A tale of two cities

Our latest vacation had us spending about one week in Budapest, Hungary, and another week in Prague, Czech Republic. This gave us time to visit both cities in a fairly relaxed fashion, spreading out the sights we wanted to see over multiple days, leaving plenty of time for just ambling and enjoying.

Budapest was a return visit. It’s a very attractive city, its two halves bisected by the Danube. Jean’s default suggestion whenever we weren’t sure what to do next was to “go to the water”. We stayed in a hotel in central Pest, a convenient location that allowed us to walk almost everywhere. We were further encouraged in that approach by the weather, which was sunny and warm every single day.

It was our first time in Prague, which is just gorgeous: stunning architecture and sculptures everywhere. It too has a river, but the focal point was really the Main Square, from which you could fan out (often on pedestrian-only streets) to most any of the city sights that were interested in. Our hotel was about 3.5 K from that area, though, so we made good use of the city’s excellent metro and tram system to get there, when we would resume walking. Weather was cooler and cloudier than Budapest, though fortunately not as rainy as predicted.

Main Square of Old Town, Prague — Prague

Synopsis of activities

Budapest: Monday—Got oriented to the city while jet-lagged. ■ Tuesday—Took guided tours of Parliament House, and of the State Opera. Attended a concert in a church featuring organ with other soloists. ■ Wednesday—Hiked up Castle Hill. Stopped in at the Liszt Museum. Went through the House of Terrors. ■ Thursday—Saw the sights at Heroes Square and in City Park. Spent time at the Széchenyi Baths. Stopped in at New York Cafe. ■ Friday—Day trip to the small town of Eger, for wine tasting and marzipan art museum. ■ Saturday—Went to the market, saw the Holocaust memorial, and took the night train to Prague.

More details on website; highlights below

Prague: Sunday—Got oriented to the city. ■ Monday—Encountered aftermath of a big gas explosion in Old town. Visited Prague Castle sights and the nearby Lobkowicz Museum and (briefly) Strahov Monastery. ■ Tuesday—Took walking tour of the Old Town. Visited the Mucha Museum. Walked on the Charles Bridge. ■ Wednesday—Visited the Jewish Museum sites, other than the Old New synagogue. Visited the Castle again, at night. ■ Thursday—Went to the Museum of Communism. Stopped in at the Cubist Cafe. ■ Friday—Took a bus tour to Terezin Concentration Camp Memorial. Attended a performance of La Traviata opera at the National Theatre.

More details on website; highlights below

A night at the opera

Back when we visited Vienna, we had really enjoyed a tour of the Opera House there, so we decided to tour Budapest’s opera house as well. That was also very enjoyable—much better than the brief, uninspiring Parliament House tour we’d had earlier, for which we had to wait an hour in line for tickets. At the Opera, no waiting, longer visit, better information.

We were brought around to see various parts of the beautiful Budapest State Opera House: The boxes, the old smoking room (very advanced in its day to separate out smokers, but all that smoke meant major restoration work needed later), the bar, rehearsal rooms, and of course, the concert hall. We even got a little mini-concert at the end, with a tenor doing excerpts of three songs.

Orchestra pit at Budapest State Opera House — *Budapest State Opera House*

But as for attending an actual opera, we decided to do that in Prague, largely because it offers English super-titles, whereas (as far as I know) Budapest does not.

Getting the tickets in Prague proved more difficult than expected, though, not because shows were sold out, but just because I hadn’t properly researched how to do so. I was confused about which opera was taking place at which hall, where you bought tickets for what… At one point I even ended up buying tickets for a “puppet” opera by mistake. Fortunately, those were returnable.

Eventually, with some help from Google, I got it straightened out, and bought the tickets. They $55 each, for eighth-row center, for Verdi’s La Traviata at the National Theatre. Pretty amazing price, eh? Similar seats in Toronto would run you $365 each.

So then all we had to worry about was: How bored were we going to be during this opera? I’d read the synopsis, and it wasn’t much of a plot. Kind of Moulin Rouge, simplified: Doomed love affair between courtesan with consumption (and old baron boyfriend) and gentleman with disapproving family.

But Prague’s National Theatre is just gorgeous. And the people who attend the opera there dress to the nines. Between the place and the people, it was a feast for the eyes before a note had been sung.

Prague National Theatre on opera night — *Gorgeous people and place: Prague’s National Theatre on opera night*

And the performance? Was just amazing. It begins with a big party scene and lots of lively singing by the chorus in fantastic outfits, so it’s all very entertaining. The leads were physically gorgeous as well as having beautiful voices. And sure the story is simple, but you can’t help getting emotionally invested in it anyway. We both got a bit verklempt during Violetta’s death scene.

So, no, I was never bored. Jean wasn’t bored. If you get a chance to see opera in Prague, I say go for it. (I’ll explain to you how to buy tickets.)

At the National Theatre in Prague — *Not bored at the opera!*

[Final aside: On the flight home I happened to watch Quartet, a film about old musicians. One character teaches young people about opera, and explains that the extended singing of all these emotions reaches the heart in a way nothing else can, and that Verdi writes for the human voice better than anyone else. That sounded exactly right to me.]

Nazis and communists

Both Hungary and the Czech Republic had the misfortune of being invaded by the Nazis, liberated by the Russians, then taken over by a Communist dictatorship. So a lot of the sights we saw focused on memorials of those times.

In Budapest, we went into the House of Terrors, a building that was once a headquarters of the Gestapo, then became the headquarters of communist Hungary’s secret police (equivalent of the KGB). The top floors gave a high-tech presentation of this dark history. The Nazi era was presented fairly quickly, to the soundtrack of Jews being shot into the Danube. Then there was a model of a Hungarian “changing clothes”, from Nazi to communist oppressor. The rest focused on that part of the history.

Exterior of House of Terrors — *They don’t allow photos inside, so this is the outside of the House of Terrors.*

In the Gulag room, around the displayed artifacts, we got video testimony of people who were sent to these work camps and survived. Another room showed faux democracy at the front, election fixing behind the curtain. We saw propaganda posters and bricks of pork fat representing shortages.

At one point, we had a wait for an elevator, then as we slowly descended in it (with a bunch of other people), we got a gory description of how executions were done. On exit, we were in the actual basement rooms, left much as they were at the time, where people were imprisoned, tortured, and executed. The last part was a wall of photos of the “victimizers”: those who committed these crimes. Some of whom have never been convicted.

A worthwhile visit, but not exactly cheery.

The Lobkowicz Museum in Prague gave a different perspective. The Lobkowicz’s are a formerly wealthy and prominent (Christian) family who lost their fortune twice: once to the Nazis, then again to the communists. They were able to regain it via a program run by the Prague government, and have put much of this treasure on display in the museum on the Prague Castle grounds.

