Recreate the Surprise Tasting Menu in Toronto?

George looks really nice and also has an outdoor patio or terrace. The girls are saying they didn't really celebrate Kim's birthday just the four of us so I've discovered a Toronto tasting menu that looks good. The place doesn't appear to be open on Sundays, so I will have to hold it in reserve.

I should mention that we did have a very nice family dinner at home with a great cake and speeches from family members. Neither of us was prepared for speeches and Allie got me off the hook by impersonating me giving a speech. The cake was delicious!

It looks like these celebrations are going to go on for some time but it's time to finalize the blog and get it printed. It occurs to me that many comments were given in e-mails so one last thing to do may be to add some of them manually so they appear in the book. Some of the comments probably weren't intended for "publication" while others were made by e-mail reply to e-mails of posts simply because that was easier than logging on to the blog to comment, so I will have to use some judgment to segregate one category from the other.

Shout out to Milos

I came across this article on Prague and it quotes our guide Milos and his love and knowledge of art, especially cubist art. I thought I'd put this up before the blog is printed and bound.

Milos Curik is a pre-Revolution dissident and former postal worker who now is a location-spotter for movies and one of the country’s finest tour guides, with his own company, Arts & Music Travel. Milos adores cubist art, fiercely proud that Prague is the only city in the world that has cubist buildings in addition to artwork. Chattering away, he takes me directly to Old Town’s Museum Ceskeho Kubismu (Museum of Czech Cubism), housed in an earth-toned building designed in 1912-1913 by Josef Gocar—“a supreme example of how a modern building can be incorporated in a historic core,” Milos says.

I had seen the building before, but never noted its portal and capitals in fabulous cubist style. Inside, Milos runs from one masterful work to the next, pointing out his favourite ceramics and furniture, paintings and sculptures, including Otto Gutfreund’s celebrated “Anxiety” the first cubist sculpture.

“And now I’m going to show you something truly special,” Milos says. We weave through ancient cobblestone streets, stopping in a small square, Jungmannovo namesti, off Wenceslas Square. In front of us stands a funky cubist lamp post, the only one in the world. “What’s fascinating about Prague,” Milos says, “is that it’s truly a city of history; you can find many different architectural styles right next to each other.” Sure enough, next to the cubist lamp post stands a Gothic church, a functionalist building, and a secession building – a theme that reverberates throughout all of Prague.

Now I have to back and figure out if we saw these things!

Last Minute Message to the Girls

I know I said we would be home tomorrow but we are in the cab now and will be home in 15 minutes. Sorry, not much of a warning, so if a party is going on you'd best move quickly...

The Foodies Have Landed

Uneventful so should be home before dinner (or a midnight snack in body time).

Made It!

We were the last ones on the last bus, and I need a third shirt which I don't have, but we made it onboard. We were a bit confused as there was an Air Canada plane in view (and not requiring a bus) which we didn't seem to be on, but hopefully we won't end up in Moscow. (Our AC flight appears to be operated by Lufthansa.)

Amazingly the bus took us all the way back to a plane in or very close to the terminal where we had just landed. I can see the plane we landed on. It seems to be an astoundingly inefficient connection that passengers requiring assistance would not have made. I'm noting it only to remember for any future trip that this is a difficult connection. Will the bags make it too?

We opted for adjacent aisle seats with me on the middle and Kim on the aisle next to a single window seat. I think it probably was an error and we should have taken the pair. Oh well.

Wow

Still walking. Very very and appallingly far. Now in line for passport control with an equivalent walk to come and departure scheduled for less than 30 minutes from now. I can't imagine that we will miss this flight but it is a tighter connection than I expected and I don't know how someone who can't move quickly would possibly make it.

Welcome to Frankfurt

Since we're here I'm wondering if we are supposed to buy a hot dog before our flight home? Mind you, while waiting to get off the plane they told passengers connecting to Toronto to go right to the departure gate so maybe there isn't time anyway. And we're landing at an "A" gate but departing from a "B" gate so I don't know what is involved in the transfer-hopefully not a bus to another terminal as in Paris on our way from Florence to Prague. Based on a quick review of the map in the Lufthansa magazine it seems to be within walking distance and we shouldn't have to exit and then again go through security.

The flight here was pretty easy in the end (we even landed at the scheduled time somehow) and the air conditioning very welcome. Having said that, I discovered that shirts washed in the hotel room sink don't really wear so well (...think stinky) so I had to do a quick switch to a fresh shirt before the stewardess pushed me out the emergency exit. I feel much better now (and I suspect Kim and other nearby passengers do as well.)

They offered wine (unusual for a domestic flight from a Canadian perspective) but we passed on it and settled for more caffeine and water. Maybe we will be more adventurous on the longer trans-Atlantic flight.

From the air Frankfurt looked quite North American with a fair number of largish buildings, certainly more than in Berlin. We also flew over a big stadium that must have been used for the 2006 World Cup. There also seemed to be an extensive forested area.

Once we get home I will in time add photos from Berlin and even going back to Rome and I may also beef up the text of some of the earlier Italy posts. I didn't want to put up posts on the Internet that related to others and their being away from their homes at that moment-not without their consent at least. I suspect Kim will put together her thoughts in a final post.

The trip has been wonderful and very special and came at the right time in our lives. But I really need to start devoting the major part of my energy to work. I think that endeavor in fact will complete my recovery.