Ottawa Chronicles: The Aesthetic War Museum

To kick off the Ottawa Chronicles series, I present to you, our first stop that isn't even in Ottawa! 

During the Cold War (aka "YOU'RE a communist. YOU'RE a communist. you're ALL communists!") Prime Minister Diefenbaker signed for this nuclear bunker to be built to prepare for a Soviet attack. Luckily, we never had to put it to use and it has been converted into a Cold War Museum. Since it was built in the 70's, the "artifacts" aren't exactly ancient, but have a charming pastel aesthetic even though it's a bomb shelter. 

Cutest bomb shelter I've ever seen.

Lost in Blue | Blue Mountain Adventure Day + VLOG

My much loved adventure-gang took on Blue Mountain and it was fantastic. 

There's even a video with it this time; check it out!

Travel Throwback: Québec City ( Tutto Gelato )

I didn't know how much gelato I could eat over the course of two days. 

Our trip to Quebec City was already a whole year ago. 365 days I was probably traversing Riviere du Loup, Quebec and with some of the coolest people I have ever met. Participants of the 2014 Explore program are talking to me about their experiences so far and I'm always grateful to have experienced it and was able to pass on the message of an awesome program to my friends. I just received a post card from Tadoussac, Quebec from my friend who is currently in Riviere du Loup and all the photos she posts on Facebook never fail to strike me with The Feels. I'm psyched they're having such cool adventures, even if I'm not there to join them. Regardless, someone has to scoop ice cream all summer! 

And now speaking of ice cream, let's talk gelato. In my summer induced craze, I took every waking opportunity of this short trip to consume as much gelato as humanely possible. It was wild and very delicious.

Before I went gelato-crazy, we spent the day exploring Montromancy Falls then were taken to Vieux Quebec for the evening. It was a long day of sun, hiking, stairs, hiking, and definitely stairs. 

Travel Throwback: Riviére du Loup ( Au Pain Gamin )

Au Pain Gamin is THE bakery of Rivière du Loup. I would not leave that town without trying some freshly baked sweets so after classes and workshops one fine Tuesday, Rebecca, Erika and I ventured towards the smell of fresh baguettes, croissants, and chocolate/pistachio biscotti.

Travel Throwback: Quebec City, QC ( Glaces maison Erico )

For a weekend during my stay in RDL, we spent two days and one night in beautiful Quebec City. We stayed at Léval residence and were free to roam the town, where we spent most of our time. After visiting les chutes de Montromancy, Rebecca (who runs an awesome food blog!) and I enjoyed a number of different, delicious establishments along Rue Saint-Jean.

Travel Throwback: Québec City ( Brulerie de St-Jean )

Did you think I was kidding when I said we ate a lot in Québec City? I spent half our trip (one day) with one of the foodiest people I met, so obviously we had to have a grand ol time with trying new things. It just happened to work out that we were both dutiful chocoholics. There really isn't anything quite like saturday night chocolate cake.

Travel Throwback: Québec City ( Bistro Trois Garçons )

On our second day in Quebec City, we picked this chic burger bistro on Rue Sainte-Jean. This place is quite tourist friendly as they offer the menu in both English and French and the majority of their servers are bilingual. If a particularly French servers is taking your order and doesn't understand, they instantly grab for the next English speaking server that comes by.

This place is quite loud and since we went on an early Sunday afternoon. I don't know about you, but Québec seems to just shut down after about 3 pm. 

Travel Throwback: Rivière du Loup ( Bon Voyage Pizza )

This adorable stand-alone pizza place on rue Lafontaine seriously has the best pizza in ever-charming Rivière du Loup.

Travel Throwback: Québec City ( Point d'Exclamation )

Amongst all the eating we did in Quebec City, sometimes you need to take a break to immerse yourself into the cutest, pastel-est boutiques you've ever seen. If soft pink, mint green, baby blue, and all things cute are your kind of scene, Point d'Exclamation is definitely for you.

Travel Throwback: Rivière du Loup, QC ( Mini-putt )

"Casse croute" roughly translate to fast food or snack bar, which is something Québec does not take lightly. There's something about calling a fast food establishment "casse croute" that suddenly makes it cooler. More Québec.

And when in Québec, are you truly in Québec until you've tried the poutine? Non. 

Bienvenue au Mini-putt!

Travel Throwback: Rivière du Loup, QC ( Brulerie de l'Est )

My Travel throwbacks of RDL are going to be in a little series since for five weeks, you tend to eat your way around this little town. Asides from that, I actually have SO many Travel Throwbacks from Québec. I never even realized until I was going through my photos to compost posts again. Anyway, commencez!

This is one of the first little places (besides Maxi) we bought food from! Summer means ice cream and what better ice cream than flavoured soft serve from a cute girl who doesn't know English.

For some further background, I was in Quebec for five weeks this summer on a French immersion program where I was quite literally immersed into the French language in order to learn it better and faster. That was honestly a fantastic experience because what I got out of it was not only the ability to throw some mad French shade, but the people I met and the friendships I formed are truly worth it beyond comprehension.

And now... bienvenue au Brulerie de l'Est!

Located on Rue Lafontaine, RDL, Brulerie de l'Est has provided me with lots of ice cream over those five weeks. There is a coffee shop/bakery located inside, but there is a window where you can order one of the many choices of it's ice cream menu. One of the main features is the large variety of soft serve ice cream.

"24 or more flavours of soft ice cream"

"Amaretto, apricot, banana, butter pecan, peanut, blueberry, espresso, caramel, black cherry, blackberry

maple syrup, lemon

Cream of mint (it's mint), chocolate almond

strawberry, black raspberry, cheesecake, coconut, orange, peach, pina colada, pistachio, rum, "tutti frutti"

Phew! All twenty-four are available daily for no more than three dollars for a small size. The small isn't even small. Depending on the flavour, these can be quite difficult to finish, especially you've gone after a big meal. Don't even let me mention the extra large size. We almost ordered one just to see how large it would actually be. 

A "petit" yeah right that is not small

I've tried peach and chocolate almond which were both alright. I usually have bad luck with making choices anyway. I heard good things about the blackberry, tutti frutti, pina colada, pistachio, and cheesecake. Then again, if it's hot and you want ice cream, Brulerie de l'Est is the place to be. It's only a short walk from la residence where rooms can also be rented out to travelers. 

One day we were feeling rather spontaneous and decided to try something weird on the menu called "poutine sundae". Honestly, I'm not sure what we expected, but the weather was pretty stemy that day so it was good regardless. It's an epic pile of ice cream, caramel popcorn, chocolate wafer cookies, marshmallows (cheese curds) and caramel sauce (gravy). Just something interesting to try especially if you enjoy caramel.

I can't say much about the inside, but I'm almost certain they have free wifi, and isn't that all we ever need?

(Brulerie de l'Est, tu me manques)

Travel Throwback: Montréal, QC

An evening was spent in Montréal this past summer en route to Rivière du Loup. We entrusted Yelp with our sole meal in Montreal and it did not disappoint.

Bienvenu au Kazu!

Travel Throwback: Key Largo, FL

This throwback truly is thrown quite far back. My cousin was married in Key Largo, Florida during the December of 2011. Needless to say, I ate a lot of food
. Also included in this post is a bit about meeting internet friends in the outernet.