Barchef

     Saturday night out. After having dinner at a cute Italian place (Cinquecento Cafe) my friend and I wandered North towards home looking for a bar to have a drink or two before we called it a night.

     Getting to Queen street we headed East and ended up in the centre of the rock bar/club district. I love the vibe and the music blaring out of all the venues, people littering the sidewalk smoking, wearing dark clothes, chains, lace, and oh so fun items I have grown to adore. We stopped at Barchef and upon my friend's remark of "never been," I dragged her in. 

We entered the darkened room full of people who clearly didn't fit in with the rocker vibe of Queen West. I noticed people seemed to be slightly dressed up, as my eyes trailed along the lush fabrics, and modernized victorian decor. We maneuvered our way through the packed room; headed for the bar. Deep smells of herbs, oils, and fruit filled my senses, as loud fifties dance music pumped from all walls. 

     All the patrons have smiles, and I noticed a giant screen playing black and white Charlie Chaplin-esq films. This made me smile… as did the two seats that opened up at the bar directly in front of us. 

Sitting down, I wrestled a menu from my distracted neighbours and began to see the beauty of true mixology. House-infusions of molecular gastronomy, and flavour combinations of eccentricity, sent a tingle up my spine in excitement. 

It took us about ten minutes to get the attention of a bartender and we ordered our first round. Given, I understand it also takes ten minutes to make certain cocktails. 

     I decide on the "Four Seven Two" which is a deliciously smooth bodied bourbon mojoito with cola bitters. My friend ordered the "Strawberries and Lavender", which takes a little more time to prepare. Upon smelling it, the lavender was in the forefront with the strawberries to follow. When tasting, it was the complete opposite, strawberries filled your mouth with a remanence of lavender for a pleasant moment afterwards. This drink is geniusly created with strawberry infused gin, Lavender infused grand marnier, with fresh lime, elderberry bitters and a lavender sugar rim of delicious.

As we wait for, and enjoy our first round of drinks, I notice the "very" busy, good-looking bartenders. They all are wearing fifties-esq apparel, with Modernized vests, fedoras, and collars with ties. All three of them are tossing, and preparing quality cocktails as fast as they can. 

     I watched one make the "smoked manhattan". He used a blowtorch to ignite a dish of hickory vanilla wood chips. As the wood chips burned, he took a chunk of ice and hand-carved it to the perfect size. Placing that it a cocktail glass, he mixed the manhattan, which contains crown royal, cherry vanilla bitters, vanilla cognac, and hickory smoked syrup. The wood chips finish burning, and he placed them into a container that allows the martini to sit on a platform above the smoking wood chips. The dome (of the container) is closed and the smoke stays incased inside.  The drink is then served to guest further down the bar, who looks excited. Once most of the smoke is dissipated from the dome, a server removed the drink and gave it to a guest. Once this drink has been served, the bar is left with the ambrosial fragrance for a pleasant while. Although I was incredibly tempted to try this concoction, my wallet would not allow me to do so ($45 for the manhattan).

     The man to my left strikes up a conversation about the establishment, and seems completely fascinated. He is a visitor to the city, and the three of us have some decent conversation. He's not creepy or trying to pick us up, just genuinely having a good time.

      I got playful with the busy bartenders at one point or another, and they were friendly enough given how busy they were. Overall we had an absolutely great time. I highly recommend this place to absolutely anyone who has an interest in mixology as an art form. This cocktail menu is leaps and bounds away from a rum and coke, that will leave any liquor lover begging for more.

End of a relationship...

When you hit "that" end, when you can feel your days are numbered, it is a strange feeling. Do you find yourself constantly thinking, "this will be the last time we…."? Your current relationship dictates how you approach the situation. It can be a morose, or a reliving time when it comes down to the last days. 

You gather with friends, celebrating their departure from your life whether positive or negative. Regardless of their impact on your life, they've changed you. You've shared moments,  memories, and experiences. 

