Visiting Ann

Today I am travelling for the first time by Canadian train I am going north of Toronto to stay with the lovely lady I met on the steps of Casa Loma in Toronto. Union Station is the main station in the city and the main hall is quiet and cathedral-like.

Union Station

The level below is the busy main concourse for GO Trains - Government of Ontario Trains. I buy my ticket and then have to wait here for the information board to display the platform. While I am waiting I buy a cup of tea from the ubiquitous Tim Hortons (always fresh) and join other travellers waiting on a row of chairs. As evidence of Toronto’s multi-cultural population on one side of me is a man originally from Sri Lanka and on the other is a woman originally from South Africa. The man is about in his 60s and his accent is very strong and although I can't understand everything he says, I gather enough to know that in his opinion Sri Lanka is now a very bad place where I will get robbed and all Moslems are criminals. The woman on my other side is about in her 40s. After chatting for a few minutes she tells me she knew before she sat down that I am special and that she is very proud of me. I love the variety of these random chance encounters! Another couple along the line will be on the same train as me and they look out for me when the platform is displayed and I follow them to find the double-decker train, which is clean and spacious and leaves dead on time.

Tim Hortons

GO Train

The journey takes an hour and a half and we pass through various small stations and across flat farm land. Ann runs up the platform to meet me and with Harold, her grandson, we drive to the pretty town of Orillia, which sits between the two lakes of Lake Couchiching and Lake Simco. We go to Ann's house for pizza and plenty of chat, as we get to know each other. Ann and her family moved from Coventry to Camelford during the war and then they emigrated to Canada when she was 17. Harold lives in Nova Scotia and is staying with his grandma for 2 weeks and the two of them have planned to show me Canadian things. We start in the morning with a delicious Canadian breakfast of home-made pancakes, with fresh fruit, crispy bacon and real maple syrup. The syrup is dark and sweet and has a smokey flavour from being boiled over an open fire.

Pancakes and Maple Syrup for Breakfast

Then we set out for a day exploring in and around the town. The humourist Stephen Leacock (1869-1944) lived here in a beautiful house by the lakeside, which is now a museum. His most famous work was 'Sunshine Sketches of a Little Town' which was written about the mythical town of Mariposa – which is based on the town and local characters of Orillia. The hotel proprietor, the bank teller, barber, undertaker etc. are all in there. Leacock starts the book by saying, ‘I don’t know if you know Mariposa. If not, it is of no consequence, for if you know canada at all, you are probably well-aquainted with a dozen towns just like it.’

Stephen Leacock's House

Boat House

Downtown Orillia has a pretty main street, with old shop fronts. Most of the shops and businesses are named to reflect the Leacock connection and we have lunch in an amazing delicatessen, ‘The Mariposa Market’, in an old building with original shop fittings and a wonderful display of celebration cakes.

Downtown Orillia

Jewellers' Shop

Mariposa Market

Dotted along the length of the main street there is a public art installation of 50 chairs that celebrate the 100 year legacy of Stephen Leacock's 'Sunshine Sketches of a Little Town' via the talents of local artists. The chairs all have a Leacock connection, but are all so diferent. I recognise one of the quotes which decorate one chair: 'I am a great believer in luck and I find the harder I work the more of it I have'.

Stephen Leacock Chairs

To help me absorb some First Nations culture we drive out of town to visit the local casino. In Canada all casinos are only allowed on native land. We watch a multi media show which introduces the 7 tribes of the Chippewa First Nation and we chat to a lovely young woman called Nicole, of the Ojibwe First Nation who is working in the gift shop. She is 20 years old and she is very proud of her heritage and culture. She tells me some words from her language and shows me some hand- made crafts of beading and weaving and says that her grandmother can make such things and she hopes to learn those skills from her. She thinks that the Chief should do more to encourage the young people to stay within the reserve and learn their ways.

Casino

Nicole of the Ojibwe Tribe

At the end of the day we are all very hot and we visit the lakeside at Moose Beach to cool down. It is a busy Sunday afternoon in the summer holiday, so there are many families here enjoying the fun waterpark and the small sand beach. Lifeguards patrol an enclosed shallow section of the lake and Ann and I have a swim in the warm lake while Harold plays in the fountains.

