Canada 2010

Scott and Sven in Guelph.

Scott and Sven emigrated to Canada in 2008; Sven in search of a new opportunities in his biology speciality and Scott in search of new opportunities in music and film.  At the time of our visit, Sven was working as an assistant professor at the University of Guelph and he and Scott were living in a nice 2 bed roomed house provided by the University

The University of Guelph is an extensive facility that provides courses and training in a large range of subjects at all levels.  We had the opportunity to wander around the grounds and see many of the superb facilities.  It made me want to sign up for my PhD just to be able to live there for 3 years.

Students paint this cannon, situated in the centre of the University grounds, to express their protest against different issues and current events.  Indeed, the cannon is inches thick in paint and has to be cleaned off on a regular basis to allow the protests to continue.

The arboretum is an extensive woodland area used by the University as a study and training area for biologists and zoologists etc.  We were given a guided tour by Chris, a zoologist studying for his doctorate, who gave us a a great appreciation of the wildlife and the work that was being done here.  We were accompanied by a group of Chinese students who seemed intrigued by the common bumble bee, because when Chris pointed one out they all shouted 'BUMBLE BEE !!'.

We met Kevin during our time in Belgium, where Stephen taught him sub-aqua diving.  However, since around 2005 we had lost touch, as happens so often in the military.  So we were really pleased to track down Kevin using Facebook and to find that he had moved back to Canada and was now married to Elizabeth.  Kevin and Elizabeth invited us to stay at their lovely home near Tamworth for a few days.  Here we met Raven a lovely black Labrador dog who has the most fascinating curly tail I have ever seen in a Lab.  Apparently, when she was younger she was friends with a smaller dog that had a curly tail and she just took to curling hers in the same way.   We had a great few days visiting with Kevin, Elizabeth and their son Dominique and we enjoyed their swimming pool and of course a good Canadian BBQ.
 

Marie-Paule used work with Lynne at the International Library in SHAPE, Belgium.  However Paul, her husband in the Canadian Armed Forces, was soon posted and we did not get to see them again until our trip to Canada.  Paul and Marie-Paul live in Russell, a pleasant suburb of Ottawa, and we stayed just a few days with them to catch up on old times.  Here are some scenes from around their home. 

We had visited Ottawa once before as a part of our field trip with the NATO Defense College and it was nice once again to take in the lovely sights around this beautiful city.

Guelph lies less than 100 miles from Niagara Falls and so it was a given that we visit the most famous site in North America. However, we took so many pictures that I have placed them on their own web page. 
Just follow this link to see what we got up to on our day out.

Niagara Falls Photo Gallery
 

During our stay in Guelph, Scott and Sven had organised a visit to the neighbouring town of Kitchener to hear their Symphony Orchestra perform the theme music from Star Trek.  Regrettably,  we didn't get any useable pictures from the event, but the night was one to remember.  The show was introduced by John De Lancie (Q) and Robert Picardo (The Holographic Doctor) who both provided an entertaining yet educational commentary for the music.  However, the music performed by the Kitchener Symphony Orchestra was truly outstanding and if the show is repeated I would urge anyone who is able, to go there and enjoy some of the best modern music around today. 
Details of the show we saw can be seen here.