Toronto, Canada – A Great Getaway

Toronto is a big city. If you’re the kind of traveler who loves cities, you should visit Toronto. It sits on the tip of Lake Ontario, the eastern most of the Great Lakes of North America. While the city is large, the sights you’ll probably want to see are centered fairly close around the Harbourfront.

It’s a lively, multicultural city. About half of its citizens were born outside of Canada. Waves of immigration from Europe, Latin America, Asia and the Caribbean have created an interesting patchwork of ethnic neighborhoods to explore.

Start with the CN Tower. It was at one time the world’s tallest building. It still offers spectacular views over the city from the Lookout Level or the Sky Pod. They even say that on a clear day you can see all the way to Niagara Falls! If you have nerves of steel you might want to see the view from the Glass Floor which is a mere 342 meters above the ground — that’s 148 floors if you look down! There is a cafe and a restaurant in the tower. The tower is in the heart of the Toronto Entertainment District.

Want to know about some of the neighborhoods to visit? The Distillery Historic District is a pedestrian only neighborhood full of heritage architecture. There are art galleries and boutiques here and plenty of places to eat. St. Lawrence Market is close by with lots of specialty merchants. The Chinatown is the second largest in North America. All are within a few blocks of each other and the Harbourfront.

A few blocks inland from the lake you can find Casa Loma, a castle-like mansion on a hill in the middle of the city. It was built in the early 1900s for a Canadian tycoon. Today it is owned by the city. Its gardens are open to visitors, and you can take self-guided tours with audio guides in several languages.

Canadians are hockey fans, so you should visit the Hockey Hall of Fame. It’s more than a museum. It does house hockey’s most precious artifacts and provides a home for the Stanley Cup, but it has interactive exhibits, a replica of a dressing room and rink, and state of the art games.

Go to a game, any game. The Maple Leafs are the National Hockey League team. They also have the Marlies which are an American Hockey League team.

Like other sports? We went to see a Blue Jays baseball game. My hubby likes baseball, so we try to see different baseball stadiums when we travel. That gets you out of the museum circuit. Inquire about the sport of your choice or check local city magazines.

If shopping is your thing more than sports, visit the Eaton Center. It’s one of the city’s top tourist draws. This mall has interesting architecture as well as hundreds of stores.

There’s also the Royal Ontario Museum, Ontario Science Center, and the Zoo. And if you really get tired of the city, you can take a day trip to Niagara Falls if you want or you can use Toronto as a start off point for a longer visit to Niagara Falls and Niagara-on-the-Lake.

The summer days are long and warm. Spring and Fall are nice seasons to visit. Winters get cold, so I say visits then are only for the hardy. Whether you want to shop or see sports or just explore the city, Toronto makes for a great get away.

Armchair Travel Or Real Travel?

Would you prefer armchair travel, as opposed to actually being out on the road? We have several friends who love to hear about our trips, but they tell us that they’d never like to go “there”. And it just doesn’t seem to matter where “there” is.

We prefer to go and see things for ourselves. All of your senses are challenged: smell, taste, feel. It’s not just seeing things. You can read that a rain forest and its animals are beautiful or amazing or choose your own adjective. But, until you’ve scrambled through a jungle, it’s hard to appreciate how it smells, how you feel the humidity, how your legs feel after a day of hiking.

We like the excitement of finding our own way and making ourselves understood by the local people, but we realize that not everyone likes that. They don’t think of travel as exciting; they think of it as going from one tense moment to another. So what we hope is that our descriptions and our little travel stories help to paint a picture of our destinations for you.

We know that there may be some of you who are reluctant to travel. There may also be some of you who can’t. Maybe you used to, but you can’t get around so well anymore. Or you’re busy raising a family. Others can’t travel because of health or physical limitations. Or maybe travel just doesn’t fit in your budget. We still think it’s important to learn about the world outside of the nightly news headlines.

