Oot and Aboot in Canada Eh! – Day Six

Hubby decided to join me for a walk this morning and although it was only 8-9 degrees celsius, the sun was out so he decided a short sleeved t-shirt would be good enough.
I was happy to be walking but I forgot hubby likes to make stops along the way so as soon as he saw those golden arches, we stopped.

We came across a “stobie” pole on steriods. Actually, there were quite a few of these.

They’re called hydro poles here.

I got hubby to stand at the base so you can get an idea of how gigantic it is.

Today we had to do a bit of personal business/banking so we went downtown.

Hubby has been loving driving this Cadillac. It does seem like we’re driving around in luxury!

Passed some Cannabis store signs along the way. Took a few pics of the downtown area which looked quite nice.

It’s funny for me to see signs in two languages wherever we go.

This pic upper right was a very funny situation. Hubby had to get a copy of his birth certificate so we went to Vital Statistics and had to get a number and wait to be called. Hubby went to get a number and violently pulled the number tab. All of a sudden, the entire roll came undone without any tabs separating. It rolled across the floor and hubby, full of embarrassment, started rolling it back up as quick as he could.
What made it even more funny was that there was a customer immediately to his right who saw it and started laughing uncontrollably. It was such a funny giggle because he was trying to stifle it but just couldn’t.

We walked around Portage Place looking for some other department. Lot of interesting things and people around there.

We drove out to the country again late afternoon and stopped in at Tim Horton’s on the way and this time, we got some sweets as well!! We got a Maple Pecan Danish and a Cinnamon Scroll.

I love how here, and in the U.S too, they offer you coffee with milk or cream. I could get used to the lovely taste of cream in my coffee!!

Still not used to the fact that they display prices before the tax is applied.  You never really know how much you will be charged. The first few times I couldn’t work out why I had paid more than the ticketed price and then I was told.  Why don’t you people rebel!! This is a horrible system! The ticket price should include everything you need to pay. Price and tax! None of this add on at the end. And if you’re having a meal, you have to add on tip after that as well so you may think something is fairly cheap until all the extras are added on to it.

I had doggy cuddles this afternoon again. I could have sat here all afternoon with that little cutie.

We went with family to Portage la Prairie. It seemed like a nice place but it was so close we moved from the park to the indoor recreation centre.

Because it was easy, we went to Boston Pizza for dinner again tonight.

We started off sharing a big plate of nachos. These were great.

In our party of five, four of us had the New York Steak Sandwich. It was so delicious!

And we also ordered a plate of chicken tacos.

We said the first lot of goodbyes to family tonight and that’s the worst part. Always wonderful to see family and it’s never easy to say goodbye.

For now, goodnight and bonne nuit.

Oot and Aboot in Canada Eh! – Day One

It was so nice to be done with flying.

We slept on our last flight.
I know because at one point I turned to hubby and said

“Hey, you’re snoring! I know because your snores woke me up”

It’s forecast to be a lovely 13 degrees celsius here today. The sun is out so it’s not as bad as it sounds.

I wanted to go to the liquor store to see how alcohol is priced here and so I asked “Is there a Bottle-O near here?”
I can’t describe the looks I got. I guess they don’t use that term here.
I did end up going to a Liquor Mart and found a Coonawarra favourite there. They had a few South Aussie wines in fact!

The plan today started with picking up our rental car.

We scored big time because they didn’t have the mid range car hubby ordered and asked if we minded having a Cadillac XT5 instead.

Well! No, we didn’t mind!!

Once we had the car we drove out into the country to see family.
The thing about Manitoba is that it’s flat. I mean flatter than flat. No up, no down, just level straight. No mountains in the distance, no gentle slopes to drive up and down, just flat, flat.
But sometimes the scenery did look pretty.

 

The town we went to was pretty cute! Lovely streets to walk down and they have the largest smoking pipe AND a gaol.

 

And while with family I even held, for approximately 1.2 seconds, a bearded dragon.

