Mavrovouni Dining

Location: Mavrovouni, Greece
Address: Mavrovouni 232 00
Date: Aug 2015

  There is no shortage of restaurants in Greece.  To get yourself a good meal you can usually just walk into any one you please.  This blog is about some of the restaurants in the area of a small village called Mavrovouni.  It is also not so much about the food, but the dining experiences.

  The beach area is a popular tourist destination.  Everyone wants to enjoy a meal while watching the waves of the Mediteranean Sea.  Hotels and restaurants line the road that runs the length of the beach.

  One place that we chose to eat was Ammos Restaurant.  Its blue chairs and checkered tablecloths sit in the shade of the covered patio.  Aside from good food, it has another feature that is very common in Greece.  Cats.

  As soon as we sat down, we knew that we were being watched.  A scan around revealed that feline eyes were spying on us from behind planters or from the bushes.  They were watching in hopes that some scraps would fall to the floor.  Once in a while they would walk past in hopes that they might entice you to drop something for them to eat.

  A small kitten came up to us and tried to use its cuteness to score some scraps.  While we did admit that it was cute we still did not part with our meals.  The kitten became more and more aggressive and less cute.

  We managed to finish our meals with minimal feline interference.  The small kitten was not pleased.

  The next morning we enjoyed some crepes at STILVI cafe.  It is near the main road away from the beach.  The crepes were delicious and the collection of coloured chairs on their patio were delightful.  It looked just like a postcard.  There were no cats in sight.

  We traveled further down the beach that evening.  The mountains were different shades of blue across the water.

  We walked until we decided upon a restaurant.  We went inside.   Little did we expect that we would  have an unusual dining companion this evening.  We had to do a double take as at the table next to us was a chicken.  It sat there quietly during our meal and only stood up once or twice to look around.  We did not see it eat anything while it was there, but whatever it did eat would have been the chicken dinner.
 Always an interesting dining experience in a small village by the sea.

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Map of Our World
Ammos , STILVI cafe

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Post # 197

Murdoch Mysteries Props

Location: Toronto, Ontario, Canada
Address: 66 Hymus Road
Date: July 2014
Website: sullivanmovies.com

  In 2014 we attended a two day event called The Murdoch Experience.  The event was designed for fans of the Murdoch Mysteries television show and the first day featured a tour of Sullivan Studios in Scarborough.  The second day was an event at The Old Mill where cast and crew talked about how the show is made. This blog post focuses on the props department.

  When we first arrived at the studios we were passed by an unusual vehicle.  It was being driven by Craig Grant who is the Property Master for the show (photo at top of post).  This vehicle appeared in the Murdoch Mysteries season five episode called "Who Killed the Electric Carriage?".  In the episode, James Pendrick is accused of murder because he could have used his electric car to travel the distance necessary to commit the crime in the limited time.

 

Pendrick's car wins a race against Henry Ford and Ford's gasoline powered engine.  In the early 1900's the electric car actually became quite popular, but as we all know it was the gasoline driven car that ended up dominating for most of the century.  Out on the Sullivan Studios backlot was a car (above) that looks similar in size to what Ford would have driven.  On closer inspection the vehicle above is just a horse cart as it lacks any steering wheel or motor.  Ford's early vehicles were often advertised as horseless carriages.  Good work Murdoch!

 

  As we entered the studios we were greeted by various prop heads and skulls.  Since each episode tends to involve detective Murdoch solving a murder, these had all appeared on the show at one time or another, most likely on Dr. Ogden's table.

  Soon we were outside on the backlot.  The season two episode called "I Murdoch" featured a giant robot.  Constable Higgins and another constable were posing for photos with the robot and entertaining fans of the show.  We also find it interesting that the role of Higgins is played by an actor named Lachlan Murdoch.

  We walked around the backlot and encountered a few other props.  The episode "Blast of Silence" from season seven featured a man stuck on a pole wearing a sign that read "If the bell tolls the man explodes".  The man had been strapped with a bomb that was sensitive to noise vibrations.  Despite Murdoch's efforts, a backfiring car did end up triggering the bomb.

  There was a sign advertising Barnett's Royal Travelling Circus.  The circus was featured in a season seven epsiode called "Blood & Circuses".  In this episode the tiger trainer named Kitty Walker is found dead and the entire circus is brought in for questioning.  Brackenreid befriends a circus monkey named Athena.

 

  The props department is also responsible for everything you see inside Dr. Ogden's morgue set. This includes a wall of brains in jars or bloody tools.

 And tea service of course.

 

  The next day at the Old Mill, Craig Grant explained how they work hard to be accurate to the time period of Murdoch Mysteries.  Toronto in the early 1900's would have had many rats.   On the table he had many prop rats both dissected and not.  There were also a few severed hands just for good measure.

 

  One popular prop was Mycroft the creepy ventriloquist dummy from the very first season of Murdoch Mysteries.  He appeared in the episode "Belly Speaker".  Craig explained how they found a real antique dummy and then used that to design Mycroft.

  It was interesting to hear how the prop department designs the interesting items used on Murdoch Mysteries.  They try to keep things accurate to the period and also have to consider how they will come across on the television screen.  When it comes to Murdoch's gadgets they use modern techniques to create the illusion that his devices actually work using technology of the time.  The props department plays a big role in every episode of the show.  We were also impressed that a big CBC star like Mycroft stuck around after Craig's speech to spend time with his fans.

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Map of Our World
Sullivan Studios Backlot
Old Mill Toronto

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Post # 196

Blue Whale Watching

Location: Les Escoumins, Quebec, Canada
Address:  37 Rue des Pilotes
Date: Aug 2017
Website: www.croisierebaleine.ca

  Since writing a grade school speech about blue whales, one of us has been waiting for a real world encounter with the largest animal on earth.  We planned a trip to Tadoussac, Quebec where the Saguenay River meets the St. Lawrence to try and make this dream come true.  This region is known to attract many of the world's whales, including the blue whale.

  We arrived in Quebec City and drove north to Tadoussac where we were staying at a bed and breakfast.  At the advice of the rental car guy, the next day we drove a bit further north to Les Escoumins.  He said that our chances of a blue whale encounter would be higher in this region.  We booked a zodiac tour with Croisières Escoumins and headed out into the St. Lawrence River to try our luck.

  It wasn't very long at all before we spotted a burst of water rise into the air.  Our guide reported that it was a blue whale.  At last, a dream come true.  Great advice, rental car guy.  Above is our first photo of our first blue whale encounter.  You can see that the whale is more grey than blue and blends in with the waves of the river.  The whale went back under the surface.

  We were thrilled that we had chosen the right place for a blue whale to come and visit us.  Another plume of water and the whale surfaced once again.  We could see its giant blowholes. We were very lucky that because of the way the whale was feeding, that it came to the surface several times during our boat tour.  Blue whales typically dive while feeding for up to 10 minutes but can sometimes be 30 minutes or more.  When the whales surface they could also be quite a distance from where they were last spotted.

  The whale surfaced for us one last time.  This time it was very close.  We were treated to another rare display by this gentle giant.  The blue whale dove again, but on the way down it raised its tail as if to wave goodbye.  Bye-bye Blue.   You have given us an experience we will never forget.

 

 

 

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Map of Our World
Croisières Escoumins

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Post # 195