Friday, June 6, 2014

Canada 2014


  Our school trip this year was to Canada for one week. The trip was to three cities: Montreal, Quebec City, and Ottawa. Our group was made up of about 40 kids of all different grades and ages and a small group of parents. The two most important members of the group were our tour guide, Patrick, and the driver, Normand. We called our tour guide, Patrick Star, after Patrick Starfish from Sponge Bob. At first he didn't get it, but after we explained it he understand.

  The first city we were in was Montreal. Our first day in Montreal was only a half day because we flew to Montreal that day. We drove around for a while seeing parts of Montreal. After our drive around, we went to dinner. We went to a French restaurant. After dinner, because every one was tired, we walked to the bus. On the way to the bus we walked by Notre-Dame Basilica where we were going the next day. After we stopped there for pictures, we got on the bus and went to the hotel and slept.  After getting some rest, we were off to see more of Montreal. First was a bus tour and a walk up to Mount Royal to look out over Montreal.  After that, we drove back to the Basilica and took a tour. The inside of Notre-Dame Basilica was beautiful and the organ was huge. By the time we left the church it was lunch time. For lunch we had free time so we could go on our own. Dad, Mr. Moss(my history teacher), Patrick Star, one of the parents and his daughter, some of the other kid, and I all went to lunch at a French restaurant. After lunch, the group met up and went to the Museum of Archaeology and History. Next we went to dinner at Le Cabaret du Roy. It's a sea themed restaurant where the waiters and performers are dressed as pirates. It was so much fun! Because the ends of my hair are blue one of the pirates called me a mermaid. Each table was made a team and we had a name and captain. Throughout the dinner each team had to finish tasks like a quiz, a logic puzzle, and a luck game. Each task needed one person from the team. For the luck game I was that person. The rules were simple, there was a box with the numbers 1-9 and you rolled two die and the number you got you had to flip down tile or tiles that made the number you rolled. In the end your score was based on the added number of the tiles left. If all the tiles were down your score was 0. The pirate I played against scored 0 so I basically lost. When I played, the last number up was a 3 so I switched to 1 dice and rolled... a 3! I won and the whole table was so happy. The last thing we did at the restaurant was a dance. The Peruvian Monkey Dance. Watching the people dance was funny.  My history teacher was one of the dancers and was the star as well. After the very fun dinner,  we went and played laser tag.That also was very fun. We played two rounds. One round was every man for himself and the second one was teams. After the games, we went back to the hotel and went to bed. Day Three was a trip to the Biodome, Olympic Tower, and the drive to Quebec City. The Biodome was cool. There were three different habitats and each habitat had animals doing their thing. Next was the Olympic Tower. We took an elevator to the top. I could see all Montreal. It was a pretty view. We hopped in the bus and drove to Quebec City. The drive was about 2 hours and 30 minutes.

  When we got to Quebec City, we went to dinner and then took a walking tour of Old Town Quebec. After the walk, we went to our hotel and slept. Our first activity the next day was at the Plains of Abraham. We got a history lesson from two generals. After our lesson, we got to compete and it was French against English. We fake loaded guns, loaded a canon, and had to guess what objects were. In the end the French won and Team 2 won the whole thing. After that we went to the Observatoire de la Capitale. It was a 360 view of Quebec City. The view was so pretty and it was a beautiful sunny day. Lunch was next and every one separated.  After lunch we went to the Morrin Heritage Centre. The building was a prison turned school turned library. I got to go prison. Part of the tour was to the old solitary cells and we got to go inside. A walking tour was next and it was around Old Town. For dinner we went to the Sugar Shack. It's a maple syrup making place plus restaurant. Maple syrup was put on everything and after dinner we got up and played spoons and danced. We then learned how maple syrup is made and went to the playground and went on the marry-go-round and placed Foosball. Then it was back to the hotel to sleep. The next day was a tour of Parliament and the five hour drive to Ottawa.

  Once we got to Ottawa we had dinner and then went on a haunted walk around Ottawa. Then we  went to the hotel and slept. Day Six was a bus and walking tour of Ottawa and after that we went to the National Art Gallery. After that we had free time for lunch. Dad and I went off on our own and had lunch and a beaver tail.  A beaver tail is fried dough with a topping. After free time was the Museum of war and then dinner. The last activity was an IMAX movie about pandas. After the movie we went back to the hotel. Our last day was the Museum of History and then the flight home. At the airport goodbye and thank you were said to our awesome tour guide Patrick Star and our fabulous driver Normand. Both flights home were delayed and I got home at 2:30 in the morning. The trip was awesome and so much fun.