The audioguide that accompanies the museum visit is by a member of the family, which makes it really interesting. The family did some amazing things in the past, such as subsidize Beethoven regardless of what he composed, for which the whole world should be grateful. And they have some beautiful items, like gorgeous rifles (really), original scores by Beethoven and others, and some amazing sketches of Rome in past times—though many of those sites remain in place today. It was maybe the best museum we visited on the trip. (Photos not allowed, though.)

The most visited museum in Prague, however, is the Jewish Museum, and we went to that as well. The most striking parts, to me, were the old cemetery and the Pinkas Synagogue. The cemetery was, for a long time, the only place the Jews of Prague were allowed to bury their dead. And it’s just so strikingly crowded, as they had to pile the bodies and fit in the gravestones as they could. Very sobering.

*The extraordinarily crowded Old Jewish cemetery*

The Pinkas Synagogue itself had, painstakingly painted on its walls in red and black, the names of every Jewish person from Prague and surroundings killed by the Nazis. So many names. When you think of it, it’s overwhelming. It also had an exhibition of drawings done by children from the concentration camp of Terezin, the only one where art materials were readily available (as the Nazis gathered Jewish artists there, to create propaganda posters for them).

Prague’s Museum of Communism didn’t have the drama of either of those, but I still found the tour of that fairly recent history pretty interested (Jean, less so). They had a lot of footage from the time of the Velvet Revolution, when the communist regime was defeated.

Motorcycle in the Museum of Communism — *Display from the Museum of Communism*

And yes, we visited a former concentration camp, Terezin. The camp was originally in two halves: a smaller part for non-Jewish prisoners—gays, gypsies, prisoners of war, and so on—and a larger part for Jews. The smaller one has been preserved much as it was at the time. We did have a tour guide to take us through it, which was good. The information on the extent of the crowding, the limited food rations, the work requirements, the minimal clothes, the unsanitary conditions, was just staggering. Though it had no gas chambers, most people did not survive this camp, and all that explains why.

*“Work will set you free”: Terezin concentration camp memorial*

The unusual thing about this camp is that, at one point, the Nazis let the Red Cross tour it as “proof” that Jews were not being mistreated. The Nazis were given 14 months to prepare, during which they did things like build an entirely new shower and bathing room—though it was never used. You can still tour that room. They temporarily gave prisoners more food and clothes so they wouldn’t look as bad, and filmed them playing soccer and singing. You can see part of that film here.

Shaving room at Terezin — *A “nice” shaving room, built to deceive the Red Cross; it was never used*

As Jean described it, though, it was horrible, but in an abstract kind of way. I guess because it was seemed more historical (unlike the House of Terrors, where we heard still-living people describe their terrible experiences).

Experiencing the culture (kind of)

Budapest is fairly famous for its thermal baths, so we wanted to try them out. Traditionally, men and women bathe separately, in the nude. You can still do that today, at many sites, such as the famous Geller baths. But we instead went to Széchenyi Baths, where we could bathe together, wearing a bathing suit. Those baths also happened to be near Heroes Square and City Park that we also wanted to visit, so that all worked out.

City Park castle — *City Park: Very pretty*

But at the baths themselves, first we had to figure out the entry, towel rental, and change “cabin” (“more like a change closet”, Jean said) systems. Then find the pools. And then we got ourselves into the warm water, and we looked at each other, and we were kind of like, “Is that it?”

Fortunately, we then got more into the swing of things. We visited the “fun” outdoor pool, which had vortexes you got pushed along in and jets to play in. We also went in and toured the indoor pools, and some other parts of the building. Then we just switched between fun, cooler pool, and the warmer, calmer outdoor pools. We ultimately found it fun and intensely relaxing.

In Prague, we felt we should have Czech food and beer at least once. We did that the first day. Jean had this pork knee thing that was just huge; it looked like something from the Flintstones. It wasn’t bad, but it’s just not our preferred food or beverage. So after this, we did a lot of ethnic eating in Prague.

Hungarian food, on the other hand, we quite enjoyed. The goulash, the Jewish eggs, the paprikas… Most every meal we had quite good, often involving duck or foie gras. Which brings us to…

“Oh, that’s lovely”: Dining experiences

When we travel in Europe, we don’t go to the best restaurants. Who can afford that when eating out every single meal? Instead, we look for good value restaurants: Good food that doesn’t cost a fortune. But, in Budapest, we did visit a couple of their finest offerings in a budget-conscious way.

Cafe New York is called the most beautiful cafe in the world, and that could be true. To be able to peruse its architecture, we stopped in for non-alcoholic beverages only. The beverages cost more here than elsewhere, but they’re still just beverages, and they are very good. And it is a lovely room to sit in.

Cafe New York interior — *Photos not allowed at Cafe New York, so I snuck this one in using my cell phone.*

And near the Széchenyi Baths, dining options are a little limited. But Grundles, one of Budapest’s best restaurants, kindly offers a 3800 Hungarin forint (about $19) three-course lunch, including glass of wine. So we went for that. The service is amazing: Your food is brought on silver tray. And yes, it tastes good, too: sour cherry soup (sounds weird, but these Hungarian fruit soups are wonderful), grilled chicken in mustard paprika sauce with salad, and chocolate lemon cake with vanilla custard for dessert.

We did spend one day in Eger, a not that exciting little town near Budapest. But it is in wine country, so I did a wine tasting. It wasn’t that informative, as the wine guy didn’t speak much English (a very rare thing throughout this trip, actually). But all the wines I tasted were very good, and what they call a serving is way more than what you get at Canadian wineries. Eger also has a museum full of things made of marzipan. Kind of amazing, really.

Scene from Marzipan Museum — *This is all marzipan! (i.e. sugary almond paste)*

Prague also has a number of interesting cafes. We went to the Cubist Cafe for coffee one day; everything there is constructed on cubist principles (which we concluded really means angular designs, rather than a strict definition of cubes). And we had lunch at the Kafka cafe, whose motto is: Kafka snob food.

Definitely the most interesting and maybe the best place we ate at in Prague, though, was at Maly Buddha, near the Castle. It’s quite dark and candle-lit inside, with bamboo-based decor and corners set up like Buddhist shrines. Though meat dishes are on offer, much of the menu is vegetarian, and that’s we went for. (We were at the point in the trip where nothing seemed better than a big plate of vegetables!) Both the veggie soup starter and our two plates of vegetarian selections were just excellent.

Maly Buddha restaurant, Prague — *The unusual atmosphere of Maly Buddha restaurant*

Lehka Hlava (Clear Head) Vegetarian Restaurant, in Old Town, is a super-popular purely vegetarian that we also liked, though not quite as much as Maly Buddha. It has an enchanted forest setting and good food. We were lucky to get in without reservations.

*Lehka Hlava vegetarian restaurant also had creative decor*

Also worth mentioning is a little Chinese / Japanese restaurant we found, only because it took such effort. One night all the restaurants we had targeted (from guidebooks) turned out to be closed, or we just couldn’t find them. And ones we did find just seemed too expensive. And it was raining. So about an hour’s search, we finally went into this not-very-promising looking Chinese / Japanese restaurant.

