The majority of the Spanish speaking citizens are Cuban immigrants. Here is the highest number of Cubans outside of Havana and the main quarter where they live in Miami is called Little Havana. You can find lots of restaurants with Cuban cuisine and lots of Cuban cigar factories. Here we tried some traditional Cuban dishes: plantains, which are a sort of banana and are served fried as a side for meat dishes; black beans, which are also served as a dish and of course lots of different types of meat.

Our CS hosts Tim and Briana also showed us some nice spots in Miami. Miami basically wakes up at 11 PM and goes to bed around 5 AM, but though this sounds like a lot of action, it’s definitely not the place where you want to walk around in the night if you don’t know what you’re doing. So immediately after we met our hosts, they told us about the places in Miami where we should not necessarily go. Fortunately we stayed in Miami Beach which is technically not part of Miami and is very safe even at late hours. The South Beach is a very funny place; there are gym equipments on the beach and lots of guys training there and the streets look like if there would be a body-building competition in town.

Then during our stay there was also Hurricane Isaac which threatened to hit Miami. Fortunately the only thing it did was to bring a lot of rain for 4-5 days but because nobody knew if it would hit Miami directly, people were buying can-food and water for days. Thinking about what hurricane Katrina did to New Orleans a couple of years ago we also bought some cans and we still have spring water that we bought.

One amazing thing we’ve seen or done

On the last 2 days we went to Key West which is the most southern point in the US. The best beaches around Florida where you see the blue green water are not in Miami, they are around the Florida Keys. But what’s most amazing is the road to the Keys, it’s called the Overseas Highway and that’s what it is, a highway over the ocean, with turquoise water on both sides of the highway. If the Icefields Parkway in Canada is the best road I’ve driven through the mountains, this one is definitely the nicest one that I’ve seen near an ocean or sea.

Next stop

Quito, Ecuador

Grand Canyon has three rims that are accessible for tourists and after leaving Las Vegas we headed for the West Rim which is not the most beautiful of the rims but it is home to the famous Grand Canyon Skywalk. Unfortunately the weather was not good there as it started to lighten and because of this the authorities decided to close the Skywalk. So we drove further to the South Rim which is supposed to be the nicest and most accessible of the three. Here, the National Park is very well organized and you can park your car at special places and afterwards there are shuttle buses to a ton of nice viewpoints or you can just go hiking along the rim. When we first got off the shuttle bus at the first view point and turned around we didn’t expect the feeling that was about to happen. We both were so amazed that I think we just stood there with our mouth open without saying anything for more than a minute. I think the first look of the Grand Canyon is one of those moments which you will remember for the rest of your life. It doesn’t make a difference if you saw hundreds of pictures of the canyon before because the live view cannot be compared to any of the pictures because the canyon is incredible huge.

After 2 days at the South Rim we headed to Page where we took some nice pictures at the Horseshoe Bend viewpoint. But the main reason for going to Page was the Antelope Canyon which is situated in a territory controlled by the Navajo Indian Tribe. It’s not as spectacular as the Grand Canyon and it’s very small but it’s a must for photographers. What make it so famous are the pictures that can be shot here. The canyon is very narrow as you can barely walk through it and because of the shape of the rocks and the light beams that enter the canyon you can shoot amazing pictures with lots of colors and shapes. Take a look at the pictures.

The last National Park that we visited was Bryce who is also very spectacular because of the rock formations that look like chess figures or like people. The chess figures received their shape due to weather conditions and stream erosions of the river.

One amazing thing we’ve seen or done

Like I said, the Grand Canyon is really a breath taking place so we took advantage of being there and booked a helicopter tour to see it from above. The view was amazing though I did not expect a helicopter to be so unstable as you could feel every change of wind

Next stop

Miami, Florida

Grand Canyon

Antelope Canyon

Bryce Canyon

Before going there I thought it will be just a place with lots of kitschy stuff. But now I’m so glad that we went there and can say for sure that this is definitely one of the places that I will visit again. You can easily spend 1-2 weeks here without getting bored as you have a lot of entertainment options starting from gambling (what a surprise) to concerts and shows everywhere and tons of restaurants or you can just stay at the pool and relax. And where else can you see the Eiffel Tower, the pyramids, take a ride with the gondola under the Rialto Bridge, see the Statue of Liberty, Empire State Building and the Brooklyn Bridge and go to the Colloseum all in one day?

