It's been a busy few weeks since our return from the Trek. We had a wonderful weekend at the beach on the New Jersey shore two weekends ago. Early Sunday morning we watched huge thunder and tornado-like clouds come up the shoreline in a matter of minutes and then pelt down rain and hail. What a sight.
But of equal fun, we entertained friends from Paris for a few days and enjoyed taking a 13 year old shopping at the largest discount mall in Virginia. A young woman in a candy shop, regrettably budgeted!
And we managed a few good meals, of course, with some lovely wines. Our venture to the mussels restaurant on H Street met with a good respone. Dr Granville Moore's. At the beach we enjoyed eating at Gertrudes in Ventnor, NJ. A BYO place; it had very good veal and lamb.
And Jerry Springer! The opera opened in London a few years ago, seen there by our friend Wally. It had a short run in NY, I believe, but Wally noted that this production at Studio Theater in Washington was far better than the London production. It is gross, scatalogical, sacreligious, scathing in commentary, lewd, and whatever other adjectives to describe disgusting you can throw at it. But at the same time, it is clever, well put together, describes the human condition and its search for 15 minutes of fame, and looks at some of the more basic questions facing us.
The high points include a klavern of tap dancing Ku Klux Klansmen, Jesus played but a short, and very round, Filipino dressed in a baby diaper who "wasn't there" claimed Satan, when he needed him. God arrives dressed almost as an Abba extra on his motorbike surrounded by feathery angels. And, Springer is true to life, a consummate con-man bringing out the worst.
Highly recommended for a hilarious evening in the remaining two weeks of its run.
Monday, August 18, 2008
Sunday, June 29, 2008
Home...
We decided that inclement weather affected our moods and our desire to see more of Toronto. Therefore we opted out of Gay Pride Celebrations, packed up the car and headed south. After a two hour delay (normal we are told) at the US border, we decided to break our nine hour drive with a night at our friends in Pittsburgh. Lovely evening with them, and then home mid-afternoon today.
Sometime in the next few days I'll reflect on our trip. It was great, we saw a lot and we are happy to be home.
Sometime in the next few days I'll reflect on our trip. It was great, we saw a lot and we are happy to be home.
Friday, June 27, 2008
Toronto: Thumbs Up or Down?
It's been years since we spent even a night in Toronto. Ben and I were here in 1982 on our way home from honeymooning in Quebec and Montreal. I'd been here in 1980. Wow, this place has changed a lot. It was a big city, now it's a huge city, going on for miles with high rises everywhere. At first we thought it had lost its charm.
The first place we went after checking in to the Toronto Townhouse BnB in Cabbagetown just east of downtown, (nice place, owner, Tan is a gem), was to get to Jet Phuell for Ben's coffee. A disaster ...the barista had attitude for days, gave himself a tip and made coffee that was adequate. No decaf. This was much different from early morning coffee at Mermaid Cafe in Tobermory,
where the coffee was not perfection, but the owner went out of her way to try to do it right. Her machine was not working properly.
Anyway, that was compounded by a drunk boor in the bar, Zippers, we went to for an early evening beer. He was smashed and accused me of being unfriendly. Antagonistic with booze, he could only blither about meeting the Queen Mother and being an executive chef. These were not great intros to Canada's largest city and the first metropolis of size we'd visited since Chicago almost a month ago.
However, later that evening the tram driver (very cute, waved at us this afternoon when his tram passed us) went out of his way to help us with fares, and transfers as we went to Chinatown to relive dinner from 26 years ago. We had dined at the Pearl on Dundas Street, but alas it was no longer there. Instead we went to E-pan on Spadina, a smart place with plenty of Chinese eating there. We discussed dinner and ordered some pickled jellyfish to start, with chilis and a bit of sugar it was lovely. We matched it with a Jackson-Triggs Niagara sauvignon blanc, Our next courses were pork belly (a very mild, thinly sliced tripe) with bean sprouts and a lobster with scallions and dried mushrooms. Both were exquisite. We starched the dinner with Yangchow fried rice of shrimp and BBQ.
Our morning, of course, had been wonderful. We awoke to thunder and rain, but by 9:30 the weather had cleared and we took off on our Georgian Bay voyage to see wrecks and islands. The wrecks from the last century were just below the surface of a harbor, so you could see them from either the deck or the glass bottom view points. The islands are rocky and deserted. Only one has much in the way of national park people. Flowerpot island, named for its coastal rock formations.
