Iceland: the Crown Jewel

I mentioned on last week's blog post that I was in Iceland. Well I'm back now and it's time to write a blog post. Wow...where to begin...

First things first, even though I've travelled a fair bit in recent years (to Europe, Central America, and even within Canada) what made this trip really different is that it was a guys trip - just me and three of my best mates. It doesn't sound like a big thing but organizing an overseas trip with four friends, all with families, partners and different life circumstances, is actually a pretty big deal. For a couple of years now we talked about booking a trip for when we turned 40 and amazingly we pulled it off.

The crown jewel of the trip (for me) was a 3-day backpacking trip to the Landmannalaugar region of Iceland. I don't even know how to describe just how stunning this region is in Iceland. I visited 7 years ago on a day trip and I promised myself I would always return. I'll let a couple of photos do the rest of the talking:

Actually, scratch that. No matter how stunning Landmannalaugar was, the crown jewel of the trip really was spending a week with my 3 friends, D, J and R, while we laughed over some of the silliness we encountered, and overcame a few challenges. We experienced:

• 22 hours of daylight...every day for a week (the sun technically set at midnight and rose at 2 am but really it never got truly dark). "Just until sundown" is the ultimate excuse to stay up all night long and have just...one more beer!

2 am - Reykjavik style

• Chilling out in various hot springs (Do you know what's better than chilling out in a hot spring? Chilling out in a hot spring with a glass of whiskey).
• Trading stories with other foreign tourists about some of the realities of our home countries. 

Canada has a pretty good reputation out here

• Munching on beer-soaked hotdogs from a U.S. President-approved hot dog stand (hmmm I'm afraid this blog is giving the impression that I may have partaken in a bit of drinking).

I'll have the Bill Clinton special

• And generally, just having each other's backs as we slogged over mountain trails, on a couple of hours sleep, sharing one tiny hut with a group of 20 other strangers*.

Did the trip go off without a hitch? Hell no! Am I already getting about the next one? Hell yes :)

See you on the next trip boys!

*who hadn't properly bathed in 3 days. We kept the window open.

Lorenzo Bar and Grill: the Edge of Hip

Super cool news: I'm about to take a backpacking trip to Iceland with some of my best friends. Actually, by the time you read this I'll already be there (spoiler alert: it's awesome).

However, before I left, Margot, Glosette Girl and I went out for one last dinner together as a family - sortof a pre-Father's Day celebration. As I've mentioned on a couple of occasions before, there aren't many family-friendly restaurant options in our neighbourhood. In the end we opted to leave what most many people consider to be the "cool" trifecta of Westboro/Wellington West/Hintonburg and headed slightly further west to the decidedly un-cool area of McKeller Park. There we found Lorenzo's Bar and Grill, a Greek slash Italian place.

My fresh new vacation haircut

Why there? Because Glosette Girl was in the mood for Greek and I wanted Italian of course! Apparently this is a common problem in Ottawa because there are quite a few Greek/Italian combos. Hahaha that's how we roll here in the North. (We the far north!)

Lorenzo's Bar and Grill really is a good mascot of this area. More suburb-ish, less branding, more  family restaurants, and not slick or hip at all. That's why I liked it! The owner even came out to greet us, explained what dishes she recommended, and gave Margot a treat in the end.

There were some negatives of course: Glosette's Girl's Chicken Souvlaki wasn't very flavourful and Margot's spaghetti wasn't too wow either. On the plus side, the appetizers (dolmades and bruchetta) were really yum. And yes, dolmades and bruchetta do go together! Finally, there was a live guitar player after 7 pm. Normally I'm not a fan of live music while eating, as it tends to drown out conversation, but the musician at Lorenzo's played at just the right noise level.

One of these days I'll review one of the many hipster restaurants that Glosette Girl and I occasionally go to. But the day before leaving my family for a week, this decidedly uncool place hit the spot.

Paroisse Saint François d'Assise

One of the unmistakable landmarks of our neighbourhood is the church for Paroisse Saint François d'Assise.  Every day, at noon and 6 p.m, the bells ring out and can be heard across the neighbourhood all the way to our house. It's been doing that for over one hundred years.

This is actually the church that is attached to Margot's school, but ironically not the one that I take Margot to, one's a month (I baptized her Anglican for extra spice)!

On our way home from Westfest yesterday, I noticed just how big the church is. It's head and shoulders taller than all the neighbouring building and because its set back on a little hill it seems extra prominent.

There are still services here although I'm not sure how occupied they are. On the one hand, the recent influx of African French-speaking refugees to our neighbourhood has probably bolstered the pews. On the other hand, west Ottawa isn't really a hub of French Catholicism.

Even though I don't go to this Church, I like how it anchors the area. Landmarks do that. I like how they link me to the past, like Hubert and Sarah Tapp, who were the last of the original parishioners and died in 1948. If I went back in time 100 years ago, it'd still be there!

If the church was bulldozed for another condo I think it would be a real loss for the neighbourhood. I can only imagine what it felt like to be in France and watch Notre Dame catch fire. Luckily, one thing that I like about Hintonburg is the prominent community association and support for local heritage. We're changing, condos are being built, and the area is continuing on its path towards gentrification, but I think we've struck a decent balance.

The Local Beehive

At the end of our street is a "Premium Detailing and Auto Spa". It has always fascinated me. It seems to be run by a few guys who are constantly working in a beehive of activity seven days a week. Because space is at a premium around here, the shop has only a small parking lot. That forces the employees to constantly reshuffle around their customer's cars in various lego-like formations. Sometimes there is no room and they park the cars on the street.

I'll be honest, until recently, I didn't even know what car detailing was (for those who want to know, it's the act of performing a thorough cleaning, restoration, and finishing of a motor vehicle, to produce a show-quality cleanliness and polish). The crazy energy of this place made me wonder if I was living next door to some kind of illegal chop shop!

Then, my mother in law decided she wanted to have her car detailed and bought a package with Premium Detailing and Auto Spa. She asked me to drop off her car, which gave me an opportunity to chat with the owner/manager. He was very nice and recognized me from walking to school with Margot every morning. Because he recognized me he also upgraded my mother-in-law's detailing package on the spot - hooray for freebies! Further, he offered to pick up and drop off the car from my driveway instead of at the lot. To be fair, that's as much a benefit for them (given their limited parking) as me, but I really appreciated the flexibility.

Anyways, a couple of hours later, the car was back in my driveway sparkling like new. I'll chalk this up as another don't-judge-a-book-by-it's-cover life lesson for me. It's so easy to go with a brand name or franchise and settle for mediocre service. But give a chance to your local mom-and-pop (or local five-guys-running-a-store, in my case) and you can really be pleasantly surprised!