Category Archives: travel

Cusco today…sacred valley tomorrow

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We got some sleep last night, but I didn’t get a ton. I tried to get back to sleep using Nirvana Unplugged, which usually works before the CD is finished, but I ended up doing that, the National, Wish You Were Here and Townes Van Zandt before it was 7 am and time for breakfast.. Sucks to be me.

This morning we signed up for a cooking class for this afternoon, then took a city tour on a sightseeing bus. First it circled the block twice and brought us back to where we started. When the tour was over I realized there was a sign which said they were only allowed to park for 7 minutes, so they were probably returning to base to try to fill the bus before the tour actually started.  Once we finally got going, it took us past the Plaza das ArmasIMG_20151013_091902

A PalaceIMG_20151013_100559

A monastaryIMG_20151013_095938

And up to Cristo Blanco above the city IMG_20151013_113231

With nice views of the city belowIMG_20151013_113221

And an archeological site whose name I didn’t catchIMG_20151013_121122

And then to the obligatory tourist trap where they try to sell you expensive artisanal goods, in this case jewellery and alpaca items.  They did gave a great display of dyestuffs for alpaca.  I found the blue corn particularly interesting.

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I made my usual pilgrimage to McDonald’s.  I always try the local item. Maharajah Macs, Desayunos Tipicos, etc.  This time it was a nasty dried out piece of chicken breast on a bed of green rice with big corn kernels. Phil asked me if it was good and I said..of course not, it’s McDonald’s!IMG_20151013_131356but they had some neat condiments

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After a relatively gruelling bus trip, we are in Cuzco

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21 hours virtually nonstop.  I should know better than to try to take pictures from a moving bus but the scenery was so great I couldnt resist. image

Yesterday before we left we are in the bus station and they had a bilingual menu, so I took a picture for future referenceIMG_20151011_124201

They also had this handy dandy chart of fruits and veg…in alphabetical order no less.IMG_20151011_133846All we did today after we arrived is check into the hotel, then went for a bite to eat and went for a wander.  We went on a ‘free’ walking tour.  Nothing is free and we had trouble breaking away, sadly when we tried, they waited for us so we bought our way out at the next stop. It was only sort of interesting and he was very long winded and not very information dense.

We did go to a few interesting places.  Notice the pop bottle sprinklerIMG_20151012_153449 and the market designed by Mr Eiffel of tower fameIMG_20151012_155124

Most of the beautiful old buildings here seem to be sandstone more than coloured plaster IMG_20151012_161914

That is one building seen through an archway but I the light is hitting the top of the arch funny

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We will probably go out for supper then go to bed early

Cuzco bound….

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We are at the bus station waiting for our bus to Cuzco.  It will take 21 hours and apparently electricity and WiFi is a crapshoot…maybe, maybe not.  Some buses do have it.

When I saw this sign in the bathroom of our hotel yesterday, all I could think was:  wouldn’t it be better for the oceans not to put the unfiltered sewage of a city of close to ten million in the ocean in the first place?IMG_20151010_213408

Phil and I got bananas to eat yesterday…she got the common or garden variety.  When I opened mine all I immediately thought orange you glad you chose this kind?IMG_20151010_120551

I have got some of my taxi questions answered by the cabbie we had this morning, who had lived in the states for several years.  The cabs run on natural gas with canisters in the trunk. This costs a fraction of what gasoline would.  IMG_20151010_113332

They have a local version of uber here that you can get as an app for your smartphone apparently.IMG_20151010_113947

I have become fascinated by the electricity here.  It is like in India where the code seems completely nonexistent.  IMG_20151010_090315

