I have always been big on family. It may be my Hainanese blood, or just the fact that I've been brought up that way cos both my parents are extremely big on family. And, this trip is a great reminder of why family is fantastic!
The Wife and I had planned the honeymoon such that we will hit both NYCand Toronto, as I have cousins living in both places. When we told people about it before the trip, some were wondering if wemade the right decision.
Oft I am asked, "are you sure you want to visitfamily during your honeymoon? Shouldn't a honeymoon just be for the two of you?".
I am glad to say that we made the right decision to visit cousin D in NYC and Cousin J and her hubby W in Toronto.
Both places wouldn't have been half as fun otherwise. More importantly, this trip gave us a chance to catch up with them upclose, and both the Wife and I had a ball of a time!
We got to re-acquaint with our loved ones, who took fantastic care of us.
Cousin D, for example, was actually working in Spain on a deal when we arrived in NYC. The deal was to be sealed on the Monday immediately following our arrival, and were in the final stages of negotiations(which Cousin D was leading).
Yet, just for us, he flew all the way back from Spain jus so that he could host us for 2 days over the weekend at his lovely country house, and after that, he flew all the way back to Spain to complete his deal. All that trouble, all the expense, and not to mention inconvenience, just so he could be with family.
Cousin J and Cousin-in-law W were just as fantastic!They pretty much took care of every detail for us when we were inToronto.
From the time we landed, they picked us up at the airport with their new and fantastically beautiful car 'Helga' (which, for the record, when I grow up, I want one just like it). And because we had so much luggage, Cousin-in-law W had to make two trips to and fro the airport and our hotel, which they had booked and arranged for us all in advance.
Over the next few days, Cousin J and Cousin-in-law W took us to the Mannonites’ Farmers’ Market… and while there we had fabulous tasting fried apples with ice cream and cherries.
[Toronto – Farmers’ Market]
[Toronto – Us at the Farmers’ Market]
[Toronto – Farmers’ Market – Fried Apples with Ice Cream]
[Toronto – Farmers’ Market – Cherries anyone???]
…then on to the Niagara Falls, to countless restaurants where we had great food at unbeatable low prices, and they even arranged for, and took us on, a night tour of Toronto City in 'Helga' on our last night because they wanted us to see the lovely city that they live in.
Mind you, that was a Monday night, and Cousin J had been working all day, and was obviously very tired, but still, she made sure that we had a lovely meal (crabs, crispy beef, dried scallops with veg, and friedchicken), before zipping us around downtown Toronto with Cousin-in-law W till past 11pm.
[Toronto – Lovely Dinner]
[Toronto – Crabs]
[Toronto – Crispy Orange Beef]
[Toronto – Veggie with Dried Scallops]
Did I also tell you that Cousin-in-law W is a great cook (and he can rival Cousin J, a great cook in her own right, anyday). We should know. He made us breakfast on our last day in town.
He barbecued the bacon till they were crispy and flavourful. Paired with some raisin bread, the bacon was simply out of this world. He also made us fingerling potatoes with butter and pepper that were to die for. Then there were sunny side up eggs, milk, coffee, and also a huge bowl of mixed fruit each (strawberries, blueberries, raspberries, and peaches)! All in all, a lovely healthy breakfast made with love!
[Toronto – Cousin in law W’s fabulous brekkie]
We enjoyed all the lovely sights, including the magnificent NiagaraFalls, our visit to the CN Tower where we had a good lunch, and we even went vineyard hopping and tasted many (and bottle several) great wines.
[Toronto – Niagara Falls]
[Toronto – Niagara Falls 2]
[Toronto – The Wife At Niagara Falls]
[Toronto – Ice Wine Anyone]
[Toronto - Me, Cousin J and Cousin in law W at Chateau Des Charmes]
[Toronto – The whole gang tasting wine at REIF]
[Toronto – Us lunching at CN Tower]
[Toronto - The fabulous sweet potato fries at CN Tower]
[Toronto – View at CN Tower]
But most of all, we loved spending time with Cousin J and Cousin-in-lawW.Thanks Cousin J and Cousin-in-law W (who was a laugh a minute with hisjokes). We loved our time in Toronto, and thanks for all your love andfor taking such great care of us.Its great to have family!
- WWCS
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