Posts Tagged ‘Robin’

Bonjour, Hello! We are now in Montréal.

Wednesday, September 24th, 2008

It is wonderful to be in a city where you are almost always greeted in both languages. You hear “Bonjour, Hello!” as if it were one whole word. According to our cousin Jessica, who has been in Montréal for four years, if you don’t speak and give away your preferred language, those greeting you will sometimes just keep speaking both English and French just to be sure. Très intéressant.

View the Montréal photos here.

Arriving in Montréal, lanterns light our way

Jessica and Liz

Jessica and Liz

Speaking of Jessica, she greeted us at the VIA train station the day we arrived, and took us out for supper. We all had wonderful lasagna at an Italian restaurant themed after witches (we were in the gay-bourhood, and Robin spotted a man with his slave on a leash). We had taken the five hour trip from Toronto on Friday afternoon, hoping to see the fall colours, but which we are still eagerly awaiting – the green is only starting to leave (is that a pun?). 

Seahorse lanterns

Seahorse lanterns

A few nights later, Jessica invited us out to see the Chinese lantern display at the botanical gardens, and we were accompanied by her roommate and good friend Liz (yes, that made things confusing). We went at night so we could see the lanterns lit up and it made us feel like kids at a carnival. Please do check out the pictures, it was a gorgeous display. A riot of colour (Liz’s words).

Tea party in the park

Our good friend and long time co-worker/office-mate, Dups, also lives in Montréal (it is awesome to have friends in so many places). We smuggled in a copy of Rock Band 2 for him and his friends, which we purchased in Toronto, since Québec language laws don’t allow RB2 to be sold here, as the songs aren’t translated into French. Although, we all mused at how funny it would be to hear “Hungry Like A Wolf” en français.

Dups graciously invited us to a tea party in the park Saturday afternoon in Parc Jeanne Mance, where a group of his friends were gathering to say au revoir to one of them that was about to travel to Rwanda and beyond. There were blankets sat upon the grass, and as time went by, more and more people arrived bearing a variety of teas and dinosaur-shaped sandwiches. The nutella brontosauruses were particularly tasty. It was a beautiful day, and we met many friendly and charming people, who made us feel at home.

Downtown, the Underground City, and Mont Royal

Mont Royal

Mont Royal

After slowing our pace for a few days while Robin recovered from a brief cold, we headed out to explore once again. Our destination was downtown and Mont Royal. We didn’t know this before, but not only is Montréal a big ass island, but it has a mountain just north of downtown (or at least a very tall hill at 700 ft), Mont Royal. Once you hear the name pronounced in french, you realise that Montréal is named after Mont Royal. We really enjoyed hiking up the mountain, even though the main entrance pathway is undergoing construction of some sort. The views from the top are spectacular.

rue Crescent

rue Crescent

Downtown Montréal is fun. We always assumed it would be similar to Toronto, but we find it is quite different. Not quite as looming, and much more relaxed! Overall we get a calm feeling in Montréal (at least, once Robin got over his anxiety about not speaking french fluently… which hasn’t been a problem at all). 

Spiral staircase

Spiral staircase

The most interesting architectural feature has been the exterior spiral staircases leading to second and higher floors of the older houses. You see them everywhere. They are quite beautiful, but at such sharp inclines, the practicality of such design during Canadian winters is somewhat questionable :) Speaking of winter, downtown features an extensive Underground City, where one can escape from the fierce cold outside (though currently it is mild and lovely). The Underground City is essentially West Edmonton Mall, but underground (sans waterpark and pirate ships).

Overall, we are enjoying Montréal immensely.

A bit more Toronto

Before we left Toronto last week, we had the chance to take in a few more activities.

View the Toronto photos here.

caption

At the Science Centre

The Science Centre was fun, and we enjoyed a lay-down in the planetarium, but overall it showed us how impressive the Edmonton Science Centre really is in comparison.

Liz Loves Früli

Liz Loves Früli

We visited the Bier Markt (beer market) with Cecilia, a restaurant with 100′s of beers and a great patio near the distillery district. We all sat in the intermittent rain under an umbrella and drank beer with our meals for hours. Liz fell in love with the Belgian lambic beers (they are mixed with fruit juices). Früli, a strawberry lambic, was the top pick for her. Robin tried many beers, including Hobgoblin beer made in Wychwood. Ooooo. Cecilia tried a cool beer that was made with tequila and lime called Desperados. Surprisingly enough, it was made in France, not Mexico.

Mmm... Hobgoblin

Mmm... Hobgoblin

We took a mix of buses, trolleys, and trains to get out to the Toronto Zoo (1.5hrs one way!) We didn’t have all the time needed to see everything, so we prioritized. Our favs were a pygmy hippo, a wrinkly rhino, orangutans drinking what looked like tang, and the coral reef exhibit. We took a few videos of the awesome jellyfish tank, and Liz pocketed a few acorns.

Videos: Jellyfish, Seahorses, Anemone

Omakaze dish #4

Omakaze dish 5

Takesushi was a restaurant recommended to us by Ray Lim, specifically the chef’s special, called Omakaze. We needed to order it in advance (the most spectacular of which actually requires 3-days notice!) We didn’t know what to expect, but couldn’t have been more enchanted with the nine course Japanese meal that unfolded. We shared the medium level Omakaze at $85, and we savoured every dish (and we are still fantasizing about it). The dishes ranged from the most elegant sushi we’ve seen, to simple traditional soups that exploded with flavour. Robin also had his first raw oyster, pictured, served with two types of uni (sea urchin). Yum!

