In December 2007, my brother & I excitedly visited Disneyland in Anaheim, California, USA. It really was the happiest place on earth! My brother and I had a 2-day park pass and we sure had ear to ear grins for the entire 2 days.

We had quite the grand entrance, because as we entered through the gates there was a band there to great us along with the Mad Hatter (see above).

As we went in December, the entire park was dressed in Christmas decorations which we absolutely LOVED. The atmosphere was so fantastic – it was so joyful and festive but it was still quite warm and sunny. We could not have picked a better time to go to Disneyland!

What better way to enjoy Disney but on a horse carriage?

I love Disneyland Main Street because of all the stores! There were parlours and boutique stores and this was my favourite – penny arcade!

In one of the many stores – we spent a lot of time marvelling at all the cute souvenirs. Too cute!

Here are one of the many Disney houses. They are so colourful and adorable!

We always had time for happy snaps of ourselves. :)

The famous teacup ride!

The Haunted House

I got splashed on Splash Mountain! It was so much fun.

I love Disneyland because you can dress up like a cartoon character for even just a minute as you pass by a store to try on these cute hats. Here’s my brother in a Goofy Hat! Hehe!

And here’s me in the wizards hat from Fantasia! Hehe!

I love this photo – here’s my brother in Pooh and me in Tigger :)

And of course there was Santa who graciously came to visit!

Disneyland was beautiful at night as all the buildings were lit up.

The Disney castle was so stunning at night!

At night, people filled Main Street to catch a glimpse of the Christmas fireworks. In December as it approaches the big day, Disneyland holds nightly Christmas fireworks to celebrate (see below video).

And afterwards, there was “snow” (some fake white flakes poured down from the lights). Regardless of the fakeness of the snow or not, it was so beautiful! It was my first time I ever experienced “snow” falling on me and it was a beautiful thing to experience in Disneyland.

HAPPIEST PLACE ON EARTH!

Japantown, San Francisco

Japantown (??? Nihonmachi) in San Francisco is also known as Little Osaka, Funayville and J Town. It is the largest and oldest Japanese town in the United States and spans over six blocks on Post Street, between Laguna Street and Webster Street. The focal point of Japantown is the Japan Center, which opened in 1968 and is three Japanese-oriented shopping centres.

Peace Pagoda, Japantown

The other main focal point of Japantown is the Peace Pagoda (shown above), a five-tiered concrete stupa which was designed by a Japanese architect Yoshiro Taniguchi and was presented to San Francisco by the people of Osaka in Japan. It is located between Post and Geary St at Buchanan and is part of the Japan Center complex. Look how small I am compared to this Peace Pagoda! It’s absolutely massive.

Japantown is full of Japanese restaurants, supermarkets, indoor shopping malls, hotels, banks and other shops, including Kinokuniya.

I took my brother here for his birthday to treat him to lunch!

This was the first time I’ve ever had such good Japanese food before. It was so authentic and it was so much food! Mmmm.

Miyako

(Japantown, San Francisco, California)

1707 Buchanan St, San Francisco, California

It’s that beautiful time of the year again: Spring! I just love Spring, it’s when all the flowers bloom and everyone comes out to play. That’s exactly what the atmosphere was at High Park during the Cherry Blossom (Sakura Tree) Festival, which I also went to last year in 2010. As last year, many came here to catch a glimpse of these beautiful flowers as they do not last long! A full bloom (mankai) is usually reached within about one week after the opening of the first blossom (kaika) and after just one week, the blooming peak is over and the blossoms begin to fall from the trees. If there are strong winds or rain, blooming season will be even shorter.  

Please check out my video below to learn more about the Cherry Blossom Festival at High Park.

Sammylicious TV: Cherry Blossom (Sakura Trees) at High Park 

As mentioned in my video above, the Cherry Blossom (Sakura Tree) Festival is a highly celebrated event in Toronto because of the much anticipated spring after a long brutal Canadian winter. Many from all over the city come to enjoy this spectacular sight, from professional photographers to family and friends having a picnic in the park.

The Cherry Blossom Flower Viewing is an old Japanese tradition also known as “Sakura Hanami” and many spend hours viewing and enjoying these flowers on full bloom. The blooming of Cherry Blossoms (Sakura Trees)  typically occur in late April to early May, depending on the winter. The milder the winter, the earlier these will bloom. Because the winter in Toronto of 2010 – 2011 was both long and harsh, these flowers bloomed in early May which is much later than last year when it bloomed in mid-late April. Sometimes, when the winter is too harsh and cold, these flowers may not even bloom at all!

