Glamping

‎This is tourist brochure Canada. Mews lake in Algonquin Provincial Park. Trout are jumping in the lake, surrounded by white pine forest. Skies are blue, it's warm and sunny and not here is just enough breeze to rustle the leaves. Steaks on the barbie, good ontario cheese and a bottle of niagara pinot nior to go with them. It's a lousy life on the road :-)

Beaver eating

‎Arrived in Ottowa at lunchtime staying on the banks of the Rideau Canal, we decided to drive upstream about 40km and visit the canal museum at Smiths Falls‎. We had toured the museum, walked over to look at the locks and were just wandering back toward the car when the museum manager came out and beckoned us back over, to point out this guy having lunch right next to the car park.

Let's parler Franglais

So, here we are in Quebec. All the way across Ontario the road signs have been in both English and French, but the minute we crossed the border, everything is in French with no attempt at English. It’s their way or no way. With all the French influence over here, we find it quite amusing that the dish they have given the world is Poutine – chips, gravy and cheese curds. We know French fries come from Belgium (we’ve even been to the Frites museum in Bruges), gravy is predominantly British and cheese curds that are so young that any self-respecting Frenchman would disown. I quite like chips and gravy, so I found it very palatable, especially with the addition of pulled pork or chopped up fried bacon J

We've spent the last two days walking around Montreal, and are quite footsore. We could have done one of the hop-on/hop-off bus tours but we managed to walk to most places we wanted to see. And besides, that’s another $100 saved towards a possible Alaskan cruise!

Day one – We parked near Mont Royal Park and walked down the hill, through Downtown, China Town and towards Old Montreal and the Old Port. Along the way we passed many churches and cathedrals, the largest being Notre-Dame Basilica. The city founders were missionaries, and therefore were out to convert the local ‘savages’ to Catholicism. Notre-Dame was founded in 1642 however, the current Basilica was constructed between 1824-1829. Due to lack of funds, the interior took a while to complete and it wasn't finished until 1880.

And the (not so) little chapel

Next it was down to the old part of town and Old Port on the St Lawrence River

After lunch it was back up the hill…

... and a 100m climb up the steps from street level to the look out and the highest point in Montreal. The view was definitely worth it!

Day 2 – time to do the museums and learn about the history of Montreal. First stop was the Pointe-a-Calliere, Cite D’Archeologie (Archaeology museum) and how Montreal was born. Next was the Centre D’Histoire de Montreal, showing the timeline from the First People to date. Lastly, Lieu Historique National du Commerce-de-la Fourrure-a-Lachine, or The Fur Trade museum of Lachine, This museum explained how the fur trade helped Montreal to thrive, the history of the voyageurs and the ongoing battle between the Hudson Bay Company and the North West Company until they eventually merged.

Time to move on and tomorrow we head for the capital, Ottawa.

On the road again

‎After almost 5 weeks in one place - longest since leaving home - we are once again mobile, heading east to Prince Edward county, which sort if sticks out into lake Ontario about 100 km east of Toronto. Nice campsite right by one of the bays off the lake, here for a couple of days then head on east to Quebec and Montreal for the weekend.

We made the most of our time in waterloo with visits to Niagara and Toronto, and catching up with Blair and Cheryl, but its not the most interesting of countryside and scenery, and we were getting itch feet‎. Got most of the jobs done that we had been putting off, including redoing the roof seams and seals, just have to wait now until we get a few dry days when it isn't blowing a gale to paint the sealant.

We've decided that Montreal will be as far east as we go this trip, after that we will turn back west to Ottawa and then hit the trans canadian highway across the plains and ‎into the rockies. To go any further east would have meant then doubling back on ourselves as there is only really 1 major road on the canadian side of the st Lawrence, and it's a long way still to the eastern provinces and atlantic coast. Instead, we will pick those areas up on another trip up the us east coast so we can come inland through new York state, vermont and then come back into canada to Quebec city, new Brunswick, Nova Scotia and then loop back round into the us in maine and down the new england coast. 

