All posts by pierrev

Posts from the road

First International Trip in Three Years!

Leave a comment

(Wellesley Island, New York, U.S.A.)

I flew from Geneva, Switzerland, to Toronto (via Dublin) on March 8, 2020. And despite flying thousands of miles on a couple of occasions in 2022, I hadn’t left Canada since that pivotal day in 2020. Until now.

The toll booth at the 1000 Islands Bridge (Ivy Lea, Ontario). About to leave Canada!
My first international destination since March 2020

On April 23, 2023, we dusted off our passports and drove through the heart of the 1000 Islands to the United States border…and beyond!

Eel Bay (Wellesley Island State Park)
The water at Eel Bay was very clear (Wellesley Island State Park)

Since the trip was very much a last-minute decision, it was kind of a strange way to end the long international travel drought. But I had done a little bit of research in advance that would prove very helpful.

Low level view of the Narrows (Wellesley Island State Park)
High level view of the Narrows (Wellesley Island State Park)

Our first stop in New York was Wellesley Island State Park. I had driven through Wellesley Island countless times over the years, but this was the very first time I had ever turned off Interstate 81 to visit the park. And because it was not yet the summer tourist season, admission was free.

A rocky part of the trail, near the Narrows (Wellesley Island State Park)

We began with a brief orientation at the Minna Anthony Common Nature Centre . We confirmed our understanding of the trail system, and embarked on an extremely enjoyable hike along Eel Bay. We were walking for well over an hour…and didn’t see anybody else after the first minute.

This fellow was sticking his tongue out at us, and didn’t want us to get any closer (Wellesley Island State Park)

We had great views of the St. Lawrence River and the American portion of the 1000 Islands. Wellesley Island is home to deer, wild turkeys, snakes, and huge birds of prey…and today we saw all of them.

This fellow didn’t stick out his tongue, and let us get quite close (Wellesley Island State Park)
We think we saw a turkey vulture circling overhead! Wellesley Island State Park

We were also surprised by the rough terrain. Maybe not quite as rugged as Italy’s Cinque Terre, but reminiscent of at least the East Coast Trail in Newfoundland.

Looking back at the trail we had just hiked up (Wellesley Island State Park)

After leaving Wellesley Island State Park, we visited the “Private Community” of 1000 Islands Park. It looks like an exclusive cottage enclave from the 1920s that has been frozen in time ever since. And since it was only April, virtually all of the houses were empty. It was eerily quiet.

Thousand Island Park Post Office (Wellesley Island, New York)

We then crossed to the “mainland” of New York State. We briefly stopped in Clayton but, like most villages on the water around here, it was virtually deserted. It will come to life again once Victoria Day weekend arrives, along with the first substantial groups of tourists and cottagers.

James Street in downtown Clayton, New York

We had worked up quite an appetite, so we continued on to Watertown for dinner. Watertown is the largest community in this part of New York state but it still has only about 24,500 people. Yet we still managed to find an interesting place to eat: B-Hat’s Curry House, featuring Indian and Nepali cuisine. And we had both!

This building had gryphons on it! (Clayton, New York)

We started with some momos for our appetizer, followed by a main course of chicken korma and chicken vindaloo. The sauces were very rich and the korma had a pleasing cashew accent. The vindaloo packed a lot of punch, so I was glad to have ordered a lassi drink to neutralize the burn.

B-Hat’s Curry House, at the Stateway Plaza in Watertown, New York

After dinner, we took some local highways through communities like…Philadelphia! The New York version is only a small village, but it’s not the only “alternate” version around here. If we had kept going, we would have made it to Antwerp. And there are communities named Copenhagen, Mexico, Turin, and Rome around here. too.

Entering the metropolitan area (Philadelphia, New York)

We returned to Canada as the sun was setting over the 1000 Islands. It was a lot of fun to be an international traveler again, even if it was only for one day. I can’t wait to get the passport out again soon!

Posts from the road

Road Trip to Trenton

Leave a comment

(Trenton, Ontario, Canada)

I recently had a day-long curling bonspiel in Belleville. I accidentally left some of my curling equipment behind, and made arrangements to pick it up the following weekend. It was on this skimpy premise that a spontaneous yet long-planned road trip took place.

