My dear friends

I know there’s no excuse why this report comes so late, but still I have to say I have been so busy the last 2 weeks and as you will read in this report (if you have the courage to read it all), you will see that I didn’t really have the time and opportunity to write while I was in Quebec and Montreal. As there’s so much to tell, I will write this report in 2 pieces. Today I’ll let you enjoy my adventures in Quebec city:

Quebec city

As said in a previous post, I stayed with Anne, her brother and her parents in Quebec City. All of them very wonderful and hospitable people. I actually was their first couchsurfer. A great honor to be their guest for 3 nights.

The first day I arrived in Quebec, I took some time to get to know Anne and after a delicious dinner, we went out for a drink together with Sara, a friend of Anne. We first visited a bar that had a great choice of beers, Quebec special beers as well as beers from all over the world (a fine selection of Belgian beers by the way!). I drank the beer ‘La fin du monde‘, a very strong beer (9%), but wauw, so delicious! It was a great feeling to know that I would find some very tasty beers in Quebec as after all I am a beer lover. After that we went to a smaller pub where a singer was performing. He sang lots of famous songs in Quebeqois, the French they speak in Quebec. I am not so French oriented, but I have to admit that I liked the music. Even though it was no metal at all Nice night. Both Anne and Sara were very good company for my first night in Quebec!

The morning after, we got up not too late to make a trip to the beautiful Parc de Jacques Cartier. This is a provincial park about 30 minutes from Quebec City. We were lucky that Anne’s mother didn’t need the car, so we could drive there. Once we got off the highway, the road to the park was beautiful. Long straight roads, beautiful green hills and only some houses, most of them away from the road. Lucky people who live there! Only a half hour away from Quebec City and yet so quiet and beautiful. Anyway, we got to Parc de Jacques Cartier and drove to the main building to decide which walk we would do. We chose a trail that would take about 1 hour, not to heavy. We’re not experienced hitchers after all. Well what can I say… As soon as we started walking, the beauty of the area struck me. 360° around me there was nature, beautiful nature. A big river cut the landscape, leaving green hills or mountains on both sides. Absolutely breathtaking. The trail had some very nice lookout areas where we discovered even more beautiful places. Incredible.

We returned to the main building and decided to have lunch. Anne had prepared a delicious picnick for us. We were hungry and ate it all Energy for a next hike. The next hike was a longer one. We had to drive a few kilometers back to start the trail. This trail was a little tougher and took longer too, but we got the experience now, so why not? It was indeed heavier, but it was well worth the effort. At different points we had an incredible view of the valley. Beautiful. For me there are no words to describe it. Really. That is why I took some pictures. Check them out. Follow this link.

After this breathtaking (both literally and figuratively speaking) walk, we drove back home. Ready for a culinary adventure, we went to Ashton’s. This is the place to be in Quebec to eat a Poutine. Now I hear some of you ask themselves: What the heck is a Poutine? Well it’s something typically from Quebec. As Wikipedia says, it’s a dish consisting of French fries topped with fresh cheese curds and covered with hot gravy (usually brown gravy). It doesn’t look too tasty, but it is DE-LI-CI-OUS! A lot of people told me to try the Poutine, but as Christine (my host in Gatineau) told me, I should wait until I was in Quebec. She was right. It was a feast! One thing was sure: This would not be the last poutine I ate. I was right… But more about that later.

In the evening there was a free concert not far from Anne’s house. We decided to check it out and it turned out to be fun and interesting. It was a band from Quebec and they played famous 70’s and 80’s songs, but most of them translated in French. Very special, very Québequois, but very good. The night flew by.

And then it was already Wednesday! Time flies when you having fun. Today, Anne had some stuff to do for school, so I decided to go explore the city by myself. Anne gave me directions on the map and I took off. The weather was good (almost too good as the sky was too clear to take good pictures… again) and it was hot. I took the bus to downtown Quebec where I got off in the city centre. I walked in the main street of the city and then took a left to the ‘touristic’ area. Very crowded, but so beautiful. Gorgeous old buildings in small and cosy streets. This is how I like my cities. Really! After walking around there for a while, I got hungry and decided to take lunch. On a very nice square, there was a pizzeria and as a lover of Italian food, I was already seated before most people could blink their eyes. I ordered a small pizza with pepperoni and a ‘Blanche de Chambly’, a great wheat beer, brewn by Unibroue. After a while, the waiter came to me to apologize because it took so long for my pizza to be ready. The chef had made a mistake and made me the wrong pizza. But no worries, the waiter said: You can have this pizza for free while you wait for the one you ordered. Good news as the small pizza was actually very small I ate the delicious 2 for the price of one pizzas, had another beer and took off again to explore the rest of the city.

I walked along the beautiful Chateau Frontenac, on a nice wooden sidewalk high above the river, decended towards the river, walked along it, climbed back up, … I can’t really say where I went because I never followed the map, but every single place I did was beautiful. One thing is for sure: I love Quebec City! I ended in the centre, had a (not so good) falafel in a Libanese restaurant and as I got out of the restaurant, a thunderstorm was unleashed above Quebec City. It started to rain heavily, lightning struck everywhere and it was cold. I decided to take the bus back to Anne’s place. Good decision as the weather even got worse. Or at least for a while. And now the reason why there was no report for Quebec City on this blog: When I got back to Anne’s place, the Internet was down. Apparently the lightning must have struck somewhere and caused the Internet to go down. None of her friends in Quebec City had Internet connection too. A big breakdown… Certainly as I was expecting news from future hosts in Montreal… The day after I was supposed to go to Montreal, so I was in desperate need of hosts. The only thing I could hope for is that the problem would be solved quickly.

In the mean time, Anne had decided to arrange something else for me. We drove to the other side of the river where we picked up Marie-Eve, a friend of hers. She knew her way around in Lévis, a small city next to Quebec City. We drove to Lévis to a place where we had a nice view of the old Quebec. My two friends had picked this place because they both knew I loved photography. Sadly enough it started raining again when we got there, so we took off. We drove to one of the girl’s favourite places: A very famous ice cream shop where their speciality is ice cream dipped in melted chocolate. A thick layer of chocolate! I chose the maple ice cream (of course made with maple syrup flavour) with dark chocolate. AMAZING! DELICIOUS! This must have been the best ice cream I have ever eaten. Yummy!

After having enjoyed the delicious ice cream, we walked to a point where we could see the city even better. And above all: it was dark. We had a beautiful view of Quebec, with all the buildings bathing in light. The Chateau Frontenac overlooking the river. I took some nice shots of the skyline before we drove back. Before we went home, Marie-Eve invited me into her place to let me taste some delicious maple butter and some very special maple syrup. Now I know why Canadians love sweet things. This stuff is incredible! What a great end to a great day.

On Thursday morning, the Internet worked again, but no response from the people I wrote to. This basically meant that I didn’t have a place to sleep in Montreal. Oops… I decided that I would have to sleep in a hostel for a few nights until I found someone that wanted to host me. I wrote down some addresses of Montreal hostels, said goodbye to Anne and took the bus to Montreal. It was really a depressing day: Grey, rainy, cold. I was sad to leave wonderful Quebec and drive to the big city without even having a place to sleep. I really didn’t feel well at all.

As it is getting late, I will save my adventures in Montreal for later. I hope to write that report before the end of the week. And believe me, it’s worth checking out. Stay tuned for this one!

Oh and yes, I uploaded some more pictures about Quebec City.

Better late than never they say! I hope you all enjoyed reading this report. One more report to come from my Canada travels.

Cheers!

Steven

(sad to be back in Belgium)

Hey my loved ones!

I am currently staying in beautiful Quebec City with Anne. We went to the Parc Jacques Cartier today, but more about this in a later post as I am about to go to a concert with Anne.

