Greetings from Ottawa Ontario Canada!
Another uneventful bus trip, the shortest one I've had on this trip so far, had me in Ottawa. I've visited Ottawa a few times before so navigating around was pretty easy. I made my way across town to where my friends Alan and Sarah now live and where I would be staying for my visit in our Nation's Capitol.
On Parliament Hill, our country's Parliament building behind me.
Staying with Friends From BC
I know Alan and Sarah from, as the title says, Victoria BC. Alan and I trained together and Sarah was always around the club and even trained a little herself. They moved away to Dublin when Alan got the acceptance of a lifetime to go do a course over there in literature. After a year Alan and Sarah made it back to the West Coast of Canada, only to leave again for Ottawa. In all it's been about a year and a half since we've hung out. It was good to see them and get the time to chat and fill each other in on what's been going on, and to hear about Alan's experiences with snow (There's no snow in Victoria BC and Alan had lived there forever). In the evenings that I wasn't training we would hang out and watch a movie or talk the night away about general stuff. Being that we were both new to Ottawa and working on University courses I imagine I was a must needed break to fill the social void that slaving away on a computer and not being able to venture out and meet people creates. I even got Alan out to class one night, he had been inactive with martial arts for awhile now due to school, and he ended quite sore the next few days, but I'm sure he'd agree it was worth it. It was good to see them, thank you Alan Sarah for letting me stay at you place and take care of me, until next time!
Alan out at class with me. I forgot to get a picture with the three of us together.
While staying with Alan and Sarah I also had time to work on the paperwork needed for applying for my Russian Visa and get it all handed in. There is a lot of paperwork for some Visa's I've found so I figured I might as well focus on them when I was in Ottawa where the Visa services office is located. I even set up a time to go in and talk to them in person about my trip and look over the paperwork. I think it went well, but we will find out soon enough. Also, between all the paperwork, training and hanging out with friends, I managed to take the time to walk around down town and take some pictures of the Parliament building and all around Parliament Hill, the National War Memorial, and all the other cool sites around there. Here's some pics from that:
Parliament Hill, the West Block (under restoration), the Parliament building, the East Block.
During my stay in Ottawa I made it out to the Evolution BJJ HQ in Gatineau. If you don't know, Ottawa is built right on the border between the provinces of Ontario and Quebec, with the Ottawa River separating the two. There are a bunch of towns surrounding it, on both sides of the border. Gatineau is just on the other side of the river in Quebec. The club itself, Evolution BJJ Gatinaeau is the HQ of the many Evolution BJJ clubs in Canada and USA as well as a Tristar Gym affiliate. The head instructor and founder of the club is Prof. Dan Guilemette, who I will have an interview with next week. I met Prof. Dan back in Petawawa during the holidays, and told him of my intentions to visit his club when in Ottawa, he told me I was welcomed anytime.
The first day I made it the club it was a weekend open mat and when I showed up it looked like everything was closed. I was early and waited outside. A few others showed up and were also waiting around after looking inside, wondering why all the nights were off. You see the club is in the strip mall and is easy to find with all the big signs but the club is in the basement at the end of a hall way other stores along the way. When myself and the other students first looked in all the lights were off to the hallway so we figured everything was shut, even though the door was open. Someone from another place came out and one of the other students asked if the gym was open. His answer was yes it was, the Judo class was in there training, the reason the lights were off is because the electrical company was working on a transformer so all the power to the place was off. So we went inside, down a dark hall where we found the gym, and the Judo class, training in the dark.
Power outage won't stop us!
Some Judo in the dark.
And some BJJ in the dark too.
The gym is in a big space, it's actually perfect for it, despite it being underground. As you walk down this hallway of other store you see at the end a glass wall with the gym's name and logo painted on it and you can see the two main mat areas, on the right side, the first main mat and area, blue and red tatami mats on a floating floor for takedowns and the Judo class, the entrance is to this area, with the change rooms and bathroom on the far wall. On the left side of the glass wall you see the second main mat, in black and yellow, with caged wall for MMA practice and heavy bags alone the opposite wall, this is the Kickboxing and MMA room. There are other rooms for other classes as well, it is a big area, and very well put together.
The main mat, for BJJ and Judo.
Mat 2, for the Kickboxing and MMA classes.
