Rambling North America

A 182-day adventure by Rambling Bears Read more

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Rambling North America Rambling Bears
Edmonton
October 4, 2017 in Canada ⋅ ⛅ 11 °C
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Edmonton to Winnipeg
October 5, 2017 in Canada ⋅ ☀️ 10 °C
Traindeparture 5 hours. Used to this now. While freight trains have priority, and I do realise this is necessary, the further the passenger trains are from their starting point, the later they will be. I have never seen freight trains like these in Canada. They are looooonnnnngg!
Today prairies as far as the eye can see. Flat, brown and interspersed with lakes Canada, the land of lakes.Read more
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Winnipeg Day 1
October 6, 2017 in Canada ⋅ ☀️ 14 °C
Arrival at the Marlborough Hotel (now being used as bit of a doss house (government sponsored) by the First Nations from the north needing medical, was 5am, a mere 6 hours late. We had managed a few hours sleep,on the train so rather than opting for a sleep we,went straight to bed for just a couple of hours, had a shower, bit of hand washing then down for breakfast.
Our wanders today took us to the Burton Cummings theatre, nice and handy so we went back to the hotel to book tickets for tomorrow night, then back onto the streets again. Lunch at Freshii (the boys here were a bit on the lazy side but our salads were still enjoyable) in the labyrinth beneath Portager and Main then down Main to The Forks Market. Got this place earmarked for some meals over the next couple of days.
The Forks Historical area is at the confluence of the Red and AssiboineRead more
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Winnipeg - Museum of Human Rights
October 7, 2017 in Canada ⋅ ⛅ 16 °C
We are staying in a central position, just a short walk from downtown and all the points of interest. However, getting ourselves onto the correct section of Main Road proved to be a bit of a challenge this morning. Barriers prevent crossing the road at the corner of Portager and Main. Underground pedpaths offer a safer way to cross the intersection. Therein lies the problem. Once underground you have no sense of direction and it is a labyrinth of paths. After 15minutes of failed attempts we rounded the barriers and jaywalked.
To the train station first. A massive station that sees a very small turnover of passengers and rather resembles a mausoleum. Two tickets to Toronto please - the next leg of our journey.
From the station we walked towards the Human Rights Museum, investigating the pedestrian bridge first. The bridge is pretty cool and has a restaurant in the middle.
Onto the Human Rights Museum. A costly endeavour, it is an architectural stunner both inside and out. And as a museum it covers its subject matter with flying colours. It came highly recommended by several people that we have met and we both can understand why.
Our evening entertainment - The New Pornographers supported by the Ruffians. A great night.Read more
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Winnipeg and The Golden Boy
October 8, 2017 in Canada ⋅ ⛅ 11 °C
Last Day in Winnipeg.
Walked down to the river where the last surviving relic of the original settlement here -one on the gate entries of Fort Gary. From there we walked along the riverbank to their Legislative Building. From the river we ascended a stairs that lead to a beautiful fountain and on to the parliament building. On top of the building is The Golden Boy.
Today is Sunday and the day before Thanksgiving Day so parliament was extremely quiet and almost ghostly. The Canadians definitely know how to impressively house their politicians. Lots of marble, impressive staircases and statues.
Back along the river we returned to the The Forks Market for an early dinner, Sri Lankan curry again, a beer and a walk further along the river back to our hotel.
We had extended our stay half a day in the hope that the train would arrive close to the scheduled time of 8.45pm and that would be all we needed. At 6pm we checked the train status and and estimated time had shifted back to mid-night. Off we went to the Regal Beagle, the hotel’s bar, for a drink and relax on their lounges. Sunday night turned out to be karioke night run by a young Philipino, and quite the young character. It was an interesting evening. “Sing me a song pianoman.” The bar was an assortment of lonely hearts and odd bods, regulars who came to have a sing but not necessarily listen to each other.
Another status check and the time was extended to 3am. At midnight we claimed our baggage and headed for the station. We checked in our baggage and headed for some seats for a bit of shut eye.
Goodnight.Read more
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Moving On - Winnipeg to Tronto
October 9, 2017 in Canada ⋅ ⛅ 11 °C
Surprise, surprise! Our train was scheduled for 8.45pm last night and we finally left at 5.30 this morning.
We left the prairies behind and headed out of Manitoba into Ontario and into a new time zone.
The landscape today has been a lot rockier, numerous lakes and heavily forested with pines. The colours are beautiful with dark greens, soft lime greens and gold. The majority of the golds seems to be deciduous pines. I’ll have to google that one - didn’t realise that pines could be deciduous.
