North Beach - Little Italy of San Fransisco

North Beach - the Little Italy in San Francisco

The Holiday Inn where we are staying now is located in an excellent location; we are five minutes' walk from Fisherman's Wharf, and a two minutes' walk to a pharmacy store where we can get juice, milk and some light grocery.


If we walk another five minutes, it would take us to Safeway, a supermarket where we can get all the groceries we  need, plus Ross, a retail clothing store selling brand name items at deep discount prices, is also close by.

The best thing about our hotel is its close proximity to North Beach, a friendly charming neighbourhood full of nice eateries of all kind.


It is the Little Italy of San Fransisco with family run restaurants, bakeries and outdoor cafes.

It was a real pleasurable and enjoyable experience strolling about in the neighbourhood, enjoying the scenery, going into the colourful  little restaurants and checking out the freshly baked treats and goodies.

How many people could resist stopping by these eateries from where such delicious and wonderful aroma is emitted?

With huge franchise restaurants such as MacDonald's located on every other street block, it's refreshing to have neighbourhood restaurants offering unique and fresh dishes.
A charming restaurant in North Beach






I ordered a pasta dish, sat outside the restaurant sipping my cold beverage and watching the world and numerous tour buses passing by.

The pasta dish was very good comparable to the dishes we had in Rome last year.

There are many interesting places in San Francisco and North Beach is just one of them!

North Beach , a very walkable neighbourhood with old world charm, picture perfect Victorian houses and excellent restaurants catering to different palate and taste, is a great place for a relaxing walkabout!



R.T.
North Beach, San Francisco

San Fransisco - A Top Tourist Destination in the World

San Fransisco - One of the Top Tourist Destinations in the World

Hello from the west coast!

I took the red eye flight to San Francisco and arrived in the city shortly after 9a.m. local time.

I met up with Eric and took a cab to the hotel down at Fishman's Wharf. It was too early for us to check in but we could deposited our luggage at the hotel storage.

We were free of our luggage and were able to start our adventure in the city.

Sculptures near the Embarcadero Centre

 We visited San Fransisco during the Christmas holiday in 1996 and this is the first time we are back for another visit. Funny, I could not remember much our last visit as our stay in the city was not too long.

This time I am doing a lot of walking tour on my own and am seeing a lot that I did not see in our last visit.
Since our hotel is only a stone throw away from the Fishman's Wharf, the waterfront area, I could walk there easily.

There are a lot of interesting buildings, sculptures and monuments to admire and lots of activities happening by the waterfront.





I always love the wide street lined with palm trees
in southern U.S.A.

This is the Ferry Building with the clock tower in the background.

The waterfront area is a busy place with a number of piers, shops, and numerous restaurants

A street musician playing by the waterfront

I enjoyed the street musician performing in the plaza the say I was there.  With his speakers blasting the music, this street musician was playing my most favourite song -Micheal Jackson's Billy Jean!!

Great music performance, I could have stood there or take a rest and sit on the steps of the square all day and listened to his music.

The Abraham Lincoln Brigade Memorial

The Ferry Building - San Fransisco Waterfront

San Fransisco is a city full of history, music, culture, arts and sculptures. It is a great place for photographers!


The Abraham Lincoln Brigade Memorial honouring those who fought in the Spanish War and the huge fountain in the|Justin Herman Plaza located opposite the Ferry Building at the waterfront.

The fountain in |Justin Herman Plaza opposite the Ferry Building

 San Fransisco is one of the top tourist destinations in the world!  I could see and feel the energy, the beauty and excitement of the city already.

 I am really looking forward to exploring the city, learning about its history and visiting its many points of interest in the next few days!


R.T.
San Fransisco, USA

Interesting Lego Structures at Disney

Hello from the Toy Story Characters at the Lego Centre

I have always enjoyed watching kids playing with Lego and see what they can do with these tiny little pieces.

When we were in Orlando, we went to downtown Disney ( free admission!)  and the children had a lot of fun playing at the Lego Centre.

This Lego beauty is as tall as a real person

Some of the structures were very animated and looked very much like the characters they represented.


We  were amazed and wowed by the size and complexity of some of the Lego structures on display.

The Green Hulk is being challenged!

Some of these Lego structures were real life size, taller than most kids in the building.

Many were even bigger than the size of  an adult such as the Green Hulk.

A huge outdoor Lego scene depicts a brave knight fighting a fire breathing dragon in a forest

In fact the Lego structures outside the Lego Centre were so huge that our cameras could not capture the whole Lego scene with our lens.



Our trip to the Disney Downtown area was fun and educational for the  kids as well as for the young people. It was a nice way to spend an evening.

The youngsters saw these beautiful displays and were inspired by them. Many sat while some stood  trying to design and build their own figures.

