Bruges - A Beautiful Medieval City

I was in Belgium for a few days in late Spring. A great day trip from Brussels is the medieval city of Bruges. The town of Bruges was formed in the 12th century and eventually grew to be a city. Bruges is known for its canals, chocolate and lace.

A canal in Bruges

Things to do:

Canal Cruise

I took a canal cruise which was a great way to get acquainted with the city. There were lots of beautiful historic buildings along the canal and the cruise went under the Meebrug Bridge - the oldest surviving bridge in Brugge dating to the 14th century. It was beautiful and a lovely adventure at a very reasonable price.

On the canal cruise

Burg Square

The market was open on the day my friends and I went to Bruges. We were in luck! We bought fresh strawberries to eat! It was interesting to look around at all the wares. Burg Square is where the first Count of Flanders had his headquarters. The architecture of the buildings is impressive.

Belfry Tower

The Belfry Tower is a medieval tower in the central square in Bruges. You can go to the top for great views. This tower was featured in the film In Bruges. The square is surrounded by beautiful buildings.

Belfry Tower

Chocolate

I bought lots of chocolate in Bruges! I had the best hot chocolate made with steamed milk and melted chocolate. It was delicious! There are lots of stores on almost every street that cell Belgian chocolate.

A Belgian hot chocolate!

Bruges is a beautiful city. It was easy to get to and a great day trip!

~Angie

The World of "Avatar"

I went to Disney World a few months ago. It was so much fun! 😎

I went with a group of girlfriends. We bought a three day pass that allowed us access to all the parks. We went to the Magic Kingdom, the Animal Kingdom, and Hollywood Studios.

The newest attraction at Disney World was Avatar: Flight of Passage. In the Animal Kingdom, you can go to Pandora, the world of Avatar. There are two rides there: the Flight of Passage, and the Na'Vi River Cruise.

The Tree of Life

As this was a new ride, the lineups were very long. We arrived at 9:30am, and the queue for this ride was already three hours long! We decided to do other things and come back in the late afternoon. So around 4pm, we came back again. The queue this time was about and hour-and-a-half.

Rides at Disney World are set up so that as you are going through the queue, there is a lot to look at while you wait for the ride. The queue for the Avatar: Flight of Passage ride started outside. This was in a rainforest area that is set up like Pandora, with lots of plants from the planet. As you walk through, you come to the research station. This was cool! There were lots of computers and workstations, and test tubes of samples. Also, a tank held a life-size Avatar.

Inside the lab area

When it is finally your turn to go, you are asked how many of your group you are with. All four of us got to go at that same time. In total, there were 16 people. You are led into a room where you are given a number to stand on. You watch a video about the research in Pandora. Then you go into the room where your "banshee" is waiting for you. You sit on the "banshee", a seat that resembles a motorbike. This is a 4D Virtual Reality experience.

As the ride begins, you fly off a cliff into the world of Pandora. A breeze blows on your face and a scent is present as well. As you fly you go over an ocean. I jumped when a whale-type creature jumped in front of me! As you fly, the seat beneath you moves so it feels like you are on a "banshee" that is flying. The ride lasts about 3 minutes and it is an amazing experience!

I loved it! My friends and I went back to go on it again before the park closed.

Another ride in the Pandora section of the Animal Kingdom that is great for families, is the Na'Vi River Cruise. This is a boat cruise through an underground river that shows the world of "Avatar". It is a calm river cruise and is very pretty. The foliage of Pandora glows in the dark.

The Na'Vi River Cruise

~Angie

The Most Notorious Concentration and Death Camp

"Those who do not remember the past are condemned to repeat it." ~ George Santayana

The gate to Auschwitz

I visited Auschwitz-Birkenau this past June as part of a tour of East-Central Europe. It was a somber, thought-provoking, humbling experience. I recommend that everyone visit this former Concentration Camp. We were given headphones that we could program so we could hear the tour guide.

At Auschwitz, there were sections where photographs were not allowed - these are where the more personal and disturbing artefacts are displayed. I thought it was interesting that the storage rooms for Jewish and Polish personal items were called "Canada 1" and Canada 2". I am from Canada so found this fact intriguing. They named the storage units after Canada because it is considered a safe haven.

The barbed-wire fence enclosing the buildings

We went by Rudolf Hess' house, which was surprisingly close to the "showers" and crematorium.

A fifteen minute transfer took us to Birkenau. This is where the trains arrived and Josef Mengele did his "experiments". We saw the remains of the "showers" and toured a former bunker where a lot of women shared a small, rancid space and slept five or six to a bunk. 

