Ahhhh, enjoyed using my new Doctor Riter's Real-Ease neck and shoulder relaxer today. Got it at the Relax the Back Store on Kingsway and Royal Oak.
Monday, September 19, 2011
Monday, September 05, 2011
Thursday, August 11, 2011 - Flight
On Tuesday night I went to bed after 5am so that I could start acclimatizing myself and not have too much jet lag. Had to get up early Monday and Tuesday so Wednesday was the only night to stay up late. So went to bed about after 5am on Wednesday night and got about 3 or 4 hours sleep which was good which meant I would hopefully be able to sleep on the plane.
Cabbed to the airport, left our place shortly after 10am. We ate brekkie at the airport at A&W and Subway. Had a 2 seat spot to ourselves in row 41 near the back of the plane but it was very cramped and little legroom. The flight was scheduled to leave at 1:15pm but left early just after 1pm. Watched an extraterrestrial movie called Paul which was a coincidence as 2 hillbilly nerds travel to Area 51 along the Extraterrestrial Highway which is where I want to go as it’s close to Vegas. I slept on and off. Unfortunately about 7 hours into the flight I had to go to the bathroom but didn’t get sick. Felt a bit queasy but was able to help myself by blasting cool air con on myself. I attribute not getting sick to the ginger pill as this was the first time I didn’t get sick after I had to go to the bathroom and then got sick once I got back to my seat.
London August 12 to 19, 2011
Friday, August 12, 2011- Arrival in London
The flight arrived about 40 minutes early at 6:15am but we ended up being stuck on the tarmac waiting for a plane stand. We took the prepaid train from Gatwick Airport to London Victoria station then cabbed to Royal Court Apartments. Very friendly cabbie pointing out attractions along the way after finding out it was our first trip to London. We found it strange that there are no trunks in the cabs but there is a lot of floor space in the back for our luggage to lie flat lengthwise or upright.
We got to RCA at 10am but check-in wasn’t until 2pm so we stored our luggage and walked to Paddington Station area a short walk away for brekkie at Garfunkels Restaurant …after passing full stuffy non air-conditioned smaller brekkie places. I had hot chocolate and oatmeal and Ray had eggs, bacon and toast. Ray noticed a massage place on the way back to the RCA…. I had been complaining on the plane about how stiff and sore I was and that I needed a massage after we landed. Plus we had a few hours to kill before we could check in. And surprisingly I was functioning a lot better than I thought I would after the long flight. So I had a foot reflexology massage and Ray had one for his back and shoulder which were sore from standing on the train. Ahhhh….I was so relaxed afterwards. …I find that foot massages are more beneficial to me than a regular massage as it makes me feel better. Got back to the RCA shortly before 1pm and were able to check in. The room was really stuffy...…there was only air con in the common areas. We took a four hour nap then went back to Garfunkels for dinner...…this time Ray had fish and chips and and I had cottage pie (minced beef, onions and gravy in mashed potatoe pie) and Ray’s mushy peas which tasted like mashed potatoes . This was our first “British” meal. There were a few souvenir and convenience stores but the closest businesses to the RCA (on the Paddington station side of us) were 2 Indian restaurants and then Italian. Went to bed about 1am then I woke up about 5am to go to the bathroom...…tossed and turned for an hour then got up.
The weather here is pretty much the same as ours except a bit muggier. It seems cleaner here but probably it’s because the buildings are so light in colour so it looks cleaner. The hotel doesn’t have any amenities as it’s just a condo and it’s old so it’s a regular metal key to get into the room. When we leave the building we have to give the key to the front desk and then we come back we have to show our ID slip to get our key back.
Saturday, August 13, 2011 - World Badminton Championships Semi-Finals
We took the Underground from Lancaster Gate to Wembley Park and got there after 10am.
There were some restaurants close to the train and some electronics stores, a grocery store and JD sports store. Ray got a converter adapter at Currys as he realized he needed a voltage converter as …the plug adapter we already had wouldn’t do it.
We saw Wembley Stadium from the train and thought that was where the tournament was happening but it was in the arena which wasn’t even visible from the train…...realized it as we got closer to the stadium and found out it was the stadium and not the arena. We got some souvenir shirts and Ray bought a program. I was pleasantly surprised to find out that I enjoyed watching the games live. We had really good seats directly in front of the court at the left side line. There was only one court and it was lit up…when the officials and mop kids came out there was cool music as they walked In a diagonal line to the court. Then the double-decker bus lit up and pulsating music happened and then the players came out of the bus. It was women singles, mens singles, mixed doubles, womens’ doubles and last mens doubles. My back and neck were killing me so I had to take some Advil. At least I brought my lumbar pillow with me.
We were part of history which brought tears to my eyes as it was the first time mixed doubles from Great Britain (woman from England and guy from Scotland …or was it the other way around?) made it to the finals.
It was exciting to see players from different countries, China being the best. It was exciting to see the top players of the world especially Lin Dan and Peter Gade.
In between the first and second semis Ray wanted McDonalds so it was packed from all the tournament-goers. …I went around and looked for a restaurant that had smoothies to no avail so came back and had a McD’s milkshake. Health food after having fries at the arena. But had a vegie hummus wrap after we went back.
I think it ended after 10 so got back after 11pm. Went to bad about 12:45am but woke up about 6:40 to go to the bathroom but couldn’t fall back asleep so tossed and turned for about an hour and then got up.
Sunday, August 14, 2011 – World Badminton Championships Final and Chinatown
Went to the Island Grill restaurant in the Lancaster Hotel since it was right beside the underground entrance. Checked out the menu the day before when we were on our way to the semis. Ray had an omelette and I had their porridge with 3 slices of banana and berry compote. Also had green tea. The porridge was really good. A woman at the table beside us asked if we were from Vancouver as she said her daughter wears clothes like mine...…I had on a purple tank top from Lululemon. She said her daughter has the same one! The woman and her hubby had gone to Scotland earier to visit her mother who was not doing well. And were staying in the hotel to tour London which she never really did even though she lived in Scotland for 30 years.
Well, China won all 3 matches, Womens doubles, Mens singles, Womens singles, Mens doubles and Mixed Doubles so we saw the China flag go up a lot and heard their national anthem.
It was nice to only be there half a day instead of a full day which was long and tiring and so sore …i.e. 4 to 5 hours instead of 9 or 10 hours.
We left before the end of the mixed doubles 2nd game as Great Britain was losing and we knew they weren’t going to win gold. So we went to take photos in front of the giant birdie beside the badminton museum and I was looking for someone to take a photo of the two of us. But when I asked the security guard he wasn’t allowed to take photos so as we were leaving the area a guy in a red jacket asked Ray if he played badminton and we found out he was the founder of ebad. His name was Daniel and he has travelled around playing in tournaments …the next one being in Guatemala.
Went to Chinatown for dinner afterwards. Wandered through Leicester Square to get to Chinatown and coincidentally Ray happened to pick a restaurant where all the waiters and waitresses were wearing purple tops! Apparently they change their uniform colour every year! Of course I had to get a photo with some of them!
Afterwards went to a huge 2 level souvenir store...…I’ve never seen such a big souvenir store before! Although besides souvenirs there were other non-souvenir memorabilia too. Thanks to Sonya’s sister Velda (who lives in London) for suggesting it! The store was still packed at 10pm when we were leaving as it doesn’t close until midnight.
Monday, August 15, 2011 – London City Tour
Went to the Island Grill for brekkie again as the pickup spot for the city tour was at that hotel. Had the same thing as Sunday and coincidentally the same couple from Vancouver were sitting at exactly the same table as the day before! What a small world...…they were also going on a tour but it was leaving 10 minutes before ours!
Norma, our tour guide was an older British woman who was really good. We drove through Kensington and Hyde Park, saw the Prince Albert memorial and then went to see the changing of the guards at Buckingham Palace. We got to see some horse guards near the road first before the other guards so that was really neat. Watched the new guards go towards the palace and then followed them to the palace and watched them go into the palace gates. Then saw the old ones leaving about 11:30 but apparently it wouldn’t be until 12:10 until they made their way back down the long road leaving the palace so we didn’t stick around for that. But it was really exciting to see them as I had no idea what to expect and that there was music and a big procession.
Trafalgar Square was the highlight as we went and saw the Olympic and Paralympic countdown clocks in our free time after some of the group had lunch at the Silver Cross pub.
We went to St. James Cathedral which has a dome and was building in the 1700’s after the Great Fire of London burned down the original one. It was so beautiful inside with all the paintings on the ceiling and in the dome. There were crypts downstairs which was kinda creepy. We weren’t allowed to take any photos at all inside the cathedral. There was a service of some sort going on.
A woman had hurt her ankle as she tripped on a stair she didn’t see going down to the bathroom in the pub…so the bus driver gave her a wrap to put on her ankle and he just so happened to have a one-armed crutch where you stick your arm in which helped her. She hobbled along with her hubby (I assume) to St. Pauls with us but just stayed on the first level and didn’t go down to the crypt with us. When we got back to the bus the driver told us he put her in a cab to the hospital.
