(My apologies for the late post, but I never managed to finish typing up this entry before I came back to the hustle and bustle of coming back.)
Finally, the feature presentation! Our final destination and the entire reason for our Canada trip (going through all the trouble of procuring a single entry Canadian Visa) was to visit Winnipeg, Manitoba, where the Asuncion family migrated to back in August 2008. After nearly 5 years, this will be the first time that our entire family has come to visit them, so it was truly an experience to look forward to. Our flight was at around 8 in the morning, and were already in the airport at around 7-ish. The flight took roughly 4 hours, adding an hour to the clock due to timezone discrepancy of around an hour.
Upon our arrival, dad was taking pictures as we descended the escalators to the baggage claim area before we spotted some familiar faces hiding near the Tim Horton's nearby! Running, hugging, glomping and general greetings were exchanged when the entire Asuncion family came out to greet us, along with Ate Joan's boyfriend JR. After some obligatory pictures and more hugs, we made our way to their humble abode some 20-30 minutes away from the airport. Much of the reason why they all came out to meet with us as mostly because we needed all the space we could afford. With three cars, however, that didn't pose much of a problem.
What greeted us when we arrived was a welcome message that read: Bienvenue Monsods! I already expected this to happen, but it was endearing and it affirmed that we were actually there! We took some time to relax, let our feet rest and just chill for a while after all the travelling. For us cousins, we each end up with our own little partners from childhood, mostly because we were the ones who became so tight-knit. So I spent most of my time with Jostin, who had a grand lair in the basement that was just so awesome I wish I took a picture of it!
To unwind, he and I broke our his Rockband set, did I Spy with the drum adapter before proceeding to play some Rock Band 2 songs while our siblings went out. After a while, we joined my parents and his mom (my godmother) to see the sights and visit The Forks, the only "tourist spot" in Winnipeg, according to Jostin. Loved the bonding time with him, catching up with our age-old Xhevix conceptualzation for a while and spending the rest of the time enjoying their Netflix subscription and finish the first 2 seasons of Sherlock (Benedict Cumberbatch and Martin Freeman) and some random episodes of Doctor Who.
Of course, as a big group, we went to various malls and restaurants, and engaged in several fun activities, which I'll break down below!
Sunday, June 9, marked my parents' 29th Wedding Anniversary. We all came up with an itinerary for them, and our first stop was making reservations at Montana's Grill. The food was delicious, and my parents initially offered to pay for dinner, but in the end, we ended up surprising them by paying the bill instead! We capped off the day proceeding to go play Five-Pin Bowling. Separating into a boys vs girls groups of 5, we played two games, and I must say, it was a lot of fun! The alleys resembled the usual ten-pin bowling lanes, but this just had five, a smaller ball and a points system to cap it all off. My first game was a sweet success, but I couldn't boast the same for the second one though, haha!
One of the more memorable shopping escapades we went to was to a little place called Kildonan Place. Much of the reason we headed off there was to scout for the HMV branch that had a stock of the Eleventh Doctor's Sonic Screwdriver. And yeah, my uncle got it for me so it was a very, very sweet deal! Funny thing was, I only had one remark. "I need a screwdriver for my screwdriver!" Yeah, I needed an actual one to pop in the batteries before I could play Doctor. But once that was set it was such a dream.
Quite often, we spent late nights staying up and watching movies (this was mostly due to my cousin Joan and her boyfriend JR), so Jostin and I couldn't sleep right away even if we wanted to since that would have meant commandeering the PS3 and Netflix. So there was a little Cabin in the Woods with splashes of old cartoon shows like Dexter's Laboratory and Samurai Jack to keep us entertained!
For another fun activity we headed off to a little place called Lazer Runner where we engaged in a rowdy game of Laser Tag! We were a big group of 15 or thereabouts, so we started off a convoy to head out to where the place was (which was outside the main city) where we met up with a few more of my cousin's friends. We played three various games - a Regular one to warm up, a Vampire and Eliminator game. Sad to say I wasn't in the best of ways at the start of it all since I literally ran into a wall trying to escape being aimed at, and let's not forget that running causes tripping every now and again. So bumps and aches followed, but it was a hell of a lot of fun!
My family and I were even around to attend my cousin Jostin's graduation! He's finished 2 years of Digital Arts at Red River College, so he received a certificate for it. This spring, he'll be pursuing another year where he'll focus on 3D work. Really proud of him too!