Which actually, to our surprise, had very good sushi. Phew! (We even ate there again.)

[“Oh, that’s lovely”, by the way, was Jean’s favorite descriptor of food he enjoyed on this trip. Fortunately, I heard it quite often!]

Running into news

When we first turned on BBC News in our Budapest hotel, we were surprised that Canada was the top story. That was the day those terror suspects were arrested (before they did any damage). Otherwise, though, we didn’t really encounter anything newsworthy in Budapest. We did see the filming of a gum commercial, but that was about it.

In Prague, though, they did have a “top story of the day” major gas explosion downtown, right by the place where we planned to go first that day (in a doomed attempt at opera tickets). Hence we were there about an hour after that happened, in time to see the police barricades, helicopters, ambulances… From a Czech guy on the street we were able to decipher that it had been a gas explosion; at lunch I used my cell phone (on wireless) to read the story. Then we later emailed / Facebook’ed people to let them know we were OK.

Strangely, a police barricade also stopped us on another effort to buy opera tickets. I have no idea what that one was about. (And was rather amazed that two attempts at ticket buying had been stopped by police barricades!)

We also came across a big political protest another day. No idea what that was about, either. We made out the Czech words for Democracy and Capitalism on the signs, but couldn’t tell if the (mostly young) protestors were for or against them.

(I will add that we felt very safe in both cities, always, whether walking during the day or at night, or taking the metro or tram, day or night.)

Going mobile

At a dance we attended the day before leaving on vacation, for some reason someone was giving a demonstration of how to pack light for the trip. And the friends we were sitting with were laughing about them bringing an iPod, and a tablet, and a Kindle.

Well, for the record, I did pretty much the same thing: cell phone, iPod, tablet, and Kobo, all separate. I had my reasons; and besides, the total of all four still weighed far less than the stack of books I would otherwise have travelled with!

Most used, by far, was the Kobo. I put the travel books on it (along with a bunch of novels for leisure reading), and referred to it constantly. It was lightweight, had a built-in light, had a long battery life, and easy links to whatever part of the guidebook was needed… It worked much better than carrying around actual books (or a tablet). Only problem was maps being really too small to read, so we went low-tech for those: we supplemented with paper maps.

Second most-used was the tablet, whenever I could get wifi. In Budapest we didn’t want to pay for it at our hotel, so we would periodically wander the city with our tablets, looking for restaurants with free wifi. Fortunately, the cafe next door was one, so we went there a lot. Helped that it also had good food at reasonable prices.

In Prague we also didn’t want to pay for wifi, but it was free in the hotel lobby, and we were on the first floor—and that was close enough for us to connect. (It’s sad we were so pleased about that.)

And the iPod was great on the Eger bus trip, and the phone was occasionally useful for quick photos and checking of news items.

The travel part of travel

Since I’d knocked KLM Airlines a bit regarding our Danube trip, I’d now like to say that I was very impressed with them on this trip. They were pleasant, on time, served good food (for an airline), a good amount of food, alcohol included, had a nice entertainment system (I recommend the documentaries Searching for Sugarman and Queen of Versailles), offered advance check-in, didn’t lose our luggage… It was as good as flying economy can get, I think. We were even in seats with no one behind us on the flight up, so we could put our seats back as far as we wanted without being rude.

The night train from Budapest to Prague was also a good experience, generally. You don’t sleep that well on a train—it’s a bit noisy, bumpy, and it stops periodically. But you sleep some, and you save time and money that way. I think the trip actually includes a deliberate longer stop (during which you sleep better), both so you get a reasonable amount of sleep, and so you don’t arrive a 4:00 in the morning. And they include an alarm to wake up, and they give you breakfast! There’s even a shower available.

(For both plane and train, I must say, it helps to be short. All this stuff has to be more uncomfortable for the tall.)

Sleeper car — *On a train, on a train (with beloved tablet)…*

The main downside was that you still arrive pretty early. We couldn’t check into our hotel when we arrived, and even after having a second breakfast there, we were still pretty early to be touring around Prague. Did mean we saw it without crowds, though, which is very rare in the Main Square. So I don’t think that was a bad way to go.

And finally: Customs at Pearsons has finally improved! They actually separate out Canadians and others (which I’ve been saying they should do for years) and they have an automated scanning option that lets you go through faster. So much better than before!

More Budapest photos are available in SmugMug.

More Prague photos are available in SmugMug.

Toronto weekend

A conference Jean was attending happened to fall on my birthday weekend; hence, we went to Toronto for my birthday. Jean had to be there Friday morning. He didn’t find the prospect of driving himself in too appealing, but train service from Kitchener has gone from bad to worse. So he took the Greyhound. I did the same after work. It went well for both of us (though mine had the inevitable rush hour clog at points), and return bus tickets for two was likely less than parking and gas would have been.

We had fun texting each other on my bus ride over, until his phone died at an inopportune time; just as we were trying to meet at the station. Happily we managed to find each other before too long, even without the tech.

Jean was staying at the conference, the Metropolitan, which has a well-regarded restaurant: Lai Wah Heen. So we just ate there the first night. Basically, they offer high-end Chinese food: It’s a beautiful room with white linens, with a menu of stir-fries, soups, dumplings, and fried rice. So there isn’t a whole lot of creativity in the dishes, per se, but everything is impeccably prepared, and the service is very good. And you can get a few premium ingredients, such as foie gras and duck in the fried rice.

Scallops stir-fry from Lai Wah Heen — Nicely prepared scallops, with glass of Cave Spring Riesling

Jean had to continue conferencing the next morning, so after a Starbucks breakfast, I walked over to the St Lawrence Market. Similar idea to the Waterloo one, really, but more international. I came back with some olive oil, cheese, and blackcurrant honey.

After a quickie Thai lunch, we did some more walking around Toronto, including the near-mandatory stop at Mountain Equipment Coop. I bought a dress (since I can’t seem to resist buying dresses…).

Cow from financial district — Financial district of Toronto

Dinner reservations that night were for Nota Bene, which seems to be a bit of trendy place right now. It was busy, but we were seated in a reasonably quiet spot. We found the food a bit uneven. Jean’s appetizer of venison pate, while my lobster salad certainly wasn’t bad, but wasn’t greatly flavorful.

But my main course of rabbit mushroom pasta was really quite delicious, and I ate every bite. Jean, on the other hand, found that his scallops were overdone.

Scallops at Nota Bene — Must say the scallops *look* good, though

For dessert, most unusually, I didn’t particularly feel like the sweet stuff, and I suggested the cheese plate! Neither of us had complaints about that course.

Cheese plate at Nota Bene — Cheese platter

Sunday we breakfasted at the hotel (expensive but quite good), then headed to the AGO. They didn’t have any particular special exhibits on; just some photography by Patti Smith—small Polaroids that didn’t really impress Jean. But it’s always nice to look at the Canadian collection.

