Quebec City

So, our first trip of the year happened 2 weeks ago. We flew to Quebec City from Toronto City airport on Saturday morning. I love flying from Toronto City airport, its a 10 minute walk from our apartment and the departure lounge has free refreshments, which makes me feel like a VIP. lol! 

One thing I am not a fan of is the tiny planes, for someone who loves to travel, I am not the best flyer. I blame watching the film Final Destination when I was younger. Haha!

Quebec City is so beautiful. I have been to Montreal but I think Quebec City is completely different. It doesn't feel like you are in Canada. Everyone speaks French and all the menus, signs etc are in French. I obviously knew this going there but I did not expect it to be as French as it was. I really liked that though, I felt like I was half way across the world.We mainly just walked around the old town and took pictures of the main building Chateau Frontenac which is spectacular. The old town is so pretty that you can spend hours wandering around all the cute little streets.

Frozen Maple Syrup

Twice I was forced into doing the toboggan slide (cos I am a wimp) which is located right beside the Chateau Frontenac. Both times, I loved it. I need to be pushed to do these things some times and I usually, I wont say always, enjoy it! The view from the top before you slide down is amazing. It's something I would definitely recommend.

We went to Quebec City with our two friends. The same couple we went to Vegas with 2 years ago. There is a little joke we have about Vegas as it was a bit of a disaster. It ended up being a very relaxing long weekend instead of the crazy Vegas weekend we had imagined. When we were going to Quebec, we joked that we couldn't wait to catch up on some sleep. However, this trip ended up being a bit of a messy one and while I had plans of writing about all the great food recommendations and fun activities, to be perfectly honest we spent it either drinking or hungover. Sure, how bad!

The two pictures above were taken from the restaurant Ciel Bistro Bar. I think its a must if you go to Quebec City, its a revolving 360 restaurant so you get to see so much and the cocktails are delicious! I would definitely recommend Quebec City, I'd say before Christmas would be a magical time to go.

Only 14 more sleeps until our next trip to NYC for Paddys weekend!!! Woohoo!

Have a great weekend and I hope you all enjoyed the snow days in Ireland. 

Talk soon xx

Zita J

Minding Miley

So, I have been meaning to write a post over the past few days but I have been very busy. There is a lot going on for me at the moment. Some good, some not so good. I will fill you in at a later time. For now, I just wanted to fill you in on a few things I have been up to and what I am getting up to in the next couple of weeks.

Two weeks ago we had the pleasure of minding our friends puppy, Miley. After having a pretty stressful week, I thought, “what a nice relaxing way to spend the weekend, minding a puppy”. Well, relaxing was not the word I would use. Haha. The idea of minding a puppy to me seemed easy. I will tell you now, it's far from that and I praise anyone who does it. I adore dogs! I am one of those crazy people on the street who stops you to rub your dog. I had a dog when I was younger and all I remember is playing with him. Now, without any mothers getting offended, minding a puppy felt like I had a newborn haha. She woke a few times in the middle of the night crying to come into our room, she peed and pooped in places she shouldn’t, she ate a lot, slept a lot and I worried about her constantly. I really felt like a new mother. Parker even let me sleep in one morning because I was wrecked! Think he was letting me see what my future will be like, could get use to lies in!

Besides the pooing and worrying, It was one of the nicest weekends I have had in a long time. The happiness and excitement that a dog can bring is unreal. She is such a gorgeous dog and I loved getting cuddles from her when she got sleepy. I was a little emotional when she wasn’t in our apartment anymore. Coming home to a dog that was so happy to see you was something I could get use to but I think I will wait another few years until I can commit to taking care of one full time. A dog is for life not just for Christmas,as they say. 

Puppy talk aside, this weekend is an exciting one. Today after work we are heading to Blue Mountain village. Its about two hours outside of Toronto. There is 14 of us going and we are getting an Airbnb. The main reason we are going is to celebrate our two friends Stag and Hen, so we are calling it “The Sten”. Some people call it a "hag do" also. They had their own individual ones back in Ireland in July but since most of us couldn’t be there we said we would celebrate it all together. I am helping to organise it and I will do a blog post all about it after in case you’re interested. I am really looking forward to it! Be sure to follow my Instagram story to see what we get up to username: zitajames.

