Summer fun list update #1

Greetings! It's been about four weeks since I posted my summer fun list. Today I'm doing a quick check-in to review my progress. 

My Summer Fun List Update #1 (June 21-July 20):

1. Visit farmers' markets, local parks, or beaches: In progress. Since June 21, I've made three visits to farmers' markets, and spent time at the local parks or beaches almost every day. This summer has been hot, hot, hot which makes going to a park or a beach a welcome relief.

2. Attend summer festivals: In progress. I've attended three summer festivals in four weeks. I think that just shows how many fun events are out there. Two of them were in Toronto (HTO Wave Pendulum, Barbados on the Water) and one was in Quebec City (Festival d'été de Québec).

3. Go to outdoor concerts: In progress. Some of the outdoor concerts were individual shows, and some were parts of the three music festivals that I mentioned in #2 above. I attended four separate performances by Mike Branton, Amanda Rheaum, Elan Trotman, and Jordan John. All of them were excellent.

4. Watch new-to-me movies: In (slower) progress. I attempted to watch three movies but only saw one comedy, I Feel Pretty, in its entirety. I enjoyed Amy Schumer's acting in the movie.

5. View art exhibitions: In progress. I saw plenty of beautiful arts and architecture in Quebec City, plus three art exhibitions in Toronto. I'll write about a number of fun outdoor art installations that I saw in my next post. Hope you'll return to my blog to check it out.

6. Enjoy BBQ gatherings with my extended family: In progress. We enjoyed one family BBQ gathering in June. We have another BBQ scheduled this month. Good food, good company in good weather, what's not to love?

7. Meet up with friends in Quebec City in July: Completed! We had a wonderful time in Quebec City. I wrote a post about the trip and included some photos here.

Le Château Frontenac hotel, Quebec City

8. Celebrate my cousin's wedding in Paris, France in August: Pending. I look forward to this trip. I'm also planning a side excursion from Paris.

My summer has been full of fun activities so far. I look forward to enjoying the rest of the season.

How are things going with you? What good things happened? I'd love to hear your comments.

An InLinkz Link-up

Postcard from Quebec City

Bonjour mes amis! One of the items on my summer fun list as written here is to meet up with friends in Quebec City in July. For this family vacation, we decided to fly to Quebec City and stay close to Old Town Quebec where most of the attractions are. We've been to Quebec City before, however, some of our friends have not, so this is an opportunity for us to re-visit some of our favourite sights in this beautiful city and create new memories with friends.

We had a record-breaking heat wave the entire week that we were there. The daily high temperatures were about 35 Celsius (95F). With humidity it felt like 45 Celsius (113F) but we kept cool and carried on. We did most of our sightseeing either early in the morning or later in the afternoon into evening, and stayed indoor during the day. Coincidentally, Canada's 151st birthday and the Festival d'Été de Québec (FEQ) were on in the same week so we enjoyed great celebrations and music as well.

HOW TO GET THERE:

Quebec City or Ville de Québec is the capital city of the Canadian province of Quebec, on the Atlantic side of Canada. It's about 800 km (450 miles) north east of Toronto.  You can get there by planes, trains, automobiles, or boats as the city is right by the St Lawrence River. The airport code is YQB.

WHAT I LOVE ABOUT QUEBEC CITY:

• Quebec City is a walkable walled city with a unique European feel and is incredibly well preserved after 400 plus years. It's the only walled city north of Mexico.
• It's a mostly French-speaking city with visible signs of French culture, architecture, and cuisine, including the quintessential poutine. Want French patisserie and boulangerie? Check! Enjoy un petit café? Check! If you don't know French, no worries, as staff in the tourism industry are bilingual in English and French or multi-lingual.
• Charming Old Town Quebec is a UNESCO World Heritage site, perfect for me to wander, browse, and admire several national historic landmarks in a compact space.
• It's a city where I feel like a kid, excited to walk along the ramparts, touch huge cannons, climb uphill to the Plains of Abraham to get a good view of the St Lawrence River below, listen and watch the street artists perform under the statue of Samuel Champlain, or take a peek at the artisan shops. The combination of hills and river offers some spectacular scenery (plus good workouts for the legs and lungs!). Oh, if you're not into hills or walking, no worries, there are funiculars and horse-drawn carriages which are attractions on their own.
• It's so Europe and so close that I can visit and enjoy without leaving Canada.

Without further ado, please see some of my photos below. Click on the images to enlarge them.

HISTORIC LANDMARKS: Too many historic landmarks to list here, however, every time I go to Old Town Quebec, I always visit Le Château Frontenac hotel (dated back to 1893), Dufferin Terrace, the Plains of Abraham, the Citadel, and the various gates such as Porte Saint-Jean, Porte Kent, Porte Saint-Louis that are part of the fortifications.

Le Château Frontenac celebrating its 125th year

Dufferin Terrace and St Lawrence River

Plains of Abraham and the Citadel

Porte Saint-Louis, part of the fortifications

View of Porte St-Jean Tower

Cannons along the rampart

Grande Allée Drill Hall completed in 1887

Notre-Dame Basilica Cathedral dated back to 1647

Notre-Dame Basilica Cathedral interior

STREET VIEWS: There are plenty of eateries, art galleries, and shops along Grande Allée Est, rue Saint-Jean, avenue Cartier, all the small streets in the Old Town, and rue du Petit-Champlain in Lower Town. Quebec City is also dotted with welcoming greenery, fountains, art statues, and flower beds.

