All posts by Emilie_Dan

Canada

Toronto: serial builder vs serial greener

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Nous avons compté près de 15 chantiers d’immeuble ou gratte-ciel pendant nos balades à Toronto. Ils construisent partout où c’est possible, même entre deux autoroutes au coeur de la ville.

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Le quartier des finances est simplement moche, la Yonge Street (la plus longue de la ville) est remplie de magasins de toute sorte (vêtements, café mais aussi marijuana et “pour adultes”), mais dès qu’on s’approche du quartier chinois, l’ambiance change complètement. C’est noir de monde (ou jaune) et l’ambiance agitée mais chaleureuse, puis nous nous perdons dans les petites rues où les maisons sont mignonnes, bordées de jardins potagers.

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Le lendemain, nous avons retrouvé Charlotte (notre hôte à New Glasgow ET à Montréal) pour une balade à vélo sur l’île de Toronto. A 15 min en ferry, c’est un tout autre monde.

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Il doit y avoir une petite dizaine de ruelles bordées de maisons et de jardins à la pointe nord de l’île. Les maisons ne sont transmissibles qu’aux membres de la famille proche. Mais quand cela n’est pas ou plus possible, la maison est évaluée par un organisme indépendant et mise en vente aux premiers sur la liste d’attente: il y a près de 500 personnes sur cette liste, et seulement 2 à 3 maisons sont disponibles par an. On hésite à s’inscrire sur la liste!

Un article à lire:

http://torontoist.com/2009/08/how_to_buy_a_house_on_the_toronto_islands/IMG_2779

C’est tout calme, tout vert, à 5 minutes de la plage à pied.

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Nous sommes trempés, par la baignade et par la pluie torentielle qui nous surprend au moment même où nous mettons un pied dans le lac. C’est l’occasion de passer chez les parents du copain de Charlotte pour un thé et une longue discussion sur les big data, avant d’enfourcher nos vélos pour rentrer à Oakville, 40km. Cela a pris un peu plus de temps que prévu car Dan avait une byciferrari et moi un vélododoche…

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Canada

Tout va bien à Toronto

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Faire de la voile sur l’immense lac Ontario sans retapisser le fond du voilier

Faire des kilomètres dans une Porsche jaune, les cheveux dans tous les sens

Réaliser ce que sont les chutes du Niagara en appréciant les goutelettes projetées sur mon visage

Observer des larvounettes d’un ruisseau à Oakville, banlieue upper middle où le gazon n’est jamais plus haut que la dernière coupe de cheveux de Dan (voir post prochain…)

Jouer au football dans le jardin et arrêter des goals avec mon tibia sans émettre un seul son

Se baigner dans un lac formé dans une ancienne carrière de pierre pleine de bactéries (selon certains)

Sentir une pluie diluvienne s’abattre sur ma tête alors que les vagues du lac s’abattent sur mon dos

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Canada, USA

Niagara Falls

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IMG_2596Niagara Falls is one of the most touristic attractions in Canada. Tourist means someone who buys a 200$ tour to see the falls, or who has a car. If not, you are NOTHING, can you hear, NOTHING !
The public bus has the terminal station at Niagara Falls. But it stops on the highway, and the recorded voice says that’s this is the closest stop to go to the main points of interest. We mimic one another, the bus empties and a line of people starts walking in the grass, next to highway. We are like illegal immigrants, our stalker just left us and we are in the middle of nowhere. I wonder how is it during the winter.
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Luis, a Columbian joins us. After walking half of km, we get to a cross to a street. There is no sign to tell where to go, but thanks to his GPS, we know that we should take that street. Another 1 km, in a desolated street, abandoned small shops, restaurants.
Finally we get to the light, the Cartoon kitsch of chain commerce: horror house, kitsch tour, big mac, big krak. They succeeded to kill all the small independent one, and now they are shinning.
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We pass this petty world  and I forget anything when I see the big volume of falling water.
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We walk on an overcrowded tight side walk, because there are 4 car lanes, for the drive-in admirers of nature. Maybe one day, they’ll build a bridge which allows cars to get washed from the waterfalls.
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There are a lot of signs for Casinos. This is a Russian way of living: either you get rich during one night in a Casino, or you get a basket and let you flow on the descending lake.
We pass to the American side. Even the point view is not so good as the Canadian side, it’s more impressive because they preserved a park. And there are less people. Maybe because Buffalo is much smaller than Toronto, or because it’s too long walk. I was surprised to see so many overweight people.
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When we came back to the Canadian border, there was a long waiting line: we had to pass an interview. I wonder, what was thinking this customs officer of someone who comes with a pair of sandals and a camera, who already was in Canada:
‘ I must live in a country which has a big waterfall’
‘I crossed the ocean to jump from the bridge over Niagara, but I couldn’t, now I want to reborn here, in Canada’
‘I love poutine‘ (the most ‘quebecois’ dish)
Cutting the story, waiting more than 30 minutes, we were almost about to miss our bus for Toronto, after 50 minutes walking the to bus terminal. What an excitement to be in the bus, and to pass so close the center, but no stop. And to try to see the bus stop where we had got out.
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Hitchhiking

from Montreal to Toronto passing by Lebanon

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We took a train to be far from the city, and right on the highway to Toronto. Then we walked about 3 km to be on a good spot.

It starts to become difficult. It is the second time when we wait more than 2 hours. I made all the tricks: to dance,to show the 5$ bill, to go through the cars and to show people Emilie and the luggage. Now I write on the laptop waiting for a lift, so the people can see that we are not dangerous …. I am clueless. There are parts of the globe which are more individualistic than others. I should not fight against, just to detect and act accordingly.

So in Quebec, is a very bad hitch. I have to go to look for a bugs.

We give up and want to go back to the train station, and catch a bus from Montreal. But, we start again in front of a gas station: we said to each other, let’s try again… More 2 hours: that’s really bad, nobody stops, nobody looks at us. Emilie want to lay down a bit before we are going to the station, frustrated.

BUT, just at this moment, a guy came: our saviour!

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Radwan is from Lebanon, he is a yoga teacher, acupuncturist, shiatsu therapist. We made more than 500 kms together. He made a detour to show us the “Thousand islands”. 

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He told us that he cannot practice anymore his profession, because everything became very regulated in Canada, and even the assurance companies don’t discount anymore for this type of services. It’s only the mainstream health system which is supported, with its lobby of big pharma. It is somehow like with the farm, because there are so many rules, small producers cannot afford them, so only big, industrial farms can resist. So less concurrence, bigger prices, less quality and innovation.

History of Lebanon in 3 sentences: Israel after winning the war in 1973, pushes Palestinian resistance in Lebanon. They are settled in temporary camps. Without any international support, they remain in Lebanon for a while, then they start to fight against the pacific Lebanese government. This is the start of the civil war in Lebanon. After several years, Israel invades Lebanon to ‘bring peace’ and to search after Hamas resistance, sent from Iran. So Lebanon, from the ‘Switzerland of Middle East’, with the most developed democracy in the area, became scene of war with actors from all its neighbours.