From our previous overnight journeys in economy we have learnt to look for four seats that are facing each other as soon as we step into our carriage. Of course it isn’t always possible as many others have the same idea but the trick is not to dawdle on the generally long walk to the economy carriages and bag the prime seats. That is also hoping that enough people got off at that station to make those prime seats available. And yes we jagged them. Why are they prime? All foot rests can be put up to make almost a double bed. So some of the body is still in an upright position but sleeping is so much easier when you can stretch out and get the feet up.
On the Edmonton to Winnipeg leg economy travellers were given the option to dine in the dining car, a privilege normally reserved for the sleeper travellers as it is included in their fare. I guess that when the sleeper section is not full tis option is given. For a very reasonable price a three course meal can be purchased and each meal that we have had so far has been very nice and certainly a cut above the cafeteria options.
Today no one came around before lunch so I went and asked if there was a placement available for two. Nothing ventured, nothing gained. Yes there was and so lunch and dinner was in the dining car. Generally not too many from economy take up the option anyway.Read more
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Last Day on The Canadian
October 10, 2017 in Canada ⋅ ⛅ 21 °C
Today was our last day on this stretch of via rail, The Canadian. Today we continued to travel past lake, after lake - big ones, small ones, wild ones and ones that had the cutest cabins around them with private jetties and some with bathing platforms. The swimming season would be limited but I guess the lakes would make for great swimming on a hot day and the water in the lakes looks amazing, clean and clear. The fall colours are so beautiful but the photos do not do them justice as they are out of the window of a train.
The dining car was running short on food so that option was not offered to us in economy but we were given a free lunch and dinner from our cafeteria due to the lateness of the train, so we can’t complain. We made sure we were down there before the crowds to ensure we could get the vegetarian option.
The train was late when we got on so we had to expect that it would be late arriving in Toronto. And we were not disappointed - instead of 9.45am we alighted at 9 pm.
A quick taxi ride had us at ourAirbnb in Cabbagetown as it is not too far from downtown. Shower time and bed. Looking forward to a decent sleep after the last two nights on the train. We did both sleep but it wasn’t the lap of luxury.Read more
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Sleep, Groceries & Distillery District
October 11, 2017 in Canada ⋅ ☁️ 10 °C
After a well deserved sleep-in we finally dragged ourselves out of bed. Since we arrived late last night the Pantry was bare. Lucky we filled our pockets with biscuits whilst on the train. Breakfast - biscuits and coffee!
Cabbagetown is an historic suburb settled by the Irish when they fled Ireland during the potato famine and our apartment is on the ground floor of a nice semi detached terrace. The owner, Paul, is above and there is a basement apartment below. It is only a short walk down the street to the main road and a choice of grocery markets, a drugstore and other coffee shops delis etc. We chose Cosimos No Frills Grocery and stocked up on breakfast and dinner supplies. it’s the first time we have come across Cosimos and we were impressed. A good range of food at a good price - bit of an Aldi concept I guess.
Once we had stored our goodies we headed down to the Distillery District. By this stage we were both starving, our nutritious breakfast was quickly failing our energy levels. Unable to find anything suitable to stave off the hunger pangs on the walk there, we had to wait until we reached the District. It was a reasonable walk so it was lucky it was easily enough found or we may have faded away to mere shadows of our former selves.
Well we didn’t fade a d with our bellies sated we proceeded to explore.Read more
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Walking, Tickets, Walking, Shoes
October 12, 2017 in Canada ⋅ ☁️ 12 °C
Tram ride into downtown Toronto. First stop, the bus terminal to buy return tickets for Niagara Falls. Forgot to ask for seniors so ended up paying the full rate. Have to try to remember next time as it does make a difference and the difference adds up over time. Down Bay Street to Union Station to reserve our train seats for Ottawa and Montréal.
With our business completed for the day we decided to head up past the old and new city halls, the courthouse, through the university district, past the Royal Ontario Museum to the Bata Shoe Museum.
It was Neil’s choice to go to this museum and an excellent choice. It was different to the other museums that we have been to during our trip, interesting and informative. Another day of learning!Read more
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More Exploring and Walking (of course!)
October 13, 2017 in Canada ⋅ ☁️ 16 °C
Got to love a tram system and the trams in Toronto are regular and efficient. The tram drivers that we have experienced to date have been helpful, informative and oftentimes, hilarious. Well yes we were back on the trams again. Today the aim was to walk the downtown waterfront of Lake Ontario.