I just write this little post to tell you that I found the time to upload some pictures of Buffalo and New York. You can find them on my photo website: http://stevenplatteeuw.myphotoalbum.com/view_album.php?set_albumName=album21

I will be back later today with the report of my stay here in Quebec.

Life is good in Canada!

Ciao

Steven

Hi there friends and family

I have been able to keep it a surprise for a lot of you, but here it is: I am currently in Brooklyn, New York! I will explain later how I got here, but first I need to tell you a little about a 2 day stop I made in between Toronto and NY: Buffalo.

Buffalo is a medium sized town in the north of the state New York. In fact it is very close to Toronto. My flight to New York departed from there, so I was going to stay there for one night. Unfortunately (or with the experience I have now, fortunately) my host in Niagara Falls kind of disappeared which left me no choice to stay in Buffalo for 2 nights. I was going to stay with a girl, but when I got there, I was unable to get in touch with her. Luckily I had a phone number of someone else who also lives in buffalo, so I called Shawn. To be honest, I was a bit worried. If Shawn didn’t answer, I would be stuck in a city I didn’t know and who has some dangerous neighborhoods… Fortunately Shawn answered and immediately agreed on taking me in for 2 nights! How cool is that?!? He even picked me up at the airport.

We drove to the house he and his roomies live in. A very nice and clean place in quite a fancy neighborhood. I was welcomed by the dog they were pet sitting. We went out to buy some beer and installed ourselves in the couch. Shawn is a very nice guy and really cool to talk to. We had a great conversation together before Mark, his roommate, came in. Also a super nice guy! Man, was I lucky! We took a walk with the dog and went to a place to have dinner. Great Burrito’s! After some beers we decided to call it a (great) day and we went to sleep.

After a good night of sleep, Shawn went to work and I wrote the past blog entry. In the afternoon I went to have lunch in Elmwood street, a cosy street with lots of shops, bars, restaurants, … After lunch I explored the park and the rest of the neighborhood. I was surprised that everyone there was so friendly to me. It is a fancy neighborhood, so a lot of rich people live there, but not many snobbish people, I discovered.

After that I went back to the house, sat on the front porch with my book until Shawn came in. We had falafel for dinner in a mediterranean place. A friend of his joined us and we went to pick up some Belgian beers. We got back home and started with some beer. Then we joined some neighbors who were playing a game where you have to throw metal rings in a box. Looks very easy, but it’s in fact very difficult and a lot of fun. Then it got too dark to play and we took off to some bar. I don’t remember the name anymore, but it was fun. Then we went to another bar, had some more beers, had dinner for the second time and finished this wonderful night with some more Belgian beers in the house. I have no idea when we went to sleep, but it was quite late.

Shawn promised me to give me a ride to the airport before he went to work. We both overslept though (could it have been the alcohol…?). We got up way too late, I packed in 5 minutes and we drove to the airport. As I was there very early, I was able to take an earlier flight without additional costs. So I arrived almost 2 hours earlier in NY. Great because that gave me more time to explore the city.

In the subway I had a nice conversation with a woman who used to live in NY, so she gave me a lot of good information. She also gave me directions to get to Central Park. A great place to start the day. And to be honest, I stayed there for almost the rest of the day. I got off the subway at Central Park South and walked all the way North. Oh and for those who don’t know Central Park, it’s HUGE! I stopped a few times along the way to rest because I was carrying my heavy backpack all the time. Central Park is the nicest park I have ever seen. Really impressive. The atmosphere there is just wonderful. People sunbathing, doing sports, talking, eating, … That was absolutely not something I would have expected in New York, even though I must admit that I didn’t know much about this city before I came here. I settled myself at Central Park North near a fishing pond and fell asleep a few times. Amrita, a girl I hosted in my apartment in Roeselare, was going to call me when she finished work, but my Canadian sim card didn’t work in the States, so I sent her a text message to tell her she needed to call my Belgian number. She was supposed to call me around 5, but nothing… At 6 still nothing, and then a little before 7 I got too worried and tried to call her again. It turns out she didn’t receive any of my text messages. Anyway, she gave me directions to the place where she is currently staying and I used the subway to get there. It’s in an area in Brooklyn where a lot of Hispanic people live. When I got out of the subway and looked around, I got a bit worried. This looks like a pretty dangerous neighborhood. Now I know better of course, but for me, small city guy, it looked scary. Amrita did a good job though convincing me from the opposite, so I immediately felt much more comfortable. I discovered that she is actually couchsurfing herself with Meg. She is renting her couch for one month and Meg was so friendly to take me in. She is a very lovely girl and I felt welcome right from the start. We took the subway to Times Square to have dinner in the Hard Rock Cafe. Times Square is very impressive and it’s almost brighter than daylight because of all the huge screens and all the lights there. Great experience. After dinner we decided to return home where we enjoyed the NY skyline from the roof of the apartment building before we went to sleep.

We slept in on Saturday and went for breakfast in a local bar/restaurant. Amrita had to leave though because she had classes in the afternoon. But she had arranged a meeting for me with another couchsurfer: Rachel. It turned out that her plans worked out perfectly with mine and those of Amrita. She is a lovely person with a great knowledge of Brooklyn. She showed me the most beautiful places in the area where she lives in and then we went to Manhattan because she needed to go pet sitting for a dog. We took the dog out for a walk and she showed me around some more while we were walking the dog. Great meeting! Too bad it didn’t last too long. She is a very nice person and we got along very well. But she had other plans in the late afternoon, so she had to go. Amrita joined me again after a while and we had a nice walk through a part of Manhattan, had the best (and cheapest) falafel ever, went to a Belgian beer bar and had delicious ice cream.

Because our visit to Times Square of Friday night was quite short, we decided to go back there because there is a lot more to see than the things I already saw. I must say that it is incredibly overwhelming. I was speechless for a while. So crowded, all these lights, all the big screens. Incredible! Also the atmosphere is something you must experience to know what it feels like. They even have a huge 3 story M&M store there, can you believe it???

At Times Square we met up with some friends of Amrita to get ready to go to the party she set up for her birthday. It was in a club called Pacha. It took us a while to get in as the security was worse than airport security, but we finally got in. The club was very nice with different things happening on each floor, but we stayed only on one floor where they played house music. The music was good, but after a few hours it started to sound a little monotone. I had a good time though with some of Amrita’s friends. We took a cab back home and were home at 4AM. Good time to go to bed…

We got up very late and Amrita was not feeling too well, so I decided to go and explore the city on my own. I took the subway to Manhattan and got off somewhere in the middle of China Town. Great atmosphere there! It didn’t feel like NY. All the vendors trying to sell their fake stuff, food stalls and a lot of people. After that I went to the financial district, walked halfway across Brooklyn bridge, went to the port, walked on Wall Street, went to Ground Zero, … I think I saw all of Manhattan. Exhausting… It was extremely hot, so I was back at Meg’s place pretty early. Great day though. An hour ago we had a delicious dinner here and talked a while and now I am ready to go to sleep.

My New York experience is one to never forget. The people I have met have been the reason why I experienced New York not as a tourist, but as a New Yorker. A unique feeling!

Tomorrow I’ll take a plane from Newark airport to Quebec City where hopefully more adventures are awaiting me. I’m sorry, but I don’t have the time to upload pictures, but I promise I will upload some this week.

Check back soon for more updates.

This was Steven, reporting live from Brooklyn, New York City.

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Een klein woordje nog in het Nederlands voordat ik ga slapen.

Zoals je kan afleiden uit de titel ben ik momenteel in New York. Een verrassing voor velen, maar de keuze was vrij logisch eigenlijk. Ik heb minder betaald voor een busticket van Toronto naar Buffalo, een vliegtuigticket van Buffalo naar NY en een vlucht van NY naar Quebec City dan wat een ticket kostte van Toronto naar Quebec City. En bovendien woont Amrita in New York (ze heeft een weekend bij mij gelogeerd in Roeselare). Dus de keuze was snel gemaakt.

