845. Riga, Latvia

Last month (when we had some friends visiting from Toronto) we took a weekend trip to Latvia and Lithuania. The scenery along the way was really beautiful as we just had a big snowfall. All the trees were blanketed in snow. It was truly a winter wonderland. I think I enjoyed the journey more than the destination. It's funny to think that I am from Canada but rarely witnessed scenes like these there, which is what foreigners probably think all of Canada would be like.

When we arrived in Riga it was already dark. Up here the sun goes down at around 3:30pm so we don't get many hours of sunlight in a day. Also by the time we settled in the hotel and went out for food, we realized there was a curfew in the city (due to COVID) and restaurants were just closing up. We ended up having no choice but to order pizza to eat in the room lol. So then the next day we explored the city a bit before heading to Vilnius, Lithuania.

Along the way we stopped at a "resort city" in Estonia called Parnu. This German restaurant was soooo good and cozy.

On the drive to Vilnius we turned in this snowy little neighbourhood

I think we have some more drone photos from here which I'll post next time..

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681. Europe in Winter | (Rest of) Day 1 and 2 in Reykjavik

After I left off from yesterday's post, we slept until the late afternoon. Then we went for a walk around the town, had dinner and got back to the hotel for an early night. We ended up sleeping quite early as well.

This "morning" we woke up around 2pm. Well, we woke up earlier but I felt sick and had to go back to sleep. We were planning to go on a day tour to the Snaefellsnes Peninsula but I felt too nauseous and had to reschedule for Monday. I think I am finally feeling better now though after the long sleep. & I was able to keep my lunch down so my energy is coming back.

Today we spent some hours just walking around again. We went up to Hallgrimskirkja Church for a nice view over the city. I really love all the colourful buildings here. We are now sitting at a cafe working.

In about an hour we booked a tour to see the Northern Lights. I'm so excited! I really really hope we will be able to see them. We haven't had the best luck with the weather here as its been raining on and off since we arrived (and forecasted to continue doing so), so it's not the best conditions to see the lights. I will update tomorrow on how it goes..wish us luck!


Polar Bears are huge! I didn't realize they were this tall. I can't imagine standing in front of one lol.


Dinner last night (I was barely able to eat much though). I like the style of restaurants here. They are all cozy and candlelit.









Possibly the coolest clouds I've ever seen.


Having a traditional Icelandic meal. I got the steamed codfish - it was delicious!!






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559. Skiing at Blue Mountain

Last week, my friend and I went for a day to Blue Mountain to go skiing for the first time! We had been wanting to go this winter and were so happy we finally did..it was a lot of fun. I love snow and winter-y places, so learning to ski was one of the things on my bucket list. I want to do it every year until I get really good and maybe eventually someday go heli-skiing hahah. But I have a long way to go..as I am really bad at it now. I fell so many times and took forever to get up again lol. Next winter I want to take a trip to a nice ski resort like Whistler in Canada or somewhere in the Alps..

So at Blue Mountain, we did the beginners program. There are 5 levels. At the first level they teach you how to put on and take off the skis. At the second level there was a small high maybe 2 metres high. We were taught how to sideways walk up the hill with our skis on. It was a lot harder than it seems but after awhile I got better at it. Then after we got to the top of that small hill, we'd go down on our skis. I fell the first two times. The second time I fell was very embarrassing (and funny) because I went off to the side so much that I fell into a ditch!! My leg got twisted so I wasn't able to get it to the right position to stand up (since part of the ski was stuck in the snow). The instructor finally came to rescue me..he helped me take the ski off my boot first to twist my leg back lol. Then it took me a long time to pull myself out of the ditch. After I was able to get down successfully without falling on level 2, we went to level 3.

On level 3, we took a "magic carpet" ski lift (photo above) up to the top of a higher hill. It was higher but the incline was not very steep. There we had to learn/practice going down the hill slowly and making stops along the way. Again, I fell the first couple times but eventually was able to get down successfully. That one was my favourite level. After we've mastered it (somewhat), we went up to level 4....



For some reason, there were no instructors at level 4 but we went to try it anyways. The hill was a bit higher again but it also had a few bumps (moguls?) so you go up and down. I very unsuccessfully rolled down on that one and took awhile to stand back up. What we should've done was gone back to level 3 but we decided to try level 5.

