The final exam period is just over, exams are done, the last preparations are to be made. My brother Peter arrives at Toronto airport on the 15th of December. With him a huge supply comes along which is supposed to cover the basic needs of the following month. Among other things there are two gigantic cans of Christmas sweets and 3.2 kg German chocolate.

Beside me and my brother Nina, Dylan, Cornelia and Nicolas come along to this winter trip.

In the last days of the exam period it had snowed very much, even that much, that the university had to be closed for one day and all the scheduled exams had to be cancelled. Luckily I had my last two exams the day before and the day after this happened, but Cornelia's last exam was postponed to the 22nd of December, the official date for postponed exams. All efforts Cornelia's to reach the Prof and arrange something different came to nothing. Finally, two days prior to our planned departure, she got the message that the exam was postponed again to the 4th of January.

We have rented some cross country skis and some snowshoes from the Outers Club and the snow in Waterloo invites us to try out that stuff. So my brother Peter, Tim, Peter and I undertake some trips going xc skiing and snowshoeing around the CLTs.

Before we can get started the van has to be serviced. Cornelia had encountered some problems with it just a few days ago, that's a fine lookout! But a change of the spark plugs seems to help...

19^th December 2000

We start at 1:30pm with our Chrysler Voyager and food supplies for two days and head north. We make good headway, the only problem is a frozen hose for the wisher fluid. We follow our standard route up to highway 400, a bit south of Barrie, shortly after Orillia we take the 11 until we reach Huntsville. There we exit onto highway 60 on which we reach the office of the cottages, close to the general store in Oxtongue Lake about 10 km away from the west entrance of Algonquin Provincial Park. After we signed us in we can occupy the cottage #6.

It divided into a huge dining and living room/kitchen combination with two attached bedrooms and a bath room. Additional to the electrical heating there is a fire place and we have fire wood at free disposal. It is very comfy and cosy, the right place to forget about university and the stress of the last weeks. We spread our stuff across the place and enjoy our first evening with some hot chocolate in front of the fire place.

The evening isn't lasting very long, we all are a bit tired and so Nina and Dylan, Cornelia and Nicolas take the bedrooms while Peter and I set up our sleeping bags in front of the panoramic window in the living room. We switch off the heating due to the tiring noise it produces.

20^th December 2000

The next morning welcomes us with a sunrise directly above the opposite side of the lake that stretches in front of our panoramic window; we haven't noticed it in the darkness of the last evening.

The thermometer in the living room reveals the reason for the fresh feeling we have now. It is about 2 ºC, not really a cosy temperature. After we switched the heating back on temperature rises again. Breakfast is prepared quickly and after some time of dressing we are ready to go. At this time the sun is located a bit higher in the sky already, offering us a wonderful panorama of the Oxtongue Lake. Temperature outside reach -22 ºC.

For today we decided to go xc skiing. We get started at 11am and head to the west gate of Algonquin Park.

Here we get a parking permit for the van and directly start off onto the eastern 3km loop of the Fen Lake XC Trail (point A).

The trail wasn't groomed and track set within the last days and is covered by some centimetres of powdery snow. But the trail itself had thawed a bit and is now frozen again, providing a track that is well usable. The trail runs through the woods, a wild up and down, passing a amazing snow-covered landscape.

After the first 1.5 km we split up the group. Nina and Dylan want to walk slow, Cornelia and Nicolas join them and so Peter and I break trail alone. We want to cover a big loop and meet the others at a shelter where we want to have a break together.

Two intersections to the west later (point C) we decide to start the following loop on the northern part. The next two 2 km the trail winds itself up a hill, a pretty demanding part. But we are looking forward for the downhill part, which happens to be pretty tough, too ;-)) Around 2pm - we are only 200 m away from the shelter - we meet Cornelia and Nicolas, who tell us that Nina and Dylan cut off a bit and already head back to the car. The four of us have a short break and a snack in the shelter. As we go on it's already getting dark. Within the last rays of sunshine we reach west gate. Nina and Dylan are back for a couple of minutes only, good timing!

