Canada Travel Blog

Canada’s blog. Week 1.

As I promised, I will try to make a blog about Canada, Toronto in general, and places which I visit. The first week was quiet, moderate, without many new places, just getting used to the usual Canada’s conditions – the weather was quite interesting! It can be absolutely different in one day ?☄☀?⛈ At the moment it’s cloudy, but it’s going to rain with thunder⛈, so my plans to go downtown should be re-scheduled for the next week)

Глоссарий (незнакомые слова и выражения:)
promise – обещать
try to make – стараться сделать
in general – в основном
visit – посещать
moderate – умеренный
quiet – тихий
quite interesting – довольно интересный
getting used to – приспосабливаться
conditions – условия
absolutely – абсолютно
thunder – шторм
downtown – центр
(re)scheduled [(re)‘skeʤuːld] (пере)запланирован

Canada’s blog. Week 2.

The second week in Canada was a lot more exciting! Finally, I visited Toronto’s downtown, saw and swam in Huron Lake and had a small camping there, got acquainted with the Canadian prices better, borrow some books and magazines from the local library, which is really great, and had a ride on the bike above Highway… and even saw a scarecrow and Happy Canada Day!

Глоссарий (незнакомые слова и выражения:)
a lot more exciting week – намного более захватывающая неделя
finally – наконец-то
downtown – центр города
get acquainted – познакомиться
camping – кемпинг (отдых на природе в палатках)
library – библиотека
borrow sth (from smb/somewhere) – брать на время что-то (у кого-то/откуда-то) (e.g.: borrow books from the library)
highway – хайвей (скоростное шоссе)
scarecrow – чучело (“пугало ворон”)

Canada’s blog. Week 3.

The third week was such a really hard-working, but interesting:
– I finally refinished the deck at the backyard (believe me it was really time consuming, but it was worth it;)
You will know some interesting details under the topic photo
– had some entertainment activities with my nieces on Canada Day and watched the firework from Disneyland (not the best one which was in Toronto)
– got one interesting job, but about that maybe later;) “tennis is in our blood” motto of one company
– saw really nice sport cars
– and was happy to visit local library one more time (but not for too long)

Some comments will appear a bit later, so stay tuned;)

Glossary:
such – такой
hard-working – работоспособный, трудолюбивый
refinish – обновить по новой
deck – см. предыдущий пост “Refinishing the deck”
time consuming – времязатратно
it was worth it – это того стоило
entertainment – развлечение
motto – слоган

Canada’s blog. Week 4. ??

Today I was able to visit downtown for the second time. What can I say… Eaton centre, from where I had VK live stream, is really big… We had also quite big shopping malls in Voronezh, but here they bigger and more interesting. Toronto Eaton Centre has 4 main floors and 3 in the underground (subway) level. You can even feel a little bit with your feet when the trains go near somewhere else in the underground.
By the way, if you go to such big shopping centres, you need to have 4 hours in advance. I needed to find good, not expensive t-shirts, tennis shorts and some good sneakers (sports shoes) and that all took me full four hours, and overall I visited only about 7-10 stores (just think how much time it would take to visit every store and just to get familiar with some items⏱?) https://www.cfshops.com/toronto-eaton-centre.html
Finally, I ended buying two interesting t-shirts and no shorts and no sneakers) I found one really nice tennis shorts but the price $80 + tax(13%) is quite expensive by Russian standards?… Interesting, but there were only 3 pairs of tennis shoes in the whole Eaton centre… but a lot of running and basketball shoes⛹. What’s more interesting there were no tennis shoes even in the Adidas centre?

Glossary:
Sorry for being a little bit late – извиняюсь, что немного запоздал
productive week – продуктивная, плодотворная неделя
cozy store – уютный магазин
originally- изначально
historic – исторически ценный
GTA stands for … – GTA сокращенно от Grand Toronto Area (включает в себя Торонто и несколько районов и отдельных городов)
had to go to another part of the city – должен был ехать в другую часть города
took me about 4-5 hours in total – это заняло около 4-5 часов в общем
with transits – с пересадками

Canada’s blog. Week 5. ??