We met up with my sister and brother-and-law there for lunch (or brunch) at Frank Restaurant. We all enjoyed that meal, and did some catching up.

Then back home together on the bus, which also went quite well.

Full gallery of photos

Not cursing the snow

The day we were to drive to Bondi Village near Algonquin Park happened to be the day of the biggest snowfall of the year (so far!). Even though buses, schools, universities, highways and even malls! (by the end of the day) were cancelled and closed, Jean never seemed deterred from going. Even after shoveling twice. And discovering the car had a bit a low tire. (We just added air.) Even so. Off we went.

The bonus of so much closing and cancelling was that the roads were unusually free of cars. And, you know, it was just snow—not freezing rain, not whiteout conditions (at least on the roads we took). It was a somewhat longer journey than usual, of course. We took a leisurely lunch, but otherwise just focused on making our way there. And it all went fine. The tire even held. And still is. (Very slow leak, I guess.)

This was a Canoe Club trip, and we were supposed to be joining 20 other people. We arrived to find 2. A couple more made their way shortly after us, three more later that evening, than two more overnight. The rest all bailed for various reasons, one being weather, of course! So we were 11: the smallest number in years for this winter club trek, I’m told.

Those who did make it, though, were rewarded the next day with the best possible weather:

We took advantage to do some snowshoeing in Algonquin Park. We chose the Track and Tower trail, which offers a nice variety of vistas, including waterways.

We were five, and Jean talked us into including the 4 km (or so) extension that brought us up to a lovely viewpoint.

Foxicle at the Lookout — Mascot Foxicle modeling the view

The whole thing was about 10 km, and as the day heated up (to -5) while we were still dressed for the morning’s -15, it made for a tiring walk back. One of us was to0 tired to chew!

The traditional pot luck dinner was rejuvenating, though. Despite the diminished numbers, we somehow still had a good balance of sides, mains, and desserts. We made a slow cooker minestrone that turned out really well.

Slow cooker minestrone — Not sure it looks so great here, but the soup was a hit

In fact, Jean was rejuvenated enough that he went snowshoeing again at night! He was determined to try to take pictures of the stars, and convinced some others to join him on a “midnight” walk (though it was really more like 8:30 pm). He and I mutually agreed that it would be best that I not join him. And that way we both had a good evening.

Starlit night — It was a moonless night; they had to make their way largely by feel

Sunday was another nice day. We had only the morning for activities, so we stayed on the Bondi property for snowshoeing. We had a nice time, but didn’t see any notable wildlife. Some of the others did, though.

Sunday lunch featured the potluck leftovers, just as good the second time out, then we cleaned up and shipped out for a smooth drive home.

More Toronto bits

Though the trip to Toronto was some time ago now (late November), I still wanted to add a few bits about it.

Dining at the legislature

Though I’ve had the full tour of Ottawa’s Parliament buildings before, I’m not sure I’d actually been to the Ontario Legislature before, but that’s where I met my sister for lunch. It’s a pretty quiet place these days, as a result of the controversial prorogation, but a very attractive old building—well worth seeing. We ate at the In Camera dining room, which has fairly luxurious atmosphere, and a varying menu with, appropriately, emphasis on local foods. All quite good at pretty reasonable prices.

Dining at Ki

Ki Restaurant has become my destination of choice for pre-concert dining, because of its highly convenient location (close to both Air Canada and Sony Centres), reliably delicious food, and excellent service. It does have a downside, though, in its large bar area being a destination of choice for the young and beautiful professionals to meet after work. It doesn’t bother us that we’re therefore seated at the back to not bring down the atmosphere, but it does make for pretty noisy dining. Something that bothers Jean in particular.

Still, at least the eating itself remained enjoyable. At Ki you order five or six small plates (for two people, that is). A bit of a challenge to pick all that out from the fairly sizable menu, but with practice we’re getting better at it. (And the wait staff are always helpful.) I no longer remember everything we had, but I do know that the seared fresh scallop with mushrooms and edamame was one of the highlights.

We also had a number of sushi and tempura inspired items, including the tempura butterfish of Alaskan king crab, salmon, butterfish, avocado, cucumber + tobiko with a tempura crust.

But the highlight, unpictured, was the creamy miso chowder drizzled with truffle oil. Just an astonishing combination of flavors.

Toronto sights

The predicted weather for this trip was terrible, but the actuality was much better: less cold, less rain than anticipated. Only late Saturday did it get pretty unpleasant, with a temperature and wind. (So then we went went home. 🙂 )

Before, though, we did have some time to amble and get some photos.

We got the above photo on the walk back from The Who concert.

And while our supposed 4-star “official Grey Cup” hotel wasn’t particularly spectacular, we were way up high and did have a beautiful view of the city outside. I love this shot.

Bob Geldof and the Great Pumpkin

The timing of our Ottawa vacation was actually determined by one Sir Bob Geldof, who was doing concerts in Eastern Canada for the first time in 9 years. Perversely, I suppose, we decided to see him play at the city farthest from our own. (But really, would you rather visit Hamilton, Oshawa… or Ottawa? Right?)

Now, I’ve already produced a rather long website review of the whole concert. This post will focus on a few points that made the concert really special.

Best seats in the house

Thanks to me contacting the theatre more or less the minute tickets went on sale, we were sitting in the very centre of the very first row, which the usher declared were the “Best seats in the house!”. Certainly was nice having no blocked view of the stage whatsoever. And when Bob did stroll to the front of the stage, he was really right in front of us.

And, it wasn’t a bad vantage point for taking pictures.

Jean’s review

You know, I do bring my husband to many concerts of interest more to me. Sometimes he’s bored by them, sometimes he’s slightly mystified by them, sometimes he’s mildly entertained, and occasionally… He loves them.

At the end of this one, he had the biggest grin. His comments included:

That was really good!
He just made it so entertaining!

(I’m figuring, since he’s not the big, life-long fan, his opinion means more than mine.)

How do you think he does it? What makes him so good?

The band is large—six musicians—and highly skilled. They convey Bob’s songs extremely well.
The show, about two hours long, is very well programmed and paced. The hits interspersed amongst maybe lesser-known songs, light music to start leading to more thoughtful than to dark ones, and concluding with completely fun ones. It never lags, whether you know all the tunes or not.
Bob is a really charismatic guy, and he really gets into the songs. You can’t take your eyes off him, and there’s no way to not get caught up in his passion.
He is fascinating guy who has led (well, is leading) an incredible life. When he talks, it’s as interesting as when he sings.

Mr. Chuckles

Geldof, of course, often deals with really serious issues of world poverty and whatnot, and therefore has a reputation of being an angry, grumpy guy. And maybe he is, but he’s also really funny. And he doesn’t trot out the same old jokes each time. No, the ones we heard were definitely customized for us.