"Each friend represents a world in us, a world possibly not born until they arrive" ~Anais Nin

Only time will tell what your future relationship has in store. Whether it be long distance, painful memories of a happier time or just a lack of communication, one can hope always for the best possible outcome. To hope for a possibility for that person to continue to exist in your life, or just your thoughts.

"In everyone's life, at some time, our inner fire goes out. It is then burst into flame by an encounter with another human being. We should be thankful for those people who rekindle the inner spirit." ~Albert Schweitzer

Positive thoughts, get on the right track

It has been forever since I have written anything in this blog. I feel that is okay, as no one reads it anyways.

Recently my life has a done a crazy shift around. Once you get out of the burning building, through the flames, through the smoke and heat, out into the street and you heartbeat begins to return to normal, only then do you start to grasp the new situation you have been handed. At this point you can check and feel your wounds and decide how you are about to live for the next five minutes.

I am currently in this moment, although I have been stretching it out. Instead of being proactive with my time, I have been enjoying the lack of responsibilities.  

Hopefully now I can gain some determination and start working towards my dreams. Life is about climbing that staircase, one step at a time. I have gotten to a great flight of stairs, but I have sat down. I need to force myself to continue walking. Only I can make myself do so.

Dinner at Cinquecento Cafe

I had this past Saturday night off! That NEVER happens in the restaurant industry, so I decided to take full advantage of it. I met a friend and we headed to Queen West to check out the legacy that is Terroni. However, after arriving there and seeing the line out the door and down the block we decided that we were in need of some other delicious eats. 

I pulled out my trusty I-phone (Glitz) and checked on Urbanspoon. We ended up at Cinquecento Cafe (791 King St. West, Toronto). We were impressed finding a Italian place not too far away. 

Starting the evening off right, we ordered a decently priced bottle of Malbec, and decided to split the Antipasto plate to start. When it arrived we were pleasantly surprised. Although there was only a small amount of meat (some salami and Mortadella), the fresh grilled vegetables were so plentiful. There was shaved parmesan, grilled eggplant, olives, mushrooms, roasted red peppers, grilled zucchini, pickled eggplant, and even a mini caprese salad with fresh basil and all. Each of the vegetables had been brushed, grilled, and/or seasoned differently and the flavours were very impressive.

We followed this with Nona's recipe of stuffed shells. The three groundmeats were cooked and seasoned delightfully, and packed into larger sized pasta shells. Presentation was good and each were neatly decorated with a light amount of herbs. It was a perfect amount of food to finish off with dessert. 

We choose the tiramisu… probably not the best part of the meal. There was a lack of flavour to it, not too strong espresso taste or lady finger sponge, and it seemed drenched with whipcream, covered in caramel sauce. Overall a good experience. The owner was kicking around and made a point to check on us during our dinner. I plan to go back at some point, looking around the restaurant I noticed the pizza's looked huge with a great Italian thin crust. The other pastas looked packed with flavour and like quite generous portions.

Me!

Since my return from my sabbatico, I feel like I've been in this perpetual state of running. Constantly jumping from one this to the next, with no lay-overs or nights to just sit and relax. I realize that I have forgotten the most important lesson of my trip and what's most valuable to me. What is it you might ask? Why it's me! 
I have simply forgotten to do the things that make me happy and enjoy the minimal free time I've had. I also debate attempting to have a balance between work, friends, and home life... one always seems to be suffering. What is the equation to allow for this balance? Anyone got that figured out??
Well,  it is true that this summer I have been to far more concerts, festivals, and had numerous fun times with friends...  I can also say that work is going quite well... I'm serving more than bartending, getting decent sections and working mostly nights..... 
My home life goes through phases... it seems that it can stay fairly organized for maximum of a month... and then it falls to pieces for a week or so. 
And my attempts at dating.... don't even get my started on the disaster that is my love life and how I will probably never get over him. So much time has gone by, one would think the memories might subside.
I wonder if I could say this thing with myself is like a relationship... you need to work on it before it grows into something bigger, better and more beautiful. 
Ok self... let's go on a date! Tomorrow I'm gonna take you out for coffee (yumm moch java chip frappicunio), and buy you something nice. This is after I allow you to leisurely sleep in and I make you breakfast in bed. Tehehe!

