mmm-yoso!!!

Amtrak Pacific Surfliner to Los Angeles and a walk around Little Tokyo

*** Not much food in this post - so maybe you'll just like to come back tomorrow.

During the fall of 2018, the Missus and I looked back on how busy we'd been the last couple of years. We did have a good number of amazing trips and checked off a few bucket list items during that time. Still, it had been over four years since I was last "home". The Missus hadn't seen Her parents in ages it seemed. So it was time. I decided to use miles and points for some of the trip; so we decided to fly out of LAX.....not something I looked forward to; but heck first class is first class, right? We then decided to catch the train down to LA, something I hadn't done in over a decade. We also hadn't been to Little Tokyo in nine years! Once I planned things out; we quickly pulled the trigger.

And we caught the bus and trolley down to Santa Fe Depot to catch the Surfliner up to Union Station in LA.

The trolley was a lot busier than we anticipated on this day because of the Women's March......

But things went fairly smoothly. Our train left at noon. We'd had a small breakfast, but should have not worried since we were riding Business Class....which gets you this rather large "snack box".

One box was more than enough for the Missus and I; so we saved the other for later on. Some fairly healthy stuff......

There was a 20 minute delay in the OC; but I'd planned our arrival to be close to 3pm to coordinate our check-in at the Miyako Hotel. We were quite excited to check out Little Tokyo. When we lived in the SGV in the late 90's, we'd drop by Little Tokyo almost weekly and were wondering how things were in the area these days. We need not have worried; it was even more busy than we recalled. Our room in the Miyako Hotel overlooked 1st Street and at 3 in the afternoon, the lines for Little Tokyo favorite Daikokuya and Marugame Monzu, which wasn't even there when we last visited the area were pretty long.

We quickly freshened up and then headed out; with mixture of excitement of revisiting a pace that we loved when we lived in LA and dread, of possibly finding out some of old favorites were gone.

And while we were surprised at the crowds and all the Daiso like shops, it was nice to see that many old favorites were still there.

I'm not sure if you folks know; it was Frances Hashimoto, President of Mikawaya who invented mochi ice cream.

We took a right on 2nd and headed to Weller Court to see a monument I always try to visit when I'm in Little Tokyo.

Located on the street named after him is the Astronaut Ellison S. Onizuka Memorial Monument. Way back on January 28th, 1986 it was quite early on a Tuesday morning in Honolulu. I was off from work; my eyes glued to the television for the launching of the Space Shuttle Challenger. It was to be an important launch for several reasons; Christa McAuliffe was to be the first Teacher, a civilian launched into space. Even more important to many of us in Hawaii, Ellison Onizuka, a Sansei from Kona, who had become the first Asian American in space the year before was part of the crew. Sadly, 73 seconds into the flight, the shuttle broke apart, killing all seven crew members aboard. It was a sad day and one I'll never forget.

From an address he made to the graduating class of Konawaena High School (his alma mater) in 1980"

"Your vision is not limited by what your eye can see, but by what your mind can imagine. Many things that you take for granted were considered unrealistic dreams by previous generations. If you accept these past accomplishments as commonplace then think of the new horizons that you can explore.

From your vantage point, your education and imagination will carry you to places which we won’t believe possible.

Make your life count – and the world will be a better place because you tried."

We took the corner back down on 1st street and was happy to see Anzen Hardware (est 1946), Fugetsu-do (1903) and Suehiro Café (1972) were still in business.

Which brought a smile to our faces. We need to drop by Suehiro again one of these days....

For now; it was time to take a short break and then head out to dinner......

Thanks for stopping by!

The Concorde Room (London Heathrow) and British Airways First Class London Heathrow to San Diego Lindbergh Field

While purchasing tickets for our San Diego - Copenhagen trip I noticed something that I believe was a bit of an aberration. For the return flight to San Diego; British Airways First Class was just a bit more than Business Class. I thought this would be a nice treat for the Missus. Especially since we had a 5-1/2 layover in Heathrow. So, for this slow Saturday, I thought I'd complete the posts on that trip with a short, mostly photo post.