Today we went off to the Royal Ontario Museum and caught the Darwin exhibit that had already been in NY. Wonderful. Very intellectual, but very good. And then a short multi-media show called Kaleidoscope on Shanghai. About trends in modern Shanghai. Some of the material was very cutting edge, particularly a mixed media with a woman on film puffing at a another film across the room, which reacted by receding into the screen.
The Royal Ontario Museum is partly in an old building, but it also has a huge new extension designed by Daniel Liebiskind,the architect who has designed the site plan for Ground Zero in NY. The juxtaposition of the old building with the new part, let alone with the adjoining buildings, the CN Tower and other skyscrapers is astounding.
Getting around Toronto, of course, is easy. It has a subway,whose Museum station is designed to complement the building above, and its tram system is extensive.
LCBO of Ontario did not have the First Nation wine from BC we wanted, but we did get a couple of meritage from Ontario and a very expensive meritage from BC. Should be good. Lunch at the Chew-Chew Diner down the street. Ben explores for coffee as I write.
Right now we give the city thumbs up.
The first place we went after checking in to the Toronto Townhouse BnB in Cabbagetown just east of downtown, (nice place, owner, Tan is a gem), was to get to Jet Phuell for Ben's coffee. A disaster ...the barista had attitude for days, gave himself a tip and made coffee that was adequate. No decaf. This was much different from early morning coffee at Mermaid Cafe in Tobermory,
where the coffee was not perfection, but the owner went out of her way to try to do it right. Her machine was not working properly.Anyway, that was compounded by a drunk boor in the bar, Zippers, we went to for an early evening beer. He was smashed and accused me of being unfriendly. Antagonistic with booze, he could only blither about meeting the Queen Mother and being an executive chef. These were not great intros to Canada's largest city and the first metropolis of size we'd visited since Chicago almost a month ago.
However, later that evening the tram driver (very cute, waved at us this afternoon when his tram passed us) went out of his way to help us with fares, and transfers as we went to Chinatown to relive dinner from 26 years ago. We had dined at the Pearl on Dundas Street, but alas it was no longer there. Instead we went to E-pan on Spadina, a smart place with plenty of Chinese eating there. We discussed dinner and ordered some pickled jellyfish to start, with chilis and a bit of sugar it was lovely. We matched it with a Jackson-Triggs Niagara sauvignon blanc, Our next courses were pork belly (a very mild, thinly sliced tripe) with bean sprouts and a lobster with scallions and dried mushrooms. Both were exquisite. We starched the dinner with Yangchow fried rice of shrimp and BBQ.
Our morning, of course, had been wonderful. We awoke to thunder and rain, but by 9:30 the weather had cleared and we took off on our Georgian Bay voyage to see wrecks and islands. The wrecks from the last century were just below the surface of a harbor, so you could see them from either the deck or the glass bottom view points. The islands are rocky and deserted. Only one has much in the way of national park people. Flowerpot island, named for its coastal rock formations.
Today we went off to the Royal Ontario Museum and caught the Darwin exhibit that had already been in NY. Wonderful. Very intellectual, but very good. And then a short multi-media show called Kaleidoscope on Shanghai. About trends in modern Shanghai. Some of the material was very cutting edge, particularly a mixed media with a woman on film puffing at a another film across the room, which reacted by receding into the screen.
The Royal Ontario Museum is partly in an old building, but it also has a huge new extension designed by Daniel Liebiskind,the architect who has designed the site plan for Ground Zero in NY. The juxtaposition of the old building with the new part, let alone with the adjoining buildings, the CN Tower and other skyscrapers is astounding.
Getting around Toronto, of course, is easy. It has a subway,whose Museum station is designed to complement the building above, and its tram system is extensive.
LCBO of Ontario did not have the First Nation wine from BC we wanted, but we did get a couple of meritage from Ontario and a very expensive meritage from BC. Should be good. Lunch at the Chew-Chew Diner down the street. Ben explores for coffee as I write.
Right now we give the city thumbs up.
Wednesday, June 25, 2008
Mutiny, Coffee Failure...and a Voyage
Oh, well, Unohu-gozalong fears he will be pulp tomorrow. Unohu failed to get his XXXX dry cappucino till 5 pm today and got nothing yesterday. He was practically blubbering from caffeine failure. Fortunately, Unohu-gozalong had a bright eye for a place in Tobermory today that got the fix in, just in time.
Unohu-gozalong felt vibrations in the car that could have been mutiny...no navigator--which would have been painful. It's easy to get lost without a navigator.
Oh, well. We had a great day. A boat trip, a great sunset and a good meal at the Grandview Inn in Tobermory,Ontario. It's a diving and wreck center on the Georgian Bay that is as pretty as Narragansett Bay in Rhode Island and points on Cape Cod, with waters clear enough to see down for many feet.
