Travelog for: Mocha

Yesterday we had sorrel soup for dinner (delicious!!) and today we used the herbs for chickweed salad, then deadnettle lasagna and wild herb quiche ... I could not resist and tried every single dish. For the quiche I helped to collect more than 10 herbs: chickweed, deadnettle, silverweed, yarrow, sorrel, stinging nettle, dandelion, meadow sweet, ribwort, beech leaves, daisies, chervil, violet leaves .... I think that's about all of them. And all of the dishes were really tasting great. 

First I helped my host to register some books for bookcrossing. Later Bestik and I released these books in the San Francisco Coffee Company - many of the SFCCs in Munich are official bookcrossing zones. The one at Gärtnerplatz is nearby my host's home. So I have done one more OBCZ!
Opposite of the SFCC is a nice opera building.

I did a bit of sight-seeing today and visited the Hofbräuhaus (a really huge beerhall), the Orlando house, Alter Hof and Marienplatz.

I made a trip to Frankfurt on the weekend. The photos show the view of the Frankfurt skyline taken from a bridge over the Main river.

I helped my host to release some more books - and visited another official bookcrossing zone. It's again a San Francisco Coffee Company located at the Isartor. The Isartor was one of the old town gates. Today it is used as a museum.

Pandamao took me to a trip to beautiful Provence in France. We stayed in a little holiday cottage in the middle of the mountains.

Unfortunately the weather was not good - lots of rain for quite a few days. So I did not venture out often. The photos show a bit how the area looks like.

One evening I visited La Motte, a little town.

On the weekend I had a short day trip to one of the lakes south of Munich, the Ammersee. It was a great summer day and I enjoyed walking along the lake side. We found a tree xylophone - nice sound.

I had a nice time here but my mom wants me back home - I miss her!

I am home!!! I miss everybody so much.  I was having fun, travelling around and seeing a lot of new things and meeting a lot of nice people, but once I arrive home I realize how much I miss home.

I jump up to Grandpa Cuppacino and give him a big hug.  I am so excited I don't even know where to start telling him my adventure.  But he just smiles and says, Dear boy, you have grown so much!! I am so happy to see you home...



Then I see a lot of new toys.  For a moment I thought mommy forgets about me already.  Turns out they are visiting Miami.  There are Watson, Muki, Floppers, Tibipanda and Candy Cotton.  I am happy that I can now brag about my trips too!  They tell me yesterday they went to the bubble tea place.  I am a bit upset to have missed it, I love bubble tea, and also I missed Marina's toys Robito and Palmito too. 



Thanks again, Yumi-san and Pandamao, for hosting me and giving me such wonderful memories.

Today mommy put Muki and me into her backpack and tells us that we will be traveling.  When we pop out of the backpack, we find out that we are in an airplane!  Of course we get very excited!!  We keep asking her where we are going but she says it's a surprise.  Oh well, we decide to settle down and read some magazine to pass the time.



Looking out of the little window we can see the strip.



And other airplanes too.



We are taking off!  Look how small the houses and roads look!  Bye bye Miami!



We are higher than the clouds!



I wonder where we are going?

Finally we land.  I hear some French.  Both of us have traveled to France so we speak a little of the language.  But I just come back from France!  Why are we visiting again? But maybe this time the weather is nicer.  However, when we look out of the bag, we realize it's not France.  Turns out we are in Montreal, Canada!  I haven't been to Canada before so I am excited!!  I've heard there are lots of mooses in Canada maybe I get to meet one?

Today we went to the Jean Talon Farmers Market.  There are a lot of interesting shops.





This one sells cheeses.



This one is famous for its ice creams. 



We eat breakfast here, the baguette and pastries are really good.



Look at all the pretty flowers.



The fruits and vegetables are so inexpensive and delicious.  They look much nicer than the ones in supermarket.

We come to Montreal for the dragon boat race.  It is held at the Jean Drapeau Park.

We see this big Bio Sphere soon after we get out of the subway.



We also meet the mascots from the Beijing Olympics.



We find this lion resting before the dance.



Here is the dragon dancing for the opening ceremony.  He chases the ball all over the place.



This is the ceremony to commemorate Breast Cancer survivors.  You can see the survisor teams in the water, many of them dressed in pink.  The audience on the shore shower them with carnations.  It is a very moving celebration.



It's exciting to watch as the dragon boats race across the finish line!  Dragon boat is a sports from China that has thousands of years in history, and is now popular all over the world. The standard boat in a race is about 45 ft long and sits twenty paddlers.





We are really happy that our host's team wins a gold medal!

Today we continue our travel in Montreal.

This is the Basilica Notre Dame.



I see this sign at a souvenir shop.  I would have ripped it down if Muki doesn't stop me.  What do they mean by not feeding the moose!!!



We take a walk in Chinatown, which is not far from Old Montreal.  There are a lot of shops selling interesting things.



This is the entrance to Chinatown.



We also visited Oretaire St. Joseph.  Legend has it that if you pray all the way up the 99 steps of stairs to the church, your wish will come true.  A lot of crippled and sick people get well in such manner and there is a wall lined with clutches believers left behind.




At night we visited Place Jacques Cartier in old Montreal.  A lot of artists are there drawing caricatures.



Look at the beautiful fireworks at the Montreal International Fireworks Festival.



Finally we make it back to the hotel.  It's a long day, we are tired but totally enjoy the sightseeing.