SOUTHERN ONTARIO

After leaving Quebec we headed on to Ontario and to the last few places we wanted to see in CanadA before heading south.  On this part of the trip we revisited Ottawa, arriving on September 13^th.  Our trip then headed to Kingston, arriving on the 18th and then on to London, arriving on the 21st.  The last part of the journey will be Niagara Falls and Fort Erie.  It has been quite a vacation coming all across the country and spending so much time in areas neither of us has ever been before, especially Atlantic Canada, Quebec and Ontario.

On arriving back in Ottawa we took some time for ourselves and to visit friends and wander through the Market.   We did take some time to visit the Canadian Museum of Nature.   The museum building is actually called the Victoria Memorial Museum Building.   In 1916, the building became the emergency headquarters for the Canadian government after a great fire consumed the Parliament Buildings. 

The exhibitions were varied and stunning.  They included one on extreme mammals, wildlife photography, and a study of the sea, fossils, and hundreds of stuffed birds.  A lot of the exhibits were comparable to the Royal Tyrell museum in Drumheller but with a different focus, mostly becoming more aware of the differences between dinosaurs and mammals.

In Kingston we had a chance to visit another famous fort, Fort Henry.  Fort Henry was built from 1832 to 1837 to replace an existing fortification from the War of 1812 era.  

We also visited the Royal Military College of Canada RMC is now over one hundred years old. It wasestablished by an act of the Canadian Parliament in 1874 as a training facility for officers in all branches of the military and it remains very active today with hundreds of cadet officers in residence.

Another interesting visit was to the Kingston Penitentiary and museum, Canada’s maximum-security pen and the home of Paul Bernardo and Clifford Olsen.   Originally constructed in 1833–1834, and officially opened on June 1, 1835 as the "Provincial Penitentiary of the Province of Upper Canada," it is one of the oldest prisons in continuous use in the world.  Located directly across from Kingston Penitentiary, the Correctional Service of Canada Museum (also known as "Canada's Penitentiary Museum") explains the history of Kingston Penitentiary and other correctional centers using displays that incorporate artifacts, photographs, equipment, and replicas. 

The old maximum prison for women, the infamous P4W (Prison for Women), now a relic stands behind the museum as women and men are housed together in the main buildings.

A fascinating visit was to the home of Sir John A. MacDonald, Canada’s first Prime Minister.  This was home while John A. was a somewhat starving lawyer and city counselor in Kingston and from which he moved upon finding a new career in Ottawa.  We really enjoyed meeting up with the grounds gardener, a young university student who took us through the gardens that had been reconstituted to contain only those plants that were obtainable in the 1800’s.  He highlighted the challenges he faced finding information about these plants, as there are very few references available.  He took us into the orchard where there were 13 apple trees, all different varieties – in order to maintain those, which stored well over winter, some were tart for pies and others sweet for eating.

In the house we saw the baby crib that was brought over from Scotland by Sir John A.’s parents and one of his favorite things, his bathtub, which is in the shape of a boot and kept in the basement where the kitchen is.

We also spent some time at the Marine Museum of the Great Lakes.  This was a must-see museum in Kingston for us especially with reading all about the great ships which sail on the lakes and of course wrecks like the Edmund Fitzgerald.

The museum also has its own ship, the Museum ship Alexander Henry, a former Canadian Coast Guard icebreaker.

The Henry served her entire coast guard career on the Great Lakes.

She was launched in 1958 then commissioned in 1959, and retired from service in 1984.  The museum's extensive exhibits provide a look at 19th and 20th century shipbuilding and life on the Great Lakes.

We drove out to look at the locks on the Rideau Canal or the Rideau Waterway, as it is also known.  The canal and its locks connect the city of Ottawa on the Ottawa River to the city of Kingston on Lake Ontario. The canal was opened in 1832 as a precaution in case of war with the United States and to prevent attack from overland routes.  It is still in use today, with most of its original structures intact.  The canal system uses sections of major rivers, including the Rideau and the Cataraqui, as well as some lakes. It is the oldest continuously operated canal system in North America, and in 2007, it was registered as a UNESCO World Heritage Site.  It is operated today by Parks Canada as a recreational waterway. The locks on the system open for navigation in mid-May and close in mid-October.

We headed off to London next and spent a couple of days there.  We were fortunate to find Janice Holdershaw visiting her mother Kay (mother and grandmother of son-in-law, Curby) when we came to visit.


We also had a chance to visit the second largest brewery in Canada, that being the London brewery of Labatt’s Canada.  It certainly was a grueling two hours of touring and tasting!

We also took time to visit Banting House.  Known as “The Birthplace of Insulin” as it is the house where Sir Frederick Banting woke up at two o'clock on the morning of October 31, 1920 with the idea that led to the discovery of insulin. Banting lived at this location for ten months, beginning in July 1920, and attempted a private medical practice before returning to Toronto to begin his research on insulin in the spring of 1921.

Today Banting House National Historic Site of Canada is home to the London branch of the Canadian Diabetes Association and a museum dedicated to the life of Sir Frederick Banting. The house was designated a National Historic Site of Canada in 1997.  The eternal flame, visible in the photo above was ignited by the Queen Mother and is not be extinguished until a cure for diabetes is found.

The museum features exhibits dedicated to Banting as co-discoverer of insulin, doctor, war hero, and artist. Notable artifacts include Banting's bed-frame where he woke up with his historic idea, numerous medals including Banting's Memorial Cross, knighthood, and a replica of his Nobel Prize, and an impressive collection of original artwork by Banting.  One little unknown fact was Banting’s relationship with artists from the famous Group of Seven.