Na 2 schitterende dagen in Buffalo waar ik ‘last minute’ nog een slaapplaats heb kunnen vinden door Shawn op te bellen, ben ik vrijdag vanuit Buffalo naar New York gevlogen. Vrijdag heb ik de hele namiddag Central Park ontdekt. Schitterende plaats. Ongelofelijk eigenlijk dat een stad als New York zo’n groot park kan hebben. Echt overweldigend! Prachtige sfeer. Overal mensen aan het zonnebaden, sporten, eten, lezen, socializen, wandelen, vissen, … Ongelofelijk!

’s avonds heb ik dan met veel moeite Amrita kunnen bereiken, want ik had geen idee waar ze nu woont. Zij kon mij niet bereiken omdat mijn Canadese sim kaart hier niet werkt en mijn sms’jes met mijn Belgische sim kaart zijn niet doorgekomen. Enfin, ik heb haar kunnen bereiken en ze heeft me dan directies gegeven naar het appartement waar ze momenteel woont. Ze logeert in Brooklyn bij een couchsurfster. Ze huurt eigenlijk de couch van Mel voor een maand. Vanuit de metro had ik een goed zicht over een deel van Brooklyn, want de metro loopt hier een heel stuk boven de straat. Ik moet zeggen dat ik wat bang werd. Deze buurt ziet er echt gevaarlijk uit. Er wonen heel veel mensen van caraibische afkomst. De meeste mensen hier spreken Spaans en overal zie je veel vuilnis rondslingeren, kapotte wagens staan, graffiti, slogans die ik niet begrijp, … Enfin, het ziet er hier dus echt wel gevaarlijk uit. Gelukkig blijkt het achteraf heel goed mee te vallen. Ik voel me hier echt op mijn gemak.

’s avonds zijn we naar Times Square geweest en hebben we gegeten in Hard Rock Cafe. Daarna zijn we teruggekeerd naar het appartement om nog wat van de New Yorkse skyline te genieten vanop het dak van het gebouw.

De dag erna had Amrita les tot 17u, maar ze had een ontmoeting geregeld met iemand van CouchSurfing: Rachel. Het is altijd spannend om iemand nieuw te ontmoeten en ik had zelfs haar profiel niet gelezen, dus het was echt wel spannend. Rachel bleek een heel sociaal meisje te zijn en het klikte heel goed tussen ons. Ze heeft me wat rondgeleid in haar buurt, en daarna zijn we naar Manhattan geweest waar ze moest babysitten op een hond. Ze heeft me dan een stuk van Manhattan laten zien terwijl we de hond uitlieten. Daarna is Amrita teruggekomen en zijn we nog een stuk gaan wandelen, hebben we superlekkere falafel gegeten, een Belgisch bier cafe bezocht en een hoegaarden gedronken en daarna ijs gegeten. Dan zijn we teruggekeerd naar Times Square omdat ik blijkbaar nog lang niet alles gezien had. Amai! Echt niet normaal! Je moet het gezien hebben om te weten wat het is. Overweldigend!

Enfin, daarna zijn we naar een nightclub geweest voor haar verjaardagsfeestje en we waren rond 4u thuis… Lang uitgeslapen en Amrita voelde zich niet zo goed, dus ben ik alleen op stap gegaan. China Town, Brooklyn Bridge, Financial District, Wall Street, Ground Zero, de haven, … Ik heb zo ongeveer alles gezien in Manhattan wat er te zien valt. Ik ben niet te laat teruggekeerd omdat ik bijna stierf van de hitte, we hebben wat gepraat, superlekker avondeten gegeten en ik ga straks slapen.

Mijn New York experience was echt schitterend. Ik was wat bang van ‘de grote stad’ en had eigenlijk heel weinig verwachtingen, maar de ontmoetingen met de mensen hier hebben ervoor gezorgd dat ik New York niet beleefd heb als toerist, maar wel als New Yorker! Uniek!

Morgenmiddag neem ik een vlucht vanuit Newark naar Quebec City. Later deze week hoor je hoe het daar was. Ik heb nog geen tijd gehad om foto’s te uploaden, maar ik hoop dat binnenkort te kunnen doen. Ik zet hier zeker een berichtje als het zo ver is.

Groetjes aan iedereen in Belgie en tot binnenkort

Dear friends!

Here I am, back with another exciting report of the past few days. As you all might have read on the previous post, I have spent 2 days in Toronto, one of the biggest cities of Canada. And yes, big it is! Oh and yes, I finally got to meet Ron! We have been in contact since last October, so I was very excited to meet him. He let me stay at his appartment for 2 nights which was a great experience. Ron was the most generous person with a great sense of humour, and incredible stories to tell. I felt so bad yesterday because I had to leave.

So what about Toronto? Well, did I already mention it’s BIG? The blisters on my feet tell me it is. It is a very multicultural city with lots of very nice and interesting streets. On Monday I have done what I always tend to do in a big city: getting lost… I wandered around for hours, seeing the nicest things. I walked in the district with high office buildings, I took a ferry to the park where I had a nice view of the Toronto skyline, I walked around in fancy neighbourhoods, … As I don’t really know where I have wandered, I cannot give more details but it was great fun. I will just let the pictures speak for themselves. Check out my picture website for these pics. Then when I got home from this exhausting walk, I talked a while with Ron and then enjoyed the amazing view from my bedroom. Just check the header picture and you will know what I mean. Yep, that picture is taken from my bedroom window.

Tuesday I decided to take it a little more easy because my feet were hurting so much, so I did more things with the subway.But there was one thing I had to do: conquer my fear of heights. The people that know me a little better know I am terrified of heights (although I love rollercoasters and stuff). Well, in Toronto they have the highest free standing tower in the world, being the legendary CN Tower. I decided to go up there and even do something more impressive. More about this later… The CN tower is 553m high and has the highest restaurant in the world. A glass elevator takes you up at a dazzling speed. It takes only 58 seconds to the restaurant which is 351 metres above the ground. From the restaurant you have a great view of Toronto and on clear days you can look more than 50km far. Too bad it was not a clear day. Anyway, I was not really there for the view although it was really beautiful. The CN tower has a spot where the floor is made of glass. I had promised myself to conquer my fear and stand on the glass floor. Well I did! Even better, I have proof that I have actually been lying down on this glass floor. I was terrified at first, but then I got used to it and it was a great experience. Pictures as usual on my pictures website.

After this enlightening experience I walked around on beautiful Queen street and then returned to the port. One thing I didn’t mention yet was the heat. It has been so incredibly hot in Toronto that even turning your head makes you sweat. It was above 30 degrees centigrade but the humidity was so high it felt like 40. You can imagine what this heat does to a person. So I chose to cool down next to the water at the beautiful port. I sat there, reading a book for a few hours before I decided to go have a beer in the Queen Street surroundings. I found this place called ‘The Rex’ where they played live jazz and blues music. Cosy place and with a patio! That is one thing I discovered about Canada: not many places actually have a patio where you could sit outside to have a beer. That is one thing I miss about Belgium. But anyway, this place did have a patio, so I have installed myself there with a beer, waiting for Aurora to show up. She responded to my question on CouchSurfing to meet and have a drink or something together. By the time she showed up, I had company of 2 men. One of them is a gay hairdresser. At first I was a kind of embarrassed because of what he was saying all the time, but the evening turned out to be really crazy with lots of laughter, lots of beer and great company. It was a pleasure to meet Aurora.

It got so late I actually missed my subway back to Ron’s place, but I was lucky to find a bus (thanks Aurora!) back. I got home around 2.30AM. Not bad for a week night. Good times! That’s for sure!

