Adventures of Ligeia and Mindy

Canoeing the Hillsborough River

2012-02-05T19:06:00.005-05:00

On Sunday, Fred, Ligeia and Mindy rented a canoe and enjoyed a 4 hour canoe ride. We had taken this journey several times in the past but never have we seen so much wildlife as we did today!

We began the trip with hundreds of huge vultures, (mostly black vultures and turkey vultures), like this one:

They covered the trees and looked like big black blobs. We came across several birds drying themselves off and making quite the display:

For the first half of our trip Ligeia and Mindy paddled while Fred relaxed and took pictures. He had fun saying we "were his chauffeurs" for the day. :)

Fred taught us about Limpkins (seen below) and later one of the guys who worked at the canoe rental explained that the presence of these birds is a sign of a strong ecosystem.

We saw SO many alligators (approx. 50) of all different sizes, from babies to adults:

How many alligators can you count in this picture?

After lunch Fred tried paddling in the stern and did a great job maneuvering the canoe. Most memorable about the day were typical Florida scenes like this:

That evening turned out to be the Superbowl so to avoid it we went to Sweet Tomatoes restaurant followed by the movie Big Miracle. We were the only ones in the theater save a group of 3 women who said they were also avoiding the Superbowl. Not surprisingly, the whole theater complex was like a ghost town.

Monday morning we drove Fred to the airport. Thanks Fred for a memorable weekend.

Ligeia and Mindy :):)

Ichetucknee Springs

2012-02-04T19:58:00.009-05:00

The next day Fred and Ligeia drove 3 1/2 hours north to Ichetucknee Springs with beautiful trails to hike and natural springs to snorkel and swim in.

They arrived in the morning light:

They hiked on two trails, the Trestle Point and the Pine Ridge Trail, during which time we took pictures and had fun with Spanish moss.

After lunch we did a little snorkeling at Blue Hole...

...and Ichetucknee Spring.

We drove the 3.5 hours home and had a relaxing evening.

Ligeia and Mindy :):)

Apollo Beach

2012-02-03T19:42:00.000-05:00

Our friend Fred came down from Baltimore for a weekend visit. Our first stop was Apollo Beach. You might be surprised to learn that a nuclear power plant...

...would provide a wildlife viewing opportunity,...

...but in Florida they do, especially for the manatees who prefer the warm water of the nuclear power plant to the cold water of the Gulf of Mexico.

There were easily 30 manatees out there!

We were also able to view other animals such as this stingray pretending to be hidden...

...this beautiful pelican...

and this other bird whose name we don't know:

Later in the afternoon, we took a short hike at the Brooker Creek Preserve.

Ligeia and Mindy :):)

Ligeia's 39th Birthday

2012-01-09T15:33:00.003-05:00

The morning began by waking up at 5am to drive to Crystal River to swim with the manatees which has become somewhat of a tradition for Ligeia's birthday.

Ligeia opened her presents when they got back from manatee-ing. Here is the array of gifts she got:

After a nice nap, Mindy set out in the kitchen making a very delicious citrus meringue pie and a fantastic home cooked meal of spinach noodles and cheese.

All in all, it was a fantastic day! Enjoy the last year of your 30's Ligeia!

Ligeia and Mindy :):)

Homemade Egg Nog and Holiday Festivities

2011-12-25T13:34:00.007-05:00

Mindy and Ligeia decided to make homemade eggnog for the holidays. They had never done so before so they looked up a recipe online. If you're interested in trying the same, here are the ingredients you will need (6 servings):

- 6 egg yolks

- 1/2 tsp of salt

- 1/2 cup sugar (the recipe called for 3/4 cup, but would have been sweet enough with 1/2 that)

- 2 cups milk (we used soy milk)

- 3 cloves

- 1 tsp ground cinnamon

- 1 tsp vanilla

- 2 cups cream

- 1 cup of rum (we didn't have any, so just replaced this with more soy milk)

Step 1: in a saucepan on medium heat, mix together milk, cloves, cinnamon and vanilla. Heat for about 5 minutes, but do not let mixture come to a boil...

Step 2: While the milk mixture heats, separate the eggs to get only the yolks...

Step 3: Whisk together egg yolks and sugar until mixture is fluffy.

Step 4: When milk mixture is heated throughout, slowly incorporate it into the egg mixture (we used a tablespoon to transfer the hot milk into the eggs; if hot liquid is added to quickly to raw eggs, the eggs will cook and you'll have scrambled eggs in your egg nog!)

Step 5: When milk and egg mixtures are combined, return it to the saucepan and continue heating, stirring constantly, for 5 minutes. Again, do not let the mixture come to a boil

Step 6: Strain mixture (to remove the cloves) and let stand for 1 hour to cool...

Step 7: When mixture has cooled, mix in cream and rum, and chill in fridge overnight. DONE!

What to do with those leftover egg whites...hmmmm... Here's what Mindy decided to do: Make a chocolate banana cream pie, with egg white meringue:

On the 25th, known as Christmas to some, Mindy told Ligeia she had a surprise for her. She even had to be blindfolded so she wouldn't know where we were going. Ligeia had no idea what to expect but the blindfold made the 10 minute drive much more interesting than usual.

When the car stopped moving, Ligeia took off the blindfold and saw this movie theater, where we went to see "We Bought a Zoo". Thanks Mindy for making an ordinary trip to the movies much more exciting! :)

On Boxing Day, we met our friends Sarah and Betty and their 2 children for dinner at our favorite Thai restaurant called Thai Terrace. It was so great to spend some time with them.

After dinner we stopped at our local liquor store to pick up a case of Gerolsteiner, Ligeia's favorite brand of sparkling water and we saw this when we first walked in. Has the violence in Mexico gotten so bad that even the tequila carries guns?

We hope everyone had a wonderful long weekend and are enjoying the holiday season.

Lots of love,

Ligeia and Mindy :):)

Mindy's Trip to Toronto

2011-12-23T17:10:00.004-05:00

Recently, Mindy flew up to Toronto for a wonderful, albeit brief, visit. Doing her best to see as many people as possible in the short time resulted in a number of nights on couches and air mattresses. It was all worth it! She went up to Barrie with her mother and brother to visit Oma and Opa for lunch at a favorite restaurant - Ling's. The pad thai is simply the best!

It was nice to see Opa acting normal for a change...

During the 9-day adventure, Mindy went up to Richmond Hill to spend some time with Dad & Trix. Oh! And of course, LG, one of the cutest puppies in the world!

Here's Dad behaving like any doggie parent... I wonder who's having more fun?

Mindy also made sure to visit with friends. She spent a day with Rose, which included a coffee break with Rochelle and a Leafs game on her flat-screen tv, lunched with former co-workers Jewel and Bill (and his new wife, Dana) at the St. Lawrence Market, brunched with Riley, Jenny & Dawson, enjoyed an evening with clowns at a local pub, and made an awesome vegetarian chili for a dinner at Nath & Vic's. Here's a pic of Nath with their new rescue dog, Sage...

Now, with Mindy back in the warm embraces of Florida, the bitterly cold weather of Toronto seems far away. A special thanks to Rose for lending Mindy gloves, a scarf and ear warmers!

We hope everyone is enjoying the final days of 2011, and we'll post again soon!

Lots of love,

Mindy & Ligeia :) :)

Chopped

2011-12-09T22:00:00.005-05:00

Mindy really likes the show Chopped on the Cooking Channel so we recreated and adapted the show to celebrate Mindy's birthday. Ligeia, Mindy and Erick were each given a basket with 4 secret ingredients inside. Each "chef" had to transform all the ingredients into a wonderful meal. Just like on the show, additional items from the fridge and pantry could also be used. We all went shopping separately so keep the items inside secret. Ligeia was in charge of creating the appetizer, Mindy the entree and Erick the dessert.

Ligeia was given a basket with mushrooms, sun-dried tomatoes, green grapes and goldfish crackers. Ligeia had no idea what to create at first and hence spent the first several minutes eating the goldfish crackers whilst gaining inspiration. In the end she came up with a salad with marinated mushrooms and sun-dried tomatoes, grated grapes with ricotta cheese and sprinkled with crushed goldfish crackers.

Mindy's ingredients included celery root, pickled sushi ginger, a jar of lupini beans and green starfruit. Needless to say, this was a very challenging basket, but Mindy had an idea:

...and immediately set out to work:

Fifty minutes later, she had created a wonderful lupini bean and celery soup, seasoned very well, with baked starfruit slices as a garnish with a side order of a mango and pickled ginger salad that was delicious!

The final course was dessert and Erick's secret ingredients included Abuelita chocolate, flour tortillas, avocados and blackberries. At first, he had no idea what to do with the items:

But in time, he created this very yummy dessert plate:

For a different way to do dinner, we recommend trying a Chopped evening.

We hope everyone is enjoying their December!

Ligeia and Mindy :):)

Happy 31st Birthday Mindy

2011-12-08T20:30:00.006-05:00

Today is Mindy's birthday and here's how she spent the day:

She awoke to Erick and Ligeia singing Happy Birthday to her, following by a pancake and scrambled egg breakfast.

She opened Erick's gift of a tea kettle and a canister of loose leaf Earl Grey tea.

After Erick and Ligeia went to work, Mindy spent some of the day playing ice hockey on her video game. The Leafs won twice and lost twice.

Mindy received yellow flowers when Ligeia got home from work.

She opened Ligeia's present of a blue chef's hat with her name embroidered on it.

Later that evening Mindy did a little baking making vanilla wafer cookies.

Happy Birthday Mindy! I love you!

Ligeia :)

Our Adventure to Giraffe Ranch!

2011-12-03T22:00:00.010-05:00

To continue our efforts to experience the Tampa area as much as possible while we're here, we went on a Jeep tour of a local game farm, focused on conserving animals (we made sure of that after our dolphin cruise). This farm, at approximately 400 acres, is home to a number of exotic animals with most notably being the farm's namesake, GIRAFFES!!!

The Giraffe Ranch owners are avid travelers, having made over 30 trips to Africa to find animals that they believe would do well in the central Floridian climate. There were a lot more animals living happily that we didn't expect to see: camels, pygmy hippos, ring-tailed lemurs, zebras, warthogs and an impala.

Fun fact of the day: the oldest fossils of camels have been found in Wyoming! Scientists believe these desert-dwellers roamed north, crossed the Bering Strait, wandered through present-day Russia and parts of Asia, before finding the comforts of home in the arid regions of the Middle East.

Oh, and another fun fact (this one will be for tomorrow, as the fact above is for today!): when a zebra and donkey mate, the infertile offspring is one of two species - a donkra or a zedonk. The cute, little guy seen below is a donkra (where the stallion is a donkey and the mare is a zebra). Zedonks are created when the stallion is a zebra and the mare is a donkey. Do you feel smarter now? :)

The highlight of the excursion, though, was undoubtedly being able to hand feed the giraffes. We were given branches of live oak, and with their big, blue-black tongues, these long-necked creatures grabbed their food. It was amazing! Our guide also gave us leaves of cabbage, and Mindy had a giraffe eating out of the palms of her hands! :)

We also saw animals more commonly seen on the North American continent: cows, donkeys, turkeys, ostriches.

All in all, it was a fantastic experience! If you ever find yourself in the Tampa area, we highly recommend Giraffe Ranch.

Until our next adventure, take care!

Ligeia and Mindy :) :)

Happy Thanksgiving

2011-11-24T12:08:00.004-05:00

Mindy, Ligeia and Erick celebrated Thanksgiving today by first, sleeping. After some cleaning we all watched the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade.

The parade ended with Santa Claus:

After the parade Mindy set out to do some Thanksgiving cooking:

She made a VERY yummy feast including tofurkey with carrots and parsnips, mac and cheese, 3-bean salad (Ligeia made that one), mashed potatoes, popovers and a very delicious sweet potato pie for dessert.

The rest of the afternoon was spent watching movies: 1) Hereafter and 2) Hanna.

Happy Thanksgiving to everyone!

Ligeia and Mindy :):)

Go Leafs Go!

2011-11-23T12:44:00.005-05:00

Tuesday night, the Maple Leafs came to town to play the Tampa Bay Lightning. With Mindy being the Leafs fan that she is, it was set in stone months ago that there was going to be a trip to the hockey arena. She even ensured that her jersey was packed and brought to Dunedin.

The tickets we got were cheap when compared to the cost we're used to in Toronto, so we didn't hesitate to buy them. The seats weren't too shabby:

As you can see, Mindy is certainly enjoying herself!

The game started off with the Leafs playing poorly, making a number of bad mistakes. Amazingly enough, though, a random deflection gave the Leafs a 1-0 lead only 41 seconds into the game.

Tampa Bay's offense kicked it up to the next level, and peppered the Leaf goalie (Gustavsson) with shot after shot. Eventually, the inevitable happened, and the Lightning tied it up on the powerplay midway through the first period.

Despite continued poor passing, the Leafs managed to capitalize twice on their own powerplay, when Kubina was assessed a 4 minute double-minor penalty for high-sticking (from our seats way up high, we couldn't see the blood, which is the only way that type of penalty is given). The first period ended with the Leafs up 3-1.

The second period was well executed for both teams, with the Leafs tacking on one more goal. Heading into the 3rd and final period, the Leafs with a comfortable 4-1 lead, everyone expected the Lightning to pressure hard. And, for the first 5 minutes or so, that's exactly what happened. Gustavsson saved the day for the Leafs, making some unbelievable stops.

Perhaps that frustrated the Lightning skaters, because it seemed as though they then self-destructed. The Leafs potted another goal, and then another, and then one more for good measure.

The final score: the Leafs trounced the Lightning 7-1. Way to go, Leafs! Now, if you could make the playoffs this year, Mindy would be forever grateful!

Until next time,

Mindy & Ligeia :) :)

Mindy goes to Orlando!

2011-11-15T13:11:00.003-05:00

On Tuesday, Mindy went to visit a couple of friends, Heather & Tam with Benjamin (their 3-month old son), as they relaxed at their parents' vacation home in Orlando. Located within a golf and country club, the house and backyard were beautiful. The fact that it was part of a golf club, Heather and Mindy went to driving range to practice their swings.

This was only the second time Mindy had ever tried hitting golf balls (not including the fluorescent putters that mini-golf attendants give you), and she did quite well. With Heather's tips of planting your feet firmly and keeping your head down, Mindy managed to get 2 or 3 good drives. The others, well, they were more closely related to field-hockey passes, missed shots at billiards, or the baseball swing-and-miss (accompanied by the familiar "whiff" sound, that lets everyone on the driving range know that you screwed that shot up).

Here's Heather making a great chip shot:

And now, here's Mindy preparing for a long drive (or, at the very least, one that makes it past 10 feet!)

On the way there, Mindy stopped at a citrus grove and bought a 1/4 bushel of freshly-picked navel oranges and a pomelo (sort of a cross between a grapefruit and an orange, but they're huge!) These varieties are in season now, so they're really tasty. It definitely won't take us long to eat our way through them!

This weekend, Mindy is scheduled to umpire again. Perhaps we'll get some pictures of her in the new uniform.

We'll post again soon,

Ligeia & Mindy :) :)

Dolphin Cruise!

2011-11-14T12:45:00.004-05:00

Recently, we joined Groupon and have been waiting for a good deal to come up for an activity that we're interested in. It didn't take long, as this area is full of fun things to do (and it helps that the weather continues to cooperate for us!)

We decided to purchase a coupon to go on a 90-minute dolphin cruise in Madeira Beach, which is less than a 1/2 hour away from where we live. The weather was absolutely fantastic! The warm sunshine and blue skies made the calm waters of the Gulf of Mexico a bright aqua.

The tour started out quite promising with the boat captain spotting a lone dolphin swimming toward us immediately after we left the dock. We watched it pass by our boat, and as it came for air, we got this photo:

That was our only dolphin-sighting. For the remaining 88 minutes of our cruise, we learned of how all the canals were man-made, where a Venice-like residential community now exists. We saw the house where the opening scene of the movie Cocoon was filmed. We saw the 2nd largest veteran's hospital in the U.S. We saw numerous islands that are dedicated bird sanctuaries, and thus, we were able to catch glimpses of lots of different birds: herons, egrets, pelicans and osprey, just to name a few.

Despite the fact we only saw one dolphin on our trip, that wasn't our most disappointing part. Apparently, the company that offered this Groupon deal also arranges fishing tours. We understand that sport-fishing is an activity that many people enjoy. However, when the marketing campaign to attract customers refers to these tours as the "Grouper Slayer" or "Shark Hunter", we get disgusted. We got the sense that this particular company only cares about the bottom-line, and not the environment or the animals that are getting killed. Sharks are getting over-fished (take 90 minutes and watch the documentary, Sharkwater) and the ecosystem is on the verge of collapse.

Please, before you book your next dolphin tour, do your research and support eco-friendly companies. We'll do the same from now on, regardless of what we're booking.

Stay tuned for more!

Mindy & Ligeia :) :)

Brooker Creek Preserve

2011-11-13T18:53:00.004-05:00

Today Mindy and Ligeia took a short hike at the Brooker Creek Preserve (http://www.friendsofbrookercreekpreserve.org/).

It was a beautiful day and we were hoping to see wildlife. After a couple of hours of walking, the only wildlife we saw were 3 human hikers and a couple of birds. Just as we were leaving however, all at once we saw an alligator, several otters, a raccoon and this rather big bird:

If you look closely, you can spot the alligator to the left of the bird, with its hind quarters on the ground and it's head just peaking up out of the water.

Just in case you couldn't spot it, here is another picture that might help you.

We hope everyone is enjoying the fall season.

Lots of love,

Mindy and Ligeia :):)

We all Scream for Ice Cream

2011-11-11T22:00:00.005-05:00

One of the perks of living in our current apartment is that basic cable is included with the rent. What that means is that Mindy spends a considerable amount of time watching her favorite channel - the Food Network. While watching during her lunch break one day last week, she saw how easily home-made ice cream could be made. The best part of the recipe was that an ice cream maker wasn't required!

The recipe seen on television was for butter pecan, which happens to be Erick's favorite flavor. Using the same process, however, it wasn't difficult to improvise a recipe for mint chocolate chip (the preferred flavor for both Ligeia and Mindy).

So Mindy bought the required ice cream salt and using some basic household items (a big tupperware container, ice cubes and a ziploc bag), began an ice cream adventure!

Here's proof that the recipe was successful! There's still room for improvement, though, so before this particular recipe gets added to the list of favorites, Mindy will have to practice it a bit more. Hmmm... I wonder what flavors are up next :)

Hope everyone's doing well, and we'll write again soon!
Mindy & Ligeia :) :)

Field Trip to Big Cat Rescue

2011-11-07T20:47:00.005-05:00

Ligeia was lucky enough to be able to go with her students to the Big Cat Rescue, a sanctuary for tigers, lions and other "big cats" rescued from circuses and homes where people somehow thought it would be a good idea to have a baby tiger as a pet.

Here are some pics from the event.

And here is Ligeia with her students. They represent China, Taiwan, Saudi Arabia, Angola (what a treat - Ligeia had never even met any Angolans before this semester!), Vietnam and Venezuela.