We drive back to our cottage and take a hot shower. We weren't outside for too long today, but he fresh air has tired us a lot. We light a fire in the fire place and shortly after a cosy fire crackles, that heats up the cottage decently. After we have discussed our wishes for the next day's meals Cornelia and I drive to Huntsville to do groceries for the following nine days. While the others prepare a delicious potato gratin, we buy up the independent store ;-))

We want to buy Dimpflmeyer bread, but the girl behind the counter tells us - after she asked another employee - that they don't have anything like that. So we get lots of fresh bread from their bakery, but as we get to the fresh meat counter we discover that they were wrong and indeed have Dimpflmeyer bread. However, we exchange the breads and buy 21 of the Dimpflmeyer breads, almost everyone they have. Corresponding to that the rest of the groceries and the bill turns out: ~$340. But correlated to the number of people an d the number of days that is only about $6.30 per person and day. And we do have some excellent stuff for the next days.

As we come back we tidy away the groceries (as much as that is possible ;-)) and devote ourselves to the potato gratin.

We have a nice and quiet evening, spiced with some reading and doing handicrafts. Needless to say, that we don't miss a cup or two of hot chocolate....

21^st December 2000

The morning begins with a breakfast feast. In fact we munch all of the 3 loafs of bread that we calculated for every day's breakfast. The weather isn't that sweet as it was the day before, therefore it isn't that cold either.

Today we load the snowshoes into the car, we are planning to hike a trail that is said to be very nice. As we pass west gate we discover that we have not much gas left and decide to fill it up at the Portage Store at Canoe Lake. Unfortunately it is closed and we have only this much gas left to leave the park. In order not waste the time by getting gas we plan on doing two small hikes on our way back.

We start with the very short Hardwood Lookout Trail that runs just about 800 m through the woods. But it's perfect for those of us who have no snowshoe experience yet. It is cloudy and foggy and there is no lookout at all, but after we climbed this little hill everyone of us agrees on heading for another trail.

Only 5 km to the west the Whiskey Rapids Trails starts which runs along the Oxtongue River for about 1 km, in total it is 2.1 km long.

Back in the cottage we warm us up, it is still very early in the afternoon and there is enough time to relax in front of the fire place.

22^nd December 2000

Like every morning now after we climbed out of the beds there is a delicious breakfast.

Around noon we get started, today xc skiing is issued again. As we arrive at the Mizzy Lake Trail it looks pretty difficult and it is neither groomed nor track set.

However, we get ready, fixing all our gear and are going to start as it comes to us. We are on the wrong trail, how awkward! Actually we headed for the Minessing Trail, about 7 km east on the highway 60. There is nothing we can do about it but get our gear back into the car and go on driving.

Half an hour later we start on the Minessing Wilderness Ski Trail. As it says it's not groomed, and there was nobody here before us. Everything is deeply covered in snow so we have to break trail. It is pretty strenuous to make headway, we skip our plan to cover the 10.1 km loop. Nina and Dylan give up and walk back to the car while the rest of us aims to manage the small loop. The woods surrounding the trail is very sparse and consists almost only of beech trees.

At the half point we have a short break to have some sandwiches and hot tea. We have just conquered a f... steep hill and are sweating all over, a reason not to stand around for too long and get cold.

The backward part of the trail runs on the east side of the loop. Here the trail follows an old road that was build to move timber out of the woods.

As we reach the starting point again, Nina and Dylan aren't there but on a small snowshoe hike. Until they come back we sit in the shelter and munch our remaining sandwiches. Finally Nina and Dylan return and we head back to our cottage to get a hot shower.

In the evening we drive to Huntsville once more to do some more shopping. My brother needs some glue and a soldering iron to repair his lens which broke we he dropped his camera the day before. Beside that we buy a hatchet to be prepared for tours across frozen lakes and orange juice and wine to have some Feuerzangenbowle (German mulled wine, but see below..).

On our way back we stop at a hotel just outside Huntsville, a bit away from the highway. The valley it is located in is covered with at least 100 illuminated spruce trees. A wonderful impression and if it wasn't that cold and windy we would stay for longer.

