Happy Canada Day!

Today is Canada Day!! Oh my! I don't think I have seen so many crowds in a long time. Last night, the teacher classes and tour offically ended. We had a great closing dinner at a nice restaurant and some goodbye speeches in our suite here. It was quite touching. I got a prize for traveling the furthest to get here. It's a nice ribbon. Pretty cool. I actually almost started crying at the thought of having to say goodbye to Ray and some of the other teachers here. A third of the teachers left this morning in a van for Maine. The rest of us decided to stay for Canada Day today in Ottowa and Quebec's birthday party on Thursday.

We left at 8:00am this morning to see the parade. There were tons of cool floats of Samuel de Champlain, Native American peoples, bagpipes and lots of other bands. I crossed the street to get close and watch the changing of the guard. This took a half hour and was followed by a horse show. By this time, it was super hot and I was tired, so I decided to leave. Right as I was walking to cross the street, however, I realized that the entire section of Parliment Hill had been blocked off. I was blockaded inside with the other thousands of people. When I asked the police why they blocked it off, he said that horses would be coming through and it was a safety measure. I didn't see any horses. I had become distanced from the group, so I sat down on the grass to get a bit tan. The time ticked by....and ticked...I couldn't believe it. It was so hot and I was thirsty. What seemed like an eterntiy later, but was really 2 hours later the horses trotted by, they finally took down the baricade that surrounded the place. I was so happy to get out that I went straight to the mall, got myself a McFlurry from McDonalds and went back to my hotel room to get out of the mob.

Yesterday I saw the National Gallery of Canada--an amazing museum with all types of European and Canadian Art. Today, Jessica, the young teacher who is so cute from Charlotte, North Carolina, and I are going to Rideau Hall, the place where the governor lives. There are free tours every hour of the place. Actually, on Canada Day, all the busses run free of charge and noone pays to enter the museums. That's great! I don't think we have anything like that in the states.

It has really been a fun adventure. I don't know if I will be able to write again because we leave for Quebec City tomorrow and that hotel does not have internet. These Suites we are staying in here are the nicest place I have ever stayed. We are right downtown and we all have our own kitchen and private bedrooms. There is an indoor pool on the 5th floor with a huge window that you can look out and see the city while you swim. Isn't traveling the life? I love for vacations!