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Road trip, Ontario to Prince Edward Island, Canada

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Road trip, Ontario to Prince Edward Island, Canada

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Old Jun 6th, 2022, 04:48 AM
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Road trip, Ontario to Prince Edward Island, Canada

Hi
On a road trip from Ontario to Prince Edward Island in Canada. Also taking some side trips which may post about later.
First stop Kingston, Ontario.
Visited Kingston Penitentiary, Canada's most famous jail, now decommissioned. The tour has to be booked online and has a timed entry.
The tour guide takes the visitors to different sections of the penitentiary, where retired guards that worked in those sections give a first person account.
For those that haven't seen the inside of a jail it can be both informative and depressing.


Kingston Penitentiary


Cell block


Cell


Exercise yard


Guard tower


Visitors room

Across the street from the Kingston Penitentiary is the Penitentiary museum ( free, accepts donations). The museum has actual items from the prisoners such as knifes and other weapons that the prisoners made from anything they could find. The museum also has escape items used by the prisoners such as guns carved out of wood, face masks, a stack of food trays that a prisoner glued together and hollowed out to hide in, the escape was successful but he was later caught.


Hollowed out food tray escape

Next visited the Murney towers, which were military defensive towers. They are cylindrical in shape and can be visited for free (they accept donations).


Murney tower


Murney tower stairway


Murney tower small canon


Inside view of cannonball used at Murney tower


Large cannon at Murney tower. Notice that the cannon is a round metal track so that it can be rotated to fire in different directions

Next visited Fort Henry. Be aware that thru out the day they fire a real cannon and it is very loud as the sound reverberates from the fort stone walls, it caught me by surprise and scared some of the tourists.


Fort Henry cannons


Fort Henry cannon view, notice the Murney tower in the distance (red roof)


Red coat ( British army soldier old uniform)


Red coat formation

Tried to visit the Kingston University and Kingston Cathedral but they were both closed so only got to see the exterior.

Kingston University



Kingston University bell tower



Kingston Cathedral

Next we are heading to Montreal, Quebec, post about it later

Happy travels


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Old Jun 6th, 2022, 09:12 AM
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Hi
I just noticed that the post is the Europe forum instead of Canada forum.
Webmaster can you move it to Canada forum, thank you.
Happy travels
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Old Jun 6th, 2022, 09:20 AM
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You can ask the moderators to move your trip report to the Canada Forum. See the little orange triangle? click that and it opens a dialog box where you can ask them to move it.
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Old Jun 6th, 2022, 10:07 AM
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Trip Report moved to the Canada Forum
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Old Jun 7th, 2022, 03:23 AM
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Aulop,

Wow what a trip and photos thanks for posting the start of your adventure. Great time of the year to travel. If you have not checked out this post about PEI please do I posted a lot of information about the island.

Halifax and PEI

Please keep us updated on your travels.

Safe trip.

Tom
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Old Jun 7th, 2022, 04:07 AM
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Hi
tlc195
Thanks for the great info you posted on PEI.
Happy travels
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Old Jun 7th, 2022, 04:41 AM
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Hi
Our next stop , Montreal, was a challenge to drive due to the road construction, road closures and one way streets in the downtown core.
I advise a very good GPS that can re-route quickly, several streets we intended to use were closed and with transit buses, city traffic behind us and pedestrians and cyclists all around us the pressure to quickly move felt intense, GPS saved the day every time with some minor backtracking.
In Montreal' Quebec, visited perhaps the most beautiful church I have ever seen - Montreal Notre Dame basilica.
The blue color around the altar is simply beautiful. Visits can be made outside of mass hours ( fee and time entry). The church was full of tourists and dimly lit making it difficult to get good photos.


Montreal Notre Dame Basilica


Altar


Ceiling detail


Organ


Stairway to pulpit


Stained glass above door


View of Notre Dame basilica exterior from plaza

Afterwards we went to Montreal Botanical Gardens. The gardens are extensive but we had limited time so only visited part of the garden. Some areas are not in bloom yet (rose garden) while others are under repair. Our favourites are the Chinese garden and the Greenhouses.


Montreal Botanical Garden - Chinese garden

Chinese garden

Chinese garden


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Old Jun 7th, 2022, 04:51 AM
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Duplicate post removed

Last edited by aulop; Jun 7th, 2022 at 04:57 AM.
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Old Jun 7th, 2022, 05:05 AM
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Hi
Continuation of Montreal Botanical Gardens - Chinese garden


Chinese garden


Chinese garden


Chinese garden


Chinese garden
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Old Jun 7th, 2022, 05:27 AM
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Hi
Continuation of Montreal Botanical Gardens - Greenhouse


Greenhouse


Greenhouse


Greenhouse


Greenhouse


Greenhouse


Greenhouse

Next post Quebec Old City

Happy travels
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Old Jun 7th, 2022, 07:38 AM
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Hi
Janisj appreciate the technical info.
Thanks
Happy travels
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Old Jun 8th, 2022, 04:17 AM
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Hi
Next we visited Quebec Old City which has an old European flavor with cobblestone streets and old stone buildings.
There is a lower part (by the river) and a upper part (by the Chateau Frontenac) which can be accessed by stairs or a funicular ($4 per person).
The lower part is more flat and with more pedestrian only streets making it great for walking.
The buildings are usually 3 or 4 levels high are very old - the one we stayed at was from 1884.
Many have been converted to hotels, restaurants or shops.