Yesterday it was time to pack because I was heading for the legendary Niagara Falls. My bus left around noon, so I had some time to pack and say goodbye to Ron. He gave me this cute little dog as a present! You have no idea how happy I was with that. I now carry it always with me, wherever I go. Thank you so much for everything, Ron! You are a true friend!

A greyhound bus took me to the Niagara Falls where I had 4 hours to spend before I needed to take the bus to where I am now. For those who don’t know the Falls, there’s actually 2: an American side and a Canadian side. Most people say the Canadian side is more impressive and it is according to me. The horseshoe falls (as they are called because of their shape) are impressive. Standing next to them makes you feel so small and helpless. It’s just so hard to describe it, so I will let the pictures talk for themselves once again.

After seeing the Falls I went up the hill to see what was up there. You have no idea unless you have seen that. It is just one big circus. I thought I was in Disneyland. For one reason or another they have decided to make what looks like a small scale theme park with attractions, museums and restaurants. Incredible to see, but I didn’t like it that much. Too touristy. But I left Niagara falls with a feeling of satisfaction.

From Niagara Falls I took the bus to Buffalo (Surprise, Surprise) which is right across the border with the United States. Yep, I am on American soil right now. I am staying with 2 guys named Shawn and Mark. I am actually about to get out and see the city because I haven’t done anything yet today. I won’t tell about my further plans, but you will see. Some people already know, but most don’t. Check this blog for more updates on where I am heading next.

Life on the road is great and you know what, I don’t even miss being home. Maybe that will come, but now I just feel great with all these incredible experiences, nice people, … This is a wonderful experience. Peroid.

Check back after the weekend for more updates and make sure you check my pictures.

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Beste vrienden

Ik heb echt niet veel tijd om veel te schijven in het Nederlands, dus ik hoop dat jullie voor deze keer aan de Engelse versie genoeg zullen hebben om te weten wat ik de voorbije dagen uitgespookt heb. Na mijn avonturen in Toronto en prachtige momenten bij de Niagara watervallen ben ik nu in de Verenigde Staten beland in de stad Buffalo. Die ligt net over de grens met Canada. Ik zal nog niet vertellen wat ik hier doe en wat ik de komende dagen zal doen, dus houd zeker deze blog in de gaten.

Ik houd het hierbij zodat ik nog wat kan gaan verkennen hier in Buffalo. Een kwestie van toch nog eens buiten te komen he.

Groetjes aan iedereen en tot binnenkort!

Hey there!

Please allow me to be a little poetic here… Just imagine yourself getting up in the morning and seeing this. Imagine yourself sleeping in a cute little cabin in the pitch black darkness with nothing but the sound of waves. Imagine yourself laying down on your back in the grass watching the milky way, counting shooting stars and seeing sattellites fly across the sky. Well this is what I experienced this weekend. Let me tell this from the start:

Lindsay, the girl from Waterloo that stayed at my place with her boyfriend Jake invited me over to join her and her parents to their lake house south of Amberley, right on the shores of Lake Huron, the second largest fresh water lake in the world. You have no idea how excited I was about that (and with reason, but more about this later…). When I called Lindsay on Wednesday, her mom offered to give me a tour of Waterloo on Friday because she is not working then. I gladly took the invitation and joined her at 1PM. She drove me around in the most interesting parts of the city, told me all I could possibly want to know about Waterloo, took me to a brewery where I got to taste some samples of delicious Canadian beer. She also drove us to St. Jacob, a cute little town not so far from Waterloo to tell me about the history of the Mennonites. They can be compared to the Amish. They still live very traditional, ride around with horses and carriages (or at least still a lot of them) and are very handy at making all kinds of crafts, food and other things. It was absolutely amazing to epxperience this. It is just unbelievable how these people live! You can read more on them on http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mennonites.

Then we got back to Elli’s place to pick up my stuff and we packed to go to the cottage. We picked up her crazy friend Deenie (I am not sure about the spelling of this name…) and we started the 1 hour and 25 minute drive to the cottage. Along the way I enjoyed the great conversation I had with Bob, Lindsay’s father and he stopped in a town called ‘Brussels’, believe it or not This must be one of the smallest towns I have ever seen and it is actually one of the smallest towns in Ontario. He took a picture of me at the Brussels sign. The picture can be found on his website. Click here.

The road towards the cabin was just incredible. Straight roads, beautiful landscapes full of Mennonite farms, Mennonites riding their horses and carriages on the street, … No words to describe, but I enjoyed it so much. Then we arrived at the cottage. I was speechless and breathless. This must be one of the most beautiful places I have ever seen! The cottage is built on the hillside along the shores of lake Huron. It is a very nice and cosy cottage with a view to die for. I have uploaded some pictures on my photo website to give an idea because there is no way I can describe it without giving it not the credit it deserves. I knew this weekend would be an experience like I never had one before.

I had my own little cosy cabin, built by a mennonite man. That was my own private place for the weekend. Before I went to sleep though we had a great night watching the sunset, having a beer at the camp fire and then watching the stars on top of the hill. I have never seen that many stars in my life. It was pitch black darkness, we were laying down on our back in the grass, counting shooting stars (I saw 4!) and looking for sattellites that crossed the sky at an incredible speed. Just beautiful! Then I went to sleep in the little cabin with nothing but the sound of the waves, crashing on the shores of lake Huron. Paradise! Nothing less than that.

In the morning I went to ‘Camp Kintail’ which is a summer camp for kids at walking distance from the cottage. Bot Lindsay and Deenie have worked there before, and they wanted to say hi to their friends. Some of these friends joined us that afternoon at the beach. We had a lazy afternoon at the beach, chatting, reading, listening to some music and swimming in the lake. For those who know me a little better, you know that this is not something I usually do, but this just felt too good. Although the water was very cold. In the evening I realised I had a terrible sunburn, but no time to think about that because Lindsay and her friends from Ca;p Kintail were taking me to the Scottish Festival in Kincardine. It is a festival with a parade, lots of bagpipers, bands playing and loads of beer. I will not go too much in detail, but it was a lovely night. We had lots of fun, I met some very interesting people and had great laughs. Later that night we drove back to Camp Kintail where we hanged out a little longer with Lindsay’s friends before we did a nice long walk through a dark forest and along the dark coast line of Lake Huron, back to the cottage. I slept like a baby!

In the morning, Marilyn, Lindsay’s mum, cooked us a great breakfast (or should I call it lunch as it was past 11…) and we started packing. By the time we were in the car, it started raining. Goodbye cottage, goodbye paradise… I will miss you so much!

We got back home around 2.30pm and took it easy for the rest of the day. Lindsay’s parents let me sleep here for another night before I head off to Toronto tomorrow morning. This whole weekend has been so incredible! Lindsay’s parents have been so welcoming and hospitable to me, although I was a total stranger to them and they are not on CouchSurfing whatsoever. They have treated me like a friend or even like family all weekend. That is something I will never ever forget. Thank you so much for everything, Bob and Marilyn. Really!

My host for tomorrow had to cancel because his working shift changed, but I have called Ron and he lets me sleep at his place. He is a 70 year old couchsurfer and by far one of the most enthousiastic people I ever called with. I am dying to meet him tomorrow. Tune in sometime this week to find out how it went!

By the way, Bob has a website with a new picture of the day each day. Guess who starred in the pictures of this weekend… Yep, Steven and Steven! Thanks, Bob.

Lots of greetings from Waterloo, Ontario!

————

Beste vrienden en familie

Het wordt al laat en ik zou eigenlijk beter gaan slapen, dus zal ik deze nederlandse versie kort houden. Ik heb heel wat foto’s online gezet en deze spreken eigenlijk voor zichzelf.

