Wednesday, Aug. 21st - This morning we left our campground on Lake Allatoona and headed south for the last leg of our trip. Traffic was heavy as we neared Atlanta until we got to the I-285 bypass around the city. Then it was pretty much clear sailing the rest of the way. We arrived home at around 5:00 and it was good to be home. Quickly unloaded the perishables from the refrigerator, freezer and pantry and a few other things that we would need that night. Then drove the RV over to the lot where we store it. Tomorrow, we will bring it back and start the process of unloading, doing lots of laundry and cleaning up the rig for storage. Pat is scheduled for her second knee replacement surgery in September, so it will be a while before we can hit the road again.
It was a great trip and I hope you have enjoyed our blog and photos. Thought you might like to know some of the statistics of the trip. We left on June 20th and returned on August 23rd, a total of 65 days. We drove the RV a total of 6,302 miles and used 801 gallons of gasoline. Our RV averaged 7.92 miles per gallon and gasoline prices ranged from $2.059/gallon (Tennessee) to $3.694/gallon (Newfoundland). In addition, we drove cars we had rented 2,099 miles. We took 4 car ferry rides ranging in length from 1 hr. 15 min. to 16 hours, and 4 passenger ferry rides that were only 15 minutes long. We drove through 18 US States and 6 Canadian Provinces. I took 2,348 photos with my Nikon DSLR plus 278 photos with my iPhone, it's a good thing digital photos are free as I take lots of photos and then throw out most of them.
We covered a lot of territory and saw a lot of sights on this trip and the one we took last summer, but we've decided that for future trips we will cover fewer places but stay longer at each one. Both on this trip and last year's it seemed we never had enough time to visit all of the sights we wanted to see at our stops.
So, until next time, take care and God bless.
Tuesday, August 29, 2017
Sunday, August 27, 2017
29 - Allatoona, GA
Tuesday, Aug 22nd - This is a rest stop for Pat and I to enjoy before we head home tomorrow. This is a small Navy operated campground with only 12 RV sites right on the shores of Lake Allatoona. This lake is a reservoir that was dammed in 1949 by the Army Corp of Engineers. It covers over 12,000 acres and has a max depth of 145 ft. It provides drinking water and hydro-electric power for the Atlanta area. Here we are on our campsite.
And the view of the lake from our campsite.
Here is a view up the road from our campsite showing more of the campground.
The campground had some very nice facilities including this lodge that you can rent for an event.
And this gazebo.
Here is the fishing pier and in the background you can see the campgrounds marina. They have boats to rent as well as slips you can rent for your own boat. There is also a small beach for swimming.
This is what the call a Paddletoon. It's a paddle operated pontoon boat that this family is taking out for a spin.
Water level in the reservoir and power generation is controlled from this blockhouse.
Tomorrow we drive the rest of the way home,
And the view of the lake from our campsite.
Here is a view up the road from our campsite showing more of the campground.
The campground had some very nice facilities including this lodge that you can rent for an event.
And this gazebo.
Here is the fishing pier and in the background you can see the campgrounds marina. They have boats to rent as well as slips you can rent for your own boat. There is also a small beach for swimming.
This is what the call a Paddletoon. It's a paddle operated pontoon boat that this family is taking out for a spin.
Water level in the reservoir and power generation is controlled from this blockhouse.
Tomorrow we drive the rest of the way home,
28 - Central Tennessee - Total Solar Eclipse
Sunday, Aug, 20th - This morning we dropped off the rental car and headed south on I-75. Everything was great until we got to Cincinnati where we found out that the I-75 bridge over the Ohio River was closed for repairs. So, we had to take the I-275 bypass around town adding 22 miles to our trip. No further problems as we drove across Kentucky and into Tennessee. The eclipse isn't until tomorrow so for today we pulled into a Flying J Truck Stop south of Knoxville where we will spend the night. Nothing fancy, just a parking lot but the price is right, free. Had dinner at the truck stop Denny's Restaurant. Pat and I have avoided Denny's in our area due to poor service. Well it wasn't any better. We had to wait over an hour to get our dinner, but the food was very good so I guess that made up for it.
Monday, Aug, 21- Today is the big day. We pulled out of the truck stop and headed south on I-75. We pulled into a rest area just south of Athens, TN and lucked out. Like most rest areas, there is a side for cars and a side for trucks. The car side was packed with no space available but the truck side had plenty of room, and as we were driving an RV we pulled into the truck side. There was a Tennessee State Trooper who was enforcing the no cars on the truck side rule. We got there are 10:00 AM and the eclipse didn't start until about 1:00 PM so we got out our Kindles and got some reading done.
At a little after 1:00 the eclipse started. For the first 90 minutes it was a partial with gradually less and less of the sun visible. However, it was still too bright to look at except through eclipse glasses, and then it just looked like the sun with a chink taken our of it. Finally at about 2:30 the total eclipse started and what a change. You could take the eclipse glasses off and look at it directly. With the super bright disk of the sun blocked by the moon, you could see the solar corona. This is the gaseous atmosphere of the sun and it glows brightly so that it never gets completely dark. It was truly spectacular and no photo can do it justice. The whole sky glowed, you could see Venus and Mercury on either side of the sun. Here is one of the photos I took.