A train car on the track at Birkenau

I was surprised by how much space Birkenau occupied.  This part of the tour takes place outdoors, so wear sunglasses and a hat, if you are there in the summer.

It was a sobering and thought-provoking tour.

~Angie

Welcome to Hogwarts!

I visited the "Harry Potter" film set in Leavesden, UK in July. It was fantastic!

I booked the tour through Golden Tours and this included the transfer on a special "Harry Potter" bus from London, plus the entrance fee. I bought a ticket for a butterbeer, which was extra and optional.
The bus left London at 9am for entrance at 11am. I actually entered at 10:40am, so it was great!

The door to the Chamber of Secrets

First you are greeted in a room with eight screens. A short film is shown about the film production and the aftermath showing the film openings. Then in the next room, which is set up as a theatre, a short film is shown where Daniel Radcliffe, Emma Watson, and Rupert Grint talk about filming. After that the tour starts in the Great Hall.

This is one of two large sets. The detail was amazing! Only one table is set up showing how the plates etc were placed. At the far end there are mannequins of the professors in costume showing how they stood to greet the students.

After the Great Hall, you enter first part of the studio. This had a lot of sets all meshed together. By that, I mean that the outside of the Great Hall was decorated with Umbridge's plaques beside a wall of portraits with a staircase. Just one staircase was used, the others were added in post-production. Then, you can see the Gryffindor Common Room, Hagrid's Hut, the clock, Dumbledore's office and the Ministry of Magic all in the same large studio.

One of my favourite sets was the Malfoy's home where the Deatheaters and Voldemort met and the lady was tortured in the Deathly Hallows. The lady who was tortured is hanging from the ceiling. It is quite impressive!

The Deatheaters meeting in the Malfoy home

The Forbidden Forest was a new attraction that recently opened. This was a small section of trees and spider webs. You are met at the entrance by Hagrid, ready to lead you through. This is a mannequin with a lamp. There is Buckbeak and of course, Aragog. It was quite creepy. I kept thinking: "A spider had better not fall on me!"

The next room was the other larger set. It was Platform 9 3/4. This included the train, a train station platform, and three areas where you can take photos pushing carts through the wall. You can also go through the train car that was used for filming. I felt a bit rushed in this part, as there was limited space and a line-up of people on my heels. Not my favourite part of the tour. I wish I could have taken more time to take that set in.

Platform 9 3/4

I bought some souvenirs at the shop there and then went to enjoy my butterbeer.

After this there are some sets in the back lot outside. These included the Knight Bus, #4 Privet Drive, the Potter home in Godric's Hollow and the rickety bridge. The rickety bridge was only one section that was used during filming. The Visual Effects department added the rest of the bridge during post-production.

The Art Department came next. It was amazing to see the different masks and props that were used. A gallery of paper models showed the various houses and sets in simple first-draft form.
My favourite part of the tour was seeing the model of the Castle grounds. This was amazing! the details that went into the massive model were awesome! The model was the size of the entire room! I loved it!

Castle model

My tour allowed three hours to go through the entire set, eat something and shop at the gift store. I think, overall, that was enough time.

There is so much to see, I wish I had spent more time in the first part with the actual sets.

It was an amazing experience!

Beautiful Cathedral!

Years ago I read a book that took place in Saint Patrick's Cathedral. Ever since, I wanted to see the cathedral if I was ever in New York City.

The cathedral was closed every time my sister and I walked past, though. I got a photo in front of it earlier in the week. An Advent Wreath hung above the doors, with one candle lit - it was the first week of Advent. 

On our last evening in New York, we were walking down 5th Avenue and saw that the doors were open!

We went inside. It was beautiful! My sister lit a prayer candle and we walked around. There is so much to look at! The organ in amazing! There was a Nativity scene in the corner - Jesus was not in the manger yet as it was only the first week of Advent. The details on the walls, in the Nave, the Rose Window, (everything!) are amazing and the cathedral is beautiful! There is a lot to look at and take in.

I highly recommend it.

Central Park

One great free thing to do in New York City is visit Central Park. My sister and I were in New York at the beginning of December. The weather was great that day, it had stopped raining and the sun had come out. It was like a beautiful Autumn day...in December! The leaves were still on the trees and were very colourful. We were able to wear our Fall jackets to walk around Central Park. It was the best of both worlds - Fall weather and Christmas decorations!