Water Park

Me on Moose Beach

The next day the temperature is already 32 degrees by 9.00am, so we decide to have a quiet morning in the cool of the air-conditioned house. It clouds over a bit later and we drive north to visit a small town called Gravenhurst in an area called Muskoka. Here the oldest steamship in North America the RMS Segwun still takes tourists on cruises on Lake Muskoka.

Steam Ship Segwun

By the waterside there is a boat and heritage centre which we visit and I find out that the area has always been a vacation area. Since the 1800s rich tourists arriving by train from Toronto came to stay around the lakes for the whole summer. As the rich tourists required craft of all sorts to make the most of the lakes, a thriving boat-building industry grew up here. In the museum boat house there are beautiful privately owned wooden boats.

Steam Yacht

I stay with Ann for four nights. She has been the most amazing host – generous and kind. Her open heart and trusting spirit brought me to her and we will see each other again for sure, not least because of her Cornish connections. Harold is funny, polite and gentle and maybe I will see him again too, if I get as far east as Nova Scotia.

Ann and Harold

They drop me off at the bus station, with a lovingly-packed lunch, to catch the bus back to Toronto and then onwards to Ottawa and I settle into the journey with my copy of ‘Sunshine Sketches of a Little Town’ and giggle quietly to myself as I read. I really like the story about the annual outing on the lake when the steam ship sinks in six feet of water and all the town's people who go out to the rescue end up getting rescued themselves. And then there is the one about the young bank teller courting the judge's daughter. In it Leacock describes the young women of the town as being very romantic and he writes:

'Don't think they are all dying to get married; because they are not. I don't say they wouldn't take an errant knight, or a buccaneer, or a Hungarian refugee, but for the ordinary marriages of the ordinary people they feel nothing but a pitying disdain. So it is that each one of them in due time marries an enchanted prince and goes to live in one of the little enchanted houses in the lower part of town. I don't know if you know it but you can rent an enchanted house In Mariposa for eight dollars a month, and some of the most completely enchanted are the cheapest. As for the enchanted princes they find them in the strangest places, where you never expected to see them, working - under a spell, you understand - in drug stores and printing offices and even selling things in shops. But to find them you have first to read ever so many novels about Sir Galahad and the Errant Quest and that sort of thing.'

Niagara Falls

I take a tour to Niagara Falls. I am not a real fan of a ‘tour’, but it seems to be the easiest and cheapest way to get there. We travel by bus around one part of Lake Ontario for about an hour and half and there they are, looking exactly as everyone knows they look. It's not the height of the falls, but the width to them hat is so spectacular. The border between the US and Canada runs down the middle of the Niagara Riiver, with the Horseshoe Falls on the Canadian side and the Americans have the American Falls and the Bridal Veil Falls. A cloud of mist rises from the Horseshoe Falls and blows across the viewing area by the visitor centre and falls like rain on the poncho-wearing tourists. Standing at the top of the falls the water is remarkably close and I feel slightly giddy as I watch it rush by at a great rate and then plunge over the edge and disappear.   

Horseshoe Falls

The American Falls

Horseshoe and American Falls

Wet Tourists at the Falls 

Walking a short way along the pavement away from the edge of the falls the mist disappears and the sun is out. The hill behind the falls is dominated by huge, ugly hotels and on the American side hotels and casinos with flashing neon signs can be seen.

Mist from the Falls

Hotels

I have been sitting on the bus next to a young man, Chris, from Florida, who is sight-impaired. He has a long white stick that he sweeps across the ground in front of him as he walks. We queue up with hundreds of others to take the Maid of the Mist boat and as the queue moves forward and progresses quickly down a slope and around barriers, in spite of the considerable amount of information Chris is able to pick up from his stick, I realize how difficult it must be for him to keep up. I ask him if he would like some help and I take his arm. We are issued with long blue ponchos and people laugh as they put them on and the wind makes them flap around them. First the boat goes across the river close to the American Falls. The bottom of the falls is piled with huge boulders that have fallen from the top, as the falls recede upstream. Then we make for the Horseshoe Falls and get remarkably close while the boat bucks and rocks on the churning water. The mist pours down on us like heavy rain and although the ponchos keep us pretty dry, our shoes fill with water. 