Simon's trip to Vancouver

Monday, April, 24th

I awoke the next morning to a beautiful day. It seemed a little chilly, but it was gorgeous out. By the time Simon arrived in Vancouver, and I had to go pick him up it was pouring. My feet were soaked by the time I walked down to the bus stop and back, and so I gave in. I finally bought some water-proof shoes. At this point with rain everyday, and another six days in Vancouver to go, I knew I didn't have much of a choice. I paid ten dollars for the whitest shoes ever. They are really ugly, and I will probably never wear them again after this trip. 

Simon and I wanted to do something, but it was pouring… He had plans to meet up with his friend Doug, but that fell through.

We ended up going to three different bars, having dinner and drinks. In one of these bars hung these black and white pictures of city scapes from Toronto. I thought it a bit strange to be in Vancouver, staring at pictures of Toronto. One is on Elm St. and Yonge St. I've been past the other one before, and I NEED to figure out where exactly it is before it drives me mad!!

THe first bar we went to had shitty food, but good cheap drinks. The last bar we went to had terrible drinks. I'm sure my wine had been sitting for Days! YUK! The middle bar was just right.

We stayed up late into the night drinking our booze in the hotel. At one point when Simon was in the bathroom, I climbed under my covers (still sitting up). He came out and plopped down on his bed, "You can't go to sleep, we are in the middle of a heart-to-heart here." I laughed so hard (no affence Simon!). Just the way he delivered the line, and the fact it was coming from Simon was hilarious. He usually says, I don't really want to talk about it, when the conversation sways to far in one direction.

We stayed up chatting for quite a while.

Tuesday, April, 25th

Simon woke me up, for what he said was the second time around 10:30. We grabbed breakfast sandwiches at a nearby coffee shop/ deli place. After that we decided to head down to Stanley Park. Simon wanted to see it, and I felt like even though I had walked a great majority of it, that there was still probably more to see.

We approached it through the West side (I came from the East the time before) of the park. We walked along the boardwalk passing many joggers, rollerbladers, and bicyclists. 

Simon kept talking about ice cream, and convinced me to get some. We stopped in a kid's park to sing some Our Lady Peace, and Nine Inch Nails, while swinging on the swings.

We continued on past a watermark that was closed for the season. I think we both wanted to climb the fence and chill in the empty pools. Then we made theories on how we would have an empty pool party.

We stopped for a bit of a break on the beach to enjoy the beautiful weather, and the stellar view.

We followed along the outer skirts of Stanley Park. The beach turned into rocks, and eventually into giant cliffs, that rose like Gods beside us. There was this Seagull just sitting by the shore, it wasn't until I took this picture did I realize what it had in it's mouth. I wondered if this was something it had found dead, or something it had caught himself. I'm almost positive it's a starfish.

Near the time when we were heading out of the park it had started to rain. We didn't mind too much in the beginning, until it started to pour. Eventually the pounding rain turned into hail, and we seeked out refuge under a bridge. While we were there we sang Under the Bridge by Red hot Chilli Peppers. It was a fond moment of mine :)

Then we grabbed a bus back to the downtown, and grabbed some coffee and crepes. 

We then high-tailed it over to the Art Gallery where I was supposed to meet Rudy for 4:30pm. Only by 5:10 I realized that maybe he wasn't going to show up. We headed back to the hotel and I called him, only to discover that he had been waiting at another entrance. We decided we would be in touch, and figure out another time to meet up.