High Park has two Cherry Blossom walks but as last year, we took Walk 1 again which approximately takes 30-45 minutes to complete. This walk offers gorgeous views of High Park’s largest collection of Sakura trees as well as the Grenadier Pond and Hillside Gardens. Please enjoy my photos below!

Photos from the Cherry Blossom (Sakura Tree) Viewing

Here’s Elliott and I.

And then there’s just me! Hahaha..

Chinese Blossoms at High Park

 High Park also has a wide range of other beautiful flowers – just like this pretty pink Chinese blossom (I am unsure the name! If someone knows, please let me know!). Most of them weren’t bloomed just yet, but we found a few that were :)

 Elliott & I in front of the Chinese Blossoms

Kaori & I by the pond

The Canadian maple leaf: What’s a Canadian park without a Maple Leaf, right?

Large tall trees – so beautiful!

High Park Wildlife in the Spring

Mr. Squirrel who lives at High Park, also wanted to come out and play! Helloooo!

I adore High Park, because I love to see these amazingly beautiful birds. Above are two Canadian Geese.

This really cool duck is known as the Wood Duck.. but only the male looks as cool as this, spotting so many colours! I saw shades of orange, red, purple, green, black, white and brown.

 Location & Directions

The most convenient and easy way I find is to take the TTC to High Park station (on the Bloor line) and just as you cross Bloor Street, you’ll see High Park. It’s too big to miss!

If you prefer to drive, there’s free parking available at the Grenadier Restaurant (enter the park from the intersection of Bloor Street and High Park Avenue and follow the one-way loop to the Grenadier Restaurant in the centre of the park) and the lot immediately east of the Zoo (enter the park from the intersection of High Park Blvd and Parkside Drive).

For my birthday, we went to Niagara on the Lake for some wine tasting but we ended up leaving Toronto much later than we planned and arrived at Niagara in the mid-afternoon. Because of this, we only managed to visit two wineries at Peller Estates and Jackson Triggs.

Also, because we rushed over to Niagara we didn’t have a proper lunch so we were starving by 4pm! Unfortunately, the restaurant at Peller Estates was not open until 6pm but they recommended that we visit Grill on King which is located on 233 King, Niagara on the Lake. The lady at Peller Estates mentioned that the place made excellent steaks! Mmm… Driven by our hungry stomachs, we rushed over and was lucky to have the entire restaurant to ourselves (because we were so early!). It was a lovely setting though.

Muscles: these were soooo delicious. I couldn’t get enough of the tomato sauce that these were cooked in. It was so tasty and the muscles were cooked to perfection!

Grilled Calamari: this was another lovely tasting dish.

This is my shrimp skewer with roasted potatoes, sweet potatoes, carrots and zucchini. I loved the peppery seasoning they put all over this. So yummy!

Check out the size of Elliott’s steak.  It’s gigantic! The potato mash was smooth and creamy and the steak was cooked perfectly and was nice and juicy! The vegetable side was cooked very similar to the way mine were.

After we filled up our bellies with so much food, we drove over the border to the U.S of A for some shopping! Look how rainy and depressing it was outside though :( We made it over to the Coach outlet, bought mummy a bag and then went back home to Canada :)

On my birthday at Niagara on the Lake, Jackson-Triggs was the second winery we visited after Peller Estates, which we thought was beautiful with a lovely range of wines. As we approached Jackson-Triggs, we were disappointed by the boring factory look of the winery especially coming from Peller Estates!

Jackson-Triggs at Niagara-on-the-Lake

Jackson-Triggs is a Canadian winery with vineyards in Okanagan Valley, British Columbia and the Niagara Peninsula. It was founded in 1993 when Donald Triggs and Allan Jackson began producing the wine in Mississauga. In 2006, Jackson-Triggs won the Gold Medal at the International Wine and Spirit Competition (IWSC) for the best Shiraz/Syrah, which was the first Canadian red wine to be recognized by the IWSC. Jackson-Triggs kept up their reputation and in 2010, they won their seventh Canadian Wine Producer of the Year trophy and have now been awarded more than 50 medals at 3 competitions.

We got to taste a wide range of wines here as well, from the Sauvignon Franc to various Icewines. Wine tasting here will set you back approximately $1-$3 a pop (depending on the type of wine).

Here are some of the wines at Jackson-Triggs.

I saw this and thought it was really cool, I had to take a snap! Maple Infused Wine Vinegar? How interesting.

We accidentally went down the wrong way and caught a glimpse of where they store the wine! Very cool.

Here’s me and Elliott.

Here’s what it looked like outside. So wet and rainy! It was unfortunate because this part of Niagara Region is so beautiful!