The Concorde Room:

The flight from Copenhagen to London-Heathrow was short and sweet; we went through the usual hassle at LHR, the second set of security, not knowing what gate our flight was going to be at, etc.

One thing did make this lay-over a treat was the Concorde Room, unlike Galleries Club in Terminal 5, set for Business Class and the Galleries First, which, even though it says" "First" caters more to elite status fliers, the Concorde Room, which has it's own door after security where you can bypass all the shops and such, is for only passengers with First Class BA tickets or those with a Concorde Room card.

This large lounge has four basic areas; the lounge and basic seating area.....

You can even pre-book a "Cabanas"; basically a day-room, which I understand has a private bathroom, shower, day-bed, and television.

The Restaurant, with booths, and a separate menu.

And our favorite area; the Terrace, with couches, chairs, and day-beds, which I made really great use of during our lay-over.

From the Terrace you can view the tarmac.....

And the bustling terminal.....if you look closely, you'll notice a place where we had a rather mediocre meal on a previous trip.

The menu outside of the dining area is a simple abbreviated one.

It's all table service; so you won't find the chafing dishes and the buffet line here. I found the service to be quite professional.

The Missus decided on a breakfast sandwich; but couldn't decide on the filling, so the really nice Server asked Her if She wanted all three on Her sandwich. Which is what She ended up getting. I got the Smoked Salmon and Scrambled Eggs.

and two glasses of Champagne later; I had a short nap while the Missus watched Her Netflix.

Because of the lay over; we were asked about lunch, but we were still full from breakfast. The flight desk was really good about letting us know our gate and other info and soon enough we boarded.

In a nutshell, the key difference I saw between Business and First on this BA flight was the space and the service. The pod was surprisingly large.

Please take note of the seatbelt on the "footrest" section of my pod.

After the usual glass of sparkling wine to start things off...…

We were asked if we'd like to dine together! Really! And you know what? They did a second setting and the Missus and I shared a nice dinner.....

I don't think the food is really different between Business and First; though the presentation is.....

Man, that cheese plate was quite generous.....

Best of all, was the lie-flat bed....with a much larger area then the usual Business Class Pod.

So there you go. I'm not sure when or if we'll be able to do this again; but it was a nice way to end our trip.

Montreal - Patati Patata

It was our last morning in Montreal, our flight was at 3pm, though we had to check-out at 11am. We did need something to hold us over....so why not poutine? There were a few stops to make in the morning and Patati Patata Friterie de Lux....well, with a name like that and being a few blocks from where we were staying, it just made sense.

This tiny corner shop was quite charming as it really looked like an old school diner.

The Missus enjoyed the fresh squeezed orange juice and we both enjoyed our coffee.

We also ordered the Poutine Avec des Ouefs.....which seemed like something right down our alley, with easy over eggs (sorry to FOY Jessica).

So, the frites were crisp, but on the dry side, the cheese curds too mushy, the gravy quite salty....the eggs wonderful. This reminded us of the poutine we had in Vancouver. Not a bad thing, just not to our taste.

The service was great, we loved the vibe, but not the poutine. glad we got to try it though.

Patati Patata Friterie de Luxe
4177 St Laurent
Montreal, Quebec, Canada

We had use of one of the Sky Team lounges at Trudeau International Airport which was pretty quiet.

The food choices were fine for a snack to hold us over.

And we had bought some "goodies" to have at home.....

Though it was nothing like having it there....in Montreal.

I guess we'll just have to return.

From Amsterdam to Paris and Self Catering on Rue Cler

It was a quiet Saturday morning as we finished packing, had some coffee, and checked out of the apartment we were staying in.

The streets were quite empty, except for the local street market; the Lindengracht Market.

Our favorite statue of Theo Thijssen cracked us up. Remember, on our first night in Amsterdam, which was rather chilly, the sculpture of the child in the display was covered with a blanket? Well, I guess since it was market day.....he was now covered in kale! 

The one thing the Missus really took to in Amsterdam were the Stroopwafels and She had quite a collection to take home with Her.

The walk to Amsterdam Central Station was uneventful....even sedate.