I walked into the gym to find other students stretching or rolling on the mats, with the Judo guys training in the center. Prof. Dan was sitting on a bench "No power outage is going to stop us from training!" he said I waved to him. The mats were barely light with the lights from peoples cell phones, just enough to get a silhouette of people and objects. I made my way to the change room, get ready and ended up having a great roll with a bunch of people that day. really, you don't need to see to do Jiu-Jitsu, you need to feel, rolling in the dark was fine. The lights finally came on after an hour or more of training and really not many stayed much longer, like the light scared everyone away.
class, with the lights on.
I came back again for class during the week, with no power outage this time, and trained with some great people. Prof. Dan was working on sweeps from the close guard position, with every move coming from having an overhook and lapel hold. There were some great thing shown, little details I've been missing while trying similar moves. Every time I've trained with him I've found something new that really applies to my game, Prof. Dan is great for this, he really shows you the holes in your game and helps fill those in. In my short time with him I've picked up some cool things I've written down and have been using since.
Group shot of the class one day.
Team Ronin BJJ
Another place I had to go to with Team Ronin BJJ. I started talking to Ryan Kellar, black belt and head instructor of the club, on BJJ Globetrotters a long while back when planning out the Canadian Odyssey portion of this journey. I was looking forward to meeting another Globetrotter, there aren't many in Canada, and train with his club. The club itself is in a college athletic building, it's easy enough to get to but checking in with Ryan for directions to find the actual room the classes are held is probably a wise choice, especially if you're like me and not familiar with the campus. Classes are held in a matted room that has heavy bags against the far wall and also hold the Kickboxing classes, and other martial arts classes, for the school.
No Gi class with Team Ronin.
I made it out to both gi and no gi classes while visiting and even brought Alan out for one of the nights. The classes were well run, with a good warm up, a lot of time for drilling and then rolling on the end. For no gi classes one of Ryan's students, Vadim, who is a tall-all-limbs guy and a leg lock wizard. I like how he taught his classes, with showing a submission, drilling it, then showing the counter, drilling it, then showing the next submission in the chain and so on. That way we were drilling both the submissions and the counters, rather than what I've usually saw of drilling submissions one night and counters later on another night.
Rolling time.
Gi class.
Alan enjoying himself.
Ryan taught the gi class and was big on movement being the key, using momentum and chaining the moves together. We started with warm up involving a lot of the same moves that were the core of the techniques we drilled, like side rolls and berimbolos. Being the of the body shape I am I was a tough night for me working on this things, maybe one day I'll get them though. Rolling with Ryan his style is very much the way he teaches, he's very athletic but he doesn't rely on it, always moving around you, or moving you around, and then letting you work on your defense, only to be put into another sweep, or counter. It was almost like an aggressive flow match, until he decided to catch you in something, and very impressive.
Ryan Kellar and Submission Arts United
Ryan Kellar, thanks for the classes!
After class I sat down with Ryan and we talked about his martial arts back ground, the history of the club and getting into the College, and another company he is apart of, Submission Arts United. The SAU is a Jiu-Jitsu competition organization based out of Montreal that runs competitions in Ottawa as well. Having never spoken to someone who is part of the competition organization I was curious what what goes into setting up a big platform such as that without it being tied to any one club, as local events usually are. We had to finish the interview a bit early as we were limited to the time we had in the college and almost got locked in but we still had a good conversation and covered a lot.
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And after a week of training and hanging out with Alan and Sarah it was time to head to Montreal Quebec, meet some internet friends and have my first class in a 10th Planet BJJ club!
Greetings From Kingston Ontario!
Originally I was going to stay in St. Catherine's so my bus ticket for Kingston was from there and not Niagara Falls, but a simple extra $8 and I had my ticket extended and left Niagara for Kingston without any problems. I even got in and met up with my cousin Jamie at the station at the proper time, which is awesome but I guess doesn't leave me much to write about, hahah. The Long Overdue Family Reunion
Meeting Cousin Jamie, and the rest of the family, has been long over due. We were trying to think of exactly when we last saw each other and the best we could think of is an old Christmas gathering at the Grandparents, which would be about 20 years ago, maybe even 21 or 22 years, anyways, a long long time ago. While in high school we both decided to start Jiu-Jitsu, almost at the same time too, but never knew of the other training until recent years when I started planning out The Odyssey. As it happens Jamie and have so much in common and can talk forever about martial arts philosophy! It was just like the TV shows or family movies where the star finds out they have a cool family member they never knew about and you always think 'no one ever has a cool secret family member, this movie is dumb!' only this was real. It was a great time catching with Cousin Jamie and the rest of the family! One night we all went over to Aunt Doris', who I also haven't seen in many years, for supper and I got to fill her in on my journey as well.