Mindy and Ligeia went there several years ago in January 2008. You can even check our blog for pictures. :) If you are ever in the area, we highly recommend a tour, especially at feeding time in the evenings. Be sure to make a reservation! (www.bigcatrescue.org)

Lots of love,

Ligeia and Mindy :):)

Ofrenda

2011-11-01T22:00:00.001-05:00

Mindy and Ligeia have started a Grandma ofrenda each year for the Mexican holiday Day of the Dead. This year Erick joined in too and we all made food for our respective grandparents. We ate each food item and talked or heard a bit about that person and memories. It was a really moving evening and we hope our grandparents liked the offering in their honor.

Here is our spread:

Lots of love to everyone,

Mindy and Ligeia :):)

Happy Halloween

2011-10-31T17:35:00.003-05:00

Ligeia enjoyed wearing this scary mask today and scaring her students by jumping out at them when they got off the elevator. She gave them a home-made cookie afterward though for good measure.

Later, she posed with several of her colleagues and students for a group Halloween picture.

Happy Halloween everyone!

Ligeia and Mindy :):)

Citizenship Ceremony

2011-10-27T23:00:00.004-05:00

Ligeia flew up to Toronto Wednesday evening to appear at her citizenship ceremony by 8:15am on Thursday. The ceremony had several steps to it. Checking in...

Saying the citizenship oath (also in French which Ligeia was not expecting), singing the National Anthem and receiving her certificate (and a small Canadian flag).

Here Ligeia is with the judge.

And here she is again with an even higher power!

This now means that the restriction of having to live within Canada a certain number of years in a 5 year period no longer applies. We never thought that getting Canadian citizenship would make us feel so free...free to travel the world without the fear of losing status!

After the ceremony, Ligeia's friends Heart (who took off of work and got up early nonetheless and actually arrived at the ceremony before Ligeia AND is the one to take all these pictures) and Rain (who generously gave Ligeia a place to stay and treated everyone to lunch) celebrated with Ligeia at a sushi place just around the corner from the immigration office.

Just after lunch, Ligeia found herself back on the subway to the airport to fly home. Being greeted by both Mindy and Erick at the airport in Tampa was the perfect way to end this momentous journey.

Lots of love,

Mindy and Ligeia :):)

Coopie's Concert

2011-10-21T22:00:00.003-05:00

Ligeia's friend from college, Jennifer Cooper, happened to come to St. Petersburg, Florida to perform a program called Sentimental Journey, which tells the story of her grandfather and grandmother during World War 2.

The performance alternates back and forth between a narration of actual letters sent to and from her grandmother and grandfather while he was in the war and period songs that highlight the text. Here she is in front of photographs of her grandparents:

It was masterfully done and it was so great to see Coopie again and it was so wonderful to watch her have fun on stage:

A sentimental journey indeed!

Congratulations Coopie!

Ligeia and Mindy :):)

Clearwater Sunrise

2011-10-15T19:46:00.006-05:00

Ligeia gets up before the sun does and always gets to the causeway at just about the time the sun wakes up. She often pulls over to the beach area and watches the sun paint the sky with gorgeous colors and stretch it's rays over the water. It's not a bad place to have breakfast either.

Birds are always there and the water is teaming with fish jumping out of the water. Ligeia also watches the birds wake up too. Here's one still staying all warm and cuddly in bed...

...and here it is ready for the day:

And here is a pictorial account of the happening:

And here is the area of the sky directly opposite of the sunrise. Look how amazing it is! Have you ever seen anything like that?!

A new session starts on Tuesday at work which means 5 new classes to teach. Ligeia's spending the weekend preparing.

Here's to enjoying every beautiful moment you find!
Love,
Ligeia and Mindy :):)

Flugtag Tampa Bay

2011-10-08T18:01:00.006-05:00

Ligeia and Erick went to Flugtag today to watch the festivities.

Each team had time to show off their aircraft before diving into Tampa Bay. Here is a roller derby team:

Here was the winning aircraft, traveling the furthest in the water and having the nicest craft:

Ligeia really liked the Florida aquarium's aircraft because it was shaped like a shark. Here she is posing with the pilot:

But in the end, the shark plane flew right into the water, along with the rest of the creations that day:

Breast cancer awareness made its way into the contest by creating a huge pink bra:

And Ligeia found some old German friends from her Berlin days (Unfortunately, they couldn't speak German accept to say "Auf Wiedersehen"):

Overall, it was a day of crazy fun!

Hope everyone is enjoying the Fall,
Ligeia and Mindy :):)

Ligeia's Drive To Work

2011-10-01T09:50:00.006-05:00

Ligeia got a job teaching at a language program at the University of Tampa. Unfortunately, this means a 40 minute commute to work. Thankfully, there are some nice parts of the drive that get her through it each day. Her favorite part of the journey is the Causeway connecting Clearwater to Tampa, which takes about 12 minutes to get across. Here are some of the shots along the route:

When the palm trees stop, the water becomes more shallow and this is where she often sees large birds. Unfortunately, she couldn't any shots of them, but this is the area where they like to hang out:

After the bridge, she drives right by the airport, traveling right under the flight path, where she often sees planes landing. Once she saw an Air Canada flight arriving and thought of all the people she met in Canada.

One day she witnessed Southwest Airlines' Lone Star One plane land. (There is only ONE of these specially painted planes in the entire fleet!) Here is what the plane looks like:

After watching for planes, Ligeia passes the Shriner's Hospital where she is happy to see both the US-American and the Canadian flag together:

The next note-worthy landmark Ligeia passes is the Fox 13 channel, which reminds her that Judge Judy will be waiting for her when she returns from work:

Shortly thereafter Ligeia arrives on the very beautiful University of Tampa campus:

Hope everyone is enjoying the Fall.
Ligeia and Mindy :):)

Fifth Wedding Anniversary!!!!!

2011-09-16T14:05:00.007-05:00

Niagara Falls holds a very special place in our hearts. In 2005, it's where we proposed to each other. In 2006, it's where we got married. And every year since then, it's been where we return to renew our wedding vows. That is, until this year. Now that we're living in Florida, a trip to the former Honeymoon Capital of the World isn't simply a 90-minute drive along the QEW any more.

So, we did some research and discovered a beautiful place, worthy for our vow renewal. We decided to go to Honeymoon Island State Park, one of the country's best beaches. It's certainly easy to see why:

Much like our bench in the Botanical Gardens of Niagara Falls, we found a nice, sitting place where we could enjoy the natural beauty around us while renewing our vows. With the summer heat still too much for Mindy, we made sure to take breaks to wade through the cool water between each vow discussion.

With our vows renewed, we enjoyed the beach. We love seeing animals wherever we go, and the location did not disappoint! We saw, in no particular order: a pod of dolphins swim right by the shore, but their brief surfacing was too quick for our camera; lots of pelicans fishing; pencil fish and other fishes no bigger than a dime; mollusks - one HUGE one and one in a beautiful, orange shell:

...crabby things:

...and osprey:

To end our day at the beach, and to continue a tradition Mindy started with her proposal in 2005, we walked to the middle of a bridge (it's not the Rainbow Bridge overlooking the Niagara River just downstream from the Falls, but it was perfect nonetheless!), and with 2011 pennies from our respective countries, we made a wish and threw our coins into the water below. Here's a picture of us just after making our wish:

For dinner on our special day, Mindy made homemade spinach fettucine noodles with an onion-alfredo sauce. Toasting our anniversary with a glass of sparkling apple cider was nothing less than perfect.

Overall, our fifth wedding anniversary was wonderful and memorable. We felt we held true to our tradition, and we wonder where in the world our future vow renewals will take place...

We hope everyone's enjoying the final days of summer and we'll post again soon with our adventures of Florida!

Love,
Ligeia and Mindy :) :)

Settling In

2011-09-12T11:15:00.009-05:00

Mindy and Ligeia have been slowly getting used to their new apartment and area. This is what the front of our apartment looks like. Some of you will recognize the familiar mat from Mindy's 30th birthday:

This is our kitchen with one of those newer stoves which we're still getting used to. Mindy has already made some really yummy meals here:

This is where we spend much of time...in the Florida room (a screened in porch). It's also where Erick's pets Cheech and Chong live. They are two Chinese water dragons and have been featured on our blog before:

Yesterday we went to a local flea market where they have all kinds of stuff. We particularly enjoyed looking at, learning about and tasting new produce. This, for example, is a cactus fruit. It tastes really yummy:

Just behind our building is a little pond where we've seen a huge bird of some sort with its wings spread eagle trying to dry itself off, a turtle swimming and lots of froggies, especially after it rains.
It's easy to just walk right by without noticing.

But if you look more closely, you can see neat things like the prettiest little frog:

There are little lizards such as this one all over. You can't walk down the street without seeing them run across the sidewalk in front of you or in a nearby bush:

With each day, we learn something new about the area and it's starting to feel like home.
Lots of love,
Ligeia and Mindy :):)

The long drive to Florida

2011-09-07T09:14:00.010-05:00

Mindy and Ligeia rented a U-Haul and tow dolly to drive their belongings down to Dunedin, Florida where an apartment they had chosen only a couple weeks before, was waiting for them.

Driving the U-Haul towing our car behind took some getting used to. There were some stressful moments like going over a high narrow bridge from Canada to the States and finding that there was construction on the bridge so we suddenly had to shift to the other side in a very narrow throughway and negotiating our large vehicle on and off a ferry between New York state and Vermont. If you look closely you can see how excited Mindy was when she discovered that our GPS showed a little boat as we crossed the water.

It was only 12 minutes but it was a very nice break in the trip:

Driving through northern Vermont, we saw that many exits had been closed due to flooding and many bridges were washed out. Pictures like this were all too common:

Our first stop was at Ligeia's parents house in Vermont but when driving there we discovered there were little orange cones across the way indicating that the road was closed. Not knowing just how bad the road damage might be and having no way of contacting Ligeia's Mom and Dad and certainly not knowing how to get there without going on the road, we decided to go around the cones and take our chances on the road. This was a huge risk given that we couldn't turn around in this huge thing and were advised at the rental place not to back up.
We came across to Vermonters who insisted that the road was completely washed out up a little ways. When we told them where we needed to go, one of the men asked Ligeia (who was driving at the time) if she was a good driver. This got us a bit nervous wondering just what the plan was. The other man was kind enough to lead us through a serious of back private roads that were muddy, slippery and partly washed out in sections. We were white-knuckled the whole way. At one point a car was coming the other way! To this day, we are still amazed that we got through that and made it to my parents house, which was a very nice visit.
Doesn't this picture just say "retirement"?:

They have a really nice property filled with gardens and apple trees.

Ligeia's Mom wasted no time in getting the garden going. Here she showing off her wares (and sporting the farming hat we brought back for her from China):

The camera got packed up for the rest of our trip so unfortunately that's the end of the pics. However, our next stop took us to Hartford, CT to visit Ligeia's Aunt Dorothy and her friend Beth. A major section of I91 was shut down and all vehicles had to exit and take a detour through small roads to get back on. We were nervous about some of those turns but we saw the big trucks doing it so we knew we could do it too.

After an overnight in Connecticut, we drove to Baltimore where we stayed at our friend Wendys and had dinner with Chris at the Helmand, one of Ligeia's favorite restaurants in the world. It's Afghan food and it's absolutely delicious!

Then came our loooooong travel day from Baltimore to Dunedin, Florida. Took us just under 17 hrs. Thanks to Wendy who generously loaded us up with food for the entire day, we never had to stop except to fill up on gas.

We arrived at our new apartment on Friday at 7pm and unpacked the truck. We were all too happy to turn that U-Haul truck back in and drive around again in our little Tercel.

We're getting settled in and learning our way around. We'll have pics of the apartment soon.

Lots of love to everyone,
Ligeia and Mindy :):)

The Past Few Weeks

2011-08-27T10:26:00.005-05:00

Mostly our past few weeks have been filled with packing, organizing and doing errands, but we've managed to do some fun things too:

We spent some time with Mindy's dad, brother, and stepmom at the Beaches:

We enjoyed getting to know 2 little kittens at Nathalie and Vic's house:

Here's Mindy making a connection:

And we made it out to the Buskerfest where we saw this guy...

...and Ligeia posed as Foo the clown drew her:

We're heading to Dunedin, making several visits to family and friends along the way. Stay tuned!

Love,
Ligeia and Mindy :):)

Samagam with Harpreet

2011-07-30T15:26:00.005-05:00

Once we got the news that Harpreet, Ligeia's brother, was coming to town for a Samagam, a Sikh event, we went right to the map to figure out where Caledon is. Turns out it's just north of Brampton. We didn't know what to expect since we had never been to any kind of Sikh event. We also didn't know how we as outsiders would be treated. We were first greeted by these lovely children pictured above, who helped us find a good spot for our shoes.

We walked inside barefoot in search of scarves to cover our heads. Several people greeted us nicely and welcomed us to the event. The man I spoke with on the phone hugged me as if we had known each other for years. This continued all night - hugs from strangers as if they were family. So many people came to us during the evening and asked if we were doing ok and if we needed anything to not hesitate to ask.

After receiving the scarves, which were like a handkerchief, we went inside the prayer hall where we found Harpreet. Everyone sat on the floor facing in the same direction and at the front there were some musicians playing. Ligeia's favorite was the tabla. Someone was also chanting and the worshipers would repeat it. The music seemed to getting faster and faster and louder and louder until it was kind of a frenzy almost. At that point all music stopped and there was about 15 minutes of silence. During the entire event, people came up to the front to bow in front of a holy scripture that was being guarded by a man with a feather, who would wave it over the book every once in awhile to keep the dust off it. Wish this man could come to our apartment!

I really liked this way of worship and would like to learn more about it.

After worship we and Harpreet took a walk on the grounds, which were really lovely and a great place to have a spiritual event.
Here's Ligeia and Harpreet:

No religious event is complete without food! In this case, it was yummy Indian food which included the best mangoes we've ever had!

Here's Harpreet and Mindy just after eating a great meal!

It was great to see Harpreet and learn a little about Sikhism. Never have we been so welcomed by any community the way we were by the Sikhs at Samagam Toronto!

Here's to learning new things,
Ligeia and Mindy :):)

High Park with Heart

2011-07-24T16:56:00.005-05:00

Ligeia and Heart went to High Park on Sunday to scratch another item off the list and to enjoy nature as well as each others' company. It was so nice to see such rich greenness everywhere like in the picture above.
As well, Heart introduced Ligeia to the "Silver Trees":

One of Ligeia's favorite parts to High Park is the mini zoo. The animals did not disappoint and we saw plenty of them. There were some of her favorites:

We think the expression on this goat's face captures how most people have been feeling about the heatwave:

Hope all are enjoying the summer.

Love,
Ligeia and Mindy :):)

Ligeia Swims In Lake Ontario

2011-07-21T17:32:00.003-05:00

Third on our Toronto bucket list was swimming in Lake Ontario, which Ligeia did this morning. We forgot our camera however so you'll have to use your imagination a bit. The picture above is of the same place we went this morning but in May of 2010. No one was there in May and no one was there this morning either. It would seem we found our own private place.

The lake was not as calm this morning and instead had waves that were mild for the ocean but strong for a Great Lake. The water was so refreshing which was perfect given that today reached a high of 97 degrees F (36C). The waves were strong enough to knock Ligeia's bikini bottoms almost completely off so she decided that it was meant to be and just took off the whole thing. That's right, she swam naked in Lake Ontario. It was both liberating and refreshing.

Hope others have found a way to stay cool.

Ligeia and Mindy :):)

Ligeia Visits the ROM

2011-07-20T15:31:00.013-05:00

Second on our Toronto bucket list is going to the Royal Ontario Museum. This was namely Ligeia's addition to the list as Mindy does not really enjoy museums. Discovering that on Tuesdays post-secondary students get in free, Ligeia decided to go this past Tuesday.

There are many sections of the museum and really something for everyone. Ligeia enjoyed walking through the dinosaur exhibit as well as the natural history section.

This was her favorite scene in the natural history section:

The section that she enjoyed the most, however, was the wing dedicated to the First Peoples where she took a guided tour of the exhibit lasting about an hour. Ligeia learned about how canoes were made...

...and the Iroquois' story of creation. Here is a statue depicting this story:

Here is the Cliff notes (Coles notes for the Canadians) of this story:

Generations ago, Haudenosaunee legend tells us, that Sky Woman fell through a hole in the Sky World and tumbled downward toward the earth that was covered in water. As she fell, the birds came up to hold her and bring her gently to the earth. As she and the birds fell downward, the Great Sea Turtle rose from the seas and spread his legs outward. The animals came up from the ocean bringing mud from the ocean floor, placing it on the Great Sea Turtle. By the time Sky Woman landed on the Great Turtle's back, an island had formed...Turtle Island. From that island came North America and the world of the First Peoples of this land.

Ligeia also learned that Toronto does not mean "meeting place" as it is popularly known among Torontonians; instead, Toronto carries the meaning "place to fish" according to our guide at the museum or "place where trees are in the water" according to Wikipedia. Either way, what is truly amazing is that there is evidence that humans have been living in what is now known as Toronto for 11,000 years. WOW! So much for N. America have a "short history".

One of the things Ligeia liked about the museum was the building itself, which ranked 8th out of the top 10 ugliest buildings in the world. While inside, however, you avoid the eyesore altogether. In fact, parts of the inside are gorgeous like this mosaic ceiling:

If you haven't been to the ROM yet or in awhile, Ligeia recommends trying it out, especially if you have a student card. They are getting a Maya exhibit there in November from parts of Mexico and Guatemala.

Love,
Ligeia and Mindy :):)

Sleeping on the Balcony

2011-07-19T17:38:00.005-05:00

First on our Toronto bucket list was to sleep on our balcony. It has been warm at night for the past several nights and we had been sleeping outside (and on the ground) during our canoe trip so this seemed like the perfect time to try it. Sleeping on the balcony involved several steps:

First, blow up the air mattress:

Second, carry it out to the balcony:

Then, test it to see if it's firm:

Finally, put some sheets and pillows on it and get in bed. (Notice the small alarm clock we brought out too so we could wake up in time.)

How was our experience? Well, the air mattress slowly lost air so we awoke to softer support than we went to bed with. But we also really enjoyed the view of the city including the lit up CN Tower. We were really surprised at how quiet it was, especially for a Saturday night right downtown - no sirens, no loud arguments, no honking. Ligeia's favorite part of the night was waking up in the middle of the night to the full moon staring down at us.

Would we do it again? Yes, absolutely. We even commented on how nice it would be on really hot nights.

So if you have a balcony or a patio or even a backyard, why not change it up a bit and sleep out there to see what it's like?

Love,
Ligeia and Mindy :):)

Our Toronto Bucket List

2011-07-18T16:17:00.008-05:00

Hello everyone,

As many of you know Mindy and Ligeia are planning to move away from the Toronto area. We're not sure if it will be way up north or down south but we need to vacate our apartment on or before September 1st. We've decided to make a bucket list of the things we'd like to do before leaving the Toronto area. The list can include things that we really enjoyed and would like to do again before going or things that we never got around to doing that we had wanted to. At any rate, here is our current list in no particular order:

1) ~~sleep on our balcony~~
2) ~~go to the Royal Ontario Museum (ROM)~~
3) ~~swim in Lake Ontario~~
4) go to Airport Road and watch the planes land
5) ~~go to High Park~~
6) go see the sunset (or sunrise) at Leslie Street Spit
7) go to Marilyn Bell park
8) go to Cheltenham Badlands

If you have any ideas or suggestions to add to this list, please post them in the comment section. To avoid having to sign up for a Google account, just click on anonymous and leave it that way. We are open to all recommendations!