The hotels and the casinos are unbelievable; here you can see probably the most luxurious hotels in the world. The “Caesars Palace”, “Bellagio”, “The Venetian” and “The Mirage” are at the top of the list. The “Caesars Palace” tops them all being like a city where you can easily get lost. And in the evening you have the famous shows of the Bellagio Fountains and the “Volcano Show” at the Mirage.

Coming back to gambling, I had to measure my poker skills with the best so I went to four poker tournaments. At three I made it to the final table and at 2 I even came out on the 4^th place but unfortunately only the first 3 places were rewarded but I had a lot of fun as everybody was joking at the tables and having a great time and I also learned a little bit more about the game because there were a lot of players playing very aggressive.

We also couldn’t miss the chance to go to a concert of Celine Dion and were so lucky to get very good tickets on the last day. We have been at one of her concerts before in Stuttgart but this one was at a different level. The show was just incredible. I couldn’t record anything because cameras were not allowed inside but I linked a video from youtube, so take a look if you want.

One amazing thing we’ve seen or done

Mother, please don’t read this…

Las Vegas is just crazy and like I said you have a lot of entertainment options there but there’s one that beats them all. It’s the Stratosphere Tower where you have at the top, at 260 meters, 3 crazy rides. But what even beats these rides is jumping from the edge of the tower in an almost free fall all the 260 meters. And guess what, I did it… I jumped. It’s definitely the craziest thing I have ever done and I enjoyed every one of the 17 seconds of the fall. Take a look at the videos.

Next stop

Grand Canyon, Antelope Canyon and Bryce National Park

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k6cGJaSzI0E

In LA we went to Beverly Hills which is the quarter where the bold and the beautiful live and I think it’s not a very bad place to stay there. After that we went to the Hollywood Boulevard to take something from the Hollywood glamour. It’s the place where all the “stars” have their names written on the pavement and it has a special atmosphere.

We also visited the Staples Center because Luci wanted to go to the home of the Los Angeles’ NBA team, the Lakers. The area there is very nice with lots of restaurants, festivals and concerts.

On our last day in LA we took advantage of the weather and spent the day on the beach in the beautiful town of Santa Monica. Here you can also see lots of surfers and people playing beach-volleyball. Later we took a look at the Malibu beach with is also not very far away from LA.

One amazing thing we’ve seen or done

For me the most amazing thing in LA was meeting my cousins and seeing that their children are quite big now. Time really flies…

Next step

Las Vegas

In Yosemite we drove through the Yosemite Valley where we saw the rock formation “El Capitan” which is very popular between rock climbers. There are also a couple of granite domes such as the “Sentinel Dome” and the “Half Dome”. Yosemite is also known for its high number of waterfalls but unfortunately during this time of the year most of them are very small.

The park has three groves of ancient giant sequoia trees. We visited the Mariposa Grove with approximately 200 trees. It was really amazing to see these giant trees that are the world’s largest trees in terms of total volume. They grow to an average height of 50-85m and 6-8m diameter. The most popular attraction in the park was the “Grizzly Giant” that is approximately 2000 years old. It is 64m high and has a diameter of 8m. Its first branch from the base has a diameter of 2m. Another one, the “California Tunnel” tree is the only living tree with a tunnel in it.

One amazing thing we’ve seen or done

The longevity of the sequoias is given by their high resistance towards fires, insects and diseases. But what’s more amazing is that the fire actually helps them regenerate and that’s why the national park service started controlled fires in the park a couple of years ago and since then the health of the trees improved.

In San Francisco we visited Florin, a school colleague of mine which I haven’t seen in 12 years so we had a lot to talk about. Florin moved there 5 years ago so he knows the city very well. On weekend he showed us the city and outside of it we visited also the Muir Woods, which is a nice park with very tall red woods.

San Francisco is now definitely on the list of our favorite cities. It has so many attraction points but the one that we liked most was the area around the famous Fisherman’s Wharf. Here you have a lot of nice restaurants with seafood specialties as well as a place where sea lions gather to sleep in the sun (see the pictures). We did not miss the other touristic attractions like the Golden Gate, the beautiful Lombard street, walked all the stairs up to the Coit Tower to have a beautiful view of the city and took a boat tour around the Golden Gate Bridge and the Alcatraz and went also to the beautiful town Sausalito. Another thing that’s nice about San Francisco is that it’s all built on 43 hills and some streets are so steep that you feel like being in a rollercoaster when you drive there.