I mistakenly thought The Tower of London was the Tower Bridge so was disappointed when I found out all it was was old buildings where battles took place. But I really enjoyed the crown jewels…...all the different crowns worn for coronations when the various royals were first crowned. The jewels on the crowns were so sparkly as were the swords and scepters I didn’t realize so many of the crowns are purple and that Queen Elizabeth’s weighs 7 lbs so she had to do neck exercises before her coronation to strengthen her neck. There were also gold dishes and a beautiful golden thread robe. We weren’t allowed to take photo so I got a purple sparkly crown magnet for a souvenir…...I think it’s my first purple magnet!
We were on our own once the tour guide brought us to the Crown Jewels lineup...…it was quite a long lineup and Ray wasn’t interested in seeing the crown jewels so he just sat on a bench and played Tetris. Luckily he didn’t go in as even after the lineup it was all standing and walking through inside.
Ray was too tired to go on the river cruise and then the London Eye so we headed back to Paddington Station and had dinner at Garfunkels again since it was so handy beside the station as you exit and they have a wide variety of food to pick from. This time I had the Teriyaki Salmon with rice, broccoli, snap peas and carrots. Ray had steak. I had blackberry apple crumble with ice cream for desert and it came in a round shape, …quite unusual!
Since everything including my feet were so sore and my ankles were burning from walking and standing so much I wanted to get a foot massage so we went again. I had Linda again who’s from Beijing and only been here 9 months…so she couldn’t understand a lot of English so it was difficult to have a conversation with her. But she was really good and I actually fell asleep a few times.
Tuesday, August 16, 2011 – Chocolate Afternoon Tea and Harrods
Met my co-worker’s Sonya’s sister Velda at the Conservatory Restaurant at the Chesterfield Mayfair Hotel for chocolate afternoon tea. Ray had a cheeseburger. Brought her all the goodies from home: Hawkins Cheezies, Hickory Sticks, Dad’s Cookies, Oh Henry bars (actually wanted peanut butter ones?), Dill chips, Shake and Bake, Stove Top Stuffing, Canada Post Royal Wedding stamps, Timmys coffee, etc. Unfortunately at YVR we were over our 40kg luggage limit by 5kg so had to leave the big iced tea and the 1200g Hawkins Cheezies behind. I had the Timmys can of coffee in the Timmys bag and when the airline worker asked me what was in there I said Timmys coffee and I guess she felt sorry for me and let me take it with me. Most of the salty stuff and the coffee was for her hubby. The Oh Henry bars weren’t the right ones.
There was an option of getting hot chocolate, a chocolate milkshake or tea so I opted for the chocolate milkshake since I had hot chocolate at my one and only other chocolate afternoon tea at Schokolade in East Van. Velda had hot chocolate which was in a teapot so I tried some of hers and it was very chocolatey and good. The milkshake was good too. I wasn’t impressed with the sandwiches or goodies on the tier. I’ve never had a chocolate scone before but it was very dry. The other chocolate stuff was just okay. I had the chocolate bar for dinner which was very good. It was milk chocolate and Velda got the dark chocolate one as she likes that type of chocolate (doesn’t like white chocolate). Velda took the afternoon off as she had lots of banked overtime to use. Time flew and it was close to 4 hours later when we left. Ray went back to the hotel and I went shopping at Harrods :)
Upon entering the entrance closest to the Knightsbridge Underground station I was in the cosmetic department and the security guard said to hold my backpack in my hand. They call it rucksacks here. Then found the “arcade” which was where the Harrods bags, stuffed bears and other Harrods souvenirs were. Thanks Velda for telling me about looking for the “arcade”. I got a pink teabag rest and when I was paying for I asked the cashier if they sold lilac bags and bears as I saw them online but he said no and the internet didn’t do it justice. Then I asked if there was another section in the store like the arcade and he told me the second floor and gave me a store directory map booklet which was really handy to have otherwise I wouldn’t have a clue what was in the store.
The department store had quite a different layout. The centre area where the stairs and escalators were linked on each floor to different departments which were labeled on the doorway but there were also other depatments past those departments and if I didn’t have the mapbook I never would’ve known what was there. Besides the other souvenir section which was way bigger and not as busy as the ground floor one I checked out the kids soft toys section and was in stuffed animal heaven!!! There were so many different types of stuffed animals! Then I went to pet kingdom where they had small pets and dogs as well as every type of pet supply and accessory you could imagine. The food hall was something else with so many different sections and grocery areas. At home a lot of different people said to check out the food court so I was expecting more restaurant concessions but besides the dim sum and caviar sit-down section it was more of like a fancy grocery store which was quite a sight to see.
Wednesday, August 17, 2011 – Buckingham Palace and John Lewis (official London 2012 store)
We walked towards Paddington Station and ended up going for brekkie at Raffles Restaurant. They serve brekkie until 4pm. So Ray had bacon and eggs and I had a cheese and onion omelette, salad and fries. Oh yeah, had hot chocolate as well but it was just okay. Lots of locals eating there.
Ray had emailed Daniel and he was going to join him playing badminton at Bacon College tonight. Ray said that he’d feel bad if he broke Daniel’s racquet so we went to Lillywhites and Ray bought a cheap racquet .
Got to go in Buckingham Palace in the entrance where the bobbies were and got taken into the quadrangle past the guard on the right side of the palace by a worker in a golf cart. As we passed the guard the worker said 3:30 as they like to hear what time it is. There are 2 guards when the queen isn’t there and 4 guards if she’s there. We weren’t allowed to take photos inside the palace so when I booked the tour I ordered the guidebook too. The staterooms were impressive and it was neat to see Kate’s dress as well as the room where a lot of the royal wedding photos were taken.
After the tour Ray went to play badminton and I went to the John Lewis department store (similar to the Bay) and checked out the Olympic and Paralympic merchandise. Man, the mascots are sure ugly… even moreso in person than online!
Thursday, August 18, 2011 – Movie and Chinatown
I’ve gotten more sleep in the past few days – 9 to 11 hours so back to the usual sleep pattern. Think I got closer to 12 hours last night. Since it was pouring rain this afternoon we didn’t end up going to use up the river cruise and Eye tickets. So we decided to go see the Planet of the Apes movie at the Odeon Theatre at Marble Arch. We went and ate at McDonald’s and since it was only about 4:30pm and the next show wasn’t until 6:20 we walked a few blocks to the Argos store which happened to be 150 Edgeware and the theatre was 10 Edgeware. We went to find Ray’s sister’s In the Night Garden toys/clothes she was looking for. Couldn’t find any Tomliboos or Makka Pakka but as with my visit to Hamley’s yesterday Iggly and Daisy were common at Argos (catalogue store similar to the old Consumers Distributing store). All the books and CDs were sold out as were the lego set. The lego set had 3 characters in it… Iggly, Daisy and I think Makka Pakka so we found out that it was at the Victoria store and put it on hold and took the bus over there to get it.
We took the # 36 bus back to the theatre and it was the first time we were on a double-decker red bus in London as the other bus was only one level. The movie was really good. The screen was higher but there were less seats and more even with the screen… we got “luxury” reserved seats in the back row. It wasn’t busy.
After the movie was over we took a double-decker bus to Picadilly Circus to go eat dinner at Chinatown. Ate at the Mayflower which was really good. The restaurant looked small from outside but there was a second floor downstairs that went back quite far. I had mixed vegies and bean curd and Ray had prawn fried rice. The service there was really good, …really efficient and attentive. I got 2 almond cookies at a store on the way back to the Leicester Square station and ate one on the train.
Friday, August 19, 2011 – Eurostar train London to Paris
The St. Pancras train station is at the same place as the Kings Cross underground subway station. There was a photo op with the 9 3/4 sign and the buggy used in Harry Potter so there was a lineup to take photos. We didn’t bother doing that as we only saw a few of the movies. …I think we saw one of the first ones and we just saw the last one a few weeks ago. I read a few of the books.
We ate brekkie at Pauls in the Eurostar station. …Ray had 2 croissants and I had a croissant and a chocolate pain. I slept off and on during the ride and the 2.25 hours whizzed by. We were at a table for 4 facing 2 other tourists who moved to the table across the aisle when they found out no one was sitting with their friends :) It was nice to stretch out to sleep instead of being upright. I think Ray played Gameboy the whole trip. Took a cab from the station to our hotel. Citadines Voltaire Republique.
We ate at a Chinese fast food place a few doors away.
Ray checked online and found a badminton place at 7;30 so cabbed there only to find that it’s not on now…...there was tennis though. So we just took the metro back.
Paris August 19 to 23, 2011
Saturday, August 20, 2011 – City Tour, Eiffel Tower and Chinatown
Ate brekkie downstairs in our hotel. Hard boiled eggs, toast, cereal, fruit, croissants etc. It was $13 Euros per person. There’s a computer downstairs for guests to use where the brekkie area is. It was nice that the front door was locked and you needed a code at night. Whereas in London the door was always either wide opened but always unlocked at RCA.
Then we took the metro to Tuilliers station for the City Tour which started at 12pm. It was a red double-decker bus and we got headphones so we could listen to the appropriate language. The couple behind us were complaining and bickering a lot since our bus seemed to have engine trouble and the air con wasn’t always on and we weren’t moving sometimes. They kept looking at the open-top double-decker buses…...but I’m glad we weren’t on one of those as it was scorching hot and muggy outside.
It was nice to go in the group lineup section for the Eiffel Tower… even though we had to wait a short time in the heat it was better than the regular long lineup! We took the lift to the second floor and then bought a ticket for the summit, …had to line up a long time for everything.