As my sister and I were flying back to Manila early, Thursday was our last day in Winnipeg. It was decided that we'd spend the last day (Thursday), throwing a barbecue over at my cousin Jaimee and her boyfriend Josh's house, where we met Josh's side of the family. Jostin and I ended up babysitting Josh's nephews, playing through Guitar Hero down in the basement and had a nice Father's Day presentation once evening had settled in. We presented the dads with cards and little gifts, and they were more than amused, which was the overall point of it. It ended with a cousin sleepover, since we needed to head to the airport for an early morning flight.
The morning after, I realized that I never got my passport from my mom, so she and Uncle Joey had to drive back to the house to get it, and we were worried that they wouldn't be able to make it in time the flight was leaving. But they managed to get back, so my sister and I flew off to Toronto, and spent the next 11 hours at the terminal for an evening flight back to Manila.
It was a crazy adventure, but I am grateful for everything that's happened. I'll post pictures soon enough, so do sit tight!
on Saturday, June 15, 2013
Our second full day in Canada had us making like tourists! With the Day Passes dad purchased the day before, we took a series of buses and subway trains to Downtown, locating the Toronto branch of my brother's company. After some frequent map consulting, we finally managed to locate it. We waited a few minutes before he came down before we went about on our way again. After some exploring, we bumped into a couple of elderly Taiwanese and their grandchildren who asked us to take a picture of them, and they kindly offered to take a picture of us in return.
Quite close to this, we spotted the restaurant we had reservations for later that evening: Marche restaurant which I'll talk about a bit more later. We did a bit more walking around before realizing that it was high time for lunch, and so we stopped at a building where a food court was located. Welcome to the First Canadian Place. After ordering separate meals (with a lot to choose from anyway), another of Mom'sold officemates, Tita Louie, met up with us. Ironically, we were dining in her building, which was crazy because she mentioned that she reported that she'd be leaving for a doctor's appointment to meet with us. Whoops!
She took us underground travel from building to building. There were a lot of people here, which explained the complete lack of any up in the streets or so my dad had observed. She took us to a huge bargain store called Honest Ed's, where I found myself a nice red bowtie! It was a neat place full of clothes, tools, knickknacks and food! We spent the rest of the afternoon taking a Streetcar to see more of the sites before finally retracing our steps back to Marche for dinner.
The interesting thing about this particular restaurant was it had various stalls for different cuisines! Their system had a cash card that would total up everything you ordered so you'd pay for any drinks you order and meals for that matter when you were done eating. After looking around the place, I finally settled on trying out a Smoked Salmon Savory Crepe, with cheese and mixed greens and a pesto sauce. And might I say, it was delicious! We stayed there for about three hours since several others of Mom's officemates joined us, so trip down memory lane took a long while that my siblings and I dozed off for a while, haha!
We were finally brought back to our hotel to prepare for our early morning flight to Winnipeg, which I'll talk about in my next post!
Again, pictures to follow.
Quite close to this, we spotted the restaurant we had reservations for later that evening: Marche restaurant which I'll talk about a bit more later. We did a bit more walking around before realizing that it was high time for lunch, and so we stopped at a building where a food court was located. Welcome to the First Canadian Place. After ordering separate meals (with a lot to choose from anyway), another of Mom'sold officemates, Tita Louie, met up with us. Ironically, we were dining in her building, which was crazy because she mentioned that she reported that she'd be leaving for a doctor's appointment to meet with us. Whoops!
She took us underground travel from building to building. There were a lot of people here, which explained the complete lack of any up in the streets or so my dad had observed. She took us to a huge bargain store called Honest Ed's, where I found myself a nice red bowtie! It was a neat place full of clothes, tools, knickknacks and food! We spent the rest of the afternoon taking a Streetcar to see more of the sites before finally retracing our steps back to Marche for dinner.
The interesting thing about this particular restaurant was it had various stalls for different cuisines! Their system had a cash card that would total up everything you ordered so you'd pay for any drinks you order and meals for that matter when you were done eating. After looking around the place, I finally settled on trying out a Smoked Salmon Savory Crepe, with cheese and mixed greens and a pesto sauce. And might I say, it was delicious! We stayed there for about three hours since several others of Mom's officemates joined us, so trip down memory lane took a long while that my siblings and I dozed off for a while, haha!
We were finally brought back to our hotel to prepare for our early morning flight to Winnipeg, which I'll talk about in my next post!
Again, pictures to follow.
So here I am in Toronto Pearson with my sister. We had an early morning flight from Winnipeg that arrived at around 11 in the morning, and a scheduled flight home to Manila later this evening at 10 in the evening. So in the meantime, we're being hermits somewhere or another to help time move a bit faster for the 11 hour layover period.