And here’s us in the car :) Hehehe.

For my birthday, Elliott took me to Niagara on the Lake for wine tasting. The weather was awful, but it didn’t stop us in going and getting some wine-on. I enjoy wine tasting a lot and have been recommended by quite a few people to visit Peller Estates so we made this our first stop.

Peller Estates at Niagara-on-the-Lake

Peller Estates began in 1927, when Andrew Peller first arrived in Canada from Hungary. He had the dream for Canadians to enjoy premium-quality wines and to share them with family and friends. He then opened a winery in British Columbia’s Okanagan Valley and then later on purchased a winery at Niagara on the Lake, Ontario in 1969.

Peller Estates has won many prestigious awards for their signature products, such as the Icewine, Chardonnays and Rieslings. Most recently, they been named Best Canadian Winery of the Year at London’s International Wine & Spirit Competition.

We ended up each trying about 6 of their wines and took home a really nice bottle of Merlot. :) The ice wines they had available were incredible! I loved them, but they were damn pricey! The one that I enjoyed the most was $70 for the bottle!

If you’re ever in Niagara Region, you must make it to Niagara on the Lake and definitely Peller Estates to try these wines. They’re fantastic, and I (as an Aussie, and a lover of wine) couldn’t believe the quality of wines here in Canada (even though most of the reds here weren’t really too much to my liking but was surprised by that Merlot).

Wine tasting here will set you back aproximately $3 a pop, however if you like to try a pre-set of wines for just $7 (for example you can try the Peller Estates Signature Collection which includes a white, a red, and an icewine – Cabernet Franc, Merlot, Vidal Icewine).

We were hoping to try the restaurant here, but it was only open from 6pm and it was 4pm and we were absolutely starving! We knew all the wineries would be closing soon, so we made a quick rush out of here and onto our next before we had dinner. I hope to be back here for dinner some other time!

The wine tasting room itself was gorgeous with so many products on offer!

These wines (especially the rosé) looks divine.

Mmmm Icewine truffles. It was incredibly difficult to resist these!

Here’s me sipping on some lovely wine.

Here’s me and Elliott at Peller Estates.

Peller Estates

(John St E, Niagara On The Lake, Ontario, Canada)

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There’s nothing better than a good Aussie road trip down the Great Ocean Road to Apollo Bay (well, a quick 3 hour drive from Melbourne). Apollo Bay is a popular holiday destination for locals and tourists alike. It offers both swimming and surf beaches, a large boat harbour and marina for fishing and a good selection of restaurants and cafes at the town centre.

We visited Apollo Bay one lovely summer weekend and rented out a modern beach house featured a large deck with a barbeque and awesome views of the ocean. What’s an Aussie summer without a good ol’ Aussie barbie! Here’s photos of our vacation home, it was quite beautiful.

Perfect for having breakfast and dinner with an ocean view!

The loungeeee area.

Dining and living area

Kitchen and dining area

Here’s me taking photos of the house!

Here are the boys playing cricket, using the garbage bin as wickets hahaha.

And then a cow came to visit us!

And then a cute little mouse!

Apollo Bay Beach

Really beautiful dunes

Gorgeous rocks at Apollo Bay Beach

Such a beautiful day!

Here’s me at Apollo Bay pretending to call out for SOS.. Hahaha. What a ridiculous idea.

We then drove up to Marriners Lookout and was amazed by the spectacular views!

We just couldn’t get enough.

Graeme, Hao, Sammy and Calvin

Tara, Sheena and Sammy

Here’s the whole group: Jon, Harry, Chris, Calvin, Shauna, Graeme, Hao, Tara, Sammy and Sheena

The Distillery District is a historic entertainment district which is located east of Downtown Toronto. It was founded in 1832 and by the late 1860s it was the largest distillery district in the world. It once provided over 2 million gallons of whisky but after the de-industrialization of the surrounding area in the late 20th century – the distillery operations wound down and the district was left abandoned. Many industrial and commercial buildings and structures were demolished.

It was only until 2001, the site was purchased by Cityscape Holdings Inc. and they transformed the district into a culture and entertainment neighbourhood. It was then opened in 2003 and was largely popular, now filled with unique boutiques, art galleries, restaurants, jewellery stores, cafés and a micro brewery (Mill Street Brewery).

A lot of tourists (and locals!) enjoy frequenting The Distillery District to enjoy a good meal, a drink or two, see the unique stores and galleries. But most of all, people enjoy the interesting and old rustic feel of this place. I probably should’ve taken more photos to show you all!