23^rd December 2000

This morning rings in a very special day of this trip. For that the sun shines especially bright and dips everything in a golden radiance.

We have breakfast in the morning sun and get ready for an event that is undisputed the highlight of this holiday - it is the dog sledding tour. The sky is clear, temperature is down at -26 ºC, ideal for sled dogs.

We get dressed in very warm cloth, no one wants to freeze while sitting still or standing on the sled. We get started and head for the west gate where we meet our guides - father and son - for this trip.

We follow their truck to the Sunday Lake Trail which was opened especially for dog sledding tours. We stop at the parking lot where the guides prepare the sleds, four in total. It seems to be a difficult thing but everything runs very organized and experienced. The sleds get fixed to the front bumper of the truck and the pulling ropes are stretched out in front of them.

As the sleds are ready we get our instructions on how to handle the sled. We don't have to care about steering to the left or right because the dogs always follow the trail respectively the leading sled. Nonetheless there are certain commands ("gee" for right and "haa" for left) with which one can guide the dogs on unknown terrain. The only important things are how to bring the sled to a rest (step on the brake) and to how keep the leashes under tension so that the dogs won't get caught up in those.

The dogs sure do know that it is time to get started and they get restless and noisy. As they get leashed up in front of the sled - a so-called toboggan - they are hardly to be held onto what exactly is our task in order to avoid any chaotic running around. The dogs already wear their harnesses and so everything goes pretty quick. After only 10 minutes all dogs are fixed to the sleds, always 5 dogs (2 leading dogs, 2 steering dogs and one in the middle) for every sled with two people, only the guide's son got his own sled with only for dogs.

Everything is ready to go and so we guide the sleds onto the trail and - straining hard at the leashes - the dogs zoom off. They are eager to run and is obvious how much they appreciate the low temperatures. Their bodies are steaming in the cold, from time to time they take a muzzle full of snow.

On the first few hundred meters the trail runs through spruce woods, but shortly later it slopes down to the Sunday Creek Marsh, a lake that is frozen by now. We cross the lake northwards and after a couple of meters through a forest passage we get onto Sunday Lake. Here we have a short break.

The dogs on of the sleds are fairly new, so they don't know the trail yet and therefore we are kind of slow. Our guide rearranges the sleds' positions so that we make headway much better than before. We pass Sunday Lake westwards and turn onto a trail towards north which is running through a hilly area. The ones of us standing on the back of the sled have to get off from time to time now in order to decrease the sleds weight, sometimes we have to push the sled when the trail slopes uphill too sharp. On really steep parts even the people sitting comfortably on the sled have to get off. While the dogs were really keen on running and strong in the beginning they now get lazy and tired. The trail turn northwards again and then runs in a horseshoe bend across Titmouse Lake and Sproule Lake back to Sunday Lake again. We cross the lake westward once more, but then turn south towards the parking lot. After about 3 hours we reach our starting point. As mentioned before we all dressed up very warm this morning and after we (or at least the ones who were standing on the back of the sleds) were running for about 8 of the 17 km we covered today we are soaked by now.

Before the dogs get into their boxes on the truck they get leashed to the side of the truck and while they cool down and relax our guide tells us that they are kept in a kennel outside, that they aren't fed with meat but vegetable feed and how one can get them into a harness and out again. After everything is stored on the truck and the dogs are in their boxes again we say goodbye to our guides and head back home to our cosy cottage.

On our way back we stop several times in order to shoot some pictures, unfortunately once too often. At the last stop - I just want the car come to a standstill - the tires on the right side get into deeper snow and like in slow motion the car slips into the ditch. We get out and try to push the car back onto the road, but it buries itself only deeper into the snow. Now we get to know Canadian helpfulness, almost every car stops and people ask us, if we are o.k. and if they should call for help. A couple wants to call a service station which then should send a towing truck. While we are waiting for this truck others stop and offer their help even though they see that about others were asking right before them. At some point there is quiet a traffic jam on the highway. Some time later a four wheel drive offroader stops and I am about to tell him that help is on the way, but then the driver offers to try to pull us out of the ditch. He has a towing rope and really we manage to get our car back on the road. The only thing we can offer him is $20 for his help, but he refuses to take it, it's Christmas time he says. It is incredible, I am deeply impressed and a bit ashamed knowing that in Germany we probably we be still in the ditch.