Purchasing our tickets early on Thalys, I netted us a good deal in First Class. So we had had some time to relax in the lounge. Folks here were nice. The really friendly young woman in uniform saw us; approached us, and lead us to the waiting area, and then since we had first class tickets, walked us to the lounge. Great service.

Here we found a nice quiet corner, had some water and coffee. There was a group of Japanese businessmen in the lounge as well.

It was a smooth (and ontime) three hour - fifteen minute ride from Amsterdam to Gare Nord in Paris.

From there it was a taxi ride and viola! We were back on Rue Cler.

The 7th is (for now), the Missus's favorite district in Paris. In fact, She was toying with the idea of trying to buy property in Paris (more on that later). So, I decided to get a studio apartment basically one street over from Rue Cler.

And while we stayed in the area previously, we had never been able to take advantage of all the wonderful looking shops in the area. On our previous trip, we had always wanted to just relax, grab some cheese, wine, and a baguette, but weren't able to find the time. This time, we made sure to enjoy the late afternoon (after a nap of course), by doing some shopping at places that had multiple recommendations on sites like Paris by Mouth and others....to many to name.

First off, the cheese, Fromager Marie-Anne Cantin a highly revered and recommended shop was basically just down the street.

Amazing selection of cheeses, many unpasteurized, so you won't find these in the states.

Great service; the butter......is so....."buttery".....

Fromager Marie-Anne Cantin
12 Rue du Champ de Mars
75007 Paris, France

Next, the baguette, "bien cuite, s'il vous plait" - well cooked is our preference.

Les Gourmandises d'Eiffel has three top ten placements in Grand Prix de la Meilleure Baguette de Paris over the last decade.

For some reason, we didn't care to much for our baguette from here; perhaps it was too late in the day.

Les Gourmandises d'Eiffel 
187 Rue de Grenelle
75007 Paris, France

Circling back to Rue Cler. We had wonderful help picking out a wine to go with our cheese from the local outpost of Nicolas.

Nicolas
39 Rue Cler
75007 Paris, France

And picked out some lovely tomatoes and since we bought butter from Marie Cantin; I convinced the Missus to get some radishes from Les Halles Bosquet.

Les Halles Bosquet
50 Rue Cler
75007 Paris, France

Along with that excellent Gouda we purchased in Amsterdam. This made a nice meal....with cheese leftover for the next day's lunch.

Though the Missus still doesn't get the radish with butter thing.

After freshening up a bit, we decided to head out for a stroll.

More than one person I know has told me that the Rue Cler area is more for tourists, it's the "Paris the mind expects", but not the "real Paris". I don't know.....seems like lots of locals around, along with tourists of course.

And we were having a great time. We loved the dogs in the area. I'm just sorry I never got a photo of our favorite, whom we saw 4-5 times....he really got around. This mutt was so obsessed with whomever preceded him and would keep sniffing the walls, sign posts, trash receptacles. We named him "Wall Sniffer"......and we kept seeing him all over the place!

Of course we had to finish the evening off by viewing the Missus's favorite landmark in the world.

From both sides of the Seine.

As we watched the Eiffel Tower light show go off; the Missus muttered to me, "it's so nice to be back in Paris".

From San Diego to Bologna

It was quite interesting. When I mentioned to folks that we were headed off to Florence; everyone seemed thrilled, there was all that art, the architecture, and the history. When I mentioned visiting Emilia-Romagna, I'd often get quizzical looks....why not Milan, Verona, or "fill in the blank"..... And yet, getting to the source, the home of Parmegiano-Reggiano, Balsamic Vinegar, Mortadella, Prosciutto, the (at that time) mysterious Culatello, and of course what folks here call "Bolognaise" sauce, the "Ragu" drew me in. On my shelf resides a cookbook that spawned an entire series on NPR. Published back in 1992, The Splendid Table (which spawned the radio show), won a James Beard award, and is about the food of Emilia-Romagna. I'd always wondered about the food and foodways of the region and I finally had my chance. Plus, I just had to visit a city whose nickname is "la grassa" (the fat one) and since Bologna's other nickname is "la dotta" (the learned), I might learn a thing or two.