Murray Canal at Carrying Place, Ontario

In the darkest days of the pandemic, the only real “travel” options were for essentials. This included food. We repeatedly made plans for a trip to Trenton, a town about 100km of Kingston. The purpose was to stock up on my favourite Dutch food products from the Trenton Delicatessen. But like many things during the pandemic, our trip was repeatedly postponed. And once travel started to happen again, I somehow was never in Trenton during their business hours. Or if I was nearby, I didn’t have the time to stop in.

Old-school tattoo parlour in Trenton

Finally, this weekend, I found myself in Belleville (18km from Trenton) with a full day ahead of me and no deadlines to meet!

Sam the Record Man, in Belleville’s Quinte Mall

We started off with a visit to the only remaining “Sam the Record Man” store in Canada. The flagship “Sam’s” location was on Yonge Street in Toronto, but the chain was everywhere…even Kingston had multiple locations. It now consists of just the one store in Belleville’s Quinte Mall. Nothing replaces my favourite record shop in Kingston, but it was still fun to check out this throwback from the past.

Thai Sushi in downtown Trenton

After picking up some (non-perishable) groceries, we made our way to Trenton for lunch. Sadly, our first choice (Korean) was closed for lunch on Saturdays. As were many of our other choices. We then saw a sign for the “Thai Sushi” restaurant, and figured we might as well give it a try. Ordinarily, I am wary of restaurants that “specialize” in completely different cuisines. And I am even more wary of restaurants that have an “all you can eat” focus. But it had been many hours since breakfast, and I ignored the yellow flags.

Part of our lunch at “Thai Sushi” in Trenton

I focused on trying some new dishes, and ended up enjoying the experience. It’s always good to try salads and soups on such occasions, as they sometimes get overlooked (especially with take-out). And it was clear that many of our selections from the more obscure parts of the menu were being made to order.

Trenton Deli (Trenton, Ontario)

Anyway, we *finally* made it to the Trenton Delicatessen with absolutely no residual hunger. We could focus on what we needed for the long haul. I had fun assembling my own mixed bag of Dutch licorice (“drop“), with a nice range of sweet and/or salty selections. I even picked up a few “Hopjes“: coffee candies from Den Haag (The Hague). I don’t drink coffee but I have a soft spot for these treats that were often in the kitchen cupboard at my parents’ house. I also bought a bag of honing drop (honey licorice).

Murray Canal (Carrying Place, Ontario)

Then it was time for the kaas (cheese)! They had some fun varieties of gouda (pronounced gow-da with a gutteral “g”…NOT goo-da!), such as black lemon. Yes, it’s jet black, and tastes like lemon! But in the end, I went for a couple of cheeses that I haven’t had in a very long time: maasdam and cantenaar. The maasdam is quite mild, but the cantenaar is like a very old gouda (albeit healthier) and wins the prize as my favourite for the day. Sadly, the cheese is now gone. I’ll have to make another return trip soon.

Lots of warnings at Northport, Ontario

We decided to drive home via the northern part of Prince Edward County. There aren’t too many communities here, but it was a nice change from the busy highway between Trenton and Belleville. After brief stops at Carrying Place and Northport (see photo at the very top of this post), we took the Bay of Quinte Skyway Bridge back to the mainland near Deseronto.

Harrowing construction work on the Bay of Quinte Skyway Bridge (as seen from Deseronto, Ontario)

What I had forgotten was that this very steep bridge was being “rehabilitated”. Maybe even worse: half of it was down to one lane. I don’t know about you, but I really don’t enjoy being parked near the top of a steep bridge waiting for the traffic from the other side to cross. And when the one open lane appears to be the only intact portion of the bridge…let’s just say that I was very glad to be done with the bridge part of our journey.

Market Simeon (Napanee, Ontario)

Our last stop of the day was in Napanee. I’ve featured pictures from Napanee on this blog before: here’s a post from 2015, and here’s one from 2020. As we had fresh cheese in the cooler, we couldn’t stay long this time. But we did stop in at “Market Simeon” on Napanee’s historic main street. And what did I find there? Snert!