Hope everyone is enjoying the summer,
Ligeia and Mindy :):)

Just Saying...

2011-07-17T14:14:00.001-05:00

Love,
Ligeia and Mindy :):)

Boundary Waters Canoe Trip

2011-07-13T15:44:00.018-05:00

Ligeia and Mindy flew to St. Paul, Minnesota as a jumping off point to a 4-day canoe trip with our Aunt Elizabeth and two friends, Ann and Sarah, both of whom we met for the first time an evening before the beginning of our canoe adventure. We packed things up and had a nice dinner together.

The next morning we drove north to a place called Duluth where we picked up the second canoe. The next stop was at a bar where it had been arranged we would pick up our permit for entry into the Boundary Waters Canoe Area. While waiting there a man at the bar looked at us and said, "Just you ladies? You're going in alone?" Given that there were 5 of us, the word "alone" hardly seemed appropriate and clearly this guy didn't know us or he wouldn't have referred to us as "ladies". This became an on-going joke for the rest of the trip.

Upon our arrival at the put-in point at Lake Isabella we realized that EB's pack never got loaded, meaning that she had no tent, sleeping bag and other important camping items. We all pitched in though and figured out how to provide EB with everything she needed. Besides, it meant we had one less bag to carry on our portages. :)

After a 71 rod portage (1 rod = the length of a canoe) and a short ride, we located a camp site where we stayed for two nights. Mindy enjoyed hanging the food bag in a tree to avoid bears from getting to it. Our first meal was home-made pesto from EB's garden and quinoa and corn pasta.

Our first full day was one of lots of canoeing, which included approximately 12 portages round trip. Our destination was to see a pictograph on the side of a rock face. A highlight of this day included being gobsmacked watching Sarah pick up the heavier canoe like it was a box of cotton balls onto her shoulders and portage it away. We other "ladies" needed at least one other person to hoist the canoe up.

We enjoyed a wonderful lunch, which had been provided by Sarah, on a small island. Upon our arrival we saw this turtle basking in the sun:

Here we are about to eat (Ann, EB, Mindy and Sarah):

We enjoyed wonderful scenery that day, like in the shot below:

Here's Mindy deciphering the pictograph:

The next day was very windy when we crossed Lake Isabella in the opposite direction, having the destination in mind of a canal in what looked to be a canyon on the map. The wind was so strong, which created sea-like waves and caused Mindy to feel sick. The addition of dark clouds, heavy with rain and sore muscles made the decision to change our canoe plan for that day rather easy. We explored boggy parts of the lake instead and spent the rest of the afternoon swimming in front of the campsite and enjoying the refreshing water.

Because our tent was big enough to hold all five of us, it became known as the "party tent". That night we all piled into the tent and enjoyed each others company playing words games and talking. (Mindy, Ann, EB and Sarah)

The following morning we broke camp and loaded everything up in search of a new campsite. Having slept on the ground for 2 nights in a row, Mindy decided to soften our "bed" a bit by creating a floor of soft pine boughs:

EB, Sarah and Ann set off for a canoe ride and came back having found an even better campsite. Not wanting to lose the comfortable soft floor addition to the tent, we all packed up the boughs and wrapped them in the tent, bringing the whole thing. Here's Mindy proud that she successfully climbed over all the stuff in the canoe to her seat in the stern: (Perhaps you can see the tent up front with pieces of pine tree poking through.)

The new campsite has a nice rock with a really beautiful look-out:

Here's Mindy in the kitchen making us all a wonderfully delicious meal:

The final morning we awoke early and broke camp. We were all amazed at a) how quickly we accomplished this and b) the good timing of it starting to rain only after we packed up and loaded everything into the canoes. The rain gradually became harder and harder and this was it at its peak:

Everything we owned had become soaking wet but again this was good timing since it was at the end of our trip.

Animals we saw:
Turtles - mostly found on rocks taking in the sun
Chipmunks - who came around at meal times
Bald eagles - we learned that it takes about 5 years for the white head to appear. Here is a juvenile:

Beavers - one slapped the water with its tail right in front of Ann and Ligeia
Mergansers - that we nicknamed "80's rock star" or "mullet head"

Loons - we heard them at night and saw them during the day
EB like a bear - the second morning the rope holding the food bag got stuck so EB turned into a climbing bear before our eyes:

Things we Learned:
1) the cross bow draw stroke
2) how to hang food - it's not as easy as you might think
3) a variety of portaging techniques
4) horse tail clouds mean rain in the next 24 hours
5) perfecting the technique of squatting over a Biffy (toilet) while simultaneously swatting mosquitoes
6) jeans feel really yucky against your skin when they are soaking wet
7) how to recognize a white pine (thanks Ann)
8) Minnesotans put the stress on the first syllable of the word "portage" making it sound like "por-tige"

Mindy and Ligeia spent an additional two days relaxing with EB at her home in St. Paul. Ligeia became particularly enamored with a family of bald eagles who had been unofficially adopted by the neighborhood. Two adults had built a huge nest on the top of a white pine and two babies were hatched at the end of March. The kids are now the size of the parents which means they will be leaving the nest any day now. Ligeia really enjoyed watching the activity in and around the nest, especially when the juveniles practiced flying, sometimes going from branch to branch and other times impressively hovering over the nest. Here are some pics of the family:

All in all we had a terrific time visiting the lovely state of Minnesota. We hope everyone is enjoying the summer in their own way.

Love,
Ligeia and Mindy :):)

Happy Pride - Trans March

2011-07-02T11:32:00.005-05:00

On the final weekend of Toronto Pride for 2011, we attended the Trans March on Friday evening. In its 3rd year, the march has grown wonderfully, with the main slogan remaining "Trans Rights are Human Rights". It's a fantastic feeling to see a group, sadly so ostracized in our society, cheering and expressing their pride. We were thrilled to witness it again.

For those that weren't lucky enough to attend (e.g. Rob Ford - more to come about that below), here are some great pictures of the event, and not to mention, some fantastically creative signs:

Now, as some of you already know, this year's Pride events have been marred in the controversy surrounding Toronto's mayor, Rob Ford. Despite his homophobic, racist and elitist outlook on life, the mega-city of Toronto voted him into office last Fall. Unsurprisingly, he exclaimed recently that he would not be attending any Pride events. It's unfortunate that he can't put aside his personal beliefs for one day to participate in an event that brings about 1 million visitors to the city (hello tourism dollars!) and is undoubtedly one of the biggest pride festivals in the world. Let's see if he changes his tune by the time World Pride comes to Toronto in 2014...

Here's a fabulous t-shirt that echos the thoughts of many Pride Week participants:

For the silver lining, however, I suppose it's a relief that the public at large is guaranteed not to see Rob Ford in a speedo this Pride long weekend :) But, just for fun, here's what that may look like (viewer discretion is advised):

Happy Pride everyone!
Mindy & Ligeia :) :)

Congratulations Mindy!!!!!!

2011-06-26T14:11:00.004-05:00

This weekend Mindy was observed and evaluated on the field and she passed with flying colors! As of now she has been granted LEVEL 3 umpire status. Ligeia is very proud of her and I'm sure you are too.

Please join me in congratulating Mindy on her success by posting a comment for her.

Hope everyone is enjoying the summer,
Ligeia and Mindy :):)

Impressions of Istanbul

2011-06-16T18:29:00.007-05:00

Our time in Istanbul was, like the rest of our trip, rather uncommon for us. Generally, when we travel, we like to go to non-touristy places; where just the locals go and we're the only tourist faces in the crowd (or better yet, if there is no crowd at all!)

Our first evening in the city foreshadowed our 4-day visit: lots of waiters and street vendors calling out in English, shoving menus in our faces, flirting and anything else to get our attention. By the end of our trip, it was safe to say we were sick and tired of getting "harassed" and it reiterated to us how we prefer not to travel. One thing that remained familiar from our days in Pamukkale was the food: we returned to the comfortable, tasty mecimec (lentil soup), ayran and apple tea.

For the first full day in Istanbul, we did what the majority of tourists do: visit the Blue Mosque (Sultanahment Camii).

Here is the inside:

Here is Ligeia and Mindy wearing hijabs to be able to enter during prayer time:

What was different with our visit, though, was that we spent a good 2 hours in the Islamic information center located inside the mosque. The man in the center was friendly and kind enough to sit with us for about 2 hours explaining the pillars of Islam and what it means to be a Muslim. It was definitely a highlight for us to have such a profound and informative conversation. Just the shocked look on the man's face when Ligeia posed the question as to whether there are any female imams, or if women ever sing the call to prayer. The answer was an obvious "no". The rest of the day was calm and relaxed for us: sitting the park of Topkapi Palace (we didn't have enough energy to walk through a packed museum); walked across the Galata Bridge over the Golden Horn (a section of the Marmara Sea that juts northward on the European side of the city); and enjoyed people-watching along a busy street in the Beyoglu district.

The remaining time we had in Istanbul included visits to a couple mosques (Beyazit and Suleymaniye, both of which were beautiful)...

...shopping in the loud, Grand Bazaar (Ligeia bought herself a beautiful, purple tunic and a pair of costume-like pants called shalvar)...

...wandering through the narrow aisles of the aromatic spice bazaar...

...and the aforementioned Cemberlitas Turkish bath (from our previous blog post). We also tried to talk with Turks about the election that took place during our Blue Mosque day. Most of the people we spoke to preferred the party that won 50% of the popular vote and will begin their 3rd consecutive term. For those that would have enjoyed an alternative party to form the government, we understood that their reasons were that the current leader is too conservative. Sounds quite similar to Canada, eh?

Overall, one word describes the city of Istanbul for us: chaotic. Traffic seems to move in a honking, tangled mess. Winding, cobblestone streets intersect at anything but right angles, making getting lost nothing short of impossible. The vast number of tourists is completely overwhelming. The cacophony of sound with mosques in each city district blasting their calls to prayer over loudspeakers mounted to the minarets. Basically, we're glad to have experienced the city, but we're looking forward to returning to Turkey and seeing the roads less traveled in the country.

Until next time,
Ligeia and Mindy :) :)

The Hamam Experience

2011-06-14T13:30:00.004-05:00

Ligeia and Mindy had been looking forward to a visit to a Turkish bath, or hamam, even before arriving to the country. We learned there are many to choose from, especially in Istanbul. We decided on Çemberlitaş Hamami because of its historical significance, having been first opened in 1584.

So in case you've ever wondered what an experience at a Turkish bath is like, here's a detailed description:

After choosing a "Traditional" from a variety of menu options ranging from various specialty massages such as the Indian head massage, to reflexology, we entered the area marked "women section". Inside was a strikingly beautiful marble fountain with rose petals inside and wooden benches around its edge:

Along the walls were nicely cushioned benches and tables where you could relax afterwards, perhaps with a drink. Some women, wrapped in green towels, were making use of this. Additionally, the walls were bedecked with a couple elaborately-framed mirrors.

A woman greeted us and handed us a small towel, a little red bag with black bikini bottoms in it and a body exfoliator packaged in little cardboard box bearing the name of the hamam. A little square yellow token with the word "traditional" was placed on top of the pile. We were told to go up a spiral staircase to the change area, put all of our things into a locker and come back down wearing the towel we were given. The towels were quite small but covered all the necessary parts, thin and of a white and red plaid design:

When we descended the stairs again wearing our bikini bottoms and towels, we were ushered to the doorway of the bath area. We opened a big, heavy wooden door and found ourselves in a decagon-shaped room all made of white marble. Conveniently placed around the edge were marble basins with gold taps and bronze bowls to pour water over yourself. On the outside of each basin was a place to sit for this purpose, making it difficult not to feel like a fair maiden bathing herself in a mountain stream somewhere in an exotic land far away. In the center of the room was where the action was. A large circular section of marble with topless women lying on their red and white towels in various positions dominated the room. Standing along the edge of this were three attendants wearing bikinis who were scrubbing, cleansing and massaging the women, each in her turn. The domed ceiling had circular skylights the size of softballs letting in bright beams of the midday sun.

We enjoyed laying on the warm marble for a while, the heat and humidity of the room opening our pores. When it was our turn, we made our way over to the attendants who gave specific instructions of "lıe down", "turn over" and "sit".

Water was poured over us first as we lay on our backs. Next came scrubbing and these women were neither gentle nor shy. If there were a fleck of dirt somewhere on us, they would have found it. After the scrubbing came the bubbles. We were all lathered up and then more scrubbing. We could feel the aches and pains of all the walking we had done slowly dissipate. The last phase was relocating a few feet away to a wash basin where our hair and body were washed and rinsed. We were then told to relax a little and when we were ready, we could go shower and rest in the first room we had entered with the marble fountain.

We left feeling smooth and smelling like coconut. Wrapped up in a bigger green towel, we relaxed in the fountain room with an apple tea and a lemonade. We reflected on how privileged we felt to be able to experience this together, as straight couples had to be separated. All in all, it was a fantastic experience and we left with two newly purchased towels and feeling rejuvenated.

Ligeia and Mindy :):)

Leavıng Lesbos

2011-06-11T10:47:00.003-05:00

Before settıng foot on Lesbos we had such hıgh expectatıons of the ısland ın partıcular the vıllage of Eresos, where ıt ıs belıeved the famous poet Sappho lıved. For those of you who don't know, Lesbos ıs consıdered Mecca by lesbıans worldwıde. Vısıtıng Eresos was to be nothıng short of walkıng through the gates of heaven. We would not have been surprısed at all ıf the streets were paved ın gold and there was a welcomıng commıttee to greet us just for showıng up. We also expected the bus from the port town of Mytılını to Eresos to be fılled wıth ınternatıonal lesbıans makıng theır pılgrımage.

The realıty was quıte dıfferent. For starters the bus was full of mostly older local women, some of whom made the sıgn of the cross every few mınutes, and an Orthodox prıest. Not only were we the only lesbıans travelıng, we also seemed to be the only tourısts. The vıllage of Eresos was the last stop ın a long serıes of them. We were let out not ın the mıdst of a parade of lesbıan welcome banners and shouts of "Hoorah"; ınstead, ın what looked lıke an abandoned parkıng lot surrounded by cracked cement.

As we walked towards the water and passed shop after shop all boarded up, we begaın to feel let down and wondered ıf we would stay more than a nıght. When we got to the waterfront we saw a few people scattered here and there but where were the droves of lesbıans? The vıllage appeared to be much smaller than we had let ıt become ın our mınds.

After fındıng a nıce room wıth a balcony overlookıng the water, we began to explore and get more settled. Lookıng back on our four days there, Eresos had worked on us slowly. The magıc and the beauty of the area was subtle yet very powerful: exchangıng a knowıng smıle wıth another lesbıan couple as we passed on the street, enjoyıng a sunset but beıng awestruck when the moon took over the sky and dıscoverıng the varıous moods of the Aegean.

Eresos can be descrıbed as a vıllage wıth ıncredıble femınıne energy. Thıs could be seen and felt by the moon, the sea and the many cats that call Lesbos home. (Everyone knows that all cats are female and all dogs are male. ;) The vıllage ıs also fılled wıth gates of varıous sızes and colors, yet there seemed to always be one of the doors left open.

Mıdway through our short vısıt, whıle eatıng dınner on the Aegean, we overheard a lıvely lesbıan exclaımıng, "It's so good to be back." Notıcıng our wıde grıns ın her dırectıon ın response, she opened a conversatıon wıth us by askıng ıf thıs was our fırst tıme to Lesbos. When she learned that ıt ındeed was, she began speakıng to us wıth the husky voıce of experıence. "It may be your fırst tıme here," she began, "but I guarantee ıt won't be your last." She contınued, "It's not just about the women. The women ıs the cherry on the cake and that's the cake." She poınted to the Aegean.

"Take ın everythıng", she advısed us, "It's ın everythıng...ın the food you eat, ın the water you drınk." She fınıshed wıth a decısıve "You wıll be back."

We don't know ıf our experıence would have been the same had we arrıved one month later durıng the heıght of the tourıst season, but we found the subtle ıntroductıon to Eresos perfect ın every way. A couple days later on the ferry back to Turkey as we watched the ısland of Lesbos become smaller and smaller and wıth tears ın our eyes, we realızed the woman at the restaurant was rıght. Lesbos was under our skın and we knew that we would ındeed be back.

Lıgeıa and Mındy :):)

Pious & Petrified

2011-06-08T02:17:00.002-05:00

Today we rented a car to drive around this section of the island. We headed north towards the old monastery of Ypsilou that was reportedly still in use. Even from the road, we spotted it easily high up on Mount Ordymnas. Our little white car struggled up the paved road to the small parking lot, and we walked the short distance to the entrance.

Not only was the monastery old (founded before 800 AD), but it seemed to be in the same condition, not having ever been renovated perhaps. We first noticed two things, one of which had several adorable kittens...

...and a very strong odor of sewage. There were also flies and other insects of various sizes everywhere. When we walked through the gate, we saw a monk in a black robe with black hair and a black beard sitting in a chair, and heard what seemed like a lively conversation we could later see included two plain-clothed men on the balcony above.

After playing with the cats a little, we made our way around the premises, trying to ignore the smell and the insects. The area was a courtyard outlined with a two-story walkway. In one corner on the second level there looked like what could be monks' quarters, with keys in each door. Just underneath this was a small room filled with books and a monk fully clad with monk garb and a laptop that seemed so out of place, who was overseeing the library. Upon closer inspection we saw that many of the books were very old, with old bindings some more intact than others. The oldest we leafed was stamped by the publisher in 1876 but we dared not handle the more fragile looking books.

Continuing around the square we saw beautiful rose bushes interspersed here and there...

...and came across a upward-pointing sign that read "Museum". Silently, the monk who had been sitting in a chair, rose, walked up the steps and unlocked the museum door. He sat in another chair in the corner of the museum as we looked at the many religious and historical artifacts. These included old documents from the 10th - 11th centuries, jeweled crosses, bishop and clergy clothing from the 12th - 15th centuries, chalices and much more.

Before leaving the monastery, we walked to the roof where the bells were and enjoyed the gorgeous view of the surrounding areas. The blue of the sea and the many shades of green and tan were spotted with patches of delicate yellow flowers or bolder pink ones.

Our car journey continued to the Petrified Forest Park, which was set on a gorgeous hillside with the same scenery as previously described. We must admit, the majority of what we learned about the petrified forest came afterwards from internet sources. While we hiked the hillside, observing the free-like structures that now had all the characteristics of colored stone...

