Exploring Montreal, Museums and Galleries

MONTREAL occupies a 50-kilometer (30-mile) long island at the confluence of the St. Lawrence and the Ottawa River. The city core, where many sights are found, is fairly compact and lies to the south and east of Montreal’s main landmark, Mont-Royal. Vieux Montréal, the old city, is nestled on the shore of the St. Lawrence, while the modern downtown lies between it and Mont-Royal. Streets follow a fairly consistent grid pattern making the city easy to navigate.

Museums and Galleries

Musée Marc-Aurèle Fortin

THIS MUSEUM, housed in an old stone warehouse belonging to an ancient order of nuns, has an extensive collection of Fortin’s work, and it also mounts exhibitions of new painting by local artists.

Marc-Aurèle Fortin transformed landscape painting in Canada. He was born in 1888, when European styles dominated North American art.

Fortin loved the light of his native province, and used many unusual techniques. To capture the ‘‘warm light of Quebec,’’ for example, he painted some of his pictures over gray backgrounds. By the time he died in 1970, he left behind not only a staggering amount of work but a whole new way of looking at nature, especially the various rural areas of his native Quebec. Read more

Via Rail Tours – Toronto to Vancouver

If you are looking for a unique and incredible family vacation in Canada, you might consider a train trip with Via Rail. The Canadian, an original flagship passenger train owned by Canadian Pacific Rail, began service on April 24, 1955. The original train route was a bit more southernly than what is used today, but the scenery and wildlife is just as spectacular.

The tour begins with an overnight stay in Toronto, Ontario. Spend your day taking in the sights and sounds of the biggest city in Canada. The next morning, your passenger train tour begins on its journey through Ontario, Manitoba, Saskatchewan, Alberta and British Columbia in 6 days. On your journey from Toronto to Vancouver, you’ll pass through Winnipeg, Saskatoon and then to Edmonton and Jasper, Alberta. Read more

Jasper National Park – Seasonal Sensations

Jasper Forest Park was established in 1907 on the Hudson’s Bay Company trade route from New Caledonia (Fort St. James) to Vancouver. 13,000 kilometers were set aside for the park at that time. It wasn’t until 1930 that Jasper National Park was established as a national park in Alberta. But since then it has included many wondrous sites for visitors to see; including the Icefield Parkway, Pyramid Mountain, The Jasper Tramway, Maligne Lake and canyon, the famous Spirit Island, Marmot Basin Ski Resort and many glacial fed emerald green lakes in the Athabasca River valley. Read more

Visit Victoria British Columbia: Canada’s Most Beautiful City

Victoria British Columbia is the garden city of Canada; its refreshing ocean climate is the reason why flowers grow here all year long.  The natural beauty it possesses lures several million tourists from all over to Victoria BC.

Although Victoria BC has so many wonderful features to share with the world, many people are simply unaware of where it is because of its location on the south tip of Vancouver Island, and just over an hour from Vancouver by ferry.  And, the people who do come to see Vancouver sometimes won’t go to Victoria BC because of how far they have to travel; however, they are really missing out on a lovely city that is safe enough to explore by walking.  And getting there is not as bad as it seems.  The three typical ways: if you are coming in by plane then fly to the International Airport, if you coming from Vancouver or Tsawwassen then take the BC Ferry, or if you are coming up from Washington State then take the Coho Ferry at Port Angeles.  Both the BC Ferry and the Coho Ferry take approximately and hour to cross over the Strait of Georgia. Read more

Best Travel Deals and Social Media

Social media for travel fanatics! I came across a community site for travel enthusiasts – yep yet another social media site. You join up and share best travel deals with other users and, like Digg, they vote the deal up or down.

It’s an interesting concept actually. If you are a frequent traveller, or just come across a fabulous travel package you want to share, you post about it on the site like you would any social media site. Other site users decide if the deal is hot or not. The site claims it is ok to shamelessly plug your own travel deal site on it by offering your own travel deals – as long as you stay on topic and don’t spam the site. The posts appear to be monitored regularly, I couldn’t find any spammy looking posts so far.