Zoals eerder al gezegd ben ik dit weekend naar de cottage van Bob en Marilyn (de ouders van Lindsay) geweest. Ik ben zodanig onder de indruk dat ik moeite heb om alles te beschrijven. De cottage ligt halverwege de heuvel die naar het strand aan Lake Huron leidt. Het is een prachtige gezellige cottage met een ongelofelijk uitzicht over het strand en het meer. Lake Huron is het op een na grootste zoetwatermeer ter wereld. Ik had mijn eigen klein huisje om in te slapen, het ziet eruit als een tuinhuisje, maar het wordt gebruikt om gasten te herbergen. Dit huisje is gemaakt door een Mennoniet. Mennonieten zijn mensen die vooral in Ontario wonen en waarvan de meeste nog leven zoals 200 jaar geleden, zonder elektriciteit, zonder auto’s, aan landbouw en timmerwerk en dergelijke doen. Zoek het maar eens op. Heel interessant eigenlijk te zien hoe deze mensen leven.

Enfin, ik wijk terug af van het onderwerp. ’s avonds hebben we op het strand genoten van de schitterende zonsondergang, een pintje bij het kampvuur en dan ben ik met Lindsay en haar vriendin Deenie de heuvel op getrokken om er in de totale duisternis naar de sterren te gaan kijken. We hebben maar liefst 4 vallende sterren gezien, 5 sattellieten die aan een ongelofelijke snelheid door de hemel schoten en zelfs de melkweg hebben we gezien! Schitterend. Niet moeilijk dan dat ik in slaap gevallen ben als een baby.

De dag erna ben ik na het ontbijt met Lindsay en Deenie naar Camp Kintail geweest, een plaats waar de hele zomer kampen georganiseerd worden voor kinderen. Zowel Lindsay als Deenie hebben daar gewerkt en ze wilden eens goeiedag gaan zeggen aan een aantal vrienden daar. Later zijn een aantal vrienden naar de cottage gekomen om er een luie namiddag door te brengen: zonnen, lezen, pintjes drinken, muiziek luisteren en ja, zelfs zwemmen in het meer. Juist ja, ik heb in dat meer gezwommen. Zalig gewoon!

’s Avonds zijn we dan met een groot aantal van de mensen van Camp Kintail naar het Scottish Festival in Kincardine geweest. Dat is een jaarlijks festival met een parade van doedelzakspelers, optredens, bier en gezelligheid. Schitterende avond met heel wat leuke mensen en een goeie sfeer. Als afsluiter zijn we dan nog naar het kamp geweest en dan nog te voet van het kamp door het donkere bos, via het strand naar de cottage gewandeld. Opnieuw als een blok in slaap gevallen. Prachtig!

Vanmorgen hebben we uitgeslapen (lees: schandalig lang geslapen) en na een ‘brunch’ hebben we onze valiezen gepakt en zijn we teruggereden naar Waterloo. Het was ondertussen beginnen regenen en het was drukkend warm, dus de airco in de wagen deed enorm veel deugd. Vandaag was verder een luie dag. We hebben nog wat zitten babbelen, dan heb ik met Lindsay een film gezien (aanrader trouwens: Stranger than fiction).

Morgen ga ik naar Toronto, ongeveer anderhalf uur hier vandaan. Mijn gastheer heeft op het laatste moment moeten cancellen omdat zijn shift veranderd is naar nachtdienst, maar ik heb Ron opgebeld en ik mag bij hem blijven slapen. Hij is een couchsurfer van 70! jaar en zonder twijfel een van de meest enthousiaste mensen die ik al gehoord heb. We hebben al contact sinds ik lid geworden ben van Couchsurfing, dus kijk ik er enorm naar uit om hem eindelijk te ontmoeten. Meer hierover later deze week. Ik blijf in Toronto tot en met Woensdag en dan reis ik door naar Niagara Falls.

Ik ga nu nog een aantal foto’s online zetten op mijn fotowebsite, dan mijn brandwonden verzorgen (ja, ik ben ongelofelijk verbrand door de zon…) en wat uurtjes slapen. Ik moet om 8u op om Lindsay nog te zien voordat ze vertrekt naar haar werk.

Ik zou eigenlijk moeten zeggen dat ik Belgie mis, maar voorlopig is het hier eigenlijk veel te mooi en plezant om daaraan te denken. Iedereen is zo vriendelijk en gastvrij. Ik voel me overal thuis. Bob en Marilyn zijn zo goed voor me geweest, alhoewel ik een volslagen vreemdeling ben voor hen. Echt fantastisch. Ik vergeet dit nooit.

Trouwens Bob heeft een fotowebsite waar hij iedere dag een nieuwe foto op plaatst. Raad eens wie er op de foto’s van dit weekend staat… Yep, Steven en Steven! Thanks, Bob.

Tot een volgende en veel groetjes uit Waterloo, Ontario!

— Nederlandse tekst onderaan —

Dear friends!

It has been a while since I wrote something on this blog, but I suppose you all know why. I have so much to do here that I don’t have the time and to be honest, I don’t feel like being in front of a computer too much. Anyway, let me tell you a little about the past few days which have been a blast!

On Tuesday I did the hike to the wonderful Ottawa River which is about 10 minutes walking from Younes’ apartment. Wonderful area there. Unbelievable that this is just outside of the city centre. I took an awful lot of pictures there. I will post some on my photoalbum. While I was walking there I saw a lot of joggers coming from the direction of downtown Ottawa, so I figured it couldn’t be that far to walk to downtown instead of taking a bus. So I walked and I walked… The walk turned out to be a little longer than I expected and Younes confirmed later that I did quite a big walk. It was so nice though. I enjoyed it so much. I arrived in Ottawa city where I walked around for the rest of the afternoon, sat in a park, read a book, had lunch and a few beers at the Hard Rock Cafe and enjoyed the scenery. I was a bit disappointed though that there were not much travellers and young people around. I guess everyone was right about this: Ottawa is a nice city, but a bit boring. Nevertheless I had a good time there.

I took the bus back ‘home’ and after that we went to meet some other couchsurfers in a pub. Good times! Everyone was so outgoing and interesting. It was very multicultural in fact: Machteld from Holland with her boyfriend, Rebecca from New Zealand, 2 girls from France and some more Ottawa people. Great conversations, good times! I felt so sorry that this was my last evening in Ottawa. I would have loved to get to know them a little better.

The next morning it was time for me to say goodbye to my wonderful host Younes. We had a great time together, but I feel like we still had so much more to do. Well, that is travelling, isn’t it? So I took the bus to Ottawa airport to catch my flight to Toronto. That all went smooth, and they even didn’t check my ID! Can you believe that. After a short but amusing flight (the flight attendants were hilarious!!), I set foot on Toronto soil. Because I know public transportation is expensive in Canada, I decided to give it a try and try to hitch a ride to Waterloo, my next stop in this beautuful country. After standing there for a while, a guy from the airport traffic mamagement came up to me to ask if I was really serious. Apparently it is at first very hard to get a ride from Toronto airport and it’s even more rare to get one to Waterloo. He was right… After standing there for one and a half hour, I gave up and decided to take a bus. What a rip-off was that! They charged me $44 for a bus ride of less than one hour! Nothing to do about it though. And hey, I finally got to Waterloo! Yay! The weather was not really nice, but I have seen worse. I walked up to the house of my next hosts: Elli and Joe (and their lovely cat Schitzo). Elli was home and welcomed me, showed me my incredibly comfortable bed and then took me out to see a little bit of the city. Then we went to the Heuter brewery to meet up with some other couchsurfers from K-W: Dan, Tom, Sheena and Martin. Joe also joined us after work. Heuter is a so called microbrewery. They brew 8 different kinds of beer if I’m not mistaken, so we first ordered a sampler to taste the different beers. I must say that I was pleasantly surprised! There actually were some great beers in there. Canadian beer isn’t that bad after all it seems. Great night with good talks and good laughs!

