If It Was Today...

This is Really Hard to Take

Posted on January 28, 2026 by If It Was Today

I’m kidding, of course. It’s actually really easy to take, especially when we see the weather at home.

We flew from Auckland to Wellington today and were treated to views of the New Zealand coast.

Last year when we visited New Plymouth, we only caught fleeting glimpses of Mount Egmont (now changed back to the original Māori name, which is Taranaki Maunga). Today we had a perfect view as we flew over.

After checking into our hotel, unpacking, and freshening up, we headed out for a walk around Wellington. This is our third visit here, and things are starting to feel familiar. One of our favourite spots is Cuba street.

Note the beautiful blue skies. It was “only” 20 degrees C today, so we were worried we might find it a little cool. Not a problem. I’m not sure why this is, but we’ve found in the past that in New Zealand it feels far warmer than the thermometer suggests. Maybe it’s knowing what the temperature is at home? But whatever the reason, we were very comfortable in shorts, t-shirt and sandals.

There is an impressive church right across from our hotel, so I had to take a picture, because … that is what I do. Once again, note the perfect blue skies.

National Shrine for St Mary of the Angels

Last year we stayed at a place on The Terrace. It was close to downtown, and on the map it looked like an easy walk. That’s because everything looks flat on the map. Unfortunately, in real life it was all uphill. So this year Jan made sure to find a place closer to the same elevation as downtown. It worked, and we even have a view of the hill that we had to climb last year … several times a day.

Surprisingly, the view is much more interesting from down here than it was last year when we were on top of the hill. This picture zooms in on one of the houses on the side of the hill that fascinates me.

We’re on the sixth floor with a balcony, giving us a perfect view.

Here is another interesting house, nestled in among the lush vegetation on the side of the hill.

We’re still a little tired from the long flight, and from jet lag, so we weren’t all that enthusiastic about going out for dinner. Fortunately we found a lovely pizza place that would deliver. Add in some New Zealand beer and wine, and you have a wonderful meal.

The pizza was very good. It says it is “Neapolitan” pizza, but having just been to Italy, I have to say that it wasn’t as good as the pizza in Naples. But, to be fair, that is a very high bar.

Tomorrow … who knows. A week ago, the forecast was for cool, wet weather, but now it looks like it will be sunny and in the low 20’s. We might just wander around Wellington for the day. We’ll see…

Posted in Travel | Tagged Craft beer, New Zealand, New Zealand IPA, Photography, Pizza, Travel, Wellington | 2 Comments

We Made It!

Posted on January 26, 2026 by If It Was Today

We made it out of Ottawa before the heavy snow hit, left Vancouver ahead of schedule, and arrived in Auckland over half an hour early. All of that is good, but … after more than 24 hours traveling, even after getting some sleep on the flight, we’re still beat.

Last week we were watching the weather forecasts and we were concerned the weather wasn’t looking all that “summery”. No need to worry. Even though the temperature is around 20 C, it still feels wonderful walking outside in shirtsleeves and enjoying all the green.

We’re spending one night in Auckland to break up the trip and then flying to Wellington tomorrow. We walked over to the domestic terminal to check things out, and had a chance to get a few more ideas for later in the trip.

Tomorrow (or maybe the day after) I should start having more interesting pictures. Until then, we’re just enjoying hanging out in summer weather.

Posted in Travel | Tagged Auckland, New Zealand | 9 Comments

And We’re Off…

Posted on January 25, 2026 by If It Was Today

At the airport now, about an hour from boarding. The good news is that our plane is on the ground and at the gate, getting ready to go. If it was coming in from Toronto, Montreal, or almost anywhere in the U.S., I’d be worried. There have been hundreds of cancellations so far this weekend.

I snapped a picture of our plane as it was landing.

As you can see, the snow has already started. It will be getting much worse in a few hours, but we should be on our way by then. Fortunately they’re equipped to deal with snow here, so this shouldn’t cause any problems.

Next stop, Vancouver, and then Auckland.

Posted in Travel | Tagged Canada, New Zealand, Photography, Snow, Travel | Leave a comment

Before The Storm

Posted on January 24, 2026 by If It Was Today

A storm’s coming… and we’re leaving. We’re scheduled to fly out tomorrow evening, just about the time the snow starts. Needless to say, we’re hoping to get away before things get nasty. Fingers crossed!