Complaints that he thought he was playing the big city of Ottawa, but instead found himself miles from nowhere, on “Little House on the Prairie”. [Centrepointe Theatre, in Nepean, kind of is in the middle of nowhere, in fact…]
Amusement that the biggest highlight of the Ottawa Market was this 900 pound pumpkin on display.
A recurring trashing of the recently visited Oshawa, a city that apparently makes even Ottawa’s “little house on the prairie” look good.

Some set highlights

Our video of Mudslide, always a favorite of mine

Hearing some Boomtown Rats songs that aren’t as famous, and that he hadn’t played on the last tour, like “When the Night Comes” and “Joey’s on the Street again”.
Getting the backstory to “Scream in Vain”, which, on record, is an odd song about yams. It had its genesis in his return to Ethiopia ten years after Live Aid, and finding lush fields where previously there was death, dust, and desert. And seeing that helped him start to get out of his own severe depression, from his wife leaving him. And then they played “Scream in Vain”, and it just came across so powerfully…
An astonishingly sexy, extended version of the lustful “Mary of Fourth Form”.

Age is just a number

Bob Geldof is 61 years old. So all these people commenting on “Oh, he looks so old, now”–well, he is old. Of course he doesn’t look 30 anymore. And, he’s just not the type to run to the Lady Clairol, so with that crazy shock of long, completely gray hair… Kind of looks like a mad professor, or something.

But his voice has lost nothing of its range and power. He can still cover that octave and a half of “I Don’t Like Mondays”, still “scream in vain” during some songs, and sing softly and gently during others. Rather nasal, it’s never been a beautiful voice, but he has sure does a lot with what he has.

He’s also very energetic during the entire show, bobbing in place at times, moving around the stage at others. He remains very lean, and apparently very fit.

And up close, with the crazy hair partly hidden under a hat, and smiling, he still looks pretty handsome.

Final tip

If you ever do go see Bob Geldof in concert—as you should, before you die—you might want to stick around after. He’s often nice enough to come out and meet with fans. Or so I hear.

More photos in SmugMug Gallery

Full review on website: Bob Geldof live in Ottawa

A capital time

Our fall trip was cut down from its usual week to a couple days (four with the weekend), but we made the most of it by leaving Friday afternoon, and staying in Ottawa until Tuesday afternoon. On both trips, we stopped for dinner in the Toronto-ish area around rush hour time, thereby successfully avoiding traffic tie-ups. The worst we experienced was just trying to get out of Kitchener Friday afternoon!

In Ottawa, we did our usuals of enjoying some of the city’s finer restaurants, visiting museums, walking around the parks, and shopping in the Market and other areas. But two things made this year’s trip specially special. The first was that we followed up on an idea from last year’s high school reunion and met up with friends there! And that was a total hoot.

The second I’ll get back to later.

When we first arrived in Ottawa, it was just the two of us for lunch. We were staying in a hotel right by the Market, so that’s where we headed. Jean recalled that we had really enjoyed Play Food and Wine last time we were in Ottawa, so we found that place again. They offer small plates, each optionally matched with a 3 or 6 oz glass of wine—two things we love (the small plates and the wine matching, that is).

I started with a nice pumpkin salad with goat cheese and cinnamon tempura (!), served with a really good red blend from Organized Crime winery (want to seek that wine out), while Jean had excellent seared trout, served with a New Zealand Sauvignon Blanc. My next course, pictured, was pasta with littleneck clams, served with a Gruner Veltliner (from Austria, of course). Jean had the gnochi served with sage and mushrooms, accompanied by a New Zealond Pinot Noir (Appleby Lane).

And we finished by sharing a cheese plate, me with a French muscat, while Jean had an Ontario late harvest. Everything was very good. We sat upstairs this time, and still found the atmosphere quite nice, with good service.

It had been sunny when we arrived, but started to cloud over in the afternoon. It was still pretty nice, though, so we walked around, and Jean took some photos.

Long view of Ottawa — Long view of Parliament

That night, for dinner, was our first occasion for meeting up with friends. Sylvie and Paul had driven up from Timmins that day. They had suggested we try Sidedoor. Saturday ended up being the only night that worked for that, and we couldn’t get reservations until 8:30 pm!

This turned out to be another “small plate” kind of place, but not with wine matching this time. We ordered a variety of items for sharing: fried tofu with veggies, buttered lobster tacos, tuna sashimi, sockeye salmon seviche with coconut, shrimp dumplings, pan-roasted duck, chicken in chili sauce. And steamed rice. We went with a bottle of Spanish tempranillo for the lot, and that worked pretty well.

Not sure what the drunken angle is about, but does indicate the variety of dishes being shared…

The food was, in general, very nice. Sylvie and Paul voted for the salmon and tofu as their faves; Jean and I were more inclined to the tuna and dumplings. But it was all worth eating. We didn’t order dessert, but we did all have ports to finish.

The place was… lively. It was reasonably sedate when we first arrived, but not long after, an entire wedding party showed up, and in no time, every seat in the place was filled. Mostly with people younger than us, which tends to be unusual, for your higher-end dining places. It made for conversation at our table a bit challenging; I had to fill Jean in after on some of the items Sylvie and I had discussed.

Sunday started out drizzly and was predicted to just get more rainy, so we decided this would be a good day to use our pre-purchased tickets to the Museum of Civilization. Jean had been there before, and I thought I had as well, but I soon concluded it was my first visit. It was quite interesting, especially the Canada Pavilion, where you are really immersed into Canadian history, east to west, old to new.

Native sculpture at Museum of Civilization — Part of the Native display at the museum (and cool photo)

We had lunch at the museum, and that was pretty good. I convinced Jean that a one-course lunch would suffice; I had fish, he had duck, with the matching wines (where available). And we concluded with cappuccino.

Though we had considered walking to the museum, we finally chose to drive. This proved a good decision as it was raining harder by the time we were ready to leave. So we took the car to some more distant driving locations, such as MEC, and did some shopping there before returning to the hotel.

Dinner that night was at Murray Street. We were meeting with Sylvie and Paul again, but also with MJ and Michel. (We were also supposed to meet with Jacinthe, but she had to back out due to a badly timed asthma flare up.) Where we had seen Sylvie and Paul semi-regularly over the years, this was our first extended visit with MJ and Michel in a long time. We had a great evening! Though a pretty casual spot, the sound level at Murray Street made conversation much easier than at Sidedoor, and there was much merriment over our plates and individual glasses of wine or beer.

Dining at Murray Street — We’re back to drunken angles…

Despite the one-course lunch, given that Murray Street has pretty hearty food, I decided to go with two appetizers as my meal: A Po Boy of fried oysters (don’t always like cooked oysters, but these worked), with a sparkling Ontario wine; and a B, B, and J: Beets, butter and… I don’t know what the J is, actually, but it came with fried cheese. I had a red with that. Jean had an appetizer—I don’t remember what—then, as shown in the photo foreground, the duck leg confit with lentils.

