On the high sea

Ottawa

It's only been 2 weeks since I was in the 'wilderness', but it feels like an eternity. Last time I wrote, I was about to take the bus to Ottawa, which I did, and then I was in the capital of Canada. Just like that. In short, Ottawa was like this: bus ride - hostel - Germans - old buildings - hostel - hiking - tick - Germans - hostel - museum - Agathe - Germans - hostel - couchsurfer - Chinatown - couchsurfer - Germans - museum - museum - museum - parliament - couchsurfer - museum - museum - couchsurfing meet-up - couchsurfer - bus ride.

So, I treated myself and spent 3 nights in a backpacker hostel, just as I imagined it would be.

There were Germans everywhere, and even at the hostel, 3 out of the 6 staff members were German, and one of them was baking bread all the time. The reception even mentioned that they can speak German upon request?! Yes, please! So I became friends with Agathe, a French woman, after talking too loudly in the hostel room and annoying her because she wanted to sleep. Agathe is great, when she speaks French, she sounds very determined but friendly, and when she speaks English with me, her vocabulary consists mainly of vulgar curses.

Agathe doesn't say much unless you bother her explicitly, and I probably bothered her a lot. She owns a 35-year-old sailboat and has sailed it from Singapore to Japan and then through the North Pacific towards Alaska(!), and from there to Vancouver. She arrived in Vancouver last summer, left her boat there for the winter, worked as a fisherman in France, and came back this summer to sail from Toronto to Newfoundland with her boat. She had the boat transported from Vancouver to Toronto on a truck. And she just casually tells me all of this, and I sit there with my mouth wide open, and she modestly says that the Panama Canal was too expensive for her, so she decided to stay in Canada. Oh, and next summer she'll cross the Atlantic. Right now, she's waiting in Ottawa, exploring the city a bit, and next Monday (11.06) she'll go to Toronto to pick up her boat. She also has a PhD in geophysics and specializes in volcanology. You probably can't tell from reading this, but I'm a little bit in love with Agathe ❤️.

We walked around Ottawa a bit and visited the amazing locks that have been operated manually since 1832. We also talked to some people who worked there and asked them questions.

What do you do in the winter? How old is the wood? How long does it take with all these locks? If you're interested, you can ask me :D The next day, I had enough of the city and went hiking a bit outside, and I made the mistake of wearing a t-shirt. In the evening, I had a new mole on my back, which the German girl in my dorm confirmed was a tick, and she removed it with tweezers. Yeah. Then everyone else in the 10-bed dorm asked me if I had checked everything and they checked themselves, just to be safe in case I infected them. Oh man, it's just like with lice. As soon as someone mentions lice, everyone starts scratching.

I also went to the National History Museum in Quebec City with Agathe (yes, the Ottawa River flows through Ottawa (haha), and on the other side is the province of Quebec, and everything is very French), and it's so huge. We had 3 hours until closing time, and I only managed to see one floor.

Me and Agathe :)

The lower floor is mainly dedicated to the history of the 'First Nations' and is a large exhibition of crafts, everyday objects, and a huge room where First Nation people tell their history. I could have spent the whole day in that museum. Well, the week was almost over. I also went to this great bakery that had good bread according to my standards, and Obama has been there. You wouldn't have noticed it:

On Monday (11.06), I moved to a Couchsurfer in Chinatown who knew a lot about Ontario and Canada in general. I probably forgot most of it, but I definitely listened attentively. We went to the 'Ottawa Art Court' and looked at the city from a bank building, as a specific part of the downtown buildings must be made accessible to the public, and you can hang out on a roof over Ottawa.

Eric and the Bavarian

If you paid attention to my summary, you already know what comes next: more museums :) I spent the entire Tuesday at the National Art Gallery and was so fascinated that one of the security guards approached me and told me to make sure to visit the chapel. It was really beautiful, and the music installation was also great. But I wasn't alone in the museum. Physically, yes, but since photography was allowed, I took photos and sent them to Terry, and then we discussed. Here are a few excerpts:

Ahhh, I want to clean up here!

And then this:

Tuesday was also the only day it apparently rained in Ottawa. 'Apparently' because I didn't notice it in the museum. After that, I went to the parliament. It's free, you just have to be at the visitor center early enough to get a tour ticket.

So my tour was at 7 pm. The art gallery wasn't far away, and since I was kicked out at 6 pm, I went to the parliament to see the 'House of Commons' before the tour. After I left my bag with a very serious man in the cloakroom, I only had to go through 3 security checks, and then I could just watch a parliamentary debate. When I was there, they were discussing a proposal for a 'Latin American heritage month'. The arguments in favor were good, there is a large Latin American community in Canada, and there is no reason not to have it. Except maybe the way the 70-year-old speaker for the heritage month argued. After mentioning all the great Latin parties he often attends himself, he quoted Shakira and said something like 'Hips don't lie, which is why we don't lie, and we support a month of Latin American festivals' or something similar. Well, it was a bit strange. He even danced a bit too :D There was laughter from the other parliamentarians, and then I had to leave to not miss my tour. The library was my favorite part, it didn't burn down in the 1916 fire because it's a separate wing of the building, and a wise librarian closed the iron door in time.

