So it’s been nearly a month since I have been back from Canada and I thought it was time to finally start writing my blog post about my trip!

I spent 25 days away, majority of it was spent in Canada but I did visit New York city on the way home for a couple of days. But, I’m going to talk separately about my trip to New York in another post later!

For now, buckle up because here are all the details of where I went, what I did and what I recommend to do!

But before you read my post, here are a few facts about my trip:

I flew from London Heathrow to Ottawa and spent two weeks in the capital with my partner.

Then, my parents came out and we then started our road trip around Canada before finally finishing in New York!

I then flew home from Newark airport which is in New Jersey.

Also, a little side note – I travelled to Canada at end of October and returned middle of November and therefore this was out of season for most things. But! I will tell you how this worked in my favour!

Ottawa, Ontario

Ottawa is the capital of Canada in the province of Ontario. I personally think the city is beautiful! The Rideau canal, Parliament Hill and the Museums are just some of the top things to do here! It is definitely one place I will never forget. Even though it is the capital, it doesn’t feel like your usual capital city. It is actually a lot smaller than Toronto and there are only two flights from London Heathrow a day from the airport (one there and one back!) – That’s no joke by the way. I checked.

But even though it was small, this is what I liked the most about the city. It wasn’t built up like London, the people didn’t drive like maniacs like in Italy and the people weren’t rushing around like in New York city! Every single resident I spoke to, whether it was a stranger in the street or a cashier on a till, were friendly! I felt completely safe and rest assured that if I had a problem, someone would be able to help me out. The place has a lot of history and I’m really glad I got to explore this through the several museums they have here. However, if you do not have that much time I would recommend doing the Bytown museum as it is small and you could easily do this in an hour. It gives you a brief history about the canal and the capital!

The top things I recommend doing while in Ottawa are the following:

Rideau Canal – It would be beautiful in the summer when the boats dock up and in the winter, it freezes over so you can skate on it!

Parliament Hill – They do tours daily of inside parliament and you get to see the library of Parliament which is the oldest part of the structure! Plus, the peace tower looks like a mini Big Ben! It’s so cute!

Canadian Museum of History – This is really great to go to if you want to deeply understand more about the history of how the English and French came over to Canada. It was really interesting to find more information on this especially as Ottawa borders the Quebec province, who hold the largest population of French speakers in Canada.

Hog’s back falls – This water fall is just breath taking! It is further out of the city but it is well worth the trip! It’s hard to describe why I loved this water fall but I guess you’ll just have to look at my photos!

Byward Market – It’s a massive hub of outdoor and indoor cafes and stalls selling everything and anything from Canadian cheese to maple infused chocolate! If you go here, you must try a Beaver tail!

Old Quebec City

How amazingly wonderful was it to visit a place which was in Canada yet I felt like I was in France! This place was so quaint, so beautiful and just so picturesque! We spent two days here and it was just so lovely to walk around this town and take in the views and architecture. Unfortunately, we did go slightly out of season so I feel it would look even prettier if you went in the summer! Plus, it rained non-stop so we did get a little bit wet! If you make a visit, be mindful here because the majority of people speak French and if you go to somewhere which is a real local place, they may not speak English! We learnt this when we got to our guest house as she struggled to communicate with us… Thank god for hand signals/gestures!

Even though walking around the city was nice, the highlight of our stop here was visiting Parc de la Chute-Montmorency! This water fall is taller than Niagara Falls and boy was it powerful! When we went it was pouring with rain and out of season so it was very quiet but this definitely went in our favour as we were not fighting past crowds to get to the viewing points! Winning! The only thing we paid for was the parking which was pretty reasonable in price as seeing the fall was a free entry. Therefore, if you came here in warmer weather conditions then you could easily take a picnic and make a day of it! Or if you want more of an adrenaline rush you can take the zip wire across the falls! But for me, walking across the bridge was enough, especially because I was completely soaking wet by this point!

  

 

Montreal

Like Old Quebec city, Montreal was exactly the same. Pretty and quaint. However, this place did the best Poutine ever! Now if you don’t know what Poutine is then listen up (well you’re not listening you’re reading but anywho!). Poutine consists of french fries, gravy and cheese curds! Cheese curds are the bad stuff that rises when you make it. Sounds rank right? Wrong! This stuff is delicious! But if you’re gunna try it, get it from the Quebec province. Ontario are known for not making the best poutine and believe you me, I learnt that the hard way! We went to a place called Montreal Poutine and I had chicken on mine as well! Look at the photo below and tell me it does not look good. I dare you.

Toronto

Ah Toronto. It hit us hard when we saw the sky high buildings that we were not in Ottawa anymore! This city is world’s apart from Ottawa and it is definitely what I would picture a capital city to look like! We didn’t have long here so we crammed in a lot. Sadly, a lot of things were unavailable to us because we came out of season but the CN tower is a must thing so we made that top of the list!