I've been delaying any posts of the latter parts of our family vacation here in Canada mostly because I was trying to make the most of the limited time to spend with the family and relatives. While my parents and brother will be spending another extra week in Canada, it's back to regular programming for me and my sister, having to go back to work.
Hopefully I can use this time to catch up on backlogged posts, while it's still somewhat fresh in my mind, but as I have a few other activities to carry out, fingers crossed at least the time spent becomes productive.
I'll leave it here for now, but you're sure to expect more free-flowing posts about my trip in the coming days if not hours. See you soon Manila!
I've been delaying any posts of the latter parts of our family vacation here in Canada mostly because I was trying to make the most of the limited time to spend with the family and relatives. While my parents and brother will be spending another extra week in Canada, it's back to regular programming for me and my sister, having to go back to work.
Hopefully I can use this time to catch up on backlogged posts, while it's still somewhat fresh in my mind, but as I have a few other activities to carry out, fingers crossed at least the time spent becomes productive.
I'll leave it here for now, but you're sure to expect more free-flowing posts about my trip in the coming days if not hours. See you soon Manila!
on Friday, June 7, 2013
Let this blog entry be a little reminder for myself before my trip ends up half-forgotten at the back of my mind at the end of everything. I believe this will be a great way to chronicle the trip and expound on some of the details I may end up overlooking later on when I type up an abridged version sorta like my US trip.
The pictures will follow, but for now here's what happened so far:
We awoke to breakfast at the hotel, before preparing for the travels of the day. We were picked up by my mom's former officemates Tito Abet and Tita Ena, who brought us to Niagara Falls. Weather forecast said there was 60% chance of rain, and on the long drive over there from Mississauga all the way to Niagara Falls, rain hath no fury. It poured down pretty much how it would back in Manila, which was a pretty unwelcoming gesture from nature considering we were planning to see the Falls.
Upon our arrival, rain was still coming down, but only got stronger, causing us to get limited time outside exposed to the elements, admiring the Falls on Canada's side. This perpetually cancelled our Maid of the Mist voyage, and instead went to see the Flower Clock and have lunch at the Swiss Chalet. This was soon followed by a trip to the Outlet, were my dad and I managed to get shoes for ourselves! I got myself a pair of Raintrek shoes from the Adidas Outlet Store. :)
Afterwards, we headed downtown to see the CN Tower, but with the weather pretty much the same, the fog covered much of the view from afar. Nevertheless, we still managed to head in and have a look around, passing by Rogers Centre before heading off to Union Station, a Grand Central equivalent from New York. From there, we headed off to the Toronto Eaton Centre, a mall of shorts to look around some more shops and off to the Urban Eatery below, a food court of sorts for dinner before heading back to the hotel.
Overall, it was an eventful first full day in Toronto. The weather was cold and the rain most unwelcoming, but here's to hoping the day ahead will yield more interesting sites! :)
EDIT: Outtake shots from our first full day in Canada added!
The pictures will follow, but for now here's what happened so far:
We awoke to breakfast at the hotel, before preparing for the travels of the day. We were picked up by my mom's former officemates Tito Abet and Tita Ena, who brought us to Niagara Falls. Weather forecast said there was 60% chance of rain, and on the long drive over there from Mississauga all the way to Niagara Falls, rain hath no fury. It poured down pretty much how it would back in Manila, which was a pretty unwelcoming gesture from nature considering we were planning to see the Falls.
Upon our arrival, rain was still coming down, but only got stronger, causing us to get limited time outside exposed to the elements, admiring the Falls on Canada's side. This perpetually cancelled our Maid of the Mist voyage, and instead went to see the Flower Clock and have lunch at the Swiss Chalet. This was soon followed by a trip to the Outlet, were my dad and I managed to get shoes for ourselves! I got myself a pair of Raintrek shoes from the Adidas Outlet Store. :)
Overall, it was an eventful first full day in Toronto. The weather was cold and the rain most unwelcoming, but here's to hoping the day ahead will yield more interesting sites! :)
EDIT: Outtake shots from our first full day in Canada added!
on Thursday, June 6, 2013
Last May 31, Kai and I had plans of watching a movie. It was a Friday, Mom would be finishing up work late, we had all the time in the world. With all the hype for Star Trek: Into Darkness going on for the past few weeks, we wanted to see if we could still catch it in theaters before it fazed out. Much to our dismay, none of the Ayala Malls (those prominent in Makati anyway) were showing it anymore. The trade-off for that, however, was a new movie had just opened: Now You See Me.
