Jennifer

JenniferInternational

Jennifer



I'm a progressive vegetarian feminist currently residing in San Francisco and I live to travel. So far I've been around the United States and Canada; traveled briefly in Mexico and the Caribbean; done the tour of Western Europe; visited parts of South, East and Southeast Asia; and seen a bit of the Middle East and North Africa. The short list of places I'd like to go next is long. I hope those reading this blog will find themselves inspired towards their own explorations of this fascinating world.

Voyager c'est vivre!



North America » Canada » British Columbia » Vancouver October 18th 2023

Vancouver is a great city and very similar to San Francisco. There were lovely green spaces in every city we visited but Vancouver really has some terrific parks and gardens and some amazing mushrooms after the rain started. The VanDusen Botanical Garden was worth several hours of exploring, and the nearby Bloedel Conservatory within Queen Elizabeth Park had some great birds in a small space. If you have fewer than three days, though, you'll have to miss all that and focus on Gas Town, with its famous Steam Clock, and Chinatown, with delicious Chinese food and the Dr. Sun Yat-Sen Classical Chinese Garden, and the Vancouver Art Gallery, with its rotating exhibits and Emily Carr paintings. You need to make time for Granville Island Public Market, at least... read more
Vancouver
Vancouver
Bald Eagle


Victoria is Canada's second most romantic city. If you have more than three days in Vancouver then Victoria is absolutely worth a visit, but getting there requires about four hours of travel each way; if you can stay overnight in Victoria it will result in a much more relaxed and fulfilling trip but if you only have one day it can still be done. While both Victoria and Vancouver both have harbors the ferry between them is far outside of town on both sides, so you'll find yourself on four long bus rides or expensive (and only slightly shorter) taxi rides, in addition to two lovely ferry crossings between Tsawwassen (Vancouver) and Swartz Bay (Victoria). Book your ferry tickets in advance, especially if you will be bringing a car, and hope for clear skies so that ... read more
Butchart Gardens
Butchart Gardens
Afternoon tea at the Butchart Gardens

North America » Canada October 15th 2023

Our two week trip began in Quebec City and ended in Vancouver, and we traveled by train through Canada with additional stops in Montreal and Toronto. For our longest journey we caught the trans-continental Canadian, which links Toronto, Winnipeg, Edmonton, Jasper & Vancouver twice a week year-round over four nights using original stainless-steel coaches built for the Canadian Pacific Railway's Canadian in 1954-55. I showed up for our train ride to Vancouver expecting four days of relaxation and hoping for lots of beautiful autumn foliage. Yet I was kept occupied by the beautiful vistas continually passing by and by my attempts to capture photos of a portion of it, as well as by multiple Canadian murder mysteries. We started off along the Great Canadian Shield, where the best fall foliage was to be found, across the ... read more
VIA Rail Canada
VIA Rail Canada
VIA Rail Canada

North America » Canada » Ontario » Toronto October 10th 2023

Toronto was only one day of our two week itinerary, and our time was largely spent in its museums and restaurants. We started our day at the Royal Ontario Museum, the largest and most visited museum in Canada with exhibits of art, Canadian and world culture, and natural history, including dinosaurs! The ROM demanded a full day on its own but then we wouldn’t have been able to visit the Art Gallery of Ontario, the second largest art museum in Toronto, with outstanding works by Canadian, First Nations and Inuit artists, among others. A particular revelation was the artwork from the Group of Seven, once known as the Algonquin School, a group of Canadian landscape painters from 1920 to 1933. I didn’t understand Canadian art until my fourth trip to the country when I finally visited ... read more
Cathedral Church of St. James
Toronto Skyline from Planet Traveler Hostel
View from Planet Traveler Hostel

North America » Canada » Quebec » Montréal October 9th 2023

Montreal is another amazing city with excellent museums, parks and restaurants. The Montreal Museum of Fine Arts was wonderful and the Botanical Garden and Biodome are worth a visit even through they are a bit further afield (although still just a few train stops away). Definitely take a stroll through Jean Talon Market and visit the surrounding shops for edible souvenirs. There is decent Malaysian food at Satay Brothers. Nightlife includes speakeasy locations such as Le 4ᶱ Mur and the Cloakroom Bar, and the Upstairs Jazz Bar & Grill should be on your list as well depending on the performance schedule while you're in town. I would definitely recommend staying in Vieux-Montreal, and there are some excellent (if pricey) restaurants and shops in this elegant neighborhood. Auberge Alternative de Vieux-Montreal is a decent place to stay ... read more
Upstairs Jazz Bar & Grill
Upstairs Jazz Bar & Grill
Notre-Dame Basilica of Montreal

