Tag Archives: architecture

Toronto: Old Town

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view to the north from our apartment

We’ve arrived in Toronto and are loving city life! We’re in a fantastic Airbnb rental on the 27th floor of a tower in the Church-Wellesley area of downtown. This is one of our best rentals ever!

Our first day: walking tour of Old Town, the Entertainment District, the Financial District, and the Harbourfront.

first stop: St. Lawrence Market

 

We love these European-style markets, chock-full of fresh foods.

 

Couldn’t resist a peameal bacon sandwich, known to those of us from south of the border as Canadian bacon.

 

Toronto’s Flatiron Building

 

humorous trompe-l’oeil mural on the back of the Flatiron

 

stumbled across this delightful park—Berzcy Park—behind the Flatiron Building

 

adorable dog fountain!

 

the pinnacle–the almighty bone!

 

Five bonus points if you noticed the cat on the fountain!

 

Airbnb Roulette

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Riverview B&B

Months ago, when I was planning this trip, I was looking for a place to stay between Lake Placid and Toronto. We wanted to see the Thousand Islands area, but I didn’t know any of the towns along the St. Lawrence River. So I played Airbnb roulette: Pick a town anywhere in the vicinity—Kingston, Ontario, say. If you don’t see anything you like in Kingston, keep zooming out on the map until you find something. That’s how I found the Riverview B&B in Gananoque. Ganawhat? Doesn’t matter. Just put your chips down and spin the wheel.

The Riverview was a bit difficult to find only in that our GPS (some of you may remember the obstinate Rita from previous trips) disavowed any knowledge of Thousand Islands Parkway where the B&B is located. How can that be? It’s a major thoroughfare along the river! With Rita in a huff and not having cell service in Canada, we were on our own. (What did we do before Smart Phones?) Fortunately signage was good, and we were able to find the parkway, which, by the way, is spelled “1000 Islands Parkway.” Hence, Rita’s attitude.

The B&B, the former Lansdowne House, stands out like a manor house in its rural community just east of Gananoque. It was a large, stately home that has recently been remodeled into eight spacious guest rooms, plus a large suite for the owners. It also has a fitness room, a breakfast room, and a beautiful rooftop terrace. Relieved that we had at least broken even on our bet, we dropped our luggage and headed in to town to explore. 

What an adorable town! Gananoque—or Gan, as locals call it—is just our speed: small, picturesque, quiet, and oh-so friendly. There are several scenic walks through the town of approximately 5000 which highlight some of the elegant homes built during Gan’s heyday as a major transportation hub on the St. Lawrence. Perhaps it’s fortuitous that river traffic was later diverted to Kingston, a city of over 120,000 today, so that Gan could retain its 19th-century charm.

We started at Tourist Information, where a pleasant woman educated us as to Gan’s many highlights. Primarily, it’s a launching point for boat tours of the 1000 Islands. Rather than being cooped up with tourists feeding seagulls for five hours, we opted to see the sights of the town on foot, starting with the Ganonoque Brewing Company which, as luck would have it, was right across the street from TI. We enjoyed a very talented (humorous, as well as musically endowed) duo performing in the brewery’s diminutive Beer Garden while we washed down the dust of the road. 

at the Purple House Cafe

A couple saw us reading through our TI brochures and asked if we were looking for a place to eat. Not particularly, but we would take all recommendations. Purple House Cafe, hands down. Just a pleasant stroll away, Purple House had a sweet stone patio with a wood-fired pizza oven out front. The weather was perfect—sunny and a warm 75°—so we enjoyed a delicious pizza while playing a rousing game of dominoes. Board games are part of the ambience. It just keeps getting better. Winner, winner, pizza dinner!

Bendominoes, bendy dominoes

From the Vanderbilt estate

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view of the Hudson River from the Vanderbilt estate

As with most trips we take, we ran out of time to see everything we wanted to see in Hyde Park. My intention with extended travel is to see an area so thoroughly that I can happily cross it off my bucket list, satisfied that I have seen it all, and focus future travel on other adventures. In actuality, we rarely see a place as thoroughly as we’d like. I make an exhaustive list, we prioritize as we go, but you never know just how it’s going to flow. And sometimes we want to return to a place we’ve explored because we’ve seen enough to have fallen in love with it. So the plan may not work the way I intended, but there’s a certain serendipity to it that we’ve come to love.

the Catskill Mountains in the distance

My deepest regret in Hyde Park is not giving Eleanor her due. Little was said about her on our guided tour of Springwood, Franklin’s home. And even though her papers and other memorabilia are stored in the Presidential Library, you really have to search to find her in the museum exhibits. 