After going to the summit we went to the first floor to get something to eat. Ray just had a Coke and a small tin of Pringles and I had a lettuce, tomato and cheese baguette. Ray said it was too hot to do the river cruise so we cabbed back to the hotel. A few doors away from the hotel I got a Magnum classic ice cream/chocolate bar which I hadn’t had before and got Ray a Coke. Ray knew I don’t handle the heat well so I was glad we came back to the hotel as I had a nap for a few hours and then we cabbed to Chinatown. The driver dropped us off on Avenue Choisi and Avenue Tobliac. There were lots of Vietnamese/Chinese, Vietnamese, Vietnamese/Thai/Chinese restaurants but no Chinese only restaurants so we’ll have to go back to check out more of the area. Ray had won ton soup, Har Gow and Siu Mai. I had Vietnamese spring rolls with lettuce and bok choy. The spring rolls were fried but different than back home.
Cabbed back and got ice cream (glace) at a café down the street. Had a lot of junk food today :)
Sunday, August 21, 2011 – Versailles and Angelinas
Ate at the McDonalds down the street from the hotel. Took the metro to the Louvre for the bus tour.
Took a bus tour to Versailles...…it sure has been hot and humid…in the low 30’s. We looked at a few gardens…, very impressive and beautiful…, so many and a lot of land to cover! It would take a long time to see all of them but the fountains were spectacular. Saw part of the palace which was beautiful.
Went to Angelina’s after the tour for it’s world-famous hot chocolate (thanks for the tip Velda!) Had the African hot chocolate and the deeelicious African chocolate cake! Then got a pain du chocolate at a bakery near our hotel and ordered pizza (actually the front desk did) about 11:30pm.
Monday, August 22 Hard Rock Cafe
I ended up sleeping over 12 hours and by the time we got going it was about 4pm. Ray had steak and I had Alaskan wild salmon...tasted quite fishy so sprinkled lemon and butter on top but couldn't eat the whole thing as one part was still fishy. Had free sundaes with a coupon from the hotel. Ray didn't want to go on the river cruise left over from the city tour and wanted to go see a movie. So went down the street from Hard Rock to a theatre called Rex. But all the movies were in French except for the one later in the evening would be in English which we had seen already (Cowboys and Aliens). I had a triple chocolate muffin at La Croissanterie but the one at McD's was fresher. Then we just took the metro back to the hotel.
Friday, August 26, 2011
Since we had to check out at noon we got up early to take advantage of our free buffet brekkie. Then walked to Anne Frank's house which was about a 2 hour lineup to get in so didn't go...just took photos from the outside. We took the tram to the Red Light District...it was weird seeing women in windows at street level...at least they're safer than standing outside on a street corner. We ate at a Chinese restaurant before the Red Light District...I had chicken corn soup which was good and Ray ate his usual wonton noodle soup. After passing through a few blocks of the Red Light District we found Chinatown and then headed back to the hotel as the train to Brussels was at 4.16pm. I went and took a look at the world's largest floating market and then we got our luggage from the hotel and went to the train station.
Brussels Friday, August 26 to Wednesday, August 31, 2011
As with Amsterdam our hotel isn't too far away from the train station. The buildings in Brussels are picturesque but not as charming as Amsterdam and there are only a few bikes and scooters so it's mostly cars and bigger roads not the neat quaint one-way roads in Amsterdam. We cabbed to the hotel and then Ray wanted to see a movie and coincidentally there's a movie theatre on the same street as the hotel a few blocks away. And the blockbusters are in English with French and Dutch subtitles. Most people speak English as well but French seems to be the predominant language we heard. The street signs are in French and Dutch. We ate at the mall the theatre was in at the Woke which is like Wokbox back home. Like the McDonalds in Paris there were self serve machines and you could pick from English, French, Dutch or Spanish to place your order so that was great. We saw Captain America. There were also French movies playing.
Saturday, August 27, 2011 Brussels City Tour and Chocolate Slide Show and Tasting at Chocopolis
Ate at a Chinese restaurant by the hotel. I had noodles with pork and Ray had wonton soup and dim sum. A van picked us up from the hotel and and took us to Brussels City Tours downtown at the Grand Place. It's so scenic here with the architecture and the village looking buildings. While we were waiting for one more group to arrive there was thunder and it started to downpour which was similar to Amsterdam where it would rain hard for a short time and then disappear. Amsterdam was slightly warmer than Brussels but it still wasn't that warm. I actually had to wear my light jacket in Brussels although I was still wearing my convertibles without the legs...didn't say anyone else wearing shorts.
It was still raining when we walked from the tour company and went on a short walking tour before getting to Chocopolis where we went to room with a slide show presentation on the origin and making of chocolate :) Then afterwards we got a tasting. There was a city bus tour after that which was really nice to see so much. Besides all the neat old buildings and architecture we stopped at the Atomium which is a monument of steel spheres over 300 feet high made for the world fair in 1958. It was pretty impressive.
Brussels is French and Dutch as is seen in the street signs. The signs are French first and then Dutch underneath. The tour guide Frank is from Antwerp. He said that in school you either go to a Flemish (Dutch) school or a French school. In the Dutch school besides Dutch you learn French, English and German. But in the French school he said they don't learn as much other languages.
Looking forward to my 4 hour chocolate workshop/demo/tasting walking tour on Sunday but not looking forward to the start time: 9am :(
Ray started coughing more today so has been fighting a cold for the past few days. After the tour he was too tired to do anything so took a nap. I went out and got some shrimp fried rice for him at the same Chinese restaurant we went to earlier. I got some groceries from the store: bread, bananas, peanut butter, yogurt, Coke, Fanta etc. I ate my leftovers for dinner. I'm thinking of having a pb and b sandwich for brekkie Sunday morning instead of spending $13 for the brekkie downstairs.
Sunday, August 28, 2011 Chocolate Walking Tour/Workshop, Belgian Waffle and Biscuits at Dandoy and Fries at Fritland!
Dragged myself to get up early to go on the chocolate tour. I was tempted to go back to bed but since the tour was expensive I forced myself out the door. Took a cab to the meeting spot in front of the Godivas I saw the day before but shortly after realized I wasn't at the right one and flagged another cab who took me to the Grand Place...cars can't go in the centre of the Grand Place as it's surrounded by large old buildings to make a rectangle with the middle area where people congregate and walk through as well there is a flower shop and paintings for sale.
The city tour the day before had taken us to the Grand Place too but I didn't realize there was a Godiva in the square. Took a few photos as I was there before 8:45am which was the recommended time to get there for the 9am tour. How unusual to be early and the first one there! Eventually 3 other women and the tour guide came. One woman Candy was from South Dakota who used to work for the CIA but now lived in London and was working as an anti-corruption lawyer. Another woman Julie was from Australia but had visited her son for 3 weeks in London and was retired from the hauling business. The third woman Fiona was from York and was an oncologist in pallitive care. The tour guide was Dutch named Marc who owned the tour company Global Enterprises. He had wavy blond hair and was wearing a blue top similar to the smurf colour so he reminded me of one! He had been some kind of healer before and has been to Nepal and said that there are herbs there that can cure everything but he would be killed if he ever tried to market any.
Anyways, the 5 of us started walking and Marc told us about some of the sights along the way...we rubbed some lying statue on the wall for good luck and then came upon the Manneken Pis (which Frank had mentioned the day before but didn't say what it was). Turns out it means boy peeing! And that's the famous fountain statue with the little boy peeing as he apparently was a hero for putting out a fire. I think I've seen Manneken Pis in Vancouver on Denman Street! Marc pointed out a few cartoon murals on some walls along the way. It's great going with a group tour to get tastings as we got to pick whichever chocolate we wanted from each store we went to...the first one was La Belgique Gourmande - Lace Garden. We went to the Wittamer bakery before going to the Wittamer chocolate store a few doors down and I was getting hungry so bought 3 chocolates to try...mmm, mmm, mmm...turns out Wittimers is my favourite chocolate that I've tried in Brussels and coincidentally is Marc's favourite too. Elisabeth was Marc's second favourite but my runner up turned out to be Valrhona. Went to Chocopolis again but no demo - (got to pick from all the chocolate instead of just the tray the day before). We also went to , Pierre ledent, Elisabeth, Valrhona, and the Godivas where we started the tour from. We walked in front of Godivas a few other times but it was too busy but then went there when there was less people inside. We went to the Museum of Chocolate and Cocoa...which coincidentally I had planned to go to after the tour but didn't need to! We got cookies which the museum worker just dipped into a chocolate fountain and looked around and then went to the back where the chocolate master Stomy (can be a master chocolatier in 4 years) showed us how he makes various types and shapes of chocolate from the vat of melted chocolate. We each got to try some pieces that were already made so we could see what the consistency is when it's snapped. Then the 4 of us got to try dipping dried fruit, nougat and forming chocolate ourselves. It wasn't as easy as it looked as 2 of our group dropped theirs but luckily it was on the table and not on the floor. We left our masterpieces to dry and went on to the next chocolate shop. Before going to Pierre ledent Marc took us to a pub for drinks on him which we found out when Fiona asked how much...so I guess it was included in the tour price. Candy and Fiona had coffee, Marc had 2 beers and I think Julie tried a beer. I had hot chocolate.