I was the only one with room left enough for dessert, which was a take-off on s’mores, with graham, chocolate mousse, and marshmallow. Very good! And, most of us had port to finish. (Apparently Jean and I are quite the port pushers.)

Monday cleared up some again. We were meeting Sylvie and Paul for lunch, so we did some walking in the morning, and Jean got a few more photos.

Lunch was at Whalesbone, on Bank. It is a seafood place in general, but especially known for oysters. It’s small, with a really cool, casual atmosphere. A good place for our final “with friends” meal.

We’d had breakfast at Dunn’s Deli again, where it’s hard to get a really small breakfast, so we weren’t starved for our 12 noon lunch. Jean decided to have just the 18 oysters, but with willingness to share with me. I went for the Nicoise salad, which Jean also helped me with. We had a half liter of a white wine he recommend, that was really good with oysters—but I can’t remember what it was. But I do remember there were three types of oysters, one from BC (the biggest and meatiest; our favorite) and two types from the East Coast. They also had a variety of dipping sauces available, including Scotch! (We still don’t like Scotch.)

Oysters at Whalesbone — The coolest picture of oysters ever!

The salad Nicoise was also very nice. Paul had that as well. Sylvie went for the fish and chips, and reported that was good. Certainly looked like it.

Monday afternoon we did a bit more Market-ing. We had an early, fairly light (and wine-less!) dinner at a Thai restaurant across from Murray Street that was perfectly fine.

And then we were off to the Bob Geldof concert. Which was the second thing that made this trip special. But I’ll report on that part separately.

More photos in the SmugMug Gallery.

Trippin’ in Elora

Not sure what was going on, but everybody and their brother seemed to be in the small town of Elora last weekend. We were there to take part in the Culinary Walking Tour, which itself seemed to have been overbooked with 19 people. During the $15 tour, you visit 7 food-related establishments for samplings, and get some history of Elora and its buildings on the way.

Town crier in Elora

Greeted by the Elora town crier

Each establishment our large group went to this day, however, seemed to be run off its feet by higher paying customers, making it difficult for them to give the tour group the normal amount of attention. This, despite the tour taking place from 2 to 4, so not exactly at peak dining hours.

Nevertheless, it was pretty enjoyable. It was a beautiful day, and we got to learn about a number of establishments we weren’t previous familiar with. This was the run down:

Olive oil and vinegar tasting at the Village Olive Grove. This was one we were quite familiar with, having twice before done tastings here. Still, it was good, with both the olive oil and vinegar (which you taste via sugar cube) being impressive, and this particular host not phased by the large group or the busyness of his shop.
Macaroons at the Mill Street Bakery and Bistro, another place we’ve actually eaten before. Macaroons were tasty, but we had to eat them standing up in the lobby while getting an abbreviated history of the building.
Bocconcini salad at the Cellar Pub and Grill. We had to wait outside here a while before they were ready for us, but that did give us time to admire their fantastic patio we’d never before noticed. The usual host for the tour was away, so the bartender did his best to introduce the place. The salad was fine, but again, we didn’t get to sit, and no one seemed to think to tell us about their menu.
E&G Fine Pastry and Cake was one place that wasn’t crowded with people, and it was a really interesting shop, full of occult books and medieval supplies along with delicious pastries. The owners didn’t say much–I don’t think English was their first language–but the mocha cake was very good.
Cork was full, so we sat out their outdoor patio. The hostess and chef still tried to give a good overview of the place as we eat a sampling of grilled salmon with side vegetable. This was on the one that intrigued us the most—more on it later (plus photo below).
At the Shepherd’s Pub, we got a small glass of MacLeans micro-brewed beer (not that they said that’s what it was, but that”s what the website says). As beer goes, it was fine, and the place seemed like your typical pub.
Finally, they managed to squeeze us in at tables Cafe Creperie and talk about that place while we sampled a piece of smoked salmon, roasted tomato, and apple crepe. They were all really good; I would recommend this place if you were in those parts and in the mood for crepes.

Our tour group was from various parts of Ontario—Toronto, London, northern Ontario—further afield than I’d expected. (I somehow thought everyone would be semi-local, like us.) And there were a couple there from Australia!

In anticipation of this, we’d skipped lunch, which maybe wasn’t the best idea, because then all the samplings seemed too small. We were actually thinking of going out for a meal by the end. But we finally nixed that idea, instead heading and just having an earlier dinner.

So in retrospect, the better idea would have been snacking before the tour. (A whole lunch might have been sampling everything difficult.)

Cork Restaurant

The exterior of Cork

This weekend Jean invited me back to Elora, where he wanted to take some pictures, then try lunch at Cork. Elora was back to its sleepy self yesterday, with just the normal number of tourists milling about. Jean wasn’t super pleased with the results of his photography (his own assessment, not mine), but post some shots anyway.

Elora Mill

Elora Mill

Elora waterway

Cool look of the water here

Ontario autumn

Ontario autumn

And, we had lunch at Cork. We tried three samplers: a brie and pear flat bread (hard to go wrong with that, and they didn’t); scallops with smoky bacon and crip chips (nice combo, big scallops); and gnocchi in cream-based sauce with cheese (very rich, but great texture on the pasta). We had that with a half-litre of unoakced Chardonnay.

Lunch at Cork

On this calmer day in Elora, we spoke to the hostess and got a better overview of their offerings, which include:

Half-price bottles of wine on Tuesday
All-you-can-eat tapas on Wednesday (Uptown 21 style, they will just keep bringing items until you declare yourself full)
$2 oysters on Thursday, with a minimum of 2 kinds on offer
Live jazz on Saturday
Something beef-related on Sunday (for those of you still eating beef. She did mention it was Ontario, not Alberta, beef)

I think we’ll be back.

Québec City!

I don’t really have that much to say about our recent, quick visit to Québec City as all we did—apart from the concert—is what we always do there: amble about, do a little shopping, look at art, enjoy the romantic “old city” feel of the place, and eat at great restaurants. We were not bored, but it’ not much to write home about. But Jean took such great pictures there, I have to say something!

Quebec City street

Accommodations

It did strike me, this time, how we never, ever seem to stay at the same place twice when we visit. We were spotting our past hotels all over. This time out, of course, was a new one, Hotel le Grande Allée, just outside the gates of Old Quebec. Having achieved cost reductions by using travel points, it was by far the biggest room we have ever had in Québec City: It featured not only a sitting room, but two full bedrooms. Interesting, but rather more than a couple requires.

Gates to Old Quebec

Gates to Old Quebec, just down from our hotel

It was on a super-busy street, teaming with bars, cafes, and restaurants that were going strong Saturday night. So can affirm the hotel had pretty good sound proofing. Steep to park there, though.

Weather

The weekend weather could not have been better for our visit: Sunny both days, with a high around 21.