...we had no idea these trees had been petrified approximately 20 million years earlier. Nor did we know that the vast majority of the forest still lay buried under a thick layer of volcanic rock beneath our feet, still millions of years away from seeing the light of day. Only a handful of stumps have been archaeologically excavated, and most likely, that is how it will remain.
Here we are being as petrified as the wood:

The science of a forest becomes petrified still baffles us, but the very simplified equation we can grasp is: lava + rain = petrification. We'll have to spend more time on Wikipedia to get a better understanding. But, for now, the experience of wandering through such an ancient natural wonder will tide us over.

Check in again soon for more tails of our adventures.

Ligeia and Mindy :):)

R & R in Lesbos

2011-06-07T02:21:00.001-05:00

We wanted a day of not traveling anywhere and instead just relaxing and taking it all in. Our day actually began the night before when we decided not to set the alarm which allowed us to sleep until 11am. It felt great and once we were awake we switched rooms to one upstairs with a nicer balcony and an even nicer view.

For lunch we had a delicious Greek salad again and Ligeia spent some time in the afternoon swimming in the sea.

There is a rocky bottom and every stone is gorgeous and full of a variety of colors. Geologists, we think, would love it here. Dinner was a felafel plate for Mindy, which she didn't care for, and a pasta with roasted garlic and Parmesan cheese for Ligeia at a place called Zorba the Buddha.

After dinner went exploring and found a small river with turtles and frogs in it.

We had lots of fun watching the turtles swim towards us thinking we had food...

and the frogs jump away from us thinking we might harm them.

It was a great opportunity for pictures. We picked up some ice cream on the way back to our room. Ligeia tried fig ice cream, something new for her and Mindy got strattiacella saying it was tried and true.

We spent much of the night watching the movie "The Score" starring Robert Dinero and Edward Norton. Before falling asleep we couldn't resist spending a little time on our balcony enjoying the moon. The night was clear and it was amazing how much light the crescent moon was giving off. It looked beautiful across the water. The sound of the evening was powerful and dream-inspiring.

Ligeia and Mindy :):)

Going to Eressos

2011-06-06T00:40:00.001-05:00

Is there a better way to wake up on a Monday morning than by the sound of waves gently crashing and a soft breeze from the Aegean Sea coming in through open balcony doors?

We don't think so. That is exactly how our day began. After a quick breakfast of instant oatmeal we brought with us from Toronto, we set out for our drive back to the capital of Mytilini to return our rental car. For the most part, the windy road followed the rocky coast, with bright pink flowers on the shoulder in deep contrast to the aqua color of the sea. It was breathtaking!

Along the way we came across this:

The tranquility of our morning came to an immediate halt as we entered Mytilini, clearly in the midst of the Monday morning hustle and bustle. The abundance of narrow, one-way cobblestone streets packed full of pedestrians, parked cars, mopeds and delivery trucks was slow-motion chaos. As the driver, Mindy's jobs were to ensure we didn't hit anybody or anything and that we went the right way down one-way streets. Ligeia, the navigator, set the course for us and kept us going in the general direction of the rental car office. Eventually, white-knuckled and sweaty, we successfully dropped off the car without any new scratches or dents, and with our bags pulled from the trunk and hauled onto our backs, we walked the short distance to the bus station.

We purchased tickets on the only bus that day to Skala Eresou, the birthplace of Sappho. The Greek poet's openness of her affection towards women has made this place a mecca for lesbians around the world and we were excited to make our pilgrimage there, but we had a couple hours to kill before the bus left. We decided to spend the time in a cafe overlooking the Mytilini harbor and the busy main street, enjoying a fresh Greek salad and a potato-cheese omelet.

With half an hour before our bus was scheduled to leave, we headed back to the terminal to ensure we had our seats and it wouldn't leave early without us. The bus, from the outside, looked like any other coach bus, albeit a little bit older. From the inside, the seats lacked enough cushioning and leg room, and the air conditioning didn't work. The bus was packed full of hot commuters trying to fan themselves so as not to overheat in the 30C summer (or, I guess it's still spring) heat. The 3 hour ride seemed to last an eternity! Mindy was especially glad to have arrived as the anti-nauseant medication had begun to lose its battle against the windy, mountain roads.

Upon arriving in Skala Eresou, we wandered the main drag of the village, and the streets behind, looking for a beautiful (and as inexpensive as possible) place to stay for the four nights we've planned here. We opted for the Hotel Surf, located right on the beach with balconies overlooking the calm south shore of the Aegean. It is fantastic.

We capped off our busy day with some dinner (Ligeia had an avocado and red bean salad in a tortilla bowl and Mindy had a red bean burger with home fries) and ice cream for dessert. It was the first time Mindy had ever tried pistachio and it was pretty good! Ligeia chose the bright pink strawberry and it was yummy as well.

We fell asleep to German television, and succumbed to a very deep night's sleep.

Stayed tuned for more Lesbian adventure!

Ligeia and Mindy :) :)

Melinda Beach

2011-06-05T15:29:00.005-05:00

For our first full day in Lesbos we decided to rent a car and drive to the southeastern part of the island to enjoy the beach and the olive trees, which we found nicely softened the landscape.

We arrived in the very small town of Melinda Beach in time for lunch and we found a restaurant right on the water...

...and had Greek salad and stuffed zucchini flowers.

Both were delicious but we were most impressed with the Greek salad. The ingredients were so fresh, especially the olives and the feta was the best we've ever had. We savored each bite.

We liked the location so much that when the waitress mentioned that they also had a couple rooms upstairs we decided to have a look. We were sold on the balcony with French doors and overlooking the Aegean Sea.

After lunch we made use of the car and went for a drive further up the mountain to get spectacular views. On the side of the road were beautiful pink flowers and with a blue sky and the blue sea as a backdrop... well it made for some beautiful pictures.

Upon our return we swim-suited up and went for a refreshing dip in the Aegean Sea...

...before heading back out again to go for a hike amidst olive trees. The path led us past a couple houses, beautiful trees and big billy goats.

Mindy was so proud of herself that she noticed and recognized wild oregano growing... and quite a lot of it. Surprisingly, a leaf of fresh oregano tastes overwhelmingly spicy!

For dinner we watched the sun go down and the color of the water change from blue to pink to yellow to dark blue as we ate tzatziki and zucchini fritters. We didn't care for the latter, finding them too greasy.

Snuggled in bed, we watched the movie Paper Man before falling asleep with the balcony doors open so we could listen to the beautiful Aegean Sea. All in all, it was a wonderful day.

Ligeia and Mindy :) :)

Travel Day to Lesbos

2011-06-04T03:56:00.002-05:00

After a sleepless night for Ligeia, we started out after breakfast for what we knew would be a long travel day. Beginning with waiting for the shuttle bus from Pamukkale to Denizli, about 35 minutes away, Ligeia had her work cut out for her fending off the relentless come-ons from a local "gentleman".

Upon at arriving at the Denizli bus station, we quickly made our to the bus office to get full tickets printed and to make a pit stop, before finding our seats 9 & 10 on the bus heading to Ayvalik. We were hoping to catch a ferry to Lesbos at 6pm and we were told the bus would take 6 hours. But the time seemed to go on forever and it was nearing 5pm when the bus finally pulled over to what looked like a gas station and restaurant. The bus attendant said "Ayvalik" and helped us get our larger backpack from the compartment below.

We had no idea where we were and no idea how to get to the ferry docks. Unlike Pamukkale and Izmir that are touristy, no one here spoke English. The clock was ticking. And to add some pressure, we really had to pee as we didn't dare go at any of the prior stops. We quickly drew a picture of a sailboat and said "Lesvos" to anyone who would listen. For a while no one seemed to know, but eventually a man said the words "minibus" and "taxi". So we waited not knowing when it would come, how long it would take, nor how much it would cost. It turns out the bus came within ten minutes, it was a ten minute ride and there was surprisingly no cost. We also apparently didn't need a taxi.

We found the ferry ticket office, and once inside, not only did we buy our round-trip tickets, but we also met a very nice man who generously offered us some of his wonderfully smelling strawberries and cherries. Tickets in hand we carefully stepped through traffic to the waterfront, got our exit stamps from Turkish customs and gave our tickets to a man on the boat. A few minutes later, we were on the top deck eating the tastiest fruit we've ever had heading to Lesbos. We had made it!

This was our view leaving Turkey:

And this was our view coming into the Mytilini harbor of Lesbos:

An hour and a half later, we went through Greek customs (our first international arrival via ship), making this Ligeia's 35th country visited and Mindy's 18th. Suddenly, all the Turkish words we finally were starting to feel comfortable with, were rendered useless. We scrambled to memorize a few Greek phrases, but what we found most difficult was the alphabet. It was all Greek to us! (Sorry, couldn't resist.)

We found a hotel and some yummy food. We also tried a Greek white wine, Retsina, that has flavorings of pine and finished off the evening with a delicious, gourmet mini-eclair.

Check in again soon for more Lesbos adventures!
Ligeia and Mindy :):)

Pamukkale!

2011-06-03T14:24:00.006-05:00

When we first brought home our travel guide for Turkey, one of the cover pictures looked like an iced over mountain with bright blue turquoise pools, layered along the slope. Thankfully, the inside cover gave a photo credit and the location of this pristine landscape: Pamukkale. We dare you to google it and not be inspired to visit!

We left the busy streets of Izmir on a coach bus, ready for the 3.5 hour ride. It was a nice bonus that the bus was equipped with seat-back televisions, wifi and an attendant serving snacks and drinks. We were careful not to drink too much as the fancy bus lacked a lavatory and we didn't trust we would be remembered if we took too long in a restroom during a stop.

We arrived in the early afternoon, checked into our hotel and went to the hotel's restaurant for lunch (felafel, by the way, from the only place we've found so far that knows what we mean!) By the time we made our way to the entrance to Pamukkale, it was mid-afternoon and the fee for a one-time entry was a bit too much for just a few hours. We wanted to make a full day of the park. Especially because the Greek ruins of Hierapolis is located at the top of Pamukkale's snow-like peak.

We awoke the next morning at 4 am, ate our plates of breakfast the hotel staff was kind enough to prepare for us the night before, and were out the door by 4:30 - a full hour before the sun was scheduled to rise. To our surprise, a stray dog greeted us with a wagging tail (likely more interested in our food bag than in us) and followed us up the path to the park entrance. We were told the day before that the park never closes and that we would be able to buy a ticket early in the morning. In actuality, our experience was quite different. The lights at the ticket booth were off and the shades were drawn. In our tired stupor, we didn't think to knock, but rather simply jumped the turnstile. We had full intentions of paying when we left but we weren't going to let a ticket get in the way of what could possibly be an amazing sunrise!

So there we were, hiking up a mountain in dark. What helped was the white rock (calcium from the spring water that hardens when exposed to air) reflected the dim moonlight just enough for us to ensure our footing. For the vast majority of the hike up, the calcified surface was draped with a slow-moving waterfall, flowing down from the peak's spring, at a wonderfully warm 35.6 degrees Celsius. All the while, our adopted stray dog staying nearby.

We passed by, and through, layers of travertine pools, but the darkness didn't reveal their stunning color.

It wasn't long before we reached the top and sat with our feet dangling in the warm waters of the spring.

The sky brightened, adding color to the ground around us: red poppies, orange marigolds, yellow daisies were beautiful in contrast to the bright, white stone.

The light of dawn also allowed us to be seen, and within minutes, a security guard on a dirt bike raced over to us and asked for us to present our "billets". Even without our French knowledge, we knew he was asking for our tickets. We tried to explain ourselves, and even offered to buy a ticket from him, but he directed us back down from the entrance gate whence we came. We took the path he pointed towards and walked back down the mountain, having only witnessed a couple minutes of morning sunshine. Two other security guards awaited us at the gate, and questioned us as to why we didn't have tickets. We explained that no one was there so early in the morning, and when the guard responded that the ticket attendant must have been sleeping we knew were safe. We went ahead and bought tickets, hoping not to have to validate them there and re-enter the park, 13 hours before sunset. We asked if we could go get something to eat and return later to use the ticket, and were delighted to receive a positive response. We took the opportunity to sleep until noon, relax a bit and eat lunch.

Hiking back up the hill for the second time proved difficult in a new way: we had to contend with throngs of other tourists. That was completely opposite to our morning experience of being the only ones up there. We quickly made our way to the top, and started walking north towards the ruins of the necropolis (cemetery) and thankfully away from almost all other tourists.

We saw countless tombs, a cathedral church, old aqua-ducts (we actually walked in one) and a wonderfully restored Greek theater.

The ruins were awesome; much better than what we expected. We passed a bit of time before sunset just relaxing in the warm pools. We started talking with a security guard, who wanted to practice his very limited English. When he asked Ligeia why she didn't have a boyfriend, his reaction to her simplified response of "no man for me" was to ask if she had a man allergy. Laughing Ligeia told the surprised man that she indeed had a man allergy. She's decided to use this explanation in the future.

Our stomachs rumbled as dusk approached. We staked out a fantastic point for our view of the sunset. Mother Nature didn't disappoint, with the pinks and oranges in the sky reflecting gorgeously in the aqua pools amidst the white, cotton-like mountainside.

Pamukkale actually means "cotton castle" in Turkish and it totally makes sense! Once our attention refocused on our surroundings after the sun dipped below the mountains on the horizon, we noticed a lightening storm building in the east, appearing to head our way. Mindy's fear of lightning and knowledge that the constant flow of water beneath her feat made for a perfect conductor of electricity meant she was literally running her way down the slippery slope.

Thankfully, death by a lightning strike on the hills of this cotton castle wasn't our fate. We instead enjoyed a dinner of a potato-filled crepe, an egg and tomato dish called melemen and drinks of apple tea and ayran. All in all, this was a fantastic day!

Stay tuned as our travels now take us to Lesbos!

Mindy and Ligeia :) :)

Arrived in Turkey

2011-06-03T13:29:00.003-05:00

The plane rıde from New York Cıty to Istanbul was ten hours long and ıncluded four bad movıes, each worse than the last. After gettıng our vısas (costıng $20 for Lıgeıa and a whoppıng $60 for Mındy - for some reason Canada was by far the most expensıve) and goıng through customs, we found Pegasus Aır and bought one way tıckets to Izmır, a 45 mınute flıght. Exhausted and armed wıth only a few words of Turkısh we had to make our way to our hotel. The reasonably prıced (10 TRY each) bus to the cıty center revealed palm trees and rollıng hılls along the seasıde. Upon arrıvıng ın downtown Izmır, we set out wıth a lımıted map ın search of the Olımpıyat Otel. Perhaps the most challenging aspect to thıs was the four-dıgıt street names so we found ourselves lookıng for the ıntersectıon at 1362 and 1624 streets for example. There dıdn't seem to be a pattern to these street names. Also, sımılar to Eastern Europe, the street sıgns were posted on the buıldıngs themselves and not a sıgn post lıke we've grown accustomed to ın North Amerıca.

After checkıng ınto our hotel, the fırst order of busıness was to get somethıng to eat. We were so hungry havıng eaten nothıng sınce earlıer that mornıng. Havıng lıved ın Berlın wıth many Turkısh neıghborhoods all fılled wıth felafel shops, we knew exactly what we wanted for lunch. The only trouble was fındıng ıt. The man who worked at the hotel had never heard of ıt and the several restaurant employees we spoke to were baffled even after pronouncıng "felafel" ın a varıety of ways. We ended up eatıng a very delıcıous cheese and tomato sandwıch (Lıgeıa got hers wıth a hot pepper as well). At the hotel we looked up pıctures of falafel and ıts translatıon ın Turkısh, whıch turns out to be Nohut Köftesı. The translatıon however dıdn't help. Thıs dısh was very foreıgn to everyone we spoke to. The one man who knew of falafel saıd he had never heard of ıt untıl he got ınto the tourıst ındustry. Lıke most tourısts who come here I'm sure, we were/are shocked, amazed and happy to have learned somethıng.

Forcıng ourselves to stay awake, we walked to the waterfront, whıch was very beautıful.

Along the way we notıced several polıtıcal banners and posters hangıng from wıres or strıng coverıng the streets or plastered on buıldıngs or poles respectıvely. We worked out that there ıs a natıonal electıon on June 12 but we're not exactly sure for what posıtıon(s) they are votıng. More on thıs as we learn about ıt.

Lıgeıa was very pleased to fınd ayran (a salty Turkısh yogurt drınk that she was very fond of ın Berlın) on a local cafe menu.

Mındy took thıs opportunıty to try Turkısh coffee.

We both left satısfıed and Lıgeıa decıded that she would have ayran every day on thıs trıp.

Whıle walkıng back to the hotel agaın we notıced people eatıng small, green balls from a thın plastıc bag. We could only guess at what ıt was untıl we saw a cart full of them and decıded to buy a half-kılo. The young boy sprınkled them wıth some water and then added salt. It turned out they were green plums that dıdn't seem to have rıpened yet. Some were tarter than others, but all were too tart for Mındy, so Lıgeıa got to fınısh the bag at 2am when we awoke starved.

It turns out that our hotel was rıght across the street from a mosque (camii ın Turkısh) so to our delıght we heard the call to prayer both as we fell asleep and as we woke up. We lıke the sound and fınd ıt soothes us. We look forward to ıt every day now.

After a breakfast of cucumbers, cherry tomatoes, olıves, bread, cheeses and a hard-boıled egg, we headed to the bus statıon to catch a bus to Pamukkale. More on that soon!

Lıgeıa and Mındy :) :)

New Jersey & New York!

2011-06-02T02:44:00.002-05:00

The last weekend in May, the Memorial Day long weekend in the States, we spent in both New Jersey and New York.

Along with many other family members, Mindy and Ligeia arrived in New Jersey on Friday to celebrate the Bar Mitzvah of Michael, one of Mindy's cousins. This was the first time Ligeia experienced a Sabbath ceremony in a synagogue, let alone a Bar Mitzvah celebration. A highlight for us, as well as for Michael and family we're sure, was when the whole congregation sang "Mazel Tov!" It was such a wonderfully moving song, full of clapping and tears of joy.

Here is Mindy and Ligeia at the party afterwards:

Of course, to accompany each aspect of the Bar Mitzvah party was food, food and more food. Not once were we allowed to go hungry! We were even given doggie bags to keep us fed after we crossed the Hudson River and entered New York City.

The next two nights we spent right in the middle of Manhattan, steps from Broadway to the south and Central Park to the north.

On Memorial Day Monday, we walked all the way south to Battery Park (about 3.5 miles!) and enjoyed the beautiful sunshine and views of the Statue of Liberty.

On our way, we stopped for some New York style pizza...

...enjoyed the simple activity of people-watching and walked around the soon-to-be-completed 9/11 memorial. Apparently, the memorial will consist of two square reflecting pools where the World Trade Center towers once stood.

That evening, we considered going to see a musical, on or off Broadway, but opted instead for a low-key dinner (at Iguana, a Mexican restaurant we discovered) as we were absolutely exhausted.

Our final day in NYC involved a scavenger hunt for some good New York style bagels. We found them near the Rockefeller Center, also known as 30 Rock, home of the NBC studios. It was neat to see Matt Lauer, one of the hosts of the Today Show talking to some of the people standing in the crowd.

Once we finished our bagels, we got all packed up and, using public transit, found our way to JFK airport. Our next adventure awaited us: a trip to Turkey. We'll write soon about that!