The only problem remaining is the towing truck which already should be here by now. We decide to start back home, trying to signal when we notice the truck. We stay on the highway for at least 30 more minutes, but we just don't meet a towing truck. Presumably we would have waited very long for it.

The rest of the evening we spent in the comfy cottage, only Nina, Dylan and I go out for a short walk in the icy air. We are all pretty much tired, a really adventure-loaded day just passed, experiences we won't forget for a long time have marked it.

Nina's birthday is the 24th and so we were planning on partying into her birthday. In order to stay awake - and not just fall asleep for an hour like Nina - we secretly put forward the clocks and watches in the cottage. Nina gets wise to our trick very soon, but that doesn't matter. So we have champagne and some gifts, a really nice evening.

24^th December 2000

Nina and Dylan head to Dylan parents today and so Cornelia, Nicolas, Peter and I go for a snowshoe tour after we had breakfast together.

We choose the Track & Tower Trail which runs along Cache Lake and an old railway track. The weather isn't really nice, but therefore is warmer then the day before. After we covered about 2 km of the trail that winds itself through a snow-covered mixed forest we reach Cache Lake and walk on it parallel to the trail for some time.

After another kilometer we get to a dam which was built decades ago in order to maintain an average water level all year. The outlet of Cache Lake is almost totally snow-covered, only partly the water flows gurgling over the rocks. Meanwhile it started to snow again, single snow flakes show themselves in their natural beauty when they happen to fall on the darker parts of my jacket. Finest branching out adorn the crystal and reveal its detailed structure. A bridge spans across the little creek and the trail follows its course along a rock face.

We go on passing several small lakes and some marsh until we come to a steep hill. As we reach the top of it we recognize the old railway track which runs very even through the woods. We got started very late this morning and regarding the meal we are planning to have this evening we agree to not paying any attention to the intersection that leads to a lookout but to stay on the trail. Several hundred meters later we have to leave the track, climb down to a creek and climb up again on the other side of the creek. Decades ago a bridge spanned the creek on the piers that still loom up nowadays.

After another 500 m we have to leave the track and follow the trail into the woods again. It runs through some hilly area now and at some point we have a short break. Here a huge palisade of icicles has grown from a inclined rock formation.

We continue to follow the trail and even if we don't have any heavy backpack with us walking gets more and more tiring. We cover the rest of the trail pretty quickly, we are all looking forward to the feast this evening.

back in the cottage we start on cooking right away and have to discover that we are still about 7 hours away from the planed meal. The shorten time and to fight the hunger we have a short snack in advance.

Finally it is ready, the banquet can be served....

We prepared a huge turkey which comes with gigantic bread dumplings (which had about 6 hours to rise ;-)) and red cabbage. We have a real feast, it's just delicious.

As we finally fall onto the couch we can hardly move anymore. On the radio typical Canadian (American) Christmas music is played ("Grandma got run over by a reindeer", "Frosty, the snowman" and "Rocking round the Christmas tree"), which is much more fun to listen to compared to the boring German Christmas songs.

We have some hot chocolate an later on we have the opening of the Christmas presents.

25^th December 2000

For today we have planned a xc ski tour, but as we are getting dressed we discover that we forgot the shoes in the van. These are frozen at -20 ºC now and we have to warm them up in front of the heating.

The weather has an positive surprise for us. The sun is shining and the sky is blue, blue, blue.

We drive to the east side of the park where the Leaf Lake Ski Trail is located.

We start off at the parking lot and head in a north-western direction. In the beginning the trail is fairly hilly but lead us through a gorgeous scenery. For some time a animal track - probably a wolf - follows the trail, presumably only a day old, maybe less.