Ponchos on the Maid of the Mist

The American Falls and Bridal Falls from the maid of the Mist

The Horseshoe Falls from the Maid of the Mist

After the boat ride Chris and I walk together up the hill from the falls to where there is a garishstreet of theme-park style amusements, bars and restaurants. There are several busy wide roads to cross and although there are visual signals for pedestrians, there are no audio clues for Chris. I help him choose a restaurant for his lunch and he is happy to be left there and to meet back again at the bus. I realize how difficult travelling must be for him and I ma filled with admiration for his bravery and determination.

Niagara's Amusements

The bus then takes us to visit Niagara On The Lake. This is a beautifully-preserved and restored historic town which attracts many tourists. To help maintain the carefully-designed ambiance of the town, tour buses are not allowed to drive through or park here, but must park on the edge of the town. In the wide main street tourists wander up and down enjoying the top end shops and cafes and the beautiful flower displays. There is quite a European feel to the town, as many of the buildings are brick-built. The town was settled by refugees fleeing the American Revolution, but during the war of 1812 between the British and the United States, Niagara on the Lake became a battlefield and was occupied by the Americans for 7 months, before being burned as they retreated. It was re-built in a British classical architectural tradition. The town continued to be a military town and was also an important shipping centre.

Niagara on the Lake

On the way back towards Toronto we stop at a winery for a wine-tasting. Here ice wine is produced, which I have never heard of and I find out that it is produced from grapes which have been frozen on the vine below -10 for 3 consecutive days. This reduces the water content of the grapes and makes a very sweet dessert wine. A 200ml bottle of this wine sells for $35 (about 22 pounds). I also learn that Canada does not export wine, which is something to do with their complicated alcohol laws.

Wine Tasting

Toronto

The plane from Denver to Toronto travels north north west for 3 hours and as we cross various states, from this height the ground below looks pretty much the same all the way – a pattern of flat perfect squares, enclosing smaller circles of green where irrigation allows. We fly across the Mississippi and then Lake Michigan and Lake Huron and when we land at Toronto the ground temperature is 36. I take a public bus and 2 subway trains downtown and the multi-cultural diversity of the city is obvious. The UN says that Toronto is the world's most multi-cultural city, with over half of the inhabitants having been born in another country. It is also Canada’s largest metropolis and has a Gay Pride Festival bigger than the one in San Fransisco’s and a film festival 2nd only to Cannes. By the time I come up from the subway and walk along the street with my backpack to the hostel the temperature feels even hotter.

I find it rather a culture shock to be back in a hostel after the homely comforts of my week with Peggy – back to sharing everything: kitchen, bedroom and bathroom and living out of my rucksack. This hostel is the least homely of the ones I have stayed in in Canada so far. My room has 4 sets of bunk beds arranged in a line, head to toe in a long narrow room and the kitchen is in the basement, with no external light. But the staff are friendly and I am sure I will soon be back into hostel mode.

The next day the weather is slightly cooler, thank goodness and I buy a ticket for the hop-on-hop-off open-topped tourist buses and spend two days sighseeing in the city. Some of the buses are authentic old London buses, with London destinations on the front and the door at the back left-hand corner, which makes getting on and off in a right-hand drive country a health and safety nightmare for the tour guides, who do their best with announcements about the dangers of stepping into the traffic and a strategically-placed traffic cone. The tour also comes with an informative and often corny commentary from the enthusiastic guides. The tour gives me some orientation within the city; time to get off and spend time where I wish and also ideas for other places maybe to explore further another day.

London Bus Tour

Old and new buildings are mixed up with each other all over the city and there is also a lot of construction going on. Buildings of 100 years old cannot be demolished or altered on the outside. This includes extending them upwards. But they have been allowed to sell the space above old buildings to new developers, who then build above and around them, surrounding and sometimes almost engulfing them with newness.

Old and New Buildings

Selling Fresh Air

St Lawrence Market is a lovely old Victorian building with a n excellent permanent market inside.

