The Rockies!

Just over 3 months since we went  to the Rocky Mountains and it's only now I am getting a chance to write a post about it. I seriously admire people who can write blog posts a few times a week. I know it's just a hobby of mine but still, its takes so much time and effort. Being dyslexic doesn't help either because it takes me longer to write and there are probably lots of mistakes but sure it's better late than never.

Back in May we flew to Calgary. We got in late so we booked a hotel close to the airport, that way we could get a good nights sleep and get up early in the morning to head to the Rockies.

The next morning we woke up around 7am and headed away on our adventure in one of my favourite cars, a Jeep Wrangler! I couldn't believe how close Calgary is to the Rockies, only about an hour and a half drive. Also, It is kinda crazy, you drive along and it's all flat and next thing... BAM!!! The mountains are just there!haha.

We were staying in Banff but we stopped in a town called Canmore on the way. It's a gorgeous quaint town and not as touristy as Banff. I would highly recommend it, especially if you are looking for something a little quieter. We continued on to Banff to our hotel. We stayed in the Fox Hotel and Suites. I would highly recommend it. There is an underground pool, it looks like a cave that has an opening at the top. I'd imagine it's also beautiful in winter when it snows.

After checking into our room, we quickly freshened up and went back out to explore. We knew where we wanted to go first as the weather was sunny and clear. We went to the Banff gondola. It's $65 plus tax. Kind of pricey I know but SO worth it! The wait wasn't that long, I imagine that would be different during peak times though. The ride to the top is amazing, however if you're afraid of heights, this might make you nervous. I cried on the way up but to be fair I cried on the Ferris wheel that is in Cork at Christmas too. Hahaha! I just don't like moving heights, hate roller coaster or anything like that! I make myself do it though as I know I will feel great after. I am so glad I did go up the gondola because the views from the top were spectacular.

I have a good camera and I am pretty proud of some of the pictures I have taken but pictures don't even do these mountains justice. They are huge!! I kept saying to Parker "they look fake". We were very lucky with the weather. When we got back down from the mountains, we didn't really have a plan. We decided to pick a few lakes and just drive to them. Sitting in the car looking out the window was just as fun too as the views were breathtaking. Lake Minnewanka (apparently its pronounced different to what you may think, lol) was one of the lakes we drove to. The water was beautiful and so blue. After of long day of sightseeing we went for dinner and drinks.

The next morning we got up early and drove to the Ice Field Parkways, it's about a two hour drive from Banff. It is suppose to be very cool (no pun intended) but we wouldn't know because after two and a bit hours driving with no GPS, as it stopped working on the way, we gave up and turned around. When we got back to an area that had signal, we checked where we had turned around, to see how far from the parkway we were and it was...10 MINUTES!!! So annoying how close we were but all was not lost, we pulled in along the way to some beautiful lakes.

On the way back from our drive, we went to the famous Lake Louise. I was very excited to see this lake prior to our trip. Honestly, I was slightly disappointed! Yes, it is very beautiful but what put me off was the amount of tourists that were there. It is something you don't see from those Instagram perfect pictures of people standing between the two mountains with a bright blue lake behind them. There are thousands of people with selfie sticks. People will stop you a few times to take their photo and you have to nearly get into the lake to get a picture for no one to be in it! lol. Another thing to note if you go, is the time of year. We went in May and the lake was still mainly frozen . The height of summer is when the water is that famous turquoise blue colour. We were lucky to see some blue lakes that had thawed faster. Don't get me wrong, Lake Louise is worth the visit but there are so many more lakes that are just as beautiful. Two lakes that we didn't get to, that are suppose to be incredible also are Moraine Lake and Peyto Lake.

Our last day we went to Johnston Caynon and "hiked" up to the top of the waterfall. I am calling it a hike but for most people who actually hike, it's a walk. I am unfit so it's a bloody hike! I really enjoyed this day besides thinking a bear would just appear from the trees every so often. Lucky I had my bear bell on my bag though. Haha! You think after seeing Niagara Falls three times I would not appreciate smaller waterfalls but there is something so beautiful about waterfalls surrounded by mountains and nature, which is something Niagara Falls lacks.