Ligeia and Mindy :)

Victoria Day Weekend at Cottage

2011-05-23T20:48:00.003-05:00

After picking up our friend Heart from her work we headed up to the cottage. Despite the traffic we managed to get up there before the sun went down and enjoyed the beautiful mirror of the lake:

The next morning Mindy and Heart went paddling boating a bit:

Mindy had planned a wonderful meal plan for the weekend but it required a stove. We were surprised to see a big space where the stove used to be. But Mindy with her ingenuity accepted the challenge and set out to make the meals work anyway. She tried French toast in the microwave. Admittedly, this is probably not something we would try again. We decided then to go back to the basics - Mindy made a fire and proceeded to make a wonderful meal of corn on the cob and nut burgers. Delicious!

During out weekend visit this bunny made itself home in the yard and we enjoyed watching it and getting pictures:

On Sunday, Heart and Ligeia went for a walk in the woods and we so delighted to see so many frogs:

With all the rain, they had plenty of places to swim around and lounge by the water:

And here is the tiniest little frog that Heart spotted jumping around in the grass:

This trillium was the first one Ligeia had ever seen so of she had to capture the moment:

Happy Victoria Day to everyone. For our US-American friends, Memorial Day is on it's way.

Ligeia and Mindy :):)

Goodbye to Mosel & Rhein

2011-05-20T19:46:00.004-05:00

It is with heavy hearts that we said goodbye to our beloved girls, Mosel and Rhein. Due to the fact that we're planning on moving north to Nunavut at the end of the summer (we asked them and they preferred to stay in a warmer climate), we decided it was best for them to find a new home where they would be treated with the same level of care and love they were used to with us. They were kindly adopted by the reptile zoo, Reptilia (more about them later!)

We thought it would be a nice send-off for the girls to remember some of the major milestones accomplished while they grew through adolescence with us.

On September 30, 2008 we brought them home for the very first time. About the same size as their food dish (even with Rhein all puffed up!), they could easily fit in the palm of your hand. It wouldn't be long before they would dwarf that dish in size!

They enjoyed basking under the heat lamp on the rock that nowadays could barely fit one of them.

In the summer of 2009, we remember building a new cage for them as they were quickly outgrowing the glass terrarium we had. The new home was larger and it was clear from the start that the girls loved it. The crickets, too, enjoyed the new cage as the wooden beams gave them a place to hide up top.

And who could forget our surprise when Mosel started laying eggs last summer! With a brief double-check that Rhein was indeed also female, we were relieved to know that the eggs were unfertilized and no baby beardies were hurt. Here's Mosel with a freshly-laid clutch. Apparently, lizards will only lay eggs when they're healthy and feel comfortable. It was a nice feeling knowing that we've been good parents!

Another fun memory is bath time. Early on we could bathe them together in a small tupperware dish:

but before long, they had to have their separate time in a larger bowl. Not all beardies enjoy a bath, but our girls could soak in there for hours. Well, no not really hours, but at least 3-4 minutes!

Saying goodbye to our babies, Mosel and Rhein, was extremely difficult. You don't see it in this picture below, but it didn't take long for Mindy to cry with Mosel in her hands.

Ligeia, too, had a hard time saying goodbye.

We both know the girls will be well taken care of at Reptilia. For those unaware of the reptile zoo (located in Vaughan, at 2501 Rutherford Rd), they also have educational programs for summer camps and schools. Most likely, because Mosel and Rhein are so healthy, they will be excellent candidates for the educational programs held on-site, as well as being a part of their breeding program (Mosel, I'm sure will LOVE being a mommy!) If you can, take an afternoon and visit Reptilia. After all, your support will help ensure Mosel and Rhein have a nice place to live.

We'll miss you girls!
Lots of love,
Your mommies :)

Cherry Blossoms in High Park

2011-05-10T13:14:00.005-05:00

While Ligeia is enjoying the sunny south in Clearwater, Florida, Mindy took advantage of an event that can only occur in places that endure a cold, snowy winter season. Every spring, the cherry blossoms in High Park open up in a beautiful display of white blooms. Never have we managed to make it there for "peak" season... until now.
The first thing you notice when walking down the pathway towards Hillside Gardens is the fresh, perfume-like aroma that fills the air. It is absolutely magnificent, and just like a cartoon character floating towards a freshly baked pie, Mindy drifted (along with countless others) forward.
Simple words won't do the experience justice. Here are some pictures instead:

It was a tremendous experience, and Mindy may have to return soon (within the next 5 days or so) to try and get pictures without any other person in the frame. Sunrise is at 5:58am... It's early, but it's certainly worth it! Try to make it out there this week if you can.
Mindy :)

Visiting Wat Mongkolratanaram

2011-05-08T13:36:00.004-05:00

This morning Erick and Ligeia decided to check out a Thai Buddhist Temple called Wat Mongkolratanaram in Brandon. The building itself was gorgeous both inside...

...and out.

We ate some food although we didn't find it memorable to be honest. The location was beautiful right on Palm River. We sat on a dock for a bit and watched the variety of fish swimming around, which included cat fish and needle fish and we were so excited to see stingrays.

We also enjoyed watching the crabs on the shore.

We were also able to watch this train go by:

Overall it was a pleasurable morning.
The rest of the week Ligeia plans to just relax, perhaps by the pool here.
Hope everyone is enjoying springtime,
Ligeia and Mindy :):)

An Evening at the Opera

2011-05-02T03:26:00.004-05:00

Ever since Ligeia's parents exposed her to the Peking opera when she was a little girl, Ligeia has been intrigued by it and has wanted to see it live. On their last night of their trip she got that chance. To prepare herself she read a bit on what makes a performance good and 180 yuan later she found herself in the back row of what we would call the orchestra section. Here's a recap of her experience:

Upon arriving to the theater, I already noticed a difference. The building itself seemed rather unassuming and the attendees seemed less pretentious than many Western opera, especially in North America. There was no valet parking, no fur coats and no tacky chandelier. Instead, it seemed like ordinary people enjoying a beloved art form.

There are seemed to be no late policy at all as people came and went as they pleased. Also talking during the performance was of no consequence. In fact, it seemed quite common to turn to your neighbor and express your reaction to the scene. Especially after living in Germany, where silence translates to respect of the performers, the composer and the music itself, this took some getting used to. People were also free to take pictures of the performers and I saw several people set up tripods to record the entire production. There were two very professional looking cameras there as well and I was told that each performance gets recorded and is shown on CCTV so the entire country can enjoy it. I wish this were the case in my country too.

Knowing nothing about the storyline of Jade River, I asked the gentlemen on either side of me if they spoke English. One did and as he struggled to find the words to tell me the plot, he accidentally let a German word slip. Hearing this, I switched to German and it turned out that he had lived in Dusseldorf for ten years hence his German was much better than his English. The plot was so similar to so many other operas I had seen with the common theme of love at its forefront. A man and a woman wanted to be together but something got in the way: in this case, the woman was accused of murdering her last husband. Sorry to spoil the ending for you, but they end up together in the end. :)

Unlike Western opera where the applause must wait until the end of an aria, or in the case of Wagner at the end of the entire performance, audience feedback was rather immediate, which of course helped me learn what is considered exceptional in this art form. I also learned what to listen and watch for. Apparently Chinese opera's visual component is just as important as the musical component. Sometimes there was applause and hoots and hollers after a performer moved in a certain way on stage. The use of color seemed extraordinary and I'd love to learn more about that and all it represents. In my opinion, Wagner would have loved Chinese opera due to the apparent Gesamtkunstwerk (combination of various forms of art coming together).

Given my operatic vocal training I was especially eager to hear the vocal style of Chinese opera. I had read that a wide vibrato, or tremolo, is desired which is the opposite of Western opera where it is seen out of control and difficult to perform with. I found this style of singing lended itself more easily to conveying certain emotions such as grief. Besides obvious sections of arias, recitative sections were also present. The style of singing here was unlike I had seen in any traditional Western opera and to compare it I find myself having to look to the operas in the New Music era. To me it can be compared with the Sprechstimme (speech song - in the middle of speaking and singing) found in Berg and Schoenberg's works. It was quite beautiful.

I regret not knowing Mandarin because there were so many times that the Chou (clown character distinguished by the white paint on his face) made the audience laugh. Sometimes the humor was visual so I was able to join in.

Another aspect of the opera experience that I really enjoyed was that the orchestra was on stage with the rest of the performers. They were situated just off stage left and included three stringed instruments and, my favorite, the percussion.

The curtain call at the end was very understated. It was not the grand affair, where the "smaller roles" come out first and the lead characters come out at the end, making several bows, I am used to. In this case, all the performers came out in a line together, including the instrumental musicians that had been on the side. Bouquets of flowers for everyone, a couple humble bows and a few waves...that was it. It had the affect on me that every musician and actor, no matter what the role, was valued.

Overall, it was a thoroughly enjoyable experience and I would buy a ticket again in a heartbeat.

We arrived back home late last night after a LONG day of traveling.
We intend to illustrate our travel accounts by adding pictures. We hope to do this later today.

Lots of love,
Ligeia and Mindy :):)

The Great Wall Overnight

2011-05-01T07:22:00.002-05:00

A few days ago, we arrived back in Beijing to enjoy more sights in and around the city before we fly home. A few things were on our tentative list to do including visiting the Great Wall for a second time. Of the 600km of constructed wall, there are many different sections that can withstand the footsteps of tourists (some sections stronger and in better condition than others). About three weeks ago we joined a massive tour group, which in turn joined an onslaught of other tour groups, and were herded off to the Mutianyu section. This time around, we were looking for different experience; one with fewer people so that we were able to see the Wall in all its glory rather than intermittent views of bricks and stone between camera-toting tourists, vendors selling plastic stuff and ice cream, screaming children and people gasping for air as they climbed the steep stairs to each watchtower.

At our hostel, we learned of a tour to a quieter, lesser known section of the Great Wall called the "Secret Wall". Just the name alone was intriguing, but fhe promise of few, if any, other tourists had us hooked. Upon further investigation, we discovered that there was an overnight option for the tour. All we needed was to find two other like-minded indivduals and the tents set up ON the wall would be our accommodations for a night! We posted a plea in the hostel, with our fingers crossed that a pair of tourists would join us, but a day passed without any interest. The evening however told a different story: a woman with a contact at another hostel called to inquire if there was any interest there, and there was indeed a couple wishing to go for the same night as us but needed two more people to make it happen! We booked the trip immediately.

The next day, the van picked us up and we were on our way back to the Great Wall with two sisters, also from Toronto but currently living in Hong Kong. Given the fact that China was preparing for their Labor Day holiday on May 1st, there were lots of tourists and the city and lots of traffic on the road. Our driver was in quite the rush, weaving in and out through the cars on the road, avoiding the potholes and, at times, running a red light or two.

As we approached our destinaton, it started to rain and touts approached our moving vehicle trying to sell us rain ponchos. The weather forecast had called for rain that morning but then clearing skies by the afternoon. That was certainly not our reality. We arrived at the Wall with it cloudy and drizzling with no sign of clearing. We had an initial hike (seemed like a never-ending climbe to the watchtower where our tent would be pitched), had dinner and retired to our tent shortly after the hidden sun set below the horizon.

The wind picked up and loudly rustled the tent's flimsy walls, but somehow we remained well sheltered and warm. We fell asleep just past 8pm with the hope that the howling wind would blow away the clouds, and we would awaken early the next morning to a clear sky.

Waking up by the alarm of our internal clock at 3:19am, we dressed and prepared for what we knew would be a gruelling climb up the stone steps. Our goal was at least watchtower #3, where the section of recently rebuilt all ends, and the time-ruined Secret Wall begins. The darkness at that time of morning was thick, and our loaned flashlight simply lit a path a few meters in front of us. We couldn't see stars, but we refused to believe that the sky was completely clouded over.

We've all heard the saying that every journey begins with a single step. That phrase definitely helped us get started, but our mantra on the way up to that third watchtower was most certainly "one step at a time" as we tackled the steep incline. We took each step in a quarter note of 4/4 time and rested for the remaining time of the bar.

Slowly but surely, we made it and even before the scheduled sunrise at 5:19am! We took well-deserved rest at that watchtower #3, listening to the array of bird calls singing all around us as the sky began to brighten. What made the morning better was our knowledge that we, along with our two fellow group members, were the ONLY people on the Great Wall!

As the sun approached from below the horizon in the east, there was enough light see that among us, in the mountains flanking the wall, was nothing but fog. The sky was cloudy and a slight disappoint set in with the realization that there would be no colorful sunrise for us. The fog, however, did bring us a different experience that will remain memorable for the rest of our lives: a thick, white cloud rolling in from the north like an ocean wave splashing up the mountain sides and slowly drenching the wall section below. A motionless picture wouldn't do the action justice, so we simply sat, as bundled up as possible in the cold wind, and enjoyed the powerful view.

Our hike back down was beautiful, and thankfully easier as we no longer had to battle gravity nor darkness. The simple acts of brushing our teeth, going to the bathroom and sleeping on the hard stone surface were all catapulted to "awesome" status as we were able to do it "on the wall".

We appreciate that this was a once in a lifetime opportunity and we loved every bit of the experience!

Thanks for reading,
Ligeia and Mindy :) :)

The Giant Panda

2011-04-29T06:14:00.004-05:00

Our initial itinerary included a stop in Chengdu to visit The Giant Panda Research Base. Because of our Tibetan tour being a day longer than expected and the delay in getting the visas, we had to cut something out and Chengdu became the victim.

It saddened us as we came to the realization that this trip would end with us only seeing the stuffed animal version of the panda. That is, of course, until we learned that the Beijing zoo had a giant panda exhibit. We didn't waste any time locating the zoo on our map and figuring out the best route to get there. After starting out with the best intentions of walking, we decided to hail a taxi as soon as we felt the first inclination of being lost. It turned out to be the right decision as the taxi ride was quite long, and it was a benefit that our driver understood our destination in English - no Mandarin necessary.

We were dropped off at the front gate of the zoo, and our excitement grew as we saw the gift shop with big, life-sized panda bear stuffed animals on the shelves. Thankfully, the panda exhibit was close to the entrance and not way at the other end of the park. The majority of these black and white bears were lazing around, sleeping.

There was one bear eating bamboo sitting on a rock, and one outside pacing incessantly. Ideally, we would have liked to see the animals in lush, green enclosures, but sadly some of the cages were much like cement cells. Hopefully, each animal got its time in the large outdoor enclosures for enough time each day.

The rest of the zoo exhibits were enjoyable and we made sure to try a new selection of popsicles. The weather was fantastic and it turned out to be a fantastic day!

Today, we've signed up for another tour of the great wall. This time, we're headed to a different section than our previous trip to Mutianyu, and we've splurged for an overnight trip where we hope to spend the night ON the wall in a tent. Hopefully our views of sunset and sunrise will be well worth it!

We'll post again soon when we return from the wall. To leave you with something interesting, here's a picture of one of the most random-looking animals we've ever seen. Bonus points to anyone who can guess the name of it:

Ligeia and Mindy :) :)

Extraordinary Airline Service

2011-04-28T06:32:00.003-05:00

When we were informed that there were no sleeper cars available on the train from Yangshuo to Beijing, the prospect of sitting in a regular seat for the 27-hour journey immediately made us price out flights. We ended up booking coach seats with Grand China Air, an airline we knew absolutely nothing about.

We arrived to check in the recommended 2 hours before our flight and were instructed to head to gate 1 for our on-time departure. At our gate, however, the message scrolling in both Mandarin and English explained there was a delay due to "air traffic conjestion" (spelling mistake theirs, not ours).

A full 40 minutes before our scheduled departure time, the airline served us a meal, waiting there right at the gate! Perhaps it was an apology for a delay that seemed to be more the fault of air traffic control than the airline. That was, of course, until we discovered the true cause of the delay: a maintenance issue with the aircraft. Unfortunately, the gate agent knew literally no English, so Ligeia's attempt to speak her airline lingo went for naught. She did however return to her seat at the gate with a phrase the agent pointed to in a manual. Apparently, we were to take a bus on the 2nd level to the hotel. What the heck did that mean? Grand China Air only had one flight per day to Beijing, so would we be delayed overnight and were getting put up in a hotel?

At the time our flight was scheduled to take off, we were indeed shuttled by bus to the airport hotel, located nearby. Our confusion could have been overwhelming had we worried about things, but yet again on this trip, we decided to just go with the flow, and follow our fellow passengers to the hotel's reception desk. We were given our own double room in exchange for our boarding passes, and we had at our disposal likely the swankiest hotel we'll stay at during our trip. The shower was fantastic, the toilet didn't have any odd smells emanating from it, the beds were, well, they were still extremely hard, but the pillows were nice.

Given our experience with North American airlines, we figured we'd be there at least until the next morning. Yet, we were beckoned by hotel staff and informed to quickly get on the bus a whopping 2.5 hours after checking in! We were sent to the hotel simply for a "rest". It was absolutely sublime!

We returned to the airport, passed through security for the second time and headed back to gate #1. The inbound flight had just arrived and we boarded shortly afterward. On the plane, the amazing service continued with 2 drink services (we tried mulberry juice the first time around, and then opted for coconut juice on the second pass - they were very yummy!), a full meal service (they even had special veggie meals for us, despite the fact none were previously requested) and free blankets for passengers to use! All this for a measly 2.5 hour flight. Unbelievable! We even learned later that our emergency contact was called by the airline to inform him of the delay (too bad the time difference translated to a midnight phone call, though).

Wouldn't it be wonderful if this type of service was standard for all airlines? That would certainly make flying more enjoyable again!

We've got 2 more full days remaining on our month-long trip. It's amazing how quickly the time has gone by. Let's see what more adventures are still in store for us!

Ligeia & Mindy :) :)

Sunrise Over the Li

2011-04-28T06:07:00.003-05:00

It was our last morning in Yangshuo and since our attempt to experience the sunrise on our first day proved unsuccessful, we thought we'd try again. To get out of our hostel which was situated right on the Li River we had to wake the young man sleeping there to unlock the door. As it was still dark outside we opted for a familiar route down to the river.

The first thing we noticed in the darkness was the bright crescent moon.

The water was also covered with a constantly shifting haze as it got lighter. We sat on a stone wall to watch and listen. We could see small bats flying around and hoped they ate all the mosquitoes before the mosquitoes ate us. Eventually the bats changed to birds as the moon became less vibrant.

The karst limestone peaks were very faint in the distance, some closer ones being only slightly more visible. Closer still was a layer of bamboo trees on the opposite bank of the river. Taken together the scene looked like a Chinese watercolor painting that changed ever so slightly with each picture we shot.

Then in the stillness, save the rushing water of the river, we saw a tiny fish jump out of the water. Then another jumped a little further off. Still another then another. Before we knew it little minnow-sized fish were jumping out of the water like popcorn.

The last layer to our sunrise experience was a woman coming to the river's edge to wash clothes. Much like the fish this one woman started a slow trickle of women coming to hand wash clothing.

To our surprise there were no bright pinks, oranges nor yellows we associate with sunrises. In this sunrise, the sun was not the lead character and instead took its humble role in the background as it simply lit all of the other things going on. What a wonderful beginning to what was to be a long travel day to Beijing.

