>Here are a few more pictures from the Prince Street Gardens. The girls loved running down the hills and the playground. We liked the views and its escape from the hustle above in the city. The bagpiper played twinkle twinkle for the girls when we took the picture.
>On the second day we were here we trekked around old town and new town, visiting the Edinburgh Castle, the Prince Street Gardens (and playground), the Cathedral (which provided some nice refuge during a brief shower), and a really great vegetarian restaurant, Henris.
>We have seen rainbows in each of the three countries we visited! I would never have guessed that!
>We made it to scotland on Tuesday! There’s lots to write about but just a couple of things to get us started. First of all the sun rises at at 3.30am and sets at 11pm. With the time zone changes and the late sunset the girls havent gone to sleep before 10.30! We’ve had really nice weather so far, although a bit chilly.
Our place is near Holyrood Park, which is a “royal park” as it is owned by the Queen but open to the public. The park was part of a 12th century royal “deer hunting estate.” Running through the park, you can still see the ruins of Holyrood Abbey, built in 1128.
There is also the ruins of St. Anthony’s chapel that you run by, built in the 14th century.
We mapped out an excellent 5 mile run that goes along the park perimeter and up to the summit of Arthur’s seat, which is the highest point in Edinburgh. (This is also known as the “radical road option“, according to the cross country people because of its steep ascent). Yesterday when I did this run, i just did the round the park loop, which I thought had a pretty big hill. Then when scott went out after me, he discovered the radical road option so I tested it out today and was not disappointed! It was amazing, the view is enough to keep you running up the hill! The summit is only 823 ft above sea level, but when running the path up to the top, you go up about 500 feet in about a half mile. We were surprised to learn that arthur’s seat is an extinct volcano, erupting between 350 and 400 million years ago. Erosion has uncovered some of the lava flows, which you can see running through the park. Also at the top you can see a panoramic view of the city.
After running through the top of arthur’s seat, the route goes over towards the back of the park, which allows for a view of the southern side of edinburgh. You also pass by the Salisbury Crags, which are a series of 150 foot cliff faces. You then turn towards the north east and see the across the Firth of Forth to Fife, and if you look just below the park you can see the soccer stadium. We’ll try to get some of our own pictures later, but neither of us carried the camera on our runs. We’re thinking of taking Bee and Frankie there tomorrow for some hiking.
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On Sunday we celebrated Frankie’s 4th birthday. HAPPY BIRTHDAY FRANKIE!! We love you!!! Here is a picture she drew of the family with Cho-Cho included! We’re coming Cho Cho! She also included a cat next to Cho-Cho, but that one will have to wait. More on the day’s events later! In case you are wondering that is the dog and cat to the far right. Frankie is in the middle pretending to be a crying baby. She is so creative! Happy Birthday girl!
>We’re falling behind in our posts already! So its Saturday, but we’ll talk about what we did on Thursday. First, lets say that the weather in Toronto has been wonderful. Highs in the upper 60s maybe 70, and sunny! It’s supposed to shower tomorrow, but it will be Sunday and Frankie’s birthday so we will probably have a fun and low key day. But back to Thursday. We started off the day with more good running – there are lots of off road trails and hills (near the castle) so you get a good workout! (Here’s our route.) With morning temperatures around 10C, its nice and brisk running in shorts.
We started off around 10.30 am and walked from our place to the Casa Loma. Bee and Frankie walked the whole way there, which included a mile walk there plus a 250 ft incline to get to the castle. The castle is supposed to be canada’s most famous. I thought it must have belonged to royalty, so I was surprised to learn that it was built by the man (Sir Henry Pellatt) who started the Toronto Electric Company, became a millionaire and in 1911 wanted to have a “dream castle” for his home. Poor Sir Henry lost his castle after only 10 years when his fortune when down with the war bonds. One side note is that Sir Henry was a great runner! I should say he had good running routes near his house.
Bee and Frankie loved sitting on the “princess’ bench”.
There is a glass floor in the viewing area that you can stand on and jump on, and where you can look down to street level, 1,122.0 ft below. Frankie couldn’t get enough of this view.
Also, you could go outside on the observatory, and so we “ran a loop” around the tower, which was Bee’s favorite part. It was quite windy and chilly!