First things first of course. We had to get there. Our flight from San Diego to London Heathrow was ten hours long. We then had a five-and-a-half hour layover, before flying to Bologna. We'd be arriving at 1130 pm. Things were a bit hectic, so we didn't have time for dinner before leaving. We figured we'd get something on our flight.

Still, our flight wasn't until 845pm and we needed something, however small, to eat. Since we were flying in Business Class, we had use of the Airspace Lounge. Be it ever so humble, flying on British means that you have a choice of complimentary wraps, appetizers, and desserts in the lounge. Along with drinks.

Which aren't half bad. Though the Missus doesn't care for the glassware used for wine and champagne in the lounge; who are we to complain? It's a nice getaway from the chaos before boarding.

I'll go over BA's Business and First Class seating in a future post.

Strangely, both that Missus and I have found that food on international flights from the US is not quite as good as on return flights for both BA and JAL. I'm not sure why. On this outbound flight, I really didn't enjoy my dinner very much.

The crab rillettes presentation looked odd and it was really bland. The beef filet was really tough. I enjoyed the fruit plate the most. Nice and refreshing.

Because of the lie-flat seats; we were both able to get a couple of hours of sleep, which I believe is quite important.

We both actually enjoyed the Traditional English Breakfast. Which wasn't too bad.

To be perfectly honest; I've mentioned this before, Heathrow is not my favorite airport. The lack of signage, having to go through rather chaotic security check a second time, the "cattle call" flight notification in Terminal 5....you cool your heels, while trying to find some seating until your gate comes up, sometimes waiting until 45 minutes before your flight. In many cases you have to then catch the tram to your find you gate and so forth.

So even though the Galleries Business Class Lounge can be pretty busy. It's still an oasis during a five-and-a-half hour layover.

For some reason, we always find seats tucked away in the corner. The Missus can watch Her movies on the iPad. I can check work emails and catch up on things.

We can hydrate, the food is nothing to write home about, but on occasion, we'll try something like clotted cream, which a coworker of the Missus said we just "needed to try".

I'm still not certain what the symbolism of the Horse with the Lampshade Hat is to BA though.....

Eventually, we made our flight, and arrived in Bologna at 1130pm. I gotta say, getting through immigration at Guglielmo Marconi Airport was amazingly quick and efficient. It helps that we travel with only 8-10 kilos of luggage each, regardless of whether we're staying two weeks or two months, you usually don't need more. Plus, this is Europe, you can usually get whatever you might need. 

Because of our late arrival and having to catch the train to Florence the next day, I booked a hotel two blocks from the train station. It was the most expensive room we'd have during our entire stay; but the check out time (noon) was convenient for our 155pm train and they served what was a pretty good breakfast.

We still have over three hours to kill before checking out. So we headed out.

From the Porta Galliera, which was one of the original gates of the medieval city of Bologna.

 

Past the Park of Montagnola.

And down Via Indipendenza which is considered the main street of the city. Bologna is famous of the "Portici" the porticoes which cover over 22 miles of the city.

To what is considered the heart of Bologna, Piazza Maggiore.

This large area is connected to the Piazza del Nettuno, which houses one of the most well known of landmarks, the Fountain of Neptune. Erected in 1564, there's quite a story behind this fountain, you can read more about it in this wonderful post. A really neat fact about the fountain; Maserati's logo is based on the trident of the fountain.

That large church is the Basilica of San Petronio. Construction on it was started in 1390. It is the 6th largest church in Europe. There's a distinctive look to the façade of the church. That's because it's unfinished. According to the design it was to be larger than Saint Peter's in Rome (link to our post), but Pope Pius IV put a stop to that, diverting the funds to create a new university. Hmmmm......more intrigue.

We'd end up hanging around Piazza Maggiore when we returned to Bologna. Though we ended up not spending quite as much time here as we wished.

We headed down one of the side streets....quite surprised at how quiet things were.

\

We wandered down the porticoes when the Missus noticed this church; San Giovanni in Monte.

From here, things went off the rails a bit, as the Missus seemed fascinated with just wandering around.

We then got a bit lost. When trying to locate our position on the map; it seemed we were off of it! Time to turn on data and find out where we were.

