Location: London, England Address: 150 Piccadily Street Date: August 2015 Website:www.theritzlondon.com
The Ritz Hotel in London, England is a high end hotel which opened in 1906. The term, "Puttin' on the Ritz" was inspired by the hotel and refers to surrounding yourself with luxury. While it wasn't quite in our budget to stay or dine at The Ritz, we did walk past it on our way to dine elsewhere.
We enjoyed a nice dinner at Rextail which was only a short walk away.
The Ritz Hotel is located on Piccadilly Street which is home to an interesting variety of architecture. The building above is one of the Ritz's across the street neighbours.
The hotel has hosted members of high society along with actors and actresses who would come to indulge and socialize. In the movie Notting Hill, Julia Roberts plays a popular Hollywood actress named Anna. She meets William (Hugh Grant) in the bookstore that he owns. She invites him to come and visit her at her Ritz Hotel suite. To William's surprise he is there along with a group of reporters ready to interview Anna about her latest sci-fi film. After pretending to be a reporter from Horse & Hound magazine, William and Anna finally go out and spend a nice evening together.
They go out for dinner again and then return to The Ritz. As they walk along the corridor above, Anna invites Will up to her room. Unfortunately, her American boyfriend is there and Will leaves the hotel confused and sad.
If you're blue and you don't know where to go to. Why don't you go where fashion sits.?
This Easter weekend we thought it would be a good time to take a look at our top 10 bunny encounters. Here they are in no particular order.
1 )Lop-Eared Rabbit
A friend of ours used to care for a very cute lop-eared bunny. A lop-eared bunny is a bunny whose long ears hang (we guess you could say lop) down. You will notice all of the other bunnies in this blog post have ears that stand straight up or sit back on top of their heads.
2) Bugs Bunny
One of the all-time favourite bunnies is Bugs Bunny from the Looney Tunes cartoons. He is among a short list of animated characters to receive a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. The outline drawing of Bugs Bunny (above) was in the Warner Brothers Studio's Museum.
3) Flemish Giant Rabbit
From Bugs Bunny we go to Big Bunny. A Flemish giant rabbit can weigh up to 10 kg and grow to about 30 inches long. It is one of the largest domesticated rabbits. The bunny above was at the Toronto Zoo for a short time and shared an enclosure with the wombats and wallabies. Perhaps it had outgrown its previous living space.
4) Arctic Hare
While we were in Churchill, Manitoba we spotted this hare just across the road from our lodge. While it may not be the smartest thing to do in polar bear territory at night, we headed outside to try and get a closer look. Luckily, he stood still long enough for us to get the picture above. It took us some time to determine if this was an arctic hare or a snowshoe hare as both inhabit Churchill. We read about one having bigger feet or ears than the other. Some reports said that one has bigger eyes or fluffier fur. We made our determination by the black on the ears. As far as we can tell arctic hares (like this one) have black just on the top tip of their ears while snowshoe hares have a black edge that may cover the tip, but runs further along the ear as well.
5) Lionhead Rabbit
A lionhead rabbit is bred to have a mane around its face like a lion. They end up looking like little balls of fur with ears. We wondered how they can even see where they are hopping. When taking pictures, the bunny below did flash us a look from beneath all that fur just to let us know he was in there. The lionhead above is from Prickly Ball Farm and the lionhead below is from Far Enough Farm.
6) Rabbit Balloon
Artist Jeff Koons had a piece of his art appear in Toronto's Nuit Blanche 2009. It was simply named Rabbit Balloon. It featured a giant shiny silver bunny that was floating inside the Eaton Centre. This bunny also once floated in the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade in 2007.
7) Tortoise & Hare
In Boston's Copley Square is a sculpture of a tortoise and a hare. It was installed as a tribute to runner's of the famous Boston Marathon. It is based on the popular fable of The Tortoise & the Hare. The fable tells the story of a rabbit who was so confident in his ability to outrun the tortoise that during a race he ran ahead and took a nap. While he napped the tortoise passed by heading for the finish line. The hare finally awoke and tried to catch up, but it was too late.
8) Cute Bunnies
We think that all rabbits are cute. There is something special about a tiny bunny that you can pick up and hold in your hands while it sits quietly twitching its little nose. These cuties are from the Toronto Zoo kid's section and from Jungle Cat World.
9) Chocolate Bunnies
Chocolate shaped like eggs is good. Chocolate shaped like bunnies is good. This bunny above is a box from Teuscher Chocolates and hides a chocolate truffle in its belly. We like chocolate.
10) Eastern Cottontail
The one rabbit that we have encountered the most is the eastern cottontail. Actually we have eaten more chocolate bunnies and watched more Bugs Bunny cartoons than we have had encounters with eastern cottontails. Let's try that again. The eastern cottontail is the wild rabbit that we have encountered the most. Sometimes when you least expect it you look out into the yard and there is one munching away on something. Here comes Peter Cottontail hopping down the bunny trail!