We started this morning from Sault Ste. Marie, a dump of a town, but it had a good Sleep Inn, and we managed to find a terribly Canadianized Chinese restaurant, the Golden Dragon, that managed to provide a good mix of meats and vegetables, good ribs, and some wontons, with enough left over for lunch today. We also had a good look at the larger boats heading into the locks on the American side, and the recreational boats going through the smaller and older Canadian side.
Don't put the place down as a "must" visit, though.
Manitoulin Island, where we embarked on the ferry to Tobermory was gorgeous. Much like rocky Maine with granite boulders. We were hurried to catch the ferry. The ride was smooth and misty, and the arrival in Tobermory just lovely. Tomorrow we go see wrecks on a glass bottom boat and leave for our last stop before home. Toronto.
Unohu-gozalong felt vibrations in the car that could have been mutiny...no navigator--which would have been painful. It's easy to get lost without a navigator.
Oh, well. We had a great day. A boat trip, a great sunset and a good meal at the Grandview Inn in Tobermory,Ontario. It's a diving and wreck center on the Georgian Bay that is as pretty as Narragansett Bay in Rhode Island and points on Cape Cod, with waters clear enough to see down for many feet.
We started this morning from Sault Ste. Marie, a dump of a town, but it had a good Sleep Inn, and we managed to find a terribly Canadianized Chinese restaurant, the Golden Dragon, that managed to provide a good mix of meats and vegetables, good ribs, and some wontons, with enough left over for lunch today. We also had a good look at the larger boats heading into the locks on the American side, and the recreational boats going through the smaller and older Canadian side.
Don't put the place down as a "must" visit, though.
Manitoulin Island, where we embarked on the ferry to Tobermory was gorgeous. Much like rocky Maine with granite boulders. We were hurried to catch the ferry. The ride was smooth and misty, and the arrival in Tobermory just lovely. Tomorrow we go see wrecks on a glass bottom boat and leave for our last stop before home. Toronto.
Tuesday, June 24, 2008
Superior and Seagulls
Lake Superior is bounded on the south shore by cliffs and old towns. One lighthouse, derelict for many years, guards the shoals where freighters and other boats went aground on sandy reefs. The major interest though is the Picture Rocks National Seashore, only visible from a boat. These formations have many forms and colors.
Of course, the boat gets followed by scores of seagulls wanting something to eat. Fortunately they did not drop, but they sure scream as bread crumbs are thrown at them.At one point the captain took the 100 feet long boat into a very small cove, which this picture tries to show. While we couldn't quite touch the walls, they couldn't have been more than a couple of yards away.
We found the daily grind in the tiny town of Musining. It also had a used bookstore, so I bought a couple of books to finish off the trip. One an autobiography of Anne Scott James, who for years has been on NPR-BBC "My Word." It was written in 1952!We crossed the border back into Canada and now are in Sault Ste Marie, thinking about dinner, a bit, and enjoying the view of the locks in the distance.
Superior Lupines
Duluth has history, no doubt about it. We enjoyed our short stay very much in our 1890s BnB.
I think another day would be worthwhile in this old raw materials port that is still very much alive. Railroad tracks everywhere going to loading machinery for the freighters that frequent the port. Not unlike this old one that is moored permanently. The new ones traverse the canal under a grand bridge bringing out everything from coal to limestone.
From there we traversed upper Wisconsin and into Michigan. Wisconsin at its top end has a peninsula that juts out into Lake Superior. The countryside is alive with wildflowers.
One of the villages is an old boating community, where we found our morning (actually early afternoon coffee) that met Unohu's standards.
We also acquired lunch at a fishers shack on the coast—smoked whitefish, pickled herring and crackers. Enjoyed with last night's leftovers at a road side table late in the day.
This area of the country is quite off the beaten track, though very pretty. The towns are not sophisticated, the accent is rough, and the people are reserved. Of course, that doesn't stop them from holding testicle festivals, whatever they are. Earlier this morning, Ben walked down for brek at the BnB to find four people (two couples) at breakfast saying nothing to each other. This is not BnB style. He broke ice.
Tonight we're at a log place, the Pinewood Inn, overlooking the Lake, magnificent sunset now that the fog has lifted. It rolled in over Marquette and the northern coast of the Upper Peninsula like San Francisco's. Chatted amidst the mosquitoes with a young woman who, with her husband, is heading out to New Mexico to teach geology at UNM from Massachusetts.