Turns out we were on a street named Via Libia and pretty close to the Bologna San Vitale rail station....pretty far off course.

We righted ourselves and walked back; through the university district, pass the Le Due Torri, the two landmark leaning towers of Bologna.

Time was tight, but we did make the noon check-out and walked the short way to the train station. The high speed rail from Bologna to Florence is supposed to only take 34 minutes. However, like we'd find while riding the rails in Italy, unlike the Shinkansen in Japan, trains here are terminally late. And this was no exception; 25 minutes late.

We actually found this kind of humorous. And we were on vacation.......

Next stop; Florence!

Thanks for reading!

Tromsø - Dinner at Mathallen

We'd had a fun day exploring Tromsø. It was so different from San Diego. Polar night is fascinating and a bit disorienting as noon seems like dusk and by 2pm it looks like had fallen. We really only had time for one dinner in Tromsø since the previous evening we'd been "Chasing the Aurora". We had decided to stay close to the apartment, just kind of chill and relax, and had made dinner reservations at the highly regarded Mathallen. Locally sourced ingredients and they had something on the menu I wanted to try....and no, it's not reindeer.

We had early reservations, which really didn't matter, since it already was so dark it felt like 9pm.

The menu was really small, with only four starters and three mains.

And like almost every other restaurant we had dinner at in Norway, they had an open kitchen.

We love the bread in Scandanavia and Mathallen was no exception. Also, I had wanted to visit Mack Brewery, founded in 1877, it is the northernmost brewery in the world. But we had run out of time, so I settled for a Mack Pilsner at Mathallen. Not very distinctive in flavor; very light and easy to drink.

The Missus started with the King Crab Soup (185 NOK - about $22/US). Yes, that's right, this bowl of soup was over twenty bucks.

Not too much crab, but the soup was nice and rich and obviously made with a very good seafood stock. Loved the texture which coated the tongue quite nicely.

We just couldn't seem to get enough pickled herring, so I ordered the Christmas Herring (155 NOK - $18.50/US).

This was delici-yoso!!! Just a couple of bites, but man, the herring melted in your mouth. It wasn't fishy in the least; very savory, and I'm thinking the Aquavit really added a nice touch of sweetness.

The Missus went with the "Catch of the Day", Cod (320 NOK - about $39/US).

She enjoyed it and said it was nicely cooked.

Since we were in Norway, I really wanted to try Lutefisk, which is made by air-drying fish, usually cod. A few weeks (yes weeks) before serving it is soaked in water for a week, then in lye (!!!) for two days. At which time it's pretty much poisonous. It is then soaked in water for another ten days to make edible.

I ordered the Lutefisk (575 NOK - $70/US). Yep, about seventy bucks US.....yikes!

The process gives the fish a jelly like texture, which was a bit odd. At least you can't complain about dry fish here, eh? Apparently, during the last set of soaking, the fish becomes so hydrated that you don't need to add any liquid to "boil" the fish! It also has a fairly strong smell; but not too bad. The flavor is fairly mild, on the briny salty side. It definitely needed the lardons and mustard sauce for flavor. Those brown shavings are Brunost, a brown "cheese" that is made from milk, cream, and whey. It has a very interesting slightly sweet and yeasty flavor. The mashed peas were very bland, the potatoes, simply done were delicious.

It was an interesting meal, the service was fine, not as friendly as at other places in Scandanavia. And heck, I'm not opposed to having lutefisk again.......

Mathallen
Grønnegata 58-60
Tromsø, Norway
Hours:
Tues - Sat 1130am - 11pm

We took the short walk back to the apartment and relaxed. I just sat at the window and watched the snow flurries come in.

Our flight from Tromsø was scheduled for 1030 am. We got up, packed and walked over to the stop for the airport bus.

It was 8am in the morning......

And it looked like midnight. We watched these guys working on the roof of a building across from the stop. Man, I sure wouldn't want to be doing that during the winter.

The airport in Tromsø is fairly small.

But SAS actually has a small lounge.

Where we were able to grab breakfast.

While staring off into the snow......

