Canada!!! (12.04-07.08)

Crazy explorers like we are hehe, Juliana and I decided to go to Canada for a long weekend. I don't even remember right now how was it possible for us to get off at the same time, it wasn't even a holiday or anything, but....oh well, to Canada, we went! :)
The beginning of the trip was actually really funny. Juliana had just got her visa and somehow I was late with that. So it was about 2-3 days before the planned leaving date when I was heading towards the Canadian embassy. So I remember sitting there with my papers, looking at the time occasionally, so that I wouldn't be late to pick up the kids. Finally it was my turn. I gave in the papers and stood in front of a firm-looking lady who was handeling them. I wasn't nervous or anything, because Juliana had given me the list of all of the documents I needed for the interview and I was sure I had them all, until..."where's the passport pictures?" said the lady. Great, just great! Juliana had forgotten to tell me the most important thing, I couldn't believe it. And also, I was so stupid myself not checking the web page before.

So there I was, running somewhere between Constitution Avenue and the embassy, desperately looking for CVS or some other place to do my pictures. I found Ritz Camera. After 10min. and 20dollar rip-off, I was on my way back to the freaking embassy. I took the number, for the second time, sat down, for the second time and waited for my turn. I had only an hour until I had to be back home, so I was slowly getting restless. Luckily this time it went faster and before I knew I was standing in front of the same lady...oh don't you say...for THE SECOND TIME! I gave in my papers again and somehow I felt that something else will come out from that mouth that I won't like. Yup, there it was..."Estonians don't need a visa to go to Canada. Have a nice day and safe trip! Next!!!"

After 13hours of sleeping and zombing in the bus, we were finally in Montreal. The welcome wasn't as nice as we were expecting. Of course it was partly our fault too, not booking a hotel or anything and starting looking for them there, but hey, at least we learned form our mistakes lol. Anyways...it was really nippy outside and I definitely couldn't feel any of my limbs. Also all these people seemed to speak only French, which made it even harder to find a place to stay. After wandering hopelessly around the city we had a great idea. To take a taxi and take us to the nearest hostel! Seems like an idea you would think in the first half an hour, doesn't it, but hey, try to think about it in -30degrees of cold and we'll see if there is something else you could think about besides hot bath, yeeaahh, that's what I thought!!! Luckily the plan worked and the taxi driver didn't only speak English, but she was really good at it and also really friendly and helpful and moreover, she charged us less. Merci beaucoup! ;)
Montreal turned out to be a nice city with a scent of old Europe. We also visited Ottawa, where we met our friend Chris D and his father who was currently living there. We had a great time with them and they showed us all the famous places in Ottawa. It was definitely a great experience and beautiful country I would like to visit again, but in summer :)