I have to say that I have a special place in my heart for Canada. Back in the day (1984) we made the trek up to Montreal for the Canada Cup and watched a thrilling 4-4 tie between Canada and the USA team. Some highlights of our trip:
At the border: Entry into Canada was a breeze. The border agent asked us our nationality and birthplace and our purpose for coming into Canada. When told we had journeyed up from Maryland to watch the Canada Cup he waved us right through.
At the game: It was somewhat eerie at first since our primary experience with out of town hockey was in Philadelphia, where the fans of the visiting team normally had to carry weapons to make it back to their cars alive. Being there from the USA, we were horribly outnumbered by Canadians (at least 10-1) however when the USA scored on Canada there was a cheer from the entire crowd. The maple-leaf adorned fans next to us turned to me and said "that was a great shot!" -- about the last thing I expected from a fan that saw his goalie get pwned. As the game went on the Labatts flowed mightily between us and our Canadian brethren -- they bought a round when Canada scored, so we of course bought a round when the USA scored (game was a 4-4 tie so we all had a good time). By the end I was singing O Canada with the rest of them (which really is a much better National Anthem than ours, especially when you consider that ours reuses the tune from an ENGLISH drinking song).
After the game wandering the streets of Montreal: There is quite a lot to be said about the charms of french Canadian girls. My high school french got a workout, as did I. We had such a good time that we journeyed back to Montreal for my bachelor party many years later... but that is another story.
Quebec City and a bit of History: the next day we drove on up to old Quebec City and visited the fort (we are a bunch of history geeks after all). Nice town, nice people, good food. The history lesson I learned there was that the guys that had the idea during the American Revolution of marching up there in the dead of winter to assault that fort that sits high up on a steep hill across the river - were IDIOTS.
So <Salute> Canada - those of us down here in the States that have actually gone there and know how nice it is will keep putting out propaganda telling our fellow countrymen of the many moose attacks and other dangers of Canada. After all, we wouldn't want you to be inundated with obnoxious New Yorkers.