After the great tour was over I went to Dandoy which was recommended by both Marc and Frank for waffles. I later found out that their biscuits especially the speculoos ones are really good! Dandoy was just on Rue Charles in the Grand Place. I had the regular waffle with strawberries. There's another type called the Liege waffle which is sweeter and heavier but I wasn't hungry enough to try 2 waffles. I tried a few different types of biscuits and bought some to bring back for Ray. I spent a lot of time meandering through the multiple souvenir stores in the direction back to Wittamers...Marc recommended that we didn't buy anything from any of the chocolate shops until we went to all of them so I went back and bought 2 more of the one I liked and 10 other ones to try :) Planned it out so that the last place I went to was the frie place Frank recommended since it was close to the Bourse metro station. The restaurant was called Fritland and the fries were in paper wrapped up like a cone with the fries inside.
Ahhh, what a great day it turned out to be after all! Glad I went...it was good to go so early especially on Sunday as it wasn't busy yet at the Grand Place and the surrounding roads and we got to take photos leisurely of the Manneken Pis instead of lining up like later in the day.
Monday, August 29, 2011 Dandoy on Rue de Rollebeek and Bridesmaids Movie
Back to the usual schedule of getting up mid-afternoon. Ray's cough was getting phlegmy and he was coughing more so good thing he rested Sunday and Monday. Went to eat at the Chinese restaurant again...so many different restaurants so close to the hotel...it was great. But turns out it closed from 2:30pm to 6pm and since it was 3:15pm it was closed. The door was opened but the guy told us it was closed. We had seen the waitress coming out of the restaurant when we were walking down the street towards the restaurant...by now she recognized us.
We ended up eating at Café News which was on the same street as the Chinese restaurant. We both had omelettes.
A few hours later I wanted to try a Liege waffle so looked up the closest Dandoy store to us which was only about a 10 minute walk away…well a few more minutes if you count taking photos on the way there and back. Online it said it closed at 7pm but when I got there the sign on the store said it closed at 6:30pm so I only had 5 minutes to spare. Turns out this was only a biscuit store and not a waffle restaurant so I got some vanilla, almond and regular speculoos biscuits…yum!
We went to see a movie down the street again on Toison D'or. We bought the tickets at the same place but some of the theatres were further down the street on Toison d'or. I'd heard Bridesmaids was a good movie but at first thought it was really stupid and then it was really good and hilarious...I was laughing out loud so much as were other people. Some of it was gross humour but it was sooo funny and the story line was really good.
Tuesday, August 30, 2011 Bruges Express City Tour
The tour guide was Frank again. This time we were the first ones picked up from our hotel instead of the last so we sat in the front seat of the bus on the left side. I could see Frank with his right hand “orchestrating” as he spoke while holding the microphone in his left hand. It took about an hour and a half to get to Bruges from Brussels. It rained on the way there but luckily didn’t rain during the tour.
Bruges was very quaint and picturesque with its colourful brick buildings and horse-drawn carriages everywhere on its cobbled grounds. The market square was similar to the Grand Place in that there were buildings surrounding all sides but there were more restaurants in the square. Most of the carriages were only pulled by 1 horse with seating for 4 people…the horses were so beautiful trotting by with their hair waving in the wind along the narrow cobbled streets and walkways.
As with Brussels Bruges had a lot of chocolate stores so the group stopped at one at the end of tour called Lady Chocolates.
When we got back to Brussels I asked Frank if we could be dropped off near the Grand Place instead of our hotel as I wanted to try a Liege waffle at Dandoy. But unfortunately when we go to the restaurant it was closed so I ended up getting a Liege waffle (with chocolate and strawberries) further down the street at the Waffle Factory but it was just a take-out window and Ray wanted a sit-down place so he didn’t get anything. The Liege waffle was deeelicious! Much better than the other waffle I had! It’s heavier and much tastier!
Wednesday, August 31, 2011 Brussels to London, Thames River Cruise and London Eye
Took the Eurostar train from Brussels to London which took about 2 hours. I really liked Brussels so was sad to have to leave. It was our first blue sky in Brussels and nice and sunny. At Kings Cross train station we headed for the place where we could leave our luggage..."Left Luggage"...we saw it before when we had left London. The lineup for the 9 3/4 Harry Potter dolly wasn't as big so I had Ray take my photo there. We ate at an Asian restaurant across the street from the train station called Chop Noodlehouse or something like that.
When we got to London it was a bit cooler than before but at least it wasn't raining so we used our previous tour tickets for the Thames River cruise from the pier beside the Tower of Lonodon. We stayed on the boat until the second stop at the Waterloo Pier and used our tour tickets to bypass the huge lineup and go on the London Eye which is a giant ferris wheel with enclosed pods that can hold 25 people. It was originally built for the millenium and was to be taken down but was so popular they decided to keep it and now it's one of the favourite tourist attractions. The view going slowly around (took half an hour) was great.
I got a chocolate muffin down the street from the Eye and Ray had a Coke. He had emailed Daniel to see if badminton was on at the Bacon College but hadn't heard back (probably because he had just emailed him yesterday!). So he was going to cab to the college and if there wasn't badminton then he would text me to meet back at the train station. I looked around in a souvenir store first after he left and a worker there told me about an internet cafe called Euromobile down the street (the woman at the cafe said there weren't any in the area yet!). Unfortunately Euromobile was only opened for 15 more minutes when I got there so I used the internet for 15 minutes and then went with the original plan to go to Cool Britannia and use one of their 10 computers.
I got back to the luggage place about 10:15pm and Ray had texted me that he was on his way back from badminton. Well by 10:55pm Ray still wasn’t back so I was lucky and was able to get our bags without the ticket. I waited for him outside the luggage place and he was sprinting down the sidewalk. The worker was still inside and I gave him the thumb-up when Ray arrived. Turns out Daniel and his coach wasn’t at badminton so Ray didn’t get a ride to the underground and had to walk.
We caught a cab to Victoria train station and got the Gatwick Express to the airport which took about half an hour and then had a snack. We ended up trekking to the Courtyard Marriott Hotel not realizing how far it was to walk as online it said 200 metres from the airport.
Thursday, September 1, 2011 London to Vancouver
Went to bed about 3am and got up by 6am and we were on the shuttlebus at 6:43am to the airport. We had plenty of time at the airport to go to a sit-down restaurant to have brekkie.
Our boarding time was supposed to be at 8:30am but no gate was announced on the screens so we were delayed. I went to Harrods to use up some of my last pounds and got a tin of clotted cream and strawberry cookies which ended up being delicious!
On the plane sat beside a guy who was going to Penticton and Kelowna for his sister's outdoor wedding. I didn't have to wear my eye mask until the descent...longest time not wearing it! I love the ginger capsules! Saw a Jennifer Aniston movie with Adam Sandler and Nicole Kidman...it was pretty good...didn't know the name of it...but coincidentally I was just watching Ellen today (Sept. 5) and there was a show from February and Jennifer Aniston was on it and showed a clip of her movie...it's called Just Go with It! Now that is a coincidence!
On Tuesday night I went to bed after 5am so that I could start acclimatizing myself and not have too much jet lag. Had to get up early Monday and Tuesday so Wednesday was the only night to stay up late. So went to bed about after 5am on Wednesday night and got about 3 or 4 hours sleep which was good which meant I would hopefully be able to sleep on the plane.
Cabbed to the airport, left our place shortly after 10am. We ate brekkie at the airport at A&W and Subway. Had a 2 seat spot to ourselves in row 41 near the back of the plane but it was very cramped and little legroom. The flight was scheduled to leave at 1:15pm but left early just after 1pm. Watched an extraterrestrial movie called Paul which was a coincidence as 2 hillbilly nerds travel to Area 51 along the Extraterrestrial Highway which is where I want to go as it’s close to Vegas. I slept on and off. Unfortunately about 7 hours into the flight I had to go to the bathroom but didn’t get sick. Felt a bit queasy but was able to help myself by blasting cool air con on myself. I attribute not getting sick to the ginger pill as this was the first time I didn’t get sick after I had to go to the bathroom and then got sick once I got back to my seat.
London August 12 to 19, 2011
Friday, August 12, 2011- Arrival in London
The flight arrived about 40 minutes early at 6:15am but we ended up being stuck on the tarmac waiting for a plane stand. We took the prepaid train from Gatwick Airport to London Victoria station then cabbed to Royal Court Apartments. Very friendly cabbie pointing out attractions along the way after finding out it was our first trip to London. We found it strange that there are no trunks in the cabs but there is a lot of floor space in the back for our luggage to lie flat lengthwise or upright.
We got to RCA at 10am but check-in wasn’t until 2pm so we stored our luggage and walked to Paddington Station area a short walk away for brekkie at Garfunkels Restaurant …after passing full stuffy non air-conditioned smaller brekkie places. I had hot chocolate and oatmeal and Ray had eggs, bacon and toast. Ray noticed a massage place on the way back to the RCA…. I had been complaining on the plane about how stiff and sore I was and that I needed a massage after we landed. Plus we had a few hours to kill before we could check in. And surprisingly I was functioning a lot better than I thought I would after the long flight. So I had a foot reflexology massage and Ray had one for his back and shoulder which were sore from standing on the train. Ahhhh….I was so relaxed afterwards. …I find that foot massages are more beneficial to me than a regular massage as it makes me feel better. Got back to the RCA shortly before 1pm and were able to check in. The room was really stuffy...…there was only air con in the common areas. We took a four hour nap then went back to Garfunkels for dinner...…this time Ray had fish and chips and and I had cottage pie (minced beef, onions and gravy in mashed potatoe pie) and Ray’s mushy peas which tasted like mashed potatoes . This was our first “British” meal. There were a few souvenir and convenience stores but the closest businesses to the RCA (on the Paddington station side of us) were 2 Indian restaurants and then Italian. Went to bed about 1am then I woke up about 5am to go to the bathroom...…tossed and turned for an hour then got up.