After the long weekend, one of my best friends is coming to visit and I could burst with excitement! Can’t wait to show her around and catch up. Then just a week later, I am flying…. HOME!!!!!

Parker's brother is getting married, I can not wait for the wedding and to see my family and friends. It's going to be a busy few weeks but lots to look forward to!

Have a great weekend, if you are going to EP, I’m not jealous, I swear.

Talk soon xx

Zita J

New York Part 2

Happy Friday! 

This day 2 weeks ago I was in New York, waaah! I did this post in two parts as I couldn't fit it all in one post, here's Part 1, if you want to have a read. I honestly didn't expect to love this city as much as I did. I thought the crowds of people would make me anxious but I kinda loved the rush! There is so much to see and even though we got a lot done in the few days we were there, there is so much more we had left to do and see. 

On Saturday, we went to grand central station, which I was very excited about seeing. It's pretty cool and after taking a million pictures we headed towards the world trade memorial. This is something I didn't want to leave New York without doing however I was a bit nervous about how upsetting it might be. 

Before we went inside the museum, we walked around the area where the two towers once stood. It was a weird feeling. What is there now is two beautiful man-made waterfalls and engraved all around it the names of the people who died. Reading all the names and seeing flowers laid down was very emotional. It is such a huge area and its crazy to think two enormous buildings were there.

The museum is really interesting but extremely sad. A worker was telling a story about the fire officers in this fire truck above and I had to walk away as it was upsetting to listen to. I would recommend it to learn about things you might not know about 9/11 but it feels weird seeing people taking selfies etc in a place where so many people died. After this we decided to do something fun as the memorial had us both feeling a bit down. We took a stroll to battery park and looked at the statue of liberty from a distance. I didn't have much interest heading out to the statue but maybe next time.

After a busy day we went for a drink in The Dead Rabbit. "The world's best bar", which I found hard to see why. Its overrated and overpriced. You'll find much better bars I think. It's Irish though so I had to have a look. We went to Brooklyn that night for food and drinks and I loved the area so much. We went to a bar that was a converted car garage called Hot Bird, so cool!

On Sunday we went for brunch in Maison Kayser, it was yummy and I wanted everything from the bakery. After that we wanted to walk it off so we went to the High Line, an old railway line transformed into a park. It is an enjoyable walk and you get an amazing view of the Hudson River. The walk was very busy towards the end so we decided to check out the Chelsea Market and meat packing area. With such nice weather that day and all weekend as a matter of fact, I got a feel of how amazing this area would be in summer time.

We met up with my friend after and went for a few drinks on some rooftop bars around this area. The views were incredible! A great way to spend our last night.

On Monday, it was our last day. I always feel on the last day of a trip you're just waiting around to leave for the airport. We weren't leaving for the airport until 5pm so we made the most of it. We walked around stalking peoples houses after brunch and headed to Central Park and The MET. We only briefly walked around Central Park the first day so I was glad we got to see more. You could spend the whole day there, I would love to go back in the summer and have a picnic in there. The MET was good too, I'm not going to lie though, I was more interested in taking pictures on the steps outside. Lol!

As I said previously I really didn't expect to love New York as much I did but I honestly think it is one of my favourite places I have ever been too. We had a great few days and being able to meet my friends again was the icing on the cake. I'm already looking forward to going back, when I have money again lol. If you want to see the video I made check it out on my Facebook page.

Talk soon xx

Zita J 

Scarborough Bluffs

I have wanted to see Scarborough Bluffs for awhile now but for some reason we kept putting it off. Last Saturday it was such a nice day (Summer, please don’t leave) so we decided to head there. By car, getting to Scarborough should take about 30 mins. We had to get the streetcar, subway, bus and then walk; it took the bones of 2 hours. I was nearly odd with the place. It was so worth it though.

When we got off the bus and started walking we weren’t sure where we were heading so we followed people we assumed were heading to the bluffs. You know what they say don’t ever assume anything...bla bla. Well they weren’t heading to the bluffs; they were going below the bluffs to the beautiful beaches and park area, where a lot of families were having BBQ's and enjoying the sunshine. It was great though because we got to see the beaches and we got ice cream so I was in my element. Yes I am really 5 years old in my head.

