Tag: coffee

Oslo

Place 93 – May 21 2022 & May 22 2022: Oslo 🇳🇴 – New Favourite City?

Kim & Curtis Hale

Day 1

We woke up for our last day at the farm and we were made some waffles for breakfast!

We went to see one of the kids’ gymnastics performance nearby. This was great to see all of the kids having fun.

Unfortunately we had to leave before it was done and drive to Oslo! We had never been so we wanted to see what it was like so we drove there to stay for our final night in Norway. We stopped in Kongsberg for snack and coffee, of course!

We got rid of the car, which wasn’t super easy to find and it was actually in a parking structure but maps took us to a different location! Once we did that we got ourselves checked in to our hotel which was right on one of the main streets.
We had a shower and freshened up before walking for some dinner.

We walked fairly far to get a burger for dinner but it was great as we got to see a lot of the city.

Once dinner was done, we continued our long walk around Oslo and all of the different areas! We also went to the cool looking opera house that they have in Oslo.

For the evening we had a nice relaxing time with snacks in bed and watched some TV.

Day 2

We had free breakfast at the hotel but it was a nightmare! Far too busy for such a small spot.

We walked to the King’s castle and we walked around the park that is attached to the castle. It was such a peaceful place to walk around and the architecture, as is Europe, was beautiful.

We went to ‘Frognerparken’ which is the famous park with a lot of nude sculptures in it, which is one part of it but also it’s a nice park and the sculptures look cool!


We walked to find ourselves a coffee and then walked to Askerhus festing, which is an old castle/military fort.


We walked quite far from here to ‘Gamle Oslo’ which is the old part of town which also has a very new part just around it. We wanted to check this out and we loved it.


We went back to the hotel to get ourselves sorted and then headed to catch the train to the airport.

We flew back to the UK to spend a couple more days there.

Kim’s dad, Tom, picked us up from the airport and we had a McDonald’s for dinner on the way home, of course! It was time to sleep once we got back.

Advertisement
Victoria,BC

Place 70 – Day 35: Victoria, BC – Day Trip To Sidney

Kim & Curtis Hale

We woke up and slowly got ourselves ready. We didn’t sleep well at all last night, so it was a slow morning.

We had some breakfast after we showered and then we relaxed for the rest of the morning.

At 12:30, we left to drive up to Sidney. Linda wanted to go back there after not being there for a while, so we took her there for a wander.

We got a coffee and a treat from the bakery and enjoyed those before walking to the waterside and enjoying the weather and the sea.

We managed to see a beautiful seal, until someone scared it away!

We then sat for a couple of hours facing the water just enjoying the scenery and enjoying people watching. There were a lot of kids playing around us, so it was fun to watch them.

We eventually got hungry so we headed back to the car and got on our way to the place Linda had booked for dinner.

We had planned to meet Linda’s friends, Dee & Steve, there (we know they read the blog…Hello!) But they were unable to attend, so we just went with the three of us.

Kim got a chicken burger and Curtis got a burger and they were alright!

Kim had a chocolate brownie for dessert and then we drove back home.

Curtis was pretty tired as he didn’t sleep well at all last night, so he had a little lay down and Kim did a bit of research for some things.

We didn’t do too much for the rest of the evening, just relaxed and chatted, really!

Kim did go out and check out Ogden Point, which she likes to do when here.

This Time Last Year

Mr And Mrs Hale

Victoria,BC

Place 70 – Day 34: Victoria, BC – Hot Stone Massage & Mattick’s Farm

Kim & Curtis Hale

Hot Stone Massage

We woke up after sleeping very early last night and felt very well rested.

We had some cereal for breakfast and Kim then went out for a hot stone massage! She really enjoyed it, actually. She felt like jelly!

Mattick’s Farm

Kim got back and we went out to Mattick’s Farm.

This was only about 20 minutes away and once we got there, it was coffee time!

They had a restaurant and tea room, so we went to the tea room and got ourselves coffee and snacks. Curtis got a cinnamon bun and Kim had a tuna and mayonnaise sandwich.

We left here and went to play mini golf! They had a mini golf place at the farm, so we took Linda to play her first round ever!

The game was pretty close, actually, with Curtis coming out with the win in the end.