I guess if you look at my past 10 years it's been pretty crazy and even I wouldn't have guessed half the things would have happened. I was out of college and running my own business and doing well, and then lost it all and ended up on my friend's couch, then once I started to get back on my feet decided I'd join the military, which I once said I'd never do, and now I'm backpacking around the world as some sort of blogging, globetrotting martial artist Youtuber. Come to think of it I guess there's been a lot of catch up on for all my family members I've finally been able to see while on this journey. Man I got to keep in touch with my extended family more often, condensing it all into a paragraph like that makes me sounds like a mess!
Anyways, I was nice seeing that part of the family again, I'll make sure not to make it another 20 years before hanging out again.
Cousin Jamie, Aunt Doris and myself.
Training with Cousin Jamie
My time in Kingston was short, and with my ears bugging me, an infection had made it's made into both of them since Niagara Falls, and Jamie also feeling under the weather, and an ice storm hitting Kingston, there was only really one night for us to train together. We had originally planned for Jamie to bring me to a Kenjutsu class and get my first experience at sword play as well as I was going to make it out to a BJJ class at Unik Skills but the only class we were able to make was the one at Jamie's club, Koketsu Kai Tiger's Den Jiu-Jitsu. Jamie is a 4th degree in this style of Jiu-Jitsu. This style is similar to other traditional Jiu-Jitsu styles, with strikes and take down and controlling techniques, but also has a grappling element to it that a lot of other styles do not. Training with them was similar to the Ninja Ryu Jiu-Jitsu style I did in high school and was a lot of fun to play around with again.
The club patch, to add to my collection.
As part of the warm up Jamie had us do some positional grappling, getting out of being mounted or in side control etc. and I got a great compliment from one of his black belts. One of us was in mount with the other trying to escape, with us switching the rolls after a couple of minutes. At one point he says to me, 'it's hard to deal with your legs, you're using your feet like hands!" As a grappler I took that as a great compliment.
For the class we went over different techniques fro the various belt curriculum so Jamie and his club could show me what they study. It was great, there are a lot of similarities and parallels with the styles I've trained before with different details or variations to make it new again. I love classes like that, it's not about more techniques, its about more details. I look at it like this: each technique is a tool, and each new detail sharpens it. I've heard the saying 'It's not about having the most the tools, it's about having the sharpest tools for the job' and like House of Pain I like my tools to be 'the sharpest in the shed!'
I was hoping to get to do an interview with Cousin Jamie but with both of us fighting a cold I just wasn't for it and I don't think he would have been either. So this is another article without an interview but I hope the pictures of the old downtown buildings and penitentiary below help make up for it.
Cousin Jamie and I, thanks for class!
Kingston
The penitentiary.
The warden's house, which overlooks the penitentiary.
Jamie and hie wife, Laura, drove me around and showed me a lot of Kingston. I never knew much of the city and never really put much thought into it but after an afternoon with Laura telling me all about the history of Kingston I see the city has a lot more history to it than I thought. One cool thing she told me about was that there's an old abandoned mental ward everyone thinks is haunted and has been used for different TV shows or movies. I didn't get any pictures but it definitely looked creepy. Also, in the old down town area are a lot of old buildings built of lime stone that were all dug by prisoners of the old penitentiary, forced into chain gangs for their crimes. And of course, Sir John A McDonald, first Prime Minister of Canada, lived in Kingston and his house is still preserved and used as a museum to the man. I didn't get pictures of the house but it's a cool site to see if you're driving around the area.
The court house.
City Hall.
And with that I short time in Kingston was up. Thanks again for everything cousin Jamie, it was awesome to catch up and train together! It was a pleasure to meet you Laura and the rest of the family! And of course it was great seeing you again Aunt Doris!
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And then I was off to meet friends from Victoria BC who had moved to Ottawa, also to train and see the sites of our nation's Capitol!
Here's the itinerary for my time in the UK and Ireland for the month of march! I know it's short notice as it's only a few days away but here's where I'll be during the month and where I'll be training. Of course more gyms could be added as I travel from place to place, after all, Canada started with 35 gyms and end with 42, and if the weather hadn't held me back it would have been 48. Anyways, Be on the look out for a traveling Panda in UK and Ireland very soon!
