Alexandra Wolfe's Blog, page 22

For the Love of Jellies

This week, as the month of July wound down, we headed off to the Aquarium for a day out, midweek, in the hope there would be less people doing the same thing. We thought no one would go on a Tuesday, surely. How wrong we were.

The aquarium was chock-full from the moment we arrived, till we left. But, trampled feet aside, we still manage to enjoy ourselves (air con, people, air con!) And, even though the polar bears we’re on holiday elsewhere, we still saw our favourites, the seals, and, of course, my personal favourites: the Jellies.

Take a look at these beauties … what’s not to like.

Excuse Me While I’m Niksen …

Well, it had to happen, and the lyrics of the Righteous Brothers song Loving’ Feeling just about sums it it, really.

I’ve lost that lovin’ feelin’

Whoa, lovin’ feelin’

Bring back that lovin’ feeling

‘Cause it’s gone, gone, gone

Whoa, whoa!

At first I thought I was just in a reading slum because of a number of DNF reads that left me, well, questioning my choice in books. So I took a couple of weeks off from reading altogether, which sort of turned into a month and then … I went on holiday for the entire month of July and was busy just relaxing doing nothing—which, apparently, the Dutch have a saying for “niksen,” which is the art of doing just that, nothing—and when we weren’t doing niksen we were off out and about enjoying ourselves.

The thing is, I think I’ve either become a full-time practitioner, or an expert at niksen … or both!

Either way, I might not be blogging full-time again for a while, because I’m going to be doing a little more niksen in my life.

Down By The River

We had a lovely day out, yesterday, doing a loop along the St. Charles river. You can, if you really wanted to (and had the time) walk all the way from the Lac St. Charles along the river till you arrive here, in Québec City, and hit the mighty St. Lawrence river. We chose to do a walk that was just a couple of hours long in which you can loop over from one side of the river, to the other, via a series of bridges.

I especially like this section because it’s not only easy to do, but there’s also lots of shade and a ton of overgrown wild sections for bees, butterflies, and song birds—as you will see, in my photos. Enjoy!

Afternoon Tea, Anyone?

Following on from Darwin and Miro, we went to the Chateau Frontenac for Afternoon Tea yesterday! And let me tell you, if you’ve never done afternoon tea at a fancy hotel, you should. It was a blast from beginning to end. An extravaganza for the taste buds.

The Chateau recently celebrated it’s 125 anniversary and sits two sittings for tea, along with their best china that celebrates the occasion. And no, we didn’t break anything (phew!) at $80 for a cup and saucer in the gift shop, we were on our best behaviour.

Guests are met in the foyer with a glass of strawberry infused Kombucha tea. Something to sip while they seat you at your table and read the menu. We had a choice of 35 different teas to choose from, which took us like forever to decide on. Too many choices, I wanted them all.

Drink finished we were served a strawberry and champagne-fizz jelly palate cleanser. No, I kid you not. It was delicious. Next up came our choice of tea with two types of scone. A plain one and a goats-cheese and herb, along with two types of jam and yes, cream. Lashings of cream. Feeling full from just the scones alone, we were then presented with a tier of dainty sandwiches: salmon, shrimp, cucumber, ham and cheese and, to finish off, a blue-cheese lollypop stick sandwiched between two small crackers. [No, I didn’t take photos of all the food … you know, fancy restaurant and all!]

Wouldn’t you believe it, just as they’re topping up the teapots but they then bring out a trio of mini cakes for dessert. I wasn’t sure I was going to find room, but then, you know, being a hero and all, we scoffed the lot!

Not content for that to be the end of it, we then had coffee—from our own thermos—served with a trio of absolutely to die for chocolates!

An hour and a half later, when the waiter came with the bill, we were ready to be rolled out of the dinning room, or carried out on a stretcher.

If any of you ever come to QC for a visit, I’m taking you there for afternoon tea … promise!

