Hitting the snow for the first time!

First day @ Lake Louise

Yep - I reckon we'll handle this whole ski town lifestyle aok!!

First day @ Sunshine

Josh spent a lot of time eating snow but is looking really good for only having been three times!!

Kelly note: Fiona is currently kicking our butts on the slopes (she's pretty good, and obviously has kept her form from earlier in the year). I plan to give her a run for her money in a month or so :)

My monkey touque (pronounced 'Touk') Canadian word for Beanie :)

Kelly note: I can't believe I'm in love with a man who wears a monkey beanie!! He also has a chicken one too!!!

Hiking near Baff in Late Fall.

That's Fi's new apartment block in the background!!


Our hiking buddy in crime Zara

Our first snowman of the season!!!!!

Our first snow angels!!!!

By the time we were near the top we were hiking through about a foot of snow.

Halloween in Banff

Our first Halloween and an absolutely memorable one!! This is a party town and people in this town know to do these events right! Unlike Australia where you always have to worry if people are going to dress up or not - well.. this was not a problem here :)

I'd never seen anything like it - absolutely hilarious!!! There's nothing like seeing trolls, mario brothers, werewolves and barmaids going off together on a dance floor. Josh and I had got our costumes in Montreal in this awesome mask shop - I based my outfit on this mask I bought. It was a pretty wierd experience freaking people out all night. People kept staring at me and watching me all night... made sneaking up on people fun too!

Yep - my boyfriend reacts wierdly to full moons :)



I thought my friend David had the grossest outfit of the night!



THis was my favourite guy on the dance floor.

Different Perspectives in Quebec

I was really curious about Quebec and to see how different it was from the other provinces in Canada. Within a day of entering the province I realised that I had expected to encounter the stereotypical 'french' attitude of snobbiness to people who don't speak french and lots of stylin' fashion. Well, one out of two was correct. We only encountered friendly, helpful and lovely Quebequas and yes, as expected, saw a lot of hot fashion on the streets.

It was so interesting to learn the history of the French in Canada. and to realise that it was only in 1995 that they narrowly rejected becoming their own political state (by 0.5%). They had better relations with the First Nations people, they populated right down the Mississippi to Louisiana. Their influence around Canada is quite prominent. Every single package, sign and label in Canada is in English and French. There's French communities in Nova Scotia, New Brunswick... Anyways.. it was just a slice of history that I had never really learnt about.

One of my favourite stories was: When Quebec City was first being established there wasn't enough women around to help populate the new colony. So, they shipped 950 women over straight from some overflowing boarding and reform houses in Paris. Within one week of them arriving they were all married!! Not only that, but due to most of the colony being directly related to these 950 Parisian women - Parisian French was spoken there more widely and purely than most of France at the time!!

Quebec City, Quebec - Old Town Upper




Still loving those fall colours and leaves everywhere we looked..



Quebec City Quebec - Old Town Lower
A reunion with Fiona!

Fantastic wall murals in the old town.


Street Cherubs?

A picnic with Fiona and our European friends overlooking the river in beautiful sunshine... we were lapping it up while we could.



__________________________________
Montreal

Josh was excited about the Formula One Track which is open to cylists when they're not racing. You can't hear him but you can imagine the fast car noises he was making as he took this corner...

Josh: The city is very much trading off the '67 expo - its effects are still evident. One of the legacies of the expo was "Habitat 67".
http://www.greatbuildings.com/buildings/Habitat_67.html
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Habitat_67


Stylin it in Old Montreal!! (correctly pronounced Mon-He-AL)



Halloween Parade in Montreal. They were so into the gory, scary side of Halloween!! We loved it! Except when the masked men snuck up on us in a side alley way - gave me a heart attack!!