Tuesday, September 6, 2005
Hello from Toronto (5) - Novice Golf, Driving
through the Kawarthas, a Little Off-Road Mountain-Biking & Preparing
to Say Goodbye
It is unbelievable how nine days can just fly by. Today my brother,
sister-in-law and our two Austrian friends are scheduled to fly
back to Graz, Austria, via Vienna. There has been an increasingly
palpable sense of sentimentality in the air, in light of the fact
that this wonderful time is coming to an end alarmingly quickly.
It's also amazing how many activities one is able to cram into
a short amount of time. I wanted to give them a really good taste
of everything that I love about the city of Toronto and my new country.
So occasionally I put a few too many things on our plates and we
ended up racing through a few of the activities. On the whole though,
I think our European guests had a fabulous time and they fell in
love with Toronto, just like I did, many years ago.
Saturday all six of us went golfing to a little par-3 golf course
in the East end of Toronto. None of my Austrian guests had ever
golfed before, so a couple of days earlier we started with a few
buckets of balls at the driving range, followed up by an indoor
putting practice session on the carpet. Saturday we would get to
try the real thing. The attempts at the driving range didn't look
all that great, with balls spraying all over the place, to the left
and to the right. But on Saturday afternoon, another gorgeous day,
our four Austrian guests performed quite admirably and only lost
2 balls in the water hazard.
Getting ready to play golf on another gorgeous day
They really enjoyed golf, a sport they had never even dreamed of
playing, but the Toronto area with its several hundred golf courses,
many of them reasonably priced, made it easy to give this sport
a try. All preconceived notions about golf only being a sport for
old people went out the window, and they enjoyed the challenge of
trying to sink the round little ball in the hole.
Sunday came our second big excursion: a driving tour through the
Kawartha Lakes. I had only planned two major driving tours: a wine-tasting
tour through the Niagara Peninsula, and a second one to the
lake district of the Kawarthas. We started by driving east on Toronto's
401, a 12 to 16 lane highway whose size duly impressed my European
visitors. Then we headed north-east through rolling farm country
to Peterborough, a rural university town with a population of about
70,000. From there we drove north into the Kawarthas, a gorgeous
lake region set in the rocky landscape of the Canadian Shield.
Our first stop was Buckhorn, where we watched the mechanics of
lift locks of the Trent-Severn Canal that links Lake Ontario with
Georgian Bay. We saw how several boats assembled inside the lock
following by an opening of the sluices and the water level equilibrating
itself with the level of the lower portion of the river. The Parks
Canada lock supervisor explained the whole process to us and it
only took about 10 minutes for the boats to reach the lower level.
The marina in Bobcaygeon
From Buckhorn we drove through rocky and marshy countryside to
the quaint village of Bobcaygeon where we took an extended stroll.
We had a nice waterfront lunch, looking across to the marina, seeing
the the boats come in an out of the canal. Particularly our Austrian
friends Luis and Isabella love boating and seeing the many houseboats
on the Trent-Severn Canal gave them a few ideas for future vacations
in Canada.
The lunch was delicious and we took a little stroll around this
charming town, admiring the waterfront parks and picnic facilities
that allow great access to the water. From Bobcaygeon we drove on
to another little picturesque country town: Fenelon Falls, whose
name comes from a waterfall in the middle of town that has been
used for electricity generation since the 1870s.
After a sizeable line-up we picked up a few delicious cones of
Kawartha Dairy ice cream and strolled over to the bridge over the
falls and then down to the little peninsula that sticks out into
the river. From there you can look into a rocky gorge where both
sides of the river are surrounded by high rocks.
Fenelon Falls
Again, we watched boats being lifted and lowered, this time in
lock 33 of the Trent-Severn Canal System. This is another town with
a beautiful little park right by the locks with lots of opportunity
for barbeques or simply for a relaxing snooze in the sun . Time
was flying by and by this time it was already 3:30 pm so we had
to start our return to the city. We only took back roads and my
brother lost count of the numerous golf courses that dotted the
landscape. It was a nice relaxing drive through rolling countryside
and we made it back to Toronto in less than 2 hours. All four of
my Austrian guests had fallen in love with the Lake District and
the prospect of another vacation in Canada to explore the waters
north of Toronto seems ever more likely.