The weather here is pretty much the same as ours except a bit muggier. It seems cleaner here but probably it’s because the buildings are so light in colour so it looks cleaner. The hotel doesn’t have any amenities as it’s just a condo and it’s old so it’s a regular metal key to get into the room. When we leave the building we have to give the key to the front desk and then we come back we have to show our ID slip to get our key back.
Saturday, August 13, 2011 - World Badminton Championships Semi-Finals
We took the Underground from Lancaster Gate to Wembley Park and got there after 10am.
There were some restaurants close to the train and some electronics stores, a grocery store and JD sports store. Ray got a converter adapter at Currys as he realized he needed a voltage converter as …the plug adapter we already had wouldn’t do it.
We saw Wembley Stadium from the train and thought that was where the tournament was happening but it was in the arena which wasn’t even visible from the train…...realized it as we got closer to the stadium and found out it was the stadium and not the arena. We got some souvenir shirts and Ray bought a program. I was pleasantly surprised to find out that I enjoyed watching the games live. We had really good seats directly in front of the court at the left side line. There was only one court and it was lit up…when the officials and mop kids came out there was cool music as they walked In a diagonal line to the court. Then the double-decker bus lit up and pulsating music happened and then the players came out of the bus. It was women singles, mens singles, mixed doubles, womens’ doubles and last mens doubles. My back and neck were killing me so I had to take some Advil. At least I brought my lumbar pillow with me.
We were part of history which brought tears to my eyes as it was the first time mixed doubles from Great Britain (woman from England and guy from Scotland …or was it the other way around?) made it to the finals.
It was exciting to see players from different countries, China being the best. It was exciting to see the top players of the world especially Lin Dan and Peter Gade.
In between the first and second semis Ray wanted McDonalds so it was packed from all the tournament-goers. …I went around and looked for a restaurant that had smoothies to no avail so came back and had a McD’s milkshake. Health food after having fries at the arena. But had a vegie hummus wrap after we went back.
I think it ended after 10 so got back after 11pm. Went to bad about 12:45am but woke up about 6:40 to go to the bathroom but couldn’t fall back asleep so tossed and turned for about an hour and then got up.
Sunday, August 14, 2011 – World Badminton Championships Final and Chinatown
Went to the Island Grill restaurant in the Lancaster Hotel since it was right beside the underground entrance. Checked out the menu the day before when we were on our way to the semis. Ray had an omelette and I had their porridge with 3 slices of banana and berry compote. Also had green tea. The porridge was really good. A woman at the table beside us asked if we were from Vancouver as she said her daughter wears clothes like mine...…I had on a purple tank top from Lululemon. She said her daughter has the same one! The woman and her hubby had gone to Scotland earier to visit her mother who was not doing well. And were staying in the hotel to tour London which she never really did even though she lived in Scotland for 30 years.
Well, China won all 3 matches, Womens doubles, Mens singles, Womens singles, Mens doubles and Mixed Doubles so we saw the China flag go up a lot and heard their national anthem.
It was nice to only be there half a day instead of a full day which was long and tiring and so sore …i.e. 4 to 5 hours instead of 9 or 10 hours.
We left before the end of the mixed doubles 2nd game as Great Britain was losing and we knew they weren’t going to win gold. So we went to take photos in front of the giant birdie beside the badminton museum and I was looking for someone to take a photo of the two of us. But when I asked the security guard he wasn’t allowed to take photos so as we were leaving the area a guy in a red jacket asked Ray if he played badminton and we found out he was the founder of ebad. His name was Daniel and he has travelled around playing in tournaments …the next one being in Guatemala.
Went to Chinatown for dinner afterwards. Wandered through Leicester Square to get to Chinatown and coincidentally Ray happened to pick a restaurant where all the waiters and waitresses were wearing purple tops! Apparently they change their uniform colour every year! Of course I had to get a photo with some of them!
Afterwards went to a huge 2 level souvenir store...…I’ve never seen such a big souvenir store before! Although besides souvenirs there were other non-souvenir memorabilia too. Thanks to Sonya’s sister Velda (who lives in London) for suggesting it! The store was still packed at 10pm when we were leaving as it doesn’t close until midnight.
Monday, August 15, 2011 – London City Tour
Went to the Island Grill for brekkie again as the pickup spot for the city tour was at that hotel. Had the same thing as Sunday and coincidentally the same couple from Vancouver were sitting at exactly the same table as the day before! What a small world...…they were also going on a tour but it was leaving 10 minutes before ours!
Norma, our tour guide was an older British woman who was really good. We drove through Kensington and Hyde Park, saw the Prince Albert memorial and then went to see the changing of the guards at Buckingham Palace. We got to see some horse guards near the road first before the other guards so that was really neat. Watched the new guards go towards the palace and then followed them to the palace and watched them go into the palace gates. Then saw the old ones leaving about 11:30 but apparently it wouldn’t be until 12:10 until they made their way back down the long road leaving the palace so we didn’t stick around for that. But it was really exciting to see them as I had no idea what to expect and that there was music and a big procession.
Trafalgar Square was the highlight as we went and saw the Olympic and Paralympic countdown clocks in our free time after some of the group had lunch at the Silver Cross pub.
We went to St. James Cathedral which has a dome and was building in the 1700’s after the Great Fire of London burned down the original one. It was so beautiful inside with all the paintings on the ceiling and in the dome. There were crypts downstairs which was kinda creepy. We weren’t allowed to take any photos at all inside the cathedral. There was a service of some sort going on.
A woman had hurt her ankle as she tripped on a stair she didn’t see going down to the bathroom in the pub…so the bus driver gave her a wrap to put on her ankle and he just so happened to have a one-armed crutch where you stick your arm in which helped her. She hobbled along with her hubby (I assume) to St. Pauls with us but just stayed on the first level and didn’t go down to the crypt with us. When we got back to the bus the driver told us he put her in a cab to the hospital.
I mistakenly thought The Tower of London was the Tower Bridge so was disappointed when I found out all it was was old buildings where battles took place. But I really enjoyed the crown jewels…...all the different crowns worn for coronations when the various royals were first crowned. The jewels on the crowns were so sparkly as were the swords and scepters I didn’t realize so many of the crowns are purple and that Queen Elizabeth’s weighs 7 lbs so she had to do neck exercises before her coronation to strengthen her neck. There were also gold dishes and a beautiful golden thread robe. We weren’t allowed to take photo so I got a purple sparkly crown magnet for a souvenir…...I think it’s my first purple magnet!
We were on our own once the tour guide brought us to the Crown Jewels lineup...…it was quite a long lineup and Ray wasn’t interested in seeing the crown jewels so he just sat on a bench and played Tetris. Luckily he didn’t go in as even after the lineup it was all standing and walking through inside.
Ray was too tired to go on the river cruise and then the London Eye so we headed back to Paddington Station and had dinner at Garfunkels again since it was so handy beside the station as you exit and they have a wide variety of food to pick from. This time I had the Teriyaki Salmon with rice, broccoli, snap peas and carrots. Ray had steak. I had blackberry apple crumble with ice cream for desert and it came in a round shape, …quite unusual!
Since everything including my feet were so sore and my ankles were burning from walking and standing so much I wanted to get a foot massage so we went again. I had Linda again who’s from Beijing and only been here 9 months…so she couldn’t understand a lot of English so it was difficult to have a conversation with her. But she was really good and I actually fell asleep a few times.
Tuesday, August 16, 2011 – Chocolate Afternoon Tea and Harrods
Met my co-worker’s Sonya’s sister Velda at the Conservatory Restaurant at the Chesterfield Mayfair Hotel for chocolate afternoon tea. Ray had a cheeseburger. Brought her all the goodies from home: Hawkins Cheezies, Hickory Sticks, Dad’s Cookies, Oh Henry bars (actually wanted peanut butter ones?), Dill chips, Shake and Bake, Stove Top Stuffing, Canada Post Royal Wedding stamps, Timmys coffee, etc. Unfortunately at YVR we were over our 40kg luggage limit by 5kg so had to leave the big iced tea and the 1200g Hawkins Cheezies behind. I had the Timmys can of coffee in the Timmys bag and when the airline worker asked me what was in there I said Timmys coffee and I guess she felt sorry for me and let me take it with me. Most of the salty stuff and the coffee was for her hubby. The Oh Henry bars weren’t the right ones.
