The travels of BBQboy

May 24, 2009 – A pretty city filled with churches, squares with fountains, a huge castle that looms over everything. Lots of trendy cafes and restaurants filled with well to do tourists – Salzburg is definately a up scale tourist town. In the background, behind the city are snow covered mountains. Perfect right?

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Salzburg; brief history and interesting facts;

May 17, 2009 – Reutte is south of Fussen, about 20km into the Alps in Austria, in a large green valley surrounded by snow capped mountains. Just fantasticly beautiful.

I had found out about Reutte in the Rick Steve’s guidebook, the main interest point for me being the ruins of several castles around the town known collectively as the Ehrenberg Castle Ensemble.

We left all the Asian tourists behind in Fussen (there are a lot, many from Hong Kong), and took the 74 bus through some impressive geography. It was a milkrun; the bus circling the countryside, picking up kids at the kindergarden in one town and dropping them off at the next. We were the only tourists – the only other people on the bus were a bunch of elderly ladies chatting and laughing with the bus driver. One got the sense that it was all a daily routine.

In Reutte we checked into our hotel (Hotel Das Beck – more on that later), had lunch, then proceeded to the Ehrenberg castles.

It is a bit of a walk, through beautiful fields with magnificent views, to get to the path that goes up to the castles (if pressed for time, better to take a taxi to the Klause Valley Fort and start from there). Once at the Klause Valley Fort (above pic – nothing special), we started climbing the 30 minute pass to the most important castle, the Ehrenberg ruins. It’s a nice path, not too steep that has been very well organized by the Austrian tourist authorities – there are interesting and informative signs in both German and English. This was true for all signage around the Ehrenberg Castle Ensemble, it was all very well organized.

We arrived at the Ehrenberg ruins. Incredible. The ruins themselves but also the location. There we no other tourists. The castle was built in the 13th century and was the seat of power in the area. Many battles were waged here, most against the Bavarians. In 1632 the castle fought off 16,000 Swedish soldiers in defense of Catholicism. The location is spectacular and you wonder how the residents of the castle braved the elements. We wandered the fort for almost an hour, each view seemingly more impressive than the last.

Further up, another half hour, is the Schlosskopf. We almost went but were running out of time. That also must be impressive – higher than Ehrenberg, the castle would have even more imposing views on the valley.

A remarkable day and we really enjoyed Reutte!

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Hotel Das Beck was great and relatively cheap (70 Euros/night). Run by Hans who runs both the hotel and cafe (which specializes in wine, none of which we sampled). He was a very friendly and interesting guy who had visited Canada a few years ago, visiting the Yukon of all places (he mentioned having canoed up to Dawson City). Clean, large, nice balcony on a good day (too darn cold when we were there). Just perfect for us. 4 out of 5 and I will be here again if we come back to Reutte.

We met some interesting and very friendly characters in Reutte who were very willing to talk. At Markt Asshaeur (a bio food market) we met Ms. Asshaeur who was incredibly friendly and helpful. I just like saying Asshaeur. She had also travelled to Canada, including Montreal (she speaks French but said she had a hard time understanding French Canadian French…understandable). She had the most amazing tomatoes and advocados as well as cheese, bread, and salami – we brought these back to the hotel and had a picnic supper.

The one negative; we were shocked to see that Austria still allows smoking in bars and restaurants. Once you’re used to a smoke-free environment you just can’t take the stink and the smoke anymore.

Interesting to see the reaction to Lissette. They’re not used to tourists here and we at times caught people staring. I think we almost caused a couple of car crashes.

May 17 – A miserable cold and rainy day.

Fussen is a cute little town 2 hours by train from Munich, full of coffee shops, restaurants, and tourist shops. It’s a bit touristy but still hasn’t lost its charm. The town is dominated by a castle – a very ordinary castle – which has some nice views of the Alps. Fussen is right in the foothills of the Alps, the mountains looming right behind it.