After our ice creams, we tried to figure out how we were going to get to the top of the cliff where we originally wanted to be. We knew if we went back the way we came after getting off the bus we could probably find a way but sure I love doing things awkwardly so we decided to go through woods that said  “do not climb. Fine of $2,000”....be grand!! There was a pathway so we thought, why not?  By God did we pay for it! It was so steep and difficult and I was not wearing the right shoes or clothes for a trek through an ant infested woods. It reminded me of the times my dad used to bring me and my sister on adventures through woods in Kerry or across lakes, except this time I am not fit and I was more worried my make up being sweaty for pictures at the top. Lol.

We made it to the top and wow it was so worth it. You actually are not meant to cross a barrier to look out over the cliff but everyone does it (I’m like a sheep). It was the spot to take amazing pictures. It’s kind of scary though as there are no barriers, just a big drop into the water. My hands are sweating just thinking about it. Anyway here are the pictures from up there. Definitely a must see but probably only in the summer time with no winds seeing as it is a cliff. By far one of the nicest places I have seen in Toronto.

Talk soon xx

Zita J

Cottage Trip with The Parkers

Happy Monday,

Hope you had a great weekend. This day last week I was on the way back from a fantastic trip up north. I went with Parker and his parents who were over visiting us. So I thought I would fill you in on our trip.

We left on Saturday morning after picking up our rented car which we were pleasantly surprised with. We received a red Jeep Wrangler which we hadn't ordered but there was no complaining. After Parker got comfortable with driving an automatic on the other side of the car and on the other side of the road, we were on our way to our destination in no time. The drive was very pleasant all the way up. We decided not to take the highway and to go a more scenic route instead. We drove through cute little towns and even stopped in a trucker stop cafe for some food.

We arrived at our destination after about three hours driving and to say I was excited was an understatement. When I moved to Canada, all I wanted to see was the wilderness, to be surrounded by tress and lakes and this was everything if not more than I could of asked for.

Our whole experience was made even more incredible by the accommodation that we had for the two nights. We stayed in a two bedroom cottage in a resort named Safe Haven Cottage Resort I could not recommend it more.  The owners go above and beyond to make you feel welcome. The cottages are so clean and the location is ideal. On the first night after enjoying a lovely BBQ courtesy of the Parker men, we joined the owners and other cottage guests around a camp fire where they were already roasting marshmallows. 

We quickly became friendly with the other guests who were of Indian origin. They played Indian music and got us all up dancing. It was so much fun. After the dancing we all sat around and shared stories, it was like something from a movie. I was just waiting for that part of the movie when the bear comes out of the woods and mauls everyone, but we were lucky!

After a wonderful night we woke up the next morning to explore Algonquin Park. We went on two walking trails and stopped a lot to take pictures. I'm not going to lie, there was one point I was a little scared. On one of the trails we saw a footprint (picture below) and then a few minutes later we heard growling. I wanted to leave but at that point we just had to keep on going. Safe to say I was glad when it was over.

The views from the top of the trails were worth it though and I am glad I carried on instead of being a scaredy cat. After our day exploring we arrived back to our cottage and took paddles boats out on the lake and watched the sun go down. All the water facilities are free when you rent the cottages which is incredible.

There was so many highlights of the whole weekend, seeing a moose feeding on the side of the road being one of them. We noticed cars pulled in on the highway so we slowed down and saw that there was a young moose feeding just a short distance from us. You don't mess with moose if you see one but we felt at a safe distance to get out and take some photos. We were very lucky to see one and I was delighted even if I compared it to "big donkey".

Overall, the trip was amazing and I got to tick off one of the locations on my travel wish list by going to Algonquin Park. The weather was perfect, the accommodation was exceptional and I finally got to see what I called "the real Canada, where there is bears and shit" haha.

I will definitely be visiting again...

Video to come in the coming weeks too of our trip on my Facebook page so keep on eye out for that.

Have a great week!

Talk soon xx

Zita J