After about 3.1 km we reach the intersection which brings us onto the Pine tree Loop, the probably most wonderful ski trail in Algonquin Park. From now there isn't any groomed and track set trail anymore, we have to do this work on our own. Therefore steep uphills heat us up a lot and steep downhills make sure we don't lose interest and still have fun going on. Several lookout points offer awesome sights across the landscape with an outstanding Pine tree Lake - a white surface in contrast to the surrounding trees. we finally reach a shelter where we have a short break for snack. The shelter is cosy and warm, two skiers which came towards us hours ago obviously stayed overnight in here.

From the porch one has an amazing view again.

We get back on the trail, pass Thistle Lake and come to the Leaf Lake Trail again. After about 17 km we are back at the car.

On the last kilometer we increased speed a bit and after we dried off a bit we get on the 65 km long way back to the cottage.

26^th December 2000

Today Cornelia takes some time off, the exam on the 4th of January casts its shadow before. So Nicolas, Peter and I take off in the late morning to hike the snowshoe trail on Canisbay Lake.

In the beginning the trail leads us along an access road to the campground at Canisbay Lake. the first 400 m there are track of snowshoes which derive from Nina's and Dylan's little hike some days ago. As we come to the lake shore there only is a single xc ski track leading onto the lake. We follow those tracks and 10 minutes later we are pretty much away from the shore. Suddenly the snowshoes feel much heavier than just a moment before. A look back reveals the reason. Underneath 10 cm of powdery snow there is a layer of slushy snow, soaked with water which freezes on the aluminium frames of my snowshoes. We have a funny feeling about that and walk back a bit and proof the ice thickness by poking a hole into the ice using the hatched we bought a couple of days ago.

Our test reveals that the ice layer is about 15 cm thick, even enough for snowmobiles. 10 cm would have been enough already to assure a safe crossing. However - we avoid any unnecessary risk a stay close to the shore.

After 3 km we reach the northern end of the lake from where the trail leads across a swampy area. here some creeks lead into the lake, another reason to keep close to the shore. Making headway get much more exhausting now, the 60 cm of powdery snow which lay on top of the bushes at the shore not only get compressed but spread into the bushes. Therefore we sink into the snow up to 1 m deep, sometimes big holes tear open just beside where we walk. On a only 2 cm thick ice layer carries the weight of the snow layer on top. The water underneath is almost all gone and so from time to time big plates break down with a dull noise.

At one point I deviate from a moose track only for about half a meter. The animals know where it is safe to walk, one only has to follow their tracks. But these 50 cm are enough and so I suddenly stand 1 m deeper in a hole filled with water which fortunately only reaches up to the shaft of my hiking boot. The new boots which I just bought prior to this winter break just proofed its worth. So I keep dry feet, a good thing when temperature is down to -15 ºC. We pass some beaver dams as we hike on following the little creek.

As we cross the ski trail we decide to follow this one back to the car. 4 km later we come to a shelter and seize the opportunity and have a short break for some sandwiches. We are lucky again, the stove inside is still hot, the shelter still warm. Nonetheless - it is late already and so we get going again soon after. In a final spurt we cover the remaining 5 km in one hour. After about 20 km in total we get back to the parking lot where the minivan is waiting for us.

We load our gear and head home. It's already getting dark and all of a sudden I discover a big shadow in the ditch. As we approach it we can see that it belongs to a moose that is searching for something to eat by digging up the snow with its huge snout. It has a shoulder height of about 2 m. We can watch it for a couple of minutes walking up and down along the road, finally crossing the highway and disappearing into the woods where it sinks into the snow up to its knees.

As we get back to the cottage another surprise is waiting for us. Dylan's mother and his sister brought back Nina and Dylan from Toronto and are going to stay overnight.

So for the next day we are planning to do a snowshoe tour together. For dinner we have a German/Canadian hotchpotch with Käsespätzle (cheese pasta) and a vegetable/meat pan. We have to tell a lot of stories an the Feuerzangenbowle, which we were planning for Christmas is a perfect thing to make for this evening. So we sit in front of the fire place and sip at our Feuerzangenbowle. For everybody who is interested, Feuerzangenbowle ("burning plissors punch", a kind of mulled wine with spices) consists of red wine and orange juice (1:1), pieces of oranges which laid in Rum for at least one day and spices (cloves, cinnamon, orange peel). This mixtures has to be heated up (avoid boiling). Then a metal frame is put on the pot on which a sugar cone is rested. The sugar cone has to be soaked with rum (min. 54% (maybe heated rum with 40% work, too)) and lighted. While the cone is burning with a blue flame the sugar melts and drips into the pot. In order to keep it burning one has to add some more rum (use a ladle, not the bottle!) onto the burning sugar. For a mixture of 1.5 l red wine/orange juice each you can account about 400 ml of rum to be used. Enjoy!

