red viking helmet

blue viking helmet: open & close red viking helmet 3 times

goggles

red guitar

“Club Penguin – Waddle around and meet new friends!”

There was a shuttle that took us from the Biodome to the Insectarium and the Botanical Garden. Well, I hate creepy crawlies, so I just sat on one of the benches and waited for the kids to finish. We were disappointed there wasn’t a real butterfly garden, the only butterflies there were preserved and impaled with push pins. Pero live naman ang ants, they made sure they were transporting colorful bits of flowers back and forth to their hill, para kitang-kita. Hindi ko nga maintindihan bakit hindi sila tumatakas, the glass enclosure had an open top.

Next stop was the botanical garden. The insectarium was actually inside the garden. Nearest was the Japanese and rose gardens so dun muna kami. I have forgotten what the Japanese garden at the Luneta looked like, so I cannot compare. Malamok, kasi may pond. The rose garden was really impressive though, ang daming klaseng roses! I took some pictures of the roses I liked so I can order them for my garden, kaso mo hindi ko naman naisulat. We had to ride a tram to visit the rest of the garden, and the next stop was the Tree House. Akala ko naman totoong tree house, yun pala, parang exhibit lang about trees. No real tree house. The cool exhibit though that I’m glad I didn’t miss was the bonsai trees. Galing-galing! Can you imagine a tree that’s more than 4 centuries old? The youngest tree was I think 50-something years old. From the time Japan was crawling with samurais, how many people have taken care of these trees? And for the person(s) taking care of these real treasures now, the pressure to just keep the trees alive! I wonder how many thousands of dollars those trees are worth now, and what they do with them in the winter. We wanted to stay longer for the vegetable garden (there was a restaurant inside), and the shade gardens, but it was time to get moving for Ottawa.

Pond at the Japanese garden.

One of the roses I really would want to have in my garden.

The 4 century old bonsai. Just one of many at the Tree House.

Detail of the base of the tree — mini cacti and ferns. Notice that that the tree is just sitting on a slab? What if something topples it over?

So the next day, maaga pa pa lang sagsag na kami sa Biodome. We wanted to finish early because we were going down to Ottawa in the afternoon. Mahaba ang pila but it was orderly. We decided to take the Biodome/Insectarium/Botanical Garden tour package. The Biodome was not that packed, so were able to appreciate all the exhibits. The first one was about how animals and insects use scent and sounds to look for mates. Did you know that moose loose their rack (or is it horn) every winter and grow new ones in the spring? The main exhibit of different climates and geography and animals and plants that grow in each was very informative as well. It was only when I saw the penguins in the antarctic exhibit that I really felt sad for the animals, although they do not have to work for food the space was so limited and what happens when they feel the instinct to go out to sea? Kahit well-fed sila it’s still a cage.

I noticed that the churches we visited were scary dark. Unlike modern churches where as much light enters through huge windows, the stained glass windows of old churches let very little light in.

We were late for the Notre Dame visit, and we were quite surprised that there is an entrance fee ($4 adults, $2 kids). There was a light show happening that night and it was $10 per person. On a side note, since the exchange rate is almost 1-1, paying with US$ is much like paying with CA$, although change is given in CA$. So we charged up most of our purchases to our credit card. Also, the tax on anything is a whopping 15%, so we only shopped for stuff that we can only get in Canada.

We ended the day by eating in a French restaurant, food was good and as expected, expensive. Even if you’re eating as a group they can provide separate checks if requested. We retired early so we can start early the next day — we’re doing the Biodome/Insectarium/Botanical Garden tour package.

This is my first glimpse of the city from 15 O (as in Ouest, didn’t quite figure it out until it was spelled out to me).

We entered the city here on the way to our hotel, Le Square Philips Hotel , which we found through reviews on the internet. It’s an old hotel which has been renovated, which probably explains the lack of parking(by the way, hotels in Canada charge for parking). The great reviews were justified, the rooms were clean, the staff was friendly, room was really spacious with a kitchen and dining table to boot! And the fact that Old Montreal is within walking distance is an added plus.

After checking in we hit the pavement. First stop: St Patrick’s Cathedral. We did not plan to pass here but since it is on our way to Notre Dame we took a quick visit. There was mass going on, lucky for us, since we won’t be able to hear mass the rest of the week.