We were here mainly to see Kind Ludwig’s castles, the most famous of which is Neuschwanstein (the other is Hohenschwangau, his childhood castle). So, despite the weather, we took the bus from the Fussen Bahnhof (buses leave every 30 min) and arrived 15 minutes and 5 km later at the ticket center located just below the castles.

I don’t know how busy Neuschwanstein gets – but they’ve certainly made this complicated. You have to get tickets for one, or both castles, at the ticket center. With the tickets you get a tour (which is mandatory) at a specified time no less than an hour ahead. If you tour both castles you require 2 hours between tours. You can reserve your ticket by internet (at an extra fee). The good thing about reserving is that you skip in front of the line to pick up your ticket, plus you are guaranteed a ticket.

Summary: getting into Neuschwanstein requires more red tape then getting into Tibet.

We walked up to Neuschwanstein from the ticket center (20 min) and waited for our tour number. The number shows up at a electronic sign at the entrance (ie. kind of like waiting in line at the bank), at which point you go through an electric turnstile and proceed to the 2nd floor of the castle where you are greeted by your tour guide. What followed was a rudamentory, boring tour through the servant’s quarters, Ludwig’s bedroom, and a few extravagant halls. The setting is beautiful, you have great views through the windows (no photography allowed though!), but visiting the castle one realizes that Ludwig lived in a world of gay childhood fantasies. I’ve never heard anyone refer to Ludwig as gay, but it’s obvious to me. And I don’t mean it in a bad way – but who dedicates a whole room to another man? (in this case music composer Wagner, his big buddy). Sorry, I don’t care what century it was, but that’s gay. Ludwig had a cave room built (looks like a batcave at a zoo). Another hall is painted as a forest scene. All a little strange. Furnishings and paintings were also all a little off – kind of kitshy and amateurish. Lissette figured some of the artists were making fun of Ludwig. Anyway, after 20 minutes of this tour, our useless tour guide let us leave – of course the exit went right through the gift shop. Any museum that ends with it’s exit going right through the gift shop is crap. This tour was crap and I don’t think its worth the time or money.

After we walked 10 minutes further to Marienbrucke (Mary’s Bridge) where we had beautiful views of the castle and the countryside behind it. I think this was actually the highlight – Neuschwanstein is more spectacular for it’s exterior and geographical setting than anything inside. Having known this before I would have just visited Marienbrucke and the various paths around the castle instead. Overall though, the castles of King Ludwig were a bit of a disappointment.

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We stayed in Alstadhoten zum Hetchen in Fussen. Very nice, modern, clean, with a balcony for about 90 Euros. Well situated, close to everything (not hard in Fussen). No breakfast included. They also have a nice Bavarian restaurant downstairs with several fish specialties from the region (Pike, from the Lech river). It was lissettes’s birthday and we celebrated with the Pike for her, pork roast and dumplings for me, lots of beer, apple strudel, and another dessert of dumpling stuffed with cherry served in a custard-like sauce. Was all great and we gained about 10 lds.
4 of 5 – we would stay here again anytime.

Next stop Reutte in Austria, just accross the border from Fussen.

May 15 – Munich has changed since I was here 16 years ago. I was surprised first of all by the various nationalities strolling around the Marienplatz, especially the muslim women covered head-to-foot in black shawls. There seemed to be an awful lot of them. And Africans, some looking like they had just gotten off the plane. Munich at first glance seemed a much more crowded and multicultural place than when I had last seen it.

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Munich; brief history and interesting facts;

May 12, 2009 – Regensgurg is one of the oldest towns in Germany and was once the capital of Bavaria. I really enjoyed it here. First of all, the Cathedral is stupendous. The French inspired gothic architecture, with it’s spires and creepy gargoyles and other weird monster characters is kind of spooky, especially in gloomy weather. The Cathedral towers over everything, casting a shadow over the old town.

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Regensburg; brief history and interesting facts;

Regensburg had large Jewish population. Oskar Schindler (April 28, 1908 – October 9, 1974) was credited was saving over 1200 Jewish lives during the war by hiding them in his factories. Basis for the film Shindler’s List.
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Regensburg is also famous for it’s stone bridge. It is not as awe-inspiring as the Cathedral but it’s impressive for; 1) it’s history (I couldn’t believe I was on the same bridge that the Crusaders crossed on their way to the holyland!) and 2) the views over the old town and all it’s colourful buildings. If you like taking photos then this view, either from the bridge or from the island in the middle of the Danube) is the best in Regensburg.