27^th December 2000

The morning greets us with wonderful sunshine again. We have a breakfast feast and get started soon after. At the Algonquin Outfitters we rent two pairs of snowshoes for our guests and then go on for another 30 km into the park where we want to hike the Bat Lake Trail.

The Trail starts in a pine tree forest, only a narrow path leads through the deeply snow-covered jumble of trees.

At one point high above Bat Lake we have a break and a great view across Algonquin Park. We munch our sandwiches and have some hot tea before we hike on.

A steep descent leads us to the level of the surrounding lakes. As we finally approach Bat Lake we can't help but walking big letters into the snow layer on the ice.

We get back to the car late afternoon and head back to the cottage. Our guests can't stay any longer but they invite us to stop by for a chili on our way back to Waterloo. By chance we have chili tonight, too, and it tastes much better than it actually looks on the picture ;-))

28^th December 2000

Unfortunately we could the cottage only until today and so we have to move. But we are lucky and we are told that the owner of the general store has a cottage for rental, too, in which we can stay another three days at Oxtongue Lake.

After we moved all our stuff from one to the other cottage and bought some more groceries we want to go for a short tour, xc skiing on the lake. Nina takes today off and so the rest of us gets onto the lake.

After we have reached the northern tip of the lake, Dylan heads back to the cottage. It's just too cold, probably -15 ºC, but on the lake there is a wind-chill of about another 10 ºC. So Cornelia, Nicolas, Peter and I head southwards again. On our way we meet a Brit who is immigrated about 30 years ago but never lost his strong British accent. He tells us, that his daughter studies in Waterloo, too, and that he is living in the nearby cottage all year long.

We go on for another 2 km then Cornelia and Nicolas head back, too. Peter and I keep on skiing until we reach the southern tip of Oxtongue Lake where we have a break for sandwiches. On our way back we have the icy wind against us, fortunately we brought along our face masks which avoid any frostbites ;-))

When we come back to the cottage the sleeping sickness seems to have everybody under control, they are lying around all over the place.

In the evening we prepare a delicious potato gratin again. The oven is probably about 40 years old and has one problem: it won't get hot, only warm. We try to figure out why and finally Dylan calls the owner who tells us that 7 is the lowest level and 1 the highest, crazy...

As it gets dark the clouds disappear and a gorgeous starry sky extends above our heads. We can see the International Space Station rushing by accompanied by the humming sound of hundreds of skidoos in the surrounding woods.

Later on we play some "Siedler" before we fall asleep in our beds/sleeping bags.

29^th December 2000

Today Cornelia, Nicolas, Peter and I head for the Mizzy Lake Trail to hike it with our snowshoes. Nina and Dylan want to have a more relaxing day and stay at the cottage.

The Mizzy Lake Trail runs for about 11 km in a loop around several lakes and it is supposed to be the most beautiful hiking trail in the park. It runs along the Mizzy Lake and afterwards follows the same railroad tracks we got to know a couple of days ago while our Track & Tower hike.

We pass West Rose Lake and get to an intersection which leads us to the so-called Bear's Nests. The path is still untouched by hikers and so we trudge additionally 2 km through the deep snow. It is a detour which is absolutely worth going.

These nests aren't the places where bears raise there children, but rather nest-like looking accumulations of branches and twigs, which the bears tear off the tree while feeding on them. Not all of those fall down to the ground, some of them accumulate around where the bear is sitting. Having a closer look to the bark of the beech trees reveals the traces the bears leave behind using their claws in order to climb up the tree. Fresh traces from late October as well as old ones that are already overgrown with scar tissue can be observed.

