew

Ottawa 2

I am happy to report that the students have thoroughly enjoyed Ottawa. On the second day we went white water rafting in Beachburg, Ontario where the students learned to work together in the rapids of the river. They also received a lesson on kayaking and practiced on their own in the water after their return from the river.

Yesterday was spent touring Ottawa. We started off our day by watching the changing of the guard on Parliment Hill and proceeded to take a tour of the Parliment buildings with a tour guide named Julie. We spent lunch in the Byward Market and saw the site of Obama's official visit to Ottawa and had some free time to shop around.

We then crossed the river on foot to Hull, Quebec to visit the Museum of Civilization where the students were amazed by the exhibit of the Horse. We visited Gatineau for a buffet dinner and came back for an evening of lights and sounds on Parliment Hill with the Mosaika lightshow.

We are now heading to Quebec City!

Katherine

Ottawa

Alas, there was a sunny day in Algonquin Park! Yesterday morning was spent on the beach where all the students engaged in swimming and tipping eachother off of the canoes in the lake. Some even went cliff jumping off of the rocks.

Now we have finally reached Ottawa! We are all glad to have a shower and wash our clothes. We are staying at the University of Ottawa Residence and so the boys marched into the showers merrily singing "rub a dub, dub, three men in a tub!". They could be heard singing throughout the entire floor.

Now the 8th floor smells like cologne and laundry soap, but the students say it's better than smelling like a campfire.

We plan on having pizza for dinner and possibly going to a drive in movie theatre tonight. The next days include Parliment Hill, A light show, Changing of the Guard, the Museum of Civilization and White Water Rafting.

See you back soon.

Katherine, Fraser and the Crew

Algonquin Park

We are currently camping in Algonquin Park and weathering through a rainstorm. The students went canoeing in the rain this morning with the wonderful park ranger Kevin. Although the students were sopping wet, they still decided to go swimming in the lake.

We have constructed a small tarped area to cook under so we will have some shelter tonight. We also found some relief from the rain while visiting the Algonquin Art Centre. Luckily, we found internet along the way to write this post so you could enjoy it.

See you in another city!

Katherine, Fraser & The Crew

Welcome August Students!

The August 2010 students have now joined us for our next adventure through Ontario and Quebec. Joining us is Julia, Alex, and Lisa from Germany, Theo from France and Fredrico from Italy.

The students have now adjusted to the new time zone and are enjoying Ontario so far. We have visited the CN Tower, the Royal Ontario Museum, the Art Gallery of Ontario and the Hockey Hall of Fame.

We will try to update the blog as often as our schedule allows providing that we are in areas where there is internet access.

We are now in Niagara Falls and we are looking forward to going on the Maid of the Mist boat tour by the waterfall.

Katherine and Fraser