Eat • Work • Wander

Did you know Houstonians are known for eating out at the 10000+ restaurants in the city? I was no exception this summer as I tried a variety of new places – I can’t wait to chat about all of them! But what do you do when the first two places you want to talk about are also the first two restaurants on the Yelp ‘Best Hipster Restaurants in LA’ list? You make the episode all about hipster restaurants, of course! Moon Tower Inn and Tout Suite Café are the first two names on that Yelp list, but I add on the new Japanese fusion restaurant Izakaya and Top Chef’s Rebecca Masson’s Fluff Bake Bar in Midtown. Honorable mentions as hipster restaurants go to the unique but relatively upscale Liberty Kitchen and Oyster Bar in the Heights and Tiny Boxwoods in River Oaks.

Moon Tower Inn: http://damngoodfoodcoldassbeer.com/mti/index.html
Tout Suite Cafe: http://www.toutsuite.co/
Izakaya: https://www.facebook.com/izakayahouston
Fluff Bake Bar: http://fluffbakebar.com/
Liberty Kitchen and Oyster Bar: http://www.libertykitchenoysterbar.com/
Tiny Boxwoods: http://www.tinyboxwoods.com/tiny-boxwoods/

Tout Suite Cafe

Izakaya

Liberty Kitchen

Tiny Boxwoods

All things Disney in this episode as we head to Disneyland this week in Anaheim, California, the very first of all the Disney parks! I chat about being ready for the sun and give tips on how to best avoid long line ups. Then, an homage to the incredible Soundsational parade which celebrates all things that are great about Disney music. I’ll talk about the various rides and sections in Disneyland Park (while getting distracted by my love for Alice in Wonderland and my feelings about the dolls/robots in the It’s a Small World ride). In a nutshell, this whole episode is about how much I love Disneyland and how to make the best of your trip there if you get a chance to visit!

Note! In the episode I say Main Street might actually be called 'Main Street USA' so I looked it up and ... it is! See below for a picture!

Disneyland Official Site: https://disneyland.disney.go.com/

Disneyland Soundsational Parade: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LBw4YTdEH2Q

Main Street USA

Sleeping Beauty's Castle

Entrance to ToonTown!

It's A Small World Ride (closed when we went!)

Soundsational Parade - the Princesses!

It's time to revisit Vancouver! In episode 3, I talked about various tourist locations in Vancouver (and North Vancouver) but of course I couldn't cover all of them! This week, I head back to beautiful British Columbia and go to the Van Dusen Botanical Gardens, Stanley Park and Granville Island. Also discussed is the Bard on the Beach Shakespeare festival and my love of all things Shakespeare! I recall my time visiting Stratford-Upon-Avon (the birthplace of Shakespeare) and a fun moment I had there! And something else is special today; as the podcast evolves, I add new things to make it more fun! Today, we have a new segment – one that's all about trivia! I'll ask questions related (sort of) to today's destinations and let you mull over the answers till the end of the episode!

Places mentioned:

Van Dusen Botanical Gardens http://vandusengarden.org/
Bard on the Beach http://bardonthebeach.org/
Stanley Park http://vancouver.ca/parks-recreation-culture/stanley-park.aspx
Granville Island http://granvilleisland.com/

Van Dusen Botanical Garden

Bard on the Beach / Vanier Park

Stanley Park

Thanks for listening!

In this episode, I set out to talk about Ottawa (where I lived for a short while) and instead ended up doing a special spotlight on one of my favourite Canadian tourist destinations, Parliament Hill! I talk about what's inside the building, the monuments and statues outside (including a Whispering Wall!), tips on how to make sure you get a spot on a tour, special events at Parliament hill, some Canadian history, trivia and more! As a counterpoint, I also talk about the Royal Canadian Mint - a much less obvious tourist destination, but one that I hope you'll consider if you ever go to Ottawa.

Ottawa Tourism: http://www.ottawatourism.ca/
Parliament Hill: http://www.tpsgc-pwgsc.gc.ca/collineduparlement-parliamenthill/index-eng.html
Royal Canadian Mint: http://www.mint.ca/store/template/home.jsp

The beautiful Parliament Building!

East Block

Approaching the Center Block

Parliament Hill from across the Ottawa River!

Tulips!

Tulips! So many beautiful tulips!

The Royal Canadian Mint!

Thanks for listening!

Eat Work Wander is back! In this episode, I first talk about how and why Kingston, Ontario is amazing, and then get right into tourism in Toronto! I visited all of these on my recent trip home, and it was a trip down memory lane to my middle school days. Four tourist spots are covered, all included in the CityPass. First, we visit the Royal Ontario Museum and see the giant one million dollar loonie and brush up on some Canadian history and art. Then we head to the Ontario Science Center for some biology and an IMAX on lemurs. Next, on to the Toronto Zoo, the largest zoo in Canada and finally for the quintessential Toronto experience, we visit the CN Tower and I discuss the scary possibility of the Edge Walk. (Included in the CityPASS but not discussed in the episode is Casa Loma).

Toronto CityPASS: http://www.citypass.com/toronto
Royal Ontario Museum: http://www.rom.on.ca/en
Ontario Science Center: https://www.ontariosciencecentre.ca/
Toronto Zoo: http://www.torontozoo.com/
CN Tower: http://www.cntower.ca/intro.html

The CN Tower!