Following In Darwin’s Footsteps

Well, okay, maybe not actually ‘In’ his footsteps, but it was as close as we’re going to get. What am I talking about? The Museum of Civilization here, in QC, has a wonderfully large exhibit courtesy of London’s Natural History Museum, featuring a selection of Darwin’s collection. Which, you should note, is vast. But what they loaned to us here, was pretty amazing, and we spent a good couple of hours taking it all in.

So yes, guess what, I have pictures. Lots of pictures. If you bore easily, now’s the time to leave.

First up, some of the ‘huge’ specimens on display:

And then, other curiosities that I just couldn’t resist taking photos of:

All of this just makes me want to do a trip to London just to go see the ‘full’ collection at the Natural History Museum. Maybe, one day, right?

Let’s Go Riopelle!

In complete contrast to the Miro “art” we saw on Thursday, we also took in a number of the fixed exhibits, my favourite being the huge canvases of Jean-Paul Riopelle. I love certain aspects of this Québec (Montreal-born) artist’s work, whose abstract expressionism is, again, a kind of art you either love or dislike, intently.

So, what do you think, do you like his style?

Flower Power

In order to recover from being inside for almost the entire weekend, last weekend, this Wednesday we spent the day outside at the University Laval Botanic Gardens soaking up some sun. As usual, the array of flowers didn’t disappoint, especially the peonies—my favourite flowers. We were spoilt for choice.

I hope everyone has a great weekend!

Miro Exhibit

“Come and see the Miro Exhibit,” they said.

“No, thanks, not my cup of tea,” I replied.

So where did we end up this morning? Yes, you guessed, the new Joan Miro exhibit at the Musée national des beaux-arts du Québec. For someone who studied art history for my A levels, there are artists I love, and then there are artists who make me scratch my head in wonder. Spanish artists, Joan Miro, is one of those you either love, or love to hate. I’m neither, but I do find it amazing that people continue to gush over what is, essentially, for me at least, ‘Street’ art—yes, I think he was something of a graffiti artist of his day.

I’ve seen work done by elephants that have more depth, colour and beauty than an average Miro painting, and sell for a lot less too. But then, who am I to say what is art, and what isn’t. It’s all very subjective, and personal. Like what we like to read, or watch by way of movies, we all have our likes and dislikes. Anyway, my thoughts aside, here’s a selection of snap-shots from the exhibit, and yes, they let us take photos.

Montreal ComicCon: Day 3

Day 3 at the ComicCon wasn’t so much a full day of panels and guest talks, as half a day. While we had the opportunity to dash from one venue to another and catch two panels—the other being with Christopher Lambert, he of Highlander fame—we decided to have a late morning, and went just to the Star Trek: Discovery panel, with Anson Mount, who played Captain Pike in season 2, along with Ethan Peck, who played Spock.

You could not have asked for two better guests to talk about what it was like to play not only on the latest Star Trek show, but two legendary and iconic figures within the Star Trek Canon. Not only did we thoroughly enjoy their hour up on stage, but we scored tickets for a Photo Op later that day with them both. I wouldn’t be lying if I said I didn’t swoon at being hugged by Anson Mount, even if it was just for a brief second in time.

Montreal ComicCon: Day 2

Saturday at the ComicCo, saw us cram in three guest panels in what was a very long day. The first was the absolutely lovely Lana Parrilla—who played the Evil Queen, as well as Mayor Regina Mills, and, by season seven, Roni, in the TV series, Once Upon A Time.

From Lana we had a small break before the next guests, The 100s: Bellamy, Clarke and Echo, or, Bob Morely, Eliza Taylor, and Tasya Teles, took centre stage. Funny how the only one who looked remote like his onscreen character, Bellamy, was Bob Morely!

We literally had time to exit stage left from the 100’s panel, head for a bathroom break before we then had to queue for the next guest, Tom Felton—yes, Harry Potter’s bad boy, Draco Malfoy! And, after watching this young man charm and beguile the crowd, I am a huge fan! Oh, and he sings as well … he serenaded us with 3 of his own compositions. All I can say is if you ever get the chance to see him up on stage, go. He’s sassy, smart, funny and self-deprecating.