Today was cold, and tomorrow promises more of the same.

We’re headed to New Zealand, where the temperature will be about the same … except for the “minus sign”. We’re definitely looking forward to the change.

Posted in Travel | Tagged Canada, New Zealand, Snow, Travel | 5 Comments

Getting Ready

Posted on January 18, 2026 by If It Was Today

One week left before we head back to New Zealand for our third visit in four years. We’re staying for six weeks this time. It really is a wonderful place to visit, especially in the middle of a Canadian winter. Speaking of which, we had over 50 cm of snow in December, and another 50 so far in January. That adds up to … a lot.

Last summer we added a “secret garden” in our yard. It was a wonderful oasis in the heat of the summer. Right now, it isn’t much of a garden nor an oasis.

Still lots to do here before we leave, but we’re looking forward to a relaxing, and warm, trip.

Posted in Travel | Tagged Canada, New Zealand, Photography, Travel | Leave a comment

Missed It By That Much

Posted on November 10, 2025 by If It Was Today

Our last full day in Rome. There were a few housekeeping details to take care of, like tickets for the Fiumicino Express tomorrow and checking in for our flight. And of course, packing. But that still left time for an afternoon walk to enjoy the lovely weather that has been the norm throughout our trip. We considered various destinations, but in the end settled on a walk along the Via del Corso to the Piazza del Popolo, and the northern gate to Rome.

My attention was immediately drawn to the obelisk in the center of the piazza, so I focused on it when taking pictures. Jan thought the goal of the walk (other than enjoying the weather) was the northern gate. You can see the northern gate if you look closely, to the left of the obelisk, but that’s the best picture I have. Missed it by that much. But I do have closeup shots of the obelisk.

This is the Flaminio Obelisk which dates back to the reign of Rameses II around 1300 BC, and was stolen from Egypt by Augustus around 10 BC. If you have been following this blog, you may recall that I talked about seeing this obelisk a few days ago. I was wrong. That was a different obelisk. When Apple or Google say they can identify a landmark, they may be wide of the mark. We all “missed it by that much” in this case.

Here is another view from the piazza.

We took a different route back to the apartment. At one point we looked up and saw a rooftop garden. This reminded me of the last time we visited Rome over 20 years ago, when our hotel had a rooftop garden with views over the rooftops of Rome. This wasn’t the same garden, but I’m sure it would be lovely.

We were enjoying the walk back to the apartment, without any particular agenda, but as fate would have it, our path took us past the Spanish Steps, where we could see the obelisk that I mis-identified in my earlier post. This obelisk is actually the Sallustian Obelisk, which dates back to the second century AD, and was actually brought to Rome without any inscriptions, and then engraved with a copy of the engraving on the Flaminio Obelisk. Not a very good copy, but apparently good enough to fool me, and the AI platforms at Apple and Google. So when OpenAI gives you an answer, exercise due diligence.

We detoured to avoid the Trevi Fountain as we made our way home. The crowds at the Spanish Steps aren’t bad, but knew the Trevi Fountain was going to slow us down, and not in a good way. But along the way, Jan did spot a building with a very elaborate painted facade.

We made a brief stop for gelato (pretty easy to find that in Rome) and then spent a quiet final evening in Rome. I continued the Monday Beer Club tradition, while Jan enjoyed a glass of Abruzzo rose wine. And of course, I wrote about our day.

Tomorrow we fly home. It has been an amazing trip, but we’re looking forward to our own bed and our own kitchen. However, we’re not looking forward to the snow on our driveway. Fortunately we’ll be on the road again at the end of January for six weeks in New Zealand. No snow there…

Posted in Travel | Tagged Italy, Obelisk, Photography, Rome, Travel | Leave a comment

Roamin’ Holiday

Posted on November 9, 2025 by If It Was Today

We’ve been in Rome for over a week now. We’ve gone for long walks every day so we’re beginning to know our way around, and we don’t always have to rely on Google Maps. Of course, we end up seeing some sites (like the colosseum and the forum) many times, but that creates a sense of familiarity which is nice in its own way.