On Thursday, I started to get a little restless because I didn't know where I would go on Friday. I had plans to meet someone in Montreal on the 23rd, but it was only the 15th. So I thought about it and asked on Couchsurfing if anyone would like to join me on a trip to Algonquin Park for a few days of hiking. That almost worked out, until I received THE email I had secretly been waiting for: Agathe needed a third person for the locks in Montreal and asked if I could join her for a week of sailing. Oh yes, I have plenty of time. If there's one thing I have, it's time. So I immediately said yes and tried to find some transportation to Cobourg. Cobourg is actually closer to Toronto than to Montreal, but I didn't care. That way, I could sail a longer distance. So on Friday, I said goodbye to the Couchsurfer and the Bavarian, whose Couchsurfing profile says he likes beer, cars, and hiking, and I took a ride with a carpool to Cobourg. All the other 6 passengers wanted to go to Toronto, so it was good that I reminded the driver that he had to drop me off in Cobourg.

So there I was, at 8 pm in a parking lot next to the highway, with my backpack, and there was no bus. Hmm. Google maps said it would take an hour to walk to my Airbnb. Okay. So I took the first optimistic steps, and then a pickup truck stopped next to me, and two people my age asked if I could use a lift. Yes, I could, and I immediately threw my backpack on the back shelf and got in. While I was being driven directly to the door of my Airbnb, unfortunately, the zipper of my small backpack broke. So while I was telling the two astonished Canadians that I'm here to go sailing, I mentally said goodbye to my backpack and thought about where I could get a new one quickly. Donna, my Airbnb host, wanted to know a lot about my trip, and I told her about my woofing time and Ottawa, and then I told her about my backpack. Donna immediately said, 'I raised two boys and constantly had to fix backpacks, show me yours'. So I sat on her couch, and we fixed my backpack together, and I told her about woofing. She thought it was great, and she immediately looked at interesting woofing places on her computer, and she said maybe she would do it too sometime :)

Donna also drove me to the harbor and waited with me on the boat for Agathe to arrive. When Agathe arrived, she said we needed to go shopping, and Donna immediately said, 'I'll drive you, the supermarket is a bit further out'. So we went shopping with my Airbnb host!

And now I live on a boat. Everything is rocking, and even when we're on land, it keeps rocking. But we're not there yet, because we spent Saturday in Cobourg. The Highland Games were taking place there, and everywhere there were kilts and bagpipe music. If you want, I can send you videos again ;)

While Agathe and I were waiting for our third crew member, we watched log throwing and bagpipe parades. The next day, we set off towards Kingston, always along the coast with the motor, because we had no wind. Our third crew member is Moana from French Polynesia, who also speaks French. What a coincidence. I had to learn all the important sailing terms and knots, which I can now name in a mix of French and English.

We were actually able to sail for only 2 days out of the week of sailing, partly because we rarely had favorable winds on the St. Lawrence River, and partly because we passed so many swing bridges and locks. We were only allowed to pass them using the motor. Here are some highlights:

This bridge is like an elevator and goes down again after we pass through

When we were driving with the motor, there usually wasn't much to do. Agathe even used the autopilot :D So we took naps, read, made friendship bracelets, and I taught her French.

I also named us hygiene pirates, because we often arrived at the small ports late at night when the office for registration was already closed, and then we were happy to find a stolen shower. We also often started before 6 am, so no one caught us.

Sunrise, escaping before we get caught

At the two larger locks, Agathe made friends with two older Canadians who provided us with information about the locks we didn't know about, for example, that we could have waiting times of up to 4 hours if there are many cargo ships on the way, which have priority. They also always gave us food, for example, Portuguese fish casserole. It was great, and we didn't have to cook :)
Here are a few things I learned on the boat:
1. It's very difficult to use the toilet when the boat is tilted
2. The boat is always messy
3. If I'm scolded in French, it's usually something urgent, but I never understand what it is
4. If the current is strong, you can't brake and sometimes you can't even choose the direction anymore
5. Once people find out that your boat is 35 years old and you have sailed it halfway around the world, everyone asks you 'What? With the boat?' Everyone...
So, two days ago (today is Saturday), we arrived in Montreal. The harbor here seems to be designed only for expensive yachts because yesterday I had my laundry drying on the boat all day, and Agathe was happy that her boat looked like a gypsy boat. Well, the people from the marina didn't like that very much. They came to us in the evening and said it wasn't allowed to have underwear hanging there because children would come tomorrow?! Do they not wear underwear?

fancy marina and the gypsy boat

Yes, those were the last two weeks :)
As always, I look forward to messages and calls.

See you soon
Lea

*Bonsu material*

Hansel and Gretel with more siblings?