2015 - Cobourg/Kingston Day 3 (Gananoque)

Today, we visit the 1000 Islands Tower in Gananoque.

Early this morning, I woke up to some noise and I thought it might have just been the residence since it is a bit old but when I stared up at the ceiling, there was something flying around.  After focusing on it a bit, I realized that it was a bat!  I tried to figure out what to do since I didn't want to wake Allison, but eventually she did and when she did, I turned on the lights and just went back to bed.  I did tell the host about it but apparently they couldn't find it.  We spoke with some other guests at the B & B and apparently they did see one the previous day, so at least I wasn't imagining things.

Breakfast at this B & B is interesting.  They set up a guest dining area in the morning and you select a time for when you want to eat, prior to this time, you wait in the lounge area until the dining area is ready and then, as a group, everyone is escorted into the dining area.  The table is set and drinks are poured by the host one person at a time, so while waiting, you get to mingle with the other guests if you like (we were 2 of 8 guests at the table), and because of this, we got to hear stories about things that other guests did and what was worth doing and what was not.  Breakfast was a goat cheese and mushroom quiche with a nice vegetable salad as well as some fruit and home fries.  It was actually really good.  We would rank this as the second best breakfast we have been served so far, the best going to La Victorienne Urbaine in Quebec City.

I only had two stops planned today, the 1000 Islands Tower and Confederation Park, both in Gananoque.  To get to the 1000 Islands Tower, you will need to pay a toll to get here and it was $3.25 CAD when we went.  Luckily, you don't need to pay another toll to get back since the tower is actually before the border (you can see the border from the tower).  Admission is $10 + tax per person to go up to the tower.  It is by elevator only, even though there are stairs, they aren't used to go up or down the tower.  The tower has 3 levels, one fully covered and indoors, and two that are open air.  In each of the levels, there are some pieces of information in certain stops to tell you about what you are seeing which is pretty neat.  We probably spent about 30 minutes here.

Canadian side

American side

Confederation Park was our next stop but unfortunately, I couldn't find it and we just headed to lunch instead at Panache Bakery.  We ordered two sandwiches, a large soup and two slices of cheesecake for $32 which I think was reasonable.  Everything that we had was good.  After that, we headed home.

Sandwiches and soup from Panache Bakery.

Cheesecakes from Panache Bakery.

Until our next trip!

2015 - Cobourg/Kingston Day 2 (Kingston)

Today's breakfast was nice.  Started with a variety of cereal, 3 types, your choice of coffee or tea, a glass of orange juice, eggs/bacon if you wanted and some buttered multi-grain toast with 2 types of jam and 2 types of jelly.

National Air Force Museum of Canada is our first stop this morning.  We probably spent about an hour here.  Admission is by donation and they have a number of planes for viewing and it was interesting to see.  I had no idea that some of the planes were so small while others are so large.  While there is a lot of history here, for fun, there is a simulator, a couple of cockpits that you can sit in for photo-ops, an ejector seat for pictures as well.

Trenton lock 1 was where we went to while we waited for our lunch place to open at noon.  We lucked out and we got to see the lock in action since there were two boats that just arrived.  It is neat to see although once you have seen it once, it isn't really necessary to see it again and I have seen it in St. Catharines.  As a bonus, if you go to the visitor's center here, you can get some free dog tags.

Golden Chicken and Ribs is our lunch spot, we found out that they don't have any place to eat but luckily there are several park benches across the street where you can go and eat, some of which are even covered.  The tatters were actually really good.  The chicken sandwich was very moist and tasty.  Stop by if you want some fried food.

Penitentiary Museum is our first stop in Kingston, it is a museum dedicated to historical items and history behind Canada's penitentiary system.  Oddly, I didn't find the museum itself that interesting but we lucked out and one of the volunteers for the day happened to be a retired officer and provided us with a lot of information on Kingston Penitentiary.  Admission is by donation here as well.

Me in front of Kingston Penitentiary (which is now closed).

Fort Murney is where we went for a photo-op initially, but apparently it is open to public and you can go inside and learn a bit about it.  Apparently it is one of four in Kingston and you can actually see all of them nearby and visit them as well.  $5 was the price of admission per adult for Murney.  It is skippable in my opinion unless you want to learn something about it (its purpose).  They do have a cannon at the top level though.  Walked along the waterfront area and I think it is surprisingly nice.

Rosemount Inn and Spa is where we are staying tonight.  It is a renovated home that is almost 200 years old.  It is a very nice looking place and there are welcome treats and drinks between 4pm and 7pm.  Today there were cinnamon buns and raisin cookies both of which were good.  There was also coffee and tea.

Dianne's is where we went for dinner.  Although the reviews were generally good, I thought this place was overrated for what it is.  Ordered two fish tacos, the clam chowder and the ceviche sampler.  Allison only liked one of the ceviches, I thought the tacos were nothing special and the chowder was too thin.  Right by Diane's is the visitor information centre, a train for photo ops, and the marina.

Mer-Wai!

Calm chowder and oysters

Ceviche sampler on left and fish tacos on the right.

Looking at the weather, we decided against going to drive-in due to weather and maybe it was okay, maybe it was not, but we were asleep by then.  By now, we were both wondering what was for breakfast since we have no idea what it is, part of the surprise I guess.

Tomorrow, Gananoque and back to Toronto.