Simon and I watched some baseball (daily ritual of ours), and some sitcoms then headed out to grab some dinner. I had been singing about Steak all day, and we both knew it was going to be a deliciously epic meal. We headed over to the Keg, sat at the bar and had some great food. I had some great wine, with perfectly cooked steak. I even got to have some port with my dessert. I was in heaven with the quality of the meal, in comparison to the crap I had eaten the night before. I remember a large portion of the dinner conversation circled around baseball. It's nice to have someone to talk to about it. We are definitely a hockey country.

We left feeling full and a bit buzzed. We both had the intention of heading out to other pubs, it just never happened. We ended up chilling in my hotel room, playing drinking songs for one another. The best that came up was Spirit of the West, although we did have a great sing along to Mary Mac, and fuck you I'm drunk!

We kept the shine on the bar, from the sleeves of our coats.

You'll have to excuse me, I'm not at my best

I've been gone for a month, I've been drunk since I left

These so called vacations will soon be my death

I'm so sick from the drink, take me home for a rest

Take me home

Fun in Vancouver

I took the mid-day ferry from Victoria to Vancouver. Once again it was raining and I couldn't see much from the ship. It was also pretty foggy, and I was staring at the fog collecting and gathering on the nearby islands and mountains. It seemed almost like the rain was creating the fog because the mountains were too hot. Seemed like stream or something.

Vancouver felt also like it whirled by. This time there wasn't as much booze and bar hopping, as much as so many things to do and never enough time.  I got there late in the evening and checked in. I went out a grabbed a quick sandwich, and pretty much turned in for the night. I was exhausted! 

This was the first time I didn't feel like a princess in my hotel room. All the hotels I stayed in up until this point were great. The best and biggest one was in Jasper. They gave me so many towels, extra bedding, and all organically made soaps and shampoos. The bedroom there was in the entrance, and it had a separate living room. It was my little luxury palace while I stayed in the mountains.

The hotel in Vancouver was much less expensive, and I could feel it. I had (for the first time since I was ten a single bed. Which was a step up from the couch I had been sleeping on at Simon's. There was just enough room to walk around the single bed, and that was about it. The television was about the size of my computer screen. At first, these things really bothered me. But I got used to them for the couple days I was there. Then Simon gave a get-out-of-jail-free card, and I was "forced" to upgrade my room. He decided to come and chill with me for a couple days in Vancouver. I got a double bed, and the room had a lot more space. At this point, I no longer cared as much as I did when I first arrived there.

My first day in Vancouver I did what I have grown to quite enjoy in a new town. I just wandered. I was staying right in the heart of the shopping downtown. I was surrounded by brand name chain stores, and they were all open late. I was disgustingly happy with this discovery. I also knew, I would probably end up buying a bunch of stuff I would have to figure out a way to get home.

I wandered around downtown checking out different shops. I loved the Chapters, and probably spent about two hours in there. I saw this really cool Sweeny Todd barber type chair in this trendy vintage store.

On my way back to my hotel I stopped by SteamRollers on the recommendation of a friend. He told me to get the Wet burrito, and after reading about the yogurt, and guacamole they put in it, I was sold. I expected this little burrito, and was going to grab dinner a couple hours later. Little, the burrito was NOT. It triple the size of a regular burrito and drenched with these and other delicious sauces on top. It was so mouth-watering I couldn't stop eating. Suffice it to say, I did not grab dinner that evening. I was FULL!

SUNDAY, APRIL 23rd, 2010

Once I had gotten back to Vancouver I sent an e-mail to William asking him if he wanted to hang out, and he did :)

We met up and I took him on a long walk to Gastown. I forgot how cute it looked with it's brick and cobblestone streets. We weren't impressed by the stream clock like all the other tourists were. It's one of Gastown's landmarks, and runs completely on steam. It was interesting the way the steam billowed out of the top. 

We stopped in a cafe and each had a hot chocolate. I love he way William says it, it's a mix between chocolate and the french chocolat. It's like "hot shaw-co-lit". 

