Chocoholic

Family members have been gracious to send incredible chocolate to me in Thailand these past years.  Believe it or not, the latest box of Mint Smoothies even survived the mail system and year round heat while waiting to be delivered to my place of residence.  

So when I was given the opportunity to see where these chocolates originate and purchase some of my own, I jumped at the chance.

Those who live in Ontario are very familiar with Rheo Thompson chocolates located in Stratford. I've heard about this company for years but had no idea they were as big an outfit as I witnessed when visiting the store this summer. 

From chocolate-formed hockey sticks to mint smoothies, they offer it all and seem to have a corner on the market. I wish I could provide a sample with this post but that technology hasn't arrived yet -- that I know about =)

The trip to Stratford ended with a visit to a local one-of-a-kind coffee shop located in the basement of a renovated historic building.  No shortage of sweets this day as it was topped off with Nanaimo Bars, another Canadian favorite!

Summer in Guelph

It was a fairly quick decision to spend time with family in Ontario this summer.  Fortunately, I had the time and means to do so!  

I'm writing this at the end of the summer, so I can look back and say it was an overall wonderful opportunity -- not only to get to know family members better as I lived and connected with them in their environments, but the chance to occasionally interject a helping hand in their daily routines.  I'm also thankful for the occasional visits with extended family and friends at familiar locations... not to mention, at my new favorite coffee spot.

Besides the many opportunities to connect with each member of my family as never before, there were many other highlights to my time in Guelph, including:

• Meeting the members of Joel's men's group
• Spending time with extended family at faspa

• Eating cuisine not available in Thailand, such as Swiss Chalet, Chick-fil-A and Harvey's among other favorites
• Backyard and Victoria Park BBQs

• Spending evenings in local parks
• Heading to the movies
• Remembering Canada Day on July 1st, or what was formerly known as Dominion Day

• Driving on the 'right side' of the road for a change, as opposed to driving on the left in Thailand
• Visiting with friends at different venues

• Playing relaxing table games in the evenings
• And even being there to welcome the Crawford's latest addition to their family, an 8 week old pup that they later named Gracie

But It's Not Summer Yet

It was a last minute decision to spend the summer in Canada, and because I am not accountable to holding any hours at a job anymore -- some call it 'retirement' which is technically correct -- I decided to leave Thailand at the end of May and spend a few days in Zürich Switzerland since I was flying over it anyway on my way to Canada.

The hotel I chose to stay at is centrally located in the old part of Zurich.  As advertised, it is situated along a famous pedestrian street that offers the best in shopping opportunities and is also home to some of the world's most important banks.  

The taxi driver told me this was the most expensive street in the world.  Ha, I'm not sure that's exactly what I wanted to hear on my limited budget but, thankfully, I booked my hotel room online ahead of time and was able to take advantage of a healthy discount!

As per usual, I find centrally located hotels wonderful for easy walkable access to nearby attractions, and my hotel in Zurich was no different.  In one direction, I was about a block away from the main rail station and in another direction I was about a block away from the infamous Limmat River that flows through town. 

Coming from a climate where the AC is running day and night year round, a person gets used to the air moving indoors. So here I am in an older classy hotel in downtown Zürich having just arrived from the airport and the first thing I look for is to get cool air moving in my room.

Long story short, the AC was not working so I headed to the front desk to ask for help to turn it on. I must have been the first person who has ever asked this guy at the desk about air conditioning in May -- before the summer months when things really heat up. Granted, the air systems in the room were as classic as the rest of the hotel and he told me to turn this knob, wait five minutes, then turn the knob back, etc OR, he said, I could "open the window."

Huh. There's a novel idea. You would never think of opening the window in Thailand because it's ALWAYS hot especially this time of year. In fact, the other day I woke up in Thailand to an outdoor temp of 34 degrees C at 8 in the morning! But I'm not in Kansas anymore and, sure enough, opening the window was just the ticket to cool things down. Go figure.

All good. I got settled in, things cooled down, and I began to explore.