23. September 2010 by joan.

We went in August, but remember that for April, May, June, September and October Senior and student tickets are available at substantial savings during the week. The only downside is a slightly limited choice of plays.

 So - 2 days, 4 plays, 4 excellent meals!!

We are 4 people and we have found a wonderful place to stay called the Stratford Whitehouse. What draws us back every year is the wonderful deck over the main entrance portico. Each couple has our own suite with a  kitchen, and we share this magical outdoor space for morning coffee, to debrief from plays, enjoy a glass of wine or play a little cards.  There are many excellent B&B’s in Stratford, and www.stratfordshakespearefestival.com has all the listings. Trip advisor is a good place to go for customer ratings.

 We saw Kiss me Kate, Peter Pan, Evita and the Tempest. All outstanding!! Dangerous Liasons is also highly recommended. This really is a superb season - it ends October 30th.

Restaurants: Stratford is famous as a wonderful dining city. We have done quite a bit of research at great personal sacrifice and make the following suggestions.

Bijou - open for dinner only (lunch Friday through Sunday) - a little tough to find, it is tucked in behind another building - but well worth searching out. Tiny, perfect place.

Rene’s Bistro - also dinner only and an easy walk to the Avon Theatre, and you will need the walk after an extraordinary meal.

Keystone Alley  - we have only been for lunch, but it is also open for dinner. Right around the corner from the Avon. Book outside - it really is an alley, and it is charming and delicious.

Pazzo Pizzeria - The best Pizza in Stratford. We have only eaten in the “cellar” and loved it for lunch. Upstairs and outside look very appealing, and we would try them in the future.

Annex Room Cafe & Lounge - We had a problem with our service. The food was OK, but I would go to one of the other recommendations before I would go back here.

We have also been to Bentley’s - comfortable pubby place - OK but not special. We also made the drive to Woolfy’s at Wildwood, and while it was a good experience, it is pretty far, and there are equally excellent restaurants in town.

We have eaten at The Church and found it overpriced, but good.  The Old Prune is one we have not tried yet, but it is on our radar for sure. Down the Street is recommended, especially post theatre, but we are usually done by then ….after lunch; a play; dinner; a play….. getting home and taking our shoes off always seems like the best idea

 Parking - Street parking is available near the Avon. You can probably park to eat and then walk to the Theatre. At the Festival Theatre there is a large parking lot by the river which you can prebook at a discount on line. There is quite a bit of free parking above the theatre if you want to take your chances. There are also parking passes available from the Stratford Tourism office for municipal parking lots.

Some day we are going to picnic along the Avon. But then again, being served has its merits!

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4. July 2010 by joan.

Hope you enjoy reading of our travels through the US right around the time of Obama’s election.

 bobjoans-excellent-adventure-road-tripa-usa-with-pictures.pdf

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4. May 2010 by joan.

7-days-at-sea-with-pics.pdf

Here is the journal of our 7 days in the Caribbean this spring visiting Grand Cayman, Roatan and Cozumel. I hope you enjoy it.

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25. January 2010 by joan.

We just returned from a wonderful week in Mont Tremblant. It was mostly cloudy weather, but unseasonable warm. The old MontTremblant of my youth is no more……it is MUCH more!

Mont Tremblant is now comprised of 3 distinct areas: Secteur du Village - the old village; Sectuer de Saint Jovite - the “city” and the Mountain with its pedestrian village. Your most expensive accomodation  is in the pedestrian village, and there is lots of variety from the wonderfully located Country Inn and Suites and  The Residences by Marriot to the lovely Fairmont to the exquisite Quintessence and then over to the “forest” of condos with ski in ski out capabilities. The ultimate in condos are in La Panache - high above the Fairmont with phenomenal views over the lake.

More modest and moderately priced places are available in Saint Jovite, around the golf courses and where we stayed in the old village. Wherever you decide to stay, everything is quite close, but you need a car. If you are in a condo, there is a wonderful Metro grocery store in Saint Jovite where you can find anything you could want. There are smaller stores in the villages as well.

They say nobody goes to Tremblant for the food, but we can recommend some great places! For fine dining, there are two 4 diamond restaurants in Mont Tremblant: Aux Truffes in the pedestrian village is wonderful, and the dining room at Quintessence is also supposed to be first class - we didn’t go  :-(  . We also ate at Patrick Bermant in the Old Village, and would suggest it to anyone - it was fantastic! We understand the the Cayenne Grill in the Old Village, and La Petite Cachee on chemin du Village are also superb. SEb in Saint Jovite was also highly recommended.

