Canada…
Oh Canada. I can now see why they call it that. Simply stunningly beautiful. We flew 'across the pond' as our American friends like to call it on one of those cheepie airlines called Westjet. And can thoroughly recommend them for a great transatlantic crossing.

We are so lucky to have friends there to show us around; so started off
at one of the thousands of lakes just north of Toronto. Called Lake Vernon, quite near a small town named Muskoka. These friends have a cottage overlooking the lake. NOW! When I think of a cottage, I conjure up in my mind something quaint… small... and as we would call it in England 'quite twee'. With roses growing over the beautiful little porched doorway leading into a smallish front room. (or parlour as the Victorians would have called it, with it's little fire place for the winter), with quaint sash windows and their small square panes of glass. A narrow wooden staircase with turned banisters leading up to perhaps two small bedrooms and a bathroom upstairs. All overlooking a tiny, and neatly tended front garden. WELL! The Canadian cottages differ from the British ones in a number of ways. I think the best way to start is by saying that they are absolutely nothing like this at all. Modern… spacious….. five bedroomed…. Probably a similar number of bathrooms… huge picture windows overlooking the lake…. All set on a huge plot of land. Again the views were simply stunning,
but unfortunately we were about two or three weeks too early for the full vista of the leaves changing colour. Something this part of the world is renowned for. No matter. Still, nature there is stunningly beautiful. Our hosts fitted a little life jacket on to their new puppy and took us for a ride on the lake in front of their house. Not a ripple on the water except for ourselves. In fact, we could have been the only people on the planet. Simply nobody around. The powerful speed boat flew across the still waters with the little puppy standing like a mascot at the front. It's ears flapping in the wind as it stood peering forwards. Please click the pic as it turns
into a short video.

We travelled up to the Algonquin National Park. An immensely huge natural park with literally millions of trees and rivers all left as they should be. With many walking trails criss crossing it giving the visitors the true feeling of being in the wilderness. Giant pines and spruces pointing up towards the heavens; all growing along the shallow river banks with crystal clear waters tinkling over small rapids. So many people come here, and yet with the vast amount of
space, you hardly see anyone. You may come across one set of hikers along the path, or see and hear the shouts of kayakers as they call to each other warning about impending rapids. You can easily find where beavers are making their holts, by the sun bleached branches in
the middle of the rivers. Or see where other animals have been scraping the bark off trees; all wonderful; nature in the raw. It's very strange actually, because with all this going on around you, you hardly see any wildlife at all. You hear things, but we didn't see much at all until we happened upon a mother and her two sons aged about eight and ten.

'Shhhhh!', holding her index finger to her lips and pointing with her other hand under a decomposing log. And there we saw it. A small snake that had caught a frog and was in the
process of eating it. Now you often see this sort of thing if you watch any of the nature channels on TV. But this was actually happening right in front of us; about four feet away. Nature in all its glory.

It must have taken well over an hour to walk 'The Whisky Trail,' and I'm so pleased we did. It gave us an insight into the Canadian Wilderness and all its beauty. Hope you like the pictures. Please click on them a they turn into a short video.

Out of the wilderness and tranquility and into Toronto proper. Time to start exploring again. One thing we found with Canadians. They are some of the most helpful people we have come across. We stayed with our rocket scientist, electrical engineer and sail boat owning family
we met back home in St. Maarten. Now, I hear you asking… what could be better than that. Simply wonderful. And again they pointed us in all the right directions and also took us to see things that were not even on our radar. For example, we went to a Pioneer village where
the employees all dress up in authentic costumes and did things in the old fashioned way as the original pioneers would have done. Crafts such as the printing of single sheet newspapers using hand presses; the spinning of wool sheared from local sheep and turning it into thread using a foot powered spinning wheel. Now here's something I found fascinating. In those days, where nothing was ever wasted; if an item of clothing was worn out, it wouldn't just be thrown away No! A person with a loom would cut the garment into strips about an inch wide and as long as could be had. And instead of using traditional wool to make cloth, used these strips instead, on the shuttle; threading the strip of cloth through the strings of the warp.
Actually making beautiful new cloth from the old worn out material. Mind-blowing to watch. Then of course there was the tinsmith making lamps; chimney pipes and all sorts of other everyday household objects using tools that would have been used in their day. Of course
there was a mill where grain would be ground between huge heavy stones. Oh! I could go on and on, but… lets move on to other things.
Sailing. In their beautiful yacht called Dragonfire. And one look at the sails will tell you why. Don't you just love the sails motif?


Toronto is a beautiful and cultured city. And a must for all visitors is to go to what is colloquially called the ROM. The Royal Ontario Museum. And we were so fortunate as they had the Chihuly Exhibition going on. Chihuly? Who or what is Chihuly I hear you asking? Well… he is a man who has dedicated his life to getting together a team of the most professional glass blowing… glass working men and women in the world. Now we've been to the island of Murano in Venice and seen how they do it there. And Murano is one of the worlds best known glass blowing venues. But seeing Chihuly…. And the sheer mastery of his work simply blew my mind. He does nothing small... it's all well over life sized… and colours and textures he is able to create within the glass is just magical. It is honestly so difficult to explain the
sheer majesty of his work so I would ask you to click on the pictures to see how brilliant it is. One of them turns into a short video as well. I'm sure you're going to love it.