We really enjoyed that, actually, and it wasn’t really in the sun either, which was good for us.

We drove back toward Victoria and on the way, we stopped at a supermarket which is known for really cheap fresh fruit and vegetables, so we got in there and got some produce there.

Delicious Dinner

We got back home and relaxed for an hour or so and then we went to a restaurant that Linda has been visiting for a long while.

Curtis and Linda shared a ceasar salad and Kim had a French onion soup, which was her first time trying! She really enjoyed it actually, though it was a lot for her!

Curtis had a steak which came with potatoes and veg and Kim had chicken marsala with mushrooms and veg, too.

We really enjoyed our dinner and were perfectly full.

We headed back home and had some strawberries which Linda bought at the veg store today.

Drinks With Another Friend

We went for drinks with a friend of Kim’s from work just down at the brown’s social house in Victoria.

Curtis hadn’t met her before and Kim hadn’t met her in person but we had a good chat and a drink before heading back home to Linda’s.

We’re heading out again tomorrow, so that should be fun!

This Time Last Year

Mr And Mrs Hale

Victoria,BC

Place 70 – Day 33: Victoria, BC – Beacon Drive In, Another Friend & Delicious Italian Food

Kim & Curtis Hale

Beacon Drive-In

We woke up around 08:30 and we got ready to go out for breakfast.

We both walked up to the Beacon Drive in, a staple for us when we come here, and got ourselves some nice breakfast and relaxed there for a bit.

Linda came and joined us and we chatted whilst Kim ate an ice cream and then we left for a walk.

A Nice Walk

We planned to go into the petting zoo that was in the nearby park, but unfortunately it was closed! We were able to see some goats and other animals through the fence though, which was really nice.

We did a bit more of a walk around the area and Linda pointed out a few new places and points of interest nearby that we’d not seen before.

A Friend

We headed back to Linda’s place and then after a while, we both walked down to meet a friend of Kim’s for a coffee and we got to meet her child who is now nearly 1!

After a great long conversation, we walked back to Linda’s and got ready for dinner.

Delicious Italian Food

We met a couple of Linda’s friends at an Italian restaurant across the street which we had been to once before. It was AMAZING food! Kim had mushroom pasta and Curtis had lasagne. Both were phenomenal.

We got profiteroles to share for dessert and then we were truly stuffed!

Fisherman’s Wharf

We managed a nice evening walk to Fisherman’s Wharf just down the street, though it was pretty cold, so we came back to Linda’s and relaxed before heading to bed.

This Time Last Year

Mr And Mrs Hale

Sidney, BC

Place 90 – Day 1: Sidney, BC 🇨🇦 – Animal Sanctuary, Malahat Skywalk & Italian Dinner

Kim & Curtis Hale

Breakfast

We woke up and had to check out at 09:00. We got ourselves ready, checked out and hit the road.

We drove until we got to Qualicum Beach, which had French Press Coffee Roasters where we had breakfast! Kim had bruschetta with mushrooms and arugula. It was very nice, though a little small. She had that with a pretty tasty mocha and a chocolate chip cookie.

Curtis had a sandwich with egg, tomato and some really nice bacon in and a cappuccino which had some very nice coffee in, that was roasted in house!

We had this and then got back on the road and drove onward.

Animal Sanctuary

We drove to the animal sanctuary called North Island Animal Sanctuary which was a really nice animal rehabilitation center which also had animals that could not be released into the wild, mostly due to injury.

Before we got there, though, we stumbled across a small old looking town that had, for some reason, some goats on the roof! We had to stop and check them out

We then started driving again, only to find an antiques store just down the road!

We went in there and Curtis managed to talk Kim out of buying an old sabre, though there were some cool items there.

We drove onward to the sanctuary and once we got there, we wandered around to take a look at all the animals. We took no photos here as it didn’t feel appropriate but the animals seemed well looked after and we got to see some awesome animals there, such as eagles and hawks. There was apparently a bear there but it must have been hiding as we didn’t get to see it, but it was actually a really nice stop along the way.

Little Mountain Lookout

Kim had noticed a place on the map called little mountain lookout which was meant to have some great views and it didn’t disappoint!

We drove up to this which was a VERY steep hill and once we got to the top, it didn’t look like anything. However, a short wander through the trees took us to a sheer cliff edge but with stunning views!