For casual lunches we would recommend Le Shack at the foot of the mountain, which is also terrific apres ski; La Maison du Spaghetti, which is a local diner in Saint Jovite (right near the Metro) and has great comfort food (eat in the back), or if you feel like a bit of a drive Le petit Poucet on #117 near Val David is the place for authentic Quebecois fare. Don’t miss the ham or the tourtiere.

We spent the better part of a day at the Spa Scandinave, which is heaven. The massages were so so, but they include the cost of spending as long as you like in the hot tubs, suana, steam, zero gravity room (don’t miss it) and plunge pools (catch your breath!) They even had a hole cut in the ice of the lake for the really brave ………… no we didn’t! If you have your own bathrobe, take it - they charge $12 to rent one. It was a lovely way to spend a day, and a nice alternative to all the hard work of skiing, cross country skiing and snowshowing

There are great trails through the National Park with awesome views. And speaking of views, you can take a “pedestrian ” pass to the top of Mont Tremblant for $20 and lunch or snow shoe up there. For skating buffs, there is a wonderful huge oval rink on Lac Moore which is lit at night - so pretty!

There is a casino at Tremblant - it doesn’t seen like anything special to me, but it does have a wonderful fire place in the foyer. One interesting thing to do is to park right at the casino and then take the gondola over to the pedestrian village. The views are spectacular! Then you can wander the village, working your way down the hills, pick up the open cabriolet lift back up the hill and connect back to the casino gondola - all for free! At the bottom, there is a small church called the Chapelle Saint Bernard which was built in the 40’s as an exact copy of the first church in North America (I think) on Ile d’Orleans near Quebec City.  There is a small skating rink there, too.

Gorgeous part of the world with some of the finest skiing in the east. Lovely people, lovely experience. All you need is a fireplace and a good book…………………

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18. November 2009 by joan.

Sometimes it’s hot, sometimes it’s not…… this November it has been SUPERB!

We took a timeshare for 2 weeks- Island Club IV - and I can get you a deal:-).And it is wonderful: short walk to the magnificent beach; lovely raised deck on the dunes at the ocean to relax; kids play area down by the bar b ques and picnic tables right there at the beach. And a gorgeous pool /hot tub area as well as a logoon with ducks, turtles, heron and fish!

Should you ever decide to make the trip, here are some hints gleaned from our own experience as well as from people who have been coming here for 20 years.

First - IF YOU GOLF  - go to Golf Headquarters right on 278 (the main road through the island) 843-686-4653 and buy a Club Key book. It costs $54 or 2 for $98 and it gives SUBSTANTIAL savings at most of the courses here. It is good for a year and can also be used in Myrtle Beach, Pinehurst as well as some other south eastern states. The rates vary depending on the time of year, and some clubs limit the number of times you play. But it is consistently the BEST rate you could ever get.

What is Hilton Head?

It is just off the coast of South Carolina, and is actually a bunch of little islands shaped like a foot. (I do not know why it isn’t called Hilton Foot.) It is divided up into different “plantations” all of which have hotels, rental units, condos, timeshares and magnificent homes. Probably the most exclusive area is Ribaut Island, which is part of Hilton Head Plantation - a gated community within a gated community - god forbid we should have the riff raff in the $2,000,000 homes associating with us in our $4,000,000 home

What to do in Hilton Head?

First there is the beach. Where we are (just south Port Royal Plantation) the beach is wonderful, and walkable. Some areas have lesser beaches, but Palmetto Dunes and Coligny, for example are other great beaches. Between buildings and the sand, there are always the dunes - protected grassy areas- not particularly beautiful, but typical of the entire North and South Carolina coastline.  So……………walking the beach is a wonderful ritual here.

Then there is golf. Great courses. We played The Barony at Port Royal, Oyster Reef, two of the three Palmetto courses: Fazio and Arthur Hills and Hilton Head National (our favourite). Beware……. some courses overseed in November causing cart path only rules. Ask first, because not all of them do it at the same time. Our price with the book averaged $40 a round including cart - a saving of $15 - $30 per course.

Of course there is shopping! Sale after sale in November. The Tanger outlet Mall is just off the island (maybe 10 minutes). Show your room key at the customer service area for even deeper discounts. Neon signs and obvious commerce are frowned upon here, so you have to hunt for everything - don’t start at night!!!!

Groceries: The Fresh market is……..fresh - a little pricey, but lovely. Our favourite is Piggly Wiggly - go there for your wine……….seriously! Get a free Piggly Wiggly card for specials. And cut flowers are cheap, so guys - when you go to get your supplies, don’t forget the flowers!