St Lawrence Market

The Distillery District is a beautifully preserved collection of old brick buildings and brick paved roads, which was a working distillery from until 1990. The site developed from the original sill on the site in 1837. Now the buildings contain a collection of art galleries, performance venues, shops and cafes. I wander around watch a group from day care out for a walk. In the centre of the main open square there is a piano, with the sign, ‘Play me, I’m yours’. A group of woman in sun hats approach and 1 starts to play Chopsticks while the others take photographs.

Distillery

Day Care Walk

Old Truck and Barrels

Street Piano

I buy a cup of coffee and sit outside the café. Several other people occupy tables. Some are tourists and others more local. A group of 3 people at the table on front of me are having a meeting. Listening in I catch words like ‘post-modernism’ and I gather that 2 of them are looking for a director and the other is a director (which is lucky!). After batting around some ideas the director waves his arms around and says, ‘'There's a certain aesthetic I think you guys are leaning towards.'

Creative Meeting

Back on the bus we go through the main downtown area and then out to the north of the city where I get off to see two historic houses.

Old City Hall

Dundas Square

Casa Lomas was built between 1911-14 for Sir Henry Pellat, a self-made man who made his fortune by investing in electricity made at Niagara Falls and bringing it to Toronto. He and his wife only lived in it for 10 years, before his fortune declined and he had to leave.

Casa Loma

Next door, in complete contrast, is an elegant Victorian mansion dating from 1866. It is now a museum. I didn't go in, but I wandered around the garden.

Spandina House

Children in the Orchard

Coming down some steps from the garden I meet a lady sitting on a wall. She looks so pretty in a blue dress and butterflies from the flower bed fly around her head. As we talk I find out she originally comes from Camelford in Cornwall. She lives in a small town north of the city and invites me to visit her there and we arrange that I will catch a train there on Saturday. I am frequently ovewhelmed by people's openess and generosity of spirit.

I next get of the bus at the Art Gallery of Ontario. The building is again a fusion of old and new. A Frank Gerry-designed geometric structure of aluminum and glass leans into the old sandstone gallery.

Art Gallery of Ontario

I eat my lunch in a small park behind the gallery and watch a group of chlldren who are taking part in some holiday activity programme. They are all identified by their Asian looks and bright yellow T shirts.

Children in the Park

I walk along a street in China Town and then to Kensington, where there are market stalls and shops that spill out of old town houses onto the pavement. I come to one that I instantly love, with bubbles blowing into the street called ‘Dancing Days’. It sells ethic clothing and other things like lamp shades and wall hangings. I like the quote on one hanging apparently from Albert Einstein:

'Imagination is more important than knowledge. Knowledge is limited, imagination encircles the world.'

I talk to the lovely French lady who designs some of the clothes. I try on two wrap-around silk skirts and because I love everything about the shop, her and the skirts I cannot decide between them and buy them both! Such impulsive shopping behaviour is very out-of-character for me on this trip; but it feels good. Maybe it is connected to a feeling that when I get home all my aweful travelling clothes are going in the bin and I am ever after only going to wear silly, pretty, frilly things!

China Town

Kensington

Shop Keeper/Designer

The CN Tower can be seen from many parts of the city. I intend to go up it on the first day, but I have left it until the afternoon and the queue is about 2 hours long. I make the tower my first destination on my second day and beat the crowds this time.  The tower is 553m high and was the highest tower in the world between 1976 and 2010 and then it was beaten by one in Dubai, which is 276m taller!

CN Tower

Views from the Tower

As well as the usual 360 degree observation deck there is a section with a glass floor. Although I have pretty much conquered my fear of heights I can do without standing on this.

Glass Floor

Next to the tower is the Sky Dome sports stadium. It has a retractable roof. On the side is a gargoyle-type sculpture depicting an audience at a baseball game.

Sky Dome

The waterfront is a lively place with a gallery of modern art, which is free to go in and also an exhibition of photographs relating to Toronto Harbour outside on the promenade.

Photographic Exhibition

I take a boat trip across the harbour and around the small islands just off the shore. I always like to get a view of a city from the water.

Boat Trip

Toronto from the Water

Walking back from the bus to the hostel I go through St James Park, by the side of St James cathedral. It is a tranquil oasis within the city. A woman sleeps on the grass, lying under her coat with her bags beside her and a man scatters seed to feed the pigeons.

St James Park

St James Cathedral