Quebec City view of promenade and port with a ferry, a tour boat and a small cruise ship



Chateau Frontenac and Promenade



Gazebo on the Promenade


Promenade


Lower City


Lower City


Lower City


Lower City


Lower City


Lower City funicular view


Ferry to Levi, Quebec


View from ferry

After Quebec City we continued on to New Brunswick.

Frequent sign on the highway


Mr Moose


Shediac, New Brunswick lobster

Next post Prince Edward Island
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Old Jun 9th, 2022, 05:18 AM
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Hi
Crossed the bridge to Prince Edward Island. The weather has been a factor, mostly windy.

PEI beach


Seaweed after the storm


Sea snail on the beach


Driftwood


PEI beach


PEI beach


PEI beach


PEI beach


PEI beach


PEI lobster fishing boats


Catch of the day


Lighthouse


Charlottetown cathedral


Victoria By the Sea


Victoria By the Sea


Victoria By the Sea


Victoria By the Sea


Summerside


Carmel church


Cap Egmont bottle house


Cap Egmont bottle house


Cap Egmont bottle house


Cap Egmont bottle house


Cap Egmont bottle house

Happy travels

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Old Jun 9th, 2022, 07:13 AM
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You did a fantastic job capturing the beautiful PEI island!!

Where did you eat??
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Old Jun 9th, 2022, 07:35 AM
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Originally Posted by tlc195
You did a fantastic job capturing the beautiful PEI island!!

Where did you eat??
Hi
The only place we ate out in PEI was at Boom Burger in Charlottetown - we enjoyed it.
We cooked the rest of the time, mussels, clams, oysters from Aquafarms and lobster from the fisherman.
Tip: cooking the lobster in seawater adds to the flavor. Put clams in seawater for a couple of hours before cooking so they expel the sand.
Happy travels

Last edited by aulop; Jun 9th, 2022 at 07:44 AM.
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Old Jun 9th, 2022, 11:13 AM
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Originally Posted by aulop
Hi
The only place we ate out in PEI was at Boom Burger in Charlottetown - we enjoyed it.
We cooked the rest of the time, mussels, clams, oysters from Aquafarms and lobster from the fisherman.
Tip: cooking the lobster in seawater adds to the flavor. Put clams in seawater for a couple of hours before cooking so they expel the sand.
Happy travels
What No Lobster Suppers, No Lobster Roll, you went to PEI and did not try the great PEI food…lol. Perhaps next time. Did you go to Greenwich National Park, if not definitely check it out. In the PEI link I gave details on how to get to the floating bridge walk.

Where next in your travels?

Tom
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Old Jun 9th, 2022, 12:53 PM
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Hi
Tlc195 we made our own lobster dinners, the fisherman gave us good tips like cooking lobster in the sea water, and we have our own recipes for other seafood like clams.
We wanted to go to Pedro and also Richard ( in Stanhope) restaurant but they weren't open for the season, even the booths at the Parks didn't have anyone.
Unfortunately we didn't have enough time for the floating bridge, next time.
As you know there's a lot to see in and enjoy in PEI, your post has lots of good info for anyone that wants to visit.
We did some side trips in Ontario at the beginning of the trip that took time away from PEI and used up our free time so no travel for a while.
Happy travels
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Old Jun 9th, 2022, 03:13 PM
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Stunning photos, love them all.

Small correction, in Kingston Ontario the university is called Queens University.

Judy
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Old Jun 9th, 2022, 04:24 PM
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Originally Posted by jlf1
Stunning photos, love them all.

Small correction, in Kingston Ontario the university is called Queens University.

Judy
Hi
You are absolutely right, it's Queens University, thanks for correcting it.
Sometimes I use the name of the city an institution is located to help with identifying location rather than it's proper name, I should have used Kingston Queens University, sorry about the confusion ( ex: Toronto airport instead of Lester B. Pearson international airport).

I'm glad you like the photos, I used the HDR setting and some of the photos came out quite vivid.

Happy travels
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Old Jun 10th, 2022, 02:16 PM
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Originally Posted by aulop
Hi
You are absolutely right, it's Queens University, thanks for correcting it.
Sometimes I use the name of the city an institution is located to help with identifying location rather than it's proper name, I should have used Kingston Queens University, sorry about the confusion ( ex: Toronto airport instead of Lester B. Pearson international airport).

I'm glad you like the photos, I used the HDR setting and some of the photos came out quite vivid.

Happy travels
Most people call Pearson airport Toronto Airport (myself included).
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