First down the shopping area of Yonge and Dundass. Purchased a toasty pair of pants in Uniqlo - bring on the co,d weather, I’m set! Found a Jugo Juice (we have both become rather partial to their juices) got some juices and wraps and that was lunch. Jugo Juice does a berry and basil juice that is delicious! Sounds odd but no ....... delicious!
Bellies full we continued down to the waterfront. The day up till then had been grey but the. sun decided to shine down onus once we reached the water. Like many Harbourfront areas this part of Toronto has been undergoing gentrification. It was a very pleasant walk.Read more
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Trams, Walking and Casa Loma
October 14, 2017 in Canada ⋅ ☁️ 17 °C
Of course we could have caught a tram and a bus to reach the object of today’s exploration but the drivers do not give change and we did not have enough for the two trips so it was a tram to Spadina Street and the long walk up to Casa Loma. All whinging aside, it is an excellent way to see an area and over the last three days we have covered a lot of kms and seen a good cross section of the city. Best way to really see a city too I think.
Casa Loma - amazing. A castle in North America- who’d have thought! The dream of Sir Henry Mill Pellatt, a Canadian financier and soldier known for bringing hydro electricity to Toronto and other cool stuff. Well along came the depression and a whole lot of bad luck. He and his wife only got to live in the dream for 10 years before the council foreclosed on his debt and ousted him. Fortunately the chateau was rescued from ruin and is now a great landmark overlooking the city and also a huuuuge tourist attraction.
The walk back to our tram spot was a lot easier due to it all being downhill this time.Read more
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Tronto to Niagara
October 15, 2017 in Canada ⋅ ☁️ 23 °C
Taxi to the coach terminal, mega bus to Niagara Falls, taxi to our guest house.
First impression of our guesthouse and the area that it is in - not dissimilar to Katoomba.
Of course when we arrive at 2pm we are an an hour early for going up to our room. All right we’ll search out a restaurant for a late lunch or early dinner. The guesthouse is on River Drive, ie. we are right across the road from the river, and a pleasant walk towards the falls.
Eyes right towards the magnificent falls, eyes left up Capitol Hill. OMG, What is that? Niagara Falls, the amusement park - gaudy, kitch, noisy, vulgar, tacky and tasteless. A street dedicated to the crass, like sideshow alley at carnivals. This was the area that had been recommended for us to find somewhere to eat. You think? It was hard but eventually we found an Indian Restaurant that wasn’t too bad.
Back to the guesthouse to settle into our comfortable rooms. Yes rooms, bedroom and sitting room! And bathroom of course.
After dark we headed back down to the falls to see them illuminated. Beautiful! Tomorrow we will explore them properly.
Even the garish Capitol Hill looked passable at night.Read more
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Niagara and Bridal Veil Falls
October 16, 2017 in Canada ⋅ ⛅ 8 °C
Breakfast for our BnB is in the main guesthouse a five minute walk from ours. We filled out our choice for this morning’s cooked option yesterday at checkin. Mine was for vegetarian quiche but the chef got it wrong - so I opted plain crepes and maple syrup instead. A buffet of croissants, berry scones, cherry turnovers and fruits is also available plus juice and coffee. A good start for a day of exploring the beauty of the falls.
Walking of course. The morning started quite cloudy and the temperature was way down from yesterday. Yesterday the wind was strong but the temp got up to 25 degrees. Today the max was 12.
The falls are magnificent. The power and volume of the water coming over the falls is unbelievable. The Horseshoe Falls would be our favourite but the Bridal Veil Falls are pretty special as well.
The walk continues on past the falls, the old electricity power plant (in the most picturesque buildings I have seen for power plants - designed to be in keeping with the beauty of the falls), the Dufferin Islands and on to a Bridge/weir thing. The path did continue on but at this point we decided to turn back.
We dined at The Falls Restaurant, having a beautiful shared meal of butternut squash soup, veggie samosas, marinated veggie and Brie ciabatta and fries. After that we waddled back to our abode.Read more
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The Beautiful Falls Continued
October 16, 2017 in Canada ⋅ ⛅ 8 °C
They are too beautiful for just 10 photos - different at different times of the day!
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Walking, Whrlpools, Falls and Food.
October 17, 2017 in Canada ⋅ ⛅ 14 °C
Last day in Niagara. Got my veggie quiches, 2 small individual ones, for breakfast. They were good with lots of spinach in them. Neil is predictable having veggie omelette again!
