The journey (http://www.reginamulticulturalcouncil.ca/uploads/files/general/11//2013-mosaic-pavilion-map-%28mosaic-transpo-centre%29.pdf) began after work on Friday with my boss/coworker/friend Carissa). Our first stop was at an Ukrainian pavilion where one of Carissa's family members was part of a dancing group. There I had perogies that melted in my mouth and Carissa had cabbage rolls.
Our next stop was at the Greek pavilion where we tried dolmades and loukoumades (Google them!) and enjoyed more dancing entertainment.
Next up was the Philippine pavilion. Here I was quite enthralled with the dancing rhythms and patterns with four people moving long bamboo poles in patterns and another four people dancing/stepping in between those moving poles. Man, one wrong move and everyone would go crashing! The dance steps were detailed, precise and amazing all at the same time. It kind of reminded me of Chinese skipping (for those who know what that is - it was popular in the 80s). At this pavilion we tried empanadas and a banana roll - yum!
Then off we went to the Italian pavilion... Note to self: start here next time - the plate of spaghetti and meatballs looked amazing! It was hard not to try more than one dish here, but we decided on splitting a slice of Mediterranean vegetarian pizza. Mmm... the crust was so unlike anything we have in North America - I could cut it in half with a plastic knife - wow! The entire half slice was delectable. Should I still be thinking about it and salivating???
From Italy we went to Ireland and found out the Irish pavilion is quite a popular one! Live music, Irish pubs, food catered by a local restaurant (Brewster's) - it was packed. We looked around, I became a leprechaun for a short time, and onto our next stop...
Korea! This was the friendliest pavilion we went to - everyone wanted us to "have a great time in Korea." There was singing and dancing, lots of food and fun frozen treats like my melon yogurt-type popsicle, and I even dressed up for a postcard-like photograph.
Our last stop for the evening was Brazil and was it ever energetic! We were glued to our seats watching the drum playing, dancing that involved gymnastics-type moves and roundhouse kicks, and the amazing choreography evident in every step. It was a definite wow and I'm glad we stopped in to check out Brazil.
On Saturday, I continued touring with stops at the Hungarian, Polish, Romanian, Scottish, Francophone (French-speaking nations), and Austrian pavilions. It was a whirlwind trip, but one I'm glad I took. It was definitely an experience I'd recommend to others.
Happy Travels!
That's awesome, Jill. (and you saved a lot of money travelling around the world this way, too!) My sister went on Fri night with a group of girls as a stagette party and she had a pretty good time, too, taking in all the sights, sounds, entertainment and food. One of these years I'm going to go... it just didn't work out this year. Congrats on ticking off another bucket list item! :)
ReplyDelete