San Francisco was almost completely destroyed after an earthquake in 1906 and the fire that lasted for 4 days after the earthquake but there are still some nice Victorian buildings in town. A nice story is that all the houses in SF are not insured for earthquakes because the risk of another big earthquake in the future is so big that no insurance company is willing to sell a package which covers earthquake damages. This also happened in 1906 and because of this there were a lot of cases where people set fire to their own houses because otherwise the insurance would not cover the partial damage.

One amazing thing we’ve seen or done

One amazing thing that happened to us in San Francisco was when we wanted to buy tickets for the Hop-on-Hop-off bus. The person that was selling the tickets was from my hometown where I grew up and went to the same schools like I did so we got the tickets for all attractions in San Francisco for FREE. We also rode the Rocket Boat, which is the fastest boat in the Bay and the ride was definitely something to write home about.

Utah

San Francisco

The park actually stands on the crater of a volcano that erupted millions of years ago. Nowadays the area is still hit by numerous earthquakes daily but the majority of them cannot be felt.

The geysers in the park are a spectacular phenomenon of nature and they erupt by throwing water in the air, some of them a couple of times per day. What amazed me is that some eruptions can be predicted with a precision of +-10 minutes. For example, the Old Faithful Geyser erupted at the exact predicted time. When you get close to the time of eruption a lot of people gather around the geyser to watch the show.

The hot springs sometimes form a very colorful picture because the colors are given by the different algae and bacteria which can live in extreme conditions near the spring. The nicest ones that we saw are the Grand Prismatic and the Morning Glory Pool.

Other impressive pictures were the ones of the Yellowstone Canyon with 2 out of the total 300 waterfalls in the park and the Yellowstone lake which is the biggest lake at high altitude in North America.

In the park are two main valleys known for wildlife. Here we saw a lot of bisons which sometimes walk on the road near the cars, bears and deers.

On the second evening, thanks to a very good recommendation from Thomas Hug, a friend of mine, we had dinner at a typical mountain lodge in Yellowstone. Here they have a lot of typical dishes for this region and we tasted bison steak and elk medallions which were very delicious.

One amazing thing we’ve seen or done

I can say that the whole park is amazing but because I’m also a “picture hunter” I would choose the Grand Prismatic Spring as the highlight of the Yellowstone. It’s just one of those places where I could take hundreds of pictures but don’t worry, I uploaded just three. Take a look at the amazing colors.

Another thing we visited in Seattle is the Space Needle which is Seattle’s TV tower and was built for the 1962 World’s  Fair (Century 21 Exposition) and apparently the architects back then thought that this is how houses of the 21th century will look like. Well, this is not really the case… at least for the house where I live…

One amazing thing we’ve seen or done

The most amazing thing we hoped to see near Seattle was the Boeing factory in Everett. Unfortunately because we had to wait almost 1h for our rented car we missed the last tour at the Boeing factory and only got the chance to see a small exhibition there.

Vancouver is very multicultural. You have a big variety of cuisines from all over the world starting with many Asian ones, Chinese, Japanese, Vietnamese, Thai and so on and continuing with European ones. Here we tried probably the best pizza so far and the Vancouver Special Pizza which is a cold pizza with salmon. In Vancouver you get very good fish and seafood. Another specialty we tried was Ramen from the Japanese cuisine which is a noodle soup with different flavors. I tried the Spicy Garlic Ramen which had a garlic ball the size of a meatball which was almost only pressed garlic (see the pictures). I love garlic and it was very delicious but I had the taste of garlic for almost 2 days in my mouth.

On the first day in Vancouver we rented bicycles and rode around the Stanley Park near the ocean which was very nice as you can feel the ocean breeze. We also walked through Gastown, a very fancy area in Vancouver and downtown which has a lot of nice bars and cafes. In the evening we went to Granville Island which has a nice public market with lots of food you can choose from and you can sit near the ocean and listen to live music. On the second day we went to the campus of the University of British Columbia which is really nice and also has some nice beaches to the ocean. Then we went to the Capilano Park which is famous for a very long suspended bridge where your knees start shivering when walking over as the bridge is moving a lot (see the pictures). Here you can also walk on the Treetop path which is on small bridges that connect the tree houses.

