After Christmas holidays we ventured to Varadero, Cuba.  We were looking for some sun and relaxation.   Relaxation we found. Sun we got sporadically.

Cuba was a mixed bag.  On one hand, the beach was beautiful. 

Our resort was very nice. 

The culture was interesting. 

The food though -- hands down awful.  Maybe it was my delicate state but I really had a hard time with the food.  It wasn't always easy to determine what you were eating - N claimed at least twice to be unable to determine what kind of meat he was chewing.  The food was bland and always the same everyday.  Even the fruit was disappointing... nothing was in season and even when not ripe, it was put out to be consumed.  Everything was cold and very very bland.  Further, if I had been able to tie one on, I would have grown tired of Pina coladas very quickly since I'm not a beer drinker.  There was just no variety at all to choose from.  This in my mind is probably the single biggest reason I would not go back to Cuba unless the price was amazing.  I think that you can get much better in the Caribbean elsewhere for similar prices.

That said, everything wasn't all bad.  I really enjoyed our day trip into Havana. 

We had a walking tour through old Havana, followed by lunch at a fancy hotel where the roof-top restaurant offered spectacular coastal views. 

Afterward we ventured through a rum and cigar shop and checked out the parking lot that is their Revolutionary Square.

Then we had time to wander near Centro Habano to take in the El Capitolio and the Great Theatre before heading back to Varadero.

Unfortunately, the three days after our foray into Havana were cold.  Not cold by Canadian standards but at 19 degrees celcius with a nasty wind by the water, we spent the remainder of our trip like this:

If you're interested, the rest of our Cuba pics can be found here.

 

Note to self:

If we do go back to Cuba:  Must read Hemingway.  Also, pre-trip,  spend four hours watching Benicio del Toro as Che.

 

Part of my stint out west involved a road trip with my mom, sister and 2 nephews (aged 6 and 10 months).  My dad wanted my mom to have an escape with her daughters so he arranged for us to spend a week at a chalet in Banff. 

Traveling with young ones stressful??? Not!

Driving with the two young ones was less stressful than I had thought it would be and posed many silly moments.  Harry (aged 6) had this habit of saying, "Auntie, I need to go to the bathroom."  To which I'd reply that I'd stop at the next road-side stop we came upon.  Seconds later he'd always counter with, "... but it's an emergency."  This led me to become quite adept at swerving onto the shoulder and throwing on the hazards so he could go about his business.

I also learned that while fruit (for example, blueberries) may be a healthy snack, it is perhaps not the snack you want to be feeding your 10 month old while on a 9 hour car ride.  I now know how blueberries interact with a baby's digestive system - info that I could have lived without knowing.

When we were little, my family would always travel to Banff at least once a year.  Often, we'd do nothing other than stare at Bow Falls and shop Banff Ave.  This time, I wanted to show my mom that there was more to see and do than those two things.  Lots more.  So true to form, I crammed a lot in and probably overwhelmed/nearly killed my mom in the process.

On day one, we went to Johnson Lake and drove the Minnewanka loop.  Harry loved this because he got to swim in the lake and play in the sand.  I also learned that he is a very social creature.  He walked up to everyone he found interesting and talked to them like they were best friends.

The whole lot of us at Johnson Lake.

One of my favourite moments at Johnson Lake was when Harry needed to use the facilities which were of the outhouse variety.  He looked down in the hole and proclaimed, "Gawd, that is SO wrong!"  I laughed and laughed.

We saw so much wildlife this first day it was amazing - goats, goats and a huge elk that emerged from some trees onto the side of the road just as we were passing (which startled me quite badly).

Baby Goat!

Also on the agenda was Johnston's Canyon.  My mom really wanted to go here, so off we went. 

Digging for gold @ Johnston Canyon

 

Harry and I hiked up ahead of everyone.  He was taking pictures like a tourist with his DSi.  It got a little sketchy in places: long dropoffs and inadequate fencing - well, these were my thoughts -- perhaps I was being a wee bit paranoid.

Not another picture Auntie, jeez louise!

By the time we got to the first set of falls, Harry was super annoyed with over-protective Auntie K - so we hiked in silence... until naturally, he had to get to the bathroom and we had to high tail it back to a washroom.

