Canada blog

(Written early in September but delayed due to lack of time to sort out our photos!)

Ottawa.

Where are all the people? On a Saturday early in August, it seemed so quiet compared with Toronto! We realized how true it is that everyone leaves this city of politicians and bureaucrats at the weekend when we found it thrumming on Monday night.

Diving into Canadian history; the Museum of Civilization is amazing, beautifully put together in a wonderful building designed by First Nations architect Douglas Cardinal, but also overwhelming. We drank deep of the First Peoples’ Hall, wandered across a continent and  through hundreds of years of history in the Canada Hall and came ‘Face to Face’ with some key Canadian personalities – I was pleased to find I already knew at least something about many of them. (The Wikipedia article gives a great overview).

Chinese Fireworks over Lac Leamy in Gattineau (the Quebec side of the Ottawa river), were more spectacular even than our expectations of them.

A day to recover from intellectual indigestion, sandwiching our exploration of the Byward Market  (one of Canada’s oldest, fabulous foods, with funky shops including a run of high-end boutiques to the east) between exceptional local food for both brunch and dinner (Navarra and Fraser Cafe)  – it was particularly fun at the latter to let the chefs decide what to feed us! Paul risked expulsion from our hotel room – any closer to the skunk he photographed and I would not have wanted him anywhere near me.  Strange that, in our capital city, we also got our first sightings of both a groundhog and a beaver.

It seems as if much of Canada needs to be experienced from the water. Ottawa is no exception – you gain a really good sense of how things fit together (and we still find ourselves awed by the immensity of the rivers). Having absorbed the overview, we headed up the Rideau Locks to Parliament Hill. History and citizenship came together as we toured both the exterior and the interior, visiting the House of Commons and Senate, as well as the library, the Peace Tower and some of the committee rooms. Later that evening, we returned for Mosaika, a fabulous exploration in sound and light of what it means to be Canadian projected against the Parliament buildings.

Of course, this being  August, we couldn’t skate the Rideau, definitely on our list of ‘must dos’. So I guess that means we will be back . . .

(There are more photos in our gallery.)

Posted in Art & culture, Food, Leisure, museums & galleries, Ottawa, Sightseeing, wild things | 1 Comment »

Spring rolls, burgers and chips and cake (all chocolate!) at MoRoCo

Took in the ice festival in Yorkville today and, as the ice sculptures began to drip in the thaw, indulged ourselves at MoRoCo – afternoon tea with a difference; definitely not English tea-room style.

Slightly tongue-in-cheek,  definitely camp, but in the best way, it felt distinctly decadent and definitely fun (if decidedly expensive, but we are talking Yorkville prices)! The sipping chocolate alone was ludicrously rich, and the shared platter of cakes was to die for (good thing our cholesterol and sugar levels are healthy!). The spring rolls, served hot, contained, chocolate, banana and just a hint of peanut butter in a fine pastry case, served with a caramel dip.  The ‘ketchup’ for the shortbread ‘chips’ (light as anything) was raspberry coulis.

Tags: activity, chocolate, Food, restaurants, Toronto
Posted in Food, Toronto | 1 Comment »

Gina at Kultura during Winterlicious 2011

At Kultura… drinking a Madagasgrr!

(Update: this was a first post from Paul’s new Android phone and should contain a photo, but it fell over on the upload! A little sorting of this site and learning to do, I think.)

Kultura – food definitely hit the mark in terms of flavours and textures, really interesting. But the Winterlicious quantities were slightly meagre. The biggest failing was the icy draft -thermals were the order of the day. Good service, cute waiter.

Tags: Food
Posted in Food, Leisure | No Comments »

In choosing Canada as our home, we were aware that one of the possible downsides is that paid holiday (vacation) time is significantly less than in the UK. However, we felt that this was balanced out by an apparent Canadian capacity to make the most of leisure time. The weekend just past certainly saw us embrace this spirit, nourishing mind, body and soul!