After taking some pictures we walk back to the trail where we continue the loop. We pass Wolfs Howl Pond and other lakes like March Hare Lake.

It is gotten a bit hazy and a diffuse light dip the lakes into a surrealistic atmosphere.

In the dusk we reach the car but although we observe the sides of the road we can't make out another moose. The evening we spent with cooking, eating, playing "Siedler" and loafing around, just being lazy.

30^th December 2000

Our last day at Oxtongue Lake dawns, today we want to do a last snowshoe hike altogether for which purposes we have chosen the Hemlock Bluff Trail.

The short trail leads us to a cliff where one has an amazing view on Jack Lake.

On the further trail we pass a tree population which is predominated by beech trees. On some of those we can observe trace left behind by bears climbing these trees. The loop is only about 3.5 km long and after 1.5 hours we are back at the van. As were are about to load our equipment back into the car Cornelia suddenly shouts that we should take a look down the road. Less than 10 m away a female moose and its calf are standing still starring at us as we are starring at them. They stay for a couple of second and then a male moose appears and they walk down the road together, cross the road and disappear in the woods again.

We head back to the cottage and stop once more just behind the park's boundary. Peter and I want to have a look at the water falls of Oxtongue River while the others already drive to the nearby cottage. The remaining 1.5 km Peter and I walk back, but first we are climbing on the iced over falls.

We want to take a straight line route back and make our way through the thicket and walk on the frozen Oxtongue River. An adventure that is rather time-consuming. We only take a bit of a short-cut and rather walk in a zigzag.

As we finally make to our cottage we cook and eat together we the others and then start to pack our stuff. Afterwards we play two rounds of "Siedler", then we go to sleep.

31^st December 2000

We get up early but have nothing left for breakfast so we plan on packing everything, hand back the keys for the cottage and then have breakfast at a Tim Horton's along the way to Ottawa.

Normally there is one of those on every corner, but we seem to be in a Tim-Horton's-free region. So we finally stop at a supermarket and get some stuff that we munch on the supermarkets parking lot, sitting in the car, talking.

In the early afternoon we reach Ottawa where we made reservations in the international youth hostel in advance. We get our keys and can access our rooms - or better say cells - because the building was an operating prison until 1972.

Since then not much has changed, it is an experience to stay here, I can warmly recommend it!

After we prepared our beds we start for a walk into the city. After few meters we reach the Rideau Canal, a waterway which connect Ottawa River with the St. Lorenz River. It never was important for commercial transportation, nowadays it is used by small yachts, in winter - when frozen - it provides a 7 km long ice skating track, lined by little cabins where one can buy beavertails.

We are looking for a nice restaurant and get into one where we get good burgers and pizza. After we are totally filled up we change location to an Irish pub - Mayflower II - where we spent most of the remaining evening.

We finish some pitchers of beer and have a real blast. As it gets 11pm we get started and walk to a bridge crossing Ottawa River from where we want to observe the new years firework. On our way we meet a police officer who tells us that this year there will be no firework at all due to a lack of money. We are hoping on some private firework though and make our way against icy wind up to the middle of the bridge. A it get 12pm there is in fact no firework to be seen.

Nonetheless we have a lot of fun, the panoramic view is worth all the standing-around-in-the-cold. On our way back to the youth hostel we can see that the new years eve parties are already over, people are on there way back home. The others go to bed as we arrive at the hostel but I don't want to sleep now and the breakfast room. An hour later I meet some guys that are on planning to go snowshoeing in Gatineau Park the next day and we come to talk about this and that. One of the guys is a producer of CBC radio who is regularly working on stories about biotechnology and GM foods. We have a beer together and talk for an hour or so.

1^st January 2001

We walk a bit through Ottawa, take a loop around parliament and come to take a look at Chateau Laurier.

Today all the shops and museums are closed and so we decide to head back home immediately. On our way back we stop at Dylan's family in Brampton where we get a delicious chili. Thanks again for the warm welcome and the invitation.

Around midnight we reach the CLTs. We just had a incredibly impressing winter break with lots of new experiences, and adventures which stay in our minds for a long, long time....