So, we left Heathrow and had a pretty uneventful flight out, I watched Star Trek (again because horrible things like 'he's just not that into you' were on) and was a little bit more in love with the super cute Russian. I also started Tender is the night, which was super super good. I really liked all the psychological stuff with Nicole, F Scott Fitzgerald is ace in general. I was sad Dick and Rosemary didn't end up happy together though but I guess a happy ending wouldn't have really suited the book plus Dick went all mad and things.
When we arrived we drove from the airport to the house at Fiddler lake, which was weird because I've only ever been to the house in the ski season so everything is normally covered with snow. It was well strange to see everything green and flowery etc.. Easily the best thing about the house in the summer was the lake. Clare and I went for a walk and decided to go down to see if we could get to the lake. Turns out we have a jetty thing at the bottom of our house on the lake, it was amazing, I spent as much time as possible down there reading, listening to my ipod or thinking with my feet dangling in the water. It was doubly good because it's really secluded, I wish there was somewhere like that in Malvern where I could go and get away from everyone and everything. It was good to feel alone when my family was driving me mad. I think I might have actaully gone a bit crazy if I didn't have the chance to be on my own, being constantly surrounded by people isn't something I can hack. But when I sociable it was fun to go swimming in the lake with Helen and Clare despite being times 10 scared due to my irrational water phobia.
Anyway, We went to Tremblant (where we usually ski) on the first day we were there and walked round the top and got sunburnt. The views were stunning and everyone got snap happy. After a few days chilling at the house doing not much we set off for Toronto via 1000 Islands and Kingston.
1000 Islands was ace, as the name suggests it is comprised of lots of small islands on lake Ontario. (which I didn't believe was a lake when I saw it from the CN Tower because it's ginormous and you can't see the end of it, mental!) Lots of the little islands had enough room for a cute little house, the houses looked like something out of a Miyazaki film. We got to go on a boat cruise round some of the islands and sailed into American waters much to excitement of the Japanese tourists on the boat.
The boat tour guide told us lots of good facts about the Islands including a sad story about a rich hotel maker who carved one of the islands into a heart shape (hence it's name, heart island) and built his wife an awesome fairytale castle (Boldt castle) on it for a birthday gift. But his wife died before it was finished. The rich man was apparently so heartbroken that he never returned to island and left the castle as a 'monument of his love' I felt sorry for the husband, he must have loved his wife lots :(
After 1000 Islands we drove over to Kingston which was a real 'sleepy' town/city (I'm not sure which) where nothing really happened but there was a good old fashioned steam train that was randomly in the middle of a park.
The next day we went to Toronto which was my possibly favourite destination of the holiday. It was a really nice clean city with loads of cool indie bands playing on street corners and in every hmv we walked past (I think there must have been a music festival of sorts happening while we there). We walked round the city a bit to do some sightseeing and came across lots of cool boutiques and vintage shops, then we made our way to the CN Tower which is massive! I was pretty terrified when we got the lift with the horrid glass floor bits up to the top and experienced some horrid vertigo. Once we were out of the lift it was a bit better but you could feel the tower sway when the wind blew and I felt a bit disorientated and my ears popped lots.
The tower claimed to be the tallest in the world but I think it's a lie as I'm pretty sure there's something taller in Dubai and the information sheet that told me it was the tallest was well retro so they probably hadn't bothered to update it and were hoping no one would notice. Still, the tower is an impressive 1,815 ft (I think, you should check wikipedia to be sure though) and you could see for about a million miles. We had cocktails and dinner in the restaurant but everyone was under dressed because we didn't realise it was super posh. Anyway it was good because we didn't finish dinner till about 10 so we got to see Toronto at night from high up which was good :)
After that we walked back to where we were staying and did a bit more sightseeing as the city was still really busy and loads of things were happening. The next day we travelled to Niagara falls. The falls themselves were awesome in the true sense of the word. We were lucky because the view from our hotel room had an amazing view of the falls so I stayed in the room watching all the water fall down. At half 8 spotlights light up both the Canadian and the the American falls so we watched that from our room too and then because it was a weekend there was a firework display over the falls too which was mega and I love fireworks anyway. The next day we went down to the falls and everyone got all snap happy again. I think Hel took over a hundred photos! We walked behind the Canadian falls, went in the maid of the mist boat that takes you in front of the Canadian falls (so into the horseshoe bit), walked along with the rapids and went in a crazy sky car thing over the whirlpool. We were also provided with attractive ponchos to wear for most of the time we were there so we didn't get 100% soaked, but we got wet anyway.
The rapids were probably the most brutal part of the day, the current was ridiculously strong, 'if you fall in you die' one of the workers informed us. There was loads of facts to read about the rapids and the falls which my Dad and I liked. Apparently people used to be mental years ago because loads of them attempted stupid things like getting in a barrel, screwing the lid on and going over the edge of Niagara falls in it?! So many people died doing silly things like that but a few survived and are now in a hall of fame type thing at Niagara that has lots of stories about the stunts.