Snert (also known as Erwtensoep) is another name for Dutch split pea soup. And I have to say that this version tasted just right. It had some very tasty sausage and correctly omitted garlic (which doesn’t belong in Dutch cooking). It was a nice finish to a mostly Dutch early spring day. All we were missing were the tulips!

Posts from Base Camp

Great Music Trips

Leave a comment

(Kingston, Ontario, Canada)

Near the end of 2014, I went on a “musical pilgrimage” to southern England. Based mostly in Cambridge and London, highlights included Paul Carrack in Southend-on-Sea, Jools Holland at the Royal Albert Hall, the London production of “The Commitments”, Los Pacaminos (featuring Paul Young) in a Putney pub, and a bunch of Beatles sights (including crossing Abbey Road, in the above photo).

It’s been a while since I’ve done a trip like that, although I still attend a lot of concerts. So, where would I go now?

The first place that comes to mind is South Africa. Regular readers of this blog will know that I saw (and met!) the late Johnny Clegg many times. Paul Simon’s “Graceland” album remains one of my all-time favourites. “The Indestructible Beat of Soweto” is a great compilation of music from South Africa. I really enjoyed seeing Ladysmith Black Mambazo when they came to Kingston. And Ladysmith Black Mambazo recently collaborated with South African Jeremy Loops on a fun single called “This Town”. It would be great to see this live, in the country where it was made.

I enjoyed seeing a small tango orchestra in Buenos Aires, Argentina. But since then, I have discovered the music of Bajofondo. The band members are from both Argentina and Uruguay. They use local music, such as tango, as a starting point…but take it in some very interesting modern directions. Since poor weather stopped me from getting to Uruguay, wouldn’t it be cool to see something like this in Montevideo?

But it is not necessary to go halfway across the world. There are some American artists who could form the basis for a fun musical trip. I have great respect for Jon Batiste from New Orleans, Louisiana: I was singing the praises of his “We Are” album even before it received a bunch of Grammy nominations. A trip to New Orleans could also include Trombone Shorty, the Dirty Dozen Brass Band (who we recently saw in Kingston)…the list goes on.

I’ve already seen the Weeklings perform live…in Monmouth, New Jersey, of all places. However, they were so compelling that I’d love to see them again. Their cover versions (especially of Beatles songs) are amazing, but their original compositions are great too. And I recently discovered that they sometimes play live at Daryl’s House, in Pawling, New York. It’s a cozy venue, and is operated by none other than Daryl Hall (of Hall & Oates fame). Wouldn’t that be a fun part of a trip to New York City?

I shared some Weeklings videos in a music-related post from a couple of years ago…if you like the above two, you’ll probably find these ones even better.

And what about all those Canadian music trips I could do? Pagliaro in Montreal…trips like that could keep me occupied for years!

Posts from Base Camp

Travel Flashback: 1974 trip to Europe

Leave a comment

(Kingston, Ontario, Canada)

I recently wrote about my 1983 trip to Hinton, Alberta, which was my first “independent” travel experience. Today, I’m going back even farther…to my 1974 trip to Europe with my parents. While I have some souvenirs from that trip, most of these pictures were taken on subsequent trips.

The front cover of our menu – April 1974 Swissair flight from Montreal to Zürich

Travel was different then. Even in economy class, there was an element of elegance and style. You had to wear your “Sunday best”. Check out the menu from our flight…you’d never see this much fuss about a meal in economy class now!

Pages two and three of the in-flight menu

My mother put together an album of our trip, so it is easy to recall exactly what happened. We flew from Montreal to Zürich on SwissAir flight SR161, a DC-10 that covered the distance in 7 hours and 10 minutes.

My grandfather’s chalet (straight ahead) in Weissenbach, Switzerland (August 2006)

For the Swiss part of our trip, we stayed mostly in my grandfather’s chalet. It is located in the quiet Simmental village of Weissenbach; my uncle still owns it today. I loved being in the mountains, even before I had ever tried downhill skiing.

Skiing above Zweisimmen (March 2018)

We also stayed in the nearby town of Zweisimmen, where I have been skiing on many occasions since then. From there, we drove up to the Bühlberg mountain restaurant above the village of Lenk…where I went skiing (see also the photo at the top of this post) with my cousin 44 years later!