I'm not sure we'll ever be back in Tromsø, but we really enjoyed our time here. It was a great experience, but we were now looking ahead.

Next stop.....Amsterdam.

The DFDS Overnight Cruise - Copenhagen to Oslo

As I mentioned in my previous post; I'd made reservations to take the overnight cruise from Copenhagen to Oslo. I thought this would be interesting for several reasons; first, the Missus had never been on a "cruise" and I thought this would be a nice way to see if this suited Her. Second, the Missus just doesn't care to see the same folks day after day. This was an overnight cruise, so I didn't think we'd be seeing the same folks all the time. Third, in terms of price, $269, think of it as a room and transportation, I thought it reasonable. A quick note on prices, there were fares as low as $88. But, having a read a few posts and I actually know two people who have done this, it became quite clear that a lot of young people take the cruise because booze is so cheap......international, duty free and all. So, since we'd be leaving on a Saturday night, more comfortable accommodations, I believe we had what they called "Commodore De Luxe" class would suite us well.

That's the view from our cabin. Our room was very comfortable.

And there was an attendant who went over our cabin with us....including the mini-bar with complimentary sparkling wine, beer, and water.

There was also a lounge for folks in Commodore Class, which was a really nice touch.

Complimentary beer, wine, drinks, and snacks.

Right out the door was the deck. Even though it was winter, the views were quite nice.

Soon we were underway. We decided to take a look around. Here's our Captain for this cruise.

The Duty Free Shop was a feeding frenzy of folks buying up cheap booze, clothes, and other stuffs. It was kind of crazy so we just headed back to our cabin.

We decided to get an early dinner. I'd spent an extra $40 for the "Christmas Buffet" dinner. So we headed down to that dining room. There weren't very many people eating at 530pm.

It was quite a generous spread; but much of it wasn't to our liking.

We enjoyed the pickled herring and smoked fish the best.

Much of it was either too salty, over-cooked, and just not prepared to our taste.

I was excited to try the game meats, but was also disappointed in preparations. Lacking in flavor other than being really salty.

The Missus and I split up and came back with a sampling of the various dishes.

In the end; we might have been better off just grabbing a sandwich and relaxing. Though the smoked and pickled fish were quite good.

After dinner we just went up to the lounge and relaxed.

Before ending our evening, we took one more walk around. At 9pm there already were folks feeling....well, pretty good. One guy was doing the Tarzan yell down one of the hallways! It was time to call it a night. After a nightcap of course.

The location of our room was very quiet, except for the two guys pounding on some door at 2am in the morning.

As for the Missus; well, She had a hard time sleeping. Not because of the movement or noise, but because of the vibration of the boat. So, I didn't get a ton of sleep either.

We decided to get an early breakfast. The "Commodore's Breakfast" was included in the price of our cabin and was in a different dining room than the regular buffet breakfast.

The selection and quality was decent.

More pickled herring and smoked salmon.

We took the long way back to the cabin. We enjoyed spending time on the deck.

In spite of the cold; it was really neat watching the ship slowly arrive in Oslo.

Soon enough we'd arrived at around 945am. Folks gathered to disembark and it was a bit of a cattle-call.

Though I'm certain it wasn't everyone....especially the folks who drank the night away.

As for us...well, it was a brand new day....and we'd arrived in Oslo!

Airport Food - Japan Airlines Sakura Lounge (Narita) and Iceland Air Saga Lounge (Reykjavik)

Just a short posts on a couple of airport lounges.

One of the perks of flying First or Business Class is use of the lounges. Regardless of how small or limited offerings, it is usually a lot more relaxing then hanging out at the gates. and it makes for a nice break for at least getting some water or coffee.

Japan Airlines Sakura Lounge (Narita):

I'd heard this lounge was always pretty busy, but it was quite empty during our visit. It is a very large lounge!

The food offerings were decent.

Hot options were curry, hamburg steak, and beef bowls.

I went with some curry rice and miso soup. The curry was surprisingly good.

This beer dispenser caught my eye.....

So I had to try it out......

You place the glass on the stand; press the button and the machine tilts the glass and tries to gently pour in the beer. If the idea was to cut down on foam; I don't think it worked real well. Kind of fun to watch though.