Dinner at one of the local restaurants was very good. We had a Michigan white wine from the Leelanau Peninsula, a Good Harbor Vineyards mix of Chardonnay, Vignoles, Vidal and Pinot Grigio. Nice. With a burgundy mushroom soup (locally grown portobello and button mushrooms) and a grilled whitefish filet, that was all in all more food than we could eat. The Brownstone Inn in Au Train, Michigan.
Tomorrow a boat ride on the lake, maybe explore some old iron mines and then back to Canada for the remaining six days of our trip. We passed 6500 miles today.
I think another day would be worthwhile in this old raw materials port that is still very much alive. Railroad tracks everywhere going to loading machinery for the freighters that frequent the port. Not unlike this old one that is moored permanently. The new ones traverse the canal under a grand bridge bringing out everything from coal to limestone.
From there we traversed upper Wisconsin and into Michigan. Wisconsin at its top end has a peninsula that juts out into Lake Superior. The countryside is alive with wildflowers.
One of the villages is an old boating community, where we found our morning (actually early afternoon coffee) that met Unohu's standards.
We also acquired lunch at a fishers shack on the coast—smoked whitefish, pickled herring and crackers. Enjoyed with last night's leftovers at a road side table late in the day.
This area of the country is quite off the beaten track, though very pretty. The towns are not sophisticated, the accent is rough, and the people are reserved. Of course, that doesn't stop them from holding testicle festivals, whatever they are. Earlier this morning, Ben walked down for brek at the BnB to find four people (two couples) at breakfast saying nothing to each other. This is not BnB style. He broke ice.
Tonight we're at a log place, the Pinewood Inn, overlooking the Lake, magnificent sunset now that the fog has lifted. It rolled in over Marquette and the northern coast of the Upper Peninsula like San Francisco's. Chatted amidst the mosquitoes with a young woman who, with her husband, is heading out to New Mexico to teach geology at UNM from Massachusetts.
Dinner at one of the local restaurants was very good. We had a Michigan white wine from the Leelanau Peninsula, a Good Harbor Vineyards mix of Chardonnay, Vignoles, Vidal and Pinot Grigio. Nice. With a burgundy mushroom soup (locally grown portobello and button mushrooms) and a grilled whitefish filet, that was all in all more food than we could eat. The Brownstone Inn in Au Train, Michigan.
Tomorrow a boat ride on the lake, maybe explore some old iron mines and then back to Canada for the remaining six days of our trip. We passed 6500 miles today.
Sunday, June 22, 2008
Jazz--Now Hills
Winnipeg—Jazz, Duluth—Hills. It's a long way between these two cities. And they are very different, besides being on different sides of the border with different cultures. Winnipeg was a lot of fun. Duluth looks like it will be much slower for the night we are here.
The second night of the jazz festival in Winnipeg was more to our taste than the third group the previous night. Flo and the Flosoul Band in a cabaret had much more identifiable music, R & B. Turns out she is a member of a local Anglican church. We ended up sitting with three of her friends, a woman from Jamaica who had studied in the UK before coming to Winnipeg, and two other friends who were there to enjoy the jazz. We had the pleasure of meeting Flo after her performance.
The second act, Divine Brown, from Toronto, I believe, was brassy and bold, loud and extreme. She had a bit of Tina Turner about her, in a short dress with good legs, and her voice carried well, though it was muffled a bit by a sound system that needed some adjustment.
We had dinner at Earls, which our innkeeper, April Kassim, had words about. I said that Earls appears to be a place where one obviously goes to be seen. We sat next to a group that I assumed were beauticians. All in their 20s, two having their birthdays. Nice, but a bit cheap. 2 guys, five women. The others in the restaurant, outside in the lovely night air, were a few gays, lots of sportsmen, and lots of very good looking women...who were dressed in very high heels and very short skirts. April says the place is known for its very good looking female servers and very popular among the fashionable, if somewhat knock-off, crowd. Good calamari, dry ribs, pad Thai for Ben, salad with mangoes and chicken for me. Half liter of Okanagan Chenin Blanc. Bad, very bad, martini. Lime instead of lemon, vodka, not gin. Should have sent it back.
We had a good walk about Winnipeg. Along the Assiniboine River Walk, a walk we took yesterday, we were asked to participate with two women and a guy in a sexual sandwich! And a bit further, we stumbled on a gay cruising area. Further along we learned about Louis Reil, the province's first premier in 1869 when it sent folk to Ottawa to complain about being annexed into Canada by the Brits in the Confederation of 1867 without their permission, to be immediately given provincial status as Manitoba and a federal subsidy. Happy Ending. At la Fourche where the Red and Assiniboine come together, we watched clouds gather and stood under a huge tent listening to yet more jazz as hail fell in 1/4 inch (5 mm) ice pellets.