They were so immersed into building their own projects that we had a hard time yanking them away from the building table.

Batman at the Waterloo Lego Centre

 It was great to see the kids being away from all the electronic gadget and have fun doing something else.

The no admission charge was a bonus indeed!

R.T.
Retired Boomer
Walt Disney, Orlando, Florida 

P.S. We were in Waterloo, Ontario, recently and saw a few more beautiful characters built with Lego structures, so I included them here as well.

The Little Red Engine!

A LEGO picture you can hang on the wall 

Another picture created out of LEGO blocks!

A Lego transformer

We Saw Dolphins from the Beach!

Daytona Beach, Florida - A place famous for its beautiful  beaches and motorcycle bikers!

But this past few days, we saw more than that!

The week we were there, it happened to be a motorcycle show/ convention and a lot of bikers were in town.

We saw rows and rows of motorbikes parked everywhere. If you are a fan of motorbikes, you would have been in heaven with all the different models of bikes on display.








We enjoyed visiting Daytona and loved its natural beautiful -  the abundance of pristine beaches, oceanfront shorelines, the wide variety of wildlife, especially birds of different species and colours.

Wherever we went to places where there was water,  we could expect to see birds of different kinds.











These birds were not afraid of people and did not fly away immediately when they detected the presence of human.














They stayed still at where they were and held their ground as long as possible.

If you have an interest in birds,
Daytona is a great place to observe birds of different kinds.

 This little fellow on the left stood on the pole for the longest time while we were walking towards it closer for some good shots.

It never moved nor did it pay much attention to us. Staying still for this long could easily turn themselves into dinner for predators close by. We wondered why these small birds and fowls were so fearless of larger animals who might be lurking somewhere.

It was relaxing watching birds and observing what they were doing,

But nothing compared to the excitement of dolphin sighting!

We never expected to see dolphins from where we were - walking along the shore in a beach park close to the city,  looking out to the water.

We saw a few dolphins ( free of charge)  at a beach park in Daytona

Standing on the quieter side of the Daytona Beach where few people were nearby, we were pleasantly surprised to see a few dolphins swimming right in front of us!

First we saw the rapid undulating movement of the water and knew that something large was swimming under the surface.

It was awesome to see parts of  a couple of dolphins flying by on the water. They could really swim!!! 

We saw half of the dolphins' tails above the surface of the water for a few seconds but my camera was too slow to catch them on film before they swam out into the ocean beyond the catch of our camera lens.

It was thrilling to come so close to the dolphins in their natural habitat! We were in the Boston area a few years ago and paid $40.00 to go on a special boat tour yet we did not even come this close to any dolphins or whales.  This time we paid nothing and saw these graceful sea creatures flying by in front of our eyes/

 Other animals we saw often were squirrels scurrying around and again did not mind our presence.

We could go pretty close and got some good shots of this two squirrels in the park.


R.T.
Daytona, Florida, USA

 

Never felt sand so smooth and fine in my life!

Daytona is famous for its beach! How can we go all the way from Canada and not visit Daytona.


When planning our Florida trip, we decided to spend a few days in Daytona, Florida.

 My husband was able to book us a two bedroom ocean front condo where we are fronting a lovely beach!





We love the warm Florida sun, the fresh air, the gentle breeze caressing our faces. Both we and the children love the weather here!

 We love the view of the ocean from where we are staying and the feel of our feet walking on the soft sand of the beach! !  The ocean waves pound and polish the sand day in and day out.into dust fine sand  I have never felt sand so smooth and fine massaging my feet.









We have hidden our thick Canadian jackets deep at the bottom of our suitcases. Don`t want to wear them, see or even think about them for a little while!!!

We have been pretty lucky for the past few days because the weather has been perfect.  It has been a little cool in the evening but very nice warm during the day.

With the great weather, walking on the beach fronting the Atlantic ocean is awesome!

The beach where we are staying even allows vehicles driving on it at a very  slow speed of 10 miles per hour during certain hours.


 

Personally, I do not like the idea of having to watch out for vehicles on the beach.

But you kind of go with the flow and do what the Romans do when you are in Rome.

Bird watching is becoming our hobby since we are here.

Nothing calms you more than taking a
leisurely walk on the beach, listening to the sound of the waves from the ocean and watching little birds pecking on micro fish on the beach and then scampering away when the waves roll onto the shore.

We are enjoying this tranquil scenery and wondering if this would be the lifestyle for us, maybe a few months a year like our Snowbirds from Canada.

Not a bad idea at all!

R.T.
Daytona, Florida

Where to Find Tasty and Affordable American Food in St. Augustine, Florida

Cracker Barrel - Our favorite Restaurant in the States

Having eaten for the past few days a lot of take out and fast food such as deep fried chickens and fries during our trip to Florida, we all craved for some home cook style American food.