One amazing thing we’ve seen or done

It’s more sad than amazing but unfortunately Vancouver has the poorest street in whole North America, the East Hastings Street. Homeless people from all over Canada gather here because it’s the only big city in Canada where people are allowed to live and sleep on the streets. It’s really shocking to see a lot of homeless people, sleeping on the street, drug addicted and shops were they can get their daily doses in a legal and supervised manner. The picture of all these “living ghosts” is something we will not forget very soon. And more amazing is that everything is just 100 meters from Vancouver’s fanciest neighborhood, Gastown, where you have to pay 20-30 dollars for a lunch. It’s unbelievable how both worlds live peaceful just one street far from each other. I didn’t take any pictures of the Hastings Street because I found it unfair to take photos of someone else’s nightmare.

Now a little bit about Calgary and what we managed to see there on our short visit. Calgary is the fastest growing city in North America being called “The new Toronto” of the “New West”. Calgary’s boom started when oil was discovered in the Alberta province.  That meant that the population of Calgary grew from 127 thousands in 1951 to currently over 1.2 million. Downtown Calgary is trying to match the one in Toronto with new skyscrapers belonging mainly to oil companies and there is even a TV tower that looks similar to the one in Toronto. It also has a glass floor and we could not miss the opportunity to go up and take some pictures on it and I can say the feeling is even scarier than the one in Toronto because this one has also a glass wall behind so you have a more real feeling of floating in the air.

We also took a tour of the Heritage Park Historical Village which is a museum which shows how the people in Alberta lived in the early 20^th century. The people that walk on the streets of the park are also dressed in historic costumes and most of the houses are historical ones.

Another highlight in Calgary was trying a steak of the famous Alberta beef. Alberta is very famous for its beef steakes which according to the “Lonely Planet” guide are the “crème de la crème” so by entering a steak house for lunch or dinner you do everything right.

One amazing thing we’ve seen or done

I already wrote that Sarah took us to a sailing round on Saturday. It was great but the best part is that it was the first time when I tried trapeze sailing which is AWESOME. It’s not only the most amazing thing I’ve done in Calgary but it’s definitely one of the most amazing things I’ve ever done. When trapeze sailing you have a harness which is hooked on a wire that comes from a high point on the mast and you actually stay on the edge of the boat, parallel to the water and try to keep the boat flat and balanced by straightening your knees to counterbalance the wind power. I know my description does not make it seem amazing but trust me when I say that the adrenaline that you get is awesome as you are floating with your body parallel to the water. Take a look at the video but unfortunately it didn’t capture the part where we had the most wind.

We spent just 10 days here but you could probably stay here for weeks if not for months and you wouldn’t get bored. These parks are just amazing.  Every day we went hiking on some amazing trails and got the chance to see a couple of the most scenic views we have ever seen. For example we went hiking from the beautiful Lake Louise which has emerald water up to Lake Agnes. This is supposed to be the most hiked trail in Canada and I’m quite sure that’s not exaggerated though if you get there early, before 10 AM, you have the whole nice views almost for yourself. Then there’s Moraine Lake which is a true wonder of the nature. Its color makes you think you’re somewhere in the Maldives or on the islands somewhere in Polynesia if it weren’t for the mountains covered with snow in the back of the lake which make the view just perfect.

Today, on the last day we went hiking on the Bow Summit (2088m) and got some wonderful pictures of the Peyto Lake and the Bow Lake with the Bow Glacier. Do I need to say that these views were also as close to perfection as you could get?

The nice thing about Banff and Jasper is that it doesn’t stop with the nice lakes and hiking trails. You have a couple of glaciers that are so amazing that you just sit there and wonder about the amount of ice. The best ones that we saw are the Athabasca and the Glacier on Mount Edith Cavell. Then there is the road which crosses the two parks, the Icefields Parkway, which is by some rankings the most beautiful road in the world. You cannot get bored when driving here as the scenery is so spectacular, mountains, glaciers, lakes, waterfalls and wildlife all in the same picture.

