Initially when I turned on the car, I couldn’t even figure out how to drive it. The car turned on, but I didn’t hear any engine noises, not even the noise of the engine starting. I was so confused and we had to ask one of the attendants, who told me that the car was actually a hybrid, and if the electric engine was being used, there’d be no engine noises. I’d never driven a hybrid car before, and certainly didn’t know a Renault Clio had a hybrid version, but now I know.

Since it was our first day and we needed to adjust for the jetlag, we took the day easy by walking along the beach, and the windy cobblestone streets of the old town.

We met our AirBnB host who showed us into the underground parking garage of the building. I mean underground parking garage very loosely. The spot itself had maybe about 30 cm of clearance on either side, and barely any space to setup. I knew driving in Europe would be more challenging than in North America, but this isn’t what I expected. I was more so expecting narrow streets and parallel parking, but not this. I’d say this was the toughest parking spot I’ve had to navigate in recent memory. Luckily I had help from the backup cam and people standing outside to guide me.

Our AirBnB host was super nice, asked us where we’re from and told about how she used to live in Montreal, but moved back to France because it was too cold there. As a greeting gift she gave us a bar of artisanal soap from Fragonard, a local perfumerie. After dropping off our bags, we took a brief nap to get over the jetlag, and then walked around town. For lunch at Le Bistrot de Jennifer, we had a giant bucket of grilled/smoked oysters, an octopus salad, and a truffle pizza with a panaché to drink. We walked along the beachfront and then up to the top of Château de Nice.

Walking through the old town of Nice, there are colours everywhere. There’s blue from the water, the green from the trees, and the buildings have all sorts of assorted colours. Even the street signs have colour – the signs aren’t always even in French – sometimes they’re in the local dialect called Niçard.

It’s a pretty big city and very very hot even when visiting in September. The sun is relentless, yet people sunbathe on the beach. People here refer to it as “bronzette” in French. Surprisingly, the beach itself is rocky instead of sandy – not what I expected.

The annoying part in Nice, like many cities in Europe, is how much people like smoking in public. We have this imagery in our minds of visiting the Mediterranean and feeling a nice breeze of fresh sea air, but this isn’t what happens. The heat is filled with cigarette smoke, car exhaust, and the occasional whiff of urine and it can be quite suffocating. At times, we just want to dunk heads in the water for some relief. However, the people have been very nice to us (they don’t have the stereotypical snobbiness of Parisians) and there is lots of things to see.

Along the beachfront, there are blue metal chairs (so called les chaises bleues) for people to sit in and soak in the sun. They’d be nice to sit on if there was a breeze to cool us down.

The blue chairs are so iconic, to the point that they’ve become part of its identity – to the point that there’s a monument dedicated to it.

That’s about it for the first day.

More photos of Nice here

Before my trip, I had no clue what there was to see in Toronto except the CN Tower, and Niagara Falls, which I had already been to. Luckily, this reddit post helped me find few places less traveled.

Royal Ontario Museum

It’s a museum that displays different elements of world culture, art, and natural history. Think British Museum, but much much smaller. One thing the ROM has that a lot of museums don’t are dinosaur fossils! There other exhibits showing world history and culture as well.

Thomas Fisher Rare Book Library

Located on the University of Toronto campus, this library is Canada’s largest repository of publicly accessible rare books and manuscripts in Canada. Among its collection is a copy of Isaac Newton’s Principia from 1687.

Ripley’s Aquarium of Canada

This aquarium is exactly what you’d expect. Lots of different kinds of exotic sealife, sharks, manta rays, etc. The main exhibit is a giant water tank that contains these animals, and a giant conveyor belt takes guests all around. It’s a pretty good aquarium for those who are into that kind of thing

Casa Loma

This is one of the few “château”s in Canada. It was the largest private residence ever built in Canada and was the former residence of Sir Henry Pellatt, a former Major-General in the Canadian Forces. Now it has turned into a tourist attraction. The museum shows off similar things to what one would expect at a European castle: cool architecture, fancy decorations in just about every room, paintings and other art, antiques, and a garden.

And of course, a giant wine collection.

SkullStore Oddity Shop

This place is SUPER out there. This is a store that sells the skeletons of random animals, the skin of snakes, human remains (bones, preserved brain, etc.), taxidermy, preserved bugs, etc. All cruelty free and legally harvested apparently. Half of the store is an actual shop selling these strange items, and the other half is a free museum of even more weird things that aren’t for sale

The Half House

This half a house just sits on the side of the street like any other building. There isn’t a sign explaining why this is, what it’s doing there or anything like that. According to this site, it’s part of the remnants of the neighbourhood that once was here, where the owners at the time sold only half the house, and so the rest of the community developed around it.

