5,500 kms later...

We're back to where we started from.. TO!

Well, our three week road trip was cut down by 5 days, partly because it was too expensive and near impossible to make it out to the Magdalen Islands (owned by the province of Quebec and very french influenced)... it was a shame, but we were a little bit sick of the scenic drives, especially after we saw the best scenery in Novia Scotia, Canada's most eastern province). A good thing we left early too, since Cyclone Charley caused some areas of New Brunswick to flood after we drove through it on the way home.

Some of the highlights of the trip was:
- Quebec City - this has got to be the quaintest town outside of Europe
- Fundy Bay, New Brunswick... home to the world's highest tides. I even got to walk on the ocean floor at low tide, which was nothing more than slippery red rocks... but hey, when the tide is low, is at least 1km off the coast!
- Our expensive lobster dinner in Halifax, complimentry of Gord who gave us money for food incase we starved ourselves to meet budget.
- The Lighthouse Trail on the eastern-most coast of Nove Scotia, Ontario. On the drive we saw the most amazing coves, lighthouses and small fishing towns... some which are very European influences, others that are just colourful and quaint.
- The Calbot Trail which the famous coastal drive around Cape Breton Island, Nova Scotia. Here we had fantastic views of the the Ocean and great cliffs, took us two days to do it since we stopped so often for photos. The small town we stayed in overnight had the best sticky buns... hmmm...
- Being able to drive after nearly 10 months. Even if it meant constantly on the road for 16 days driving nearly 5,500km... we did well in navigating through the mishmash of highways.. driving on the otherside of the road and proving our talent in guessing what french road signs said.

So these are the highlights, but there was so much more. On the way home from the roadtrip, we stopped in Montreal (my third visit!) for a few days. Funny, everytime I go, this city offers me something different. The first time I went with the boys, we saw all the flashy cars in town for the Grand Prix, the second time I went with the girls it was all shopping, drinking and partying, and this time with Christina, there was a lot of chilling out. We discovered new areas.. our fav being the Latin Quartier, where there was a lot of funky cafes and stores... although we did miss out on eating frogs legs... its always there when you don't want it, but never available when you do!

We also stumbled on this annual festival for graffiti art and breakdancing, and it was a total eye opener to mingle with the "street" community and see all talent there is out there. Doesn't make me like hip hop any more, but I do have more an appreciation of breakdancing and graffiti walls.

Our trip also introduced Christina to the North American diet of fast foods.. being a health freak, this was all new to her. But we made our rounds, and she was quite impressed. This meant, for Christina's sake our, diet for the 16 days mainly consisted of fast food and soft serves. My body was less impressed.

The less exciting aspects of the trip has got to be some of the small towns we crashed in after a long day's drive. Some of them were so dull we just stayed home and read. But I must say, the rule of thumb in Canada is, the more east you go, the nicer the people. Cars will stop without doubt for you to cross, even on a major road... I've often been surprised to see a build-up of cars waiting for me when I was merely standing there pondering where to go next.

Anyways, I could go on forever, but I'll refrain. I have the rest of the week of before I return to my old job. I do have a few friends in town besides Christina, so there will be a lot of food and a lot of catching up no doubt.

Will keep you posted and will post photos sooner or later.