Grande Allée Est lined with eateries

avenue Cartier and its funky street lamp shades

rue du Petit-Champlain from Escalier Casse-Cou

Hilly rue Sainte-Ursule towards rue St-Jean

Parkette across from Hotel de Ville

Tree-lined sidewalk along Grande-Allée Ouest

Splash pad in Old Town Quebec

Another tree-lined sidewalk with old lamp posts

Pretty summer flowers

FESTIVAL D'ÉTÉ de QUÉBEC (FEQ): Quebec City summer festival is an annual 11-day music festival. This year, it's on from July 5 to 15 with a great line up of performers at various stages in the city. We were able to join in some of the performances and let me tell you, this city knows how to celebrate!

All in all, I've again had a wonderful time in Quebec City and another amazing trip this year. I'm now back at home enjoying summer in my city, and plotting my next adventure.

I'd love to hear your thoughts about Quebec City.

Lisbon and Sintra in 3 days

Having been to several well known European cities such as Athens, London, Paris, Amsterdam, I was interested in visiting Lisbon for three days, before we moved on to the Algarve for a family beach vacation.

My first impressions of Lisbon were that it was easy to navigate Lisbon by metro trains, trams or walking. The city was clean, local residents were friendly, and the food was good. Hotel accommodations in Lisbon were also less expensive than in London, Paris or Amsterdam.

On Day 1, we took the tram to Belem to see the Tower of Belem and the Jeronimos Monastery. UNESCO declared both the tower and the monastery World Heritage Sites in 1983. The Tower of Belem was built between 1515 and 1519. It was fun to explore each floor of the tower and see the views from the lookouts. The Jeronimos Monastery was built between 1501 and the end of the 16th century. Take a look at the intricate work above the entrance to the Jeronimos Monastery in the picture below.

Tower of Belem, Lisbon

Tower of Belem, Lisbon

Jeronimos Monastery, Lisbon

Above the entrance of the Jeronimos Monastery

On Day 2, we took the tram again and from the tram stop, walked uphill to Castle St. George (Castelo de S. Jorge) which was built in the mid-11th century. The view from the castle was fantastic. We were able to visit the Black Chamber (or the Dark Room) at the Castle to see 360 degrees detailed view of Lisbon in real time.

Map of Castle St. George, Lisbon

View of Lisbon from Castle St. George

Castle St. George wall

Castle St. George

After lunch in the Alfama neighbourhood, on Day 2 afternoon, we visited the Lisbon Oceanarium (Oceanario de Lisboa) which is the second largest aquarium in Europe, after the L’Oceanografic in Valencia, Spain. It was a well-designed aquarium that I’d recommend to others to visit.

Lisbon Oceanarium

On Day 3, we took a train from the Rossio train station in Lisbon to Sintra. The ride was about 30 minutes long. From the train station, we took a bus that went uphill with a few stops along the way. We visited the beautiful Pena Palace (another UNESCO World Heritage site), the Castle of the Moors, and the town of Sintra itself. There are a lot to see and explore here so give yourself a full day.

Pena Palace in Sintra

Pena Palace in Sintra

Pena Palace in Sintra

Castle of the Moors in Sintra

Castle of the Moors in Sintra

While walking around in Lisbon, I saw these ceramic, brightly painted roosters everywhere, and bought one as a souvenir. I learned about the story of the Rooster of Barcelos (or “Galo de Barcelos” in Portuguese), which symbolizes honesty, integrity, trust and honor. Some people also believe that it brings luck and happiness.

Rooster of Barcelos, Portugal

My other fond memories of Lisbon are the tile work seen on many of the houses, and the Portuguese custard tarts (Pasteis de Nata) for dessert. I bought two coasters with the tile inserts for my kitchen use.

Tile facade in Lisbon

Coasters with tile inserts from Lisbon

Fortunately, there is a well-established Portuguese community in Toronto so I can still buy the custard tarts as treats once in a while.

Have you been to Lisbon or Sintra? Tell me about your visit!

Athens in 3 days

One of my dreams came true when we visited Athens, the capital city of Greece, for three days, about two years ago. It was a stopover as part of a longer trip.

I booked a room at the Attalos Hotel for our stay.  I chose the hotel since it is a direct metro ride from the Athens International Airport, and is within walking distance to the major sights in central Athens. I receive no commission to mention the hotel name here on my blog.

We flew overnight from Toronto and arrived in Athens the following morning, around 10 local time. It was easy to follow the airport signage and buy the metro ticket to get on the local train. The ride from the airport to Monastikari station was comfortable and we experienced using public transit as Athenians do. Our hotel was about five minutes walk from Monastikari station. Check in was quick. Our room was clean and quiet. The hotel has a roof top patio bar with a nice view of the Acropolis.

With only three days to spend, we made the most of our time in Athens. We visited some of the glorious ancient temples such as the Acropolis and its iconic Parthenon, Ancient Agora, and Roman Agora. We did people watching at Monastikari Square and Syntagma Square. We enjoyed delicious and inexpensive Greek food at various small restaurants. We walked everywhere and just enjoyed being in Athens.

I’ve attached some of my favourite pictures from my visit:

Parthenon 447-438 B.C.

The Acropolis at night

Beautiful stadium at the Acropolis

Old Temple of Athena

The Erechtheion 421-406 B.C.

Ancient Agora in Athens

View of the Acropolis Museum

More Greek columns

Entrance to Roman Agora

Roman Agora ruins

A cat at Roman Agora

Monastikari Square

So much history, ancient architecture, and a vibrant city to experience. I hope you enjoy my picture selection. Have you been to Greece? Would you visit Athens?