I also couldn’t find many Canadian travel deals listed – the site seems to be too new for many to have been posted yet.  Searching by category, I found no listings. But by using the search feature on the site, I typed “Canada” and found some relevant listings.  I’d like to see an RSS feed per country or travel type in the future! Easier to keep track of potential offers I’d be interested in.

This offer by Air Canada caught my eye – Worldwide Fare Sale Starting at $95 one way from Air Canada. It expires tomorrow, May 21, 2009. But you can book for any time until December 2009. Hurry on over to the Air Canada site for that!

All in all, I think the site is very useful for finding the best travel deals. Don’t let the current economy get you down, you really can find a fabulous deal for this year’s family vacation!

Postcards: Send Vacation Photos

One of the major things anyone does during vacation is take photos – a lot of them! With digital camera technology comes ease of use and a pretty much idiot proof way to save your family vacation memories. Just upload to your computer and they are saved forever.

There are tons of neat ways to share your vacation photos online as well. There are many free upload site services (like Flickr.com and Yahoo.ca) that let you share your photos. But some of us are still “old school” and like to have physical copies of our photos. Then there are grandparents and other family members who love seeing photos of the kids.

So in addition to saving your family vacation photos on your computer or an online service, why not convert some to postcards? All you do is provide the image and the postcard printing company prints it, adds your text and will even mail the postcard for you! How neat is that?! You can even do it while still on vacation. Send the grandparents personalized postcards – the printing is done for you.

Rental Homes – Immerse Yourself Travel

If you are considering a family vacation and want to do everything but still keep things as low cost as possible, consider a rental home. Rental homes are usually found in typical residential areas of popular tourist cities across the globe. Instead of booking a typical and boring hotel room or timeshare condo, consider a rental home.

Rental homes are very unique and some are even themed, like a Sante Fe rental home. These homes are beautifully landscaped and decorated.  You would definitely be spoiling your family by choosing a vacation home instead of a usual hotel room. Cook at home, dine in the fabulous open air of your own back yard while you are on vacation.  Even better, immerse yourself in the local traditions and community by being right in the middle of it all!

Meet Toronto Singles for Dinner

Dinnerworks is an interesting and unique way to meet people in Toronto. Over a glass of wine at dinner, you can create new friendships or form business networks in a comfortable, relaxed and pressure-free environment.

If you are a busy professional, you probably spend more time working than playing. Why worry about where to go to meet other people like you? Consider how easy it would be to make new friends by simply meeting up at a new restaurant through Dinnerworks! Get the where, and the when, dress in smart casual attire, and show up to meet other busy professionals just like you looking for fun and relaxation after work hours.

Dinnerworks features many Toronto Restaurants from casual to finer dining. When seeking a relaxed, low-stress way to meet other singles in Toronto, consider Dinnerworks!

Peace of Mind When Moving Means Visitor Medical Insurance

Traveling without visitor medical insurance is a risky business when moving to the USA. If you or a family member falls ill due to new local germs and viruses that everyone else already has immunity to, it could become very expensive to be treated. Give yourself peace of mind by making sure you are covered with USA visitor insurance.

When your moving details are completed and you know when you are traveling, that’s the time to start your visitor medical insurance. Make sure you are covered if unforeseeable “what if” health situations do occur. Your health, and that of your family, is worth it.

Private Apartments in Prague

Though Canada has some fabulous vacation destinations, even Canadians feel the need to travel abroad. When looking for accommodation for your vacation in Europe, it is usual to book a hotel room or a bed and breakfast for those on a backpacking journey. But what if you are planning to stay for several weeks or longer and want a more personalized home base to roam from. Renting an apartment right in the city center is an option. You can be fully immersed in the local culture and atmosphere by staying right next door to the locals.

In Prague, Czech Republic, you can find many apartment options. Choose one or two bedroom apartments in downtown Prague only moments from Old Town, or Penthouse suites with riverfront views for your vacation home away from home. Prague apartments have a maid service and all the usual amenities such as tv, satellite, internet, kitchen, bathroom, and a washing machine and dryer.

Renting an apartment during your Prague vacation isn’t as expensive as one may think. Costs vary depending on how many beds you need (one bedroom, two, etc), but if you can afford a usual hotel room fee, you can afford to rent a Prague apartment.

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