Up and around, resting on a roof…anything goesIMG_20151010_090546

As Alan used to say when the kids were little…IMG_20151010_102125

Is that safety?IMG_20151010_202952

Lima day two

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Phil had me figure out how to ask for her eggs sunny side up, because the soft scramble was just not her cup of tea. She tried to water down the coffee swill but to no avail so we had to set off in search of better.  The restaurant was still closed so we wandered round a big supermarket first.  This is apparently something Phil likes to do in different countries.  We found the spice aisle particularly interesting.IMG_20151010_083510By the time we got finished going up and down the aisles, it was time for the restaurant to open, so we each had a decent coffee and split an empanada.IMG_20151010_091239we took a taxi to the Museo de Arte Lima (MALI).  I am not sure how the taxi drivers make a living. We have paid anywhere from  $3 to $7 per trip and have gone for up to half an hour. The MALI is another stunning building and has a very interesting collection of Peruvian art from pre Columbian to present.IMG_20151010_100833
I particularly liked this hat in the textile gallery.IMG_20151010_103637

We then tried to take a taxi to a recommended restaurant, but I may have miscommunicated my intention to the driver.  I have no idea where we ended up since it was an alley with no restaurants at all.  Luckily we found this one crammed with locals nearby.
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I think Phil is right to think you are safer in restaurants with big turnover, especially if you are ordering cerviche…a local dish made from raw fish with chili peppers and raw onions.  The pepper on top was killer hot and i had to remove it from my mouth before it did damage  IMG_20151010_131925

We also had another incarnation of tacu tacu, which turns out to be rice with either lentils or beans fried till it has a crust like rosti…this time with seafood on top.IMG_20151010_131152

We then headed to the Larco museum which has a fabulous ceramic collection and stunning flowers all over the exterior.IMG_20151010_140739

They house all the leftover collection in a rabbit warren of shelves with glass fronts.  I was thinking of Gerry from ceramics school and hoped he had visited it at some point. IMG_20151010_142011

They even had all their ducks in a row.IMG_20151010_141416

We headed back and went to the same restaurant for supper, this time to try the last thing on the billboard…rocoto relleno con pastel de papa.  It turned out to be a red pepper stuffed with spicy ground meat with a cross between scalloped and mashed potatoes on a thin omelet.IMG_20151010_200225

 

 

 

 

 

Lima day one

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We got here really late and thank goodness we had a room prebooked. At 2 in the morning all one needs is a bed.  We got up in time for the hotel breakfast…scrambled eggs and uber white bread buns with jam and horrible coffee.  Phil may not cooperate like Charles did in Central America… she may give up on coffee too instead of becoming my official tester.  I told charles to let me know when a cup of coffee worth drinking came along and I had one a week or so later.  He drank a lot of swill between times. I love coffee too much for that.

We took a taxi to plaza mayor and started wandering. Fabulous old Spanish architecture all round the downtown. I am a sucker for all that painted plaster. We went into the train station/library firstIMG_20151009_110011

then the monastery of San Francisco IMG_20151009_113220

At this point we were uncertain as to how to proceed so we spent too much on a map from a hawker in the plaza mayor, but this led us to the municipal tourist info place.  From there we went round the corner to the museum of gastronomia

Museum of gastronomia

Museum of gastronomia

…and next door to my favourite of the day another monastery … Santo Domingo with a beautiful cloisterIMG_20151009_134117

a cool old libraryIMG_20151009_134931

and a bell tower IMG_20151009_141658

With lovely panoramic viewsIMG_20151009_140849

We went back down to the street and immediately caught a bus to Cerro San Cristobal, a very large hill with more panoramic views…this time of a way too big and not very green, smoggy cityIMG_20151009_145017

We came down, bought bus tickets to Cuzco and went for supper.  We did not understand much on the menuIMG_20151009_191446

But the tacu tacu was good and the ordering with my very limited Spanish and the waiter’s non existent English was an adventure in mine and gesture.

 

 

 

 

Last day in Quebec City

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Alan took this picture of me in the pool from our hotel room window..note the snow surround

Alan took this picture of me in the pool from our hotel room window..note the snow surround

First thing in the morning, as soon as the pool was open, I went for a swim. When I was looking up the Delta Quebec online before we left, I saw that it had an outdoor heated pool. I thought this meant in the summer and said to Alan…no swimming this weekend. I was wrong-they heat the outdoor pool to swimming temperature all winter. It is pretty bizarre and decadent. It reminded me of the hotel in Guilin, China that becomes a waterfall..I couldn’t find one of our own pictures, so I got this one from the web. I have to admit I am not a good enough person not to be impressed and enjoy these things…
Hotel in Guilin, China, the facade of which becomes a waterfall nightly

Hotel in Guilin, China, the facade of which becomes a waterfall nightly


We walked into the old city for breakfast and I had the best eggs Benedict ever. And I order them whenever a restaurant has them. They were served on what amounted to pulled ham, and good quality ham at that. I am not sure I can go back to ordinary ones now. So often they overcook the eggs and they usually put them on a nasty deli slice of ham.
Eggs Benny for breakfast...