We have visited the States many times before and have always enjoyed the dinners at Cracker Barrel I suggested that we looked for a Cracker and Barrel restaurant close to St. Augustine. ( I also just learned about the history of Crackers in Florida on this visit!)

With our computer, we googled and were happy to locate a Cracker Barrel close by. By the time we got to the restaurant it was around 8:30pm. and were glad to find that there was still full dinner service.

Yummy Corn Bread

The menu offered a variety of home style dinners. Jonathan ordered the roast beef; Yachi opted for corned beef; Andrew and Stan had chicken dumplings. I had the Sampler with chicken dumplings, meat loaf and sweet ham and it came with coles slaw, turnip greens, carrots and yummy southern corn bread and biscuits.

 A heavenly meal indeed at a very affordable price for the family, and the children ordered from the kids menu. All the dinners were from $7.99 - $10.99. Everyone enjoyed the home style cooking especially the two to three side dishes served with the dinners we ordered.

The server was courteous and efficient. Jonathan is not an easy person to please when comes to eating out, but he enjoyed the home style cooking at this restaurant a lot. As he devoured the freshly prepared food on his plate, he said happily that he would try to find a Cracker Barrel in Canada. If he could find one, he would go back to eat there again. That is the biggest compliment that a restaurant could ask for when customers do not mind driving the extra distance to return and dine there again.

A new restaurant we tried during our visit in the States this time was Sonny`s at St. Augustine.
Jonathan had to take the 3:45pm bus from St. Augustine going back to the Orlando airport to catch his flight there tomorrow. We sat down at the restaurant at around 2:00pm and the food was served to us in less than 10 minutes after we told them that we were in a rush.

Again our plates came with salad or coles slaw of our choice plus tasty corn bread. We loved the smoked BBQ ribs that fell off the bones when we put them in our mouth and the species were full of flavours.

The pulled pork was just as good, so tender that it melted in our mouths! We were licking our fingers throughout the whole meal. Jonathan was supposed to be a vegetarian but he could not resist this delicious BBQ food either. It was yummmmy yummmmy finger licking good!

After trying the Sonny`s in St. Augustine, we will be looking for this restaurant during our travel!

R.T.
St. Augustine, Florida

St. Augustine - the Oldest City in America

We reluctantly  said good bye to the Magic Kingdom and left Walt Disney world and started the second part of our holiday. We left the Magic Kingdom at about 9p.m. just missed the parade and the firework.  Driving north of Orlando for about an hour and half, we got to St. Augustine at around midnight and checked into the Holiday Inn. Each of us was given a welcome bag of goodies consisted of a bottle of water and a package of cookies. It was not a lot but a welcoming gesture indeed. We stayed at many Holiday Inn before but this was the first one that gave off a welcome bag.

St Augustine, a pretty little town full of history of the America past,  is the oldest continuous settled city in the United States.

A shady street in St. Augustine

Jonathan was really good with his two young cousins. Throughout our entire trip, Jonathan consulted them and asked what they would like to see a lot. This time they all voted to see the old jail in St. Augustine.

We signed up for a tour package that included a tour of the Old Jail, the Museum, the General Store an a tram ride of the old town. The best part of the tour was the guided tour by guides/actors in period and inmate costumes. The package was $35.00 for adult and $20.00 for child and lasted about two and half hours.

Chain Gangs - Prisoners chained to perform harsh labour work

I think the better deal would have been  if we just took the tour of the jail at $5.00 per person. Sadie Mae, our jail tour guide dressed in inmate uniform was very animated and delivered the history and information about the jail with dramatic skills and a great sense of humor which captivated everyone`s attention.

We learned a lot about the history of the jail, about the State of Florida and the use of the Chain Gangs – the leasing of the prisoners to companies building roads and other labour intensive projects.

Jail Bird - Punishment for prisoners

We also learned about the origins of the expression “Jail Bird” – When a prisoner disobeyed orders, he could be locked up in a huge bird cage outside and be exposed to the harsh Florida sun anywhere between 12 – 36 hours without water or food and had to do his business in the cage.

 “Home Free “ – Many prisoners were arrested and put into jail for trivial matters or unimportant things such as registering for vote, inquiring for work, being drunk, or sliding down the banister in the tavern etc.  The leasing of Chain Gang to perform harsh labour work was hated by most Floridians.  The prisoners at the time knew that if they escaped from jail and could reach a home somewhere, the people would help them, hence they were “Home Free”

.

St. Augustine was an important well fortified town, but one that was never captured.

 It has a very interesting history and is definitely worth a visit! We were glad that we stopped for a day here and I would very much like to come back and spend more time here.

R.T.
St. Augustine, Florida