We will leave you now with a tranquil video of the bubble machine on Kensington that greeted us each time we ventured to that market…

Video: Bubble machine

Until next time!

Liz and Robin

Au Revoir

Au Revoir

Touring Toronto

Saturday, September 13th, 2008

Howdy all! Liz and I have been on a world wind tour of Toronto this last week, and now that we have taken a few days for some down-time, it is high-time to post another entry. As usual, we love to see your comments, so please keep ‘em coming!

We purchased a City Pass at the start of the week, which gives you access to six Toronto tourist destinations for about half the regular admission price. A good deal, and even though they are touristy places, most have been a lot of fun, and served as a great excuse to travel to that part of Toronto and check out the feel of the area, along with seeing the attraction itself.

I have posted our pictures from the last week up on facebook. A couple of highlight pictures follow:

You can view the whole gallery here.

    

    

You can view the whole gallery here.

So far Toronto has been all that I hoped for in a big eastern city, I could see myself coming back here for a longer stay. However, at this point Liz and I are starting to feel the pull of other cities again, and I think we will probably head somewhere else in a few days, likely Montreal, although we aren’t 100% on that yet. So many great cities to choose from!

In Liz’s previous post, she mentioned walking home in one of Toronto’s fall rain showers. I had my little EeePC laptop in my backpack the whole walk home, and when we got back, it was quite wet. I let it dry out, but now it won’t turn on at all, so it must have shorted out and fried at some point. Not a major issue, but a good reminder that electronics, and laptops in particular, don’t mix well with water.

Robin

Day 1 – Robin’s take

Saturday, September 6th, 2008

Drink Up!

Drink Up!

Update 2: Added pics from our trip to the Royal Ontario Museum to the gallery.

Update: pictures have now been posted to facebook.

Liz and I discussed trying a “She Says/He Says” format, where we weigh in separately and offer our unique points of view on the same topic throughout out travels. We will give it a go with Day 1 and see how it fares. Feel free to comment on this.

We have some pictures I would like to share, but they are currently sealed in an impenetrable vault on Liz’s iPhone, so it will be a day or so until we discover the secret incantation to unlock them (now posted). I have already tried ‘speak friend and enter’. No go.

Leaving Edmonton was an odd thing to experience. We went through weeks of prep, which included excusing ourselves from our jobs, countless wonderful yet bittersweet good-bye’s, and down-sizing our lives into two backpacks. And then we found ourselves sitting in an empty house, packed, and anywhere to go. It was a little surreal.

We chose Toronto for a few reasons. It was on our list of cities to explore, cheap flights were available at a moments notice, and then I stumbled across a hockey article that mentioned a celebrity hockey game occuring in Toronto the very next night. Considering how badly I will miss going to Oilers games this season, and the fact that Tim Robbins was one of the celebrity players (that’s how I knew Liz would go :) ), it was a must see. Thursday afternoon started with us having no plan at all, and by Friday morning we were on a plane to TO with tickets to the game. I could get very used to this way of life. :)

My most memorable moment of people watching was after we landed and were on the subway heading to downtown Toronto. There was a young man sitting away from us with headphones on. Fairly normal encounter, at first blush. But I noticed he was talking. Then I realized he wasn’t singing to some catchy tune, or talking on a phone, but rather was reading aloud from the bible in front of him, and to no one in particular. He recited non-stop for thirty minutes or so until we reached our stop, and had to depart. Perhaps he is still going. I wasn’t able to see the front of his hat, but the back had ‘Jesus’ embroidered into it. Hardcore.

The last thing I want to leave you with is a kudos to the VP of Beer Operations at the Air Canada Centre. Not only do they serve Rickard’s Red on tap (beats the pants off of the soapy Canadian draft beer at the Oilers games), but they serve it in cups with lids that have these ingenious mouth spouts and flaps to provide both enjoyable imbibing and spill-free cheering when a goal is scored. Genious.

In short, Toronto = great, and this trip = very good idea indeed.

Robin

Moving Day

Friday, August 29th, 2008
Taking a break

Empty house

 Whew! The house is almost empty, and Liz and I are that much closer to making this whole crazy plan of traveling east a reality.

The last couple days we have been making car loads to friends and family (shout out to Billie), and today was the big push that got us over the hump. We spent the morning moving loads of household items to my sister Jacqueline’s using John V’s truck (thanks man). Sister Cody and hubby Diarmuid came up from Red Deer and we loaded up their truck and trailer with tons of stuff. John V as well as Mom and Deirdre helped out, and were sent home with lots o’ stuff as well. W00t!

Net result = house is almost empty. Thanks to everyone who helped!

Pics up at Facebook.

Cheers,
Robin

Almost There!

Wednesday, August 27th, 2008

We have moved to a new web host (site5, highly recommended), and are just getting things setup and configured. As Liz and I prepare to leave our house and empty it out, we seem to be building more and more of our future online. I guess you could say we are moving from Edmonton to our new address on lizandrobin.com :)

Stay tuned,
Robin