Overall, our trip to The Rockies was incredible. It's somewhere I said I wouldn't leave Canada without seeing  and it's another place ticked off my bucket list. I genuinely think it's somewhere everyone should see at least once. I would love to go back.

Before heading to the airport in Calgary on our last day, we met my sister friend (and someone I consider my friend now too, hope that is ok Steph) who lives in Calgary and she gave us a very quick tour of the city. From the short glance of this city that I saw, it is somewhere I wish I had thought more about visiting. I will just have to come back.

Feel free to ask me any questions if you are thinking of visiting. I could write way more but think it is already long enough. I'm off to enjoy a long weekend and celebrate starting a new job on Tuesday.

Have a great weekend!

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 

New York Part 1

Happy Saturday all, hope you are having a nice weekend. So you may have seen from the overload of Snapchats, Instagram and Facebook photos that I went to New York last weekend. I had never been and one of my friends from home was going so we decided we would meet there. 

As we got so much done in our short time I said I would split this blog post into two parts. When you  take nearly 2,000 photos its kinda hard to pack it into one post!lol.

I took Friday off from work and we got the first flight out to New York on the Friday morning. We flew from Toronto City Airport which is a 10 minute walk from where we live and if I could fly out of this airport every time, I would. Its small, quiet and quick. Its amazing. 

The flight is an hour and a half from Toronto so we were in Manhattan and all for 9.30am. We walked from Penn station to our hotel and stumbled upon Time Square while heading there. Of course we stopped for pictures. Time Square was very quiet at this time of the morning.

We were able to check into our hotel early, which was great as we didn't have to drag our bags around while exploring. The hotel we stayed in was Hudsons Hotel and was very central, just a 10 minute walk to central park. It was very modern and clean and the only negative I would have was the bathroom was tiny, like really tiny. Your knees touched the wall when on the bowl and I am short haha!

After freshening up we headed out to explore and get some food. We briefly went into central park but I was getting hangry so we had to feed me! lol.

After our food, neither of us knew where we were going so we just kept walking. We walked passed the Rockefeller building and decided to go up to the 'Top of the Rock'. I was blown away by the views, it was incredible. The day was so clear and we could see so much. If you haven't been to New York I would highly recommend going up to the top of the Rockefeller building. It was probably my favourite thing we did all weekend. It really is breathtaking!

By the time we had all that done, my friend Linda had arrived from home so I was dying to see her. She has been to New York numerous time and was so helpful when it came to places to eat and see. Since it was a short trip  we didn't want to waste time doing things that you could go without seeing.

After being reunited we went for drinks in New York biggest rooftop bar called 230 fifth. They have communal igloos and blankets and when it got dark the view of the empire state was incredible.

  

After a busy day we went to Greenwich village for some food and then headed to our hotel to sleep and prepare for another busy few days. I didn't expect to fall in love with New York that fast and some more fun was yet to come.....

Part 2 to follow.

Talk soon xx

Zita J

Ottawa

Happy Friday Everyone,

The weekend is finally here woohoo. I thought I would fill you in on my trip last week to Ottawa. So myself, Parker and four friends  headed to Ottawa last Friday for the weekend. We got the train from Toronto, which was about a four hour journey. Besides wanting to see Ottawa while I was here we were also going so we could attend a UFC event. Being honest, I don't know too much about UFC but since moving here I have been watching it more with Parker and I have to say I really enjoy it. I still can't cope when there is lots of blood and stuff but the atmosphere was amazing and I found myself screaming when they weren't punching each other enough haha. We even met an Irish UFC fighter Joe Duffy (see below).

Besides attending the UFC event, during the day we walked around a very hot Ottawa to see what the city was all about. I must say I was very impressed. The architecture is amazing and a very different city to Toronto. It is a relatively small city in the way that you see all the touristy bits in a few hours. I loved how quiet it was compared to a busy Saturday in downtown Toronto.People there even dressed differently and at one point I felt like I went back in time. When I tried to explain that out loud though I think people thought I was drunk or something haha.

There is a lovely area called Byward Market with stalls where people sell all different things, I would of loved to spend more time looking around there but the 31 degree heat was too much to be standing in for that long.

Overall it was a great weekend and I would highly recommend visiting Ottawa. I am so happy I got to tick off another one of my travel wishlist locations.

Have a great weekend!

Talk soon xx

Zita J