To the coast, even if it’s not beach weather

Shortly after getting back from Canada I headed up to Straslund on the Baltic Sea coast. I was staying by the Neuer Markt (or new market) which had a church on it - St. Marienkirche, or St. Mary's Church.

Around the corner you can find the MEERESMUSEUM though I didn't go inside, I did take a picture of the boat outside. It's one of a couple of nautical themed museums there.

I took a photo of the staircase beside it because it was decorated though I am not sure why.

I headed down the steps towards the waterfront which lead me past a few more historical sites. The Kütertor and some of the town walls.

It was then past the Franciscan Monastery of St. John founded in 1254. It included a lovely courtyard of homes.

Nearby from the Monastery is the Old Town, unfortunately the church was under renovation so I don't have pictures of that.

A few random buildings I took photos of . . .

MosaïCanada 150

This was another pleasant surprise! MosaïCanada 150 is a garden that showcased Canadiana all made out of plants and flowers. Again this was part of the 150th celebrations. I think this one is really just about the pictures so I'll leave it at that . . .

Anne of Green Gables

A mountie

3 Ships from France

Inuksuk

Polar bear

Bisons

Mufferaw Joe

Fur trader

Wild horses

Mother Nature 

150 years, a time to celebrate!

Ottawa is known as the city that fun forgot and while I have had a love hate relationship with it over the years, it does not warrant that title – especially this year!! For those that have been reading my blog (or live in Canada) you now know its Canada’s 150^th year. There were two things in particular I did while I was there. The first was an idea people criticized beforehand, because that’s what O-town people like to do . . .complain about anything that might be fun. It turned out to be even more of a draw than Canada Day!!!

It was called La Machine - La Machine are human operated robots from France that put on street art performances. The two characters  that performed in Ottawa were a half horse/half dragon called Long Ma and a spider named Kumo. The story that played out over several days was the spider burns the wings of Long Ma and robs his sacred temple and then the dragon tries to get his things back. The story can be found on the website along with some videos so you can really see the full effect.  

Of course I took some photos but I don't think it will do them justice plus I only got the dragon because there were so many people we didn't make it to the spider. It was way cooler than I thought it would be which I think it was the reaction of the majority of people that went to check it out.

Home for a rest

Not that I needed a rest from Greece but it was time to head home for summer holidays. While the weather was not as nice as last summer, it was still far better than what I had been experiencing in Berlin.  A lot of time was spent outside and apparently all the photos I took have the dog in it . . .

I also checked out some new restos and bars which is always a fav thing of mine. One of them was a rooftop bar - Andaz, though it was on a brink of a storm I still got a few pics.

Check out that rain coming at us!

Also tried Tooth and Nail Brewery

And Bite This for some tasty tacos!

This photo is just to show my Euro friends what a caesar should look like!

As you will see in the next few posts, I did a lot of Canada related stuff including hitting up a cottage . . .

And seeing the new Cirque show – Volta. . .

When the night is over. . .

. . . like a bat out of hell, I'll be gone, gone, gone . . .

For those that know me well, you will know why this was a dream come true. I took another quick trip to London before  I fly back to Canada because I had to see a musical that was not open when I was there a couple of months before. I had known it was coming and was trying to sort out when I was going to make it to London to see it and thanks to the flight path I have to take home, I was able to make it work!

So I went to see Bat out of Hell the Musical (#nerd). Meatloaf’s music lends itself really well to a musical style and what I have since learned is that Jim Steinem wrote much of this music so that one day it would grace the theatrical stage.

It’s a bit of a strange storyline but the music and performances were AWESOME! And for my Canadian peeps, it’s playing in Toronto from Oct – Dec so you can check it out. For my Euro peeps, it’s coming back to London in 2018!