Moraine Lake

We also ventured to Moraine Lake.  I really wanted to take my mom here as I had stopped here a few years ago with my brothers and had thought it was mind-blowingly beautiful.  It is still a very nice spot but I was so annoyed with the many, many tourists that did not respect my personal space (apparently, I have a bubble and it was violated!)  While I can appreciate that I don't own a public bench, I'd still like to be able to sit for 10 minutes without having people stand in front of us and balance themselves on rocks using my 10 month old nephews stroller (that he was sitting in) as their f%$#ing balancing bar -- all in an attempt to get a photo that was easily shot from many other nearby locations.  Seriously rude.  While my sister thought this the most lovely spot on our trip, I'll admit to being so annoyed by the onslaught of inconsiderate people that it was my least favourite stop (by far). 

Oliver: Ladies, can we leave now please.  There are WAY too may tourists here.

 

Next stop was Lake Louise.  We didn't stay long.  Just got out to quickly look around and take in the views.  

My mom and I at Lake Louise.

It was great to hang out with my mom, sister and nephews.  Each night we'd hang out at the chalet or hit the swimming pool.  We dined on frozen pizza, orange jello and popsicles!  Good times!! Good times!!

 
Back from the pool!

On our last day, we took my mom shopping on Banff Ave. and to Bow Falls.  Overall, we had a great trip!!

To see the entire set of pictures from this trip, click here.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

This year over the Canada Day long weekend, we ventured to Quebec City with my brothers.  Quebec City, while very touristy, is beautiful.  The city exudes 400 years of history.  This proved to be more history than some in our party needed but none-the-less we all enjoyed our foray into french-speaking Canada.

 

 

There were cobble-stoned streets and quaint old buildings.  At times you forgot that you were still in Canada.  The shopping area in the lower town, Quartier Petit Champlain, reminded me very much of shopping the Getreidegasse in Salzberg.

 

 

 

The old town in Quebec City is very steep and we climbed many many stairs over our few days there.  Here is a view from the Citadel (the military fortress built on the city's highest point).

 

 

As you can tell from the picture above, we had horrible weather. It rained our entire time there... but we only got caught out in a downpour once.   So in that respect, we were very lucky. 

On our last night, we ventured to the Old Port and took in the Moulin a Images or Image Mill.  The Image Mill is a projection produced by Robert Lepage and Ex Machina.  It is the largest projection ever done.  It uses grain elevators in the harbour as it's projection screen - giving it huge dimensions -- 600 feet wide by 30 meters high!  My pictures of it do not do it justice as we were too close and could not capture all of the screen area but I managed to find a video clip on youtube so take a look.

 

Overall, we had a good trip.  Our car ride home was LONG as we got caught in "cottage country" traffic -- everyone returning en mass back into the GTA. Ended up being a 12 hour day.  Needless to say, it was a tiring drive.

The entire set of pictures from the trip is up on flickr and can be found here.

 

N and I are off on a road trip to Quebec with my brothers from the prairies.  I only note their place of residence because at every turn they are trying to tell us that Saskatchewan is better (than everything and everywhere). 

I got them up at what they called an "ungodly" hour (7AM) and forced their cranky asses into the car by shortly after 8AM.  We stopped for breakfast in Pickering at the Golden Griddle - a tradition we started last year en route to Ottawa for Canada Day.  This brought forth the first moment of hilarity of the trip.  You see, my baby brother Joseph, ordered bacon and french toast with a side order of bacon strips.  I'd explain why this was hilarious but I'm not sure this blog should delve into potty humour.  Again though, he quite seriously asked the server for a side order of "bacon strips" and Tim and I were beside ourselves in laughter.

After breakfast, we were back on the road.  We made good time until we got to the Quebec border.

 

After we were in Quebec, we hit construction everywhere.  Our progress slowed dramatically.  Then, we hit rush hour traffic driving through Montreal.  We were in Montreal around 3PM and we got to Quebec City at 8:30PM and it is only a 2.5 hour trip normally.  Painfully slow.

 

Once settled into our hotel (the fantastically new Four Points by Sheraton in Levis) we ventured out to find out where the ferry station was.  We chose to stay in Levis, QC which is on the south shore of the St. Lawrence and directly across from the Old Town of Quebec City.  The views across the river of a lit-up Quebec City were beautiful.  My grainy night pictures do not do it justice.