There was an option of getting hot chocolate, a chocolate milkshake or tea so I opted for the chocolate milkshake since I had hot chocolate at my one and only other chocolate afternoon tea at Schokolade in East Van. Velda had hot chocolate which was in a teapot so I tried some of hers and it was very chocolatey and good. The milkshake was good too. I wasn’t impressed with the sandwiches or goodies on the tier. I’ve never had a chocolate scone before but it was very dry. The other chocolate stuff was just okay. I had the chocolate bar for dinner which was very good. It was milk chocolate and Velda got the dark chocolate one as she likes that type of chocolate (doesn’t like white chocolate). Velda took the afternoon off as she had lots of banked overtime to use. Time flew and it was close to 4 hours later when we left. Ray went back to the hotel and I went shopping at Harrods :)
Upon entering the entrance closest to the Knightsbridge Underground station I was in the cosmetic department and the security guard said to hold my backpack in my hand. They call it rucksacks here. Then found the “arcade” which was where the Harrods bags, stuffed bears and other Harrods souvenirs were. Thanks Velda for telling me about looking for the “arcade”. I got a pink teabag rest and when I was paying for I asked the cashier if they sold lilac bags and bears as I saw them online but he said no and the internet didn’t do it justice. Then I asked if there was another section in the store like the arcade and he told me the second floor and gave me a store directory map booklet which was really handy to have otherwise I wouldn’t have a clue what was in the store.
The department store had quite a different layout. The centre area where the stairs and escalators were linked on each floor to different departments which were labeled on the doorway but there were also other depatments past those departments and if I didn’t have the mapbook I never would’ve known what was there. Besides the other souvenir section which was way bigger and not as busy as the ground floor one I checked out the kids soft toys section and was in stuffed animal heaven!!! There were so many different types of stuffed animals! Then I went to pet kingdom where they had small pets and dogs as well as every type of pet supply and accessory you could imagine. The food hall was something else with so many different sections and grocery areas. At home a lot of different people said to check out the food court so I was expecting more restaurant concessions but besides the dim sum and caviar sit-down section it was more of like a fancy grocery store which was quite a sight to see.
Wednesday, August 17, 2011 – Buckingham Palace and John Lewis (official London 2012 store)
We walked towards Paddington Station and ended up going for brekkie at Raffles Restaurant. They serve brekkie until 4pm. So Ray had bacon and eggs and I had a cheese and onion omelette, salad and fries. Oh yeah, had hot chocolate as well but it was just okay. Lots of locals eating there.
Ray had emailed Daniel and he was going to join him playing badminton at Bacon College tonight. Ray said that he’d feel bad if he broke Daniel’s racquet so we went to Lillywhites and Ray bought a cheap racquet .
Got to go in Buckingham Palace in the entrance where the bobbies were and got taken into the quadrangle past the guard on the right side of the palace by a worker in a golf cart. As we passed the guard the worker said 3:30 as they like to hear what time it is. There are 2 guards when the queen isn’t there and 4 guards if she’s there. We weren’t allowed to take photos inside the palace so when I booked the tour I ordered the guidebook too. The staterooms were impressive and it was neat to see Kate’s dress as well as the room where a lot of the royal wedding photos were taken.
After the tour Ray went to play badminton and I went to the John Lewis department store (similar to the Bay) and checked out the Olympic and Paralympic merchandise. Man, the mascots are sure ugly… even moreso in person than online!
Thursday, August 18, 2011 – Movie and Chinatown
I’ve gotten more sleep in the past few days – 9 to 11 hours so back to the usual sleep pattern. Think I got closer to 12 hours last night. Since it was pouring rain this afternoon we didn’t end up going to use up the river cruise and Eye tickets. So we decided to go see the Planet of the Apes movie at the Odeon Theatre at Marble Arch. We went and ate at McDonald’s and since it was only about 4:30pm and the next show wasn’t until 6:20 we walked a few blocks to the Argos store which happened to be 150 Edgeware and the theatre was 10 Edgeware. We went to find Ray’s sister’s In the Night Garden toys/clothes she was looking for. Couldn’t find any Tomliboos or Makka Pakka but as with my visit to Hamley’s yesterday Iggly and Daisy were common at Argos (catalogue store similar to the old Consumers Distributing store). All the books and CDs were sold out as were the lego set. The lego set had 3 characters in it… Iggly, Daisy and I think Makka Pakka so we found out that it was at the Victoria store and put it on hold and took the bus over there to get it.
We took the # 36 bus back to the theatre and it was the first time we were on a double-decker red bus in London as the other bus was only one level. The movie was really good. The screen was higher but there were less seats and more even with the screen… we got “luxury” reserved seats in the back row. It wasn’t busy.
After the movie was over we took a double-decker bus to Picadilly Circus to go eat dinner at Chinatown. Ate at the Mayflower which was really good. The restaurant looked small from outside but there was a second floor downstairs that went back quite far. I had mixed vegies and bean curd and Ray had prawn fried rice. The service there was really good, …really efficient and attentive. I got 2 almond cookies at a store on the way back to the Leicester Square station and ate one on the train.
Friday, August 19, 2011 – Eurostar train London to Paris
The St. Pancras train station is at the same place as the Kings Cross underground subway station. There was a photo op with the 9 3/4 sign and the buggy used in Harry Potter so there was a lineup to take photos. We didn’t bother doing that as we only saw a few of the movies. …I think we saw one of the first ones and we just saw the last one a few weeks ago. I read a few of the books.
We ate brekkie at Pauls in the Eurostar station. …Ray had 2 croissants and I had a croissant and a chocolate pain. I slept off and on during the ride and the 2.25 hours whizzed by. We were at a table for 4 facing 2 other tourists who moved to the table across the aisle when they found out no one was sitting with their friends :) It was nice to stretch out to sleep instead of being upright. I think Ray played Gameboy the whole trip. Took a cab from the station to our hotel. Citadines Voltaire Republique.
We ate at a Chinese fast food place a few doors away.
Ray checked online and found a badminton place at 7;30 so cabbed there only to find that it’s not on now…...there was tennis though. So we just took the metro back.
Paris August 19 to 23, 2011
Saturday, August 20, 2011 – City Tour, Eiffel Tower and Chinatown
Ate brekkie downstairs in our hotel. Hard boiled eggs, toast, cereal, fruit, croissants etc. It was $13 Euros per person. There’s a computer downstairs for guests to use where the brekkie area is. It was nice that the front door was locked and you needed a code at night. Whereas in London the door was always either wide opened but always unlocked at RCA.
Then we took the metro to Tuilliers station for the City Tour which started at 12pm. It was a red double-decker bus and we got headphones so we could listen to the appropriate language. The couple behind us were complaining and bickering a lot since our bus seemed to have engine trouble and the air con wasn’t always on and we weren’t moving sometimes. They kept looking at the open-top double-decker buses…...but I’m glad we weren’t on one of those as it was scorching hot and muggy outside.
It was nice to go in the group lineup section for the Eiffel Tower… even though we had to wait a short time in the heat it was better than the regular long lineup! We took the lift to the second floor and then bought a ticket for the summit, …had to line up a long time for everything.
After going to the summit we went to the first floor to get something to eat. Ray just had a Coke and a small tin of Pringles and I had a lettuce, tomato and cheese baguette. Ray said it was too hot to do the river cruise so we cabbed back to the hotel. A few doors away from the hotel I got a Magnum classic ice cream/chocolate bar which I hadn’t had before and got Ray a Coke. Ray knew I don’t handle the heat well so I was glad we came back to the hotel as I had a nap for a few hours and then we cabbed to Chinatown. The driver dropped us off on Avenue Choisi and Avenue Tobliac. There were lots of Vietnamese/Chinese, Vietnamese, Vietnamese/Thai/Chinese restaurants but no Chinese only restaurants so we’ll have to go back to check out more of the area. Ray had won ton soup, Har Gow and Siu Mai. I had Vietnamese spring rolls with lettuce and bok choy. The spring rolls were fried but different than back home.
Cabbed back and got ice cream (glace) at a café down the street. Had a lot of junk food today :)
Sunday, August 21, 2011 – Versailles and Angelinas
Ate at the McDonalds down the street from the hotel. Took the metro to the Louvre for the bus tour.
Took a bus tour to Versailles...…it sure has been hot and humid…in the low 30’s. We looked at a few gardens…, very impressive and beautiful…, so many and a lot of land to cover! It would take a long time to see all of them but the fountains were spectacular. Saw part of the palace which was beautiful.
Went to Angelina’s after the tour for it’s world-famous hot chocolate (thanks for the tip Velda!) Had the African hot chocolate and the deeelicious African chocolate cake! Then got a pain du chocolate at a bakery near our hotel and ordered pizza (actually the front desk did) about 11:30pm.
Monday, August 22 Hard Rock Cafe
I ended up sleeping over 12 hours and by the time we got going it was about 4pm. Ray had steak and I had Alaskan wild salmon...tasted quite fishy so sprinkled lemon and butter on top but couldn't eat the whole thing as one part was still fishy. Had free sundaes with a coupon from the hotel. Ray didn't want to go on the river cruise left over from the city tour and wanted to go see a movie. So went down the street from Hard Rock to a theatre called Rex. But all the movies were in French except for the one later in the evening would be in English which we had seen already (Cowboys and Aliens). I had a triple chocolate muffin at La Croissanterie but the one at McD's was fresher. Then we just took the metro back to the hotel.
Amsterdam - Tuesday, August 23 to 26, 2011
Tuesday, August 23, 2011 – Thalys Train from Paris to Amsterdam
Ray had croissants and I had a pain du chocolat and chocolate muffin at the train station. Our train was supposed to leave at 12:25 pm but was about half an hour late. The train stopped at quite a few stops along the way…didn’t realize that would happen. I knew that Brussels was one of the stops but there were quite a few other ones too.