The town also has many more attractions. There are tons of cobble-stoned streets, each with unique old buildings, parks, squares, cafes, and beerhalls. The old city is surrounded by a park which circles to the river and crosses over to the above-mentioned island which has bicycle paths and a beergarden that is the best place to be on a summer day (I believe it was called the Alte Linde). More great views from this spot.

Regensburg was the ideal spot to meet my mom for a few days. We walked a ton and drank lots of beer at the beer halls. Our favorite was the Augustiner – best food and drink and the beergirls were young and pretty with the kind of cleavage I like. Yeah. We used my Lonely Planet guide to Germany for recommendations and I have to say they were spot on.

I’m really thankful that my mom was with me. First of all, she speaks German, so it made everything a lot easier, especially that there appears to be little English (on the surface) in Regensburg. All writing is in German, including on menus. So she translated, plus gave me a few pointers which I hope will help me on the rest of the trip. One thing I noticed: I would ask people “Sprechen sie English?”. They would usually respond with “just a little”. But then they would usually answer my questions with near perfect English. I don’t think anyone would have trouble speaking just English here.

People are nice, but reserved. A little brash at times but not in a mean way. Except for the time we had a table stolen by a couple of over-zealous drunks who insisted they had gotten there first (maybe drunks is a strong word, all I mean is that many Germans seems to spend half their time stumbling around red-faced while staring into the distance…). I’ve joked before that Europeans sometimes treat guests like imposing family members. It’s not that they’re mean, it’s just that they seem distracted as if you are interrupting dreams about the next beer or a bratwurst with your boring shit about how the Wifi doesn’t seem to work or about how you could use a fan in your room.

Suprises – I didn’t think Regensburg would be a highlight but it was. I also didn’t think prices would be so reasonable. My mom booked us a lavish 2 bedroom apartment for 250 Euros for 3 nights (Regensburg a bit less touristy, hence not so expensive). I was also suprised by the cost of necessities – she took me to the huge supermarket attached to the train station: bottles of wine ranged from 2 to 5 euros (some of the same wines I pay $14 cad for in Montreal), cheese is incredibly good and half the price you pay in Montreal, same with chocolate. You could save a lot of money just living off wine, beer, and bread served with cheese and cold cuts, with chocolate for dessert. It suprises me to say that food here is actually cheaper than it is back home. It’s also of really good quality, the cheeses and chocolate are fabulous.

Thanks mom, travelling with you was great! Regensburg was a really good destination and I wouldn’t hesitate coming back again.

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Getting there from Munich airport:

I flew Lefthansa Montreal-Munich, arriving 5:30 am (damn, I’m either getting fatter or those seats getting tighter. Not a comfortable flight).
From the airport, take the 635 bus to the Bahnhof (train station) in Freising (takes about 15 min. Bus passes every 20 min).
In Freising you can take train direct to Regensburg – takes one hour (train starts in Munich and passes Freising at about 10 minutes past the hour every hour).

If you do it this way you’ll save yourself at least 1 1/2 hr than if you would go to Munich and take the train from there.

The itinerary:

fly into Munich
Regensburg (Germany) with my mom – 3 days
Munich (Germany) where I meet up with Lissette – 2 days
Fussen/Reutte (Germany/Austria) – 2 days
Salzburg (Austria) – 3 days (including a side trip to Berchtesgaden)
Venice (Italy) -3 days
Montreux (Switzerland) – 1 day
Geneva (Switzerland) – 1 day
Lauterbrunnen (Switzerland) – 3 days
Lucern (Switzerland) – 2 days
Bacharach and the Rhine (Germany) – 3 days
Heidelberg (Germany) – 2 days
Fly out of Frankfurt

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It’s a charged itinerary – Europe’s become really expensive since the last time I was there (in 1993 – the last time the Montreal Canadiens won the Stanley Cup! It’s also the year Bill Clinton became president in the US. A really long time ago…). Anyway, we might never travel through this part of Europe again so we’ll see as much as we can in 3 1/2 weeks. I’m also adding a couple of days at the beginning to see my mom in Regensburg (she’s left Thailand and is in Europe for the summer).

