Dinner at Les Labours Hotel La Ferme

December 19, 2013 Canada, food, North America No comments
chocolate and nuts dessert at Les Labours Hotel La Ferme

After the massage at Spa du Verger at Hotel La Ferme, I was starving and really glad Les Labours restaurant was just a minute away in the main building.

 

Les Labours Hotel La Ferme

Les Labours at Hotel La Ferme

Les Labours dinner menu

Les Labours dinner menu

 

As soon as I walked up the steps and entered, I was welcomed by ”Crazy Sexy Fun Traveler, right? Miss Kovacova?” Obviously, it was an English way of pronouncing my surname which has nothing to do with the real Slovak pronunciation but as usual made me laugh and made it for a great conversation.

I sat down at the bar as I was alone and wanted to watch the cooks working from close (and maybe even learn something). I was served a slice of bread from a local bakery where they just buy seeds and make their own flour for bread. It was extremely identical to Slovak bread we have at home – brown bread with little holes in it. I was in shock because the waiter spent like a minute telling me how proud they are of the unique bread here. We had a laugh once I told him we have a very similar bread back home.

 

sat at the Les Labours bar

sat at the Les Labours bar

traditional bread in Charlevoix

traditional bread in Charlevoix

beautiful modern design of Les Labours restaurant

beautiful modern design

 

I sat there and just looked. The cook was throwing food on the saucepans and making it all jump like in a circus. Believe it or not, it was a lot of fun to watch. Such a different experience when you develop a certain relationship with food and the cook himself when he looks at you and smiles!

When I was dining at Les Labours, there were all male cooks only.

I found myself wondering … Personally, I would not be comfy cooking myself with people watching me but they must be used to it. Even though the cook looked a bit nervous, maybe because of me and my camera … Or maybe it was because I spent some time staring at his veins too 🙂

 

observing the cook preparing my dinner

observing the cook preparing my dinner

the cute cook in action

the cute cook in action

 

My first dish came very quickly – sweet potato soup and croutons without cream but a bit of milk turned out super yellow and yummy.

 

sweet potato soup at Les Labours Hotel La Ferme

sweet potato soup at Les Labours Hotel La Ferme

 

Then my main dish followed – gnocchi with fresh veggies – with amazing smell of herbs and fish (smoked spurgeon) and made of 3 colours. The fish was hidden under the veggies, such a tasty surprise with very exquisite taste of portobello mushrooms, radish and spinach and thus giving gnocchi more taste than simple ones I usually have.

 

gnocchi with fresh veggies

gnocchi with fresh veggies

 

My cook came to me for the first time and his small eyes looked at me from behind the brownish hat … he was a bit shy and even came to apologize to me that he was too busy to talk to me more.  I was not sure who was more shy at that moment, if him or me as he made me shy with his look 😀

Afterwards, I tried to look at him less to make him feel comfortable again.

 

I was recommended a dessert with different kinds of chocolate and nuts. It had the right amount of sweetness but not too much. Comparable to the cook, I’d say …

 

chocolate and nuts dessert at Les Labours Hotel La Ferme

chocolate and nuts dessert at Les Labours Hotel La Ferme

 

Well, as you can see, my time at Les Labours Hotel La Ferme was so worth it 🙂 So if you are visiting Canada, hop on Le Massif de Charlevoix train and visit Hotel La Ferme. They even have delicious healthy breakfast too.

 

my healthy breakfast at Les Labours

my healthy breakfast at Les Labours

Top New York City Hot Spots

November 7, 2013 travel, USA No comments

New York City in the US has always held a great attraction to me. It is without doubt one of the most popular as well as expensive vacation city in the world. As a first time visitor to the city, I found New York to be a completely mind boggling and memorable experience. There are numerous amazing places to visit and things to do here, which will keep you justifiably occupied as well as entertained. Whether for a one day visit or extended vacation, I felt New York City to be a complete package.

 

 

A walk around the Central Park

I chose the popular Central Park as my first place to visit. This wide expanse of greenery is a visual treat. I rented a bicycle and went around the park and took in the vibrant colors in the form of plants and also people. This place has it all – water bodies, rolling fields and also beautiful walking trials. Cycling through, I saw the Bow Bridge and the Alice in Wonderland Sculpture. The view of the lake over which the Bow Bridge stands was breathtaking.

 

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The iconic Times Square

I continued my tour with the Times Square – something which New York City is synonymous with to us outsiders. I walked around took in the sights of the massive billboards all around the square. This is also the place for the famous Broadway. I watched various peddlers selling jewelry as well as art pieces on the pavements. I found the Times Square to be very pedestrian friendly and the array of shops here were extremely tempting. I even ended up buying some beautiful tokens to take back home!

 

 

A run through the Yankee Stadium

As an all time baseball fan, the Yankee Stadium was a must visit for me. I opted for the guided tour, which took me through the clubhouse, the Monument Park and also a stroll around the New York Yankees Museum. I was fascinated with all the history of this game that I could learn here. The company of fellow baseball lovers was a welcome addition. I made a mental note to attend one of the sporting events in the city on my next visit. The energy and enthusiasm here was truly infectious.

