Western Wanders - Victoria

With the anniversary of the passing of Barbara upon us it was time for a visit out West to Vancouver Island. 

We arrived on a Friday afternoon in June apparently having brought the summer weather with us from Toronto! 

We checked in to the lovely Fairholme Manor for three nights, encountering the resident doe and fawn being fed apple scraps from the kitchen window. Sylvia, the owner, informed us that the fawn (named Fairholme) were living in a grove on the property and we encountered them several times during our stay. 

After dropping our luggage at Fairholme, we popped in on Gary to say hi before heading downtown for a stroll through the old city and a visit to our favourite streetfood vendor in Canada, the amazing Red Fish Blue Fish!

With it being the most lovely day of 2022 so far for Victoria, the line at Red Fish Blue Fish was longer than any we had seen before. We opted to wait the 45 minutes for service and it was well worth it; two lovely pieces of fresh fish deep battered and fried as well as chips and deep fried pickles! Now that is a lunch worth waiting for! 

A stroll back to Redfern was followed by dinner and drinks with Gary and fond remembrances of Barbara. After an evening of freely flowing wine it was time to head back to our B&B for a good night's rest in our cavernous lovely suite.

The next day started with an amazing breakfast at Fairholme and a stroll through the gardens next door before heading over to Gary's later in the afternoon for tea with the family. The lovely Hanna brought all sorts of goodies which were enjoyed by Martin, Gary, Lisa, Ingunn, Hanna and Christos. 

More remembrances of Barbara and family, as well as a look through some of her wardrobe for the ladies, ensued followed by a visit to the Marina Restaurant for dinner. Lisa and Christos opted for a stroll over while the rest of the party walked. Dinner was wonderful with fresh fish all around served with yummy accoutrements. 

Martin had to depart after dinner but the rest of the group was back at Gary's after dinner for more chit chat and catching up in the lovely back Sun room. Finally in the weeish hours it was time to head back to to Fairholme to collapse into bed for another sound sleep.

Sunday in Victoria involved some down time as well a buying a new pair of sandals for Christos (and saying goodbye to the ratty old ones!) and another lovely garden stroll through Governor's House before meeting up with Gary for a dinner of delicious burgers. Bedtime came earlier after several late nights!   

And then we take Paris!

We left Berlin on Tuesday afternoon, arriving in CDG around 2PM and getting to our hotel before 3. Wine (a very decent sancerre for 14 euros!) was soon acquired at the local Carrefour which we sipped as we rested a bit before heading out for the 30 minute walk through the 1st and 4th to dinner at the wonderful Robert et Louise, a high end wood fired steak joint. 

A wonderful dinner of lamb chops (Christos) and rare steak (Lisa) accompanied by a cote de rhone wine was enjoyed before we embarked on a leisurely evening return stroll to our hotel on Rue des Pyramides. The remainder of the wine procured earlier was dispatched before retiring to bed.

The next day we first visited the Tuileries Gardens just down from the hotel for an after breakfast stroll before a deeper walk into the 4th and surroundings exploring new ground for us. 

We lunched at a popular falafel place that despite the 15 minute wait (which was filled with people watching anyway) was well worth it; the best shawarma we have ever had covered in fresh toppings!

Our wander through the 4th continued during the afternoon with a soap purchase as well as a bottle of white wine from a farmer's market! 

We made it back to the hotel with enough time for a little break before heading out across the Seine to the 6th and one of our favourite places in Paris, Huitrerie Regis , for a dinner of smoked scallop, oysters, bulot and shrimp! 

Dinner was accompanied by a lovely bottle of sancerre and over the next two hours chatted with both the owner, the waitress and the lovely Parisian lady behind us who treated us each to a glass of meursault wine! 

After dinner we wandered to Cafe Des Beaux Arts which to be blunt is not really worth it but is a bit of an institution for us as a place we would have a late night carafe of wine and call Mom from as we looked out at the bank of the Seine (and the traffic). 

The time difference (ie 11PM in Paris versus 6ish in Ontario or 3ish in BC) was ideal for calls and while we decided to bury the tradition, we did so in style by calling some of our closest family and friends and sharing with them the memory of this spot. Ah well, nothing lasts forever. 

After the 1/2 litre of wine and litre of water were done it was time for the 1/2 hour stroll back across the river to our hotel; it was particularly windy and chilly as we crossed the Seine but that did not detract from our enjoyment of such a fine night in Paris.

Thursday in Paris was a stroll north to the cemetery of Montmartre, where we visited the graves of Dalida, Berlioz and others including some unknowns (as pictured!). 

The tour continued along boulevard de Clichy past the Moulin Rouge to rue Des Martyrs and the surrounding area where we shopped for lunch and other goodies. 