My cousin and her family – at the summit of “Lavey” between Lenk and Adelboden, Switzerland (March 2018)

From Zweisimmen, it was on to Montreux on Lake Geneva. The climate was much milder here; it almost felt tropical compared to the mountains we had just left. From Montreux, we moved on to my uncle’s house in the Basel suburb of Riehen. Now owned by another cousin, I also stayed here in 2011 en route to a ski week in Wengen.

Benny, my uncle’s dachshund (May 1991)

We then left Switzerland and spent a couple of days in Frankfurt, (West) Germany. Once again, there was a family connection: we stayed with my mother’s cousin.

The beach at ‘s-Gravenzande, the Netherlands (August 2014)

The last couple of weeks of the trip were spent in the Netherlands. We made our way by train from Frankfurt to Hoek Van Holland (via Mainz and Köln). We then stayed at my aunt’s house in ‘s-Gravenzande…I stayed there many times over the years, and it was also the “base camp” for my extended 1991 backpacking trip through Europe. Although it is no longer in the family, I did take a picture of it in 2014 during my even-more-extended travel odyssey.

“Our” house on the Monsterseweg in ‘s-Gravenzande, the Netherlands (August 2014)

We visited Delft, Rotterdam, and The Hague, just like I did with my wife 40 years later in 2014. I really enjoyed a day trip to the Blijdorp Zoo in Rotterdam…one of the few “sights” that I haven’t returned to in the intervening 49 years.

Market Square in Delft, the Netherlands (August 2014)

A lasting impression was how great Dutch breakfasts could be. Of course, being not yet 6 years old, this assessment was based mostly on the ubiquitous availability of chocolate hagelslag (sprinkles) and chocolate vlokken (flakes). Actually, chocolate was a common theme on my childhood European trips. If I eat too much of it now, I can trace it back to those formative experiences!

Me and my friend, the skiing “Milka chocolate” cow (March 2020)

We flew back to Montreal from Amsterdam on KLM flight 0671. This time, the plane was a DC-8 and it wasn’t as comfortable as the outbound flight.

Maassluis, the Netherlands (two of my cousins live here) – August 2014

It would be another 5 years before we were able to return to Europe, despite all of our family connections there. My international travel, at least for a little while, would consist only of brief trips across the U.S. border to northern New York state. But European trips were major events, and my memories of the 1979 trip are much more vivid.

Posts from Base Camp

Travel Regrets

Leave a comment

(Kingston, Ontario, Canada)

[An explanation for the photos appears at the bottom of this post.]

I recently asked myself whether I have ever regretted traveling anywhere. Was there any place that I wished I had never seen or experienced?

“The Grapes” pub on Mathew Street in Liverpool, England. The Beatles hung out here. Photographer’s finger was not requested.

I have certainly had unfortunate travel experiences. I discovered that part of my luggage had gone missing upon arriving in France in August 2014. A couple of years before that, *all* of my checked luggage disappeared on the way back from San Antonio, Texas. We were turned back from the Argentina border in 2016 because of a visa problem. It’s been nearly nine years since I tried to get to Memphis…and I still haven’t made it there. Going to the hospital in Glasgow due to food poisoning wasn’t a whole lot of fun.

Captivating landscape near Hinton, Alberta

I’ve been to places that were not very welcoming…sometimes in general, and sometimes just to particular people. The recent surge of nationalism is unfortunately nothing new either. I was happy to move on from two particularly intolerant parts of Europe.

The famous “Lion of Ifrane” in Ifrane, Morocco. And a finger.

There are certainly a few places to which I will never (purposely) return. But any true regrets? I don’t think I have any.

???

Every experience, good or bad, has been revealing. Sometimes about the place we are visiting, but also sometimes about me or my fellow travelers. While seeing extreme intolerance made me sad, it also reinforced the importance of tolerance. And dealing with some lost luggage is really not that catastrophic in the big picture.