>We have to say that Toronto thus far has been the land of gastro delight. We decided to do a hunt for the best pizza in the city. Bulls eye! On the first try! Terroni’s on Aidelade Street.
So you might ask, how do we know its the best if we haven’t tried anywhere else? It was just that good. We found Terroni’s reviewed on line and they claimed the best pizza this side of the Atlantic, but be warned that the wait staff was “snotty” and they wouldnt make any substitutions or changes from the menu. However, our waiter was very kind. When he found out we used to live in NYC he told us that he wished he could move to NYC, so he got the cook to make a special pizza for the girls. So much for the “cant order off menu” rule! Bee was excited because she saw Calabrese written in various places on the menu. We got the bufalo Margarita pizza and the Quattro Stagioni, which was one fourth calamata olives (yum!), one fourth eggplant, one fourth zucchini and one fourth prociutto. The crust was really thin but chewy and the toppings very fresh. The pizza was the size of large plate so you could order your own or share. It was amazing. The best since Lombardi’s. I could eat there every day. Then Bee had a gelato and scott and i split a tiramisu, and both were quite good. Frankie fell asleep after the pizza which says alot because she never falls asleep in restaurants!
And within minutes of our place, we’ve also had really good indian at Nataraj and By the Way Cafe, a nice vegetarian cafe for salad. And then there is Gregg’s ice cream. Frankie’s been eating their coconut like it is going out of style, and Bee dared to try to the ginger. Scott loved the chocobanana, and I loved the coconut and chocoloate combo. We found a Cobs Bread, a great bread shop where we bought a load of whole wheat sesame bread that we have been eating for breakfast everyday, too! Those University of Toronto students are lucky!
>We took the subway down to the harbor front and then took the ferry over to Centre Island.
>Welcome to Canada!
Man, Canada is cold! Seriously, we had to wear jackets last night as we walked around. Problem was that we accidently left the girls’ jackets in London, Ontario at the place we stopped for lunch. Its OK, at least they sat us at a table with enough hot sauce to satisfy me:
However, this morning is beautiful and sunny. We found a really great running route that took us through several parks, by Casa Loma, and onto a dog park. Cho-Cho we’re coming!
Our drive here was punctuated by a detour through Allenton (where Cho Cho lives). We didnt stop but just passed by Rick’s house to get a glimpse. Then we got a “random” checks at customs and immigration where we had to vacate our car and have them search it for illegal items. Thank goodness they didn’t find the friendly martians hiding in the trunk.
Our place is located right on the edge of the University of Toronto. We felt right at home near student apartments, and a few fraternities, and the Casa Italiano right down the street. We have 3 playgrounds in eye shot. What a great location!! There is even a little kid’s rocking chair in our apartment, and the owner asked if we needed to borrow a stroller.
Today we are off to the harborfront and centre island. They have a little coaster there! This is going to be Bee’s first roller coaster ride! I can’t wait!!
>And we’re off to Toronto! We found some great reviews of ice cream places and also of playgrounds so I think we will be all set! New “border crossing” rules went into effect yesterday, so we will let you know how it goes when we enter Canada. They weren’t in effect last week, so we had no problem going into Ohio. Sorry Brutus.
We have tons of strawberries coming in this year! I wonder when they will ripen? Or if birds will get them before we get back? There is something that is eating in our garden. We’ve planted several sunflowers and once the plant gets about 5 inches tall with big leaves, something eats the leaves. We even planted new ones in a pot and placed the pot on the front steps to protect it from the “wild” that is east lansing. Of the two in the pot, one was eaten in the last couple of days. Im hoping the other one makes it, but suspect it may get eaten too. So far, nothing has eaten the basil, which is thriving like we’ve never seen before. We sure do miss the Markster, but that dog LOVED to eat basil. We’ve also got tomatoes and onions and corn growing. The corn is complements of Bee’s kindergarten class. They were studying how plants grow and she brought home a cup with 4 plants sprouted so we stuck them in the ground. We also cleared out the area next to the Doll House (aka the shedd), and a new herb garden which includes: Mint (which is growing really well!), rosemary (which is hanging in there, though now sure how it will do in this climate), chives, oregano, and the aforementioned basil.