Just like before, I had my own personal reasons why I wanted to watch this:
1. I'm a sucker for magic-themed movies (i.e. The Prestige)
2. I'm a major Mark Ruffalo fan
Kai and I saw the trailer for this movie a while back, and the plot itself was enough to pull in interest. The clincher, of course, was finding out who the cast was, with Mark Ruffalo and Morgan Freeman among them. That being said, it was a real treat and an absolute must to watch it! I immediately reserved us seats for the 6:20 showing. Below is my review. My apologies for any spoilers this might cause. YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED!
The movie starts off with a magic trick. I mean, it has to. Not surprisingly, the audience was baffled by how it happened, and that I guess is one of the great parlor tricks that lures the audience into a continuous suspension of disbelief. As the movie continues on, we are introduced to the four magicians who make up The Four Horsemen, a super group who are guided by some mysterious benefactor later revealed to be a character portrayed by Michael Caine.
When they pull off a big bank heist, this gets the attention of the FBI, where a detective Dylan Rhodes played by Mark Ruffalo is assigned to handle the case. Annoyed at first, he finds himself paired up with an Interpol agent as they chase down the Horsemen. After all is said and done, the greatest twist is revealed at the end of the movie, which I won't bother spoiling since it's just too epic to describe.
One thing is for certain though: Mark Ruffalo is the star of the show. He might as well have been dubbed a magician in his own right, and the pacing of the movie itself never left a niche to get bored, at least in my book. You'll just have to watch the movie for yourself. :) Overall, I highly recommend the movie!
Just like before, I had my own personal reasons why I wanted to watch this:
1. I'm a sucker for magic-themed movies (i.e. The Prestige)
2. I'm a major Mark Ruffalo fan
Kai and I saw the trailer for this movie a while back, and the plot itself was enough to pull in interest. The clincher, of course, was finding out who the cast was, with Mark Ruffalo and Morgan Freeman among them. That being said, it was a real treat and an absolute must to watch it! I immediately reserved us seats for the 6:20 showing. Below is my review. My apologies for any spoilers this might cause. YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED!
The movie starts off with a magic trick. I mean, it has to. Not surprisingly, the audience was baffled by how it happened, and that I guess is one of the great parlor tricks that lures the audience into a continuous suspension of disbelief. As the movie continues on, we are introduced to the four magicians who make up The Four Horsemen, a super group who are guided by some mysterious benefactor later revealed to be a character portrayed by Michael Caine.
When they pull off a big bank heist, this gets the attention of the FBI, where a detective Dylan Rhodes played by Mark Ruffalo is assigned to handle the case. Annoyed at first, he finds himself paired up with an Interpol agent as they chase down the Horsemen. After all is said and done, the greatest twist is revealed at the end of the movie, which I won't bother spoiling since it's just too epic to describe.
One thing is for certain though: Mark Ruffalo is the star of the show. He might as well have been dubbed a magician in his own right, and the pacing of the movie itself never left a niche to get bored, at least in my book. You'll just have to watch the movie for yourself. :) Overall, I highly recommend the movie!
on Monday, June 3, 2013
So after many, many, many months of procrastinating, here's part 2! This tackles the second half of our US Trip last August, and I wanted to get his done and out of the way considering we have another upcoming trip to Canada in a few days and I didn't want them to clash. Besides, the longer it takes for me to delay this, the more I'll forget to type anything decent to owe the experience any justice at all.
My family's second half of the vacation had us leaving the busy city of New York City to the very hot place that was the country' capital, Washington D.C.! But that includes a side-trip (at least for me and my folks) to New Jersey while my siblings opted to stay an extra day in New York for their own personal reasons.
My internet was acting up so I'll have to upload the rest of the pictures another day.
14. Atlantic City, New Jersey
Atlantic City! This was where the firsts started, though technically not my first casino area since Las Vegas during one of our previous US trips. And before you ask, NO I didn't end up gambling, but I do remember spotting an American Idol game. My parents had some friends in New Jersey, and we stayed with one of them for an evening before they helpfully dropped us off at the train station to take the Amtrak in Pennsylvania to Washington where we'd be reuniting with my siblings.