St. Lawrence Market

This place felt similar to something like Granville Island in Vancouver, or Pike Place in Seattle – a farmer’s market positioning itself on selling fresh local meats, seafood, produce, etc. It’s a bit out of the way from the downtown core, and when I went, it was almost closing time, so it wasn’t very busy.

The one thing this place has over other farmer’s markets I’ve seen (at least in Seattle and Vancouver) is the variety. If you zoom in on that picture, below, you’ll see what I mean.

Restaurants

Toronto is Canada’s largest city, and therefore has a lot of offer in terms of food. Of all the places I ate at, these two places were definitely the best.

La Palette

This is a French style restaurant near the Kensington district of Toronto. It’s got an interesting selection of game meat, which was the reason why my buddy and I went. They’ve also got a good selection of wine and staff that are knowledgable about it.

For those wondering, horse doesn’t have a strong flavour like beef does, and it chews like super tender beef. Elk on the other hand, tastes kind of like steak with a bit of gaminess, and is actually quite hard to tell the difference unless you’re someone with really sensitive taste buds

Diana’s Seafood Delight

This place is known for their quality oysters and sea urchin, and also precisely the reason why we were there. They have a selection of different oysters from different areas, but if you gave me a blindfold and asked me which oyster was which, I wouldn’t be able to tell you.

Photo albums:

• Toronto
• Ripley’s Aquarium of Canada
• Casa Loma
• SkullStore Oddity Shop
• Royal Ontario Museum

I think the most famous place around here is Antelope Canyon. It is part of the Navajo Nation Reservation so all the tour guides there were Navajo people. I had never seen such rock formations before so this was cool to see. This rock formation looks like a lady with flowing hair.

And this one looks like an eagle.

Nearby was a giant coal plant that employs a lot of Navajo people. But what will they do when the coal jobs run out? Oh wait, Donald Trump is going to bring them back /s

Next did a super short hike (not sure if that distance even counts as a hike) in the blazing forty something degree Celcius heat to the Horsehoe Bend. The colour of the rocks and the water work so well together.

Kind of near the Horsehoe Bend was the Glen Canyon Dam. A great juxtaposition of natural and the artificial. On the gamer nerd side of things, it also reminded me of the level in Half-Life where Gordon Freeman has to fight through all the soldiers on the dam (video)…

We also went to Bryce Canyon. The pictures don’t really do justice in showing how big the whole canyon is.

On the drive, we saw a ton of cows…

We stopped in Vegas on the way to San Francisco and got the best meal of the whole trip at the Bachannal buffet at the Caesar’s Palace. This was much better than the random fast food we had been having for the few days out in the national parks. I didn’t take many pictures of the buffet, but my friend sure did when he visited a few months back, so check out his video if you want to see what delicious goodness is at this buffet…

That’s pretty much it for this trip.

Photo albums:

• Antelope Canyon
• Bryce Canyon
• Glen Canyon Dam
• Horseshoe Bend
• On the road

I spent the first day travelling to the coast of Northern Ireland, the Giant’s Causeway and Belfast, and then the next two days in Dublin.

The Giant’s Causeway

Apparently, some scenes from Game of Thrones were filmed here, but I wouldn’t know because I am like the only person who doesn’t watch it!

Cows!

The northern coast of Ireland reminds me of what the northern coast of France in Normandy looked like.  I guess maybe it’s because the Irish part used to be part of the main continent and broke off a long time ago.

Not sure what the big deal of this bridge is, but I guess it was scenic.  Apparently the bridge is famous or something?

The coolest part was definitely the Giant’s Causeway.  Not sure where the giant nor the causeway are, but still cool nonetheless.

It’s pretty amazing how these rock formations formed naturally.

On our way back, we stopped in Belfast for a brief tour.

Belfast

In Belfast, the tour guide took us around to show us the history of the conflict between the nationalists (mostly catholics) and the unionists (mainly protestant).  Even today, there is still a clear separation between the two.

There’s even a wall painting of King William III, who was a Protestant who fought several wars against the Catholic king of France, Louis XIV.

Even today walls still separate catholics and protestants.

That night, we went back to Dublin.

Dublin

What is a trip to Europe without seeing a cathedral of some kind? This was at Christchurch Cathedral.

The coolest thing was the preserved cat and mouse.  The story is that the cat chased the mouse into an organ pipe and got stuck, and was perfectly preserved somehow.

I visited yet another castle in Europe, but I honestly think these kinds of things are really getting old.