We took a cab to our hotel. My first impression of Amsterdam was that it’s a picturesque, quaint, lively scenic city and I was right. Wow there are so many canals here too….even looking out our hotel window there’s a canal with boats going by and parked cars and bikes, scooters and pedestrians on both sides of the canal. The same quaint-looking buildings are on the other side of the canal…the canals aren’t as wide as I thought they would be…perhaps about 2 or 3 car lengths wide. There are so many bikes and scooters here…there’s actually a multilevel bike parkade at the train station and bikes everywhere.
After we checked into the hotel we went out to eat at one of the many restaurants closeby called Lunden. Ray had a cheeseburger and I had veggie lasagna which was really good. Unlike Paris everyone can speak English here and similar to Paris but moreso here the menus are in Dutch and in English. Ray was going to go play badminton so took a tram a few blocks from our hotel. But I guess the location had changed as he came back sooner than expected.
Wednesday, August 24, 2011 – Amsterdam tour and windmills, clogs in Volendam and Marken
Got up early to eat at the buffet brekkie that’s included with our stay. Had eggs, loonie-sized pancake, OJ and fruit. Took the tram to Centraal Station which is where the train station was and found the tour company Lindberg on Danark Street. The morning tour was on the bus touring around the city which included a stop at a windmill and a diamond factory. We had some time to kill before the afternoon tour so ate at All Stars Ray had bacon, eggs and toast and I had a Dutch banana, apple and chocolate pancake…similar to the ones at home at De Dutch Pannekoek House.
Then the afternoon tour took us out of the city centre and we went to a cheese factory, saw some windmills which have houses underneath and then went to a fishing village called Volendam and ate a snack a de Boer. Ray had ice cream and Coke and I had 2 Danish caramel waffles called stroopwafles which were deeelicious! Had hot chocolate there too which was the best hot chocolate on the trip so far! Then we took a boat to a wooden clog factory.
Saw quite a bit on the tours…thoroughly enjoyed it and enjoy the atmosphere, architecture and ambience of the city here. Man, the words sure are long here!
Went to eat dinner at a Sichuan Chinese restaurant which was really fancy but good food. The beef and broccoli was delicious. Ray had wonton and dim sum.
Thursday, August 25, 2011Set my alarm for 9:30am since breakfast ended at 11am but ended up turning my alarm off and slept until about 4pm. I was having fatigue and joint pain and Ray had a bad headache so I just went out to get something to bring back…found a Shanghai Chinese restaurant and brought back won ton, gyozas and rice, tofu and veggies for me.
Took a short nap and then we were wide awake so watched tv for a few hours and then went out for a 'midnight stroll' although it was more like 1am. There were a few restaurants close to our hotel still opened but we walked further and ended up at McDonald's at 1.30 am. I just had a chocolate sundae but Ray had a cheeseburger and fries. Kept walking and ended up in Rembrandtplein which is a nightclub area. From our hotel to Rembrandtplein there were people out and about and there was really a lot of people in the nightclub area...this is a happening city.Friday, August 26, 2011
Since we had to check out at noon we got up early to take advantage of our free buffet brekkie. Then walked to Anne Frank's house which was about a 2 hour lineup to get in so didn't go...just took photos from the outside. We took the tram to the Red Light District...it was weird seeing women in windows at street level...at least they're safer than standing outside on a street corner. We ate at a Chinese restaurant before the Red Light District...I had chicken corn soup which was good and Ray ate his usual wonton noodle soup. After passing through a few blocks of the Red Light District we found Chinatown and then headed back to the hotel as the train to Brussels was at 4.16pm. I went and took a look at the world's largest floating market and then we got our luggage from the hotel and went to the train station.
Brussels Friday, August 26 to Wednesday, August 31, 2011
As with Amsterdam our hotel isn't too far away from the train station. The buildings in Brussels are picturesque but not as charming as Amsterdam and there are only a few bikes and scooters so it's mostly cars and bigger roads not the neat quaint one-way roads in Amsterdam. We cabbed to the hotel and then Ray wanted to see a movie and coincidentally there's a movie theatre on the same street as the hotel a few blocks away. And the blockbusters are in English with French and Dutch subtitles. Most people speak English as well but French seems to be the predominant language we heard. The street signs are in French and Dutch. We ate at the mall the theatre was in at the Woke which is like Wokbox back home. Like the McDonalds in Paris there were self serve machines and you could pick from English, French, Dutch or Spanish to place your order so that was great. We saw Captain America. There were also French movies playing.
Saturday, August 27, 2011 Brussels City Tour and Chocolate Slide Show and Tasting at Chocopolis
Ate at a Chinese restaurant by the hotel. I had noodles with pork and Ray had wonton soup and dim sum. A van picked us up from the hotel and and took us to Brussels City Tours downtown at the Grand Place. It's so scenic here with the architecture and the village looking buildings. While we were waiting for one more group to arrive there was thunder and it started to downpour which was similar to Amsterdam where it would rain hard for a short time and then disappear. Amsterdam was slightly warmer than Brussels but it still wasn't that warm. I actually had to wear my light jacket in Brussels although I was still wearing my convertibles without the legs...didn't say anyone else wearing shorts.
It was still raining when we walked from the tour company and went on a short walking tour before getting to Chocopolis where we went to room with a slide show presentation on the origin and making of chocolate :) Then afterwards we got a tasting. There was a city bus tour after that which was really nice to see so much. Besides all the neat old buildings and architecture we stopped at the Atomium which is a monument of steel spheres over 300 feet high made for the world fair in 1958. It was pretty impressive.
Brussels is French and Dutch as is seen in the street signs. The signs are French first and then Dutch underneath. The tour guide Frank is from Antwerp. He said that in school you either go to a Flemish (Dutch) school or a French school. In the Dutch school besides Dutch you learn French, English and German. But in the French school he said they don't learn as much other languages.
Looking forward to my 4 hour chocolate workshop/demo/tasting walking tour on Sunday but not looking forward to the start time: 9am :(
Ray started coughing more today so has been fighting a cold for the past few days. After the tour he was too tired to do anything so took a nap. I went out and got some shrimp fried rice for him at the same Chinese restaurant we went to earlier. I got some groceries from the store: bread, bananas, peanut butter, yogurt, Coke, Fanta etc. I ate my leftovers for dinner. I'm thinking of having a pb and b sandwich for brekkie Sunday morning instead of spending $13 for the brekkie downstairs.
Sunday, August 28, 2011 Chocolate Walking Tour/Workshop, Belgian Waffle and Biscuits at Dandoy and Fries at Fritland!
Dragged myself to get up early to go on the chocolate tour. I was tempted to go back to bed but since the tour was expensive I forced myself out the door. Took a cab to the meeting spot in front of the Godivas I saw the day before but shortly after realized I wasn't at the right one and flagged another cab who took me to the Grand Place...cars can't go in the centre of the Grand Place as it's surrounded by large old buildings to make a rectangle with the middle area where people congregate and walk through as well there is a flower shop and paintings for sale.
The city tour the day before had taken us to the Grand Place too but I didn't realize there was a Godiva in the square. Took a few photos as I was there before 8:45am which was the recommended time to get there for the 9am tour. How unusual to be early and the first one there! Eventually 3 other women and the tour guide came. One woman Candy was from South Dakota who used to work for the CIA but now lived in London and was working as an anti-corruption lawyer. Another woman Julie was from Australia but had visited her son for 3 weeks in London and was retired from the hauling business. The third woman Fiona was from York and was an oncologist in pallitive care. The tour guide was Dutch named Marc who owned the tour company Global Enterprises. He had wavy blond hair and was wearing a blue top similar to the smurf colour so he reminded me of one! He had been some kind of healer before and has been to Nepal and said that there are herbs there that can cure everything but he would be killed if he ever tried to market any.
Anyways, the 5 of us started walking and Marc told us about some of the sights along the way...we rubbed some lying statue on the wall for good luck and then came upon the Manneken Pis (which Frank had mentioned the day before but didn't say what it was). Turns out it means boy peeing! And that's the famous fountain statue with the little boy peeing as he apparently was a hero for putting out a fire. I think I've seen Manneken Pis in Vancouver on Denman Street! Marc pointed out a few cartoon murals on some walls along the way. It's great going with a group tour to get tastings as we got to pick whichever chocolate we wanted from each store we went to...the first one was La Belgique Gourmande - Lace Garden. We went to the Wittamer bakery before going to the Wittamer chocolate store a few doors down and I was getting hungry so bought 3 chocolates to try...mmm, mmm, mmm...turns out Wittimers is my favourite chocolate that I've tried in Brussels and coincidentally is Marc's favourite too. Elisabeth was Marc's second favourite but my runner up turned out to be Valrhona. Went to Chocopolis again but no demo - (got to pick from all the chocolate instead of just the tray the day before). We also went to , Pierre ledent, Elisabeth, Valrhona, and the Godivas where we started the tour from. We walked in front of Godivas a few other times but it was too busy but then went there when there was less people inside. We went to the Museum of Chocolate and Cocoa...which coincidentally I had planned to go to after the tour but didn't need to! We got cookies which the museum worker just dipped into a chocolate fountain and looked around and then went to the back where the chocolate master Stomy (can be a master chocolatier in 4 years) showed us how he makes various types and shapes of chocolate from the vat of melted chocolate. We each got to try some pieces that were already made so we could see what the consistency is when it's snapped. Then the 4 of us got to try dipping dried fruit, nougat and forming chocolate ourselves. It wasn't as easy as it looked as 2 of our group dropped theirs but luckily it was on the table and not on the floor. We left our masterpieces to dry and went on to the next chocolate shop. Before going to Pierre ledent Marc took us to a pub for drinks on him which we found out when Fiona asked how much...so I guess it was included in the tour price. Candy and Fiona had coffee, Marc had 2 beers and I think Julie tried a beer. I had hot chocolate.
