Oh, Canada!

A Trip to Ontario and Québec

The Seniors Are Special Program at University Medical Center in Lubbock, Texas, recently sponsored a Fall Foliage trip to eastern Canada. The four major cities we visited were Toronto, Ottawa, Québec City, and Montréal. Below I present a short journal and a number of photographs from that trip. We had a great time!

Monday, September 30, 2013

TORONTO

Toronto's CN Tower

Flying in and staring out a jet window, one can see a land that is reminiscent of England: long acreages of green landscaping, a huge car park that has been set aside in the center city, instead of having scores of smaller ones scattered about like dominoes. There are so many high rises, yet they seem to be arranged in a certain order—implying that home ownership might not be for everyone. Later, our tour guide Mel will tell us that the city is encouraging people to live closer to the center of the city in high rises, rather than extending the urban sprawl any further. The trip has been arranged by SAS director Peter Laverty of UMC, and he does an inspired job.

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We arrive at our hotel in late afternoon. At dinner on the seventeenth floor of the Primrose Hotel, we meet our tour director, Mel Brand, of Cosmos Tours. After a fine meal on the seventeenth floor, Mel hands out our key cards. We never have to check in or check out as individuals—just hand over our cards at check-out time. Our luggage is delivered to our doors within in hour, so we can clean up and change clothes if we wish. In the evening we are on our own to explore Toronto. The Canadians are especially warm and welcoming, even if we don’t speak French!

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Tuesday, October 1, 2013

NIAGARA FALLS

The falls are an incredible sight, and the weather perfect. I saw the falls as a child from the American side, and my mother took black-and-white photos with a box camera! Perfect day, almost on the warm side. There are many tour buses, indicating that one would not want to be here in the summer. Mel is a fine tour guide, more like a teacher or guru. His years as a flight attendant for Air Canada serve him well. Patience! He deflects irrelevant or unanswerable questions with ease and grace, and you hardly realize he’s done so.

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In the afternoon we take a tour of Toronto’s major landmarks: City Hall, the University of Toronto, and the CN Tower. In the evening, we dine at the top of the Tower.

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Wednesday, October 2, 2013

KINGSTON

As we follow the St. Lawrence River, our motor coach stops at one of those tourist traps that actually turns out to be quite pleasant, a place called the Big Apple, and there is . . . a huge red apple on the lawn. Inside, we encounter all kinds of apple products.

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In Kingston some of us have fish and chips for lunch and sit outside, where it is actually quite warm in the sunshine. Locals tell us were at the best place in town for fish and chips. They aren’t wrong.

In the afternoon we take a boat trip among the St. Lawrence Islands National Park (also known as Thousand Islands). Again, even on the boat in that breeze, we are quite comfortable in shirt sleeves or light jacket. The boat is crowded with camera-happy tourists (we among them, but at least we don’t overtake the boat).

Thursday, October 3, 2013

OTTAWA

A very pleasant morning as we are given a tour of the Parliament grounds. Then we are off to the Canadian Museum of Civilization and the Canadian War Museum. The museums remain open Thursday nights from four to eight, for free, but I do not have time to go back.

We also visit the Royal Canadian Mounted Police Stables, where we watch a few male and female Mounties walk their horses.

In the afternoon, we take a boat ride along the Rideau Canal, a very pleasant outing for a sunny autumn afternoon.

UPCOMING POSTS
MONDAY: GUEST BLOGGER MARIAN SZCZEPANSKI WILL SHARE HOW SHE CAME TO WRITE HER NEW NOVEL, PLAYING ST. BARBARA—NOW OUT FROM HIGH HILL PRESS.

AND FINISH READING MY POST AND CHECKING OUT PHOTOS OF MY RECENT TRIP TO EASTERN CANADA! THANKS FOR READING.