Today we decided to visit the flea market at Mercator di Porta Portese. We’ve visited flea markets before on our travels, and they are always fun. Nothing too serious, just an interesting window into the local culture. Today, our walk to the Trastevere district of Rome took us past some familiar sites, and a few new ones. One of the new ones was the Palazzo Senatorio, the seat of the Municipality of Rome since 1143, and the oldest municipal building in the world. Here is a side view from the colonnade.

Don’t forget to look up…

A detail in the ceiling of the colonnade

Here is a view we’ve seen most days, but this is the first time we’ve seen it with the sun at our backs. It highlights the amazing detail.

When we started walking this morning my first thought was “it’s way busier on the weekend than it is mid-week. But once again, if you get off the beaten track you are nearly alone exploring the city. But a word of warning … the cars drive much faster when you are away from the heavy tourist areas.

Before long we arrived at the flea market.

Entrance to Mercato di Porta Portese flea market

We didn’t exactly get an early start (we try to avoid early starts whenever possible – the idea is to enjoy yourself) so it was after noon by the time we reached the market. It closes at 2:00 pm so we thought the crowds would be thinning out. We were wrong.

We thought we could walk to the end of the market to see what was available before buying. We were wrong again. We walked through a kilometer of the market before we turned around. I thought we were almost at the end of the market … but I’d been thinking that for at least 15 minutes by the time we gave up.

On our way back through the market we made a few small purchases (more on that later) and then it was time for lunch. The Trastevere district is known for its food, so we headed to an area with several restaurants. We found one that looked promising, but it didn’t have any tables. Fortunately, there were other options, and before long we secured a table outdoors. We ordered seasonal specialities, both with fresh truffles. This was mine.

The outdoor seating area was busy and shortly after we arrived there was a queue for seats. Good timing. We also noticed that everyone around us was speaking Italian. Good sign. The food was delicious.

While waiting for our food we checked the weather at home. Storm warning, with 10 – 20 cm of snow expected later today. Knowing what we were “missing” at home made our walk back to our apartment all the more enjoyable. We once again crossed the oldest bridge in Rome … it has become one of our favourites.

I’ve written before about the excavations we see everywhere. This one caught our eye. The metal rings in the wall were perhaps to tie up horses, but why were there three in a triangle shape. If anyone knows, please do let me know.

On our way home we once again passed the “Wedding Cake”, but this time with a different perspective. The sky makes the statues look foreboding.

Walking along the forum I spotted something I hadn’t noticed before. The underside of these arches are reminiscent of the inside of The Pantheon.

We don’t buy much when we travel, and we certainly don’t want the usual souvenirs. But we enjoy cooking so we like buying good quality tea towels with traditional local themes and wooden spoons. If they are manufactured locally, we find it hard to resist. The spoon shown here is olive wood, and the tea towel is 100% linen, made in Tuscany. We bought the pasta cutter because I took pasta lessons in Abruzzo. It is made in Italy too.

Tomorrow is our last full day in Rome. We’ll likely just enjoy the lovely weather, and of course, pack.

Posted in Travel | Tagged Flea Market, Italy, Photography, Rome, Travel | 2 Comments

The Appian Way

Posted on November 8, 2025 by If It Was Today

The Appian Way was started in 312 BC as a military supply road during the Second Samnite War, but it quickly became an important route for trade and communications. Sections of the Appian Way still survive, some in their original state. Today we set out to walk one of the original, unimproved sections of the Appian Way.

Note the ruts worn into the stone from the countless carts traveling the road over centuries. The Appian Way was an important artery for Rome, and it is lined by many tombs of important dignitaries. Here is one that dates back to 30 BC.

Here is another building along the road. We included this because it offers an important reminder that life goes on. In a field beside the building, a group of young boys were playing football (soccer), oblivious to the history all around them.

Building beside the football (soccer) pitch

We were walking an original section of the Appian Way, but clearly there had been ongoing “roadworks” to maintain the road over the centuries. Some of these repairs appear to have taken advantage of local “rubble”and reused a piece of a broken column.

I’m a bit of a history buff, so it was special for me to be able to walk the road in quiet contemplation of the history beneath my feet.