This is not the most exciting and pictoresque of my blogs but some might find this entry informative because travelling Europe on; a) a tight schedule and b) by train requires A LOT of planning. I don’t know what people did before the internet.

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A few tips:

Blend In (don’t dress like a tourist)

Above: the Lederhosen that German men wear. I’ve decided not to pack pants on this trip (takes too much space in the backpack) and just buy a pair of lederhosen once I arrive in Munich. One of my travel tips is to blend into the local populace as much as possible. Not only will I blend in with my lederhosen, they’re also loose and generally comfortable – perfect for hikes, early morning jogging, or even just for comfort when lounging around in airports.

Ok, I’m just kidding – I saw National Lampoon’s European Vacation last weekend and couldn’t stop thinking about how funny it would actually be if I went around wearing lederhosen everywhere…

real tips:

Hotels; www.tripadvisor.com is a great resource. But I only use it for reference and not booking – I look up the hotel and book directly online (I prefer my money goes to the hotel and not to a 3rd party site). I also find dealing directly makes it easier to make any amendments after the fact – which I had to do with the hotel I booked in Salzburg because of complications with train reservations (see below). They’re just more amiable when you book direct. Also; I’ve heard what some people say – but I find I generally get a better price dealing directly.
I’ve pre-booked all our hotels; with our limited time I don’t want to spend time trying to find a hotel. Surprisingly some hotels were full up months in advance – so making reservations 1 1/2 to 2 months in advance is not a bad idea (especially a place like Venice where I actually struck out with my first 2 hotel options. I also had problems with Munich which surprised me…).

Itinerary: Lissette and I both had ideas of what we wanted to see – she wanted history and culture, I wanted nature and castles. I designed the above using a combination of Lonely Planet guides, Trip advisor (as mentioned above), and Rick Steve’s “Best of Europe 2009” travel guide (www.ricksteves.com). Once I had “must see’s” and “possibilities”, I worked out different itineraries using the German Rail site (Deutsche Bahn www.bahn.de/international/view/en/index.shtml). That’s when you see that some destinations or the ordering of destinations don’t make sense; bad connections, infrequent trains…Then there’s weather; we wanted to go in May when there are fewer tourists, but then I also had to consider weather in the mountains: that’s why I’ve tried to push Switzerland towards the end of the trip (some cable cars and hiking trail don’t open up until mid-May). So there were a lot of factors in building the itinerary.

Trains: This is technical but I wish someone had told me all this stuff:

You CAN save money by buying a Eurail pass, but you have to plan it properly otherwise the little money you save won’t be worth the effort you put into it.
I bought a Eurorail Select Pass Saver for 2 people (basically a volume discount – you pay less per person than you would individually). There are so many variations of the number of countries and days of travel that you really have to research which pass is worthwhile for you; We’re going to 4 countries so I chose the 4 country pass including 5 days of unlimited travel within 2 months – you can chose the number of unlimited days but every day is more expensive and you have to decide if the incremental days are worth it. I will end up taking the train 11 times during the trip – but I calculated that I had 5 MAJOR train days; the other train days were minor trips of an hour or two that are relatively inexpensive.

The passes for 2 adults (4 countries, unlimited travel for 5 days) cost a total of 1,030 Cad for 1st class (if you are over 26 you can only get a 1st class pass). I calculated (using Bahn.de and raileurope.com) that I would have paid $1,400 for individual tickets if I had decided not to buy the passes (this is basis 2nd class – much more for 1st but we wouldn’t have required that additional comfort). So there are some savings PLUS you travel 1st class.

I bought the tickets I needed for the minor trips (ie. the ones not covered by the pass) in Germany on the Deutsche Bahn website – they email you an online ticket. No problem and very efficient and they even reserve a seat where required.

