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Spa day
* Dear readers – thanks for the affectionate comments in the last post! We are super happy to have completed this step… I responded to the comments below each one… Merci/thanks! /// Last Saturday I had a relaxing morning, one of those rarely seen around here. I went to wear my Mother's Day present to a spa about 20 minutes from home, right on the edge of Gatineau Park. According to their website, Le Nordik Spa-Nature, located just minutes from Ottawa in the Chelsea-QC region and opened in 2005, has been expanded to become the largest in North America with its unique facilities, with 7 outdoor pools, 7 saunas ,…
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Canadian Citizenship | the end of the infinite process
Today, after almost 6 years on Canadian soil, we attend the citizenship ceremony and become Canadian citizens. Wow, what a long wait! But our process took almost 3 years! Generally we think that as it is required only 3 years (discounted the days off) on Canadian soil to apply for citizenship, but in the head is that impression that it is really only the 3 years to be able to have a second homeland. Obviously not quite so, since we expect almost double, right?! See the first part of our "infinite" citizenship process here. According to the Immigration Canada (www.cic.gc.ca) website, citizenship processes are currently with long waiting periods, ranging…
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Canada Day 2013
Last Monday, July 1, was Canada's 146th anniversary, celebrated since July 1, 1867, when representatives of Nova Scotia, New Brunswick and The Province of Canada (originally a colony only, but thereafter, separated into Ontario and Quebec), with British support through the British North America Act, they established a new country called, first, Dominion of Canada. The date was called Dominion Day until 1982 and since then is officially Canada Day (or Canada Day). The other colonies joined the dominion in the following years, beginning in 1870, Manitoba and Northwest Territories, 1871 with British Columbia, 1873, with Prince Edward Islands, 1898, with Yukon, 1905 with Alberta and Saskatchewan, 1949, with Newfoundland…
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2013 Ottawa Ribfest
*Karla, Nadia, Get Away and Cindy: I replied your comments below in the same post. Thanks, i'm sorry. During June 19-23, Ottawa hosted about 14 ribbers for the Ottawa Ribfest or pork chop festival. It sounds funny even, but business is taken seriously and the people here appreciate it a lot. Caravans with the trucks of the costarives come from various areas of the USA and participate in festivals throughout North America. There is even competition of the best sauces, best rib and such, since they are produced (the sauces) artezanalmente and the chops are roasted with charcoal, firewood and gas, among the various groups of chops. Trophies are exhibited…
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Miami | Vizcaya & Coral Gables
In one of the few days we stayed in Miami, we decided to walk through Coral Gables, which is a small town of about 12,000 inhabitants, southwest of Miami. It’s all kind of stuck together to tell you the truth. We learned of the beautiful streets covered with green by these centuries-old trees and near there, in Coconut Grove, was also the Villa Vizcaya museum, which was another attraction we wanted to know. Vizcaya Museum & Gardens, Pennsylvania The Vizcaya Museum & Gardens, as it is called today, was the property of about 50 acres of a wealthy businessman in the region. The mansion and gardens were built in Italian…
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Miami | The city and the beaches
After the fun but exhausting days of the parks in Orlando, we drove to Miami, about 4 hours away. Our greatest intention was to even give a reduced pace, rest a little (if this is possible having a child of 1 year and a half on the lap) and know the beaches and a few sights that we find more interesting, before flying home. We stayed in a hotel near the marina in North Miami, for reasons of values, since the beachfront resort hotels in South Beach are quite expensive (resort fee, parking etc. in addition to the daily, of course), which was not a big problem, since we were…