We walked in the opposite direction today along the Niagara River to the whirlpools. There was a huge school group there so we saw what we could from the road and didn’t bother with getting the lift down to pathway lower down closer to the waters’ edge.
After another walk back along the river past the falls we decided to take on Capitol Hill again in search for restaurants that we read were in Ferry Street. Because it wasn’t the weekend like the day we arrived Capitol Hill was relatively quiet, still tacky but not in your face.
Found ferry street. There may have been decent restaurants there back in the day, but, I doubt it. The area was tired and run down and did not entice more than a cursory look.
We decided on a restaurant/bar at the top end of Capitol Hill.Read more
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Niagara Falls to Ottawa
October 18, 2017 in Canada ⋅ ⛅ 16 °C
Coach to Ottawa - 2hours, train to Ottawa - 4 and 1/2 hours and quick taxi ride to our Airbnb.
The Via Rail train ride to Ottawa was a totally different experience to our ride on The Canadian. The. carriages are updated ones, there were no stops for freight trains with the train rocketing along the tracks at a great pace.
We had hoped to get something to eat before we boarded the train but had been unable to find vegetarian at the station but so glad we hadn’t. We bought a vegetarian plate each on the train and it filled the empty spot beautifully - carrots, capsicum, tomatoes, hummus, whole grain crackers, trail mix and cheese.
The countryside between Toronto and Ottawa was undulating green farmlands, grazing cattle and veggie crops dotted by small country towns.
When we arrived at our apartment we were unable to unlock the door and thought that perhaps we needed two keys instead of the one we were given. After a spell wandering around wondering what to do as Richard, our Hirt, was at an award ceremony for a neighbour, Neil had another go. Et voila! We were in!Read more
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Groceries and Wandering the Hood
October 19, 2017 in Canada ⋅ ⛅ 15 °C
No sleep in this morning. The roofers were banging around on the roof as soon as it was daylight.
Love Airbnb as it gives us the chance of cooking for ourselves and having our kind of meals. Also love google maps. A quick search and you have the closest supermarkets listed. Today it was Loblaws for the groceries.
Once the goodies were all packed away we returned to the streets. Once again we are staying in a lovely neighbourhood filled with older historic houses. The trees lining the streets are sporting their fall hues and look amazing. We headed towards the Byward Market and it’s surrounds for a light lunch before returning to the apartment and an early dinner Thai green veggie curry. Yum!Read more
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Autumn Leaves and Statues
October 20, 2017 in Canada ⋅ 🌙 12 °C
What can I say? I love the fall colours of the countries that experience a real fall. And Canada is right up there. The locals say that the co,ours are not as special as they could be it hey I am not complaining.
The street right outside our house is a good starting point.
The city is decorated with statues just about everywhere, historical figures or abstract art all were interesting.Read more
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A Beautiful Day - Beautiful Ottawa
October 20, 2017 in Canada ⋅ ☀️ 14 °C
Today was an amazing day. The sun was shining, there wasn’t a cloud in the sky and the wind had dropped. It was too nice to spend too much time inside so we walked and walked and walked. Our feet rarely get tired during our wandering but both of us were glad to put them up when we reached home. Distances on a map can be a lot different to reality, especially when you don’t know the area at all!
Ottawa is a beautiful city. The plan today was to see Parliament Hill which we did but we were unable to tour Parliament itself because all the tour for today were booked out. So should we walk on to the War Museum or enjoy our day in the sun. Strolling in the sun won out!
Parliament Hill, the statues in the surrounds, along the river, over the Rideau Canal, through Majors Park, off to lunch, Notre Dame Basilica, Nepean Point, over Alexandra Bridge, along Parc Jacques-Cartier, over MacDonald-Cartier Bridge and on and on till we reached our abode. Did I mention sore feet?
We covered a lot of territory, lunched at The Peace Garden, yum, and did I mention the tired feet.
This first set of photos is of the Rideau Canal and Parliament Hill.Read more
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Take Me To the River - Ottawa River
October 20, 2017 in Canada ⋅ ☀️ 14 °C
As the name suggests set 2 for today is river shots.
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The War Museum, Ottawa
October 21, 2017 in Canada ⋅ ⛅ 18 °C
Blessed by the weather we are! Sunny skies again, no wind and a high of 22 degrees.
We walked past Parliament Hill, the Supreme Court The Supreme Court of Canada and onwards down to the War Museum where we spent the next 5 hours. The building itself is a very modern structure with a massive open lobby. The impression walking in was that it had few people there today and that you needed to be quiet. It just had that kind of sssshhhh feel!