Now somehow, we're able to find the quirkiest of things. And yes we did it again. Right in the middle of Toronto as well. And some people I think have taken it just one or two steps too far. Now I've heard of urban gardens because we went to see the Sky Gardens in London, but here in Toronto they've given it an entirely new meaning. Some well meaning Green bought a jalopy of a car... drove it to a psychedelic paint shop and must have said to the owners, 'Just do whatever comes into your mind.' 
The car paint shop owner must have rubbed his hands in Glee.. gone off to smoke a joint... or two... before starting. And while high did this to the car. And all I could say is WOW! Look at that! After it had found a parking place; it was literally filled with earth then planted out. And this is the result. Don't you find it just fascinating that someone can do this?


On to another totally exciting event, the International World Ice Hockey Cup. Pitching nation against nation. Each game having three sessions of what can only be called mayhem. Played at five hundred miles an hour… you have to keep your eyes on the puck, because if the shooter misses the actual the goal, there is a protective thick clear perspex screen behind it stopping this missiled object from hitting a spectator; smashing into this protective screen at ohhh, what seems like a thousand miles an hour. And when it hits, it's an ear shattering BANG! We were fortunate enough to get tickets to watch the USA against the Czech Republic. Two nations that play totally aggressively. Totally antagonistic proponents; a win at any cost is probably the motto of both sides. I've selected two short videos. One showing the aggression, and in the break between the plays, the gorgeous looking girls who come on to sweep the ice. What a change of pace and a great balance to the aggression. Just as a matter of interest, the Czech's beat USA 4 – 3. and the USA team refused point blank to do the gentlemanly thing and shake hands after the game. What BAD sportsmanship!!! Even their own supporters booed them off as they all made their way back to the dressing room. What a brilliant; exhilarating screaming and shouting evening that was.

If you've never been to an aquarium, I can honestly recommend the one here in Toronto. Very close to the CN (Canadian National) Tower in downtown Toronto. Everything is in here; from large Octopi to tiny tiny fish that when you put your hands into the water, they swarm onto you and literally clean, by nibbling all the dead skin off you. It just tickles as you feel them doing this. Nothing sore or anything like that. Sharks... Rays.... and the thing that I found most beautiful were the Jelly Fish. Well, that's what we call them here, but, ... we hear they have a different name. Sea Nettles. Please click on the picture as it turns int a short video. Just such majestic little creatures... and the way the aquarium has done brilliant things with the lighting.


And finally on to Niagara on the Lake. A most beautiful tranquil town really not to far from the actual falls themselves. Streets lined with huge flowering baskets suspended on the street lighting poles; the center islands between the traffic with the most picturesque flower beds; blooms and blossom everywhere. An absolutely beautiful little town. And I think so much better than Niagara itself. We've been to the falls before, no need to go this time. So much more to see and do anyway.

The area is filled with wineries. Wineries I hear you say?… there?… in that cold climate? Up in Canada?… Yes. Because there is what they call a micro-climate in that area making it conducive for grape growing. Naturally we just had to keep trying many of the free tastings as possible. A true joy.

And finally, Dyana heard of a Steam-Punk exhibition taking place at an old English fort called Fort George. Steam-punk? Steam-punk? Yes. You read it correctly. Steam-punk. It's a new, (for me and Dyana). Ohhhh; I'm really not quite sure how to describe it…. Perhaps the best way I can though is like this. Jules Verne, (the Victorian writer of twenty thousand Leagues under the Sea… and Journey to the Centre of the Earth amongst others), meets the twenty first century. BUT… they dress up as the actual the Victorians did.. along with goggles;
helmets; military uniforms of the day; and anything else which is totally weird and wonderful. They also build the most elaborate contraptions which do a completely simple task. This genre just love this period of history, the age of experimentation and the way they dressed. So much to see, and so much to do; BUT… the one booth and person who completely and totally captivated me and my imaginations was the mad English professor!

The mad professor & me

And before you ask, yes, he was an actual professor teaching physics in a university and was born in North London as well! So on with this 'mad Professor who's name was Russel Zeid. What a completely brilliant man. I so wish I could have had him as my science teacher, but alas… not to be.
I think I'm going to name him 'The Contraptionist.' So... on to his inventions. The first being the humble nut cracker. Then there was the automatic acupuncture machine using pins instead of needles. PLEASE please click the pics as they turn into a video where he explains how it works. I've also included a couple of pictures showing how they dress up. And ohh! Another thing is they just love to what we call photo-bomb and get into other peoples photos. So I've
included two pics like this as well. And finally, to show the mastery of their ingenuity… click on the percussion trailer. This could explain what Steam-punk thinking is all about. We just completely loved it.

Next we're off to New York..... on the way back home.

As this will be the last blog before the Holiday season kicks in, can Dyana & I wish everyone a Happy Holiday season and New Year.