Our favorite place is gone...

Borders is going out of business!!

I am shocked!!

Is nobody reading books anymore??

It was always my favorite thing to have my latte (with a scone!) in the book store cafe (at least twice a week), to read European magazines and check the new books. Never left the store without buying one. And now, it is gone...that what I discovered coming back from vacation! Very, very sad about it...

Ps. My son loved it too!

In the Highlands of Cape Breton

Did you ever see a moose? No??

We did!! Just yesterday. It was eating the leaves next to the road.

And that' s not all. We even saw a whale (at least the tail...) from the window of our lodge.

The wildlife here and the landscape are just breath taking!! "Here" means: in Nova Scotia, in the Highlands of Cape Breton National Park.

Everything very scottish here, including the weather (cozy 56 degree yesterday, but 80 today). The only thing I do not like here are the coyote warnings, but we survived our hikes. And if you are standing on top of the hike trail and have the amazing view of the

Cabot Trail and the ocean a you forget the coyotes...and everything else.

Ps. Did I mention the traffic here? You can almost not handle it...but you can count the cars you see while driving the whole day. Just use your fingers.

With Will and Kate on PEI!

Here I am! Together with Will and Kate on Prince Edward Island!

Just joking...thank God!

But they stayed in in our hotel few days ago before we arrived.

They are in the USA now (or did they already leave??), while we are visiting Canada.

After two days in the beautiful (but very crowded) old town of Quebec City we are enjoying the loneliness of the island.

Love the small villages along the coast!!

And you can bike almost everywhere here!!

And eat tons of lobster!! (and mussels!)

And walk on endless beaches, of course!

Addicted

How far is too far to get a coffee? A real good coffee.

No, we are not on vacation in North Carolina anymore but the coffee problem is still the same. If you are a coffee drinker (like me) and do not live in New York City (but in New Jersey) you find yourself in a coffee desert. The next Starbucks is a 20 minute car drive away. I do not talk about a nice cafe with real coffee mugs. I gave up this kind of illusions long ago. Just Starbucks. Or Seattle coffee. This one you get at Borders, my absolute favorite place,

20 minutes away, of course.

Yeah, books and coffee - worth a long way to go...or drive.

We celebrate a special anniversary today: 5 (happy!) years in the USA! Can not believe this! Was not the plan to stay for just two years? How the time flies by...

It is vacation time (almost)!! We went to the Outer Banks in North Carolina!

What can I say, we just loved it! Who would not?! Endless, white beaches, blue sky, and nobody there (except us)...

Yeah, life is good!

Did we miss something?

Yes, a cafe with an ocean view!! Or maybe just a cafe?? Ha, ha , just joking...thinking still very European...

I should probably switch from coffee to martini! What I actually did...at least for the vacation week.

Ps. And I started to play tennis again-after 20 years-but better than ever! It must have been the fresh sea breeze...

Birthday surprise

It is my birthday! And, what was the surprise waiting for me: snow!! Can you believe this?! 10 inches of snow! Nice gift. But it gave me the opportunity to relax and just enjoy the day with my boys. They had to stay home...because of the snow! Sometimes snow in the spring can have a good side too...