We left here and drove to get another coffee. We got this in a cafe in a small town.

Whilst there, we decided to check our reservation only to find out we had only booked one night and it was tomorrow, not today!

Luckily, we contacted them and were able to sort that out, though we did panic for a second.

Malahat Skywalk

We drove to a place that was suggested to us by Linda which is a new attraction.

This is a skywalk, a wooden walkway through the trees, and then a large spiral structure which gives amazing views and there was also a slide to go down from near the top!

We wanted to do the slide, so we queued for about an hour for that. Unfortunately, we got near to the top where the slide was and Curtis really needed to pee, so just had to hope that didn’t happen on the slide!

It was quite a large and fast slide, but it wasn’t bad at all, other than the bumps for Curtis! Luckily, he didn’t have an accident, which is a positive outcome.

We did the slide and then walked back all the way to the top of the structure which had a see through netting floor which could be walked on.

Kim decided this would be fun to roll on instead, so she did that, but did regret it a little after, due to the sheer height of the tower.

We took a look at the beautiful scenery, technically this area has a fjord, and it really was beautiful.

Nice Hotel & Italian Dinner

We drove onward from here to Sidney, where we will be for 2 night purely to relax and sleep! We have had a busy few days and a busy few weeks before now, so we wanted some time to just…chill.

We got to our hotel and it was around 19:00. We checked in and got to our room which is beautiful.

We were very hungry, so we went to a restaurant super close, which is an Italian restaurant.

We had to sit outside, which is good for COVID, but we were a little chilly. We could forgive that though, as the view was stunning.

We had to wait a while for our food but once it came, it was delicious!

We were pretty hungry by the time it arrived, so we ate it quickly and then decided it was relax time, so we went to the shop to get snacks and then went back to the hotel to chill out for the evening.

This Time Last Year

Mr And Mrs Hale

Tofino, BC

Place 88 – Day 1: Tofino, BC🇨🇦 – Exploring, Beer & A Lighthouse

Kim & Curtis Hale

We woke up pretty early and got ourselves ready to head out to Tofino!

Tofino is a very popular destination for tourists, so we were glad to finally be able to go.

We drove out there, on an estimated 2.5 hour drive. There were some road works and construction happening on the route, so we had to stop a few times, one of which was for 30 minutes, but we eventually made it to Tofino in around 3 hours.

We parked up and went right on the hunt for coffee. We found a place and walked there and had some pretty good coffee from Tofino Coffee Roasting Co.

We had the coffee and then walked around Tofino, just to see what it’s all about.

The actual town wasn’t all that interesting, but there was a little boat dock area which had some really fresh air and some really cool looking buildings.

After we went here, we actually ended up bumping into people that Kim knew from work and they gave a couple of really great suggestions!

The first suggestion was to go to chesterman beach which was a slightly less populated beach but really, really nice.

We stopped at the Tofino brewing company on the way and got there right as they opened! We had a beer and just relaxed outside for a bit which was really nice and the beer was good too! It was then time to get going again.

We drove down to the beach and got parked up and then had a nice, long, walk along the beach. There weren’t many people there and the sand was SO SOFT!

We decided to see how cold the water was, which was VERY COLD though kinda nice on our heavily trodden feet.

We left this beach and drove back up to Tofino and parked back up, being smart and using our ticket we still had time on!

The second thing that Kim’s friend suggested was to get a key lime pie slice from a restaurant nearby, so we got that and it was very, very delicious!

We left here after walking to a hotel that Kim remembered staying at as a child and then we drove out to Ucluelet. This super small town doesn’t have much, but it did have a lighthouse!

The lighthouse had a very large whistle buoy near it which warns boats where to go, so that was VERY loud.

We then decided that it was home time! We were pretty tired but had an incredible day and such a nice break!

We didn’t have too much trouble driving back to the hotel, which by the way, is basically a pub with rooms on, which isn’t as bad as it seemed.

We got back to the hotel and Kim ready that it was possible to see bears nearby, so we went to look for them but saw none, so headed to the local brewery!

Curtis got a beer and Kim got a cider and then we realised we were hungry and no other food place was open, so we had some pizza and a pretzel from the brewery.