Eggs Benny for breakfast…


We left the restaurant and took the funicular car down to the lower town.
Vertigo, anyone?

Vertigo, anyone?


After wandering around a bit, we took the ferry across the river to Levis and back. I am a sucker for ferries, Hong Kong ,Bangkok Italy to Athens and on to Crete, between the islands of New Zealand, etc. I once had a memorable crossing of the English channel as a teenager. The ferry passed the breakwater into heaving seas and soon the entire population was heaving along with the boat. When the kids were little we sometimes took the long way home from Toronto via Picton and took the little ferry that connects Prince Edward County with Kingston. It is a perfect ferry ride for small children. If it is not right there, you can watch it coming. You can see the far shore as soon as you embark…kids attention span stuff. All the bang and no fizzling out.
gillianknits.com
The ferry to Levis was great because if you stood at the bow, you could look down and watch it crash into the ice floes and bust them in pieces. We only discovered this on the return trip and I wanted to go do it again, but we refrained. Unfortunately, the ice floes only cover half the width of the river now. Two days ago they went pretty much all the way across. I guess we really hit a good day to get here so we could see that.
Heading back to Quebec City from Levis

Heading back to Quebec City from Levis


After the ferry we went and looked at the lobby of the Chateau Frontenac and had a coffee in the ubiquitous Starbucks, then returned to the hotel and out for supper. We are now back home. It was a great mini vacation. I don’t even mind that I have to postpone my trip to Peru till the fall…

Quebec City and surrounding area…the adventure continues

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bridge to Ile d'Orleans

bridge to Ile d’Orleans

Yesterday (Saturday, our second full day here), we took a road trip out of the city to visit Montmerency Falls and the Ile d’Orleans, which sits in the middle of the St. Lawrence just east of Quebec city. It has a circumference of 75km according to Wikipedia and so the road that circumnavigates the island is probably a bit less than this. It was as picturesque as all get out. We saw at least three tiny little churches, probably only large enough to seat a family, as well as lots of full size ones. The river was as beautiful as you can imagine with the sun reflecting off the ice floes. The houses and farms seemed all well kept, at least so far as you can tell with snow covering everything. Because the deciduous trees had no leaves, there was little to encumber the views of the river.
Just over the bridge as you leave the island is Montmerency Falls.
Montmerency Falls

Montmerency Falls


If you look closely, you can see two climbers going up the dome that has been formed by the constant freezing of the spray at the bottom of the falls. Apparently these falls are 1 1/2 times as high as Niagara Falls, but lack the width.
closer to the falls

closer to the falls


I love waterfalls in the winter, they get such interesting ice buildup. We took a cable car up to the top of the falls, then walked around at the top and came back down on the cable car. We would have walked one way but the interesting looking staircase was closed for the winter still.
Coincidentally, just as we were leaving these falls, Heather texted me that she was just at Niagara Falls for the first time in her life on an impromptu trip–one failure of parenting–she texted OMG, WHY have I never been here before. Because your parents took you round the world instead of down the road, I guess. Sucks to be you.
St. Patrick's (belated) day parade Quebec City

St. Patrick’s (belated) day parade Quebec City


After we got back to town we went to see the St. Patrick’s Day Parade…but wait, wasn’t that two weeks ago, you ask? Why, yes, but according to our waitress the night before, if you want the good pipers, you have to get in line behind Boston, NYC and Montreal. These poor third tier towns.
After the parade, we just came back to the hotel and vegged, then went downstairs for supper. We are taking it easy this trip…not the power tourists we used to be back in our heydey.

