St. Ives is one of the more popular holiday towns in Cornwall.  I was based there with my boyfriend and his parents for 7 days.  The town boasts gorgeous coast lines, the Tate St Ives, The Barbara Hepworth Museum, golden sandy beaches, and more galleries per square mile than you’ve ever seen.  In September the town hosts a festival celebrating music and the arts.

Tate St Ives

There was an interesting interactive exhibit at the Tate.  Artist Martine Creed filled a room with balloons as he wanted to explore boundary and space in an unsettling way.  I was hesitate to go inside as I hate when balloons pop close to me.  Since everyone I was with decided to go in peer pressure won over and I entered.  It was a very disorienting feeling but once you get past that it was actually quite fun.

The interactive exhibit below had everyone who entered stand with their back to the wall to mark their height.  Mine is lost somewhere in there.

The Barbara Hepworth Museum and Garden

Barbara Hepworth was an English sculptor who lived and worked in St. Ives.  The museum is essentially her studio space and a sculpture garden.

Around town

There are cute shops around every corner…

St Ives can be reasonably explored in about 2-3 days.

Next in Exploring Cornwall: The Lost Gardens of Heligan.

Last week I sent in an application to attend one of the two garden parties that will be held by the Queen this year at Buckingham Palace.  I’ve been accepted!!  It will be taking place on 22 May.  I receive my tickets 6 weeks before the date and that is when I will get security and further guidance about the event.  So far the only guidance I have is:

Dress code

Ladies: Day dress with hat or substantial fascinator. Trouser suits are permitted providing they are of matching material and colour. Gloves are optional.

Gentlemen: Morning dress or lounge suit (i.e. business suit).

So that’s the good news.  Bad news, no cameras allowed.  Now the next important thing to consider, hat or substantial fascinator?

This month’s expat meet up was organised by Mandy who blogs at Emm in London.  

The Ping Pong Goodge street location invited Mandy and 7 other expats/bloggers to join her for a complimentary meal including Mela and her husband from Sifting Through… Expat Edition, Lindsay, Jen from She Went Away, Oneika from Oneika the Traveller, and Candace from Candace Rose Rardon.  Yesterday we sat down for dim sum, drinks, and great conversation.  As a lover of dim sum I was really looking forward to this lunch meet up.  Many of the expats had been to Ping Pong before at other locations but this was my first time trying out the franchise.

The decor is stylish with a relaxed atmosphere.  I found the food tasty and reasonably priced, I would definitely go back.  For a drink I ordered a lychee and ginger iced tea and while it was nice I should have gone for one of the other iced teas (pictured here) as was recommended.

Next time I go I will be ordering one of these pretty flowering teas.

Check out Ping Ping’s website here to find a location close to you.

The market only opens on Sundays from 8 am until 3 pm.  I would suggest going around mid day where you can take the time to explore and then make a purchase closer to the end as vendors cut prices to get rid of their stock.  I was first taken to this market my first year here by a friend Erin, a Canadian who lived in and loved London but returned home.  When my mom visited last summer I brought her here and she loved it.

It’s fairly easy to find and is about a 10 minute walk from old street tube.  As you walk through the vendors call out to you to buy their flowers, giving you the feel of a proper market.  The market is small so I tend to walk through at least 2 times before choosing.  There is so much variety here with tropical plants, trees, cactus, bamboo, and even a guy randomly selling peacock feathers.  This market is a gardener’s and photographer’s heaven.

Go soon and make a day of it.  Columbia Rd also has independent shops and galleries which are partly obscured by the the foliage, but do venture inside and you won’t be disappointed.  After visiting those you can head to nearby brick lane and surrounding streets which house vintage shops, food stalls and amazing street art.

St Ives, Cornwall

Today was particularly rainy, grey, and overall miserable.  However, to be fair winter has so far been fairly mild.  I’m always on the fence about whether I will settle here for good and things like crappy weather can sometimes make me reevaluate.  To balance out the score in my head I’ve been thinking about some of the reasons why I am happy to call England my home.

A few years ago I read the book The Geography of Bliss.  The author is a self proclaimed grumpy man who goes on a search to find the happiest places in the world.  Interesting observations on many countries around the world ensue.  You would assume that all the hot countries would be the happiest places.  This was not necessarily the case as a lot of the Scandinavian countries had high rates of happiness.  Unfortunately I gave the book away so I am unable to share other findings.  One point raised that resonated with me was a story about an American who had moved to Iceland.  This expat found that he was just not a good fit with his country of birth.  So me moved to a country that better aligned with his personality, views, and values.  Many people move to make a better life for themselves because of career opportunities so I thought this was an intriguing reason.  Essentially what the author was getting at is that any country has the potential to be a place where one can find their bliss.

This post is partially inspired by fellow Canadian blogger Jennifer at My Sardinian Life. She recently wrote 11 reasons why living in Sardinia rocks, check it out.  While London can’t compete with 300 days of sunshine it is clearly is a huge tourist and expat draw.  So I have devised my list of 10 reasons (I just prefer even numbers) why I’ve come to love living in England in no particular order.  The list is London centric as you would expect.

1. Travel – London is a great place to get to other destinations cheaply and quickly.  Paris just over 2 hours away by train?  Yes please.