BUT, there are a few things about using the passes that have already made me question whether they were the way to go.
1) Some trains require reservations. You would think that would be easy. It’s not. First of all, it’s up to YOU to figure out if you need it or not. If you think you can just show up on a train with your pass you are mistaken. So you have to look at all the trains you are taking on your journey to see if they require a reservation. Then you have to call Rail Europe (1 800 622 8600 in Canada) to make your reservations.
IF YOU DIDN’T BUY A PASS and just bought your ticket online, they automatically assign you a reservation and you don’t have to worry about all that.
2) You may not be able to reserve certain portions, as I found out. Eurail tells you that in the pamphlet they send you with the passes. So when I called to reserve the Salzburg-Venice train I was told that I would have to pay full fare, that there was no more availability for Eurail pass holders. I had to change plans. So it’s kind of like booking a flight with miles; there’s only so many alloted spaces available.
IF YOU DIDN’T BUY A PASS you don’t have to worry about any of that.
3) Can someone please explain to me how it can cost $95 cad (for 2 people) to make a reservation on the Salzburg-Venice train? Or $67 cad from Venice to Milan? This is called getting shafted en el culo. I ended up paying $280 cad (for 2 people) for reservations. It’s the Italy portions that killed me (reservations in Germany, Austria reasonable. No reservations required in Switzerland). Suddenly the passes don’t sound like such a great deal.
Again, IF YOU DIDN’T BUY A PASS, you don’t have to worry about that, the reservation is included in the price of your ticket.

Again though, your savings will be different depending on the amount of travel you do on your travel days, plus also reservation fees. It’s complicated but you have a lot of variables you should consider before buying Eurail passes.

I’ll have a better assessment of the passes once there and travelling around. But in the meanwhile I’ve never spent so much time planning as I have planning for European trains. Yes, they’ll probably be some savings from buying the passes, PLUS we have 1st class seats. But knowing what I know now I would have skipped the passes and just bought my tickets individually. It’s already been a major headache and I havn’t even used the passes yet!

The thing is, you can do all the planning in the world as I have and everything can still go wrong. Hopefully that won’t be the case. If so, what you wear can help smooth the way – so when Lissette asked me what she should wear in Germany, I came up with some ideas of what Women should wear when visiting Bavaria to fit right in (these can also be worn back home when relaxing around the house)

ok, just kidding…

In 2003 I wrote “Misadventures in Far Away Places”, a Bill Bryson-ish type travelogue detailing my travels through South-East Asia and the Dominican Republic. It was my first attempt at writing and I really enjoyed spending time on it. I originally wanted to get it published and even had an agent in New York look at it in it’s rough beginnings – he liked the stories but thought they would have to be worked around a ‘guidebook’ format. That didn’t interest me much. He mentioned that with blogging getting to be a big thing (this was in 2003, blogging was just starting up for normal people) that there was no longer a market for a ‘travelogue’-format book.

I printed my book, had people I know read it (I blush now thinking of my first drafts), put it away for a while, then finally finished it. It’ll never be published but I can say I wrote a book. It’s a little dated – some of the places I’ve covered in here have changed tremendously (I’m thinking of Ko Phi Phi in Thailand in particular).

Below you’ll see excerpts – If you go to the Pages section of this blog (main page, top right corner) you’ll find the entire book. If people are interested they can read the whole thing there. Read it with an open mind and a sense of humour otherwise you won’t like it.

If you enjoy my writing I’d much appreciate comments or, even better, pass it on to others – especially if you know someone in writing. I want to write again one day and feedback and contacts are always appreciated.

