Distillery
Hello From Toronto – Part 5 – Novice Golf, through the Kawarthas, a small Off-Road Mountain-Biking
It is amazing how you can just nine days fly by. Today my brother, sister-in-law and our two Austrian friends are scheduled to fly back to Graz, Austria, via Vienna. There was a sense increasingly palpable air of sentimentality in the light of the fact that this wonderful time is coming to an end alarmingly quickly.
It is also amazing how many activities one is able to put in a short period of time. I really wanted to give them a taste of what I like about the city of Toronto and my new country. So occasionally I put a few things that many of our dishes and we ended up running through some of the activities. In all good, I think our customers in Europe had a fabulous time and fell in love with Toronto, like me, many years ago.
Saturday all six of us went to play golf a little par-3 golf courses in the East End of Toronto. None of my Austrian guests had golfer ever, so a couple of days before we start with a few buckets of balls on the practice field, monitored by an indoor practice session to place the carpet. Saturday would have the opportunity to try the real thing. Attempts on the practice field does not seem so great, with balls spraying all over the place, left and right. But on the afternoon of Saturday, a beautiful day, the four guests from Austria performed quite admirably and only lost two balls in the water hazard.
They really enjoyed golf, a sport he had never dreamed of playing, but the Toronto area with their course of several hundred courses, many of them at a reasonable price, made it easy to give this sport a chance. All the preconceived notions about golf is a sport only for older people went out the window and enjoyed the challenge of trying to sink the round little ball in the hole.
Sunday came our second big excursion: a tour by car through the Kawartha Lakes. I had planned two major driving tours: a wine tasting trip through the Niagara peninsula, and a second in the lake district of the Kawarthas. We started by driving east on Toronto 401, a 12-16 road lanes, the size duly impressed my European visitors. Then we headed north-east through rolling farm in Peterborough, a rural university town with a population of about 70,000. From there we headed north into the Kawarthas, a gorgeous lake region set in the rocky landscape of the Canadian Shield.
Our first stop was Buckhorn, where we saw the mechanics of lift locks Canal Trent-Severn joining Lake Ontario with Georgian Bay. We saw several boats mounted inside the lock following the opening of the floodgates and the water level is balanced with the level of the lower river. The supervisor of Parks Canada Lock said the whole process for us and in just about 10 minutes for the boats to reach the lowest level.
From Buckhorn we drove through rocky and marshy landscape of the picturesque village of Bobcaygeon where we took a long walk. We had lunch on the seafront of Nice, looking across the marina and boats come in one out of the channel. Particularly our Austrian friends Luis and Isabella love boating and seeing the many houseboats on the Trent-Severn Canal gave them some ideas for future holiday in Canada.
The lunch was delicious and we took a little walk around this charming town, admiring the parks and waterfront picnic ensure excellent access to water. From Bobcaygeon went to another little picturesque country town: Fenelon Falls, whose name comes from a waterfall in the center of the city has been used to generate electricity since the 1870s.
After an important line that picked up some delicious cream cones Kawartha ice milk and a walk to the bridge over the falls and then the small peninsula that juts into the river. " From there you can look into a rocky gorge where both sides of the river are surrounded by high rocks.
Once again, we saw boats are ups and downs, this time in lock 33 of the System Trent-Severn Canal. This is another town with a beautiful little park right by the locks with lots of opportunity for barbeques or just relaxing in a repeat the sun. Time flew by and then it was 15:30 so we had to start our return to the city. It only took back roads and my brother lost count of the many golf courses dotting the landscape. It was a nice relaxing walk through fields and made it back to Toronto in less than two hours. All four of my Austrian guests had fallen love with the Lake District and the prospect of another vacation in Canada to explore the waters north of Toronto seems ever more likely.
Yesterday was his last full day in Toronto, and we took our bikes for a ride once again. Since we love all the water he rode down the Eastern Beaches again, and explore safely shoreline. We saw some bowls, and one of the participants kept coming to us to explain the rules of the game for us, since none of us was familiar with this sport. My guests commented several times on the friendliness of the people in shops, restaurants, alignments and even I was surprised by the proximity of Toronto, often known as a quieter race of people. But in truth still had very positive experiences, grass footing with those employed in services, as well as ordinary citizens, taking a walk, play a game of bowling or go for a walk with your dog.
Of course we admire the inukshuks on the beach, a public playground for adults with rocks of different shapes and sizes that are used by passers-by to create interesting stone sculptures. We saw some tense points in the Kew Gardens Tennis Club, and had gone to the picturesque Kew Gardens park itself. From there we headed west through the facilities of volleyball beach west of the small peninsula Ashbridge Bay which always offers a fabulous view over the skyline of Toronto. We take in the tranquil atmosphere and soaked in the sun for a while before start our return back along the promenade. My European visitors commented several times how incredible it is to have all this right of public access land along the waterfront and how in some remote places that do not realize that it is in a large metropolitan area.
To obtain a copy security to our house we had to climb back up from the dock and this time we chose the Glen Stewart Ravine, where a small stream has carved a valley on the slopes leading to the coast. It is a densely wooded area when there feels like being in a remote forest somewhere, not just in downtown Toronto.
Once back in our house, started preparing for our final farewell BBQ and had invited a group of friends extra for us to offer our customers Austrian house bounce right back. We enjoyed excellent food and shows a few varieties of Canadian wines and beers, all of whom had very favorably commented upon. Do not sample much restaurant cuisine since my brother is a talented chef, but the fresh ingredients that he purchased in several markets in Toronto has made for some really delicious food.
In the evening we took a further twist in the car, first to review the Distillery District at night. Luis had wanted to buy some beer glasses at the Mill Street Brewery as a souvenir, but unfortunately the brewery and restaurant were closed. The whole area was a small distillery and quiet, it is not surprising, since it was Labor Day, the last official day of summer, and the last day of respite before school would start again. We continued our driving tour with a walk around downtown and up Yonge Street before we turned east on Bloor Street. We crossed the Bloor Street Viaduct and came to the Danforth Greek area of Toronto. As always, Greektown was quite busy and people were milling. We sat in the courtyard of one of our favorite restaurants enjoyed some Greek snacks before we headed home after another long day, we all a little sad, commenting how nine days can pass so fast.
Today we are going to have to take their four rented bicycles back and around 2:30, we will begin the walk towards the airport. It's been a fabulous 9 days, an extended sleepover with four great people and we will not forget this holiday long, long time. We're hoping for another reunion, either in Austria or back here in Canada, to deepen this fabulous connection.
About the Author
Susanne Pacher is the publisher of Travel and Transitions (
http://www.travelandtransitions.com
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New Life in Old Buildings: Distillery District, Toronto – Ontario, Canada