>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.
>On our third full day in Edinburgh, it’s finally time to post something. We’ve walked all around the city, spent time at the playground in Princes Street Gardens and in Edinburgh Castle, and went for a few runs in Holyrood Park. We’ve had our share of Fish n chips, vegetarian lasagna, and pizza (not as scary as it sounds!)
Today we’re taking the train to the Scottish Seabird Centre. Look for bird pictures tomorrow!
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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!
>Everybody needs a day off, even on vacation. We basically did nothing Saturday but find Frankie a cute birthday cake at great bakery and hang out at the rich kids playground on the way to dinner at Rebel House.
>On Friday we road tripped to Niagara Falls. I remember going at least once when I was a kid, and then once in college, but I don’t know who went with me! Both of those times we went to the American side, and this time we stayed on the Canadian side, so it was a lot different. In any case, Niagara is about 1.5 hours from Toronto, so it makes a nice day trip (thanks for the suggestion Phil!)
We started out at about 10 am and drove to St. Catharine’s, where we had found a nice breakfast place called the Bleu Turtle. It was very small and very casual but had fantastic French Toast and omelets. I had a wild boar sausage with my meal, which was a first for me. Bee ordered the French Toast, but didn’t eat much, so guess who helped her?
When we arrived at the Falls, we walked to Table Rock, which is right next to the horseshoe-shaped falls on the Canadian side. We were surprised at how cold we were from all the mist drifting off the falls, so we went in to the Table Rock welcome center and bought Bee a very nice jacket. After that, the main thing we did at Niagara Falls was ride the the Maid of the Mist. The girls were excited about wearing their blue rain coats, and of course riding the boat, but I’m not sure they were ready for the falls (I know I wasn’t!)
One of the unexpected themes of the day was rainbows. We saw one off the stern of the boat, and a beautiful one over the falls as we left. It was a nice way to end the day.
Dinner was as Real Thai, the fourth place we’ve been to on Bloor St. It is great having all those choices nearby. We snuck in some ricotta and the girls ate it with rice noodles.
>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!