We took a fabulous eco boat trip through the National Wildlife Refuge and into Port Royal Sound. We had dolphins playing and I now really understand oyster beds (and oysters:-)). We took a 2 hour tour for $45 per person - a discount for Island Club, but you can probably just ask - regularly $50. The company is Live Oac 1-888-254-8362 to reserve, and you can customize your trip to go tubing, crabbing, fishing or whatever you like. Their boats are great - new and sturdy bow riders that seat max 6 plus the driver. We were 4 of us, and saw everything we could have imagined plus some amazing homes from the water. Ask them when is the best time to go as you want to go near low tide for the best experience.

Some people we know went to Daufuskie Island for some history and were very disappointed. Apparently it is not quite ready for prime time. The only way to get there is by ferry and then they recommend a golf cart to tour, but the whole thing was lacking. Our eco guide did give us some of the history and kind of discouraged us from Daufuskie, but did recomment the oyster factory and the area around it in Historic Bluffton (just off the Island) We will go there next time.

The same people who did not love Daufuskie did love the Hilton Head Symphony Orchestra. Here is what they had to say:

 This is the 28th season for the HHSO; it runs from October to May and the theme is Art & Music: A Celebration of Music Inspired by Art.
The concert we attended was entitled “Classical Guitar” and the performance compared favourably to anything we have heard at the TSO. 
Information about performances and tickets can be obtained by calling the box office at 843-842-2055.  You can learn more about HHSO on its web site at www.hhso.org.
 

Then you eat. You have an inordinately huge selection of first class restaurants from which to choose. We did not have a disappointing meal. We went to Le Bistro - tiny and superb with an indoor/outdoor patio (inside is cooler). The Sea Trawler - with awesome views of the marsh, owned by the Roller family with 14 members working there.  It has been 22 years in the planning and 5-6 years in the building. Their aim is to make it a hang out for the locals, and a place for tourists to have some authentic low country food. After all their disputes with the county they deserve to make it - we loved it. Riviera Oaks - where the owner is from France via Montreal and plays classical guitar every night - wonderful ambience and food. We also ate dinner at the Jazz Corner - surprisingly excellent food and not surprisingly excellent entertainment.

We ordered  pizza one night  from Del Vecchio’s which was recommended by a gourmet shop as ” the only place to order pizza”. It was delicious!

Antonio’s was our last night, and it was truly excellent. Fine dining with service to match.

 Three other highly recommended spots are the Old Fort Pub - which is fine dining and a sunset, and highly recommended by all including our eco tour guide, Blaire. One other one is Italian called Carabas - right near us and supposedly excellent. The last one is a casual spot for the sunset: aptly named the Sunset Grill

 Most of the restaurants have “early dining” prix fixe menus at a substantial reduction, and many of them have coupons in the local newspaper, “The Island Packet”. With the sunset around 5:30 at this time of year, the early dining doesn’t seem to hold any stigma - some call it a sunset menu - and most will extend the time to 7:00.

It can be a very relaxing place, or it can be a walking, golfing, shopping, feeding frenzy. Whatever you choose is available here in beautiful Hilton Head.

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1. November 2009 by joan.

2 days and 3 nights in Philadelphia. What to do??

Arrival night: We stayed in a VRBO house at 769 N 24th Street (US  $300 per night) with 4 bedrooms 3 queensized beds + bunk beds in the fourth bedroom. We are near the Art Gallery and the “Rocky” steps

If you like to eat, we had a wonderful dinner at Bridgid’s on N24th Street: great neighbourhood bar with ‘way above average food. The owner was jamming upstairs with some truly talented buddies, so we even had an impromptu concert!

Next Day: Hop the Phlash trolley for $2 a ride or $5 for the day with hop on hop off privileges. Seniors & kids under 6 are FREE. A family day pass is $10 for 2 adults & 2 kids between 6 and 17. Great way to see the highlights. And they drive like Montrealers…..hang on! Service stops October 31st for the winter and is scheduled to restart May 1, 2010

Don’t miss the Freedom Rising show at the National Constitution Center.

Fantastic lunch at Farmacia just off the main drag in the Old City. Happy hour Monday through Thursday (includes lunch) Excellent wines at $4.50 a glass!

Dinner at Figs - walked from the house - Meredith and 25th. Outstanding food - best duck I’ve ever eaten. Lots of sweet honey flavouring. BYOB saves some $$$, too.

Next day - the Reading Terminal Market - don’t miss it. Huge, bustling - lots of choice for food. Then we cabbed to Rittenhouse Square - all things shopping No tax in Philadelphia - walked back to the Phlash route to go home.

World Cafe Live in the University area. Awesome live music upstairs and down. Hosts Hal and Annie Real are fantastic. GO FOR DINNER and enjoy the experience.

Terrific city. Most gorgeous City Hall ever.

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