Flashback: France: Mont Saint Michelle

Mont Saint Michelle is a world heritage site that took more than 1000 years to complete.

It is a town, castle and also a church on an island off the French Coast.

It is situated in Normandy, 5 hours from Paris and it a very important historical and tactical place in times of war.

We were glad to visit this region and were in awe of the architecture of the whole structure standing on the island.

It is a place I would recommend to visit, and if possible, do not go here by tour group.  You will not have time to enjoy this place at all.

Flashback: Paris: Eiffel Tower and Notre Dame

We went to the Eiffel Tower last year, too.  It was hot and we did not want to wait inline just to get on the elevator.  Instead, we want to walk around the city to see as much as possible.

We also walked to Notre Dame because the subway system was under maintenance and with a baby, we managed to get there.

Flashback: Paris: Louvre and Opera

We went to the Opera theatre and Louvre in Paris as well.
The Opera is absolutely beautiful with golden statues on the top and the sculptures all around the building.
The interior is absolutely well designed as well.

The Louvre is a gigantic museum with lots of items for display and with lots of tourists.  It was crowded when we visited and you almost need a whole day to really see this place.
One of the most famous paintings it has is Mona Lisa; however, most of the paintings are influenced by religion.  If you want a variety of types of artwork, I would suggest people to visit d'Orsay.

Flashback: Paris Disneyland

Yesterday, we were viewing our video of France and England trip last year and felt very nostalgic.  I thought I might post a few pictures of our trip.  We really enjoyed the Disneyland experience even though our son was not even 2 and the food was excellent.  (a little pricey but good)

We only go on few baby rides and did not go into any attractions, but we did enjoy our stay of the day.  It was a hot summer day with lots of tourists and locals.  We went to the outlet mall one station away by metro.  The food in the Lion King themed restaurant was awesome even though it looked like standard fast food.
(the food in Paris was generally better than Vancouver in terms of western and fast food.

This fast food tray of fries and two kinds of fried chicken was delicious.

Lavender?

I found this flower around a park near my workplace, which looks like a purple stick with powder and two feather-like petals.  My wife says this may just be lavender.

Bento Lunch Box: Nibuta Bento

In Japan and Taiwan, lots of food such as meat, egg, tofu, tempura, etc are often marinated in soy sauce. 
Soy Sauce marinated pork is called, "Nibuta" in Japan.  Last week, my wife made this "Nibuta" bento for me for lunch.  It was delicious....

New York Fries May Special

There is a special from New York Fries in May which you download this coupon from the website, and you can enjoy buy one get one free for any meals.
We bought two poutines for snack the other day.

Greater Vancouver Zoo in Abbotsford, BC

Vancouver has a zoo in the rural area and it is an hour away by highway by car.
It is a zoo of a good size, but sometimes, it is hard to spot the animals.
Of course, it is not close to New York, London, San Diego or other city's caliber, but I am glad that we have the zoo around this area.

They have a mini train (5 dollars per person) and a free safari bus ride.  The safari bus is only 15 minutes and you cannot feed the animal, so if you are expecting an experience like a true safari, you might be disappointed.

On the train, we could see moose, bison, bear and zebra.

There was an arctic wolf which looks like a husky dog.  It is very cute.
From the above picture, a bear had fun bouncing a ball up and down like playing basketball.