The day we hiked to her cottage, Val-Kill, on the Eleanor Roosevelt National Heritage Site, we didn’t stay for the tour. For one thing, we were focused on completing our hike up to the top of the hill, to Top Cottage, and back down again before the day grew too warm. But also, there was an administrative meeting of all tour guides for the Roosevelt properties that morning and a backlog of tourists waiting to tour both Val-Kill and Top Cottages. Somehow I thought that we would catch up with Eleanor later, but sadly our time in Hyde Park evaporated.

The same goes with the Vanderbilt estate, which is located just south of the B&B where we stayed. It was so close, we thought we could stop in any time. We barely managed a drive-through of the property at dusk on our last day in town. While we rarely tour houses just to ogle at the opulence, the mansion does look architecturely stunning from several vantage points along the river. I was intrigued, and I’m sure we could have learned something about the prolific Vanderbilt family.

So we will bid adieu to Hyde Park and continue on our journey up the Hudson. Maybe one day we’ll return and pay Eleanor a nice, long visit. I believe her story is worth hearing.

Walkway Over the Hudson

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view of the Mid-Hudson Bridge from the Walkway

The Walkway Over the Hudson is, at 1.28 miles long, the world’s longest pedestrian bridge. Originally a railroad bridge, it was irreparably damaged in 1974 in a fire caused by sparks from the brakes of a train crossing over. It was later repurposed as a pedestrian walkway and reopened in 2009. On the Poughkeepsie side of the river, the walking and biking trail extends another twelve miles east of the bridge, continuing the rails-to-trails conversion. What a great asset to the area!

lovely homes on the Hudson

We were pleased to see so many people out getting exercise on a hot Wednesday afternoon. There is no shade on the bridge, but I think locals were just happy to be out in the sunshine after such a long and cold winter and spring. The views north and south on the Hudson were spectacular.

crew practice on the river

 

a working boat on the Hudson

At the CIA…

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I brake for chefs.

…the Culinary Institute of America, that is. Another reason I wanted to visit Hyde Park. Thanks to a friend (Hi, Toni!), who clued me in to the need to make reservations, we were able to enjoy two meals during our three-night stay in Hyde Park. The first night we went to their Italian restaurant, Catarina di Medici; the second night, their farm-to-table restaurant American Bounty. The food in all their restaurants is prepared and served by students. The service left a bit to be desired, but the food, by and large, was delicious. We were especially fortunate to share our meal at American Bounty with our daughter-in-law, who happened to be in New York visiting her father.

The campus itself is beautiful. The main building on campus looks like a brick cathedral, and the grounds are lush and green with an amazing view of the Hudson River.

Hike to Val-Kill and Top Cottages

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the trail to Val-Kill and Top Cottages

There’s a very cool hike through the woods from the Roosevelt family home of Springwood to Val-Kill Cottage, where Eleanor Roosevelt chose to live, and then farther up the hill to Top Cottage, where Franklin intended to live after leaving the presidency. Both cottages were on the vast Roosevelt estate in Hyde Park, both small by Springwood standards (especially Top Cottage), both entirely independent of the other, and both the source of great comfort and isolation to their residents.

Let’s back up a bit. Why did Eleanor choose to live at Val-Kill, when Franklin was living at Springwood? We’ve all heard the rumors of their supposed infidelities. I won’t comment on them because I know nothing about them, but according to our park-ranger guide, Eleanor never felt at home at Springwood while Franklin’s mother, Sara, was alive. (She passed away in 1941.) Springwood was always her mother-in-law’s home. She and two friends had originally developed the Val-Kill property as an industrial site where locals could learn handicraft skills. It became Eleanor’s getaway when she was in Hyde Park with her husband, but became her full-time residence after his death in 1945 when she had the factory converted into her home. She lived there until her death in 1962.

