Sørfjorden, near Kinsarvik in Norway. Stunning view’s from “Sonja’s walk”.

Coffeelabs in Antwerp is a small coffee chain: veggie, fresh, high quality, delicious, not cheap. Vegan and glutenfree options. I went for lunch and coffee at the coffee shop near the University of Antwerp, Lange Klarenstraat 19: http://www.coffeelabs.be/. Spacious and good for working. 

Coffee and cake: 5 out of 5. All other coffees I had during my stay in Antwerp (not that I tested many) paled in comparison.

I had a flat white (twice) and an americano with milk. Both excellent.

Ricotta lemon cake and a vegan cake with chocolate chunks, hazelnuts and cinnamon 

Beetroot soup. Portions were generous. 

I did it. Free falling without knowing I was going to (Twilight Zone Tower of Terror) and watching the musical Frozen (at least half of it) without ever having had any intention of seeing it: Disney California Adventure Park (https://disneyland.disney.go.com/destinations/disney-california-adventure/, the original one is Disneyland Park, next to it. It was more fun than I expected. Apart from testing mediocre coffee there is actually not much else to do in Anaheim).

The tower of terror. Not a ride for pathetically faint-hearted people like me. That said it is a good way to start with the Disneyland experience: after surviving the adrenaline rush anything is fun in comparison. And you will be close friends with the person sitting next to you.

A pretty dire coffee situation here, at least near Harbour Boulevard. I tested a latte at the Coffee Bean and Tea Leaf (http://locations.coffeebean.com/usa/anaheim/katella-and-harbor.html) and had difficulty in detecting any coffee flavour at all. Too much milk? Did the barista just get it wrong? Coffee too weak? Is awful coffee flavour worse than no coffee flavour? I’m tempted to violate the logic of my rating scale again (1=awful, 5=unbelievably excellent) and give this a 0. 

Coffee Bean and Tea Leaf on on 1801 S. Harbor Blvd, Anaheim.

Some interesting health warning sign which a customer from Utah was surprised about. Seems to be a Californian thing.

Ending on a high. Most amazing coffee at 49th Parallel Coffee, 2902 Main Street (http://49thcoffee.com/): 6 out of 5. Was tipped off by my friends Samia (Vancouver native living in London) and Marianne (London coffee geek). Had two coffees within 40 minutes and bought several bags of coffee beans to take back to London with me.

To keep it short: 5 out of 5. The Parsonage Cafe (http://fernwoodcoffee.com/pages/parsonage-cafe) which is actually not in Vancouver, but in Victoria, on Vancouver Island. 

A flat white at the Parsonage Cafe, North Park Street, Victoria.

Same coffee machine as in other places and widely different outcome.

Canadians really seem to be into British and German chocolates, while their own chocolates are hidden away. I tested a couple of Canadian chocolates and thought that they were very good and then discovered that they had actually been produced in the US (this is based on a sample size of 1 as I have only visited one supermarket, so a not very scientifically based observation and I’m sure excellent chocolate can be found in more specialised outlets).

I went on a boat trip (there are several operators, this was with http://princeofwhales.com/), setting off from downtown Vancouver going to Victoria on Vancouver Island. Stunning views from the boat. Watching transient killer whales (orcas) moving and jumping about (trying to kill a poor seal) was amazing. We had Wilma (originally from Austria) as our guide - a biologist and very knowledgeable. 

The Lions Gate bridge in the background, built by the Guinness family.

Orcas which - as I learned - are actually large dolphins. The whale pictures were taken by Tom from the Prince of Whales crew, using a professional camera (thank you!).

Me with a not very flattering hat that the crew gave out to freezing passengers. It was quite blustery on board and I felt chilled to the bone by the time we arrived in Victoria (dressed like a city person ill-prepared for an outing like this).