After a long sleep we got up and Elli cooked us lunch. I ate her very delicious scrambled eggs and pancakes with chocolate chips and maple syrup. Delicious!! Then we drove to St. Jacobs Market where they sell almost everything: fresh fruit and vegetables, furniture, clothing, … I even saw a cattle auction. Incredible! Hard to explain though. You have to see that for yourself. Wonderful traditional atmosphere! A once in a lifetime experience. I bet not many tourists get to see this. Then after some shopping, we went back home and as Elli had some appointments, I decided to go for a walk along the river next to their house. While walking there I got a call from Tray, another guy from K-W, to ask if we could meet for some fun. Great surprise. My afternoon turned into a fun adventure. We went to downtown Kitchener, had a beer, did some shopping and then he decided to barbecue for us. We had corn and T-bone steaks on the barbecue. How good was that! I never had corn cooked this way and it’s delicious! Great experience. After that we went to a salsa place where he got tricked me into dancing salsa with a woman from Bulgaria. For those who know me, that is auite unusual. It was fun though. After that we went to a place where they had a metal night. Great pub and good music! There we hooked up with two girls who wanted to go to Fobar which is a hip-hop club. We danced there for a while until we met up with Joe and Elli for a late night dinner at Mel’s before we went home for a short sleep. What a day, what a night!

Tonight I will go with Lindsay (she stayed at my place in Roeselare a while ago) and her parents to their cottage at lake Huron. We will spend the weekend there together, so I suppose I won’t be reachable for the weekend. I don’t think they have Internet there. I hope to meet up with Lindsay’s mum this afternoon for a bigger tour of the city.

That is all for now, folks! I hope you enjoyed reading this as much as I enjoyed experiencing all of this. This is just incredible!

By the way, I got myself a Canadian SIM card, so from now on I will be reachable at this number: +15197298004. I will most likely not use my Belgian SIM card anymore until I get back home.

For those who are travelling: enjoy your trip; for those who are at home: you don’t know what you are missing!

’till next time

Steven

————–

Hey famlilie en vrienden

Op algemeen verzoek schrijf ik toch nog een woordje in het Nederlands.

Ik ben momenteel in Kitchener & Waterloo, 2 steden die samengegroeid zijn ten westen van Toronto. Het zijn voornamelijk universiteitssteden waardoor het hier nu iets kalmer is dan normaal. Geen probleem, want wat rust kan nooit geen kwaad.

Voordat ik hier kwam was ik in de hoofdstad van Canada: Ottawa. Dinsdag heb ik een supergrote wandeling gemaakt langs de Ottawa rivier die niet ver van het appartement van mijn gastheer Younes loopt. Ik ging eigenlijk dan de bus nemen naar Ottawa, maar ik besloot te wandelen. Het bleek een superlange wandeling te zijn, maar echt heel mooi. Ongelofelijk dat je zo’n mooie dingen kan zien net buiten een grootstad als Ottawa! Volgens Younes zou ik zo’n 15km gewandeld hebben die dag. Niet slecht he

’s Avonds hadden we een meeting met een aantal couchsurfers in een cafe in Ottawa in een heel mooie buurt: The Market. Eigenlijk de enige echt gezellige buurt in Ottawa. De rest van de stad bestaat voornamelijk uit kantoorgebouwen en dergelijke. Plezante avond met heel wat leuke, nieuwe connecties. Ik heb zelfs Nederlands kunnen spreken met Machteld uit Nederland die in Ottawa blijven hangen is.

Woensdag heb ik het vliegtuig genomen van Ottawa naar Toronto. Aangezien het openbaar vervoer in Canada verschrikkelijk duur is beloot ik het erop te wagen en een lift te zoeken. Zonder succes want na anderhalf uur heb ik het opgegeven en heb ik dan toch maar een bus genomen. $44 voor een ritje van minder dan een uur… Lang leve het openbaar vervoer. Enfin, ik ben hier veilig geraakt. Na een verwelkoming door Elli zijn we de stad ingetrokken voor een wandeling en erna zijn we naar de Heuter brouwerij geweest. Ze noemem dat hier een ‘microbrewery’, een huisbrouwerij eigenlijk. En wonder boven wonder: we hebben hier echt lekker bier. Schitterend! Die avond zijn nog een aantal couchsurfers uit K-W afgekomen waardoor het alleen nog maar leuker en interessanter werd. Dan en zijn neef Tom hebben me zelfs bijna overtuigd om te gaan skydiven…

Gisteren dan ben ik met Elli naar St. Jacob’s Market geweest. Een heel traditionele markt waar boeren uit de streek hun verse groenten en fruit komen verkopen, maar ook met een vlooienmarkt, veel eetkraampjes, handgemaakte meubelen, … Heel unieke sfeer. Prachtig! Ik heb zelfs een veiling voor vee bijgewoond. Ongelofelijk. Vooraan zit iemand constant in een onbegrijpelijk taaltje te rammelen terwijl de boer zijn koe in bedwand houdt en nu en dan een verwaaide ziel zijn hand omhoog steekt waarna de gast vooraan nog luider en onbegrijpelijker begint te roepen. Schitterend en uniek!

Erna zijn we nog gaan winkelen voor een Canadese SIM kaart voor mij (mijn nieuw nummer voor de rest van mijn reis is nu: +15197298004. Ik zal hoogst waarschijnlijk niet meer bereikbaar zijn op mijn belgisch nummer tot ik terug ben. ‘t is maar dat je het weet.

Daarna ben ik een wandeling gaan maken niet ver van Elli’s appartement, langs een rivier. Dan kreeg ik een telefoontje van Tray, ook iemand van K-W, om te vragen of ik geen zin had om af te spreken. Hij is me komen halen en we zijn samen naar downtown Kitchener gereden. Vanaf dan ben ik van de ene verrassing in de andere gevallen. We hebben gebarbecued bij hem thuis: een gigantische T-bone steak en maiskolven op de barbecue. Ongelofelijk lekker. Superjammer dat we dit niet kennen in Belgie. Daarna zijn we naar een club geweest waar ze salsalessen geven. Ik wilde eigenlijk niet dansen, maar dan kwam het: er stond nog een vrouw alleen op de dansvloer en de lerares vroeg of er nog iemand wilde dansen. Daarop roep Tray: Hier, Steven uit Belgie. Die wil wel dansen. Applaus van iedereen terwijl hij me de dansvloer opduwde. Uiteindelijk was het wel nog plezant en ik heb zelfs niet op haar tenen getrapt Die vrouw was trouwens afkomstig uit Bulgarije, maar ze woont al 7 jaar in Canada.

Na de salsalessen zijn we naar een bar geweest waar er een Metal night aan de gang was. Perfect! De hele avond metal en hard rock! We zijn daar een paar uurtjes gebleven en dan zijn we nog meegeweest met 2 meisjes naar een hip-hop club. Daar nog wat gedanst en onnozel gedaan, daarna nog een late dinner bij Mel’s, een bekend restaurant hier en dan naar huis. Prachtige dag!

Deze namiddag komt de ma van Lindsay (het meisje uit Waterloo dat een tijdje geleden bij mij geweest is met haar vriend Jake) me ophalen voor een uitgebreide toer van de stad. Vanavond gaan we dan naar hun cottage bij Lake Huron waar we normaalgezien tot zondag blijven. Maandag ga ik dan naar Toronto tot woensdag.

Ik amuseer me hier enorm, het land is echt prachtig en de mensen zijn ongelofelijk vriendelijk. Ik kon het echt niet beter getroffen hebben voor mijn eerste grote reis!

Allez, ik ga hier dan afsluiten. Ik moet nog douchen en mijn valies pakken voordat Lindsay’s moeder me komt halen.

Veel plezier daar in het verre Belgie en tot schrijfs!

Steven

Hello my friends!