 

The beautiful Brooklyn Bridge

I had seen this iconic bridge countless times in various movies and television series. But seeing it with my naked eyes was even better. The world’s longest suspension bridge, I got a taste of commuting with the fellow New Yorkers via this bridge. This bridge connects Manhattan to Brooklyn and it is indeed a view to behold. And while at Brooklyn, I also treated myself to the scrumptious pizza at the Grimaldi’s. This pizza joint is located right under the Brooklyn Bridge and serves coal fired pizza, which left me wanting for more.

 

A view of the beautiful skyline of the city

Anyone visiting the New York City will have the Empire State Building on their list. So did I. I wanted to experience the view of the New York City skyline that I had heard so much about. And I also wanted to see the city in its glorious lighted self. Hence, in the evening, I rode up the Empire State Building in the elevator and walked out on the observation deck. I feasted my eyes to the beautiful, 360 degree view of the city skyline. The view of the waterways, skyscrapers, bridges, islands was picturesque. The brightly lit city seemed to shimmer beneath the gradually darkening horizon.

 

A taste of the NYC nightlife

My visit to the New York City would have been incomplete without experiencing the amazing nightlife this city is famous for. Hence, I strolled out after dark and went to the Lower East Side where all the popular bars are located. I decided to try a comedy club and amidst refreshing drinks, had a gala time laughing and cheering the talent there. I met a number of interesting people and socialized well over great food and lively music. The NYC nightlife is definitely not overrated. At the end of the night, I went back to my hotel, with the satisfaction of having spent a wonderful day at this sparkling, lively and classy city.

Check out also the best off-beat places in New York City and surprising facts about NYC.

 

 

About the author – Bob:

I’m a traveling fool who loves to learn about people and places. Learn more at http://www.thetravelingtripster.com. I also love to save money while I travel. Find cheap car rental, airline tickets, and hotels at CheapTravelHunter. Thrifty traveling allows you to see more of the world and really appreciate the people and culture.

 

Is it really possible to save on Hotel Bookings using Incognito Mode in your Browser?

October 30, 2013 tips No comments

ACTIVATE “INCOGNITO MODE” ON YOUR BROWSER AND SAVE!

How many times have you walked into a store and noticed that the price point for a certain item is cheaper, or more expensive, than you’ve seen elsewhere? More times than you can count, right? Me too.

Why is that?

It’s not a question that we, as modern consumers, ask often; we’ve just kind of gotten used to this sort of thing and don’t really question it. Instead, we just kind of make a mental note to buy elsewhere, or come back to this store for the best deal. What we don’t do is stop to realize why this items is priced higher in this location, than another.

When it comes to online shopping, we question even less. The common misconception is that we are all looking at the same exact internet, so why would the prices be any different? Well, you would be surprised.

The Role of “Dynamic Pricing”

Price fluctuations from location to location come from the retail use of Dynamic Pricing – a system which determines price points from a variety of variables, some of which evolve slowly, while others constantly change.

For example, a car rental service next to an airport is going to constantly be offering differing price points, because the service’s automated dynamic pricing system is constantly calculating flights in and out, weather changes, cancellations, nearby hotel bookings, etc.

At its outset, dynamic pricing didn’t gain much steam and was heavily criticized when Amazon first put it into practice back in the year 2000 with DVD sales. Their test run was the box-set second season of the X-Files, which sold for $89.99, $9 $97.49, and $104.99; if you lived in an area that was statistically wealthy, you would probably see the $104.99 price point.

Despite the fact that this kind of dynamic pricing, based on location, had been used for years in the physical retail environment, online consumers (while the internet was still relatively new) were outraged. After all, part of the allure for making purchases online was that it was supposed to take away the window shopping aspect and put everything right at your fingertips, the same for everyone.

The Return of “Dynamic Pricing”

As we all know, only the new gets criticized and the ever-evolving tides of public perspective find new things to latch onto and criticize. As the times have evolved, and online practices have become more and more prevalent, dynamic pricing has wedged itself firmly into the online shopping sphere. It hasn’t come out of nowhere, either; it’s been alive and well since it first lost popularity – it was just quiet, at first.

Now, not so much. Companies such as Staples, Discover Financial Services, Rosetta Stone, and Home Depot all regularly use dynamic pricing and are having more success with it than ever with our browsers and phones constantly reporting our location.

How Can I Avoid Being Location Stereotyped?

Every browser has a little feature called Incognito Mode, which masks your location from the prying eyes of the internet. Turning this feature on, will keep retailers from giving you certain price points based on location. In some cases, you may find that the price points are better when Incognito Mode is turned off and in others, the prices will be more expensive. The point is that you’ll get to see what all of your options are.

A good practice is to have a browser that you designate as your online shopping browser. This way, you can have incognito mode turned off the majority of the time, unless you want to cross check a price, and don’t have to fiddle with your main browser settings too often.

Give it a shot – see if you save!