A small sampling of the 139 pages of my book:
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On preconceptions (Chep Lap Kok Airport, Hong Kong)

I had somehow pictured arriving in a crowded airport lobby full of babbling, shabbily-dressed Chinese people wearing large straw hats, all pulling at my sleeve and wanting to take me to some back alley with promises of Dim Sum and Lucy Liu. It wasn’t anything like that – Chep Lap Kok Airport is huge and incredibly modern. There’s a subway within the complex which brings you from the arrival gate to immigration. Planes take off above your head, you can see their underbellies through gigantic glass panes. The airport is cavernous, dome-like and airy. I suddenly felt like a poor country hick with my backpack and t-shirt. And the Canadian flag sewn to the bag – it suddenly reeked of insecurity (“Please leave me alone, I’m not American. We Canadians invented insulin, basketball, the green garbage bag and the zipper. We even invented the game of Yachtzee which you oriental people like so much…”)

Codeword for taking a dump that sounds almost sophisticated

Travel tip: “Crappucinno”. Definition: “The particularly frothy type of diarrhea that you get when abroad”. Tell a fellow traveler that you “have to go for a crappuccino”, it will automatically discern you from the unknowledgeable, inexperienced traveler and you will no doubt be treated with equal doses of respect and sympathy.

On Americans Vs Europeans (Cabarete, Dominican Republic)

I ended up having a couple of beers at an American-owned place with large screen TVs. God bless Americans, you always know you are in an American establishment because the owner comes right up to you, introduces himself, shakes your hand, asks you where you are from and welcomes you to his bar. Americans know how to greet a customer. It’s always a bit of a shock when it happens and I have to admit that I got thrown off – I started talking to him, telling him my life story when I suddenly realized he really didn’t give a shit about anything that I was saying. He just wanted to greet the next customer. I sat down in my seat and shut myself back up, a bit embarrassed. I don’t know what’s better, the fake cheer and friendliness of an American, or the relatively unfriendly European. At least you know what you get with the latter (at most a smile, at worst to be treated like a guest, an unwanted and unappreciated guest at that).

Food on China Airlines

I usually love plane food. But China Airlines (which is from Taiwan, not China) had really bad food, starting with a weird cold soup which was either rice soup, tapioca soup, or the maggot leftovers from a recent Fear Factor episode. Thinking of it reminds me of every time I’ve ever puked in my life.

On travelling with a moody girlfriend (Chiang Mai)

Sylvie took a piece of paper, wrote something and gave it to me. It was a nice little love note, apologizing for her ‘moods’ and promising she would be more careful. I gave her a kiss and Sylvie’s radiant smile came back. I told myself I would do whatever she wanted the rest of the day, whatever made her happy. I wanted her in a good mood. That’s how we ended up going shopping. Shopping is what everyone does in Chiang Mai and we spent the next few hours visiting factories: an umbrella factory, a silk factory, a silver factory. We learned how paper umbrellas were made, how silk was grown and harvested, how silver was moulded into jewellery. It was pretty goddamn boring and I suddenly felt myself feeling sorry for those married men that I sometimes see getting bossed around by their women, the ones following their fat wives around shopping centers saying stuff like “you look beautiful my dear ” in that defeated, dejected voice. I could suddenly empathize with them.

Things to remember when contemplating a date with a foreign speaker

I already had a full agenda for the evening, plus I wondered if she would even understand me; her English was bad and my Cantonese limited – there’s only so many times you can say “Hi, how are you?” “I’m fine” and “I have diarrhoea” before the conversation gets stale.

Not so funny – but I have to trash the Lonely Planet DR guide, it’s just crap (Boca Chica)

I ended up at the Aparthotel Madjera. The Madjera is Italian owned and it was almost immediately obvious that almost all the clientele was Italian. The manager, a young Italian, was friendly and showed me a few rooms. I had read about this place in the LP guide under places to stay in the “Mid-Range section”. The Madjera, among other things, has its rooms described as “Tastefully done”. “If you prefer quiche to a hamburger, you’d likely like this place,” says the writer. Yes, he actually wrote “likely like”, an unforgivable faux-pas really that will hopefully get him sent somewhere where they have no paper. On top of bad grammar, I’ll bet the guy decorates his lawn with pink plastic swans – because the Madjera was honestly tacky as all hell. The best of the rooms was very, very basic. A plain room with a large window looking out over a back alley. It had paper-thin doors and a kitschy Hawaiian-looking mural on the wall behind the bed. The bathroom was plain, everything looked old. But, as I discovered turning the TV on (which was conveniently located high up on the wall, perfect for viewing while lying horizontally in bed), the hotel had access to the Playboy channel. That was about the only perk here, the Madjera, at $26 US a night, is nothing great and I would have moved on had it not been raining and had I not been staying in Boca Chica just one night. Maybe the reviewer meant “If you prefer kitsh to a hamburger, you’d likely like this place”. Yeah, that’s it.

