In October, I went to New York to work at the United Nations General Assembly for a few days. Besides working super long days, I had an opportunity to visit with Mark and Karen, some friends who recently moved to New York and are living it up NY style. They took me to an awesome restaurant called Bone Lick Park, where 5 Canadians managed to drink 17 margaritas in a 2 hour time span. We then moved along to Florent, a French restaurant where we dined and partook in further alcoholic consumption. And I magically had another birthday at Florent...don't know who authorized that. Thanks to Mark and Karen for being such lovely hosts. I had a great time! Only one picture turned out...the rest were pretty blurry, I think it was the margaritas.
Who says Cleopatra doesn't have a thing for doctors in military fatigues?
As if we didn't get enough portaging in July, we decided to risk the September temperatures and go canoe camping in Algonquin. This time, we brought along a bigger crew. The weather held up for us, thank god. We took a different route this time, relaxed more and enjoyed the sunshine. We had an amazing Moroccon couscous one night, and a couple of people on the team risked their lives jumping off a cliff. We watched.
We're back from our Nova Scotia trip with some happy news...Marc proposed while on a hike at Cape Split (kind of ironic, I know) in Nova Scotia..see google maps link. I said yes! Here's a pic of us just after the proposal. In the interim, Marc has made me a ring out of birch bark (a Finnish tradition) and at the proposal site, he used a piece of grass/wheat...so we'll see what the real thing ends up looking like. We had such a great week on our vacation. We drove from Ottawa to Truro, Nova Scotia on Day 1 (14 days) and spent the rest of the week zipping around the province. We went from Annapolis Royal to Lunenburg to Halifax and then on up to Cape Breton Island. It was gorgeous weather and such a beautiful part of Canada. Hope you enjoy our pics from the trip.
Marc and I took a drive down to Elora, Ontario (near Guelph) for the week-end to car camp and explore the area. On our way, we stopped in Peterborough to see the elevator lift locks. The campsites at the Grand River Conservation Area in Elora were not so great...we were basically sharing a site with another group, and the sites were not super clean, but we did back onto the Elora Gorge and you could here the rapids below. (And there were flush toilets!!) On Saturday, we spent most of the day tubing down the Grand River...there were a few rapids and lots of relaxing, enjoying the cliffs and sunshine. We also stopped in at the Elora Quarry, where Marc decided to jump off a cliff...crazy boy. We then went into the town for a local beer and back to the campsite for a late dinner. Sunday morning, we took a hike and then made our way to see friends Kelly and Pruyn in Toronto. Pics of our Elora week-end here.
What better way to end my 2 week vacation than to canoe camp for the first time. We went to Algonquin Park and started up the Barran River. This was one of the most exhausting, fulfilling trips ever. We portaged several times, made camp, collected firewood, made dinner, and by 9:00 PM, we were completely wiped out. We left Friday morning and were back in shower/toilet civilization by Sunday night. it was totally authentic canadian camping. Marc and I went with Sandra, who is an expert canoe camper, and Ihab, who had never been in a tent. I named him an honourary Canadian by Day 3. enjoy the pictures...Mr. Canoehead, Canada's aluminum-headed crime-fighter, made a cameo appearance...
I took my second trip to Vienna this April for the UN Crime Commission meeting. The days were full and so busy, but I found some time on the week-end to enjoy Vienna's beauty. I spent my second and final week-end in Budapest. I took the 3 hour train from Vienna, the view was spectacular. Spring must have arrived a month earlier as everything was in bloom. Budapest was lovely. A day and a half was a tease...I will go back one day. There is so much to explore. I spent a morning at the heavenly Gellert Spa, taking the warm waters and a Hungarian massage (more relaxing than the Thai), and drank red wine on the Danube in the sunshine (which for me is a very good place to be). Photos.
This morning, Marc and I joined my friend Mandeep and a group from Foreign Affairs to Papineauville, Quebec to a Caban a Sucre (Sugar Shack). This is a Quebec tradition involving horses, maple taffy and a lot of really good food. We had eggs, oreilles de cris (Christ's ears), baked beans, crepes and sugar pie...everything covered with maple syrup. I learned that maple syrup starts off quite watery, and once they boil off the water, the thicker, brown syrup remains. See here for pictures.
Last night, a group of us went out for dinner in Little Italy to Il Piccolino's to celebrate Deb's birthday. Deb had the falafal, oh no, I mean the farfalle with brandy sauce. See here for pics.
Marc and I went up to Montreal this week-end for an action packed day. We visited Pippa, Pierre and their new baby Alexandra, and had some phenomenonal Honduran coffee in the cup, on our croissants and clothes too! We checked out the Marche Jean-Talon for the first time--good crepes. John joined us for lunch at Schwartz'. Long line up, but smoked meat was worth it. Marc then took me to see Thomas Fersen perform at the Theatre Nationale...known for his poetic, silly songs.
We are back from our three week vacation to South East Asia. We have so many stories to tell. I will be updating my blog with a commentary on our experiences shortly. We started off in Bangkok, Thailand for a few days, where we stayed with John, Marc's friend from Winnipeg. We then left for Singapore, where we stayed with Marc's friend Fergus, from Winnipeg, but who lives there now. After 4 days of shopping, eating gloriously and visiting, we left for Ko Lanta, an island in the south of Thailand. It was heavenly, sunny skies, snorkelling, sunsets and more good food. We then made our way to Siem Reap, Cambodia where we climbed over temples from the 10-11th centuries and witnessed history being overtaken by nature (see the pics). Our final stop back in Bangkok for a few days before we headed back to Ottawa. Click here for pictures from our trip. Once you get to the webpage, you can click on Slideshow.