In today’s world of technology, you can learn about the world on TV or the internet. You can sample foods from around the world almost anywhere. While you may sacrifice a bit on the smell and feel side, if you’re more comfortable with armchair travel, we want to add to your TV and internet experience.

I think the most successful travel shows are the ones whose hosts have become your friends through watching their adventures. We have some favorite travel shows, and that’s how we feel. I think it’s more exciting to hear about an exotic location from someone you “know”, someone you’ve learned to trust, rather than just watching a narrated travel show on TV or reading a travel magazine.

Hopefully, as you keep up with our travels on this website, you feel like you’re getting to know us, that we’re your friends. We’ve always enjoyed helping our friends travel either in person or vicariously though our stories and pictures. So we’d be honored if you could sit back and be an armchair traveler with us.

Let us take you on vicarious adventures. We’ll try to paint pictures for you in words and the occasional photo.

If you’re just reluctant to travel, let me just warn you, if you read enough stories, you might get over your reluctance and get the travel bug yourself! If you just can’t travel, you’re more than welcome to come along with us vicariously. We hope you have happy travels with us as armchair travelers.

The Wines Of Nova Scotia

The Bay of Fundy tides called us to Nova Scotia, but we also wanted to try Nova Scotia Wines. Would it come as a surprise to you that there are six distinct wine growing regions in Nova Scotia?

We’re not talking Italy or California, though its longitude of 44 degrees north is about the same as Bordeaux, France which is also 44 degrees north. Not a bad wine growing area to be compared to – so why not wines in Nova Scotia?

They produce grapes that grow well in this maritime climate. Marechal Foch, DeChaunac, Baco Noir, Leon Millot, Seyval Blanc and L’Acadie Blanc. Never heard of most of those varietals? Neither had we until we visited and tasted. They also grow nice Muscats, Chardonnays, and Pinot Noirs.

Our first introduction to Nova Scotia wines came in Lunenburg, the first town where we stopped for the night. The innkeeper at our B&B recommended a Domaine de Grand Pre L’Acadie Blanc. We had it with a wonderful seafood dinner overlooking the town wharf. Great dinner. Great wine!

Most of the white wines we tried go well with the wonderful sea food you’ll find. That gives it a moderate climate and good seafood. Nova Scotia is in one of the cooler climate ranges for growing wine grapes, but it has a long tradition for growing grapes going back to the 1600s.

The wine growing areas are in protected valleys and on sheltered hillsides. They are suited to growing cool climate grapes thanks to the long fall season and to the temperature moderating maritime influence.

The wine growing district of the Malagash Penninsula is in northeast Nova Scotia where you’ll find Jost Vineyards.

The tides of the Bay of Fundy had us spending a few days in the Annapolis Valley, so we tasted at Domaine de Grand Pre. Grand Pre is the oldest operating vineyard in Nova Scotia. They have a great tasting room and a nice restaurant.

We also tasted at Sainte-Famille Wines; a small family run winery with good wines and a nice little gift shop. There are a couple of other wineries in the area.

The LaHave River Valley district is on the Southern Shores with a couple of wineries near Lunenburg. There is also a small district in the Bear River Valley on the South West Coast. You can visit the Wines of Nova Scotia website for more information.

Several of these wineries make great Ice Wines. As you can imagine, the climate is good for this style of wine too.

One word of warning for wine lovers: some of the wineries only make fruit wines like berry wine, so if you’re wanting wine from grapes, check first. Especially if there is a tasting fee. We have nothing against fruit wines, but you have to know what you’re getting into.

We found tasting Nova Scotia wines was a great addition to the whole trip. We discovered some new favorites to share with our wine loving buddies at home. Go taste some for yourself and see what you think.

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Explore Nova Scotia In Canada

Friends told us we really should go to Nova Scotia. They had so much fun there. Beautiful scenery, cute bed-and-breakfast places, great food and interesting history. We didn’t need much convincing. We already knew we wanted to see the Bay of Fundy with its tides.

