Toronto - 26.03.-29.03.

After this horrible long train ride from the west to the east coast of canada, i first had to take a shower. But i didn't need any sleep, because i was quite relaxed, because i had slept a lot on the train.
So right after my arrival i went for a walk through some parts of the city around the hostel. The part of the city, where i walked through i some kind of Market district with many nice and small shops.
I was acompanied by a room mate and a girl from Brazil.

one of the market streets in toronto

After our walk through the city we first went to a pub where they had a special happy hour that evening: shots and appetizers for only 2$! We stayed there for a while and ordered a lot of theses appetizers which were really nice. There were cheese sticks, garlic bread and other nice things.
After visiting this pub we went back to the hostel. This hostel had a very nice rooftop from which you could see almost the whole city. So we decided to go to the roof top and watch the city.

toronto at night - picture taken from hostel roof top

On the rooftop we met a girl from England and a guy from Australia, who asked us to come with them to a pool bar. This sounded like a nice idea, so we decided to join them. The pool bar was only about 2 blocks away from the hostel, so not too far. We played some games and then went back to the hostel.

some pool bar near the hostel

On the second day we went for another walk to the city. Because it was very cold in Toronto we made a small stop in china town in a 1$ shop in order to buy some gloves. Well the gloves actually weren't 1$. They were 2$, which is still pretty cheap :). So walked a nice circle trough the city and then returned to the hostel.

me with being happy that i found some 2$ gloves in a chinese shop

On my second last day in Toronto i went for a walk to the harbour in order to see lake Ontario. Lake Ontario is boring. It really sucks, and is not as beautiful as i had expected it. Maybe it looks nicer in summer. I don't know it.  Maybe on the picture it doesn't look that bad, but you should know that i always try to take the pictures so they look as nice as possible! Which doesn't mean that the reality looks as good like this.

lake ontario as seen from the harbour of toronto

On the way back from lake Ontario i crossed a small Park from which i had a wonderful view on the Skyline of Toronto.

the skyline of toronto as seen from the harbour

Niagara Falls- 29.03.2013

On my last day in Canada, which is actually the same day on which i travelled to New York, in the early morning i took a grey hound bus to the city  "Niagara Falls" in Ontario Canada. From there i took a local bus to the Niagara Falls (which only took about 5 minutes). Well some people may say they are too small. For me they are big enough... There are 3 falls in total, the biggest of these falls is called "the Horse Shoe Falls" and is located on the Canadian side of the river. The other two, smaller waterfalls are located on the American side.

the 'american falls' (lefthand side) and horse shoe falls (righthand side)

me with niagara falls in background

the horse shoe falls

the horse shoe falls 2

train ride - Edmonton - Toronto 23.3. to 26.3.

In the early morning of 23rd of March i started my journey to the east coast of Canada which would last for about 3,5 days in total. If you ask yourself whether i am insane, because i decided to take train to get to the east coast i understand what you mean. Usually it is better to take an airplane, because the flights are often the same price which you pay for the train, or even cheaper.
The main reason why i finally decided to take the train, was that i had only about 1 more week left before i would fly back home from New York and i didn't want to stay in the national park or any other part in the middle of Canada because it was too cold and everything was covered in snow. So i wanted to reach the east coast of Canada as soon as possible. Unfortunately i couldn't find any cheap flights at all. Moste of them were around 500$ or more. Some of them were 2000$. To buy a flight ticket for 2000$, this would have been really insane!!
The train ticket however was only around 300$, so i had no other choice than taking the train. (You don't want to take a greyhound bus, this would be even worse than taking the train!!).

So in the morning when i left the hostel, we had around -17°C. Here you see why i didn't want to stay in this part of Canada for much longer. I didn't even have a warm jacket or any gloves! From there i first took a bus to the city Calgery. And after that i took a bus from Calgery to the City Edmonton, where the train would depart at around midnight from the "via rail train station" in Edmonton.