Another impressive thing is that you have the chance to watch wildlife at almost every step. We saw grizzlies, some of them so big that you would need your brown pants if you met one face to face, black bears, coyotes, caribous, a sort of deer specific for this region, marmots, porcupines, a lot of different types of squirrels like the Columbian Squirrel and the Ground Squirrel, then there were wild cats and mountain goats and the list goes on and on. To come back to the Grizzlies, I want to say that the information you get in all tourist centers are very good. You get a checklist of how to behave if you meet a bear, a list of the hiking trails were bears have been seen and on the hiking trails were you have a good chance to see/meet one it is mandatory to travel in groups of minimum 4/6 people and make as much noise as possible so that the bear is not surprised when he sees you. And then is the last minute solution, the bear spray. I bought one but I’m more than happy that I didn’t have to use it . It’s supposed to scare the bear away if you hit his nose/eyes from less than 7 meters but then again, if a giant grizzly gets that close to you and you survive you probably need a new set of pants the next day .

One amazing thing we’ve seen or done

It’s hard to pick only one amazing thing from these two wonders of nature but if I would have to pick just one it would definitely be the Moraine Lake. Its color is unbelievable. I don’t want to go too far but it’s even nicer in reality than it looks in the pictures. To prove its perfection I need to say that it was the only “piece of nature” from Canada that made it on a Canadian Dollar, the 20 Dollar bill issued between 1969 and 1979.

New York cannot be described in a couple of sentences but it’s definitely a crazy place. All your senses are instantly activated. You hear a lot of horns from taxi drivers, ambulances, police cars and firefighter cars. Then you hear a lot of noise from restaurants, people who want to sell you a bottle of water for 1 USD, bus tickets or God knows what. Everywhere you smell food from every possible place on earth. There are a lot of people on the streets, for example in Times Square you would not know what time it is only by looking at the number of people. At 2 AM there are just as many as at 2 PM. This city never ever sleeps.

You can have a very good view of the city by going up on one of the main towers, the Empire State Building and the Rockefeller Center. The views at night from the Empire State Building are just breathtaking and in front of the Rockefeller Center is the famous Rockefeller Plaza where they have the big Christmas tree during December.  The Manhattan Skyline can also be nicely seen from the boats that go to Liberty Island or from Brooklyn. Other nice buildings that we saw are the buildings of Chrysler, the UN, the Trump World Tower and the Flat Iron.

We also went to the 9/11 Memorial for which the largest design competition in history was organized. They received 5201 submissions from 63 nations and the one that won consists of a forest of trees and two square waterfalls that stand on the place of the two towers. Currently a new tower is under construction, the Freedom Tower which will be the highest building (104-story and 541m) in New York when it is finished. We also went to the New York Stock Exchange but we couldn’t go in because visitors are not allowed anymore since the 9/11 attacks.

One amazing thing we’ve seen or done

The most amazing things we saw in New York were

• the Times Square –the amount of people that you see here is incredible
• the 4^th of July Fireworks. We had the pleasure to meet Tania over Couchsurfing and we went to her building where we had the best view on the fireworks from the 31^st floor. Take a look at the video.

Washington DC is the nicest capital I’ve seen and definitely in my favorite 5 cities. 37% of it are green spaces like parks and forests which is amazing for a capital. You have a lot of history here as every important president of the US has a memorial here and what’s nice about all the sightseeing points is that everywhere you have FREE guided tours, you just need to ask for them so you can learn a lot about the history of that place.

The most important sightseeing points that we visited are:

• The John F. Kennedy Memorial – Center for the performing arts. Here you have every day, 365 days/year FREE concerts starting at 6 PM. We were at one concert on the last evening and it was great.
• The Lincoln Memorial – this is the place where Martin Luther King Jr. held his famous speech “I have a dream”
• The Franklin D. Roosevelt Memorial is a place with a lot of fountains and the place is really nice for a walk.
• The Washington Memorial is the famous statue that appears in almost every postcard of DC. It has a observation point at the top but due to an earthquake from last year it is unfortunately closed.
• The White House – this is really cool because you have the impression that nobody is guarding it but as soon as something happens you see a lot of policemen coming from nowhere. For example I started mounting my tripod to take some pictures and suddenly one told me in a very friendly way that it’s not allowed to use it.
• The theatre where Lincoln was shot and the house where he died.
• The Smithsonian museums – this is really nice as all the museums in DC are free and you have also free guided tours.