We like to get friends’ recommendations when we travel. That’s why we like passing recommendations to you. They gave us tips for a great driving circle to get a taste for Nova Scotia.

So taking our friends advice, we got on the road immediately, saving Halifax for the end. We got a rental car and headed about an hour south east to Lunenburg.

Really, there are any number of cute small coastal towns along this South Shore region, but Lunenburg was a good choice. Turns out it is a UNESCO World Heritage Town. There’s a historic waterfront with a Fisheries Museum, and old sailing ships and lots of seafood restaurants. There are no worries about places to stay from small hotels to B&Bs.

You could easily spend a day or two in this area. When we left Lunenburg, we cut across the peninsula to the town of Annapolis Royal.

Annapolis Royal calls itself the birthplace of Canada, and it does have lots of history. It was founded in 1603. You can visit Fort Anne which was built in 1703. It’s a typical “star fort” with cannons facing out toward the sea. You can wander the embankments, and some of the original buildings are available for tours.

Among other attractions, Annapolis Royal has the oldest cemetery in Canada, the Garrison Cemetery is next to Fort Anne. Take a night time tour of the cemetery. Our friends recommended this too. We almost ignored them on this one, but we’re glad we didn’t. You’ll learn a lot on that lantern light tour.

A nearby attraction is Port-Royal National Historic Site. It represents an early French colony. Learn a bit about the Acadians and Canadian history. This reconstruction of early 17th century buildings is across a causeway where there is a power plant which uses the tides of the Bay of Fundy to generate electricity.

We drove north to Wolfville and Grand Pre. This is the area we stayed in to see the tides on the Bay of Fundy. There is the Grand Pre National Historic Site of Canada here. It a Commemorative Site about the deportation of the Acadians from Canada, The “Grand Derangement”.

Grand Pre is also where we had a great time doing a little wine tasting.

Wine tasting in Canada? Yes, indeed. The Domaine de Grand Pre had a great tasting, and we had a nice lunch there. We also had nice tastings at other small wineries in the area.

Making our way back toward Halifax we stayed at the Inn on the Lake. It’s only about 30 minutes from Halifax, so you can easily visit and tour town and still stay in the countryside. This hotel is also close to the airport, so it makes for an easy departure. That’s a great little driving loop our friends told us about, don’t you think? We’re happy to pass it along.

Brush Up On Your History At Aachen In Germany

Aachen is a city in Germany that might not be on your vacation top ten list, but it’s definitely worth a night’s stop if you’re driving through that part of Germany. It’s located about as far west as you can go in Germany. You’re right on the border of Belgium and the Netherlands.

Road trips can open up whole new areas that turn out to be well worth seeing. We were actually heading toward Paris, but wanted to break up a long drive. Friends told us that Aachen was a town that was worth seeing, so we stopped early enough that we could wander into the Old Town and see what it was all about.

So do you remember reading about Charlemagne in your history books? He was first crowned King of the Franks and the Lombards in medieval times, in about 774. He was eventually crowned Emperor of the Romans in 800 AD starting a line of succession in what would become known as Holy Roman Empire.

He never really took the title, but he is considered the first Holy Roman Emperor. No, we didn’t learn all of this in our history books. We learned it in Aachen. The tourist board has a great little brochure that will lead you to all of the important sites that you should see relating to Charlemagne in Aachen.

Turns out that this pretty little town with its thermal hot springs became a major political center of his empire, and he was buried here when he died in 814 AD. So we’re talking about a really historic and old town!

The King’s Palace no longer exists, but the church that Charlemagne had built in 805 AD still stands and the Cathedral is a UNESCO World Heritage Site. There are all kinds of treasures to see inside, including Charlemagne’s throne. The Palace Chapel, the octagonal chapel in the Cathedral, was part of Charlemagne’s palace.

Charlemagne called it the Church of St. Mary, and he was entombed here. His original tomb has been lost. Supposedly he was moved into the Golden Shrine that is still in the Cathedral. Later there were reliquaries made to display some of his bones, and those are kept in the Treasury.