Fenelon Falls
Yesterday was their last full day in Toronto, and we took our bikes
out for a spin one more time. Since we all love water we rode down
to the Eastern Beaches again, and leisurely explored the waterfront.
We watched some lawn bowling, and one of the participants kept coming
over to us to explain the rules of the game to us since none of
us was familiar with this sport. My guests commented several times
on the friendliness of people in the stores, restaurants, in line-ups
and even I myself was surprised at the approachability of Torontonians,
often known as a more reserved breed of people. But we truly kept
having very positive experiences, equally with people employed in
the service sector, as well as with regular citizens, taking a stroll,
playing a game of lawn bowling or going for a walk with their dog.
Inukshuk at Toronto's Beaches
Of course we admired the inukshuks by the beach, a public play
area for adults with rocks of various shapes and sizes that are
used by passers-by to create interesting stone sculptures. We watched
a few tense points at the Kew Gardens Tennis Club, and checked out
the picturesque Kew Gardens park itself. From there we headed west
past the beach volleyball facilities to the little peninsula west
of Ashbridges Bay which always offers a fabulous view of Toronto's
skyline. We took in the tranquil atmosphere and soaked in the sun
for a while before we started our return back along the waterfront.
My European visitors commented several times how incredible it is
to have all this publicly accessible land right along the waterfront
and how in some secluded spots you don't even realize that you are
in a major metropolitan area.
At the Beaches, with Toronto's skyline in the background
To get back up to our house we had to climb back up from the waterfront
and this time we chose the Glen Stewart Ravine, where a little brook
has carved a valley into the slopes leading down to the waterfront.
It is a densely forested area and when you are in there it feels
like you are in a remote forest somewhere, not right in the middle
of Toronto.
Once back at our house, preparation got started for our final goodbye
barbeque and we had invited a few extra friends to join us to give
our Austrian guests a proper sendoff back home. We enjoyed some
excellent food and they sampled a few more varieties of Canadian
wines and beers, all of which they had commented quite favourably
on. We didn't sample much restaurant cuisine since my brother is
a talented chef, but the fresh ingredients that he purchased in
Toronto's various markets made for some truly delicious dinners.
The Distillery District at night
In the evening we took one more spin in the car, first to revisit
the Distillery District at night. Luis had wanted to buy some beer
glasses at the Mill Street Brewery as a souvenir, but unfortunately
the brewery and restaurant were closed. The whole Distillery area
was a little quiet, not surprisingly, since it was Labour Day, the
last official day of summer, and the final day of respite before
school would begin again. We continued our driving tour with a little
spin through downtown and up Yonge Street before we turned east
on Bloor Street. We crossed the Bloor Street Viaduct and arrived
on the Danforth, Toronto's Greek area. As always, Greektown was
quite busy and people were milling about. We sat down on the patio
of one of our favourite restaurants and enjoyed some Greek snacks
before we headed home after another long day, all of us a little
sad, commenting how nine days can pass so quickly.
Today we'll have to take their four rented bicycles back and around
2:30 we'll have to start the trek to the airport. It's been a fabulous
9 days, an extended sleepover with four great people and we won't
forget this holiday for a long, long time. We are already hoping
for another reunion, either in Austria, or back here in Canada,
to deepen this fabulous connection.
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Related Articles:
Looking forward
to my brother's visit
Hello from Toronto (1) - A driving
tour through the city
Hello from Toronto (2) - Exploring
the waterfront by bike & the CN Tower
Hello from Toronto (3) - Exploring
Niagara Wine Country and Niagara Falls
Hello from Toronto (4) - Exploring
Toronto's west end neighbourhoods
Here are my reflections
after my European visitors left
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