Cheerio!

We heard the graffiti at Leake Street was decent so we checked it out one morning.

We also continued with seeing the most famous sights in the city, including Westminster and Big Ben...

...as well as Buckingham Palace and St. James Park.

After some window shopping in Mayfair, we had a leisurely afternoon tea at the British Museum.

The museum was crazy busy so we didn't stay too long. Buddy liked this moai from Easter Island.

He also found the sculptures from Greece to be impressive.

The London food scene was extremely diverse. We had Burmese food on our last night. It was delicious.

And before we heading back home the next morning, we had a great Indian brunch at Dishoom.

Our trip to London was quick yet fun! We arrived back in Toronto in time to ring in the New Year with B's parents. We hope everyone's 2023 is off to an awesome start!

Walking Through London

Buddy was keen to walk around town. For our first few days, we were taking the Tube since it was rainy. We walked across the London Bridge to view the Tower Bridge...

...we ate sausage rolls in Borough Market...

...we walked by Shakespeare's Theatre...

...we saw some cool art at the Tate Modern...

...such as this Jackson Pollock...

...we had cocktails on top of the Gherkin...

...and an over the top dinner at Gloria.

Buddy had a great sleep that night since we packed in so much in one day. 

Arriving in London Town

Buddy ended 2022 on a high note with a trip across the pond. B upgraded us to business class. Lying flat to sleep was fantastic.

Our flight was delayed so we didn't get in much sightseeing on our first day. We saw the play, Life of Pi, that evening. It won five Oliver Awards. I can see why, especially for the animal puppets.

We had a late dinner after the play at Duck and Waffle. The view 40 storeys up was great. The restaurant was quite busy since it is open 24 hours.

The next day we had brunch at my cousin's house. Buddy enjoyed meeting her friends. The love for plushies runs strong in my family.

Buddy was pretty jet lagged so he stayed in at our hotel while we had dinner and drinks with B's cousin.

Spitafields Market was a neat place to visit. We checked out a bunch of stalls and bought a few snacks, including this matcha wheel cake.

No trip to London would be complete with some good old fashion fish and chips. These were pretty good. The portions were large.

One of the places we reserved in advance for dinner was Noble Rot. I have read their magazine before so was curious what their restaurant would be like. The food did not disappoint. We left a little hungry though.

More Buddy in London pics to come! Gotta catch up on some posts.

Stroop Bernie

 
Before heading back to the 6ix, Bernie made a quick visit to Amsterdam. He tried stroopwafels from many places. This stroopwafel was from van Wonderen and it was okay. Our favourite stroopwafel was from Rudi's at Albert Cuyp Market.

Indonesian food is popular in Amsterdam so Bernie made sure to try Rijsttafel (a.k.a. rice table). It was very tasty. The best meal on our trip, hands down.

In terms of museums, Bernie wanted to go to Anne Frank's House and the Van Gogh Museum. We do not have photos from Anne Frank's House since photography is prohibited. At the Van Gogh Museum, Bernie saw the famous Sunflowers...

...The Bedroom...

...and Almond Blossom.

We ate at a few restaurants recommended by friends. They were pre fixe, and we were stuffed.

We stumbled upon Winkel 43, a cafe known for its apple pie. The "pie" was delish, and more of a cake than a pie. We could have had a second slice but we refrained so we could eat more stroopwafels.

At Foodhallen, Bernie had bitterballen (Dutch meatballs)...

...and Kibbeling (battered fish chunks). There were some nice shops and a park (Vondelpark) nearby. We walked more that day than any other day in Amsterdam.

Bernie was a great travel buddy but missed the friends. He gave everyone a big hug when he came back.

Wien Bernie

The friends are happy to travel once more, woohoo! We're catching up for lost time. We have a number of trips planned for the latter half of this year. Bernie recently returned from Vienna (or Wien in German) and Amsterdam. Unfortunately, our flight was delayed six hours so our first day in Vienna was fairly brief.

After we checked into Hotel Henriette (which we highly recommend), we walked through Inner Stadt (Vienna's central first district) and had the famous Sacher torte (as well as appel strudel) at Hotel Sacher. The torte was so-so. We didn't think it lived up to the hype. The best dessert we had in Vienna was black forest cake from Aida, a popular cafe chain.

We then saw VON DER LIEBE Tod at the Vienna Opera House. We arrived at the venue a bit early to tour the building.

This is the main staircase...

...and this is inside. The tablets beside Bernie are for subtitles. We definitely used them when we watched the opera.

The next day, Bernie and I went to Belvedere Palace. There was some nice artwork there...

...including the famous The Kiss painting by Gustav Klimt. The frescos on the ceilings were also stunning. I can see why this palace is a "must see" attraction.

The day after we walked the grounds of Schonbrunn Palace.

This is the view of the back of the palace from the top of a hill. We had great weather which made our palace exploration very enjoyable.

Bernie made sure to test different schnitzels. He had veal schnitzel from Lugeck.

He also had pork schnitzel from a mom and pop place close to our hotel. Out of the two restaurants, his favourite was the mom and pop spot. This was the small portion (which we didn't finish) and only a third of the price of the one we had at Lugeck.

Overall, we had a pleasant time in Vienna. It was very doable to experience over a few days.

Bon Appétit

Buddy ate his way through Montreal a few weeks ago. He had poutine at the Time Out Market...

...dinner and natural wine at Boxermans...

...a big salad at Mandy's...

...and brunch pizza at Cafe Parvis.

Not pictured: a three-course lunch at Marcus, pastries at Mamie Clafoutis, dinner at Gia Vin & Grill, bagels from Fairmont, and coffee at La Finca. Yum!

Clem went to Montreal last year so she helped Buddy pick some spots to try. Thanks, Clem!

The Peg

It's Colin reporting back from the Peg. He went with B and I since we were there for a wedding. The city was pretty sleepy, much more than we expected, but we did check out some cool spots. We had great sandwiches at King + Bannatyne.

We also checked out the Canadian Museum for Human Rights.

We spent a lot of time in this area, going through each exhibit. We learned a lot.

The museum had these neat ramps that took you all the way to the top of the Tower of Hope. There were lots of people at the top so we opted to enjoy the view, sans photo.

Everyone told us to visit the Forks, so we did. This was the most happening place in the city while we were in town. The coffee at Harrisons was pretty good.

And for a sweet treat, we went to Oh Doughnuts. Colin was happy he had his hoodie since the weather was a bit chilly. If you have been to the Peg, let us know!