At around 5pm i arrived in Edmonton. Because i had all my luggage with me and i was not really interested in the city, i decided to go directly to the train station and hang out there for the rest of the day. To find the train station was not very easy. I asked around in the city, but noone really new this station. Most people obviously in a big country like Canada seem to fly.  Even most of the bus drivers didn't really seem to know where this train station was. After asking around a lot i finally found the right bus to the staion.
When i arrived at this station i realized that this station was far out of town. I had to walk about 15 minutes to the railway station from where the bus had dropped me (this was not even an official bus stop, just a nice guesture of the bus driver). The via rail station looked very lonely and empty.

via rail station in the middle of nowhere

the walk way to the via rail station

the walk way to where the bus had dropped me (end of the road ;) )

When i tried to enter the train station i was really surprised, because the door was locked. It was around 6 o'clock. But on the door there was a sign which said that the station would open at around 9 pm. I didn't want to wait outside for 3 hours with -15°C, so i dropped my backback at the station and went for a walk, to some buildings which looked like factory buildings. I was hoping to find some kind of gas station or something, where i could hang out for the next 3 hours. I walked around for maybe half an hour but there was nothing. Nothing at all! So i decided to go back to the station. As i came back to the station i saw another man waiting for the train. We stood there, talking for maybe 15 minutes, then suddenly someone showed up, who seemed to work for via rail. He said wouldn't stay for long in the station an he couldn't let us stay there all alone, because he was not allowed to, but he offered us a ride in his car to the next Mc Donald, which was only a 15 minute foot walk away from the station he told us. (15 minutes in the opposite direction, of which i had walked to). We accepted happily and stayed in this Mc Donald until the station opened. So at around 9 o'clock pm we walked back to the station where we could checkin our luggage.  
Then at midnight the long 2,5 train ride started. People had told me before that the middle of Canada was quite empty. If you are not in the canadian Rocky mountains the landscape doesn't change very often. After about 10 minutes you knew how the landscape would look like for the next 24 hours. In the middle of Canada between the Rocky mountains and Ontario the landscape looked like on the picture down below most of the time.

the middle of Canada after leaving the Rocky mountains

our train driving through the middle of nowhere, through the middle of Canada

our train driving through the middle of Canada

The man who i had met at the train station the day before was Canadian. He told me, that in summer all these flat fields were filled with crop and corn and stuff like that. But yes i winter it's just flat and white. 

All in all the train ride was still fun. There was small jazz band, which played 2-3 times per day. This band was hired by the train. The musicians told us that as a musician you could apply to play on the train, and via rail gave them a free ride back to the east coast in return, which is quite a nice thing. I really enjoyed these band sessions, it was like an own private personal concert for like 5 people.

jazz band playing some of their songs for us

For the rest of the time we were just hanging out in the cafeteria of the train, talking, or eating. Sometimes we had really interesting and philosophical conversations. The picture down below shows me and some of the people hanging out in the cafeteria wagon of the train.

me and some of the people hanging out in the cafeteria of the train

Well the first 24 hours of the train ride were not really interesting concerning the landscape of Canada, but it got a lot better as soon as we entered the province Ontario. As soon as we entered Ontario, there was only forrest and inside the forrest many small lakes and rivers and so on. Of course after 10 minutes it was clear that the rest of the landscapes would look the same way for the rest of the journey until we would reach Toronto. I didn't know that Canada had so much of forrest. Some Canadians on the train told me the wood and oil was one of the main industries of Canada. I always had thought that the black forrest, my home in germany, was a big forrest, but compared to the forrests of Ontario the black forrest is just a ridiculously small bunch of trees.

sunrise on the second day of the train ride

our train driving through the forrests of Ontario

a small river in the middle of the Ontario forrest

Banff National Park - 20.03.2013-23.03.2013

Vancouver was a nice city to go out, but not the main reason i had come to Canada. The main reason, was that i wanted to see some of Canada's nature. So i didn't stay very long in Vancouver and this is why i decided to go to one of Canada's National Parks. The National Park i went to is called the "Banff National Park". Banff is also a little village which is inside of the National Park.
On the way to the National Park i tried to makee some photos of the landscapes. This was not always as easy as it seems. Because the buses windows were dirty and sometimes the windows reflect the inside of the bus, which can be very annoying. So once i thought i had taken a really nice photo i saw that it had one of theses reflections in it. But this time it looked really funny. I call this picture "Canada and the angry old man", because in the lower right corner of the picture you can see the reflection of an old man making an angry face.

