The Lonely Planet’s book, Best in Travel 2009, 850 Trends, Destinations, Journeys & Experiences for the Year Ahead, has got me itching to travel again. The last time I left Canada was for a month long trip to Portugal, with my family, back in September October 2001.
Despite breathtaking photographs and descriptions of little known out of the way corners of the globe, a hallmark of Lonely Planet travel guides,it’s what they have to say about Canada that reminds me what a diverse, fascinating, inspiring, awesome country I live in.
In the book, Canada is listed as being one of the top ten countries.
Some random facts they come up with are: Canada is the world’s coldest country with an average temperature of - 5.6, brr. The entire population of Canada is less than that of Tokyo and its suburbs except Canada gets 9,970,610 sq km to sprawl out in while Tokyo only has 13,500 sq km. Fifty three aboriginal languages are spoken in Canada. Fifteen percent of the worlds diamonds come from Canada. Canada takes in the world’s largest per capita immigration numbers each year, making for wonderfully multicultural cities.
The fabled Northwest Passage, traced by Roald Amundsen in 1906, finally became open in 2007 because of melting ice. This might be good news if you are a shipping company but it’s bad news if you are a polar bear.
Climate change is nowhere more evident than in Arctic Canada. Warmer temperatures are melting the permafrost, destroying ice bridges and the hunting grounds that the native Inuit have depended on for centuries.
The Pacific Northwest, Washington and British Columbia, is home to our favourite, big, hairy, bipedal, primate, Bigfoot. This famous cryptid is called Sasquatch, a Coast Salish word meaning 'wild man'. Stories about Sasquatch sightings are frequent in Westcoast lore however no one, to date, has been able to capture the hairy beast on film. Other cryptids include the serpent like Ogopogo, said to live in the Okanagan lake and folkloric Thunderbirds who alight on the shores of Canada’s Westcoast.
The spectacular inside passage along British Columbia’s island flanked and glacier fed coast is best viewed from the deck of a ferry. Catch the ferry in Bellingham Washington and get off in Juneau Alaska. You may see a Spirit Bear, Orca Whale or Bald Eagle. As a child I sailed part of the inside passage when my family and I took the BC ferry overnight trip from Port Hardy to Prince Rupert.
The Yukon river is ranked 20th among the worlds greatest. Kayak along it from Whitehorse to Dawson City like a gold rush pioneer.
Apparently everyone’s heard of Toronto, it’s like a major US city without the crime, 49% of the population was born outside Canada making it the most diverse city on the planet. Ironically, back in 1857, when the capital was chosen, Toronto was deemed to be too English for the Francophones to bother with so Ottawa was chosen instead.
Montreal’s comedy festival, staged every July since 1983, is supposedly the worlds funniest festival making Montreal one of the happiest places on earth.
Despite all the rain Vancouver is consistently voted one of the worlds most livable cities. When I think I once skied all day on Grouse mountain, then went home, changed, and sailed on my parents boat to Jonathans seafood restaurant, for dinner on the patio, I can see why.
It’s good Canada is featured so prominently in this book because in February 2010 Canada will host the Winter Olympics in Vancouver and Whistler
1 comments:
Yay Canada! I often wish my ancestors had decided to stay in Quebec--they hopped back and forth across the border for a couple generations and finally stayed in upstate NY. BC is high on my list of places to explore.
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