Toronto Reunions

You know when people ask me where am I from, there is usually a short pause, (due to my confusion) but it was nice to be "home" in Toronto after 3 long years!

Great times - Molson Sisters Reunion  - so glad everyone could make it!  Bec, Mare, Helen, Adele, Sue and me!!!!!  Wonderful night - thanks everyone!

Sue, Helen, Bec, Jill, Adele, Maria

What's summer in TO without the Jays!  Great day!

The long awaited meeting (finally) and baptism of my goddaughter Nicole!

Nicole, Aunt Jill and Alex

Good to meet Andrew (and see Lara and Jimmy!)

Jimmy Drew Lara

Adventures with Helen!

Visiting nephew at Camp

What a great way to spend a weekend in summer - a nice drive up north to "cottage" country!  

Austin's first month at overnight camp and I was thrilled I could meet him for Parents Visiting Day!  It was a BEAUTIFUL day and we had fun!

Picnic at Beaver Point

Helsinki, Finland

  

view from boat - leaving Sweden

July 4-5, 2013
 Mom and I arrived by ferry/cruise Silja Lines about 9:45 on Thurs. July 4 and followed the agencies directions to the tram which led us not to far from the Opera House - Crown Plaza.  Though this hotel was the nicest and largest one by far, it was also the furthest one from center of town.  Though we changed (finally feeling more like summer 21 degrees C) and walked the 25 minutes into town.  After getting a little confused about where to find the Hop On and Off bus (our 3rd one for the trip!) we finally found one, hopped on for one stop and then hopped off again on the Market.  The Market is open daily and began in the 18th century.  It originally (and still does) sell fresh fish, veggies and fruits.  Some of the fish were sold right from the boats!  There are also stalls selling souvenirs, furs, knitted wool hats and mittens, knives and glass jewelry.  This is where Mom and I bought our Christmas ornaments - wooden hand-painted bells with Finland on them.      We enjoyed a typical Finnish lunch right there in the market of salmon, fried white fish (similar to smelt),  round potatoes and mixed veggies.  

    We then got back on the bus and stayed on it for entire circle to learn more about Helsinki and see the sights.  After the loop, which took about an hour, we continued shopping around.  There was this major street called Esplande which was their "5th Avenue" street.  We also wandered in their department store called Stockmann and headed to the 5th floor for the souvenir area.  Lots of looking not much buying.  we basically saw most of Helsinki, didn't go into any of the buildings but we were exhausted by this point ~ 9th day straight of sightseeing.  

selling fish right off the boat at the market

Even on a boat!

last day :(
We decided to choose a restaurant close to our hotel rather than going all the way back in town.  After walking around to the 4 recommended restaurants, the last one was perfect... called Toole.. after the lake.  Mom and I sat beside each other looking onto the lake and watching the cyclists and walkers go by on the path and saw 2 hot air balloons ascend in the sky.  A perfect setting for our last dinner.
    Mom's flight was early in the morning, mine in the afternoon, but it was neat to say "See you in 10 days" rather me usually saying see you in 10 months or a year!  Now off to Toronto - it's been 3 years!

Stockholm, Sweden

July 1-3, 2013

Stockholm

Mom investigating type of tree

In our hotel elevator!

Day 1 - July 1: What a huge city Stockholm is, 2 days was definitely not enough time to see it all, but Mom and I did cover a lot.  We arrived by train and once settled in our hotel Clarion Hotel Signs not far from the train station it was early afternoon.    We started walking and went to Old Town (Gamle  Stan  )  A medieval city with narrow streets, tourist shops and other cute boutique shops.  Mom and I found Xmas ornaments.  The Royal Palace is the most popular place, supposedly on the island; however we only made it to the gift store.  For dinner we walked a good half an hour to a restaurant Lykke's parents recommended called Riche - it was good (a little more casual than we were thinking and dressed for)  I had the typical Swedish dish of meatballs, mashed potatoes, lingerberries and cucumbers.