After about 2-1/2 minutes, the sun started peeking out from behind the moon. These next three photos show it gradually appearing. The moon is not a smooth sphere, it has mountains and valleys. If you look closely at the last two photos, on either side of the sliver of the sun you can see sunlight appearing through notches in the moon's surface caused by the mountains and valleys.
This was a once in a lifetime experience and I'm glad I got to see it. Even Pat was impressed. Total eclipses like this always come in pairs, seven years apart. So if you missed this one you have one more chance. On April 8, 2024 there will be another total eclipse. This time the path will start in southern Texas, pass over central USA, along the USA-Canada border and exit in northern Maine. There are a number of major cities in its path including Austin, Dallas, Little Rock, Indianapolis, Dayton, Cleveland, Buffalo and Burlington, VT.
Once the eclipse was over we hit the road again, heading south. We stopped at Lake Allatoona about 40 miles north of Atlanta where the Navy has a campground on the shores of the lake.
Monday, Aug, 21- Today is the big day. We pulled out of the truck stop and headed south on I-75. We pulled into a rest area just south of Athens, TN and lucked out. Like most rest areas, there is a side for cars and a side for trucks. The car side was packed with no space available but the truck side had plenty of room, and as we were driving an RV we pulled into the truck side. There was a Tennessee State Trooper who was enforcing the no cars on the truck side rule. We got there are 10:00 AM and the eclipse didn't start until about 1:00 PM so we got out our Kindles and got some reading done.
At a little after 1:00 the eclipse started. For the first 90 minutes it was a partial with gradually less and less of the sun visible. However, it was still too bright to look at except through eclipse glasses, and then it just looked like the sun with a chink taken our of it. Finally at about 2:30 the total eclipse started and what a change. You could take the eclipse glasses off and look at it directly. With the super bright disk of the sun blocked by the moon, you could see the solar corona. This is the gaseous atmosphere of the sun and it glows brightly so that it never gets completely dark. It was truly spectacular and no photo can do it justice. The whole sky glowed, you could see Venus and Mercury on either side of the sun. Here is one of the photos I took.
After about 2-1/2 minutes, the sun started peeking out from behind the moon. These next three photos show it gradually appearing. The moon is not a smooth sphere, it has mountains and valleys. If you look closely at the last two photos, on either side of the sliver of the sun you can see sunlight appearing through notches in the moon's surface caused by the mountains and valleys.
This was a once in a lifetime experience and I'm glad I got to see it. Even Pat was impressed. Total eclipses like this always come in pairs, seven years apart. So if you missed this one you have one more chance. On April 8, 2024 there will be another total eclipse. This time the path will start in southern Texas, pass over central USA, along the USA-Canada border and exit in northern Maine. There are a number of major cities in its path including Austin, Dallas, Little Rock, Indianapolis, Dayton, Cleveland, Buffalo and Burlington, VT.
Once the eclipse was over we hit the road again, heading south. We stopped at Lake Allatoona about 40 miles north of Atlanta where the Navy has a campground on the shores of the lake.
27 - Wright-Patterson AFB, OH
Thursday, Aug. 17th - This morning we left our campground on Lake Erie and headed west. We crossed into the USA at Detroit. Traffic was backed up getting through the check point and we had to wait in line for around 45 minutes. No problems getting thru immigration and customs except that they confiscated half a tomato and a green pepper, apparently you can't bring them into the country. The border agent was about as friendly as a brick.
Turned out that I-75 thru Detroit was closed for repairs and so they detoured us completely across Detroit until we reached the bypass that goes around the west side of Detroit. This added around 25 miles to our trip. But traffic was light and moving so we made good time until we got to Toledo where there was a lot of construction and traffic delays. We ended up getting to W-P AFB around 5:00, found our campsite and got set up easily. After 2 months on the road, we've got set up and tear down down pat.
Friday, Aug. 18th - This morning we picked up our rental car. We were originally supposed to pick it up yesterday afternoon but with traffic delays we arrived too late. Then we headed off to the commissary to restock our groceries. After lunch, we headed down to Centerville, OH to visit Pat's Aunt Dorothy. Last year when we were in Dayton, we had stopped and visited Pat's Uncle Ray and Aunt Dorothy. Ray was Pat's Dad's younger brother and he was in the hospital as he had just fallen and broken his hip. He never fully recovered and died in February. After Ray's death, Dorothy moved into an assisted living apartment at St. Leonard's in Centerville.
So, we stopped by and visited with Aunt Dorothy. She is doing well and will turn 90 next month. This is a very nice facility with independent living cottages and apartments, assisted living apartments, memory support and a nursing home. It is a former Franciscan monastery and is still run by the Franciscans.
After visiting with Aunt Dorothy we stopped by the Dorothy Lane Market in south Dayton. This originally was a small neighborhood market that has evolved into the local equivalent of a Whole Foods grocery store. Great variety and lots of neat stuff to sample and buy.