Bikes, Bamboo and Buffalo

2011-04-26T05:33:00.002-05:00

After breakfast this morning we rented two bikes for 20 yuan each and headed for the Yulong River, which is supposed to be both quieter and even more scenic than the already beautiful Li River.

Getting out of town and starting our 10km ride was a challenge. Sharing the road with people, cars, motorcycles, tour buses, 3-wheeled carts, animals etc etc is exactly as chaotic as it sounds. The only rule seemed to be, if it's bigger than you, it has the right of way. Also here vehicles are accustomed to coming WAY closer to bicycles and pedestrians than we were used to. We felt triumphant then just crossing safely to the other side of the street.

Eventually we made it onto a quieter road and we found ourselves pedaling through the countryside.

We passed by numerous farm fields with people working: some with the help of a manually-pushed, motorized plow; others using the brute strength of a water buffalo to help them dig up their plot...

...and others still simply using a garden hoe and the stamping of their feet.

We found it particularly beautiful when the workers are dressed in a solid bright color like red, which gives tremendous contrast to the lush green vegetation.

Continuing our ride, we experienced something that still makes us laugh, and will likely make us smile for a long time to come: a huge group of Chinese students on a bike tour, returning from the trip we were on. Keep in mind that a large number of students seize the opportunity to practice their English when they see a foreigner. So, inevitably, in the short time they had to interact with us, as we both rode by in opposite directions, all we had time for was "Hello!", interspersed with he odd "Hi!". What's so funny about that? We must have passed by about 200 cycling students all yelling their respective English greeting, in various accents and tones. It was magical in its musicality and humorous in its overwhelming ridiculousness.

After the swarm of cyclists were well behind us, we stopped seeing anybody. Us being being alone on a dirt road made us wonder if we had missed a turn somewhere and were now lost on our way to Dragon Bridge. Of course, we saw some local farmers in their fields, but no other cyclists going in our direction or towards us. We eventually approached a small village with a family eating a meal in front of a television. In Mindy's best Mandarin, she asked for directions to "Yulong Qiao", our bridge destination. A kind man pointed along the road, in the direction we were headed (we were on the right track!) and we continued our way on the pothole-ridden dirt road. We made a couple more stops on our route to double-check that we were still on the correct path, as well as to practice our Chinese.

Arriving at Dragon Bridge was a relief! The temperature by lunchtime had likely climbed to the low 80s F (high 20s C) and we were certainly ready to give our butts a break from the extremely uncomfortable bicycle seats. Dragon Bridge is 600 years old, made of stone and apparently constructed without cement, staying upright for all this time due to its arched structure (science class taught us something about arches working well because of gravity and friction, didn't it?)

The rice fields flanking the calm Yulong River at the bridge made for beautiful photos. For now, if you close your eyes, can you see the tree beside the bridge with its beautiful purple flowers? Can you smell the fragrant tea plants growing all around? Can you hear the annoying touts asking constantly if you want a bamboo boat, following you wherever you go?

Well, with our butts being as sore as they were, we bargained the price of one of these boats (actually made completely of bamboo, including the seats and "paddle") and set course down the river.

Along the way between those familiar limestone peaks, the calm-flowing Yulong was interrupted by mini rapids. Capitalistic profiteers were at the base of these rapids, snapping photos as our long, bamboo raft tipped forwards, much like amusement parks that take your picture midway through a roller-coaster ride. The cool splashes of water as the front of the boat hit the water were very refreshing in the hot sun! Floating along that river for 90 minutes, Mindy with a Tibetan barley beer in hand...

...Ligeia taking pictures gorgeous scenery and wildlife (water buffalo and cows, mainly) in all directions, was definitely a highlight of this trip!

After a 6km bike ride back to Yangshuo (the Yulong doesn't flow into the city) our tender rear ends were screaming and bruised. To ease our pain, we treated ourselves to some popsicles. Ligeia chose her new favorite of green pea flavor, and Mindy opted for a corn one. Both are surprisingly very good AND we're getting our vegetables!

Our busy day ends with us watching a group of women, perhaps in a club or something, dancing in a public square by the Li River. The music was loud and their movements were fluid. We're not sure how, but Ligeia had the energy (and muscles that could still move!) to join them. Mindy watched on the sidelines as Ligeia improved her steps to move synchronously with the others. It was great!

We're almost done our time in Yangshuo and will soon be back in Beijing. We'll see what adventures are in store for us and we'll be sure to write about them. Stay tuned!

As always, thanks for reading!
Ligeia and Mindy :):)

24km Hike Along the Li River

2011-04-24T07:58:00.002-05:00

Today was one of wonderful people. It began with us changing rooms again because ours was booked for that night. The new room hadn't been cleaned yet so the woman working at the front desk proceeded to clean it. This was clearly not her job, so she apologized afterwards because it "wasn't as good as the cleaning staff would have done".

We met the next wonderful person at the bus station. We needed to get a bus to Yangdi to start our hike to Xingping. We hadn't eaten breakfast, and Mindy especially was very hungry. When we arrived at the bus station we heard a woman yelling "Yangdi!" We stopped and said "Yangdi, dui (yes)". Realizing we couldn't get on the bus without eating, we continued with "chi fan (eat food)". The motion of putting Ligeia's fingers to her mouth probably helped too. The woman selflessly walked us over to a place with food to go, and then walked us around back to the right bus and watched as we got situated. With a wave she was gone.

About an hour later, we arrived in Yangdi and people swarmed the bus wanting to sell flowers and boat rides, etc. etc. We quickly left all that and tried to find the trail head. We initially had some trouble, but when you're amidst such beauty, all such frustration quickly dissipates. This section of the Li River is home to gorgeous karst limestone peaks, with reach green vegetation covering much of them. Large bamboo trees are sprinkled throughout as well, adding yet another shade of green.

This area of the earth is simply beautiful - so beautiful in fact, that a section of it, closer to Xingping, is featured on the back of the 20 yuan bill. This would be a great treat at the end of our hike. We wondered how we'd find it. Would we know it when we saw it? Would there be a sign? We forged ahead.

For lunch we sat down on a stone wall beside the river and ate our leftover rice and noodle dishes respectively from the night before. (It was such a good idea to bring those tupperware containers.) Many "Ni Hao's" and "Hello's" were exchanged as other hikers passed us by. For some reason people exclaimed "Whoa" when they saw us eating Chinese food. Was it the food, the tupperware, us using chopsticks? Maybe we'll never know. Several students stopped and chatted with us a little to practice their English. They were very interested in what we thought of the Li River. One student we would see later on the hike.

We walked and walked always wondering how far away we were. We passed through several small villages with farms, orange groves and rice fields.

We began to get tired in the hot sun and our feet and backs became sore. Then it happened that we got disoriented and we thought we were lost.

While backtracking we ran into the young student from before. He was now with two other people, a man and a woman, whom he said he had just met. We held up a 20 yuan bill and asked in Chinese (because it turned out the young student had only memorized a few sentences and questions that he practiced with us earlier) "zai nar (where is)". They immediately motioned to follow them. As we seemed to walk further and further away from the river, we began to become a little worried however. Eventually we motioned that we would go towards the river and the student translated "Boat. Better as a group". We were so tired and sore that we said, "Why not? Fate, we leave us in your hands", and we followed the couple and the student through beautiful farmland surrounded by those towering limestone peaks.

About 30 minutes later we arrived at the river again where several boats were docked.

After several minutes of phone calls and walking up and down the beach several times (why we're still not sure, but it probably had something to do with the phone calls), we boarded a boat. The friendly couple insisted that we sit up front. As we pulled away from the rocky rivers edge, we tried not to think about what this was costing us.

Whizzing down the Li River on a "bamboo boat", where the only bamboo on it were the seats, was a lot of fun. It was much like driving in traffic on a street made of water. There were so many boats, all going in one of two directions - up or down the Li. We had so much fun taking pictures and waving to people.

It turned out that Xingping was much further than we had thought so we were happy to have taken the boat. We docked in a rather crowded place and after confirming that it was indeed Xingping, we pulled out money to pay the couple. They quickly dismissed this and again motioned to follow them. We humbly did so, going up and down stairs, until we reached an area where we could clearly the scenic view that was identical to the 20 yuan bill. Again, with a quick wave, they were gone.

After a meal of fried rice and bamboo shoots, we decided to stay for sunset. We found a perfect rock overlooking the 20 yuan section of the river.

Many people came by and wanted their picture taken with us. We couldn't understand why, but it made us feel like celebrities just the same. Some business English students from Shaoshan, which they proudly shared was the birthplace of Chairman Mao, came to practice their English with us. They were very friendly, and also got their picture taken with us. One student explained that it is still unusual to see Westerners within China and this is the reason for the desired pictures. We felt so special.

After walking quite a ways to the Xingping bus station, we finally boarded a bus bound for Yangshuo. Because we sat separately, Mindy and I wrote about this part of our experience separately. We begin with Mindy's account...

...Luckily, one of the free seats on the 40 minute bus ride from Xingping to Yangshuo was a front-facing window seat. Ligeia, being her chivalrous self, gave it to me without hesitation. I sat down quickly before anyone else took it (no body-checking needed) and took a few deep breaths, mentally preparing myself for the bumpy trip. At least I had a window beside me that opened in the event of motion sickness. All of a sudden I felt something hit my ankles. Did someone drop their drink bottle and now its stickiness would be all over me? Did a child drop their ball and it bounced all the way to my feet? Nope! None of those. I looked down to see the fuzziest duckling between my shoes! Worried for its safety under the feet of Yangshuo-bound travelers, I reached down and picked up the baby duck as it quacked its high-pitched call. I was stunned.

I looked to Ligeia for guidance, three people sandwiched ahead of me, and she was as speechless as me. Where'd it come from? Should I put it outside? The language barrier between my English confusion and the Mandarin questions being asked to me, added to the hilarity. A nice woman sitting across the aisle came over and asked "Is this your duck?" I laughed and said no. In response I asked her to pose a question in Chinese to all the other passengers "if anyone had lost their duck". I never thought that would be something my lips would ever say. Ligeia heard me ask and laughed out loud with me. A woman clearly understood the commotion in my seat, and pulled out a loosely-tied cardboard box from my feet. Oh! The duckling was hers and I had caught an escapee! Now that I realized I had to put this cute prisoner back into its cell, I tried to figure out how to do so gently. Remember, the box was tied up, so shoving a live bird back into semi-opened flaps would prove more difficult than having it jump out on its own. When I got the duckling close to the opening, to my surprise, I found another one had found the same escape route and was perched on top of the box! Without thinking, my free left hand pushed the duckling back into the box after only 2 seconds of freedom. The original prisoner in my right hand followed as well. Now that all the ducks were back in their place (ha! I had all my ducks in a row!), I firmly closed the flaps of the box and enjoyed hearing their chirp-like quacks all the way back to Yangshuo.

Here's Ligeia's account...

...After making sure Mindy was situated, I found a spot on a hard "seat" that faced sideways. I could sometimes see Mindy between the many people still filing on the what eventually became a very crowded bus. Imagine my surprise to see a glimpse of Mindy holding a duckling. And to overhear her ask another passenger to ask the bus if anyone had "lost their duck" was about the funniest thing I'd ever heard and I'm pretty sure I'll never hear those words leave her mouth again. After getting a picture and video of the duck incident, I looked around the bus.

The duckling escapee was only one of many random things on that 4-wheeled box taking us to Yangshuo. A small child was playing with a panda balloon, people fumbled around in red plastic bags of various fresh vegetables, some women were singing in the back and the driver was screaming into his cell phone. The obnoxiously loud horn that driver amply used and the bumpy road added extra spice to the ride. I looked around and just took it all in. My butt hurt from the hard wooden box and my feet hurt from walking all day. "This is traveling" I thought as I smiled to myself, "and I love everything about it!" As we all shifted around trying to give more people make-shift places to sit, my heart warmed as I reflected on all the kindness we had experienced during the day.

We'll be staying in Yangshuo until Wednesday when we'll fly back to Beijing. Stay tuned!

Love,
Ligeia and Mindy :):)

Odd Day

2011-04-23T10:27:00.004-05:00

Today’s post is more of an account of strange, random and interesting events more than anything else. Perhaps it was a full moon or something found its way into the Li River water because our day on Friday could only be described as “odd”. Really, the strangeness started during the night, when the rain began. Now, we’ve all witnessed rain before, and perhaps some have even had the unfortunate opportunity to have a leaky roof because of torrential downpours. Well, to say our hostel had a leaky roof would be an understatement! It’s built into the side of a limestone rock face, so the porous quality of the rock just lets the rain right through. The poorly-caulked plastic “skylights” simply redirect the raindrops into nice channels, so it literally was raining in the lobby and the main staircase. So much so that a number of guests dared fate and opened their umbrellas inside on the way up to their rooms.

Our particular room (listed as a “mountain room” because one was a rock face) leaked from both the mountain side AND the crappy skylight. How fun!

The rain unfortunately covered our view of what we had hoped would’ve been a gorgeous sunrise over the karst mountain peaks and Li River valley. Without a window in our “mountain room”, however, we couldn’t tell that we’d witness a boring sunrise until we were dressed and outside, standing in the rain, at 5:50am. We headed straight back to bed!

Our second time venturing out into the streets of Yangshuo was more eventful. We found a place for breakfast and sat down. We were happy to find a Chinese Checkers set (hmmm... I wonder if it's just called "checkers" here). Our eyes quickly landed on the fresh juices section. Ligeia was more adventurous and ordered the cucumber juice. Mindy stuck with the reliable mango. We think they simply put the fruit/vegetable in a blender and pureed until smooth. No water, no sugar, nothing added! It was great!

Our interesting day continued with a stop at the local market. Apparently this is where the locals go to do their fresh food shopping, and it certainly seemed true as we didn’t see any other white faces there. The market was basically divided into two halls: produce and livestock. The produce section was quite standard (except some of the veggies were completely new to us: lotus root; asparagus lettuce; taro).

The livestock side was, well, um, in your face. Everything from fish, eels, ducks, chickens, geese, rabbits and, new for us, dogs. Most animals were alive, and making their respective noises. We were saddened to think that their quacks, honks and barks would be muted as soon as a local Yangshuoian purchased them. It made us proud to be vegetarian!

Amazingly enough, our trip to the market didn’t hamper our appetite (actually nothing could – we were hungry all day and eating pretty much anything in sight!), and we decided to try another new juice: corn. We were surprised to learn that this drink is served warm, and basically tastes like, well mashed up corn-on-the-cob. Certainly not jaw-dropping, but how many of you can say that you’ve tried it?

On our way back to the hostel after our morning adventure, we were appalled to see throngs of Chinese tourists packed in the street, standing and waving their tour group flags, between us and the hostel entrance. On our trip so far, we have learned that we need to use a bit of elbow power to squeeze through tight crowds, lest we be body-checked and swept away with the current. One particular woman didn’t take kindly to Mindy’s gentle arm nudge, made a quick about-face and yelled something in Chinese. She jabbed Mindy in the arm and yelled some more. The people around Mindy seemed as shocked as she was, but eventually the woman stormed off in a huff. Seriously!? Is there any reasoning or explanation to that?

To fully appreciate this next occurrence, we need to backtrack a bit to our stay in Xining near the beginning of our trip. We were lucky enough to share a dorm room with a very nice Chinese woman, who was traveling through China on her own. The vast majority of Chinese adopt an “English” name, and hers was Jane. With Ligeia’s name being quite difficult for others to remember, Jane gave her a “Chinese” name: Lala. We just figured the link was the letter “L”. On Friday, however, we learned from a group of ex-pats that the name “Lala” has a double-meaning here. The first is a simple nickname. The second – a term for a lesbian. Thanks, Jane – it’s perfect!

At least our odd and interesting day ended on a high note. Stay tuned for more tales from the Yangshuo area.

Ligeia and Mindy :):)

Dragon's Backbone Rice Terraces

2011-04-21T20:02:00.003-05:00

After spending one night in Guilin, we found a bus going to Daizhai in the middle of the Longji rice terraces. Our three hour bus ride through the hilly terrain began by us finding our bus based on the license plate we were given. Amongst many buses in front of the train station we surprisingly quickly found our needle in a haystack. It felt like an Amazing Race challenge.

Whenever we travel via bus or shuttle we always try to get there early to ensure that Mindy gets a seat up front to avoid her getting motion sick. Due to misinformation from the night before we arrived to the bus much later than we would have liked. There was only one space up front so Mindy sat there and Ligeia found a place in back with both bags on her lap. Seeing this, an older woman on the bus wasn't having any of it, talked to the driver to put our bigger bag in the luggage compartment and told the person sitting in the front to move so we could sit together. We felt so taken care of. What a great way to start our rice terraces experience! Upon arriving in Daizhai Ligeia turned to her and said a heartfelt thank you in Mandarin, and we were delighted that we could understand her respond "no problem" in Chinese.

As soon as our shuttle arrived in Daizhai we found ourselves surrounded by Yao women with clothing of various shades of pink selling everything from silver bracelets to all kinds of woven goods. They also carried baskets on their backs and offered to carry luggage to a hotel. Still others offerred a picture of themselves with their hair down (Yao women are known for their VERY long hair). One woman followed us for about 30 minutes, trying to get us to go to a certain hotel. When we were finally left alone we started the steep hike up to Tiantouzhai where we were hoping to stay for the night and get great views of the rice terraces. At the top of the hill we saw a sign that said V8 Vegetarian Restaurant & Hostel. Perfect!

After settling in we hiked up to scenic point #1 called "Music from Paradise". The climb just seemed endless and we began to wonder if we'd ever get there, but the views were amazing and that's what kept us forging onward and upward.

Our reward when we finally reached the viewpoint was spectacular! Layers upon layers of rice terraces, carved out of the mountainside to look like steps for giants, in varying stages of preparation. Some terraces had recently been aerated using hand tools (we didn't see horses or buffalo doing any of that work way up there!) and others had already been flooded. The haze covered our views of the more distant mountain terraces but it also added a mysteriousness to the scenery.

We hiked back down the stone path, relaxed with a wonderful meal at our hotel (we tried bamboo and bitter melon dishes which were fantastic!) and retired to our private room to watch the movie "Shine" on our tablet.

The next day after hiking back down the mountain and receiving more opportunities to buy stuff, we took a shuttle back through Guilin and further south to Yangshuo. Having learned our lesson in Kathmandu, we did not opt for an overnight in the more convenient tourist area and instead found a quieter place on the Li River, of which we hope to explore more.

We had a wonderful meal on a balcony over the river at the Pure Lotus Vegetarian Restaurant where we tried orange and pear soup. It came hot and with bits of carrots too. We ended up being so glad we ordered it because it was absolutely delicious! We would go back just for the soup (editor's note: we actually DID go back the very next day for some more soup!).

This particular dish was called "Spicy Tofu with Fern Noodles" and was easily Ligeia's favorite meal we tried:

We'll write again soon and as always, thanks for following along.