DATE PLACE GYM(S)
2-6 March London Wave BJJ 6-10 March Blackpool UTC Blackpool 10-12 March Manchester/Wigan Snake Pit (catch wresting) 12-16 March Dublin East Coast Jiu-Jitsu Jorge Santos BJJ Ryano BJJ
16-20 March Belfast SBG Belfast Gracie Barra Belfast 20-24 March Glasgow Gracie Barra Glasgow Hybrid Fight Academy 24-27 March Edinburgh Cross Combat
Rick Young's Black Belt Academy 27-30 March Stockton-on-Tees LPW HQ (catch wrestling) Middlesbourgh Middlesbourgh Fight Academy 31 March-4 April London Roger Gracie HQ Urban Kings
Greetings From Niagara Falls!
I made it to Niagara Falls without any problem, I caught the GO Bus on time and not only was there a stop just across from my hotel, but also the front desk let me check in early! That gave me time to catch a nap and see the sights before class that night. Niagara Falls was a big 'maybe' on the list and I really didn't know if I would be going or not until I was in Hamilton. Originally I was supposed to stay with a friend in St. Catherine's (next door to Niagara Falls) but just before the holidays that fell through. I contacted the gym I was going to go to and it ends up they would be closed for that weekend because of a big tournament in Toronto. I then asked my friend Matt Kaiser if he knew of anywhere to train or stay at, if not I'd just come back to Toronto and see some more friends and maybe check out another club or two. As it ends up Matt introduced me to Coach Rob and his gym, 1812 Fitness. Coach Rob was happy to help out and, although he wouldn't be around, set up places for me to train at. All I needed was a place to stay. As it happens, Niagara falls is dirt cheap to stay at in January! It's off season time so they get very little tourist traffic. The city is a buzz with tourists most the year and prices for everything are easily double or triple in the summer but during the winter I practically had my run of the town. Going there to see the sites without the mobs of tourists was more than worth it (Warning: Lots of pictures ahead!). Coach Rob setting me up with places to train made it a great stop I'm glad I made! The Clubs: 1812 Fitness and Relentless MMA
Coach Rob runs 1812 Fitness, a place Matt Kaiser said he likes to check into when he's in town, so it was on my place of training at, especially since coach Rob was setting all this up for me, but their class wasn't until Saturday. I got in early Friday which meant it was the night everyone hits up Relentless MMA. The Niagara region Jiu-Jitsu community is a bit different. It's a small area and they understand that support from each club is needed to make Jiu-Jitsu successful. With that in mind they have different days for each club holding open mat. Friday evening is Relentless, Saturday it's 1812 and Sunday they all head down to Fort Erie to Dayboll-Pascuzzi Jiu-Jitsu for Sensei Sam Pascuzzi's open mat.
Fun Friday night at Relentless!
Relentless MMA is new, it had only been open for about 6 months when I visited, but Davide and Pat, who run the gym, have been working hard to make it a success. The space is an old warehouse lot that they turned into a gym, with lots of mat space, heavy bags for the kickboxing classes, and raised area for people to sit and watch, with the changed rooms and washrooms there as well. Word was put out that I was in town for the weekend and apparently that got a lot more than the usual few people out for open mat Friday night. There were a good dozen guys in the mats, and they were monsters! The rolls were tough but fun, no one was trying to rough up the new guy but they weren't playing easy either. I talked with a bunch of them about my blog and where I had been so far, most of them seem really interested in my journey, 'living the dream' as everyone says. It was a good 'Welcome to Niagara' for sure!
Open mat Friday night, a bunch of monsters on the mats.
The next day it was time to make it to 1812 Fitness. They are also in a warehouse lot, but a bit smaller and more square, with an area for weights on the right and the mats on the left. The guys all went out for drinks after training the night before, where I did not, having other plans to meet with a friend, and that seemed to knock off most of them from showing up to the noon time open mat Saturday. I myself was moving a bit slowly, being on day 6 of training and still sore from the 3 hours a day in Hamilton, so I showed up a little late. With my presence it made 5 people on the mats. Despite low numbers we still had a good time, I rolled some good matches with everyone there at least once, all bigger than me I might add (Wasn't joking about them being monsters!). We talked a bunch about different Jiu-Jitsu topics after rolling. At one point we went over some techniques and I showed them some of my favourite moves. It was a good Saturday class, too bad a bunch of the Friday night guys missed it.
Sunday I was going to go to Fort Erie to train at Dayboll-Pascuzzi Jiu-Jitsu and meet Sensei Sam Pascuzzi if he was there but Coach Rob told me he was having trouble finding me a ride. I was tired from such an active week and really needed to get on my blogs for Toronto still, so I told him not to worry and that I could use a rest day anyway. I wish I had more time to see everyone in Niagara Falls, finally meet Coach Rob and make it to some classes rather than just the open mats and make it to Fort Erie and meet all those guys too but as I've said before, if I took the time to hit every club in Canada I've never be able to leave the Country, and there's always next time.