Laundromat in Prague, Czech Republic

In fact, some of the unfortunate travel experiences become the most vivid stories and memories. Although it happened more than 20 years ago, we still remember the miserable pelting rain we experienced on arrival in Kirkwall (Orkney Islands). It was almost horizontal due to the high winds, and we were drenched by the time we arrived at our B&B. To this day, we describe such weather conditions as simply “Kirkwall”.

Hospoda U Beníšků (obviously), Mělník, Czech Republic

So, how about these photos? They are all travel photos, but I think it’s safe to describe them as somewhat regrettable. Most are from the pre-digital era, when you didn’t realize a photo was bad until you picked up the prints at the shop. The photo at the very top is from Aberystwyth, Wales, and was apparently taken at the end of the roll.

Posts from Base Camp

Travel Flashback: 1983 Kingston/Hinton High School Exchange

8 Comments

(Kingston, Ontario. Canada)

I’ve been travelling independently for a long time. But it was still a bit of a shock to realize that my first independent trip was 40 years ago!

Surprisingly, this was the Edmonton Youth Hostel

When I was attending Bayridge Secondary School in Kingston (Ontario), my geography teacher enrolled our school in a program called “Open House Canada”. In short: for the princely sum of $10.00, you could go on an exchange with 40 of your schoolmates to another part of Canada. And then, a couple of months later (in early 1984), your new friends would visit Kingston. Having already been to Europe twice with my parents, I thought this would be great.

Wildlife on the side of the Icefields Parkway

Our school was matched with a similarly sized school in Hinton, Alberta. But our communities didn’t seem to have too much in common. Kingston was much larger and older than Hinton: Kingston was Canada’s capital many decades before Hinton even existed. Hinton’s economy was resource-based (I especially remember the smell of the paper mill), while Kingston has long been known as a government town. And Hinton was in the foothills of the Canadian Rockies, while Kingston’s geography was…a little less spectacular.

Rescuing a classmate who slipped on the Athabasca Glacier

And yet, despite all the differences, there ended up being quite a bit of common ground. We played lots of volleyball. We seemed to listen to much of the same music: Bob Seger’s “Old Time Rock and Roll” and Van Halen’s “Jump” seemed to be mutual favourites. And I think almost everyone appreciated the opportunity to see a completely different way of life, if only for a week or two.

My first ever visit to British Columbia (October 1983)

About half of the trip was spent living in your billet’s home (and going to school with them each day). My billet’s father was a park ranger, so I got to live in a remote village called “Old Entrance”. It apparently used to be the entrance to Jasper National Park. There were only three or four other houses in the village. Each morning, we had to hike up a very steep and winding gravel road for 15 minutes just to get to the school bus stop (which still had to travel some distance to get to Hinton). This was quite different from my leisurely 10-minute suburban walk to school in Kingston.

My billet, in his backyard

Once we were at school, we did day trips to notable area landmarks. Such local trips included a huge coal mine, a tract of commercially-harvested forest and the Cadomin Caves. Other destinations on the trip included Sunwapta Falls, the Athabasca Glacier, the summit of “The Whistlers” (high above Jasper), Mount Robson (see photo at the top of this post)…and the West Edmonton Mall!

Nearing the summit of “The Whistlers”, high above Jasper

Looking back on it now, it’s hard to believe that there was actually some peer pressure to *not* go on the exchange. While some parts were challenging (I vaguely remember some issue with the Jasper hostel, but the details are now lost in the mists of time), I don’t think anyone regretted their participation. I suspect that, for many of us, it was only the beginning of an appreciation for travel and for discovering places that were different from home.

The path down from the summit of The Whistlers

This reminds me of a famous Mark Twain quote, from his book The Innocents Abroad. It might be a little harsh, but I think there is some underlying truth to it:

“Travel is fatal to prejudice, bigotry, and narrow-mindedness, and many of our people need it sorely on these accounts. Broad, wholesome, charitable views of men and things cannot be acquired by vegetating in one little corner of the earth all one’s lifetime.”

Jasper as seen from The Whistlers

I hope you enjoy some of these ancient photographs…all were taken by me using a very rectangular (and very non-digital) Vivitar camera. These are the original prints!

Posts from Base Camp

Flashback to Argentina

Leave a comment

(Kingston, Ontario, Canada)

The 2022 World Cup ended last week, with Argentina winning the final over France. While I have mixed feelings about the tournament, the final match was highly entertaining.