In Washington DC you can try out food from all over the world but I asked Karl to recommend me something typical for the city so on one evening we went to “Ollie’s Trolley” a typical American bar where we ate Crab Cakes. It’s like a sandwich with Crab meat and it’s very tasty. Because it’s also served with a ton of French fries which were also very tasty you can imagine that it’s a calory-bomb.

One amazing thing we’ve seen or done

There were two things that were amazing.

• The first one is Conchita, a lady who is living in a tent on the street in front of the White House since 1981 and protesting against the use of nuclear power and the effects it could have on humans. She’s very famous and if you go and talk to her she would ask you where you are from and hand you a newspaper from that country with an article about her. It’s really amazing that a person devotes her complete life for a cause like this.

• The second amazing thing we saw is the Arlington Cemetery. It’s the place where the soldiers who died in military conflicts starting from the Civil War till the war in Afghanistan are buried. Over 320.000 soldiers are buried here so it’s huge. The pictures don’t show the strange feeling that you have when everywhere you turn around and as far as you can see there are only graves. Here is also the grave of John F. Kennedy and the astronauts of the Challenger.

Im Zentrum, neben dem Ontariosee befindet sich der bekannte Fernsehturm CN Tower, der mehrere Jahre das größte Gebäude der Welt war. Im CN Tower sind wir abends hochgestiegen. Der Boden vom Aufzug ist teilweise aus Glas, so dass man schon im Aufzug  Angst bekommt und anfängt Adrenalin zu fühlen. Die erste Plattform befindet sich in 342 m Höhe, die zweite 33 Stockwerke höher. Auf der ersten Plattform hat man seit einigen Jahren teilweise einen Glasboden gebaut. Drauf stehen und sitzen viele Touristen und lassen sich fotografieren. Ich habe mir vorgenommen direkt dorthin zu gehen und mit Mut den ersten Schritt drauf zu machen weil Luci schon vor 5 Jahren da war und mir darüber erzählt hat. Obwohl dort viele Kinder drauf gesprungen sind, sind meine Knie weich geworden als ich nahe war den Glasboden zu betreten. Ich habe einige Minuten gebraucht bis ich 1-2  Schritte gemacht habe um ein paar Fotos zu machen und am schlimmsten war es als man nach unten schaute. Wie man in den Fotos sehen kann, war ich nicht so entspannt, obwohl man sich mit dem Gefühl gewöhnt. Auf jeden Fall war dieses Erlebnis unvergesslich.

Toronto Island hat uns auch sehr gefallen, eine Insel die in der Nähe vom Zentrum ist, nur ein paar Minuten Fahrt mit dem Boot, mit ein paar Seen und Flüssen, Plätze für Picknick, einen Sandstrand und vielen anderen Unterhaltungsmöglichkeiten.

Im Zentrum sind viele interessante Gebäude, mir haben besonders die von der Toronto Börse gefallen, schwarze Wolkenkratzer mit einer grünen Zone in der Mitte. Ansonsten war es sehr interessant zu sehen wie es zwischen den Gebäuden Ruheplätze mit Springbrunnen gibt, wo die Leute sich in der Mittagspause entspannen, manche machen sogar Sport mit dem Trainer statt in ein Fitnessstudio zu gehen.

Bekannt in Toronto ist auch der Markt „St. Lawrence“, sehr groß, auf mehreren Stockwerken wo  man alles Mögliche kaufen kann, mit Essen aus vielen Ländern. Wir haben auch den Lieblings-Käse von Luci aus der Schweiz gekauft, nicht unbedingt für uns, weil wir normalerweise das spezifische Essen vor Ort ausprobieren wollen, sondern für unsere Freunde, Miha und Feri bei denen wir gewohnt haben. Auf diesem Markt haben wir auch das bekannteste Sandwich in Toronto gegessen. Das war ein Riesensandwich mit panierten Auberginen und verschiedenen Sorten Fleisch.

Unsere Freunde Miha und Feri, bei denen wir gewohnt haben, haben wir seit 5 Jahren nicht mehr gesehen, ihr Kind, Nicholas ist schon 4 Jahre alt. Am Sonntag haben wir gegrillt und dabei war auch ein anderer ehemaliger Kollege von Luci mit der Ehefrau und die haben rumänische Cevapcici mitgebracht.