Saturday, Aug 19th - This morning we headed northwest from W-P AFB to visit Pat's old house in Englewood. House still looks the same but the area around Englewood has really grown. We then continued northwest to the city of Greenville. Greenville is the historic location of Fort Greene Ville which was built in 1793 by General "Mad" Anthony Wayne's soldiers during the Northwest Indian War. It was named for Revolutionary War hero Nathaniel Greene. It's defenses covered about 55 acres, making it the largest wooden fort in North America. Two years later the Treaty of Greenville was signed bringing an end to the Indian war and opening up the Northwest Territory for settlement. The fort was abandoned in 1796 and the town of Greenville was founded in 1808 on the site. Two famous people who came from around Greenville were Annie Oakley and Lowell Thomas.
Our first stop was the old St. Mary's Catholic Cemetery which is on the site of the original St. Mary's Catholic Church which was the first Catholic church in the area. It was a small log church built in 1839. This church served the community until 1863 when they moved to a new building in the center of Greenville.
The cemetery is located about 2 mile east of Greenville. We were here to find the graves of the first of Pat's ancestors to come to the USA, Bartholome Sucher, who was Pat's 2nd great grand uncle. We are not sure what year he arrived in the USA but it was before about 1840. Here is Bart's grave stone.
It shows him being born in 1808 and dying in 1883. Here is the head stone of his wife Christena, born in 1810 and dying in 1869.
This next head stone is for their 2nd son, Anthony, who was born in January 1844 and died in August 1845. This is supposed to be the oldest head stone in this cemetery. Records show that they had 6 other children. Bart was a farmer but we're not sure where his farm was located.
Our next stop was in the city of Greenville, where we visited Greenville Union Cemetery which is on the west side of downtown Greenville. Here is the entrance to this cemetery.
Here we are looking for Anton Sucher who was Bart's youngest brother. We found the family burials for Anton, his wife Hanna and their extended family. In the foreground, the spire is the marker for Hanna's parents, Francis and Elizabeth Buchwalter. The headstone next to it is for Francis H. Bookwalter, note the change in spelling, who was their son and Hanna's brother. He served in Company F, 94th Regiment Ohio Infantry it the Civil War and apparently died of injuries or disease from the war as he died shortly after being discharged.
Here is a closer shot of the second row of headstones. The small upright stone is a second one for Francis given to him by the Union Army with a small star emblem of the Grand American Army 1861-65. The three small horizontal headstones are from right: Anton Sucher, his wife Hanna and John Sucher who was probably their grandson.
Here Pat is standing by the Buchwalter monument. You can get a good idea of its size.
Here is a close up of the brother's headstone.
Family lore is that both Bart and Anton came over from Germany together. Bart came directly to Ohio while Anton settled in Pennsylvania and worked for the railroad. He met and married Hanna who was a member of the Church of the Brethren. Some years later they moved to Greenville, obviously with Hanna's family. Since Hanna wasn't Catholic that would explain why they are not buried in the Catholic cemetery.
We then drove back to W-P AFB. Tomorrow we head south again with our next stop in central Tennessee where we hope to see the total eclipse of the sun.
Turned out that I-75 thru Detroit was closed for repairs and so they detoured us completely across Detroit until we reached the bypass that goes around the west side of Detroit. This added around 25 miles to our trip. But traffic was light and moving so we made good time until we got to Toledo where there was a lot of construction and traffic delays. We ended up getting to W-P AFB around 5:00, found our campsite and got set up easily. After 2 months on the road, we've got set up and tear down down pat.
Friday, Aug. 18th - This morning we picked up our rental car. We were originally supposed to pick it up yesterday afternoon but with traffic delays we arrived too late. Then we headed off to the commissary to restock our groceries. After lunch, we headed down to Centerville, OH to visit Pat's Aunt Dorothy. Last year when we were in Dayton, we had stopped and visited Pat's Uncle Ray and Aunt Dorothy. Ray was Pat's Dad's younger brother and he was in the hospital as he had just fallen and broken his hip. He never fully recovered and died in February. After Ray's death, Dorothy moved into an assisted living apartment at St. Leonard's in Centerville.
So, we stopped by and visited with Aunt Dorothy. She is doing well and will turn 90 next month. This is a very nice facility with independent living cottages and apartments, assisted living apartments, memory support and a nursing home. It is a former Franciscan monastery and is still run by the Franciscans.
After visiting with Aunt Dorothy we stopped by the Dorothy Lane Market in south Dayton. This originally was a small neighborhood market that has evolved into the local equivalent of a Whole Foods grocery store. Great variety and lots of neat stuff to sample and buy.
Saturday, Aug 19th - This morning we headed northwest from W-P AFB to visit Pat's old house in Englewood. House still looks the same but the area around Englewood has really grown. We then continued northwest to the city of Greenville. Greenville is the historic location of Fort Greene Ville which was built in 1793 by General "Mad" Anthony Wayne's soldiers during the Northwest Indian War. It was named for Revolutionary War hero Nathaniel Greene. It's defenses covered about 55 acres, making it the largest wooden fort in North America. Two years later the Treaty of Greenville was signed bringing an end to the Indian war and opening up the Northwest Territory for settlement. The fort was abandoned in 1796 and the town of Greenville was founded in 1808 on the site. Two famous people who came from around Greenville were Annie Oakley and Lowell Thomas.
