Christmas Spirit and Hot, Spicy Wine

Nothing is like December! I'm not a winter person, but December brings out that holiday joy and Christmas spirit all over the place.

And I'm not viewing this from religious point of view - whatever religion you're in, or if you're not religious at all, I'm talking about the unique feeling of holiday atmosphere.

Holiday lights on the streets, ornaments on Christmas trees, the general look of the city at this time of year, everything sparkling and smelling of cider and wine - the whole Christmassy feel.

You can hear Christmas songs everywhere, see ideas for presents in every store you walk into and feel that special warmth of red, gold and silver colors, so significant for these holiday moments.



Even though the commercialization of Christmas holidays has taken it too far, with companies decorating and pushing gifts sales already in November, and people feeling pressured about the whole thing, it still doesn't diminish that very holiday sensation that's spreading like a virus as soon as you see the first holiday lights on the streets.

The best place to enjoy the atmosphere in Toronto, at this moment, is definitely the Distillery District.

With the Toronto Christmas Market that is held there every December for the whole month, up until Christmas day, Distillery District becomes a magical place (magical more than it usually is).

Various artisans and vendors are participating and there's nothing you can't buy in their little booths.

You can find hand-made ornaments, gifts, candles and other Christmas merchandise. If you're hungry, you'll be able to enjoy German sausages, roasted nuts, baked goods and plenty of other seasonal stuff.



To keep yourself warm, I strongly recommend the popular mulled wine - which was delicious! So very tasty, just like the wine from back home, which my family used to make every Christmas and which we regularly enjoyed during the whole Christmas season.  I really missed that so I made sure I got enough. Don't overstep your boundaries though - it's stronger than it tastes :)

All in all, a very nice evening out - I loved it! If you're around, make this place a number one on your visit list. Soon.  Even the holiday hater will enjoy :)

The only thing that's missing is snow, to make the whole experience more fulfilled. But, until then, this is the perfect place to hang out one of these evenings, before Christmas, while there's still mulled wine available...



Oh and yes. A huge Christmas tree :) Who doesn't love that?

Cheers! Xoxo

Greetings from the Summer - over and out

Well, another summer is gone. Still, I'm pretty surprised by how warm it still is, considering it's end of September.

While I do hope it will stay so for another few weeks, I doubt it and I'm beginning to make my peace with what's about to come.

Ever since I got back from Croatia, things were pretty busy.
Summer ending was nice though, and despite having little time to wonder around, I did some things I wanted to do.

Like going on a Scorpions concert at Molson Amphitheater . It's a thing we planned the whole summer, and I knew it was going to be nice. With little up's and down's, the night turned out to be truly amazing.

I've seen them before, but I haven't heard them in a loooong time (probably because I don't have the habit of listening to music unless I'm in a good, nostalgic company or I'm running).

They grew old, and I became an adult in the mean time - but once again they touched my soul for a moment and reminded me of younger days.

Their new albums are still pretty awesome though. They still got it. They did performed the greatest hits, of course, but I wish they played other, less popular, but way more interesting ones.

We had a guest here - so we went out a few times and I got to shoot in a company for a change.

Gave me time to play around and explore what else my Nikon can do.

We mostly visited my favorite old places to shoot, but I can never get enough of this city view.

Finally, went to see Niagara falls (thanks to the guest, too). I've been wanting that since I got here, but I never had a chance.

We were there only at night, so I still want to go there by day.

The mist was a bit annoying though. I guess that comes with the view.

The falls are truly amazing, especially at night with all the color and lights.

It's hard to even capture it on the photograph and if you're around, it's a sin not to see them in person. It's spectacular.

We had another photo shoot at our location with two great girls. We had a professional photographer there who did a great job, but more important, he lets me sneak around and practice.

That gave me another opportunity to get some of the shots myself (with real people) and here's how that turned out.

Yeah, this was quite a summer. The only thing that makes me happy now are the colors of the fall, yet to be fully revealed in a few weeks. Somewhere, if you look closely enough, you can already see them.

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