Hotel Frontenac and field

The weather, she be perfect

Food

For meals, we went to the reliable Crémaillère for dinner before the concert, and found it still had excellent service and very fine food. I shall have to contact Where to Eat in Canada to see why they don’t list it.

Sunday lunch was at a randomly selected place where I had a great platter of antipasto’s like duck pate, house-smoked salmon, roasted red peppers, prociutto, and olives. Jean had the cheese platter (no surprise).

Quebec terasse

We had lunch on a térasse something like this. (And yes, this is a photo of Jean’s)

Sunday dinner was the coolest, though, as we went to restaurant Toast!, which was entirely enjoyable. We were able to dine in their recently “open for the season” covered patio, which has a very neat atmosphere. Service was great but not stuffy, as evidenced by the staff uniform of a red plaid shirt over black pants. And their menu is just appetizers—no main courses. Which was perfect, because we weren’t starved, but everything sounded so good.

So we were able to share four: An amazing mushroom crostini; very nice asparagus and crab; le foie gras, specialty of the house; and a lamb and gnochi creation. Each with a matching glass of wine. The small serving sizes left plenty of room for dessert, which was (big surprise) chocolate for me, cheese for Jean.

Shopping

We did look at art, seriously considering one painting (which we’re still considering), but made only small-ticket purchases while there, of items such as chocolate truffles. And shoe laces. (Really.)

Street art

This piece of street art was not for sale

Students

We had two near encounters with the student protestors: we heard their pots clanging away nearby while having lunch, then after visiting the Assemblée Nationale at night. We returned to our hotel room, turned on the TV, and saw a “live” shot of protestors at the Assemblée Nationale. Meaning they must have arrived five, ten minutes after we left.

Assemblee Nationale fountain

Assemblée Nationale shortly before being overrun by student protestors

I admire their tenacity, but jeez I wish they would put it toward something actually worth fighting for!

Entertainment

Our audiobook for the journey was Sacre Bleu: A Comedy d’Art by Christopher Moore. It was the first book of his either of us had read, and we both really liked it. Very interesting weaving of all these Impressionist painters with a fantastical element. It also allowed us to great enjoyment out of lines such as “Accident. Couldn’t be helped.” and “Not that Prussian shit!”, which no one understood but us. That’s always fun.

More photos in the gallery

Southern Italy

Been quiet for me on the blogging front, as we’ve been out of country. We were on a hiking tour of the Amalfi Coast of Italy, followed by a couple days in Rome. The itinerary was as follows (each number representing a day):

Fly to Naples via Rome, on Alitalia.
Arrive and get shuttled to Bomerano. Meet the rest of the tour group and have dinner.
Hike from Bomerano to Amalfi, that has a downhill bias, involving many steps.
Ascend Monte Tre Caili, a small mountain. (On foot, of course.)
Visit the lost city of Pompeii, then climb Mount Vesuvius—the cause of its demise.
Walk through the gorgeous Valle delle Ferrie National Park (11k).
“Free day”, in which we took in a visit to Herculeum (another city lost to the Vesuvian eruption) and the lovely Ravello.
“Walk of the Gods” from Bomerano to Positano, then a boat ride back.
End of tour and train ride to Rome.
Visit Rome (museums on this day).
Continue Rome visit.
Direct flight back home.

The Amalfi Coast area is here:

Amalfi Coast map

You’ll note that the area we were staying in, Bomerano (actually part of Agerola), is not even on the map. It is up away from the sea, in the mountainous area, and not easy to get to. If not for being on a tour that brought us there, I’m sure we’d never have visited on our own.

Bomerano satellite shot

Where Bomerano is—the red A

Your transportation options are either not-terribly-frequent buses from Amalfi, spending a fortune on a taxi, or attempting to drive yourself—which would practically be a death wish on these very narrow, twisty, and busy roads. (Of course, with the tour, we either had help with the bus system or an experienced driver.)

Furthermore, there ain’t a heck of a lot to do in Bomerano. It’s quite small, not many shops, no bank, no museums (that I know of), and just a few restaurants. (Oh, and all the TV channels are in Italian.)

But as a place to collapse after a day of hiking or touring or both, it was just fine. Especially since it did have Internet, which really provided enough entertainment for the amount of time we spent there not sleeping or eating the multi-course meals. (More on that later).

The weather

The tour group the previous week had the great bad luck of experiencing a full week of cold, fog, and heavy rain. On a hiking tour.

We were in the much more fortunate position of experiencing the upswing in the weather. On the first day (of activity), the fog was heavy, so instead of climbing the mountain as would normally have been the itinerary, we did the walk down to Amalfi, eventually getting below the fog. Unfortunately, of course, we had few views on the way.

View below the fog

The view below the fog

The day of the mountain climb, though, we did have a sunny morning, and therefore nice views all the way up the mountain. However, then the fog decided to come back for our descent. And at the very bottom, we got our only rain of the trip–pretty heavy at the very end. But we all enjoyed the refuge at the Crazy Burger Cafe!

The fog rolling in

The fog rolling in at the top of the mountain

At Pompeii, the weather was fantastic. On Mount Vesuvius, the fog decided to reappear, though more in a hide and seek kind of way that did allow for some views. (A bigger issue was the strikers who prevented us from walking all the way around and partly down into the volcano, but the alternate route we did instead was a lot of fun.)

Peekaboo fog at Vesuvius

The peekaboo fog at Vesuvius

The next three days were nothing but sunny, and the final day got really warm, such that we were all discarding as many clothes as was decent, and getting a great round of sunburns.

Walk of the Gods

Perfect weather on the final hike, The Walk of the Gods

Managing the physical challenges

Though we both do some exercise, it turns out we weren’t really in shape for walking down 2700 steps one day, then climbing up a small mountain the next. By the third day, we could barely negotiate the tiny stairs in the hotel, so sore were the muscles. In my case, it was both calves (from the up) and quads (from the down).

I was actually worried about managing the rest of the trip, but by day four things were much improved, and by the end, despite continued hiking on hilly terrain, the muscles were actually pretty good.

My big toes on the other hand, got extremely whiny about the constant butting up against the end of the hiking boot, and by the end were unbelievably sensitive. That made walking in Rome the first two days something of a challenge, but that too improved in the end. Well, except that my big toe nails are now kind of black.

The group

The tour group we were with, Exodus, are British, so everyone on the tour but us were from the UK or Scotland. (We got a lot of comments about how far it was for us to come. Of course, true. They had only a 2.5 hour flight!) They ranged in age from, I’m guessing, early 30s to late 60s. And most of them in their 60s were in much better shape than us, which wasn’t embarrassing at all. 🙂

The merry band of hikers

The merry band of hikers

It was a good group. Interesting people who tended to have done a lot of traveling, and who worked in all different areas. Jean was particularly great with one of the older ladies, who had hurt her knee on the first day (!), and thereafter struggled with some of the more challenging terrain. He made sure she negotiated all the paths safely. He’s sweet, my husband.