Ligeia and Mindy :):)

Impressions of Kathmandu

2011-04-19T19:06:00.005-05:00

Leaving Tibet was more of a chore than expected. We waited in line for the Chinese immigration office to open at which point we endured a bag search. What were they looking for you may ask. Books and maps. The guard looked at our Lonely Planet China book at length and even studied the map inside. Our guide, who stayed with us to the very end, told us they were looking for any books about Tibet. After receiving our exit stamp we walked across the very short Friendship Bridge and suddenly we found ourselves in Nepal and everything changed - the language, clothing, food, even the weather.

We quickly found the visa office, got our visas and haggled our way down to the local price of 500 rupees for transport to Kathmandu. The five hour drive took us through valleys with palm trees and other lush green plants. The cold high plateau of Tibet suddenly felt so far away.

After enjoying the leisurely tour of the Tibetan nature, arriving in the tourist-ridden Thamel district of Kathmandu came as a shocking slap across the face. Signs all in English hung from every possible section of each building face or from the many wires hanging over the street, agents and business owners all calling "Madam, come into my shop" (except for Mindy who got "Sir" on several occasions, and obvious tourists outnumbering the locals two to one. Prices were also quoted in US dollars. We knew very quickly that this place was not for us.

After overpaying for a tasty Nepalese meal we checked into a hotel and tried to make the most of it. We set out to have a look around. Ligeia started asking women on the street where they got such beautiful clothing and they all pointed and said "Asan Market" so we keep walking, set on finding Asan.

We found a women's clothing store so we went in and sat down. There was much hesitation and discussion amongst the ladies working there as to who would come and wait on us. Finally a young woman came and Ligeia pointed to various beautifully-colored kurtas to see. She settled on a purplish-pink top and green pants with a scarf of both these colors and then she of course had to try it on and get measured for it to be altered.

One hour and 3000 rupees later Ligeia had a beautiful Nepalese outfit which she wore for the next two days.

Walking down the narrow streets of Kathmandu proved challenging at times, especially at intersections. Anything and everything was on the road. Walking meant sharing the street with cars, motorcycles (with anywhere from 1 to 4 people on them), rickshaws (often carrying heavy and wide loads), bicycles and of course fellow pedestrians.

The challenge also included potholes, speed bumps and in some areas piles of trash waiting to be burned. Smells included wonderful spices, incense and what we perceived as rotting meat. (We saw brains for sale one day and as vegetarians we were at least happy to see the whole animal being used.) The sounds of Thamel consisted of incessant honking, "Madam, Madam" and loud Western music.

Nepal is exactly 2 1/4 hours behind China, all of which follows Beijing time (12 hours ahead of Eastern Standard Time). Due to the time change we were ready to go to bed earlier than we had previously. It was then that we made the unfortunate discovery of our hotel being located directly adjacent to a bar with extremely loud cover bands and woohoo-ing drunk people. To give you an idea of just how loud this was, we could not even hear ourselves talk within the same hotel room. We actually had to shout to be understood right next to each other. It made watching a movie on our tablet, checking out Nepalese TV or sleeping an impossibility.

The next morning we learned of the Swayambhunath Temple nicknamed by Westerners as the "Monkey Temple" because of the many monkeys that live in the trees in the area. Knowing there was a possibility of seeing monkeys we wasted no time and walked the 30 minutes to reach the temple. The promise of monkeys did not disappoint. They made the 300 steps to the top much more bearable giving us good reason to stop and take a break.

At the top there was more tourist crap for sale and we found ourselves disappointed...that is until we heard monks praying. We followed the sound and unlike in Tibet we were delighted to be allowed in, after removing our shoes of course. We were also allowed to take pictures inside. A highlight for Ligeia was when after seeing her sitting on the hard floor for awhile through several waves of tourists, a monk invited her to move to a carpeted area where locals were sitting.

It turns out that monks praying is much more bombastic practice than we had previously thought. There was a big drum, cymbals, conches, horns and bells each having their place in the ritual. We were also honored to have the opportunity to observe Buddhists giving offerings of rice, money or fruit.

After enduring another awful night of bad renditions of "Billie Jean" and "My Sharona", we walked to Durbar Square, where the past Nepalese kings used to live and is now a large areas of various religious pagodas and temples.

We found the music coming from the Hindu temple nice to listen to and again enjoyed watching people give offerings and then ring one of several bells hanging from the ceiling. We also liked watching people, mostly the elderly and children, feeding vast numbers of pigeons. I still don't know how we managed not to get pooped on. Most interesting for us were the Sufis, who dress in orange and white, paint their faces in white, yellow and orange and smoke marijuana. As well the men grow their beards long which always seemed to be white for some reason.

These people are meant to take on the burdens of society. We watched as people gave them either rice or money to take away their burdens. The Sufis also approached tourists, asked to take a picture with them and then demanded money.

We spent the better part of that afternoon sorting out plane tickets to Guilin, China. Not being able to stand another night of deafening music, we grabbed a taxi to Kopan Monastery, where we heard there was lodging as well as vegetarian meals.

As we walked around the grounds we realized this is where we wished we had been for our whole three day stay in Nepal. The views of the city were spectacular, the gardens were lovely and the tranquility was exactly what we needed after having spent two days in Thamel, which we now refer to as a large outdoor shopping mall.

The temple within the monastery reminded us of our tour to throughout Tibet. One glaring difference however was the prominent display of a picture of His Holiness, the 14th and current Dalai Lama.

Waking up to the sounds of birds was a nice way to complete our very short journey to Nepal.
And it didn't hurt that me learned the "True Meaning of Life":

Here are some pleasant things we will remember from Nepal:
1) monkeys
2) a woman lovingly petting a cow on the street

3) having separate security lines at the Kathmandu airport for males and females. This was particularly wonderful because the female line was considerably shorter than the male line. What made this even better for us is that so many women had to wait for their male counterparts on the other side of security and we just sailed right through. Thank you Nepal for showing us yet another benefit of being gay.

After two flights we are now in Guilin, China. We'll write again soon and as always thanks for following us on our adventure.

Ligeia and Mindy :):)

Everest!!!

2011-04-16T20:42:00.004-05:00

We began our 2-day journey on the Friendship Highway from Lhasa in hopes to be able to sleep at Everest Base Camp. We were a bit worried that the altitude would pose a problem as Mindy felt effects in Lhasa at 3600 meters. Everest Base Camp sits at a whopping 5200 meters! We split our trip up with an overnight in Shigatse, a city under construction.

Here are some pictures from along the way:

Our highlight in Shigatse was our adventure to find dinner. Less of a touristy place than Lhasa, very few places had English menus or English-speaking staff. There weren't even pictures we could point to! But we entered a small restaurant armed with a few Tibetan phrases and words we had learned. We greeted the Tibetan patrons (2 elderly women) and sat down. A waiter approached and after greeting him we said "vegetarian" in Tibetan. With some confusion, Mindy was invited back to the kitchen where she could point to the various ingredients we wanted, as well as playing charades to explain that eggs were welcomed. The result? A wonderful, vegetarian meal. They even brought us peanuts, which when we offered to the ladies next to us, were politely refused as they had no teeth. We all enjoyed a great laugh. We left feeling triumphant.

The morning after we climbed into the van again each hoping to see Everest by the days end. Never have we been subject to so many military and police checkpoints! Generally this meant piling out of the van and displaying our passports to some official or another. We actually lost count of all these checkpoints. The turn off to Everest Base Camp took us off a nicely paved road and onto a pothole-ridden dirt road. The 102 kilometer dirt road took just under 3 hours! The views were amazing and with each switchback we knew we were that much closer to Everest.

We arrived at the top of a mountain pass where we could see the northern face of the Himalayan range. How stunning! Due to cloud cover though, Everest was not visible.

We continued on our journey watching the horizon closely with hope that the clouds would dissipate. Eventually, our guide, Buchong, stated that it was now clear enough to see Everest and it should be around the next mountain. We waited with bated breath around each turn. Our cameras were perpetually at the ready and we couldn't tell if we were having trouble breathing due to the altitude or simply because our hearts were racing. Would Everest stand up to such high expectations?

Absolutely! There she was! 8844 meters high, the peak of the worlds highest mountain was staring us right in the face. The sky was clear and this moment alone made the bumpy ride so worthwhile.

The closer we got the more magnificent the view. One final checkpoint at a tiny tent was necessary before we could climb the short hill (which, at the altitude winded Mindy!) to stand amongst other lucky tourists and see Everest mountaineers prepare for their 6-day journey to the summit.

Despite mild symptoms of altitude sickness, Mindy and another group member were able to stay with the group overnight in a nomad tent (literally called a "hotel") at Base Camp.

Heated in the evening by dried yak dung, we were actually warm and comfortable. Sadly, when the fire went out, the temperature plummeted inside the tent, no doubt due to the fact that there was no door. We awoke the next morning with frozen toes and water bottles! The thermometer registered at -6C. But, again, all completely worth it as we were able to step out of the tent, and there was Everest - the first peak in the visible range to grab the morning's sun.

We left with Everest in our rearview mirror shortly thereafter, and began our 5-hour drive to the Nepalese border, which, of course, included our favorite potholed, checkpoint-filled, dirt road.

Our overnight near the Nepalese border, was in a mountain town called Zhangmu (or Dram, in Tibetan).

Our evening was rather uneventful. However, the softball-sized spider Ligeia saw in the squat toilet stall, gave her pause. This overnight gave us one last opportunity to enjoy some vegetarian momos - a Tibetan specialty that we'll truly miss.

That concludes our Tibet experience. Before we leave you with that, however, we want to impart on you a main thing we learned: Mt. Everest is the English name. The mountain actually has two other names, that make much more sense. In Tibetan (our preferred choice) is Mt. Qomolungma, pronounced "chomo-loong-ma". In Nepal, the country that shares the mountain with Tibet, it is known as Sagarmatha. Everest, is apparently the name of some white guy.
Here is a picture that we feel sums up our Tibet experience, raw natural beauty and Tibetan prayer flags the honor it:

We'll write again soon with our tales of Nepal!

Lots of love,
Ligeia & Mindy :) :)

Impressions of Lhasa

2011-04-12T19:06:00.010-05:00

We could feel the higher elevation of Lhasa as soon as we stepped off the train, and no longer had access to the outlets pumping out oxygen. The altitude here is 3650m and it took us about 24 hours to fully acclimatize. Once we did, we were able to focus more on the environment around us, rather than our gasping breaths. Truth be told, Mindy struggled with the altitude considerably more than Ligeia, but Ligeia was kind enough to taper her excitement and slow down to Mindy's speed.

Our first evening in this bustling market city was quite low-key. After checking into our hotel, we went for a walk, where we were immediately bombarded with requests to "looky looky" at the wares merchants were trying to sell us, all of which of course were at "special prices". Our white faces certainly stood out in the sea of Tibetan pilgrims walking their "kora" (a clockwise circuit around a holy place). This particular kora was the Barkhor circuit, around Jokhang Temple. We could have people-watched for hours, but as soon as the sun went down, the temperature plummeted and it started to snow. We quickly decided to head back to our hotel.

The next morning we started an extremely busy day with a visit to Potala Palace.

This massive structure, with over 1000 rooms, used to be the home of the Dalai Lama (before he was exiled in 1959), as well as a monastery for monks and Tibet's government. Nowadays, only a handful of monks live there full-time to maintain the numerous Buddhist relics and keep watch over the countless visitors that march through the rooms. Little did we know that Buddhism was so complex! We learned that, in total, 1032 Buddhas would come to this earth one by one, with only 5 having come so far! We saw beautiful golden statues of Buddhas (past, present and future), previous Dalai Lamas (there have been 13 prior), and hundreds (if not thousands!) of Tibetans coming in to pray and make their offerings within the incense-filled chapels. These offerings, we learned, could be anything: barley, water, milk, money and yak butter. The last two were clearly the most popular. Yak butter, with its very distinct smell, is the smell of Lhasa. It is for sale in the markets, made into candles that burn in the temples, cooked into a hot drink (bo cha) and even formed into statues. It is clearly a staple in the daily lives of Tibetans, but for us, we haven't yet acquired a taste (or smell!) for the omnipresent dairy product.

Our day continued with a visit to the aforementioned Jokhang Temple.

The Buddhist relics, yak butter and incense smell, and ornate paintings and wall carvings were all familiar and similar to what we witnessed at Potala Palace. The highlight for us was when we climbed to the roof and were able to watch people walking through Jokhang Square below.

Our tourist day ended with a visit to Norbulinka, the Summer Palace of the Dalai Lama.

Since he is banished from Tibet and lives in northern India, the palace serves mainly as a place for tourists. The grounds must be magnificent in the summer when flowers are in full bloom. In early Spring, we could only imagine how lush and beautiful it would be.

On our last day in Lhasa, we visited two monasteries: Deprung...

...and Sera. They both currently house about 600 monks each, and the definite high point was witnessing them debate, in their native Tibetan language. Apparently, this is their only time each day to discuss their opinions of what they have learned with their fellow monks. At all other times, they are to pray, meditate and reflect on their own. It was certainly amazing to watch and listen to their very lively debates!

We leave Lhasa tomorrow on a 3-day journey to the Nepalese border. We both have a similar impression of Lhasa: it is one of an oppressed Tibet. There is a very strong presence of China's military and police. They stand guard on the rooftops, in the middle of markets and on every street corner.

We are told they are there to prevent riots from breaking out. We get the feeling it's only a way for China to flex their muscles. Also, it is apparently illegal to have any pictures of the Dalai Lama or have the Tibetan flag (regardless of how small). We learned that there are actually Chinese officials who are employed to randomly search Tibetan homes for these contraband items and prosecute offenders with jail time.

Despite the fact that Tibetans are forced to live under the Chinese flag, and we see them as clearly oppressed, they have been nothing but friendly, warm and welcoming to us. Heck! Mindy even learned how to make vegetarian momos (similar to dumplings) from the cook at our hotel. They were delicious, by the way!

Thanks for reading and we'll post again soon with our tales from the Friendship Highway!

Lots of love,
Ligeia and Mindy :)

Train through Eastern Tibet

2011-04-11T06:45:00.002-05:00

At 4:30pm in Xining we boarded car #1, just behind the engine car and found the middle bunks # 15 and 16 in a doorless room of 6 hard sleepers. We greeted our bunkmates with a smile and a Ni Hao and we were relieved when they responded in kind. For half of our previous train experience our neighbors were not so friendly, not returning our smiles even. Our new bunk mates were the opposite; they even shared food with us offering cherry tomatoes and the smallest cucumbers we had ever seen with the stem still on them. They were crisp and delicious.

We watched the sun disappear behind a low rounded mountain, did our evening ablutions and snuggled into bed. The train lights went out at 10pm but we stayed up and watched Donny Brasco with Al Pacino and Johnny Depp on our small tablet computer. We ate Oreo cookies that we had bought ourselves as a treat. At midnight we fell asleep knowing we would wake up on the Tibetan plateau.

The next morning we awoke just in time to witness the sun rise and make the long soft grasses glisten golden as they blew in the wind. The morning scenery included every shade of beige with a beautiful blue sky. We saw herds of sheep pass by our window and what Ligeia called "furry cows" which we realized were yaks, a very prevalent in Tibet.

As we moved along we began to sparingly see small concrete houses with colorful Tibetan prayer flags flapping in the wind. We saw some motorcycles with the drivers face completely covered except for a narrow slit to see.

At one point in the morning our bunkmates generously grabbed our attention to point out a gorgeous large blue lake we were passing. One woman even offered us her very coveted seat right by the window so we could see better. Without a doubt all the passengers filled the one side of the train to look, take pictures and exchange smiles with other passengers expressing their appreciation of such a natural beauty. We felt very lucky to be a part of that experience.

As our journey continued the white-caped mountains in the distance became not so distant and we found ourselves go right through them. The blue sky changed to cloud-covered. This blanket of white made spotting black yaks very easy. Our window in either direction looked like paintings of a white winter scene speckled with black yaks over the landscape.

In the afternoon Mindy, who always faces the direction of the train to avoid motion sickness, spotted dark clouds ahead. By this time the train was considerably less crowded with only one person left in our room of bunks. The corridors were much less packed with people making a trip to the "bathroom" much easier.

When we reached the dark clouds it snowed for a bit. It was at this point that we began wondering how we would meet our guide. Would s/he have a sign with our name? What if no one came to pick us up? We would have no way of contacting the agency other than an email address. We also didn't even have the name of the hotel in which we were staying. We decided to just put our faith in the company and see what happens.

We arrived in Lhasa after 24 hours on the train and it had become a bit sunny again. We were met by a man named Buchong who will be our guide for the next week. We also met our 3 Dutch traveler companions who also signed up for the tour. Buchong gave us all white satin scarves welcoming us to Tibet.

After checking in to our hotel...

...we immediately went out exploring. Besides we needed water. We found ourselves at the Barkhor where we walked around with people doing a kora or pilgrimage. It was amazing to watch. We watched a temple for awhile and just looked at what people were doing. But we'll talk about our impressions of Lhasa later after we've been here for a bit.

Both of us have experienced a bit of altitude sickness including symptoms of shortness of breath and mild headaches. Mindy also became a bit dizzy at times. We're keeping a close watch on that. For those of you that might worry about this, please know that we will stay in Lhasa for a few days before increasing our altitude again.

Please check in again for our Lhasa experiences.

Impressions of Xining

2011-04-08T18:57:00.004-05:00

The two times we took a taxi in Beijing we never got our change back, despite our protesting. In the end both the driver and we knew there was nothing we could do. We mention this as a backdrop for our arrival to Xining, where we took a taxi to Lete Youth Hostel. The bill came to 25 Yuan and because we only had a 20 and a 10 we were certain that the bill would really turn out to be 30Yuan. We were delightfully surprised to get our change. This, coupled with friendly smiles and waves from two Muslim women food vendors when getting into our taxi, was a nice way to start our Xining experience.

Our 20 minute ride to our hostel included high rise upon high rise under construction. It was actually quite incredible. It makes Calgary look like a kid's sandbox. Rows and rows of concrete blocks with cranes on them in what can only be described as a dirt playground lacking in color and adding a grayness to the air. From where are they expecting so many people to fill these concrete apartments?

Keeping with the high-rise motif, even our hostel was on the 16th floor. Due to the ever present MSG in the food, which kept giving Ligeia headaches, we were very happy that our hostel had a kitchen we could use for a small fee.

This of course meant going to a supermarket which turned out to be a very interesting experience. They had a variety of already prepared food in large blue and white porcelain pots with glass lids so you could see what was inside. There were vegetables that we didn't recognize and were curious about. An example of this was a bunch of green stems and at the top it looked like beans before they turn into a bean. We also saw something that later we learned was called asparagus lettuce. I had never heard of that before but it tasted very good.

There was a huge variety of pasta in package-less bundles tied with plastic bands. They came in all sorts of colors and thicknesses.

We were most amazed at the egg section, having never seen so many choices. The varying sizes and colors makes our choice of white and brown seem quite boring. They're were blue small ones and black and white marbled ones. It was like Easter Sunday afternoon!

Our favorite part of the shopping experience was finding foods we recognized in what seemed to be the "ethnic" aisle. We felt so cultured buying penne pasta.