One thing you need to be aware of is the places to stay here are much more pricier than Ottawa. We stayed in a two bedroom apartment not very far from the tower and it was nearly £100 per night. But the views were absolutely spectacular and even though it was more built up than Ottawa, it was still clean and friendly. The top things I recommend doing here are the following:

CN Tower – As long as you are not afraid of heights, go up to the top and see the spectacular views! I’d personally do it at night as I feel you get a better view but in the day would also still be amazing. We couldn’t get a reservation but if you can, book into the restaurant and then you don’t have to pay for a ticket up to the top! You still get to see the amazing views and enjoy a nice meal at the same time!

Hockey Hall of Fame – Now if you’re into ice hockey, you can’t miss up a trip here! It’s dedicated to the complete history of the game with a famous hall of fame filled with well known names. If you want a deeper understanding of this fast paced match, you need to go!

Air Canada Centre – Now after the Hockey Hall of Fame, you may wanna actually watch a game! The Toronto Maple leafs are known for being shit hot at ice hockey. They also have a pretty big fan base so if you can get your hands on some tickets then defo go! You will not regret it! It’s an experience you will never forget.

St. Lawrence Market – An indoor market over two floors which is filled with all sorts of food and drink from so many different nationalities; Ukraine, Portugal, India, Japan – and that’s just naming a few! The aromas you smell when you walk around are fantastic and I just wanted to buy everything that was in sight! They also had a few other shops which sold souvenirs and of course, the famous Maple Syrup!

Mcdonald’s Corners

Ah brunch, my favourite thing because it is two meals rolled into one! We went to a pancake house and maple syrup farm called Wheelers Pancake house in a small place called Mcdonald’s Corners. The place was in the middle of no where but did the best pancakes EVER! And, I had the gluten free ones which were still the same size as the normal ones! Sweet jesus praise the lord! How many times have I gone for a gluten free option and had half a portion in comparison to my partners? The answer to that question is LOADS. Additionally, this family run business also has the largest collection of maple syrup products and chainsaw collection. That’s right, I definitely did write that. It was definitely something I’ll never forget that’s for sure!

Niagara Falls

Now if you are ever gunna do Niagara falls, always go to the Canadian side! You get such a better view! Whilst you can technically get closer to the falls on the American side, I feel the view wouldn’t be as spectacular as on the Canadian side you can see the whole thing. Now although we went out of season, this majorly worked in our favour. The famous Maiden Mist (American boat to the falls) was closed for the season but fear not! The Hornblower was still running on the Canadian side! So we queued for about 10 minutes and then that was it, ponchos on let’s go! I cannot begin to describe this experience because until you see it, you will never quite understand. The falls were magnificent and it was well worth the money going on the boat, despite being completely soaked by the end of it! It was just an out of this world experience and it’s one of the seven wonders of the world! I didn’t know that, did you?

Also, if you can make it back there in the evening they light up the falls with different colours! It is so amazing and well worth making the travel back there, despite the conditions being absolutely freezing!

Niagara-on-the-Lake

When we finished for the day and were waiting for it to go dark, we went to Niagara-on-the-Lake to look at the beautiful views of Lake Ontario. The town sits on the Lake’s shores but it also meets the mouth of the Niagara river. The town is filled with beautiful trees and flowers as well as 19th century buildings. We had dinner in a local restaurant but it did take us a while to decide as there was so many restaurants on trip advisor with good reviews! So you won’t be disappointed.

The place is also famous for it’s wineries and you definitely can see that when you see all the vineyards as you make your way into the town. In the summer they are known to have a festival called the Shaw festival so going when it’s warmer may prove better. However, the views were still breathtaking despite it being only 2 degrees.

Earlville, New York

After leaving Niagara, we made our way across the border and into New York state. We decided to drive half way to New York city and stay over night in a small quaint place called Earlville. The population of this village consists of 872 people! And the rental house is what I typically imagine an American house to look like, a big porch, huge stairway and a lovely big wooden banister. It was just another world in comparison to the big sky scrapers in Toronto. I also found it really interesting how everyone forgets that New York is actually a state. Earlville is four hours from the city and they are worlds apart! So I am really glad I got to experience another side of New York which wasn’t just about the city.

My month away was really interesting, cultural and more importantly it wasn’t as expensive as what I thought it was going to be. Here are the main three things that helped keep our costs down:

• Every single place we stayed in was booked through air bnb – Cheaper than a hotel!
• Doing a road trip instead of flying helped to keep things cheaper. You also got to see new things everyday from the car window!
• Petrol is a lot cheaper in Canada and America in comparison to England so that massively helped.

Additionally, we also planned our trip to a T and that is really the most important part. You need to write down what you want to see the most and then try and work out a schedule. Whilst the days were long and tiring, this was the only way we could cram everything in!

So there you go, that was my month away across the pond! Thanks for reading and please explore the links I have tagged in the post!

Any questions or you just wanna discuss something in more detail then please drop me a message. I love sharing!

Love, Sweet 2 the cheeks x