Toronto to start 2014’s travels

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Kicking off my 2014 travels is a trip to Toronto for the better part  of next week.  It’s another mixed work and vacation trip: a couple of days with my sister (her wine club and a new Spanish restaurant will occupy much of our time together) will be followed up by a few days on course at U of T.  I’ll be taking in a slice of Canadiana one evening as I see my first Leafs game, which is a bit of an embarrassment given how much time I’ve spent in Toronto over the years.

No matter how many times I get back to Toronto, there’s always something new to discover.  On this trip, I think I’ll be spending a bit of time wandering around in search of public art yet undiscovered by me and a journey to a couple of neighbourhoods I’ve yet to visit.  That being said, if the polar vortex still has its grip on Hogtown, I may just elect to find a cozy coffee shop or bar to while away the hours with a good book.   There’s something liberating about a couple of vacation days in a place that feels so much like home and a place you know you’ll keep making return visits to.   With crossed fingers that Mother Nature allows my travel plans to proceed as planned, here’s looking forward to Toronto and the start of a great year of travel!

A night with the Broad Street Bullies

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When I was growing up, although I was a Nordiques fan, I had a soft spot for the Philadelphia Flyers.  Mostly that was due to the fact that I was a big Ron Hextall fan.  As a chubby kid whose dad had a nice set of goalie pads, I found myself in nets a lot, and loved trying to play like Hextall.   Fast forward 25+ years, and on my third visit to watch the Flyers play, little did I know that the game on this night would feature something very Hextall-like:  a full blown goalie fight.  More on that later.

I got to the game just as the gates were opening so I could take in some of the warmups from ice-level.   Slipping past an usher, I made my way down to just behind the Flyers bench as they took the ice.  On the left, the view of the Capitals warming up at the other end.  On the right, Steve Mason warming up with former Halifax Mooseheads star Jakob Voracek looking on:

Pre-game warm-ups
Pre-game warm-ups

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Favourite experiences of 2013

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Travel, whether near or far, never fails to reward me with stories, sounds, smells and a whole host of memories that I cherish… memories that I wouldn’t trade for any material possession.  Some travel experiences are small things – a chance conversation, a taste of something my palate hasn’t had before, or just a feeling from being somewhere that moves something inside me.   Looking back at 2013, these are the five experiences that were the most memorable.

1. Sea to Sky Highway road trip

It was a sunny Sunday morning in June, we had picked up a cute Fiat with a sunroof and about twenty minutes after leaving downtown Vancouver, we were on the Sea to Sky Highway.  To say that it was a scenic drive would be a massive understatement.  Perfect blue skies, snow-capped mountains and crystal clear water formed the backdrop to this road trip.  Whistler was the end destination, but it was the journey that is burned in my mind.  I felt alive and giddy behind the wheel anticipating what was around the next bend of the highway.

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Best eats of 2013

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My travels in 2013 gave me some very memorable eating memories.  Here are a few of the many great things I ate while away this year.

San Juan: Mofongo

Having now tried the national dish of Puerto Rico, I wonder where mofongo has been up to this point in my life.  This is a dish made with fried green plantains that are mashed with olive oil, garlic, some fried pig bits and then filled with meat.  While in San Juan I tried two versions.  The one on the left from Cafe Manolin, a 50’s style diner, was filling and delicious as I waited out a torrential downpour.  The one on the right from Restaurante Airenumo was a more upscale version and the best meal of the five days in Puerto Rico.

Mofongo
Mofongo

Vancouver: Vij’s

Vij’s was a bucket list restaurant for me.  For years and years, I’ve known I would eat here once I got to Vancouver.  This meal was perhaps the best overall meal from the year of travel.  Exceptional service and feeling like you were dining in someone’s home only made it that much better.  The food was sublime: flavourful, perfectly spiced, interesting and inventive.  Making this the perfect evening was getting a chance to say hi to Vikram Vij himself.

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Looking back on 2013

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By any measure, I feel pretty fortunate to have had the year of travel experiences I had in 2013.  Seven separate trips covered a bit more than 37,000 km in the air and a couple thousand kilometres more by train and car.  There were a few return visits to favourite locales and a couple of trips to places I have wanted to visit for many, many years.

Pittsburgh

Ahhh, February in Pittsburgh (you won’t see the city selling that as part of their tourism pitch).  This travel year started off with an unexpected work trip to Pittsburgh, a place I’ve been a couple of times before and of which I am very fond.  I think it’s truly one of America’s most underrated cities.  The limited down time on this trip had me reacquainting myself with a favourite sandwich and taking in a Penguins game with Sidney Crosby’s three points leading the Pens to victory.

Toronto

An early spring trip to visit my sister was next up.  This trip was mostly a time to catch up, quite a bit of that being done at her wine club over some great wines.  I’ll admit something few Canadians will – I love Toronto (minus its current mayor) and really enjoy visiting the city.  A first trip to the Distillery District and a stop for a peameal sandwich, a must on every visit, were a couple of the highlights.

Favourite 2013 travel photos. Toronto, ON. March 2013

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Public art in Philadelphia

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On this trip to Philadelphia, I decided to skip going to one of the traditional art museums in the city for a bit of a different experience.  The city has something called the “Museum Without Walls” which is a program of the public art around Philly.  There’s an iPhone app with commentary and maps for all of the city’s public art installations.  With some great weather days, I got a healthy dose of fresh air and interesting art while walking off those delicious cheesesteaks.  Here are some of my favourite pieces from the city center area.

Across from the Pennsylvania Convention Center in Lenfest Plaza is “Paint Torch” by Claes Oldenburg.  I really liked Oldenburg’s installations I’ve seen in Denver and Seattle so was excited to see this one before heading into my conference across the street:

Paint Torch

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Philadelphia: 6 days, 4 sandwiches

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Six days, four delicious sandwiches.  I’m not sure that’s the right ratio.  It would have been more sandwiches, but there’s just so much great food in Philadelphia that I couldn’t limit myself to having all of my meals squished into a roll or between slices of Italian bread.

My version of sandwichpalooza was of course going to feature a cheesesteak.  My first one of the trip, on the first night in Philly, was had at Campo’s.  I’ve only had one other Campo’s sandwich, and that was at a Flyers game a couple of years back, so I thought I’d try one from their “real” restaurant.  The Cheez Whiz may not look tasty, but trust me, it works really well:

Campos cheesesteak

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A night at the opera

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After close to two weeks in the Czech Republic, I had done a good bit of soaking up some culture.  Some of that culture was food-based – pork knee, fried bread and beer cheese still dance in my dreams.  Some of it was liquid-based – the pilsners were devine.  Some of it was even of the soccer hooliganism type.  I’m not a cultural elitist, but even I felt like some more high-brow culture might be in order.

So, on the second last night of our trip, we made it to the opera at the State Opera house in Prague:

State Opera in Prague

We’ve only been to one other opera, that in Zurich a couple of years back.  With Swiss prices being what they are, we opted for el-cheapo seats in the back row.  When we booked our tickets for Prague, we decided to go all-in on a box.  Even with this great view, the seats were less than $80 for both of us:

State Opera in Prague

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