Canada and the angry old man

another picture on the way to banff - taken from the bus

When i arrived i was a bit surprised, because the village was as small and lonely as i had expected,
but everything was covered in snow!! I thought it was spring already and had not expected any snow at all.
On the day that i arrived in Banff it was already late afternoon, so i decided just to walk to the hostel and i didn't do much for the rest of the day except haning in the hostel bar a bit. On the way to the hostel i shot some small pictures. The first picture shows the bus/train station. Yes, obviously Banff has a train station, but no trains which transport people stop here. These trains only transport goods like for example oil.

the bus and train station in Banff

picture of banff, tanke onthe way to the hostel

On my second day in Banff i decided just to go for a walk through the village, because it was a bit cloudy. People had told me about a mountain from which i should have a nice view on the national park, but under these wheather conditions i probably wouldn't have seen much. As you can see on the pictures most of the lakes and rivers are completely frozen. I bet in summer this is much nicer and much more fun to visit, because then you can go canoing and stuff like that on the river.

frozen river next the village of Banff

deer looking for food near the river

some deers chillin' out near the river

river with some frozen and some melted parts

river in the national park

On my 3rd and last day in Banff i went to the so called Sulphur Mountain, from which as people told me, i should have a wonderful view over the National Park, which is actually true. So i went to this mountain. I was hoping to hike up, but there was too much snow, so i had to take the Gondola. The ticket was around 30$ including the return ticket. If you walk up in winter they usually give you the ride back down for free, which is a great thing, but i didn't hike up.
So on the mountain top first of all there was a nice platform with all kinds of flags from different countries in the world. The position of the flag faces into the direction where this country is. I was alone on this plattform, so i had to do a timer photo. Next to where i am standing you can see the German flag, pointing out the direction to Germany, my home :).

me on a platform on the mountain top of Mt Sulphur

From the top of the mountain as i said you had a wonderful view on all the area round, but as you also can see here, everything is covered in snow. If you don't want to go skiing or "snow shoeing" then there is nothing for you to do here. This plattform was not the only thing on the mountain top. There are some paths where you can walk around on the mountain top. And of course there is a cafe and a restaurant where you can buy something to eat and to drink, quite expensive as you would expect.

banff national Park as seen from sulphur mountain

banff national Park as seen from sulphur mountain

banff national Park as seen from sulphur mountain

I only stayed in the national park for 3 days, because of all the snow, and the temperatures far below 0°C. (Usally it was around -10°C or less). I would like to come back to this place some day in summer. Nevertheless i left Banff after only 3 days, and decided to go to the east coast of canada as quickly as possible because i didn't have much time left. There i was hoping to see the Niagara Falls, which are near the City Toronto, before i would end my long journey in New York.

Vancouver - 15.03 - 19.03.

After my short stay in Seattle i headed further north to the City Vancouver in Canada. As soon as we entered Canada the weather seemd to get worse and it seemed to get colder as you can see on the picture down below.

Some fields near Vancouver right after crossing the Canadian Border

Vancouver seemed to be a nice city on the first sight, where you can go out very nice in the evening. You can really go out there very nice as it turned out later, but the night clubs cost quite a lot of admission to get in - especially on weekends. Usually it is something between 5-10$. On weekend you pay 15-20$. Well as a mate from Sweden (who i had met before in San Francisco) told me, this is still a lot cheaper than in Sweden, because there you pay around 30$!
The Steet which i stayed in in Vancouver was called Granville Street, and is one of the best streets if you want to go out in the evening.

GranvilleStreet in Vancouver

I didn't stay for very long in Vancouver. Only about 3 days. So on one of the days i went to China Town with my swedish mate. China Town is really tiny, very touristy and not as good as the China Town in San Francisco. Don't go there! I only wanted to go there because i hoped to buy some cheap vegetables in one of the chines supermarkets. In the end i only found only one supermarket. The rest were all Restaurants and other strange shops. At least the supermarket was as cheap as expected.

me in China Town of Vancouver

On another day in Vancouver i went the so called Stanley Park in Vancouver. To get there , we walked all the way from the hostel. As soon as we arrived at the harbour it was photo time and i got a picture taken with me and harbour in the background showing the asian peace fingers. Peace!

me giving you the peace fingers at vancouver harbour

Then we continued our way to the Park. At the beginning of the Park we met another guy from the hostel who had come there to take some photos.  He was from England and very friendly. We talked for a while and then started to walk through the park all together, which was really nice. So we walked to a point where we saw a bridge which looked a bit like the Golden Gate Bridge, just in Green. The bridge connects this part of Vancouver with North-Vancouver.