Niagara Falls - Part 2

Up close and personal. Yesterday we visited the falls again with our friends Blair and Cheryl. This time we did the Journey Behind the Falls. The lift took us down 45 metres through the bedrock to tunnels that lead one third of the way behind the massive sheet of water. The noise was unbelievable as the water thunders down, however, all you can see is spray as it flows so fast. Standing on the lower observation deck, watching approx. 2,800 cubic metres of water thundering over the brink every second, travelling 65kph, was awesome!

Trying to keep the camera lens dry was a bit tricky!

We then did the boat tour (Hornblower Niagara Cruise) that took us to the base of the falls. A lift took us down to the waters edge, and on the way down, the lift attendant said to us all “Are you excited yet?” to which Mark replied “No, not really. It’s only an elevator, I've been in one of these before!” I don’t think the lift attendant was used to British humour!

The boat took us past the American Falls and Bridal Veil Falls

And into the very heart of Horseshoe Falls, although this is the last photo I took  before we got completely drenched!

The power and mist was spectacular, and this is what it looked like from a distance

There was a storm coming, and luckily we made it to shelter before the heavens opened.

The Falls are lit up a night and don’t look real

 

The day ended with a spectacular fireworks display using Horseshoe Falls as a backdrop

We've now been in this part of Canada for just over a month, waiting for the rest of the country to open. Now that it has, we'll be moving on in a few days and continuing our adventure north to Montreal then west to Ottawa and across.

Not quite chippendale

‎Finally finished cutting down the damaged table that we got delivered in california. Managed to keep it almost as long as the original and as wide as possible, and rigged it so that it can work inside as a low coffee table  or outside at the same height as the original as a serving table/sideboard.

There are some visible joints where the sides are made of 3 pieces, but I figured I would probably make more of a mess if them ‎if I tried to cut in some marquetry or something to turn them into a feature.

I bought a very cheap and nasty router and table to do the mortises and tenons, but its mostly been done with handsaw, 1 chisel, second hand block plane and a lot of hand sanding. Even managed to clamp it for gluing with rope twists and tommy bars. So not much more technical than chippendale ‎had, but I have a long long way to go before I can match power tools for accuracy and clean cuts.

It's only really taken me since alabama, as I didn't work on it until then from cutting up the original, and it would have been done sooner if we'd had more dry days‎ since getting to canada.

‎Next project please....

Dogmatic Canadians

‎It's the start of the Victoria day long weekend here in canada (except quebec , who have to be contrary but conveniently have their own holiday that just happens to coincide) , which is considered the unofficial start of summer and time to start camping. So, despite the temperature being in single figures with frost forecast overnight, suddenly the campsite that we have had to ourselves for the past 4 weeks is heaving, and everyone else is sitting around their fire pits in coats, fleeces, hats and gloves. Haven't seen anyone wearing shorts yet, but wouldn't surprise me.

Almost as bad as my old man's annual insistence on starting the BBQ season at easter, even if it meant standing there in the snow holding the tongs. Not that I haven't ruled out ‎the possibility of seeing more snow this spring, given how cold and wet it's been so far

Niagara-on-the-Lake

… is a quaint little town and also Ontario’s most established wine region.

We could just see Toronto on the horizon.

Around 40 years ago, a handful of visionaries came to this fertile stretch of shore at the western edge of Lake Ontario and transplanted the vines that began the wine industry. Around 30 wineries are scattered across the landscape of vineyards, farms and fruit orchards.

We barely scratched the surface and visited 5 wineries in total:

Jackson Triggs Niagara Estates – Established in 1993, it’s one of the largest wineries in the area. Many varieties can be found in the local off-licences, however, the tastings on offer were only available from the winery. The reds we tried were Pinot Noir Grand Reserve 2012 (which we purchased), Pinot Noir Le Clos Jordanne, Delaine Cabernet Merlot and Delaine Syrah. They also make 4 types of ice-wine – Vidal (available in off-licences), Gewürztraminer, Riesling (my favourite) and Cabernet Franc.

