• Shelborne Whyndham Hotel South Beach
• A day at the pool at the Biltmore Hotel  for my birthday
• Shake Shack
• News Cafe
• Yardbird for some Southern Fried Chicken
• The Miami Zoo
• Miami Seaquarium
• Jungle Island
• Miami Children’s Museum

Photos by Giulia Doyle and Bruno Doyle

I’ve written a lot about PEC already on this blog, so these pictures will do all the talking this time. Just another new stop since we stopped by last time that is worth eating at – The Drake Devonshire Hotel in Wellington!

After our visit in Zurich, we flew to Barcelona. We decided to visit my dear university friend, who lives outside the city. I wanted to finally meet her kids (time flies) and she had yet to meet Desmond. As you can imagine we enjoyed the beautiful warm weather, the ocean, had great food and the perfect host. Time went by way too fast and I was sorry to leave. We hung around the beach one day and enjoyed the board walk. My kids also jumped into the pool, which the locals thought was way too cold, but Canadian kids thought was perfectly fine. We also had the perfect guided tour of Barcelona. But unfortunately we left behind our ‘good’ camera and got to wander the city without the distraction of taking photos. Our tour was at a perfect pace with lots of stops at great food places. If you want to read about Suzy’s food adventures, you’ll find a lot of information on Foodie in Barcelona.
After a couple of days at the Mediterranean we packed up the car and drove across the country to the Atlantic.The landscape really changed during our drive. We went from hilly to flat and more barren and then in the basque country the mountains peaked and everything turned lush and green. We made a quick stop in Pamplona on the way to San Sebastian. Pamplona is a very pretty city and it was in a frenzy getting ready for the Run of the Bulls, which was starting the next day. Truth be told, I was glad to miss that spectacle, which I don’t think I’d have the stomach for. We arrived in San Sebastian in the evening and were a little surprised by the crowds in this rather small city. There was a lot of chaotic traffic and many European tourists since our apartment was smack dab in the middle of the old town. We were close to all the amazing restaurants, the beach, the boardwalk and other sites. Talk about being where the action is! Plus the world cup was going on, so you can just imagine the loud crowds late at night, cheering for their respective teams!
The weather in San Sebastian was very fickle. We had lots of drizzle, some rain, cool temperatures and sporadic sun shine. As soon as the sun came out we would head to the beach, which was just around the corner from our apartment. We also noticed that a lot of locals took advantage of the beach during their lunch hour or after work. I love how big the beach was and how it’s surrounded by many historic buildings.On rainy days we visited the aquarium, wandered the old town and ate amazing food at many of the great tapas/pintxo restaurants. San Sebastian really is a mekka for food. We also didn’t miss our daily intake of gelato, trying to compensate for the drizzly weather.So much good food! We loved the pintxo, but also had very good fish, meat and naturally tried some paella. The wine was good and cheap and the quality of our meals was amazing. We also took advantage of the fresh food markets, bought fresh caught fish and farm fresh vegetables and cooked some of our meals at the apartment.On another rainy day we took the funicular up monte igueldo, which turns out to be a home to the historic lighthouse, but got turned into an amusement park 100 years ago by the queen. It was fun to see the views of San Sebastian from above, fun for the kids to drive bumper boats, enjoy a roller coaster and other attractions. This is the only place in San Sebastian where the food was terrible, and we could not believe that in a tourist spot like this, siesta was fully enforced with all the rides shutting down for 2.5 hours! We took the bus to base of the funicular, but I walked back along the beach boardwalk and it only took me 30 minutes to get back to our apartment.One day on our visit we decided to cross the border and dip into France. We drove to St. Jean de Luz, which funny enough had a completely different feel than 20 minutes south in Spain. It’s a small beach town, it has a lovely little downtown by the port with restaurants, art displays and stores. People were very friendly. We had crepes and gaufre (waffles) with whipped cream and I felt transported back to when I was in La Rochelle as a 13 year old! At the beach there was this very fun kids play area set up. There were zip lines, trampolines, play structures and other circusy type attractions along with old fashioned fuzzball tables. Since it was too cold to swim, the kids took advantage of these great attractions and zipped around with the well dressed french kids.This truly was a great trip and I think it really was worth going for such an extended time. Our kids really enjoyed it as well and talk about many parts of our trip. I can’t wait to go back.Photos by Giulia Doyle and Bruno Doyle

Photos by Giulia Doyle and Bruno Doyle

After our long flight to Zurich, we decided to jump straight into a rental car and drive to a small alpine village called Flims, about an hour and a half away from Zurich. It’s where my dad grew up and where I spent many winters and summers as a child. It’s small, quaint and a place many would call typically Swiss – with high mountains, cows and lot’s of cheese. Above images are around our rental apartment. Note the year on the first building!