On the 24th we headed off to Niagara Falls, our last Canadian city before crossing into the US.

QUEBEC CITY

We left Moncton in early warm sunshine of September 9 and travelled on to Fredericton, the capital city of New Brunswick.  After a short visit we headed to Edmundston where we spent the night.   The next day we headed into the Province of Quebec and arrived in the early afternoon to the city of Levis.  Here we met up with Tony and Fran West, our friends from Chilliwack. 

The next day we took an Old Quebec City tour by bus and had a chance to see a lot of the attractions and sites of the old town.  We drove by the Plains of Abraham, Parliament Buildings and the Citadel.  The bus driver was very interesting and made a good point of explaining that Quebec City had only two seasons – winter and construction, which we feel is pertinent to many areas we have been in.

Afterward it was a chance to relive a lot of the tour, but on foot.  We started off our walk at the Chateau Frontenac, often called the soul of Old Quebec.  The Château Frontenac opened in 1893, five years after the Banff Springs Hotel, which was owned by the same company and similar in style.

The Château Frontenac was named after Louis de Buade, Count of Frontenac, who was governor of the colony of New France (Quebec) from 1672 to 1682 and 1689 to 1698. The Château was built near the historic Citadel, the construction of which Frontenac had begun at the end of the 17th century. The Quebec Conference of 1943, at which Winston Churchill and Franklin D. Roosevelt discussed strategy for World War II, was held at the Château Frontenac. 

It is now bordered by a huge walkway that was occupied with hundreds of persons walking around, enjoying the sun and entertainers (singing in English and French) all over (some sounding very professional) – it was a magical place. 

One of our most favourite methods of transportation is also everywhere in Old Quebec.

Old Quebec sits high on the bluff above the Saint Lawrence River and Quartier Petit-Champlain, the lower town, is found at water's edge.  Both have roots that date to the beginning of the seventeenth century. 

At the bottom of the funicular (cable car) and escalier Casse-Cou (Breakneck Stairs) lays the Petit-Champlain district, a picture-perfect neighborhood reminiscent of an old-time French village.  I took this picture on the ride down on the cable car.

Standing on rue Saint-Louis or rue Sainte Anne in Vieux Quebec, the old walled city of Quebec, it was easy to imagine that somehow we had arrived in France without having taken a plane or boat to get there. Cobblestone streets, cafes with unscreened windows thrown open to the sidewalk, folks walking home with fresh baguettes and cheeses, table d’hôtel service all add to the ambience and the whole atmosphere of L'Belle Province.  From the next picture you can Susan and Fran hanging over the edge of the road, exhausted from seeking out new shops.

We enjoyed taking a few pictures of the Parisienne style front doors of the apartment buildings along the walk way.

This historic district is home to the former residence (1683) of Louis Jolliet (who discovered the Mississippi) and Maison Chevalier, whose 18th and 19th century interiors have been fully restored.  We also found the fresque du Petit-Champlain, a mural illustrating the origins of the Cap-Blanc neighborhood.  It is said that if you stand next to the painting, you will become part of it.  

Due in parts to their heritage, both areas possess a character and charm that eludes anything we have seen in most cities. It is home to many churches, cafes and unique shops, and everything we saw had qualities that endeared it to us.  We certainly want to return to do this again. 

The next day we headed out to see the impressive Montmorency Falls, which were named by Samuel de Champlain for his patron, the duke of Montmorency.  These are visible from the highway but we walked up to them and took some great pictures (and got more than a little wet).  At 83m (272 ft.) tall, they're 30m (98 ft.) higher than Niagara.  

We then headed out to see the Shrine to Ste-Anne-de-Beaupre.  St. Anne (Grandmother to Jesus) is known for performing many miracles, and people from all around the world come to visit the basilica. One of the builders had crutches but when he finished building the church, he was able to walk freely. Pillars in the front entrance are covered in crutches from people who have been said to been miraculously cured.  The original building was built in 1658 but burned in 1922, What we see today was built in 1926.  To say the least, it was more than impressive.

We then headed off to see the home of the Royal 22^e Regiment.  This is an infantry regiment and the most famous francophone organization of the Canadian Forces. The regiment comprises three Regular Force battalions, two Primary Reserve battalions, and a band, making it the largest regiment in the Canadian Army. The ceremonial home of the regiment is La Citadel in Quebec City, where the regimental museum is housed. The regiment is nicknamed the Van Doos, an Anglicized mispronunciation of the first two syllables of vingt-deuxième ("22nd" in French.)  The first protective wall of what was to become the modern day Citadel was built in the 17th century however it was the British, who between 1820 and 1831 completed the Citadel.

We also toured the Plains of Abraham.  The site of many clashes for supremacy between the French and British Empires, the park is the scene of the 1759 Conquest, which changed the fate of North America. Apart from its historical past, the park is to Québec what Central Park and Hyde Park are to New York and London: a city park of outstanding cultural and historical value.  The story goes that back in 1759 British scouts were near the St Laurence River, trying to find a way that an attack could be mounted from below the fortress where the steep slopes could not be conquered.  It was luck when they happened to see a couple of “black robes” (nuns) who were observed gathering water.  When they disappeared into the bush they were followed and discovered the secret path to the top.  Later General Wolfe led his Regiment up the path and met the French on the Plains of Abraham and defeated them, which is why, simply put, we speak English in Canada, not French.

After a much too short visit, on September 13^th, we said goodbye to our friends as they headed east to Gaspe and we likewise bid adieu to Quebec and headed back toward Ottawa.