Peller Estates – we tried the Rose, Gamay Noir and Meritage (a Bordeaux-style wine which is a blend of Merlot, Cabernet Franc and Cabernet Sauvignon). Nothing really hit the spot and the experience was dull and off-putting. We would have had a better experience in a local supermarket! Needless to say, we didn't buy anything.

Inniskillin Niagara Estate – the first vines were planted in 1974 and harvested in 1977. They are renowned for their icewines and the Vidal is available in most off-licences here. The Riesling left a nice lemon/lime taste on the palate and the Cabernet Franc was strawberry jam in a glass, but far too sweet for me. This winery also make excellent table wines including Pinot Noir Rose and two varieties of Pinot Noir, Merlot Cab Franc, Shiraz Cabernet and Meritage which was definitely to our tastes, and many whites including a Reserve Viognier Botrytis which was extremely yummy and reminiscent of the wines we had in New Zealand.

Reif Estate Winery – One of the founding family wineries in this region opened in 1982. The large 50 acres vineyard produces a complete range of whites, reds and dessert wines. We tried The Magician-Pinot Noir Shiraz as it was a blend we hadn't tried before, but it was a bit sweet for our tastes and the Pinot Noir was OK but a bit thin. The Cabernet Rose however was fresh and nice and dry so we bought a case J

Colaneri Estate Winery –  

A fairly new family owned (Italian) and operated winery, making Italian style wines here in Ontario. This was our last stop and the most enjoyable. Everything we tried was to our tastes (like Langmeil in the Barossa Valley). We tried their Red Blend (Cab Sauvignon, Syrah, Cab Franc and Merlot), Cabernet Sauvignon, Syrah, Pinot Noir, Cabernet Franc and Carposo (made in the traditional “Ripasso” style). Unfortunately we couldn't afford to buy it all so we settled for a mixed case of the Syrah and Carposo.

So, here is our little collection that should keep us going for a week or two J

Boring

‎To steal from Mr Reynolds.

Niagara falls - the horseshoe falls- from the canadian side. Sunshine, blue skies and water mist that is only just above freezing. There is still snow or ice on the banks below the falls and blocks of river ice the size of surfboards ‎are going over every few seconds 

I'm amazed at how clear the water is and how thin the film going over the edge - you can clearly see the rock and lip as the water nearest the walkway us going over. And the noise us impressive ‎.

The highest room of the tallest tower

‎CN tower in Toronto, only window we could find that wasn't facing the sun without paying extra to go in the restaurant, which given we ate our own body weight in lasagne at Blair and Cheryl's last night is really not necessary.

First decent day that we have been able to get into the city, managed to avoid the marathon by sleeping late before driving in - its about 130 km from Waterloo - so making the most of the sunshine by walking round and seeing the view...

New Toys

Unusually for me i had to follow James' method this time round and do some research rather than test rides. Various web reviews rated the Rossignol Experience 88 as one of the best all mountain ski picks for this year, so I had a fair idea that these would be what I would look for, then I went to a local ski shop in Waterloo to see what their recommendation would be and what they had left in stock. First thing they recommended was the Rossis, and they came down a bit on their listed sale price to beat the very few I had found left on the internet, so I snapped them up - got just over 1/3 off the original list price.

I still love my Atomics, not least because they can still keep me ahead of Gary at the bottom of the run, but I know they won't be suitable for the varied terrain over here, and I will have to adapt my skiing style and speed to the conditions, so test rides may not have been the best approach to take. James, Steph and Johnnie all have Rossignol all mountain skis and have got on with them, and I did like the Rossis that I had and broke before the Atomics, so I know they are a good brand and have confidence in their customer support :-) Just doesn't feel right stashing them under the sofa for the next 7 months...

so, to recap:

skis.................✓
winter coats.......✓
snow boots.........✓
snow chains........✓

and I think we are just about ready for a Canadian summer