The Canadian falls used to erode the rock behind them at a rate of 10 feet a year but modern technology (it didn't say what) has slowed the erosion rate to 1 foot every 10 years, cool!
1/3 of the worlds water flows down the falls
A boy (Jimmy? I can't remember) fell down the Canadian falls with nothing but a life jacket on and miraculously* survived.
The first person to barrel down the falls was a school teacher who was 60 something. She also survived and said she wouldn't recommend it to anyone.
*I say miraculously as everyone at the time thought it was a proper actual miracle and thanked God and that.
I liked the falls but I had some horrible Sartrean urges to throw myself over the edge or jump into the class 6 rapids so I was actaully feeling quite weak a lot of the time and therefore quite happy to be away from all the water.
After the falls we travelled back via Ottawa. By this point I had finished Tender is the Night, Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas and read almost all of Kafka's metamorphosis and other stories.
Reading Fear and Loathing for a second time was definitely a wise move. It's basically about Raoul Duke (Hunter S) and his attorney (Dr Gonzo) going round Las Vegas completely twisted on mescaline and god knows what else, getting up to various shenanigans and racking up massive hotel room bills. I particularly liked the parts when Dr Gonzo was 'offering' a car full of innocent people heroin and also when he gets stuck on one of those revolving floors that you get at Alton Towers on the log flume. It makes me upset knowing that Hunter S is dead though because the book feels so alive. as characters go the attorney is one of my all time favourites, he has all the best scenes and is generally pretty damn cool. I really hope that in real life he is just as cool.
Metamorphosis was also brilliant but probably in the most different way possible. Its about Gegor, a guy who goes to work to make money for his family who wakes up one day to discover that he has been morphed into a giant cockroach insect thing. To start with I was mostly really grossed out by the description of the transformation and Gergors new insect legs made me feel horrible and weak. But as the story goes on it becomes less about the physical metamorphosis and more a study of alienation and loneliness. I would 100% recommend Metamorphosis to anyone, it's really short and took about an hour to read so even if you hate it it's not much time 'wasted'. I can see why everyone raves about Kafka, Metamorphosis really is one of the best things I've read in while.
So after I finished most of Kafka (I still have another short story to read) I decided to move onto Wuthering Heights which I worried was going to be a horrid girly romance novel, I am pleased to say that it was not. So anyway I was reading Wuthering Heights on the way back from Niagara, and after a 6 hour drive we stopped in Ottawa where we went for a boat cruise on the Ontario (I think) river. Dad informed us that he was going to be quizzing us on what we remembered from the tour guide's speech thing. Possibly this was to make sure everyone listened and didn't just sit around staring at the scenery. As a result I am now quite informed on this river (despite not being sure on the name)
interesting facts included:
There is more water in the Ontario river that there is in all of the English rivers combined.
The first Canadian prime minister was John A MacDonald in 1867
1867 was also the year the Canadian rowing club was established
The owner of the Laurier hotel decided that he wanted all the furniture for his hotel from Europe. Sadly, he got the Titanic back home so he and all his furniture are now at the bottom of the Atlantic. Legend has it he haunts the 4th floor of the Laurier.
The peace tower is the highest building in Ottawa, this is because the peace tower is the most important building in Ottawa so you aren't allowed to build anything taller than it.
After we left Ottawa we made our way back 'home' to Fiddler lake for the last two days. On the first day we decided to go back to Tremblant, but instead of getting the cable car up we walked. It was pretty much the most epic walk ever. It involved scrambling up rock faces, being way too hot because it was Canadian summer and about a million degrees, jumping and leaping over river type things, listening to Clare whine, being very very afraid of running into bears, spotting deer, climbing up tree roots, watching Clare celebrate when we were half way up because she thought it was the top, watching Clare have a huge stress because we were only half way up and being massively dehydrated because no one brought any water. 2 and a half hours and 2871 ft later and we made it to the top, or at least Helen and I did. Mum walked ahead by about ten minuets so she could buy water for Clare and bring it back down to her. Dad stayed behind with Clare and they took another half hour. By the time you get near the top you have to walk a black run and Clare had pretty much given up by then. When we got to the top she said she wished we had never come, haha. Everyone else loved it :D
We got the cable car back down and went to Clares favourite restaurant on the mountain, Caseys. Afterwards Helen and I brought matching ra-tastic 'sweat pants' which are probably the comfiest things I have ever worn ever. And then we went home.
The last day involved everyone going to the rec center to play air hockey, but by this point I had had far too much family time so I stayed down by the lake. And then we drove to the airport for an awful journey home involving zero sleep, Angles and Daemons (pretty terrrible) Clare and I being sick and Clare being a general idiot and annoying everyone.
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