I’ve always been a big fan of Lonely Planet, but the 2002 edition of LP’s “Dominican Republic & Haiti” just stinks. It’s the worst of the LP guides I’ve seen; travel times are often wrong and hotel information is sparse and outdated. I also find that there’s an opinionated, biased tone to the book that shouldn’t belong in a traditional ‘guidebook’.

My theory on Public toilets

My theory is that a city’s public bathrooms say a lot about the state of the city itself. If you see un-flushed faeces or, worse, faeces wiped against latrine walls, then it’s a pretty good assumption that the city doesn’t have the time or money to clean the streets of dog shit, litter, or even dead animals. I’ve been places where I’ve seen the remains of dead animals decorating the road like patches of cheap carpeting. Guess what? Those places had really filthy public bathrooms.

On Latinos and children (Dominican Republic)

I remember a kid, a small boy of about 2 years old, who played with the glass door of the terminal; opening the door, closing the door, re-opening the door…A lady came up to the door from the outside, middle aged and well-dressed, and had to gently open the door in order not to knock the little boy over. Once inside, she took him by the arm, knelt down to his level, and proceeded to give him a gentle lecture on how he shouldn’t be playing with the door. A few minutes later, the same scenario was repeated; a businessman came in with some parcels that he wanted couriered. Again the little kid got in the way. The man addressed the child and, with a wagging finger, told him not to play with the door. I struck me how different this treatment would have been in North America. In Canada a person would not have spoken to the child (god forbid you get sued for child or psychological abuse or for having infringed on his civil liberties). If anything he/she would have singled out the parent and given a dirty glance or made a commentary on the child’s behaviour (“Misbehaving little fuck, isn’t he?”). It reminded me of other scenes involving children and the sense of community, of getting involved, that you see in Latin America.

The place is right out of a medieval movie. What made it all special was that I was the only person within the fort, there were no other tourists walking around the grounds of Forteleza Ozama. It was actually eerie; I kept turning around in paranoia, somehow imagining dwarf-sized Spanish soldiers sneaking up behind me. What very few people know is that Forteleza Ozama was almost attacked in 2001 by the Americans – the attack was averted when some smart guy in the CIA caught on to the spelling mistake. That’s how they ended up shifting their focus to Afghanistan. Very few people know this.
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(Mt. Pinacle; my favorite place in Quebec)

April 6, 2009 – 83,248 hits, 23,131 unique hits on this blog (cool, that’s like full capacity for a Canadiens game at the Bell Center). 13 comments in total…hmm, that’s pretty pathetic…

Spring is (almost) here and I’m starting to plan some hikes for the summer. The criteria:
1) within 3 hours drive of Montreal (doesn’t have to be in Quebec)
2) hikes of maximum 6 hours return (ie up and back down)
3) hikes with views (I don’t hike for the sake of hiking – I like to see views, whether they be from high points, along rivers, on lakes…nice scenery).
4) something the average hiker can handle (nothing extreme)

Below I’ve included some hikes that fall into the above criteria (more detail as well as other locations can be found in the “Quebec Parks and Peaks – hiking” category). I’ve also included some useful links. What I would really like is some similar information on other hikes from readers of this blog – they don’t have to be in Quebec, they can be in New Hampshire, Vermont, New York. The idea is to get a compilation of hikes that can be done on a day trip or with an overnight stay on a weekend from Montreal.

