This will be the 4th time I've written about Niagara-on-the-Lake so I'm running out of things to say about it, except that it's very nice and my dear auntie lives there. Here is a picture of me chewing the fat with a local goose.
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| Chewing the fat. But not goose fat. |
Happy to say my sister Roberta joined us this time. Here she is with Jackie, blocking a nice view of Lake Ontario.
Roberta also enjoys a parkrun, so here's the obligatory photo of us in a parkrun photo frame.
My sister also surprised everyone by hopping on the back of friendly neighbour Peter's bike and disappearing for the best part of two hours.
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| Me, The Stig, Jackie and Peter |
Jackie very kindly treated my sister and me to a couple of days away in a cottage on the other side of Lake Ontario. The cottage was on the shore of Bob's Lake (no idea who Bob is) and while it was a long drive to get there, the scenery definitely made it all worth while. Here's me kayaking on Bob's Lake.
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| The mad photo editing skillz are courtesy of my aunt. I'm genuinely impressed! |
Here's my latest submission to National Geographic that they sent back. Bob's Lake at night.
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On the Friday, we leapt out of bed early (well 10am), to drive down to Thousand Islands (of Thousand Islands Dressing fame). First, we had a wander around Gananoque and admired whatever this building was.
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| It might have been the town hall. I should really have paid closer attention. |
Unsurprisingly, Thousand Islands has a lot of islands (1,864 to be precise). The highlight of the day was hopping on a boat and sailing (well, motoring) down the St Lawrence river and getting a closer look at some of them (there was actually an "audio tour" which became inaudible whenever we picked up speed).
One of the most impressive islands boasts Boldt Castle, built by George Boldt, proprietor of the Waldorf-Astoria hotel (and populariser of Waldorf salads and the aforementioned dressing).
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This isn't even the castle, only the "Powerhouse"
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Mr Boldt actually built the castle for his wife, who rather selfishly died before it could be finished. He lost all interest in it after that and it fell victim to rack and ruin and vandalism, until it was restored into a very popular tourist attraction in the 1970s.
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| Boldt Castle in all its finished glory |
Not all the islands were as big or impressive, but this one had its charms.
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| Mainly because it had a tiny lighthouse and a wee hoose |
The US/Canada border runs down the middle of the river, so two thirds of the islands are Canadian, and the other third American. And one of the quirkiest islands is called Zavikon. The larger island is in Canada, the smaller in the USA, and the bridge that links the two is now the smallest international bridge in the world.
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| Click to zoom in to see one of the flags on the bridge. |
Finally, I had a bit of a tooth problem when I was there, so went to see my aunt's dentist. Not only did he see me that day and not charge me a cent, his surgery looked out onto the shores of Lake Ontario. Just for comparison, my dentist charges a fortune and his surgery looks out onto some bins.
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| I could have relaxed in the dentist's chair all day with a view like this |
Next up. Texas. Yeeeeeeeeeee-haw.
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