Canada - Kingston & Thousand Isles

From Toronto, we headed for Ottawa, stopping on the way at Kingston which is located midway between the two. Kingston is in Eastern Ontario, and is located on the eastern end of Lake Ontario, at the beginning of the St. Lawrence River and at the mouth of the Cataraqui River (south end of the Rideau Canal).

Governor General Lord Sydenham chose Kingston as the first capital of the Province of Canada in 1841, this lasted till 1844.

Kingston is nicknamed the "Limestone City" because of the many heritage buildings constructed using local limestone.

We did a cruise to The Thousand Islands. The Thousand Islands are an archipelago of 1,864 islands straddling the Canada–US border in the Saint Lawrence River as it emerges from the northeast corner of Lake Ontario. They extend for about 80 km downstream from Kingston. The Canadian islands are in the province of Ontario and the U.S. islands in the state of New York.

Martello towers were built to guard the entrance of the Rideau Canal to Lake Ontario. Martello tower at the jetty, and cormorants and gulls -

The foliage was starting to change at the end of Sept -

 The old prison

© Liz Price

Canada - Niagara Falls

Whilst staying in Toronto, we did a day trip to Niagara Falls. And when we arrived, the first thing we did was go for a helicopter ride over the falls. I was lucky and got a seat in the front.

After that excitement, we went for a boat ride right up to the falls. The Maid of the Mists now operates only from the US side, whereas Hornblower does the Canadian side. 

We were given thin ponchos to wear but still got thoroughly soaked, especially as the ponchos didn't cover our lower legs or arms. This meant it was impossible to take photos!

The American Falls -

Approaching the Horseshoe Falls -

I didn't get any photos closer to the falls as we got totally soaked from the spray! Looking back at both falls -

Looking down onto the falls -

The town is a bit 'tacky' -

We went on to Niagara on the lake, which is where the Niagara River meets Lake Ontario. It's a real tourist trap and I wasn't enthused by it!

© Liz Price

Canada - Toronto

I had a holiday in Canada and New England in September 2016, primarily to see the autumn colours.
We flew into Toronto. Toronto is in southern Ontario and is Canada’s largest city and financial centre. Toronto is the most populous city in Canada, the provincial capital of Ontario. It is located on the north-western shore of Lake Ontario, one of the 5 Great Lakes. 

The city centre is a forest of skyscrapers. I was really unlucky with the weather.... the evening I arrived there was blue sky and sunshine and I got a good view of the CN tower. The next 2 days there was low cloud and rain and the tower was hidden in cloud. The 1976 tower is 553 m high. Now you see it, now you don't -

Toronto has streetcars, they are similar to trams in places such as Croydon, London -

And there are Greyhound buses which go across the US and Canada -


The snow route signs are up all year, this means it is an area that is cleared by ploughs so don't leave any vehicle here

We stayed at the Chelsea Hotel

This is the main Younge Street -

The old city hall -

and the new one -

Trump International Hotel and Tower -

The CN tower emerges from the cloud -

Unfortunately I got very few good photos of Toronto as the weather was so unkind.