We then decided to go to Stanley Park, but walk around the shore to get there. On the way we saw this giant cruise ship.William spoke hopefully about one day going on a cruise and seeing the whole world. He took a lot of pictures of the ship.

We looked across the harbour at how green and beautiful North Vancouver seemed to be. This walk was about two hours or so. We spoke of many things, and saw many interesting things. 

There was this cute water-airport full of planes taking off and landing. We stayed watching the planes for a while, both secretly wishing we could be on them, going to some exotic location. There was also a water-gas station?!! I was so impressed, but yet the questions still looms… how do they get the gas there? I'm sure it's boated over, but it was funny at the time to think of all the silly scenarios.  

The walk was pretty and we encountered many interesting things along the way, like this house on stilts. William took many pictures along the way constantly changing the settings on his camera to better suit the situation.

We also took a break to play leap-frog with some monks. I think Spongy won. 

Then slowly before we realized it… we were in the park. There was a tonne of wildlife and everything was so green and beautiful. We walked through the centre and around Bear lake. We headed over to Ferguson point for the sunset.After the sun had gone we headed back into the city, and back downtown. As we did so, we heard lots of car horns blaring, people singing and screaming. We realized the Canuck's had just won the series. Now they have a series with the Black Hawks for the cup. The streets were such an overwhelming cheer and excitement. William and I couldn't hear one another, and adopted the contagious smiles from the crowd. We grabbed some dinner, and said goodnight around eleven thirty and I walked the happy streets back to my hotel.

Victoria

Tuesday, April, 20th, 2010

The next couple days passed quickly. I ventured downtown a lot by myself. I was giving Simon some time to get some homework done. Also, I wanted to go do touristy things that I knew would probably annoy someone who had lived there for years. 

I found the downtown mall and got to know it quite well. There was this wicked rock store inside that all sorts of gothic and punk rock inspired goods. Everything I wanted there was sold out in my size :( But definitely the best store in the mall. I ended up adding a couple things to my already overflowing suitcase as well as buying a wicked purse, that's a bit like an early 90s style mini-backpack. Remember those!? It's awesome! I've used it everyday since.

One day I sat for an hour or so at the Parliament buildings. I didn't want to go inside, but I quite enjoyed the view from the lawn.

I also went to see the Museum of British Columbia. The first exhibit was my favourite. It was exhibit all about climate change. There were a tonne of interactive displays to play with. Most of them demonstrated the changes that will occur in Western Canada over the next forty years. That exhibit went hand in hand and blended well into their wildlife exhibit. This one was full of taxidermy. There was displays that were set up exactly like a scene on the beach or in the forest. These displays were full of plants and animals, and lots of posters explaining what thing was in each scene.  This ran into a mock submarine, and demonstrated all sorts of undersea life. The submarine was great for kids, there was a giant fish tank with over twenty different species of fish inside. There were lots of game-like interactive modules,  a steering wheel, submarine binoculars, and even the thing you pull on to make the ship go faster.

They had another more historic exhibit all about the natives and early settlers of BC. This showed a lot of ancient totem poles (actual totems), cave scrapings and drawing, old pottery, clothing, rituals. The was a life-size log cabin and life size igloo. They showed the different layers of the Igloo and how it was built.

The last exhibit started by showing Victoria through the last hundred years. It had different displays for every ten years. I wanted to curl up inside this one, it was so nalotalgic for me. Do you remember this stuff? Skateboards were one side curved up, floppy disks, reboots: Megabyte, Hexidecimal, and Enzo, The X-Files (there is the script from the pilot hidden in there), Super Nintendo and Mario bros., Cellular telephones, star wars trading cards, dock martins, pogo, teenage mutant ninja turtles, pikachu, platform shoes, the list goes on and on…..