Location: Toronto, Ontario, Canada Address: 2075 Queen St E Date: March 2017
Kew Gardens in Toronto is named after the famous botanical gardens in London, England. It is much smaller and is a portion of Beaches Park which runs from Queen Street East down to the beach in front of Lake Ontario. Before we entered the park we enjoyed a nice brunch at the Green Eggplant. The highlight was their Sky High French Toast which is made with challah bread.
After brunch we crossed the street to the Beaches Library. Out front stood a statue of a mother owl with her owlets gathered around her feet. We took the pathway next to the library and headed into the park. We walked deeper into the park and then as we passed the baseball diamond we noticed a little tiny door at the base of a tree.
Facing the third base side of the diamond was a little tiny home like you might see in a fairytale. We wondered who would live there?
A squirrel was watching us from the tree next door. We asked him if this was his house. He just sat there. We asked him if he knew who lived there? He sat very still. We asked him if he minded if we took a look behind the door. He ran off behind the tree. It seems he did not want any part of a B&E on this tiny home.
We knocked at the door and there was no response. We decided to gently swing the door open. We half expected an angry squirrel or chipmunk to lunge at us so we were pleasantly surprised to find that no one was home. Inside the door were various rocks and twigs that had been placed there perhaps as gifts from other curious visitors like ourselves. We closed the door behind us and left everything undisturbed.
Upon further investigation we discovered a Toronto Star article that stated that this door was placed there by the author of a series of children's books. In the books it was the home of Henley the Hedgehog. Henley is a real pet hedgehog and does not actually live inside the tree. Who does actually live there now? When you visit the park maybe you can solve this mystery.
Location: Maui,Hawaii,USA Address: 799 Poho Pl. Date: Feb 2017 Website:www.mamasfishhouse.com
Mama's Fish House is rated as not only one of the top restaurants in Hawaii, but in the USA. We have been lucky enough to eat at Mama's twice during our Hawaiian vacations. What makes Mama's so special? Well, for starters it is located on the beautiful island of Maui. Even the Jack In The Box in Kahului gets extra points for its island location.
Mama's Fish House is also situated on a small, secluded section of beach with a light breeze and the soothing sound of waves.
The first time we visited Mama's we had a reservation. If you want to ensure yourself a good table we recommend that you reserve before you even arrive in Maui. We had a lunch reservation on the last day of our trip before heading to the airport. We were earlier than our reservation time so we had to wait for our table. While we waited we enjoyed the view and even spotted sea turtles in the water below. Before we knew it our table was ready.
We were lucky enough to be seated with a beach view (below).
Mama's always has great food, great atmosphere and great service. One thing they do on their menu is print both the fisherman's name and the location where the fish was caught. They do the same thing with farmers to show their support of the local industry and how fresh their food is.
On our second visit to Mama's we did not have a reservation, but we got lucky. Parking spaces are limited so there is only valet parking. We drove up to the valet and they asked if we had a reservation. Just as the valet was telling us "Sorry", a spot opened up at the bar.
The bar is a small section where you could eat, but it is not as nice as having a proper table.
After leaving our car with the valet we walked down the stairs and across the front of the restaurant. On the way we were greeted by a brown anole before arriving at the hostess. We were lucky again as now the hostess informed us that a table had just opened up.
From appetizer to dessert everything was always delicious and perfectly prepared. It is well worth the higher price tag. Their signature dish is crab stuffed Mahimahi with a macadamia nut crust. It was delectable.
After enjoying our dinner we headed back out to the beach.
A group of people had gathered near the water's edge. We then noticed that two of the rocks seemed to be loose. On closer inspection we realized that once again we had found green sea turtles off of Mama's Maui shore. These two turtles were enjoying a feast of their own.
A Hawaiian green sea turtle is called a honu and is said to be good luck. Getting a table at Mama's Fish House is also good luck and a delicious meal you won't soon forget.
Location: San Francisco, California, USA Address: 325 Columbus Ave Date: Feb 2014 Website:www.thestinkingrose.com
One of us is very fond of garlic. So when we discovered a restaurant totally devoted to garlic based recipes we just had to pay it a visit. The Stinking Rose in San Francisco stands out as you drive down Columbus
Avenue. It has been turning heads with its unusual name and filling
noses with its overpowering smell for over 25 years.
The idea for the restaurant came after a visit to the Gilroy Garlic Festival. The town of Gilroy is about an hour and a half south of San Francisco and is known for its garlic. We stopped in Gilroy to gas up the car during our California driving trip. As soon as we exited the vehicle we could smell the garlic, even over the fumes from the gas station. We also paid a visit to Garlic World which is a grocery / souvenir shop selling local products.
Back at The Stinking Rose we enjoyed an appetizer of garlic spinach fondue and followed it up with a couple of garlic based entrees. Everything was delicious and after our meal we advertised for the restaurant with our breath.
The restaurant also boasts one of the world's longest garlic braids. It has close to 2,600 blubs on it and wraps all around the interior of the restaurant. If you are looking for a unique dining experience we highly recommend The Stinking Rose. It was one of the culinary highlights of our California trip.
The Ritz Hotel
Rextail
