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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 […]

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 […]

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 […]

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 […]

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 […]

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 […]

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. […]

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 […]

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 […]

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 […]

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 […]

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 […]

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 […]

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 […]

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 […]

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 […]

After a wonderful evening with friends at the Olive Garden, we celebrated Ligeia’s last day of being 37 with a birthday cake. To our surprise, people around us in our section of the dining room joined in singing Happy Birthday. And none of them were louder than the distinguished Walter Gretzky! After Mindy recognized the […]

Mindy and Ligeia continue to enjoy their visit with Erick. On Wednesday afternoon they all went for a walk along Clearwater Beach. It was a beautiful day although the wind was a bit on the cool side. Yesterday we went to Orlando and found a Citrus Grove called the Showcase of Citrus, where we could […]