One amazing thing we’ve seen or done

Zwei Sachen haben mich beeindruckt:

1.CN Tower, der obwohl nicht mehr das größte Gebäude der Welt ist,  aber dafür sehr beeindruckend, mit dem unglaublichen Gefühl auf dem Glasboden und einer wunderschönen Panorama über die Stadt, besonders in der Nacht. Wenn man den Turm von unten sieht hat man wegen der Höhe den Eindruck, dass er umfällt.

2. Die Niagara Wasserfälle

Nach Niagara sind wir von Toronto ca. 2 Stunden mit dem Auto gefahren. Dort kann man nur beeindruckt sein, das kann man auch in dem Video sehen. Wir sind mit einem Schiff gefahren, das uns bis in der Nähe gebracht hat. Luci hat mir eine Überraschung gemacht und das Abendessen in einem Fernsehturm daneben gebucht von wo man die Wasserfälle in der Nacht sehr schön beleuchtet sehen kann.

We actually did not stay in Kingston but our CS host Ben, stays on Wolfe Island. There is a ferry which goes every hour from Kingston to Wolfe Island and which is free of charge. Wolfe Island is about 30km long and 10km wide so it’s perfect to be explored by bicycle, which we did as Ben and his friends were so kind to lend us their bicycles. Yesterday evening they organized a party to celebrate the solstice where we had a lot of fun.

One amazing thing we’ve seen or done

Maybe it’s not something amazing but the region of Thousand Islands is very nice and definitely something to see so yesterday we took a boat cruise in this region. That was the main reason why we came to Kingston in the first place. Take a look at the pictures in the gallery.

In Ottawa we planned to stay 3 nights but in the end we stayed 5. Our CS host, Dereck is amazingly cool. He took time every day to show us something. On one evening we went to a bar with live music and also played pool. I got to learn a few amazing trickshots from him. On another day he came kayaking with us on the Dows lake. Yesterday he took me to a bar where they are specialized on beer. The bar has over 250 (two hundred fifty) types of beer. Thanks so much for everything Dereck.

Ottawa doesn’t have an old town like Montreal or Quebec city but it has a lot of nice old buildings. The building of the Parliament was very nice. We took a guided tour and like in the Parliament in Quebec we had the chance to attend one live session. On the other side of the Ottawa River there’s a smaller town Gatineau where we went to the Museum of Civilization. They also have the only IMAX 3D in North America so we went to see a documentary there. We were at the IMAX 3D in Sinsheim before so we knew what to expect but still, it was very nice, the impression that you have when watching an IMAX 3D movie is almost like it’s happening in front of you. It was so real that people were trying to touch or catch things. We visited the Royal Canadian Mint which made also all the medals from the Olympics in Vancouver in 2010. There we saw the interesting process of how coins are made. A nice story that we heard is that they produced 1 million Dollar coins of purest gold 99.999. They only produced 5 coins like that, actually their not really coins as their 100kg heavy  and one of them was bought by a prince of Dubai who uses it as a tea table. We also visited the Byward Market which is very famous in Ottawa because of the many different cuisines and for the fresh fruits that can be bought there and we tried the most famous food in Ottawa which is called “Beaver tail” and which is like a small pizza bread with different toppings. Dereck, our CS host also recommended me a bar where they make fresh burgers and I had the best burger till now. For the colleagues in Zürich, I’m sorry guys, but it was better than the Gerold Burger

One amazing thing we’ve seen or done

On Sunday I had to miss the game Germany played against Denmark but I had a very good reason. I attended a one day whitewater rafting tour on the Ottawa river. It was AWESOME, I had a lot of fun with the guys. Our guide Ian was really cool, he knew the best places for rafting like the inside of his pocket so we got the chance to go in some water whirlpools and let our adrenaline pump out. You can see a short video and more pictures in the gallery. It’s definitely something I would recommend to anyone going to Ottawa.

I will definitely remember Quebec city for the warm hospitality of it’s people and the gorgeous old town. Our CS hosts Dominique and Simon were really great, after we met them on Tuesday we went to a meeting of Couchsurfers in Quebec where we met a lot of nice people who recommended us things to see and do in our trip on the western part of Canada.