There were buildings you could visit along the road, and one had a garden with flowers still in bloom.

Like everywhere else around Rome, there are so many pieces of ancient stone that have emerged from the earth and lie by the road waiting to be reassembled.

This next one is interesting because it was an old house that looks like it had random pieces of stone and pottery built into the wall. I have no idea what the reason was for this.

This next one appeals to my sense of humour. If I didn’t know better, I’d think this indicated an early WiFi hotspot.

Sure enough, as we were heading back home, we were treated to yet another view of a Rose-ringed Parakeet eating Magnolia seeds. This time you can actually see the ring around its neck.

Posted in Travel | Tagged Appian Way, Italy, Photography, Rome, Travel | 3 Comments

Another Day, Another Park

Posted on November 8, 2025 by If It Was Today

We decided to walk to the Botanical Garden of Rome today. It was a reasonable distance, just 39 minutes to walk there. Interestingly, taking a bus was 35 minutes, and driving wasn’t much better, at nearly 30 minutes. We always prefer to walk if it’s reasonable, but this was a no-brainer.

We’ve been walking around Rome for the past week, surprised by how much of the city is taken up by archaeological excavations. It gives you a sense of the tradeoff between preserving the past and living the present. Our route took us past the Basilica San Nicola in Carcere, which shows how this hasn’t always been the case. It was built at the beginning of the sixth century on the ruins of three earlier temples. The ruins were incorporated into the basilica, presumably to reduce cost by reusing the existing structure. You can clearly see the temple in the basilica walls.

Next we crossed the Pons Fabricius, the oldest bridge still in use in Rome, dating to 62 B.C. Another example of preserving the past, but in this case, it’s still in daily use as a pedestrian bridge.

From there it was a short walk to the botanical garden. The focus is on the plants, but they also display some of the many ruins discovered on the site, which creates an interesting effect.

We learned that four fountains of unknown origin were discovered on the site. The first we spotted was the smallest fountain I’ve ever seen. To get a sense of scale, note the leaves and the individual water drops.

This next cactus was very unusual. It looked a little like a brain.

It wasn’t high season, but there were still some flowers on the trees.

We had a bit of an adventure earlier in the week trying to see the parakeets flitting around the trees. They were noisy, but very shy. We finally managed to get a good look at them the other day, after much effort. But in the botanical garden, they were not shy at all. Every time we turned around, we seemed to see one … of five.

This tree reminded me of something from a haunted forest.

Another view of the Monk Parakeet, eating berries on the trees. They were everywhere.

More flowers.

Eventually we found the second fountain in the botanical garden. This is more like what I expected of a fountain.

We spotted this bush covered with berries that look a lot like haskap berries we get at home. We were surprised they hadn’t been eaten by the birds, leading us to wonder if they were poisonous. A bit of research revealed they are Myrtle berries, which aren’t related to haskap. They are also edible, though they are very tart. Maybe that’s why the birds haven’t eaten them.

Later we came across this in the bamboo section. I agree with the sentiment, but for the record, we did not carve this.

As I mentioned earlier, it was almost as if the parakeets were taunting us, making it easy to spot them after being so elusive earlier in the week. This was a Rose-ringed Parakeet, eating persimmon fruit.

One bad thing about the botanical garden was that it was on the side of a hill, which meant we had to climb a lot. We’ve had more than enough hills this week, so we would have preferred it to be flat. On the plus side, it offered views of Rome with hills in the background.

Here is Jan trying to get a better picture of the Rose-ringed parakeet feeding.

And here is the partially eaten persimmon.

And just to drive the point home, another shot of a Monk Parakeet in plain view.

T botanical garden was relatively sparse at this time of year, but it was still an oasis of calm forest quiet. It was a pleasant outing with renewing forest smells all around. When we finished, we headed back to the apartment for a brief rest before another visit to the vegan restaurant, Rifugio Romano, for dinner. Last time I tried the “3-D printed steak” so this time I wanted to try the “3-D printed salmon”.

The texture was good, if not perfect. The taste wasn’t identical to what you would expect from salmon, so it might not do well in a blind taste test. But if you set aside those expectations and rate it on its own merits, it was very good, the pepper corns adding just the right amount of zip. And the potatoes were divine. I highly recommend it if you are in the area.