From Hernan Cortez to history of Baja California

October 21, 2013 history, Mexico, travel No comments
Todos Santos Cultural Centre with Museum

When visiting Todos Santos and staying at the famous Hotel California, I took a tour of Todos Santos with Sergio from Eco Adventures. Sergio is a very knowledgeable man and during our walk around the town he gave me the insight not only to history of Todos Santos town but also to history of Baja California and the rest of the Californian peninsula.

 

 

It all started when Hernan Cortez, a great talker and conqueror, escaped from Cuba with 500 men and 5 ships without the Cuban governor’s permission. They arrived to the Mexican coast where they founded La Villa Rica de Veracruz, nowadays known as the city of Veracruz.

Cortez with his men found the Aztecs living a pretty good life in there ruled by Moctezuma II who was more interested in his clothes than ruling. Being a kind of posh Luis XVI who could wear his clothes just once and then they had to be burned, Moctezuma II got scared when he saw Hernan Cortez.

It all came down to the legend of Quetzalcoatl he remembered – a white tall bearded man coming back and who was supposed to punish Moctezuma II. The Tenochtitlan ruler thought he would avoid getting punished if he gave presents to Cortez so Cortez received a silver plate, a gold plate and women for all his men. Moctezuma II also gave a native woman to Cortez himself. She is famous now as La Malinche.

As for the Aztecs, the best looking women were those with their eyes crossed so they all looked that way, however Hernan wanted to change his woman because she did not look like a European ideal beauty he was used to. But she was a very clever princess and after she had been a present to the Aztecs before and then they got rid of her to give her to Cortez and thus insulted her, she learned Spanish from Cortez and helped him to defeat the Aztecs finally in 1521.

But you must be asking now what all this had to do with Baja California? We are almost there!

Spain became the biggest monarchy and wanted to send Hernan Cortez to conquer China. After leaving from Acapulco, he arrived to what is now called Baja California. It was in May, too hot with hardly any water – hot oven hell they called the place so they decided to leave and continue on their journey to China. But one of Cortez’s men found a pearl in the sea so for the next 2 years they stayed there and were looking for pearls. The sea was named after Cortez – The Sea of Cortez is the name of the Gulf of California nowadays. For 430 years Baja California was the richest place in pearls in the world.

Once the Cortez left, the Jesuits managed to convince the Spanish emperors to give them that part of land who  no one ever wanted – too hot with nothing really happening there – Baja California, Sonora and Sinaloa (that’s how we call now those 3 Mexican states).

The Jesuits started building missions with the first one being in Sinaloa in 1591. The missions were built where there was water and always within 1 day walking distance between two missions. It took them 100 years to build missions up to the North of Sonora and exactly the same long to cross the Sea of Cortez and build their first mission there in Baja California named Loreto. Then they were slowly moving down the peninsula building other missions in Baja California Sur.

In the Cultural Centre of Todos Santos you can see a traditional house and rooms of the Jesuits in Baja California. In the museum there the rest of the history is explained with maps, photos, statues etc.

Todos Santos Cultural Centre with Museum

Todos Santos Cultural Centre with Museum

 

Jesuit houses in Baja California

Jesuit houses in Baja California

a Jesuit bedroom

a Jesuit bedroom

historic maps of Baja California

historic maps of Baja California

 

 

After the Jesuits were expelled from the New World in 1767, the Franciscans and later the Dominicans took over the place. This was the beginning of history of Baja California.

 

Today Baja Californians say that their land, like a bride, was not conquered by force, but by love.

 

Travel tips when heading to South Africa

October 18, 2013 Africa, South Africa, tips No comments

It’s an incredible experience to be able to travel to a land that is completely alien to you. South Africa is often the destination of choice for many Americans and Europeans. The opportunities to experience new and incredible things is never ending. A trip that offers so much will also require hard work and preparation to prevent any problems.

 

The Weather in Africa is hottest during European winter. While many choose to head for warmer weather during the dead of winter, many mistakenly travel to Africa and find the unbearable heat infinitely worse than their winter environment. It is advised that a trip to Africa be made during the Summer when the temperature is more comfortable.

 

A South African plane ride will take approximately 12 hours depending on which state or part of Europe you reside in. These trips are often pricey but there are always ways to maneuver to find a great deal. The earlier you book your flight, the better easier it will be to find a cheaper rate. Enterprising young companies are utilizing social media to leverage quick communication in order to offer low cost tickets. Several innovative websites participate in such transactions.

 

 

Southafrica1

Southafrica2

 

Once you’re there it’s advised that you take advantage of bus transportation. Simply hop on when you find a bus and hop off when you reach your detestation. The most important advantage to this kind of transport is that you will be forced to interact with locals as well as other travelers.

 

Living quarters can be decided upon based on your budget. The cost of living as a tourist in South Africa can range in price. Because of the currency exchange, it’s possible to stay in a decent hostel for as little as $5.00 a night. These places certainly don’t offer the luxury of a fancy hotel, offer a clean and quite place to sleep while you plan the activities of the next few weeks.

 

There is so much more to lean about travel in South Africa. If you have the chance to take the trip, take the next step and enjoy the journey.

 

rhinos

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