Not far from the castle is Temple Bar, probably a giant tourist trap, but it really does have a lot of cool bars and restaurants.

There’s also the iconic Ha’penny Bridge. Not sure why it’s iconic, but it is.

There’s also the Spire of Dublin (in the back behind all the construction garbage), which awesome nicknames like “the erection at the intersection”, or “the stiletto in the ghetto”.

Yet another touristy thing: going to the Guinness Storehouse… and having a Guinness.

… and enjoying the view.

That’s it for Dublin!

Photo albums:

• Giant’s Causeway
• Belfast
• Dublin

First order of business after arriving: food. The last two times I was there as a poor student, we never splurged on food, but now as working professionals, I can! Frog legs? Okay.

With the Eurocup games being hosted in France and the terrorist attacks that happened in Paris, there were soldiers on the street in just about every place with crowds. If any terrorist attacks were to happen in Paris, it wouldn’t be during the Eurocup games.

Later that night, we met up with one of our friend’s coworkers for dinner. Time for more food. Escargot? Okay.

Beef tartare? Okay. We all had one for ourselves, and if anything bad were to happen, there was only one washroom in our AirBnB. Would have been game over.

The next day, we went to Versailles. Instead of taking pictures of things, I played Pokemon Go instead. It had just launched in USA, and since I had an account from that launch, I got to play. Everywhere I went, there was Pokemon. Never mind that it was a blazing hot day without much shade in the palace gardens. Gotta catch’em all. It was Pokemon Go everywhere I went – there’s even an arena at the Arc de Triomphe.

Make Napoleon great again!

After all the walking around, it was time for more food. Foie gras this time.

The next day was a trip to the catacombs and saw the skeletal remains of a lot of dead people.

And also visited a famous dead guy: Napoleon.

After that, it was time to go to the fan zone at the Eiffel Tower to watch France VS Portugal. All these people are trying to get in through the many entrances. The police guarding the gate were letting women and children go in without lining out while everyone else had to. Chivalry is alive and well in France.

After a long while of waiting we got in. There were so many people walking on the gravel road that it kicked up so much dust everywhere and it was hard to breathe and I was coughing every few minutes. It wasn’t comfortable at all. There were long lineups everywhere and nowhere to sit. But the atmosphere was really good. Lots of cheering and anticipation for a France win.

A friend of ours, who was coming from another location came too late and couldn’t get into the fan zone to meet up with us. After a grueling ordeal of deciding whether or not to stay or go, we left and watched the game from a small restaurant near our AirBnB.

After Portugal won, people still cheered in the streets and set up firecrackers and stuff. I couldn’t have imagined what it would have been like if France won. All the France fans would have lost their shits and the streets would have been even more rowdy.

The next day, it was time to fly back home, thus ending my 3rd European adventure.

Link to photo album: here

Unlike Shinto shrines in other places, these ones are quite simple in their architecture.

These people were trying to “listen” to the tree. I thought stethoscopes were needed to do that. Anyway, that tree trunk was huge.

Random chicken on the road. Doesn’t seem to be afraid of people.

And of course, lunch! Ise is famous for its udon, so that’s what we had at a restaurant called Ise Udon Okunoya. My lunch also came with a rice bowl with sashimi from local fish.

And I also had one piece of sushi that costed ¥1,000 (~$10). The main ingredient: Matsuzaka beef, a kind of beef that rivals even Kobe beef in quality. The beef is very soft and tender. When I put it in my mouth, I felt it melting apart by itself. $10 well spent.

Oharaimachi is a street with many traditional buildings and restaurants. There also lots of shops that sell different types of sake, and local foods for tourists.

Played this game where I shot a gun that shot out a small cork at towers of candies. Whatever I knocked down, I got to keep. Went home with a bag of candy

Links to photo albums: here

As usual, food was the goal. Miso-Katsu, a kind of Japanese schnitzel with with miso sauce, is a specialty of Nagoya. Yabaton was the name of the restaurant and it is one of the most famous places in Nagoya for Miso-Katsu.

Nagoya also has the largest planetarium in the world at the Nagoya City Science Museum. And they have palm trees! We went to the planetarium show too, and they showed us how various constellations and planets looked in space, but unforunately, all the explanations were in Japanese. Still, it is worth a visit for those who enjoy stargazing.

Some crazy stuff they were able to do with bubbles too.

And I found the dome and helix fossils. I just need to go to the lab in Cinnarbar Island… Now I am wondering if the museum people put those two fossils together on purpose.

I wanted to walk inside this tornado so badly.

