Short but sweet... and a little photo spam

Last week, we went to Toronto for a little four day family holiday. You know, I never gave Toronto enough credit... it is actually a really nice place to visit. Coming from Montreal, you are not really supposed to say stuff like that 😉but it really is nice. Most of my Toronto experiences in the past were work related so I had a very limited opinion of the city but I am so glad that we explored different neighbourhoods this time around. We wanted to go away for long enough for it to be a break from the day to day but still short enough for the boys to enjoy it.. and each other... and 4 days was perfect. Over the pandemic, all passports had expired, except for mine, so Canadian road trip it was!

I found a fantastic AirBnB home in the Leslieville area (see here). It was a full house on a really lovely, quiet street (I highly recommend it- see here for the listing. The owner was really nice too). It worked out so well because we were near the streetcars to downtown, tons of good restaurants, grocery stores, interesting architecture and an overall cool vibe. When the boys were younger, it was so much easier to find fun stuff that they liked to do. Heck, a park at the end of the street was awesome for them but, now, it is a bit more of a challenge. For activities, we decided on the Ripley's Aquarium, Kensington Market, a Blue Jays baseball game (Alexander and Nicka boycotted this one but, even as a non-baseball-fan, it was suprisingly fun), Niagara Falls, Niagara Whirlpool Aero Car, Inniskillin Winery (for me!), Niagara on the Lake and multiple food stops along the way😉 On the way home, we stopped in Kingston (see here), which was also really nice. 

Overall, great trip. I would actually really like to do this in the fall or early winter sometime and see what else Toronto has to offer... 

Now, here is the photo spam. You were warned 😉

The Bergdahl Boys

             

Musings from the home office: the travel edition

I miss travelling... I really do! Last summer, trips to the Netherlands, England and Spain ended up on the chopping block. In some way, as disappointed that I was to not travel, there was pleasure in staying home. We managed to get stuff done that we have been putting off for years (gardening, our deck, putting up a gazebo, making our backyard cosy...). We did a local houseboat trip with some good friends (responsibly distanced, of course!). It ended up being a good summer, despite all! 

This year, we are hoping to salvage the Spain voyage and I have a work trip to Milan in July (with an intended pit stop in England to visit friends and family) but I have to admit that I am not optimistic. I longingly look at pictures of Copenhagen and dream of visiting my friends there. To be more realistic, we even started to think about some more travels to the US (thinking Pittsburg and Atlanta to visit the boys' football shrines) and perhaps Washington DC (just because we have seen so much of it on TV lately) but, at the moment, the border is still solidly shut. I would still be OK to stay home but the novelty of hanging out in our own backyard is overshadowed by wanderlust. Also, Alexander will be 17 this year so I am not sure how many more years that we will have to travel as a family of 5. 

Anyway, as the recent philosophy seems to be, we will adapt and take it all in stride. Having said that, I hope that our strides will take us across some borders... even if they are regional or provincial. In the mean time, I will keep enjoying my Youtube videos, travel channels and- pathetically- Google maps. See you on my travels ;)

Happy Wednesday <3

Random internet picture... random but so appropriate ;)