Ottawa, Montreal and Toronto

If you are a regular reader of this blog, a follower on Twitter or a friend on Facebook (of course, all of which I truly appreciate), you may have noticed a seeming lack of my online presence these past two weeks.

In case you were wondering what I was up to, I was away on a two-week holiday with my girlfriend Monika and instead of jet-setting to somewhere in Europe where the additional costs of booking last minute flights and hotels would come into play in an expensive way, we decided instead to stay ‘local’ and visit Ottawa and Montreal for a couple of days, before spending the rest of our time in Toronto and Waterloo. We became tourists in our own backyard and took the time to visit old friends that we hadn’t seen in a while, not to mention some much needed relaxation time away from work and projects.

Just before we left for on our trip, Monika handed me the following newspaper cartoon comic that she had cut out and saved for me.

Excellent commentary, perhaps on how social media tools are simply just that, tools to communicate, share information and connect with people on an ongoing basis. However, I find that the value of really getting to know people can still be found in conversation over a meal or drinks in a social setting.

That being said, I made a conscious effort to not use email, Twitter or Facebook while we were away on holiday, except to get in touch with friends, inviting them out for dinner or drinks while we were in town. I figured that any important news story, online article, blog post or event that would be of interest to me or to the work that I do, would find its way to me through my network once I got back from vacation mode. That being said, I still scanned my Google Reader and various online newspaper headlines every night before bed so as not to completely cut myself off from the outside world (note: the operative word here is scanned), and we used websites like Yelp and TripAdvisor to get the low down on recommendations of things to do while in Ottawa and Montreal, as well as reviews of any restaurants or bars we were considering going to.

The time off was certainly refreshing and has provided me with renewed energy and focus to the projects that I am currently working on.

On a personal level, a major reason for choosing Ottawa and Montreal as a holiday destination has a lot to do with my becoming a Canadian citizen this past January. Since then, I have been reflecting on what it really means to be Canadian, and in order to answer my own question and provide some perspective, I have been feeling the need to ‘discover’ Canada and learn more about its diverse cultures and history any opportunity I get. Having already been out west to British Columbia and Alberta in early July to visit family, Monika and I figured that Ottawa and Montreal were great cities to visit, especially since both cities are steeped in Canadian history. You simply cannot talk about the history of Canada and the founding of this country without mentioning the intertwining histories of both Ottawa and Montreal. Hence the guided tour of Parliament Hill and a visit to the Museum of Civilization whilst in Ottawa, as well as a tour of the Museum of Archaeology and History in Montreal and the numerous churches found throughout the city, including the Basilique Notre-Dame de Montréal and L’Oratoire Saint-Joseph du Mont-Royal.

And of course, we threw in the Toronto Zoo for good measure towards the end of the trip, taking Maximus the lion with us!

Posted via email from Renjie Butalid

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