In the Cathedral Treasury, around the corner from the Cathedral, you can see the Golden Arm Reliquary – a giant arm and hand that has Charlemagne’s arm bone in it. The Treasury is worth a visit as there are other religious treasures to see.

Because Charlemagne was buried here, most kings of Germany or the Holy Roman Empire were crowned here over the next several centuries.

The 14th century city hall or Rathaus lies between the market square, the Markt, and the Cathedral. It was built on the foundations of Charlemagne’s palace and within some of its surviving walls. Kings of Germany held their coronation banquets in the Coronation Hall of the Rathaus.

Try to stop on a Tuesday or Thursday morning where there is still a fantastic market in the Markt square in front of the Rathaus. The flowers, fruits and vegetables look so artistic in these markets. The cheeses and sausages call to you.

There are a number of hotels right in the Old Town, and lots of restaurants scattered around the pedestrian streets.

Road trips can yield unexpected surprises. Brushing up on our history and learning about Charlemagne in Aachen was one of those surprises. So go ahead and stop for the night.

Different Methods Of Packing

If you pack efficiently, you’ll get more in, but how do you do that? What packing method should you use?

We think all travelers develop their own packing method over time. You begin to see what works for you, and you get better and better at it as you travel more.

We’ve heard repeatedly that rolling your clothes is the best way to keep them from wrinkling. But, it’s never worked for us. Maybe it’s the way we roll them. Our backpacker friends swear by this. For big items like pants, skirts, shirts, blouses, and sweaters, lay your item face down. Fold the sleeves back, get everything pretty flat and then roll the item up from the bottom.

Frankly the times I’ve used this method, I’ve managed to roll wrinkles in. But if you’re using a deep bag like a backpack, it works, and you can find each item pretty easily as you search through the rolls.

Another packing method is to take two or more garments, say two pairs of pants, and put half of one pair on top of the other. Fold the one on the bottom over the pair on the top. Now take the one that has ended up on the bottom and fold it over. This gives each pair some cushion so it isn’t folded as tightly and the theory is that it’s less likely to wrinkle in the folds.

Taking this packing method even further, you can pack all your clothes with a bundle method. In this scenario, you lay all your garments out flat on top of each other. Place something bulky in the middle as a “core”, then fold all of the garments in over each other from the top and sides.

Again, because they’re not folded so tightly wrinkles are less likely. This method works well if you’re going to unpack your suitcases, like on a cruise for instance, but it’s not so good if you’re going to be on the move every day or two.

Some people swear by placing tissue paper or dry-cleaner plastic bags between and around delicate items. It might help some, but when you’re in and out of your suitcase often, as we are, it’s a bit of a pain. The plastic bags became wadded up, and I ended up just throwing them out.

There are also packing systems where you can put stacks of garments in mesh bags or even plastic bags where you can force the air out to make things more compact.

We’ve always just used the fold it and pack it method. It works well for us. We take carry-on luggage, and we move around a lot. We can find the shirts and slacks we need with a minimum of unpacking.

And as for wrinkles? We try to take “non-wrinkle” fabrics, but you know how those work. Our clothes may have a few creases, but we’re traveling. Everyone we meet knows we’re traveling.

And you know what? A few wrinkles really don’t matter. So find your own packing methods something that makes it easy for you, and don’t worry about it. You’ll look fine.

A Case For Traveling Light

When we take friends on our trips, we tell them they must travel light. Just one carry-on suitcase each is our rule. Well, one carry-on and a “personal item.” Just like the airlines!

We’ve had people moan and groan and say, “I just can’t travel that way.” But they do. And when we get home from our trips, they’re usually converted. Now they are telling everybody that the only way to travel is to travel light.

It seems easy to say and hard to do, but it really isn’t that hard. It just takes a little extra thought and planning. We’ve always traveled this way,and I think we’re pretty normal.