On day one, my sister and her family came up to visit along with my mom. We decided to head up to a mountain valley called Bargis. It turned out it was quite a steep hike! What a way to kick that jet lag. Once we made it up we had a hearty meal and then cooled off in the freezing stream. The kids had a blast and were exhausted after a day in nature. Look at that sky…looks like it goes on forever.One of my favourite places is the Caumasee. It’s the most beautiful emerald coloured alpine lake. When I was 16, I had a summer job there selling swimming tickets and ice cream at the kiosk. The water is freezing cold, but it’s a great place to spend a summer day, ride a pedalo boat or enjoy the new kids playground. It’s an easy walk from the parking lot, so anybody can get there. The kids had a great time canon balling into the lake from that raft.While in the alps I wanted to enjoy more of the view from above. At first we wanted to go up to the glacier, but it turned out the gondola only runs on the weekends in the summer. Instead, we decided to take the chairlift to Foppa and then hike over to Fidaz. It’s a pretty flat hike, while it’s a bit long for our 5 year old, we did get the most beautiful view. Unfortunately the restaurant we were planning to eat lunch at was closed for renovations, so we had to hike a little further for sustenance ;).

Another place worth hiking to is Conn. You actually hike down, which doesn’t seem to make sense, and after you’ve hiked down for an hour or so, you end up at these crazy cliffs that go straight down to the Rhein gorge. It’s called the little grand canyon. There’s a really good restaurant there and there’s an observation deck that hangs over the gorge, in case you didn’t get scared enough of the height.While we were there, someone came for lunch with their helicopter. The kids and Bruno decided to take the horse drawn carriage back to the village, while my mom and I walked back with the dogs.

We had an amazing week in the alps. It was incredibly relaxing, the food was amazing, it was great to see old and familiar things and the weather was pretty good. Photos by Giulia Doyle and Bruno Doyle

I have a few more pictures to share with you in a separate post. I decided to split this trip into multiple posts since they are so picture heavy! So, stay tuned for more Switzerland photos and photos from Spain.

We were very lucky that the weather was great – it was sunny and warm and we really enjoyed that it allowed us to wander the city without umbrellas and the general hassle of rain in a big city.That being said, visiting Manhattan with a five and six year old can be tricky. We live in a more suburban type city, and while we live very central we have to use the car to get to most places. For that reason my kids are not very enthusiastic urban walkers – add the crowds to the equation and we got a few complaints trying to move from point A to B. While I tried to keep my irritation at bay (walk already kids, come on!), we took advantage of the subway and taxi cabs, which both of them thought was great.

The other challenge I find while visiting large cities with kids, is the balance of seeing/visiting attractions that are interesting for the kids, but also for the adults. We had to make a couple of compromises and at times they were not that interested, but us adults were. I still find it valuable to travel to big urban cities with the kids though, even if play is a bit more challenging and it’s not as easy as going to the beach. Having these experiences I’m sure will be memories they’ll have and it shows them different ways of living, in this case a much more fast paced environment.

I leave you with a bunch of pictures, and you’ll find a list of places we visited, including restaurants below.

Circle Line: Great views of the city, easy because you sit. Wait to get on the boat is long and boring for the kids and the tour might be a little long for them. Great opportunity to get some great photos and to see the Statue of Liberty without standing in line and going up.

Intrepid Sea Air and Space Museum: My son loved it, my daughter was a little less enthusiastic. Great place to see things up close and have the kids run around. A lot of things are outdoors. We took advantage of our Ottawa museum membership and were able to enter for free.

Central Park Zoo and Central Park: The zoo is small and quaint and the kids really liked it. While it’s not exactly as in the Madagascar movies, the grounds are beautifully maintained and the tropical birds are wonderful to see. We also happened to be there when they were feeding the penguins. We got there at opening time so there was no wait to get in. After the zoo, we wandered the park a little and enjoyed the green space and flowering trees and then stopped by FAO Schwarz to view all the big toys.

American Museum of Natural History: If you decide to visit this museum, note the sheer size of it. Make sure you know what exhibits are on which floor, because there is no way you’ll get to see all of it. I find the museum a little old fashioned and stuffy and maybe even a little run down, but the Dinosaur exhibit is quite good, as are the African animal dioramas and if you can see the large scale whale hanging from the ceiling you’ll like that as well. Also the museum offers great views of Central Park.

Rockefeller Center: We decided to see New York from the top from the Rock, rather than the Empire State building. If you get your tickets ahead of time you have a time slot where you go up. This eliminates waits and line-ups and it great. My husband and I really liked the view, the kids were a little less excited ;). I still believe that seeing the expanse of the city and the park from above is amazing, so I would recommend it.
We also visited the Lego store right off 5th Avenue, which everyone really enjoyed.

Madison Square Park: We played there the first evening and wanted to eat at Shake Shack, but the line-up was too long. The park is a great little spot.

El Camino: Modern Mexican Food. Great Service, loud enough so the kids didn’t bother anyone, no line-up and food was very good.