Hikes around Montreal in order of preference

1. Mt. Pinacle, Coaticook, Quebec (Eastern Townships). Not only my favorite spot around Montreal, this is my favorite location in Quebec. 1 1/2 hrs from Montreal in one of the most scenic yet un-touristy part of the Eastern Townships (right on US border). And only a half hour hike up!
http://blogs.bootsnall.com/BBQBOY/favorite-eastern-townships-hike-photos.html

2. Parc du Mont-Megantic, Quebec (Eastern Townships). About 3 hours from Montreal, so really requires an overnight stay. Megantic a very nice little town on a lake and Park du Mont-Megantic is beautiful, with 2 peaks that you can drive up to. Beautiful spot on a clear day.
http://blogs.bootsnall.com/BBQBOY/parc-national-du-mont-megantic.html

3. “Sentier de la Roche”, Mont-Tremblant, Quebec (Laurentiennes).
2 1/2 hours from Montreal, about a 45 min-1 hr up with nice views, especially in the fall.
http://blogs.bootsnall.com/BBQBOY/parc-national-du-mont-tremblant-quebec-photos.html

4. Parc du Mont-Tremblant, Quebec (Laurentiennes).
2 Hours from Montreal. Take the ski lift from Mont-Tremblant tourist village. Lots of trails at the top but the best views are around the summit.
http://blogs.bootsnall.com/BBQBOY/mont-tremblant-quebec-photos-2.html

5. Mt. Ham, Eastern Townships, Quebec.
2 hours from Montreal. Good views from the top – about an hour to go up in good conditions, but path can be in very bad shape (like when we went).
http://blogs.bootsnall.com/BBQBOY/mont-ham-eastern-townships-photos.html

It’s a pretty thin list which I hope to add to this summer. I’ve seen a few pictures from Owl’s Head can’t find any details on the hike…anyone know anything about it? Anyone have suggestions?? I assume some of the people who read this blog read it because of outdoor activities in and around Montreal – if so would appreciate comments or suggestions (in french ok too…)

Best web links found to date on hiking in Quebec:

http://www.canadatrails.ca/hiking/hike_qc.html#SQ

http://www.summitpost.org/area/range/219688/quebec-mountains.html

http://www.out-there.com/qc12bh.htm

http://www.randonnee.ca/default.asp?Key=1&Cat=1&L=1
I might actually try doing a few hikes with this group this summer…

Montreal, March 2, 2009: Urgg, I am so damn sick of winter. Some of the pictures below are from the old port – it was -30C with a f***** gale blowing down the river. My cheeks froze and Lissette’s ears popped and she started swearing at me again. So much for going for a little walk and getting some air. Next August, when it’s humid and hot and I start thinking about how it would be nice to have cooler weather, I’ll have a look at this entry and I’ll remember how much winter stinks.

Montreal, March 2, 2009 – It’s another cold crappy day here; -10C, windy, and grey. The TSX is down 5.5% as I write this. Depressing.

So I decided to break the monotony of my winter pictures with some of my mom’s photos from the tropics; 5 years ago she packed it in and started travelling through Asia. In the last few she’s settled in Chiang Mai (Thailand) and she seems to be truly happy. She’s met some really interesting people along the way and has recently started learning Thai. She loves the markets, the food, and especially the Thai people. Last year she was diagnosed with breast cancer and decided to stay there to have her operation instead of coming back to Canada. My mom has many good things to say about the treatment she received in Thailand (my mom below on the left).

I won’t say too much more because my mom is a pretty private person and doesn’t really believe in “blogging”. But I figure that if I don’t record these moments then nobody else will. A blog is like a scrapbook and I’ve always been a bit anal about scrapbooks and photo albums and all that stuff – because who knows what happens in life? My son may think I’m a bit of dweeb now but if I’m gone tomorrow or the next day maybe he’ll look at this blog and remember that I enjoyed travelling and photography and hiking. And maybe he’ll want to do the same. Or maybe he’ll just say “screw that” and go back to playing Xbox.

Anyway, here are some of my mom’s photos from Thailand. I hope I can inspire her to take more!

Above: view from her guest house. Below: a really cool flower

Above: I guess that’s the bike she likes to rent. Below: storm coming in

Below: Thai park

Sun coming in my mom’s room: