CANADA

St. Peters Church, Montreal -----this ois a beautiful place, but with lot of stairs, so I didnt go all the way:)



Montreal Downtown--St. Catherine St...lovely place to roam around, and good chances of finding a good deal also:)



Eaton Square, Toronto.......Since that day MJ died, so one of his fan was drawingthis obituary on the entrance..picture and few lines.



Ottawa Downtown ....on Canada day..it was so lively there..everybody enjoying and having fun celebrating it.



The vibrant n lively Clifton Hill/Street @ Niagara Falls.........this street looks like a theme park, what with all those fancy rides, restaurant and shops.



Clifton Hill/Street contd....



The beautiful and magnificent Niagara Falls -----you can see the row of tourists on american side in yellow raincoats.

Another marvellous view of the falls, with the maid of the mist boat right in the middle. The maid of the mist boat is the most popular ride there, which takes you right in the centre of the falls and this experience of being there for few minutes is simply mindblowing.




Niagara Falls, Canada

SHANTARAM & KITE RUNNER

Lately i have been reading many books, but I just loved these two books , so I want to share my views.......
SHANTARAM.....

I was delighted when somebody gifted this book to my son, as it has been on my to read list for a long time. Initially when I started reading it,I was a little skeptical It was like...a criminal is writing such holistic things, but slowly it grows on you. This is about Bombay , actually India as seen from the eyes of a foreigner and its a lovely description of very little things and how we as a Indian react to so many things. This is the account of a person whose love for India comes through in every line, but mind it, he is not dreaming anything, it is as realistic as our life in itself. This is what I loved. The Slumdog millionaire's account of slums and everything about India came as is India seen by people who deride it,and dislike it. But here a person writes about reality..what he felt and experienced when he came here. And he says India is all heart...so true.There is this one thing..like if abroad someone appreciates any guide or taxi driver, they will just give a smile, say thank you and will go on with their life, but here in India, they try to be helping and want to do something for you. The writer lived in slums, opened a clinic there, worked with underworld, saw so many rackets running here, but he found many good people here..good at heart..be it Prabhakar, the guide or his family, or the people in slums or even in underworld.
Its a very interesting book from many perspectives...the way writer has analysed the honor and virtue, complexities in our day to day behaviours, and the thoughts and working of a human mind... a very readable book...interesting as well as stimulating one's mind also.

KITE RUNNER

I was finding that this book was recommended by all of my blog readers and I was very curious to read this. So when I found it at my sister's place, I didnt miss the chance. It is based in troubled Afghanistan and is very interesting account of loyalty and love. Basically these type of books i find very interesting for two reasons...one I get to know the culture and lifestyle of different countries and then we come to know that core values are same everywhere wherever one lives. The protagonist here is very human with all the frailities and weeknesses which come with this but he is a good human being also, and this is what redeems him in the end.

END OF MY TRIP TO CANADA..niagra falls and Montreal

I saw many things in Ottawa..like Museum of Civilastion...its a beautiful place to see and there in Imax all the time documentaries are shown, My BIL very much wanted me to see one, but unfortunately english show didnt coincide with our plan. Actually there french is more common, even in Zurich, many office bearer say that here first it is German, then French, then Italian and then if needed some Spanish, but no English, why should they know and speak English.....Isnt it surprising for us Indians who think that English is the language of the world:).
And then we went for Parliament tour, imagin me, being an Indian havent ever been to Indian parliament.....here evrything is commercialised, why dont we do the same in India..but frankly these tours are free and their Library is most amazing and beautiful, but they dont allow to take photographs. Roofs there have the pictures of different things, sometimes countries symbols or agricultural.We were shown house of commons and all that.
We saw Governor house from outside..tours are run for that also.
Rideau Falls is like a mini Niagra and a mall is also named Rideau Centre. Over the river , there is a road, and whenever a boat with a higher clearance crosses that part, the whoe road is shifted and a passage is made for that and till such time, traffic is stopped on both the sides.
On Canada day..we went to downtown and it was a sight to be seen...never before I have seen so many people at one place and most of them in red and white the color of Canadian flag, with tattoes everywhere of either maple leaf or flag.
Then we went to Montreal and I fell in love with this place..this is in Canada, but with totally a french ambiance....first we went to St. Joseph church modelled on Sacrecoeur of Paris, then notre dame(same as in Paris)..St. Catherine is the most popular street here with restaurants from all over the world, we had our Lebanese lunch at Basha..it was good. Harbour place is like downtown brimming with people enjoying cafe's and skectching. Here I saw some very small narrow lanes, bylanes all full of jwellery shops
Out of the three places ..Zurich, Seattle and Ottawa...Zurich is the most beautiful place, but it is very very expensive, one can get a coffee for 1-2 $ max. in Canada and US, but here it costs 5-6$. Canada offers beautiful scenery and good food for us Indians and reasonable merchandise.In Niagra souvenirs were very reasonably priced.US also has everything but differs place to place.