Living Life Like it's a Vacation!

Oct. 27---Epcot's Wine and Food Festival---
I've been to Disney many times, but never to the Wine and Food Festival. Our Disneyholic friends from St. Louis brought their granddaughter and their daughter from DC joined them. They know everything there is to know about the ins and outs of Disney, so I was excited to join them for a day in Epcot. Ken isn't interested in Disney, or crowds in general, so he stayed back at the condo. After our friends who spent the night left for the airport, Ken and I went to McDonald's for a quick breakfast. Then I dropped him off and was off to Epcot. I got the Epcot ticket from ($115) for signing up to go to the "owner update" the next day. But parking was still $20. I got there about 11 and wandered the mile or so in from the parking spot! I was worried how my knee would do with a whole day of walking, but it fared quite well. I finally got to the entrance and did the standing in line to have my bag (wasn't planning to take one, but ended up taking a camera bag when it looked like rain), then stood in line again to go through the entrance. Finally I was in and called Coni.

Soon we were on our way to "eat around the world"! Loved John's back pack.

First stop---cheese and wine. They even had Rogue blueberry blue cheese from Oregon. I loved it all. We would get a bunch of sample size things from each country and share it amongst the 4 of us. The baby seemed to only want french bread, so a large one of them kept her pretty happy.

Loved the way they added more decorations to the countries in honor of the festival.

Next stop for the Dominican Republic. We had several of the items from there.

We had cute little passport books to record what we tried, but it ended up being forgotten after a few countries. I do remember we had a grouper dish, a yucca dish, pulled pork with pickled onions and mashed something, a flan, a couple beers, a pina coloda, and another drink that tasted like a margarita.

Decorations from the other side of the Dominican Republic.

Time for some more shopping---and letting O play for awhile. Also checked out the food passport book for more delights.

O and Grandpa bonding---and looking a lot alike!

while Grandma, Auntie and I check out some more drinks from the champagne and desserts booth. Since Aunt Justine is a restaurant manager in Bethesda, she was able to tell us all about the different drinks we had throughout the day.

Auntie Justine playing with O.

Next stop---Canada. Here is the fillet their steakhouse is known for and it was delicious---could cut it with a fork! The cheese soup was exquisite, too. Of course we had to have some more wine and beer to wash it down!

Love to people watch, too. Fun seeing families like this.

Bye Canada

O and grandma

on to England---Of course, since we were in England, it had to start raining. I did take my underwater camera, too, so I was constantly switching from it, to my DSLR, to my phone (to immediately post on facebook).

We had a molten chocolate dessert here and shepherds pie, along with more beer, Bailey's, and coffee with baileys. BTW---these taster sizes are not cheap! My Bailey's was $8. Most of the foods were between $4-$8. Beer and wines were up there, too. Not sure how much was spent, but I know it was a lot. Sure glad there were 4 of us buying, although I'm sure I didn't pay my full share! Could never have tried all this great stuff on my own! This grouping alone was probably about $35.

We found some cover between the shops. With her hands full, Justine fed her Mom.

Out came Olivia's raincoat.

She didn't mind the rain. In fact, it felt rather pleasant. Never really poured, just on and off sprinkles, but still about 80.

Good bye England.

Heading over the bridge to Europe.

France ahead

Olivia finally eating something--- french bread.

While we ate a bunch of french goodies.

and the rains start again---the hardest of the day, but still not bad.

some more people watching---

then on into France ---

The little patisserie that use to be on the left is now a big one in the building straight ahead.

It use to always be crowded. Nice that it's so large now.

some of the pastries.

then we sat outside for a bit and---yes---had more wine.

Next---I presume this is Belgium

One way to settle Olivia down was to give her a phone. Amazing how she can work it! She entertained herself with it for hours---mostly watching U-tube videos.

Next I think we hit Japan. Hard to remember and using different cameras doesn't help with the timeline---at least when one has the wrong time stamp.

Justine slurping the noodles

again it was raining so we found cover.

then went into the store where Justine bought----candy.
Just a few of the cute things in there. I remember going to Epcot with my Dad once when it got so cold that he and I both bought sweatshirts in Japan.

On to America---

and a beer flight and sliders.

It was early evening now and the little one was fighting a nap.

Coni decided to sit in a quiet area of the Americas restaurant and get Olivia to fall asleep. It actually worked.

While they were there, we headed to Italy.

Lots of great stuff in Italy.

Got some wine and a snack for Coni and went back to Americas only to find she was gone. Dennis DeYoung, an original member of STYX, started playing loudly on the bandstand outside, so she moved to a quieter place just past Italy.

We found her! And sat at the picnic tables there for awhile and brought some Polish food over. Gotta love kielbasa, sauerkraut, peroggis, and apple pie drink.

Not sure how the Jagermeister worked in here, but we each had a shot.

I took pictures over the World lake while the sun set.

We continued around the World --- more people watching (never seen an outfit quite like the one on the gal with the boots).

On to Africa-----

had our last food snack in Africa---I didn't realize they have such spicy food! Mexico will have to wait, we were too stuffed to eat any more.

just a few more pictures around the world at night.

honorary Chinese.

Always loved this Norwegian building.

Finally it got late enough that Coni, Olivia, and Justine staked a place by the rail of the lake for the fireworks display that was going to happen in an hour.