Our first stop was the old St. Mary's Catholic Cemetery which is on the site of the original St. Mary's Catholic Church which was the first Catholic church in the area. It was a small log church built in 1839. This church served the community until 1863 when they moved to a new building in the center of Greenville.
The cemetery is located about 2 mile east of Greenville. We were here to find the graves of the first of Pat's ancestors to come to the USA, Bartholome Sucher, who was Pat's 2nd great grand uncle. We are not sure what year he arrived in the USA but it was before about 1840. Here is Bart's grave stone.
It shows him being born in 1808 and dying in 1883. Here is the head stone of his wife Christena, born in 1810 and dying in 1869.
This next head stone is for their 2nd son, Anthony, who was born in January 1844 and died in August 1845. This is supposed to be the oldest head stone in this cemetery. Records show that they had 6 other children. Bart was a farmer but we're not sure where his farm was located.
Our next stop was in the city of Greenville, where we visited Greenville Union Cemetery which is on the west side of downtown Greenville. Here is the entrance to this cemetery.
Here we are looking for Anton Sucher who was Bart's youngest brother. We found the family burials for Anton, his wife Hanna and their extended family. In the foreground, the spire is the marker for Hanna's parents, Francis and Elizabeth Buchwalter. The headstone next to it is for Francis H. Bookwalter, note the change in spelling, who was their son and Hanna's brother. He served in Company F, 94th Regiment Ohio Infantry it the Civil War and apparently died of injuries or disease from the war as he died shortly after being discharged.
Here is a closer shot of the second row of headstones. The small upright stone is a second one for Francis given to him by the Union Army with a small star emblem of the Grand American Army 1861-65. The three small horizontal headstones are from right: Anton Sucher, his wife Hanna and John Sucher who was probably their grandson.
Here Pat is standing by the Buchwalter monument. You can get a good idea of its size.
Here is a close up of the brother's headstone.
Family lore is that both Bart and Anton came over from Germany together. Bart came directly to Ohio while Anton settled in Pennsylvania and worked for the railroad. He met and married Hanna who was a member of the Church of the Brethren. Some years later they moved to Greenville, obviously with Hanna's family. Since Hanna wasn't Catholic that would explain why they are not buried in the Catholic cemetery.
We then drove back to W-P AFB. Tomorrow we head south again with our next stop in central Tennessee where we hope to see the total eclipse of the sun.
Saturday, August 26, 2017
26 - Lake Erie
Monday, Aug. 14th - This morning we left Toronto and headed west toward Detroit. We did not go that far but stopped at a campground in Wheatley, Ontario right on the shores of Lake Erie. Toronto was our last "tourist" stop where we were primarily sight seeing. Here, we will relax for a couple of days, walk along the lake shore and get some laundry done.
Traffic going thru Toronto was pretty heavy and slowed down at times but once we were clear of Toronto it was clear sailing the rest of the way. Arrived in Wheatley around 4:00 and got our rig set up. This is a large campground with large sites and lots of trees. Here we are set up on our site.
Tuesday, Aug. 15th - Just took it easy for the most part today. Pat got some laundry done so that we have enough clean clothes to make it home and I made progress in this blog. We did walk around the campground to look at the other rigs. Most of the sites are what is called seasonal, they are rented for the entire summer season which runs from April 28th to September 24th. This campground has been run by the same family for over 53 years and some of these "seasonal" renters have been on their sites for over 40 years. It's obvious that these are essentially permanent summer residents and they have installed landscaping, patios, etc. Here is an example.
Wednesday, Aug. 16th - Another day relaxing. We did go down to the lake shore. This is a big lake and the campground has about a 1,200 ft, frontage on the lake. Here is a couple of photos I took at the lake shore.
It is a sandy shore line but not the white sand we have in Florida. They had beach chairs that you could just relax in and enjoy the peace and quiet, which is what Pat is doing here.
Tomorrow, we leave Canada, cross into the USA at Detroit and then head south for Dayton, OH where we will be camping at Wright-Patterson AFB.
Traffic going thru Toronto was pretty heavy and slowed down at times but once we were clear of Toronto it was clear sailing the rest of the way. Arrived in Wheatley around 4:00 and got our rig set up. This is a large campground with large sites and lots of trees. Here we are set up on our site.
Tuesday, Aug. 15th - Just took it easy for the most part today. Pat got some laundry done so that we have enough clean clothes to make it home and I made progress in this blog. We did walk around the campground to look at the other rigs. Most of the sites are what is called seasonal, they are rented for the entire summer season which runs from April 28th to September 24th. This campground has been run by the same family for over 53 years and some of these "seasonal" renters have been on their sites for over 40 years. It's obvious that these are essentially permanent summer residents and they have installed landscaping, patios, etc. Here is an example.
Wednesday, Aug. 16th - Another day relaxing. We did go down to the lake shore. This is a big lake and the campground has about a 1,200 ft, frontage on the lake. Here is a couple of photos I took at the lake shore.
It is a sandy shore line but not the white sand we have in Florida. They had beach chairs that you could just relax in and enjoy the peace and quiet, which is what Pat is doing here.
