Downtown Arnprior ( a Small Town in Ontario) Has a Lot to Offer to Visitors

Getting off the cable ferry  

Arnprior is about an hour's drive from Ottawa, capital of Canada. After we visited the small village in Quebec, we took the cable ferry and back to the Ontario side of the Ottawa River.

We were visiting relatives in the cottage area of the town of Arnprior.

Arnprior used to be a little town and is about an hour's drive from Ottawa.

I was informed by the locals that it has been amalgamated and become a part of the city of Ottawa.

Though we visited Arnprior a few times, we had never been to the downtown area.

A mural in downtown Arnprior, Ontario

Therefore, we made it a point this time to visit the business section of Arnprior - the downtown area of the town.

Some of the shops in the downtown of Arnprior, Ontario

We got to downtown Arnprior shortly after 6pm on a Saturday recently.























There were not a lot of people around as the shops were already closed.

We saw nice shops and the downtown was much bigger than I had expected.

















Arnprior's population is only about 9000 people but we felt as if we were in a much bigger town.

The quiet courtyard at the Art Gallery Gift Shop - downtown Arnprior, Ont.

For a small town of 9000 people,  downtown Arnprior has a lot to offer to visitors.













The Gallery gift shop had an artistic window display of its locally made jewellry and unique gifts items.





















Beautiful and colourful flower pots lined the windows of a lady's fashion store.

Downtown Arnprior looked  great with many restored historic buildings

One of the five major Canadian banks has its branch located in one of the many carefully restored historic stone buildings.

 A magnificent clock tower building standing proudly to welcome visitors to the town.

For some reason, this beautiful lclock tower reminded me of the clock tower in the hit movie Back to the Future.










Another classy fashion store displaying some elegant wedding dresses in its front window.

 For the athletic mind townspeople , a karate school for those interested in fitness and marital arts!

Another gallery shop selling prints and pictures.

A jewellry shop too.

We also saw modern cafes and restaurants.

Downtown  Arnprior looked clean, modern with a welcoming feel for us.

We enjoyed our visit  to this lovely downtown area.  Evidently, it offers quite a number of services to its residents.

We came across more wildlife in Arnprior than any other towns we have visited

Driving back to D.'s house located in the cottage community, we passed by a wooded area and encountered some pleasant surprises.


We saw a few deer out for their evening feeding.


At first they scurried off when they saw our car coming.












But we drove very slowly and quietly trying not to disturb the deer.


A bold deer stopped running and looked back at us.














Seeing that we meant no harm to them, the deer strolled off to join another deer and started to graze in the field.



That was my first encounter with deer and seeing them so close up while driving on a country road.















The sun was setting by the time we arrived at D.'s house.

The setting sun cast off an orange red glow over the trees and lake on the horizon.

The entire landscape including the trees, the lake  and the houses around the lake looked as if they have been painted a different colour from this morning.

It was spectacular!

R.T.
Arnprior
Ontario

Getting to Quyon, a Small Quebec Village Via a Cable Ferry

After a walk around D.'s Arnprior neighbourhood, we drove to tour the nearby towns.






















We saw a sign informing visitors that there was a ferry which people could take to reach a Quebec town on the other side of the Ottawa River.

 We asked D. about it and he gave us some instructions to go to the ferry dock.

We had some problems finding the dock as there were not a lot of clear signs directing people there.













We had to stop and ask for directions before we could find the small ferry dock.



























The ferry arrived every ten minutes and we waited for the next one together with another four or five vehicles.

It was a small ferry which could probably hold five - six vehicles at a time.

Quyon, Quebec as seen from the cable ferry taking passengers across the Ottawa River

We took a cable ferry from Ottawa to Quyon

The ferry was run on a cable and it didn't take long at all  for the ferry to cross this narrow crossing.





















The ferry took us to Quyon, a small Quebec village on the other side of the Ottawa River.























Both the Quebec and Canada flags were flying high in this Quebec province.

Quebec is the French speaking province in Canada.




















They have a language law that protects the French language.

We knew we were in Quebec as the language on street and public signs were all  in French.


























We took a drive around this samll French town and came across Tim Horton's camp site for children.

















But the camp was not open yet therefore we could not go in for a visit.

Quyon is a very small village with a beautiful church, a convenience store, a couple of gas stations.















A newly open restaurant called Resto 148.
The only restaurant in the village.

We could not resist going in to try some French food in this Quebec French speaking village.

We ordered the French Toast from the menu and were not disappointed. It was different from all the French Toasts I had before. But it was good homemade style food!

There has been a lot of rain lately.




















Both in Ontario and Quebec, a few cities have been experiencing unusual heavy rain.

Water level has risen really high in some part of this community.

This picnic table was completley submerge under water with only the umbrellas visible

We returned to Arnprior after our brief visit in the Quebec province taking the same ferry that brought us here.



R.T.
Quyon, Quebec
Canada

Enjoying the Wildlife at an Arnprior/ Ottawa Cottage Neighborhood

D's house is backing to the Ottawa River

We had a really busy month in April.

After we came back from our Californian trip, I did a training session for the youth leaders in Waterloo and then we needed to get ready for our trip to the Ottawa region.

A beautiful view of the Ottawa River from my brother's backyard

I am thankful that God has given me the opportunity to share my knowledge with other churches.

I was invited to do some work in the eastern part of Canada.

As soon as we landed in Toronto, we had to be on the road again. We drove east of Toronto for about six hours and spent a night at M.'s house in Ottawa.

After spending a whole day training the young people in an Ottawa suburb, we went to visit my brother in Arnprior, a small town that has been amalgamated as part of the city of Ottawa,




















D. and S. live in a nice home overlooking the Ottawa River.



Unfortunately, we only visited them a few times in the past thirty years.

This morning they were busy in the kitchen preparing us breakfast.

What a breakfast we had with much fresh fruits,crispy  bacon, sausages, eggs and fruti cocktail.

It was great catching up with my brother and my sister in law over some wholesome homemade food.

After breakfast, we took a walk in the neighborhood.

























D. and S. live in the cottage area of Arnprior, but unlike most of their neighbour who are there only during the summer,  they live there year round.












It is an area with many mature trees, ponds and wild life.


S. was really sharp and she was able to spot a turtle sunning itself on a log in the pond not long after our walk.

We also saw a little turtle trying to climb up to the edge of the log from the water.
It struggled for a little while.

After a few attempts, finally, the turtle made it out of the water onto the surface of the log!

D. wanted to take us to see the old railway tracks. As we were walking there and right under our feet, there was a frightened tiny frog stopped at its track, being very still.


We were very careful not to step on this frog so that it would not be hurt.

We reached the narrowest point of the Ottawa River. There used to be a train track with trains going back and forth between this side, the Ontario side of the Ottawa River to the province of Quebec.

We could see Quebec on the other side of the Ottawa River. 

It was a lovely dry and warm day! We were lucky to have a sunny day and such a break from all the rainy days the Ottawa region and Quebec have been receiving in the past week or so.

.S. told us that we brought them sunshine!

R.T.
Arnprior
Ontario
Week of April 23, 2017