We got back to the hotel in the late afternoon and enjoyed a late lunch of the goodies we had bought earlier (with plenty left over for the next day) and then rested a bit before heading out for our lateish (9PM) dinner at La Bourse et La Vie  which served traditional Paris bistro food but upmarket. 

While the pate on artichoke heart appetizer was excellent and the mains were good (rib of veal and steak), the overall value for money was a bit lacking and the experience felt a bit rushed. Still an excellent dinner in Paris. 

Our final day in Paris was the most glorious from a weather perspective with sunny skies and temperatures in the high teens Celsius. We opted for a long stroll west through the Tuileries and then across the Alexander III bridge to arrive at Les Invalides. 

Here we visited the tomb of Napoleon with hardly anyone there unlike the time some twenty years previously when it had been swarming with tourists. 

We also toured the museum visiting the medieval arms and armour displays as well as the Napoleonic arms and armour displays. After a good tour of the museum (and the purchase of some Napoleon socks) we returned to the hotel for a rest before heading out for a long wander north and east through the 2nd, 10th, 3rd and 4th before stopping off for a pint of Guinness in the early evening. 

We had planned for dinner at Chez Michel this evening but were not feeling up to it after all the walking so we cancelled and instead enjoyed a cheap and cheerful dinner in our room from the decent place across the street from our hotel while we watched some shows on Lisa's laptop.

The next day is was a quick breakfast before hopping on the plane to Toronto and home!

First We Take Berlin!

Our dear friend Ferdinand in Berlin reached out to tell us that his lovely daughter Clara would be getting baptized and confirmed in March 2022 and that it would be wonderful if Christos, Clara's Godfather, could attend.  

With the pandemic having curtailed our travels for the last two years an opportunity to once more cross the pond was well received by both of us so we booked a flight for a four night stay in Berlin but decided to add a bit and booked the return flight another four days after that but from Paris! 

The flight over was great for Lisa who got upgraded but less so for Christos with his sciatic pain and reliance on pills to get through the flight. Ah well, the rigours of getting old!

We made it to Berlin on Friday morning and stayed at the same place as when we visited in 2019, the Sir Savigny Hotel. Christos had wisely booked the previous night so we could collapse into bed at 10AM (rather than 3PM) and get a nap in before meeting up with Ferdinand later that evening. 

Around 4PM we met up with Ferdinand and after reconnecting went out for a tour of short Charlottenburg as the sun was setting. With the tour done it was time for dinner at a local restaurant where we both had enormous schnitzels accompanied by several glasses of simple but delicious pilsner beer. 

We left Ferdinand after dinner but ended up at a local bar near our hotel called Dicke Wirtin where the Guinness is only euro 5.30! 

Several pints were enjoyed as we watched the nightlife unfold (it being Friday night) before stumbling back to the hotel for a solid sleep.

The next day started with a lovely breakfast at our hotel before meeting up with Clara for a walk to pick-up Ferdinand at the local coffee shop and, after a brief pitstop at his place, to enjoy a sunny albeit brisk forty-five minute walk to Charlottenburg Palace. 

At Charlottenburg Palace Ferd and Clara left us, as Clara had to be back at her mom's soon, and the two of us enjoyed a leisurely stroll through the Charlottenburg Palace Gardens and then along the Spree and through Berlin for the sunny afternoon. 

We met up with Ferd in the evening at his place and had a few drinks before the two of us set off for a lite night dinner at a local, and very popular, Taiwanese Noodle House. After dinner it was back to Dicke Wirtin for our evening ritual of Guinness and people watching. 

The next day was the main event, Clara's baptism and confirmation into the Anglican faith! All told six kids were being confirmed and only Clara baptized and an Anglican Bishop had been brought in for the service. 

We arrived at the Church dressed in our finest at 10:30AM and the service began fairly soon thereafter. Some hymns were sung, some preaching was spun and about an hour later it was done! The only disappointment is that the planned standing of the Godparents for Clara's baptism did not occur so the need to be there in person was theoretically diminished but it was good to be there nonetheless.

After a quick trip back to our hotel, the afternoon was spent with Ferd, Lilly and two of Ferd's relatives back at Ferd's apartment chatting until Clara arrived a little later and then more chatting over beef ragout that Dorte had made earlier. Sadly Dorte was out of sorts and could not attend the day's festivities.

After Ferd's relatives departed we idled some more until it was time for Ferd to take Lilly back to her place. While he was gone, Clara and the two of us played cards (Clara's choice of game was called "Dog") and it was great fun as Clara's charm and fun-loving nature were on full display. Clara was exhausted after a long day and when Ferd got back it was time for us to go (the next day also being a school day with tests for Clara!), although not quite time for us to go to bed! So off we went for another night at Dicke Wirtin although this one was much subdued given it being a Sunday evening.