Group shot of the Friday night class that welcomed me to Niagara Falls, thanks for the good rolls guys! Davide, the co-owner of Relentless MMA and BJJ instructor is in the middle with the yellow spats.
I also wish I could have set up an interview with someone, there are so many interesting people here: Coach Rob who runs 1812 Fitness and has an open door policy and set everything up for me I think would have been a good interview. Pat and Davide who are dealing with a new club in a small but dedicated community would have made an interesting interview. And of course talking to Sensei Sam Pascuzzi in Fort Erie, who is the head black belt for the area would have been a great choice as well. There just wasn't time and I was looking to take a rest from the hectic schedule I had been running lately, so I'm sorry but there's no interview for this week, but there are a bunch of photos from the sites of the city so hopefully that makes up for it.
Pat, who runs Relentless MMA with Davide and instructs the kickboxing classes.
Thank you Coach Rob for setting everything up and introducing me to all the awesome guys in Niagara and Thanks to Pat and Davide for having me over at Relentless, it was a blast! *UPDATE*
Shortly after leaving Niagara Coach Rob had to close 1812 Fitness. It's always sad to hear of a club closing, especially when it's your friends' and you've trained there before. It's too bad you reading this won't get the chance to train there if you haven't already, but with the tight knit Jiu-Jitsu community in Niagara Falls I'm sure you'll see more of Coach Rob and his students! The Sites: The Falls and The Strip
During my off time I hit up the sites at Niagara Falls, mostly on the first day I made it in to town. I hadn't been to Niagara Falls since I was a kid and my family went on the one summer vacation we did together. To be honest it was fun back then as a kid and I'll always have those memories but I think I'm glad we didn't do it again, it would make those memories not so special I think.
Old photo of the family vacation, I was scared to stand beside Frankenstein, but at least I had style back then.
My mom and brother and I. We're actually under the Horseshoe Falls, there's a tour through caves that brings you out under the falls. My mom was holding us so tight, apparently she thought I jump over the balcony hahah.
This time around I was on my own, as I said before there were no hoards of tourists around. I didn't go into the wax museums or haunted houses like we did when I was a kid (I don't have the money for that, and I still not over being creeped out by them haha) But I did walk up and down the strip of Clifton Hill and check out the falls themselves. Clifton Hill isn't as big as you would think, although it has a tons of stuff there, museums, arcades, even a dinosaur themed mini-putt and ferris wheel.
Clifton Hill, the strip.
Frankenstein's haunted house, wonder if it's changed inside at all, too bad I'm not looking!
There's an ape on the side of the building..
The dinosaur mini-putt.
More of the strip.
The falls are pretty awesome to see and I think seeing them in the winter, with all the frost and ice around them, made them look ever more impressive to see. If you don't know, right on the boarder to the USA is Niagara Falls, which is the name for the group of three waterfalls, Horseshoe Falls, American Falls and the Bridal Veil Falls (the Bridal Veil, in my opinion is just part of the American Falls). Right next to the falls is the Rainbow Bridge the connects USA and Canada and is a really busy border point. Its a beautiful sight to see and I spent a good time walking along the mile long stretch, stopping at every view point to get some pictures of the waterfalls. Here are some of the best ones:
Rainbow Bridge, sadly it doesn't go to Asgarde.
The falls, American on the left, Horseshoe on the right.
American Falls, with the Bride Veil Falls on the far right.
Horseshoe Falls, commonly known as the Niagara Falls.
I rode up one those carts and took the overhead pic from it, its a pretty cool view.
I also went back at night in attempt to get pictures of the waterfalls and the strip, with the LED lights on the the falls and all the shops and signs and buildings and ferris wheel lit up. It was cool to see them but my phone is not the best option for capturing this sights, but I tried to make do.
Clifton Hill at night.
The ferris wheel I mentioned before. the day time picture didn't turn out well, but the night time shot did.
Best I could do to get a shot of the falls at night, this is the American and Bride Veil Falls.
Horseshoe Falls, before I took this picture they had it in a rainbow and it looked pretty cool.
If you like reading these stories and watching these interviews sign up to the Panda's Odyssey Patreon Account and help support me on my journey!
Also, you can buy my Panda's Odyssey Patches at The Gi Hive (in the 'Other' section), check their stock too and take advantage of the flat rate shipping for Canada and USA!
After a short weekend of training, taking in the sights, and walking down memory lane, it was time to head to Kingston Ontario Canada, for a long over due family reunion!