I was much more comfortable with this little one who made me allowed me to pet and cuddle her for quite some time.

Love seeing everything in two languages here.

Oh and we made a Tim Hortons stop.

Two in fact, and both times didn’t get sweets but a couple of sandwiches. Who does that?

 

 

Tonight we were treated to a Comedy Show!

 

We had dinner there before the show and ordered what happened to be the biggest tray of nachos I have ever seen in my life!! The pictures don’t do justice to the size.

We didn’t know the comedian, but he ended up being so funny!!

Dean Jenkinson.

He was talking about Karma and how he believes in it. So he knows, when he’s been really nasty to someone, they must have deserved it.

I would definitely recommend seeing him if he’s ever your way!

Still trying to get used to this chilly spring but I’m told warmer days are coming. For now, good night and bonne nuit.

Dubai or Don’t I – Day Five

On the Hotel Shuttle

Our last day in Dubai!

We were lucky today because as we were walking out of the hotel, the Hotel Shuttle was about to leave for Kite Beach. We hadn’t planned on going there but what a great opportunity!

Our driver is a lovely, friendly man but he drives like a maniac!! Or maybe everyone drives like a maniac here.

We didn’t know what to expect from Kite Beach except I remember seeing lots and lots of kites in the YouTube videos I’d watched before we came to Dubai.

 

First thought was, “where are the kites?” I expected to see at least some! If you’re lucky, you can see ONE kite in the pic bottom right. I realised as I got closed, that it was just fixed, marking this place as Kite Beach

There were plenty of places to get drinks and snacks in the main area.

 

And there is also a really nice board walk! There were distance markers every 100 metres.

 

We saw the Burj Al Arab in the distance and decided to follow the boardwalk towards it.

It didn’t look that far but the further we went along the boardwalk, the further the Burj Al Arab seemed to get as well.

The Burj Al Arab is a seven star hotel built to look like a sailing boat.

We saw some interesting signs along the boardwalk

 

Not sure if you can read the writing. There were plenty of scantily clad men and women on this beach. I hear that it’s supposed to be OK in the tourist areas but we’ve seen lots of skin exposure even in the malls. I didn’t ever see anyone getting picked up on how they were dressed.

We stopped at an area just before the boardwalk ended, to get a cool drink. That hotel was not getting any closer!

 

That smoothie on the top right corner was super delicious and the man who made it was just so lovely. It was just cute old fashioned service. Everyone here calls me ma’am. Every one is either sir or ma’am.
This smoothie was so thick and refreshing. It was only 19 Dirham (about $7 AUD)

We kept walking toward the Burj Al Arab but when the boardwalk ended and it still seemed kilometres away, we decided to turn back.

Because we still had an hour or so to kill, I got a smoothie at another place.

This place was cute to look at but that smoothie was the biggest disappointment.

I can’t believe I’m on holiday in Dubai and talking about the quality of smoothies.

Seriously though, it was just like drinking a fruit juice.

What a let down.

Said goodbye to Kite Beach. It would be a really good place for families to go to and if you like to walk or run, that boardwalk is great. Can’t imagine what it would be like when the temps go over 40 degrees though.

We hopped back on the Shuttle bus and as his next stop was the Dubai Mall, we thought we’d stay on it as we wanted to see the fountain dance. We missed out the last few times we were at the mall.

But first lunch, and after walking around for freak’n ages, careful consideration, went to The Cheesecake Factory.

 

I really made a mess of that first pic. Hubby ordered nachos (left) and I ordered a vegetarian pasta.
OMG we were both in heaven!! The food was soooooo good. It’s a bit strange to not have alcohol on the menu though.

After lunch we went outside towards the fountain and kept walking around the outside of the Mall. There’s lots to see around there.