The Arc de Triomphe, overlooking l’avenue des Champs-Élysées, after France won the 2018 World Cup

As I was in Paris in 2018 when France won the previous World Cup, I thought it might be nice to take a look back at our 2016 trip to Argentina.

We finally made it to the Argentinian border!

Argentina is a huge country, so our brief visit barely scratched the surface. And we were there in the middle of the Argentinian winter, which meant snow around Bariloche and lots of cool temperatures and fog in Buenos Aires. We did not get the feeling that this was high season for tourism. But we nearly didn’t get there at all!

A winter rose in front of the customs office in Puerto Frias, Argentina

We were travelling with a small group, and approached the Argentinian border on a complicated bus & boat route through the Chilean Andes. Alas, due to a missing bar code for my wife’s visa, we were left behind at a remote hotel while the rest of the group crossed the border without incident. We didn’t get clearance to proceed until the next day, and even that was a near-miracle.

View of Puerto Blest, Chile, from across the lake

Anyway, despite all that, we really enjoyed the lakes and mountains around the Argentina-Chile border. And with the benefit of six intervening years (not to mention a worldwide pandemic), even the border hassle doesn’t seem that bad now.

San Telmo by night, just outside the tango venue

We spent most of our Argentina time in the capital, Buenos Aires. My lasting impression is how European it looked: the buildings looked very Parisian, and there was an Italian vibe everywhere. I guess this shouldn’t be surprising: many Argentinians (including current soccer hero Lionel Messi) have Italian ancestry.

Teatro Colón, in the heart of Buenos Aires

We saw a lot of the major sights: Recoleta Cemetery, the Eva Peron (“Evita”) Museum, the San Telmo Market, the Teatro Colón…and even went to a spectacular tango show.

View from “our” box at the Teatro Colón (Buenos Aires, Argentina)

We stayed in Buenos Aires for a few extra days after our group dispersed. We also covered a lot of terrain on foot, and enjoyed a number of unexpected surprises. For example, we really enjoyed a billiards cafe, which is not something we would seek out (or find) here in Canada. We found an outstanding bookstore that used to be an opulent theatre. And we found a great local restaurant that did *not* specialize in obscene amounts of grilled meat.

Locro at La Cumana (Buenos Aires, Argentina)

Despite our jam-packed itinerary, there are still a few things that we weren’t able to do. We didn’t make it to a soccer game, as it was out of season. This was unfortunate, as going to soccer games is often a part of our international travels. I still haven’t been to one in Latin America.

The German Shepherd “sat” on the bench with his owner for at least 15 minutes (Buenos Aires, Argentina)

And we didn’t make it to Uruguay. We had hoped to make a day trip to Colonia del Sacramento, a historic Uruguayan city that was only about an hour away by boat. But our potential travel day was very rainy and cold, and we thought it might be better to focus on urban (and indoor) things that day.

Inside Los 36 Billares, a billiards cafe in Buenos Aires

But that’s one of the cardinal rules of travel: don’t try to do everything in one trip. Assume you will return one day, and you’ll already have a head start on that future itinerary.

1st floor of El Ateneo bookshop on Avenida Santa Fe, Buenos Aires

Speaking of future itineraries…I have been thinking about this a lot lately. It’s complicated, there are many competing considerations. But what would I do if I suddenly had an open calendar and no restrictions? Stay tuned for lots of interesting content as we move into 2023!

Posts from Base Camp

Changes in my ancestral DNA

Leave a comment

(Kingston, Ontario, Canada)

Six months ago, I published a post about the surprising results of my ancestral DNA test. You can find it by clicking here. At that time, I expressed surprise about my significant Swedish/Danish ancestry and the lesser but still unexpected Norwegian ancestry. Although those two regions only accounted for 8% of me, it was much more Scandinavia than I was expecting. But the remaining 92% was also a surprise. I certainly wasn’t expecting it to be far more “Northwestern Europe/England” than “Germanic Europe”.