Vezzo Pizza on Lexington: We were lucky to get a table right away, the line-up started afterwards. Amazing mac&cheese and great thin crust pizza. Very good service as well.

Mangia: Close to Central Park, great service or get your own sandwich place. Food was really good and location was ideal.

Serendipity: We were meeting a friend here and had not realized what a popular place this is. People were lining up to get their picture taken with the quirky interiour. They are famous for their ice-cream desserts. Make a reservation or the wait is quite long. Go for dessert, because that’s what they do well. We also had dinner and the food was fine, but it isn’t cheap. They don’t have a children’s menu, but they offered to split a meal on two plates and serve it with a less spicy sauce.

Le Pain Quotidien: I ate brunch there with my friend and had a great meal and good service. We went to the location close to central park around 10 am on a Monday and didn’t have to wait for a table.

On the list for next time: Brooklyn Bridge and Dumbo, Children’s Art Museum, High Line and Bronx Zoo.

photos taken by Bruno Doyle and Giulia Doyle

I’m glad to be back after our little holiday. We spent Christmas with our families, but then we took advantage of ‘gammy’ being in town and Bruno and I left the city for a quick little trip to Montreal without the kids. This was our first trip away from the kids in over 6 years and we couldn’t thank my family enough for making it happen.
We took advantage of our time and leisurely strolled around the city (in the cold!) tucking into cafes for hot chocolate or a glass of wine. We took long walks, climbed treacherous mounds of snow, ate dinner at two amazing restaurants and caught up on sleep! 48 hours later we were back in the car returning to our regular routine. Glad to be back!

Disclaimer: I received a travel stipend and am paid to write about Pumpkinferno by The Great Waterway. This is one of two articles. The articles will also appear on The Great Waterway blog. I chose and organized my own itinerary and all opinions are my own. All photography is my own.

Even though Pumpkinferno is only in its second year, the event is definitely considered a huge success for Upper Canada Village. With 35,000 visitors in their first year, they were looking for ways to improve the festival, making the family-friendly event an even better way to get into the Halloween spirit.

This was the first year we attended and we were lucky enough to  be able to have a guided tour with the manager of customer service and corporate communications. This year the festival uses almost half of the Upper Canada Village space, allowing for crowds to spread out more and giving everyone a chance to admire the multiple installations, featuring close to 7,000 carved pumpkins.

If you attended last year, you’ll recognize installations, but the route has changed and things are set up differently and in a different order. A brand new exhibit called House of Horoscopes, featuring more than 1,000 carved pumpkins in a stunning overhead pumpkin-carved skyscape of stars, constellations and the signs of the zodiac, is the new showcase display of the event.

All the pumpkins (which are faux) were carved by college and university students enrolled in arts programs. They started working on the event in May of this year and carved pumpkins all summer. In addition to the faux pumpkins a rotation of 800 real carved pumpkins are part of the tour – these pumpkins were carved by students in the area and are rotated in over the weeks of the event since they wouldn’t last the full time the festival is on.

While we had the advantage to enter the event without lining up, be aware that lines are long since the event only opens at 7pm. If you can manage to get there later, you won’t have to line up. You can also buy tickets in advance to avoid ticket line-up. We found parking to be really easy and had no issues finding a spot. Since we did attend right at opening hour, the first wave of people was quite intense – meaning we had to keep a close eye on our kids in order not to lose them. Once things spread out a little it was easier to navigate the space.

My kids both loved the pumpkin installations and loved to follow some of the search/count instructions found in the displays. My son has a tendency to want to touch things and run off ahead, so we had to manage that, but going back to the beginning of the walk before leaving, allowed all of us to see the first displays with less people.

As an adult I really enjoyed the event as well – My favourite were the luminary type pumpkins hung in all the trees. I think it’s a great way to extend the season for this historic location and to get into the Halloween spirit without being too scary. It was a special treat for our kids to stay up late and we had a great time.Festivals and Events Ontario named Pumpkinferno Ontario’s Best New Event earlier this spring, and it is one of three finalists for the Tourism Industry Association of Ontario award for Tourism Event of the Year. You can visit the Pumpkinferno festival at Upper Canada Village in Morrisburg, Ontario from from October 5th to November 3rd, 2013 – 7pm to 10pm on select nights.  You can buy tickets in advance.

Disclaimer: I received a travel stipend and am paid to write about Pumpkinferno by The Great Waterway. This is one of two articles. The articles will also appear on The Great Waterway blog. I chose and organized my own itinerary and all opinions are my own. All photography is my own.

The one rainy day we ventured back to Provincetown. It was crowded, as expected, but we took a trolley tour this year and got to see a bunch of things we didn’t see last year. We did some shopping,sightseeing and ate more seafood.

I know I’ll be back one day, there’s something special about Cape Cod. I could go on and on about the trip, but I think I’ll let all the pictures speak for themselves.