 

Hubby was absolutely enthralled with Burj Khalifa (who wouldn’t be),
The Burj Khalifa is a skyscraper in Dubai. It has a total height of 829.8 m and a roof height (excluding antenna) of 828 m. The Burj Khalifa has been the tallest structure and building in the world since its topping out in 2009 (Thanks Wikipedia)

We walked all around the outside of the Mall, then entered through the “rich” area. The area where all the high end brands are AND where this lovely orchid is that doesn’t remind anyone of anything at all.

Finally it was time for the fountain show!! We went outside with hundreds of others and then it started!!! I grabbed my phone to start recording. Hubby grabbed it from me as he’d get a better view with his height. I was so excited to have this wonderful experience on video. The water moves with the music as if doing a synchronised dance. It only went for a few minutes and I was sad when it was over.

I was sadder still when I realised that for some reason, my phone stopped recording about 10 seconds in. That was even before the show started. So I recorded nothing (Cry)

All I have is that photo above which was taken by accident before the show started.

It was almost time for our Shuttle bus to take us back so we went to sit outside and took a few pics against the Burj Khalifa and the crescent moon.

 

So now I’m sitting in our hotel room. We’re waiting for our driver to come and take us to the airport.

I’m sad to be leaving but looking forward to being back on familiar ground.

Dubai you’ve been great and I’m certain we’ll be back.

Thanks for reading!

Vay Cay to Jay Jay – Part Thirteen

Well today was extra special because it was hubby’s birthday!
I had a special day planned in Kyoto for him.

Last time we were in Japan we really messed up because when we went to Kyoto, we didn’t have any idea what we were going to see. We just hopped on a train and got here and really saw nothing.
Everyone raves about how beautiful Kyoto is so I really wanted to make sure we saw something in the small amount of time we had.
I researched self guided walks in Kyoto and came across a site that had 11 points of interest in the Higashiyama area. Click on the link to read more
http://www.gpsmycity.com/tours/higashiyama-area-walking-tour-2454.html

So I’ll just name the site we were at and add a couple of photos I took there.

1) Kyoto Municipal Museum of Art

Just outside this museum there was a market happening.

So many people!!!

And so many really interesting goods and foods on sale.

We couldn’t even get to what we wanted to look at because there were just too many people.

2) Shoren-in

 

3) Chion-in Temple

4) Gion District

We went here during the day – It comes alive at night!!! Very interesting place though.

5) Yasaka Shrine

6) Kodai-ji Temple

We then walked up hill for quite some time passing glorious shops and women/girls dressed as geisha’s. This was the best part of the walk for me!

7) Kiyomizu-dera Temple

8) Kawai Kanjiro Memorial Gallery

This looked closed so I only took a photo of the front.

9) Kyoto National Museum

Saw this sign in front of the museum… and there really has been a LOT of police about these last few days.

10) Sanjusangen-do

11) Kyoto Tower

And just before we got to the Kyoto Tower, we passed the side of Kyoto we saw last time we were here… and you may understand why our impression was not so good..

 

After that we explored Kyoto Station which is quite an interesting building. So much to see!! And there is a peaceful garden on top. This is really really high!! High for a building you don’t expect to be high. You can get to the top mostly by escalators and I think if you have a fear of heights it might unnerve you a bit.

 

And seeing as I write about food, here are pictures of what we ate today!!

First a “sandwich” at Tully’s. It was a bit disappointing. Three slices of bread with a bit of stuff inside. It was nice and fresh though, I think I just wanted more.

For hubby’s birthday dinner we went to Hard Rock Cafe and got some nacho’s to share a couple of burgers and more Sangria!

While this has been our most pricey meal, it was really good!! And the service was pretty amazing too!!
We had been sitting there a little while and one glass of Sangria had already been drunk. I said to hubby “Honey it’s your birthday, you can have whatever you want!”
“Oh now you tell me” he replied, “We’ve already ordered!”
Whoops

On the way back we had to stop at Hommachi station. I was busy trying to work out the ticket machine and trying to work out how much it was going to cost us to get from Osaka to Hommachi. Hubby was still trying to work out what our route was going to be. He came up to me and said “Hommachi”? I said “180 yen”
I thought he’d said “How much?”
And as he normally does make that kind of joke, I really thought he was being clever but he was genuinely just confirming what station we were getting off at…

And to finish off this entry, have a look at the cute little socks I bought here!
I feel adorable with these on!