Level 5 was the highest and steepest and we had to take these actual ski lifts up. As I was getting on, one of my poles fell! Off to a bad start lol. One of the workers brought one back up for me though.
At the top of that hill, I looked down and immediately decided I shouldn't do it. I had planned to take the lift back down. Part of me wanted to try going down though just so I could say at least I completed all the levels but I decided against it..as I didn't want to risk an injury.
My friend asked me to take a photo of her and as I was moving to get to a better spot, I kept sliding and crashed right into her. After a few minutes of getting back up, I finally did..only to slide back down again and fall on my butt. I was sitting on the back of the skis I guess..then ended up sliding ALLLLL the way down the entire hill in that position. It was so scary (and funny now)! I was sliding down so fast I wasn't able to stop, and I was in a crouched down position so I wasn't able to get back up or anything. Luckily there were no trees or people in the way for me to crash into. After what seemed like forever, I finally reached the bottom and was able to stop. Definitely not doing that hill again hahahah..but at least now I can say I completed all levels. After that, we went back to level 3.



"Apres-ski" at a cozy Irish pub..warming up beside the fireplace.


Soooo physically exhausted! My body and muscles needed almost a week to fully recover hahah. But can't wait to go again!

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469. Quebec 2016 | Aux Chantignoles at Chateau Montebello

Here was my breakfast at Le Chateau Montebello! I've mentioned this in the past that I LOVE hotel breakfasts (buffet style or even delivered to the room). Not because the food tastes good (I mean it does..) but I love the experience of it. I'm not quite sure how to explain it but you probably know what I mean. The breakfast we had here was delicious. There was a wide selection of food including the usual continental style items like bread, sausages, eggs, potatoes, beans etc as well as crepes, an omelette station, delicious oatmeal..and more.

The hotel's main restaurant is Aux Chantignoles where we had breakfast and dinner. It's pretty big in there, with several dining areas and very beautifully decorated throughout.

I'll start with breakfast:




I loved their oatmeal!

Here's a view of the restaurant. This is the part where you walk in but on the sides there were individual rooms as well. So we came for dinner that night shortly after checking in (which I posted about yesterday). We hadn't really planned to eat there at first but since there were no other options for food that night, we decided to have our dinner there. The restaurant/food really exceeded my expectations. I didn't think much of it at first (since I usually prefer going to actual non-hotel restaurants when travelling) but this one was really good.

There were a lot of unique things on the menu. It was one of those restaurants where you knew that whatever you ordered, it would most likely be good and nicely presented. So I had a really hard time choosing what I wanted since I wanted to try almost everything on there! By the way, here is the menu. A lot of different meats and French-Canadian dishes.


An amuse bouche to start.

I went for the Monk Fish and Shrimp Medallion appetizer (with parsley sponge, lobster sauce, ocean paper, and shellfish oil). This was delicious. I just didn't like the parsley sponge that much..it didn't have a strong taste to it but if you don't eat it first it gets all soggy by the end and tastes like wet bread lol. It makes it look cool though. I really liked the shrimp medallions.

My bf got the Wild Game Parmentier (with four spice sauce and fingerling potato chips). I had a taste of it and it was really good as well. It's a mixture of a lot of different meats, finely chopped up.


Then we had this sorbet. I think the term is Intermezzo..?

For the main course I had the Pappardelle Paste with Milk-Fed Veal (with sage and lemon cream sauce, spinach, asparagus and sun-dried tomatoes). I don't think I ever ordered veal before. This was really good. I loved the sauce and the veal was tender and juicy. It was so filling though.

The Deer Wellington (with Saskatoonberry sauce, Jerusalem artichoke puree, and honey mushroom). I tried a bite of the deer as well. It was my first time eating deer. It tasted kind of like beef. I usually don't like gamey meat but this was really good.

The dessert was buffet-style so we had a bit of everything. I wish they did actual dessert though. The options they had were just cakes, jello, pudding, fruits, etc.

It was overall a really nice and memorable meal/evening. I definitely recommend having dinner at the restaurant, even if you're not staying at the hotel!


Other Posts from this Trip:

Au Chalet en Bois Rond - Cabin Review
Dog Sledding
Snowmobiling & Trails
Le Chateau Montebello - Hotel Review
Quebec City


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