Guelph, ON

Located between Toronto and the Kitchener–Waterloo twin cities, Guelph is known for its handsome limestone architecture that neatly lines the downtown blocks leading up to the Basilica of Our Lady Immaculate. The basilica was built in 1883 and is one of the finest examples of Gothic Revival in Ontario with its ornate twin towers.

The Guelph Civic Museum is right beside the church in a repurposed period building that used to be a convent for the basilica. A statue of Major John McCrae sits in front of the museum building, McCrae was the author of In Flanders Fields, a poem that helped popularise the poppy as a symbol of the Great War. Erected a century after the poem was written in 1915, McCrae sits atop a hill overlooking his hometown – Guelph. His house in Guelph is also a museum and designated as a National Historic Site of Canada.

The City Hall is one of the best examples of limestone architecture in the city. It was built in 1856 as soon as the town was incorporated and completed in 1857. It used to contain a market, offices, and an assembly hall. It is now entirely a government building and near both the old armoury and the current railway station.

The Downtown Trail is a walk that runs along old railway tracks on the bank of the Speed River. The ruins of Goldie and Allan’s Mills can be found along the path as can several historic bridges and the St. George’s Anglican Church. Sitting by the Heffernan Street Bridge at the quiet riverfront reminds me of the banks of the Aare River in Olten, Switzerland.