Traveling in Canada

Travelling in Canada is first of all expensive and secondly time demanding:)

Problem #1: time
They do not measure distances in kilometres... they do in hours:
Toronto - Montreal: 6hrs by bus / 4hrs by train
Toronto - Quebec: 9hrs by bus / 6hrs by train
Toronto - New York: 21hrs by bus / 1,5hrs by plane
Toronto - Vancouver: 5hrs by plane

Problem #2: money
It is fairly expensive to travel in Canada, e.g. you pay 170 CAD (ca. 120€) to get from Toronto to Montreal. Although it is cheaper than TGV (but almost 4x slower), it doesn't let me travel to Quebec, as 4000 CZK (+ 18hrs in bus) is not the money I would be willing to spend (just) on transportation:)

It is similar with Vancouver, where I originally wanted to go, too... almost 9000 CZK (ca. 500 CAD) is quite out of my budget (especially before the Fatal trip). What I found interesting is that the distance from Toronto to Vancouver is the same as from Prague to Moscow and back plus from Prague to Istanbul and back. A demanding travelling:)

My schedule
Despite both handicaps, I'd like to see as much as possible during my 5 weeks here.

Weekend 1: 8th-9th March
- Czech lunch with my family
- arrival in Toronto
- exploring the neighbourhoods of MC house, getting to know China town and Japanese cuisine

Weekend 2: 15th-16th March
- sightseeing in Toronto (read more in the previous post)

Weekend 3 - just passed: 22nd-23rd March
- working during Easter holidays on Friday:)
- Niagara Falls on Saturday
- NBA match yesterday

Niagara falls (post coming soon); the Rainbow bridge behind me connects Canada and the United States

Weekend 4: 29th-30th March
- trip to Montreal

Weekend 5: 5th-6th April
- CN tower (read more in the previous post)
- getting to know outskirts of Toronto
- possibly attending an NHL match, if I get cheap tickets (which seems improbable)
- writing 2 essays

Weekend 6: 12th-13th April
- arriving in Jablonec on Saturday afternoon
- getting ready for my Monday presentation at school

... as you can see, all destinations are situated in the provinces Ontario and Quebec, although there are a few more:

Canadian provinces
As written on Wikipedia "Canada is a federation composed of ten provinces and three territories; in turn, these may be grouped into regions. It makes up the world's second largest country in total area." Have a look at this map (opens in a new window).

From what I've got to know from the people, very brief descriptions of all Canadian provinces (starting in the West) would be following:

British Columbia: influence of California, known for nice nature, low density of people
Alberta: strong petroleum industry, low density of people
Saskatchewan, Manitoba: almost no one lives there:)
Ontario: one third of the entire Canadian population live here; there are the famous Great lakes on the borders with the United States; Toronto (the largest city in Canada) and Ottawa (the capital of Canada) are situated in the South of Ontario
Quebec: the largest Canadian province by area; the only province where French is a dominating language; the English minority is concentrated mostly around Montreal
Newfoundland and Labrador: had a significant role in the history of the North America, however almost no one lives there today; some minor political struggles going on
New Brunswick, Nova Scotia, Prince Edward Island: small (in area as well as in population) provinces on the Atlantic coast

In the North, there are 3 territories: Yukon, Northwest Territories and Nunavut. Just snow & ice and ice & snow.

Czech corner
K dnesnimu cestovatelsky ladenemu postu se pokusim sepsat i cestovatelsky ladene ceske okenko. Bude zaroven i trochu kulturni, protoze pujde o kratke recenze 2 filmu, ktere jsem v posledni dobe videl v ramci spontanne organizovanych "movie nights" v nasem dome. Oba filmy me zaujaly predevsim s ohledem na blizici se Fatal trip a vrele doporucuji si nasledujici radky precist uz jen jako zajimave kulturni tipy.

The Darjeeling Limited
Zajimavy snimek:) Nektera devcata ho sice oznacily za nudny, ale ja jsem se stridave dobre babil (sem tam vtipna/rozpacita glosa/situace) a stridave rozsiroval obzory o indicke a tibetske kulture. Ano, film je zasazen prevazne do prostredi soudobe Indie a pojednava o 3 mladych muzich, kteri se vydavaji na "spiritualni cestu". Nekdy jsem si vazne pripadal jakobych jejich spiritualne fatalni cestu jel s nimi:)
Trailer (v novem okne)

(ted davam kratsi pauzu, jelikoz druhy snimek bude ze zcela odlisne kategorie, urcite tedy ne komedie)

Into the wild
Pravdepodobne nekteri znate, uz jsem to take drive registroval v mediich. Nekdo mozna cetl knihu. At tak ci tak, verim, za nase dojmy budou podobne:)

Kdyz jsem o filmu pozdeji premyslel, hned me napadlo zname souslovi "challenging worldview". Myslim, ze to celkem odpovida, pac alespon me urcite worldview trochu challengoval. Jedna se o, dle meho nazoru, velmi silny pribeh 23 leteho mladika, ktery se z danych duvodu vydava na osudovou cestu na Aljasku.

Srovanavat film s Fatal tripem by bylo vzhledem k jeho znacne myslenkove siri nemistne, ale z urciteho (povrchniho) uhlu pohledu tam paralela jednoznacne existuje. Musim priznat, ze v prubehu prvni hodiny jsem mel pocity lehce rozpacite, ale nakonec az do samotneho konce nikdo z 5 divaku temer ani nehlesl a film "travil" po celou dobu titulku:)

Promitali jsme na stenu, takze az na tristni ozvuceni muzeme hovorit o zazitku srovnatelnym z kina, ale domnivam se, ze i na notebooku divak oceni uzasnou kameru, velmi precizni vypravu, citlivou hudbu a spickovy strih.

Snimek je rated "R", ale nelekejte se, nejsou tam zadne lacine vrazdy... i zivot je nekdy tvrdy. Film je inspirovan skutecnou udalosti!

Vzdavam respekt reziserovi a hlavnimu protagonistovi a kulturni ceske okenko zakoncuji citatem z filmu: "I read somewhere, how important it is in life not necessarily to be strong but to feel strong. To measure yourself at least once. To find yourself at least once in the most ancient of human conditions."

Trailer | Music video (oboji v novem okne)
Z traileru mam pocit, ze se jedna o americky velkofilm plny vycpavky a klise, trochu rizly stredoskolskou tematikou a letmou akci, a proto budete-li mit o 3min vice casu, vrele doporucuji shlednout alespon Music video, ktere je o poznani verohodnjesi.