July 2:  We decided to do the Hop On Hop Off bus to hear about the history on the bus and get to all the places we wanted to see, particularly Djurgarden - this is a large island with many parks, an amusement area (another Tivoli), a zoo called  S        , the Vasa Museum where a ship the vasa is housed - it set sail in 1628 but only went about 300 feet then capsized but in 1961 (333 years later) it was raised out of the water pretty much intact.  We didn't really see it, but we went to the gift shop.
We did go out past the busy parts of the island to the Djurgarden Gardens where there a variety of flowers and plants growing, small plants and seeds that you could buy and a great green house with a cafe in it.  Mom and I, of course, went in the gift store and bought a cinnamon roll and a roll with cardamon which they use a lot but I decided I like cinnamon better.  
Next we visited the new ABBA museum (opened May 7, 2013)... we actually just visited the ABBA gift store, but we did spend a lot of time in it!!!!

Dancing Queens!

July 3 - We took the Hop On and Off Boat tour on the river - it was nice to see the buildings and sites from the water and it was a lovely day.   In the center of town there is a small museum called Hallwylska palatset,  http://hallwylskamuseet.se/en , and it was founded by my grandmothers grandmother. She left this house/palace to the government when she died and said that nothing was to be touched, she wanted the after world to see it and she was a great collector of art and other thing, a very modern lady for her time. 
This was a highlight of the trip, not only did the house belong to Lykke's great, great, great grandmother, but it was truly amazing how ahead-of-the-times this woman was and we would have never seen it otherwise.

courtyard of Hallwylska House

kitchen

dining room

one of the many rooms of her collections - this one china dishes and figurines

Oslo, Norway

Oslo, Norway  June 29-30

Queen's Palace

We arrived in Oslo at 9:45 am via the Pearl Seaways ferry/cruise boat and followed the walking directions to our hotel Thon Hotel Opera situated right across from the new Opera House.  Got ourselves situated, oriented and set off to explore the city of Oslo.  Initially it was a bright sunny day with blue skies and white clouds but it quickly changed.  We stumbled on a "grand bandstand" in the park, saw the National Theater and continued on to the Nobel Peace Center Building.  At this point it began to rain and I was hungry.  After walking up and down the pier we finally settled with an Italian restaurant called Olivia's where it was warm and cozy inside.

  We found the queen's palace and had read only during the summer could you tour the palace.  However the tickets were harder to obtain than we thought.... The lady said we could get the tickets at a 7-11 or from our hotel - they just needed to go onto ticketmaster.  Well after I tried over 6 7-11 type stores, the hotel, my own computer, we were unsuccessful - mom was quite disappointed :(    The most difficult decisions we have to make is where we are going for dinner. Fortunately it was sunny and dry outside, after our late afternoon, shower, cocktails and Scrabble game.  After a lot of hawing and humming, we decide to go the Opera House, in the foyer was a restaurant called S.... Brasserie.  Before dinner we did walk up on top of the Opera House - beautiful views from way up there and the reflection from the windows and the white marble stone and the water was awesome.  Dinner actually was better than I had expected whilst sitting in foyer!  Mom and I shared a typical Norwegian meal of cured lamb, prosciutto, potato salad, pickled herring, lingeberries and some cheeses.  We noticed that most of the dishes we were served and which were used at our hotel were slabs of slate.

Playing Scrabble!

Day 2 - Oslo - It  was a warmer day - I even finally wore sandals!  We thought we should do something cultural so headed to the Gallery Museum hoping to see some Picasso, Monet and Degas (as indicated in the tour book) but  most of the gallery was consumed by Edvard Munch's work (even though there is a whole museum for him in Oslo).  He is the famous artist of The Scream. - which we saw 2 of - a lithograph and the original which used tempera paint and crayons.
We persevered with getting into the Royal Palace (there was an English tour at 2pm)  We arrived at 1pm to plea our case that we had tried many different venues about obtaining the tickets with no avail.  They told us that if there were any tickets not sold, they would be available at 1:50.  So we ventured off for a snack at a bakery recommended by some ladies we sat beside at dinner the night before.  It was a beautiful sunny day and the palace grounds looked much greener and alive.  As we headed back to the palace, we stumbled upon the changing guards and then got in line (as Mom said - "I am not moving from this spot!")  And though there were 5 people ahead of us, we successfully made it in to tour the Royal Palace.

