Weisser family blog

We spent the last week in Collingwood in a nice house almost at the lake. The last week was pretty much laid-back and we didn’t do that much sightseeing. But nevertheless we managed to keep ourselves occupied.

So we went for a couple of walks in the really nice area around the Lake Huron and even swam in the Lake. Apart from that we did horse-back riding, went for a boat trip and read a couple of books.

During the last days we went shopping for some more souvenirs and celebrated my birthday with a really yummy Mars cake. I even managed to buy some more Mars (peanut-free Mars, yeah) for Germany.

This morning we crammed all our packed things in the car and then we split. Birgit visited the Royal Ontario Museum as she had already seen the Casa Loma where Mark, Ines, Mariella and I went. The old mansion was quite nice but not to impressive if you already have seen real ancient castles.

The weather was not too nice today and so we escaped the rain by following the PATH (Toronto’s underground walkway linking 27 kilometres of shopping, services and entertainment). Then our Toronto visit came to an end and we head for Collingwood.

After the exciting day yesterday we went for something calmer today. Thus we visited the science center and spent some hours with various experiments and an interesting exhibition.

After that we passed Birgit’s old school in Rumsey Road and tried to visit the Casa Loma. As this was closed we went for another walk in Toronto and strolled through Kensington Market and Chinatown.

In the evening we did some final shopping before having some steaks and salad and then packing our things for the last week.

Today we spent most of the time in the Toronto zoo. It is one of the largest zoos in the world and thus we were just able to see parts of it. The zoo is really nice with really big enclosures.

After that we fought with the Toronto rush hour and picked up Daisy. She is a woman from Toronto who contacted us in New Zealand because she has the same family as Birgit and they are somehow related. We spent a really nice time at a good restaurant and at her place. Especially her stories from the former Toronto (she has been living in Toronto for 70 years) were breathtaking.

After an early start in the morning we drove to the Niagara Falls. We took the first photos and then followed the path to the journey behind the Falls. When following the escalator and the path you can almost touch the falls.

After that we wanted to have more of the falls and continued our Falls-tour with the Maid of the Mist. This is a boat which takes you right in the middle of the Horseshoe falls (the Canadian part of the Niagara Falls). A really impressive situation when you are in the middle of the water.

After seeing the United States for the whole day we wanted to cross the border as well. So we passed the Rainbow Bridge and then we had to stop at the border. There we left our fingerprints before being able to proceed. As there was a public holiday in the USA we did some power shopping in an outlet center and the Walmart before the shops closed.

And then back to Canada. We had dinner in the lovely town of Niagara on the Lake. Before riving back to Toronto we passed the Falls again for a last photo shooting with the falls at night.

And again we took the metro to down town Toronto. Today we wanted to visit the SkyDome but it was closed. So instead we took the opportunity to visit some of the public buildings of Toronto opened during their Doors Open initiative.

So we started with the Flat Iron Building, continued with a church and then went to the old city hall. From there we crossed the place and went inside the current city hall. In there we had the opportunity to visit the impressive lobby and the council chamber. And finally the Mayor’s office was open for the public as well.

In the afternoon we met with Heather (Birgit’s former exchange partner) at Starbucks and then had dinner in a lovely Indian restaurant before going home again.

After another early breakfast we made our way to the metro and drove to Toronto down town. There we walked through the inner city bypassing all the skyscrapers running straight to the highest building – the CN tower.

As there were not too many people we went up the tower to enjoy the impressive views and watching the funny people jumping on the glass floor. After that we continued our tour through the city and walked to the new city hall and then straight to the Eton centre. In the evening we ate our souvenir from Halifax.

This morning we got up early in order to pack our stuff and to take the last pictures of our campervan. After that we returned it to the rental station from where the driver took us to downtown Halifax. There we walked along the coast and then towards the citadel with the clock tower passing the town hall.

Up on the citadel hill we visited the star-shaped fortress also known as Fort George. The visit was really worthwhile as we followed a gun show and a guide showed us the most interesting parts with really good explanations.

On our way back we stopped at the Public Gardens and then went on to the government house and the brewery market. Then we picked up our luggage and took the bus to the airport. At the airport we bought some lobster and after that flew over to Toronto where Mark picked us up.

In the morning we enjoyed the area around the camp site. Another walk to the river showed us the Tidal Bore with the water of the river running the wrong way. On our way back to the camper we saw a Bald Eagle flying around.

From there we crossed Nova Scotia to the other side with its harsh but really nice coastline. We went straight to Peggys Point Lighthouse a picturesque light house at Peggys Cove, a fishermen’s settlement. It was quite windy at the coast but we had a lot of fun jumping along the impressive rocks.

On our way back towards Halifax through the Hammonds Plains we stopped at the memorial for the crash of the Swissair Flight 111.

We drove on to Pictou, a nice town at the Northumberland Strait. After a short stop to the tourist office we went on to visit the Hector. It is a replica of the shop that brought the first Scottish settlers to Nova Scotia in 1773. With a nice museum being part of the area it is worth a visit. From there we continued our stroll through the town and then on to the harbour where we ate our biggest lobster ever seen.

From there we continued our drive along the coast, then through the farmland around Truro to Burncoat Head. The tide was low and so we were able to walk on the normally flooded ground. The scenery is really impressive as the low tide level exposes several meters of rock.

In the evening we stayed a really nice camp site at Urbania. With a short walk to the Shubenacadie River at high tide, a BBQ and then some drinking with the locals we finished this lovely day.