After the display cases with the centuries, there was a life-size replica of Victoria in the early 1900s. They had re-created the cobble streets and filled all the shops so that when one looked in you could see everything that was in there as it would have been in the early 1900s. My favourite was the apothecary, full of tiny little bottles, and the doctors tools clearly displayed in the window. They had little alleys, bedrooms, a train station, a boat, a fishery, a mine, a sawmill, a hotel, a cinema (playing silent Charlie Chaplain movies).

Simon also took me to his nearby mall one day so we could grab some food and what-nots. Trying on funny hats, yes I was!

We ended up practically chilling all week, going to different pubs each night. I had a great time with Simon. We even had some early nights. One night we were tired and had planned to go out, but we quickly realized that we were not match for the absinthe swirling in our heads. Simon passed out, and I piled all the couch cousins on top of him. The I jumped on top! Just like my brother and I used to do when we were little. He didn't like that too much, but didn't really move either.

I wanted to stay and hang out more in Victoria with Simon and his friends, but I knew I had to be moving along. Simon had an exam to write, and I had some more cities to see.

I've been enjoying too much and not updating this blog!!

         April, 15th, 2010

         Victoria passed by in a blur. 

        The ferry and bus ride there was a couple hours that seemed to whirl by. I definitely noticed how green everything became and how quickly it did so. However, it was hard to see much from the ferry just because it was overcast and so rainy. (Oh Vancouver!)

         I remember sitting in the bus depot, waiting for Simon to come get me… I felt like falling asleep, and debated doing so, knowing he would wake me up when he got there. I didn't, but struggled to keep my eyes open.

        When we got to his place I took a nap to help me with some energy lost during the train party the night before.

         Then it began…. the endless string of bar hopping.

        We started at a happen' micro-brewery with a live band. I called them the funky shirts. They were a group of slightly older guys (50s - 60s) who all wore really crazy shirts. But man, they were playing a whole lot of classics and they had everyone singing along and dancing. Their musicianship wasn't top notch, but their energy was. 

        Simon and I had dinner there. SpongeBob didn't like the beer, but we kept him quiet, and us from getting kicked out. Some of Simon's friends showed up and eventually we ventured on to greener pastures. Only the cow's were dead, and the pasture was burnt to the ground. 

        We went to the James Joyce (which is nothing like the one in Toronto). It was a pool hall and restaurant/cafe. Simon and one of his friends went to play pool, while the rest of us sat around drinking and chatting. It was a quite, bright atmosphere. I wanted to go back to the dark lively bar. We chilled there until last call. Simon was in party mode,  but the rest of us were starting to crash. He unwillingly lead me to the Cab line.

        Now when I say Cab line, I think (toronto- terms) a line of Cabs waiting to transport people. In Victoria, a cab line is a line of people waiting for a Cab. Most of these people are drunk, belligerent kids who have to get home after the bar. We saw some stupid interesting characters, but I was ready to get to a bed (or in my case, a couch) and in no mood for Shenanigans. 

         These were so pretty rad ducks, they were just chilling on the sidewalk like it was usually... that is until Simon scared them away.

April, 16th, 2010

        The following day Simon showed me how to get downtown, and took me to the harbour. There were lots of sidewalk vendors and tonnes of buskers, each with a different approach, and different genre of music. 

It was pretty there, with all the flowers, and the boats resting in the harbour. The people seemed a lot more relaxed, and there were MANY tourists. It seemed a bit like Jasper, only in the sense that everything is geared towards the tourists.

        We ventured to a couple book stores, and ended up grabbing some lunch at a chain restaurant. Has anyone noticed that a lot of chain restaurants decorate their bathrooms, to make them extreme? Not only did this one look like some crazy Texan's living room, but the toilets were crazy!! They had plastic wrapped around the seat which would feed through a machine to give a sterile surface each and every time. To flush it, there was a metal button on the floor, a couple steps away from the toilet, which one would step on. Sorry to bored you with the details of this washroom… but it was new to me!

        Caesars were on special, and we felt it was our only duty to have some with our lunch/dinner. 