Opera House

    It really was beautiful! (Unfortunately I was unable to take  photos).  This palace had only 172 rooms and so the architecture knew it was smaller than other European palaces he designed the rooms to get larger in size until one reached the grand ballroom - which really was grand!  The information we learned about the Norwegian's kings and its history was quite educational!  What a highlight!

Back to the hotel for a shower, pack up the clothes, cocktails and Scrabble.  We decided to go to one of the restaurants that the hotel recommended on the water.  It was a beautiful evening and restaurant. The restaurant was called Solid...... Pier 34.  It had open feel - well the large pane windows, some which were open and the wonderful views directly on the waterways was  picturesque.  The fresh fish was what is was known for.  I had the 3 course meal of smoked salmon and asparagus; halibut on risotto and dessert.  While Mom had the same appetizer then  had a huge bowl of shrimp!  She hardly put a dent in the bowl of shrimp - tails, heads and eyes!!!!

Unlike Denmark, Norway didn't seem to have a distinctive look among its people.  The people in Norway (in Oslo) were much more ethnically diverse.  Norway is a nation that welcomes refugees; however, it is a very expensive city and I noticed a lot of homelessness and mentally challenged people.  I didn't really feel comfortable in this city.  Fortunately it had day light for over 17 hours of the day.  

Adventures with Mom - Scandinavian Capitals Tour - Denmark

Copenhagen, Denmark - June 26-28

Although Mom and I were supposed to arrive at the Copenhagen airport within 30 minutes of each other, something of course went askew.  Long story short I actually flew in first so waited for mom - her luggage didn't make it and so I waited and waited for her to come out.  Meanwhile I had figured out how to get access to internet at the airport and received an email from dad saying that due to bad weather, quite possibly mom could have missed her connection; so I thought mom had missed her flight and was about to leave and then she did come out (without luggage).

We used the following travel company; which we recommend - Authentic Scandinavia http://authentic-scandinavia.com/variants/34 

We successfully took the train into Central Station and walked to our hotel - The Square - great hotel and location right near Central Station and Tivoli.  With no time to waste, we bought tickets for one of those on and off buses and toured the town!  First stop, Amalienborg Castle.
    Amalienborg Castle was first built in 1750- 4 palaces for nobles families which are around an octagonal square and the royal family has lived in it since 1794. The area was built by Frederick V.  When the queen is residing there the Danish Royal Life Guards guard the place and at noon  there is the changing of guards.  We were disappointed that we were unable to go inside the buildings though.

   Next we went to see the famous landmark, The Little Mermaid, it was created in 1913.
For dinner we went a great Danish restaurant called Puk.  We had traditional pickled salmon for a starter and then I had a steak and mashed potatoes and mom had mussels.

Day 2 - We went to Rosenborg Castle which was a castle you could go in. It was built in 1603-34 by Christian IV - supposedly a favorite castle of his and other kings after him!  It has beautiful garden and the botanical gardens are across the street.  The castle is arranged in chronological order while walking through the rooms and there is a treasury filled with armour, wine (dating back to 1615), trinkets, jewellery and crowns.

Nyhavn

Afterwards we walked to a famous area called Nyhavn (New Harbour)- which is famous for its colorful buildings beside each other and many bars and cafes. Old red light district .  For lunch we went for a typical Danish meal called Smorrebrod which is an open faced sandwich.  We went to a restaurant Mette Ohlsen recommended called Ida Davidsen.  I got roast beef with bernaise sauce, potatoes and carmelized onions (you couldn't even see the small piece of rye bread) and Mom had salmon, cucumber sauce and fake caviar made from seaweed.  Next we walked down the longest pedestrian road in Europe called Stroget and did some shopping.  We did find a LEGO store but I was quite surprised the homeland of LEGO, I hardly saw any.  And there was no Lego museum or anything.  For dinner we went to a Vietnamese restaurant which was good but really expensive!