The best places we’ve seen in Quebec are:

• Chateu Frontenac – which is supposedly the most photographed hotel in the world. I heard a nice story about this hotel, when Winston Churchill, Franklin Roosevelt and General MacKenzie planned the D-Day here, they made their plans on napkins and left them on the table, later to be returned by a waiter. For me this story is pretty hard to believe but you can choose if you believe it or not.
• The old town – it’s one of the nicest old towns that we’ve ever seen with a lot of nice buildings and restaurants in an old fashion.
• The citadelle – we had a guided tour of the citadelle where we learnt about the history of Canada with it’s 3 stages, the French one, the British one and the one of the Canadian confederation and why people from Quebec are very proud on their French roots. The citadelle is the main quarter for the 22^nd Royal regiment which is the only French speaking regiment in the Canadia army.
• The Parliament of Quebec -  we had a guided tour at the Parliament and were also allowed to attend to live sessions of the Parliament.

The famous local food specialities that we tried are:

• Poutine – is a typical Quebec dish that’s very fat and contains French fries, which I think are fried in fat not in oil, and covered with a sort of cheese. Very tasty.
• Smoked meat typical for this region.
• Cretons – it’s a typical pasta of pork fat with onion and spices. It’s very similar to the German Grammelschmalz or the Romanian Jumar
• Bagels – bread products in form of rings.

One amazing thing we’ve seen or done

We have seen the Montmorency waterfall which is situated 13 km North-East from Quebec city and which is 83 m high, about 30m higher than the Niagara falls, though with not such a big volume of water.

Das Ankommen in Montreal war sehr unkompliziert, bei dem Büro für Einwanderung hatten wir erwartet, dass man uns ein Haufen Fragen stellt, aber alles ging sehr schnell, wir mussten nur sagen wieviele Tage wir in Kanada bleiben wollen und das war’s. Wahrscheinlich auch weil Lucian angegeben hatte, dass er schon mal in Kanada war.

Am Flughafen haben uns unsere Freunde erwartet bei denen wir auch die 5 Tage gewohnt haben. Ich habe sie seit 5 Jahren, seit dem sie ausgewandert sind, nicht mehr gesehen. Sie haben inzwischen eine sehr süße Tochter, Sofia. Wir haben ein paar Tage gebraucht um uns an die Zeitumstellung zu gewöhnen aber inzwischen stehen wir nicht mehr um 05:00 auf

Montreal war für mich eine sehr schöne Überraschung. Luci war schon mal hier, also war es für ihn nichts Neues. Am meisten hat mir gefallen, dass die Stadt nicht überfüllt war, die Leute sind sehr entspannt und sehr sehr freundlich und es gibt sehr viele grüne Parks. Mehrmals kamen Leute zu uns um uns zu fragen ob sie uns helfen könnten als wir die Karte in der Hand hatten, sogar eine Frau die gesehen hatte, dass wir auf einen Bus warten kam um uns zu sagen, dass der Bus an dem Tag nicht fährt. Ansonsten ein gutes Gefühl an Sicherheit, dass man nicht in allen Großstädten hat, Essen und Getränke in XXL Größe, und das Beste der Ice Cappuccino von einer Kette Tim Hortons von dem mir Luci schon seit Jahren immer erzählt. Ich trinke normalerweise keinen Cappucino aber in diesen habe ich mich verliebt J

In Montreal haben wir folgendes besucht: der alte Hafen mit einem Turm von wo man sehr schön die Stadt sehen kann(Fotos in der Gallery), das olympische Stadion mit einem sehr interessanten schiefen Turm. Das ist der größte schiefe Turm der Welt. Die Unterwelt-Stadt ist riesig in Montreal und verbindet mehrer U-Bahn Stationen und hat zig Einkaufsmöglichkeiten, der Mont Royal mit einem sehr schönen Park und eine super Aussicht auf die Stadt, St Joseph Oratorium. Da an diesem Wochenende auch die Formel 1 in Montreal stattgefunden hat, war  überall auf den Straßen Partystimmung. Ich habe jetzt noch eine Stadt auf der Liste meiner Lieblingsstädte.

One amazing thing we’ve seen or done

Was mich am meisten beeindruckt hat, war definitiv der Innenraum der Kirche Notre Dame (siehe die ersten Fotos in der Gallery). Ich kann sagen, dass es die schönste Kirche ist die ich jäh gesehen habe. Wir waren auch bei einer Show mit Musik und Lichter in der Kirche wo man richtig Gänsehaut bekommt.