Tomorrow, we leave Canada, cross into the USA at Detroit and then head south for Dayton, OH where we will be camping at Wright-Patterson AFB.
Tuesday, August 22, 2017
25 - Toronto
Friday, Aug. 11th – This morning we left Montreal
and headed west to Toronto. This was a 325-mile
drive and went well until we got to the outskirts of Toronto. Then we ran into a traffic backup that
delayed us some. However, we arrived at
our campground in late afternoon and got set up. This is a Toronto city campground and we have
water and 30-amp service but no sewer hookup so we will have to watch how much
water we use as we don’t want to fill the gray water tank (water from bath and
sink) as that would require us to disconnect and drive to the dump
station. The plan is to do that when we
leave, not before.
The water pressure must be high as after we had hooked up
and were setting up the inside, we heard a bang and we no longer had
water. I went to check on the water
hookup and I found water pouring out of the compartment where the water and
electricity connect. So, I shut off the
water at the source valve and then opened the compartment to find that the
water filter had blown apart and I had small pieces of filter medium (charcoal)
and filter scattered all over the compartment.
I do have a pressure regulator installed to protect the RV from too high
a pressure but it was after the filter.
So, I cleared out the compartment as best I could and hooked the water
back up without a filter as I did not have a spare.
Saturday, Aug. 12th – This morning we took a cab
to the GO station. This is Toronto’s
commuter rail system and it cost us $14.00 each round trip with our senior
discount to take the train into Union Station in the center of Toronto. Here is the train approaching our station.
Here is Union Station.
Our priority was to stop by the CN Tower to see about lunch
reservation at the restaurant on the top.
Eating lunch in the Tower restaurant turns out to be a good deal. To just go to the top for the scenic view is
$34.00 but if you have lunch it costs $58.00 including the ride up and
down. So, lunch only costs $24.00 each
and this is a very upscale restaurant.
On the way to the tower we walked past Roger’s Stadium where the Blue
Jays play. They had this neat sculpture
on the side of the stadium.
Here is a view of the CN Tower. The observation platform and the restaurant
are in the donut almost to the top.
We lucked out at the tower and were able to get luncheon
reservations for 1:45 PM tomorrow. Our
next order of business was to ride the Hop On/Hop Off bus for a tour of the
city. Here is a photo of the big, fancy
hotel in downtown, The Royal York.
Came across this interesting sculpture, not sure what it is
supposed to be.
Just off shore in the Toronto harbor there are a bunch of
islands. One has the small metro
airport, most are private but some you can visit. Here is a photo with the islands and the
small ferry you ride to get to them.
Next, we passed the NHL Hockey Hall of Fame.
And this neat looking mural.
We had asked the guide for a suggestion for someplace to get
off for lunch and what was recommended was the St. Lawrence Market. This was originally a farmers’ market that
started in 1803 but today it reminds me of Quincy Market in Boston or Pike’s
Place in Seattle. There used to be
buildings on both sides of the street but now there is only the one on the
south side which dates to 1845. St. Lawrence Market was named the world's best
food market by National
Geographic in April 2012. We decided to try Greek so Pat had her usual
spanakopita and baklava and I had souvlaki.
Both were very good. Here is what
the south market building looked like.
After lunch, we got back on the bus and went by this interesting looking
condominium building. ' Goes by the name of "One Bloor" because that's its address.
This impressive looking building is the Lillian Massey Building. It is a Neoclassical building built between
1908 and 1912 for the University of Toronto's Household Science
program created by Lillian Massey Treble, daughter of wealthy
Canadian business man, Hart Massey. It presently houses the offices of the
University of Toronto's Department of Classics and Center for Medieval Studies.
This church is the Bloor Street United Church. It was built in 1890 as a Presbyterian church
but in 1924 the congregation voted to join the United Church of Canada. Some of it looks very dark and dingy and some
looks nice and clean. Turns out the
dinginess is due to coal dust and pollution that darkened the stone work. They tried cleaning it and that is the
lighter areas but the cleaning process was damaging the stone work so they had
to stop. They haven’t figured out a way
to finish the cleaning. Here is what it
looks like today.
As we were driving along I heard and saw this very
interesting aircraft. It is a World War
II British Avro Lancaster. Not sure what
it was doing flying over Toronto but is sure was great to see it.
As we continued our tour we passed the CityTV News headquarters building and they have this neat sculpture on the side the building. Unfortunately, it may not be around much longer as City TV News has been sold and is moving to another building.
This completed our tour on the Hop On/Hop Off bus. We decided that the next landmark we wanted to visit was Casa Loma (Spanish for Hill House). We had gone by it on the bus tour but couldn't get a good view so we decided to take the subway to it.
Here is what the Toronto subway looks like. This stop was close to a number of museums so the station has a museum-like motif.
No luck, we headed north toward it but about half way there we found that the line was closed for maintenance. So, we got off and walked around to see what was in the area. First thing was the Gardiner Museum of Ceramic Art. Out in front was this large striped head which is made of glazed ceramic and was created by Jun Kaneko, a Japanese born artist who lives in Omaha, Nebraska. It's over 6 ft. high.