After the great tour was over I went to Dandoy which was recommended by both Marc and Frank for waffles. I later found out that their biscuits especially the speculoos ones are really good! Dandoy was just on Rue Charles in the Grand Place. I had the regular waffle with strawberries. There's another type called the Liege waffle which is sweeter and heavier but I wasn't hungry enough to try 2 waffles. I tried a few different types of biscuits and bought some to bring back for Ray. I spent a lot of time meandering through the multiple souvenir stores in the direction back to Wittamers...Marc recommended that we didn't buy anything from any of the chocolate shops until we went to all of them so I went back and bought 2 more of the one I liked and 10 other ones to try :) Planned it out so that the last place I went to was the frie place Frank recommended since it was close to the Bourse metro station. The restaurant was called Fritland and the fries were in paper wrapped up like a cone with the fries inside.
Ahhh, what a great day it turned out to be after all! Glad I went...it was good to go so early especially on Sunday as it wasn't busy yet at the Grand Place and the surrounding roads and we got to take photos leisurely of the Manneken Pis instead of lining up like later in the day.
Monday, August 29, 2011 Dandoy on Rue de Rollebeek and Bridesmaids Movie
Back to the usual schedule of getting up mid-afternoon. Ray's cough was getting phlegmy and he was coughing more so good thing he rested Sunday and Monday. Went to eat at the Chinese restaurant again...so many different restaurants so close to the hotel...it was great. But turns out it closed from 2:30pm to 6pm and since it was 3:15pm it was closed. The door was opened but the guy told us it was closed. We had seen the waitress coming out of the restaurant when we were walking down the street towards the restaurant...by now she recognized us.
We ended up eating at Café News which was on the same street as the Chinese restaurant. We both had omelettes.
A few hours later I wanted to try a Liege waffle so looked up the closest Dandoy store to us which was only about a 10 minute walk away…well a few more minutes if you count taking photos on the way there and back. Online it said it closed at 7pm but when I got there the sign on the store said it closed at 6:30pm so I only had 5 minutes to spare. Turns out this was only a biscuit store and not a waffle restaurant so I got some vanilla, almond and regular speculoos biscuits…yum!
We went to see a movie down the street again on Toison D'or. We bought the tickets at the same place but some of the theatres were further down the street on Toison d'or. I'd heard Bridesmaids was a good movie but at first thought it was really stupid and then it was really good and hilarious...I was laughing out loud so much as were other people. Some of it was gross humour but it was sooo funny and the story line was really good.
Tuesday, August 30, 2011 Bruges Express City Tour
The tour guide was Frank again. This time we were the first ones picked up from our hotel instead of the last so we sat in the front seat of the bus on the left side. I could see Frank with his right hand “orchestrating” as he spoke while holding the microphone in his left hand. It took about an hour and a half to get to Bruges from Brussels. It rained on the way there but luckily didn’t rain during the tour.
Bruges was very quaint and picturesque with its colourful brick buildings and horse-drawn carriages everywhere on its cobbled grounds. The market square was similar to the Grand Place in that there were buildings surrounding all sides but there were more restaurants in the square. Most of the carriages were only pulled by 1 horse with seating for 4 people…the horses were so beautiful trotting by with their hair waving in the wind along the narrow cobbled streets and walkways.
As with Brussels Bruges had a lot of chocolate stores so the group stopped at one at the end of tour called Lady Chocolates.
When we got back to Brussels I asked Frank if we could be dropped off near the Grand Place instead of our hotel as I wanted to try a Liege waffle at Dandoy. But unfortunately when we go to the restaurant it was closed so I ended up getting a Liege waffle (with chocolate and strawberries) further down the street at the Waffle Factory but it was just a take-out window and Ray wanted a sit-down place so he didn’t get anything. The Liege waffle was deeelicious! Much better than the other waffle I had! It’s heavier and much tastier!
Wednesday, August 31, 2011 Brussels to London, Thames River Cruise and London Eye
Took the Eurostar train from Brussels to London which took about 2 hours. I really liked Brussels so was sad to have to leave. It was our first blue sky in Brussels and nice and sunny. At Kings Cross train station we headed for the place where we could leave our luggage..."Left Luggage"...we saw it before when we had left London. The lineup for the 9 3/4 Harry Potter dolly wasn't as big so I had Ray take my photo there. We ate at an Asian restaurant across the street from the train station called Chop Noodlehouse or something like that.
When we got to London it was a bit cooler than before but at least it wasn't raining so we used our previous tour tickets for the Thames River cruise from the pier beside the Tower of Lonodon. We stayed on the boat until the second stop at the Waterloo Pier and used our tour tickets to bypass the huge lineup and go on the London Eye which is a giant ferris wheel with enclosed pods that can hold 25 people. It was originally built for the millenium and was to be taken down but was so popular they decided to keep it and now it's one of the favourite tourist attractions. The view going slowly around (took half an hour) was great.
I got a chocolate muffin down the street from the Eye and Ray had a Coke. He had emailed Daniel to see if badminton was on at the Bacon College but hadn't heard back (probably because he had just emailed him yesterday!). So he was going to cab to the college and if there wasn't badminton then he would text me to meet back at the train station. I looked around in a souvenir store first after he left and a worker there told me about an internet cafe called Euromobile down the street (the woman at the cafe said there weren't any in the area yet!). Unfortunately Euromobile was only opened for 15 more minutes when I got there so I used the internet for 15 minutes and then went with the original plan to go to Cool Britannia and use one of their 10 computers.
I got back to the luggage place about 10:15pm and Ray had texted me that he was on his way back from badminton. Well by 10:55pm Ray still wasn’t back so I was lucky and was able to get our bags without the ticket. I waited for him outside the luggage place and he was sprinting down the sidewalk. The worker was still inside and I gave him the thumb-up when Ray arrived. Turns out Daniel and his coach wasn’t at badminton so Ray didn’t get a ride to the underground and had to walk.
We caught a cab to Victoria train station and got the Gatwick Express to the airport which took about half an hour and then had a snack. We ended up trekking to the Courtyard Marriott Hotel not realizing how far it was to walk as online it said 200 metres from the airport.
Thursday, September 1, 2011 London to Vancouver
Went to bed about 3am and got up by 6am and we were on the shuttlebus at 6:43am to the airport. We had plenty of time at the airport to go to a sit-down restaurant to have brekkie.
Our boarding time was supposed to be at 8:30am but no gate was announced on the screens so we were delayed. I went to Harrods to use up some of my last pounds and got a tin of clotted cream and strawberry cookies which ended up being delicious!
On the plane sat beside a guy who was going to Penticton and Kelowna for his sister's outdoor wedding. I didn't have to wear my eye mask until the descent...longest time not wearing it! I love the ginger capsules! Saw a Jennifer Aniston movie with Adam Sandler and Nicole Kidman...it was pretty good...didn't know the name of it...but coincidentally I was just watching Ellen today (Sept. 5) and there was a show from February and Jennifer Aniston was on it and showed a clip of her movie...it's called Just Go with It! Now that is a coincidence!
Saturday, April 02, 2011
Birthday Celebrations last year
Been on Facebook a lot doing updates and haven't been on my blog for awhile. So thought I'd recap a few highlights.
I had quite a few different b'day celebrations last year. The first was with some cow0rkers...we went bowling at Grandview Lanes on Commercial Drive and then went out for dinner at Sweet Cherubim on Commercial Drive. Went out for lunch with coworkers to Solly's off of Cambie. Went for lunch with the French guy at Milestones on Cambie. I can't remember what was wrong with my food but I think my chicken might've been too dry or something like that. So I was given a gift certificate for $25 which I used to take the French guy out for his b'day dinner with his wife and kid.
I had the Aquarium's first-ever adult-only birthday party and R, C and E and I did the sea otter encounter afterwards. D, C, E and I did the sea turtle encounter earlier in the year. It was so cool feeding Schoona! My b'day party was so much fun. I got to go inside the gate and feed the fish inside the big exhibit near the entrance. I had no idea what halibut looked like or how big it was so it was cool when it came to the top. It looked like a giant diamond.
Ray and I went to New York and Cape Cod last year. We climbed the narrow spiral staircase to the crown at the top of the Statue of Liberty. Tickets had to be bought about 3 or 4 months ahead of time so I heard people being disappointed when they found out they couldn't go to the top. I enjoyed going to the Hershey store and being surrounded by all the chocolate and the huge Hershey's Kiss and huge Reese's Peanut Butter Cups.
Went to Milestones with my family on my b'day and the next day went with C to Schokolade for chocolate afternoon tea which was deeeelicious!
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