Stanley Park in Vancouver

After the walk through the Stanley Park, we walked back to the hostel. On the way back we stopped in a small restaurant at the coast. There we had a big basket of Tortillas, with cheese and all kind of stuff. Jammy! Jammy!

lovely cheese tortillas in some harbour restaurant in Vancouver

Seattle - 12.03. - 15.03.

On my first day in Seattle i went to a free Walking Tour through the City. Our first stop was at the famous Market hall in San Francisco. This Market Hall offers a big variety of all different kinds of fresh food. The nice thing about it, is that at most of the Market stands they offer you small samples to try their products :D.  I swear: You could spend the whole day on this market eating samples, it's so good and so much fun!

Market Hall in Seattle

One special thing about the Market Hall in Seattle is the floor. It consists of many small little tiles. In the past you were able to buy one of these tiles and write something on it, like for example your name! Some tiles contain the names of very famous people. The tile we are standing at on the next picture for instance contains the name of Bill Gates!

Inside the market hall there was a "realistic" picture of the tallest man who had ever lived. I think
he was about 2.70 meters tall. Well just to remember this i was standing next to him and let a picture taken, to see how much taller he is compared to me. I just have to mention, that i myself am around 1.90 meters tall, but compared to this guy i look like a dwarf ;).

After our visit of the Market hall, we went to a street were all the walls were ruined with gums. This looked horribly and interesting (very colorful) at the same time. The tour guide told us, that in this theatre there was a improvisation theatre. The play of this night was only 5 dollars, so me and some of the people making the tour decided to go to this theatre in the evening.

street where all walls are covered with eaten gums

After the city tour, me and some people who made the tour with me decided to go to the "Pike" Brewery for another free tour through the brewery. The following pictures shows me and my mates at the end of the tour.

me and some tour mades at the end of the "Pike Brewery" tour

After the Brewery Tour we went to one of these High Rise Buildings, because the tour guid from the morning had told us that there is a star bucks in this tower, where you can go for free and see the city.
The Starbucks should have been on the 40th floor, but as we arrived there, there was no Star Bucks. However, we had gotten in for free and still had a nice view on the city which was great! :)

Seattle as seen from one of the Towers

After walking around through the city all day long we went back to the hostel, where we drank the beer which we had bought for a special discount from the brewery tour. After we were finished with the beer i felt really drunk, but we had to go to this improvisation theatre, were we wanted to meet some more people from the city walking tour in the morning.
The improvisation theatre was a nice surprise. As expected the admission was only 5$. We all walked into the theatre and sat down, expecting the improvisation play to begin. Then the show moderator showed up. He was carrying a big bucket of small little cards. He started walking around in the audience and giving away these cards to the people sitting in the audience. In the end there was only one card left. Because noone wanted to take it voluntarely i sacrificed myself and took the card.
Then it got exciting. What noone of us would have expected, is that these cards were made to sort out teams for improvisation acting. The improvisation theatre this evening should have been made and acted by the audience. There were like 3 teams infront of me which did a great job. Then they finally called the name on my card and i had to go to the stage. Because i still felt really drunk, i was not really knowing was i was doing. This was so embarrassing. Nevertheless me and my teammate seemed to do a good job all in all, because people were laughing. Although it felt for me like the teammate was doing all the hard work and i was just standing there and reacting to what he was offering.
After our trip to the theatre we all went together to an irish pub, with a local from Seattle who we had met in the theatre. He he, so in this pub we were sitting, talking and drinking and so on. After a while i went to the waitress to ask her whether she could take another photo of us. Then she responded to me with the voice of a man : " I am not a barmaid!!!". LOL then i realized that this was not the waitress but just a dragqueen who looked very simliar to the waitress. However, finally i found the real waitress and she took the photo of us which you can see here :)