All made out of LEGO

Day 3 - Copenhagen to ferry to Oslo:  Mom and I walked around a bit more - found this great coffee and sweets restaurant that Mette had also recommended called La Glace off of Stroget but we just weren't hungry to get anything :(. 

Hans Christain Andersen

Hoi An, Vietnam

Sunday, March 31

After a nice sleep in and breakfast we renting our mode of transportation for the days - a bicycle!  And headed to the famous (yet more expensive, says the locals) Yaly tailors.  Maria who works at our hotel came with us as she was curious and as a Vietnamese woman can't go in there on her own, only as a tour guide for tourists.

It's amazingly efficient there. I brought 3 tops and one dress with me to duplicate.  My personal assistant would show me the materials I could chose based on my clothes and I would have make a rather quick decision.  And when those pieces of cloth were picked out.  I was measure this way and that.  I saw one other dress in a "catalogue"  the "catalogues" were huge albums with plastic pages where someone has inserted hundreds and hundreds of magazine pictures of clothing - there are books for dresses, sundress, suits, pants, etc. And these seamstresses can just look at a piece of clothing and re-create it and/or say that will not look good on you.  It's truly amazing!

We then biked around the town and had lunch at Cargo - one of the many restaurants that was recommended by many.

I can't really remember what we did in the afternoon.  But we went to MangoRooms for dinner and then met Nancy and Ken Ishii, and Nysha and Aman for a mini CIS reunion    for dessert at Cargo.  Three grade 2 teachers and three grade 4 teachers (Lauren teaches 4th)!  Don't worry we didn't talk about work! 

CIS reunion - Aman, Nysha, me, Nancy, Ken

South China Sea

Monday, April 1

After breakfast, Lauren and I got on our bikes and biked to the beach, not far at all 15 mins. someone at our hotel gave us some good advice of where to park our bikes for free and then where to get a beach chair and umbrella.  The beach sand was nice and the water was surprisingly warm, though a tad dirty.  But that didn't stop me, I was in it twice!  The waves were quite big and the undertow strong.

We stayed there for about 4 hours and just as we were leaving, Nancy and Ken arrived.

We went for our first fitting, Nancy had warned us that when she had done this before they usually make the pieces larger.  Mine weren't larger but they were mostly a little too tight in the arm/shoulder area.

The black dress, they made was great....so I asked them to show me other materials and decided to make a burgandy one - good for "winter" in Singapore!

Then I asked if they could make me a pair of khaki linen pants.  Honestly, I could have gone on and on. 

Then we went touring the streets again and found this shoe place called Friendly which was recommended by "Valerie and Tyson" this couple we met in our hotel in Hanoi!  And we just kept seeing them everywhere we went here in Hoi An!  So I went into this really small shoe store and couldn't figure out what Tyson was raving about.  But then the ladies got plastic chairs for Lauren and I to sit on... still I was confused.  And then the catalogues came out... just like Yaly.  But if you couldn't find anything in those, you could look on the internet.  It was another incredible place.  You could find a shoe and and say I want it in this color and I want this and that.... and supposedly they can make it for you.  They had swatches for leather, half leather and not leather.  
Once all was decided based on the magazine pictures I chose and the swatches cut and clipped on, they measured both my feet and on Wednesday I will go for my shoe fitting! 4 pair of shoes for $95 USD made exactly how I want it for my feet!  I can't wait to see them.

I know, you are probably asking the same question - how am I going to fit this in my suitcase...good question... but they have really inexpensive suitcases here too!!!!

Then we biked to a wine bar called  The White Marble for a drink and then were meeting the CIS gang in front of Cargo to go to dinner.  We went to some Vietnamese restaurant where I tried many of the local dishes I was advised to try... cao lau, white rose, fried wontons, country pancakes and sticky rice - it was a set menu with all those things for a whooping $5.70!