15. Lincoln Memorial, Washington D.C.
The capital city was hot, but the travel there was worthwhile with the Old Town Trolley service that was the nice, rustic equivalent of bustling New York's HOHO (Hop On-Hop Off) tour buses. One of our first stops off the trolley was visiting the Lincoln Memorial. And boy was it a beaut! Considering we've seen this on many different occasions in the movies is a big fulfillment on its own.
16. US Capitol, Washington D.C.
The drop-off point of the trolley at the US Capitol was on the other side of the entrance of the inside tour, so we found ourselves making the LONG trek around. And in that heat? I was just depressed that I had to empty out my canister due to security protocol of touring the Capitol. The cool part though was that there was an awesome room we were in that could bounce off sound (even whispers) off the floor from one side of the room to another.
Oh, and did I mention that the area we toured was underground? Check out this high ceiling!
17. White House, Washington D.C.
The iconic White House beyond the perimeter was about as close as we could get to the structure, but that didn't really stop us from getting any pictures taken!
18. American Art Museum, Washington D.C.
A gaming exhibit is always a grand adventure, so we were able to head in and have a quick look around. Funnily enough, there were several exhibits that let you play some games. Pacman, Super Mario Brothers, Flower and Monkey Island to name a few.
19. Smithsonian Air and Space Museum, Washington D.C.
If you've seen Night at the Museum: Battle of the Smithsonian and Transformers 2, then you'll recognize the Smithsonian Air and Space Museum. The museum space itself is pretty big, considering the amount of exhibits you'd find there. I wanted to go on the Flight Simulator but I couldn't coax anyone to go with me, so I settled for taking a little tour around instead. Funnily enough, Dad found this picture of one of the Philippine Airlines plane models.
20. Smithsonian Museum of Natural History, Washington D.C.
Another of the featured museums in the Night at the Museum: Battle of the Smithsonian. This one played up my alley much better since I enjoyed looking at wildlife, getting lost a bit to venture around and learn about some thing or another.
My family's second half of the vacation had us leaving the busy city of New York City to the very hot place that was the country' capital, Washington D.C.! But that includes a side-trip (at least for me and my folks) to New Jersey while my siblings opted to stay an extra day in New York for their own personal reasons.
My internet was acting up so I'll have to upload the rest of the pictures another day.
14. Atlantic City, New Jersey
Atlantic City! This was where the firsts started, though technically not my first casino area since Las Vegas during one of our previous US trips. And before you ask, NO I didn't end up gambling, but I do remember spotting an American Idol game. My parents had some friends in New Jersey, and we stayed with one of them for an evening before they helpfully dropped us off at the train station to take the Amtrak in Pennsylvania to Washington where we'd be reuniting with my siblings.
15. Lincoln Memorial, Washington D.C.
The capital city was hot, but the travel there was worthwhile with the Old Town Trolley service that was the nice, rustic equivalent of bustling New York's HOHO (Hop On-Hop Off) tour buses. One of our first stops off the trolley was visiting the Lincoln Memorial. And boy was it a beaut! Considering we've seen this on many different occasions in the movies is a big fulfillment on its own.
16. US Capitol, Washington D.C.
The drop-off point of the trolley at the US Capitol was on the other side of the entrance of the inside tour, so we found ourselves making the LONG trek around. And in that heat? I was just depressed that I had to empty out my canister due to security protocol of touring the Capitol. The cool part though was that there was an awesome room we were in that could bounce off sound (even whispers) off the floor from one side of the room to another.
Oh, and did I mention that the area we toured was underground? Check out this high ceiling!
17. White House, Washington D.C.
The iconic White House beyond the perimeter was about as close as we could get to the structure, but that didn't really stop us from getting any pictures taken!
18. American Art Museum, Washington D.C.
A gaming exhibit is always a grand adventure, so we were able to head in and have a quick look around. Funnily enough, there were several exhibits that let you play some games. Pacman, Super Mario Brothers, Flower and Monkey Island to name a few.
19. Smithsonian Air and Space Museum, Washington D.C.
If you've seen Night at the Museum: Battle of the Smithsonian and Transformers 2, then you'll recognize the Smithsonian Air and Space Museum. The museum space itself is pretty big, considering the amount of exhibits you'd find there. I wanted to go on the Flight Simulator but I couldn't coax anyone to go with me, so I settled for taking a little tour around instead. Funnily enough, Dad found this picture of one of the Philippine Airlines plane models.
20. Smithsonian Museum of Natural History, Washington D.C.
Another of the featured museums in the Night at the Museum: Battle of the Smithsonian. This one played up my alley much better since I enjoyed looking at wildlife, getting lost a bit to venture around and learn about some thing or another.
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