2. Free world class museums – see this post on some of my favourites

3. Markets – favourites include Columbia Rd flower market and Camden

4. Great transport links – the underground, overground, dlr, buses, boats and soon this

5. History – from royal history, to churches, pubs.  England also has some of the most universally identifiable tourist attractions in the world

6. The people – I know, Londoners are notoriously stereotyped to be rude BUT if you stand on the right and walk on the left things will be alright

7. The diversity – London draws people from all over the globe which makes finding amazing Thai, Japanese, Jamaican, fill in blank food here easy

8. The music – yes Adele is dominating at home and abroad but there are many other amazing artists I’ve come to know and love.

9. Cornwall – stunning landscape and friendly people make a great mix

10. The accents – alright I’m a sucker for an accent but besides that it’s just interesting encountering so many regional accents as there are few in Canada.  Check out this video on Yorkshire accents.

What do you love about where you live?

Where as the falls has nearby Clifton Hill with tacky shops that should be avoided, the main strip in Niagara on the Lake (located on Queen street) has various shops which support local products and crafts and are worth checking out.

The Niagara region is also wine country.  So if you go in the summer then take the opportunity to go on a bike tour of one of the nearby wineries. Besides some fantastic wines coming from Ontario Canada also makes Ice Wine.  It is apparently our gift to the world – you’re welcome.

You might be wondering where the snow is.  It snowed the day after we arrived (December 29th) but only a light dusting and it disappeared the next day.  The temperature dipped to -12 last week but other than that it was mild for this time of the year.

Right beside is the canoe landing park which is marked with a giant canoe over looking the gardiner express.  Why you ask?  Apparently because it denotes a symbol of Canadiana.

Next we went to the CBC building to check out the museum.  It was tiny, but free and loaded with tons of memories.  Props from popular children shows were there.  First check out this video:

The tickle trunk!  Encased in glass but it was still exciting to see, I used to love this show.

Next we went to the garment district as Shawn wanted to show us a cool store.  A giant thimble resting on buttons by artist Stephen Cruise marks the area.

After this we went to Kensington market, which was an area we had perused on our last visit but it’s like Camden for me, always worth returning.

Rob Ford – mayor of Toronto

Last stop was Honest Ed’s a bargain store which is a Toronto landmark.  The garish lighting outside makes it look like a theatre.  The inside is somewhat of a surprise with stark plain white walls.  I remember going as a kid and it’s probably been at least over 20 years since my last visit.  The inside looks exactly the same.

My boyfriend’s verdict after properly spending a few days in Toronto – it’s alright.  Not sure this has convinced him he wants to move here.  Actually I’m not sure it’s convinced me either.  I love Toronto and assumed I’d have a strong feeling of wanting to move back.  That feeling has not come since I’ve been here.  I was homesick and needed a break from Europe, maybe the visit is enough for now.

My friend Shawn (the one I visited in Japan) who lives in Toronto came with us and basically was our tour guide.  I’m gently trying to convince him to take up being a tour guide on the side, he’d be great at it.

Our first stop was Maple Leaf Gardens which was formerly an arena.  It has now been turned into a grocery store, glamorous.  It is also partly an athletic centre for Ryerson University.

On the way to our second stop we passed by this church built in 1878.

St Andrew’s Latvian Lutheran Church

We continued on to the Allen Gardens Conservatory.  It was a nice break from the brisk -3 temperature outside.  Each room held gorgeous plants with different temperatures, I have to say the cactus room was my favourite.

We passed another church on our way out of the area – St Luke’s United Church built in 1832.

We were finally able to go inside a church when we visited The Cathedral Church of St James.  It’s actually pretty small for a cathedral but beautiful nonetheless.

On our way to St Lawrence Market we passed a beautiful old building, St Lawrence Hall.  Shawn had never been inside and neither had we so we decided to see if a visit was possible.  We found out from the plaque inside that the hall was an important venue for many African Canadian activities in support of abolition and the welfare of refugee slaves in Toronto.

The main hall room was closed but Shawn called a number which had a security guard on the other end who said he would open it up for us.  It was nice to see the main hall but I have to say from the outside of the building I didn’t expect this inside:

Pink and blue?!

Next up St Lawrence Market which is ridiculously busy at the weekends.  We were there mid week so it was nice to stroll through and see the various stalls in a relaxed manner.

After the market nearby is the popular Gooderham Building known as the Flatiron building, the first of its kind in the world.

Mural on the back of the building

We also went through the financial district but ended our tour in the historic Distillery district where we had a meal at the Mill St Brewery.

Gallery inside of A Taste of Quebec

We finished off the night at the Air Canada Centre to take in a Raptors basketball game. They won which was nice, rare these days, but nice.  It was fun to be a tourist, Shawn was a good guide and there were so many things I learned about the city that I never took note of before.  Part two coming soon.

Electric Avenue/Brixton Village

Little Venice

Natural History Museum

Thames Flood Barrier

Alternative London Tour – East London

Changing of the Guard

Lovebox Music Festival

Battersea Park (Peace Pagoda)

Highgate Cemetery 

Hampstead Heath

Kensington Palace – The Enchanted Palace Exhibit (War Room)

Columbia Road Flower Market

Rome

Paris

Windsor

Whitstable

Liverpool

Cornwall

For this year there are no big trips planned as I will be returning to Canada in the summer for my older brother’s wedding.  So this year will be mostly small trips but I’m still very excited about those.  First up is York with Jen.  Let the 2012 travel begin.