Food and wine

We had all our breakfasts and most of dinners at Hotel Due Torri, where we staying, which is fortunately somewhat renowned for its food. It was, of course, Italian cuisine all week long, but a different menu each night, typically starting with a pasta, then following with seafood or meat, then dessert.

We also got to go into the kitchen a couple times to watch the meals being put together, which was a lot of fun. That’s a lot of olive oil in that seafood linguine! And if you have a wood-burning oven at 200 degrees, your pizza cooks in about 2 minutes.

Freshly made tiramisu

Freshly made tiramisu

The wines served were regional ones, not exported to Canada (or anywhere). They were good, quite food-friendly, but not the sort you’d make a big fuss over.

We had one night out to another Bomerano restaurant, the whole group together, and they did a fantastic job there, too. Jean and I still argue over which of us had the better meal there. And in Revello, we had a splurge lunch on a gorgeous patio. In Rome, we mostly stuck with Italian food, still. It was all good, but I think most notable was the ricotta and pear ravioli in truffle sauce. Jean liked it so much when I had it at lunch that we went back to the same place for dinner, and he ordered it.

Lunch in Revello

Lunch in Revello, “the most picturesque place on earth”, as one in our group called it

Rome

I should wind up before I’m writing all night (of course I’ll be adding more to the website, later), but not before saying something about our visit to Rome.

The first day in Rome it was 28 degrees and sunny, which you may think sounds great, but Rome is humid, I had to keep somewhat covered up due to sunburn, I had the sore feet, and so it was just uncomfortable. And then there was crowds.

We had been thinking April was still low season there, but not so much–especially late April. That first day, we walked to the Trevi Fountain, and the Spanish Steps, and the Coliseum area… And everywhere was just crawling with an unbelievable number of people.

Crowded Spanish steps

We had to share the Spanish Steps with just a few other people.

So truthfully, I wasn’t really liking Rome so much on day 1 there. (And did I mention our hotel had no air conditioning?)

Fortunately, Rome improved. It started by clouding over (but no rain) and lowering the temperature (but not getting too cold), which was much better. And, we largely avoided the big sites and saw some of the less well-known yet quite interesting areas we had missed last time:

National Museum of Rome, with fantastic ancient sculptures
Museum of Modern Art, with fantastic modern sculptures and a really neat area on optical illusion art
The Capuchin crypt, with its artful arrangement of 4000 monk bones (web photo below)
A synagogue tour, where I learned just how long Roman Jews have been persecuted
An interesting archeological site behind the synogague, unearthing another Colosseum
The lively Travestere neighborhood

Capuchin Crypt

We weren’t allowed to take photos here, so this one is a find

The not-so-well known colosseum behind the Rome synagogue

Roman Forum

And the more famous Forum (because this is a cool shot)

So Rome ended up fine as well. Thank goodness it was a second visit.

More Amalfi coast photos: http://jean-cathy.smugmug.com/Travel/2013-Travel/Italy-and-the-Amalfi-Coast/

More Rome photos: http://jean-cathy.smugmug.com/Travel/2013-Travel/Rome-April-2012/

More details (with photos): Amalfi and Rome Trip Diary

Niagara wine-ing

We did an over-nighter in Niagara-on-the-Lake last weekend. We visited Flat Rock Cellars winery for the first time, and were left somewhat unimpressed. Our favorite of the four wines we tried was the 2010 white Twisted, which is very nice. (Might make a white wine convert of you.) But it’s widely available at LCBO. And you had to buy four bottles to dispense with the tasting fee. So, we just paid the tasting fee.

More successful was our second visit to Thirteenth Street Winery, though the first at its current location. Which is very nice, with an art gallery and a bakery also on site. And they were much more relaxed about the tastings, allowing us to try more than the prescribed five. And you only needed to get two bottles to dispense with the tasting fee.

In the end we bought five: one of their nice Cabernet Rosé, two of the character-ful 2009 Gamay Noir (an interesting contrast to the fruitier 2010), and two of the Below Zero Riesling, which is that ice wine and Riesling blend.

The weather wasn’t super-cooperative on Saturday, giving us a mostly rain when we arrived in Niagara-on-the-Lake proper. We did some walking around regardless. But it was only the next morning (early, so without me) that Jean got some photos.

Building in Niagara-on-the-Lake

We had dinner at Hillebrand Estates Winery. They offered a prix fixe menu of three, four, or five courses—same menu, you just picked how many parts of it you wanted. At first I picked three that, I was then informed, didn’t include the entree course. That wasn’t ideal, but neither of the two entree options: salmon (which I’d had plenty of at lunch) and beef. But it did mention a possible vegetarian entree, so that’s what I went with: a vegetable ravioli.

Our first course was a quite delicious pumpkin soup with lobster, served with a mix of Trius Brut and ice wine. Next we had a duck and ravioli appetizer, served with a red wine—though neither of us can quite remember which grape. It seemed to go well, though. And both the duck and ravioli were very good.

Duck course

With the mains (Jean had the beef), I believe we got the Trius Red, which was fine, but nothing outstanding. We did not take the wine pairings with dessert. I had the bittersweet chocolate pudding, while Jean went for the pear meringues.

All in all, a quality meal in a lovely room with a waiter who was kind of fun—commenting on Jean’s attempt to be surreptitious about taking photos, for example.

The next day, after a nice breakfast at our B&B, and a walk around a now not-rainy Niagara-on-the-Lake, we stopped in a Peller Estates, as we curious to try their 2010 reds. But we also tried their 2010 Sauvignon Blanc, which was interesting in being a little oaked, which is unusual for that type of grape. And their Private Reserve Rosé, which we really liked.

On to the reds. The Pinot Noir wasn’t bad, but was fairly light, and didn’t seem quite worth the price tag. The Merlot was really tannic. They then realized they needed to do some extra decanting on some of these reds. After that, the Cabernet Franc wasn’t overly tannic, but it didn’t seem super-interesting, either. But the Cabernet Sauvignon was really nice. So we bought a couple bottles of that, which we’ll probably let sit a bit, along with a couple roses and one Sauvignon.

On the way back, we stopped in for lunch at Borealis Grill and Bar, which we’ve been wanting to try. It’s nothing fancy—specials of the day were perogies and ribs, for example—but it focuses on local foods, well-prepared. And we were happy with what we had, which was a fish taco in my cases (with Lake Erie pickerel) and a vegetable fusili in Jean’s—featuring pickled asparagus, goat cheese, tomato, and double smoked bacon. It’s a little out of the way from where we live, but we would go there again.

Synopsis of activities

A night at the opera

Nazis and communists

Experiencing the culture (kind of)

“Oh, that’s lovely”: Dining experiences

Running into news

Going mobile

The travel part of travel

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Best seats in the house

Jean’s review

How do you think he does it? What makes him so good?

Mr. Chuckles

Some set highlights

Age is just a number

Final tip

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