Sorry for being a little bit late than usual, but finally want to share with you some stories of the last weeks.
The 5th week was really productive – I was an instructor for the tennis academy here in Toronto, – and I was happy to visit new places – cozy Yummy store (originally Russian store which now sells more European food), Awenda park at the Georgian Bay, great historic buildings in the University of Toronto area, and also had to go to another part of Greater Toronto Area (now you know what GTA stands for) which took me about 4-5 hours in total with a lot of transits;)

Glossary:
was able to visit – смог посетить
for the second time – во второй раз
downtown – центр города
What can I say… – что я могу сказать
shopping malls (centers) – торговый центр
underground (subway) – метро
feel – чувствовать
a little bit -немного
with your feet – своими ногами
somewhere else – где-то по близости
By the way, – кстати
in advance – наперёд, с запасом
not expensive – не дорогой
sneakers (sports shoes) -кроссовки
overall – всего (в общем)
just think – только подумай(те)
store – магазин (бутик)
to get familiar – познакомиться

Canada’s blog. Week 7??

New places, new meetings, and new photos, for sure!) This time there was a possibility to make even some footage (videos) – https://vk.com/video1779472_456239117 – VK stream from Toronto’s harbour was my only second video, that’s why I apologize for the shooting’s quality – will be improving it if you want to see more videos? And this time, finally, I uploaded some photos from my DSLR camera, so please enjoy the photos? With God’s help photos in August would be really special, but that’s a secret?
Please see the description to the pictures ->

Glossary:
for sure – конечно
possibility – возможность
footage – небольшое видео
harbour -пристань
apologize for sth – извиняться за что-то
shooting’s quality – качество съёмки
improve – улучшать
finally – наконец-то
with God’s help – с Божьей помощью
would be – должны быть
special – особенный

Canada’s blog??. Week 8 in Montreal. (part 1)

A trip to the mountain” or “Haste makes waste”
It was very interesting how I got to the Mountain Royal in Montreal! Yes, there is a mountain, a big hill, in the city itself!
It was already getting dark when I decided to go on the mountain. There are different routes how it’s possible to get to the top of Mt. (Mountain) Royal and I needed the shortest route because I wanted to get there before it was dark. So I asked people how I can get there and they told me to go straight and then climb the stairs…
There was also a serpentine road to the top, it was not straight and I found it too long. When I was running along this road I saw a steep short path (or it looked like a path)) and I thought that this path would get me to the mountain faster. So I followed this steep path and I saw a lot of obstacles (препятствия) on the path – rocks, big plants… and finally, the path ended soon. But I was quite high at that moment and it was getting dark a lot faster that time and there were a lot of hidden rocks under the plants. So if I had hurt my leg, nobody would have come for help because I was quite high and far away from people. But with God’s help, I managed to climb down back on the road – I had really dirty hands, but I was really happy :)
Then I followed the road, saw the stairs and finally got to the mountain! I was unable to make good photos with sunset, but I was able to make good night photos with the moon )
Anyway, the moral of this story is that “haste makes waste” (спешка тратит время; рус. вариант: поспешишь – людей насмешишь)

Glossary:
getting dark – становится темнее
would – прошлое время от will, часто переводится как “бы”
would get there – добрался бы туда
decide – решить
route – путь
possible – возможно
get to the top – добраться до верршины
along the road – вдоль дороги
a short path – короткая тропа
steep [stiːp] крутой (подьем)
steep mountain — крутая гора
follow – следовать
hidden [hidn] спрятанный
plants – растения
if I had hurt my leg, nobody would have come for help – если бы я повредил ногу, никто бы не пришел на помощь (условное, уже невозможное предложение (3) Conditional)
far away from people – далеко от людей
ith God’s help – с Божьей помощью
“haste makes waste” – досл. спешка делает трату времени; рус. вариант: поспешишь – людей насмешишь
(un)able – быть (не)способным