Cindy, waiting for her hot dog at Top Cottage

Top Cottage, or Hill-Top Cottage to be precise, was designed by Franklin, an amateur architect, and built during his second term in office. It was his retreat from the world, but they–both he and Eleanor–used it for family picnics and entertaining guests as well. In 1939 King George VI and Queen Elizabeth of Britain attended the famous “hot-dog summit” at the cottage. (The King’s Speech, anyone?) It was Roosevelt’s desire that the king and queen see how the American commoner lived–and what he or she ate. Note: The queen ate her hot dog with a fork and knife. The king enjoyed eating his by hand!

furry friend in the forest

So, back to the hike. The woods were beautiful. We had them almost to ourselves on a Wednesday morning. The hike to Val-Kill was mostly level–piece of cake! The hike to Top Cottage from Val-Kill was a pretty rugged climb up muddy paths cut through the leaves by heavy rains a few days before.

Here are some of the guys we met along the way.

Mr. and Mrs. Mallard

 

A very long rat snake. We never saw his head, but his body went on forever as he slithered into this rotted log.

Under construction

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We are home and planning our next adventure because the compass never stops spinning. Check out my Future Adventures tab to see some of the possibilities! I’d love your feedback and ideas.

Yaquina Head Light

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Yaquina Head Light

Yaquina Head Light

Pretty little Yaquina Head lighthouse at the mouth of the Yaquina River in Newport. Not to be confused with Yaquina Bay Light on the other side of Yaquina Bay. Lots of lights in this neck of the woods. Lots of rocks.

perspective

perspective

 

Newport across the bay

Newport across the bay

 

bird haven

bird haven

 

Fred and Fred

Fred and Fred

 

Cape Heceta Light

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Cape Heceta Light

Cape Heceta Light

It was a long day with an itinerary covering 190 miles of spectacular Oregon coastline. We managed to check out of our apartment in Gold Beach by 9:00, which for us is amazing. But then we got hung up by the stunning wildlife at Port Orford, the friendly volunteers at Cape Blanco, the intriguing walking paths at Coquille Point, the delicious Sea Star Bistro and the worthwhile Washed Ashore gallery in Old Town Bandon, and then the unbelievable dunes between Reedsport and Florence. Then the rain set in, and it was growing dark. We don’t like checking in to a new rental in the rain and the dark. All that unseen mud! We’d just have to chuck the rest of the itinerary and make a run for Newport.

I always plan more stops than we have time for, and my motto is “No regrets.” We do what we can. This is supposed to be slow travel, relaxed travel. Ix-nay on the ess-stray. As we headed to Newport, I was trying not to regret missing Cape Heceta lighthouse, reportedly one of the prettiest on the Oregon coast.

I looked up to see a sign for the Sea Lion Cave. As much as I like sea lions, I didn’t regret missing what sounded like a cheesy tourist spectacle—an elevator ride down the face of a cliff to gaze into a cavern full of Steller sea lions. I wonder what they make of that. Oh, look! Here comes another cage of tourists!

We drove on. And there it was—the coziest little lighthouse you could ever imagine nestled into the side of a rocky point, its beacon sweeping through the misty rain and out to sea. Cape Heceta! I didn’t realize it’s visible from the Oregon Coast Highway. We pulled off the road onto a conveniently situated overlook.

We rarely travel at dusk, so I’m not used to actually being able to see a lighthouse beacon. They tend to disappear in the light of day. But the rain and the hour were the ideal setting and that rocky backdrop the ideal canvas. Thomas Kinkade would have been euphoric. I stood at the overlook wall taking it all in. And then I heard the barking. Dogs? No, it was coming from the cove below us. Sea lions!

Sea lions!

Sea lions!

There was still enough light to peer into the waves 300 feet below us, and there they were. Dozens of sea lions diving into the surf in search of dinner. Dawn and dusk are optimal times to see animals in the wild foraging for food. Our timing couldn’t have been better. We stayed until the light grew too dim to see, then got back in the car and drove into the darkness. We arrived at our rental and unloaded our stuff in the pitch black (the porch light wasn’t working), but we didn’t care. Sometimes you see the most extraordinary things when you step outside your comfort zone.

Oh, look! Tourists!

Oh, look! Tourists!