 

Afterward, we found this great poutine shack.  Yum.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

A good first day.  Now if only the sun would come out.  We are in QC for 4 days and it is supposed to rain everyday.  Seriously dampens my spirits!  

I've started a set of QC pics on flickr that I will try to update everyday.  The link is here.

 

 

Here's our 4 day account of Canada Day in Ottawa!

Our adventure began on day 1 with a search for breakfast en route to Ottawa.  The boys have insisted I am just like my mother as I have a love for a good deal and that morning was no exception!  I had purchased an Entertainment Book for the GTA and was wanting to find a breakfast joint/coupon combo that worked on the way out of town.  I found it -- Denny's in Pickering, Ontario!  So off we went...only to find that the Denny's had closed and declared bankrupcy days earlier. 

 

Not a problem!! N and I have a neat little GPS device in the truck so we took a poll and decided that a Bacon and Egger from A&W would hit the spot.  So we programmed the GPS to find an A&W and set out following its directions.  Suddenly in the middle of the road, it proclaims, "You have arrived!"  We look around and there is no A&W in sight -- we all laughed!! Stupid technology!!  We did eventually find some breakie at the Golden Griddle and then off we were!!  

We arrived in Ottawa late in the afternoon having had no further mishaps.  We stayed at the Mariott Courtyard in the Byward Market -- a fantastic location -- everything easily accessible on foot.  We spent the remainder of the day just walking around taking it all in! 

 

The boys across the street from Major's Hill Park and above the Byward Market

 

They were setting up the big stage on Parliament Hill and the sheer size of the stage made Tim start to panic about the crowds we'd see on Canada Day.  See Tim doesn't really like to be around lots of people... he has a bubble.  If you invade his bubble, Tim is not a happy guy.  See, most people would call this bubble personal space... but Tim, he needs more personal space than the average person.  So he decided to take matters into his own hands and got my aunt and uncle to be his human bubble or people deflector.  Here they are practicing:

 

 

 

 

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On day 2, we set off for the Civilization Museum in Gatineau, Quebec.  Ottawa and Gatineau are separated by Ottawa River.  It was a beautiful walk from our hotel, past the National Art Gallery and over the Alexandra Bridge into Gatineau towards the Civ Museum.

 

 

 

 

 

We spent the entire day at the  Civ Museum as it is utterly massive.  I had been told that it is the best museum in Canada so I had lofty expectations.  In the end, I was pretty disappointed.  There were 4 levels and I'd have to say that only one of them captured our interest.  My brothers were bored to tears.  After touring the exhibits, we took in the IMAX, Wild Ocean, which we all agreed was the worst IMAX we had ever seen.

 

 

 

 

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Day 3 was Canada Day!  You can check out our entire set of Canada Day pictures here. 

 

We all got decked out in our red and white and headed out into the sea of people.  By sea of people, I literally mean sea of people -- the news reported that 300,000 people took to the streets around Parliament Hill to demonstrate some pride in their nation.  Everywhere you turned all you could see was a wall of people.  I am seriously impressed that we managed to stay together for the most part throughout the day.  

Posing in our red & white with the Mounties

 

We saw bits of the parade, watched the flag get raised (flag ceremony), saw the changing of the guard (on a big screen - we were not sure where things were taking place so we didn't have the best spot for this stuff), saw the RCMP's Musical Ride, watched the insane and ridiculous (my opinion) pageantry that is exhibited when the Governor General arrives on the Hill and watched the afternoon concert on the Hill -- including a speech from PM Harper.

 

 

Paul Brandt performs during the afternoon show at Parliament Hill

IGNORE THE "THIS VIDEO IS NO LONGER AVAILABLE" -- IT IS THERE!  

CLICK HERE TO VIEW

 

After the noon show, we headed to the Hard Rock Cafe for some cold drinks and lunch -- then back to our room to nap and freshen up.  We had spent 7 hours in the hot sun and we needed a break.  Later that evening, we headed out again to check out the evening concert series.  We managed to see/hear a bit of Serena Ryder, Paul Brandt and Hawksley Workman.  Then we went in search of a good spot to view the fireworks.  The fireworks were amazing!! Really fantastic!!

All in all, Canada Day in the nation's capital is something that everyone should experience at least once in their lifetime!!