Canadian here.
I remember watching quite a few episodes of some reno show where the homeowner had to choose between two designs for the garden, and both choices usually ended up putting gravel down, which horrified us when we saw it.
When I think of gravel in the back yard (garden), it's the base layer for the paving stones that go on top of it
For me, it means I could never walk barefoot without it sticking to my feet in addition to it being uncomfortable to walk on.
Have you tried Remmina? I use it almost every day for my work machine. Works pretty well.
I think I found it by opening the software center and typing in rdp