Another specialty of Nagoya is Hitsumabushi, which is grilled eel on rice. Probably many non-Asians may think that this is weird to eat, but regardless it is very very good, but expensive. According to the local culture, there is a “standard” way to eat this. First is to eat a quarter of it as is. Second, is to add various spices like green onion, and wasabi to it and eat another quarter. Third is to mix it with the given broth and eat another quarter of it. Lastly, it is to eat the last quarter with the favoured method of the three.

In the downtown district of Sakae, I saw a Ferris wheel attached to the side of the building. I should get one for my house too.

Not sure if this is a thing in Nagoya, but someone had the great idea of mixing melon in their spaghetti batter. Step 1: Make spaghetti with melon batter. Step 2: Add whipped cream. Step 3: ???. Step 4: Profit! Apparently, the kiwi one was better, according to a friend.

Another speciality of Nagoya is Tebasaki, Nagoya-style fried chicken wings. I believe it is deep fried with a coating of sweet soy sauce. It tasted okay, I guess.

Not exactly a specialty of Nagoya, but this is raspberry Kit Kat. It is not good. Don’t try it.

As expected, epic food often makes appearances in my travelling

Links to photo albums:

• Nagoya
• Nagoya City Science Museum

The best food we ate in Osaka was definitely Yakiniku at a place called Sora (空), which means “sky”. Pieces of pre-marinated meats are cooked on the grill, and everything was delicious.

Even though we were not in Hiroshima, we got to eat Okonomiyaki again. This time, there was a grill at our table and a server at the restaurant cooked it for us while we watched.

Osaka is also famous for deep fried skewers using different foods like chicken, squid, and veggies. The skewers are served with a special sauce and according to the local culture, double-dipping is highly frowned upon. We at this at a famous Japanese skewer restaurant called Daruma (だるま) with some friends in Osaka. My personal favourite was the kind with intestines.

Osaka Castle is another well known landmark in the city. Since the many wars that the castle has been involved in since its construction in the 16th century, the castle has now been restored and the inside has been converted into a museum with a rooftop observation deck.

We also visited the Osaka Science Museum. It was full of interactive exhibits that taught various concepts in the natural sciences, like magnetism, sound, air drag, and chemical reactions. The best exhibit was definitely the one on nuclear fission.

Takoyaki, another one of Osaka’s local delicacies, was also something we had to try. The ball is made of a batter and inside it, there are bits of octopus meat, and the entire thing is cooked in a special Takoyaki grill. After it is cooked, Takoyaki sauce and mayonnaise is added. It is interesting to eat since the outer shell is quite soft, but the octopus is not. The sauce also adds some sweetness to the flavour.

While I was no stranger to Takoyaki since I have had it previously, we got to try a kind that used egg for the outer shell rather than the batter. It was definitely new and special, but I have to say the regular kind was way better.

We also stumbled onto a restaurant called the “International Beer Museum” that had different beers from around the world on tap. It had been a long time since I had a Helles, so that’s what I got. I also realized that I haven’t been posting much about Japanese beer and the reason is that it is quite easy to get the same name brands in Vancouver (with the exception of Suntory Premium Malt’s) and they taste the same too!

I also didn’t think I’d be able to eat Currywurst in Japan either. Needed way more sauce though, but I understand that kind of sauce is probably hard to come by in Japan.

And I also didn’t think I’d see an Asian person wearing Lederhosen either.

Links to photo albums:

• Osaka
• Osaka Science Museum

It was quite quiet in the car on the way there as the two girls in the back slept while the guys in the front didn’t talk much (I was busy finishing up my homework for a course because I forgot to plan my time accordingly). We departed Vancouver at about 8 PM and arrived at my friend’s flat at about 10:30 PM. We spent the rest of the night having some beers and playing Pandemic on its hardest difficulty (it started out pretty mild, but the plague escalated quickly and went out of control).

Space Needle

The Space Needle is probably about the most iconic building in the entire city.

Around the vicinity, there are a lot other tourist attractions such as the Pacific Science Center, the EMP Museum (formerly known as the Science Fiction Museum), and plenty of green space.

We also visited the Amazon campus, which is where our friend was working at. What surprised me is that there wasn’t any huge signage that Amazon was there. The only Amazon sign I could was by staring really hard through the glass into the building lobby.

Just Chilling

We stopped to rest a bit at the lobby of a nearby apartment complex. While we rested, I learned how to play Shuffleboard (albeit badly) and played a game or two.

Seattle Underground

Our next destination was a tour of the underground portions of Seattle. To get to the tour location, we walked through a neighbourhood full of hobos that I would have otherwise avoided at night (it’s relatively mild compared to what East Hastings in Vancouver is like). On one occasion, a hobo asked me if I was ready for the Seahawks game where I promptly replied, “very readys”.