View from the Christiansborg (Copenhagen, Denmark)

Well, DNA knowledge and technology changes quickly. A mere month after posting those results, I learned that there had been substantial changes. My DNA hadn’t changed, but there had been refinements in assigning regional ancestry in several parts of Europe. As a result, I learned that my original results were no longer accurate. Just when I was getting used to my distant past, I had to deal with another new reality!

Tivoli Gardens (Copenhagen, Denmark)

So while I likely still have some Norwegian DNA kicking around, it is now too small to be significant. However, my Swedish/Danish ancestry has remained at the same level. To acknowledge that, I have illustrated this post with images from my 2016 trip to Denmark. I felt at home there too…so maybe those are my true Scandinavian roots?

You can’t have too many pictures of Nyhavn in Copenhagen!

As for the even larger (now around 94%) remainder of my ancestry, the majority of it is now in fact Germanic Europe. A slightly smaller, but still significant, portion is traceable to “Northwest Europe and England”.

The Wish Tree Garden on Papirøen, Copenhagen (my collaboration with Yoko Ono)

As some other friends and family members have tried this testing too, I have also learned just how random this DNA business can be. Even siblings can have significantly different outcomes. You almost certainly won’t get the same 50% from each parent that your brother or sister did. And of course 50% is lost with each generation.

The Fish Kiss Spa in downtown Copenhagen

What now? I will certainly be checking in from time to time, to see if my results have been refined further. I now know there are some other regions in my family’s past, and I’m curious to see if they will appear for me too.

Posts from the road

Trip to Vancouver…for sport!

Leave a comment

(Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada)

I certainly hadn’t planned to visit Vancouver in late October. However, that is precisely where we found ourselves for an extended, and exhausting, 8-day visit.

Our AirBnB, just off Main Street

Around the time that I wrote my previous blog post, my wife and I entered the Provincial Indoor Singles lawn bowling playdowns. To our mutual surprise and delight, we both ended up qualifying to represent Ontario at the National Indoor Singles championship. It was being held at the Pacific Indoor Bowls Club in Vancouver, B.C., so that’s where we found ourselves just 4 weeks later!

Entrance to the Pacific Indoor Bowls Club (Vancouver, B.C.)

The Pacific IBC is located in the Little Mountain neighbourhood. There weren’t any hotels around, so we decided to take a leap of faith and book an AirBnB for the very first time. We found a choice property that was only a 15-minute walk from the club, which took a lot of stress out of getting to/from the competition every day. And we had an entire floor to ourselves, so we had plenty of space to recover from the long days of competition. For a longer stay like this one, it was much better than being cooped up in a hotel room.

Nat Bailey Stadium – home of baseball’s Vancouver Canadians, and right beside the Pacific Indoor Bowls Club

The club was located in a nice recreational cluster. There was a baseball stadium next door, as well as a huge swimming/skating complex. This being the mildest part of Canada, soccer was still being played outdoors too (despite all the rain). My favourite part, however, was the stretch of Main Street near our accommodations.

Sawasdee Thai Restaurant – on Main Street, just around the corner from our accommodations

The Sawasdee Thai Restaurant had superb Tom Kha Gai soup, and was just one of a collection of appealing restaurants within two minutes of “our” place. Other good dining experiences included some very rich Indian cuisine and a restaurant featuring various “Silk Road” cuisines (from Persian to Tibetan). As regular readers of this blog will know, I automatically increase a neighbourhood’s rating when it has a strong independent record store. In this case, that store was Red Cat Records (see photo at the very top of this post).

Kingston Lawn Bowling Club had two competitors at the Nationals!

The competition itself was pretty intense, as it should be at a national event. There are many reasons for this but, in a nutshell, the indoor game is much more challenging for those of us who usually play outdoors. However, our play (and results) improved through the week. We were both quite happy with how we played over the last couple of days, and we hope to compete at this level again soon!

In action for Ontario (vs. Saskatchewan) on the tricky Rink 1 in the men’s competition

As we might start practicing as early as 7:30 a.m. each day, and games continued past 6:00 p.m., we didn’t have much left in the tank at the end of the day. The circumstances forced us to eat, shop, and entertain ourselves in Little Mountain. But this had its upside: we developed some familiarity with our favourite stores, and began to feel at home in our little corner of Vancouver.