Friday evening: etchings by Rembrandt and Freud – the Rembrandt so incredibly fine and detailed, the Freud bolder but no less masterly, both capturing so much more than a visual likeness of their subjects; then fabulous photos, model ships and (as AGO members) VIP entry to the King Tut exhibition, recapturing an earlier fascination in the breathtaking beauty of so many of the items on display.

On to fire and ice – the Angel of the Apocalypse belching flame into the darkness as we skated, the trees glinting red and gold with Chinese lanterns to welcome the new year of the Tiger, as pillow-fight snow-flakes drifted down;  a huge screen, held in the embrace of City Hall’s twin towers, provided a constantly changing vertical stage filled with oriental images and peopled by fan dancers, stick fighters and more. (On Sunday we caught a different acrobatic  spectacle by Compagnie Les Passagers with a more elemental theme.)

Appealing to our senses, the foodie explorations encouraged by the fixed price Winterlicious menus are a delight – we enjoyed two great meals over the weekend.  A late Saturday lunch at Pure Spirits took us to the Distillery District, followed up with the post-prandial pleasures of checking out our favourite galleries there, as well as lusting after high-style lights at Artemide.  And we can’t seem to resist the wonderful Quebecois cheeses, St Lawrence Market offering up this week’s temptation!

On Sunday, we went Tumbling Into Light – amazing music, dance and visual imagery! Deeply moving, its intention to reflect the constant spiralling of light into darkness into light (individual, cultural, cosmic), I was awed by the twin awareness of the hugeness of the human capacity to encompass pain and the hugeness of the human capacity to manifest beauty.

On our way home from an early supper (Moroccan at 93 Harbord), Winter City claimed our attention again with an eerie performance by Glacialis, an Ice Orchestra. Who would have believed that ice tubes would resonate so wonderously in response to a hot flame!

[video filename=http://canada.bearne.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/02/IceMusic.flv height=280 width=300 title="Ice_Orchestra" /]

So often here I am conscious of that I can still be that saucer-eyed child, utterly present, utterly entranced and engaged . . .

Tags: culture, museums & galleries, restaurants, Toronto, winter
Posted in diversity, Food, Leisure, museums & galleries | No Comments »

• Eating Poutine, a cholesterol laden Canadian snack speciality consisting of fries (chips), gravy and cheese curds. I wasn’t sure about the idea, but actually we really enjoyed it and will now seek out more authentic renditions.
• Becoming annual members of the Art Gallery of Ontario – this will allow us gradually to enjoy and absorb what is a really interesting and well curated collection. The new Gehry Galleria Italia is a fabulous space, currently housing a magical sculptural exhibition of trees re-visioned (we loved this)
• Buying my first pair of ‘leisure skates’ – my UK figures boots are just too uncomfortable!
• Skating on a natural rink in Glen Stewart park at the foot of a ravine that drops a way just below where we live – steep wooden steps lead down into a magic woodland walk by a stream, currently flowing between snowy banks we were the only people on the ice – magic!
• Commitment (voluntary) to a local community arts/regeneration project, Art of the Danforth, an art walk planned for April (I’m sure I’ll write more on this as things develop!)
• Entertaining our first guests in our new home on Friday evening, genuinely a delight!
• Getting our OHIP cards – we are now covered by the Ontario Health scheme. But with a shortage of family doctors, finding one is the next challenge.

Coming up we have:

• Toronto’s Winter City festival – spectacle, music, multi-culturalism and more!
• Winterlicious, (part of the above) Toronto’s winter food festival, a fabulous chance to try new restaurants at very affordable prices. We have, over the two week period, booked two lunches and two dinners, including lunch at Canoe, arguably Toronto’s top restaurant (Jess ate there back in September and is still raving about it!)
• Music and multi-media show at the Young Centre for the Performing Arts

Tags: culture, immigration, milestones, Toronto
Posted in connections, Food, Leisure, museums & galleries, Toronto | 1 Comment »