Loving Quebec City…

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We are in Quebec City because Alan won 4 nights in a Delta hotel. The hotel is great, quite close to the old city. It is way swankier than any accommodation I usually have. We have a love seat and a desk in the room, which makes it easy to spend time in. The hotel has a good restaurant if you don’t feel like venturing out for a meal, although the meals we have had out have been spectacular. Since we aren’t paying for accommodation, we have been paying a little more for food than we usually do also. Maybe we are just lucky, but the food seems better here than at home.
Even though we are only a little over 4 hours from home, it seems more exotic than that. And the weather is fantastic-hovering around 0 (32 in Fahrenheit) and sunny every day so far. After our long, cold winter it seems positively balmy. I love the fact that most of the conversation you hear around you is in French, so it makes you feel more like you are away. You hear French sometimes in Ottawa, but mostly English in our area.
We got here on Thursday late afternoon, taking it very slowly to get here. We will return even more slowly as we have a few stops planned.
On Friday we started with a bus tour of the city. I find these to be very helpful when travelling to orient yourself and give you an idea of what to visit later. In the afternoon we hung around the hotel, then I went across the street to an observation deck on the 31st floor of the tallest building in the city. It was OK until I hit the east side, then it was FABULOUS. The view over the old city and out over the St. Lawrence and Ile d’Orleans was one of those views I never want to leave. I think it may be amongst my top ten ever views. I stayed there for about an hour just watching the ferries and tug boats floating through the ice floes, making wakes behind them that stayed for ages before they filled back in, and looking at the old city I had been walking through in the morning with its ramparts.
Google decided on another photo array…so here it is
https://plus.google.com/u/0/112081205643155371059/stories/a2312fec-b923-3a69-850e-f480fee3fc3314c627a4185?cfem=1

Shoot me now…

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There are bits of good news. Like we are in Gettysburg and I finally got a hotel room with a king size bed. I have been trying to get Alan to realize the possibilities. He is there comfortingly snoring away BUT I also have incredible amounts of space over here. My insomnia plagued self can toss and turn at will, assuming any position I like without worrying that I will ruin his sleep as well as my own.
More good news..I have enough yarn and needles to start any hat I want on the drive home. So what is the bad news, you ask? Well, we left the house and drove on deeply slush covered roads, then behind snow plows for half an hour just to leave Ottawa. I had been proud of the speed and efficiency with which we had dispatched breakfast and packing. We crossed the border and the guard said ‘be careful, it is really bad near Watertown’. Uh,oh we had thought it was bad already, but he was right. This was the road condition for at least half an hour. We were basically following the emergency flashers of the car in front, but you can see the ruts which indicate the lanes on the highway.
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We almost turned around but there was no place to do that. We came out the other side and there was an accident scene with at least six cars in the ditch. It looked like they had followed each other’s flashers right off the road. I guess there were no ruts at that time.
ANYWAY, here is the bad news..I have to show up at a sewing class tomorrow and admit that although I have plenty of wool and knitting needles, but my efficient packing did not run as far as my sewing machine and notions, which are still set up waiting for me in my dining room. The truly sad part is that I have taken lots of classes with this group of people and possibly none of them will be surprised.

Cracker Barrel here we come

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crackerbarrelRoad trip!
We are heading to Gettysburg, Pa tomorrow so I can take a course on making civil war era stockings and slippers. I figure if they work, my black socks for work problems will fade to a distant memory. As it is we own countless black socks, most of which are fatally flawed in some way or another… too short, too tight in the calf, too big in the foot…
It was ok when Heather was here and needed black socks for her work without any other criteria but black. But alas, she has emptied the nest and become a clothing minimalist. She has decided she will wear nothing but grey t-shirts and black pants for the next year. She bought 7 identical t-shirts and 3 pairs of pants. Cuts down on decision making in the mornings, she says. Just grab the next clean one off the pile. It is apparently a thing these days amongst those in the know. And having the beauty of youth makes it matter not what you wear anyway.
I usually go to Gettysburg for sewing classes or Harrisburg for a civil war conference at least once a year. It is a tradition to visit Cracker Barrel restaurants for pretty much every meal on the way down and back. We don’t have them in Canada, and you gotta love that comfort food.