Overhead view of Rink 1 – first end of an Ontario-B.C. matchup in the women’s competition

Bottom line: with appropriate research, an AirBnB can be a superb replacement for poorly sited hotels…especially in a city with high prices and with the price of hotels spiraling ever upward. Just like I thought I’d never go on a group tour, I thought I’d never use this kind of accommodation. But it definitely has its place, and I wouldn’t hesitate to go this route again.

Posts from the road

My lawn bowling journey

Leave a comment

(Burlington, Ontario, Canada)

In my last post, I promised that I would explain some of the posting delays on the blog lately. With the easing of the pandemic (or at least the associated restrictions), it would have been reasonable to expect some international travel this summer. After all, this is a travel blog, and international travel has only recently become somewhat accessible again. However, life sometimes takes some unexpected turns. While I still took some vacation days this summer, their purpose was altogether different. Here’s what happened…

Lining up for the bowl and shoe inspection at the National championships in Burlington

During the pandemic, I trained extensively in the sport of lawn bowling. I started lawn bowling in 2017 as a way to bridge the gap between curling seasons. As it turned out, lawn bowling seemed to suit me better than curling. And, as an outdoor and well-spaced activity, it wasn’t hampered by the pandemic as much as my other sports. In late 2019, I was lucky to find some people who were on the same wavelength, so I decided to get much more serious about the game and try to get to the next level.

Opening Ceremonies: the umpires are at the front, with the various provincial teams behind.

My wife devoted countless hours, with a clipboard and tape-measure, to tracking my progress. My coach Blaine provided long-distance advice and support. My pairs partner Bill was equally committed and was always available to discuss strategy, exchange ideas, and try to speed up the learning curve. I threw thousands upon thousands of bowls. I did the analytics and watched the tapes. I was active every single day, in some form, regardless of the weather. Finally, in 2022, I had a real opportunity to put all of the preparation to good use.


Discussing strategy in our game against British Columbia “A”

It happened fast…if you can call 10 matches over 3 days fast! Despite a massive Men’s Pairs Ontario Championship in Agincourt with 31 very strong teams, and with only two Ontario teams qualifying for the subsequent National Championship, Bill and I somehow managed to make it. Sure, we had put in the preparation time. But so did a lot of other teams. It was still a huge surprise that we qualified.

Delivering a bowl against Nova Scotia

Looking back to that event, I remember thinking that it was like being a kid again…when there was always the potential of something special happening. Except now I could fully appreciate the enormity of it.

Instructing Bill against Alberta “A”

If you know anything about my competitive nature, you can imagine that this really took up a lot of my spare time in 2022. And before I knew it, we were wearing our sparkly new Team Ontario shirts and delivering practice bowls at the Nationals in Burlington, Ontario.

Team Ontario (players, coaches, and support).

There were ups and downs at the Nationals. We beat some great teams, and really struggled against others. We didn’t make it to the medal round. But as soon as it was over, we were already talking about trying to qualify again.

Trial bowls against Alberta “A”

I have mostly kept lawn bowling out of this blog. It’s certainly a misunderstood sport. And despite over 100 clubs in Ontario alone, it is still seen as a niche or fringe sport. But now I see that it really is a journey…with a lot of the characteristics that I enjoy about travel. The planning (both strategic and logistical) is something I love to do for regular travel too. My desire for special experiences, rather than just passively observing things, is something I also endorse in regular travel. Pushing myself out of my comfort zone, against very strong competition, is in some ways just like travelling to a country very different from my own…and just as rewarding when it works out. (We did put thousands of kilometers on our car this summer, so there was quite a bit of “traditional” travel too.)

Panorama view of the Burlington Lawn Bowling Club

As in any great trip, there were bumps along the way. I just couldn’t figure out Rink 16 in Burlington. In another game, a badly-timed weather delay probably turned a win into a loss. But sometimes, the objectively disastrous parts of a trip are the most memorable and provide the most opportunities for growth. The learning curve continues, full speed ahead.

(Right:) Calling a shot against British Columbia “A”

So that’s where I’m at. Whatever happens next on this journey, I’m going to continue to push myself and seek out new experiences…whether it is in the context of travel or sports.