Exploring Ontario In The Winter Hello From Barrie

•Hello From Toronto Part 3 Exploring Niagara Wine Country
Two days ago I took our European visitors on a little driving tour of the Niagara Peninsula, specifically to explore some of the 50 something wineries. My brother is a chef and very interested in exploring the authentic tastes and flavours of Canada. So far my visitors have been very impressed with the quality of the Canadian vegetables, meats, spices, and even the various types of beers that they have tried from different microbreweries. We got going around 9:30 am to avoid the brunt of rush...

•Hello From Orlando A Walk Through Winter Park A Hint Of New England In Florida
Just a few minutes north of downtown Orlando awaits Winter Park, a charming picturesque suburb steeped in history. After my excursion on the Scenic Boat Tour, my local expert Wanda Salerno took me on a little walk through town past beautiful historic neighbourhoods. With is origins as a citrus growing region, Winter Park became a major destination for wealthy northerners during the early 1900s, who came into town by train to reach their elegant winter retreats, seeking shelter from the cold...

•Hello From Toronto Part 2 Exploring Toronto s Waterfront By Bicycle And Checking Out The CN Tower
Since my European visitors are quite sporty I figured that renting a bicycle would be the perfect way of exploring the city. So to join them on their first guided bicycle tour I grabbed my bike and the 5 of us headed off to the subway station to go to Bicycle Solutions near Parliament and Carlton Streets. Getting outfitted with a bike didn't take long and the cost was pretty reasonable at $70.00 for a whole week. Now all 5 of us had a bicycle. Our tour began in Cabbagetown, one of Toronto's...

•Hello From The Canadian Rockies Our First Excursion To Calgary Banff And Lake Louise
My husband and I try to go skiing for a week at least once a year and so far we've been to about 15 different ski resorts on the east coast, anywhere from Ontario to Quebec, New Hampshire, Vermont and Maine. But we had never been out west in the Rockies. Well, it was time to change that..... So we planned a trip to the Canadian Rockies, and for both of us it was the first time for us to see this majestic mountain range. Just after we landed on March 4, 2006 we started off with a whirlwind...

•Exploring Frank Lloyd Wright In Buffalo And Serenity On Lake Ontario
My theory is a real traveler is able to discover interesting things even in the most unlikely of places. Well, Buffalo probably hasn't made the top travel destinations list for a while, but I have been doing some research on it and I thought it's high time to explore Buffalo, the closest American city to Toronto, just south of Niagara Falls and right across the Fort Erie border. So my fellow travel and architecture aficionado Shauna and I headed out early yesterday morning to make the 2 hour...

•Hello From Orlando Part 7 Yeeehaaw Our High speed Adventure At Boggy Creek Airboat Tours
After my rather quaint and leisurely scenic boat ride through Winter Park, a rather different boating experience was in store for me: a high speed airboat ride through Lake Tohopekaliga, provided by Boggy Creek Airboat Rides. We got started early in the morning and took the first tour out. The temperature must have been about 45 degrees Fahrenheit or so, and in wise anticpation we both wore our Canadian winter jackets. Good thing, because it gets pretty darn cold zooming along at high speed...

•Hello From Toronto Part 1 A First Little Driving Tour The City Viewed Through The Eyes Of First Time Visitors
So my brother is in town, together with his wife and 2 friends from my little home town in Austria. It is everybody's first time in North America and their initiation to Toronto. Just to give you ideas of dimensions: Austria has a population of about 9 million and the country extends about 900 km from east to west while the Greater Toronto area nowadays probably has about 4 to 5 million people and Lake Ontario alone is over 300 km long. The first thing my visitors noticed was the difference in...

•Hello From New York City Part 3 Crossing The Brooklyn Bridge Exploring Downtown Manhattan
What a full day we had yesterday. We had a delightful breakfast in our bed and breakfast at about 8:30 am and shared some nice conversations with a young couple from Sweden and an older couple from Holland, the hostess was participating as well. This is one of my favourite things about bed and breakfasts, usually they offer really tasty filling meals and a great conversation to go with it. We got going at around noon and hopped off the subway just before the Brooklyn Bridge and ended up...

•Hello From New York City Part 2 Exploring Mid Town Manhattan
Since our plane landed nice and early we had virtually a whole day left to explore yesterday. The weather was pretty nice, quite sunny when we started, although it clouded over a little and was a little on the cool side, it never got much above 15 degrees Celsius. Around noon time we hopped on the Q subway line, which is literally 5 minutes from our bed and breakfast, and we made our way into Manhattan. The subway actually emerges at the Manhattan Bridge and we got a good look at the Brooklyn...

•Hello From Chicago Part 4 Chinatown And Second City
Chicago, Arlington House, Sunday October 23,2005, 6:30 am After thoroughly exploring the Pullman Historic District, we decided to check out Chinatown, one of the many ethnic neighbourhoods that Chicago has to offer. The weather had turned from cool and grey with the occasional peek of sunshine to dark, rainy and cold, so rather than walking around we decided to have an early dinner at a Chinatown restaurant called the Lobster King. Both my friend Linda and I had ordered vegetarian dishes,...