Here is what the Toronto subway looks like. This stop was close to a number of museums so the station has a museum-like motif.
No luck, we headed north toward it but about half way there we found that the line was closed for maintenance. So, we got off and walked around to see what was in the area. First thing was the Gardiner Museum of Ceramic Art. Out in front was this large striped head which is made of glazed ceramic and was created by Jun Kaneko, a Japanese born artist who lives in Omaha, Nebraska. It's over 6 ft. high.
On the corner was the Anglican Church of the Redeemer which was built in 1879 in the Gothic Revival style. It's kind of dwarfed by the more modern building around it.
On the opposite corner was the ROM, the Royal Ontario Museum. It is the largest museum in Canada and opened in 1914. It is a museum of art, world culture and natural history that has had a number of expansions over the years with the most recent one taking place in 2007. This was the Michael Lee-Chin Crystal,which was a major addition to the building's original framework. The structure was created by architect Daniel Libeskind and is made of 75% aluminum and 25% glass with an inner steel support frame. It's kind of weird and really catches your attention.
Just down the street is the Victoria University which is a part of the University of Toronto. Design reminds me of some of the Ivy League universities in the US.
At this point it was about 3:00 Saturday afternoon so we decided to go to Mass. So, we headed two subway stops south and then walked over a couple of blocks to St. Patrick's Shrine Church. St. Patrick's parish was established in 1861 to serve a growing Irish population. In 1881, the current bishop of Toronto was so impressed by Redemptionist missionary preachers that he asked them take over the parish. Over the years many German speaking immigrants settled in the area. St. Patrick's continues to be the home for the only German Mass in the Diocese of Toronto. Currently there is a large Asian population in the area. The current church was completed in 1908.
Here is the interior.
And a close up of the main altar.
It is called a shrine church as it is the home of the Canadian National Shrine of Our Mother of Perpetual Help. Here is the shrine.
And a close up of the Icon of Our Mother of Perpetual Help. This icon is a copy of the original that is in Rome and was brought to the church in 1881.
Here are some of the side altars.
After Mass we headed back to the Subway station but on the way we passed the Art Gallery of Toronto which had a very interesting facade as you can see here.
We then took the subway back to Union Station to head back to our campsite but since it was getting late, we decided to grab a quick dinner in the city. Close by was a Jack Astor's which is a chain of restaurants in Canada. Had a quick dinner and sitting next to us was a very friendly group of local Canadians who had just come from watching Blue Jays beat Pittsburgh. We chatted through out dinner and as we were leaving they asked us to take their picture and here it is.
We then caught the GO train and then a cab to get back to our campsite. When we got into our RV we found we didn't have any water. So I headed outside to find out why. The water was turned off at the tap for some reason, so I turned it back on and I very quickly found out why it had been turned off. Our water hose had split and immediately started spraying water all over the place. I either had a bad hose or the water pressure was REALLY high. Luckily, I had a spare hose but this time I set up the pressure regulator right at the valve so that I wouldn't be blowing any more hoses.
Sunday, Aug. 13th - This morning we once again took a cab to the GO station and then the train into Toronto. As we started walking down the street in front of Union Station, I couldn't help but notice this interesting looking condominium building just finishing construction. It goes by the name of th "L Tower."
We took the subway a few blocks north and then walked over to the Basilica Cathedral of St. Michael's. The diocese of Toronto was established in 1841 and initially was based in St. Paul's which was the only Catholic church in Toronto at the time. It was very quickly determined that the diocese needed a much bigger church and St. Michael's was built in 1847.
Here is a view of the interior.
And a close up of the altar.
Here a photos of the sides of the church.
And the ceiling.
Two of the stained-glass windows.
And the organ.
This church also has a shrine to Our Lady of Perpetual Help.
And they also had two very nice round stained-glass windows over the side entrances. One dedicated to the Sacred Heart of Jesus and the other to the Immaculate Heart of Mary.
And this is the large stained-glass window in the rear of the church.
From St. Michael's we walked one block over to take a look at this church. It is the Metropolitan United Church. It is a United Methodist Church that is part of the United Church of Canada. It started as a small church in 1818 and the current church was completed in 1872.
Here is an interior view.
And two stained-glass windows in the lobby.
After this we took the subway back to Union Station and then walked a couple of blocks to the CN Tower as we have reservations for lunch. We got there a little early so I took a look around and took this photo of Ripley's Aquarium.
We then took the elevator up to the restaurant in the CN Tower. This tower is a 1,815 ft. tall concrete communications and observation tower. It was completed in 1976 and until 2007 was the tallest free standing tower in the world. We arrived at the restaurant which is at the 1,152 ft. level but were still too early so we walked down one floor to the observation level and took a series of photos of downtown Toronto. This first photo is of Union Station and its railroad tracks.
Some of the downtown buildings.
And this photo shows Casa Loma.
Thought this building was interesting looking.
This grassy area between the railroad track and the highway is the location of Fort York, which was built in 1793 to defend then first settlers in what would eventually become Toronto.