On this trip, the lounge was a nice place to wait for our flight.

Iceland Air Saga Lounge (Reykjavik):

On our way back from Iceland, we had use of the Saga Lounge at Keflavík Airport. I really didn't expect much; but man, the variety of decent quality eats was quite impressive.

I also really liked the fact that there were some local specialties included in the offerings.

Like a version of Plokkfiskur (mashed fish).

Hangikjöt (smoked lamb)......

Two types of pickled herring; which was pretty good and of course the rye bread.

I actually preferred this to what was offered in Business Class on our flight back to Seattle.

And, there was one last surprise. While getting a refill of sparkling water, the really friendly young woman brought out a huge platter of battered, fried shrimp. She looked at me smiled and pointed at the plate. Basically telling me I needed to try some; so I did.

I'm not sure how long that batter would hold out before getting soggy.....though I doubt that it stays around very long...... It was hot, the shrimp fairly sweet, and the batter crisp.

We really didn't expect much and this ended up being a nice surprise.

From Quebec City to Montreal

We finished up dinner at Le Lapin Saute and took another nice stroll around the Lower Town before heading back to our hotel room.

Eglise Notre-Dame-des-Victoires looked quite stunning at night.

Back at the room, while the Missus drew Herself a bath; I decided to relax and enjoy this last night in QC a bit. Based on what my phone told me, I'd earned it.

I did 53 floors? I really did earn it.

I slept like a baby.....

It was our last morning in Quebec City. We'd had a blast; from walking the streets of the Upper and Lower Town, to visiting the oldest existing grocery in North America, to having a wonderful lunch and getting to use my very limited Japanese, and of course, there's the "Red Door". While we felt like we did quite a bit, there was still much more to do. Seems like QC had become a favorite travel destination for us. While life is full of those "once in a lifetime places", like Easter Island, it's places like Quebec City that we return to.

We had time until check-out and our train wasn't leaving until 1pm, so we took one last walk.

For some reason, I really like this photo.

The horse drawn carriage leading the tour bus down the street.

We stopped for a croissant and espresso at Paillard.

On the way back to our room; the Missus saw another locale She had read about when trying to find out what the "Red Door" was all about.

According to the KorCan Blog, this is the "Christmas Shop" in the series. We stopped in at the little shop where it's Christmas every day. Very cute.

La Boutique de Noël de Québec
47 Rue De Buade
Quebec City, Canada

Speaking of the KDrama; SJP sent me this link to the Chateau Frontenac website; where they actually have something called the "Ultimate Golbin Experience". You can stay in the actual suite where Goblin was filmed....for only $1129 CAN a night! Sheesh....

And then strolled back down Côte de la Montagne, which is the oldest remaining street in the city.

It was once the only street which connected the Lower and Upper Towns of the city.

After a brief respite, we packed and went to check-out. We really enjoyed staying at the Auberge Saint-Antoine. The hotel was so comfortable, the staff and amenities wonderful. There's also a good bit of history here. The property was once both a wharf house and a cannon battery. When the hotel was being constructed, items dating back to the 17th century were being uncovered. So it became sort of a dual construction - archaeological site. Many of the items excavated can be found restored and on display in the hotel.

And then was what I could say was the "crowning moment", the "cherry on the top", that totally sold the Missus on the hotel. I went ahead and settled our bill at the counter. As we walked out the door; the desk clerk, a very nice gentleman, walked after us, calling to the Missus, "madam....madam". We stopped and turned around. He handed the Missus a bag of still warm cookies saying, "Madam, these cookies just came out of the kitchen and this is for you." You gotta love it! As we walked to the train station, the Missus looked at me and said, "we're definitely staying here again....." It's the small things that count.

We took the short walk to the train station and because we had Business Class tickets were able to use the lounge; which was really small, and rather tight. As we walked in and tried to find some seats, the Missus tapped me on the shoulder and said, "aren't you going to say hello to your new friends?" It was the group of Japanese women I translated the menu for at Le Saint-Armour. The were all smiling and waving. I waved back, laughing.