We entered from Central Park South and the first thing you see from that entrance is the famous stone bridge! The Gapstow Bridge is the bridge featured in famous movies about New York, including Home Alone: Lost in New York. We took some photos near the bridge and on it with views of the Plaza Hotel behind us.

Gapstow Bridge

We then wandered on. We came across Wollman Rink and watched people skating. We said hello to Santa Claus, who was greeting people there and continued on.

Wollman Rink

We continued on. There is a road not far from the rink where cars and the horse drawn carriages travel. We crossed that road and came upon the pathway also featured in movies. The Mall and Literary Walk is where spies in movies meet. It is a famous tree-lined avenue with benches all along. We came across a girl selling paintings. They were beautiful and I bought one from her on my way out of the park later on. 

After the Mall, we came upon an advertisement for a book fair happening just under the Bethseda Terrace. Unfortunately we couldn't get down to have a look because it turned out that a TV show called Time After Time was doing a location shoot there. The book fair was actually part of the set. We watched the actors for quite some time. It was amusing.

One of the attractions that I really wanted to see in Central Park was Strawberry Fields. This is a garden that Yoko Ono created in honour of John Lennon, who was killed in front of the Dakota Apartments across the street on December 8, 1980. It is supposed to be a quiet place of reflection, but people were generally ignoring that instruction. I took at photo of the Imagine mosaic at the centre of the garden. This was a week before the anniversary of John Lennon's death. 

The Imagine mosaic in Strawberry Fields

We wandered on across the Bow Bridge. This bridge is beautiful and crosses the manmade lake with the inspiring and original moniker, The Lake. We found a bench and sat by this bridge to do some people watching and relax.

There was a lot of activity in Central Park - musicians, dancers, actors, tourists - all doing their thing. It was a beautiful and peaceful outing and I recommend visiting Central Park if you are ever in New York City. It was one of the highlights of our stay.

~Angie

What a Ride!

I recently had the opportunity to travel the "Road to Hana." 

It was incredible! It is believed by a lot of people to be really treacherous to drive. Not at all. It is very curvy, but the road was in very good condition. My friends and I were advised to leave before 6am. We left at 5:45am - a very good idea. This way we stayed well ahead of the traffic, including the tour buses that came hours later. 

We had to stop to let vehicles through from the other direction on the bridges. Bridges are one lane only, but are very short, thankfully. There are yield signs to allow for traffic coming from the opposite direction. We passed the town of Hana and headed into Haleakala National Park. The road in this stretch was not as good as previous sections, but not awful.

A bridge on the Road to Hana

The scenery was amazing! That is why you drive the Road to Hana! There were incredible views of the ocean, waterfalls, and the foliage was amazing! The road is very curvy. I was okay, but I don't suffer from motion sickness. To me, it was a really fun amusement park ride! My friends took Gravol and they were okay.

Curves on the road

Once in Haleakala Park, we hiked up to the waterfall. Along the way we walked through a bamboo forest. This was incredible! Admission to the park is $20 USD, and is good for three days.

We stopped at the Black Rock Beach on the way back. This was really cool to see. It is located at Pa'iloa Bay.

We started in Lahaina and it takes about 3.5 hours from there to drive the road. The entire trip took us about 12 hours, so plan an entire day, including stops.

The Road to Hana is definitely a bucket list item. It is worth the ride!

~Angie

Banff Springs Hotel

There is so much history in the Banff Springs Hotel. It is great just to walk through and see it all!

It is great at Christmas because there are Christmas Trees throughout the hotel, but any time of the year the Banff Springs is beautiful!

View from the 11th floor

I had a private tour which started at the old entrance. The old entrance is at the back of the hotel. When the Banff Springs was built, the architect flipped the blueprints, so the entrance was at the back instead of the front! It was this way for years! it is only in the last 15 or twenty years that the front of the hotel was refinished so that it could be used as the main entrance.

The back entrance is beautiful and really showcases what the hotel is about. Upstairs you can really notice the details that make it the "Castle in the Rockies". There is a medieval banquet hall, complete with a knight in shining armour! Our tour took us down a wing that overlooked the pool. This was an open hall with chairs and side tables to relax at. The fireplace at the end of the hall is original and still works!

Wing that overlooks the pool

We looked at two banquet rooms and the solarium, which was very bright and sunny!

