To Canada for spring 2014!

[Magpie]

Hi Jukka.

The weather has been nuts since New Years--plunging cold to relative mildness, show, freezing rain, even frostquakes. luckily they are pretty good at keeping the lights on and the roads clear.

[j.r-ahde]

Hello you all!

Very final preparations to make just a week before heading to the land of the Canucks!

So, any last minute help and advice is most welcome!

All the best
Jukka

[Magpie]

Hello you all!

Very final preparations to make just a week before heading to the land of the Canucks!

So, any last minute help and advice is most welcome!

All the best
Jukka

We're expecting two more winter storms this week

Make sure you bring your long-underwear

[j.r-ahde]

Hello you all!

Just signed in to the Pearson hotel.

Intending to visit Hockey Hall of Fame tomorrow.

All the best
Jukka

[j.r-ahde]

Hello you all!

Just visited the downtown today. Liked it...

The following trouble has taken place, though: my cell-phone ran out and neither the hotel personnel and the shop found a converter. Since I have a European model; I would need one as fast as possible.

Any advice welcome.

All the best
Jukka

[j.r-ahde]

Hello you all!

After digging stuff I bought yesterday, I found an suitable adapter. Absent-minded me!

About Toronto from Pearson intl to downtown: interesting village with old-looking houses and pavilions. Then, all of a sudden, The Toronto begins. Still, old great looking buildings between. Interesting.

All the best
Jukka

[Sis]

I recently joined the site, hopefully I’m not to late replying to this thread.
I have driven thru the Rockies to Alberta from Vancouver BC but I wouldn’t want to drive it in the winter (you’d need chains). The train trip from Alberta, Banff thru Lake Louise down to Vancouver is one of the most spectacular train routes (book the day train not a night train going thru the Rockies).

Rocky Mountaineer routes: http://www.rockymountaineer.com/en_C...canadian_rocky or by VIA rail routes not as expensive but not as many options or as luxurious: http://www.viarail.ca/en/explore-our...es-and-pacific
Or if you prefer Bus tours: http://www.greyhound.ca/

As for coffee, Starbucks seems to be favored in BC over Tim Horton’s. Usually the winter clothing in Canada goes on sale about this time although Eastern Canada has been hit with some pretty frigid temperatures recently. The weather on the south west coast of BC is milder than the rest of Canada. I live on Vancouver Island although we just went thru a cold spell the snow drop flowers are blooming, daffodils and hyacinths are coming up, many trees and vines have buds.

[j.r-ahde]

Hello Sis!

You have joined this thread right on time.

Planning to go further west from here - Toronto - and I have been drinking starbucks, starbucks and starbucks.

I am travelling by train and bus, though obviously having an own car would have been a bit less expensive option. But being a bad driver even back in Finland...

All the best
Jukka

[j.r-ahde]

Hello you all!

Still in Toronto, soon heading to Sudbury.

All the best
Jukka

[j.r-ahde]

Hello you all!

Sudbury, here I come tomorrow!

All the best
Jukka

[j.r-ahde]

Hello you all!

If Paul McCartney had been a Canadian on the way to Sudbury, he would have only written about "The long road"... no winding.

But the scenery became interesting in the end, anyway!

All the best
Jukka

[Sis]

Jukka hope you’re enjoying your trip, if you get a chance while in Manitoba or in Canada try a bison burger (buffalo). Lake Louise and Banff Alberta are beautiful, a must see. Kimberley BC has been described as having buildings similar to a Swiss town. Penticton I’ve been going to their Peach City Beach Cruise in June for the last 4-5 yrs. Besides having excellent wineries it is a very popular destination in the summer. It’s located in the Okanagan between two very large lakes (Skaha and Okanagan). Maybe you’ll get a glimpse of the Ogopogo monster in Okanagan Lake (similar to Loch Ness monster)

[j.r-ahde]

Hello Sis!

Thank you for the tips. Intending to visit Kimberley and Alberta plus Winnipeg. But at the moment aiming at leaving for Thunder Bay today.

All the best
Jukka

[j.r-ahde]

Hello you all!

Arrived to Thunder bay in Motel Greyhound. It was such a bloody long trip...

All the best
Jukka

[Ginger]

Hello you all!

Arrived to Thunder bay in Motel Greyhound. It was such a bloody long trip...

All the best
Jukka

I hope you'll enjoy your trip, Jukka! The one thing that always seem to stun my Old World friends when they come to visit Canada or the States is the realization of just how HUGE this place is. It's one thing to read about it and know it intellectually - it's quite another to have travelled several hours and still be in the middle of nowhere, when all of your experience up to that point teaches that ten or fifteen minutes of travel should bring you to a populated place.