The first thing that you have to get over is that deadly “just in case” syndrome. For instance, say there’s a possibility you’ll go to an opera. Suddenly you think you’ll need a dress “just in case”. But do you really need another outfit or can you just dress up something you’re already taking? OK, maybe the opera wasn’t the best choice, but you see what I mean.

Are you worried about wearing the same shirt for ten days straight? No need to worry. Take only four or five shirts and two or three slacks; take things that mix and match to make different combinations. And just remember, you’re traveling, most people will never see you again. People who will be seeing you as you travel, traveling companions for example, will understand and probably even think you’re pretty clever for packing light!

We don’t wear the same clothes everyday, though we do wear the same outfits over and over, making them look different with different combinations of tops and slacks and sweaters. Ladies can take scarves to change the looks of things. Scarves can help when it gets a little chilly out too.

If you’re traveling with carry-on luggage only, you’ll be carrying less of your liquids, creams and gels. Oh no, you’re thinking. “What will I ever do without enough shampoo?” First of all, that 3 ounces or 100 ml will get you through a few days if you’re frugal with the shampoo.

Many hotels provide shampoo. OK, so it’s not your favorite brand bit it will still get your hair clean. And if you still run out, you’ll probably be able to buy it wherever you travel.

Almost any travel guru you listen to will tell you to evaluate what you plan to pack. Are you going to use or wear something often enough to carry it around for your whole trip? If you don’t think you will, leave it out of your suitcase.

One thing that almost all experienced travelers agree on is that you will probably enjoy your trip more if you travel light.

Travel Luggage Options

Travel luggage options run the gamut from backpacks to matched sets of luggage. When you go out to buy luggage, first take into consideration your travel style.

Will you be traveling often or only once in a while. Will you be going first class with all of your luggage handled for you, or will you be handling your own luggage?

The way you travel and the way you pack will help you figure out which travel luggage options are good for you. There are all kinds of bags available.

The most popular bags right now seem to be soft-sided bags, at least they seem to be the most common. Soft bags won’t get dented if you check them and they get thrown around. They absorb the shock better than hard sided ones. And they are more compressible, so you can squeeze them into tight spaces better – like in those overhead bins on the plane.

Soft sided suitcases come in all sizes from carry-on size to “moving day” large. Some of the smaller, carry-on size bags can have an expandable zipper. Generally if you expand those bags, they no longer meet the carry-on size restrictions. They can come with wheels or without. You can also get some with a “zip-off” day pack attachment.

Most of the soft sided bags that you see look like suitcases, but they can also be duffle bags or backpacks.

Some soft-sided suitcases come with straps that can be zipped away and you can wear the suitcase as a backpack if you have to walk from, say, a train station to your hotel. Sort of the best of two worlds.

Duffle bags used to be something that you would only take to the gym. Some of the new ones come with wheels. They can be good if you’re going camping or on a casual trip, but we think they’re hard to pack.

Backpacks are good if you want to go hosteling or if you are going on an adventure trip. Large backpacks will have to be checked, but some smaller ones can be carried on.

We’ve always traveled with hard sided bags. These can protect fragile items packed inside better than soft sided bags, but they don’t flex to pack that extra shirt as easily. Some hard sided bags close with traditional latches, others zip closed.

We do have some travel buddies that have small hard sided bags with zippers to close them, and zippers to expand them like some soft sided bags have.

The bags we like the best are carry-on size, hard sided bags that open in half. We divide our clothes up so we each pack one half of our things in each bag. That way if one bag ever gets lost, we always have enough to get by for several days. The only time we almost lost a bag was when one “walked away” on a trek in India. But it was returned within hours by the Indian Army.

In Australia and most of the world, you are allowed to carry one piece of luggage and a “personal item”. That personal item can and should carry your essentials. Remember that when you fly in some foreign countries, your carry-on limits are lower.

Whatever travel luggage options you choose, we think you should worry less about making a statement with fashion luggage than in finding something that works well on your trip and will last for many trips to come.

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