        While we sat on the patio there was this car full of dogs that was on the road right out front of the restaurant. The owners left the back window wide open, and if the big dog really wanted to, it could have easily jumped out. I kept calling to him in a friendly voice, trying to coax him out, while Simon kept telling him to stay. 

We tried to figure out his name. We kept calling out different names, "Paul? Jack? Ralph? Joe? George?Fred? Frank? Jerry? Gerald?" the list went on and on. Sammy seemed to suit him, and I decided on that name, although Simon wasn't satisfied with that.

        There was also a cute little dog in the front of the truck. It had some confidence issues though, because it felt the need to bark and growl at everything it saw, I guess it was to make up for her lack in size. She was quite yappy, and although I preferred her size, we both preferred the attitude of Sammy.

After a few too many drinks, and a great meal, we headed on our way. 

        This evening we had a party in the beach. We met a couple of Simon's friend, watched the sun go down, and made a fire. 

        There were these crazy people swimming. It was about maybe 7 degrees or so, and here these people are swimming away in the dark. When they were done, they came to borrow our fire's warmth. I asked them why they had decided to go. They then showed me the electrolytes. 

        Essentially at different times of the year these bacteria get some kind of charge with positive ions. It they encounter friction, they light up for a split second, kind of like a fire fly. We were moving our hands about the water for a about a good ten minutes just watching it light up.

        There was lots of chatting, and drinking, and joking. The worse joke of the evening was putting this dead loon's body into the fire. The poor thing's neck was broken and it's body was completely waterlogged. Made me sad to look at, but took a while to look away.

         The greatest thing we did was roll a giant stump down to the pit, only for the fire to nearly penetrate it. It took six of us at one point to get it to where we headed it. It was a GIANT stump!

        Once it got too late for the Victorian's we put out the fire. Simon and I decided we would walk back to his place from the beach. It was about a two hour walk, but we had booze, we weren't tired, weren't cold, and ready for the challenge.

         It was quite an epic walk! The terrain went through all sorts of changes, as we walked through the suburbs of Victoria. 

We also had a very long talk, more so than in the past, and although no psychological issues were solved, I think we both enjoyed just chatting about stuff that had been on our minds for weeks, months, and years. 

        Travelling for so long, it was sure nice to have a chat with an old friend who had known me for so long, and I didn't have to continually explain each detail of the story to.

        We stopped on UVic to have a cigar, and refill our drinks. At this point we realized we had been drinking for about twelve hours straight. This thought was hilarious to both of us.

So we took some "we should look like this after twelve hours straight".

      We continued on, and reached a Tim Horton's about thirty minutes later.

We both grabbed hot chocolates, spiked them, and continued walking. We got back to Simon's around 4:30, 5ish, and sat on his front steps. We smoked a cigar each and reflected on our epic walk from the beach and we rested our now sore feet.

Next Stop Victoria

Leaving Jasper, I felt this sadness. Not only to be leaving the new friend I had made, but leaving my beautiful luxury hotel room , and the beauty of the landscape. I was sad knowing I would be forced upon a train for about 14 hours, and not have the freedom to climb up the side of a mountain anytime I chose to.

I took one of the few seats left available, settled myself and began to write.

I wrote a little… but wasn't quite in the mood. I put my laptop away, and headed up to the dome car to say goodbye to the mountains as we drove out of them.

As we were passing through such beauty, and it was such a clear day out, the dome car was packed. I grabbed the only empty two-seater and like everyone else, pressed my nose against the window. 

We passed through the mass mountains encompassing us on either side like giant fortresses. 

Lots of people say that Mount. Robson is a sight to be seen. I wasn't quite sure I would understand that. how could it be any different from the mass structures I was already staring in awe at. When I saw it, I knew! It was larger than all the others, and we practically drove right beneath it. The dome car has glass ceilings, and as I peered directly up, I felt as though I was at the base of the CN tower. The mountain is so high, that it usually creates it's own weather, and is only visible between 9 - 14 days a year. I was lucky, it was one of those remarkable days.

