I had a quick run through Renfrew. There, I said the pun. The downtown area of Renfrew is actually very pretty. The traffic is calm, people are kind, and local businesses stay local. There aren’t too many chain stores apart from fast food restaurants that populate the streets. The blocks Read more
If you’re looking for great art, go to the Art Gallery of Ontario in Toronto where they have Reuben’s Massacre of the Innocents and exhibition rooms full of works by the Group of Seven. If you’re looking for a crash course in art history, come to Ottawa’s National Gallery of Read more
Gatineau sounds like gâteaux, which is the word for cake in French. My relationship with Gatineau is also very gastronomical. It is right across the river from Ottawa, in Québec, where alcohol is sold inside supermarket and discounts are abundant for quality European foodstuffs. Once a week, I would cross Read more
Waterloo and Kitchener are the twin cities of Ontario. Even though they have grown to connect into one urban agglomeration, they are still separate cities. The logo of the city is actually the tower of the old town hall that now stands in Waterloo Park. The new City Hall, like Read more
Kitchener and Waterloo form the twin cities of Ontario less than two hours away from Toronto. Kitchener used to be called Berlin because of the German immigrants that settled in the area. A Pioneers Tower was built to commemorate the Mennonite families that settle in 60,000 acres of land in Read more
The Ken Seiling Museum in Kitchener includes entry to both the museum exhibitions and the Doon Heritage Village. Half of the museum is closed so there isn’t too much to see indoors. The only exhibit they had open when I visited was the Human Plus exhibition displaying how engineering helps Read more
The Mississipi River on Canada runs through Ontario and nourishes Almonte, Carleton Place, and Innisville in Lanark County. This northern Mississippi shares the same name as the one in America but is not half as mighty. Almonte’s town hall, like the one in Carleton Place, is a heritage building as Read more
Carleton Place’s town hall is one if six heritage buildings in the town. It’s named after a place in Scotland, just like the names of the counties surrounding the area. A university in Ottawa shares the same name with the town – Carleton University, though it’s unclear whether the etymology Read more
The first time I heard of Providence was when I watched snippets of the legal reality TV show “Caught in Providence”, which with a northeastern accent sounds like “Court in Providence”. I thought it was a rather clever use of accents to play on the theme of the show being Read more
The ruins of a church built in 1815 stand in Glengarry County, Ontario. The empty shell of the stone structure is all that is left after a fire ravaged the church in 1970. A modern church structure stands adjacent to the old one and continues to serve the community today. Read more