Casino Lac Leamy’s Sound of Light: Greece

Tonight I witnessed my first Casino Lac Leamy’s Sound of Light show Ottawa-Gatineau. The show is an annual event that takes place through August. Representatives from different countries put on shows that combine music and fireworks over the Ottawa River.The different teams' performances are judged based on the musical playlist they select, the firework display, the variety of fireworks and so on. Tonight's show was put on by the team from Greece. Earlier performances were by Belgium and Spain and later this week will be Venezuela and then the Grand Finale.

Viewing takes place at the Canadian Museum of History in Gatineau, just on the other side of the river from Ottawa and the Parliament building. Ariane and I arrived about an hour before the firework show started but festivities were going for at least an hour or two before that. There was music playing, and live performances of all kinds. We stopped briefly to watch some acrobatics before finding ourselves a nice piece of grass to settling in on for the show. 

The show opened up with the Greek National Anthem and then it was firework time! Below are just a few examples of the amazing performance that we witness tonight! Also catch some of my video clips on YouTube!

Completely irrelevant to the rest of the show, I was quite pleased to see a Tom Brady jersey in the crowd! Patriots! There was a Red Sox hat out there too.

That is it for now, I thoroughly enjoyed this and we are going to try catch the other shows from different perspectives. Will share them if we do!

Arriving in Canada!

Greetings All!

It has been a few months since I last posted but I am now here in Canada. My Fulbright officially begins next month but I am here early settling in my new place with Ariane, the birds and the cat.

I have only been here a couple days but I am already enjoying every second of it!

Mischief was not too fond of the drive and apparently a double dose of sedatives does nothing to quiet her down =] But she was a good sport and seems to be settling in fairly well. She does seem antsy to go outside though. Poor girl.

She has taken on a new pastime of watching Lumi be Lumi. She has behaved though and done nothing more than watch. Though I have had to shoo her once or twice. Don't need her scaring my little man!

Mischief and Lumi are just a couple of the friends I get to chill with here! Some of you may have seen this post on one of my social medias but it is too fun not to reshare. In the top left is Mr Noah, Lumi's older brother. Next to him is Koopa, the younger of two bearded dragons I am watching for a friend of ours. Top right is Hope, Ariane's sister's adorable little budgie! The cat with the lion mane next to Lumi is Nuage, Ariane's sister's cat. She is a cuddle muffin. Below her is Helix, Koopa's older sister. The last unidentified friend is the cockatiel in bottom center. His name is Clyde and he lives in the vet where we take the birds. Handsome guy no?

So as many of you know, I am not new to Ottawa and I have acquired a taste for poutine. Traditionally it is fries with gravy and cheese curds but there have been a number of variations on the theme that have developed over the years. Second day here and I had to get my first poutine of my Fulbright =] I went with what this place called "The Canadian" which consisted of the usual with bacon, beef, onions and a touch of maple syrup! Was everything I could have hoped for!

The company that makes the official cheese curds of poutine.

Okay not necessarily a Canadian thing, but I tried seaweed chips the other day too and they were quite delightful! Sort of like a kale chip (mostly in texture and salt) with a little something extra (probably the seaweed =D  ). I strongly recommend you try some if you get the chance!

Anyways that is it for now, I will post more as interesting things happen!