Our ride back to Montreal was uneventful.....other than listening to the woman with the drink cart trying to explain what the different cocktails were to the women..... This one, I had no idea about; so I hung back.

We got back to bustling Montreal. It seems the weather had cleared up and it was getting to be kind of warm. This time around, we stayed at an AirBnB in the Plateau Mont-Royal area. I wanted to stay in the area because....well, the food of course. There aren't many hotels, but I found what turned out to be a huge apartment on Avenue du Parc.

So, we were back in Montreal.....time to start eating!

Montreal - Mamie Clafoutis and VIA Rail to QC

While we had really enjoyed Montreal, the Missus was ready for our next stop; Quebec City. We'd be going by rail, which I really enjoy.

Since our train wouldn't be leaving until 1245 and we were literally 3 blocks from Gare Centrale, we decided to take a morning walk and grab some breakfast. The Missus decided on a place up Rue Saint Denis.

Of course we passed several churches on the way and really enjoyed walking up Saint Denis as it was full of semi-hipster, trendy, and plain funky businesses.

Hmmm....maybe Elvis does live?

Mamie Clafoutis is a bit of a walk up Saint Denis, which I read the street goes all the way to the North side of the island.

While the namesake of he place is the Clafouti; the Missus had read that the Pistachio Croissant here was very good. I saw a sign for a special Ficelle celebrating Montreal's 375 Anniversary (May 17, 2017) and while it was already the end of May, it was still being made and sold. So, I decided on that.

We both got some espresso for our caffeine fix. When our tray was ready, we headed upstairs to the comfortable lounge area.

The ficelle was ice cold, really chewy....I expected a bit more "crunch", but it was more hard. We really enjoyed the combination of flavors from the cornichons, mustard, and for the Missus, especially the smoked meat. This really set the stage for our return trip, where I'd been looking forward to getting some smoked meat.

The croissant was a bit drier than we prefer and lacked that touch of salt that would balance out the very sweet pistachio paste which was too sweet for me. Of course, I'm not much of a dessert person, but there didn't seem to be much pistachio flavor.

Still, the espresso was good and we enjoyed the vibe of the place. We'd notice that folks in this area seemed to speak much more French than on the west side.

Mamie Clafoutis
3660 Rue Saint-Denis
Montreal, Canada

We headed back to the hotel, going down Saint Laurent, then over to Rue Jeanne-Mance. It had started to drizzle. Even though we had umbrellas, it was also getting a bit windy. Luckily, just as it was getting particularly blustery, we reached the Complexe Desjardins. In Montreal, there's a 32 kilometer network of tunnels, passageways, shopping centers, and buildings called RESO, but it's most commonly known as the Underground City. The name evokes a bit of mystery......but for us; it looked basically like a bunch of malls which were, thankfully, interconnected.

I can imagine being able to move along downtown Montreal without being exposed to the elements must be a godsend during the dead of winter. For us wimpy San Diegans...well, we enjoyed being able to cross the street.

We got back to the hotel, freshened up, and checked out of the Courtyard. We headed over a couple of blocks to where I thought Gare Centrale was....because of all the construction, we had a difficult time finding the entrances, but finally made it.

Since we had business class tickets, we were able to use the VIA lounge in the train station. Nothing fancy, but comfortable enough....drinks and coffee provided.

Having easy access to the restrooms, a nice place to sit, and some coffee was worth paying a few bucks more. I got our fares during some kind of "special" where I paid like only $40 more for round trip tickets in business.

And while our train was not nearly as comfortable as riding the Shinkansen, it was fine.

One thing I did enjoy was the service, which was very friendly, and at times oddly funny. They also really pushed the booze! By the time the lunch cart got to us, they'd run out of everything but the vegetarian dish....shells stuffed with portabello mushroom. Which turned out to be perfectly fine.

Notice the white wine? So, I wasn't going to have any wine or drinks with lunch...but the really funny woman; with that wonderful French-Canadian accent told me, "you must...you must have some. It's from Wayne Gretzky Estates!" How could I turn that down? Wayne Gretzky Estates...... Yep this is Canada....and you don't mess with Wayne Gretzky......

Thanks for reading!