We got a half and half pizza. One side was a veggie pizza and the other was lemon and herb chicken with tomatoes and tatziki.

We ate our food and had another drink and then eventually headed back to the hotel, which was just across the road.

We got back around 22:00 and chilled out until sleeping, which we are excited to do!

Likely another early morning tomorrow, and a long day, but it should be a fun one!

This Time Last Year

Mr And Mrs Hale

Vancouver, BC

Place 72 – Day 995: Vancouver, BC – First Movie In 2 Years!

Kim & Curtis Hale

We woke up around 10:45 and had a fairly relaxed morning. We did some laundry and some stuff around the apartment and had some croissants for breakfast.

We went out and got a coffee and walked for a bit, towards the beach. It was very warm, so we sat on the grass in the shade for bit, then walked a bit more before heading to the cinema!

We went to see our first moving in what must be about 2 years (we believe it was December 2019 when we last went) and it was great! We watched the movie Fall Guy which was as good as were told it was!

We wore our masks and they also distanced everyone in the theatre, so that was good.

We left there and walked home, before heading to the supermarket.

We didn’t get too much as we go away on Friday! We got some essentials and enough to eat this week.

We got home and had the remaining Korean chicken for dinner…Turns out, we bought too much!

We got ourselves ready for the week, but most importantly, we relaxed!

This Time Last Year

Mr And Mrs Hale

Vancouver, BC

Place 72 – Day 994: Vancouver, BC – A Friend’s Tattoo & Leafs Tickets Booked!

Kim & Curtis Hale

We woke up and got ourselves some croissants and got showered after that.

We did a bit of tidying/cleaning and then Kim needed to head out.

Kim went to meet a friend who was getting a tattoo! Once she got the tattoo, Kim met with her and had a coffee and then walked her home. She had a good couple of hours of chatting with her and that was super nice. A beautiful tattoo, too!

Curtis vacuumed and then played some games and relaxed until Kim got back.

Once Kim got back, she did some more cleaning and had to take a video of the apartment for something and send that off.

Curtis booked tickets for the Leafs game here in Vancouver, depending on if everything is going ok in December! Exciting!

We had leftover Korean chicken for dinner and watched some TV together for the evening.

This Time Last Year

Mr And Mrs Hale

Vancouver, BC

Place 72 – Day 988: Vancouver, BC – New Friends?

Kim & Curtis Hale

We woke up far too late, but tlwe slept great, which was good!

We had some breakfast and watched a bit of TV and then slowly got ourselves ready to go out.

The weather was better today, so we wanted to walk down to the beach. We got ourselves a coffee and walked down! The weather was actually perfect for a walk.

We saw a person in a replica batman suit, which was random but pretty cool looking!

We walked around for a bit and then started to head back home when we saw a big beautiful dog! We stopped to say hi and the owner was actually English, too!

We ended up having a very long chat with them and took their number. They’re a lovely couple and we’d probably like to meet with them again.

Once we got back home we decided what we were going have for dinners and then drove out to the supermarket to buy our weekly food.

After arriving back home, we made a homemade chicken tikka masala and Kim made homemade naan!

That took a while to make but it was certainly worth it. Delicious!

We watched a film whilst we ate and then it was basically bed time.

This Time Last Year

Mr And Mrs Hale

Vancouver, BC

Place 72 – Day 980: Vancouver, BC – A New Barber

Kim & Curtis Hale

We woke up around 11:00 and Kim went to get us some croissants and coffee for breakfast.

We ate that and got ready slowly and then Curtis went out to the barber. His usual barber has moved back to Australia so Curtis had to use another barber from the same shop.

The barber seemed to do a good job, so he was happy with that. He walked back home after getting that done and then we went out for a walk to the beach.

We walked down to the beach, coffee in hand, and once we got to the beach, we got ourselves some ice cream! Curtis had mint chocolate chip ice cream and Kim had honeycomb ice cream. We sat on a bench and ate that, just watching the world play out.

Once we walked back home, we both had cold showers and then accidentally had a nap! After our nap, we had leftovers and a few things from the freezer for dinner.

We watched TV for the evening. There’s a heat warning this weekend and although it’s not as hot as last time, it is muggy.

This Time Last Year

Mr And Mrs Hale