A healthy snack in their cafeteria first - chips, tomato sauce and mustard to share and fruity mineral water.
The museum wasn’t empty. Once into the exhibition area we realised that it was actually very busy. The exhibitions began with the Canadian history of war - the First Nations, the French, the British and the Americans, their wars against each other, alliances etc - the history of the formation of Canada.
From there the different sections dealt with Canada’s involvement in war and peace keeping from the Boer Wars to present time.
So well done, so informative! A day well spent.Read more
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Rideau Canal and The museum of Nature
October 22, 2017 in Canada ⋅ ⛅ 18 °C
Blessed! Another beautiful day!
Today was going to be a relatively restful day. A stroll along the Rideau Canal and a spot of lunch somewhere. No real plans.
Stroll along the canal we did. In winter a stretch of the canal becomes a loooong skating rink. Would love to see that!
Then Noel needed the loo. I knew we were somewhere near the Nature Museum and suggested we go there. We had no intention of going through the museum as we have already done a degree of that sort of thing since we have been away but the loos were past the ticket booth, they had a cafe (lunch sorted) and I like nature museums anyway.
Great cafe, great museum and the loos weren’t too bad either.
Still a restful day but perhaps we longer than we had intended.
Spoke to Selina in the museum and rang her back after dinner . She and Mike head home tonight.Read more
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Tour of Parliament House in French!
October 23, 2017 in Canada ⋅ ⛅ 18 °C
Sunny Day!
Got the tour of Parliament House but all English tours were booked so we took the French tour. Time to polish up the high school French.
We had over an hour before the tour so we got a pass to do the a Peace Tower first. Amazing views of the city from the top. The tower also houses the carillon. On the way to the top you glimpse the bells through the lift door windows. They are massive. Still, time to kill and the House of Commons were in debate so we sat in on that for a while. Not too many members of the government were present as the opposition were haranguing the finance minister. He wasn’t there either but he has been a naughty boy and his number is up.
Then the tour. Okay, we didn’t understand all of the French conversation of our tour guide, but we managed to get the gist.
After the tour it was time for a late lunch then home. Our last night in Ottawa.Read more
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Ottawa to Montreal
October 24, 2017 in Canada ⋅ ⛅ 22 °C
Our spate of fantastic weather ended last night. Rain overnight, easing off by mid-day for us to get into the station without any trouble. Richard was a gem and gave us an extra hour at the apartment and drove us down to the station.
Four hour journey to Montreal and short taxi tip to our apartment. It was raining quite heavily when we arrived and we decided not to go out today for groceries but to stay dry. Neil has hurt his back getting the suitcases out of the taxi. Best to rest. Hope all is OK tomorrow.
The apartment is in a great location in the middle of the downtown area in a block of apartments. It’s compact and quite nice but not as well equipped as we’ve become used to and also not quite as clean as I would have preferred. That has been rectified with a bit of elbow grease.Read more
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Montreal - Day 1 - Parc Mont Royal
October 25, 2017 in Canada ⋅ ⛅ 14 °C
After the heavy rain last night we were not too sure what to expect of the weather this morning. The skies started our grey but it was warm enough. And after the extreme heat in our apartment it was nice to get outside
Okay. Same old, same old - we arrive in a new Airbnb and we need to get groceries. Breakfast first as all we had with us was tea and sugar and we have the reliable Tim Horton’s just around the corner. It’s a typical chain cafe but they do have coffee and reasonable muffins and at first exploration of our new surrounds we are not aware of what we have around us.
Breakfast and groceries done and dusted, with the skies now a glorious blue, we decided that we needed some fresh air and a nice walk among the trees. Parc Mont Royal is an easy walk from the apartment and described as Montreal’s answer to New York’s Central Park so we decided to go and investigate it. In a few more weeks all the autumnal leaves will be gone and the trees bare but at the moment the colours..........what can I say. I love fall!!!! And as for Mont Royal Park - beautiful. Bike paths, shared paths walking paths all winding up the hill to Chateau and Chalet Mont Royal, and the cross. We wanted to see the views from the chalet so did not venture to either the chateau or the cross. The views from the chalet were nothing short of spectacular. I have not been to Central Park as yet but Mont Royal is a pretty special park for any city to have in the middle of it. And who should we see in a painting far larger than life on the side of a building - the late, great Leonard Cohen!Read more
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