Taste of Quebec – offers French style cheeses and patés. Yum!

Lileo – offers a wide range of urban men and women’s fashion

This dog was situated inside Lileo – it was still as a statue posing for the camera. So cute!

Smoking is positively prohibited: We saw this sign on the wall and thought it was hilarious.

Interesting design

.. And interesting dead plants on display? Odd.

Old Beer Keg

Macarons from The Sweet Escape. Above maracons in the flavours mango, lemon, red velvet and chocolate. I really enjoyed the mango flavour!

Red Velvet cupcakes from The Sweet Escape. Mmm.

Chilling out in the Distillery District.

The Distillery Historic District
55 Mill Street, Toronto, ON
www.thedistillerydistrict.com

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The Great Aussie Market: Vic Market

The Queen Victoria Market (also known as ‘Vic Market’) is the southern hemisphere’s most largest open-air market and offers a variety of fruit and vegetables, meat, poultry and seafood, gourmet and deli foods as well as specialty delicacies. On Sundays, a much wider range of merchant items is available and is almost alike a modern Arabian Nights bazaar. The Queen Victoria Market is a major tourist destination and was named after Queen Victoria who ruled the British Empire, from 1837 to 1901 and the market is now an historic landmark for Melbourne as the building dates back to more than 120 years ago.

Locals often visit QV Market mainly because of the vast variety and abundant availability of beautiful fresh seafood.

I love this section of the market – bakeries full of fresh breads and pastries, pastas, cheeses, and more! Oh my.

Feta & Spinach and Beef & Onion

Quiches and Home Made Pies… Ooooh lorrddd.

But best of all.. MACARONS AND CAKES!

Where do you go to get fresh coffee beans and tea leaves? QV Market!

Fresh pastas, ready to cook.

Honey, dried fruits and nuts!

Fresh fruit market. This place is hugeeeeee.

Did I say… FRESH!!

It also has a large non-food related market, selling a diverse range of clothing, shoes, jewellery and handmade art and crafts.

What I love most about this place is the availability of unique Australian items and souvenirs for vistors (and locals like me!) all round. Can you ever have enough koala and kangaroo plushes?

Too cute!

Did you ever want to grab yourself a the famous Aussie bush tucket hat? You can take the opportunity to pick one up right here.. For cheap too!

The market was also once known as a a thriving underground pirated goods centre however there was a massive crackdown in 1997 and the market cleaned up its reputation.. But you still find some pretty strange coloured (with odd Brand Labels with unusual fonts) here. It’s “UGG”, really? You sure?

And why of course, I just had to buy one of these. AUSTRALIA!

Vic Market: Trading hours and Location

The Queen Victoria Market trading hours are 6am to 2pm on Tuesday and Thursday; 6am to 6pm (with the general merchandise section closing at 4pm) on Friday; 6am to 3pm on Saturday; and 9am to 4pm on Sunday. The market is closed on Monday and Wednesday, and on Good Friday, Anzac Day, Melbourne Cup Day, Christmas Day, Boxing Day and New Year’s Day.

“The Bean” is so unique because it has the appearance of a giant drop of liquid mercury, and the mirrored surface offers such an amazing reflection of the city’s skyline. It’s absolutely breathtaking on a bright, clear day as the day I was lucky enough to visit. To get this seamless smooth shiny surface, “The Bean” was created using a huge number of individual stainless steel plates and many hours of polishing.

The great thing about “The Bean” is that you can get a different shot of it from every angle. You can wander around and spend hours here trying to get every shot! I did that for a very long time until I realised that you can even go underneath the bean and it was a whole another world!

I was absolutely stunned by what I saw underneath the bean. Because it was concave under, the reflections was incredible! If you were under the mission of taking every shot at every angle before.. try taking every shot at every angle now! It was insane! Hahaha.

And then I realised you could take the funniest photos of yourself with the types of angles and reflections you get from “The Bean’s smooth surface. Then I spent much more time going around shooting myself like I was some sort of model…

 And don’t forget the kinds of photos your friends can take of you too! OMGOSH ALL THE ANGLES! How do we stop with all the photos…..

 In all, I really enjoyed “The Bean” experience. At first, I was wondering why all these Chicago tourists were so keen to see such an odd sculpture. I would think “a bean? seriously? you want to travel to Chicago to see A BEAN?” But I was thoroughly surprised at how much fun I had at this thing and how much time I spent here. You’ll only believe me when you see it yourself.

Cloud Gate (The Bean) Location

Source: Wikipedia

Cloud Gate is located at Millennium Park (201 East Randolph Street, Chicago, IL 60601, United States)

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