I stayed in the dome car for a couple hours as we slowly headed out of the mountains. There was a polite Spanish exchange student in the dome car running from side to side, with his fancy camera taking pictures of the beauty. When the car was full he asked if he could sit next to me and we started chatting. We chatted for about an hour or so, while some very misbehaved children ran around the car screaming and playing. 

His name is William, and he grew up in Spain. He decided to fly to Toronto and take the train to Vancouver, where he would be going to school to study English. He eventually went to have dinner, and I stayed in the dome car for a while.

I had dinner a little later in the dinning car. I sat across from these very friendly looking people, and as I talked to them more and more, I felt like they were the parents I never had. They owned a huge house and property where their children came to visit them a lot. They were brother and sister and lived together to take care of each other. They seemed quite informative, and told me lots to do to keep busy in Victoria (which happened to be where they were headed). We chatted a lot about Ontario, and Victoria. I told them I keep my eyes out for them on the ferry, and I did.

After dinner I got back to writing. I was at in for about an hour or so when William appeared. He just happened to be occupying the seat in front of mine. He sat with me and showed me his pictures of his trip so far. He had over two-thousand pictures. We chatted a bit and headed back to the dome car. We ended up hanging out there for a couple hours and what William referred to it as, painting.

Essentially, he was setting his camera's shutter speed to be extremely slow. So the camera would be more light sensitive. We started playing with lights and what-not… here's the best of what we came up with.

After painting I met some of the other people William had been hanging out with on the train. There was a wicked lady, a trucker, with an awesome personality. She was snappy, and witty, liked to drink, smoke and have a good time. She was in her late 30s, and travelling across Canada to pick up a truck and drive it back. 

There was Hugh, a 19-year-old Montreal born frenchman. He had a "Gangster" (his words , not mine) attitude, attire, and demeanour. His english wasn't very good, and he didn't try as hard as William to understand. He had decided to walk across Canada. He was starting in Vancouver, and walking back to Montreal. Seemed like a crazy trip, but even for his age, I could tell he was mentally prepared for it.

There were Jeff and Will, brothers travelling with their mom for a vacation and to visit some family. They were mildly attractive, and maybe a year older than me.

We all stepped off the train in Kamloops so they could have a couple smokes. 

Once the train started up again we all headed to the luxury class's dome car.  We all drank a lot, chatted and laughed as the train twisted and turned through countless tunnels. Hugh's was playing some old classic dance hits, and at one point Jeff, Will and myself were dancing to daft punk's around the world in the aisle of the dome car. It's not as easy as you think it might be as the train speeds along.

The brother's popped some mushrooms, and we kept joking about riding on a snake. Which I understood by looking out towards the front of the train, and seeing the whole thing wrapping around the mountains, and disappearing again into another tunnel.

I got back to my seat around 4. WIlliam was sleeping, and even though I said I would wake him, I didn't.

I slept for a couple hours, and heard the last call for breakfast. If it was last call, then we were pretty close to Vancouver.

Hugh, William and I sat in the dome car together chatting. There was a nervous feeling of uncertainty and excitement in the air. We joked and laughed, as we made our way to pick up our baggage. He saw Jeff and Will and say bye. I waved goodbye to the nice brother and sister I had dinner with the night before.

I said goodbye to Hugh and wished him the best of luck. It seemed pretty crazy what he was doing. However 19 was the prime male age to do so, and I know he will arrive home a different man, from the boy who started out. Or maybe he'll be like Nate, find somewhere he loves, and decide not to leave.

William and I were left. We picked up our luggage and I said goodbye. He gave me his e-mail, and I told him when I came back into Vancouver, I would let him know and we could go take pictures somewhere in the city.

I turned away and headed to my bus. Next stop Victoria.