The tour guide told us that where we were in Seattle used to be a lot lower in terms of elevation. After a fire that destroyed the city, the city regraded the land and so all the buildings that used to be above ground were now underground. The tour took us around the underground sections to show the history of the area.

The picture below shows what people use the space for now – storage.

Because of the regrade, sidewalks had to be rebuilt one story higher than before, so city engineers added skylights onto the new sidewalks in order to illuminate the underground areas. On the surface of the sidwalks, one would be able to see the skylights from the other side at ground level.

In the past, the underground area was used for a lot of questionable activities, such as organized crime, speakeasies, prostitution, etc. Because of its history, this area of town is still considered by many locals as the sketchy part of town.

Pike Market

Pike Market feels like the market in Granville Island in Vancouver, but is a lot bigger. I can’t explain it, but for some reason I greatly enjoyed staring at all the seafood.

Sooo much fooood

By the water near the market, one can get a good view of the water. The Ferris Wheel adds a nice touch as well.

We happen to visit Seattle on the weekend where there was a football game between the Seahawks and the 49ers to see which team would go to the Superbowl and because of that all over the city, people put up flags with the number 12 in support of the team. This building must’ve been full of Seahawks fans.

Shiro’s

This restaurant is so popular that when we tried to walk in at 7, to get a spot, the waitress told us to come back at 9. We had heard really good things about this place, so we actually starved ourselves until 9.

My friends encouraged me to try and order in Japanese, so I did. I started by saying to the waitress that I’d try to speak Japanese (私は日本語を話してみます), and then I listed off the food one by one and then success! While it was nothing complicated to do, it was cool doing that anyways.

I’d say the food was definitely worth the wait. I’d definitely recommend this place to people who really like seafood and sushi.

Morning Walk

The next day, we woke up early to go to Pike Market to buy some groceries to make breakfast. We walked along the pier and got quite a nice view of it.

Serious Pie

For lunch, we went to a pizza place that also came highly recommended. When I looked at the menu, every item had at least one word that I didn’t know. I had no idea what I was ordering, but the pizza was really delicious!  I also recommend this place.

Back to Vancouver

After lunch, we stayed for a bit longer at our friend’s flat before heading back to Vancouver. Seattle was a much welcome change in scenery and it has further enforced my desire to travel around to different places.

Album link here

Sainte-Mère-Église

Quite a lot of fighting happened in this town during the Battle of Normandy. As a tribute to the paratroopers, there is now a model of a hanging paratrooper on the side of the church.

This place was also featured as a mission in the Call of Duty Series and here too I could see a lot of resemblance.

Museum of the Airborne

This museum is dedicated to the paratroopers during the Battle of Normandy. The biggest exhibit there was the C-47, the plane that the paratroopers flew in before they dropped.

The museum is situated just outside the church in the city centre.

La Fière

The guide explained that at the time, during the Battle of Normandy, the water level was much higher and the bridge was the only way across the river. The American paratroopers withstood fierce German counterattacks before they finally defended the bridge successfully.

As always, there is a monument of some sort.

Utah Beach

This was probably one of the beaches with the lightest amount of fighting, relatively as opposed to Omaha beach.  The bunkers here are also gone just like at Omaha.

Here’s a pretty artistic shot of a Flak 88 and the horizon.

Angoville-au-Plain

This church was a field hospital during the Battle of Normandy. The guide said the church was built around 425 AD, but other sources say its from the 12th century.

In the church, there are still some scars from the fighting. In particular, there is a patched up hole from where a mortar shell once dropped. It seems it was stuck in the ceiling and never exploded.

Some of the church pews still have blood stains on them.

Driving Back to London

On the way back to London, we stopped at the Canadian World War I memorial at Vimy Ridge. After that, we drove back to France. At the border, the British border guard gave us such a hard time. She kept asking questions like, “why are you travelling?”, “where are you getting the money for this trip?”, “what do you do for a living?”, etc. I didn’t think we looked that suspicious.

When we first drove to France, Edward drove for most of it, but on the way back, I wanted to try driving in London just to see what it felt like. Every moment of the drive was quite stressful for me.

The weird part was that because the lanes are narrower, the driver almost always naturally leans to the left side of the lane and the left side mirror is over the lane divider.  Through construction sites, we’d drive past the orange traffic cones and if those were a tad bit taller, the mirror would have hit them.  We both ran up the curb a few times during the drive too. Luckily, we returned the car in one piece and without and scratches or dents.

Links to photo albums:

• Normandy
• Normandy (Edward’s Photos)