North America » Canada » Quebec » Québec City October 5th 2023

Québec is Canada's most romantic city and is highly recommended for any traveler. The city itself is expansive but I advise staying within the city walls of Old Québec as that's the most charming part of town. It is filled with history and culture, as well as wonderful restaurants, cafes, bars and shops, and is absolutely worth a couple of days of exploring. You could consider a cruise on the St. Lawrence River, and there are museums and historical tours. If there is a meat-eater in your party then Le Lapin Sauté is recommended for lunch, as well as Bistrot Pape Georges. Definitely try the sortilege maple whiskey at Pub l'Oncle Antoine, and perhaps pay a visit to the historic Fairmont le Chateau Frontenac and its lovely bar. In the evening there are regular jazz performances ... read more
Old Québec
Old Québec
Le Lapin Sauté


If you have any interest in art, or if you need a break from eating delicious food and drinking mescal, or if you just need someplace beautiful to cool down on a hot day, then you should be visiting the wonderful art museums of Mexico City. I am particularly partial to art museums, and was delightfully surprised by the art on view in this exciting city. If what you see here doesn’t appeal there are many more art museums sure to tickle your fancy. The Frida Kahlo Museum, also known as the Blue House, is a historic house museum and art museum dedicated to the life and work of Mexican artist Frida Kahlo. It is the most popular museum in Coyoacán and one of the most visited museums in Mexico City. The museum contains a collection ... read more
Museo Frida Kahlo
Museo Frida Kahlo
Museo Frida Kahlo


Teotihuacan is an ancient Mesoamerican city located in a sub-valley of the Valley of Mexico, 25 miles northeast of Mexico City. It is the most visited archeological site in Mexico, and the site of many of the most architecturally significant Mesoamerican pyramids built in the pre-Columbian Americas, namely the Pyramid of the Sun and the Pyramid of the Moon. At its zenith in the first half of the first millennium, Teotihuacan was the largest city in the Americas, considered as the first advanced civilization on the North American continent, with a population estimated at 125,000 or more, making it at least the sixth-largest city in the world during its epoch. The city is thought to have been established around 100 BCE and to have lasted until sometime between the 7th and 8th centuries CE, but after ... read more
Avenue of the Dead
Pyramid of the Sun
Pyramid of the Sun


The National Museum of Anthropology is the largest and most visited museum in Mexico. The museum contains significant archaeological and anthropological artifacts from Mexico's pre-Columbian heritage covering civilizations located on the current territory of Mexico as well as in former Mexican territory in what is today the southwestern United States. This is the spot to visit if you have any interest in pre-Columbian Mexico history; it is magnificent and it is an all day affair. If you are a seasoned museum aficionado as I am you may think that you will not need a full day to appreciate the National Museum of Anthropology but you would be wrong. Do not consider trying to squeeze in anything else that day during opening hours; if you need one full day for any site in Mexico City this is ... read more


The Templo Mayor was the main temple of the Mexica people in their capital city of Tenochtitlan, which is now Mexico City. It was dedicated simultaneously to Huitzilopochtli, god of war, and Tlaloc, god of rain and agriculture, as well as to Quetzalcoatl in his form as the wind god, Ehecatl. According to tradition, the Templo Mayor is located on the exact spot where the god Huitzilopochtli gave the Mexica people his sign that they had reached the promised land: an eagle on a nopal cactus with a snake in its mouth. The temple was sacked and destroyed by the Spanish in 1521, and the Mexico City cathedral was built in its place. The Templo Mayor was partially disassembled to be used as construction materials to create the Spanish colonial city. In 1978 electric company workers ... read more
Mexico City Metropolitan Cathedral from the Templo Mayor
Basin of Mexico
City of Tenochtitlan




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