The Old Port in Montreal

More images from our trip to Montreal.  What a great time.  I'll admit, I look a little crazy in our family picture.  It was windy!

The old port is down by the water.  We took a walk around, did a bit of shopping and had lunch.  A long discussion with our waiter to determine what "poireau"is en anglais.  It turns out it is leek. So I had some cream of leek soup.  We stopped by the biosphere but decided not to tour it as we had to catch our plane in a few hours and June was sleeping.  It looks like a really interesting place to take kids though.

 Instead of going into the biosphere, we did a drive-by of the Olympic Stadium!

Old Quebec City Images

Here are some more images of our wonderful first trip as a family of three. Who knew that a vacation could be wonderful when it involves soaking poopy clothes in the tub? Here are some streets images from our lovely walks through Old Quebec City

Some things are the same on vacation

Street Performers

Sleepy Baby

The Chute Montmorency (Montmorency Falls) just outside of Quebec City)

C'est la Vie

(June and I in Old Quebec City Enjoying Crepes) Bonjour mes amis! We have arrived in Quebec after our first successful flight with Baby June. She ate, slept, cooed, squealed, and ate again. We couldn't have asked for a better traveller! Thursday morning, Derek had a business meeting so while he went for lunch, June and I were off to find a cafe for lunch. We found a cafe and had a turkey and brie sandwich, pasta salad and a bowl full of cafe au lait...the most delicious cafe au lait I have had. No sugar required. Now that I think of it, maybe it was so delicious because usually when I go to order a latte, I ask for multiple modifiers. Non-fat! Decaf! Half sweet! When I ordered in this cafe with my broken french, the fact that the waitress understood "cafe au lait" was good enough for me.

Now that I have June with me when I go out, I find that I have more people stopping to talk to me (or June). Usually, this is fine, except when people come up and start talking to June in french and then ask me a question about her, which I am unable to answer. I end up smiling and apologizing for my lack of comprehension.

To Old Quebec City we went, walking down the picturesque streets, along the narrow sidewalks. We stopped at a cafe with June for a crepe coffee break, and continue on discovering this city that feels very Eurpoean. It's quite amazing that this, the oldest city in North America and the only walled city north of Mexico has been so well preserved. There are souvenir shops, bars, cafes, clothing stores, and bakeries...ahhh, the bakeries. I saw a cute bakery, Paillard, and stopped in to see what kind of pastries they had. The inside was beautiful. To the right, a gelati counter featuring flavors such as maple, fraises lavande (Lavender Strawberry), poire gingembre (Ginger Pear), to the left a pastry counter with cookies, brownies, tarts, pastries, croissants touted as "voted best in Quebec City", and macarons. The back featured a sandwich counter and lovely long tables for patrons to sit and enjoy their food. So back to the macarons. I have looked high and low in Winnipeg to find French Macarons. Not the coconut and chocolate cookies we are used to, but the meringue cookies with a flavoured filling. I picked out a few to buy. Who could resist with flavours such as Apricot Black Tea, Almond, Banana Chocolate, and Passion Fruit. Add in classic vanilla and chocolate, and I was set. The crispy exterior, the slightly gooey interior, the flavors....oh sorry, I was just taking a moment to dream about them! We went down to the water and saw the beautiful Chateau Frontenac, now owned by the Fairmont.

(French Macarons from Paillard) Our second day in downtown Quebec led us back to Paillard for lunch, where we tried sandwiches, some gelati, and picked up some of those croissants for later. Derek has a thing for croissants. They were indeed delicieux! The service was very friendly including a waiter escorting me to the 2nd floor bathroom after June's diaper exploded while I was nursing her. We then wandered around, catching a pair of street performers and more of the scenery. Our last foray into Old Quebec took us to Aux Anciens Canadiens, a French Canadian Restuarant that Derek found in order to satisfy my desire for tourtiere, or Quebec meat pie. The place, we discovered after after the fact, is actually a very well known restaurant. We enjoyed French Pea Soup, Tourtiere with a delicious chutney, finished off with Maple Pie and Maple Creme Brulee. The place was an old stone building with exposed stone in the interior, that is a part of the city's history. Even the waitresses were wearing traditional clothing. We then went near the Promenade to an alley with artists selling their art. I picked up a screenprint over line drawing of a horse and carriage, and a bronze plate stamped print of the restaurant where we had just eaten. We the drove to Chute Montmorency (Montmorency Falls) just outside of Quebec City. The falls are 1.5 times higher than Niagara Falls, although not nearly as wide. We then drove to Montreal. After a quick prayer at the beginning of our journey, June slept the entire way! We went to our hotel and then walked through downtown Montreal to Dunn's. Montreal smoke meat sandwiches and poutine awaited us there, followed by more walking to only minutely justify all the food we had eaten. We stopped of at Paris Crepe and enjoyed a Strawberry Banana Crepe as we walked the rest of the way to our hotel, checking out the plethora of shopping options on the way. So let's see... toutiere, french pea soup, maple pie, creme brulee, Montreal smoked meat sandwich, poutine, crepes...is there any french food we missed?

Le chocolat

Derek went to montreal a few weeks ago for a business trip. I have always wanted to go to Montreal and Quebec City. When I was very young (like very young) I apparently went to Quebec. As a kid, when my Dad would go on business trips to Queec, I would beg to go. I begged Derek to take me. I didn't go.