Marie and her husband, Mario, were La Salle graduates. We would often tease Mario that the mere mention that he was from La Salle Greenhills would double his pogi points among the girls. My older brother was also from La Salle, Greenhils and Taft later, and somehow girls would be drawn to him and his friends the moment they find out what school they went to. Recently we were reminiscing about college days, and Marie mentioned that her sister and brother-in-law used to board right in front of La Salle Taft, a place called Archer’s Nook. Whoa! That’s where my brother used to board too, and since my brother has invited practically everybody there to our town fiesta, I knew everyone of his promdi friends. When she mentioned Marlee and Delfin, as in Marquez, I flipped out. Here we were, close friends for most of our stay here in Jersey and we’re only now finding out that I knew her brother-in-law, he was a very close friend of my kuya. So one thing led to another, Delfin invited us to visit them in Ottawa, and we promised to do it this summer, when there’s no possibility of getting stranded by a snowstorm. The perfect opportunity was his daughter’s joint graduation and birthday party, first week of August. Gia would have finished her swim practices and meets, and so would Marie’s kids. The plan was to go the first weekend of August and then drive down to Williamsburg, Virginia with our other friends, Joy and Renne and their kids. First we go to Montreal then down to Ottawa.

Driving to Montreal will take about 6 hours, much like going to Boston from our house. Not bad for my long trip-averse husband. Montreal to Ottawa will be 2 hrs, again, not bad. But driving from Ottawa to Jersey then Virginia is just too much. We asked Joy if she would instead be interested in going to Canada with us, we can reschedule the Williamsburg trip. She jumped at the idea and so all systems were go for 3 families on a road trip to Canada.

I can’t believe summer is halfway over! It’s just been one thing after the next and yet we feel that we haven’t really done anything. Finally the summer swim league is over, so no more swimming 7 days a week. Just going to the outdoor meets have made us as dark as if not darker than when we were back in the Philippines. Whenever warm muggy air touches Filipino skin, that’s enough for us to revert to our original brown color, no matter how pale we get in the winter.

My roses have not done so well this summer, I have a row of Meidiland roses that serves as a border and this summer they got sick for the first time ever.I am planning on replacing them, but I just feel so sad — they’ve been perfectly healthy for the past 10 years! I blame my husband for this — somehow when he’s the one in charge of the lawn (we’re not happy with our old lawn service) weeds come up and fungi thrive. A meadow looks better than our backyard. Well not really entirely his fault, we have decided not to have chemical applications on the yard anymore, our dog Kutik died of kidney disease and this we can only attribute to all those chemicals that have been dumped on the lawn to prevent weeds and fungi. He loved rolling and playing there. So there’s really no contest — golf course-pretty lawn or healthy dogs.

I also went back to our family doctor for a follow-up check-up on my high blood pressure condition. We have a nice doctor, but he is getting on in years and every time I go there it’s like he has never seen me before and we start all over with the questions. Sometimes a question has been asked and answered and he’ll ask it again. I wouldn’t have agreed to take medication to control my blood pressure, but when there’s no apparent cause there’s like no other option. My cholesterol is very good, my sodium is normal, my blood test did not show anything out of whack. Maybe just getting older will elevate the blood pressure?

My plan of having weekly excursions to the city is getting to be just that as days pass by — it’s just too darned hot and muggy whenever it’s not raining. Plus my daughter’s best friends will be in the Philippines in August when finally she’s not signed up to do anything. Last weekend we were able to go to the King Tut Exhibit at the Franklin Institute in Philadelphia. This is the first time that the artifacts are being taken out of Egypt after 30 years. I am not sure if the only thing missing in the is exhibit is the death mask, which is never supposed to leave Egypt. The exhibit was jam-packed, everybody was squeezed into tight areas just to ogle at some artifacts that are no more than 5 inches long, not something you can look at from afar. I told my daughter to try and squeeze in to see the objects and read the description, at the price of admission we have to make sure we see every single item. One thing, the exhibition should have set aside special times for older people and those with disabilities. Some were on wheelchairs and just maneuvering around tight spots make it a hazard for unsuspecting toes and small children. And what about moms who bring teeny babies on strollers? Is it really worth the trouble? And the people who just drop the fart bomb! Eeewww!

Picture-taking was not allowed, so there was nothing to show of what the exhibit looked like. The end of the exhibit leads to the museum store, but we didn’t buy anything, except for the print-out of my daughter’s name in hieroglyphics. Overall, it didn’t impact me as much as it should because of the sheer volume of people trying to get a better view.

After the exhibit we decided to get some of the famous philly steak. We had no more energy to go to the famous places so we headed to the nearest on foot. My husband swears it was as good. I didn’t try it though, the prices were very reasonable, no wonder for a time Philadelphia was the fattest city in the US. Good food at great prices, what could be better.