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30 - The Oakville Beaver Weekend, Saturday March 15, 2008 www.oakvillebeaver.com National parks spark national pride O BEAVER TRAILS TO GREECE: Josie Cosme and Ralph Gardiner read The Oakville Beaver during their excursion of the famous Olympia in Greece. The Beaver accompanied them on their Carnival Freedom cruise from Rome to Turkey, Greece and back to Italy. Take along a copy of The Oakville Beaver on your next vacation and send it in for publication to Beaver Trails, Oakville Beaver, 467 Speers Rd., Oakville, ON, L6K 3S4 or e-mail to editor@oakvillebeaver.com. TRANSAT HOLIDAYS' EUROPE Transat Holidays' 2008 Europe program highlights direct flights to three new destinations from Toronto ­ Basel/Mulhouse on the French/Swiss border, Nice, France and Brussels, Belgium. Transat Holidays Europe brochure offers a wide range of programs, including the popular City Package, the Two-City Package DUO, the Three-City package TRIO the Seaside package and a variety of À La Carte Hotel Accommodations that you can use to design your own custom itinerary. Popular Self-Drive tours are back and new train tours including flight, accommodation, transfers and train in Austria and Germany have been introduced to complement those already available in Spain and Italy. In Germany, a new Hop-On Hop-Off Tour takes travellers along the famed Romantic Road. Short and long-term car rentals as well as a full slate of cruises round out Transat's 2008 Europe program. An extensive coach tour program is offered in the Transat Holidays Coach Tours 2008 brochure, featuring air-conditioned, state-of-the art luxury coaches, guaranteed departures and a guaranteed "Roomshare" for solo travellers. Early Booking Savings of up to $200 per couple are available for those booking until 31MAR08. In addition to the three new flight destinations, Transat Holidays continue to offer flights to many of Europe's major cities including London, Manchester, Newcastle and Exeter; Glasgow and Edinburgh; Shannon, Dublin and Belfast; Amsterdam; Paris and Lyon; Madrid, Malaga and Barcelona; and Vienna. And starting in June, Air Transat passengers will enjoy greater legroom with seat pitches changing from 30 inches to 32 inches, online seat selection, the Air Transat Kid's Club with amenities for children between the ages of two and eleven, as well as Transat Club Class offering an array of exclusive privileges such as complimentary seat selection, wider, more comfortable leather seats, more legroom, choice of gourmet meals and fine wines as well as priority check-in, baggage service and boarding. Transat Holidays' Europe brochures are available at our office. h Canada, our home and native land! And now it is for my friend Henny who became a Canadian citizen last week at the Parks Canada Discovery Centre in Hamilton, a wonderful place for such a touching ceremony. Judge Robert Morrow, a former Mayor of Hamilton, presided over the ceremony, and made all of us proud to be Canadians, even those who were born here, and take it for granted. This year is the 60th anniversary of Canadian citizenship, and Judge Morrow pointed out some of the rights of a Canadian, and the responsibilities. He talked about freedom, opportunity, tolerance and having a genuine appreciation for cultural diversity. The 21 new Canadians, whose roots came from Vietnam, China, Iraq, the U.S., Korea, Russia, Peru, Sudan, India, England and the Netherlands took the Oath of Citizenship, and listened to the music of the McKenna Brothers. Afterwards we were treated to a "Canada" cake and coffee. These ceremonies are held everywhere across the country, and at the Parks Canada Discovery Centre, four or five times a year. The centre is a Park's museum telling the stories of Canada's special places. There are all kinds of interactive displays keeping both big and little kids amused. In honour of the occasion Parks Canada gave each new Canadian five oneyear passes to any and all of the National Parks, National Historic Sites, and National Marine Conservation Areas. After cake, they wandered through the museum, perhaps to decide which parks to visit. There are 42 National Parks in Canada, in case like me, you didn't know. The newest one, Torngat Mountains Nation Park, isn't for amateurs. It is at the northern tip of Labrador, above the tree line, has wilderness and that is all -- no roads, no accommodations no restaurants, but you won't be alone. You can't go into the park unless you're accompanied by a park guide, and very experienced in wilderness travel. The Inuit have lived here for thousands of years, among Visit McTavish At: www.mctavishtravel.com www. oakvillebeaver .com fjords, mountains, and river valleys. With a guide, people can hike, sea kayak and watch for polar bears and other northern wildlife. For those who want a comfy bed, two cruise lines, Arctic Odysseys and Cruise North Expeditions, are also offering packages this year. Two Newfoundland and Labrador adventure tour companies also offer escorted tours. Explore Newfoundland at www.explorenewfoundland.com and Wildland Tours at www.wildlands.com. Perhaps some of our new Canadians will head for Banff. This world famous park in Alberta became Canada's first National Park in 1885, two years after three workers on the transcontinental railroad spotted a hot spring curling out of a rock. Mount Revelstoke National Park in British Colombia is a place of contrasts. From dense oldgrowth rainforest of giant 1,000-year-old red cedars and pine, travel up through sub alpine forest, and finally alpine meadows and tundra. British Columbia boasts seven national parks, and like every other province, the parks are vastly different. Gulf Islands National Park protects a portion of B.C.'s beautiful southern Gulf Islands. The park resembles a patchwork quilt of protected lands scattered over 15 larger islands, and many smaller islets and reefs. Québec's 27 national parks have extraordinary experiences in store for you. Together, these imposing protected spaces provide a perfect example of Québec's multi-faceted geography. Each park has its own unique personality owing to its location, flora and fauna, and they all boast an astounding diversity of natural sites and scenery. If you're mentally thinking of Ontario's National Parks and you guessed Algonquin, like me, you'd be wrong. Algonquin Provincial Park was the first Ontario Park in the entire province. In 1904, with the foundation of St. Lawrence Islands National Park, the first National Park in Eastern Canada was born, followed by Point Pelée (1918) and Georgian Bay Islands National Park (1929). Today, the province of Ontario has a total of six national parks. St. Lawrence Islands National Park is, with a size of four square kilometres, Canada's smallest National Park. The park comprises all or parts of 21 granite islands scattered from Brockville to Kingston, in the heart of the 1000 Islands tourist region. The islands are accessible by boat only and many offer primitive campsites. Prince Edward Island National Park is another tiny one, but yes of course it includes the redhead. Green Gables House, home of Anne of Green Gables, is located in the park. It also has wonderful sand dunes, and red sandstone cliffs. It was a touching ceremony in a place that makes you appreciate this vast land. It also made us get the maps out and start thinking about a holiday in our National Parks. - Sam ion can be reached at sion10@cogeco.ca. Voted Best Travel Agency Best Cruise Company Best Travel Agent Thanks Oakville! Hopedale Shopping Centre 1515 Rebecca Street, Oakville Relax... you're with us 221 Lakeshore Road E. (905) 827-1100 fax: (905) 827-4982 e-mail: travel@mctavish.com 905-337-2228 www.hookedoncruising.com To advertise in this section call 905-845-3824