Distillery District During Doors Open Toronto

It was a beautiful weekend! We took advantage of the nice weather as well as the Doors Open in Toronto and visited a number of places on the weekend.

With the TTC day pass - at $11.00 each good for two adults ( plus 4 kids), we could hop on and off to as many places as possible in Toronto without driving our car or worrying about parking.

It was a glorious beautiful day with a warm sun and temperature hovering around 17 degree C!   We planned to visit the CBC - Canadian Broadcasting Corporation as our first stop, unfortunately, it did not participate in this year's Doors Open event.

The Distillery District, Toronto, Ontario

We went to the St. Andrew's Church on King Street. A beautiful church for the Scottish immigrants to Toronto in the early days. All of a sudden, pipe organ music came on and we had the good fortune of enjoying a free musical performance by the church organist ( I assumed).

A favourite spot for wedding pictures!

From there, we walked to the Distillery District
admiring some of the original stone buildings.

The Distillery District used to be the place where ales and beers were brewed many years ago.

When the brewery was no longer used for its intended purpose, the City of Toronto and its citizens did not abandon the place but did  an excellent preserving the old buildings and turning it into a beautiful area for all to enjoy.

Lots of old charming buildings in the area

Now it is a trendy place to go for a drink, visit, shop and catch some free concerts and performances in the square.

There are a lot of interesting shops displaying many crafts and local made items.

It is also a very popular spot for taking wedding pictures


While Jenny and I enjoyed browsing in the many shops, my brother was very patient waiting for us but he almost falling asleep after a little while.

Sake is produced in one of the stores at the Distillery District

 But he became wide awoke as soon as he learned that there was free local beer sampling in one of the stores!

We went in and was given free samples of four different kinds of  beers.

Our conclusion - the organic beer tasted the best!!!

Lovely place to have a drink or take a bite!

At least my brother had fun drinking free beer while we did some window shopping in the stores!

Colourful displays of flowers!

The Distillery District is a beautiful area to stroll about, enjoy the sight and sound of summer as well as the colourful displays of flowers and the ambiance.

 We have always enjoyed our visit there every time. This is the reason we bring our out of town guests here without fail each time as we know they will love the place.

Jenny and my brother surely did!


R.T.
Distillery District
Doors Open Weekend
Toronto

Looking for Fireplace & Other Ideas for Our House Renovation

Modern fireplace at our niece's condo party room, Toronto

We have been living in our current house for over thirty years.

While many of our friends and families move to the suburb into new monster homes, we decided to stay put because we love our established neighbourhood in Toronto with mature trees and easy access to transportation.

A More Traditional Fireplace, Collingwood, Ontario

A Smaller Fireplace inside a country inn suite

 We will be getting ready for our renovation for both the family room and  living room.














We have been looking and gathering ideas whenever we travel and taking pictures of the things we like.

Recently. we stayed at a hotel and saw this fireplace which my husband and I really like. This is more traditional style but very warm and welcoming.

 We have some ideas in mind, a nice gas fireplace in the living room and an electric build- in fireplace in the den to keep the room looking modern and comfortable.






Or should we go with the modern, clean and sleek style fireplaces like this wall hanging fireplace without a mantel?

There was one very similar modern fireplace at Home Depot selling at $299.00

A Modern Design

 A sleek modern fireplace with bright bold colour on the wall.

Dining room fixture idea

This is the kind of lighting I like, not too old fashion, not to modern, a mix of the two.


Other ideas which I have included getting the ceiling done again in a circular fashion as to cover the ugly spot where we have now.

A glass wall shelf

We also need to create more space for storage in our living area.
So we are looking at building more beautiful shelving unit as well.















Hope we can spruce up our back door with planters such as these ones we saw in Japan.

We will keep looking for ideas to upgrade our house.
 Hopefully,  we will be able to install a new fireplace before the winter comes next year!

R.T.
Toronto

Gatineau Park, Gatineau, Quebec

Pink Lake, Gatineau Park, Quebec

We visited Gatineau Park and I learned something new -  Canada has more lakes than any other country in the world!

Pink Lake is unique as it is meromictic which means that the waters in the lake don't mix as they would in other lakes in the Gatineau Park. This type of lake is very rare and have unusual features such as  a total lack of oxygen in the bottom layers of the lake, with a special aquatic life and a complex and fragile ecosystem.

The Pink Lake is called Pink Lake as it was named after a settler's name.

The colour of  Pink Lake's water actually changes; the colour can be green or blue according to the amount of algae present in the lake.

Lots of tourists come to visit Gatineau Park

There is a trail around Pink Lake and it would only take an hour to walk the entire trail.

It was a beautiful day to walk the trail. Unfortunately, a section of the park was closed for the morning due to a race or something.  As we were on our way back to Toronto, we could not wait for it to be opened at 1:00pm.

Next time when we are in Ottawa, we will be back here at Gatineau Park. It was definitely worth a visit!