Got a couple of small sandwiches from the local market and walked back through the muddy trail to the Columns. The sexual sandwich though had vanished! Bologna.
No trouble at the border. Crossing Minnesota, not much of great interest. Very pretty. Some lake views. Thunderstorms always in the distance. Met a couple from California on their way to Vermont via Ontario who were walking their corgi at a lake-shore rest area on US Route 2.
Duluth, massive hills alongside Lake Superior. Matthew Burrow's 1890 Inn very Victorian with lots of stained glass, woodwork. Burrows made his money in the clothing business. Not as grand as the Columns, older by 15 years, but still shows the wealth of this old city, now mainly a transshipment port. I think I shall be Victorianed out by the time we get home though the innkeepers are delightful here and I await a brownie.
We shall go to Grandma's Restaurant for dinner along the shoreline of Lake Superior.
Duluth, of course, is tiny compared to Winnipeg, perhaps a tenth the size. But it clearly has history and all the downtown buildings are connected by skyways against the fierce winter.
-------------------
Dinner at Grandma's verandah outside was ordinary salad and hamburgers. But we got to see huge ore and coal carriers enter and leave the port as we ate.
The second night of the jazz festival in Winnipeg was more to our taste than the third group the previous night. Flo and the Flosoul Band in a cabaret had much more identifiable music, R & B. Turns out she is a member of a local Anglican church. We ended up sitting with three of her friends, a woman from Jamaica who had studied in the UK before coming to Winnipeg, and two other friends who were there to enjoy the jazz. We had the pleasure of meeting Flo after her performance.
The second act, Divine Brown, from Toronto, I believe, was brassy and bold, loud and extreme. She had a bit of Tina Turner about her, in a short dress with good legs, and her voice carried well, though it was muffled a bit by a sound system that needed some adjustment.
We had dinner at Earls, which our innkeeper, April Kassim, had words about. I said that Earls appears to be a place where one obviously goes to be seen. We sat next to a group that I assumed were beauticians. All in their 20s, two having their birthdays. Nice, but a bit cheap. 2 guys, five women. The others in the restaurant, outside in the lovely night air, were a few gays, lots of sportsmen, and lots of very good looking women...who were dressed in very high heels and very short skirts. April says the place is known for its very good looking female servers and very popular among the fashionable, if somewhat knock-off, crowd. Good calamari, dry ribs, pad Thai for Ben, salad with mangoes and chicken for me. Half liter of Okanagan Chenin Blanc. Bad, very bad, martini. Lime instead of lemon, vodka, not gin. Should have sent it back.
We had a good walk about Winnipeg. Along the Assiniboine River Walk, a walk we took yesterday, we were asked to participate with two women and a guy in a sexual sandwich! And a bit further, we stumbled on a gay cruising area. Further along we learned about Louis Reil, the province's first premier in 1869 when it sent folk to Ottawa to complain about being annexed into Canada by the Brits in the Confederation of 1867 without their permission, to be immediately given provincial status as Manitoba and a federal subsidy. Happy Ending. At la Fourche where the Red and Assiniboine come together, we watched clouds gather and stood under a huge tent listening to yet more jazz as hail fell in 1/4 inch (5 mm) ice pellets.
Got a couple of small sandwiches from the local market and walked back through the muddy trail to the Columns. The sexual sandwich though had vanished! Bologna.
No trouble at the border. Crossing Minnesota, not much of great interest. Very pretty. Some lake views. Thunderstorms always in the distance. Met a couple from California on their way to Vermont via Ontario who were walking their corgi at a lake-shore rest area on US Route 2.
Duluth, massive hills alongside Lake Superior. Matthew Burrow's 1890 Inn very Victorian with lots of stained glass, woodwork. Burrows made his money in the clothing business. Not as grand as the Columns, older by 15 years, but still shows the wealth of this old city, now mainly a transshipment port. I think I shall be Victorianed out by the time we get home though the innkeepers are delightful here and I await a brownie.
We shall go to Grandma's Restaurant for dinner along the shoreline of Lake Superior.
Duluth, of course, is tiny compared to Winnipeg, perhaps a tenth the size. But it clearly has history and all the downtown buildings are connected by skyways against the fierce winter.
-------------------
Dinner at Grandma's verandah outside was ordinary salad and hamburgers. But we got to see huge ore and coal carriers enter and leave the port as we ate.
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