Canada’s blog. Week 8 (Part 2)??

it was really the most exciting and lively week I have ever had in Canada! Too many new places, too many new events! Thanks to God, everything was great!
First of all, the secret that I was keeping – I got the media accreditation to one of the biggest tennis tournaments, Rogers Cup ???? – it is fairly named as Canada Open amongst US Open and Australian Open, Big Slam tournaments! Rogers Cup is being held in 2 cities – this year men played in Montreal and women in Toronto. I was lucky to be in both cities!
It was my first trip to Montreal and I really liked that city in spite of my “zero level” in French? (there were some funny situations with that: when I was leaving the tournament, in stead of saying “take care/good bye” in French I said “bonjour” in half-voice? I took some great photos of the city too and I had a really big challenge climbing one mountain, but that you can read in Part 1)
Interesting, nevertheless, Montreal is the city of Quebec French province, where two official languages, everything is written in French only – but the same goes with Toronto, where everything is written in English (public transport, shops, not sure about all cafes). But, at the same time, almost everybody can speak English. I only met two people who couldn’t speak English.
I had only 3 nights and 4 days in Montreal, but the time really flew by and it wasn’t enough to know the city better! I got to Montreal by train on Monday and went back to Toronto on Thursday by bus, which is 2 times cheaper, but not so convenient. I booked the apartment on
On the tournament, I was even lucky to get acquainted with Russian sparring tennis players and had even access to players’ locker-room?
The only thing which disappointed me in Montreal is that I saw only one winning match with our Russian players. Karen Khachanov won doubles match with Domick Thiem. All other our players lost in their first round….
To see the best players, Federer and Nadal, and many other great players, Monfils, Tsonga, Del Potro… and not from the spectators’ view, but from the photo pit, it’s valueless experience! Please see more pictures in the photo albums)
The second part of the week, from Friday till Sunday I spent at women’s Rogers Cup. And the great results come in the end of the tourney! Our Katya Makarova and Lena Vesnina won doubles final easily with 6/0 6/4 score (having the interview with the champions prior to their victory was a real privilege)
ATP Rogers Cup final in Montreal was also interesting and a bit surprising, but not for me – Alexander Zverer defeated tennis legend Roger Federer 6/3 6/4. Interesting fact, Zverev won the tournament, but he was just one point away from quitting the tournament in the second round – Richard Gasquet had 3 match-points and failed to take advantage of that.
I was lucky enough to speak with Sasha Zverev after the match and asked him a few questions: before that match there were 2 matches that day when players came back after match-points to win the match – Monfils saved 4 match-points against 5th seed Nishikori, and Shapovalov had saved 4 match-points in the first round and advanced to the semi-final afterwards. So, my question to Sasha Zverev was if he thought about those matches in his head when facing match-points against Gasquet. His answer you can hear in the audio file Zverev attached to the post. I was also lucky enough to speak to women’s singles champion, Elina Svitolina, at the press conference (see the audio “Svitolina” attached).

P.S. Sorry for those who are absolutely not interested in tennis, but I think you all can find interesting things in this post;)

Glossary:
the most exciting – самый захватывающий
lively – живой, яркий
fairly – заслуженно, честно
nevertheless, – не смотря на то, что
the time flew by – время пролетело (быстро)
2 times cheaper – в два раза дешевле
best value decision – лучшее решение по цене/качеству
locker-room – раздевалка
disappointed me – растроило меня
spectators’ view – вид с мест зрителей
photo pit – скамейка для фотографов
valueless experience – безценный опыт
privilege – привилегия
tourney – сокр. от tournament турнир
defeat smb – победить кого-то
prior to their victory – перед их победой
quit – закачивать
afterwards – в последствии
attached – прикрепленный

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