Finally I managed to get in front of a computer to write a first report of my first 3 days in on the other side of the big ocean. I won’t make it very long because I’m still jet lagged a bit and I’m also suffering from a lack of sleep.

I just got back from a short trip to a lake in the Gatineau Park with my second host Younes in Ottawa. He is a (very good) hobbyist photographer and we decided to get some nice shots of the Canadian sunset in the Gatineau Park. Too bad the lighting wasn’t really good. I don’t think my pictures turned out good but anyway, let me tell about my first 3 days in this country I have already fallen in love with.

After an exhausting flight of a little more than 9 hours, one transfer in Zurich (Switzerland) and a 2 hour bus ride from Montreal to Ottawa, I met Christine, my first host. She came to pick me up at the Ottawa station and we drove to the Lac D’Argile, a lake 40 minutes from Gatineau. She arranged a camping night there with some of her friends and Dean, a Australian guy who now lives in Vancouver and who was also staying at her place. By the time we arrived there, the camp fire was already burning, so the fun could start. Well, what a night was that! I had roasted marshmallows for the first time in my life (they are soooooo good!), we had some good drinks, danced on the shore of the lake and finally crashed in our tents (3 people in the tent I was sleeping in, and this tent was meant for two…). The only bad thing was that it was so cold during the night and in the morning! My sleeping bag was designed for 15 degrees centigrade or more, but it must have been below 10 that night. Man that was cold! Anyway, that first night was a blast (and beware, because I’m about to use this word a dozen times more!). By the time we went to sleep, I was awake for 27 hours, but I got into the Canadian rhythm right away. How cool is that?!? Byebye jet-lag (or not…?)

After getting up too early (8AM or something), we cleaned up the tents, said goodbye to the friends and drove to Christine’s apartment in Gatineau. We each took a shower, had some coffee and got ready for a wild day in Ottawa. Right! It’s Canada’s birthday on July 1st. By the time we got in Ottawa, the city was already packed with people, all dressed in red or at least waving with anything that has a red maple leaf on it. Wauw these people love their country! And I completely understand because I do so too! I wont go in too much details on the day because we just did too much to mention, but it was awesome. The whole city was full of red and white, parties everywhere, everyone cheerful! I just couldn’t get enough. Or at least until around 2AM when I kind of crashed (my Belgian clock kept saying me that it was already 8AM). One thing to mention in detail though was the fact that we decided to start randomly hugging people in the streets and it ended in a competition between Dean and Christine for giving the most hugs! Hilarious! Anyway, we got home at 3AM or something after having eaten a beaver tail (that is so darn delicious!) and a final beer. A blast for me – again (I told youm didn’t I?). Canada Day is about the coolest party I have ever attended! Oh and yes, I have seen the biggest and most beautiful fireworks ever.

That night I slept really well on Christine’s pull-out couch and we got up at around 11 or something. After some coffee, shower and some cleaning up (yep, having two couchsurfers at your place is a real mess!), we dropped Dean off at the Greyhound bus station in Ottawa (he wanted to go to Montreal next), we had a delicious lunch with a cousin of Christine and then it was time to say goodbye to Christine. She is leaving for Europe on Wednesday and didn’t pack anything yet… She dropped me off in downtown Ottawa and at first I was planning to walk around there for a while, but it started raining so hard that I decided to call Younes, my Ottawa host. He is originally from Morocco, but he’s been living in Canada for 11 years now. Lucky him! I took the bus to his place and discovered again how hospitable people can be. We (or for most of the time I…) started talking right away and it looks like we will get along very well for the next one and a half day. He’s a photographer, so after a delicious pizza dinner, we took off to the Gatineau Park, did a beautiful walk there and went back home. We are both actually pretty exhausted, so it’s about time to go to bed.

Tomorrow I am planning a hike to the Ottawa river which is about 5 minutes away from where I stay now and in the afternoon I’m going to explore Ottawa City, this time without the Canada Day frenzy…

Before I close this post I want to thank everyone for the good times so far! Chrisine for the super warm welcome, her friends for the great night at the camping, Dean for the good times and everyone I hugged on Canada day for all the love. You all made me feel so welcome here!

C A N A D A R O C K S ! ! !

That’s all for now. I really need to get some sleep.

Tune in later for more!

Steven (as happy as can be!)

Oh by the way, I uploaded some pictures on my photo website: http://stevenplatteeuw.myphotoalbum.com (check the Travel section)

My dear friends

I was really happy to see that so many of you showed up to say goodbye. It might have had something to do with the fact that I promised a free beer, but still I’m very glad you were all there. Thanks for the love and the hugs. I’ll miss you all.

Now I’ll try to get some sleep because I have to get up in 5 hours… In 24 hours I’ll already be on Canadian soil. Yay!

See you in a month and I hope you will all enjoy reading about my adventures.

Steven

It’s over After looking forward to this year’s edition of Graspop has passed way too quickly. The line-up looked very promising, the company too. Only the weatherforecast didn’t look too good. Well, a real metalhead isn’t scared of some rain and thunder, so I didn’t worry too much.

Friday

Friday morning we left Roeselare with 3 cars at 4AM. Yep, that meant I had to get up at 2.30AM after a short night of 2 hours of sleep. There was not much traffic and fortunately we got there very early: 6:15AM. After drinking our first beer, we started unloading the cars and moving all our stuff to the campsite. At 8AM all the tents were set up and we were ready for some fun. A little later,Martin from Germany arrived and after noon the rest of our friends started showing up. Everyone was ready for a weekend of too much beers, too little sleep and some awesome metal music!

Around 3:30PM we arrived at the festival ground to be in time for the Static-X concert. The concert was good, but I regret that I skipped the Textures concert for that. After Static-X we went to see my all time favourite band Epica in the Marquee 1 tent. This was my first goosebumps moment. They played a set of only 40 minutes, but played 3 new songs that sound very good and heavy and some classics from both their previous albums. To end they played the incredible ‘Consign to Oblivion’. I couldn’t help myself but I had some tears in my eyes. That song is just too beautiful.

After Epica it was time for Papa Roach. Not my all time favourite band, but their live performance is legendary and a guarantee for good times. They have proven their reputation once again by making the whole crowd jump and headbang in the pouring rain. Incredible feeling! This gig just made us forget about the rain.

Luckily the next concert was again in a marquee tent: Amorphis. I only know their latest album, so I was curious to know what they would sound like live and what their other songs would sound like. Well, they left quite a big impression on me. Their set was varied and very energetic. The other songs I heard sounded heavy and melodic. It won’t take long before I have some other records from them, that’s for sure!

Then we headed back to the main stage for Within Temptation. I must say I’m not too much of a fan although I have their three latest albums, but I like them live. They have proven that reputation once again. The show was perfect, Sharon’s voice was good and solid and the music sounded pretty heavy. That’s mainly why I like them live and not really on the record: They sound too polished on record while they sound quite heavy when performing live.

Enough about Within Temptation. Next on the line-up was Celtic Frost. A classic Black Metal band that reunited last year with a new great album. I was quite curious to see them live as these guys are legends! From the first note, their particular style slams you in the face with very heavy and slow riffs and somewhat scary vocals. The first few songs I heard sounded awesome, but I had to leave because I had a headache. I was drinking since 6.17AM, remember?

The headache only got worse and after hearing some songs of Chris Cornell (not too good really) and then trying one song of Type O Negative, I decided to call it a day and to take off to the campsite. I really wanted to see Therion, but I just couldn’t stay awake anymore.

Saturday

As an early bird I am, I got up at 9 or something. The headache was over and despite the few hours of sleep I felt quite ok. Ready for another day of great music and fun. We started off with some junk breakfast and beers before we went to the festival ground. Not too much planned today, so we really had to see what we wanted to see or there would be nothing left.