Here is a photo of Rogers Stadium. The Blue Jays are playing the Pittsburgh Pirates,
Here is a photo of a three masted schooner that was taking tourists out for a ride on Lake Ontario.
On one of the harbor islands there is a small metro airport for commuter and private planes. Here you can see on of the commuter planes taking off.
A lot of the building in the area had grass on the roof. This hotel not only had grass but a pool.
I thought this one was interesting. Looks like Lego blocks.
Then caught this photo of a World War II vintage British military version of the DC-3. The Brits called it the Dakota.
Here you can see the contrast between the old church and the new modern city towers.
Finally, it was time to go upstairs for lunch. Here Pat is seated right next to the windows with a spectacular view. The restaurant rotates so as we ate our lunch, we got views of the entire city. The menu was very interesting. We each opted for the two-course prix fixe menu. I had Perth County Smoked ham Hock & BC Morel Terrine for an appetizer and Crispy Perth County Pork Belly & East Coast Sea Scallops for my entree. Pat had Roasted Ontario Chicken Supreme for her entree and Dark Chocolate Lava Cake for dessert. All of it was outstanding.
One of the upscale menu items was Ultimate Seafood Platter with 2 1-1/2 lb. lobster, 2 dozen oysters, 2 dozen shrimp, 1/2 lb. queen crab claws, 1 lb. of snow crab legs, 1/4 lb. smoked rainbow trout, 1/4 lb. smoked sockeye salmon and 2 dozen marinated PEI mussels. All for only $395.00. Here you can see one table working on one.
After Lunch we headed down to ground level and got on the Hop On/Hop Off bus to get a ride up to Casa Loma so we could see it and get a photo. Along the way we passed this doggie fountain in Berczy Park. Look closely as the fountain has 27 dogs and 1 cat.
We also passed the Toronto stock exchange where they have wrapped the new modern building around the old original building.
We also passed the city hall. Here is its clock tower.
And here is the rest of the building. The tower is not in the center as you would expect but is offset so that it lines up with the street coming up from the south.
An example of a street entertainer. Not sure what he/she was supposed to be.
And here is a demonstrator with and interesting poster.
We finally got to the stop for Casa Loma and walked up the hill so we could get to see it. This house was built in 1914 by financier Sir Henry Mill Pellatt for his wife. It had 98 rooms and 64,700 Sq. Ft. of floor space making it the largest private residence in Canada. The depression that followed World War I ruined Sir Pellatt's finances and in 1923 he was forced to sell the house. It was operated as a hotel for a short time but in 1933 was seized by the city of Toronto for $27,303 in back taxes. The city had plans to demolish it because it was in very bad condition but the Western Toronto Kiwanis Club took it over to operate it as a tourist attraction. The Kiwanis Club continued to operate it until 2011 when the city took over management. Here is a photo I took of it.
On the opposite corner was the ROM, the Royal Ontario Museum. It is the largest museum in Canada and opened in 1914. It is a museum of art, world culture and natural history that has had a number of expansions over the years with the most recent one taking place in 2007. This was the Michael Lee-Chin Crystal,which was a major addition to the building's original framework. The structure was created by architect Daniel Libeskind and is made of 75% aluminum and 25% glass with an inner steel support frame. It's kind of weird and really catches your attention.
Just down the street is the Victoria University which is a part of the University of Toronto. Design reminds me of some of the Ivy League universities in the US.
At this point it was about 3:00 Saturday afternoon so we decided to go to Mass. So, we headed two subway stops south and then walked over a couple of blocks to St. Patrick's Shrine Church. St. Patrick's parish was established in 1861 to serve a growing Irish population. In 1881, the current bishop of Toronto was so impressed by Redemptionist missionary preachers that he asked them take over the parish. Over the years many German speaking immigrants settled in the area. St. Patrick's continues to be the home for the only German Mass in the Diocese of Toronto. Currently there is a large Asian population in the area. The current church was completed in 1908.
Here is the interior.
And a close up of the main altar.
It is called a shrine church as it is the home of the Canadian National Shrine of Our Mother of Perpetual Help. Here is the shrine.
And a close up of the Icon of Our Mother of Perpetual Help. This icon is a copy of the original that is in Rome and was brought to the church in 1881.
Here are some of the side altars.
After Mass we headed back to the Subway station but on the way we passed the Art Gallery of Toronto which had a very interesting facade as you can see here.
We then took the subway back to Union Station to head back to our campsite but since it was getting late, we decided to grab a quick dinner in the city. Close by was a Jack Astor's which is a chain of restaurants in Canada. Had a quick dinner and sitting next to us was a very friendly group of local Canadians who had just come from watching Blue Jays beat Pittsburgh. We chatted through out dinner and as we were leaving they asked us to take their picture and here it is.
We then caught the GO train and then a cab to get back to our campsite. When we got into our RV we found we didn't have any water. So I headed outside to find out why. The water was turned off at the tap for some reason, so I turned it back on and I very quickly found out why it had been turned off. Our water hose had split and immediately started spraying water all over the place. I either had a bad hose or the water pressure was REALLY high. Luckily, I had a spare hose but this time I set up the pressure regulator right at the valve so that I wouldn't be blowing any more hoses.