Our final day (Monday) was a subdued affair. We met up with Ferd in the early afternoon and the three of us went antiquing in Charlottenburg (no purchases were made but many fine things were viewed!) before Lisa and Christos headed back to the hotel in the early evening. Dinner for three was at a nice Prussian place where we enjoyed traditional German food such as duck with dumplings and purple cabbage (Christos) and veal in a white sauce with spetzel (Lisa). Bidding good night to Ferd it was time for one last trip to Dicke Wirtin (yes that makes four evenings in a row) where we closed down the bar with the staff.

The next day ... of to Paris!

A joyous return to the West Coast of Canada's East!

Due to the intervention of outside events, our frequent visits to Western Newfoundland had been curtailed from early 2020 until recently. With the borders to the Rock now open to those doubly vaxxed, 

Seeing Aare, the Ocean and Luggage Loss.

Lookout Hike.

Seaside restaurant, Trout river. Mussels for desert.

Friday night at the Voitk's! Mussels a second night in a row!

New found activities in Newfoundland!

Hiking and Kiting!

One last fire before we go!

 

Goodbye Mom, I Miss you and Love You.

Squirrel foster parents for 27 days

 One sunny day in mid-September, Lisa spied a tiny squirrel in our front yard and when Christos went down to investigate it was clear the little squirrel was far too young and small to be one his own and was desperate for aid as it tried to hide itself in Christos' jeans! We soon discovered that another juvenile squirrel was nearby as another couple had found a similar beast. A tragedy must have befallen their squirrel family rendering them orphans.

So we took the two desperate animals upstairs to the third floor deck and built them a home of a cardboard box (initially with a heating pad which was later removed) with issues of the London Review of Books (no low brow squirrels for us) as the floor. Food and water were regularly provided and it seems grapes and corn were the favourites. For four weeks the "guys" as we called them got bigger and stronger although it was soon clear that "Noir" (the black one) was dominant to "the Gris" (the grey one). 

They cuddled together at night for warmth, groomed each other

and scampered about the deck as they got stronger, often playing some sort of wrestling game with each other it seemed. 

When we returned from a brief visit to Victoria, Noir had advanced to the point where he could climb out from the deck and was starting to explore. 

After 27 days it all came to an end. 

The good news is that Noir is big enough to be on his own and has apparently moved out and made a new nest nearby for himself (we suspect under the neighbour's roof). 

The bad news is that Gris passed away on day 27. 

Around noon, Gris managed to get up to the deck railing for the first time (following Noir) but unfortunately he fell into the neighbour's second floor deck and ultimately down into her backyard. 

He survived all that and was soon our front of our house scampering desperately around .... Christos tried to catch him in a box but he was too fast and clearly having none of it. 

Eventually he scurried away into one of the other neighbours' backyards and we went off to shop for dinner, hoping to catch him later when he was tired out. We returned in the afternoon and Christos went searching for him but at 5pm he discovered his tiny body at the base of the tree in our neighbour's backyard; Gris had made it all the way to the neighbour's backyard but could not get to our deck from the tree and we suspect he just ran out of steam eventually or fell and could not get up after one too many tries.

While it was quite sad and tears have been shed for the tiny little bugger, we both revel in the fact that Gris got 27 days he would never have had (with mate cuddles, corn, grapes and sun on the body) and that Noir seems to have made it (he has already been back once on the deck for corn and climbs like a squirrel twice his size!), at least for the first lap of life in this cruel world.

Goodbye Gris and Good Luck Noir!!!!

Farewell and so long Lumpy Limpy ...

At the beginning of the summer, we encountered a lone raccoon in our back yard one morning. His gait was marked with a limp, his ear nicked from a long ago squabble and he bore the other marks of a long life of adventures in the concrete jungle. He made a hasty departure from our backyard when we first met.

When we next saw him we realized that "Lumpy-Limpy" (as we now called him) spent his days sleeping nearby, usually taking up a position on the deck next to ours but one floor down (which our neighbour never uses) or wedged under an eavestrough of a further neighbour. It became clear that he was an older fellow without a family and did not have it soft at all .... So we had to adopt him!

We started serving him a bit of old fruit and vegetables, soon discovering that he would only eat soft things such as banana, mango and avocado (bad teeth?) and soon we had a normal routine of meeting him every other day or so in the backyard and giving him a snack. 

Sometimes he would hear us while we were getting ready to head out on a bike ride and his face would suddenly appear through the bushes with a hopeful glint in his eye! Other times we would find him waiting for us in a chair or at the back door. 

He never rummaged through the trash or caused other problems (some juvenile raccoons once got into a plastic bag of empty beer cans, we wonder if they had hang overs later!) and while he grew accustomed to us he still kept his distance.

Sadly we think his time has likely come. We check on his two sleeping spots every morning from the third floor deck and have not seen him since late July. There has been no sign of him in the backyard and the occasional pieces of banana offered in early August were left untouched. 

We will miss Lumpy-Limpy.