Beaver Tails in the making

Another special thing we tried this time was the Beaver Tail, a dessert special to Ottawa. It is a thin piece of pastry lightly deep fried and served with your choice of toppings such as icing sugar with strawberry, cinnamon, chocolate etc.. Yumm...mmy!~

R.T.
Gatineau Park
Gatineau, Quebec

Canada's Parliament Buildings, Ottawa

May 16, 2014

Parliament Building, Ottawa

Today was a raining day! We planned to visit a number of places in Ottawa but due to the inclement weather, we had to modify our schedule for the day and do a rainy day activity.

Inside the Centre Block of the Parliament Building

The Senate Chamber - The Chamber of Second Thoughts

Instead of a walking tour of a number of places in downtown Ottawa, we decided to focus on one place so that we would be able to stay indoors most of the afternoon and save us from getting soaked in the rain.














For people visiting Ottawa, a tour of the Canadian Parliament Buildings is almost always on the agenda. We visited the Parliament Buildings years ago and did again today.

View from the top of the Peace Tower, Parliament Buildings, Ottawa

We got our free tour tickets on 90 Wellington Street, right across the Parliament Building.

However, it was a pretty windy day and we decided not to line up for the tour nut went on our own to visit the Peace Tower located in the Centre Block.

From the top of the Peace Tower , we had an excellent view of the buildings below us in Ottawa, as well as the city of Gatineau, Quebec,  from across the Ottawa River.

After taking many pictures from the top of the Peace Tower, we visited the Memorial Chamber and the Senate Chamber.

A coffee at the Rideau Centre rounded off our day after Doug picked us up from the Westin.

R.T.\
Ottawa

The Governor General's Flag Flying High at Rideau Hall,, Ottawa

Entering the grounds of Rideau Hall

 After the visit to the Tulip Festival, we got into Douglas car and drove back to his house.
Doug took us past Rideau Hall  on Sussex Drive - Canada's  Governor General's official residence.

Rideau Hall - Governor General's official residence

It was about 4:45p.m. and we were hoping that we could go inside the grounds of this famous residence. We were lucky as the sign by the door indicated the grounds would be open until one hour before sundown!

Beautiful and well manicured grounds at Rideau Hall

We entered the ground of Rideau Hall with plenty of time to stroll about before closing time.


I had been to Ottawa numerous times but never visited this site and did not realize that the Governor General's residence is situated in a very spacious park like setting property.





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It was a real pleasure strolling around in such a peaceful and green setting.

There are many different plants and shrubs, monuments, historic markers of Canada's history as well as various trellis and gardening decorations.

Governor General's Residence with his flag flying high

Looking around, my mom made a very good observation and asked:

" This is Canada. Why isn't the Canadian Maple Leaf flag being hoisted on top of the building?"

Security Officer answered tourists' questions patiently

The guard outside the residence gave us the explanation:

" The Governor General has his own flag.

 When he is not traveling and in the residence, the Governor General's flag is hoisted on top of the building.

While he is not here, the Canadian Maple Leaf flag would be hoisted."

The Governor General's Emblem

On the day we visited, the Governor General was at his residence with his flag flying high!

Thanks, Mom, for your great question, We all learnt something today about the Governor General's flag.



R.T.
Rideau Hall
Ottawa

Pictures - courtesy of Doug K. - my wonderful brother-in-law!

Beautiful Flowers at the Tulip Festival, Ottawa, Ontario

This morning the weather was a little better yesterday with no rain but a grey sky.

As long as it was not raining, we were happy as this was the day we planned to walk around and take part in Ottawa's famous annual Tulip Festival.

2014 Tulip Festival at Commissioners' Park, Ottawa

Horse drawn wagon ride at the Byward Market

 We drove to downtown Ottawa and visited the Byward Market - my favorite place to buy fresh flowers and plants.

Menu at La Bottega, Byward Market

The little plant I bought from the market years ago is still growing beautifully in our front garden in Toronto and has brought us a lot of pleasure over the years.

Delicious dessert at the La Bottega

There are many places to eat at the Byward Market; Margaret took us to La Bottega for some Italian food and latte.

We had pizza, veal cutlet, pasta, and yes, desserts!

Beautiful tulips in full bloom at the Tulip Festival, Commissioners Park,  Ottawa

I was here many years ago for the Tulip Festival and frankly, I was not that impressed by it.

This time I revisited the festival mainly because of my brother and his friend. I thought it would be more fun visiting with family.

We were not disappointed! This time the festival activities were more concentrated at one venue so we did not  have to run around all over the city like we did many years ago.

The flowers were spectacular!

There were over 10,000 tulip bulbs planted throughout the park. These beautiful perennials were given to Canada as a gift by Holland.

The Dutch wanted to express their gratitude for Canada's assistance to their royal family while their pregnant princess was about to give birth and seeking protection here during WWII.










The gifts from Holland leaves a legacy for generations of Canadians to enjoy!

Besides the brilliant displays of colourful and massive flowers, there were activities planned for kids as well as for adults.

A few cutouts where one could post and had their pictures taken with different costumes or scenery.














There were many places for festival goers to rest their tired feet.

The weather was still a bit on the chilly side. However, it did hold out and we were able to walk around, admire the massive blooms and take many beautiful pictures of the tulips!

R.T.
Tulip Festival
Commissioners Park
Ottawa
P.S. Pictures - courtesy of  Doug as my camera battery was dead for the day!