We took off to see the Norwegian band Sirenia. They play Gothic metal and above all they have a new singer. She has the looks and the voice, so who had to be there? Right, you get it. Well their concert was great. They played some new stuff and some very good old songs too. The new stuff sounded heavier live than on the album which was a very good thing. For playing so early, I would give them an 8!

After Sirenia, Stone Sour played on the main stage. I must admit I’m not such a fan of this band, but there was nothing else playing at that time, so I checked them out. The gig was ok, but not overwhelming. The songs are just not powerful enough in my opinion.

We took some time off after the Stone Sour concert to have a drink, some food and visit the metal market. We made sure we were back in time for Life of Agony. I don’t know them too well as I only have the album ‘Soul Searching Sun’ which is – according to some of their fans I spoke with – their worst album. I kinda like that album, so that was promising. And yes! What a show this band has put up! Even though I didn’t know most of the songs, my head was banging, my feet were moving and I had a huge smile all through the concert. Keith Caputo and his gang have a new fan!

Cannibal Corpse was one of the next bands on the bill. I don’t know any of their songs, but my friend Matyas from Budapest told me to certainly check them out. Oh man! What a fat sound and disgusting lyrics! But hey, I really liked their music, even though we took off about halfway the concert. This is definitely another band I need to check out soon. Thanks Matyas for convincing me to see them!

While wandering around after the CC concert, I saw on one of the big screens that Bloodsimple has cancelled their gig. Not too much of a big deal, but the big deal was that DevilDriver played instead. I saw them last year in the marquee and it was a huge party, so I convinced 2 of my friends to go check them out with me. Not a bad decision after all it seems. The metal dome was pretty packed with people and as soon as the first plectrum hitted the strings, the tent exploded. They pulled out a party like only DevilDriver can do with some huge circle pits.

Korn played after that and this was the worst concert I have seen on Graspop this year. They sounded pretty lame and to be honest I really don’t like their songs. So I won’t bother writing too much about this here.

Dimmu Borgir is one of the bands I discovered way too late. I have become a big fan of theirs in a very short deal of time. I definitely wanted to see them live and yes I was there in the tent. Yes, you read it right: a tent. And that was a big mistake. This band is just too famous to play in a tent. The sound was great, the atmosphere was awesome, but it was too crowded and hot. With pain in my heart I left after 3 songs. It was unbearable to stay inside. I enjoyed the rest of the songs outside the tent, but of course the sound was not really good. Great band, bad choice of stage.

And then for the band of all bands: Iron Maiden! This is also a band I discovered pretty late and so far I didn’t see them live. I was pretty excited to see them for the first time and how did they convince me?!? What a show! They have proven once again to be the gods of Heavy Metal. The sound was as tight as an ass, the show as overwhelming and the atmosphere in the crowd is unbelievable. They took off with three new songs and then they started playing some older songs. When they decided to play ‘The Number of the Beast’, ‘Fear of the Dark’ and ‘Run to the Hills’ in one go (order is not right I think), the crowd got insane! A second goosebumps moment when everyone was singing with the band on the song ‘Fear of the Dark’. You have to witness that to feel what I’m talking about. That is a feeling I just can’t describe!

Full of energy we went back to the campsite for a ‘little’ party. I won’t get in too much details about this party (maybe because I don’t know too much details anymore ), but some of us went to bed when the sun came up. After a few hours of sleep the first thing we needed to do was to beat the hangover to get ready for day 3! Lots of great bands on Sunday, so we’d better be prepared.

Sunday

I would have never expected to be on the festival ground for the DevilDriver concert, but hey, there I was. This time they played on the main stage and once again it was a huge party. As cream on the cake they had two huge circle pits on each side of the stage. Awesome! DevilDriver has broken free from the label they had as ‘the band of the former singer of Coal Chamber’ and have proven they know how to party. So early in the morning (at least for Graspop standards) and yet such a party. Very rare!

The band ‘In This Moment’ was totally unknown to me. They play a mix of Arch Enemy and Kittie. Their music is good, but not extremely convincing. I would not yet buy a CD of theirs, but they put up a decent show. Funny to mention was that the female singer wore a blue dress and when she was headbanging, she needed to hold her breasts to avoid them from popping out of the dress

One of the bands I really wanted to see on Graspop was Chimaira. I’m a huge fan of their pumping mix of thrash metal and metalcore. They took off with ‘Nothing Remains’ and the tone was set. The huge amount of early birds in front of the main stage started moving right away and the party that DevilDriver started continued and went in crescendo. During the last song, a huge wall of death spontaneously started and reached all the way from the stage to the P.A. I only saw this once during a Hatebreed concert. Chimaira: fat, convincing and good to headbang my hangover away!

After this explosion of energy we took a short break to grab some food and have a drink. In the background we witnessed some songs of the Black Label Society concert, but I don’t really like them. We visited the metal market and walked around a bit, waiting for the next concert to come: Spoil Engine! I absolutely love this Belgian band from Kortemark-Roeselare. They play pretty energetic metal and the two shows of theirs I saw were incredible. They played in the metal dome, so it’s not an ideal place to attract a crowd… or is it? Apparently for Spoil Engine it is. As soon as the first notes were played, the tent was packed with people, banging their head, going insane in one of the pits that were constantly moving. Great energy, perfect sound, world class band!

Unearth is one of the huge number of metalcore bands that became very famous the last few years. The metalcore genre is not really famous for the originality of the music, but who cares. Unearth plays fast, aggressive and energetic songs. That’s all I need in their music. And at that point it went wrong at Graspop. There was something terribly wrong with the sound. It sounded like only the stage speakers were on, resulting in a hollow and too silent sound. I took off after 3 songs. Disappointed. Not with the band, but with the sound technicians. This could have been a party but it wasn’t. Too bad for the huge crowd that showed up for their concert.

Back to the main stage now for Children of Bodom. Their music has a very particular sound and over the years they have proven to be great musicians. A big crowd was gathered in front of the main stage to see the band they all like. Even though the papers said the concert was awful, 20.000 or more people were banging their heads, waving the horns and going nuts during this great performance. CoB never disappointed me and neither did they at Graspop 2007!

Time again for a break because in one hour, the gods of Thrash Metal will be invading the stage: Slayer! Slayer is one of those bands that never disappoint. Tom Araya, the singer entered the stage and said: “Hey! We were asked to come here to play some fucking music and that’s all we’re going to do tonight!” And that’s all they did. Fair enough for me. Their set was great and varying, the sound was very good and above all, during the song ‘Raining Blood’, the heaven gates opened and the rain started pouring down on us for a while. How about that as a symbol of satan

For me, Slayer was the real headliner for Sunday, so after trying to check out Amon Amarth, I went back to the campsite for another beer before I went to sleep.

CouchSurfing

I don’t go anywhere without having CouchSurfing in the back of my head and Graspop was no exception. Martin, my first CS guest joined me and my friends on camping and later on, Olivier and Petra came. They brought Sam, Cas and some other friends from the UK with them. For all of them it was the first time I met and although we didn’t spend too much time together, I have a very good impression of these people. I’m sure we’ll meet again. Maybe Graspop 2008?

That’s it for the 2007 edition of Graspop. We had lots of fun, saw great bands, had too much to drink and too little sleep, so let’s call this year’s edition a success! Let’s count down to GMM 2008!

Thanks to all my friends for the great times! Love you all!

Oh and before I forget, there’s more pictures here and more videos here.

Just a short note here that there’s going to be a CouchSurfing meeting at Graspop this year. Olivier, a CS friend, has set up a meeting on the website, so we’re going international this year. Everyone who wants to join us there, just join the following event:

http://www.couchsurfing.com/meetings.html?mid=2554

Oh and yes, before I forget: My first couchsurfer ever, Martin from Germany, will also join me and my friends in Dessel for the full 4 days!! How’s that for good news.

Check back in 2 weeks for a full report of Graspop (if I’m already sober enough to write a report… )