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Parliament Hill, OttawaOntario, June 14-24, 2019
Ottawa, Toronto and Niagara Falls
We left Montreal in a soaking rain, hauling our suitcases to the train station. We had neglected to try the famous Montreal bagel, so grabbed one at the train station. Different than the New York style bagel, it is first boiled in honey water before being baked. We weren’t impressed. Ottawa is in the province of Ontario and is the capital of Canada and from what we can see so far, a clean beautiful city. Our Airbnb is much nicer; although, interestingly, we find ourselves back in the province of Quebec, as we are staying in Gatineau, Quebec, just a short walk across the bridge. But it’s still raining. I think it’s rained about 50% of our time in Canada so far. Downstairs in the apartment building where we’re staying is (another) Greek/Pizza restaurant. The pizza was good, and we tried the Ottawa special, Beaver Tails (large fried flat pieces of dough covered with cinnamon sugar). Again, not impressed. After the rain calmed down a bit, we walked over the bridge into Ottawa. We found an area called Byward Market, in the Bytown section of Ottawa and explored it. It
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Rudeau Canal near the locks, Ottawa has old restored buildings and has an interesting history. In 1832 the Rideau Canal was constructed. The canal connects Ottawa with the St. Lawrence Seaway and Lake Ontario. It was built in 1832 as a precaution against invasion by the US by bypassing the St. Lawrence Seaway where it borders New York. Thousands of Irish and French Canadian workers were brought in, often without families, and the area known as Byward became the home of taverns and brothels and loose living! In the winter the Rideau Canal is called the world’s largest outdoor skating rink as commuters skate their way to work over a 7 kilometer strech. The next day we started with a walking tour and got wet again. A lot. We saw the Canadian National Parliament (just the outside). Ottawa is such a lovely city and is easy to walk around. The only thing we don’t understand is why the train station moved from their classic old building downtown out to the suburbs. Aren’t most railroad stations downtown? And this is the capital of the country.
We walked across the bridge again in the morning to the Cathedral for Mass - in French again. Notre Dame Cathedral
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The bridge Basilica is absolutely gorgeous. I particularly liked the gold stars on a deep blue ceiling. And the music was beautiful – full organ with beautiful singing. Back across the bridge to the Canadian Museum of History. The museum spans from early First Nations to the present day. It also had a very interesting special exhibit on Neanderthals. Who knew they were so intelligent? We spent so much time at that exhibit that we didn’t have time to see all of the museum, but enjoyed the huge totem pole collection and re-created (by natives) houses. Also interesting was the history of the French in Canada. The museum closed at 5, but we could have spend many more hours there. We were surprised to hear (not for the first time) that Canada was afraid of a US invasion during the US Civil War, and that spurred the various regions to form the Canadian Confederation. Seems to me that the US was a little busy fighting each other to contemplate an invasion of Canada.
Off to Toronto
. I’m sure you’ve heard of the Toronto Raptors’ recent victory. Well their celebration parade (estimated 1.5 million people attending) broke up just as our train
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Notre Dame Cathedral Basilica was arriving at Union Station downtown. It took us a long time to get our Metro tickets and get on a train. But it was fun watching everyone’s excitement. Toronto is a huge city – the largest in Canada
. We’re staying at a pretty nice Airbnb with our hosts, Maxine and Gary in a part of Toronto called Greektown, and once again we find that we are eating out at Greek restaurants. Maxine and Gary are an interesting couple who have traveled the world. They too have walked the Camino de Santiago, so we have that in common. We share the basement with a nice couple from South Korea who are in Canada for a year to learn English. There is a kitchen, so we can cook breakfast and a common room downstairs. The Toronto Free Walking tour, was not as nice as the other ones we’ve been on. After it we went to the Kensington Market, which wasn’t a market at all, but an area of houses where people (in the past, mostly immigrants) sell their crafts and wares and then to nearby Chinatown where we had supper. Like most large cities, it’s noisy and congested. We got to
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The Grand Hall with totem poles, Canadian Museum of History meet with Arturo and Lina Diaz for dinner, another Marriage Encounter couple who are the Region 4 leaders for dinner at a nice place in Greektown.
The next day we took the train down to Niagara Falls and had a great time there. We arrived before our room was ready, so we dropped our suitcases off and walked to the rapids, downriver from the Falls. They have a great little bus system there for the massive amount of tourists, so it was easy to get from our Airbnb later to the Falls. We had made contact with Fr. Michael Basque, the ME Ecclesial priest for all of Canada, and he drove in and picked us up for lunch at a local place out of town called Betty’s, known for their fish and chips and pies. It did not disappoint! And we had a delightful time with Fr. Michael. Later we took a tour with Hornblower Boats, which takes you close to the Falls. They give you these flimsy pink plastic raincoats so you don’t get soaked, but of course you do. What an awesome experience! I remember as a kid probably around 7 taking the Maid of the Mist
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Charlie at Canadian Museum of History (from the American side) and they gave us these heavy yellow raincoats and hats – we looked like Maine fishermen. That night we attended a musical show and dinner called Oh Canada, Eh! It highlighted Canadian singers and music (who knew there were so many?) and made fun of some typical Canadian stereotypes, in a very affectionate way. It was great fun. On the way back to our place we stopped to see the Falls lit up at night. The only thing marring the day was that we found out our House Sitter had quit the sit and gone home (for some very bizarre reasons). The website we use, Trusted Housesitters, assured us that it was extremely rare. Thankfully our neighbors agreed to feed the cats and water the garden.
We’re back in Toronto just for the night. Our Airbnb is a nice place but very far from the station downtown. It took us over an hour to get there. We hadn’t realized that the Toronto Pride parade was that weekend and almost every place was booked. We leave tomorrow on our longest train leg of our trip – Toronto to Winnipeg. We’re looking forward to being in Sleeping
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Long boat, Canadian Museum of History Class, even though it’s in the least expensive sleeping class. We have “berths” – upper and lower. In the daytime they are 2 wide benches facing each other separated from other units of the same. At night the benches fold up flat, a mattress, sheets and comforter is put on top for the bottom berth. The top comes down to reveal the top berth and heavy curtains give you privacy. Actually a pretty ingenious setup. And much better than sleeping in a seat and less claustrophobic (and less expensive) than the tiny private sleeping rooms they have. Sleeping class also includes meals in the dining car. No snack bar food this time!
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