Then we walked down the haunted staircase! A young bride was getting married at the Banff Springs, before electricity, and the staircase was surrounded by candles. Her dress caught fire and she fell to her death at the bottom. This is one of the most famous ghost stories of the Canadian Rockies. Her ghost is said to still walk down the stairs and people dancing and music can be heard in the hall at the bottom (it is now a restaurant).

The haunted staircase

There is a lot to see at the Banff Springs Hotel. One visit is never enough!

To book a room, please visit:  http://www.fairmont.com/banff-springs/

~Angie

The Famous Five

Five women from Western Canada fought for women's right to be recognized as a person in Canada.
These women were: Nellie McClung, Emily Murphy, Henrietta Muir Edwards, Louise McKinney, and Irene Parlby. They were successful in their fight and in 1929, women were granted the status of "Persons" and thus could vote and sit on the Senate.

Statues were designed by Barbara Paterson and were cast in bronze in Calgary, Alberta. There are two sets of these statues in Canada. One is located at the Parliament Buildings in Ottawa, Ontario, and the other is near Olympic Plaza in Calgary, Alberta.

Nellie McClung was a Calgarian and people can also visit her house, which is a historic site in Calgary.

The Famous Five Statues in Calgary, AB

Statue of Nellie McClung in Ottawa, ON

Statue of Irene Parlby in Ottawa, ON

Statues of Henrietta Muir Edwards and Louise McKinney in Ottawa, ON

Statue of Emily Murphy in Ottawa, ON

These five women played a very important role in Canadian history. They are known as the Famous Five.

~Angie

Frank Slide

One great day trip in Southern Alberta, in the Crowsnest Pass, is the Frank Slide. The town of Frank, Alberta, was a mining town in the early 1900's. Approximately 600 residents were sleeping, and there were miners in the coal mine at the bottom of Turtle Mountain, when in the early morning hours of April 29, 1903, a massive chunk if rock broke away and tumbled down the mountain. As it fell, it broke apart leaving a mass of destruction in its path.

Some people living on the outskirts of Frank were killed in the landslide. The entrance to the mine was blocked, but the miners were able to dig themselves out.

The rubble that was strewn across the base of Turtle Mountain was left as is, and the side of the mountain remains as it was over 100 years ago after the slide happened. Visitors can walk around the area on a 1.5km pathway to view the damage. There are signs along the highway and around the Visitor Centre that tell the story of Frank and the Frank Slide. The Visitor Centre also offers an interpretive tour that offers more information about the area and the Frank Slide.

For more information, visit: http://history.alberta.ca/frankslide/

~Angie

Mount Maunganui

Mount Maunganui is a popular resort town near Tauranga, New Zealand. It is known for its great weather, beaches and surfing and is often compared to Australia's Gold Coast.

Mount Maunganui is a dormant volcano rising 232 metres at the far end of the peninsula. It is a popular area for outdoor activities. The Māori name for Mount Maunganui is Mauao, meaning "caught by the morning sun." It is a sacred site for three local Māori tribes known as the "Iwi."

There is a Māori legend about the volcano and how it came to be situated where it is today and how it got its name. It is a story about a love triangle, full of heartache. Three mountains surrounded Tauranga - Puwhena, Otanewainuku, and the nameless one.  Puwhena was female and the other two were male. The nameless one was in love with Puwhena, but her heart belonged to Otanewainuku. The nameless one decided to drown himself when his love would not be reciprocated by Puwhena.

The nameless one decided to appeal to the Patupaiarehe, the people who had magical powers, for help. He asked them to drag him to the ocean so that he could drown himself there. They obliged and during the night dragged him across the peninsula, creating the valley where the Waimupu River flows. Waimupu means "weeping waters" in Māori. However, this journey took longer than expected and he was caught a sunrise on the edge of the peninsula and was frozen where he stood. The Patupaiarehe decided to give the nameless one a name, Mauao, which means "caught by the morning sun."

One of the best short walks in New Zealand is the Base Track around Mount Maunganui. This is a fairly easy trek around the side of the volcano. On the west side is a bronze statue of the Māori god of the sea, Tangaroa.

For a longer trek and great views, you can hike up the volcano to the summit. This takes about an hour and a half, round trip. There are lots of rest stops which allow for great photo ops of the peninsula and townsite.

Those who are interested in surfing or sunbathing can go to the Main Beach. This beach is quite long and has a man-made reef, which allows for great surfing. Or you can walk along the boardwalk, which runs along the the beach.

So, if you are visiting the Bay of Plenty, or Tauranga, be sure to go to Mount Maunganui. It is a great option for a day trip, and you won't be disappointed!

~Angie