Posted in Travel | Tagged Botanical Garden, Italy, Parakeet, Photography, Rome, Travel, Vegan | Leave a comment

On The Hunt

Posted on November 6, 2025 by If It Was Today

Our plan for today was to enjoy the Villa Borghese gardens. It was a comfortable half hour walk from our apartment, so we planned to walk both ways and look for anything of interest along the way, letting events unfold as they may. Oh, and look for a place to eat lunch.

The walk up was uneventful, other than spotting a lovely place for lunch. More about that later. The Villa Borghese gardens had been a private estate, but now it is a public park with free admission. This is just one of the many entrances to the park, the architecture highlighting its renaissance origins.

Earlier in the week we briefly spotted a green parakeet but utterly failed in our attempts to take a picture of it. Today, almost as soon as we entered the gardens, we spotted more of them, flitting between the trees and generally making a racket. I think they are very territorial. We saw them when they were flying, but their camouflage is nearly perfect – the moment they landed it was impossible to see them. And so the hunt began – we wanted a picture today. Note how “crowded” it was in the gardens.

Finally we managed to spot one feeding in the trees. These are the trees that grow pine nuts, so I suspect that is what they were after. They were like acrobats – half the time they were upside down in search of food.

With that mission accomplished, more or less, we continued enjoying our stroll in the park, listening to a saxophone in the distance.

While walking, a tree stump caught my eye. For context, this was at least six feet (two meters) high. The sun through the trees highlighted the red in the stump.

We didn’t really have an objective other than to enjoy the lovely day, but we were on the lookout for unusual things. Like this statue from World War I, with a donkey carrying a small cannon. Not what I was expecting.

Just behind the statue was a small museum beside a quiet courtyard with orange trees, laden with fruit. For the record, we didn’t pick any.

There is a small lake in the gardens where you can rent a boat. We passed on the boat, but enjoyed looking at the temple on an island in the lake. It is dedicated to Aesculapius, the God of Medicine.

And then, suddenly, we spotted the Rose-ringed Parakeets again. This time they were perched in the sun, in plain sight. This picture is dedicated to D & S who love birds.

We stopped for a cappuccino at a small cafe in the park, and then decided to make one final stop before lunch – a lookout over Rome. Apparently the view is stunning at sunset, but lunch was calling so we settled for this.

I mentioned earlier that we had spotted a Lebanese restaurant just outside the gardens, and we headed back to find it for lunch. We got lovely seats outdoors in the shade, and ordered a selection of Mezeh for lunch. Jan had baba ghanoush and fattoush salad. Both were among the best she has ever tasted. When I visited Jordan a decade ago, I discovered shankleesh, so when I saw the Lebanese restaurant I knew exactly what I wanted. And for those who may say that we shouldn’t eat Lebanese food in Rome … Lebanon was part of the Roman Empire. So there!

It was still early, so we took a little detour on our walk back to the apartment. We’d been told that the crowds were insane at the Trevi Fountain and the Spanish Steps, so we decided to see for ourselves. Along the way we passed the Flaminio Obelisk, one of thirteen ancient obelisks in Rome. This one was Egyptian, dating back to 1300 BC and was brought to Rome by Augustus in 10 BC. It was rediscovered in the sixteenth century in fragments, and reassembled as you see it today.

And then, in the area beside the obelisk, along with all the tourist souvenirs, we spotted a stand selling garden seeds. Not your typical souvenir, but we were on the hunt for the chicory that is used to make puntarelle, so we had a look and … another success.

For a day that started without any particular objective, we were doing amazingly well.

Next it was onward to the Spanish Steps. We had heard there was an admission fee, but not today. There weren’t all that many people either.

Based on the limited crowds at the Spanish Steps, we decided to check out the Trevi Fountain next. When we turned the corner, our first view was encouraging.

But then we turned around and…

If you wanted to get right down to the edge of the fountain, you had to buy a ticket, but if you just wanted a look, it was free. So no Instagram photos from me, but you weren’t getting those anyway. I’ll close with a closeup of the detail above the fountain … because you know I love closeups.