I requested in lieu of a trip over to Quebec, that Derek would bring me a bit of Quebec back (ok, it was more like "If you're not going to take me, at least bring me back something good) Oh my, did he deliver! He brought me 3 items from Juliette et Chocolat, a fancy chocolat restaurant in Montreal.

The first was a beautiful box of chocolates, tied with a red ribbon.

On opening the box, there was a velum layer sealed with a brand sticker. Beneath that was a box with little windows and a perfect little chocolate in each one.

They were painted or layered or garnished. There was one with a mango bottom, one with raspberry, a chocolate truffle, a vanilla caramel chocolate with sea salt. They were delicious. Derek also brought me 2 containers of hot chocolate. One milk, one dark chocolate. They are decadent! He also brought me some maple syrup in a fun metal can.


Thanks hon!

Taylor Guitar Factory

We went to the Taylor Guitar Factory for a tour to see where Derek's new baby, the baritone acoustic came from. As a non-guitar player the tour was still very interesting. Seeing the craftsmanship and care that goes into each guitar was very impressive.

(This is a pile of Koa wood from Hawaii to be cut for guitars. There was a about 10 times the amount you see here)


(Necks-the wood before cutting)


(wood cut for backs)


(fronts cut and ready for inlays around the sound hole-the inlay pieces are all selected and put in by hand)



(Guitars ready to be lacquered)


(Necks with their ebony fingerboards-this is where I put my disclaimer that I really don't know what I'm talking about so these term may be incorrect)


(Bracing under the guitar top. This provides support and creates the tone)










(A colorful array of electric guitars)

Welcome to Fabulous Las Vegas

I arrived in Las Vegas on Thursday night. After a long flight I felt like eating, so we went for an in-n-out burger...not the best idea, but oh well. With the busyness of the days that we were there, and the fact that you can't take pictures during the shows we went to, it was the 3rd day before I remembered to start taking photos. Day 1 and 2 consisted of shopping, touring around the hotels and going to Cirque du Soleil.

Cirque du Soleil...ahhh...what amazing performances. We went to see KA on Friday night and it was really good. The stage rotated side to side and up and down until, at one point, the stage was fully vertical and the artists were swinging from post to post that were sticking out of the stage. Day 2 saw us at 'O'. This is by far the best cirque du soleil show we have seen. With a stage that moves up and down, divers, water, acrobats, and clowns, it was truly amazing and I would recommend it as a 'must see' when in Vegas.

Day 3-I finally started taking pictures. We drove down to Hoover Dam. Now, it is supposed to be a 45-minute drive, and I'm not sure if it was just the day we went, but it took us a few hours to get there. There was a line-up for miles. Once we got to Hoover Dam though, it was amazing. It had started to rain so we walked briskly, taking a few pics and then hopped back in the truck for a much shorter drive back to Las Vegas.




We had decided to stay this day as an extra day, so we went to Penn and Teller that evening. We didn't really know what to expect, but the show was really great. From guessing which joke 3 people had chosen from random joke books to sawing a lady in half, twice, it was very entertaining. Afterwards, we checked out the Freemont Street Experience. With a giant overhead video screen coordinated to music, it was a fun place to be after dark.


(excuse the look on my face, I was happy to be there, but worried about the crazy lady holding my camera)
On Monday, we packed up (after a bit of shopping), took a picture in front of the Las Vegas sign and left for San Diego.

Last Australia Post-Blue Mountains

(the train station at Katoomba)

(the Blue Mountains are actually blue!)
So on our last full day in Australia we went North of sydney to Katoomba. Home to the Blue Mountains, this tourist area was worth the train ride. We were in a car with some very loud people so we didn't sleep too much on the way there. The Blue Mountains are blue because of the off-gassing from the gum trees that grow below them. There is also a rock formation that looks like three small mountains called the three sisters, which is pretty neat. We took a cable car ride between 2 lookout points which allowed us to get a really great view of the mountains.

(the Three Sisters)

(white birds (maybe cockatoos) that were flying in the canyon)
We paid for a bus ticket and took a bus from stop to stop, getting on and off to see various featured points. We went to a set of falls. The bus driver, before we got off told us to touch the water and report to him on the temperature and what the water felt like. I felt it and it was cold, soft and felt a bit oily. When we got back to the bus, he asked me (in front of the bus full of people) what it was like. He explained that the water was cold because it came from an underground spring, which regulated the temperature of the water (like geothermal works). The water is soft because as it rises to the surface and passes over several types of rocks as it falls down the springs, it softens the water. It's oily because it has kerosene in it (I forget why though)

(these are the beautiful waterfalls where I felt the water)

(the view from a hiking trail, where we got lost)
We went to a great little cafe called the Red Door Cafe. I had a rosemary, sweet potato and lamb pie. It was so Asutralian and so yummy. It had homemade chutney on the side, which reminds me of my Grandma Billing. Chutney seems so old fashioned, but delicious and under used.

(red door cafe)
At the end of the day we finished with a few cupcakes from Cupid Cupcakes. My favorite was the pound cake with passionfruit frosting. Mmmm...

(cupid cupcakes)