In other news, Ligeia has discovered that after getting used to the squat toilets, she actually prefers them. Mindy, on the other hand, will stick to her familiar sit down ones thank you very much.

Also in Xining Mindy discovered to her horror that nhl.com is blocked in China. Please someone email her and tell her how her Leafs are doing.

We take an over night train to Lhasa tomorrow in the hard sleeper class. We got 2 middle bunks again which were not our first choice but we're just happy to be on the train. Mindy got sick while in Xining, which naturally lent itself to becoming quite homesick. Hopefully she'll feel better soon.

Ligeia and Mindy :):)

The Markets of Xining

2011-04-08T06:03:00.002-05:00

The first market we went to was small and encompassed four blocks of a wide alley. This market was filled with shoes, Calvin Klain knockoff underwear and an assortment of food. The food included "Muslim food"which looks like a round bread about the size of a small plate and you can choose from an assortment of meats and vegetables laid out on skewers of what you want fried and put inside. A spicy sauce tops this.

In the middle of the street were vendors offering roasted corn on the cob and whole roasted potatoes (some were sweet potatoes). The potatoes were our favorite.

The next day we ventured over to Mo Jia Jie market, which was considerably bigger, occupying several long streets. There were all kinds of fresh vegetables and fruit, some we had never seen before. There was also the usual selection of meats where you could clearly tell the type based on the carcass hanging behind it. We saw caged live chickens, ducks and roosters all of which we had seen before in other places such as Guatemala. What we didn't expect was seeing live pigeons in cages for sale. It wasn't until then that we realized we hadn't seen any pigeons since we arrived in Xining.

Turning the corner we found ourselves in the seafood section of the market and this we found rather disturbing. Fish of all kinds, eels and even soft-shelled turtles had been stuffed into tightly packed aquariums live. Having scuba-dived with many of these animals, Ligeia found this particularly difficult to see.

We quickly left that section and started searching for a local specialty called gan mian pi which is cold spicy noodles. In our bad Mandarin we managed to locate it and even say we are vegetarian and we don't want MSG. The place that was serving it was small with about 6 small tables and small stools to sit on. To go in you needed to go through a door of green plastic strands hanging from the top. If they had been beads it would have been like a hippie door in the 60s. The food came in a small white bowl with two pairs of black chopsticks. Ligeia tried it first and loved it. It was a bit too spicy for Mindy and Ligeia was happy to finish it. We left feeling triumphant.

On the walk home we got a little lost, yet managed to match the street signs all in Chinese symbols to the symbols on our map. Again we felt triumphant.

We'll be leaving Xining tomorrow and will write more about our impressions of the city.

Check in again soon,
Ligeia and Mindy :):)

Leaving Beijing

2011-04-05T21:33:00.006-05:00

Like much of what we saw in the former East Berlin and Poland (previous communist countries), Beijing is a prime example of the communist government. Buildings were massive, and in the case of the Beijing West Train Station, sometimes gorgeously designed:

What caught us by surprise though was the security checkpoint at the entrance to the Peking Duck restaurant attached to the station. The organization of this train station, however, offers strong competition for its German counterparts. There were huge waiting rooms and everything worked like clockwork. People knew exactly when and where to line up and on time meant on time!

We began our last day in Beijing attending a sunrise flag ceremony at Tiananmen Square. We stupidly thought that there would be less people at the sunrise ceremony versus the sunset ceremony. In a country of 1 billion people, we realized how preposterous this assumption was. Although our sightlines were blocked by tall people in front of us, we could hear the national anthem as the sun rose and the experience was beautiful.

We continued with our day by taking a tour of the Mutianyu section of the Great Wall. We took a ski-lift ride to the wall and hiked the ups and downs as we approached each watchtower.

It was a perfectly sunny day but again because of the Tomb Sweeping holiday the wall was more populous than usual.

We also learned that many people died during the construction of the wall and were buried within its structure, in effect making the wall a giant tomb.

To get back down the mountain we took a steel toboggan ride back to the base.

Now that we've been in China for a few days, we're beginning to experience some expected culture shock and we're doing our best to overcome it. Here are some examples:

1) Relatively few merchants accept credit cards, including travel agencies. This has proven difficult for us as we are not used to carrying around so much cash. We are also limited in the amount of money we can withdraw through ATM's each day (nowhere near enough we need for our Tibetan adventure).

2) The street signs in Beijing are displayed in the direction opposite to what we are used to. That makes looking at a map and being at an intersection rather challenging, especially when we are trying to rush to the bank in time to pay a deposit and then grab a taxi to the train station in time to catch an overnight train. whew! We managed it though.

3) Spitting. Let's talk about it. First of all - EW! It's not just the act of spitting that we are actively learning to be more tolerant of, it's the precursor to it. The throat-clearing preparation to gather as much "stuff" as possible can make a shy stomach turn. On the other hand we learned that the word "spittoon" has modern use, and not just that of the wild west. When visiting the Forbidden City, we saw a large spittoon made of gold. Only the best for an emperor we suppose.

4) Toilets. Some are the ones we're used to and those are blessings. Much like in Central and South America, however, we are asked to put the toilet paper in a little basket beside the toilet and not in the toilet itself. We were introduced to a new kind of toilet called a "squatter". This is exactly what it sounds like, a hole in the ground you are meant to squat over and do your business. This can prove quite challenging the first time. Also successfully going number two in a squatting position on a moving train deserves a medal of some sort we think. This is what a squatter looks like:

5) We expected that being vegetarian here might prove difficult but so far we have to admit that this has been ok. We were not expecting the abundant use of MSG which has been giving Ligeia headaches ever since we arrived. Luckily we're learning how to get around this. Our current hostel, for example, has a kitchen and Ligeia was so pleased to have "Mindian food" again. :)

After our 20 hour overnight train from Beijing, sleeping in a "hard sleeper" class bed, which the Mayan family we stayed with near Coban, Guatemala helped prepare us for by providing us with 2 planks of wood to sleep on, we arrived in Xining (2275 meters above sea level). Here's Mindy in the middle bunk of 6 in a sleeper car:

We are here for the next few days waiting for our Tibetan permit to come through. Also, it's a nice stop to help us slowly acclimatize to the higher elevation. Lhasa sits at a mind-boggling 3595 meters. Other areas we'll be visiting in Tibet are even higher.

We will write again soon and let you know about our experience in Xining.

Lots of love and thanks for following our trip,
Ligeia and Mindy :):)

Arrived in Beijing!!!!!!!!!!!

2011-04-03T18:16:00.003-05:00

We arrived in Beijing after our long 14 hour flight from Chicago. The turbulent landing wreaked havoc on Mindy's tummy, causing her to "lose her lunch" as everyone deplaned. Thankfully, she felt better immediately afterwards! Once we checked into our hostel...

...we walked over to Tiananmen Square, which included 2 security checkpoints.

We braved the restaurant scene for dinner and pointed to a picture that looked like eggs and tomatoes - it was actually really good!

The next morning, we explored the Forbidden City.

Apparently it's a day of rest in China which serves as an excuse for many Chinese to become tourists themselves. We have never seen so many people in one place before!

Yet, even with all those people, we were somehow miraculously able to get this people-less picture:

Some of the translations of the signs into English were a little confusing at times. Here's Mindy demonstrating what NOT to do according to the sign:

We are working on getting used to being stared at and the vast variety of new smells. Tomorrow, we will visit a section of the Great Wall and we have made arrangements to take an overnight train to Xining, with the hopes of getting to Lhasa. We're not sure if our Tibet travel permits will be arranged in time for these plans, but we're trying! We discovered that our blog is blocked in China so we've enlisted the help of a friend to post by proxy.

We'll write again soon!
Mindy & Ligeia :) :)

Off to China - Stay Tuned!

2011-04-01T02:39:00.004-05:00

Today's the day Ligeia and Mindy head off for their first time to Asia! The itinerary currently includes China, Tibet and Nepal, with their first stop being Beijing.

Most impressively, we will be traveling for the entire month of April with only two backpacks:

We hope to update our blog frequently, so you can follow along with our adventures every step of the way.

We'll be in touch soon!
Ligeia and Mindy :) :)

Ligeia's Last Day at Work

2011-03-31T02:54:00.003-05:00

Ligeia's final class was today and she spent it enjoying time with her students. She brought in a sombrero and a couple cowboy hats, which as you can see from the picture below were a great hit.

Ligeia also sported an abaya and hijab (traditional women's clothing from Saudi Arabia).

Her favorite however was dressing as a Saudi prince:

She could get used to this!

She really loved her job and will miss it very much. The cultural exchanges, the laughs, but most of all the people, students and the teachers alike.
She's also ready for the next chapter and keeps reminding herself that you have to close one door to open another.
Ligeia and Mindy :):)

Mindy's Last Hockey Game in Toronto

2011-03-27T08:10:00.004-05:00

Mindy has played 2 seasons at Moss Park and during this time she has really grown as a player. She started out wobbly at best on her skates and progressed to getting several goals and assists during the season.
Last night the game was amazing to watch. They were down 5-0 midway through the second period. Mindy's team battled back strong to eventually tie it at 5 with halfway through the third!!! It was amazing! Mindy helped the comeback with an assist. Then with 2.5 minutes to go the other team scored, and despite pulling the goalie with one minute left, the final score stood at 6-5. What a game!
Dad and Trix came out to watch as well and give her support. This night was a night to remember.
Good luck Mindy. I know you will be missed.
Ligeia and Mindy :):)

Full Moon over Lake Ontario

2011-03-19T23:32:00.003-05:00

We enjoyed our relaxed Saturday with our out-of-town friend Beth. We also invited our friend Heart to join us for a wonderful Mexican dinner cooked by Mindy. The highlight of the day for Ligeia was watching the full moon over Lake Ontario. We drove to Cherry Beach to view it:

And as you can see from the above pictures, mother nature did not disappoint. It's important not to take these happenings for granted!
Stay tuned for our next adventure,
Ligeia and Mindy :):)

Niagara Falls

2011-03-18T15:52:00.003-05:00

Hello everyone,
We drove to Buffalo today to pick up our friend Beth from the airport. And of course we couldn't go through Niagara Falls without having a look. The falls were looking particularly beautiful today, especially with the snow and ice covering many of the rocks.
Here are some of our favorite shots:

Stay tuned for the next excited adventure this weekend.
Ligeia and Mindy :):)

Ligeia's Weekend in Tampa

2011-02-28T12:40:00.011-05:00

Ligeia went to Tampa over the weekend to visit Erick. The sunny warm weather was a nice break from the cold wet winter weather Toronto has been experiencing. Because the trip was so short, Erick and Ligeia maximized their time.

Saturday they went to the Flan Festival in historic Ybor City...

...where they tasted lots of different kinds of flan and saw cigars getting made...

...as well as watched flamenco dancing.

They walked around the streets of Ybor City and on their way back to the car they came across the Tampa Zoo promoting themselves by using this cute opossum:

They went for a walk in the park to visit Vivace.

Here's Erick walking ahead.

On Sunday Erick and Ligeia went to Clearwater beach where they enjoyed a speedboat ride. Dolphins jumped out of the water in the wake of the boat. It was fantastic to watch.

In the afternoon they made their way over to St. Pete Beach.

When not out and about, Erick and Ligeia enjoyed watching TV and movies and eating yummy Mexican food. Thanks Erick, Cheech and Chong for a wonderful weekend.
Ligeia :)

Winterlude in Ottawa

2011-02-21T11:25:00.004-05:00

This Family Day long weekend, Ligeia and Mindy went to Ottawa to enjoy the final weekend of Winterlude. On Saturday, we went to the National Art Gallery and out front is this amazing spider sculpture. It's hard to see it from the photo, but in the spider's underbelly are a whole bunch of eggs:

We didn't spend much time at the gallery, so we focused on Canadian and Native American art. It was definitely interesting to see some of the clothing made and worn by Native Canadians over 400 years ago! What was surprising, was that inside the gallery there was a beautiful garden in a center courtyard:

Outside, back in the bitter cold, there was a church with silver steeples. Photographically, we thought this was interesting:

Since the temperature rose to plus 9C on the Friday, officials closed the Rideau Canal for skating on the Thursday, Friday and Saturday. That hampered the Winterlude festivities as many of the events were canceled or ruined (the ice sculptures couldn't handle the warm temperatures).

Finally, though, on the Sunday, after the temperatures dropped to -17C at night, a 4.4 km stretch of the canal was opened for public skating. The ice conditions were bumpy and full of deep cracks, but it didn't stop us from enjoying it!

And a trip to the canal could not be complete without a compulsory stop for a Beaver Tail (fried dough with your choice of sweet or savory topping). We opted for the garlic butter and cheese variety - very yummy!

In addition to enjoying Winterlude, we were able to spend some wonderful, quality time with Mindy's cousins. A very special thanks to Maya and Robert for hosting us.

With much love,
Mindy & Ligeia :) :)

Chinese Lantern Festival

2011-02-12T16:54:00.004-05:00

Mindy and Ligeia were invited by Oma and Opa to Orangeville to take part in a Chinese Lantern Festival. The celebration consisted of about 8 courses of 100% vegetarian food and many theatrical and music acts. Below are a few pictures of various styles of Chinese opera:

We also very able to tour the area and visit the temple that has been designed for Buddist, Taoist and Hindu religions:

Inside were a variety of statues very ornately decorated and the opportunity to place incense in a big bowl as an offering to them.

In another temple we could discover what animal we were based on the year we were born. It turns out that Ligeia is a Water Ox (very fitting we thought ;) and here is Mindy posing with her Metal Monkey, also rather fitting. ;)

And we couldn't leave without ringing the bell.

What an experience! This gave us a little taste of what we might find in parts of China.
Ligeia and Mindy :):)

Bermuda - Ligeia's 30th Country

2011-02-08T08:45:00.008-05:00

Mindy and Ligeia took a 4 day weekend trip to Bermuda. Above is the view from our balcony. We stayed at the Fairmont Princess Hotel in Hamilton. Here's Mindy attempting to be a princess:

We got there on Friday evening, just in time for sunset:

We began our Saturday by exploring the streets of St. George on the east of the island. Here is one of our favorite pictures:

In St. George we visited the Unfinished Church. If you look closely you can see Mindy on the left trying to look inside:

We then took a tour of two caves: Crystal Cave and Fantasy Cave. We enjoyed Crystal Cave the most, but as you can see, they are both very beautiful:

The rest of the afternoon was spent climbing over the rocks at Spittal Pond, relaxing and enjoying beautiful views such as this one:

The next day was another walking day. We spent some time walking along some ocean view trails on the southern shore. It turned into a beautiful sunny afternoon which made the beautiful blues of the water sparkle and become very vibrant. Here's Ligeia against a Bermuda blue backdrop:

Here are some more lovely views off this trail:

Mindy really likes lighthouses so we made sure we went there. Unfortunately, when we got there a sign hung on the door saying it was closed due to restoration. But it didn't stop us from getting this picture of it from the ferry on the way back to our hotel:

The final morning was a gorgeous one so we spent most of the day walking around Hamilton. We climbed up to Ft. Hamilton in time for a Skirling ceremony, which apparently takes places every Monday. According to Lonely Planet, Bermuda has a strong Scottish heritage. This pipe band played several pieces lasting about 30 minutes and included a traditional dancer. It was fantastic!

So we are now back in Toronto planning for our next trip.
Ligeia is so proud of having gone to 30 countries now. She still has many more to go though to reach her goal of visiting every country in the world!
Her newest favorite quote: "I haven't been everywhere, but it's on my list."
Mindy and Ligeia :):)

Maple Syrup Popsicles - Attempt #1

2011-02-02T15:40:00.005-05:00

Mindy and Ligeia first had these at Carnival in Quebec City in 2008. With all the snow that we got we'd thought we'd try it for ourselves. First, you will need Jumbo craft sticks and good maple syrup...

Then, you must also have lots of snow on your balcony:

Heat the maple syrup on the stove.

Then, after packing down some snow, pour some maple syrup:

When you realize that you have the wrong kind of snow and you didn't pack it down enough anyway and that you probably shouldn't have heated up the maple syrup, just pour in the rest of the maple syrup and add more fresh snow and mix:

Scoop the mixture into a cup and eat with your jumbo craft stick and pretend that your goal was to make a maple syrup slushie all along:

Maybe we'll try again during the next snowstorm.
Hope everyone is enjoying the winter.
Ligeia :)

Daytrip to Lake Simcoe

2011-01-29T20:28:00.006-05:00

On Saturday, Mindy and Ligeia headed up to Keswick to visit friends that are lucky enough to live right on the shores of Lake Simcoe. Despite its size, the vast majority of the lake freezes in the winter and, amazingly, frozen enough to support trucks, cars, snowmobiles, ATVs, ice fishing huts, hockey rinks, snowshoers, x-country skiers and us walkers. Thankfully, we had a nice, clear and calm day to enjoy the lake:

Later in our trek, we decided to try cross-country skiing. It took us a while to get the hang of it (in the picture below, Mindy had just rolled over on her ankle!)

In no time, we were skiing off towards the horizon!

Despite the lack of clouds, the sunset was gorgeous! Bearing the cold was definitely worth it:

Hope everyone's enjoying the joys of winter! Special thanks to Ann & Damien for being such gracious hosts, chefs and ski instructors!

Mindy & Ligeia :) :)

Winter Cottaging

2011-01-14T19:22:00.004-05:00

Mindy and Ligeia had wondered for some time what the cottage and its surroundings including the lake look like during the winter. So we decided to go there and check it out. We began by driving to the cottage road and parking our car. We then put on snow shoes and hiked the approximate 2 kilometers in.

It was amazing to see all the snow and ice all over the cottage! But even more amazing what how beautiful the lake looked. As you can see it was a perfectly clear day and snow covered the entire frozen lake:

After the excitement of first arriving we finally got inside and started to get "set up" for relaxing and the first thing on the agenda was getting warm. This proved much more difficult than expected. In fact, we learned just how "un-winterized" the cabin actually was. Here's Mindy trying to get the fire nice and hot:

After a VERY cold night (-20C) we awoke to another freezing cold but beautiful day. Deciding to not spend a second night as planned, we thought we would go for a little hike on the lake before heading home. It was so much fun to "walk on water".

Walking back to the car proved beautiful. We noticed how much further we could see without all the leaves. It felt like a totally different place.

On the drive home, we were drawn by the beauty of Burleigh Falls and decided to stop to get some pictures:

We enjoyed our experience but are also happy to be back home in a nice warm apartment.
Hope everyone is enjoying the winter,
Ligeia and Mindy :):)

Target Shooting

2011-01-08T17:57:00.004-05:00

Today Mindy, Erick and Ligeia met Seth and Karen to go outdoor target shooting. This was Mindy's first time ever holding a gun, let alone shooting one. Here she is ready, willing and nervous:

Ligeia, however, was comparably a seasoned pro! After all, this was her 4th time shooting a gun!

Mindy soon got the hang of it, and moved up from the 22 rifle to the SKS (which had considerably more kick-back). The paper targets we were aiming at were shot to pieces!

Overall, not a bad way to spend a birthday! Hope your 38th year is a fantastic one, Ligeia!!!

Lots of love,

Mindy :)