Then we biked home.  Long day!  

Tuesday, April 2

Was up early  this morning to meet the Heaven and Earth Bicycle Tour for our 2.5 hour bike tour through town to the country side.  We stopped at the only place who make cao lau noodles, which is a famous dish here in Hoi An.  This family business is the only one who makes it and after 3 generations, there is a concern as no one wants to continue the job as it is hard work. The process includes soaking rice, straining the water, cooking it ontop of a wood burning stove, putting it in a machine to  do make it doughy, rolling it out, cutting it by hand into strips, laying them on banana leaves and selling it.  

these hats do keep the sun off ya!

watering the herbs!

making cao lau

Then we went to another person's house to see and learn about how bean sprouts are grown.  This a little easier process - rinse the bean seeds in a special water - from mountain spring, put it in riverbed sand in large clay pots in layers and in 3 days the sprouts are grown - rinse the sand off and viola fresh, organic bean sprouts!
Then we went to a herb garden and tasted different herbs fresh the garden, such as,  lemon basil, anasi basil, garlic chives, spring onions.  We took a hand at watering the plants like the locals which is basically 2 large watering cans attached to a string which is attached to wooden bar that goes across your shoulder blades and you collect the water and then water the plants. (photos coming)
We continued through rice paddies and fields of lotuses and water buffalo until the end.  What a hot day today. 
We had a break for some Vietnamese ice coffee with sweetened condensed milk!  It's good!  And then wandered to the historical part of town across the Japanese bridge.  The whole town is a UNESCO site influenced by the French.  2 story buildings some painted yellow, some wood ones.  So many clothing stores it's truly addicting and overwhelming.  Same, same but different!

We had our second (but not last) fittings for our clothes at Yaly.  My khaki linen pants were not ready yet.  However in the end I will have had 3 dresses made, 4 tops, 1 pair of pants and got 2 skirts in Hanoi.  And 4 pairs of shoes!

April 3

Last day - and another beautiful day - yes hot and humid but sunny and blue skies!  We were picked up at our hotel about 8 by the owner of this cooking class we were taking the company is called.....
We picked up a few others and met everyone at the market.  Like many other cooking

at the market

boat ride through water coconut forest

classes I have taken around the world, we go to the market to purchase all the ingredients for the class and of course learn about different herbs, spices and fruits and vegetables.  It's all so colorful and interesting smells.. the meat area - gross!
Then we got on a boat and went for a 45 minute river cruise passed fisherman villages to where the river meets the sea.  And got into small typical long boats that a woman paddled us through a water coconut forest.  Afterwards we had a short stop at a rustic villager's house to learn and take our hand at husking rice and making rice milk the traditional methods.  Wow, it's a lot of hard work!
Next door, we went to the open-air cooking school.  We made 1. Goi Cuon - fresh spring rolls with chicken and shrimp and a tangy peanut dipping sauce.
2.  Banh Xeo - Sizzling Vietnamese crepes filled with port and shrimp, bean sprouts and other greens and a traditional dipping sauce of fish sauce, garlic, chili, lime and sugar.
3.  Bun Bo Nam Bo - Herb salad with saute beef and rice vermicelli, topped with roasted peanuts and warm beef jus viaigrette.
4.  Pho Bo Ha Noi - Beef rice noodle soup infused with beef bones, cinnamon, ginger and star anise.

I think I could definitely make #3 again.  And of course I got a recipe book too.
Once we return to our hotel, we got on our bikes and biked into town to go for my shoe fitting.  They were all good except the left foot for 2 of the shoes as my left foot is larger than my right.  So I will  swing by there on my way to dinner tonight.

Unfortunately after 2 more fittings I was unable to get the silver shoes because the toe strap was just too tight and since the material was faux leather there wasn't much room to stretch. So I got my money back for those. But my other 3 pairs as good. 

Good night Vietnam! Like the Vietnamese say "see you tomorrow".