Ottawa to Mont Tremblant

Ottawa was really cold. It's kind of horrible and sad that that's the first thing I can find to describe my first visit to the nation's capital, but it really was bloody cold. The wind made it colder than Whitehorse. Or maybe I was just being a wuss, cause I know that back home the daffodils are probably out by now. And the dump of snow we got has probably melted. Yeah, yeah, it's also probably into its fifth consecutive day of rain, too.

We were a bit late getting to Heather's the other night. We had no idea what Ottawa looked like, or where we would be getting in, or where we would be in relation to the university. It turns out they have an awesome transit system there though - we picked up the free phone that connects directly to the bus line, and the friendly person (who answers in both French and English) tells you exactly what buses to take, where to transfer, approximately how long it will take, and how much it will cost. Of course, we didn't bother following the directions.

We didn't really want to show up at Heather's starving, and she had a night class, so we also didn't want to show up too early, so we decided to wander. That, and we needed to set up accommodation for the next night, cause Heather couldn't bail us out every time we realized we were heading for some strange city we didn't have a map for. So after wandering around in the dark, we finally found a friendly police station that was still open and had people in it, and they performed their tireless task of giving the dumb tourists directions. So we retraced our path back to the bus station, and discovered that a block away was the main drag. So we found an internet place and Neil foraged for food while I got online, and half an hour later, Heather was out of her class, and we were officially late. So we finally got on a bus, and discovered we were a long way from the university. We took it to pretty much the end of the line, and then took another one to pretty much the end of that line - and got a tour of Carlton U in the process - before arriving at Ottawa U where I called Heather, cause we got lost about a stone's through from her residence, and she asked me if we were actually in Ottawa.

And it turns out if wasn't as late as we'd thought - Heather took us on a tour of the university, and around the outside of the parliament buildings, and over the canal, and on the way back to her place we discovered that the pub across the street had karaoke the next night. So it was a bit of luck that we hadn't secured a couch to crash on, cause we decided to stay a couple nights in Ottawa. Who can resist karaoke?

We spent the next day wandering around the university, interviewing idealistic students. I am an idealist at heart, and I think that if more people stuck to their university beliefs 10 years after graduating, the world might be a better place. I've heard the saying - if you're not a socialist at 20 you have no heart, if you're not a capitalist at 30, you have no brain. Well, I'm not 30 (quite yet), so I still see lots of nasty things about capitalism that should make it difficult to sleep at night. But I've seen a lot of things along this trip so far that make me realize capitalism is not the only force out there. Even being able to do this sort of film such a small budget, and having people who are willing to open their homes and offer their couches or beds in the name of sharing culture and information and lives and stories, it's a force all its own. Maybe there's more idealists out there than we're lead to believe.

Anyway, I got my karaoke fix that night. It was a bit of a shock that it didn't start til 10. I'm used to London, where it started at 7 and finished at 10:30. But I could get used to it.

And today we headed to Mont Tremblant. We discovered last minute that the hop-on, hop-off Canada Pass we're on doesn't cover the trip past Montreal, but $50 return for each of us is reasonable enough. And it was a fun trip. We're staying with a couple we met through couchsurfing.com - Karen and Frank. They are really cool, and Karen's going to get us passes to get up the ski hill so we can do some interviews and talk with the ski patrol. And get some great shots of the village.