Tomorrow, we’ll eat local, I promise!

The Glynde Hotel

Today on the Dining Diaries…

Good “what you’d expect” pub menu
Great family atmosphere and
Fifty cent Wings!!!

Diners today we were at the Glynde Hotel which is on the corner of Payneham/Glynburn and Lower North East rd.

I don’t know if we could have had a more “typical” local pub experience! We walked in and the staff were super friendly. It had a fantastic relaxed atmosphere. While there weren’t a lot of people in the bistro,  (we were there about 2.30pm) they have all day dining which I just LOVE as my own hours can be quite erratic.

Like any good local pub they have different specials on different days of the week enticing newbies to come along. You can get all those details from their website www.glyndehotel.com.au

Hubby and I chose a table  that had a bit of sun coming in from the windows. It also gave us a view of the busy intersection which was a little interesting.

The dining room itself was clean and reasonable enough. This would be a great place for families because of the relaxed atmosphere and the reasonable menu prices.

We grabbed a couple of menus and honestly I had a hard time choosing what I wanted. I felt like something “naughty” today so against my better judgement, chose the Beef Schnitzel with a Mexicana topping! Honestly I probably was enticed by the word “corn chips” in the Mexicana topping description.

Following my lead, hubby went for a couple of the entree’s. First the nachos – Corn chips topped with melted mozzarella, spicy tomato sauce, jalapeños, Mexican salsa, sour cream and guacamole. Secondly, as were in a place that heavily advertises wings, we had to try some of them right? So hubby ordered twenty wings as well.

We were indulging ourselves today in every variety of fat that there was!

I was a bit relieved that my Beef Schnitzel didn’t look as big as it could have when it came out.

Oh and look, there’s a salad there as well!
The salad was dressed nicely and if I had a bit in between the schnitzel and chips, I didn’t feel like I was eating so badly (that’s called denial)

I’ve got to say I enjoyed this meal. The beef was cooked well and there was just such a generous amount of topping on there!!! Sour cream, guacamole and those wonderful corn chips!
I tried to estimate the amount of calories that was in the dish but soon thought better of it.
It’s kind of hard to rate a schnitzel. I mean how bad can a bad one be? The cut of meat was good, and that’s the main thing and I just loved everything else about it. It was a decent meal at a decent price. Nothing stood out as amazingly good or terribly bad. It was just good honest pub fare.

Hubby’s meals looked equally good when they came out.
The wings were first.

I normally don’t eat wings because the thought of eating chicken skin makes me want to gag but I did actually try one. It was surprisingly good! I tried the sauces too. I don’t have a high tolerance for hot spicy foods so the red sauce wasn’t for me but hubby just LOVED it and said that’s exactly how he makes his hot sauce!
I was glad for him.
I think he said the white sauce was a blue cheese sauce. It was pretty tasty! I had some of them with my chips.

His nachos looked equally good.

Lots of cream toppings on a great sized plate. You just can’t go wrong!

The Glynde Hotel had easy listening soft pop rock playing in the background while we ate and it seemed to suit. After a while “Hungry Eyes” came on and and I told hubby that Patrick Swayze was singing it.
Turns out I was wrong, it was Eric Carmen BUT  it was featured in the classic movie “Dirty Dancing” and Patrick Swayze sang “She’s like that Wind” which is also from that movie…
Just a little fun fact for you!!

All in all, I would have no hesitation in returning to the Glynde Hotel. It really had a nice friendly atmosphere and the food was generous and not bad!

Have you been to the Glynde Hotel?
What did you think?
Let me know in the comments below!!!

Till next we chow…