Sunday, Aug. 13th - This morning we once again took a cab to the GO station and then the train into Toronto. As we started walking down the street in front of Union Station, I couldn't help but notice this interesting looking condominium building just finishing construction. It goes by the name of th "L Tower."
We took the subway a few blocks north and then walked over to the Basilica Cathedral of St. Michael's. The diocese of Toronto was established in 1841 and initially was based in St. Paul's which was the only Catholic church in Toronto at the time. It was very quickly determined that the diocese needed a much bigger church and St. Michael's was built in 1847.
Here is a view of the interior.
And a close up of the altar.
Here a photos of the sides of the church.
And the ceiling.
Two of the stained-glass windows.
And the organ.
This church also has a shrine to Our Lady of Perpetual Help.
And they also had two very nice round stained-glass windows over the side entrances. One dedicated to the Sacred Heart of Jesus and the other to the Immaculate Heart of Mary.
And this is the large stained-glass window in the rear of the church.
From St. Michael's we walked one block over to take a look at this church. It is the Metropolitan United Church. It is a United Methodist Church that is part of the United Church of Canada. It started as a small church in 1818 and the current church was completed in 1872.
Here is an interior view.
And two stained-glass windows in the lobby.
After this we took the subway back to Union Station and then walked a couple of blocks to the CN Tower as we have reservations for lunch. We got there a little early so I took a look around and took this photo of Ripley's Aquarium.
We then took the elevator up to the restaurant in the CN Tower. This tower is a 1,815 ft. tall concrete communications and observation tower. It was completed in 1976 and until 2007 was the tallest free standing tower in the world. We arrived at the restaurant which is at the 1,152 ft. level but were still too early so we walked down one floor to the observation level and took a series of photos of downtown Toronto. This first photo is of Union Station and its railroad tracks.
Some of the downtown buildings.
And this photo shows Casa Loma.
Thought this building was interesting looking.
This grassy area between the railroad track and the highway is the location of Fort York, which was built in 1793 to defend then first settlers in what would eventually become Toronto.
Here is a photo of Rogers Stadium. The Blue Jays are playing the Pittsburgh Pirates,
Here is a photo of a three masted schooner that was taking tourists out for a ride on Lake Ontario.
On one of the harbor islands there is a small metro airport for commuter and private planes. Here you can see on of the commuter planes taking off.
A lot of the building in the area had grass on the roof. This hotel not only had grass but a pool.
I thought this one was interesting. Looks like Lego blocks.
Then caught this photo of a World War II vintage British military version of the DC-3. The Brits called it the Dakota.
Then there was the Ernst & Young (EY) building with a roof that didn't look like it was finished
Here you can see the contrast between the old church and the new modern city towers.
Finally, it was time to go upstairs for lunch. Here Pat is seated right next to the windows with a spectacular view. The restaurant rotates so as we ate our lunch, we got views of the entire city. The menu was very interesting. We each opted for the two-course prix fixe menu. I had Perth County Smoked ham Hock & BC Morel Terrine for an appetizer and Crispy Perth County Pork Belly & East Coast Sea Scallops for my entree. Pat had Roasted Ontario Chicken Supreme for her entree and Dark Chocolate Lava Cake for dessert. All of it was outstanding.
One of the upscale menu items was Ultimate Seafood Platter with 2 1-1/2 lb. lobster, 2 dozen oysters, 2 dozen shrimp, 1/2 lb. queen crab claws, 1 lb. of snow crab legs, 1/4 lb. smoked rainbow trout, 1/4 lb. smoked sockeye salmon and 2 dozen marinated PEI mussels. All for only $395.00. Here you can see one table working on one.
After Lunch we headed down to ground level and got on the Hop On/Hop Off bus to get a ride up to Casa Loma so we could see it and get a photo. Along the way we passed this doggie fountain in Berczy Park. Look closely as the fountain has 27 dogs and 1 cat.
We also passed the Toronto stock exchange where they have wrapped the new modern building around the old original building.
We also passed the city hall. Here is its clock tower.
And here is the rest of the building. The tower is not in the center as you would expect but is offset so that it lines up with the street coming up from the south.
An example of a street entertainer. Not sure what he/she was supposed to be.
And here is a demonstrator with and interesting poster.
We finally got to the stop for Casa Loma and walked up the hill so we could get to see it. This house was built in 1914 by financier Sir Henry Mill Pellatt for his wife. It had 98 rooms and 64,700 Sq. Ft. of floor space making it the largest private residence in Canada. The depression that followed World War I ruined Sir Pellatt's finances and in 1923 he was forced to sell the house. It was operated as a hotel for a short time but in 1933 was seized by the city of Toronto for $27,303 in back taxes. The city had plans to demolish it because it was in very bad condition but the Western Toronto Kiwanis Club took it over to operate it as a tourist attraction. The Kiwanis Club continued to operate it until 2011 when the city took over management. Here is a photo I took of it.
We then walked back down the hill and caught the bus which took us to Union Station where we took the train and a cab back to our campsite.
This was our last real tourist stop in Canada. Tomorrow, we leave for a couple of relaxing days on Lake Erie and then back to the states.
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